Donnie Darko (film review)

This is a very rare film, one that doesn't come out that often and in many ways is not as aware of how big it actually is and how close to the truth about realities. In the film, each reality has its own time line and events that must happen within it, because time is predestined and has already happened in a sense, all events that occur are going to play out exactly as they are meant to, however, if something occurs that changes a reality in the slightest amount, a divergent realty will be entered by the characters involved. As we see in the film, because Donnie isn't killed by the jet engine Frank and Gretchen are killed in what appears to be a random set of events but is actually set up to play out exactly as they should, and Donnie is urged to push into a divergent reality by the rabbit, where he burns down the perverts house, thus enacting a separate chain of events, and breaking the water main at the school which allows him to walk Gretchen home. When we see Donnie killed by the jet engine at the end, we are then at the beginning of another reality, where Donnie and Gretchen hadn't met, yet we see some familiar essence exists between the higher energy connection between Donnie's mother and Gretchen. Before Donnie is killed by the jet engine, he is laughing because he has realized he doesn't ever really die, just splinters into divergent realities.

Children of Men (film review)

This is a very interesting film from start to finish. Very well shot, great action and an interesting premise. The year is 2027 and for some reason that is unknown women are infertile. By some miracle a "Fugee" becomes pregnant and is set to give birth to the youngest person in the world. The next oldest is 19.

Clive Owen delivers a solid performance playing the hero in this film and Michael Caine does a good job adding some humor and color to the bleak, dark future that is Britain. The film seems as though it is shot through a fog, it is very dark through out. This technique expresses the world of the future, dirty, polluted and unlivable.

Overall worth while, some minor problems with plot and story but nothing to bad.

Black Snake Moan

This movie is a solid effort, it is well done and because it is well done I have some problems with it. That is, to make more clearly, that because I actually liked this film I wanted it to be perfect. Easily Christina Ricci's best performance which isn't saying much compared to her other films Love Actually, the opposite of sex and numerous other poor choices and less than stellar performances. She shines in this, or rather radiates a troubled young girl who somehow is still sexy with band aids on her knees and bruises on her face not to mention eyes that make her look like she has been on a year long extacy and morphine bender. Sam Jackson as always does a great job.

Here is where my complaint comes in, why Timberlake? Why not cast someone who we haven't seen much of before for his part? He looks way to pretty to be playing the part he plays and doesn't seem nearly screwed up enough, at least not enough to match Ricci's performance. Also, it is hard to get it out of your head that you are watching an actor and not Justin Timberlake.

The plot is solid, the acting very good, it is obvious the writer/director has talent and is going to produce some good films in the future. He uses slow motion in some interesting ways and knows how the camera should capture the action, he also mixes music well with the action. All in all this film is worth seeing.

Being There

"Being There" is one of those unique films that will stick with you for months and years after you have seen it. Peter Sellers is so good its scary. The commentary in the film is hilarious and the shots outstanding, as a whole the film sparkles with brilliance, it is haunting, funny, thought provoking, entertaining and aesthetically pleasing to watch. It seems as though Ashby wanted to capture a Magritte painting and set it in motion on the screen, he does this and Sellers puts on arguably the performance of his career, how he did not win a best actor is baffling.

Barton Fink

An outstanding achievement by the best American Filmmakers of the nineties. Like most of the Cohen Brothers films, this gets better with repeated viewing. Outstanding shots of peoples expressions, pacing and tempo in conjunction with fantastic acting and an interesting story make this essential viewing for any student of film.

John Tuturro is at his best as Barton Fink, a pretentious writer from New York City who travels to Los Angeles to write for the pictures. The dialogue is quick and witty, the pacing and tempo are constantly switching from long drawn out scenes of relative silence, to people speaking quickly and loudly. The entire film is dreamy, or rather closer to a nightmare. This is one of the best black comedies of the nineties, but then again every film the Cohen brothers made in the nineties is one the best.

A Scanner Darkly (Film Review)

As a huge fan of the work of Philip K. Dick, I am usually disappointed with the film adaptations of his books, aside from Total Recall, It is not entirely because of the attempts by the filmmakers or change in dialog per say, but due to the fact that much of what he writes about is incredibly subjectively visual to the individual reading the story that is difficult to capture on Film the images and ideas expressed so elegantly in his books. For example, The scramble suit was a very interesting concept in the book but was difficult to carry off in the film even with the rotoscoping, overall the film was a very disappointing adaptation and pretentious as a translation from a difficult book to the screen. I have no doubt Linklater tried very hard when making this film and I can't help wondering if the only reason Linklater used the rotoscoping technique was to compensate for the difficulty of creating a scramble suit. The film would have been much stronger if it was not in animation. The animation lent it to seem like a Japanamation, or Anime which puts it more in the realm of fantasy. Keep it real man! this was a story about Dick's real life experience's set in very near future under the mask of "Science Fiction", if anything, it would have been better shot in black and white. Couldn't get into the parts where they were paranoid about the house being surveyed or broken into, or set up. Most of the jokes seemed forced or trying very hard to be funny. Woody Harrelsons character was over the top and uneven, Winona was hot, but other than that pointless, They fail to demonstrate a larger world around them in the context of the individuals drug abuse, that is, we only see four people in a house and they hardly interact with anyone in society, which is alledgedly a society of narc corps and population of 20 percent addicts, They only semi dabble with the actual experience of being on the drug, we don't see them high enough or hallucinating, but then again Johnny Depp and Benicio in "Fear and Loathing" are a high standard to beat. Is Substance D a hallucinogen? speed? downer? we don't know. All in all, worth seeing if you are a PKD fan or a fan of drug films as other people have mentioned on this site, but overall could have been more realized and slightly less pretentious.

I can't help but wonder if a director like Terry Gilliam or David Fincher may have been better suited to direct of dark film of this caliber. Kubrick would have been fantastic!

Annie Hall

This is the quintessential Woody Allen film and defined a generation of people at the time it came out in 1977, many of his later films repeat the same ideas and themes of this one. Great romantic comedy, possibly THE romantic comedy of romantic comedies. The film centers around Allen in his typical nebbishy character, and his romantic involvement with Diane Keaton. Very funny, great 1970's feel, really captures the mood of Manhattan at the time, a time capsule which feels slightly dated but in a fantastic nostalgic way, not in a outdated campy way. Sums ups Allens theory about life pretty well, people in New York don't have to worry about much so they create their own neuroses. A template for what a romantic comedy should be to all those trying to write or make films.