amid77 Reviews

A History of Violence (2005)

Here goes the Magic

[7/10 · 27 November 2005]

Well, its not Cronenberg best film.

Somehow, this movie lacking real nerve impact, something horrible that will reach its ugly hand, grab my guts and squeeze it. And correct me if i'm wrong, but this is exactly what Cronenberg used to do in most of his previous films.

And now, the magic is gone.

Sure, we exposed to some nasty sides of quiet and peaceful American life, but hey, I refuse only to "see" the movie, I want to participate in this experience too.

I want to feel the edge of the knife, slowly cutting my nerves, or maybe to feel that bullet going through my head and blowing my brains out, I want to feel a punch and taste the blood, but all I get when watching this film, is to feel like a distant viewer, a voyeur that floating above the bubbling swamp without any ability to be swallowed. (Wow, what a metaphor! Sometimes I'm amazing even myself).

There is no real influence on the viewer, 'A History of Violence' is just a movie! And one thing I can't accept from Cronenberg, is "just a movie".

Anyway, this movie depicts a lot of interesting situations that very nice to watch and nice to think about, but don't try to analyze it too deep, let the associations run, but not too far. This movie is not so complicated and more simple then you think.

And if you want to see some really disturbing violence, I recommend "Funny Games" by Michael Haneke and his other films.

Sky High (II) (2002)

Booooooring!!

[6/10 · 8 September 2005]

I like Ryuhei Kitamura movies. He makes a decent effort trying to be cool and I really appreciate it. There is something in his vision, in his artistic decisions, in his whole approach to cinema as art, that makes him ... I don't know ... more then just a film creator. No wonder he is already a cult phenomenon.

"Sky High" is a Ryuhei Kitamura film, alright. The cinematography is clean and aesthetic, art design is pretty impressive, and kind of alienated, the swords are long and fast, the blood is red and hot, and the Japanese women are beautiful and dangerous as hell. (Check out Kimika Yoshino as the White Witch, mmmm... sweet).

And the story, well, its really boring, stupid, and just not interesting enough.

Some supernatural and magical reality, some lame characters with immature behavior, some tedious fights that could make you fall asleep and some other totally unexciting piles of crap. So if you really want to see this film, if you feeling that you don't want to miss one of Ryuhei Kitamura experiences, watch it, but don't expect for masterpiece.

Don't bother yourself with this slow, melodramatic and infantile movie, with bad directing, really bad acting, awfully bad dialogs and with surprisingly bad ending.

** P.S: "Kung Fu Hustle" by Stephen Chow, is my favorite choice anyway.

Brainstorm (1983)

The reason of Why

[7/10 · 29 May 2005]

** Warning - contains spoilers **

This review designated to the people that already saw the movie, and want to know what other people think.

This is perfect example how bad ending can spoil the whole movie. Douglas Trumbull directed only two full motion pictures, this one and previous "Silent Running", a classic sci-fi about human desperation in space. Both films indicates an exceptional cinematic vision of unique filmmaker, and you can see this in every frame and shot from the beginning. Bleak and dead colours, alienated long shots, grotesque buildings, that looks like some huge spaceships, fantastic fusion between human and mechanical and, of course, incredible technological achievements of human mind.

"Silent Running" manages to end on his peak and to leave some powerful feeling, making the viewer to think about the film long after. It is one of the best movie endings, along with funny "Dark Star" by Carpenter, and Gilliams masterpiece "Brazil".

But "Brainstorm"s peak is lost somewhere in the middle, when Dr. Lillian Reynolds dies, so the rest of the movie, that suddenly changes to confused family drama, is totally pointless and needless.

The movie starts wonderful. Interesting story, great acting, especially Louise Fletcher with her unique cinematic presence, nice plot development and talented camera working, that gives real sensation of recorded feelings. And they are all of movement, extreme motion and adrenalin pumping.

Naturally, and somehow predictable, but still very pleasant, the records became about sexual experience and later about death.

Till that point, movie exploring limits of human desire for knowledge and for excitement, telling something important about psychic conception of human nature and seriously moral issues.

But then, movie turns and falls down. Why? I know the reason of why.

Because of the answer. "Brainstorm" dares to give an answer to the most important question - what happens after death?

But rude and unfair writers of this film, are forgetting something. The question is important only when there is no answer. It's the unsolved enigma, the certainly knowledge of absence, nonexistence of conclusion. Thats what important, and thats, paradoxically, the real power of religion. There is no Answer.

But an artist can say whatever he wants, an author can make every statements he think is appropriate for him. It's the freedom of the Art and it's very clear to me, so I forgive them.

But let me suggest better ending : Dr Michael Brace dying in his attempt to know, while the tape machine destroying that recording tape, without showing the hell and the angels, just because it's stupid.

On the other hand, it may be worse. Anyway, robots behaving like humans in there rebellion, is brilliant. In "Silent Running" droids are more human than humans. Special effects are visually beautiful so the movie is good but maybe over sophisticated.

Hope you understood my point of view, whether you accept it or not.

Event Horizon (1997)

Hellraiser

[5/10 · 13 March 2005]

This is really stupid sci-fi movie with some kind of religious reference. It's not very clear what this film is all about, and I think the creators are very confused by themselves. Maby they meant to create some dark, claustrophobic and apocalyptic movie, maybe they tried to say something about human nature, limits of science and psychological perception, or maybe about the collision of religion and technology. All of those you can find here, but you cannot find that thing, which distinct a real masterpiece from just some bad movie with good intentions.

