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Reviews
Anamorph (2007)
Pushing-the-Envelope"
Defoe is the best element in this derivative film, which would undoubtedly be the case even if the narrative was good.. yes, the story seems engaging enough but it's essentially a one trick pony and that pony is out to make the spectator sick.. Anamorph is a "push-the- envelope" thriller trying to follow in the footsteps of "Seven"; it's just making the footprints uglier and ever-more detailed.. and it's not as good...
(even television is now giving the watcher increasing amounts of gore.. I don't know how much more real it can get: 3D, bigger screens, longer shots, clearer lighting, more and more details, etc...)
after Defoe it's principal positive quality is that the viewer is given an art lesson.. yet even if one can find a value to this story it ultimately provides a greater lesson to those who are sick and demented...
for "pushing-the-envelope" thanks go to the art directors Doug Hursti and Woods Macintosh as well as, of course, their minions of modelers...
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Sub sub-par Woody Allen...
...and I thought it was an ineffective, sub-par rip-off of Woody's approach...ooops, then I read...!...well, at least the majority of those who are better, & better informed, than I agreed with me...no wonder it jumped to video...
...yet I loved the cast - well, of course, if you can work with Mr Allen (regardless of the material, almost)...& I'm sure that they also worked for scale...if only he really cared to work with them as much as they seemed to care to work with him...
I particularly liked Richard Roeper's expression: "shoulder-shrugging" (you'll apparently have to look up his review if you wish) - in its simplicity it accurately echoes my own reaction...
Elvis Meets Nixon (1997)
a cartoonish-ly caricatured account yet quite an amusing one
Although it is more of a cartoonish-ly caricatured account it is quite an amusing one...however caricatured and embellished, Elvis and Nixon is a story based on actual events, and more importantly it reveals an aspect of American culture and leadership that (at least) every American should see...a quite worthy as well as a significant effort...
Rick Peters does a fine job playing Elvis who became a caricature of himself by the time the Beatles arrived...Bob Gunton interprets Nixon in a more caricatured way than Peters does Elvis (if that is possible)...of course Nixon is also quite easy to caricature as has frequently been done, but here one feels it might have been funnier and more revealing if Gunton were able to play "Tricky Dick" a bit straighter...the movie is both a rather frightening while also an affectionate portrait of both these actual cultural icons...to balance both these characterizations is one of the film's merits...
Also the movie benefits from having other "real life" celebrities help set up certain sequences, such as Dick Cavett, Wayne Newton, and Tony Curtis (from whom Elvis initially modeled his haircut - that alone was an interesting revelation particularly as one thought that that began with white Rock-n-Roll...not to mention that Elvis modeled his voice on that of Dean Martin - Elvis looked back to create the future)...
Actually it was quite surprising that not a single respected film critic seems to have written a single word about this film, particularly as significant as it seems...even if those reviews (as the movie may deserve) were to be primarily negative ones...
The Cry of the Owl (2009)
Appreciation for the observations of hansdewolff...
I particularly appreciated the observation by hansdewolff regarding Mr. Considine's performance: "On the other side I did have some trouble with Paddy Considine as Robert. Sure, he played the dull, neurotic, passive and slightly cowardly character to perfection. Yet something was amiss...in the rest of the movie it's just not enough in sync with the premise of a charming guy who's sought-after by two beautiful women"
I felt very much the same as I endured the film's first half...not only in his appearance did he evoke a grim, dull figure, his emotional attitude was also bleak and flat...the spectator should care for, if not totally identify, with him (he is the main character)...in fact the whole first half seemed more bleak and grim and ultimately alienating than it need have been...maybe not only at times having him be more appealing (emotionally and physically) would have been to make him somewhat manic-depressive (certain charming highs as well as alienating lows), in a sense the contrast established between the urban and the rural worlds could be echoed (in a different way of course) by contrasts in his characterization and dress...it certainly would have made first half of the narrative less boring and ultimately the film more engaging...