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warjamy
Reviews
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Good visuals, predictable narrative, unconvincing acting
I read The Hobbit many years ago (well before the Lord if the Rings, the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, etc) but I had a somewhat different picture in my mind as to what a movie adaptation would be like. Yes, Tolkien had re-written it to fit it to his Middle-Earth mythology but I had the impression The Hobbit was mainly a nice and sometimes funny kids story.
This movie is not and I don't think I would bring my kids to watch it. It is Lord of Rings in high frame rate and 3D packed with more actions scenes and violence. And I think that it is a very weak point. While I do enjoy 3D, and the HFR was not a problem to me (my wife got a headache ...), I think that the movie narrative has borrowed way too much from LOTR #1. It felt like Peter Jackson picked the LOTR1 storyboard and force-fitted The Hobbit story into it.
And to be honest, I don't see the point of making 3 long movies out of this story. A single movie, even 3 hours long, would have been enough.
But, being a fan of Tolkien, I still enjoyed most of it except for the extra bits that are not part of the book. I also had the weird impression like the LOTR actors who played in The Hobbit felt like they had to dust off and wear old clothes/ costumes / whigs that hey had happily gotten rid of 10 years ago ... just my impression but I did not find them very convincing. The world has moved on since LOTR and The Hobbit felt too much like a rehash of an old recipe the taste of which is no longer so fancy ...
Lost Highway (1997)
Cool movie
I saw it back then in the late 90's. I liked it right away because I enjoy bizarre movies, unexplained stuff, etc. And Lynch's imagery i usually quite cool (I like some other stuff he made).
I saw it a few times after, and got to appreciate some details. For example, during the night when Fred kills his wife, just before it happens, he roams in his house like he's looking for someone or something. There's this weird atmosphere, very gloomy and surreal. Something's got to happen! At some point we only see his shadow moving across his living-room. And right then, another shadow is following his ... I presume this was the Mystery Man's. I had not caught that the first time :)
Anyway, I read some of the haters' reviews. To each his own. Even though some aspects of the story are irrational or even supernatural, there is some logic to it: Fred learns that his wife is unfaithful and has an affair with Dick Laurent. Since he is insane, he kills his wife. But he wants to kick Laurent's butt as well for screwing his wife. So when on the death row, he morphs into Pete who happens to have direct contacts with Laurent. When the conditions are gathered, Fred is back to his own self and kills Laurent. He informs his past self that the job is done and the whole circle is closed. He can finally freak out while driving on the highway, trying to escape the cops. The logic is rather circular and simple :) But that's just how I see it.
Paranormal Activity (2007)
paranormal activity yields all too normal boredom
the title says it all.
I did not know anything about the movie, just saw the title by chance and was curious to see it. My girlfriend fell asleep after 20mn. I felt like throwing up at times due to the camera handling.
Many things did not work in this movie but I'll spare describing all this in details. Only, when the demon - or whatever it is - finally kicks some ass in the end, I was really relieved: this joke of a couple was so damn irritating, they deserved the spook. In fact, I thought this demon was a bit of a pussy. It took this thing quite a few nights before the final act (nothing paranormal about the conclusion though: demon bad so demon kills, basta). I mean, why is this stuff so slow to show off its badness ? just an excuse to make this film last 1h40 instead of 5mn.
The Children (2008)
bad luck ...
My girlfriend and I wanted to see The Dark Harbour (Futoko, directed by Naito Takatsugu) at the Copenhagen Film Festival. But instead, since the movie was stuck somewhere in Paris (was shipped from Argentina to Denmark), the festival organizers decided to replace it by The Children. We did not know what this was about so we tried our luck. Wow! what a lame movie that was ... I don't know, maybe our karma got rotten and that was the consequence of it, I cannot explain what happened, but all I know is that we got immensely bored, I mean, really, some middle-class morons being killed by their own kids due to some screwed up bacteria caught from the filthy woods near the house ? you gotta be kidding me, what a lame plot. Shallow characters, obvious effects, no depth whatsoever, nothing. The only element I found enjoyable is how family members can turn ugly to each other, or how the teen was hitting on her uncle (or vice-versa ? ;) The rest is useless wasted celluloid, money, time, whatever. All you feel like throughout the movie is spanking the kids AND the grown-ups big time. What a relief when this happens in some scenes :lol: !!
Silent Hill (2006)
good visuals, not so good acting, weak story line
The title says it all : - the "spooky" moments (when darkness falls) are sort of cool visually but not creepy (to my mind). I never played the game but I suppose some of the gory stuff shows in the game (like bloody characters - or parts of them - hanging from barbwire and stuff, the big demon itself with its funny box hiding its head, and its huge sword are typical of a video game). The small distorted creatures are quite nightmarish. The change of reality is also successful I think. Also, when Rose is going down the pit to face the source of evil, I could definitely feel video gaming there. The screwed up nurses were a bit funny (but not spooky) ...
BUT ...
I completely lost interest when the church business started. Again, we have the same old (and annoyingly flat) ingredients : - religious fanatics, - f...ed-up kid that develops hatred - and worst of all : explanations!!! why on earth is the dark side of the girl explaining the whole root cause ???
Another source of annoyance : acting. Pretty bad I think. The dialogs were a bit lame at times. Ex :
- Cybil, after her first darkness : "what the f... was that ?"
- Rose, replying : "It's gonna be fine, don't worry".
How lame can that be!!!
The character Chris is just optional, or not very useful at the least ...
I grade it 4/10 for the visuals, real effort here to a create nightmarish and disturbing atmosphere.