tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97932342024-03-07T02:23:05.066-05:00The Film Vituperatemvi·tu·per·ate: To abuse or censure severely or abusively...
Like a fine wine, film must also be savoured with a discerning palate that judges more than "Up" or "Down", but without all the snobbery and spoilers...
IF you like what you see on the Blog, hop onto the real site: WWW.FILMSQUISH.COMSquishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comBlogger607125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-34094650724598444112007-01-30T20:11:00.000-05:002007-01-30T20:42:02.864-05:00MOTHER OF GOD! IT'S ALIVE!!!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.filmsquish.com/guts/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkfKKAZMCpK31c0hgIX4ktjtl7LpzD36h4kwh5-19WlQGPZEHZVWSwkSfZBIIckf1cxkJgeRFqR8jlOt_TIGbSaXCvXZgMKhNlJY0mavpA1keR5kG-1ceBcY5AinbxMyQgefp/s400/filmsquish_reborn.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025996369067762754" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So all you bloggers with links to me, please do me a favour and update them ... you can even find banners on the 'Links Page' if you like... you might even find yourselves there too. </span></span><br /></div>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-8486857493812612202007-01-27T09:21:00.000-05:002007-01-30T15:35:51.904-05:00TerrorStorm: A History of Government-Sponsored Terrorism (2006)<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxytQRgAQAXJZMbfW-gYutEiF36hHcMF9COlgpN79G4NLqBZRMwUZW1gqECRJJFVT7X9a6CZYgBUglD5UuriPm8QtseDvHGfeyg3j8KJ82G_Bs7npqVJCwB-LaIp6z2mZuUkz/s1600-h/DVD104.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025591783148479522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxytQRgAQAXJZMbfW-gYutEiF36hHcMF9COlgpN79G4NLqBZRMwUZW1gqECRJJFVT7X9a6CZYgBUglD5UuriPm8QtseDvHGfeyg3j8KJ82G_Bs7npqVJCwB-LaIp6z2mZuUkz/s400/DVD104.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oh my God! They're targeting the Turnpike on I-35! MOTHER OF GOD, THAT'S RIGHT NEXT TO EMPORIA, KANSAS!!!!</span></span><br /></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204);font-family:verdana;" ><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Documentary</strong><br /><br /><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Alex Jones</strong><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Alex Jones</strong><br /><br /><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Overview:</span></u></strong> A historical introduction into government-sponsored terrorism through false flag operations invites us to consider the unthinkable: 9/11 was masterminded by its own government.<br /><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> The way this narrator/director speaks is one third 'unfunny, immaturely sarcastic, anger-management-needing bitter humour', one third 'assumption of the audience's utter moronic stupidity', and one third 'crazy ranting conspiracist madman'. I don't like this guy. He often alienates those he interviews by belittling them, he not only narrates the 4th amendment while we see the words onscreen, but then he repeats them with his point bold and highlighted in red, while reading them slowly and loudly like you would to a 'special child'. Besides that, everything he says makes me doubt the facts he's spouting. Nothing I like better than watching a documentary and taking notes just to see if they're lying to me.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 4</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Cinematography:</span></strong> The advent of ease-of-use technology combined with the growing amount of online animation archives has finally culminated into one man being able to make a movie with one finger. Say what you will about how great technology is, when you can whip up two hours of footage from free stuff online, it doesn't make it glitzy, it makes it gaudily distracting, almost like the visual will make up for the rest of the crap. I hate movies shot like music videos. Just because you say the word 'medicine', it doesn't give you free reign to have pictures of bacteria flying all over the screen. God, talk about A.D.D. editing.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 4</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Script:</span></strong> <strong><em>"I agree that we should give up liberty for freedom."</em></strong> - Fruit market clerk at Tube Station after London 07.07.05 bombing.<br /></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><div align="justify"><br />What more poignant a quote could there be to clearly illustrate the problem? Shocking. The best thing said in this whole film. Of course Alex Jones goes and uses that clip three times, then has a discussion with people about how liberty and freedom are the same thing, then talk about how people aren't 'getting it'. Alex, if you're trying to convince your audience, play the soft sell, they already have your video in their DVD player. That's more than half the battle, stop yelling already. Constant references (and I mean at least eight) to Orwell's <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2005/12/1984-1984.html"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">1984</span></a> doesn't make you a prophet, it makes you annoying, and comparing George Bush to Hitler is a child's <a href="http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/gambit">gambit</a>. Try not sounding like such an infantile lunatic. Silence speaks volumes... so shut up.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 3</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Plot:</span></strong> The theory is chilling. Period. If it's true, I'm shocked. The problem is that it's so unbelievably delivered that one is made to doubt not only the big conspiracy from the very beginning, but all the factual lead-in about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag">false flag operations</a> and government <a href="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary">moles</a> and whatnot. What I find most interesting about the theory that 'not only did we know about the 9/11 attacks but American Black Ops actually planned it' is that I've heard the scientific arguments before, I've read about thermite put into the concrete pillars, none of this is new to me. What Alex Jones brings to the table is <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2007/01/cujo-1983-favorite-review.html">mad-dog</a> ranting serving only to dissuade me from listening. Oh and repetition is the worse time-filler, short is good. An hour and fifty minutes, not so much.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 4</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Mood:</span></strong> What a big effin' joke. Could you be more opinionated, please? When I watch documentaries I like to at least <strong>pretend</strong> there's another side to the argument. When I first heard Alex Jones in <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/05/waking-life-2001.html">A Waking Life</a></em></strong>, he was a boisterous, blustering, complacency-hating left-winger who had a nice little speech, and it was inspiring. Here he dominates over the whole production... Hell, he even insinuated himself in every category of my review! Son of a douche! Not the kind of film that drew me in. In fact I kept turning it off when I'd had enough of his gravelly, yelling-too-much voice...</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color:#33ccff;">Rating: 4</span></strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color:#33ccff;"></span></strong></div></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="justify"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrR_IwvxQF9BgNc886ecENywCeIqrp0KKNBYKdsjG43jNhpC5pMJNtIQP2Stu_c67Jck7kvf0onUYvA5-AU1_fucRX4YhIotbTNI8myTsIxhyphenhyphenlypeINWkQhcVk_KFazu_4MRsC/s1600-h/bush-hitler.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025591783148479538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrR_IwvxQF9BgNc886ecENywCeIqrp0KKNBYKdsjG43jNhpC5pMJNtIQP2Stu_c67Jck7kvf0onUYvA5-AU1_fucRX4YhIotbTNI8myTsIxhyphenhyphenlypeINWkQhcVk_KFazu_4MRsC/s400/bush-hitler.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Hey, wait a minute! Does that mean that Bush is being like HITLER? OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD IT'S ALL SO CLEAR NOW! I hadn't thought of it until their black and white pictures were NEXT TO ONE ANOTHER!</span></span><br /></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Overall Rating: 38% (TV Snow Shows More Truth)</span></strong></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><div align="justify"><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Aftertaste:</span></strong> Well if anyone knows how to do a better at making someone look like a whacked-out lunatic than a hoarse fat dude with a bullhorn, let me know, because I'm sure the CIA is taking notes. They must love what this guy's doing for National Security. </div><div align="justify">Recently I decided that some films are not worthy of review. Instead I'd save an hour or two and let the memory be lost to the ages. The only reason I finished watching this is because I promised I'd watch it, and the only reason you're reading about it is because a friend wanted to read my review of it.</div><div align="justify">Hope you liked it buddy! </span></div></span>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-9412103694411001812007-01-26T15:40:00.000-05:002007-01-30T07:38:43.736-05:00Family Plot (1976)<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" >Hitchcock! Hitchcock! Hitchcock!</span><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfJrKmYcmkqxdDW2oNeHB6LN1I3TyS1CF1V0M67xuwKUNAKQWymmpAjh52uIE8b08hYn3GGgq75Y9oi4UBNDCKXG70B8ItWUo78L8SjSgDPcWNahIV0Z9aSiP9X9VwRIZiUwlq/s1600-h/family+plot+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025435076971717506" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfJrKmYcmkqxdDW2oNeHB6LN1I3TyS1CF1V0M67xuwKUNAKQWymmpAjh52uIE8b08hYn3GGgq75Y9oi4UBNDCKXG70B8ItWUo78L8SjSgDPcWNahIV0Z9aSiP9X9VwRIZiUwlq/s400/family+plot+1.jpg" border="0" /></a></div></div><p align="center"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;" ><em>I think <a href="http://filmscreed.blogspot.com/">Duncanson</a> would agree, this is not the best example of 'artistic and dynamic marquis'</em></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Comedy Thriller</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Karen Black</strong> (<strong><em>Five Easy Pieces</em></strong>; <strong><em>House of 1000 Corpses</em></strong>) <strong>Bruce Dern</strong> (<strong><em>Monster</em></strong>; <strong><em>The Great Gastby</em></strong>)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Alfred Hitchcock</strong> (<strong><em>Rear Window</em></strong>; <strong><em>Strangers On A Train</em></strong>) </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> When a fake of a psychic advisor is offered a reward to hunt down a long-lost heir, her investigation leads her to unearthing some interesting skeletons in the closet.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> Individually, Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris (<strong><em>Freaky Friday</em></strong>), and William Devane (<strong><em>Marathon Man</em></strong>) are accomplished enough actors, so what's wrong with this picture? I could only say that Hitchcock himself is to blame for... not 'poor performances', but for uninspired characterization that made this more of a 'people working on a movie set', instead of the immersive storytelling this was meant to be. Ouch... </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 6</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> I've grown to love Hitchcock is my own way. Really, I have. I don't mean to leave off his career on a sour note, but by the same right, how can a man who's directed such haunting scenes in the past make another film rife with danger, yet not make those several moments chilling? Am I right in remembering that he was ill at this time? What could have been a terrifying nosedive down a mountain was turned into a comic-strip account of rubbery cartoons bumbling down the road. All that was missing were bleeping and boinging sound effects. Why Hitch? And why not make all the other potentially terrifying scenes funny too, at least to keep it consistent? Professionally shot yes, but was Hitch in a hurry? </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 6</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> I am a fan of Quentin Tarantino, writer of films in which swear words are meat and potatoes. That having been said, I found it so strange and unusual that Alfred Hitchcock would allow any expletives in his films. Maybe it's a sign of the times. Call me old fashioned but I don't think swearing in Hitchcock, makes for good Hitchcock. Blah, this movie just smells like an old boat. Even the potentially most interesting moments, those 'psychic chanellings', were there to explain plot rather than being an exercise in unique flourish. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Rating: 7</strong></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);font-family:verdana;" ><strong>Plot:</strong></span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><strong><em></em></strong></span></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Family Plot</span>, as in areas reserved for familial graves, and also as in 'machinations of related people', how witty. If the story was half as witty as that title, this movie would have been twice as good. This predictable film not only doesn't leave any questions unanswered, but they're so nicely bundled in a package with each answer sporting a nice little bow. To think that the Master Of Suspense had any part in this story completely lacking emotion and truth makes me wonder how much he sold out for his shiny new contract. It's like he sat there and corrected little things along the way, knowing the film was a lost cause. Must be nice having such a professional technician on a set.</span><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 5</span></strong></span><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);font-family:verdana;" ><strong>Mood:</strong></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">It's good to know that Alfred Hitchcock has not forgotten his roots. By that I mean when something is coined as being 'Comedy', Hitchcock does as he did so many years ago with such films as <strong><em>Champagne</em></strong> and <strong><em>Rich And Strange</em></strong>, namely throwing in one passably quirky scene, and maybe two laughs, and slapping 'Comedy' on the Marquis. It's good to know how this felt like those old stinkers from way back, when he had no creative control. This is so without the Hitchcock feel, that I felt gypped. </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 5</span></strong></span> </span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxOZh-IrbtsfaZbIGl32OpJZRSYDVGAVXljjIPLv0GKicF4GIzQZ5wph0DszA8UMbIcqtC4ltyflIuBwMvhmg3mWwaP-SpjM7yg9C7T5mGGV_9E2Pp8Z8tNt9CIOKKsV9OBw3S/s1600-h/22.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025435377619428242" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxOZh-IrbtsfaZbIGl32OpJZRSYDVGAVXljjIPLv0GKicF4GIzQZ5wph0DszA8UMbIcqtC4ltyflIuBwMvhmg3mWwaP-SpjM7yg9C7T5mGGV_9E2Pp8Z8tNt9CIOKKsV9OBw3S/s400/22.jpg" border="0" /> </a><p align="center"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;" ><em>Ugh, rather than inspiring comedy, this still just makes me mourn the last work of a great director.</em></span><br /><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 58% (Poorly Laid Out)</span></strong></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong> No, I didn't find it that bad, and maybe I'm grading too hard because it's Hitchcock, but much as it was with <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/10/jamaica-inn-1939.html">Jamaica Inn</a></em></strong>, I found that this movie didn't look like it was directed by anyone with a vision, anyone special, or anyone who cared about leaving a deep mark. </p><p align="justify">If it's one thing I've learned about Hitchcock, it's that his best movies have his signature on them. <strong><em>Family Plot </em></strong>is just a film with is name signed at the bottom.</p><p align="justify">As for final thought about my study of Hitchcock, the biggest thing I've learned from his career overall, it's that you have a limited amount of time to make a limited amount of film. Choose wisely, leave a mark that defines you. Make something that people will call yours rather than being 'master of none'... er, even if he was the Master Of Suspense...</p></span><p></p>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-54738915070864794802007-01-25T20:51:00.000-05:002007-01-30T08:39:25.062-05:00The Independent Filmmakers Co-operative of Ottawa Winter Gala 2007 Announcement<a href="http://www.ifco.ca"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025435729806746530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9NxmHgpFcjXRsLJSGlNzSzfmMhmhSPXnVzNdTntcBXQXdzrwjR8HIrkPsrCLyN-7yb-i0k1aGYabaLegOKVExhGeTr75iq3EtQI_BVunLwhlQ9qWBfMuzhB2HMWLr0X6DSPFo/s400/ifco1.bmp" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://www.ifco.ca">The Independent Filmmakers Co-operative of Ottawa</a> is gearing up for it's annual Winter Gala Screening at the National Archives (<strong>395 Wellington Street @ Bay</strong>) on Saturday, February 10th, 2007. This year's films promise to melt away any winter blues. If you’re interested in innovative, entertaining films and want to support local Ottawa filmmakers, then you’ll need to attend this screening of 14 new shorts:</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4agIuOmd2inA1MdoMavZJS_d7tb6E1gKRYcOI_t3J4sCoS1xy2qF41yHhbKSX6Wn9yp64RtPzuxYC70TZSSkSaNaz8swrGlKOCX2v38um4P30xOo8wCOfenyTqALOCU3Jv8h/s1600-h/ifco11q23.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025435828590994354" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4agIuOmd2inA1MdoMavZJS_d7tb6E1gKRYcOI_t3J4sCoS1xy2qF41yHhbKSX6Wn9yp64RtPzuxYC70TZSSkSaNaz8swrGlKOCX2v38um4P30xOo8wCOfenyTqALOCU3Jv8h/s400/ifco11q23.bmp" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ryan Handoyo – <strong><em>1506.2201.Riverside</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Pascal Aka – <strong><em>Weed Commercial</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Paul Gordon - <strong><em>The E. I. Life</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Christopher Redmond - <strong><em>Written in Stone</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Daniel Cardinal - <strong><em>THEY COME AT NIGHT</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Deny Trudel - <strong><em>Skins & Rubbers</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Pixie Cram - <strong><em>Pepere’s Chairs</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Bridget Farr – <strong><em>All I Ever</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ben Hoskyn - <strong><em>Sun Pushing Shadows</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">J</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ean-Claude Batista - <strong><em>The Competitive Edge</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Deniz Berkin - <strong><em>The Closed Door</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Joey Abboud - <strong><em>The End</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Paul Crivellari - <strong><em>No. 81</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Petr Maur - <strong><em>Oh My</em></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHH-ho3tOyqRRtYYQDslb41nBR4iYBOx-DW5nvbg3jykkynccrhrVagfdYHNZHE9zHciCRdY5t-FWmBMEKnbQNp7fXSXK9zXG8MJnZ9uGdSgEGBLoc5Jm274SeEYS2Pt5kyDC/s1600-h/ifco11.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025435880130601922" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHH-ho3tOyqRRtYYQDslb41nBR4iYBOx-DW5nvbg3jykkynccrhrVagfdYHNZHE9zHciCRdY5t-FWmBMEKnbQNp7fXSXK9zXG8MJnZ9uGdSgEGBLoc5Jm274SeEYS2Pt5kyDC/s400/ifco11.bmp" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">This year's films are edgier than ever. Come see for yourselves! Mix 'n' Mingle with the filmmakers at our after-mixer at the Bay Street Bistro (<strong>160 Bay Street</strong>) just steps away from the National Archives. Tickets are $12. Tickets can be purchased in advance at <a href="http://www.ifco.ca">IFCO’s</a> office (<strong>Ste.140 – 2 Daly Avenue</strong>), or the Arts Court front desk (<strong>2 Daly Avenue</strong>). You can also purchase tickets at the door.<br />ShowTime is 7:00pm.</span>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-11899635219289198422007-01-25T10:12:00.000-05:002007-01-30T07:39:54.400-05:00It (1927)<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwKKO-pyfLhzBF0PuBzF5AHDqJHVefZxuSQbI7Fo693jdFvX0BlLxaWbnV32yoa1MUTb-6yal0vzIS-xxQ9bWwwf6C55NycEgqYRoFd6XuJczuKykkzSCBkdCEgKOePFOpr1J/s1600-h/21.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwKKO-pyfLhzBF0PuBzF5AHDqJHVefZxuSQbI7Fo693jdFvX0BlLxaWbnV32yoa1MUTb-6yal0vzIS-xxQ9bWwwf6C55NycEgqYRoFd6XuJczuKykkzSCBkdCEgKOePFOpr1J/s400/21.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025090375781442402" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's all very innocent really. They were spinning on a big disk and they both just got off.