I must say I am very surprised that this movie wasn't released in the theaters. This movie deserves an Oscar. It truly does. The acting is very realistic, there isn't a single scene that ruins the storyline, and the psychology of the characters are well reflected. I am shocked to see that Annabella Piugattuk hasn't done other movies even though she is an amazing actress. Her acting can truly make many of the so called actresses in the industry blush in shame. I wasn't sure how it was going to be at first but right after I watched this beautiful movie, I was filled with emotions. In today's movie world, we rarely get movies this touching and beautiful. Please don't think this is one of those Lifetime love story, or Hallmark religious movies. It's none of that. It's not just a boring movie filled with beautiful scenery either. It's a survival, adventure, and action movie filled with friendship, self discovery, love and emotion. If you're watching this movie expecting Hostel, or Conan The Barbarian with blood and guts flying all over the place, then this isn't for you. But that doesn't mean the movie has no action. No matter what type of movie you like, I can't recommend this movie enough. You owe it to yourself to see it at least once. I'm sure you won't regret it.
Reviews
5 Reviews
Midnight Express
(1978)
A Thrill-Ride Of Fictional Proportions.
9 November 2006
I have to be fair, the movie does what it's supposed to and that's giving the audience a horrific thrill ride. You'll spend your time watching the movie in sheer horror and at the edge of your seat wondering what's going to happen next. As with all Oliver Stone movies such as Salvador, Born On The Fourth Of July and Platoon, Midnight Express is brutal and merciless. Oliver Stone it seems, has made a habit of making money and getting Oscars from controversial and/or little known events in history and dramatizing on it to a point of making the story haunting. The only downside is, for the sake of awards and "art", a culture was demonized beyond redemption and any limits over a fictional story (Oliver Stone himself wrote the story for the movie). *The following is not a spoiler from the movie but points out an event from the plot* In reality, William Hayes it turns out, was arrested at the Turkish airport for trying to smuggle packs of drugs attached on his body into the U.S., and he was held for a time before being given to the American authorities for deportation. William Hayes and Oliver Stone themselves it turns out, have already apologized to the Turkish people for the overly dramatized and fictional parts of the movie and the book. It's funny actually how a movie can create so much on a true moment in life to a point of fiction and still call it a true story. The Turks don't get any breaks in the movie. All their people, cops, judges, lawyers and inmates are shown in such extreme way as ugly, merciless, demonic and sadistic people that one who knows nothing about Turkey would think that its population consists of demons and ugly merciless sadists. Actually this can be compared to movies which have been made about the Russians in the past which always seem to show the Russian women as ugly people with facial hair and nothing attractive while in reality, Beautiful Russian women dominated the modeling business in the world. While apologies have been made, the damage has already been done on the image of the Turkish people. People who are anti-Turkish love praising this movie and insisting that it's a true story all the way while the Turks keep getting rightfully offended. Be aware however, that %80 or some more of this movie is purely fictional. Even just logic would tell you that at a time where the U.S. and Turkey had such strong relations during the cold war, something like what is shown in the movie would have been unthinkable by the Turkish authorities. For a person who just wants to watch a good thriller movie and doesn't care nor wants to get involved in any dramatic flame wars or political discussions on this board or any other, it's worth watching at least once. If you don't like the movie, at least you'll see what all this fuss has been about over the years since the movie was shown in the theaters.
Keep the pop-corns popping' and the good movies rolling' :D
Keep the pop-corns popping' and the good movies rolling' :D
Catfish in Black Bean Sauce
(1999)
A Very Funny And Moving Movie.
9 July 2006
This independent movie is not only funny, but also very moving. It's rare that at a time which only blood and gore horror movies dominate that we get a good movie like this. The relationship between the characters and their emotional states are very well reflected. Surprisingly, the acting of all of the actors besides from the well known ones were very natural and believable. Definitely a great performance by Paul Winfield. The struggles between traditionalism, pressure from traditional parents, and pop-culture were told very well. I highly recommend this feel good movie. I can almost say a great family movie but I don't know if I should say that with the presence of a transvestite in it. Definitely worth watching at least once. I guarantee that you'll be wanting to show this movie to friends and family too.
Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula
(2000 TV Movie)
Interesting Movie, But Far From The True Story.
8 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I was watching the Sci-Fi Channel when this movie started and when I saw the title, I thought someone finally did a biographical movie and started watching with interest. I admit Peter Weller starring in the movie got my attention too. It started OK with the maps like Bram Stoker's Dracula had, but when the first ever scene started, I knew this was another fantasy Dracula movie without the vampires. Expect only a very few points of facts from the actual history here. I compared it to history and might sound like too much criticizing but since it claims to be a true story I couldn't help it. If it was to have just the title, I would have watched it as fiction.
