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koan_72
Reviews
Vanity Fair Confidential (2015)
Beware of light strobe effect
I tried watching one episode but they kept overusing some light strobe effect in their editing, so I had to stop before I developed a headache. It seemed interesting though, why ruin good content with aggressive visual gimmicks that will age poorly?
My Haunted House (2013)
Fake, don't waste your time
It's one thing to debate whether people's testimonials on these types of shows are believable or not, at least they seem to believe their experiences, which makes it interesting to ponder, but this show is intellectually dishonest by faking the testimonials altogether and won't even notify viewers, it's disrespectful.
There's absolutely no point in watching this if there isn't even an ounce of credibility, don't waste your time, there are plenty of other shows who make minimal efforts in finding real stories with real people. I give it some points for production value, I guess. But don't encourage people like this, they're just following trends and money.
Dungeons & Dragons (2000)
A great disappointment
I rank this movie among the worst Ive seen in my life, its place is among old Sci-fi/fantasy B movies and some other contemporary flop such as Batman 4. Unfortunalty, I resisted the temptation to stop the tape many times and the only partial relief came when some of the good guys were killed or injured, which I mentally cheered up. It's rated 15 years old & up where I live, but you should really read 15 & down ONLY. Some easily impressionnable children with no prior fantasy/adventures culture might appreciate it, like a saturday morning cartoon or fantasy TV serie like Hercules or Xena , but no educated adult should ever rent this.
The story is the same old cliched mythological archetype used by the Star Wars universe but, contrary to the ladder, very badly exploited: Young poor hero gets unintentionally dragged into an adventure (Thief hero / Luke Skywalker). His nearby allies are here mostly to motivate him and provide (bad) comic relief (Wayan guy / C3PO, R2D2). Princess working for a better world (emperess / princess lea) is in danger from a dark ruler (Jeremy Irons / Emperor). The dark ruler uses a monster to enforce his domination (blue lips dude / Darth Vador). The hero makes some friends along the way that will help him, who never really challenge his hero status (dwarf, elf, mage / Han Solo, Chew Bacca). The villain plans on using a powerful weapon to rule over the world (dragons / death star). I wont bother going in more details.
I didnt have much expectations when I rented this but still was very disappointed. Costumes and sets are bad, obvious, plastic and cheap, a flashback to SciFi in the 60s. Computer generated special effects are sub-standard for this type of movie and current technology. Dialogues are empty, usually serves no purpose or just hurt your ears. Acting is generally bad: That Wayan guy is a painful annoyance, with a totally out of place (and very weak) humour. Jeremy Irons, as repeatedly mentioned in other posts, completly overacts like a B movie villain. What a misuse of talent. That blue lips bad guy (how cheesier can make-up be?) is a bland cliche and tiring, generic interpretation of a villain. The emperess just recites her lines.
The scenario is an easy story full of loopholes with no explanations and the characters have no depth at all: Why does the hero continue to help the female mage, isnt he a thief? Why only he could pass through the force field? What exactly is happening with the crew at the end when visiting snails tomb? and why? In that dialogue between the young female mage and the blue lips bad guy, why did he go from menacing to pathetic to menacing again? These questions pop constantly every 5 minutes.
I pity the D&D fans because this film is a complete disrespect to them and ridicules the D&D universe. From my young teen years memories, I cant relate most magic spells/monsters/class psychology from the game I played. This should have been an easy hit, with precise rules, a universe already finely built, and a huge fan pool. It is instead a bad comedy, which isnt the nature of the D&D universe.
To see movies that really respect the fans of the super heroes/fantasy genre and express the real essence of those universes, watch Batman 1-2, X-men, Highlander 1, The Matrix, Star wars, Unbreakable, Conan. This movie, like so many others, seems to be made by old people who dont give a %$#@#@ about it and are looking for a quick buck because of the pre-existing fan pool.
Even if you're just looking for eye candy and have low expectations, like I was, you will STILL be terribly disappointed.