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Reviews
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
Tulips - They probably don't feature, but the flowers are rather relevant & meaningful symbols
Following their lead roles in lesser known films All The Real Girls, Manic, and Sweet Jane, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have, together as actors, again shown their ability to grapple with the emotions of complex love and human interaction. The film makes beautiful use of sunlight and shadow to emphasize tone; a fresh Alt-Indie soundtrack; and camera angles that really compliment the intimate emotional interaction of the characters. A number of inventive scene compositions bring us neatly into the minds of our leads. Teasing questions are successfully introduced about relationship attachment, and the constructs of our modern thinking and place in the world. While undoubtedly a sweet film, it's rare to see such an intelligent approach to romance viewed predominantly from a male perspective.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
Despite my childhood obsession, I didn't even know this one existed
I was 7 when Turtle fever first gripped my world. It was grounded in a mixture of my fascination with creature special effects, animatronics, along with models and other fantasy beings, after seeing films or programs on TV such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Dinosaurs, Labyrinth, Willow, and a little later Time Bandits and The Thing. I claimed I'd become a model or creature maker for movies. I'm not, but that's not important. I'm young yet, and may still pursue that one of many dreams.
I remember knowing a great deal about the world of the turtles, with all their fighting capabilities etc. It was a major talking point among my male friends. Later I even had a latex turtle arm I begged a friend to give to me. It was a reject from his uncle who worked in the design studio. I wore it around my local Scottish neighbourhood. It was only 1 arm mind. Funny stuff.
Then it came time to see the first 2 movies in the cinema. I don't remember whether I saw them with my friend or my mother, or both. I was amazed by how they got the faces to move on the turtle characters and impressed by the actors moving so well in all that latex. I saw some fantastic documentaries on TV at the time about how it was all done. However, even at that age, I began to recognise how atrocious the acting was. In the second one it was even worse. I haven't seen the films since, so I can't have been influenced again.
It was a fun time in my life, and I thank the creators for influencing that, but ultimately it was myself and my friends who created the great memories and not the film.
I must have moved on to another interest when this third film was released, as I didn't even know of it's existence. I saw it on UK television many years later and to watch it for old times sake. It hadn't improved. The actors moved not so well in their suits, the voices were poorly chosen and vocalised, and there was little comedy. I did like the Japanese set design however, but then I realised that's not what the turtles are all about.
Braindead (1992)
Twisted nostalgic trip through my memories
From perhaps the age of 5 much of my time was taken up creating fantasy worlds with all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures. Much of this stemmed from my fascination with creature special effects, animatronics, along with models and other fantasy beings, after seeing films or programs on TV such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Dinosaurs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Labyrinth, Willow, Time Bandits, and a little later The Thing. I claimed I'd become a model or creature maker for movies. I'm not, but that's not important. I'm young yet, and may still pursue that one of many dreams.
A few years later I discovered Fangoria magazine and would gleefully thumb the pages in a large Scottish department store. I got quite a fright once when a friend found me in my own little world of fake blood and gore.
At only 8 I visited New Zealand with my mother and happened to find myself in the capital's futurist Te Papa museum, at her suggestion. At that time was an exhibition dedicated to Peter Jackson's backyard ingenuity in making his early comedy horror films. It even had the documentary of the making of Bad Taste, including his mother talking about him using the oven to bake his latex alien masks. I was so enraptured by the arousing disgustingness around me. Amazingly my mother happily left me alone, along with many other kids, in the frankly shocking scenes of the exhibition, including many bloodied props from Braindead. I went on to chase them through a maze of mirrors. It's an obscure memory I hope to never lose, but one that tells a lot about children's acceptance of things.
It was over a decade until I saw the featured films. For Braindead I waited until I was able to see the original uncut version on Britain's glorious Channel 4. I eventually managed to download Bad Taste (sorry Peter Jackson) from eMule to share the greatest of New Zealand with my friends. I often brought them weird offering to watch together, matched with a smooth spliff and beers for the others.
