smithwarrick Reviews

The Brown Bunny (2003)

this film really got to me...

[9/10 · 7 January 2007]

I watched this movie by myself, curtains closed, it was during the day. My wife wasn't interested in watching it. I kind of guessed this wasn't really a "group" film anyway. I had seen Vincent Gallo in a few films before this one, including his flawed but interesting first feature Buffalo 66. I thought of him as an emotional and intense actor, but whose characters he plays can tend to waffle on and on. Especially one he was in with Courtney Cox, I can't remember the name of that one but I didn't like it.

I was in the mood for a slow film that you just sit back and let it just wash over you... and this film did that beautifully.

Vincent Gallo has a real talent for capturing film "moments" and the attractive nature of stillness. In scenes like when he talks to Violet in the gas station, my eyes stayed on his gaze at Violet as he repeated saying "please", his desperation and sadness was totally engaging. His interaction with the woman at the rest stop, unusual but beautiful.

Yeah, those shots of the POV driving went for a long time, but I liked the music so hey!

The film flowed beautifully and engagingly towards its devastating climax, which I agree wouldn't of had as much impact had I known its revelations. I really appreciated the 70's style documentary look in the flashbacks, made the scenes even more heartbreaking. The oral sex scene deepened the emotionally uncomfortable feeling the film gave me, and I think was totally justified in being so graphic in the film. I could really feel for the character of Bud Clay by the films end. Throughout the film you got a sense there was a strong reason for his inability to relate and commit, but the denouncement really made it hit home.

This is going to sound corny, but this is true. After watching the film, I hugged my wife. In a subversive way, this film encouraged me to appreciate more what I had at home.

House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

I like horror movies, but I don't really like this movie, is that OK?

[4/10 · 16 May 2006]

I have to ask because it seems that I'm not a true horror movie fan if I don't like this movie. Thats a load of crap. I have seen all the Nightmare on Elm Streets, Halloweens, Friday The 13ths, Hellraisers, Evil Deads, etc. etc. I like film directors like John Carpenter, Wes Craven, George A. Romero, Eli Roth. I've seen some obscure horror films too, like Blood Beach, The Company Of Wolves and even seen The Last House On the left (even though I didn't like it that much).

Problem I had with this film was it was too sadistic for its own good (the "bunny" killing scene especially made my blood turn cold), the villains antics grew tiresome, and THAT scene where the gun was held on the guy's head was JUST TOO LONG. No matter how stylish it was meant to be, it was just a director letting the scene run for too bloody long!

That said, I didn't totally dislike this movie. I could see that Rob Zombie has an obvious fondness for the horror movie and he set out to create a familiar story with his own sadistic and creative additions. The film was effective at making me wonder if the actors playing the villains were really acting or not, they did seem genuinely disturbed. However, the victims were kind of ho hum.

The production design of the film looked impressive too, with a lot of visual points of references to horror clichés.

Main problem was that I didn't really enjoy watching it, and I grew bored with it in its latter stages. It was shocking (in parts) just for being shocking and was just a film made by an amateur film maker (albeit an obviously enthusiastic one)

Scary Movie 2 (2001)

The worst parody movie ever

[2/10 · 9 April 2006]

OK, the Exorcist send up in the first 10 minutes was amusing. It also made me think that maybe the reviews about this movie were wrong. The oldies dancing to "shake your ass, watch yourself" was fun to watch, as was Natasha Lyonne's deadpan response to their antics. James Woods is always entertaining to watch in any genre and his performance here didn't disappoint.

But what the hell happened after that? Director Keenen Ivory Wayans sense of whats funny from the 1st film seemed to elude him here. The jokes just fell flat and flat after that, the acting was terrible and often stupefying to watch. The rest of the film just felt like a waste of time. And that f****** parrot was really annoying!

Scary movie 1 and 3 were both enjoyable, and no. 4 does look promising, but I recommend skipping this one in the series, you'll be glad you did.

Midnight Run (1988)

This is my favorite movie.

[10/10 · 2 April 2006]

The chemistry between the characters, the escalating inventiveness of the plot and story, funny one-liners, characters that you care about in an action movie, action that keeps coming at you but is never explicitly violent... all things that escalates the already enjoyable genre of the road movie into this masterpiece.

Its a shame that Robert Deniro and Charles Grodin have never been paired together on screen since because the way their characters bounce off each other is terrific. It would of been interesting to see them paired in another type of movie.

There's many good scenes, but my favorite is the one in Reds Bar. Charles Grodin steals the show in that scene at his deadpan best. Its hard to think when Robert Deniro has played a character so three dimensional yet easily likable and entertaining as well.

I would recommend this movie to anyone.

Natural Born Killers (1994)

My worst movie. A repellent and unfocused mess

[1/10 · 29 March 2006]

What I thought about while watching this movie was how very ugly it is. In many ways.

Yes, some could argue that Oliver Stone is portraying the graphic violence here as making the viewer think "hmm, Stone is testing me here. I'm enjoying watching this violence, but I shouldn't" But for me, I hated these repellent characters. What they did, how they acted.

There has to be some moments of humanity or grit in a violent movie about serial killing, or you just get stereotypes and a totally unpleasant movie experience. I hated how the characters didn't even die at the end. They got away with it!

Now, I don't mind films that break away from the conventional. I understand there doesn't have to be a "nice" character in a serial killer film, but there should be some shades of gray. I think of John McNaughtons "Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer" as an excellent example of a serial killer film which had no "good guys' in it, no happy ending. It just played out as a grim urban horror tale. WITH REALISTIC CHARACTERS. It was very uncomfortable to watch, but fascinating all the same.

Natural Born Killers did not interest me at all. Just made my blood turn cold.

Date Movie (2006)

not THE worst, but bloody close

[3/10 · 13 March 2006]

This film has caused up quite a stir on this website. Worst parody, embarrassing, JUST NOT FUNNY! Yes, all true! But its not the worst parody movie ever, i think that gong goes to Scary Movie 2. that was a deplorable awful mess of a turkey, and I even liked the Exorcist send up at the start. The rest was too rotten for words. I guess many have erased that film from their minds.

I think Date Movie does have some amusing moments. I didn't feel the Napoleon Dynamite send up was dated, I chuckled along with that one. The nod to Mr and Mrs Smith raised a genuine smile or 2 and I think the 2 actors acting in THAT scene was effective. Allyson Hannigan is likable, but you couldn't help but feeling sorry for her in most of this movie. And Eddie Griffin has some talent with comic roles, although no one could save that awfully stupid hairball out of the mouth scene.

But I agree, this film mostly just took already good scenes from other movies and took those jokes too far, to embarrassing awkward extremely unfunny levels. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And the pacing and flow of the film was all over the place. Oh yeah, and wasn't it just hilarious the cameo from Lil John, the guy knows how to turn on the wit and charm, for sure! I too can like stupid humor, but there is a difference between a funny film about idiotic situations and an idiotic film. I hope the film makers learn from this.