zlove-1 Reviews

Beatdown (2010)

Avoid!

[1/10 · 14 November 2010]

This is one of the most painful film experiences I have ever endured. The acting is terrible. The editing is extremely irritating. The story has all the dramatic depth of a six year old's school creative writing assignment. The thinly hidden marketing saturating the movie is distracting. Fight scenes, awful, and in total, around 10 minutes max of the film's 90 (agonizing) minute runtime. You wanna see real fight scenes, watch Asian cinema. Writing, terrible. Characters, wooden and with stupid 'backstories' lifted in a hurry from a billion other (better) films. This whole thing reeks of self-indulgence and money, but offer no shred of entertainment. None. Even like Sunday hangover brainless action fun. It is that bad. Do not ever watch this film, even for free.

Centurion (2010)

Very watchable but underwhelming

[6/10 · 23 August 2010]

Like Neil Marshall's other movies, this is solid but ultimately feels a bit stretched. Cool, gory battle scenes - at times the editing makes it feel like they are trying to fit as many on screen deaths as possible within the smallest amount of screen time. I just never really got that engaged with the characters. Overall, this is a timekiller which is competent, uncompromising and mostly visually interesting, but overall, nothing remarkable or really innovative. I thought The Descent was much more effective. Lots of respect for the writer/director for at least continuing to produce original story lines though, and not just remakes, adaptations or sequels.

Control (2007)

Markedly different

[25 September 2009]

This is a great introduction to the band Joy Division and Ian Curtis' story for people who weren't of that era. I was born in 1982, and being a music follower I knew about Joy Division, I knew Ian Curtis killed himself, I knew the Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails covers of Joy Division songs. I always thought they seemed quite important to the modern music world, but watching this movie was my first real introduction, and I spent an afternoon listening to all their releases afterwards. First, I thought it was a really respectful and thoughtful movie, and quite unlike most rock star rise and fall stories. It fascinated me to learn afterwards who the film makers actually were with regard to their relation to the band historically. I liked how Mr Curtis didn't seem to be a hedonist or a showman. There's a line, something like 'those people don't know what it takes and the effect it has on me' when talking about performing, like it takes every ounce of strength and expression just to complete a show, like he really really took it seriously and needed it. This film really helped me to get the music, and give me a reference point to start appreciating it. I thought it was far more sympathetic to the subject than most films of this type, extremely well acted, and as previously mentioned, a great introduction to a band I'll unfortunately never get to see.

Gran Torino (2008)

A grand farewell

[8/10 · 14 April 2009]

I thought the most crucial line in this film comes when the young Asian girl states 'because you're an American' to Walt. Walt, a little confused, asks 'Whats that supposed to mean?' Clint Eastwood is the American tough guy embodiment - in some ways, his big characters represent America, or a certain view of the ultimate American hero. Gran Torino celebrates, then kills this myth, something Eastwood seems to have been working towards for some time now. Gran Torino recasts a wizened version of the ultimate tough guy, brash, unyielding and racist, but places him in the world of today, which is the future of America. We still marvel at how damn cool Eastwood is when he brings the justice, but in this film, it is a joy to watch how he takes his own mythical qualities, built by Dirty Harry and the Man with No Name, and rewrites them. The film is complete with violent climax, which some have said was over the top, but which I believe is absolutely vital if the above reading of the film is taken, because of the way it flips the typical Eastwood bloodbath on its head, and symbolically, farewells this wiser version of the American Hero without compromising its air of greatness one bit.

The Fountain (2006)

A movie to be felt

[9/10 · 21 February 2007]

Most people I know would HATE this movie, and I that's understandable. (Classic comment at the end of it from a fellow film-goer: 'What the f*ck did the dude in the ball have to do with it?') It is slow paced, arty, self-indulgent, and if watched with a mind for plot and coherency, ultimately frustrating. It is a hard and demanding film, and I don't think it can be enjoyed in any sort of normal conscious terms. As the filmmaker has stated, Requiem for a Dream this is not. I don't think its a film to be necessarily understood, just experienced. It plays like a dream, repeating motifs and themes in vastly different contexts, connecting them by way of suggestion and symbols rather than an ordered narrative. It is, above all else, a movie about accepting death, that death is part of the key to eternal life, and therefore a mystery and a paradox which we cannot understand by applying conscious human tools of perception. And this is why people will hate this movie. Its answer, its heart, is impenetrable by the conscious mind. Walking out is like waking from a dream, or coming down from an hour and a half nitrous oxide high where something in you knows you have seen a truth, there is a feeling of some kind of vague understanding, but you could not express it in the words we have to use. It is the same way one might feel after meditating on the meaning of life - you reach a point where you have to accept the mystery of it all. And that is frustrating. Unless you can just accept it. To just let the images, the hints, the paradoxes, go into you and to feel them. I know why people compare this to 2001 - I certainly couldn't say what 2001 is about - but I damn sure have a feeling. Its like my stomach knows something my brain doesn't. People hate that feeling. An extremely ambitious film which so nearly fails so often, but I applaud the filmmakers for having the guts to do it.

Thank You for Smoking (2005)

See this if you care a damn about truth

[9/10 · 11 January 2007]

I loved this. What a fantastic, funny and superbly acted satire on the concepts of truth and social responsibility. Its strength lies in its staunch refusal to take sides, or lapse into some personal agenda, while still managing to deliver a very strong message about the nature of truth and the way it can be abused by ANYBODY. There are no cut and dry human heroes or villains in this piece (with the exception of William H Macy's character, perhaps) - the hero is freedom of choice, and the ability to pick through the infinite layers of bullsh*t and information which saturate us every day. It shows how people themselves become nothing but symbols for greater agendas, and that the the only real truth is the one which we choose for ourselves. Absolutely brilliant stuff. Everyone gotta pay a mortgage...

The Libertine (2004)

Feels a little aimless but is that the point?

[7/10 · 8 January 2007]

The first thing that struck me about this film is its dirty look and shaky camera-work. The second thing was its vagueness. While obviously a biopic focused on the Earl, following the beats of his life to find its narrative, it just doesn't seem to lead anywhere, perhaps with the exception of the Earl's speech to parliament (bordering on cheesy 'redemption for the devil' territory - until Depp convinces us with the delivery of one line that his intention was completely self-indulgent). Even the romance with Elizabeth kinda meandered into nowhere. And yet, with the Earl being the character he is, a genius who is unable to find a place to be at peace in life or find a happy place in which to completely indulge his peculiar and lustful desires, one realises that this is probably the filmmaker's intention - the style of film and its constantly collapsing narrative mirrors the life and personality of the Earl himself. Period England has never looked so dirty, and (based on what I've learnt in English Lit classes anyway) it is great to see a realistic portrayal of the debauchery and excess, not to mention the brilliantly poetic foul language which prevailed at the time. Depp is once again superb, and does not overplay a larger than life character in the least, where many many great actors I'm sure would've done so. He holds his own against Malkovich in their scenes with little strain, and it is amusing to see some of his fellow 'Pirates' actors turn up in new guises. Perhaps a little frustrating for many in that there is arguably no redemption for this character you probably want to like...and maybe you will...this is the very question asked directly by the Earl himself, at the film's close, and a very very interesting one at that.