Change Your Image
Joe12321
Reviews
Suchîmubôi (2004)
Like a 19th century Akira minus the good parts.
Sadly I have to bash this movie. I just saw Otomo's Memories (which is awesome) and so looked forward to this that I drove 50 mile0, by my lonesome, to see it as soon as it opened. Then I was disappointed.
The animation is good enough (although sometimes overly-flashy for the sake of the flash). The story had solid potential, but the script beats you over the head with its message. It started off with promise; the audience (and the main character) don't know which side is right, but by the end it is too clear that this is bad and that is good. And this is obvious enough solely by the actions and consequences, but they also make it explicit by the dialogue, repeatedly.
All this could have been (somewhat) overlooked if it was a sweet action anime, but the ending is just long and boring. Don't get me wrong, there's some fun steam-based sci-fi thrills, but it goes on and on unnecessarily.
That said, it wasn't a TOTAL waste of time. It at least had ambition. Reaching for the stars and falling on your face is infinitely better than the Hollywood tradition of diving straight for the pavement.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Good Story, Bad Movie
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie. The story is incredible in book and on screen, but the Screen Adaptation was lackluster. The jokes and the drama were pretty cheezy in a lot of places. They still worked, but for a classic like the LOtR Trilogy I would hope for a more mature movie.
And the cinematography was wretched. They repeated the same over-done, helicopter-circling-establishing-shot every time the fellowship came to a new location. The action scenes were largely shot in the hand-held, up close style and while I admit there is some use for this, it is hardly original, and I think we would prefer to actually SEE the action!
And the character's sizes were all wacked out...I understand it was hard to make big people into little people, but for the amount of money put into this movie I think the sizes could have been constant.
But as I said it was a great story, I loved watching the movie, I just wish it had been done by a more capable director+crew.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Beautiful!!
I don't usually review movies but this is in spite of the many bad reviews the IMDB community has given it!!
NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS MOVIE, DON'T READ THIS. GO WATCH IT!!
First off, for the people that cry about the unrealistic nature of the movie...its not supposed to be real!! It's an elegant fantasy world, a movie! The emotions that drive Dr. Bill are central to the movie, not his neighborhood!
The movie from start to finish is making a comment on love, fidelity, trust and communication. Dr. Bill's misadventures are completely driven by the misplaced distrust between Alice and Him and their inability to communicate their emotions without being stoned.
The first half of the movie starts with Alice's fantasy from last year's summer vacation. She joyfully tells the story as if she'd wish she'd acted on it. Bill, obviously acting on more issues than just the fantasy roams the streets of the fantasy city looking to score. In parallel to the fact that Alice didn't acutally cheat on him, he, twice is stopped, not entirely of his own volition, from cheating on her.
The second half of the movie mirrors the first half...starting with the scene where Alice tells Bill of her dream. Though similar to the fantasy she confessed the night before, she is absolutely miserable about the dream. The repercussions of Bill's actions are just as trying. They're falling apart, feeling the mal-results of the flaws in their marriage!!
Finally Bill's issues become too much to handle alone and the couple begins to do the right thing...he confesses everything and they talk it out. The whole movie was about the effects of distrust and infidelity (or near infidelity) on love and marriage. One of Nicole Kidman's last lines commented on it perfectly: "I am [sure] that the reality of one night, let alone that of a whole life time, can never be the whole truth."
Eyes Wide Shut succeeds in making a somewhat hidden point about love AND as an entertainingly bizarre dream of a movie.