Change Your Image
R.K.Hessel
Reviews
Supernova (2000)
What???
i don't know whether to blame the director(s) or the studio. i really have a hard time believing that a veteran film-maker like walter hill would create such a huge piece of garbage. the audience gets hints into some potentially cool material but nothing is generated from it. i want to see the original directors uncut version to see what was so controversial that the studio decided to massacre this film. mgm should have a guilty conscience for cutting a director's film to shreds and then putting out an hour and a half movie that doesn't deserve to go straight to video. a perfect example of film-making as art versus the money/business/non-threatening side - the money side won out in this case - i can't imagine how walter hill feels. the studio people who ruined this movie at mgm are a bunch of wimps!!!
Joan of Arc (1999)
great
The Messenger (The Story of Joan of Arc) The Messenger speaks truth unlike the majority of films we are being confronted with as a result of the factory-like production of moving pictures. Joan as a youngster hears voices, which are obviously the voices we can all hear if we really listen. If you don't believe in that statement don't read any further. In her youthful naivete she equates those voices that understandably seem supernatural in the world she lived in and we now live in. When most people cast those voices away, her voices take the forefront in her life through a set of difficult circumstances. To me films like Fight Club and The Thin Red Line deal with exactly the same issue exactly. Being in touch with these inner `messages' gives her access to truth as best as a human will ever know it. She is inherently a good person just as we all are when we're born. With her worldly belief in the structures and reality that the church represents she has made an assumption that her voices are truly God's will. Her obvious conviction in her inner `messages' are so convincing and intoxicating to everyone that is in her presence, even her perceived enemies, that `Joan the peasant girl' has the capability to lead an entire army (not that she cares about that status beyond a vehicle for truth). People sense that this person has no hidden agendas or ties with traditional means of gaining power or status or money she fights for what she believes in and its overcoming. It's an absolutely beautiful film and a work of art from Luc Besson and his team, not in the spirit of they'll do anything to put a different spin on Joan but to give a genuine perspective that is unique even without knowing every little detail on Joan of Arc the film speaks truth. They are to be commended. I simply couldn't hold back my tears at certain points of the film. I would like to see this film be embraced by the money giving mass audiences but I'm afraid that won't happen again not unlike Fight Club or The Thin Red Line. But for me if there were not films like the ones I've mentioned then the world would be a darker lonelier place to live in.
Fight Club (1999)
brave issues
stealing a comment from today's front page of imdb referring to iron giant; i believe the following applies to "fight club" - "We can't expect the studios to make good movies if we don't watch them." Go see this movie! I personally don't need the box-office to signify if a film is good or not. however, i think it's a sad statement when something like "double jeopardy" is held with more enthusiasm amongst movie-goers than "fight club". personally it makes me believe in the issues portrayed in films like "fight club" even more! Like ed norton says, "how embaressing, a houseful of condoments and no food...". read in to that what you will. besides bringing up brave issues (by the way it is very american to bring up issues) fight club is directed and produced superbly, the acting was excellent, and if you insist on shutting off the thinking part of your brain it still look's genius and the sequencing is very creative.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
too bad...
what a disappointment. they turned star wars into a disney movie. all the special effects in the world couldn't have saved this movie - there was cool graphics but they didn't really matter - they didn't mean anything. and it was just "wimpy" film-making there wasn't anything cool about it. i really hope people voice their opinion on it - because i don't want the next one to bomb as well. when i walk out of a theatre i have a gut feeling of the movie and i had a stomach ache after this from squirming in my seat so much. i think the next one should be directed by the guy who did empire strikes back.