Change Your Image
clairemader
Reviews
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Split in 2
"Split in 2" is both accurate and ironic. Accurate in what cannibals do and ironic as I have 2 very different opinions on this film. On the bad side this film does contain scenes of animal cruelty. In Italy film s made around this time which used animal cruelty resulted in prosecutions. Secondly this is a low budget film and the quality of production shows this.
This film however is fascinating: you can see where 'Blair Witch' and countless other movies got their ideas and influences from. The director had the problem of working with a low budget and turned it to his advantage by making a documentary style. Now the imitators are using as a film method. The film is nowhere near as horrible as its fame and banning suggests; once the animal cruelty is omitted.
Sex and the City (2008)
Sudden urge to buy a handbag
Films made from TV shows often suffer from the problem that the same writers are used for both formats and the writers are used to writing for 30 minute sitcoms. What they try to do is stretch the same writing style to a two hour film and it falls flat.
It has happened so many times that producers must know this pitfall, so you would think. With shows like 'Sex and the City' the problem is solved by that the program length is already an hour and there are 2 part-specials as well. So writing a movie script should be straight forward. What will not happen is that a script will feel like it has an added hour bolted on or the writers were clueless and threw some old ideas from the show together to keep the producers happy who saw the cash tills registering.
That's what's happened with this film! Taking the themes that everyone knows from he end of the last episode of the last series: Carrie's back with Big, marriages, adoption, splitting up; each character conforming to what their characters were last doing. There's no new ideas in the script to justify this film. The better option would be to make a TV special which would have been far funnier.
This film is no more than an advertising dream for handbag manufacturers. Being bludgeoned by images like an excess of the 1950's subliminal messages in movie theatres.
This Life + 10 (2007)
insult to the series
The excitement around this a appearing at Christmas 2007 was everywhere. Radio 4 was discussing it. Everyone who was a fun of this series was eager. Jekins is a great writer. The characters had received a great deal of affection. Finally the long awaited episode was aired. Finally the silence was broken after we were able to lift our jaws from the floor after watching this.
First was the direction. There didn't seem to be any. Evcveryone on screen wandered around without purpose and aimlessly. The script always a high point of this show must be as good as ever? A couple of ideas were thrown in the air then ignored by the writers to wander and ramble through the remaining screen time.
It had to get better it couldn't continue this way. The series was set in London with a group of lawyers flat sharing and the wildly moving camera work reflected the hectic pace of London and their life styles and demands. Here in the countryside at Miles's country retreat the pace was missing as there was no cut an thrust or purpose to them.
The script idea appeared to be to concentrate on their relationships between the characters and leave out all their hectic lives, sensible since they weren't all lawyers anymore. So the country setting should work. But the writing and directing ensured this ingenious conceit was a failure.