fae-of-eire Reviews

Sucker Punch (2011)

Disappointing to say the least.

[4/10 · 25 June 2011]

Fifteen minutes in I could only just barely discern a plot line, but had no idea who the characters were, nor was I given any reason to care about them beyond the most superficial insinuation of highly sexualized vulnerability. The film is essentially a high-budget and spectacularly shallow music video. Hard to judge the performances as there is little story or real dialogue beyond all the posing & choreography; sort of a pity given the leads (Browning, Malone, and Cornish) who have had strong performances in their past. The production and art design stand out... as do the costumes... The steam-punk/sci-fi/fantasy theme is visually interesting, and vaguely entertaining at best. A faintly misogynistic Alice in Wonderland by way of Heavy Metal 2000. Mostly a bore.

The Hamiltons (2006)

Worth seeing, if slightly disappointing.

[7/10 · 20 May 2011]

User Caustic Pulp did a good review; here's my version. The less you know going into it the better it'll be. Four siblings try to restart their lives in a new town after the untimely death of their parents should be sufficient synopsis. The film reveals a bit too much of its hand from the beginning. The tension and intriguing characters would have benefited from a more minimalist approach to the creep factor. I could have done without the first minute and half or so of pre-credit footage (beginning the film directly with the VO and home movie) as well as the somewhat cheesy 'creature' sound effects (they're a bit of a spoiler); I would have rather seen this unfold as a particularly unsettling and edgy family drama (until the last act). As a result, the clever twist is at once over and underplayed, coming off as a gimmick. This said, the idea is original, the camera is excellently handled and the performances are solid from a cast of relative unknowns. It will be intriguing to see how the sequel works out, I'll certainly see it.

BloodRayne (2005)

Mostly eye candy, which is a pity...

[3/10 · 18 May 2006]

It's too bad this movie isn't better. One it could have disproved a certain British critic's law of 'all movies based on video games are trash', two it actually had some fairly talented cast members (say what you will of Meatloaf, I'll probably agree), and finally, Guinevere Turner is a very fine screenwriter.

So I'm not certain what went wrong here... The cinematography is pretty nice, as is the set design in a very kind of upscale 'Hammer Studios' sort of way, the costumes are gorgeous (and I'll admit that Ms. Løken's figure doesn't hurt that opinion, (average indeed... some people clearly haven't a realistic view) which is ONLY my opinion). The score is good; by a well-respected composer... the only answer I can come up with is Mr. Boll.

Here we have an obvious effort by Turner to turn the story (Which is sort of very loose prequel to the arc of the game) into the classic horror trope of a rape/vengeance film, along side the potential to deal with all the deep seeded psychological issues of being a vampire, ESPECIALLY a half vampire, that even the said Hammer films deal with...and there are some hints of Turner's usual tropes dealing with gender and sexuality that are made rather brief and tawdry; surely it wasn't her fault very little of that made it on screen, and what did end up there, is largely Uwe's clumsily choreographed and shot fight-scenes with large amounts of suspiciously water fake blood. What was kept is there because it's 'hot', or gory. And we see far to little of Kingsly, and the other talent, even Rodriguez (who tends to be type-cast) is a far better actress than she appears to be here.

So in the end it is mildly entertaining fluff, that feels very 'half-done', though markedly better than Mr. Boll's previous efforts.

The Education of Shelby Knox (2005)

A well made, if strident documentary.

[6/10 · 26 June 2005]

The film definitely takes the side of it's heroine, which is fine, since the documentary is really about her and her views of the issues, rather than the issues themselves. The camera work is truly exceptional, and some of the more candid shots arrive at particularly choice points in the narrative. A fine example of this would Ms. Knox's stand against the startling, and personal statement made by the super-intendant of the board of education toward her. Her defense, though is some how made a little less valid by the only flawed piece of editing (my opinion), in how the epilogue handles the man's guilt concerning an affair he had whilst on the job as a sort of 'told you so' moment. Over-all though a nicely handled documentary of an interesting true-life coming of age story.

Far Harbor (1996)

Lovely soundtrack...

[2/10 · 12 June 2005]

...helps one to fall asleep. I've no idea what this film is about, except that it is several whiny 20-30 somethings together... including the obligatory minority who is one of three decent actors in the piece (though you wouldn't know it watching this)... and something to do with a screenplay. The dialogue (delivered as if reading from the script) is mostly about how misery loves company, 'gosh i feel really sorry about myself', and lets make the audience feel the same unless they're already put to sleep by the soft lulling of acoustic guitar...There's a ship floating in the water, one guy tries to swim to it and he hurts his foot... oh oops that 's the end... That pretty much sums up the whole thing.