Change Your Image
woodwyn
Reviews
Das Jesus Video (2002)
They Needed To Shoot Someone Else
I saw this in the video store titled "Ancient Relic" and was intrigued, knowing nothing about it. When I started watching it, I was impressed with the production values, the music, the look of the cast and then they opened their mouths: DUBBED! I quickly stopped the DVD, went to the menu expecting to switch to German dialogue with English subtitles, only to find no such option existed. The only way to watch it was dubbed. Doh! And watch it I did. It was a fun a little story that really needed to be cut down to 2 hours, but otherwise a joy to look at. The music was enthralling and the story interesting. But the producer or the distributor and definitely most of the dubbing actors (if you can call them actors) needed to be shot for the dreadful blow they dealt to this film (oh and let's not forget the voice casting director!). The lackluster voice performances destroyed any compelling drama the original production might have had. There is no way to adequately judge a movie that has been dubbed, beyond the story and production values. It further disturbs me that our country has gotten so lazy that we would rather listen to a badly dubbed movie than feel the drama of the original performance and read the subtitles, so much so some production or distribution executive decided not to spend the money on offering a subtitled original language version. I sat riveted to "Das Boot" in the original German, even as I read the English translation. Not that this is anything as brilliant as Das Boot, but come on, the weaker the content the more you need to give it every edge possible. Frankly I think this was a fine film, definitely entertaining and definitely worth watching -- otherwise I would have turned it off within the first 15 minutes of the horrible dubbing job. It is most unfortunate that someone in power was so bone-headed as to actually think this version would be acceptable to anyone, much less represent the film the way the director intended. I might have given the film an 8 if not for the poor dubbing. But I enjoyed watching it enough to recommend to others despite the bad English dub.
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Responsibility
The DIRECTOR'S CUT has the worst message I've ever seen offered up in a movie whose lead actor is a VERY popular teen idol. READER BEWARE -- THIS WHOLE THING IS A SPOILER: Essentially, the director's cut is the story of the family classic starring Jimmy Stewart "It's A Wonderful Life" but with the opposite message: What if I were never born? -- The world would be MUCH better off without me! Now I don't want to quash anybody's artistic vision, but come on, exercise a little responsibility: particularly the star/executive producer: Ashton Kutcher. While the idea that in his final jump through time (in an effort to set things right) he commits suicide in the womb of his mother before he is even born is indeed intriguing, it has very little merit presented in this format. Kutcher's character is not a monster. This isn't as if Hitler developed a conscience and tried to go back in time to write his wrongs only ultimately to commit suicide as a final solution to prevent his unfathomable crimes. Kutcher and his friends are very much like average everyday kids, facing the tragedies that many kids do today, in fact some of the things that happen in Kutcher's alternate universes are milder than the problems faced by many kids today. For Kutcher to ultimately take himself out of the equation to solve the problems he thinks he created shows how poorly thought out the decision was to release the director's cut version BECAUSE even though this movie carries an R rating, once the DVD hits the shelves, Ashton's many teen fans are going to have access to it "R" rating or otherwise. Some of these kids are asking themselves the very question about how important they are to the world every day, some even by the hour and here is a movie made by their celebrity peer Ashton Kutcher that says: the world would be better off without me. It's bad enough that the movie chooses this option, but where the MOST EGREGIOUS ERROR IN Judgment happens is showing just how rosy the world actually is without Kutcher. Everyone is shown to be enormously happy without Kutcher in their lives. THIS IS JUST WRONG. Life just isn't like that. To present it in this manner says, if your life isn't perfect, then the world would be better off without you. It denigrates Kutcher's self worth and anyone who finds themselves in the same boat. I have no problem with the overall message of the film: don't spend your life regretting the decisions you made in the past because you can't change them and even if you did make a different decision, things might not be any different. It even supports the positive message that we must all find peace and happiness in what "is" and forget what might have been. BUT AS A DEPRESSED TEENAGER (or adult for that matter), That message is quickly forgotten in the last 10 minutes of the director's cut where we are told point blank: if you don't like your life it's probably because of you and everyone else would be better off without you -- so DO THE RIGHT THING AND KILL YOURSELF. It's a message that is hard to overcome after such a dark journey. So next time Hollywood, let's exercise a little social responsibility and put a lid on the "artistic freedom" argument and don't make a movie with a major celebrity who assures a substantial teen audience with a message that doesn't do anyone any favors.