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Reviews
Cloverfield (2008)
Towards the end events take a turn for the ridiculous
You might or might not know, it is one of those films shot though a shaky video camera, all 80+ minutes of it. The film has some good monster special effects. As hard as it tries to be realistic, there's moments, for example, the lead 4 characters are heading on foot through a subway tunnel, and they are joking? given that they've experience something on a similar scale to the 911 attack, all be it with monsters, I doubt anyone one would be joking, fleeing for their lives.
If the stuff in the film was happening for real, would anyone really hang onto their video camera, and focus their attention on documenting what was going on?
Towards the end events take a turn for the ridiculous. The lead 3 characters (1 dropped out) want to enter their apartment. The apartment is located in a tall building which is on the brink of collapse. The top of the building is leaning over touching the building opposite. The lead 3 characters enter the good building, climb the stairs, then proceed to climb onto the roof of the building that is on the brink of collapse? it's that stupid.
Lucy (2014)
The pull of Scarlett Johansson proved too much. I now own the Blu-ray Lucy
Lucy
The pull of Scarlett Johansson proved too much. I now own the Blu-ray Lucy
On one level the film can be viewed as quite simple, nothing new. Money, drugs, underworld, car chases, pretty lead Scarlett Johansson, and quite a bit of CGI
On a more depressing level, the film questions in basic terms, what is life? Is there nothing more than matter / energy, whatever name man has assigned to it.
Lucy the story is as shallow as life itself.
Right, I'm off to kill myself (only joking)
?%/10
Budget: $40,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend: $43,899,340 (USA) (25 July 2014) Gross: $126,546,825 (USA) (31 October 2014)
Doing well. These figures wouldn't mean much to someone like Lucy on the blue stuff ;D
A chronological review
The opening sequence with balls and deep bass, presented a *Scoopex flashback.
The vibrant opening location and it's oriental signs - flashbacks to Lost in Translation occurred.
Scarlett Johansson's black & red dress, looked great, even if it emitted vibes of Darth Maul.
The appearance of Min-Si Choi was reassuring. You might know him from Oldboy, I Saw the Devil. Great actor.
The blue crystal rocks got me thinking Breaking Bad.
Lucy's eyes turning blue, seemed David Banner. Imagine for a moment, a blue Hulk. Scarlett Johansson bursting out of her cloths, none of them surviving the expansion process, with the exception of a thong. Now that's a visual, not to mention a possible future blockbuster.
Heavyweight Morgan Freeman shows up as professor, lecturing on the formation of life. I've had A.I. on my mind for a while. Will man ever create a machine that can think beyond itself?
Lucy absorbing the blue crystal, then defying gravity? err, OK. Watching Lucy roll up the wall, across the ceiling, looks like they built a revolving room. Luckily the room is a basic cell, a box what's supposed to look like Grey concrete, but looks like it has been stitched together at the seams like patch work.
High on blue crystal Lucy goes on a rampage, shooting people, entering an operating theater, studies brain x-rays hanging on the wall, and understands them? Really? Seeing Lucy matter-of-fact push someone off of an operating table mid operation felt fresh.
Some rather good special effects occur around this % that show a tree though the eye's of Lucy. The tree looks colorful, transparent, moving, like a bizarre trip. Likewise, when Lucy hugs people, we see the person she's hugging appear semi transparent. Again there's a colorful trip edge.
Silly as Lucy is, the trick involves acceptance, and going with silly. If Superman can fly, then Lucy can do what Lucy does, right? Still, during one particular scene, Lucy telephones Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman ) and her face appears on his television screen. Professor Norman does not freak out? no, he listens to what Lucy has to say. You'd have thought he might seek to get Lucy incarcerated in the name of sake of safely for all.
The toilet scene with the dissolve FX, wow, impressive CGI
Lucy drives a car, fast through Paris, towards oncoming traffic, on pavements etc. It's quite a rush.
Lucy creates a black substance, lots of it, it craws around searching. Part of me got thinking, Under the Skin, as that had black stuff to. it's also the kind of thing you might expect to show up during Metal Gear Solid.
Time-travel anyone? yup, the blue stuff allows for time travel. Unbelievable.
Of all the things Lucy could do, she decides, at the end, to turn herself into a memory stick.
*Amiga demo group
Casshern (2004)
The theme is a type of futuristic medieval
Casshern
I got the impression there was a budget, a budget not nearly big enough realize the vision. There's scenes where the epic backdrop is obviously a painting. Blade Runner this isn't. The sooner you get over this, the better. The theme is a type of futuristic medieval, if that makes sense? Swords and robots. chunky metal, ships that look too heavy to fly, Killlzone type Nazi guards. 2D special FX that make the picture look flat, almost like a live-action cartoon taking place on a theater stage. The character with white hair got me thinking about Devil May Cry. All in all, as interesting as it was, I didn't connect with the story much. Every time the subtitles mentioned Neoroids, I thought Hemorrhoids.
65/100
Telstar: The Joe Meek Story (2008)
One of the best films I've seen in ages
Picked this up on whim in 2015, as it has Kevin Spacey on the DVD cover, and as you probably know, he is usually excellent. Telstar tells the story of Joe Meek (played by Con O'Neill, who is excellent by the way) the world's first independent record producer. As comical as the on screen action is at times, it's also rather tragic. Personally, I wasn't around during the 1960's, I have to assume the film portrays London accurately during that era. Either way, the backdrop to the film is interesting. It's also interesting to see the conditions under which Meek's hit songs were created, recorded, in a grubby flat above a handbag shop in London. Entertaining from start to finish. One of the best films I've seen in ages. Totally recommended.
The Devil Inside (2012)
The film features a great car cash, as viewed from inside the car.
