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Reviews
DMTSoup (2014)
Great Job . Well done indie film. Not about real DMT experiences, fyi.
I was hoping for a film that was going to depict a realistic DMT experience and somehow weave that into the fictional plot described in the plot summary here on IMDb. Unfortunately that is not the case. So, DMT advocates such as myself will have to look elsewhere in that regard. That being said, the production values are damn good for a low budget film with what I assume was a limited crew and resources. I 100% concur with the review from David-Da-Balm and suggest that you watch this film if you have gotten this far in reading reviews of it. The highly critical review is way off base. Obviously this is not a Hollywood film and cannot be judged as such. I have watched plenty of small budget indie films and this is certainly one of the good ones. Cinematography, editing, storyline, and especially the background soundtrack and audio are all superb. The shots are all well chosen and the cuts are all smart and done well. The first stoner scene was also a great depiction of a weed smokeout session if not a DMT session. The two main actors have really good screen presence and are quite likable. Overall the film has a really polished look for what it is. Tom Foolery and Chris Budz, you have my vote of confidence and I will be looking for more from you guys in the future. SPOILER - I will say that I was not thrilled with the ending for purely personal reasons. Theatrically it was fine, but I am a huge advocate of DMT use and find it to be one of the most life affirming uplifting experiences one can ever have. Yes it can be scary, but it is almost always a positive and beneficial experience. The ending definitely belies this fact and does not promote the use of this substance as I would have liked it to do. Still I think the film is worthwhile for those with alternative tastes. Do not let this film dissuade you from trying real DMT.
This Is Jinsy (2010)
Sing! Sing! Sing!
Now it's time for Sandy's Choice, A talent competition, judged by a dog. Marriage lottery. Daily greet. Praise be the Great He. Textile messaging. Punishment roundup with mild electrical charge. It's cold and it's wet and it looks just like an onion. New prickly carpet tiles - bringing uncomfortable flooring to places where cattle comfort isn't a necessity. It's Wilter! Time for birdcrunch and magipants! I made a cake of your face, it didn't take me long to bake, raisins for your eyeballs, icing on your pimples. Face cake! Face cake! Face cake! Need I say more? Just watch the bleeping show. It's good for you. Captain Beefheart meets Monty Python.
Mystery Road (2013)
Blah Blah Blah
Maybe you have to be from Australia to like this film or maybe you just have to be stupid and have no taste. A complete lack of interest is what best describes this movie - an uninteresting story, uninteresting dialogue, uninteresting characters, uninteresting setting, uninteresting cinematography, uninteresting direction, uninteresting background music. I guess you know how I feel by now. Here is my plot summary without any spoilers. Stand by a car and talk. Drive, stand by a house and talk. Drive, stand by a fence and talk. Drive, stand by a car and talk. Drive, stand by a pile of rocks and talk, shoot, roll credits. All of this interspersed with the main character repeatedly staring with a dumb look on his face. I don't know why they bothered making a film at all when an audio book would have sufficed as a cure for insomnia just as well. Do not lose any sleep over missing this one. No need to "see for yourself" here.
Her (2013)
Important film for the 21st Century
I reserve the right to add a tenth star after I watch this again. This film hits on so many points and levels. Far and away Joaquin Phoenix's best work ever. And, yet another serious and thoughtful, yet still fun, funny and positive work from Spike Jonze. This film has both substance and style in abundance. I concur with most every other positive comment made by other reviewers. The treatment of a near future society was done so intelligently with just the right touch of humor and farce, yet with enough realism to make one's reflections and comparisons to current day existence both accessible and thoroughly satisfying and enjoyable. I also absolutely loved the clothing and wardrobe selections made for the characters and the entire color palette for the film in general.
Great film for kids of all ages to watch both with or without their parents as well. A film you can watch and just enjoy the story or one that can spur hours and hours of conversation and analysis on all aspects of the human condition as we hurdle toward the unavoidable transhumanist future that awaits us. I cannot think of a better movie I have seen out of the 2013 releases. Do not miss this film.
Heretic (2012)
Awful but not bloody
ALL of the good reviews must have been written by cast and crew although they really should distance themselves from this poor attempt at feature film making. Complete waste of time. Classify this as a boring Christian drama rather than a horror genre film. Horror? Really? I concur with another reviewer that this could have been a passable short if done as a film school project, but as a feature film it fails in every way, completely. And, a shout out to the shill reviewers: Why would you even bother hyping this the way you do? Why not just say that this was, in your opinion, a great effort by up and coming film makers to put together a professional quality film on a shoestring budget. I might not agree, but at least there could be some truth to your review. By attempting to hype this bore-fest as anything more than that you do a disservice to both the viewer and the film makers. Overall, a lousy uncompelling story to start with.
Ha-Trempist (1972)
Watch this film! Other reviews miss the point!