</span></span><br /></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Silent Romantic Comedy</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Clara Bow</strong> (<strong><em>Wings</em></strong>), <strong>Antonio Moreno</strong> (<em><strong>Creature from the Black Lagoon</strong></em>)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Clarence G. Badger</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> When the new department store owner finds himself smitten by a sales girl, he find that she's got 'IT', that quality that makes men bend over backwards and submit to her will. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Love is never as easy as that...<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> So it's been a while since I've watched a silent film, given the <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/11/alfred-hitchcock-blog-thon-journal.html">Hitch-fest</a> and all the <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2007/01/cannes-international-advertising.html">television</a> I've been watching, and I feared that I had 'moved on' so to speak, thinking that I might wish for the colour and the sound that I have again grown to expect in my film experiences. As I watched <strong><em>It</em></strong>, I realize why I've seen so many silent films, even though they may not be in the Great and Magnificent <strong>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die</strong>. When they're this well-acted, they tell the whole story, subtext and all, with vivid clarity. Now I know why of all nicknames Clara Bow was called 'The <strong><em>It</em></strong> Girl'. Wow. What awe-inspiring performances by everyone.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 10</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> 1927 was a time of pretty intensely realistic filmmaking, which basically means that sets were often on location, like out at sea on a yacht with a ukulele, or at the fair on rides, or in the department store overloaded with customers and props. This isn't high-art or a visual spectacle or anything but the quality of the visuals can compete even today, intertitles, flapper hats and all.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> <strong><em>"So you're one of those Minute Men - The minute you know a girl you think you can kiss her!"</em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">What is the worst part of a Romantic Comedy? Some would say its predictability. Others, like myself, would say 'the route that its predictability takes'. When one commits to writing a Romantic Comedy, they commit themselves to 'The Formula'. What they shouldn't commit themselves to is creating drama from <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/03/way-down-east-1920.html">improbable situations that could be resolved simply through explanation</a>. To write a story full of plot holes for the simple sake of making the end more climactic is a sin, and for as much as <strong><em>It</em></strong> is the predictable Romantic Comedy it claims to be, anyone would do well to learn the lesson of scriptwriting the 'misunderstanding as plot device' from this piece. Aside from that, there's even real humour, and not the corny Harold Lloyd stuff of puns and similes, I mean genuine timeless laugh-out-loud moments.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> The twist, the thing I found strange and unusual about this film isn't in the plot, it's in the feminism. Given the day and age, Clara Bow was probably one of the least reserved individuals in film, and that quality made her quite popular indeed, not to mention the stunning smile that could light up a whole room, not in a graceful way, more like a dizzying, disco-ball party kind of way. Her energy combined with the heavy focus on her perspective of 'The Chase' makes this an interesting film historically and culturally, besides being plain old fun.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> The wonder that comes from being immersed into a day and age so apart from your own and understanding its cultural issues, stigmas and nuances so perfectly can either be attributed to the genius of my intellect and adaptability to foreign concepts, or, more probably, the creators' ability to tell a tale with such vivid attention to detail with a story so timeless that its viewers universally understand its unfolding. Too bad the skill was used for just a Rom-Com.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><div align="center"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJXX3pdd_sR3m0-_IPNFmfCdNMbvWO-bb4PQabxj99pAUDm85VUHdN9GVp0416gLPp2pHVhoBafd-7_InrwOLjOBSddtFFMtRAGm8sHlpO7axMa48wnsmp0rqB06h8Av4f-3OJ/s1600-h/Bow183.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJXX3pdd_sR3m0-_IPNFmfCdNMbvWO-bb4PQabxj99pAUDm85VUHdN9GVp0416gLPp2pHVhoBafd-7_InrwOLjOBSddtFFMtRAGm8sHlpO7axMa48wnsmp0rqB06h8Av4f-3OJ/s400/Bow183.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025090371486475090" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Hello, Clara Bow...</span></span><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 84% (She's Got 'IT')</span></strong> </div><div align="justify"><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong> The greatest risk (besides traumatization) with watching anything is that it will bore you and be a waste of time. When you compound that with a silent film of an era you've never known, along with the quality of some film prints, you're really risking things by watching silent cinema. Agreed, it's a tough call. Perhaps this isn't the best example of storytelling, given the confines of the Genre, but it's really great for understanding the socio-cultural dynamic, if I would hazard a guess at how it was back then.</div></span>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-7261995996709369662007-01-25T09:15:00.001-05:002007-01-26T07:45:35.849-05:00Cujo (1983) * Favorite Review *<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCR6ViLm5XIickzwi3nLnfikUrifx0P0Uebt-YlLNcGi7iJ8P60LpXHusdACw1nGSyqcQZwhOZ54se9Ua_IKEd-ZOaO3xjYPdLYeuRSUVA1Ci9l_Syb3K44SSvJaGhk5Wtd0d/s1600-h/cujo1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCR6ViLm5XIickzwi3nLnfikUrifx0P0Uebt-YlLNcGi7iJ8P60LpXHusdACw1nGSyqcQZwhOZ54se9Ua_IKEd-ZOaO3xjYPdLYeuRSUVA1Ci9l_Syb3K44SSvJaGhk5Wtd0d/s400/cujo1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5024312509959496498" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Eeek! Obects in mirror and all that! How Chilling!</span></span><br /></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Horror Thriller</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Dee Wallace-Stone</strong> (<em><strong>The Howling</strong></em>; <em><strong>E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial</strong></em>); <strong>Danny Pintauro</strong> (<strong>"Who's the Boss?"</strong>)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Lewis Teague</strong> (<em><strong>The Jewel of the Nile</strong></em>; <em><strong>Navy Seals</strong></em>)<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> Dogs die when locked in hot cars. Cujo, Stephen King's rabid St-Bernard, is getting even on all those dog owners with some poetic vengeance.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> Whether they have starred for years in <strong>"Who's The Boss?"</strong>, or if they're merely a talentless tertiary character that casting chose because he was their best friend's actor-hopeful cousin, the victim of rabies, if left untreated will develop encephalitis, which is a lovely little condition that causes brain damage when the brain swells inside the skull and eventually kills the victim, even if they're super-well trained dogs.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 6</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> Those infected with rabies start developping symptoms between two and eight weeks. Sometimes they'll see a scene with the world artistically spinning or sights mimicking Hitchcock's down-low or high up camera angles, but usually they'll just see the world as most people do, with the occasional vicious attacks, leaving their victims bloody dead, or bloody afraid, though always professional, if a little dated.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> The victim of a rabies infection will tend to say things like "Ow, my brain's leaking out of my ears," or "did you see that huge monster bite the hell out of me? I bet I've got rabies", you know pretty inventive stuff. Stories like 'I'm having an affair' and 'you have to go out of town to deal with a PR fiasco' aren't really good things to talk about when a dog is trying to eat your face.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 6</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> Rabies treatment in humans no longer involves painful injections into the abdominal wall, though a victim will indeed receive immunoglobin and a vaccine, on the first day, and another vaccine on the 3rd, 7th, 14th, and 28th day after that first shot. Some people might think that long, perhaps even as long as Girlfriend Of Squish found this 93 minute film, or as she put it, "alright now, I get it, kill something".<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 6</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> The mood of those infected with rabies vary depending on the symptom present: the <strong>furious</strong> stage is known for displays of irritability, restlessness and aggression, which many people will feel as they watch this film's sub-plots unfold without any resolution, even though the book wrapped everything up quite nicely, thank you. There is also a <strong>paralytic</strong> stage, where foaming at the mouth occurs due to localized paralysis of the throat and face, causing the inability to swallow, and eventually respiratory paralysis, which of course leads to death. I can at least say that this probably won't happen to audiences watching <strong><em>Cujo</em></strong>, mainly because of the cute kid and the occasional scary moment.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7<br /></span></strong><br /></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><div align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6JiKGqjG1_jOlfkoIZMk4Oj2r7Y3CjIiBtH8gZrO7V990drOxqtSVBbONaTeVYowNZVoD-6MAeoVH2Ck-oyFH_8s9xNdupQBX_xW8hlxo3U-1FZUQgFQs8eHO8v8Pd5RIXAo6/s1600-h/cujo3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6JiKGqjG1_jOlfkoIZMk4Oj2r7Y3CjIiBtH8gZrO7V990drOxqtSVBbONaTeVYowNZVoD-6MAeoVH2Ck-oyFH_8s9xNdupQBX_xW8hlxo3U-1FZUQgFQs8eHO8v8Pd5RIXAo6/s400/cujo3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5024314309550793538" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">No, the worse thing is that they're stuck in a PINTO!</span></span><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 62% (A Bit Of A Leg-Lifter)</span></strong> </div><div align="justify"><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong> No one <em>wants</em> rabies, that much is clear, but we all wouldn't mind <em>seeing</em> someone with rabies to satiate our bloodlust. This movie is like that. Not in a Lars Von Trier or silent Era Film mood? Well switch to the On Demand channel and let yer woman pick something, though I'd have gone for <strong><em>Rocky</em></strong> myself... I think I also learned the lesson that after a dinner out at a fancy sushi place, no matter what you watch, it'll probably be satisfying, especially with a glass of wine in your hand.</div></span>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-37779312414451219992007-01-24T14:06:00.000-05:002007-01-26T07:12:54.781-05:00Pan's Labyrinth (2006)<div align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNi7zGiA8rz4bvngFnmDbrix114IlIgeAhlShIOTYnXi6c_9BgriuWXnp11yKLCJR2qnwKL7LowCuEJEjh53M5RtHAvIlJ8GQaD9G4WOPk76dMIJ5AC0XoGXmqD77xKldMDse/s1600-h/pan2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5022133614176468002" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNi7zGiA8rz4bvngFnmDbrix114IlIgeAhlShIOTYnXi6c_9BgriuWXnp11yKLCJR2qnwKL7LowCuEJEjh53M5RtHAvIlJ8GQaD9G4WOPk76dMIJ5AC0XoGXmqD77xKldMDse/s400/pan2.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;" ><em>MENTAL NOTE: Always listen to fauns who talk to you while holding fancy knives</em></span></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Drama Fantasy Thriller<br /></strong><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Ivana Baquero</strong>, <strong>Sergi López</strong><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Guillermo del Toro</strong> (<strong><em>The Devil's Backbone</em></strong>; <strong><em>Hellboy</em></strong>)<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> A young girl goes to live with her pregnant mother and a military captain in Franco-ruled Spain. Amidst the oppression of the people, the girl finds herself in a fantastical world where she quests to be a fairy princess.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2007/01/robocop-2-1990-favorite-review.html">I've said recently</a> that there are some films that need constant defence rather than evaluation, and you won't find <strong><em>Pan's Labyrinth</em></strong> to be the kind of film that has critics debating it's worth. In fact, some reviews are almost too easy to write because I'll just be saying what everyone one else has. We have some great talent here, and the film runs as smoothly as this praise of it will. For you sick freaks out there, you'll like the Fascist Captain the best.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> This is what draws people out. This is what will make the <strong>Lowest Common Denominator</strong> forgive the subtitles. They'll be so impressed with that eyeball-handed monster and the faun and the frog and the fantasy of it all, that they won't think reading a chore. What their kids might not like is all the gore, like when, early on, the Captain punches a dude in the face until it's mushy. Course, I'm not a kid, so party on. You don't need me telling you this is impressive... I don't even know why I bothered.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 10</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> Speaking of subtitles, I remember once going into a chain video-rental place with my selection when the clerk reminded me that there were subtitles in it with the question "Do you still want it?". My reply of "Of course, how many people actually say no to that?" was retorted with an astonishing "About half." And this is Canada, where we pride ourselves in our ability to read. I expected poetry in <strong><em>Pan</em></strong>, but all I got was well-written declarations of fact and opinion.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> What makes this story great is the context. A young girl dreaming of a fantastical world while brutality encroaches upon her, keeping the story rooted in mature-sized terror rather than playing up the beauty and magic of everything... that's what makes this film entertaining for the realists among us. Though, I would have liked just a touch more fantasy and less fascism, I wouldn't have minded a longer movie to accommodate both.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> The first complaint I have about this film are the odd moments that were worse than a guided tour for its exposition. We have a servant who is shown to have a concealed knife on her person, not once but twice. Thanks for reminding me how she'll be using it as a weapon at some point - twice. Then there's the most harrowing fantasy scene of the whole film: with such warnings as "Don't eat a thing, your life depends on it," you'd really think there would be a better way to rouse the sleeping beast than going and doing the very thing you were expressly told not to do. All the 'real moments', those 'above ground' times with violence and torture taking place, they were rich in period and oppression and iron-fisted evil. It's fantastic. As for the fantastical quests themselves, I'll admit they weren't the grand expressions I hoped for, gorgeous as they were.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /></span></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5022133618471435314" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHQ1fUdFkqJxieRS8NY-8DZxYtpXGSXYl-3A_XoplHY56xfMwHfPOsmnt7-OkDFr98B6kdx209pYr5LIL8O74KJWwMMx_q_pFQHbb1oRW-qxRWDW18pcV8tuZephKvMkz6P4M/s400/pan27.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;" ><em>Sweet evil Spanish dictators. Why are dictators always so well dressed?</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br />Overall Rating: 84% (A-maze-ing Enough)</span></strong> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></p><p align="justify"><strong style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong><span style="font-family: verdana;"> None of the dozen of us who went to this doubted how good this would be and none were disappointed, so as reviews go, you'd do well to see this, but to Hell with IMDB's Top 250. I've been watching this movie on that list since Thursday where it was #125. I thought this was very impressive for a movie that had only screened at festivals. Tuesday morning it's #100, and #90 by the afternoon. Right now it's sitting at #88. Hardly. Who pays who to create accounts and click 'best movie ever'? I'm not buying it.</span> </p>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-1157292774847549222007-01-24T10:45:00.000-05:002007-01-24T10:53:28.112-05:00Dead Man (1995)<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1574/278/1600/dead%20man.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1574/278/400/dead%20man.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Nope, not dead yet</span></span><br /></div><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204);font-family:verdana;" ><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Genre:</span></u></strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Adventure Crime Drama Western</span> (USA, Germany, Japan)<br /><br /><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Starring:</span></u></strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Johnny Depp</span> (<a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/04/charlie-and-chocolate-factory-2005.html"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">Charlie And The Chocolate Factory</span></a>, <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2005/10/corpse-bride-2005.html"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">Corpse Bride</span></a>), <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Gary Farmer</span> (<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">The Score</span>)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Jim Jarmusch </strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(<a style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold" href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/08/mystery-train-1989.html"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Mystery Train</span></a>, <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2005/12/broken-flowers-2005.html"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">Broken Flowers</span></a>)</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Overview:</span></u></strong> An accountant from Cleveland moves out to the Wild West. When he shoots a man, he ends up on the run where an Indian named Nobody nurtures him back to health.<br /><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> Johnny Effin' Depp, sure he's had his misses (<strong><em>Cry-Baby</em></strong>, <strong><em>Nick Of Time</em></strong>) but I haven't seen any of them, and my record is still clean. That having been said, you know this guy makes wicked awesome films, and Jarmusch is perfect at guiding them along. After this, Gary Farmer is one of my new favorite native actors, and he's been in quite a bit. Add the likes of Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, Billy-Bob Thornton, <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2005/09/avp-alien-vs-predator-2004.html">Lance Henriksen</a>, <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/07/proposition-2005-hidden-gem.html">John Hurt</a>, <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/05/millers-crossing-1990.html">Gabriel Byrne</a> and Michael Wincott, and we prove that this is a director who not only can wrangle up some good talent, but keep them reins tight.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 9</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Cinematography:</span></strong> Filmed in glorious black and white, you'll appreciate the way the old West seems more real this way, almost like looking at an old picture. Besides having the costumes just right and the wilderness as impressive as ever, we have some pretty cool action and some intense cinematic style that frankly makes me wonder why he didn't do this sort of thing more often. The best Jarmusch film out there for the visuals that I've seen so far.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 9</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Script:</span></strong> <strong><em>"That weapon will replace your tongue. You will learn to speak through it. And your poetry will now be written with blood."</em></strong> </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">This movie is full of awesome stuff like this. Not only is this filled with both literal and figurative poetry, but I was genuinely astounded at the depth of understanding I had for each character. Writers would do well in learning the lesson of how to create characters that become richer with every word, rather than scenes that simply banter their way to the end. .