ian_eadgbe Reviews

Equilibrium (2002)

An incredible movie about the suppression of individual freedom

[10/10 · 19 June 2007]

Fascism, however, as used in the tag line, does not describe this world. Fascists rely on intense emotion in a collective sense to keep control, just as communists do. This government is something new- more in the tradition of Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". Scarily, it is like the current trend in Western politics to eliminate all competition in schools, and allow only collective "problem solving" games. I know I should only write about the movie, but this is such a thinking mans movie that it demands commentary. Can the exaltation of false self esteem (which depends on lowering those who accomplish, not in encouraging TO accomplish) over real achievement lead anywhere else?

The movie is probably one of the three best movies I've ever seen. Watch it immediately.

Green Street Hooligans (2005)

An excellent and (surprise) honest movie

[10/10 · 2 December 2006]

I'm no good at writing, so I'll keep this short. GSH is a great movie about English football (soccer, really) hooligans. Elijah Wood belies his pretty boy appearance by becoming an experienced fighter. Some great and very lifelike fighting scenes. That is a must for me. I hate old movies with bad fight choreography, because especially to me (or any other low class American kid) it looks amazingly fake. To the contrary, Green Street Hooligans' fight scenes could have been filmed live. That said, this movie is much more than a glorified boxing match. The "message" of this movie is far deeper than "violence is inherent to men", as one reviewer put it. Yes, it is, and yes, that's part of the movie. But the truth behind the glory is that, while violence can have amazing transformative powers, (Elijah Wood goes from being a shy, uncertain college kid to being a capable man), violence for it's own sake destroys everyone connected. We see the problems caused by both views of violence: that of suppressing it totally out of political correctness, and that of glorifying it out of pure barbarism. Elijah Wood doesn't even have the self confidence (or the mechanisms) to stand up for himself. He is part of the modern cultural machine, a reticent, nice guy, smart college boy. He caves when his roommate, part of the power structure, blames his own coke habit on Wood. Jeremy VanHolden (or Kennedy, same idea) controls his state through his daddy, a senator. On the other side, brawls between rival firms of hooligans kill a young boy and a grown man, tear apart families, and completely destroy a bar absolutely filled with foreign beer. Out of both extremes emerges Elijah Wood, not unscathed, but definitely stronger.

The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go (1970)

This movie makes me want to get high

[5/10 · 21 October 2006]

The only words that could possibly describe this movie are odd, demented, developmentally disabled, etc. I think this movie might make sense after a couple blotter papers, or a bong full of opium laced weed. I makes no sense, the music is horrible, the sound doesn't match the footage, in timing or mood.This movie is like a drug episode, but without the fun. The same effect can be gotten by getting crazy high and watching a movie that makes sense. I can't spoil it, I've watched it and I still have no idea why anything happens. I can't tell if it's originally done in Chinese and dubbed, or if it's just badly made. And the Buhdda thing makes no sense even in context of eastern religion.