I am dumbfounded by the wholesale inability of any of the other 21 user and critic reviewers to comprehend the message of this heavy handed & straight forward allegorical film. Do yourself a favor and just watch the film. Do not read any of the other reviews before doing so as they all miss the main points in a big way. Don't even read the rest of this review until after you watch the film. Okay, I'll assume the reader is back now after watching the film, or has disregarded my warnings and has read at least some of the other reviews and has a basic knowledge of the plot. Let me clear up a few of the misconceptions you may now have. This is an anti-war, pro-hippie anti-establishment movie. The ultimate descent into barbarism in the end is not the condemnation of the hippie ethic that other simple minded reviewers seem to believe it is. It is also not a statement of apocalypse or that we are all doomed to misunderstand and fight each other in the end. It is simply an examination of the the human condition and our predisposition to return to our primitive nature in the face of resource scarcity, communication difficulties, and deliberate pressures put upon us by those who seek to profit from our misery. The artificial sharks are not simply the worst fake shark props ever made. The "mimes" are not just characters to drive the plot. The sharks and the mimes are the same characters. They are both the symbolic representations of "the man", the establishment, the militarized powers that be. They are the proximate cause of the descent into barbarism on the island. If not for the presence of the sharks, the four would not be squeezed into the resource limited confines of the island. They would have access to the car, their source of freedom and access to a means of survival. The sharks were deliberately conceived to be surreal so that the viewer would immediately recognized them as simply a new incarnation of the mimes. The language barrier combined with resource scarcity leads to a complete breakdown. It simply demonstrates that under difficult conditions of high stress which can arise quickly even the most kind and good natured individuals with the best of intentions can be pushed to the basest levels of human behavior. I think that it is incorrect to interpret this as a flaw in the hippie ethic. It is merely a revelation that an inability to communicate and cultural barriers are human foibles that can destroy even the most high minded ideals. In the end, it is the final scene, not addressed by a single other reviewer that truly tells the tale regarding the message intended by this film. The two mimes, with smug smiles on their faces get into the car and prepare to drive away in the stolen automobile of their victims, satisfied in accomplishing their work of turning loving caring beings into a pile of bloodied slaughtered lambs. In the final shot of the island Mike even grabs the dead lamb and pulls it onto the pile of their bodies making them as one sacrificial mass. This movie is symbolic and allegorical, but come on people, it is not nearly as hard to understand as every review I have read makes it out to be. It is not disjointed, contradictory or unclear in the nature of its message. It is "the man" who is the enemy as embodied by the mime/sharks, and we should all Beware The Mimes! This is a fun movie. It is funny, dorky, freaky, surreal, goofy, with good music, beautiful scenery, a message, artistic intent, a sense of humor in general and about itself as well. Neither the characters, the actors, nor the director take themselves too seriously. There is a definite impression that they had a great time making this movie and meant to inject a bit of over the top campiness into it. It is not the greatest movie of all time, but it is definitely worth a watch and is definitely a period piece that was worth the restoration and reissue done by Grindhouse. If you try to enjoy this movie on it's face, without an interest in trying to understand it's message, I think you will be disappointed and perhaps walk away with only a mild and mistaken appreciation of it as a B movie cult novelty at best. This movie can be much more than that to one who views it as a light-hearted, zany, counter-culture alternative look at both the beauty and frailties of the human condition and as an explanatory tale which cautions against falling prey to the powers that be who seek to divide and conquer in their pursuit of power and profit.
Woyzeck (1979)
Herzog + Klinski = Reason to learn German
I will not be doing so, but neither subtitles nor a literal understanding of the German language is necessary to appreciate this great "little" movie. As in his documentaries, Herzog displays an uncanny ability to transport the viewer into a setting in a way that conveys the often surreal experience one finds in real life itself without any artifice of production or staging. The use of music in a conspicuously sparing yet powerful and constructive way as a tool to drive both plot and emotion is a classic hallmark of Herzog's work that other directors would do well to employ instead of the modern tendency to add a complete musical background or pop music product placement throughout a film. Klaus Kinski's performance is nothing short of brilliant. His facial & bodily expression in this film could by itself be the material for an entire master class in acting. Every other character could have been substituted with stand-up cardboard cut-outs and their dialogue read by a narrator and Kinski would have made the film just as compelling. This is not a criticism in any way of the other acting performances in this film. It is simply a way of stating that Kinski's performance could have carried this as a one man show. I have read all of the other reviews and choose not to delve into plot or theme analysis other than to say that the film poses many of the basic existential questions regarding humanity. It is a film worth watching more than once, and is not one to be figured out or explained so much as to be used as a launching point for a discussion on the human condition as a whole. An absolute must watch for a serious film lover. All teenage and secondary school thespians should view this work.
Devoured (2012)
Snoozefest-director's mother loves it!
As a "true" horror fan, this one is so damn, very, very, bloody, bloody awful. I found it difficult(impossible) not to fall asleep(3 times, literally) watching this one. The other reviewers are being extremely generous. The camera man and post production people did a good job, I'll say that much. Perhaps, I might rate higher if this had been a fifteen or twenty minute short movie instead of a ninety minute self-absorbed directorial masturbation. I guess it was good for you Mr. Oliver, now will someone finally give me my reach around. I did enjoy your earlier work Lemmy very much, but not enough to forgive you fully for wasting my time here. Think about sticking to documentaries, or maybe getting Wes's help with all your films. This is the type of movie that gives "New York film school style" flicks a bad name. I'm one who loves "New York film school style", but only when done intelligently by those with New York sensibilities, whether born there or not. If I were the professor of a film making class at a university in Texas, and the assignment was to make one of dem stuck up artsy-fartsy hi falootin' movies, I might give this one a better grade than I did here. After reading another reviewer's comments, I would also like to add that I am an enormous fan of Argento's work and this movie has absolutely nothing of the class of any of his works. To make such a comparison is to compare the work of a competent food porn photographer to the work of Manray.