The film features a great car cash, as viewed from inside the car. There's some impressive bodily contortions during those possessed moments. Acting is OK, although I found the lead female 'the daughter' to be below par. The film is supposed to look like a documentary filmed by non professional camera personnel, as thus there are far too many moments when the person holding the camera can't hold a camera still for hit. It's way over done. Never once did I feel like I was watching an actual documentary. At that level, the film fails. Also, it's not scary, which is probably why it's Cert 15. The image of the Nun on the DVD cover appears for all of a few seconds during the film?
The Tall Man (2012)
The Story is a Whole lot of Nothing
From a technical standpoint, its professionally made. Audio sounds particularly impressive. That said, the story is a whole load of nothing. Jessica Biel is attractive.
*warning, massive spoiler alert coming up* The most unexpected member of the community, an attractive nurse (Jessica Biel) is involved in the taking of children from underprivileged families and allowing them to lead a better life with wealthy people. All the while, the families of the missing children put the disappearances down to a mystery character called the Tall Man, who is believed to live in the woods. The nurse believes, by doing what she is doing, she is breaking the cycle of white trash having children only for them to grow up and turn into white trash and have children.
How this film got the green light remains a mystery. It's estimated budget was $18,200,000. A figure obtained from IMDb. There's no way this film could have made it's money back.
2/10
Blue Velvet (1986)
Blue Velvet - Blu-ray
Blue Velvet - Blu-ray
If you own the DVD, you will know how poor the DVD transfer looks. They made no effort.
First impressions of the Blu-ray on inserting the disc are less than favorable. First up comes the 'Scanbox entertainment' screen, in all it's lo-res glory, looking like a DVD? Next up is the Scanbox Warning screen warning 'This DVD is for home viewing only' again lo-res looking like a DVD? at this point I popped the disc out of the machine just to check it was a Blu-ray and not a DVD, as I had purchased the film from Amazon, and for all I knew, I could have been supplied a returned Film where someone had done a dodgy, and sent a DVD back in a Blu-ray cover. As it turns out, I did in fact have a Blu-ray disc.
The Blu-ray menu screen looks great. Hi-def, well designed, and in keeping with the feel of the film.
Given how old the film is, the Blu-ray looks great. Not super modern digital clean, but good enough, and a hundred times better the DVD release.
I won't comment on the film, as it's David Lynch, and it is what it is, a type of experience. Not gripping, more intriguing, surreal. Having not watched the film since it's DVD release, as I was that appalled at the picture quality, I had forgotten most of the film. It was great to sit through what amounted to a film I hadn't seen before, as I could only remember one scene, with Hopper and the breathing apparatus in the arty pink lounge.
9/10
Bela Kiss: Prologue (2013)
Kristina Klebe caught my eye. She's has a lot going for her.
The film starts out promising enough. The first 7 minutes are good. There's an old footage thing, then there's a group driving through some woods in a VW camper van, then 'typical' kicks in - the noise of a hunting rifle, Boom! a stranger looks into groups vehicle window (yes, there's a boom sound effect). One of cast says 'i have a bad feeling about this..' (isn't that a typical line from Star Wars?) The stranger wants a jump-start, and over act's the part, by acting over strange. Credit where credit is due, just as things started to look predictable, there's an unexpected twist.
Positives: The film looks good. Those behind the camera, the editors, have done a good job.
Kristina Klebe caught my eye. She's has a lot going for her. Without doubt, the strongest cast member.
Negatives: Sound is a mixed bag. Some of it fitting, while some of it sounds all too familiar. At times there's a lack of balance, and over-use of jingles.
The story tends to drift, my attention span was being tested. There's a real sense The Kiss of a Killer brought together a mix of talent, and lesser talented individuals.
Weak moments: Two of the group spot some metal barrels in the woods. The barrels look in good shape. The male attempts to open the lid on one of the barrels. He fails. So the female has a go, and guess what? she fails also. If the male couldn't manage it, how was the female expected to do better? If you're staying at a hotel, and looking around the place outside, why would anyone who discovered barrels, attempt to open them?
During another scene, a male and female are waiting outside the Hotel in the camper van. It's daytime. There is a don-king noise, no big deal really. They overreact, and lock themselves inside the camper? The engine cuts out, and the female goes mental. It's absurd. The male gets out to look at the engine, and they completely forget their fear of the don-king noise, once the engine starts. The bald killer shows up, and stabs the male before the female's eyes. She runs for her life, the bald killer keeps up with her by walking slowly (running is apparently not the killers style). In a completely unoriginal move, the female runs into a building, and to the safety of a smartly dressed type who is involved with the hotel. He is obviously a bad egg. To jump on the phone to the police might be top of the list, but no, the female sits down and has a cup of tea to clam down? FFS, SHE HAS JUST WITNESSED SOMEONE BEING STABBED AND BEEN CHASED BY A BLOOD SPLATTERED KILLER AND SHE SITS DOWN FOR A CUPPER?
Closing comment: Good effort, but ultimately, the story isn't all that.
Rage (2010)
Poor
"SPIELBERG'S DUEL MEETS HALLOWEEN" - screen spotlight
"SENSATIONAL HORROR FILM-MAKING AT ITS FINEST!" - horror unlimited.com
Sounds good doesn't it?
First off, it don't come close to Duel or Halloween. Secondly, I switched it off after 29 minutes.
The lead actor is OK. Most of the other actors appear to be friends of friends. The audio has a quality epic feel, but feels really misplaced. Blame it on the director, camera- man, editor, there's something amiss with it. It feels like it was made by someone who probably spent some time in film school. An intermediate.
Edit: I did bother to see it through to the end. It took some effort to do so, and no, the film does not improve.