Change Your Image
shroffmalc
Reviews
Cold and Dark (2005)
Brave attempt but ultimately uninteresting and flawed
The initial premise of a Gothic cop and horror movie hybrid is a pretty good idea and certainly prompted me to hire out the film!!!! However the film is badly hampered by wooden acting, especially in the case of the Police Chief who reminded me of Kenric and Moss from a Black Adder the Third episode and seemed to be unable to grasp the difference between screen acting and stage acting, the main one being that you don't need to scream your lines at the camera!!!! Carly Turnbull's performance at Albany was very flat and while acceptable in places seemed like she spent the majority of the film reading her lines of an autocue!!!! Having said that the two main leads did put in a pretty good effort with Kevin Howarth, who I think is criminally underrated, proving his worth yet again as a villain by contributing a very convincing and creepy performance showing his characters descent from maverick cop to homicidal monster. Luke Goss did his best and put in a comparatively good performance. Also Matt Lucas cameo is well acted proving he can play straight as well.
Another resounding floor in the film has to be the Americanisation element, with the Police acting like American cops dressing like American cops and doing all but speaking in American accents!!!! The attempt to dress Luke Goss as Vin Diesel is especially frustrating. Also the parasite is a blatant copy of the stomach burster from the Alien quadrilogy!!!! The director Andrew Goth does well all being considered and uses the camera angles and cutting to good effect but with all the gaping plot holes and wooden acting he was unable to turn it around but as they said in Wayne's World "You cant polish a turd".
All in all a good idea that went horribly wrong!!!!!
Due South: Pilot (1994)
Brilliant Show- wish it was still On Air!!!!
Well what can I say? The acting is generally good throughout inspite of some woodern background characterisations. Paul Cross and David Marciano played well of each other both acting their respective roles with an emotional depth and a twist of humour when required.
The series' two key strengths are in the chalk and cheese style interaction between Fraser and Vecchio coupled with Benton Fraser's straight laced somewhat bizarre boy scout like approach to life in Chicago.
The interesting thing I noticed is that the Mountie outfit, although tying in well to Fraser's character, is something of super hero costume as he adopts something of an aura of invincibility when he dons the red uniform!!! Also the use of Diefenbaker the deaf wolf also gives the show a slightly surreal slant which goes a step further in the final series when Fraser starts to see the ghost of his father.
Overall an enjoyable and amusing TV series with good acting a fresh concept and some well thought out story lines. Definitely worth checking out!!!
Ringu 0: Bâsudei (2000)
An Above Average And Gripping Prequel
The film fleshes out the back story of the Ring trilogies' demon / troubled soul, Sadako, (played by Yukie Nakama), following her attempts to join an acting troupe and at the same time cope with her troubled psyche and the events of her mysterious past that still engulf her.
The film itself has a fundamentally creepy atmosphere throughout but as with many prequels never really equals the original story, in this case never really delivering the same level of suspense, (although it does come close a couple of times), and failing to shock in the way the original did with Sadako being a silent Reagan, (The Exorcist), type character staring at you hatefully through a horrifically blood shot eye, peering through a nest of slimy, sinister, long black hair.
The prequel enriches Sadako's character with a somewhat moving back-story, showing her coming of age, discovering acting, which she also finds therapeutic and finding true love in the arms of Hiroshi Tôyama, (Seiichi Tanabe). This sees a lot of the scenes shot inside a theatre, which provides a suitably eerie backdrop for Sadako's doomed quest to lead a normal life and battle the demons of her past that lurk ever closer.
With regards to filling in the blanks left open in Ring and Ring 2, this film does very little, for we are already aware that Sadako was pushed to the bottom of the well by her step father, and only hints at the source of the true evil lurking inside her, without giving a clue of its origin or past. This could, arguably, be a good thing as it still leaves a veil of mystery over the first two films.
The actors do a reasonably good job throughout, with a special hats off to Seiichi Tanabe who conveyed the confused yet blindly in love hero Tôyama. Nakama brought a certain level of pity to the role of Sadako, a girl seemingly running away from the evil that surrounds and trying to do the right thing.
In conclusion Ring O does add depth to the trilogy and deepens rather then clarifies the mystery and in the same way to the recently released Starwars prequels, infuses the film's near one dimensional monster with a sense of depth, which serves to draw pity from it's audience. Over all not a bad prequel, which still leaves most of the questions unanswered, but whether you see that as a good or bad thing is up to you...
Fearless (1993)
A highly atmospheric and captivating film which sees Bridges on Top Form.
The film that analyses the after effects of a plane crash on a previously nervous architect, Max Klein (Jeff Bridges).
From the opening shot we see Klein looking pale or lost and in fact somewhat angelic, as he surveys the scene of the plane crash, removed and seemingly almost above the chaos and commotion that surrounds him.
The film not only gives a deep insight into the psychological trauma attached to a life threatening accident, perhaps portrayed more clearly through other characters then Klein, but also meditates on the impact of overcoming a terrible fear, shown through the sense of invincibility that Klein conveys throughout the film, constantly facing and surpassing one fear after another, be it walking across a busy motorway or standing at the very edge of a skyscraper, (see poster).
In feeling this tremendous sense of empowerment, Klein draws varied and interesting reactions from the other characters around him, making him a hero to fellow crash survivors, Byron and Carla but estranging him from his wife and son, who long for the pre- crash Max Klein to return to them.
The film itself was adapted by Rafael Yglesias, from his novel of the same title and has lost none of its characters potency or varied interaction, (although the novel's Klein character is more sexually charged, sleeping with both an old school friend and Carla), but is further enriched by Peter Weir's direction using the mise-en-scene to great effect, painting Klein's mental landscape using stark blue, white and silver colours.
The supporting cast all do well especially Isabella Rosellini who conveys the shock at effectively loosing and then struggling to regain her husband and Rosie Perez who shows herself torn to pieces by an old world Catholic guilt.
All in all a fantastic and essentially meaningful film with strong direction and a unique and clever plot backed up terrific performances from leading man Jeff Bridges and the rest of the cast. Possibly one of the most underrated films of the 90s!!!