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3/10
Major Disappointment
5 March 2005
RESIDENT EVIL was an engrossing, intelligent thriller with a solid story and likable characters. Lots of twists and turns, with the story constantly taking you to unexpected places and some really dynamic and original special efx. Much more than I ever expected from a movie based on a video game.

R.E. APOCALYPSE is an exercise in style over substance. More proof that digital editing plus digital efx equal digitized boredom. I watched this with two friends, and twenty minutes into it we all concluded that it was a huge pointless waste of time.

Horror films are not expected to be Shakespearean drama at its best, but you should care about the characters enough to get sucked into their journey and enjoy a vicarious, and hopefully cathartic, experience for your money.

This movie was EMPTY. Soulless. The action scenes were a mess of crappy swoosh pans. There was not one drop of genuine suspense or danger. Zero character development, except for the embarrassingly racist "Uncle Buckwheat" character who proclaims (with anachronistic glee) at one point, "I usually drive a Cadillac."

Rarely have I been so fully and painfully aware of wasting precious minutes of my life as when sitting through this snoozefest, hopefully waiting for it to show some semblance of intelligent story development. Instead I got lame snatches of "Dawn of the Dead", "Mortal Kombat" (right down to Lara Croft's costume, weaponry and personal style), "Robocop", and other movies and comic book imagery.

The visual efx were flashy and impressive. Sadly, the only thing they conveyed was how much money must have been wasted on this garbage. I can only hope that the lovely and talented Ms. Jovovich banked some serious scratch for whoring herself in this turkey.

The only positive which came from watching this movie is that we all agreed to take note of who wrote and directed it, to studiously avoid their efforts in the future.
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Bully (2001)
10/10
Great twisted fun. Highly recommended.
17 September 2002
This movie is not for everyone, but if you enjoy gritty realistic dramas and aren't afraid to wallow on the underside of American society, this movie is definitely worth your while. The script and direction are top notch, a refreshing break from the many vapid "style over substance" crime thrillers being churned out by rock video hacks and overpaid stars. Production values are excellent; beautiful photography and a charming attractive cast.
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Performance (1970)
10/10
One of the greatest films ever made, period.
17 September 2002
PERFORMANCE captured the perverse sub-culture of organized "working class" gangsters with an unromanticized authenticity not matched until THE SOPRANOS came along three decades later. But it's not just a gangster movie; it's a heady brew overflowing with subtle and insightful intuitions about the power and dangers of the ego, the male-female equation, power structures, sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Mainstream viewers might be put off by the radical "rococo" editing, which was well ahead of its time -- as were the "rock video" sequences which feature some of Mick Jagger's finest musical moments (playing blues guitar; and singing and dancing at the peak of his prime in the scene where he regains his "demon.") The soundtrack also features stellar cuts from Randy Newman and Merry Clayton, a great score by Jack Nitszche, and what may be the very first "rap" song ever recorded on film, by the Last Poets. Wall-to-wall intercuts bounce us around among story points connected on the quantum level; they may seem arbitrary and confusing, but rather than trying to "get" the story as it unfolds, the first time viewer is advised to just go with the flow and absorb as much as possible, enjoying the beautifully choreographed violence, the awesome soundtrack, the quirky characters and intriguing storyline. If you get into the mystical and psychological subtext, you'll probably end watching this movie more than once, and you'll get more out of it each time. But even on a superficial level, this film has plenty to enjoy. All the performances are excellent; James Fox and Jagger are outstanding. Movies don't get any better than this. P.S. -- Although Nick Roeg is a fine director, much of the credit for this masterpiece goes to Donald Cammell.
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