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finlayeasson
Reviews
Halloween (2007)
Halloween (2007)
Where is there even to begin in this film?
What can you say about a film which completely mutilates a masterpiece of horror and suspense?
1 - The film lacks any real type of suspense or pacing. What Zombie thinks is frightening is instead brutal violence, rather than a sense of ever-growing danger and terror. Literally, the pacing of this film is: murder, brief scene of character, murder, brief scene of character, and etc.
2 - Completely unnecessary gore and sexual content. In relation to this, the film merely ups the violence level and does not add anything of contribution to what has came before. A rape scene halfway through the film is absolutely vile, brutal and repulsive in its sheer brutality. There is no reason at all for it to be included in the film.
3 - Lack of interesting characters. In Carpenter's original, the characters were likeable and, while perhaps questionable in their characterisation, were not just dispensable. No character here has any notable character traits and is merely there to be killed.
But most of all:
4 - Zombie misses the entire point of the original in his attempt to reimagine it. By explaining Michael Myers' backstory and the reason as to why he began his murder spree, any sense of mystery has been taken away and therefore makes the character less frightening. In Carpenter's original, Michael is The Shape. A force of unstoppable evil who has no real motive for the crimes he commits. He doesn't have to because he is not really human. He is evil personified. Any attempts to make the audience sympathise with Michael are ridiculous, which makes one wonder why Zombie would attempt this to begin with. Couple this with the baffling decision to still make Michael invisible and unkillable despite it being established that he is just a man and you have merely a pointless film.
Do NOT see this film
Boyhood (2014)
A vastly overrated film
Critics seem to have been completely won over by this film and, frankly, that dumfounds me. It's pretty clear that the reason can be boiled down to it's interesting but gimmicky concept: it's filmed over 12 years. The focus of every single piece on this film since it was released. I'm yet to see a single review that does not mention this. It's apparently the only thing that they have to say about it.
For me, if a film utilises a gimmick, the rest of the film must be at the same level and elevate beyond that one factor. Boyhood does not. I'm not saying that the film is without its merits. Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke are great as Mason's parents and it is interesting to witness the passing of time and pop culture as the years go by.
BUT
These are perhaps the only positive things I can say about the film. It comes across as merely a fragmented and loose series of snippets which we are expected to just come together but they don't. It is dreadfully overlong, which would not be a problem if the film had content to fill the running time with. Each scene seems to be building towards something and then doesn't deliver, and what is meant to come across as genuinely heartfelt moments from childhood come across as melodramatic and soap-opera in delivery. Boyhood is simply surprisingly lacking in interesting content. Linklater tries to address the 'bigger questions' that a boy growing into a man would go through, but it comes across as high school level philosophical drivel. I enjoy his other work, especially the Sunrise trilogy, but the fact that this is now seen as his masterpiece is a real shame.
Most importantly of all, the film gives us no reason to follow this main character, especially for three hours. Mason, as portrayed by Ellar Coltrane, is simply not at all interesting, merely acting as a vessel to witness the events of the film rather than being a fully fleshed out character. I'm well aware that the film is meant to portray the ordinary which isn't my criticism, but it is possible to portray the ordinary in an interesting way without coming across as flat and boring.
The fact that Boyhood has 100 percent on Metacritic is beyond me. It's quite possibly the most overrated film of the past few decades. I went into the cinema expecting a truly emotional, life affirming experience but came out feeling unfulfilled. I really do not understand the ecstatic reviews of this pretentious, dull film.
Breaking Bad: Ozymandias (2013)
The Greatest Episode of the Greatest TV Show of all Time
This is the one. The episode that anyone who stuck with the lives of these characters had been waiting for. It could be said that Breaking Bad could have ended here: a torturous, dark and dread-filled hour of television. This is truly the culmination of five seasons of riveting drama.
All the pieces fall into place here. The consequences of Walter White's journey are laid bare: his family is torn about, Hank is killed, Jesse is taken hostage and his empire is tarnished. What is left is a broken shell of a man, leaving behind his Heisenberg persona and going on the run.
Rian Johnson (now of Star Wars: the Last Jedi fame) has crafted a beautifully horrific and cinematic work here: every shot is perfect and fitting, every decision, every piece of music. His cinematography perfectly encapsulates the horror and angst of the characters that we know and love or fear. The writing is tight and woundly crafted: each motivation, each character's action is perfectly clear yet complex.
Does anything need to be said about the performances? Dean Norris has never been better in the last minutes he has on-screen: accepting the inevitable but staying the morally upstanding cop that he is. Aaron Paul is at his most despairing as he finds out the true nature of Jane's death. Anna Gunn is perfect as she finally stands up to the man she once knew as her husband, at once horrified and eventually grateful at Walt letting her off the hook. And finally...
Walter White. The greatest character in TV history. This is his low point, the fall of his kingdom. Only Bryan Cranston could have ever played this character. There are truly no words to describe his performance. Every nuance, every delivery is perfect. Displaying such control over his voice and facial expressions, Cranston conveys such complexity of emotion that few could imagine was able to be acted. The climactic phone call, in which Walt must put on his Heisenberg persona in order to prove Skyler as innocent, is outstanding and perhaps his best moment in the show, other than the Crawl Space climax. Jumping between true deep loathing to devastation to regret, Cranston proves that he is one of the greatest actors in a long time. He is Walter White.
Every scene is perfect. Hank's death. "I watched Jane die". Telling Jr the truth. The knife fight. The kidnapping of Holly. The phone call.
This cannot be topped surely.
This is the episode that proved that Breaking Bad is perhaps the greatest tv show in history. Thank you Vince Gilligan. You did it.