NIN75 Reviews

City Hunter (1993)

Can they get more stupid than this one?

[9 August 2004]

Oh my god!

I bought 'City Hunter' accidentally in a three DVD pack, also containing the brilliant 'Story of Ricky-Oh'. 'City Hunter' is by far the dumbest movie I ever saw. The 'comedy' in it is so bad, it almost makes you cry. Hence, you don't give a flying f**k about the characters and I really didn't care if one of 'em died or not. The stupid jokes, the bad acting and the absence of a good story take the life out of all the action sequences. One funny scene however: Jackie Chan dressed up as one of the female 'Mortal Kombat' fighters, after he fell through an arcade game and is transformed in almost all of the characters, complete with rapid, repeated moves! Overall, this movie is a bore to sit through! Skip it if you can, bring a lot of popcorn if they make you watch it!

Demonlover (2002)

Didn't love the demon

[5 February 2003]

Demonlover is in many ways an interesting movie. The French critics didn't like it, which is a reason on itself to go to see it (the French tend to praise their own stuff most of the time). So, that's what I did. And it leaves you unsettled just like Cronenberg's Crash. Same industrial 'cool' spaces, same underacted performances (Nielsen is brilliant) and all in all a plot that goes off track near the end. When you leave the theatre, you're not sure whether you've seen a good movie or not. So what is it about? Espionage, 3D Manga porn, control & controlled, torture (physically and mentally) and betrayal. Interesting stuff that keeps you hooked on the screen for the first 1,5 hour, but director Assayas overkills the last half hour by adding unnecessary plot twists, unexplained events and an ending that kinda leads to nowhere. Still, the stunning visuals and the Sonic Youth score make it all worth the visit. Also check out Assayas' Irma Vep.

Alien (1979)

The first will always be the best

[10/10 · 31 January 2003]

In theaters everyone can hear you scream!

Let's cut the crap and admit the first of the Alien series is still the best. While Cameron and Fincher are worthy successors, Scott joined forces with the visionary Swiss surrealist Giger to create a stunning horror-sf flick that still stands today. Just watch it again and it's really extraordinary to find out it's a film from 1979 (just compare it to other 70's films and you know what we're talking about). Cameron just made a good roller coaster, but gone was the suggestive power that made the first one such a terrific thrill. And Fincher lost his way due to horrible production conditions (he wanted to jump from tunnel to tunnel to create an overall vision, but the studio wouldn't let him). Number 4 in the series is just a plain comic, period.

Isn't it great that in Scott's original you only see the Alien for a couple of minutes? He used the same method to scare the audience Jacques Tourneur used in the original Cat People: sound. The Alien literally hisses its way through the film. Only on certain designated moments in the film, Scott lets it all go, which makes the horror even more convincing (the chestbuster scene!). All in all, Alien is pure art, hence the success of Giger's design and the impact it still has on Alien fans worldwide. Hope Scott will make the fifth, maybe he could elaborate on the Alien planet. This was NIN75... last survivor of the Nostromo...