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Pure (I) (2005)
1/10
The worst, most amateurish film I have ever paid money to see.
27 November 2005
Director Susan Braun obviously had a very high-minded concept for "Pure": one couple's search for a new Eden in the mythical midsummer night's dream of the id. Unfortunately, her concept is flawed, and deeply so. A sea of self-centeredness, greed, and negligent dishonesty (casually deemed "a guy thing") is meant to pass for a complex tangle of ritualized human interaction. What ensues is a bad soap opera version of "Survivor", chock full of pretension and tedious psycho-babble. Apparently to ensure that no one misses a beat of the intensely uninteresting plot, an interpretive campfire skit and constant intrusive voice-overs follow the narrative. Both methods of exposition are embarrassingly adept attempts to hide the film's glaring lack of substance and emotive story-telling ability. Concept and story aside, every element of the film's production is poor. The acting is universally bad, with a quality just below that of a typical high school play. There is no chemistry whatsoever between the film's "Adam" and "Eve", no matter how many times we are made to watch their sole encounter of glowing beach sex. The writing is cheesy and unnatural. The cinematography and editing are heavy-handed when not seemingly forgotten. The sound is filled with mumbled dialogue and ambient noise. Ultimately, a concept that seems to have a smidgen of potential ends up being the worst, most amateurish film I have ever paid money to see.

NOTE: I saw "Pure" in 2004 when it played at Colorado State University. Perhaps given it's current status of "announced", the film is being re-cut (or hopefully, re-written and re-shot).
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Entropy (I) (1999)
3/10
A Self-Praising Nugget of Bland.
7 June 2001
I went into Entropy with an open and playful mind, trying not to impose my movie-snob sensibilities on it too quickly. After all, how bad could a movie be with U2 in it? (I mean, it worked for Blown Away...) Let me tell you. As the film wore on, I had no choice but to suddenly, violently hate it. Stephen Dorff's portrayal of a novice film director, "Crazy" Jake, is far from inspiring and quite un-likeable, and there is absolutely no hint of the "insane" or "crazy" nature (mentioned constantly) that he and his love interest, Stella (played by Judith Godreche), are supposed to possess. Both wander through their performances looking only slightly interested in each other. Their non-existent chemistry is the dull nougut center of the film (and Ms. Godreche's acting is the awful, unexpected bite of creme de menthe). Jake's self-declared decline into a "horrid" lifestyle of drinking and smoking (ooooh) brings no real change in his persona whatsoever. The character's downfall might have been interesting, had there been any remote change in his behavior and mannerisms besides constantly holding a beer bottle and cigarette. The director is obviously trying to add some hints of originality with film speed-ups, freeze-frames, and other surreal touches. But the pacing of these elements is horribly sporadic, at best, with long, boring interludes of "drama" in between. All and all, the film becomes everything it's trying to negate. At one point, Jake mockingly tells the audience he's a sucker for a cliche. This clearly was the filmmakers' view as well, as the movie is literally drowning in them (I immediately sensed something was wrong when early on Stella asks Jake quite seriously, "Do you believe in love at first sight?"). Even the movie's most interesting moment involving a talking cat seems blase, thanks to the worlds of Babe, Hocus Pocus, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, etc. Jake says his movie should be about characters, when all the producers want is tits. This, ironically, is a perfect summary of the depiction of Jake and Stella's relationship. Unfortunately, not even the sex or shower scenes rise any interest from the audience (or the actors, apparently). There are points where you can tell Entropy is trying to shine. There are interesting aspects of the story (Stella's abortion, Lauren Holly's mysterious cell-phone contacts, Jake's film...) but none of them are given much of a second glance. A script pops up from time to time with occasionally funny moments, only to sink back into an ocean of cliche. A world of illusion and hallucination tries to break through and is forced back by the blandness of the movie's reality. Ultimately, a stinker. Not even worth U2's small, funny appearance in it all. Then again, this was during their "PopMart" days. What's everybody else's excuse?
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