duk_ Reviews

Funny Games (2007)

An Undeniable Success

[10/10 · 29 August 2008]

This is a tough film to review, as it does everything in its power to deter, dismiss, and disappoint its audience.

The truth is, however, that it does do something far more compelling: It remains compelling and does not broadcast a message, it forces you to experience it.

I found myself sympathizing for the main victims in this film. They were constantly put in further peril for the sake of "entertainment". And for this reason, I was completely enthralled. I was glued to the screen, wondering what the group's exact fate was. It was at that point that I realized, the only way to help them is to turn away and leave the rest to my imagination as it becomes extremely clear just where everything is going.

I couldn't though. It may have been my addiction to violent tension, it could have been sheer curiosity, it could have been anything. However, one thing was certain, I could not deter my fascination. As a result, I witnessed bizarre and brutal events at my own expense.

Framing was excellent, pacing was wildly inconsistent(but to the point of consistency), and cinematography/sound were executed correctly. I assure you, you won't be thinking about these things. You'll be busy with something bigger. This is not an easy movie to like, but it's almost impossible to not respect the impact it will have on you.

Desperate Housewives: Bang (2006) Season 3, Episode 7

In short, the best episode of television I think I've ever seen.

[10/10 · 6 November 2006]

In short, the best episode of television I think I've ever seen. This episode, like most of the episodes of Desperate Housewives, does not require previous knowledge of the characters for it to work, although it certainly helps. What's so marvelous about this series is how well each episode works with the one before it and still manages to have its own story arc. This episode is no exception, but here, it just so happens to be the best written one provided by the series so far. The episode starts by giving viewers a taste of things to come, but then backs up one day to start a typical action to action quickly paced comedic episode of Housewives. However, when things catch up to what we saw at the beginning, time slows down. The audience is then given the greatest expose on the characters in front of us we could possibly ask for. Without spoiling the content of the show, I'll go on to say this. This episode jerks at you because nothing about it is disposable. Unlike shows where your supporting characters are merely background music and kill fodder, this show uses nothing but characters you know on both good sides and bad. Buy the entire season on DVD if you have to, it's one of the few gems that television ever sees.

Doom (2005)

Oh so almost there

[5/10 · 2 January 2006]

If you want to enjoy the movie adaption of Doom, leave the movie after about halfway into its running time, because that's how the quality of this movie is distributed. The movie has a wonderfully paced set-up and just collapses into one too many cliché pitfalls that Hollywood seems to have invented.

Act one: Right from the start of this movie, it's extremely obvious that director Andrzej Bartkowiak was a cinematographer before he was a director. His shots seem to prevent that "mass-produced space Hollywood back-lot studio" feel that poster-child-for-mediocrity Uwe Boll has become a master at and that's what will let most skeptics breathe a massive sigh of relief. The greatest surprise then comes when you start seeing fleshed out characters that actually have near-equal amounts of screen time. And it's that pacing that gets this movie on the right track. We're then introduced to the research facility and given just snippets about these monsters and their patterns of behavior. Not so little that we're not interested, but not so nearly enough that we have everything figured out. I enjoyed one of Bartkowiak's earlier movies, "Romeo Must Die", because he actually dared to try to find some truth in the material (corruption will grow wherever you allow hatred to, regardless of what side you're on). And that is the same here, there is an obvious passion for the "something's horrifically wrong and beyond our explanation-now people will start dying" type of story and I honestly believe that Bartkowiak milked the best part about that material and tried to keep it running the movie for as long as he could. But it couldn't go like that forever, which brings us to

Act two: Dave Callaham and Wesley Strick managed to create the most disappointing, most cliché ridden second act in a movie in the history of film. And, thanks to the quality of the first act, these letdowns are so obvious. The following cliché happens in every single streamlined action movie: One of the team loses composure and starts worrying about something other than survival and will kill other team members to protect it, and, as a result, all hell breaks lose and the person that blows it will pay the price. The choice to do this is quite possibly the worst choice to make. We're dealing with monsters, why can't underestimating them actually BE the problem? The first act made this completely possible and almost any adventure sci-fi that chooses to stick to its primary conflict excels for doing so. Not here though, Callaham and Strick force a villain and a climax that has so little to do with the beginning of the movie, that all kinds of rhetorical analysis will render this script as "crap". Bartkowiak tries to keep things going, but it's rather obvious and hopeless that writing choices make this movie so unsalvagable. Anyway, as you expect, we start losing team members and eventually end up with all hell breaking lose. Then we get the famous "FPS" sequence, which, for anyone that has not played the game before, is basically meant to mimic the game. The funny thing here is that this sequence is actually a whole lot of fun and it captures what there is to like about Doom, carnage and sense of surviving as the fittest. However, this one entertaining exception to act two sets up for the biggest disappointment of the film.

The finale: Survival movies have a basic set-up for it's conflict. The characters that have managed to survive are greeted with the source of the chaos and must confront it to get out alive. Whether it be standing toe to toe with raptors, fighting the queen alien, or tackling the masked killer instead of running away. Doom instead chooses to go with a much weaker route - fighting our quickly created villain mentioned earlier, that's right. We travel to Mars and learn about these creatures to watch two marines fight each other, then the movie is over. This is Doom! People are itching for a marine to cut down a gigantic monster with a gigantic gun! Instead we get a non-sensical character choice that was harder to script and attempt anyway. Short summary: Good cinematography and excellent pacing in the first act that is spoiled by unjustified character choices and horrible choice in climax. I recommend the first 45 minutes of this movie, then go home and play the game.