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dtr19
Reviews
Planescape: Torment (1999)
A few words on this fantastic game
First of all I have to say what everyone else says, this game is amazing. I love it. I bought it when it first came out, and have played it so much that I am at the point where I think I need to buy a new one because mine is starting to get worn out. Now on to what I wanted to say. Make sure you play it through and try to get all the endings. The best one is when you actually can merge with your mortality. Not giving anything away, but that one also involves you finally finding out EXACTLY who you are. The other thing is if you have played using Da'kkon make sure you make it so that you can unlock all the discs he has, it gives you much more insight into his character and makes his part of the story much more rich. Use the cheats to up your stats if you have to to do these two things, because they make the story much better. Fighting your mortality and winning is only one possible ending, and the others are much better. Also, most people think Annah is your only love interest, BUT Fall From Grace can also be one if you do things correctly with her and with Annah. DON'T kiss Ravel if you want to do this. That's all I wanted to say. If you try any of this, enjoy. Trust me, it shows how this game can be even better. The story doesn't have to drop off after meeting Ravel if you play things right, and your stats are built up enough, especially wisdom, charisma, and intelligence.
'Salem's Lot (2004)
Another gripe about this movie
The thing that REALLY made me angry was that they made Callaghan a villain. Even after drinking Barlowe's blood he was his own man, and was still a decently good man, or as good as he was before drinking it anyway. Also, Rob Lowe is a way better actor than what he showed in this, and that just made me mad. I mean honestly, with good direction and a strong script, almost all of the major actors who were in this movie can do SUCH a better job. The movie would have been an okay movie if it weren't an adaptation. But as an adaptation, not only did it fail miserably, but it failed to even live up to the smallest of expectations. The only thing I really and truly enjoyed in this movie was the scene between Callaghan and Barlowe and the whole his faith against Barlowe's. I think Rutger Hauer, again, could have done a better job with better direction and a better script.
Shopgirl (2005)
Another praise for a beautiful movie
This movie made me realize something. Steve Martin can write something so amazing and poignant that it makes everything you hear or see immediately after seem like crap. Let me explain before you destroy me. The narrator, or Steve Martin, (spoiler alert) says something to the effect at the end, "Ray then realized that he had kept her at a distance by only allowing himself to love certain parts of her so he wouldn't hurt when she left. Because of this he ended up hurting both of them." Martin, who adapted his own book, couldn't have hit the bullseye on relationships any better than that. Than there is how Jeremy earned Mirabelle's love. Not like Ray, who just took it for granted and thought he wouldn't care when she was gone. When she was gone from Jeremy, everything he did was to make it so he could get her back. This movie was almost as much a voyage of self discovery for Martin as for the viewer. Martin puts up an amazing performance as an aloof and cold Ray who masks his coldness with lavish gifts. Claire Danes is positively sparkling in a role she almost seems born to play. She steals every scene, but at the same time is enough of a pro that when she is stealing each scene you are still aware of the plot and who is there with her. The interactions between Dane and Martin are like watching an amazing painting slowly being created in front of your eyes. They have a poetry to the way they work that creates something you know will happen, but are still surprised when it does. Watch this movie if you're a fan of romance, the humor is there, but it is sparse. Jason Schwartzman is the usual funny guy, and definitely the comic relief. He does, however, serve a greater purpose than just to make you laugh. He also shows you that love takes work, which most of us know. It is still nice to see someone else suffering for the love that they know they may never deserve, but need desperately. Again, see this movie if you are a fan of romance, and, in fact, see it if you like a well written and orchestrated drama as well.
The Believer (2001)
This movie makes you think
Ithink this is one of those movies that everyone who sees it can get something different from it. It's highly based on your own background, mental strengths, and how you feel about life in general. My review of this movie may completely disagree with someone else's review or how they saw the movie. My thoughts and feelings on it may be so different as to cause some people to even think I'm an idiot. But that's what this movie does, it leaves so much open to interpretation. First of all, I don't think Danny was 100% a self-hating Jew, I think he hated the Jewish religion and himself for being a Jew at the beginning of the movie, but I don't think he had ever met anyone who was more intense about their feelings about the Jews than he was until he went to that camp that Billy Zane sent him to. There I think he began to see what being an anti-Semite really was. He saw that that meant not only destroying the people, but also their religion, their thoughts, their feelings, dragging them through the mud and destroying things that he felt were still worth saving. Ultimately, this all led to his own demise. He didn't die in the end because people found out he was Jewish. He did that because he felt it was time for him to make amends for his sins and to deal with what he had created. In a way, from that day that he left Hebrew school, God did strike him down. God made his life hard for him to live and deal with from then on. Look at how he finally has to come to terms and face to face with his past, and how he has to deal with it. He'd been running from it. But Carla wouldn't let him continue to run in the end there. She maybe even loved him in the end, if not, she at the very least understood him. This movie is controversial, and it is disgustingly real at some parts. Fact is, Danny never hated the Jews completely, and in the end he hated himself more than he could have ever hated the Jews. Part of that hatred for himself was because he could never make himself fully hate the Jews and he couldn't ever bring himself to truly want them all annihilated. This duality is shown when he is picturing himself as the soldier killing the little boy and as the father who could do nothing to save his son. So yes, this is a well shot, well written, and well acted movie. But it is also a movie that will have you pondering it long after the credits have rolled.