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Escape from Tomorrow (2013)
Perfectly twisted
5.2!? IMDb you lack imagination. This film is art-house, but it isn't pretentious art-house. It is like one of those art pieces where negative space makes up half the image and your mind fills in the meaningful parts. If you enjoy interpreting the negative space, you will think this movie is hilarious, disturbing and hilariously disturbing. Sure it didn't rely on cheap scares like some slasher, there were creepy moments, some of them visual and some of them the creepiness of the human condition. When a man starts to realize the demise of his youth and sexual virility, when he finds himself stuck with a nagging, trifling, micromanaging ice cube of a wife...when unacceptable taboos enter the picture and skip around hand in hand with urban myths + one borderline psychopathic child, you have the catalyst for all sides of creepy. Plus...if something seriously dark was going on in this world...why wouldn't it be happening at the happiest place on earth? My twisted mind totally approves this film and recommends it to other twisted minds. Oh and the really cool part - they guerrilla filmed the entire thing in the actual parks and Disney won't touch it, so you wonder how many of the reactions are genuine horror from those unaware. It was one of the best horror/dark comedy film I've seen, and it certainly kept me asking - What the hell did I just see?
The Physician (2013)
I watched it for Ben Kingsley
I love Ben Kingsley, he has been staring in great films consistently since I discovered him a as a teenager in the 90's. I love any medieval story, and this was a very well told one. My only complaint is the inaccurate political struggles between the Muslims and Christians. Seriously Hollywood, what was that? I am sick of Muslim culture being the scapegoat for media, I'm Christian and I could see that it was a thinly veiled ploy to again throw our Muslim neighbors under the bus and showcase their atrocities against the kind and loving Christan peoples - PSHAW!! I am not sure this is even an accurate portrayal of a historical event, if not why not keep religion out of it and just make it some bad tempered neighboring tribe. Besides that element which felt unnecessary, the story was fabulous, the scenery beautiful and the score fantastic. I can see why it got the 7+ rating! I would recommend with caution of realizing that the message contains thinly veiled anti-Muslim sentiment.
Stella Maris (1918)
Beautiful acting on PIckfords part.
I know that my 6 star rating won't be popular with many Pickford aficionados but it's my personal rating. I love silent film, often using staying up late as an excuse to watch one. It might have been the result of this film following Metropolis (hard to beat) or that I am obsessed with Louise Brooks films, but the story was a little flat. Also, even allowing for temporal gender/economic attitudes I felt annoyed by the blatant message in the end that basically said - "If you are ugly and poor, then it is only right for you to give up your life and dreams for the beautiful and rich." I am sorry but I had a hard time staying awake for this one. Perhaps other viewers will find enjoyment I did not. Pickford was simply AMAZING and the best part of the film, it was truly hard to believe I was seeing the same actress playing both characters.
The Propaganda Game (2015)
A very serious look at the crazy wall of misinformation *may contain spoilers*
The N. Koreans aren't only held in by a physical wall that separates them from freedom, they are held in by a wall of propaganda that hearkens to the age of the 3rd Reich. This film did an amazing job of showing how creepy and false the front of this country really is, you can almost feel the dying millions clawing desperately for food or safety right behind the satirically sweet school children singing praises to their crazy, delusional dictator. This film allowed the rest of the world to see the thinly placed veneer, that somehow Kim Jong Un actually believes will fool educated and aware people outside of his regime. First tip was that the camera men are always escorted and observed by government assistants. The veneer is so impossibly thin at times you are left wondering why the hell they spent the money to construct fake museums, colleges and "public places" instead of just feeding the starving masses. Truly the scenes shot in these places are disturbing, in a "happy free" country citizens would be clamoring to visit museums, colleges and gyms but there is a deathly quiet & newness to all of these places that gives away that they are in fact just constructs to fool the western world. I felt the facade, I felt the lie, I understood that the filmmaker was politely playing along to show just how crazy the militant propaganda really was. The fear and uncertainty in the eyes of every person interviewed or even caught on a passing camera,was heartbreaking. One man being interviewed actually broke out in a cold sweat, to what seemed to be a very routine and unimportant question by Western standards. The "modern" apartment with the flat screen was the biggest joke of all. While their military is using 70's and mid 80's media technologies, some random citizen has a flat screen and access to Western free thought movies!? I got tired of the N. Korean diplomat using the word "socialist" in place of totalitarian dictatorship, who does he think he is fooling? It is not democratic when the people think that the leader is god, or can read their minds. Or builds a fence to force them to stay in for that matter. That man was a very low down, slimy slug of a human and I haven't been able to decide whether he was just a forced actor that may have been trying work off some sentence, or just a really huge sellout. He didn't speak the language which seemed really unconvincing. I just get that vibe from him that he is as fake as the scenery. Another poster called him a clown, I think his issues run much darker than they do comical. I spent a good deal of the movie wishing he would trip and fall in front of a bus. All in all it was a very enlightening film, that made me feel emotional and frustrated for the brainwashed and ignorant citizens of N. Korea- they are ignorant in the very true sense of the word- they have NO idea that the west is not evil, that even our poor have access to education, food and shelter that free thought and speech is real thing available to every class. The one thing this movie did for me that others had not was that it showed me what a dangerous man the Supreme Ruler is. Here we make fun of him, we pretend that he is an idiot, a clown, a farce, but all the while he is killing thousands of people that rely on him. He may be all those things but he is one hell of a dangerous farce and I hope within my lifetime he will be dealt with accordingly and the people of his beautiful country given freedom and hope. There is no way not to get something out of this documentary, it was skillfully done and achieved it's purpose of not telling the viewer that the Regime is bombasting the outside world with propaganda but by letting the N. Koreans do it themselves. It was a really engaging film.
