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Reviews
Metal Hurlant Chronicles (2012)
I genuinely don't know if this show is bad, or ironically bad
When you watch bad science fiction, it can be nearly as mesmerizing as watching excellent science fiction. I've probably watched 'judge dread' as many times as I have 'the man from earth', or 'chronicles of Riddick' as many times as 'the color of magic', for very different reasons obviously. The problem that I am left with in the show, is that it isn't entirely bad. The bad parts are funny, like the line "2000 light years away, that's at the end of the universe." Wait, what? It is kind of disturbing that the writers thought that was true. or did they? are they intentionally writing bad dialogue to be funny? I'm not sure. But, make no mistake, the writing is terrible, intentionally, or not, which if you are in the mood, is actually bad enough to be funny. Some people are saying the rest of it is bad, and I disagree. Makeup, graphics, staging, and cgi are all done fairly well, there are points where you can see they clearly didn't have the money to make it perfect, but this isn't the hobbit or star wars, it is a low budget TV miniseries. All of the aforementioned areas seem authentic, and well done, if not perfect. Where it gets weird is that I almost feel bad for the actors. You see moments where acting talent comes through, and no matter how talented you are, you can't make dialogue that isn't researched or thought out, which often reads like stage directions, into Shakespeare, you just can't. Normally in bad scifi you get terrible actors like vin diesel in chronicles of Riddick, or Stallone in judge dread, but some of the actors here actually have some level of talent, detracting from the humor of it. When you hear Vin Diesel respond to the line 'how do you get eyes like that?' with 'you've got to kill a lot of people' it is almost transcendently terrible. When you hear Joe Flannigan of stargate atlantis fame say that it is 2000 light years to the end of the universe, that just breaks your heart a little. If you are looking for advice on whether to watch of not, I'd say give it a go for a good laugh. I for one will probably keep watching for that reason.
23 Minutes to Sunrise (2012)
A Faustian deal for the 21st century.
can you say Faustian deal? For those of you who aren't familiar with Faustus, it boils down to this: you make a deal with the devil (normally for power), he follows through, you never repent, he gets your soul. The story was most famously told by Marlowe, but it dates back to the middle ages or possibly earlier. This movie is short, and certainly low budget, but it presents an interesting angle on the Faustian deal: no ramifications. You are offered something you want, you say yes, you get it, you have to live with it. The characters are clichéd, but Faustian characters are always clichés. If you expect a movie with a 200 million dollar budget, this isn't for you. Also, if you are looking for a horror movie, this isn't one. That being said, this is an entertaining movie. the antagonist plays well. If there is one thing i would change about this movie, I would make it more about the girl accompanying him. The Faustian deal is presented but if they had included flashbacks to her life, they could have driven home why she was so unhappy. As is, it is left to your imagination, and at the end of the movie, i'd have still taken the deal. You're lonely and tormented? So is half the human race, and they don't get to basically be super heroes.
Damsels in Distress (2011)
This is an unexpectedly smart, and funny movie.
I went into watching this movie, thinking it would be a legally blond type movie. There is an element of that, but really, only superficially. This movie is smart. Think Dickensian empiricalism conflict meets don quixote under the guise of legally blond, with just a hint of catcher in the rye youthful torment thrown in. You don't have to be familiar with all those references to find this movie funny, which it is, but if you do, you'll appreciate it on a different level. It's one of those movies that i wish i could sit down and have a conversation with the writer about. In short, it is understated, but funny and brilliant. I'd write more, but i don't want to spoil the plot.