Reviews

I am a huge fan of John Carpenter's work. I did an entire documentary on his films for my high school film class and gave a copy to the man himself at Fan Expo. Since then due to my newfound respect, I do often continue to purchase and watch films of his when I find them for low prices. I found The Ward alongside Assault on Precinct 13 for five dollars each in a small Canadian town you probably never heard of. The reviews I'd heard for The Ward weren't the greatest, but I decided to buy it anyway and judge for myself. I think it was worth it. Of course I do have some unusual tastes (for the record I hated Halloween, in my opinion that is Carpenter's absolute worst), but I rather liked it.

The story itself is actually rather compelling. The acting is quite good and there's even a twist at the end I can honestly say I never saw coming. Yes, technically what goes on in the end has happened in other movies before, but it is still handled remarkably well here and manages to cast the whole film in a new light in a similar style to films like The Usual Suspects, Shutter Island, or Angel Heart. There's also some genuinely good scares, including several that will make you jump.

The atmosphere is also quite impressive. A major recurring theme in Carpenter's films going all the way back to the beginning is a sense of being trapped in a claustrophobic environment against more than one can normally handle handle- Dark Star, Assault on Precinct 13, Escape From New York, The Thing, Prince of Darkness, among others. That idea returns here, with the protagonists in conflict both against the staff and the ghost that may or may not really exist. The ward itself is somewhat reminiscent of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- I don't know if I want to call it realistic, as I don't know much about them myself, but there is a lot of thought put into the design.

As I've said before, it's not Carpenter's strongest film- if you'd like that I'd still suggest The Thing. However, if you want an interesting horror film or a modern horror film with some good scares that doesn't follow the same-old slasher formula like a lot of contemporary horror films seem to do, I'd definitely recommend taking a look. If you're a hardcore Carpenter fan like me, this is definitely a must-see.

For Carpenter's return to cinema, this wasn't too bad. Here's hoping he does more excellent movies in the near future.

Ever since I saw Avatar, I began to develop a strong respect for James Cameron, so when I found out he was the genius behind the cinematic legend that is "Titanic", I got excited.

The film is really well written. I love the way it is told in flashback.

It begins with a group of present-day treasure hunters exploring the wreckage of the Titanic (which results in some brilliant underwater footage). They find an old safe that's completely empty save for a drawing of a woman. An elderly woman suddenly phones them and says she's the woman in the picture. She then tells the divers and her granddaughter the main plot of the film.

One thing that I really like as well about the flashback format is the editing. Each time the film always shifts between the past or present via a match cut, such as a video of the wreckage of the Titanic in the present day changing into the Titanic before it left in 1912 or a close-up shot of ýoung Rose's eye to the eye of the elderly Rose in the present.

The characters are all really well developed. I love how the film manages to blend some of the real historical figures (I.E. the crew of the Titanic) with fictional characters (I.E. Rose, Jack) and yet it is still incredibly believable, as if this really was a true story. The story is largely focused on the relationship between Rose and Jack, but the film constantly manages to develop other characters. Even the present-day characters are really well developed.

The story is very well written, and I love the way how it changes in tone throughout. The film starts off exciting, with many people excited, yet still manages to portray Rose in a somewhat sympathetic role. A large portion of it is the romance between Jack and Rose, but the film manages to have some dramatic scenes, with a large sub-plot of the story being the conflict between Rose and the rest of her upper-class family. The film even manages to include a bit of humour here and there, but doesn't take it too far. However everything changes near the end, when we have the iceberg, and all of a sudden the film becomes very dark and tragic.

The climax is very impressive. It takes place once the Titanic hits the iceberg. At this point, the film manages to successfully shift focus between different people. It manages to focus on the protagonists, but also manages to focus on the chaos and tension as the ship sinks and the crew struggle to keep order and get the passengers off safely. It brilliantly manages to capture the tragedy and horror of the disaster.

Overall this movie is a cinematic masterpiece and one that you definitely should see if you haven't already.