Suffice to say I was not disappointed! I've only ever seen this film alone, but from discussions with numerous people it's clear that what we have here is Jackson's finest film and undoubtedly the greatest marriage of comedy and horror in the history of cinema. It's that likely ancient way of accepting the utter ugliness of much of existence, by humourising it. Perhaps even accepting these extremes are merely variants of the same great experience. The US had it's own classic series before with The Evil Dead, and I'm extremely proud of the UK's top billing Shaun Of The Dead. However because this film is truly Kiwi I love it beyond all others.
Looking back on both the museum exhibition and movies, it appears Kiwis are quite comfortable embracing these themes in daily life. Despite regularly being considered the most upstanding of the colonies, there is an often easy acceptance of the dirty aspects of existence here.
I knew it was only a matter of time until Peter Jackson would become a superstar. So far he's retained his integrity in my mind. Top class!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
Even at that age I knew something smelt funny.
I was 7 when Turtle fever first gripped my world. It was grounded in a mixture of my fascination with creature special effects, animatronics, along with models and other fantasy beings, after seeing films or programs on TV such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Dinosaurs, Labyrinth, Willow, and a little later Time Bandits and The Thing. I claimed I'd become a model or creature maker for movies. I'm not, but that's not important. I'm young yet, and may still pursue that one of many dreams.
I remember knowing a great deal about the world of the turtles, with all their fighting capabilities etc. It was a major talking point among my male friends. Later I even had a latex turtle arm I begged a friend to give to me. It was a reject from his uncle who worked in the design studio. I wore it around my local Scottish neighbourhood. It was only 1 arm mind. Funny stuff.
Then it came time to see the movies in the cinema. I don't remember whether I saw them with my friend or my mother, or both. I was amazed by how they got the faces to move on the turtle characters and impressed by the actors moving so well in all that latex. I saw some fantastic documentaries on TV at the time about how it was all done. However, even at that age, I began to recognise how atrocious the acting was. In the second one it was even worse. I haven't seen the films since, so I can't have been influenced again.
It was a fun time in my life, and I thank the creators for influencing that, but ultimately it was myself and my friends who created the great memories and not the film.
Bad Taste (1987)
Twisted nostalgic trip through my life
From perhaps the age of 5 much of my time was taken up creating fantasy worlds with all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures. Much of this stemmed from my fascination with creature special effects, animatronics, along with models and other fantasy beings, after seeing films or programs on TV such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Dinosaurs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Labyrinth, Willow, Time Bandits, and a little later The Thing. I claimed I'd become a model or creature maker for movies. I'm not, but that's not important. I'm young yet, and may still pursue that one of many dreams.
A few years later I discovered Fangoria magazine and would gleefully thumb the pages in a large Scottish department store. I got quite a fright once when a friend found me in my own little world of fake blood and gore.
At only 8 I visited New Zealand with my mother and happened to find myself in the capital's futurist Te Papa museum, at her suggestion. At that time was an exhibition dedicated to Peter Jackson's backyard ingenuity in making his early comedy horror films. It even had the documentary of the making of Bad Taste, including his mother talking about him using the oven to bake his latex alien masks. I was so enraptured by the arousing disgustingness around me. Amazingly my mother happily left me alone, along with many other kids, in the frankly shocking scenes of the exhibition, including many bloodied props from Braindead. I went on to chase them through a maze of mirrors. It's an obscure memory I hope to never lose, but one that tells a lot about children's acceptance of things.
It was over a decade until I saw the featured films. For Braindead I waited until I was able to see the original uncut version on Britain's glorious Channel 4. I eventually managed to download Bad Taste (sorry Peter Jackson) from eMule to share the greatest of New Zealand with my friends. I often brought them weird offering to watch together, matched with a smooth spliff and beers for the others.
Suffice to say I was not disappointed! What we have in Jackson's early vision is undoubtedly the greatest marriage of comedy and horror in the history of cinema. It's that likely ancient way of accepting the utter ugliness of much of existence, by humourising it. Perhaps even accepting these extremes are merely variants of the same great experience.