<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 10</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Plot:</span></strong> The simplest stories can be the strongest. This is not some twist-rich story full of intrigue and double-crosses. It's the common story about a man who commits himself to a new life, when right away happenstance interferes. His meek character must change quickly in the face of these harsh challenges that he faces, but they aren't insurmountable. It's one man against the limited few that chase him. It's brilliant in its simplicity, as rather than bogging us down with events, we can focus on character. It's great.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 9</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Mood:</span></strong> The opening scene on the train shows our hero amongst wild men. We learn before he even arrives that his transformation must be quick. Stepping off the train we see his astounded by the muddy filth of the streets, the sinful filth of the rugged men that surround him. The realistic style of the fights he gets into and the almost supernatural way he adapts to the changes are what make this film so great. Add to this the chiaroscuro style of filming and we have the entire gamete of art covered, creating a deep and meaningful film, as well as a comment on our darker history.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 9</span></strong><br /><br /></p></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1574/278/1600/dead8.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1574/278/400/dead8.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Stupid Fucking White Man"</span></span><br /></div><p align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Overall Rating: 92% (Knocks You Flat On Your Ass)</span></strong> </span></p><span style="font-family:verdana;"><p align="justify"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Aftertaste:</span></strong> I have no idea what happened to Jim Jarmusch in the four years between <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/08/night-on-earth-1991.html">Night On Earth</a></em></strong> and this. It's like he became an entirely different director. From two films about short stories with very little plot, to this deep tale of fate, rebirth, and spirituality. I have two more films to watch of his to complete my study of his works, and after having seen this and <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/09/ghost-dog-way-of-samurai-1999.html">Ghost Dog</a></em></strong>, I'll tell you I'm completely stoked.</span> </p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:180%;">This post is part of the <em><span style="color:#ff9900;">Jim Jarmusch Blog-A-Thon</span></em>. For a complete list, visit <a href="http://diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/">Sujewa</a>.</span></p>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-42418439983980967862007-01-23T08:41:00.000-05:002007-01-24T09:30:29.179-05:00Cannes International Advertising Festival 2006 (2006)<div align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIjmARyu-xCYPe4sIBsNZanWA2nEazWFtm08r_y4jKBNQmr9gNTaWnTlL1U9DFB5NzSF9eTbq_KTebe-891GM1qSDTNcpreG14B8MLdNlWg4u7QMuZdodwA3HPm466HRgOXJEO/s1600-h/Cannes_Lions_International_Advertising_Festival_logo.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5023580471438598930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIjmARyu-xCYPe4sIBsNZanWA2nEazWFtm08r_y4jKBNQmr9gNTaWnTlL1U9DFB5NzSF9eTbq_KTebe-891GM1qSDTNcpreG14B8MLdNlWg4u7QMuZdodwA3HPm466HRgOXJEO/s400/Cannes_Lions_International_Advertising_Festival_logo.gif" border="0" /></a> <em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">woof</span></em><br /><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204);font-family:verdana;" ><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Advertising Shorts</strong> (International)<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Overview:</span></u></strong> The 2006 selection of the world's funniest and most important commercials of the year.<br /></span></div><p align="justify"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)"><strong></strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Over the holidays, I was expressly avoiding film for fear of having to set aside valuable time reserved for </span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana" href="http://www.filmsquish.com">www.filmsquish.com<span style="font-family:verdana;"></a> to write reviews. I remedied the need for visual stimulation by watching TV. Vegging in front of the tube for a 44-minute hour is the easiest way of passing movie-reserved time, but only served to make me realize just how much I hate television.</span> </p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">For about a year now, my television habits have been reduced to <a href="http://www.weather.ca/weather/cities/can/Pages/CAON0512.htm">The Weather Network</a>, and <a href="http://www.themovienetwork.ca/">Rogers On Demand</a>. That means that my patience for television advertising has been replaced with, as Girlfriend Of Squish will attest, rage-filled, three-minute rants. Don't even get me started on advertisers digitally inserting product placements for shows now in syndication, like <strong><em>Friends</em></strong>. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I hate television because I hate commercials. I hate commercials because - simply put - slave-owning companies I wish would die try to sell me crap I don't need and bring this world one step closer to the brink. That's why I found it strange to be sitting there </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">at a 116-minute advertising extravaganza for the third year in a row even though it didn't impress me </span><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2005/03/cannes-international-ad-festival-2004.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">the first</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> or even </span><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/01/cannes-ad-festival-2005-2005.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">the second</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> time. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Given this growing hatred of The Corporation, I certainly had apprehensions of attending the <strong>Cannes International Ad Festival 2006</strong></span>, but let me be the first to tell you </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">how impressed I was this year. First of all, they fixed the biggest problems with the previous years' presentations: they didn't show the same commercial three times as before, and it didn't end as abruptly as in previous years. I have </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwonqnjVXZg"><span style="font-family:verdana;">a few</span></a><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong> </strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">recommendable <a href="http://adhunt.blogspot.com/2006/01/vw-fox.html">favorites</a></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">, yes, but rather than drone on about those, I'd rather rant about the ad that disturbed me the most: <strong>Smooth E Babyface Foam</strong>, a facial cleansing product from Thailand.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This is a 4-part comedy drama where an Asian tomboy hunts after her favoured pretty boy. Though the actual product placement was humourous (a tribute / satirization of the American 50s billboards with a motionless smiling woman holding the product next to her face in an extreme close-up), the undercurrent of this ad is disturbing in cultural context. Yes, the fact that the ideal of beauty being sold will get you the man you desire is bad enough, but that's to be expected. What's truly unnerving is that this Asian commercial is so completely Americanized that besides having the 'ideal model' as close to American as an Asian could be, we have the title of the Thai product in English, which serves not only to add poignancy to the name of the item, but helps create an English language culture in a country an ocean apart... and I thought mourning chopsticks was worthwhile... talk about homogenization.</span></p><p align="justify"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHtISDQMqArDLGldQDmK6HtKXk9HpQSbAZ2kwOajImWpI-RHxS6WIY4IMPiPRf6CeuG7rNdBsajTH-cw-5c1RSW08c9gZU8oYXcDCzoivbgFm37_Ln649UP0LyMOEPd0nnHMH5/s1600-h/nike-watch-281x150.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5023580475733566242" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHtISDQMqArDLGldQDmK6HtKXk9HpQSbAZ2kwOajImWpI-RHxS6WIY4IMPiPRf6CeuG7rNdBsajTH-cw-5c1RSW08c9gZU8oYXcDCzoivbgFm37_Ln649UP0LyMOEPd0nnHMH5/s400/nike-watch-281x150.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center"><span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;"><em>And you can finally watch back, (Big) Brother!!</em></span></span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Overall Rating: 82% (It Cannes And It Does)</span></strong> </span></p><span style="font-family:verdana;"><p align="justify"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Aftertaste:</span></strong> Now you know what leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Advertising. So go enjoy this. Those of you in Ottawa reading this still have until February 1st to check it out. This event attracts lost of people, so show up early!</p></span></div>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-10422449546021843762007-01-22T15:41:00.000-05:002007-01-23T16:42:51.693-05:00Robocop 2 (1990) * Favorite Review *<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZ439_NvdmvM6tgqphVQB-4KNZ2b-6PytZZ50NsCDaFw-6gigPR3631j6MaIs5FdNL25bsEovsysomYovqS-jTENNT8dfe5P_fdEW0dv5OXIMCAVp5LQybuIZTE05eqWXOL_b/s1600-h/robocop21.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZ439_NvdmvM6tgqphVQB-4KNZ2b-6PytZZ50NsCDaFw-6gigPR3631j6MaIs5FdNL25bsEovsysomYovqS-jTENNT8dfe5P_fdEW0dv5OXIMCAVp5LQybuIZTE05eqWXOL_b/s400/robocop21.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5023343397833794290" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><i style="font-family: verdana;">I don't know who's more excited about those pecs, the lady or that blonde dude. Giddy up!<br /><br /></i></span></div> <div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Action Crime Sci-Fi Thriller</strong> <strong>Comedy</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Peter Weller</strong> (<strong><em>Shadow Hours</em></strong>; <strong><em>Naked Lunch</em></strong>), <strong>Tom Noonan</strong> (<strong><em>Mercy Seed</em></strong>; <strong><em>Manhunter</em></strong>)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Irvin Kershner</strong> (<strong><em>Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back</em></strong>;<strong> <em>Never Say Never Again</em></strong>) </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> OPC Cybernetic Technologies has been working on making more cyborg cops with tragic consequences. When a corporate executive tries a new approach using criminal minds, Robocop finds himself the target of a nemesis' rage.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> If it's one thing I've realized after two years of writing reviews, it's that the preconception of a film will often guide many people to conclusions enough that they need be addressed by the critic before the critic can be taken seriously. <strong><em>Robocop 2</em></strong> is such a film that deserves more consideration in defence than in actual evaluation, and knowing that this director's high points include <strong><em>Star Wars</em></strong> and James Bond, well, that's enough to hold up for itself. Some of you may say that Peter Weller isn't the best actor out there, but at least he was the original <strong><em>Robocop</em></strong>, and he did a great job in <strong><em>Naked Lunch</em></strong>. As for Tom Noonan, it was nice seeing a little known actor that I've really grown to like in such a prominent role, even if it wasn't the career builder it should have been for him. Screw you guys, this was great, especially considering the year it was made.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> The best thing about this movie would be the budget. Admittedly these types of action flicks full of guns and goons will invariably have said goons using said guns on bullet-proof <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behemoth">behemoths</a>, and yes you might even say that seven shootout scenes might even be too much. What you can't say is that stop-motion animation isn't cool. Yes, they used it in the original <strong><em>Robocop</em></strong>, and they keep it up in the sequel. Sweet memories of the days of Sinbad fighting skeletons and sea monsters! It's not low-tech, it's retro-cool, and hey there's even these P.O.V. shots where you see green targeting screens and directives scrolling by. What else do you WANT?!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> <strong><em>"Jesus... had days like this."</em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><em></em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><em></em></strong></span></div> </div><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This screenplay was written by Frank Miller. This screenplay was written by Frank Miller. I wrote that twice because I also found it hard to believe. Yeah, the guy who wrote and co-directed <strong><em>Sin City</em></strong>. In fact, his original plot for <strong><em>Robocop 2</em></strong> was made into a 9-issue comic series. And you know what else? I'm going to read it, just to spite you hater bitches. This movie's script has a lot of plain old obvious dialogue, but there's some pretty awesome tongue-in-cheek wit that keeps this movie OUT of the cheese category - keeps this movie OUT of the cheese category.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> <strong><em>"DIRECTIVE 245: If you haven't got anything nice to say don't talk."<br /><br /></em></strong> </span><br /><div align="left"> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">*whistling*</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 6</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> Screw you guys, this was a great time. What makes this movie this much fun is the social commentary as expressed through the commercials, think <em><strong>Starship Troopers</strong>.</em> The first has a business man who changed data companies to save money. Due to slow service, he lost the account, and proceeds to kill himself as the camera zooms in on a picture of his daughter. The second add shows how 'since the ozone layer is gone' SPF 5000 is the way to go, and shows a model covering herself in a thick blue goo as she sits relaxing by the pool. Little comedic moments like all the failed attempts at newer model Robocops prove that this film doesn't take itself anywhere near seriously, and the comedy abounds.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong></span></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><div align="center"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGYpueEiTRcRsA1Lc0DZyq7XSuFIBvkRNUzmLa2iwhofpunvYorFMVXEoCI0e-R6HWxmqL_IkQU1qunisP1TPj5Ooa_3XfhFQT74Xjszlv26Tu7vvRbfkRxahkDdlF5DvPavhb/s1600-h/robocop2-04.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGYpueEiTRcRsA1Lc0DZyq7XSuFIBvkRNUzmLa2iwhofpunvYorFMVXEoCI0e-R6HWxmqL_IkQU1qunisP1TPj5Ooa_3XfhFQT74Xjszlv26Tu7vvRbfkRxahkDdlF5DvPavhb/s400/robocop2-04.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5023344106503398146" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Now that's the way to take care of a union scab!</span></span><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 70% (Cop A Feel)</span></strong> </div><div align="left"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong> After all that I hope you either realized <strong>1.)</strong> How fun a movie this is to watch with a bunch of friends, and <strong>2.)</strong> How convincing a writer I am. </div> </div>One more thing: Front Line Assembly, one of the most influential Industrial bands out there, have a song that liberally samples from this, and that adds to the goodness.<br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">No, shut up. I don't care what you think, it's not a bad movie.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Ok I DO care what you think... leave a comment.</span></span>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-37406476483522629902007-01-20T14:29:00.000-05:002007-01-22T15:10:36.767-05:00Nocturne (1980) & Image of Relief (1982)<div align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhExQh1DeGsYg2jwyibkzVn4msbKJKZL_vBSa7_M037s9Jgupp7qlddCvQd6xg9lrcIv4E-ZyzaajEOFw-WK3QKdwu4ncC7-an0wxQsAxxj948cGTq0WuIE3Bm1yGFD3PC1xMWn/s1600-h/Nocturne.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5022160878628863042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhExQh1DeGsYg2jwyibkzVn4msbKJKZL_vBSa7_M037s9Jgupp7qlddCvQd6xg9lrcIv4E-ZyzaajEOFw-WK3QKdwu4ncC7-an0wxQsAxxj948cGTq0WuIE3Bm1yGFD3PC1xMWn/s400/Nocturne.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;"><em> When an experimental short starts like an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_On_Me">A-Ha video</a>, it leaves a bittersweet aftertaste.</em></span><br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204);font-family:verdana;" ><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Genre:</span></u></strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Experimental Drama Shorts</span></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">(Denmark)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Yvette</strong>, <strong>Edward Fleming</strong>, <strong>Kirsten Olesen</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Lars Von Trier </strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(<strong><em>Dogville</em></strong>; <strong><em>Breaking The Waves</em></strong>)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Overview:</span></u></strong> Easter Eggs on a compilation of Lars Von Trier's Apocalyptic Trilogy include his first made in film school, as well as his graduating production.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'll tell you that even <em>my</em> budding filmmaking knowledge began with experimental film, and for as much as you might think it easier to do, as they need not have a narrative, a plot or even sometimes a purpose, they are certainly a deep trek into the learning process, and can teach more things more quickly, as long as we're willing to spend the money and risk failure. Art students have the great benefit of being guided through the learning process of more technical aspects of a medium, while using it to take us to a personal place limited only by the artist's ideas, creativity and their wallet. For this reason, watching the introductory independent works of established filmmakers makes a lot of sense. You learn applications of ingenuity, of artistic manipulation over the technical all while, hopefully grasping the technical challenges that those new to the field have faced. Call it a tutorial.</span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Tutorials tend to be rather bland. Be it online guides for Windows XP and Excel, or David Lynch's <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/07/short-films-of-david-lynch-1967-1995.html">early shorts</a>, they tend to be more about the learning process than the entertainment of the medium. If you go into these Lars Von Trier pieces with this perspective you won't be disappointed. </span></div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">As for the films themselves, <strong><em>Nocturne</em></strong> <strong>(1980)</strong> is an 8-minute short about a woman having trouble with her eyes, to the degree that she is only comfortable in dim light. Ultimately this film is slow in pace and has no real story elements, though insight is gleaned when described by Lars himself in the commentary track. The experiment of <strong><em>Nocturne</em></strong> is in the 'Geometric Storyboarding' style they used to film it. Each shot was meticulously planned so that the geometry of one shot flows into the next one. A shot of blinds, slightly askew fade into the grill of a birdcage, shot at the same angle. A woman on the phone lowers her arm. Once it reaches a horizontal angle, we cut to a cityscape horizon. Lars seemed most proud of the round church shot (above right) that cuts perfectly into a close-up of the woman's wristwatch. All told, you know when a film is more enjoyable with director's commentary, it's less about the film than the learning.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong><em>Image of Relief</em></strong> <strong>(1982)</strong> is technically a better film, which stands to reason given the two years of film school, however it is far less entertaining. A 57-minute short with about 20 lines of dialogue makes for a film full of montage pieces: slow, droning shots of orange, green and blue-filtered images, very reminiscent of <strong><em>The Element of Crime</em></strong>, though more nonsensical. As far as I could infer, this is a story set in World War II, and a German Officer's mistress up and blinds him with a stake. