marcosr Reviews

The Village (2004)

Shows promise but then caves to fit a stereotype.

[4 August 2004]

The Village is a sociology experiment disguised as a cheap horror movie. The plot is simple, a group of people live an Amish lifestyle deep in the Pennsylvania woods. Nobody in their uptopian community dares venture into the surrounding woods, for if they do may the creatures they do not speak of have mercy on thier souls. Somebody gets hurt and therefore the frightened yet peaceful people send one of thier own (who just happens to be blind and therefore fears nothing) into the woods to the "towns" to fetch medicine for thier fallen Lucius. This film was written, directed and produced by M Night Shamalyan, a highly skilled filmmaker who is in the zone to be the next Spielberg. This movie isnt bad, not by any means. Shamalyan still writes some of the best conflicted and tortured characters in hollywood. Its just a shame that he is being sucked into a stereotype of being the Sixth Sense guy, making movie after movie with cheap (but i must admit effective jump scares) and twisted endings that get the water cooler buzz going. He's already proved his natural aptitude for creating suspenseful situations. Mosty notably in Signs and the vastly underrated Unbreakable. In Shamalyan's village he weaves a semi-believeable story with strong and emotionally engaging characters. His big mistake is the jump scares he throws in, if you have seen only one of his previous films anyone should know exactly where and when he is going to scare you. Too bad all the scares in the Village feel way out of place and placed for audience gratification. I liked this movie, i liked the ending, i liked the suspense but the movie tried (mostly thanks to its marketing scheme) to be a horror film. Mr Shamalyan, you've got the talent, you show signs of an early Spielberg (i.e. Jaws, ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind...), but please leave the jump scares to the Halloween and Friday the 13th franchise's. Dont settle into comfort, take risks.

**/****

Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

Awesome Name, Awful Movie

[1/10 · 3 July 2004]

For a movie with such a cool title it sure was a huge letdown. Jared Hess plays outsider Napolean Dynomite, a teenager that spends his screentime being eternally p***ed off at the world for a reason that is never explained. It would have been nice to see his character figure out why he is so mad and solve it, but that would have required extra thought and heart on the part of the screenwriter. Instead the movie slugs through one failed joke to the next. The title character is written so far out there that believability flies out the window as soon as he opens his mouth. I spent most of the movie trying to guess what year the movie takes place in. I spent the rest of the time looking for some semblance of a plot but came up short. The supporting cast acts completely embarrassed to be in the movie at all and seemed to be waiting for the director be call a cut. Napolean Dynomite is mess of movie with little story and even fewer laughs.

* out of ****

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

The Matrix > Revolutions >>>>>>>>Reloaded

[9 November 2003]

I never saw The Matrix on the big screen, in fact I had never heard of it till it came out on DVD. I watched it and was amazed. Such a unique take on a familiar concept (Dark City anyone?). New and fantastic special effects and good flowing and thought provoking dialogue. This was surely a film that the filmmakers could see as risky, since all the special effects were groundbreaking and cost so much. Adding to the problems was that it starred Mr. Whoa!, Keanu Reeves, who I feel has never proven himself a strong lead in any role. In sense I could tell they were holding back what they were capable of, mostly due to lack of money. In time The Matrix became a huge success and the Wachoski's had all the money they would ever need. With the money came the possibilities of a sequel. (it seems these days that if any film makes enough money that it deserves a sequel.) Well the ideas started brewing and soon Reloaded and Revolutions were announced and then filmed back to back.

I went into Reloaded with really high expectations. My expectations were so high based on the possibilities The Matrix left us with and where the story could go from there.. Boy was I let down. The negative definitely outweighed the bad in Reloaded. The editing, the pacing, the dialouge, and the acting, all horrendous. The only saving graces of Reloaded are two action sequences, Neo vs. The Merovingian's henchman and the freeway chase. The burly brawl was cool, but not needed and overdone. It seemed to be filmed only to make the fanboys cream thier pants. Overall a slow and pointless transition for the trilogy. Pointless, only because none of the questions asked in it are answered in Revolutions.

Revolutions on its own is good film. It doesnt quite fit into the trilogy, but considering Reloaded, that is a good thing. It's nowhere near as good or wonderous as The Matrix, but it has it's own sense of wonder. We finally get to see the scorched remains of the earth. We see how populated the machine world actually is and what it looks like. The first twenty minutes or so are just filler and confusion that leaked over from Reloaded. Once the main conflict gets started, the film really grows on its own. The defending of the dock in Zion was incredible, some people have said it's overdone, I disagree. The attack is massive and it needed to be. I was just in awe at the swarms of squids streaming in. The people of Zion knew it was hopeless, yet they fought on.

Neo vs. Smith, probably the one moment in film I have been anticipating all year. Was it cool? Yes. Was it necessary? Probably not. It was a combination of the subway fight and the burly brawl. I couldn't help but laugh a bit as these two unstoppable forces beat the crap out of each other in each overly exaggerated shot. Have you ever wondered what a fist looks like flying toward a face in pouring rain? Well Revolutions shows you.

This film worked for me because all the stuff that was pounded into us in Reloaded was dropped. All the philosophy is gone, for the most part. The ending itself is a bit anti-climatic, too happy and sequel fodder. Why can't films just end anymore? Why do filmakers insist on leaving open possiblities for sequels? I just don't get it. The Matrix Reloaded was a dark, violent and sometimes over the top action movie. I bought it and I liked it.

