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Reviews
Trafficker (2015)
Review on Trafficker
Trafficker, is Larry Smith's ( accomplished cinematographer that previously worked with Stanley Kubrick) debut film as a director, and while watching it's premier a few nights ago, what Larry was able to achieve with such a tight budget and only 25 days to shoot completely surprised me and went above my initial expectations. Though there is of course room for improvement, as there is in any film, Trafficker was both moral and entertaining, following the life of two brothers caught up amiss the drug world.
Despite the sometimes lacking Australian accent and over-exaggerated acting by the rather unexperienced key actors (Guy Ratchanont Suprakob and Jonathan Raggett), this film was not terrible acting wise, but quite decent and at times enthralling, which is what to expect from new bee actors.
In this film, Larry Smith and his crew were able to successfully bring to life several various locations while remaining in the Bangkok, Thailand area. The sets and locations were intriguing and each unique. The lighting throughout the film was expressive and set the atmosphere for many of the scenes, especially that in the Vietnamese bar. It wasn't as red as Only God Forgives (in which he was the DOP), but that's probably as GOOD thing.
However, one of this film's best features is it's exciting and emotional story, inspired by true events. Considering the number of nonsensical big budget films I watched this year with no plot whatsoever, it was gratifying to finally walk into a theatre showing a film with and actual moral and purpose.
This film isn't filled with sex-appeal, hunky men and a happy ending love story, it's a film that addresses real issues, a brotherly love, and the struggle they face in the drug world, but that's not a bad thing. This film is fresh, it's different, and well worth the watch.
Larry Smith was able to make a both purposeful and congenial film out of unexperienced actors, a tight budget and limited schedule, which by my standards isn't easy to achieve. I do recommend watching this film because even though it's not perfect, (then again what is?) compared to the other nonsense released this year, it's well worth it.
Only God Forgives (2013)
basic review
This film, despite the speculation of many, is not "art." Just because there's a ridiculous amount stare stand offs, and barely any actual conversing between the characters, does not make this film "unique" or "artistic", it just makes it boring. It's not all bad....there are some interesting moments were the characters actually talk! It's not the actual film that's bad, it's the story because there is NO story. It's nonsensical The lighting by Larry Smith is interesting, the acting is good, but the story is BAD! The acting is good but most of it is intense staring. If there is anything to commend in this film, it's the rather interesting set and lighting which must be due to the set designer and DOP It's not that entertaining and quite disappointing in comparison to it's trailer
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Quick review on quality of film
This film is a classic action film, more or less like any other, filled with explosions, crashes, and hand to hand combat between generally handsome actors. However....that doesn't prevent it from having it's own specific charm. Spiderman is just another superhero, but he's got his own charms. This film was highly entertaining at times comic, and just a pleasure to watch. It's not high end cinema, but then again that's not what it was destined to be. This is a great film to just watch and have a good time! It's fun, action packed, comic and full of a man in a tight jumpsuit flying between buildings ( but you knew that already!) It's entertaining and I recommend to go and see it.