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">In both films, the influence of Tarkovsky is very obvious (I've read), and above all things I've learned that Tarkovsky is a boring kind of director, unless Lars' early works just failed in being as entertaining. </span><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></div></span></strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><div align="center"><br /></div></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1kVrbieZ6geTLWEhoexxEwntARZjHVqzMC1hGs30GqnQVAT_QGKVZV1WJ3lOKD3_uoQvTng1CoXsGFMG2maNQiZaS8i2To1Va59kOBLX9hSlN6DDzyioSYdFvtC6YsARYB6bT/s1600-h/PRESTEL_KART_5PR-16.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5022160878628863058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1kVrbieZ6geTLWEhoexxEwntARZjHVqzMC1hGs30GqnQVAT_QGKVZV1WJ3lOKD3_uoQvTng1CoXsGFMG2maNQiZaS8i2To1Va59kOBLX9hSlN6DDzyioSYdFvtC6YsARYB6bT/s400/PRESTEL_KART_5PR-16.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;"><em>Some nice composure for someone who just had stakes driven into his eyes.<br /></em></span><br /></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Overall Rating: 53% (For Trier Completists And Students Only)</span></strong></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)"></span></strong></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Aftertaste:</span></strong> It's fun to watch someone's early works, especially if you like the technical side of film, or have a love of a person's art so much that you'll go suffer to 'not so good', just to be able to say you've seen it, but I have the added bonus of being able to write about it after, to mull over the finer points and explain to you some minor insights about obscure short film. You know, that doesn't bother me at all. I'll be sure to do it again, too.</span></div>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-66282691944322235572007-01-19T16:00:00.000-05:002007-01-20T10:23:58.006-05:00Rififi (1955)<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIUhJTFQQADO5j72E9PgReCkpZr116Rn4jM27IgU75jybxpBh73slqEEBPVESKzjvs0HPIxsTL6sJI7KzUKarQSVo83k38zJlHnOhhh7AIGP-Cgp5I69MdtvZNefqF-86FZr4Y/s1600-h/rififi_g.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIUhJTFQQADO5j72E9PgReCkpZr116Rn4jM27IgU75jybxpBh73slqEEBPVESKzjvs0HPIxsTL6sJI7KzUKarQSVo83k38zJlHnOhhh7AIGP-Cgp5I69MdtvZNefqF-86FZr4Y/s400/rififi_g.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5022132308506409986" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">"No dear, there's no such thing as misogyny in Film Noir, it's called Character Development."</span></span><br /></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Crime Noir Thriller<br /></strong><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Jean Servais</strong>, <strong>Carl Möhner</strong> (<strong><em>Sink the Bismarck!</em></strong>)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Jules Dassin</strong> (<em><strong>Night And The City</strong></em>; <em><strong>Thieves' Highway</strong></em>)<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> A gang of hard-boiled ex-cons perfectly concoct a brilliant jewellery heist, but to err is human...<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> Jules Dassin, after a quick perusal, turns out to be one of the best, if not THE director of the French Film Noir. More interesting is that he was a Russian-Jewish American who left America when accused of being a communist, and consequently blacklisted. For Francois Truffaut to say that the best Film Noir he'd ever seen is <strong><em>Rififi</em></strong>, well that's enough to make me recommend it to even the <strong>Film Noir</strong>-curious. Then there's the actual cast. Imagine the perfect face of a villain, then watch this. Freakish how that's the EXACT face you were picturing for the bad guy, eh?<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 10</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> Film NOIR, and by Noir I mean dark settings with trench coats and fedoras, bejewelled bleached blondes in smoky gin joints singing about the rough and tumble men they associate with. Men who linger about darkened alleys, drive boats and shoot gats. It's like a total rip off of every Film Noir cliché that exists, except he was probably out there inventing it.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> This is the kind of writing that needs no explanation. It's a tale with few twists, and by that I mean the motivations of these characters are so well laid-out and rooted in the genre that you know innately where this is going to go, in the best way possible. No surprises means you know the characters. Cynical outlooks and paranoia speak volumes. When words are exchanged though, those of you who speak French will appreciate the ultra-50s slang of it all.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 9</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> Film NOIR, and by noir I mean a bleak, surly, anti-hero tale where the guy we follow has maybe an ounce more likeability than anyone else, a touch more ethic, a sliver more nobless. A heist story that appropriately shows the quick wit of professionals while still focussing on the consequences of human frailty, that's nothing to complain about. When I say classic film noir, it implies tragic ends, but don't be so sure... or maybe I'm just saying that to keep you guessing. Either way, the good guys are bad, the bad guys are evil, and that's what makes it worth the trip.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> Early in this story we have a scene where our anti-hero, after having done his bit in prison, comes back to find his old lady at a fancy club, letting a man pay for her evening. Our hero stands there, looming, telling the man to leave. The woman is taken into a room, and made to give him all her jewellery, and her mink coat. "I never forgot you!" she pleads. He beats her with a belt for her lack of loyalty. Call me a misogynist but I don't know a better way to introduce a character than by this trial by fire. After that, you know who this guy is. He doesn't need any more back-story than that.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 9</span></strong><br /></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><div align="center"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5NVS92AfRK7FSOy6c4rpWCLSucAPSgdrBeaBWgp8L5sMJX6p4OZQnJsDJTrfX16v5YMepazWz-u7g8Lu-YCZOnyFyw7JVtETCs8GtdPMfhoXwB1_UBnHAYf-97BjXIdQ6K1HX/s1600-h/Rififi+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5NVS92AfRK7FSOy6c4rpWCLSucAPSgdrBeaBWgp8L5sMJX6p4OZQnJsDJTrfX16v5YMepazWz-u7g8Lu-YCZOnyFyw7JVtETCs8GtdPMfhoXwB1_UBnHAYf-97BjXIdQ6K1HX/s400/Rififi+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5022132308506410002" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Diamonds aren't just a girl's best friend, nope.</span></span><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 88% ('Rough And Tumble')</span></strong><br /></div><div align="justify"><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong> Half way through I said, "I don't know if it's the wine, but is this the best Film Noir I've ever seen?" In the end, as stories go, the answer was 'almost', but the characters are ultra-rich in the genre, morbid as it is. Why this isn't in <strong>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die</strong> is beyond me. What irks me is that something crappy took its place, I'm sure, yet this is film history here. Whatever.</div></span>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-52820706805744672892007-01-18T21:40:00.000-05:002007-01-18T15:35:33.089-05:00Topaz (1969)<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0);font-family:verdana;" >Hitchcock! Hitchcock! Hitchcock!</span> </span><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM5Gu7YZrg5r2suj4iKvAvBax2nZMh5cmIoD7_yGYWXYR2H3Mf6JSlmEisMY8zDCaiRSwXCsSQ2NHnx7EBlOVBMb0J0dmn_9nP0wUNH6grAuLI3vF9Xb0lL_NFT0E9tRuAx4Ow/s1600-h/title+topaz+Alfred+Hitchcock+-+Masterpiece+Collection+DVD+Review.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020081620536359858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM5Gu7YZrg5r2suj4iKvAvBax2nZMh5cmIoD7_yGYWXYR2H3Mf6JSlmEisMY8zDCaiRSwXCsSQ2NHnx7EBlOVBMb0J0dmn_9nP0wUNH6grAuLI3vF9Xb0lL_NFT0E9tRuAx4Ow/s400/title+topaz+Alfred+Hitchcock+-+Masterpiece+Collection+DVD+Review.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;"><em>Look at all the Hitchcock fans fleeing the theater en masse!</em></span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204);font-family:verdana;" ><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Genre:</span></u></strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Crime Thriller Drama</span><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><br />Starring:</span></u></strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Frederick Stafford</span> (<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">The Battle of El Alamein</span>), <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Dany Robin</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Alfred Hitchcock </strong></span><span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Vertigo</span></strong>;<strong> <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Psycho</span></strong></span><span><span><span style="font-family:verdana;">)</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Overview:</span></u></strong> A French ambassador finds himself embroiled into Russian-American Cold War politics. With threats of double agents and Cuban missiles pointed at America, those politics may become all too deadly. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> I will admit I dreaded writing this review for so long that I think I blocked out most of it. Frenchmen speaking English with French accents bug me, that's my cross to bear. Black spies so super-hip that they border on the 'sploitation cool, but not on purpose, they kick ass. This movie should have been about him. The best roles in this are the tertiary little guys. Why God? Why?! Ambassadors turn out to be boring people, and their wives too whiney for their own good.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 6</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Cinematography:</span></strong> Again I'm trying to think of unprofessional or ultra-bland moments. None. Now I'm trying to think of interesting and cool moments: the black guy (below) trying to sneak off with some top secret documents. That scene was great, full of suspense and intrigue! Then there's... er... yeah.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 6</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Script:</span></strong> The best dialogue took place during the ten minute scene (again, below) where there was no speaking. Ouch. It's not like the dialogue didn't serve to explain essential elements or carry a hefty weight of character behind them, but talk about uninspired. Why bother picking up something like this? How does it work? Hitchcock snaps his fingers and says, 'bring me five political intrigue scripts!' then blindfolds himself and pins a contract on one? ICK.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 6</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Plot:</span></strong> Do you know how hard it is to write a thrilling and exciting <span style="color:#cc33cc;"><strong>Overview</strong></span> for a movie full of old men talking shop in back rooms? Political thrillers bore me, turns out. They aren't exciting. Bond is interesting, and <strong><em>Syriana</em></strong> was great, but when you have Cuban missile crises AND people playing both sides of the espionage coin, why on earth would I want to explore a disgruntled ambassador's wife thinking about leaving her husband? Why do I care about whether or not he's cheating on her? Why did you waste my time with minutia when you could have been focussing on global politics? Who planned this spin on the story?!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 6 </span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Mood:</span></strong> I think I'm sick of writing this. I'm just glad some Cubans got beat within an inch of their life, it makes for added realism.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 5</span></strong></span></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLUXvPXo7ATGYIXNWbg35h289nqa3hx5_oMLtBubO6YgjRu6E4hWLlo57E53CxTSILsSRhlKq4ms1iBHPcaXG6izZ6LmnBDFxLfu7mFQHKcdPiWaO5Kl1FnLNvSMMftHSje_BH/s1600-h/2005_alfred_hitchcock_collection_012.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020081620536359842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLUXvPXo7ATGYIXNWbg35h289nqa3hx5_oMLtBubO6YgjRu6E4hWLlo57E53CxTSILsSRhlKq4ms1iBHPcaXG6izZ6LmnBDFxLfu7mFQHKcdPiWaO5Kl1FnLNvSMMftHSje_BH/s400/2005_alfred_hitchcock_collection_012.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;"><em>"Ok now, give me dictatorial! Yes! yes! now anti-capitalist. PERFECT!"<br /></em></span><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Overall Rating: 58% (Cubic Zirconia)</span></strong></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Aftertaste:</span></strong> For as exciting as this was, it's not a memorable film at all. It smacks of decent parts of <strong><em>The Man Who Knew too Much</em></strong> in its political intrigue (both versions, meaning he's done this all too often, now move on) but there were moments of real boredom, entire scenes that could have been cut or shortened, or altered. Even Liam, my primary source of Hitchcockian praise, of dissent when I don't praise, and forgiveness at this man's craft... even Liam hated this. I like when he agrees with me. It makes me realize we have different tastes far too often. Yawn.</span></div>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-36551094434453961232007-01-18T21:36:00.000-05:002007-01-18T14:23:40.722-05:00Dexter: Season 1 (2006)<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK24SG9-Oew1tZDXketeSqBVmC50toh6O5zFSm4gToHapkJKVraRriQnu8TH6it_h_mV9Mwv_3FDq_aPbg4IOdXUHR4pCt6AlkaMrPhiJCsqUkGOAYwvFhMcoRJQOMzjSXG1W9/s1600-h/dexter_header.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020082187472042946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK24SG9-Oew1tZDXketeSqBVmC50toh6O5zFSm4gToHapkJKVraRriQnu8TH6it_h_mV9Mwv_3FDq_aPbg4IOdXUHR4pCt6AlkaMrPhiJCsqUkGOAYwvFhMcoRJQOMzjSXG1W9/s400/dexter_header.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Wait wait wait, I can get this.. 72 times 89, carry the gore..."</span></span><br /><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span></div><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204);font-family:verdana;" ><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Genre:</span></u></strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Crime Drama</span> <strong>Series</strong><br /><br /></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Starring:</span></u></strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Michael C. Hall</span> (<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"Six Feet Under"</span>; <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">Paycheck</span>), <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Julie Benz</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Created By:</span></u></strong> <strong>James Manos Jr. </strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">"The Shield"</span>)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Overview:</span></u></strong> Sociopath, blood fetishist, serial killer. Who'd be a better edition to the Miami P.D. crime lab?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> Michael C. Hall is a very convincing <strong>homosexual</strong>, so much so that I was surprised to discover he's straight, he understands sociopathic behaviour well enough to make ME understand sociopathic behaviour, and does such a great job as would carry the show all by his lonesome. What truly makes this series a treasure is that he carries no one. All the characters are well-rooted in their motivations to the point that we hate everyone for the right reasons, except for Angel, who everyone seems to know is just a loveable guy. Deep characters make for great stories.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 9</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Cinematography:</span></strong> The curse of television is the <strong>Lowest Common Denominator Factor</strong>, or pleasing all of the people some of the time, rather than some of the people all of the time. I'll give it this though, as it was with <strong>"Six Feet Under"</strong>, they use unique angles and lenses, well-planned colour co-ordination, sets and lighting effects that prove this show to be quite stylized, not to mention the occasional wicked GCI. I'd even go as far as saying 'Artsy'. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 9</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Script:</span></strong> I can't remember a TV show that had the main character as a serial killer, but I would hazard that if <strong>"Dexter"</strong> was not handled this sensitively, it wouldn't have succeeded as well as it did, much less have been picked up by a network, progressive as it may be. The season's opening episode shows Dexter at his bleakest, more a killer than a cop, and I'll admit that for as much as I was sold enough to try a couple more episodes, Girlfriend of Squish was concerned that it would stay too rooted in the darkness of this man. What happens instead is a rich back-story where Dexter's foster father, knowing that he's sick and different, decides to teach him a code of survival. This code and Dexter's witty and often double-entendre inner and outer monologues are what make this show intelligent. Besides that there's tons of humour and a few inspirational speeches, all bases covered. This is some of the best television out there.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 9</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Plot:</span></strong> And what else do we have besides a killer who works as a CSI? We have the primary plot of Miami PD chasing down another serial killer, The Ice-Truck Killer, who leaves NO blood at the scene, who bundles up the dismembered pieces all nice and in interesting locales</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">. As it is with a TV series we also have all the secondary character subplots, and of course Dexter's new relationship and an exploration of his past tie up all the loose ends. terrifically done. A series based on a series of books can't make a show mess up too much. It's all about planning. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 8</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Mood:</span></strong> The show's opening credits is chock full of extreme close-ups of a Dexter's 'morning ritual': slowly carving and juicing a blood orange, cutting himself shaving, frying up ham, grinding coffee, flossing and tying his shoes like a garrotte, and pulling a shirt over his face with a particular asphyxiative tone. This intro is the perfect was of describing the show. There's a constant undercurrent of fear and doubt amoung the viewer, an innate apprehension towards Dexter's acts. Even when doing nothing sinister, Dexter has a sinister air. When he smiles it's for the wrong reasons, and as we grow to learn about him it takes time for us to acclimate ourselves to his way. In fact if it weren't for his backstory, I don't think he'd receive any sympathy at all. This way of telling the story is the best way of doing it, because otherwise we'd be leaving with a 'aw shucks he's such a nice killer'. I'm glad no one went that way. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 9</span></strong></span> </div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKr22gWOiv2PqdXQUFLH25ORr55dewji2QnuYyvRszS0ID8fm_kD3uauTX2eus1hfjosdJ1FOozAEO8W9tVP99aMoPErVECdm7rIdEEK79fgR5JbsaTfC1lCnRRskmjITE6WoM/s1600-h/dexter.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020083471667264466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKr22gWOiv2PqdXQUFLH25ORr55dewji2QnuYyvRszS0ID8fm_kD3uauTX2eus1hfjosdJ1FOozAEO8W9tVP99aMoPErVECdm7rIdEEK79fgR5JbsaTfC1lCnRRskmjITE6WoM/s400/dexter.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Waddayamean it's not part of a balanced breakfast?"</span></span><br /></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Overall Rating: 88% (Juicy!)</span></strong></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Aftertaste:</span></strong> ON Demand, On Demand, On Demand. Yes it's been a while since I touted the banner and fanned the flag, but I'll tell you this service is worth having if only to spare you the wait of an episode ending in a cliff-hanger or the tedium of commercial breaks. </span></div>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-4507034858906380032007-01-18T15:49:00.000-05:002007-01-18T13:24:27.325-05:00Torn Curtain (1966)<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0);font-family:verdana;" >Hitchcock! Hitchcock! Hitchcock!</span><br /></span><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimEajZrlRUvoMyI_M7ZzEm5oJS-wHscohi07kRbGHGGfWuOBlQOuI3Q4FpUxKtJi80LH5-wWsmFKFd51jSJyvaRSkvEvAzXmX9Q7owDd7NkIKbViK8_pbvFQzCPL0zDkQeVQkc/s1600-h/RIPPED+IN+EFFIN+HALF.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5019223181127940914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimEajZrlRUvoMyI_M7ZzEm5oJS-wHscohi07kRbGHGGfWuOBlQOuI3Q4FpUxKtJi80LH5-wWsmFKFd51jSJyvaRSkvEvAzXmX9Q7owDd7NkIKbViK8_pbvFQzCPL0zDkQeVQkc/s400/RIPPED+IN+EFFIN+HALF.