photo-30 Reviews

Persons Unknown (2010)

imaginative, clever, metaphoric

[9/10 · 1 October 2010]

Not sure why so many people were disappointed in and even hated this series. They even blasted the production and writing. The whole point of this story is that there is no end, no exit. It's like life, it just keeps changing with some new and some same people, and different levels of "evolution". There is no way out. We are stuck with who we are and how we work it all out. The writing is concise, to the point, and doesn't get bogged down in misdirection. People answer with immediate understandings, and the action moves quickly. And the photography and, lighting, and camera work is excellent. I know because I'm a professional photographer who has worked on some high end productions. The acting is true and heartfelt. It's a great metaphor for life on so many levels. The resistances to what is, the paranoia, the struggles with questions of doing what it takes, survival, and compassion in the face of distrust. The dynamics are great to watch. There are of course some aspects that are easy to criticize because, hopefully, the conspiracy is contrived and nothing like this could happen. But perhaps on some levels, we actually live in this kind of world. So yes some plot lines are unexplained and far-fetched, but are they really. There is a lot of mystery around all kinds of corporate and govt activity.

Covert One: The Hades Factor (2006)

Ridiculous

[9 September 2007]

Horrible movie. The production values and acting are decent which don't help much to hide the stupid clichéd dialog, the illogical plot, and the ridiculous focusing on faces and looks that are irrelevant and gratuitous. So many red herrings. Danny Huston is all wrong for this role. No credibility here. It's the writing that does him in. Why suspect John Smith. No reason at all. Why would he allow his girl friend to die. More stupidity, and all taken so damn seriously. This movie makes me so mad. It just makes no sense. And that customs guy gets a red flag and lets the lingerie salesman go. No questions, and wouldn't there be a full alert during this time where the slightest suspicion would at least require further investigation? So many unrealistic plot lines. It's like a caricature of a spy movie. A spy running around in spike heels? Come on. Oh look at the bruises on Sophie's body...Oh no that's nothing. Are these people supposed to be pros? And that Russian style spy/gangster with the punk haircut that no one notices? Oh yeah he looks so cool and just blends in. What idiocy. Yeah lets hire an agent that looks like that. That will be real successful. And then he's on the train platform, leans over without checking under the edge. I guess he's not very well trained or just has a death wish. And more and more crap.

The Contract (2006)

Illogical Scenes

[6/10 · 30 July 2007]

I agree with many of the reviews before me about this movie. But what particularly annoyed me was the unclear or almost no MOTIVATION for Ray to be risking his life and that of his son, for a killer. He has no responsibility ethically or morally to put himself in so much danger and especially the danger to his young son. It's just crazy and unrealistic, knowing he was being chased by trained killers. It ruined the movie for me to keep saying to myself Why are you doing this, are you nuts, so obsessed with doing your "duty" I suppose as an ex-cop? Not good enough. And then to add insult to injury, risking his kid's life even further by climbing down a mountain face in the rain with no ropes. Just plain STUPID. And those crazy pilots running out to get killed with no suspicions? Not even real life country cops would be that naive or unprepared, knowing what they were dealing with.

Sweet Land (2005)

What language are they speaking

[10/10 · 16 July 2007]

Yes the film is beautiful and very realistic. Captures some important aspects of the American Midwest, and how we are today, where it started. However I'm curious why nobody noticed that they aren't speaking a real language. My father was Austrian and I grew up with German and visited Germany and spoke German as a child, and that isn't German they're speaking unless it's some weird dialect. But I don't think so since the actors are Anerican. It's really funny, like kids imitating a foreign language. THere are a couple of German words here and there but most of it is gibberish. Very strange but a creative solution. That's another reason there are no subtitles.