*POSSIBLE SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT. There are really no spoilers here but just some historical comparisons. But if you don't want to see it or think you'd be bored by it, or that it can be a spoiler, then I'd suggest not to read beyond this point* The costumes of the Turks are far from accurate (They look like they wear WWI British desert hats made out of metal. The outfits are not even close to the actual uniforms of the Ottomans.), the sultan wears an Arabic outfit rather than the actual historic Ottoman one, is made to look like a gay, dark and long haired Fabio who has a crush on Romanian boys (Which is funny because the Sultan himself was rarely present there if not never). The Sultan tortures a kid in front of his soldiers which is unseen in actual history. All of Vlad's atrocities and sadism, while shown in a few hints in the movie, are actually reversed and reflected in the Turks and Vlad himself is shown like a poor innocent victim of the circumstances who couldn't help it. If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn that the movie was made by Romanian fanatics of Vlad Tepes. Not a lot other than his atrocities and sadistic pleasures is known about Vlad himself since most of his historical records were burned to ashes by Romanians themselves since they've tried to cover up Vlad's attempts at helping the Turks conquer his own country to save himself from execution for what he's done to the Turkish prisoners of war. The Sultan in actual history offers several chances at peace to Vlad before commanding his generals to have Vlad's head brought to him after hearing what has been done to prisoners of war and his messengers. The death of Vlad Tepes in the movie is not even remotely close to actual history either. Sure there are a few scenes which have historical facts in them but like I've said before, they are very few.
I think movie makers are starting to abuse the quote "A True Story" or "Based On A True Story" taking only a grain of fact and building a mostly fictional story on it. As a fantasy movie with very few hints of facts it's very entertaining. But to call this movie historically a true story would be a crime and be like calling The Adventures of Baron Munchausen a true story. I have yet to see a movie based on the true story of Vlad Tepes with historical accuracy. Don't get me wrong, this movie tries very hard to look real, but it's not.
As an entertaining movie I'd give it more than 5 stars but calling it a true story, it gets 5.
I hope those who've read this found it informative. Those who think I'm getting into a flame fight, I really am not. I'm merely sharing my own opinions about this movie and everyone is entitled to their own if yours is different.
*POSSIBLE SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT. There are really no spoilers here but just some historical comparisons. But if you don't want to see it or think you'd be bored by it, or that it can be a spoiler, then I'd suggest not to read beyond this point* The costumes of the Turks are far from accurate (They look like they wear WWI British desert hats made out of metal. The outfits are not even close to the actual uniforms of the Ottomans.), the sultan wears an Arabic outfit rather than the actual historic Ottoman one, is made to look like a gay, dark and long haired Fabio who has a crush on Romanian boys (Which is funny because the Sultan himself was rarely present there if not never). The Sultan tortures a kid in front of his soldiers which is unseen in actual history. All of Vlad's atrocities and sadism, while shown in a few hints in the movie, are actually reversed and reflected in the Turks and Vlad himself is shown like a poor innocent victim of the circumstances who couldn't help it. If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn that the movie was made by Romanian fanatics of Vlad Tepes. Not a lot other than his atrocities and sadistic pleasures is known about Vlad himself since most of his historical records were burned to ashes by Romanians themselves since they've tried to cover up Vlad's attempts at helping the Turks conquer his own country to save himself from execution for what he's done to the Turkish prisoners of war. The Sultan in actual history offers several chances at peace to Vlad before commanding his generals to have Vlad's head brought to him after hearing what has been done to prisoners of war and his messengers. The death of Vlad Tepes in the movie is not even remotely close to actual history either. Sure there are a few scenes which have historical facts in them but like I've said before, they are very few.
I think movie makers are starting to abuse the quote "A True Story" or "Based On A True Story" taking only a grain of fact and building a mostly fictional story on it. As a fantasy movie with very few hints of facts it's very entertaining. But to call this movie historically a true story would be a crime and be like calling The Adventures of Baron Munchausen a true story. I have yet to see a movie based on the true story of Vlad Tepes with historical accuracy. Don't get me wrong, this movie tries very hard to look real, but it's not.
As an entertaining movie I'd give it more than 5 stars but calling it a true story, it gets 5.
I hope those who've read this found it informative. Those who think I'm getting into a flame fight, I really am not. I'm merely sharing my own opinions about this movie and everyone is entitled to their own if yours is different.
Brother
(I) (2000)
Deep, moving, and action filled with a twist of humor.
15 August 2004
Brother is a deep, moving and action filled movie with a twist of Kitano's usual humor. Unfortunately, I always see people comparing each of Kitano's works with his other works like how each of Kurosawa's masterpieces were compared to the Seven Samurai. I judge each movie on its own and I highly recommend this with every movie as well as this movie. This movie will make you laugh, think, sad and get excited with many of its characters and sudden surprise twists. Hardcore Kitano fans might see this film as a mediocre work, but I would highly recommend this movie to everyone new and old to the Kitano movies. Like with all his movies, Kitano seems to deeply get into his character and as a bonus, we get a great performance by Omar Epps. Kitano balances humor, action and emotional moments very well. Like with all movies from different cultures, cultural differences among other things, will make people rate this movie very differently. Like I always say, watch it and judge it on your own. A movie bad to someone might be a very good one to you. It's different tastes. I think this is a great, highly underrated, and a must have movie in any movie collector's library, especially if you like Kitano movies.
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