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macdiogenes
Reviews
Manhunter (1986)
one of the most effective movies
Manhunter is one of the most effective serialkiller movies of all time. Why? Because like in reality, the serailkillers in the movie (dr Lecktor and the Tooth Fairy) are not Darth Vader-like evil superantagonists for heroes to destroy, but disturbed members of the same society both you and I inhabit. The Tom Noonan-character (the Tooth Fairy) is described like a somewhat nerdy but inteligent oddball, whit a selfchosen distance from regular social life (e.g. he cant find mates in clubs and pubs). There is an abundance of that kind of characters in real life, many of you who read this is like that for sure. If you can relate to a villain, it ceases to be a villain, instead it becomes someone who just as easely could be you or I.
The Lector-character (Brian Cox) is mean and manipulative, but in a childish and attention-demanding way. He is not a someone you would easely enjoy as a friend (not as Hopkins larger-than-life potrayal of the same character in Lambs and Hannibal), a person you would ostracize in the school- or workplace, and therefore a person you can understand why he is as he is (a self projected prophecy, if you like). Also he is someone you are or know, and not at all an alien pariah on all things good. As the antagonists are natural is the hero natural. Will Graham (William Petersen) is not your run-o´-the-mill hero or antihero, he is to competent to be a antihero and to unstable to be a hero. He is driven in his field of work, something that Mann has potrayed over and over in his films (e.g. de Niro and Pacino in Heat, Crowe and Pacino in Insider). His work is his life, but at the same time his greatest adversery, his greatest problem and ultimately it will be his death (but not in this film). Also this is something that isn´t unheard of in life, the pathology of the workaholic makes a great nuanced leading character. All this combined with the visual and audial (wich resembles Dario Argentos use of the two, cp. Suspiria and Terror at the Opera) makes Manhunter one of the most effective serialkiller movies, if not the most effective.
Les mille merveilles de l'univers (1997)
Hard Scifi goes lowtone wierd
This is one of my favourite SciFi-flicks. Its a about the mysterious dissaperance of the 12000 citizens of pleasure-island Sepulveda. Because of the suspision on alien abduction astronomy-professor Larsen (Karyo) is called in to handle the investigation. This movie has the sense-of-wonder element typical for hard scifi litterature and movies (such as 2001) whitout the dryness typical for that genre. It is lowtone wierd, with hypnotic female president of the world, psychadelicsusing general, genderless maniac organdealer, telephacy-cybernetics, a blue guard, swat-team uprisings and more.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
please, only writersblock
Lucas did it twenty years ago. Invented a marvelous mythological place in a galaxy far away. But not so long ago, in a place much nearer he ignored the masses that enjoyed his fantasies so much and gave the children of today a new line of irritating toys. But we, who grew up up with star wars and rented it again and again, talked and adored that universe, we got nothing but the bitter taste of digital dissapointment. Nowhere were the fantastic imagination that flowed so vividly in the classic trilogy to be found in the bland ruin of droids and silly xenomorphs from jamaica, not even a believeble darker-than-life archenemy could be mustered up, only a laughable Jackie Chan-wannabe. And why, why was the starfight so amateurish? Lucas invented the starfight, but now was it even worse than the ones in early Star Trek:TNG episodes. Well, it is the first part in a new trilogy, and maybe Lucas is just rusty in the ways of the interstellar world. Because in the following episodes that cute little boy have to be corrupted and evil, and that will be hard to do in the childishly cheerie mood of episode I.