And to those of you who haven't heard of or seen Dark City. Go see it and watch a much better movie than The Matrix that has almost the exact same concept.

***/*****

Lost in Translation (2003)

beautiful movie

[7 November 2003]

I saw the most wonderfully interesting movie today, Lost in Translation. All i can say is wow, i havent been to a movie in a long time that had such an uplifting effect on me in awhile. It's basically about two americans that are both abandoned and lost in the ways of thier life and end up stuck in tokyo together at the same hotel and through chance, they find each other and just completley fill each other's voids for a week before they have to say goodbye. Thier relationship is so simple, they never had to have deep long, profound discussions. Everything said was so short and sweet. I was on the edge of my seat from the start waiting for them to meet, waiting to see what they said to each other, waiting to see what they talked out. All i can say from watching thier onscreen relationship unfold as friends makes me wish i can meet someone like charlotte, someone who i can talk to so easily without having to have deep conversations, someone who understands where i am in life and can be my friend without having to take that cliche step into romance.

Mystic River (2003)

wow

[7 November 2003]

what a great movie. I loved it. By the end i was so involved in the characters, i forgot about the whodunit aspect of the movie. Sean Penn was amazing, watching his character change throughout was a treat, going from strong husband to breaking down from his daughters death was specatular and then watching him picking up pieces of his past and becoming vengeful, wow great stuff.

Tim Robbins also did an excellent job. Watching this innocent man just break down from two separate incidents. Such and interesting character.

The two wives, each total opposites, one strong and loyal and other weak and unloyal, watching them react to this event was also great.

The ending scene with sean penn and his wife in the thier bedroom was amazing, thier conversation will probably stick in my mind for a long time. Such love, such devotion.

I also love how Clint took his time on each scene. It shows. He got alot of great performances out each actor and it paid off.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

who needs a big budget?

[14 September 2003]

This movie is a perfect example of how action movies do not need 100 million dollar budgets to be good, entertaining and exciting. ARE YOU READING THIS MR BAY AND BRUCKHEIMER? This movie is very well done, the screenplay is not very good, but still better than most action movies this year. The best thing about it was that the characters got so twisted around you didnt know who was against who. Some people might find this confusing, which i did, but it also made the film more exciting, i was glued to the screen trying to figure out who was doing what for whom and BAM! big, exciting action sequence with quick nice looking camera moves that let you see whats happenening unlike micheal bays messy work in bad boys 2. The action and the movie had an overall low budget feel which i found refreshing. I am sure rodriguez could have thrown alot of money at the action sequences, but he didnt. he used simple effective tricks. Mostly i liked the wire work used when characters were getting shot with hand cannon and getting pulled every which way. Awesomely fun stuff. The only complaint i have with this film the screenplay, if it was cleaned up a bit more (the structure of the story) it would have made it easier for every moviegoer to watch and enjoy. Oh yeah and mr johnny depp has once again stolen the show as CIA agent sands, very funny stuff. (Sorry about my bad spelling) 8/10

Bad Boys II (2003)

too long and drawn out

[1/10 · 20 July 2003]

never have i seen a movie this year as long and drawn out as bad boys 2. The jokes took 10 minutes to tell. The action was loud and messy, you could not tell what was going on. There were so many scenes that were just pointless. Rats having sex on screen? what? is this needed, how does this advance the story? The scene at the door with the girls date was just mean and unfunny and had nothing to do with the plot. This movie is just bad, sure i laughed at a few jokes and enjoyed the end and the firefight in the bad guys house. But overall i feel sorry for people that think rats having sex on screen or threating a minor with a gun is funny.

S1m0ne (2002)

good idea,just not quite thought out

[26 August 2002]

i went into this movie with no expectation whatsoever, and i ended up liking it despite critics reviews, the concept is there but just not brought all the way out, there were too many little flaws that bothered me, such as: *SPOILERS* the daughter figuring out the virus, Simone was hardly shown acting (so i didnt really get a good idea of how good she was), the virus being on a outdated type disk, and the fact the pacino's character says he doesnt know anything about computers, but then 9 months later he becomes an expert all while remaking his movie *END SPOILERS* but with those little flaws out of the way, I liked the style of the film all the way till the very end. It started out as a really promising satire, and got pretty dark in the last 30 min, but then i felt the ending just didnt fit. I was really into the dark part of the film and would have liked it to end dark. Overall i would rate this movie 7 out of 10 stars, great concept, good satire of the movie industry, but the ending just didnt work for me. I do recommend seeing this movie, i was entertained, i laughed, i bought it

Resident Evil (2002)

Better than expected

[1 August 2002]

When i went into this movie, i was expecting another super mario brothers quality game adaptation. Having played the RE series, i was amazed at the accuracy of the movie. They didnt give it a cartoonish game type feel which would have been easy to do. They kept it dark and very cold. I loved how they jumped right into the movie, no long into to lose audience interest, the movie grabs your from the start and never let's go. There were so many jump scenes i knew were coming, but they still got me. The score was amazing, very cold and machine-like with the bass acting as a heartbeat throughout. The zombie looked and acted great. the ending was a perfect setup for a sequel. Overall, this is one of the better horror movies. Lots of suspense, but it doesnt slow down, just a rollercoaster ride of a action/horror movie