remy-24's Reviews

Dune (1984)

7/10

Dated fx, but still a great story and nicely executed movie

14 June 2005

Dune. At first, I only knew it from the games. Then I found out there were books, and after that, there was a movie. I'm talking 2000 here, and I've only just recently seen it. More than 20 years after the movie was made, and seeing it in this era of very cunning special fx and 3D does make it look dated a bit. Is that necessarily a bad thing? No. The movie is pretty good actually. But the problem with it is, that you can't tell the whole Dune-story in just one movie: it should have been a two or even three-piece like LOTR. People completely unfamiliar with the Dune-story and world will ask themselves after viewing it: 'what the hell was that all about?' while I myself say: 'that was quite nice actually'. The budget was no less than 40 million dollars, huge huge for 1984. And it shows: the costumes, ships, decors and worm-fx are great. If it would be made in this year, it would probably be brilliant. In 1984 it was a bit limited because of technological limits, not creative ones.

Yes, I liked it, and once more added a new dimension of understanding for me to the story of Dune. The spice, the houses, the Fremen, the worms, everything is a bit clearer now. 7 out of 10, just good.

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Battlefield Earth (2000)

2/10

Worst movie seen so far...

2 June 2005

My vote is 2 out of 10, and that's the first time I've given such a low rating to any movie, ever. That should say something. I simply just could not get to grips with the story, the characters, the various scenes and the environment. It was as if the director just said: go play along guys I'll be in my trailer...and not all is to blame on him, too. The costumes, the dialogue, the...oof, I could go on for hours.

The idea in the story is actually good: aliens come in, mine the earth for precious stuff (particularly gold) and then move on the the next planet. But the way the whole thing has worked out is just bad.

Stay away from it, and go see a movie like Event Horizon, or one of the Alien movies. Mucho mucho better than Battlefield Earth.

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The Hole (2001)

7/10

A love story gone horror story

23 May 2005

Warning: Spoilers

Scenario and story: The story evolves around 4 teenagers skipping school camp and admitting themselves to be locked up in a hole for 3 days voluntarily. What 3 of the 4 don't know, is that one of them has planned all of this: a friend (Martyn) of hers (Liz) came up with the idea of the hole to be locked up with the guy (Mike) she loves for those 3 days.

It's slow upfront but when the first person ('Franky', Frances) dies of starvation because the girl is on an extreme diet, the movie gets intense. As not to give everything away, I won't tell the rest of the story: suffice to say Liz' cunning plan doesn't work out completely like she planned it...

Acting and directing: The acting by the four teenagers is very good: both the school part as the hole part. Especially Thora Birch as Liz: the cool but always plotting girl who's desperately in love with a guy. When she finds this love not answered, she get's even colder. The psychologist (Dr. Philippa Horwood) who has been trying to get the horror stuff out of Liz through therapy does a good job too, as a sort of narrative point without narrating anything.

Audio and cinematography Nothing wrong with the music and sound effects: it all adds greatly to the eerie and weird atmosphere: not too cheesy, not too light, just right. Cinematography is great as well: very good use of environment, lighting and colour. No errors, no odd stuff.

Conclusion In the end, the movie is very good, but still misses something, and that mostly is for the storytelling/development account. The whole point of the movie is the love of Liz for Mike, and that has not been worked out enough in the movie. 7 out of 10 from me.

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Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)

7/10

Good potential theme not taken advantage of, still worth viewing

20 May 2005

Warning: Spoilers

The storyline evolves slowly but surely: vampire hunter D (Dunpeel, I believe the full name is) gets an assignment to bring the girl back, dead or alive, who has been abducted by some badass vampire. D himself is a halfling: half man half vampire: he can live in the daylight, but not for too long or else he will break down completely. His bloodlust is also better controlled than that of 100% vampires. His character is brought to life very well in the movie, as well as the characters of a competing vampire-hunter gang.

The main element of the story is about love between the abducting vampire and the girl: Charlotte. Charlotte says she loves him, which contradicts the abduction-part of the story. They want to get out (both) to the Night City, where it is always dark. This is where it gets to the second part of the story: a castle owned by Barbarois, a vicious vampire that uses deception as a powerful weapon. In that castle some sort of spaceship is located with which they are able to leave in the end, leaving D and Leia (one of the competing group's members) behind.

As far as flow, storytelling and animation go, it's OK, up to good in some scenes. But still something is lacking with this potential theme. Not the best in the world, but definitely not the worst.

As a comparison, the motion picture Blade which contains the same half vampire half human theme, is much more about action and violence: in Vampire Hunter D, there is a lot more story(telling) and background, as well as a lot of symbolism.

Worth a look if you like anime, vampire-storytelling and a bit of violence. What the movie misses in actual story-quality, it makes up in visuals and animation. 7 out of 10 from me.

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Pulp Fiction (1994)

10/10

Great dialogue, great acting, great cinematography...just great!

19 May 2005

First up: I haven't seen all of Tarantino's work, so comparison with other movies directed by him will be nowhere to be seen in this comment. Secondly, I've recently seen Pulp Fiction for probably the third or fourth time, which is (for me) the necessary amount of times needed to fully be able to value it correctly.

Harvey Keitel as the Wolf, Ving Rhames as Mr Wallace, Travolta, Jackson, Thurman, they all make a great cast. Not only the acting in itself is great, but also the chemistry between the characters and their surroundings and situations simply works and works very well. Simply put: they (the actors) couldn't have done a better job.

The storyline is split up in bits and pieces and come together in the end like a bit of tape being stitched together. The pace is never slow, even when there are long dialogues: the dialogues actually make the movie go up a level! Lots of stuff going on: drugs, crime, death, coincidence, religious stuff, sex, and so on. This movie is definitely not for the faint hearted.

In terms of the music and cinematography, this is the next bonus: an excellent soundtrack being put to good use during the various 'move on' scenes or to get a certain atmosphere during a scene. It's not just loose bits, it's all a fast food package: heavy on the tummy but tasty to eat.

All in all a great movie, and yes, the first (and so far I believe the only one) that gets a 10 out of 10 from me here on IMDb. Must see. Definitely.

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remy-24

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