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Reviews
Hostel (2005)
I just got back from the theatre...
...and told my wife that "Hostel" will likely be the last horror flick I watch for a while. I want to wash off.
Good points; It is a well made film and is especially successful at putting the viewer in the victim's place. Not that pushing the envelope is always a good thing, but if you think seeing on film what might be in your darkest fantasies, then it's a good thing. It took balls to go where this flick goes.
Bad points; I don't know about the uncut version, but cutting 20 or 30 minutes out of the first half of the film would make it better (unless you need a lot of T&A to warm you up to the gore). It felt like 2 movies - the first half (T&A)and the second half (what you see on the previews). Maybe it was an expectation thing for me, but the way it was hyped, I figured to see the camera stay on some scenes just a little too long - which would have fit the premise of "Hostel" better, but maybe it was designed that way and it wound up on the editing room floor. It would be interesting to see the uncut version.
I gave it a 6 mostly because it took to long to get to the "payoff", but if that's the "Audition Tradition", then what do I know?
Daddy and Them (2001)
for those who have seen it
I won't rehash what everyone else has said but make an interesting observation. The characters in "Daddy & Them" pretty well represent every individual in this world - in all our glorious dysfunction. Every once in a while, someone comes along that gives our idiosyncrasies a voice- brings us together even if just for a little while. The kind of things that we all know in our hearts but never hear anyone put accurately into words. In real life, one of these rare individuals is songwriter John Prine. I wonder if Billy Bob thought about this when he cast JP in the role of Alvin - an enigmatic oddity who ultimately nails the situation and brings everyone together, even if just for a little while?
Vanishing Point (1971)
one of the handful of films that made an early impression...
My Dad was a local drag racing hero in Gastonia NC in the 1960's. He was (and still is) a Mopar man. So whenever a car movie came out featuring a 'Cuda, Charger, or Challenger, we piled up and went out, usually to the drive-in.
In 1973 I turned 10 yrs. old, and we saw Vanishing Point when it was released, so I musta' been 8 or so, way too young to get anything but "oh boy, fast car" out of it. However, somehow, I got it. Not the 'religious" symbolism, but the fact that I was seeing - no - experiencing a counter-culture film. As an 8 yr. old, it FELT like what I later found out it was supposed to be; a cool, hip, statement on the after-effects of the late '60's turmoil.
Throughout the next 30 years, because the movie did not raise a fuss, I felt like it was MY cool secret - just me and my Dad. I could vividly remember many scenes in my head (in my 20's and 30's) without ever seeing the movie again.
A film that enters your head off and on for 30+ years after seeing it once as a small child, is a testament to the power of a great film. It just goes to show that you don't need a fabulous script with big name actors and beauceats (boo-koos) of special effects to make a truly memorable film.