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nelandquinten
Reviews
Tongues Untied (1989)
A powerful gay black documentary
Marlon Riggs' documentary "Tongues Untied" left a brief, but definitive impact on me. This documentary about gay African-American men reveals several poets, preachers, activists, and scholars. There is no narration in "Tongues Untied". Instead, all the dialogue is spoken in philosophical rhymes and poems. The documentary showcases, and even full-on exposes its praise for the black homosexual lifestyle, in an artistic and flamboyant fashion.
As a filmmaker myself, I was drawn into how Riggs was able to explain the persecution of homosexuals without having a sit-down interview, and instead uses stand-up performances, poetry, and symbolism to prove his point. From the confines of a gay black man's isolation and loneliness, to the exciting experiences of the San Francisco "Castro" district, Riggs took the audience to some fascinating, and often times deplorable world that gay black men face every day of their lives.
I was a little annoyed by the pacing of the film. There were some parts that had me yawning. But "Tongues Untied" sends a powerful message of tolerance, culture, and tradition from a filmmaker who is sadly no longer with us. This documentary captured my attention, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Bitter Lake (2011)
"Bitter Lake" The first furry film; but with no bite nor growl
Having just finished "Bitter Lake", the first confirmed furry film ever produced on a budget, I think it would be right to give credit where credit is due, being a furry myself.
The biggest plus to this film was simply that it was pulled off. It's labeled as a fantasy adventure with people in fur costumes, so you may be thinking "How the hell are they going to pull that off?" Oh but they did, and the production itself is a marvel. The costumes were outstanding and the puppetering was spot-on. The musical score was lovely as well. It's amazing that a real composer worked on wholly original music, and used it to carry the film to emotions it could not achieve on its own. Lighting, cinematography, and direction were also executed smoothly. So in terms of production, its a pretty solid attempt at the first furry film. An excellent short flick by a very talented crew.
But that's where my acclaims ends. The short film opens up with a fascinating mythical tale about four provinces that wage war against one another after a crumbling peace. The heir to the throne of one kingdom has been killed, and the discussion for a resolve to the conflict must be made. However, we never get to see ANY of the backstory, and the "discussions" of what to do next are the focal point of the story, not the war itself. For fifteen minutes, we see the main characters talking in the room of a hut in a village. The voice acting is disastrous and the dialogue could have been much better. They use a few curse words and raise their voices to make what they are saying seem more important to the viewer. The characters are incredibly bland and generic, and don't help the grogginess of the film's pace. Most of the scenes are of the furs walking, running, or glancing across the scenery awkwardly. There's a painfully choreographed sword fight (but still pretty damn good for people in fur suits) at the climax between one of the main characters, Colonel Dreer, and another guy who seemed like an extra but turned out to be a villain. And just like that...
...its over. It's only 30 minutes long, and that's why I'm calling it a "short film" in this review instead of a "feature" that its being made out to be amongst those who got a taste of it at last year's AnthroCon premiere. No happy ending here, but an ending that cliff-hangs more then Sylvester Stallone. By the way, the website praises its use of 35 mm cameras for filming, when in fact it was filmed with DSLR cameras.
"Bitter Lake" is a film that uses furry fandom as leverage to display its uniqueness, yet it feels like an award winning film crew directing a direct-to-DVD flick. It's a shame, really. You could tell that the crew obviously did the best they could, and the filmmakers probably had a blast making it. The production value is mind-blowing for a small crew, but the performance and final execution are mediocre. I tip my hat off the the filmmakers anyways; they've earned all my respect.
So, is it a good attempt at the first serious furry film in terms of production value, and is it a movie that furries would probably enjoy? Yes! Is it worth seeing? If you've got 30 minutes to cut through. Is it worth buying for $10 on the film's website?
NO. Oh Jesus, no.
Race to Nowhere (2010)
Completely missing the point!
I went to a screening of "Race to Nowhere" at a high school in the East Bay of California. They were showing it in the school's auditorium, and I was really unsure as to what to expect. I was assuming an original documentary about teenager's struggling work in high school.
Instead, what I got was something else entirely. Something that I completely disliked. And I wasn't the only one, when it was over, all the students and staff members that I was sitting with started murmuring, hardly clapping only for a few seconds, and then they all got up immediately to leave, exhausted.
The interviews were uninteresting, the topic was hard to follow, and in the ending, the documentary hardly proved it's point, and left out many details that would have been vital. A lot of it was predictable, too. It's almost as if the answers that the students had given were taken straight from a script.