My guess, whoever made this flop, they just took all the components from other sci-fi movies and combined them into one big mess. The result is scrappy, incoherent, immature, ridiculous, boring and not even frightening piece of crap.

I think teenagers may find that movie tense and interesting, but people who can appreciate really good sci-fi, my suggestion is to skip this one.

Anyway, using this opportunity, I would like to recommend John Carpenter's early movies, like "Dark Star" and "The Thing".

A Chinese Odyssey: Part One - Pandora's Box (1995)

Great imagination ... on the journey to nowhere

[7/10 · 23 February 2005]

This is a nice movie, including the second part.You can really appreciate the imagination and some twisted sense of humor. Decent fighting scenes, pretty woman and impressive art design. The story is, well, kind of freaky, so all this together make this film very surreal, but entertaining enough. Stephan Chow, genius as usual, is very helpful.

You can see that Jeffrey Lau got a lot on his mind. In this movie he presents identities in crisis, internal struggles, personal development and learning, some religious, cultural and social issues, including sexual problems. All this presented to the viewers through fantastic story, while completely ignoring the laws of Fisics.

But the way he chooses to make his statements or opinions looks strange, simplistic and not complete, at least to Western culture cynic like me. There a lot of movies dealing with the same stuff in another way, more realistic and, that's why, more powerful.

So, it's great Mr Lau are talking and presenting this sort of themes in his personal and interesting own way, but the movie is not for everyone. His extreme fantasy takes the viewers far away from reality, it's all very distant, like some alien world. The plot and the characters are very confusing sometimes, this unbelievable environment seems artificial and doubtful, so the movie has no real impact, no meaningful influence, it's like grabbing water with hand. You know you felt something, but there is nothing left.

Flesh+Blood (1985)

Master of symbolism and storytelling

[10/10 · 21 February 2005]

Almost everyone who knows who Paul Verhoeven is, takes his knowledge from his Hollywood pictures, starting from "Flesh & Blood". But the man was famous director in Holland in 70's with some really great movies, from which I especially recommend "Spetters", one time masterpiece with very disturbing scenes and amazing story.

"Flesh & Blood" was his first Hollywood project and I was glad to discover that Verhoeven keeps sharping his talent. The movie offers to viewers highly intense experience, I remember watching it on one breath, and occupies the mind with very powerful images and philosophical meanings.

There is nothing average, simple or normal in this film. Everithing is complex, deep and extreme. There is no action, no move, no look, no word, that exists here without reason and meaning. If there is such thing as mathematic movie, this is it.

But don't be confused by this word. It's not some dry and intellectual movie like Bergman's stuff. The story is very humane and it's easy to sympathize and understand everyone. There are tears, struggles, disappointments, happiness, dreams, violence, death and a lot of sex. (Young and nude Jennifer Jason Leigh - a must see)

Dramatic value of the film, with symbolic conflicts and incredible behavior of all characters, exists on very high level from the beginning till the end. There are many surprising moments, everything bound together by twisted but consistent internal logic.

The combination of interesting story, great acting, smart directing and high quality production, makes a brilliant and truly hypnotizing movie.

There is no single and simple way to describe this cinematic experience or to criticize it. The film has very rich meanings, questions and conclusions. It presents many problematic and sensitive situations, and does this in very direct and very exaggerated way, which makes the whole thing very symbolic and formalistic. Something that fits with Paul Verhoeven's other great works, and makes him such a special artist.

And if you managed to read and fully understand my review, no matter if you liked it or not, this movie is for you.

The Duel (2000)

Dumb and Dumber

[2/10 · 21 February 2005]

There was no real expectations from this movie. Just another HK martial art and romance story, but still, it was very surprising to find out how awful this film is.

The story is really dumb and the rest is even more dumber. There is no logical consistence in the plot, no clever dialogs, not even funny jokes or slapstick humor. Well, maybe some situations made me smile, but now I don't remember why.

Characters appearing and disappearing in the movie with no reason, most of them have no purpose at all, the others, that got something to do and should move this very simple plot forwards, are actually complicating the whole thing and the movie steps in one place with no progress or interest at all. There was at least five times that I asked myself, when, god damn it, this movie is going to end?

Fighting scenes, the main reason for watching this kind of movies, are very boring and has no creativity nor imagination. Just simple and basic moves that I already saw in much better films with much better choreography and with much better camera working.

Fantastic and unreal stuff, like people flying or making some "energy waves" with their swords, looks pathetic and completely unbelievable, visual effects are very bad and infantile.

The only reason I gave this film a second star out of ten, is the appearance of Vicki Zhao as princess Pheonix. As usual, she is just adorable and sweet as beautiful woman can be.

But I got to ask you, Vicki: WHAT DA F**K ARE YOU DOING IN THIS STUPID MOVIE? You should make more movies like amazing "Green Tea" or really funny and interesting "Chinese Odyssey 2002". Anyway, be cool.

Thats it. I'm highly recommending not to see this film, especially if you Andy Lau fan, cause his acting skills is very doubtful, well, as much as the rest of the cast. ( Not you, Vicki )