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">"I think if we do it quickly we can eat them before they fire their guns!"</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204);font-family:verdana;" ><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><p align="justify">Genre:</span></u></strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Mystery Thriller</span><br /><br /><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Starring:</span></u></strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Paul Newman</span> (<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">The Hustler</span>; <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">Cool Hand Luke</span>) <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Julie Andrews</span> (<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">Victor/Victoria</span>; <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">The Princess Diaries</span>)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Alfred Hitchcock </strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">The Pleasure Garden</span>; <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">The Lady Vanishes</span>)</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Overview:</span></u></strong> A rocket scientist defects to East Germany to finish his research on a missile defence system. When his fiancée secretly follows him, she adds a few too many complication to his plans.<br /><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> Typecasting sucks. From <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">Mary Poppins</span> to <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">The Sound Of Music</span> you got yourself a double-edged career-nailer. You nail yourself into the roles of 'Singing Goodness Personified', but at the same time you're hammering the nails into that cross of predetermination. I doubt you'll ever see Pesci in a feel-good musical, and you know what, I think he's fine with that. Sadly even me with my well-developed right brain cannot pierce the logical defiance of these previous roles of Julie Andrews. I can't put her in this place of intrigue. I can't see her playing secret spy in Berlin because every time she opens her mouth with her eyebrows raised I'm expecting her to sing about how the hills are alive with the sound of goose-stepping... no matter how awesome Paul Newman is.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 7</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Cinematography:</span></strong> Hitchcock's a dumbass for using crappy sets even as late as 1966. STOP IT. Maybe I'm too much a fan of the <strong>Dogme Project</strong>, but there's a minimal accepted amount of quality that must be expected from a Hollywood production at this point in film history. With a single scene, Hitchcock manages to kick a hole in my enjoyment by recreating a set up on a hill, the scene where Paul Newman explains a secret to his wife. In films like <strong><em>Suspicion</em></strong> and <strong><em>The Trouble With Harry</em></strong>, it was quaint, almost endearing. At this point I'm sick of crappy painted backdrops, especially when Hitch does nothing to make the rest of the movie escape the budding style trends of the disco 70s. Ack.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 6</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Script:</span></strong> Maybe I waited too long to review this one too but I recall nothing special. One thing I've come to expect of Hitchcock, is that scripts aren't usually his strong suit.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 7</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Plot:</span></strong> Subplot-introducing minor character studies of weirdoes do nothing for me unless it's David Lynch doing it. The crazy Berliner lady (seen below) did nothing more than lengthen the story, try to add a (failed) comedic element, and was most likely nothing more than a healthy hunk of propaganda, used to show how people hate living in East Berlin, and how communism drives people crazy. Man, It thought Hitchcock had more integrity, but he seems to sell out often. Now as for the story it's pretty involving and has a nice twist, but I wouldn't say it's worth hemmin' and hawin' about.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 7</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Mood:</span></strong> The best part of the whole thing is when Paul tries to escape from his 'bodyguard' (read: tail) to meet a contact named Pi. The unfolding of the perfect timing of suspense and adrenaline-pumping action that ensues is very reminiscent of the crop-duster scene of <strong><em>North By Northwest</em></strong>. It's slow, it's messy, there's threats everywhere to everyone, and you don't quite know where it's going to go. At the same time, Hitch knows how to make it just long enough without getting boring. This scene proves that this is a Hitchcock film, but it was really the only moment worth mention. That my friend, is crap.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 6</span></strong><br /><br /></p></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXxNXz1zp3g7OZAdAF5VxKwu9rvgRNMiaXXzQ1PhtkKofe3ARUS04LpafsFCpuJlwfIO-vljbc3ufCu5hHwlL-JuUS9dgup1iI-LMvfcmA-Ouo3R9rytUbjJK9vvZUQM7s9O1/s1600-h/torn06.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5019223185422908226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXxNXz1zp3g7OZAdAF5VxKwu9rvgRNMiaXXzQ1PhtkKofe3ARUS04LpafsFCpuJlwfIO-vljbc3ufCu5hHwlL-JuUS9dgup1iI-LMvfcmA-Ouo3R9rytUbjJK9vvZUQM7s9O1/s400/torn06.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ack! Then there's the scene with the crazy </span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana" href="http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/histrionic">histrionic</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> German lady! Issues!</span></span><br /></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Overall Rating: 64% (Yeah, This Needs Mending)</span></strong></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><p align="justify"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Aftertaste:</span></strong> I couldn't get over how much Paul Newman stole the show on this one. He's amazing, and it's the first time Girlfriend of Squish ever saw him, or as she referred to him as 'Oh the salad dressing guy?!' Heehee!</span></p>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-25678884604996101362007-01-17T10:45:00.000-05:002007-01-17T22:49:20.244-05:00Frenzy (1972)<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" >Hitchcock! Hitchcock! Hitchcock!</span> </span><br /> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKJPJdpifqMOzxMAqnD4lbmystZqeS2kDiwiO0Lp-zuMbB2AbxNLhGG38hNZx-xw7NBfB7HDlNi-ZWBuyv8Ot7oxwz0EnqpMWZ1RBilexAcXJXin2sA7qK_Gp3q3E1ZwIum90/s1600-h/ferenzeee.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKJPJdpifqMOzxMAqnD4lbmystZqeS2kDiwiO0Lp-zuMbB2AbxNLhGG38hNZx-xw7NBfB7HDlNi-ZWBuyv8Ot7oxwz0EnqpMWZ1RBilexAcXJXin2sA7qK_Gp3q3E1ZwIum90/s400/ferenzeee.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021205450268965858" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family: verdana;">He thinks she's lovely. Her body-double proved it.</span></span><br /></div> <p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Crime Thriller</strong> (UK)<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Jon Finch</strong>, <strong>Barry Foster<br /></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Alfred Hitchcock</strong> (<strong><em>To Catch a Thief</em></strong>; <strong><em>I Confess</em></strong>)<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> London's neck-tie murderer seems unstoppable, but when the strongest lead points to the wrong man, suspense escalates... a little.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> Standard fare with some nice chokin' an' dyin'.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> Hitchcock's signature tracking shots, jump cuts and flashbacks are the best aspects of this film, but even Girlfriend of Squish pointed out how little this felt like a Hitchcockian picture. I wholeheartedly agree.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> Hitchcock allowed the cast to rewrite some of the lines, but when it came back he said <strong>'I didn't say you could rewrite the whole script'</strong>. I guess if it were good in the first place that whole first half hour wouldn't have seemed like the most tedious garbage ever, causing horrible flashbacks to <strong><em>The Birds</em></strong>. Bo-ring.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 6</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> The best part of a thriller is the thrills, we all know that, and there's one scene, the memorable and suspenseful potato truck scene, that saves this film from obscurity. I believe it was Akira Kurosawa who said <strong>'in my films there's really only two or three minutes of real cinema'.</strong> I don't think he meant 'cause the rest of the movie sucks', as was the case with <strong><em>Frenzy</em></strong>. For one little moment of suspense, even though there may be some enjoyable morbid humour, this film's story has got to be some of the weakest plotline out there. We learn early on who the necktie murderer is, which eliminates mystery, and puts the wrong man as the prime suspect. When you think about it, above all suspicions of murder, there's nothing better than being accused of being a serial killer because you just have to wait it out before you eventually go free, since the murderer will most likely strike again. In <strong><em>The Fugitive </em>(1993)</strong>, Dr. Richard Kimble pleads that a one-armed man was the one who killed his wife, and endangers his own safety by searching for this one-armed man. Tommy Lee Jones as detective does what any good cop would do: investigates everything that doesn't quite mesh. In <strong><em>The Fugitive</em></strong> it didn't diminish the action and suspense to know that another angle was looked at, but in <strong><em>Frenzy</em></strong>, it took any element of thrill and turned it into a story that one ceases to care about. Not only does the end become predictable, but it maps out the conclusion, regardless of the last scene's dramatic and interesting events, that if done right, would have been an interesting lesson in vengeance. Nope, it didn't even go there.<br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Rating: 5</strong></span><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> Potatoes reflect the murderer digging in the darkest soil of his sins to retrieve evidence. A horrid-looking fish head soup with squid, served but uneaten by the detective reflects his inability to find the solution to the case. The murderer, a fruit merchant, constantly eating, represents his dramatic nature and his hunger for things feminine... turns out all these inferred symbols I just hammered out are just a load of bull.<br />After all my research to explain the motivations of why food was so prevalent in this picture, I've learned that symbolism played no part in it. With half the scenes having food, mention of food, or eating of it, I'd have thought that something deeper was going on. I was sadly mistaken. The constant use of food was just there to distract us from the rotten story. To all you budding filmmakers out there, if you're going to have a theme, make it fit. If it doesn't fit, make it at LEAST symbolic.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 5</span></strong><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gaY7xhqNpZSVnq17LfLndlhuv2KOrcCYIX_Jr-J7kb4o1C_XHdjx4nmv-ZioOVGrRSxYafJSJ1oM1G7DvfQ5iw8eghDpc0c_xfDRKNA1lK4WH1HmSK3-Ax15qtQmHSNLzuP8/s1600-h/frenzy_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gaY7xhqNpZSVnq17LfLndlhuv2KOrcCYIX_Jr-J7kb4o1C_XHdjx4nmv-ZioOVGrRSxYafJSJ1oM1G7DvfQ5iw8eghDpc0c_xfDRKNA1lK4WH1HmSK3-Ax15qtQmHSNLzuP8/s400/frenzy_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5021206000024779762" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family: verdana;">"I think you'd look GREAT like this actually!"</span></span><br /></p> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 60% (Not Even Mildly Enticed)</span></strong></span><br /></div> <p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong> Typically considered one of Hitchcock's weakest films, I would agree. These days I look for a tale that is either comfortably predictable, or not predictable. I think that's a pretty standard quest in the average audience. When something doesn't work in a movie, be it due to acting, to editing, to theme or feel, people leave with something unresolved, an awareness that it 'wasn't very good'. After constantly writing about it, a critic can pinpoint these reasons and tell you exactly why people won't like something. Well, I'll tell you what's not to like about this: it's a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. It's a story told a hundred times with no study of the characters, no excitement and no lessons to be taught. It's a story with no flow, it's a story that reminds me of puberty, awkward.</span></p> <p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's not worth your time.</span></p>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-66304251300270710692007-01-16T15:31:00.000-05:002007-01-15T01:09:40.941-05:00Hard Candy (2005)<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ5hcWt_ROKjfFBe7mX083aY4fa9NySZS2Fyd8cYTi0niJFpgL8Sv8ETLGFTmvWAZ_DfOPWPbUSKvoP0gpL7NSumI46Eje4Xze_Jsv24DWEWLQx72JcDAWUNhckkRVyhp4kBfI/s1600-h/hard-candy-wallpaper-1-1024.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ5hcWt_ROKjfFBe7mX083aY4fa9NySZS2Fyd8cYTi0niJFpgL8Sv8ETLGFTmvWAZ_DfOPWPbUSKvoP0gpL7NSumI46Eje4Xze_Jsv24DWEWLQx72JcDAWUNhckkRVyhp4kBfI/s400/hard-candy-wallpaper-1-1024.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5019708701410950018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;"> She's bait see, like chum...Mmm fresh chum!</span></span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Genre:</span></u></strong> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Drama Thriller</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ellen Page</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">X-Men: The Last Stand</span>; <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Mouth To Mouth</span>), <span style="font-weight: bold;">Patrick Wilson</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Alamo</span>; <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Angels In America"</span>)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>David Slade</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> When a 32-year-old photographer finally meets the girl from the chatroom, she asks if he'd let her come over for a while. He's in for a little surprise...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> I guess it's harder to play the role of a teen-aged psychopathic man-hater than it is to be a victim. For as much as I've heard how great a job this girl did, I can't say she seemed genuinely convincing. It would have been nice to have some real Sharon Stone <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Basic Instinct</span> melodramatic freak out moments to crank the thrill up. As for Patrick Wilson, this guy is one to watch. Such subtle displays does he hammer out so perfectly in brief moments of revelation that I was sincerely moved by him. He's gonna do well in this career.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> The beauty that is <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Hard Candy</span> is in the cinematography. We open with chat words being posted on a computer, and somehow the lens manages to capture it dynamically. The we cut to an extreme close-up of fork cutting through a slice of cake. I started impressed and I left impressed. Colour schemes and tight shots are what this is about but with enough long shots to give you a rest. Go storyboard guy. What I didn't like was the scenes that could have used the visual to enhance the dynamic of our opinion towards this girl. A simple, blurry, four-second shot of some photos while the viewer looks in disgust would have done so much for my overall opinion of this film. I find it strange that such a thing wasn't done.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 9</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> Half way through I asked, "Was this originally a play?" The reply was, "no, but the writer is a playwrite." I could tell right away. This is, as most plays are, three scenes with heavy on the dialogue. You'd best like that sort of thing because I didn't find the dialogue all that original and unique, which makes the need for a visual spectacle all the more important. Lucky I got it.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> As stories go, it's well paced. We have a girl who agrees to see the guy she's been online chatting with for 3 weeks. He's 32, she's effin' 14. Right there you start off with a bitter taste in your mouth, till you think, well maybe that's NOT why they're hooking up. Then he says <span style="font-weight: bold;">"I have to wait for YOU for 4 years,"</span> implying that he's all hot for her. Ick. Well he's in for one hell of a surprise. Nylon ropes work such wonders, even little girls can use them!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Inately, with this kind of a 'hostage' thriller, there's always a risk that the spectator will get frustrated at all the things the characters DON'T do, like "CALL 911!", "Oh my God, kick her in the head over and over till her guts spill out!" and, "Why doesn't she just KILL HIM!?" This is the problem with this kind of thriller, but <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Hard Candy</span> does quite the good job of trying to answer those questions without leaving behind a gritty frustration, but if you ask me, had I been this guy, it sure would have ended differently. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong></span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgED_K_ehXbvZvUjkK7iKrsHjBS-SriFVQYU46B_uhsJgD-tbymDfVoYay-NvwqX-oBVaBQotX0AOKr66xyQnHyxVXsRD5g5Cgr-VYoyUiF8S6JWu3kwnG-rp87aUB7HyUSIYxN/s1600-h/candy4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgED_K_ehXbvZvUjkK7iKrsHjBS-SriFVQYU46B_uhsJgD-tbymDfVoYay-NvwqX-oBVaBQotX0AOKr66xyQnHyxVXsRD5g5Cgr-VYoyUiF8S6JWu3kwnG-rp87aUB7HyUSIYxN/s400/candy4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5019708701410950034" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Mmm, I like a guy who likes to pick his cherries before they're ripe!"</span></span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 78% (Not So Hard To Swallow)</span></strong></span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong> A great example of a perfectly professional film with all the Tees crossed, the Ies dotted, and a solid career builder for all involved, yet it just didn't quite do it for me. The climactic ending used the same dialogue as a little low-budget Canadian film I saw a few years back, and the final motivations of our captive were far too left field for my liking. It works, it's solid, and you might just love it, but as a critic, I think I'll let myself be critical.<br /></span></div>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-73734665066108475732007-01-15T15:46:00.000-05:002007-01-14T01:21:15.161-05:00Marnie (1964)<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" >Hitchcock! Hitchcock! Hitchcock!</span> <span style="font-size:78%;"><br /><br /></span></span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGkoEHHHC_NLCNqQ4ox6TyJQJJI3gAKuXSJ5etmi0epEZjsFNOGOhTOFhEY94687sk8QX1t4lKehWl6lEWCLl2xV-uAci3ljOgJc-pQ3HRRZy6AtapRWiH2YHyKbBaGYMApYvV/s1600-h/marnie1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGkoEHHHC_NLCNqQ4ox6TyJQJJI3gAKuXSJ5etmi0epEZjsFNOGOhTOFhEY94687sk8QX1t4lKehWl6lEWCLl2xV-uAci3ljOgJc-pQ3HRRZy6AtapRWiH2YHyKbBaGYMApYvV/s400/marnie1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015401856155613090" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Never the smartest girl, poor Marnie fell for the ol' 'bigger money is worth more' scam.</span></span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><br />Genre:</span></u></strong> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Drama Mystery Romance Thriller</span><br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tippi Hendren</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Birds</span>; <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">I Woke Up Early The Day I Died</span>) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sean Connery</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Finding Forrester</span>; <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Dr. No</span>)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Alfred Hitchcock </strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Jamaica Inn</span>; <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Under Capricorn</span>)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> When a young executive discovers a theif, rather than giving her up to the police, he hires her, courts her and tries to help her.