Reviews
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Annoying as Hell!
Whoever summarized this flick as "Scary as Hell" (a Rolling Stone critic?) must have a very low opinion of Hell. I got sucked into the hype, and when the movie (thankfully) ended, I felt like I had been had. Now I'm doing what I wish someone had done for me: letting you know that this movie is not worth the ticket price. I'm all for the triumph of indies over big budget Hollywood fare, but I am frankly bewildered at how this shaggy-dog story has carried the torch as far as it has. Surely, there are more deserving films than this to spring forth from the festival circuit and take the B.O. by storm. How did Artisan pull this off?
Brown's Requiem (1998)
Thriller based on James Ellroy crime novel
Only the third film adaptation of crime writer James 'mad dog' Ellroy's work and the first to be finished since the critical and commercial success of LA Confidential. Although more modestly budgeted than that film, this US Indie is nonetheless an excellent cinematic translation of Ellroy's very first novel - true to the spirit, energy and atmosphere of the book. A gripping, tough story of LA' s underbelly, it follows Fritz Brown, ex-cop, car repossession man and occasional private eye as he accepts a deceptively simple surveillance job. Needless to say the job lands Brown in deep trouble, caught up in a fraud scam and running foul of his worst enemy in the police force. A labour of love for director Jason Freeland, Brown's Requiem is a good looking, tautly paced thriller with an excellent lead role for the underrated Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Cliffhanger) and a great supporting cast of notable character actors. (review by Adrian Wootton, London International Film Festival)