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Ikari9
Reviews
WALL·E (2008)
Shockingly depth romantic comedy from Pixar
Words can not describe how adorable this movie is. First and foremost, I should warn you that if you are expecting a comedy in the realm of Finding Nemo, then you'll be disappointed. This is not a comedy, it is more a family romance with comedy thrown in. It has its hilarious scenes, don't get me wrong, but this movie is more of a film that tells a surprisingly deep story more so than it is one that passes a simple moral story with comedy. I was shocked at the depth, honestly. It is obviously for all ages, but there are so many satirical subtleties in this movie that relate to us, our society, and our perception of government that it caught me off guard.
There are also quite a few references to 2001 that only fans of Kubrick's work will recognize, and most certainly not children.
Overall, if you're looking to laugh your ass off, don't go, it is insanely cute humor that is impossible not to smile and laugh at, but it is a very deep story at heart and doesn't contain much dialog at all so you don't get any wit in the form of that.
There's also a 7-8 minute Pixar short movie before Wall-E starts involving a magician and his rabbit that make this worth the admission alone.
The only thing that keeps this from being perfect in my opinion is that, at times, the lack of dialog really did make it feel like a very extended short film. Wall-E and his entire life and job is summarized in the opening credits, which I think increased the difficulty in finding something for him to do while building up to meeting Eve and boarding her shuttle.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Great story meets bad storytelling
The story of this film is, needless to say, very controversial but also very good. Two cowboys fall in love with each other but society forces them to hide it and attempt to live normal lives. Their trip together is the basis of the first hour of the film while the remainder spans 20-25 years of their lives following the events. The set up is fine, the problem is the execution of it all.
Jack is the more obvious gay cowboy, he hides it but you see he is always dying to let it out but it is society that forces him to keep it in. Ennis plays the gay cowboy that seems to keep it in because he is ashamed just as much as society would shame him for it. The main issue is how this entire plot starts. There is no buildup to it. The first 30 minutes or so are the two of them working on Brokeback, herding sheep and drinking. There is no real character development, you don't learn either admits to being gay and the two never really bond whatsoever. But before you know it, Jack is grabbing Ennis' hand and placing it into his crotch, and then they have rough sex. There just is not a buildup to it, and despite struggling with their feelings for literally 20 years, you never once feel as though Ennis truly feels that way towards Jack. He is not a likable character at all, and while Jack routinely offers him a life together, and confesses how he feels, Ennis consistently turns him down, and doesn't say anything to him, but then threatens to kill him if he leaves? Perhaps it is because the two actors felt too awkward acting out real emotions to each other, but all we are left with are two one-sided, very stereotypical cowboy figures who, despite being 'in love', never have a single reason to show it in the first place. I don't know if the intention was to display Ennis in a constant struggle of how he feels and coming to terms with his homosexuality or if he was meant to play the abusive and controlling ass who treats everyone poorly that Jack can't help but fall for. He spends 95% of this film acting like an ass and treating everyone horribly, but the other 5% is spent showing his true feelings. It all makes for a very confusing and random adventure.
Deliria (1987)
One of the best slasher films I have ever seen.(minor spoilers)
As an horror fan knows, movies that truly creep you out and make you tense are far too few in existence. This film stands as one of the greatest slasher films made.
Soavi doesn't use the cheap tricks(except the black cat jump out in the beginning, but I swear that was put in as a joke) to gain scares, he uses atmosphere and a more human killer. The sets used in this film made me giddy when scenes would start. When our heroine awakens at the end and walks out to look upon an entirely black and blue set, knowing the killer is hidden somewhere in the theatre, I just cringed with happiness and fear. Soavi doesn't waste our time in this one either, he doesn't worry about creating a mystery of the killers identity, we learn very early on much like we did in "Halloween" and then we start the killings. What I find so great about the film, is that he doesn't try the fear involving jump outs, he creates tension. That is the reason I love this film so much, and why "Halloween" also stands as one of my top slasher flicks. He creates situations that you can imagine yourself being in, and that is where the constant fear comes from. Things like the guy left behind in the freshly pitch black theatre collecting his money as the rest of the group runs off without him. Along with that we have the girl who locks herself in a dressing closet to avoid the killer in the costume room. My favorite scene though would have to be after the heroine wakes up, she finds her way to the back and walks down a black and dimly lit very LONG hallway with doors on either side and the camera pans with her, following each step, this entire scene had my stomach jumping with delight. The killer is also human in this which is a relief. He is not all knowing, with each person he kills it is entirely believable that anyone could have found them there. Whether it be from the noise they made, or the fact that he was watching them all along, you won't see anyone disappear and hide only to have the killer somehow be directly behind them. I am a sucker for atmosphere movies and more realistic situations, if you like either, check this out :)
But you must give negative credit where it is due also, so here is some of that. It seems as if with each point we reached that needed to tell a plot point in order to advance the story, the plot points just don't make sense. In the beginning when the two girls decide that a minor sprained ankle is worth sneaking out to a mental institute to get it looked at just seemed like a very rushed and a kind of "who cares, it works" idea. The director telling the girl to hide the keys was also very stupid to me, why didn't he just hide them himself? Is not like he would have been tempted to leave. And the last I can think of right now, when our heroine is knocked out(an important point) it is done so in an exceptionally lame, and in a manner that makes no sense at all. There are a few more scenes that just make you say "What? why??", but I guess it does work, because it is minor in comparison to the rest of the film.
Inhabited (2003)
Browse past this one
I work in a video store - so generally I take home everything as it is free. Well this little anti-gem came in today and I thought it looked decent. Goblin like dwellers living in a house and looking all scary like, the premise seemed like it could have been creepy. But it was handled in every wrong way possible.
They focused more on dialog between characters we do not care about. It follows every cliche in the book(two cat jump out scenes in the first 15 minutes) and even then it does horribly. Traditionally, if you are going to use the old "sneak up behind someone" routine and cue the scary jump music, you do so in a way where the person sneaks up behind them. In this, they cue the scary music, and the woman jumps, but the guy doing the sneaking is slowly walking into the scene, it was downright hilarious.
And they do the thing that really bugs me a lot..the characters act as if they know it is a horror movie. In the very beginning, the mother stumbles across a doll with her head off, so after finding out the son didn't do it, she starts panicking like something horridly is the matter. Doesn't make much sense. And the fairies themselves just aren't done creepily at all. Just a bunch of evil dead style camera running, quick flashes of their faces, and a lot of skipped frames. The whole movie has a definite made for tv feel, although not nearly as scary as a made for tv movie. Rather than trying to make the movie creepy, they went the route of the film being nothing but a slow unravel as to what the things are and people involved in the past..but we don't care.