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iam_usa2006
Reviews
Kukushka (2002)
One of the hidden gem...unpolished yet extreme beautiful..
I bought this movie DVD from DVD store...I never know anything about this movie but I decided to purchase it for several reason> 1. It is hard to find any Eastern European movie 2. I was attracted by the awards won by this movie and it was clearly stated on the cover( indeed..I purchased many non-mainstream movie DVD based on the awards won..it usually quite representative of their quality!~ It works..almost never fail) 3. That woman look exotic and cute...
I was in the movie right away...in the first few seconds...not a huge budget movie but one could see how superb the director and the photographer skill.. (they won several best directors/photos award!!!They deserved them!)
Natural and direct and honest to the bone...about three..one Russian condemned to death(most likely...for a treason excuse that's ridiculous..a sniper Finnish that was left behind by the retreating army...and a very cute and adorable Lapps/Sami woman,,,)
All speak in their own languages..little understanding about other but they tried to understand and interpret them intuitively and of course..based on their very personal perception and experience..
Not to spoil you all...just a quick synopsis.. A Finnish sniper(ex-associate of German SS) was chained in forest to await his fate..he managed to free himself..and a Russian man...was condemned to court martial for treason(he wrote some poems about life and peace....)...both of them was sheltered by a Lapps/Sami woman,,,a widow whose hubby was snatched by Russian..(she is absolutely natural and adorable..the way she walks...look at ya...unpolished yet deep and very touching...there was many interesting and funny conversation as three of them speak in their own language...and both of the men had sexual relationship with the Lapp woman...eventually..when the war was over...both men decided to go back to "land where their mother were and gave birth of them.."
They lived together in wild for sometimes.....the essence of this movie was the human natural instinct of love...care and respect of each,,,although each of them have very good reason to terminate each other..
The Lapp woman...gave birth to a pair of twin boys.....in the last scene, and she narrated the whole event...
Highly recommended,,,,,you will go to sleep with a smile....
10/10
ImUSA2006
The Dark (2005)
Detail explanation of the movie! Well done..worth a watch thriller
I watched it on DVD...I like horror/thriller/Sci-Fi genre movies..and of course..Sean Bean and Mario Bello are my top list stars..
The story is rather not very original..but at the end, there is some interesting twist that rarely seen in other movie...the main star failed to safe the day!
The story started with a group of welsh villagers...and the leader...supposed invented a new cult/believe that by killing oneself..cleansing their mind(head) would bring them to Annwn ( heaven) . The daughter-Ebrille of that cult leader was very sick at that time and died,,,her father hope to resurrect her from death and he actually convinced 50 or so villagers to jump down a cliff two by two into the sea...in the hope that "sacrifice the living..bring back the death..."
Sean and Maria was divorced with a daughter -Sarah...one day Sarah was somehow attracted to the sea side and drowned...and that cult's daughter-Ebrille was brought back to live...with some undesirable power and evil. Maria had decided that in order to resurrect Sarah from death,,,she had to kill Ebille...therefore, she grabbed Ebrille and jumped into the sea....
(Big twist here..cool) Sarah indeed came back...but only her "body" was back.., but it was Ebrille inside that body....and that poor Maria...was dead and condemned to the Annwn -a hell like milieu with all kind of torture awaiting her....
Sean was happy to have "Sarah" back again and drove off to begin a new life...
Clues about the swapped soul... 1. Sarah was able to open that little metal box without a key!(only the Ebrille could know that) 2. "Sarah" once approached by Maria(in ghost form)...she told Maria that "if you are looking for Sarah...she is not here anymore.."{the similar conversation happened earlier when Maria met Ebrille)
I like the ending...very innovative way ...rarely seen the main star at the end failed to achieve what she/he wanted to...
Worth a watch..very beautiful scenery with adequate control of cinematographic. 8/10. Lost 1 for the abruptness and 1 for lacking adequate hint or explanation on how could one bring back a death one by sacrificing other...
Alternative Ending: I didn't like this alternate ending. In DVD, Maria was dead and she found that little girl Ebrille in Annwn...and both of them live there happily. (Sean and Sarah lived happily together as well)
Wolf Creek (2005)
B-Class movie...not too well done.
Again, I am frustrated by the media and advertisement misleading about this Australian made movie...truly...it wasn't that bad for a B-class movie but there were already many much better one in the market...just to mention a few...Wrong Turn is an excellent one..Cabin Fever...even the Wax House and that House of thousands Corpses...there was not at all any originality.
If this is for TV home watch then it may be just OK...but definitely not for cinema/theatrical release.
