mr23m78 Reviews

Scrapbook (2000 Video)

What an incredible movie...

[20 July 2003]

Someone needs to hunt Stanze, Haack and Co. down and give them a million dollar budget fast. These guys totally hit the mark in Scrapbook, a refreshing, unrelenting, and claustrophbic journey to the ground zero of one woman's nightmare. This movie pulls no punches in delivering its story, but instead of using cheap gimmicks and irony the filmmakers went the way of sheer unflinching earnestness to tell this story. Excellent performances all around especially from the incredible Emily Haack who play's our misfortunate but resourceful victim slash heroine who must use every instinct she has within herself to survive this freefall into hell. And as the film progresses, you begin to see that this film was created with a sense of logic. *SPOILERS AHEAD* Take for instance, a scene in which Clara tries to escape by busting down a door. After numerous failed attempts to bust down the door, she tries to unlock it from the inside. After she succeeds though, she discovers that Leonard has anticipated this and put a SECOND lock on the door! I mean *SPOILERS AHEAD* yeah, she could have fought back, and she does from time to time. But after being marathon-raped, beaten to a bloody pulp, humiliated, and broken down, would any of you still have the energy or courage to even stand up let alone fight back? This film makes you think about not so much what you THINK you would do, but about what you PROBABLY would do. Hell, our heroine doesn't even SPEAK until the last 30 minutes! That in itself is a true testament to Haack's impressive skills and understanding of the subject material, she uses an incredible amount of restraint to develop her character and to convey a wide array of emotions. Just look at her facial expressions. That says more than what a hundred lines of dialog could ever say. What a realistic and original touch! And its her ultrabelievable performance along with Tommy's incredible wicked genius and Eric's simple yet effective direction that elevates this from some low grade shot on video excercise in cheap shocks to a really engrossing and merciless thriller that will leave you shook for days. This is the Blair Witch of the serial killer genre. This is the new Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Its amazing that are filmmakers out here doing far superior work on a minute fraction of what a hackeyed major studio blockbuster thriller would cost. A 11/10 and a personal favorite.

The Killer (1989)

This is how it should be done...

[10/10 · 20 July 2003]

First off let me just say that this movie is the BEST damn action film EVER EVER EVER made. Anywhere. Period. I mean, yeah, you have your Matrixes and your Equilibriums and your Die Hards and Lethal Weapons. But what makes The Killer superior to every single one and every single actioner made is this-it has a heart and strong characters to back it up. Its not about the killing and the coolness and crap, but about the motivations behind what they do and the realities of who they are and the fates that await them. They are driven by both emotion and a sense of duty to what they have become and what they have to do. They aren't simply "cliches" or "caricatures" as some clueless idiots on this board pointed out. They're human beings. Not simply "bad" or "good". People who critizise The Killer for being to over the top or melodramatic just aren't simply used to having characters with real emotional depth and a story that revolves around more than just a couple of fast shootouts, fancy kung-fu, explosions, car chases, nude stick shaped blondes and coolguy posturing. And after seeing a film like this, it really puts the action film genre into a very stark perspective. Today's so called heroes motivations are hollow and useless cause they lack any real heart, humanity, depth and conviction. Saving the human race from the machines? Stopping some foreign terrorist from blowing up some big city? Pointless. We do not believe these characters are fighting for anything more than the money in our wallets. These characters are what a million John McClaine's, Arnold Schwartzenegger's and Neo's could never be-real. This movie forces you to focus on what is really important and that makes the ending far more tragic and heartwrenching. The ending is SUPPOSED to be an emotional climax where logic and so called "realism" are given way to a truly bombastic show of emotional bonding and the full realization of their destinies. These two men, these two kindred spirits were destined to die, together locked in battle against a society that has lost its sense of loyalty and honour. What Woo and Co. have done is created the most triumphant ode to male bonding, loyalty, and honour ever committed to celluloid. And despite its age, the message within the film is still as strong as ever. Who cares about the slickness of the action scenes? Who cares about the so called lack of "realism"? Understand the message, and not the carnage and you will rewarded with a more than beautiful and soulfully remarkable experience. Otherwise, you just missed the point. A 10/10

Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001)

Classic....

[8 July 2003]

This would be the perfect companion piece for Tetsuo the Iron Man. Sharp, over the top, and rather fierce lil' film that'll have you bugged out all the way till its conclusion. Though its only an hour long, the director packed in so much detail(including a gangster with a finger spinning phone/gun, missing lizard posters, an electric mattress, a supercharged guitar and more), humor and backstory that it seems as if the film is much longer but this certainly isn't a bad thing at all. One hour is more than enough and the filmmakers knew this instead of taking two hours to set everything up. This film is like an electrical surge to the senses. Like watching a car wreck but in slow motion. Hard, pounding music, crazy narration, sharp cinematography and an excellent use of the black, grey, silver, and white color tones only adds to the furious pace of the film. Not to mention some very funny performances by our two leads/challengers- a violence prone, guitar shredding lizard detective(imagine a Japanese Ace Ventura), and an electronic peeping tom/hitman/technogadget geek with split personalites(and half a metal mask). But, what makes these characters very cool- A shared love of electricity and an ability to conduct and harness it to use as they wish. This film is like a slow burn with two very volatile opponents slowly but surely heading on a crash course with each other. A very very very fun, funny and entertaining film. Highly recommended. 10/10

Face/Off (1997)

Woo's best American film to date

[25 June 2003]

and the one film he could never make again on this side of the globe...I've given up hope that Woo could possibly supercede or even match the cred he achieved for his brilliant HK catalog of films in the hollywood system...What really irks me is the fact that it gets bashed by quite alot of people for not being another Bad Boys/Die Hard/Terminator clone...This has to be one of the most exhilarating, stylish and most original action film made in the states so far... Whats most ironic about all this is that while a flick like this gets downplayed, films like the Matrix gets praised for its "originality" when in fact there really isnt anything from that film that hasnt been done before...I can pretty much name every movie that trash borrowed from...Even stranger the fact that it was John Woo who practically invented the whole trench coat/sunglasses/doublefisted/slowmo gun fu yet Face/Off has to suffer because its waaay too over the heads of most of these stupid, mullet headed, blockbuster video sheep....Funny thing, if this film had come out after the Matrix, many would have called it a matrix wannabe..... Simply put, if you havent seen The Killer, Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow 1 and 2 or even A Bullet in the Head and you think MI:2 and Broken Arrow was good, please shut up and go find something else to do cause there's no way you'd ever really be able to appreciate what Woo was trying to do-forget that-what Woo did...The man was practically breaking down the science of what truly makes a great action film...Fools were mad cause this was a clean mature gunplay action flick for grown folks and not some big explosions/car chase/XXX stuntman bullcrap....And for those who said its not believable, is any of the stuff you see in the Matrix and Die Hard believable?...C'mon now!...hell, are the guys that wrote this still working?...I hear 2Fast 2Furious is playing at the local multiplex sheep.

10/10 movie...primo flick...