morgan_peline Reviews

Requiem (2006)

I found this 'true story' quite moving and rather sad.

[7/10 · 8 November 2006]

To be frank I completely disagree with the above critique. I found this film quite moving and very sad - I still can't stop thinking about.

I thought the way it was shot moved it along fairly nicely and was thankfully fairly anti- Hollywood which was a nice relief. Of course most Americans will probably not enjoy it because it's too subtle, nothing explodes and they actually have to think for a change rather than being told how to feel. If Hollywood had done this film it would have been all moody lighting, scary music and SFX - it would have been just another badly done version of The Exorcist (which I think is also a great film).

I think what I found the most interesting was that because this film was done in such an understated manner, you could actually understand what Michaella was going through in a much more realistic, believable manner.

There is a beautiful scene where near the end of the film Michaella's boyfriend takes her to her parents house because she is in such a bad state. She is soon surrounded by her parents and two priest all praying and chanting at her trying to exorcise her demons - her boyfriend steps away as he really doesn't know where to put himself or what to do as he watches the chanting - he looks like he is witnessing the dark ages of superstition; all completely anachronistic to the time he lives in.

Documentary style was a great choice - there were no true good or bad guys. And Michaella truly believed that she was possessed. So in a really strange way it was more an analysis of faith and belief. At the end of the day she, her family and the creepy priest all absolutely believed that she was possessed therefore she was.

Was that a good or bad thing, considering that nowadays most people barely believe anything at all?

Maybe she did fight an epic battle against demons for our souls like Saint Margarita - can anyone prove otherwise?

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

What a disappointment

[1/10 · 26 May 2006]

I went to see this on the day it was released and I don't think I have been so disappointed by watching a sequel in a long while apart from being really upset by watching Matrix 2 and 3 and Star Wars 1, 2 and 3...other cinematic worlds that have been ruined by scripwriters who wrote by numbers with little care to what they were doing all for a fast buck.

Considering, the scriptwriters have written some really good screenplays in the past including X2 and Mr & Mrs Smith...I don't understand what happened...of course Last Action Hero, Fantastic Four and Inspector Gadget also figured in their credits...

They took what was a truly well made series of films: X1 and X2 that oozed dark subtext within the cineplex blockbuster action genre and completely ruined the ending, with complete disregard to good dramatic structure and most importantly, with a total lack of respect for their characters. Characters we as the audience had grown to love.

Whereas in the first two films these characters had real motivations and interior lives especially Wolverine and Rogue and lived in a world that true resonance in the real world. Now in X3 they have become cardboard cut outs that only seem to fight a lot, talk tough or give rousing American style pep talks. What happened to the subtle charcterization from the first two films? I am very unhappy. The production team, especially the writers should be shot for producing such rubbish when they had the potential in terms of established cinematic world, characterization and underlying audience support to create a true action0-film / political-thriller masterpiece. And how could Marvel let the production go ahead with such a scant shoddy script in place? All for a fast buck...nobody seems to care about what they create anymore