philosoraptor42 | Latest Movie Reviews

Thirst

I really loved Oldboy, but none of his other films have really lived up to it. Nevertheless, I always get the impression than Chan-Wook Park is simply waiting for the right project. There are always some interesting moments even if the project as a whole seems flawed. This basically suffers from the same issues as his previous outing "I'm A Cyborg, But That's Okay". The central character is somewhat disturbed and has an odd view of morality, only this time they're a vampire, not a cyborg.

I need to give this a "Parental Guidance" notice i.e. do not watch this with your parents. It is absolutely chock-a-block with unecessary sex scenes. Also, as with Park's last project, the weirdness gets to such a level that you feel disconnected from the events on screen (not to mention from the characters). There was a natural progression to the character arcs in Oldboy which feels odd and disjointed in Park's latest movies.

There were really good moments in this movie. The direction is undoubtedly superb. However, in the end it's too weird for its own good and fails to constently engage the audience.

3/5

Colin

The British zombie movie which called in for favours from a variety of different professionals over facebook in order to make and promote a low-buget zombie flick from the perspective of one of the zombies. Was this a big publicity stunt? In short, yes.

Many of the scenes are poorly lit and in some scenes the camera seems to have trouble following the action (and by 'action' I mean people wandering around the street - there's no actual "action" to speak of). Also, there's regular screaming from victims who you haven't had a chance to meet. This gets more than a little irritating, especially when the movie is boring you to tears. There's one point where we suddenly come across several living breathing human characters and I was suddenly filled with hope that we might have some actual dialogue. Unfortunately I was gravely mistaken and very soon all those characters were dead with very little having been said by any of them asides from "aaargh".

All in all this was a huge disappointment. I'm not convinced that this was the best they could produce for £45. A flatmate in university produced a movie twice at good as this (at least) and I doubt that they had a high budget for that either. I'm thoroughly baffled that anyone ever had anything good to say about this asides from those who made it.

0/5

Helen

Another of the movies of Mark Kermode's top list of the year. There was something very creepy about this movie. A girl goes missing when walking and a girl from the same school who looks similar (called "Helen") is picked to play her in the televised police reconstruction. Helen, who grew up in the care system, finds herself being identified more closely with the girl she is meant to be representing and enjoys this opportunity to reinvent herself. Of course, she's reinventing herself in the role of a recently missing person and that is where it gets disturbing.

The film suffers from pacing issues. It has long scenes where not much happens and this can be very boring, especially earlier in the film. The soundtrack is also a cause for annoyance since the weird long electronic sounds with no actual melody really get on your nerves. Another problem is the acting. Most people speaking are either suffering from grief or are in the position of authority figures, so they either speak in a somewhat distant way or they speak in a commanding yet professionally dispassionate way. While this might be intentional, it doesn't help me to enjoy the film much.

As the film went on I hoped it was going to have a similar disturbing quality to the awesome French revenge flick "The Page Turner". I wanted all that disturbing interaction which had arisen in the movie to go somewhere. Unfortunately just when it looked like things were going to get really interesting the movie was over. Some interesting ideas, but I felt the potential was wasted.

2.5/5

Sunshine Cleaning

A good cast makes the most of a poor script. There are a few very good moments, but the film fails to draw you in as it ought to. There's very little in the way of excitement because tensions are rarely set up. At one point in the film we are told out of the blue that a particular event is their "big break", but unfortunately, since we never really know this until things are already looking like they won't pan out, the end results feel too inevitable for us to really care too much.

I also seriously didn't get what was going on with the kid. After being chucked out of school for licking things (er... what? You can't get chucked out for just doing that), the school ask that the boy be given medication to deal with his condition. The mother refuses the medication, not because she thinks nothing is wrong with her son, but because she thinks its wrong to give him chemicals. Since we never know what the boy's condition is supposed to be, it's difficult to know whose side to take on this. What makes things especially odd is that the boy is always very civil and well behaved, so we can never really see what problem the school might have had with him.

This is pretty much the flaw with the movie as a whole. We are introduced to characters and they are acted very well. However, a really good film would help us get inside those characters and really understand them. I never really feel like I'm given the opportunity to understand any of the characters. I'd say that mileage may vary on this one depending on how easily you can accept the scenario presented here. Personally, I didn't think it was set up very well, so I never really found the story terribly credible.

3/5

Pusher II

A huge contrast from the last review, this movie really does pull you into the mindset of the characters involved. The main character has just got out of prison and is trying to get some work from his father who thinks of him as a f**k-up. In fact, we might well consider him that way too based on our knowledge of him from the original Pusher (where he wasn't the protagonist). In spite of his character flaws the movie draws you in and really helps you understand him. Personally, I found the ending took me by surprise.

On the down-side, I would note that this is hardly an action-packed affair. I would have liked it if perhaps a little more had happened. Still, a solid movie with awesome performances coupled with awesome direction which really helps you get inside the characters. A distinct improvement from Pusher which was a little slow to start.

4.5/5

The Taste Of Others/ It Takes All Kinds/ "Le Gout Des Autres"

Wow. I'd actually seen this movie before (with my parents), but I'd completely forgotten what it was called. It was recently recommended on

moviebuffs , but I cannot remember for the life of me who in particular suggested it (nor in what context). It's an incredibly sweet movie and I'm really glad to have rediscovered it. The only criticism I think I can level at it is that the ending is a little abrupt, but there's certainly no feeling that we've been let down at the end and the journey there is captivating.

The movie is about a factory owner who doesn't know art, but he knows he doesn't like most of it. He ends up going to a theatre production solely because his daughter is in it, but when he becomes captivated by the performance of a certain actress he decides to develop his tastes. The theme of artistic taste is found throughout the movie with decorative tastes and sexual tastes also being thrown into the mix.

Highly enjoyable, but I wouldn't actually place it as one of my top movies. I'm beginning to realise, looking back at my reviews that I could really do with pushing everything down a point. But anyway, on the scale I've used in the past this definitely deserve the full marks:
5/5