The story was according to the director/writer, based on a real life serial killer Ivan Milat,who mutilated, tortured and murdered 7 or so backpackers,,in Belangalo Forest,Australia. One of the victims apparently survived and escaped and leading to the arrest of that serial killer. In this movie, 2 girls and 1 man drove hundreds and hundreds of miles deep into a desert..seeking the Wolf Creek...the largest meteorite crater on Earth...and soon noted that their car was sabotaged..and a good Samaritan(the serial killer) appeared to offer a hand...3 of them was naive enough to let their car towed into a no man land...and soon both of the girls was killed..of course after much stereotypical routines and ritual....the man managed to escape...
Casts are about average talent. Not particularly impressive...the torturing and the killing,,,some of them were rather original but again always the same theme...
What's nice about the movie?? Only one thing...about the largest crater cause by a meteorite..the so-called Wolf Creek...
The rest of the movie...unremarkable...as compare to the much better one..Wrong Turn...House of Wax...even the recent Texas Chainsaw massacre is better...
5/10
Mirrormask (2005)
Highly artistic visually...but rather loose story.....
(French version) I had been waiting to watch this movie since the project announced and had very high hope for this movie...it certainly possessed the essential elements to become a great Sci-Fi movie but overall, the director and the writer seemingly failed to hold all the loose piece together and present it in an integrated and tight film.
The movie is about a certain young girl Helena(played by S.Leonidas)whom's parents are circus performers and owners. She was a ball juggler and she was not really feeling like to continue to perform in circus. Rebellious against her mom and wishing her to death..her mom fell ill and hospitalized and required an operation. And during that nite, she dreamed...in her journey, she had to conquer the metamorphosed nite Queen and various weird entities..some cat like animal-Sphynx etc..and in order to prevent the nite Queen destroying the world(killing Helena's mom), Helena with the help of another man..Valentine..must find the "Mirror Mask" and reverse the damage(to save her mother!. Eventually, Helena was successful in defeating that nite Queen and in real life..her mom underwent a successful operation and recovered! The director seemed to separate the dream and the reality and thus...the dream part was merely a reflection of her inner psychological stress and subconscious mind.
The idea is not much original...much alike Alice in the Wonderland and I think...a better one "The Cell" by Jenn Lopez...the strong aspect of this movie...Stephanie Leonidas(Helena) though not particularly cute as a teen, has adequate acting performance. The rest of the cast was just OK.
As mentioned earlier, the CGI Visual is the soul of this movie. Much work been done for this however from time to time, one would noticed some inadequacy in the arts work."Inconsistency" , yes...that's the word . The style is rather Gothic and with a tint of Dali style distorted view vision and of course Picasso abstract ism. The color tones is vivid and lean toward golden/yellowish ...(representing Helena's dreamy states...) and contrasted with black/red (representing the anxious and psychological stress of Helena)..
Finally, I liked McKean's work in general..but this visually pleasing film actually did not have a solid story lines...with some great originality. Recommended to watch. Not a big miss if not to watch either.
PS; A much better one with similar style was "the Cell"2000 by Jen Lopez..directed by Tarsem Singh!
Alexander (2004)
Historically accurate but insufficient technically
I watched this Alexander in movie theater when it was released. I also purchased both of the wide screen(Director and theatrical cut) and I reviewed it again recently. I like , in general, movies about the ancient/classique heroic/history genre. Certainly, it is a collectible items and a proud collection on one's DVD shelf...
About the story... It is a rather comprehensive historical account on Alexander..from his mysterious birth to his death....and of course ,multiple great wars against the east and the west...made him a nicknamed "Alexander with two horns".... the wars scene is rather elaborate...and that's the reason I bougth both of the version. Being a member of National Geography, I have read many articles on this great man who fought many great wars..especially the pivotal defeat of Persian in Battle of Granicus! Very accurate depiction..worth a watch...along then,,the war in India was interesting to watch too.
Characters development was slightly incoherent and weak...Collin Farell did a decent job but other casts probably not to well selected..
Another issue was about Alexander sexuality...he was a homosexual and at that time...homosexualism was a norm among noble and hero...that drew many controversy ...but clearly, same gender admiration and intimacy was common at that time...
Cinematographic is great as usual Oliver style...one would amazed by the grand scenes here and there...and the rest of of the legend was held close to the major historians lines...
Finally...it is a masterpiece by itself..although suffered some flaw with castings..and also the interrupted flow of the movie(too many events to be squeezed in 2 hrs plus...let's admit it is not an easy task!) but I suggest that may be some of the events could be verbally narrated/simplified and concentrate on several pivotal events with in depth exploration...
Lost 1 point for flow and 1 point for castings... 8/10 worthy collectible!
Very educational accounts on Alexander...in 2 plus hours...one could have a decent and accurate grasp about this legend...Highly recommended
Stay (2005)
Well made movie about the last minute brain activities- Spoiler
Dear Readers....
