julius-redding Reviews

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

Jarmusch peaked

[10/10 · 29 June 2014]

This is by far Jarmusch's best film. I'm all for slow flicks if they work, but man, Jarmusch just doesn't have many good flicks.

That said, this movie is just downright ill. The ice cream cat in this joint is one of the best characters I've ever seen.

Forest bring the house down as always.

The Rza lays down an original score that I copped immediately after I saw this.

Calling this Jarmusch's best film doesn't say much for an underwelming body of work, but this movie is just straight up dope filmmaking. Period.

Lady Vengeance (2005)

Satisfying

[8/10 · 29 June 2014]

This is quite a dark film. I'm feeling that.

The revenge element has a slow build and reveal, which actually made you side more with some secondary characters than the lead lady. She's one bad lady.

The end of this film is something that I have wanted to see in a movie for as long as I can remember. It's just such a great idea of having people line up and exact revenge one by one on somebody. So satisfying after all the build up.

Dope flick, excited to see this cat's American films. Hope he can keep up the good work and doesn't pull a Spike Lee on himself

Oldboy (2013)

Steaming pile of human excrement

[1/10 · 29 June 2014]

Spike Lee should be ashamed of himself. This movie took an amazing concept, script and an already amazing film, and took a big dump right on top.

Not that I'm all that surprised, Spike Lee has been churning out sh*t movies for the last 20 years. As pretentious as this cat speaks, I would hope that he would at least make an interesting movie once a decade. It's been awhile Spike. Just sayin. We all loved the 90s from you homey, but you have been turning dookie out for too long!

Go to the original source (goes without saying), and while you're at it, watch all of Park Chan Wook's films, he's an amazing filmmaker, unlike this once original voice turned hack.

Crash (I) (2004)

Lazy and trite

[3/10 · 29 June 2014]

People love this movie, and people love to hate this movie. I fall on neither side of the spectrum because this movie was a little too lazy for me to get worked up about.

I was bored to tears seeing this racism theme hit from all angles in predictable clichés.

It's not the worst movie I've ever seen, and it won best picture at the academy awards so automatically you know it's horrible.

Paul Haggis came out against scientology. Bravo! This cat tried to make a movie about racism. Isn't that cute.

Watch Cronenberg's Crash if you want to watch some bold filmmaking, skip this trite dookie

Under the Skin (I) (2013)

Does the book justice

[9/10 · 29 June 2014]

I thought this book was so dope. I was excited for this release, and I was hopeful that it wouldn't f*ck up the book for me.

I was very happy to see how they treated the subject matter. It was extremely clever in how it approached some of the scenes in the book that were slightly different in the film. I don't want to say too much, but the use of ashes in the film were a nice touch.

Now, the MUSIC. One of the best scores I've ever heard. So dark and ill. Loved it.

It's sad that this film will be remembered by most as the film where Scarjo showed her love canal, because this is a unique, disturbing, interesting film.

Leviathan (I) (2012)

Theatrical immersion

[9/10 · 29 June 2014]

Seeing this film in a theaters absolutely blew me away. The sound design and cinematography is absolutely brilliant. So dope.

Subtle way to tell a large story, I loved how the movie didn't just blast out some fool talking at me about fishing. Who gives a f*ck. This was a more powerful way to get at the same point.

I recommend this film to just about anybody with an open mind, but this is a MUST see in theaters to experience the power of this film. I can't imagine watching this film on a tiny computer screen DON'T DO IT!

Powerful film, beautiful filmmaking, looking forward to these cats next flick

Restrepo (2010)

One of the better recent war documentaries...

[8/10 · 29 June 2014]

I've seen a TON of war documentaries recently, I binged like a fiend on them for a week straight. This was one of the best, no doubt.

The whole brotherhood theme that's always in flicks like this is so played out, but somehow these cats made it feel fresh. The firefights in this film were stupid intense, and you could feel the danger the filmmakers were in constantly.

The cameraman and co-director Tim Hetherington was killed not long after this film came out in a bomb explosion. Heavy sh*t. Check out the flick about his life "Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington".

This movie is intense.