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Reviews
Cool World (1992)
A pretty great movie, that for some reason everyone hates?
I gave this film an 8 out of 10. I wanted to give it a 7, and during certain parts of the film, it barely deserves a 3.
The good:
A lot of the animation in this film is disgusting. It's gross, it makes your skin crawl. It's deprived, and terrifying. This is what would happen if you took a lot of psychedelic mushrooms in Sin City. The style of many parts of this animation comes straight from the words of my fantasy version of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing. And the whole thing is driven entirely by lustful sinful sex with cartoon characters. It's cheap, disgusting, and self centred, and sexy, with just a touch of class and a dash of jazz.
The bad:
The story is okay. I really didn't care for the second half of the film which focuses on 'doodles' being in our world. It was kinda good, a bit trashy, didn't really work.. But it depends how you view cinema in general, some people wouldn't notice it at all to be a problem, me - I've got high standards. Also I thought that Kim Basinger didn't do the best job playing Holi Would. She's the most promoted name in the film, but I thought her delivery of the role lacked the subtle elegance that cartoon Holi had. It was this very elegance that really made her character - if I had to give her a back story, I'd say she was the unloved daughter of a crime boss who ran away, finding only a home with those truly lost in life, becoming heavily involved in the crime scene herself, though not a criminal. Using her good looks and, what is very, very deep down, an innocent soul to guide her, and keep her with the respect of her peers.
This film is great. Pretty awful in some parts, but it's redeeming qualities are out of this world, and have my full respect. All in all, and perhaps most importantly, it's unique. There is no other film I've seen, or could ever imagine, to be quite like this (this includes Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, which is basically this films parallel, but lacks 100% of the darkness, and sheer depravity this film brings formed). Love it or hate it, it's got balls, and at least should have some level of respect shown to it for that.
Utopia (2013)
Easily one of the best written and made shows I've ever seen
There's so much a person could say about Utopia. Dark, hilarious, scary, real, provocative and ambiguous, morally uncertain.
Without giving too much away, in probably the most brutal way, it is the story of corruption, pain, suffering, and the end of everything we have ever known, the beginning of the next evolution of mankind. Is it right? Is it just? Is it okay for potentially billions of people to lose everything they want? I guess you'll have to watch and find out.
If you were to watch it, I can humbly promise some of the most intelligently written television you're likely to see. Beautifully directed, everything relates to everything, every action, every word, has been masterfully written towards the overall, overlying plot.
Channel Four must have put some serious money into making this, that or accidentally employed some very talented up and coming new production crew. At the time, they advertised it hugely, but it didn't seem to attract all that much attention. Much like many HBO programs, often the first episode or two isn't enough to draw you in. By the third or fourth, you'll be hooked, by the fifth or sixth, you won't be able to stop watching! Sadly there's only 12 in total, but it's worth every second. When it begins to draw to an end, you'll feel a sour sense of dread.
This show is dark, and not for the faint of heart, or the squeamish. It will ask unanswerable, moral and philosophical questions, ones so deep that no human should ever have to answer.
I hope you do watch this series, as it genuinely deserves as much attention as it can get.
:)
Also, excellent soundtrack too, fits absolutely perfectly. Kinda like Aphex Twin, but with slightly more influence from the mainstream electronic scene at the time - which I don't usually care much for, but it's so subtle and well used that it doesn't matter. Really very fantastic, if you like that stuff.
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Probably not the best film ever made, but probably my favourite
My love for this film began for me aged 15 or so, when I chanced upon it showing on television. At the time I didn't really get it, instead I saw it at it's face value, an extremely stylish, extremely violent action movie that had strayed away from the mainstream, replacing blockbuster explosions with artistic merit. I always preferred this type of film, doing something almost entirely different. To this day, it's films like this that put other pictures to shame, done on a fraction of the budget, and built on passion from the entire team.
Since then I've watched it, usually around twice a year. It's always a treat, and I always learn something new. Having recently seen Platoon, as well as an interview with Oliver Stone regarding this film just before my bi-annual viewing, I was able to see this film in a whole new light again. We can see how twisted the media has made this film clearly, but if we Look Closer, we can see just how twisted the guy is who made it. I don't mean twisted in a bad way of course. We can see Stone's whole philosophy towards life in this movie, it's chaotic and a little bit anarchic, but it isn't trying to suggest the worst in 'killers', only the insignificance of murder in the general scheme of things. I think going to war for Stone changed him completely, I don't know what he was like before, but his philosophy is more true to life than people want to accept. - One of the deleted scenes, the courtroom scene, we witness a woman who would swear in front of a court of law, her friends and her family, that Mickey Knox wasn't human, was incapable of being human, that somehow he was not of this earth, only in an attempt to protect her own lie about the events that had occurred during the murder of her husband.
If she would look a fool out of herself to protect her little lie, then how much of a fool are we all looking by protecting our lies to ourselves, around the destructive nature of the world, of ourselves, of all the life we have killed. If you're to place a value on life, then it shouldn't matter whether it's intelligent or not. Mickey Knox claims to have 'evolved', I don't believe that, I believe he 'revolved', or devolved into an evolved state.