I recommend that you think twice before you see this boring documentary. If your a parent, you wont learn much about your kids from this. It's hardly something you can learn from and could potentially be just a waste of your time, it truly was a waste of mine.
This documentary is garbage.
Red vs. Blue (2003)
How is this machinima on IMDb?
I absolutely hate this show and what it's become. This online show started off pretty humorous, and now has become a poorly assembled pile of nonsense filled with toilet-humor and very, very bad puns. The show started off being a satirical comedy about two teams trying to win over a war-torn canyon, but as the show progresses in a few years, it soon slid off this storyline, which was pretty much the entire point of the show. I can't even follow any of the characters anymore and don't understand the jokes. There are very few that actually make me laugh. RoosterTeeth isn't even trying to make this show decent anymore. I feel that they let this popularity get to their heads, listened to their fan base a little too closely, and decided to follow a new, more "elabrate" storyline to please their online audience. And somehow, this show makes money off of this. Not that it doesn't seem likely because it's so dumb, its just that they legally can'r since Halo is owned by Bungie. I guess they were lucky enough to strike a deal with them and go ape-s*** over the anticipation. Another thing that really annoys me about this show (if you can even call it that since it made it's way to IMDb) is the titling. Seriously, the "Blood Gulch Chronicles" and "Revelation"? If you want to add these distinguished titles to your show, then your show needs to have some content to match it. The only thing that has gotten better since the originals is the animation. The motion-capture animation in general is why this has 2 stars, but it simply deprives it from it original plot. Red vs. Blue (or what's left of it) is now complete nonsense and I quickly grew tired of it. RoosterTeeth uses this show as their flagstaff to try to dominate all other online shows, thinking that the vast fan base and popularity will get them money and fame, but they didn't use their heads and now this show weak and forgettable. Red vs. Blue is a disaster.
D-War (2007)
Here come the dragons...
Upon watching Dragon Wars, I was expecting to see a cheesy, foreign fantasy flick. I thought the special effects would be terrible and the acting would be bad. Turns out I was half right. Sure, the acting was wooden and annoyed me, but the special effects were honestly some of the best I've ever seen. Seriously.
The actors give poor performances, as well as the entire supporting cast. The dialogue is also a joke. Even the voice acting is crummy and the soundtrack unremarkable, but the reason this film deserves a 7 out of 10 is truly the realistic effects and brilliant battle sequences.
It's exactly like a Sci-Fi channel original movie with bad acting, silly writing, and dumb special effects... only in Dragon Wars, the special effects are phenomenal. If you're a fantasy nerd, and want to kill an hour and a half of your time, then crack open a couple beers and enjoy D-Wars. The acting is truly mediocre, but with the superb visuals and CGI, it's worth your time. Give it a chance.
The Invasion (2007)
Honestly not bad, just shy of a suspenseful sci-fi
I must say, I was really disappointed not with the movie, but with the many moviegoers that said this movie was tasteless. But everyone's a critic, and personally, this movie wasn't that bad.
Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig pulled off a great performance, and the story rarely slowed down or moved slowly at all. While seeing it, I was into the sorrow Nicole Kidman's character was feeling, and all the emotions and kissy kissy goo-goo moments weren't even that bad and didn't bother me. The story was good, not great, and the climax was acceptable.
Yet, there are some cons. And unfortunately, one of them is the biggest flaw this movie has. It's not nearly as good as the original. Having seeing it, I observed that the remake was it's own movie entire, and didn't show much appreciation to the classic. Also, the soundtrack is unremarkable and some of the actors are laughably bad... but only a few of them.
Overall, this was a solidly pulled off sci-fi remake, and while its probably not worthy enough to be owned on DVD, this is a great kick-back movie that you can watch on late night cable.
Not nearly as good as the original, but still very satisfying. Go check it out.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
This movie was FANTASTIC!!! Amazingly done!!
I don't see why everyone thought this movie sucked so much. I, however, bought tickets on the day it came out (December 12). If anything, this was The Day A Great Movie Came Out. I loved this movie, and I plan to buy it on DVD. Keanu Reeves was brilliant; he did an amazing job acting! The CGI wasn't too good, but the storyline made perfect sense. Although I was pretty disappointed that G.O.R.T. didn't play a major role... In all, this movie was damn good, and I'm glad I got to see it on it's release day!! This is a 10/10 film... it deserves it!! Also, I was the only one in the audience that clapped at the end. This movie is a must see for all science-fiction fans!!