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> Girlfriend of Squish was so genuinely annoyed by Tippi's character that I wondered if it was the wrong time of the month to watch this film with her. Consesus seems to agree though that there is NO good time to watch a movie where the director and his leading actress stop talking to one another mid-film. Go figure professionalism goes straight down the toilet when you're directing through intermediaried. Yes it's just a rumour, but Tippi's not the strongest role by far. In fact I loved the secondary character that was the sister of Sean Connery's character, and not too rough on the eyes either...</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> There are few films where the editing style seems to make the story oddly disjointed. On the risk of being told it was done on purpose I'm going to say 'blah, icky, weird and clunky'. One thing I do know is that the cheap looking sets were like that on purpose. I didn't find the sets all that chintzy compared to other Hitchcockian films; the poor man always prefered the studio, and trees just somehow don't look right plunked in astroturf...</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 6</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> When Tippi Hendren was told she was to play a frigid woman, she was shocked saying <span style="font-weight: bold;">"but have you looked at [Sean Connery]?"</span> Hitchcock replied, <span style="font-weight: bold;">"It's called acting, my dear." </span>Perhaps I delayed too long in reviewing this one, but my mind recalls nothing spectacular about it, except all those little moments when things were said for the benefit of the audience. I wonder if Hitchcock assumed a degree of stupidity among his spectators, or perhaps all film was doing this in this era. I'll have to pay more attention to the 50s and 60s for exposition...</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> The ending is what it's all about. It's a good ending, but five minutes out of two hours is just what I'd call trying a man's patience, virtuous as it is. Too little too late, too dramatic, and it could have been a little less stupid besides. This movie went on too long without addressing the important questions, namely, 'really honestly, why did you get involved with a woman you knew was a liar, a thief and a lunatic?'</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 6</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> There's a deep theme of madness meshed with unprofessionalism. The madness is far too out there but without the crazy kitschy zest that added something to <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Spellbound</span>, whereas the unprofessionalism comes from the undercurrent of a film destined for failure. This is the kind of film that is more a series of events than occur to two people rather than a story. The editing is so strong in defining the elements into chapters that it felt like there were parts missing, that nuance and subtext just didn't exist. I didn't like what this did to my brain.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 6</span></strong></span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigumctR95qzYSUDjPRLwKs85niO-vgKCATDzElqv12PPM37KXNF1nXH4c6snhybecp0tp0mycLDW5Ki3ztpam8RMUIDTzJNMd5yNTm0a4cYx8CBbDLrADH_jWJndoIDwWMUNpy/s1600-h/Marnie_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigumctR95qzYSUDjPRLwKs85niO-vgKCATDzElqv12PPM37KXNF1nXH4c6snhybecp0tp0mycLDW5Ki3ztpam8RMUIDTzJNMd5yNTm0a4cYx8CBbDLrADH_jWJndoIDwWMUNpy/s400/Marnie_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015402414501361586" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Tippi 'teef two time!</span></span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 64% (<span style="font-style: italic;">Marnie</span>, Shmarmy)</span></strong></span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong>Seriously, it's not anywhere near as bad as I was told, but it's true the acting suffered and the cinematography was uninspired, well planned as it was. I think any Hitchcock fan knows that this isn't one of his greats, and I'll agree that there's no great reason for going out of your way to getting a copy of this to watch.</span><br /></div>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-38242130909971913462007-01-15T13:13:00.000-05:002007-01-13T12:49:48.210-05:00North By Northwest (1959)<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" >Hitchcock! Hitchcock! Hitchcock!</span><br /></span><br /></div> <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYq9bhFLuskh5jsHtISDLUDJn_-oOkgIP9f51EAHP_KV_-n0lpjkCNwIyXBF5hELX8-itYDd1584NKpQGhURpV3Uqz33ZzUcaWYDjhJdwAl2joIBpNqnAe81g1FIUjJ256Y57/s1600-h/nnw-road.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYq9bhFLuskh5jsHtISDLUDJn_-oOkgIP9f51EAHP_KV_-n0lpjkCNwIyXBF5hELX8-itYDd1584NKpQGhURpV3Uqz33ZzUcaWYDjhJdwAl2joIBpNqnAe81g1FIUjJ256Y57/s400/nnw-road.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5018523522365487890" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >"So, uh... you here waiting for your flight too?" "Haha, no way buddy. I'm here for the floorshow, I hear it's about to begin..."</span></span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><br />Genre:</span></u></strong> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Adventure Mystery Thriller</span><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cary Grant</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">An Affair To Remember</span>; <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Notorious</span>), <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eva Marie Saint</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Superman Returns</span>; <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Exodus</span>)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Alfred Hitchcock </strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Marnie</span>; <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Birds</span>)</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> A case of mistaken identity turns an average ad man into a prime target from all sides: the bad guys, they good guys, and even the love-interest lady guys.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> Cary's flair and style in this role is just perfect bang on. My favorite scenes were the ones that were the most outrageously played by Cary, not those full of suspense. I was impressed with the performance so much that I get the feeling this role was written specifically for him. And a pretty nice leading lady to boot!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 9</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> Well here's where a lot of the fame came from. That fantastic scene out in the middle of nowhere with the crop-duster, the tension-building drunk-driving scene at the beginning, and the classic Mount Rushmore climax are just the tip of the iceberg for the visual afficionado. I think you'll find that more than anything, the constant air of suspense due to terrific editing keeps the dramatic at the high end of the spectrum.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 9</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> It's not all grit and hard-boiled dialogue. We have a main character with a dysfunctional mother, situations that if they weren't dangerous would be hilarious, and a fantastic scene where the wisecracking Grant who, seeing imminent danger, decides to protect himself at an auction by making a complete ass of himself in public. It's really nice to have dialogue that's a little different rather than all plot and circumstance, which this film explains wonderfully as well.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">The story opens up with Cary Grant all proud and successful getting bamboozled into a situation he has no control over. From there, the whole first half of the film is his trying to weasel his way out of something he doesn't even understand. Finally, we, the audience figure out that someone trying to kill him with a crop duster might just have an interesting reason to do it. A nice multi-layered tale of paranoia made truth.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> I saw an interview with Hitchcock where he made every attempt to shatter the Film Noir stereotypes in that scene with the crop-duster in the field (picture above). Hitch smugly described how he did the exact opposite thing that a Film Noir would do, while still keeping all the panache of the suspense style. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">North By Northwest</span> is considered one of the best film classics ever made, and that drawn-out scene is well worth the whole thing. Suspense and thrill is really all over this movie, and though pigeonholed into certain things, most likely for the audiences of the era, this is a refreshing thriller indeed, and worthy of its status.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 9</span></strong></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cIxbI7bT4teItnYvxMMaEoMaGq0Dlv0O9UN0fNaBAyYMVZnKo9Lug-jFxf0cJ5tKUSJAaJpfsxEts0380JDPNyQg4SMCkfC-n6NhLtaVwuKj4VoZJ3KGcGPzUcx6auJw7R0r/s1600-h/nnw21-ears-circled.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cIxbI7bT4teItnYvxMMaEoMaGq0Dlv0O9UN0fNaBAyYMVZnKo9Lug-jFxf0cJ5tKUSJAaJpfsxEts0380JDPNyQg4SMCkfC-n6NhLtaVwuKj4VoZJ3KGcGPzUcx6auJw7R0r/s400/nnw21-ears-circled.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5018523522365487906" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >"You wouldn't shoot someone standing like an old man would you!? 'Urrh! I have no teeth, help me pull my pants up higher!' "</span></span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 86% (Down-Right Fantastic!)</span></strong></span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong> Girlfriend of Squish has implied that she didn't like this one due to the fact that the film had this particularly strange feel of cockiness. I attribute that solely to Cary Grant, because he's always been a cocky guy in Hitchcockian film. Big cocky. Cocky till the cows come home. Cock-tastic even.<br />Yep. As for me, I loved it. Real memorable.<br /></span>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-31093395625417722372007-01-15T13:11:00.000-05:002007-01-11T23:52:31.384-05:00Vertigo (1958)<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" >Hitchcock! Hitchcock! Hitchcock!</span> </span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2VzkCd_IFuTZRD81hAESYtPrkqffHVw1IykDlV_QD3m8K-Z7H-eidXe3I3fqGQYvrAMjy18Exud5tdHov6jo0HzePTg11Gx8ULrHRZCl12HJVE4jclVvIggAXVx4jS2Dvj0NS/s1600-h/vertigo1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2VzkCd_IFuTZRD81hAESYtPrkqffHVw1IykDlV_QD3m8K-Z7H-eidXe3I3fqGQYvrAMjy18Exud5tdHov6jo0HzePTg11Gx8ULrHRZCl12HJVE4jclVvIggAXVx4jS2Dvj0NS/s400/vertigo1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015400314262353794" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Eeee, Time travel doesn't suit Jimmy's complexion... </span></span><br /></div><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;" ><strong><u>Genre:</u></strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Drama Mystery Thriller Romance</span><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>James Stewart</strong> (<strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/11/rope-1948.html">Rope</a></em></strong>; <strong><em>It's a Wonderful Life</em></strong>), <strong>Kim Novak</strong> (<strong><em>The Man With The Golden Arm</em></strong><span style="font-size:0;">)<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Alfred Hitchcock</strong> (<strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/11/spellbound-1945.html">Spellbound</a></em></strong>; <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/09/manxman-1929.html">The Manxman</a></em></strong>)<br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> A detective suffering from vertigo takes a job following a man's wife, embroiling himself in a strange mystery.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> I read once that Kim Novak, while in this role, constantly felt as thought she was pressured by Hitchcock to play Grace Kelly, or rather BE Grace Kelly. You see, he had Grace as a leading lady for three recent films, and it was pretty obvious to Kim that there was no way she could live up to the high expectations Hitchcock already had in his mind. Poor girl. But just between you and me, she ain't got the same charm and chemistry with Stewart either...</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> I was astounded at how not impressed I was with this. Don't get me wrong, it's a great little movie and those harrowing moments are quite something, but when you have good story it's nice to crop it visually rather than simply set up a standard framing. For the high tension at great times it's fantastic but it could have been so much more frightening.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> Crap all over me for this but I found the script uninspired and all too expository, "Hey we were engaged once, you remember that?" Who the hell asks that question? You might as well just have stood up, walked stage front-left while a spotlight fell on you as you spoke directly to the camera, Jesus.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> A deep psychological fear meshed with a clunky story. Potential defiled. I'm being so hard on this one only because I expected so much, but the mystery of the first half was really quite bland. The end, that twist with all the dominoes falling into place does quite the interesting thing to the mind, but I didn't find that it redeemed the rest of the film for me.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> It's called <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Vertigo</span> for a reason, and that reason should have been played up a little bit more. One more scene where he's deeply affected by the nausea that sweeps over him would have made it just that much better. I'll tell you this too, the whole early part of the mystery, the following of the wife, it's rather ordinary, regardless of all the expository mystery about it. The mood set was fine, but really nothing more.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 7</span></strong></span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimPACnecMvPFis5qhLGPGbGfX-X8yHu68OuGlkym1oNM0PvABYDwYj8aNfG66JyL_PGXK7oLF51icpiveeCT1QCUwNq5AWt_Qz1RIV4o3yydun5Y0kfR7XFqXeaviMgWPpISS1/s1600-h/vertigo-72.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimPACnecMvPFis5qhLGPGbGfX-X8yHu68OuGlkym1oNM0PvABYDwYj8aNfG66JyL_PGXK7oLF51icpiveeCT1QCUwNq5AWt_Qz1RIV4o3yydun5Y0kfR7XFqXeaviMgWPpISS1/s400/vertigo-72.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015400318557321106" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ding-A-Dang Dong my Ding-A-Long Novak!</span></span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 74% ("I'm Just Sick About This...")</span></strong></span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong> I must say that I remember this being much more impressive the first time I saw it. I think it was the first Hitchcock film I'd ever seen and perhaps I was blinded by the veneer of the legend. Yes this is a classic, and yes it's solid, but the power balance between the sexes is so ridiculously dated, it suffers for it. Culture Shock, for sure. Wow, I guess women really WERE spineless back then. Still, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">the now-retro-cool special effects definitely haven't lost their edge for me, and though not one of my favorites was enjoyable enough.<br /></span></div>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-67852239017213489452006-12-31T08:51:00.000-05:002007-01-11T10:06:31.063-05:00Killer 63 - Ottawa Independant Short Horror Film Collective<div align="justify"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwhgfGwNNDH3SdPwNv34x_T1aTNuXg93S0AVyqx1w2z45GpLOqBsoAjZ8RC44wTX6X8w8cllHvHH4qtShY0Gj5uFMwB_qMpmZwxec_jvPrRz8EU-XEZsi82L5Z1yqruZs5__ZT/s1600-h/Killer+63.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5014699957492201634" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwhgfGwNNDH3SdPwNv34x_T1aTNuXg93S0AVyqx1w2z45GpLOqBsoAjZ8RC44wTX6X8w8cllHvHH4qtShY0Gj5uFMwB_qMpmZwxec_jvPrRz8EU-XEZsi82L5Z1yqruZs5__ZT/s400/Killer+63.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, well, what better way to celebrate the coming good times of the New Year than by telling you about this fantastic little community event that took place late on December 30th.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">That event was </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Killer 63</span>, a showcase of Independant Horror Shorts, presented at the </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> <a href="http://www.mayfair-movie.com/">Mayfair Theater</a>, one of </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ottawa's independant film theaters</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">. </span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The rule was as followed: <span style="font-style: italic;">"A group of filmmakers, mostly from Ottawa - Ontario... conceive of, write, produce, film and complete a short film within a nine week time-frame. The only rules for the inaugural year is that they all must be horror themed and be no longer than nine minutes in length."</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A few months ago I attended the <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/08/13th-annual-independant-filmakers-co.html">IFCO Summer Gala</a>, Ottawa's film co-operative's semi-annual display of its members works, and I was so moved by it that I decided to keep my ear to the ground and be on the watch for other such community events.<br /><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggeHei3OpDu1iiI3mhfZKZveo_Jbu2GiMl9FSufeV_d7lcZWw2dVQEnzmZli67R-lA-upcDEwbIoF9Mrim8V8dXrqU9OCaUa5MDUwfJ1e_IFoRUvzmMAS8gSeWsukYN_lX232I/s1600-h/titles+composite.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5014722622034622658" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggeHei3OpDu1iiI3mhfZKZveo_Jbu2GiMl9FSufeV_d7lcZWw2dVQEnzmZli67R-lA-upcDEwbIoF9Mrim8V8dXrqU9OCaUa5MDUwfJ1e_IFoRUvzmMAS8gSeWsukYN_lX232I/s400/titles+composite.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I expected an event where I would run into a few people I knew from around the scene, (of which there were indeed a few), content in the fact that I showed up in support of them. To be quite honest, I had a feeling that the films themselves would be 'fine examples of burgeoning potential', or rather 'kitchy low-budge B-Grade ideas that were put on a DVD so that these dudes could see their stuff on the big screen.'<br /><br />Instead I found myself sincerely impressed by every film that was presented at this show, and I thought I'd give a little review to you, my two loyal readers...<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqErqDcMx3_7FKZA6FW6UUZMT9RN09nARO5GAT1TJ4n7XmjcPugqmCeGUUv4WRxtVsZkX4H1nvg4Dc0f906X7msj-foEYWzlu1zSGaniIR3gKpSYjqVAaq-Z6Zad-V8YLvSyV8/s1600-h/In+God+We+Trust.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5014699261707499666" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqErqDcMx3_7FKZA6FW6UUZMT9RN09nARO5GAT1TJ4n7XmjcPugqmCeGUUv4WRxtVsZkX4H1nvg4Dc0f906X7msj-foEYWzlu1zSGaniIR3gKpSYjqVAaq-Z6Zad-V8YLvSyV8/s400/In+God+We+Trust.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">The first film was Marc Adornato's <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">In God We Trust</span>. This montage of news footage focussing on George Bush, the war in Iraq and graphic battle images was more of a documentary, though succeeded in being, as Marc put it, 'a non-fiction horror film'. The hosts of this event chose rather well in making this the first film, as it was the most stomach-turning, given the powerful images of the dead, dying, injured and amputated. A well-edited social commentary indeed.<br /><br />What followed was my personal favorite, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Dead Air</span>, directed by Josh Grace. In this film we find a strange deranged fellow luring drugged individuals to his home, a 'talk show set' of sorts, where he dresses them up as celebrities and proceeds to torture / interview them, twisted commercials included. Josh's acting as host was most impressive as his delivery had quite a haunting madness to it. The gore effects for this one was top-notch. Not to ruin anything for you but here's two words to remember: lawn darts.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1OMSwsJE4w9_K146key7w4rpg1b0O-ui1zyEwkMnQfUiy9A_I9fexRBmVMG-1XUCUmJ3RVeUT0rvF08jDBXaJxka1kV4ZHqcBhtOs7bTi_ukoTDosa8yvEXqwpGQfP4XjbOaR/s1600-h/checklist1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5014723163200502002" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1OMSwsJE4w9_K146key7w4rpg1b0O-ui1zyEwkMnQfUiy9A_I9fexRBmVMG-1XUCUmJ3RVeUT0rvF08jDBXaJxka1kV4ZHqcBhtOs7bTi_ukoTDosa8yvEXqwpGQfP4XjbOaR/s400/checklist1.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Checklist</span> directed by Josh Stafford, was a quirky and funny tale of a writer who reads the work of a fan and decides to drop by for a visit, perhaps in hopes of getting lucky and crossing another reader off his checklist. </span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Day Camp Massacre </span>directed by Jodi Pittman, is a classic slasher tale, but rather than being set in the rugged wilderness camps of the wonderfully cliché Vorhees Serials, Jodi comically sets it in a day camp. A nice surprise came in the finale when the real hilarity began, including the masked stalker's masked stalker dog.