It may sound like I'm babbling nonsense here, but I really believe the deeper message of this film is to basically get real about the nature of humanity and to remind ourselves that intelligence doesn't equal a right to live.
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)
Definitely worth a watch!
I didn't know what to expect when watching this, I read the two sentences of info at the top of the IMDb page and thought 'meh, why not'.
Turns out it's actually a great little film! A lot of people have described it as Shaun of the Dead meets Doctor Who, which I'd say is quite accurate, possibly with a little touch of Memento added (In a good way), but if you haven't seen it don't assume it to be exactly that. I found this film creative in a way that a lot of films lack, it's constantly going in a different direction, and skillfully giving you plenty to keep you guessing, but not enough to make it obvious as to what's going on. There are few films that actually draw me into the plot enough to actually make me want to guess how the film will end, which I think is part of what makes this film special.
I doubt this film will ever go down in history as a work of notable artistic merit, because personally I wouldn't say it deserves that title, however if you want to watch a lighthearted film that's got a great plot, you'll love this. The kind of film you'd recommend your mates when it pops into your head down the pub, sort of like I'm recommending it to you now :)
Weekender (2011)
Much better than the rating gives credit
I've just finished watching this film, and it greatly surpassed my expectations that previous reviews/ratings had given.
The film is essentially about a group of mates who decide to host a warehouse rave in the early 90's, realise that they made easy money from partying so continue with it. For a while all goes well until eventually it all gets a bit much for them as fights over drug dealing begin to escalate, with the stress of the situation eventually tearing the characters apart.
All in all this film is entertaining to watch, and if you have knowledge of the scene you'll easily be reminded of some of the best times of your life. As well as entertaining some of the characters were fantastic, I won't go into detail, but you really can't help but hate the antagonist, especially as we've all had experiences with people like that, thinking they're better than other people and forgetting what made the party great in the first place.
This film isn't perfect, but definitely worth watching if you enjoyed Human Traffic, although it is noticeably darker
Breaking Bad (2008)
A decent TV show, not worthy of all the hype 7.3/10
As a series in itself, Breaking Bad is both entertaining and well made, and while a little slow at times if you can make it through the 'action' makes up for it, usually towards the end of each series. Though I'll go into a little detail about this later.
I think one of the largest letdowns of this series is the hype it gets. Saying that 'This is the best show made on Television ever', as it seems so many people do just highlights the fact that they are a little naive to better programs, or that they're used to watching lower quality 'junk TV' such as CSI and the likes. Because of this comparing Breaking Bad with other dramas considered to be on similar levels; The Wire, Twin Peaks, Game Of Thrones and of course Six Feet Under will really just disappoint you a little - at least it did for me.
Content wise there's a lot going for it. The concept is great and I love being able to watch his drug empire grow from scratch throughout the series. The action scenes are very entertaining (if you like action scenes) and it looks like no expense has been spared during these sequences. Overall the plot is good and well structured and easy to keep track of even if you zone out a little. For the most part the acting is to a great standard, and Bryan Cranston (Hal :P ) being probably the perfect man for the job.
However:
Unfortunately the series isn't perfect, and there are quite a few things that annoyed me during the program. Probably the biggest one was the sickly sweet happy family vibe with the disabled son and the typical wife. I'm not American but I like to think that they don't fit the stereotype. I also found both the character development and script quite flawed throughout and I don't think I'm alone in this. Most of the characters aren't really likable, or dislikable, they're just filler for the few more interesting characters such as Walt, Jesse, Gus etc. and this is what really lets the show down (for me at least). It's like they had a budget, spent it all on visuals and then didn't bother employing scriptwriters of any notable worth.
I'd like to add that although I found the character development flawed and a little shallow, that doesn't mean I don't think they tried. Throughout we see Walt become less and less of his old self and this is very noticeable, but again I think the scriptwriters let this down and they didn't take this as far or as deep as it could have been. - Character development of good note however was between Jesse and Mike towards the end as Mike began to take Jesse under his wing :)
however this is sadly let down by other characters, my least favourite of which being the woman who has 'contacts in Europe'. She lacks any sense of realism at all, I mean I'm sorry but you don't get into the high quantity international methamphetamine trade when you firstly meet in a public location to talk business, and secondly are very timid and easily shaken. There are a fair amount more characters like this in the show and they really prevent you from being drawn in.
I find the entire show also lacks character, it's very typical American high octane car chases in big black SUV's and the directing lacks any artistic merit, giving it the look and feel of so many other shows out there, and while it does try its best to be messed up and show the dark side of it all, really it fails massively.
There's more I could say but really it's pointless. Essentially nothing in this program is bad by any means, it's not realistic at all but that doesn't matter because it is still entertaining. If you don't take television or film too seriously then you'll probably love it, it's on the same level as Dexter or House, but just don't think of it as this revolutionary groundbreaking television achievement because it's not, and the hype will probably die down massively when Game of Thrones starts again and everyone goes back to being obsessed with that (granted I think with better reason). :)