Change Your Image
rdh210
Reviews
The Village (2004)
M. Night fails yet again.
I shouldn't be able to figure out the "twist" of the film in the first eight minutes, then spend the next two hours bored by shoddy filmmaking. No one at the theater I saw this at seemed even remotely surprised by the big ending.
The same was true of Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. The man is a hack. And what's with the self-important director cameos anyway? Does this man actually think he's Hitchcock?
M. Night claims that he's discovered the formula for a blockbuster success. That may be true. But when was the last time a big blockbuster was actually any good?
0 for 4 and I'm done seeing this man's movies.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
The first nail on film's coffin.
George Lucas says that film is dead because he's shooting Episodes II and III on video. But George Lucas is a hack and his movies look like crap. You can tell it's shot on really good video, but you can still tell it's video because he doesn't realize that video has a different dynamic that requires different lighting techniques and a different taping mindset.
Enter Robert Rodriguez, who has always done things a little differently, be it editing his first film on a VCR or recording dialogue on a cheap cassette tape.
This film (video) was shot at half the cost of doing it on conventional film, but it doesn't look cheap, like Lucas' efforts with the medium. That's because Rodriguez understands that it's a different format, and you have to approach it in a different manner. There's a lot of experimentation going on with this film, (just as there was with El Mariachi and Desperado....but likely without the lack of sleep associated with worrying whether the experiment worked.)
Rodriguez manages to create a movie that looks just as good as it's big-budget counterparts, with a budget that wouldn't even pay for one of Lucas' bloated, stupid, CGI characters.
The film might not make much sense. It might even be a trainwreck. But it's fun as hell to watch. And you get the feeling that it was probably fun as hell to make.
Snatch (2000)
Brilliance amidst a sea of flotsam.
There have been a small handfull of watchable films in the past twelve months. This is one of them.
Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels) does it again with this tour-de-force heist flick taking cues from Darren Aronofsky and Quentin Tarantino while building off them instead of merely ripping them off.
If Quentin Tarantino had made more than one film in the past seven years (he hasn't) then we may never have even heard of Guy Ritchie. But I'm glad we have. He's one of the most visually inventive filmmakers of the past fifteen years and it's nice to see something original and creative instead of drek like Traffic and Castaway.
Blue City (1997)
The next Scorsese?
That's a bold statement.
It may be bold to even consider someone as having the potential to be the next Martin Scorsese, but if there's someone who does, it is the director of this film.
Brilliant camera work, an absolutely enthralling story, fine acting, and an eerie "blue" quality will make this one of your favorite films. Watch it, then watch it again.
Lily and Jim (1997)
One of the most brilliant short films of our time
This is Don Hertzfeldt's third film, and arguably his best. This 13 minute film has as much heart as Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" with the sadistic edge of "Billy's Balloon," the followup to "Lily and Jim" played at the Spike and Mike Twisted Animation festival this past year.
A brilliant, brilliant film.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Worst episode ever.
This was, quite possibly, the worst film I have ever seen.
We could start with the poor script. Or the bad acting. Or maybe the inorganic special effects.
But I won't waste your time with any of these things. They've been argued to death. I'll just say that this movie was pure and utter garbage.