My friends didn't think quite so highly of this particular film, but it was a fun night no less. I recognise the numerous reasons for scoring this movie poorly that others here note. I guess it's my lifelong love affair with both New Zealand and all things twisted that make me rate this film so highly.
Looking back on both the museum exhibition and movies, it appears Kiwis are quite comfortable embracing these themes in daily life. Despite regularly being considered the most upstanding of the colonies, there is an often easy acceptance of the dirty aspects of existence here.
I knew it was only a matter of time until Peter Jackson would become a superstar. So far he's retained his integrity in my mind. Top class!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Even as a kid I suspected something smelt funny.
I was 7 when Turtle fever first gripped my world. It was grounded in a mixture of my fascination with creature special effects, animatronics, along with models and other fantasy beings, after seeing films or programs on TV such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Dinosaurs, Labyrinth, Willow, and a little later Time Bandits and The Thing. I claimed I'd become a model or creature maker for movies. I'm not, but that's not important. I'm young yet, and may still pursue that one of many dreams.
I remember knowing a great deal about the world of the turtles, with all their fighting capabilities etc. It was a major talking point among my male friends. Later I even had a latex turtle arm I begged a friend to give to me. It was a reject from his uncle who worked in the design studio. I wore it around my local Scottish neighbourhood. It was only 1 arm mind. Funny stuff.
Then it came time to see the movie in the cinema. I don't remember whether I saw it with my friend or my mother, or both. I was amazed by how they got the faces to move on the turtle characters and impressed by the actors moving so well in all that latex. I saw some fantastic documentaries on TV at the time about how it was all done. However, even at that age, I began to recognise how atrocious the acting was. I haven't seen the film since, so I can't have been influenced again.
It was a fun time in my life, and I thank the creators for influencing that, but ultimately it was myself and my friends who created the great memories and not the film.
Keetje Tippel (1975)
Beware of Inferior Video Copies
I recorded this movie a few weeks ago from our local community television station Triangle's night broadcast. I was surprised to see this on their schedule, as it's usually the lowest rate affair. The situation was another example of a great work getting lost in another vast video copy collection.
I was excited to be seeing an early movie from a director I always admired. I'd only ever seen his Hollywood work, and was especially fond of his Sci-Fi classics growing up. As others recognize, Verhoeven unashamedly puts into his films, his honest impression of the societal constructs we humans consistently find ourselves in. That regular criticism of the complexities of human nature, beyond the norms of each film's particular genre, has always resonated with my world view.
I finally watched this film this morning. As it started it was obvious the image quality was very poor, not helped by early scenes being predominantly in the dark. Not surprisingly the character's voices were dubbed into English, but were often mismatched or exaggerated, unfitting for the film. It seems to be the UK version I saw, yet some accents were American. I always try to watch a film in it's original intended language, but it seems the foreign films on the local community station are only ever poorly dubbed video copies.
Despite the poor quality of the copy I saw (the video company's logo even popped up irregularly in the bottom corner of the image), this film really amazed me. Much of the reasons why have been detailed by the few other comments on this site. The biggest flaw of the story for me was that the film ended too suddenly. This seems a common element to films the further back in cinema history you go. I actually appreciate a well crafted credits sequence, easing the viewer out of the film's world, and allowing reflection. Even at nearly 2 hours long, I felt my interest would have been sustained for a little bit longer.
There is a DVD listed here with 5 of Verhoeven's films in their original Dutch form, with English subtitles. I'd like to see this one again, and the rest of his early creations, which others consider even better. Rutger Hauer is also a great, varied yet charismatic actor, and it seems his best work might be with Verhoeven.
Gui mian ren zhe (1982)
Stock Standard
Every night our local community television broadcaster Triangle, attempts to show another one of the countless straight to video, copyright lapsed, or otherwise cheap-as title from the last century.
Everything schlocky, camp, comedy, drive-in, westerns, martial arts, war related etc.
Sometimes there are some gems, but more often than not it's passable stuff.
I thought this one might be just over the line of worthiness.
Yes it's somewhat fun with titties and such, however you'll have to ask yourself how many times you can handle the same 5 sound effects in fights throughout the movie!
Truth be told I fell asleep.