The Creepy Doll (2011)
Budget wasn't the issue, it was poorly directed.
Just No ***spoilers*** This movie just was awful. It had potential in the story line, but the absence of now how ruined it. My daughter is a connoisseur of "appropriate" horror, she loves all manners of ghost shows and movies, sometimes I get tired of watching "Goosebumps" so if we find a Pg-13 movie that is purely supernatural and no blood we watch it together. I let her pick this one, because she "loves" creepy doll stories. Oh how I wish I could just get that hour-whatever back. You never know just how important good lighting techniques, competent scriptwriting, wardrobe, location and makeup is. The main character was believable, the rest were extremely weak. I'm not sure how this rated so high, even on the Indie forums- "trying" to make a good movie and having good intentions is not really the same at all as actually succeeding at making a decent film. Even Indi film need to be engaging, have strong plots lines and definite character developments and not assault the eyes with the impression your cousin filmed this with his 90's era camcorder, which consequently may have a higher quality camera installed on it than what was used This film has none of these absolutely necessary aspects.
Lets break this down in to Pros & Con's:
Pros: The female lead was actually good enough to move into the real Indie film-acting world. She is they type of person you might see in Shark vs. Eagle, Dear Lemon Lima or Napoleon Dynamite.
The tensions between the ex girlfriend and the new wife are excellent- it is actually believable, in fact there were points that were so uncomfortable between the two that I was getting irritated. The ex and the husband were really very inappropriate and uncomfortable in realistic ways.
The doll story was interesting, there was real potential in the main back-story.
The end was satisfying. That philandering woman had it coming to her in all sorts of ways.
Cons: The camera quality was horrendous, like it was recorded on someone's Casio, with no extra lighting.
Why did these people have absolutely no furniture in their homes? No one in that economic condition really live like that
Obviously it was directed at lower middle class American culture, yet, it looked like it was filmed at a partly furnished rental.
Really unprofessional scripting that made simple conversations sound forced.
The wardrobe was provided by Wal-Mart's $5 summer sale- wardrobe is as essential to the mood of a movie as the music or a creepy doll. Many producers use colors to foreshadow- think the red door, balloon, etc in the Sixth Sense.
The locations were unpolished, like if a friend and I took my phone out to a school to film. I understand wanting to capture that "normal" feeling but it just came across as weird and uncomfortable.
The unpolished doll story was WAY too weak. The beginning of the movie should have started out with some cut scenes of the abuse that took place, the dolls power over her, how it was really the only thing that comforted her, her strong relationship with grandma.
The doll story was supposed to be terrifying, or maybe some kind of a psychological thriller, but it fell so flat. It should have saturated the entire film from beginning to end- like have the main character at the beginning talking to her "creepy doll" while she was hiding from her abusive mother. We really need to get the impression early on that the doll is supernatural, not just ugly.
I was more scared of the husband having an affair with his ex than I was of the doll.
The buildup came too late in the film, really it should have been building up from the beginning that is what people like about horror, and people like that slow build up a terrifying climax.
Use some music cues to push the viewers emotional responses towards you goals- think Jaws
on a spooky level. Even laying tracks during scenes like the school where she thought she was seeing weird things happening would have been very effective. If you cant get rights, then use well made midi tracks.
The theme music for the doll, what the grandmother sang so long ago---it was weird, but not creepy weird, just "Dead Goose Song Weird."
Part of the allure of using children's song in horror movies are that they exploit our weakness of innocence, singing a song about a dead goose, just makes me want to eat Christmas dinner
.it's not like Ring around the Rosy or Mary had a little lamb. And they could have used the song, but leave out the words
and just have a five year old hum it in their cute little high voice.
The magic is that when you combine innocence with darkness you get the uber creepy effect.
The story was good; her ascent into madness could have been better documented over a longer period of time.
The Doll should have had better framed screen time, they could have used flashbacks; they could have used a lot of techniques that they just didn't.
I feel like I watched something college kids tried really hard to make. It's not Hollywood and I didn't expect that. it's not a 10 million dollar movie- I don't think budget was the issue, I think knowledge of how to use lighting, script writing, appropriate scenery and other descriptive useful techniques is where it fell flat on its face.
Sorry, would not recommend, hopefully this director will implement different well known techniques in the next film.