This is a well made but not a superbly done movie...I gave it an 8/10. Lost 1 point for originality and 1 point for the flow...excellent cinematographic notably the repeated scenes with several identical cloned person..similar to the one we saw in KyLie Minogue "Come into my Wirld " MTV....Cool...
Main storyline bears similarity with Jacket(Andrien Brody)and "the Other" and Sixth Sense...about a certain man named Henry Letham...suffered grave injury and in the process of dying...and the whole movie was based on the last several minutes of his remaining partial hallucinating..partial delusioning and partial consciousness . It was long believed that the dying process is not as simple as once thought...the brain neural activities remain quite active for sometimes about 8-15 minutes depend on the age....temperature..mode of trauma...etc...and during this phase of critical moments...the brain cell trying to make up what ever function they have to form a vivid and attempted to interpret all the last few brain activities as real as possible.
Henry Letham had in mind(brain) about the death of his parents.and possible his girl friend during that grave car accidents...and in the last few minutes..Dr.Sam (Ewan) and Naomi attended him for aide...and the remaining brain function started to incorporate Dr. Sam/Naomi and several by standers characters into his vivid "dreamy" stage...hence the interesting story line with jugged time lines...deja vu phenomenon and the "ability" to predict or perform miracle...
Wait till the last minutes....only then the director would reveal the truth to you! Worth a watch...
but Jacket is better one...
Starship Troopers (1997)
Great SciFi movie ..worth a watch!
I have purchased this DVD for quite sometimes ago..and I watched this Sci-Fi Human vs. Bugs movie when it was first released in cinema...I have rewatched it again today on my 100 inches digital front projection movie screen. The main story line...about in a not to remote future, the insects from a planet named Klendutcha evolved to a such high level that they could challenge and destroy human civilization. As a results, Rico(Van Diem), Carmen(Dennis), Dizzy(Meyer) and another several guys were recruited to annihilate the insects threat!The side-line include a very well made military camp training and the triangle love between our sagas!!!
Amazingly, it was still as good as before...although it was a movie made about 10 years ago...several neat points about this movie I like to share with you all that which hardly seen in other Sci-fi... 1. The triangle love between Rico, Dizzy and Carmen..although this is not a love drama, but some sweet moment and efforts been made into that. That deserve some credit!!How sweet ! 2. The CGI and many of the bugs(which are constantly jumping around ) really look real and amazing. 3. Many and many body counts and many more heavy machine gun fires....I gather not many Sci-Fi has that now adays...for those who enjoy seeing machine gun firing...here you go! 4. Overall the set-up seemed to be quite well made...not like other cheap Sci-Fi...with many nice spaceship...many well equipped soldiers and the training camp was cool as well... 5. The flow of the movie is superbly smooth....nothing to slow down..nothing unnecessary...
Finally...I am glad that I pull out that DVD to test on my new movie projector..it truly worth a watch(for those who haven't) and rewatch again (for those hard stalwart Fans of Starshp Trooper!)
PS: It is a great sadness that the sequel of this big time Sci-Fi is far below acceptable standard...they should invest more to make a nicer one or just don't make that "Hero of Federation"...
Thanks...
Dragonslayer (1981)
Rather Good movie with something to tell...Paganism vs Christianity
By chance I purchase this DVD wide screen edition from a DVD retailer in a mall. Well, never heard of that movie before but I like fantasy/sc fi genre movies. Not a bad movie overall, there seemed to be more ingredients than the supposedly superficial theme of movie.
A sorcerer(ulrich, the last living sorcerer) was invited to destroy a man-eating dragon. It is interesting to note that in several occasions, they seemed to suggest that the co-existence of Dragon and Sorcerer belief. A good crue to that was the last sorcerer once told Joey" If it is not for the sorcerer, the dragon won't exist anyhow".
At that times,Christianity gained hold with the villagers even the king has a bishop.And in the final sequence, the old sorcerer"Ulrich" asked his disciple "Galen" to destroy him together with the magical amulet...and Galen would know when to do that..and by destroying the last sorcerer, the dragon would no longer exist.Isn't it a hidden motive of condemning the paganism is the origin of many myths of dragon/monster etc? There was a scene Ulrich had a peek on the crucifix wore by Caitlin(Joey) and seemed to be content that it was the time the Christianity should triumph over the paganism.
Worth a watch. Caitlin was so cute in this movie but she passed away not too long ago. Her dark thick long hair certainly make her pale white skin so well contrasted! The dragon CGI is great at that 1980's...but still look attractive nowadays!(same guys who did the Star wars..). Pace is OK..not too slow..not too fast...enough time for characters developments.