Change Your Image
chrispi-2
Reviews
Sunshine (2007)
2001 meets Event Horizon - yes, that's exactly what it is
I found this movie to be completely amazing. Movies simply don't get any better than this. Which is why I was surprised to see so many people hating on this film. If you're a sci-fi fan, or an avant-garde fan - you MUST see this movie.
As a film goer, I pretty much dislike most movies I see, cause most movies are STUPID - made for IDIOTS. This movie was recommended by a friend, and when it first started, I thought, "Event Horizon without the character development". Eventually that changed to "2001 without the pretentious orchestra music". Somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking about what this movie was like, and fell completely into what I was watching.
Sure, everything the haters say about this movie are probably true. But the fact is that this movie grabbed me so hard, that I simple didn't notice any plot holes or scientific mistakes it made. It was just the movie and me, and that feeling doesn't happen often anymore.
What really struck me about Sunshine was the visuals. NOT the visuals in themselves, but more how the visuals were communicating something to me that I'd never really felt from a movie before. I've never had the cinematography and editing of a movie communicate something so effectively before. This movie was an awesome mesh of horror, cinematic poetry, and the meaning of life and reality - no joke. To dismiss it as a knockoff of Event Horizon or 2001 is really to miss the genius of it. In many ways it's better than both these movies, cause it has meaning, where Event Horizon had none. And it has emotion, where 2001 pretty much had none. I was CRYING at the end of the movie, not for any other reason that because I was having an existential moment. HOW many movies will do that to you? huh?
I'm not a Danny Boyle fan or an Alex Garland fan. This is the first movie I've like of either of theirs. But I have to say, Boyle has insane genius.
This movie captured a transcendent beauty and an unspeakable feeling, while at the same time getting kind of crazy. IT SIMPLY DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!
Apocalypto (2006)
watch this on BluRay
What an amazing film - I kept on switching between "this movie rocks" and "this movie looks awesome on BluRay". I'm not a Mel Gibson fan, and I'm not into sadistic violence. Yes, this film has violence, but it's done in a way to make you feel like you are there. It's not nearly as graphic as I thought it would be. At the same time, this is a brutal film.
After watching the film, I'm not completely sure what Gibson is trying to say, but I'm sure of one thing, Gibson is definitely passionate and is definitely trying to express something, which is far more than I can say for almost any other directors in Hollywood at the moment. This film was overflowing with purpose and authenticity, and I don't mean being authentic to the Mayan culture.
I can honestly say that I've never seen a film like this and I will remember this movie for a long long time.
El laberinto del fauno (2006)
if you like Guillermo del Toro, you'll probably like it
I for one didn't think it was that great. I was expecting fantasy, not people killing each other.
If you think you are going to see a dark faerie tale, you're not. You're going to see a person's face get beat to a pulp in graphic detail, a severe wound sewing operation in graphic detail, bullet shots to the face in graphic detail - and a lot of people getting shot at point blank range. Of course, all this violence is proported to have some sort of meaning, as in, "see how cruel people are too each other". But to me, the movie came across as, "see how much we think you want to watch people being cruel too each other and then we'll come up with a nice theme about how people are so cruel so that you can feel good about our movie's sadism." Apart from that, I can't say that is was a bad movie, just not something that I care to see. Actually, I went in thinking this was the director of Y Tu Mama & Prisoner of A., but when I found out Guillermo is really the directory of Devil's Backbone and Hellboy, I went, oh yeah - THOSE movies that didn't do anything for me.
Dementia (1955)
you have never seen anything like this before
This is one of the best and most intelligent films ever--although I don't think I'll be seeing it again anytime soon. I have never been so assaulted emotionally, psychologically, and intellectually by a movie. If you are looking for a fun and scary horror movie--this is NOT what you are looking for. This film is very disturbing. It is not gory, or overly graphic, just disturbing. The aesthetics of the film stretch back to early German Expressionism to 70s psychedelia. It is a bizarre mix of many things, most of which work perfectly. As you watch it, it's very easy to start judging the movie and go "Oh God, it's doing this or that". There are definately times when the movie borders on badness. But it is always one step ahead of itself, and one step ahead of you, and one step ahead of any other movie I have ever seen. The things the director does are amazing--he does things that were so ahead of his time.
The portrait of the main character is amazing. I've never felt so close to a character who completely freaked me out, as I did to her. She is SCARY--and so human in a wierd way. And that's why this movie was so good. It is not a black and white horror movie. It's not a slasher flick. It is definately trying to tell you something. Whether the final message is feminist or sexist is up for debate. This film is so well done that it's hard to tell whether it's being purposeful or exploitative. It's pointless to write more. You just have to see it.
A Simple Plan (1998)
you bought this as good?
Okay, granted there were some cool things in this movie that I have to give it credit for. Such as the house drinking scene that ends with some fatalities, and Thornton's character in particular. But these are overshadowed by all the bad parts of the movie.
1. Who the heck wouldn't keep $4 million that they found because of ethical reasons? Not many people, and I certainly didn't believe that Hank was one of them.
2. Why does this movie use dumb characters to make dumb decisions to complicate the plot? I realized I disliked this movie when Jacob hits the guy on the snowmobile and then Hank kills him when he realizes that the guy is still alive. Can you say "Out of character?" Why is Raimi presenting us with such a contrived scene that I've seen countless times before as if it's something ingenious that I've never seen before?
3. How can two people (Hank and his wife) go from 1 day not wanting to keep the money, to the next day not really caring too much that Hank killed a guy.
4. What stupid idea is it to go back to the crime scene?
5. Hello? Coroners can easily tell the difference between suffocation versus death by impact.
6. The snow hadn't fallen by the time the cops got to the snowmobile accident. Why didn't they figure anything out?
7. What kind of plot twist is it that the FBI agent didn't show the cop his badge? That's just BAD, BAD, BAD.
8. Wouldn't Hank have put his bullets in the gun while he was alone in the woods?
9. Can we get rid of the in-your-face animal symbolism?
10. I just don't believe that the characters we were presented with in the beginning would have done what they did throughout the movie. Yes, the point is that money corrupts people, but nowhere did I see any character development showing that. All of a sudden the characters were all doing things out of character and I was just supposed to accept it.
I thought this movie was pretty boring. Not only was the story contrived, but it didn't show me anything new at all. If you're going to pick up a contrived plot, and least do something new with it.