</span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8oER5Ms0ExuKi6q2LWzqSPE3nt8Q43_GUg0AISqXGTqiWvqL6rFD1yTlrBDUntIo_B-TRWHGRkXCH6I6vz2X-IUyAkg1BNMe4dIv-gORWd-SHNZ00optIhB_sSGTZdV6BnBcp/s1600-h/revelation.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5014723408013637922" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8oER5Ms0ExuKi6q2LWzqSPE3nt8Q43_GUg0AISqXGTqiWvqL6rFD1yTlrBDUntIo_B-TRWHGRkXCH6I6vz2X-IUyAkg1BNMe4dIv-gORWd-SHNZ00optIhB_sSGTZdV6BnBcp/s400/revelation.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Jeremy Kennedy's <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Dreaming In Revelation</span> is not only the most professional, the deepest and the most Avant-Garde piece of High-Art, but it's also genuinely haunting fare. It's hard to imagine that this was all done inside of nine weeks, it's that amazing. Something this impressive had better get far more exposure. Here's hoping.</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Brett Kelly's <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Tell-Tale Heart</span> was a modern retelling </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">of the old Edgar Allan Poe classic of how a man's murderous guilt confesses for him. Brett in the lead role did quite the fine job indeed</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" >. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_mx0uvsScIJxBJhyphenhyphenoCWdHO4gP5_PGq1Ogbb-oGQ-1NpK_XnutpaBPJUpHULQCRtU6YWc3Z_LCOYZXn1iAJOkbifqkM3Qqul0IPqUCVWpa5faxc8jPow-j5YDBcWHNSoGqyF9/s1600-h/reckoning.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5014723352179063058" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_mx0uvsScIJxBJhyphenhyphenoCWdHO4gP5_PGq1Ogbb-oGQ-1NpK_XnutpaBPJUpHULQCRtU6YWc3Z_LCOYZXn1iAJOkbifqkM3Qqul0IPqUCVWpa5faxc8jPow-j5YDBcWHNSoGqyF9/s400/reckoning.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ralph Gethings' <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Reckoning</span> had a freakishly creepy imp thing (seen right) chasing after a man in the woods. Once the man is caught, we learn the reason for the chase and are explained some metaphysical principles of balance along the way. Well done.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Brian Singleton's <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Death Trike</span>, seemed to be everyone's favorite, judging by the reception. This is the type of low budget film that embraces it's medium rather than trying to hide it. Seeing wires and poled attached to the malignant killer tricycle made what could have been a cute little story into a perfectly kitschy tale. With terrific suspense, a healthy sense of humour and gore galore, you'll certainly enjoy this favoured short.</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I guess I could say I was only disappointed with the last entry, which started off by breaking one of the two rules of the event, as this late entry was received well after the December 3rd deadline. In Firuz Daud's film <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Door</span>, we find a lone woman haunted by a creature who only we as viewers can see. She searches for that which is amiss, growing more distraught as the creature steps up its disturbing antics. The thing wrong with this story was not the Horror, as that was enjoyable, but the credits. Out of a nine minute time limit, it seems that the credits reserved half that time. As they rolled by, we witnessed a computer animatronic karaoke show while <span style="font-weight: bold;">Men at Work</span>'s <span style="font-weight: bold;">'Who Can It Be Now?'</span> was playing. Credits included names of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">'Hong Kong' </span>and <span style="font-weight: bold;">'Malysia'</span> (sic) Crew, and had so many names that this did not seem anywhere near independant. Rather than being a contributing member of the spirit of this Horror event, Daud, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">'alumni of Ryerson Polytechnic University's Image Arts program'</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> chose to use it as a sounding board to plug himself, most likely to advance his own <a href="http://www.dogandponysound.com/services.htm">Dog and Pony show</a> career aspirations. Shame on you. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Though the lyrics of the song were appropriate, it simply made me wonder if the movie's plot was devised out of the credits rather than the other way around. If someone out there could explain this guy's motivation, I'd love to hear it.</span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Allow me to take this opportunity to remind the hosts that they should enforce their own rules and deadlines to ensure that </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">such a disjointed display should not be allowed to taint such a tremendously fantastic event in the future.</span><br /></div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">All told, the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Killer 63</span> event inspires me not only to make trips to every subsequent event in the future, but the thought that I could be a contributor myself is something very, very intriguing indeed...</span><br /></div>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-19498000670384419962006-12-15T00:00:00.000-05:002006-12-26T14:33:55.353-05:00Squish's Semi-Annual Best And Worst (December 2006)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij0ZYdnZJdYu1ag7hrn2s1oBmFULRw4hz-TwVD88AlcolIbIttdJv6r-Qhd7UwVbPn1Ku-pqfzyupt3LJ7nppyRT_w3Qa6KX9aCXibisOP4IcK-m1DI81In552dPw4Wi64yOpT/s1600-h/movie-reel.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010586620068181826" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij0ZYdnZJdYu1ag7hrn2s1oBmFULRw4hz-TwVD88AlcolIbIttdJv6r-Qhd7UwVbPn1Ku-pqfzyupt3LJ7nppyRT_w3Qa6KX9aCXibisOP4IcK-m1DI81In552dPw4Wi64yOpT/s400/movie-reel.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">'Tis the Christmas season and you all know and wait eagerly for Squish's Best and Worst Picks! As per usual, I'll be showcasing my best and worst rated films since <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/06/squishs-six-month-best-and-worst-june.html">last time</a>. if it's one thing I've realized it's that the more movies you watch, the greater chance you have of finding deeper valleys and higher peaks. Luckily I have not a new worst ever film to report, which is thankful, however Squish's permanent list of top five films has definitely had a shuffle due to Chan-wook Park, but we'll get to that later. </span><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">In </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">honour of the bleak and grim weather we Canadians will be facing for the next while, let's start with the stinkers:<br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong>The worst movies I've seen in the last six months are:<br /></strong></span><br /></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>#1<em> - </em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/09/song-at-midnight-1937-worst-5.html"><em>Song At Midnight</em></a></strong> - <strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">22% (I'd Rather Listen To Crickets)<br /><br /></span></strong></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdxzciq4FnwLzYpH2nDUGAFT3SwLnBqVMCJShPHJuBuOR4w32pova6fjWXV0mhRGsAz0Jcn8q1s3ia3y33DQx5VD_8WdO_en1ljXBzUp0H0DC69Rf3eFX9PTjAULzr25kcFFno/s1600-h/song+at+midnight.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010587234248505186" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdxzciq4FnwLzYpH2nDUGAFT3SwLnBqVMCJShPHJuBuOR4w32pova6fjWXV0mhRGsAz0Jcn8q1s3ia3y33DQx5VD_8WdO_en1ljXBzUp0H0DC69Rf3eFX9PTjAULzr25kcFFno/s400/song+at+midnight.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span></strong></span><strong></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;" ></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;" ></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;" ></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;" ></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I know I had a blast writing the review, that's for sure, but watching this film because <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2005/12/detour-through-my-film-loving-mind.html">some book</a> told me I had to see it before I died makes me wonder if the intent of the book is, in fact, to attempt to kill you with boredom and ulcer-bursting rage. Granted the China-shipped bootleg I bought had one of the worst translations I had even seen and may not properly reflect the wonder tale of, from what I can understand, a Chinese Phantom of the Opera dying to hump his sister... or something...<br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>#2</strong> - <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/09/evils-city-2005.html">Evil's City</a></em></strong> - <strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">26% (Metropolic Badness)<br /><br /></span></strong></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Xvi61cohbs4ExjYHP2KX-CEiT7ZgUrHWctxtm6tyeqeCD2aOz2NcynS_P68nGWLvb0360V3zt__X7mNL_JZ-VD1qSQMrdzubDnMEkA0m5J2uc2coMi-4W_jxi7tdmVbvz3nA/s1600-h/3facesofdee.1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010587977277847410" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Xvi61cohbs4ExjYHP2KX-CEiT7ZgUrHWctxtm6tyeqeCD2aOz2NcynS_P68nGWLvb0360V3zt__X7mNL_JZ-VD1qSQMrdzubDnMEkA0m5J2uc2coMi-4W_jxi7tdmVbvz3nA/s400/3facesofdee.1.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">There's one good thing about straight to video films: they don't get any hype whatsoever and you can pretty much bet that these are gonna suck. Your expectations are lowered and if you're lucky, you find something with a couple of neat lines, shots or even lessons. Then, there's renting a movie with the intention of laughing at it with friends at how terrible it's going to be. Then, there's being embarrassed and squirming around on the couch and every scene contemplating turning it off, but giving it one more little chance. The worst has got to be the post-production gunfire effects, little starbursts put on the nozzle of the plastic gun. I swear, I don't remember anything else about this pile of dogshit.</span><br /></div></div><p><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></p><div align="justify"><div style="text-align: center;"><strong style="font-family: verdana;">#3 -</strong><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><strong style="font-family: verdana;"><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/08/perils-of-pauline-1914.html">Perils Of Pauline</a></em> - <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">28% (The Perils of Bad Entertainment, Ugh.)</span></strong><br /><strong></strong></div><p align="justify"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPPLUoZSfpsrRlSx3QKLHpnWh23HfmR99997nJnR9X2OY4L4mf160h4y3jE8ISjjuUovp5rru7GU0qCwcUihTkB8frX3BIcXD0Nf31ui3QGr8SWPaVu02Zz1exQh486_mq3By4/s1600-h/perils-m.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010588831976339330" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPPLUoZSfpsrRlSx3QKLHpnWh23HfmR99997nJnR9X2OY4L4mf160h4y3jE8ISjjuUovp5rru7GU0qCwcUihTkB8frX3BIcXD0Nf31ui3QGr8SWPaVu02Zz1exQh486_mq3By4/s400/perils-m.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Remember hearing about those old films where the girl is tied to the tracks by the moustachioed man in the big black hat? Remember the story where the woman is tied to a log and put on the track of a lumber saw. In both those cases the woman is saved by her knightly macho saviour right? Remember the other perils Pauline went through? I was told that this was the silent serial short that did it all first. I went to the source and instead of finding some sweet gold, I discovered 1914's answer to stunt cinematography... Long shots that show us barely anything. What's worse is that the woman did her own stunts, injuring herself several times in the process, and what did she get for it? Chronic pain that drove her to alcoholism! It's garbage and it's no fun at all to watch.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div align="center" style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="font-family: verdana;">#4</strong><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><strong style="font-family: verdana;">-</strong><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><strong style="font-family: verdana;"><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/06/letter-from-unknown-woman-1948.html">Letter From An Unknown Woman</a></em></strong><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><strong style="font-family: verdana;">-</strong><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family:verdana;">36% (If Only She'd Have Stayed Unknown!)<br /><br /></span></span></strong><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjokSV3BSriohMJh4-LpyMiMceiM9wc3VYeDgCJKF0p-51_1LSkJQ-vFgLGX4UYf6upjTBAlzzR6EifQq05CuMQEfj0ngwZfKSwBIBK8A8efrhe4oik0W85_mPE__Tft9TM6Dq8/s1600-h/mail.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010677836583614354" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjokSV3BSriohMJh4-LpyMiMceiM9wc3VYeDgCJKF0p-51_1LSkJQ-vFgLGX4UYf6upjTBAlzzR6EifQq05CuMQEfj0ngwZfKSwBIBK8A8efrhe4oik0W85_mPE__Tft9TM6Dq8/s400/mail.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><strong></strong></div><div align="center" style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"></span></strong></div><div face="verdana" align="center"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"></span></strong></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify">Remember how Jar Jar Binks was so bad a character in <strong><em>Star Wars</em></strong> that he ruined scenes he WASN'T in? Well this film takes it one step further. This movie was so bad that when I saw the name Joan Fontaine in the opening credits for <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/10/rebecca-1940.html">Rebecca</a></em></strong>, I immediate knew it would be a piece of upchucked liver. Luckily Hitchcock did a great job of reining in her talent, unlike director Max Ophuls, who deserves a refreshing exhumation so he can be burned at the great Film stake for this one.<br /><br /></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>#5 -</strong> <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/06/house-of-games-1987.html">House of Games</a></em> <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">- 36% (House Of Lames)<br /><br /></span></strong></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQipOV70b1lBYI6AReZorrdN2mts9Fohc4ejQOI_LeHaZVgoKxtGabo40kX475M2e-ixwqWNrVSR55wriORGIdX026jyc4DhP05iLI_d8EniK8KxsnenXxRpnDrNbw2f3nQmbY/s1600-h/HouseOfGames_large.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010678390634395554" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQipOV70b1lBYI6AReZorrdN2mts9Fohc4ejQOI_LeHaZVgoKxtGabo40kX475M2e-ixwqWNrVSR55wriORGIdX026jyc4DhP05iLI_d8EniK8KxsnenXxRpnDrNbw2f3nQmbY/s400/HouseOfGames_large.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><strong></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was understanding of the fact that the previous four films were old and obscure, or straight to video caca, but when I bought this, it was because Roger Ebert said it was the best movie of the year. I should have known better than to trust a guy who used to write boobie scenes for Russ Myers. This is the story of a con game, and it's the most predictable film you'll see all year... and Ebert's a goof. The only reason this isn't as bad as <strong>#4</strong> is because I was able to mock it on occasion.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">And that's that. What's really great is that I've seen tons more fantastic films than bad ones, and even one that's reached the <strong>#2</strong> spot of Squish's All-Time Favorites List, but we'll get to that yet.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong>Here's the five best movies I've seen in the last six month:<br /><br /></strong></span></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>#5 - <em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/09/dead-man-1995.html">Dead Man</a></em> - <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">92% (Knocks You Flat On Your Ass)<br /><br /></span></strong></span></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;" ></span></strong></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4OzMv58yEve9FSTds0ijh4kTLUW_nL_cL_lmGVPVkKnulRwXzY88s3tgGm9og19Uk9ldRxVgDj7rt4iyFeAAe8xOwnxeT4W4Hri7SU02idnVrAJ_k0P240BvqaT5S6jFsMV-/s1600-h/dead2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010679060649293746" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4OzMv58yEve9FSTds0ijh4kTLUW_nL_cL_lmGVPVkKnulRwXzY88s3tgGm9og19Uk9ldRxVgDj7rt4iyFeAAe8xOwnxeT4W4Hri7SU02idnVrAJ_k0P240BvqaT5S6jFsMV-/s400/dead2.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">I found this to be on nice surprise. Turns out I'm a fan of the Western. That aside, I like tales of the underdog trying to deal with a messed up situation. I also like stories where the characters have a strong streak of the Lynchian, while all being framed in some nice black and white wildernesses. Johnny Depp is the cherry on top, and as simple tales go, this one is rich and runs deep. Enjoy.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>#4 - <em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/11/rear-window.html">Rear Window</a></em> - <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">92% (Sneak A Peek at Perfection)<br /><br /></span></strong></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij12KENNt_MPTwtaIw3AMzVRNezsxwtaNl5KZVHrG0-qN-l0OCqagdEwWYRaLRHt0SKYvevQXE4HKXh2wJMCsMeSInHbPeJsKufnYqFu1RBd4hxd5JjX1ePC8krqRjIcqEPjAl/s1600-h/grace_kelly_white.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010681315507124162" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij12KENNt_MPTwtaIw3AMzVRNezsxwtaNl5KZVHrG0-qN-l0OCqagdEwWYRaLRHt0SKYvevQXE4HKXh2wJMCsMeSInHbPeJsKufnYqFu1RBd4hxd5JjX1ePC8krqRjIcqEPjAl/s400/grace_kelly_white.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I know this is on numerous best films ever lists, and now I know why. You should too. Aside from mentioning that Grace Kelly has such a stunning presence in this as to make one weep at the fact that no one on earth has ever accomplished the grace of her namesake. Oh right and there's this awesome storyline about a guy who looks out at his neighbors and sees certain things amiss... right, that part.<br /><br /></span></div></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>#3</strong> - <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/06/fanny-and-alexander-1982-top-5.html">Fanny and Alexander</a></em></strong> </span><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family:verdana;">92% - (Knocked Me On My Fanny)</span><br /><br /></span></strong><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKZubggsjK-KnQL0jHb5wuDp_gvJJq1qiAdALHjU4J1nEdg9gbdqBJbgxIwyLfHN68YHfkq_mi6vKF0Tt-j17CCarwXD0vUGY1R2uNpYV1fmLTLoNXtZGRsgEDS2nFYFdC11F/s1600-h/atkinson.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKZubggsjK-KnQL0jHb5wuDp_gvJJq1qiAdALHjU4J1nEdg9gbdqBJbgxIwyLfHN68YHfkq_mi6vKF0Tt-j17CCarwXD0vUGY1R2uNpYV1fmLTLoNXtZGRsgEDS2nFYFdC11F/s400/atkinson.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5012914303364053090" border="0" /></a><br /><strong></strong>The acting is unsurpassed. It's not because the actors know how to stand in one place properly, look natural or deliver their lines with impeccable timing, it's because the resonance of their words and their emotions is felt so deeply that it shakes your very foundation. As period pieces go this is probably my favorite. Definitely check it out.<br /><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="center"><strong>#2 - <em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/08/true-romance-1993.html">True Romance</a></em> <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">94%</span></strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> - <strong>(Truly Amazing)<br /><br /></strong></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6FiAZyI3L-Tvb4AYcvD2uWD-8Wa-IplOLI9hCg0mNqbEfAbVxjfdehbBZe6zmiOc-8_UAyS0uzqMAGEf_f31nSCV_TYe_Y0CAgFlHnJPak5Pf12beMoZTAGgfBhZkRtldxXk/s1600-h/10126415.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6FiAZyI3L-Tvb4AYcvD2uWD-8Wa-IplOLI9hCg0mNqbEfAbVxjfdehbBZe6zmiOc-8_UAyS0uzqMAGEf_f31nSCV_TYe_Y0CAgFlHnJPak5Pf12beMoZTAGgfBhZkRtldxXk/s400/10126415.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5012914608306731122" border="0" /></a><br /><strong></strong></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="center"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify">Granted, this may have gotten such a bias due to the nostalgia and recall value, but isn't that what makes a great film? I have no shame in declaring I love Quentin Tarantino and this is one is written by him. Every actor in the universe is in this one and they're all super-wicked-awesome-hyper-cool. Dig it.<br /><br /></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The best movie I've seen in a long time:</span><br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>#1</strong> <strong>-</strong> <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/09/sympathy-for-lady-vengeance-2005-top-5.html">Sympathy For Lady Vengeance</a></em></strong> <strong>-</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">96% - (Perfection From <em>Lady Vengeance</em>)<br /><br /></span></strong></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ftCURRzQGu2Z4K0N7nzE__bPLP6SPUlbF1uSXBC__48J5KMKMtDv8lfAaOkCxFBjGSdMJeERakgMHAYVuZ5745U8moM6lJrkW6YjD6ockn0otgU20zhxg7dBf2fD5yQRbqLa/s1600-h/lady001.