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Reviews
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
New Tech opportunity missed
Had high expectations but was disappointed. I would say there were moments of engagement with the audience at a very high level. The troll/orc camp-fire scene was superb. The new frame rate was fantastic. As for acting well the white bearded dwarf and Gandalf shined. The leader of the group acted well. But when animated characters outshine the lead role of real human actors you've gotta question casting choices. The White troll showed more emotion than many of the human actors.
Damn-it missed opportunity with this fantastic technology. Lighting crap, music crap (we don't need music) music seemed clearly to be a crutch used to give emotional content to uninspired acting and perhaps scripting. Depth of field the real loser. Maybe it's a new field for film makers but they are using that old school blurred background and sharp foreground technique from 2d films and photography with 3d film making. When you look at anything in the world around you there is a certain natural level of blur to the background. This should be the bare minimum to aim for I would think. But they never hit that sweet point that we are all familiar with given that we live in a 3d world. It was either too much (perhaps didn't have an epic background) or too little (very little blur to the background). It was like every shot was like "What are you trying to do here?"
So many action scenes with great opportunities to involve the viewer but no we are sweep through these scenes on a smooth a glass pan shot never giving you the real feel of the scene.
The insistence on so many fake sets, fake lighting, it just reeked of comic book hero type garbage. They could or perhaps should of gone for a more real look.
Seriously Peter. You were a pioneer once. Let's see it again. If you want idea's for sound, lighting, field of depth take a good hard look at Judge Dredd 2012
One more thing. The Golumn. Holy s..t that actor is a genius and stole the show for me. The skitzo acting with two different characters was so amazing physically and emotionally engaging. The audience were laughing out loud at how the emotion could be portrayed so vividly and believably by this creature. A real show winning performance for Gollum.
Maybe my expectations were too high but other films this year have blown me away such as Judge Dredd. I expect far more.
Nirvana (1997)
Astonishing
It was about 20 min into this movie that I realised what I was seeing. I was astounded that anyone could make a movie like this. To imagine "awakening" in such style and with such passion is amazing. The movie deals with homosexuality, deformity, grief, relationships, drug use, the power of the state, sexual depravity, overwhelming desire, delusion with an uplifting beat like some kind of Nirvanic Angel, skipping through and over the pit falls of life with a grin and a spliff hanging from her mouth.
There are so many spiritual motifs running through this movie that if you are not that way inclined the main storyline of spiritual liberation, could easily be lost and judging from the mixed reviews has been lost.
If you have a practice you will recognise a lot of what's going on here. If you have no practice but an inclination you may find that this movie will open your eyes a little. Perhaps enough to look deeper.
By far this movie is superior to the Matrix which is often quoted as a Buddhist movie. I have never seen Nirvana listed on the Buddhist movies to see list but it should be right up the top, mainly because it's context is the life we all lead, technology, drug use, desire. Everything that a romp through the Tibetian landscape doesn't do.
Immortel (ad vitam) (2004)
Like watching a fusion of painting and a poetry.
This movie was a complete surprise. Never thought I would call Scifi beautiful but this movie deserves the praise. The movie conjures a very unique feeling of authenticity and awe or reverence which I didn't think could be done with film. I think this is due to the pace of the movie which is reminiscent of a dream, and the atmospheric music (awesome unobtrusive and emotive). Similar feel to watching and listening to Dr Manhatten from the watchmen. No surprise there considering they are apparently both derived from graphic novels.
What surprised me was you gained this strong feeling about the movie but don't really know why. The setting and story were solid to the point of jumping past that point of disbelief into the world of believing. The characters were all convincing. Spoilers:The scene in the bar when the blood splattered god walks in and and has a conversation about body parts and peers menacing at the guy sitting at the bar evokes a feel of violence and psychopathy, something I have never experienced before in any movie.
I can only hope the public start wanting more movies like this which have a heart and soul. If you like Scifi you will love this. You may have even forgotten the feelings you had when you read the scifi books of your youth. This film will remind you.
Hats off for bringing Scifi Movies to a a new level...bows
D-War (2007)
Keeping the dream alive..not
I don't have a very good tolerance for bad movies. If I didn't see this movie with my Korean girlfriend in a Korean movie theatre I would have walked out after 20 minutes. The acting was strangled by a inconsistent and choppy script. I wondered if it was edited by a team of Korean script writers because it was so bad I gave up trying to follow the irrational twists and turns it made. I love Korea and just felt embarrassed for all Koreans. Other movies I have seen here like King of men, host, old boy, are kick ass original movies of international calibre. That this terrible movie represents Korea to the world is really painful to accept. The director gets no credits from me for his effort or drive or desires. I only care about the product. 2 out of my three points for this movies comes from the CGI. Which I would give to any good CGI based movie. It was good enough to make this movie great if the script, acting, direction and editing had been a lot better. If Shim Hyung-Rae can come back after taking a smack in the face like the direction of this movie deserves and produces something reasonable, then he will truly deserve to be called a movie director. I really hope that happens but I'm not going to hold my breath. Sometimes dreams just don't come true.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
WOW!
I had read many many comments about the movie before going to see it last night and I was expecting a great adventure movie. Wow did it deliver. Just amazing and surprisingly emotive. It had a few not so great parts but still a very good movie. I now believe the next movies will be better. The only people I saw leaving were parents that had brought their five and six year olds to see, what they thought would be a willowesk fantasy. I couldn't help laugh at them ;) taking a young child to this movie is like throwing a puppy into blender, just plain silly. Can't wait to see what that the quirky Peter Jackson will do next.