sandro-santoli Reviews

Silent House (2011)

First Three Quarters Good, Last Quarter Falls Apart

[5/10 · 12 March 2012]

The beginning of the movie is about a home invasion. It's been done before, some good and some bad. I thought this part of the movie was good. For the first three quarters of the movie I was stressed out...but in a good way. I didn't understand what was happening, who was in the house and why, but I knew my main character was in trouble and I wanted her to escape. The images were dark, cluttered. Where is she? Is someone behind her? Can they see her? Is she hiding well enough? How can she get out? Is she going to make it? Are those friends or foes? Can we trust them?

Then just when I couldn't take anymore stress...the movie instantly got stupid. The entire ending fell apart and my good simple but scary movie went limp. My coping mechanisms kicked in, not because the stress had resolved, but rather because they would be useless where the movie brought me. And it's not like we haven't seen this sort of ending before so I'm not sure why the writers even went there.

Battle in Heaven (2005)

This Is An Art Film

[5/10 · 29 January 2012]

This is an art film, or at least what the average movie goer will view as an art film. By that, I mean you're going to have to dig really deep to find a plot that you can follow. The scenes are too obviously artistic...a tear drop, a blank stare, holding of hands.

The movie is about a man who is struggling with the guilt of having kidnapped a child who died. I'm not worried about giving away any spoilers because I'm not sure there are any to give away. The movie is a sequence of scenes that make you wonder why they are in the film, and frustratingly so because you really never find out.

American audiences especially will be shocked by the sex scenes. I'm not saying that's good or bad. We just rarely see a penis in a movie, aside from porn, let alone an erect one, let alone someone interacting with one.

The reason I gave this move a 5 is based entirely on its style. The characters often stare at each other with blank faces but they are consistently unemotional. The characters look like real people plucked right off a Mexico City street. The sounds in the film are interesting and graphic, sometimes noisy. But it works to keep you in the film. The filming in Mexico City creates an interesting backdrop. You're just dying for a story to be drawn from it but it never emerges, at least not a good one.

Undertow (2009)

I'm Caught in the Undertow

[10/10 · 28 March 2011]

I know a movie is excellent when the day after seeing it I still have a pit in my stomach as I did after watching this one. I know there are going to be some great reviews written about this so I'm only going to add to the momentum briefly without trying to find ways to get you to watch this one.

I felt bad for nearly every character in this movie...not just for those directly experiencing the effects of forbidden love but also for society observing it. Here, a seaside village in Peru questions its own moral code when a well-liked member of the community must decide whether to place his love for another man before social acceptance. Superb acting, character evolution, simple but engaging plot, and exhausting emotion all converge in this touching story.

Sucker Punch (2011)

Hot for Gamers, Cliché for Everyone Else

[5/10 · 28 March 2011]

The narrow audience of gamers will like it. Everyone else might find a way to not hate it if you just appreciate the battle scenes without the backdrop of a cohesive plot.

There are several battle scenes throughout the movie that were spectacular. If you look at each battle scene as an individual piece of art without a story line to string them all together, then you might like this movie. Those scenes are beautiful and impressive but you can still tell its someone else's interpretation of battle scenes played out in other movies. One scene was straight out of Lord of the Rings with fiery pit, crumbling castle and Orcs.

Nonetheless, they were interesting to watch. When each one was over, however, you were forced back into the overly simple, drab plot that is closer to a bed time story for teen age boys than an action film for the rest of the world.

The movie is peppered with clichés like, "If you don't stand for something, you stand for nothing." Maybe they changed a word or two to try to make them appear as original words of wisdom but you don't have to be quick to catch them.

The plot itself is cliché. In order to escape from the clutches of evil, a girl and her team of sassy warrior-strippers must collect five items. I think I can pull out four of them right now from the junk drawer in my kitchen without having to seduce or outwit anyone. The last item is a mystery...and you'll never guess what it is because it makes no sense unless, of course, you're a sassy warrior-stripper.