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ftCURRzQGu2Z4K0N7nzE__bPLP6SPUlbF1uSXBC__48J5KMKMtDv8lfAaOkCxFBjGSdMJeERakgMHAYVuZ5745U8moM6lJrkW6YjD6ockn0otgU20zhxg7dBf2fD5yQRbqLa/s400/lady001.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5012914973378951298" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:Verdana;" ></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I suggest this film to every adult our there </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">just because the film is multi-faceted in its appeal. Fans of the Art-House will appreciate the highly stylized cinematography with just enough special effects added to give it an added edge without overwhelming the scenes. The storyline is extremely human, not to mention an extreme look at humanity pressed to the limit. Chan-wook Park is my new favorite director, and because of this frikken guy, I have to shatter my etched in stone tablets 'Top 5 Favorite Films Ever' list. How inconvenient, and I really liked the font!<br /><br />Alright now in closing: it's official, www.filmsquish.com is going up soon. I know I said that six months ago, but I really mean it this time, and it's one gorgeous site, yesiree!<br /> </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-47524372991995028702006-12-11T14:05:00.001-05:002006-12-21T09:49:46.228-05:00Travelling Alone (1995)<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB4cJrkmSe259UiNhsPlrNH00tFoAB0D9QSOZv7mVAUXOWYC4d3iMdtp_qwBoJ0v4FqY8ZSJ13M2POHglaqslz-DkpLCBaqjV7GOhC6Qptl5VEle0TN7FOpeg4VGSVFGiTS9PS/s1600-h/alone.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010585580686096178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB4cJrkmSe259UiNhsPlrNH00tFoAB0D9QSOZv7mVAUXOWYC4d3iMdtp_qwBoJ0v4FqY8ZSJ13M2POHglaqslz-DkpLCBaqjV7GOhC6Qptl5VEle0TN7FOpeg4VGSVFGiTS9PS/s400/alone.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">This rather instructive video teaches how not to draw such attention as would put a woman travelling alone in potential danger. Picture Quiz: Safe or Risky?</span></span><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204);font-family:verdana;" ><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Drama</strong> (Canada)<br /><br /><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Lorrane Mackie</strong>; <strong>Venetia Marie</strong><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Bradley H. Luft</strong><br /><br /><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Overview:</span></u></strong> This is a public service announcement meant to caution women that go business travelling alone, as told in three tales of based on real event accounts... but really it's about laughing at the big hair.<br /><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> There's two ways of looking at this. <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">1.)</span> Public service announcements are rarely commissioned on a grand scale. Never before or since old school <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASTAR">ASTAR</a> segments done by the War Amps have such coolness ever been associated with the PSA. One must forgive the low-budget and unpolished acting in favour of the overall message, much as it is with <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/05/look-around-you-season-1-2002.html">movies seen in science class</a>... 2.) OH MY DISCO AWESOME GENIUS HILARIOUS!<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 6</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Cinematography:</span></strong> As it is with the PSA, the fashion trends and acting styles are at least five years behind their contemporary film counterparts. I would have dated this film at around 1989-1991. The best parts, besides the fashions of course, have got to be officer whoever inside a portrait studio walking and posing amidst jump cuts of himself facing different directions. Wow, erratic can be fun!<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 7</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Script:</span></strong> Granted, the delivery of the events was less that inspired, but there were some choice moments of 1980s chauvinistic dialogue and motivations. Go figure you'd find such a thing in a rape PSA.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 7</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Plot:</span></strong> When we started watching the opening scene with a woman in a diner who goes outside and discovers a flat, only to be helped out by the friendly assailant, we knew right away that this would be the sort of tale where people do stupid things just to point out how they shouldn't do such stupid things. Well we were mistaken. These tales unfold in such a way that they're very believable enough while still being veneered in this odd style.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Mood:</span></strong> Nothing kills a 'laugh out loud at the public service announcement from the big hair days that marked the end of the 80s era' mood like a hyper-realistic and terrifying account from someone who was victimized and almost raped and killed. What a downer. What's this woman's problem? Why can't she realize what we're here for? We didn't want to see women crying over it, we wanted to see dudes in tight shorts acting terribly. Holy jumpin' stop being so believable.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /></div></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="justify"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8nlzMnUuSnyb7gRp0IwIz96adLfu_zESoms7Y4RyVEEyFdPz-qJNSjhG244F_E7JuqOyFeXHsDpzfz82CkeDopTtIx8ScSA3UVBXY08DXBScrYDnIwbJPaY2OpCSMk35EGi3m/s1600-h/childabuse.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010584047382771490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8nlzMnUuSnyb7gRp0IwIz96adLfu_zESoms7Y4RyVEEyFdPz-qJNSjhG244F_E7JuqOyFeXHsDpzfz82CkeDopTtIx8ScSA3UVBXY08DXBScrYDnIwbJPaY2OpCSMk35EGi3m/s400/childabuse.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Much like this family, the ladies in </span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:verdana;" >Travelling Alone</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> decide to keep their hairstyles on the less extreme side of the 80s.</span></span> </div><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Overall Rating: 72% (Take A Group Trip!)</span></strong> </span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><div align="justify"><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Aftertaste:</span></strong> I was at work restocking the supplies in the cabinet I never go to, and what do I find but this lovely tape sitting there with a rather dramatic and bouffanted lady on the cover. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">This is the type of thing you come across and realize, "Friday night, have a few people over and check out this 38 minutes of good times!" It was, except for that stupid serious bit... Party Pooper.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ignore the score, really. It's about the badness of the effect, let the rest slide.<br /></div></span>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-38004304990119112242006-12-10T13:11:00.001-05:002006-12-16T07:32:42.313-05:00Psycho (1960)<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" >Hitchcock! Hitchcock! Hitchcock!</span> </span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-CN9w4NQB0wOqznygC5XZ8ACGpPdVJoszjpQfV_Yczq6HODb_6DgsFAUqrujl8TcTrqVRSpQfbuRl3MoPpp0d-9_HCtoSgYlVd7D2ihGTA9-itR7lujCMKkuMrwIqYS20iS-N/s1600-h/psycho1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-CN9w4NQB0wOqznygC5XZ8ACGpPdVJoszjpQfV_Yczq6HODb_6DgsFAUqrujl8TcTrqVRSpQfbuRl3MoPpp0d-9_HCtoSgYlVd7D2ihGTA9-itR7lujCMKkuMrwIqYS20iS-N/s400/psycho1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5009100187721610066" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">And kinda crazy too!</span></span><br /></div><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:verdana;"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Genre:</span></u></strong> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Horror Thriller</span><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Starring:</span></u></strong> <strong>Anthony Perkins</strong> (<strong><em>Catch-22</em></strong>; <strong><em>Psycho II</em></strong>), <strong>Janet Leigh</strong> (<strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/03/naked-spur-1953.html">The Naked Spur</a></em></strong>; <strong><em>Touch Of Evil</em></strong>)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Alfred Hitchcock</strong> (<strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/11/strangers-on-train-1951.html">Strangers On A Train</a></em></strong>; <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/11/shadow-of-doubt-1943.html">Shadow Of A Doubt</a></em></strong>)<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><u><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Overview:</span></u></strong> Oh my God it's Norman Bates and a dead girl in a shower.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> When comparing the actors to the Gus Van Sant fiasco version, I'll tell you that the original is far better. I was impressed most of all by the role of Anthony Perkin (of course) with his gitchy little disarming smile. Janet Leigh was fine and great and sexy, but I was surprisingly impressed with Martin Balsam's (<strong><em>12 Angry Men</em></strong>; <strong><em>Breakfast At Tiffany's</em></strong>) role of the touch-of-noir donning private dick.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Cinematography:</span></strong> The best way to describe the feel of this category as 'creepy cool' There's these neat little pan-ins, the mirrored aviator shades of the curious cop, the dramaticaly freakish shots during the murder scenes, like that fantastic focus on Janet Leigh's eye, and my God that house. This film is a pleasure to look at. The lens dances as it warps perception and takes you on an exciting little trip indeed.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 9</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Script:</span></strong> <strong>"A boy's best friend is his mother..."</strong> - Norman Bates</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The dialogue is natural, appropriately expository, lets us know what's going on in an exciting and believable way... until our little lady shows up at the Bates Motel. At that point it twists itself up into this creepy little knot of suspicion and oddity, Norman's perfectly written. From then on you realize how unique everyone is, from the private dick to the town's sheriff and the missing woman's family. This is a fantastic script.<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Plot:</span></strong> Different, trend-setting, completely unexpected. Imagine being in a theater in 1960. You're watching a woman steal from her boss and run away, until she holes herself up in a hotel. The last thing you would expect is that that plot getting turned on it's ear when the woman gets famously murdered. It makes you wonder where the movie's going from that point on. Audiences were stunned. Yes we're far more jaded today, but though this ending is relatively predictable, it's that way because so many others have copied all the twists and turns that were fist taken here..<br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 9</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Mood:</span></strong> Firmly rooted in the contemporary modern day, Hitchcock managed to stylize this film not with the use of colour (in fact this is shot in glorious Black and White), but rather with the expressionistic angles and lenses that I know him for best. Besides that, you can guess yourself how much of an impact this has just by looking at the ominous house and how it has been fused into the minds of film fans everywhere, into the minds of <em>people</em> everywhere, even.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Rating: 8</span></strong> </span></p><span style="font-family:verdana;"><p align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjh-hm4uiEqWf3YEeFFxeLxr4V-4ShnVS-OTBhspZEdim4771ByMFc1HY-OmIwDs1K8ghImqiVJIu-VkbBFxkybzDoe0dnb4JLof9PaXkwwQQvHMv9t7PJQ88K-1jRkdU4xxA/s1600-h/psycho2.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjh-hm4uiEqWf3YEeFFxeLxr4V-4ShnVS-OTBhspZEdim4771ByMFc1HY-OmIwDs1K8ghImqiVJIu-VkbBFxkybzDoe0dnb4JLof9PaXkwwQQvHMv9t7PJQ88K-1jRkdU4xxA/s400/psycho2.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5009100750362325858" border="0" /></a></p></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><p style="font-style: italic;" align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Perkins' role in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Psycho</span> actually hurt his career, as his reputation of an attractive boy-next-door was shattered by this perfromance.<strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span></strong></span></p><p align="center"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Overall Rating: 84% (Crazy!)</span></strong> </p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Aftertaste:</span></strong> I had no idea that there were three sequels to this movie, not including the Gus Van Sant carbon copy. I had no idea that Anthony Perkins directed one of them, and I had no idea that he was bisexual, or that he died of AIDS in '92. One thing I DO know about Anthony Perkins, is that he has no relation with the ice cream chain...</p></span><p></p>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9793234.post-1158381668623160982006-12-09T00:40:00.000-05:002006-12-25T11:45:17.189-05:00Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (2005) * Top Picks * * Viewed Twice *<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1574/278/1600/Lady%20Vengeance%20Squish.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1574/278/400/Lady%20Vengeance%20Squish.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Chan-wook </span></span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Park</span></span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;"> is my new God to be appeased.</span></span><br /></div><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204);font-family:verdana;" ><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Genre:</span></u></strong> <strong>Drama Mystery Thriller</strong> (South Korea)<br /><br /><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Starring:</span></u></strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Yeong-ae Lee</span> (<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">The Gift</span>, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">One Fine Spring Day</span>), <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Min-sik Choi</span> (</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2005/11/oldboy-2003.html"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Oldboy</span></a></strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">Brotherhood</span>)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Directed By:</span></u></strong> <strong>Chan-Wook Park </strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2005/11/oldboy-2003.html"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Oldboy</span></a>, <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance</span></strong></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">)</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><strong style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><u><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">Overview:</span></u></strong> After having served thirteen years in prison, Geum-Ja seeks vengeance on the man who betrayed her. (There's so much, much more but I dare not ruin this for anyone).<br /><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)"><strong>Acting:</strong></span> Now that I've seen a film this good, I wonder how much acting is responsible for making or breaking a film. Without a good script an actor is left to the hounds, granted, yet no matter how well something is written, if an actor doesn't have it or doesn't get the right direction, it can fall apart just as easily. All this to say: lucky someone with a story this well-planned and perfected also had a team with skill to deliver it just so. Every single role in this film is an act of perfection, directed in kind. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm talking effin' halos.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 10</span></strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Cinematography:</span></strong> Peter Greenway, eat your heart out, then regurgitate it up and eat it out again because once just isn't enough. It seems that Chan-Wook took a few lessons in colour composition from Peter, as well as from other <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2006/09/tale-of-two-sisters-2003.html">South Korean directors</a>, but this isn't in any way pretentious. This film's cinematography rivals those of my favorite (and also hyper-stylized) films, <strong><em><a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2005/10/requiem-for-dream-2000-best-movie-i.html">Requiem For A Dream</a></em></strong> and <strong><em>Fight Club</em></strong>, however this is far less subtle. The intensity never stops from wardrobe to locations, from lenses and filters to angles, even right down to props (didja SEE that custom handgun?). I remember rolling my eyes at some point and saying "Could you STOP being perfect? It's distracting me from the story."<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 10</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Script:</span></strong> The magic of this film is that motivations are clear enough without words, hell, silence and score may even have been MORE effective at some points because the way this plays out, the subtext, the drive, the characters are written so well that their actions become so obvious so quick, and all without being predictable.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 9</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Plot:</span></strong> The worst part of this movie was how difficult it was to follow. Like <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">21 Grams</span>, we have an intense semi-linear timeline that jumps back into the past perhaps even a little too often. Had I known about that going in, it would have made things a little easier, so there's my gift to you. As for the story itself, the constantly changing evolution in the character arc in this is severe and the way this woman resolves her problems is one of the most original vengeance plots you ever could have conceived.<br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 9</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Mood:</span></strong> My favorite part of the film was the constant effort put into combining style with form visually, while including a haunting and repetitive score, just like Kronos Quartet did in <a href="http://pasquish.blogspot.com/2005/10/requiem-for-dream-2000-best-movie-i.html"><strong><em>Requiem For A Dream</em></strong></a>. Add to this the intensity of the characters, the stoic drive of those involved, odd and strange and highly symbolic dream sequences, and you have here a film that plays in the field of high-art while staying deeply rooted in logic and humanity, dark as it may be. My God, I have to see this again.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Rating: 10</span></strong><br /><br /></p></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1574/278/1600/Lady%20Vengeance%20Squish%202.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1574/278/400/Lady%20Vengeance%20Squish%202.jpg" border="0" /> </a><p align="center"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Anyone who goes to so much trouble to have a custom-made handgun this cool... untouchable in my books.</span></span> </p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Overall Rating: 96% (Perfection From <em>Lady Vengeance</em>)</span></strong> </span></p><span style="font-family:verdana;"><p align="justify"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,204,255)">Aftertaste: </span></strong>This stays with you. This is important. This is original. This is art film, action film, thriller, drama and mystery all put together with such perfection that I will safely call this one of the top films of the decade. It's just so right, so honest, unabashed, and what the future of all film should strive to be: a spectacle for the eye, a tale of humanity pushed to the limits of reason, a brilliant comment and an innovation leaps and bounds beyond the imaginable. This had weaseled it's way up the chain to my Top 5 favorite films, and I need to go own a copy. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I dare you not to like this.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204); FONT-STYLE: italic">Originally Reviewed September 16th, 2006, see comments for re-viewed review.</span><br /></p></span>Squishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02532798907516597796noreply@blogger.com