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Reviews
Dante 01 (2008)
Philosophy For Village Idiots
To say the only positive about the film first: the interior of the space station looks impressingly claustrophobic and some of the details in it are well thought. You will find nothing else positive in this film.
The prisoners do not have any relevant characters, you will most likely mix them up. It doesn't help in this case that all wear yellow prison uniforms and all have their hair cut off. They all have ridiculous names after historical persons or after persons from literature. Who ever came along to name a character who likes to eat and is very chubby "Moloch" ? Is that supposed to be original or what? Their leader is named Cesar, oh come on!
The space stations personnel isn't modeled any better. Just cut-out cardboard characters.
Moreover, there is almost no real story. The pace of the film is painfully slow. The new prisoner "heals" some of his fellows in a way that doesn't make sense at all (you have to call that "mystical"). Every time he does it, it looks exactly the same.
The most annoying thing about this film is that it tortures you with obvious religious symbols and gestures until even the dumbest viewer will notice it.
Avoid this film at any cost.
Soo (2007)
Hard to believe
The idea of the film is nice, but it's only good until the one brother dies. We also get some well shot cut-back scenes on how the brothers were separated in the first quarter of the film. Although some would call these scenes pathetic the don't fail to attract. But when the vengeance story starts the film gets bad. The reason is simple: logic leaves the story.
The reaction of the dead brother's wife may be perhaps plausible for Koreans, they seem strange in European eyes. But OK, watching a film from a culture I am not really familiar with makes me overlook that problem. What I am really complaining about are major plot holes and a very unrealistic amount of injuries the main character can take without being really affected from them: After he is hit with baseball bats (among other things), subbed several times and shot at he can still walk and fight on. It also annoys me that in every fight scene the hero is almost always attacked only by one opponent. That's not the way gang thugs would do it.
------SPOILER AHEAD------------------
These are some of the plot holes: 1. How did the mobsters find out that the carpenter revealed the name of the firm? ( *assuming* he had to die for this betrayal) 2. Was knowing the firm's name plus the meager tip from the guy at the rooftop enough to really find out the mobster's location? We see how the female lead puts the facts together with a map, but what did your hero do? 4.Why does the hero return to the carpenter? What did he still want from him? 5 How did the police find out that the dead brother was involved with the mobsters ? 6. Where did the mountain climbing equipment for rappelling from the roof near the end of the film suddenly come from ?
The Death and Life of Bobby Z (2007)
Straight to Video
There is nothing much to be too excited of at this movie, but still entertaining. I wonder why it made its way to the silver screen because it's not better than dozens of Straight to Video productions. Storywise, you will get nothing more than you'd also get if you rent a Jean-Claude Van Damme Film. Same goes for "character development". There are some nice shootouts and fights, but nothing remarkable. It sometimes feels as if you were watching a film from the seventies: there is nothing really stylish or spectacular in the action scenes. Although it feels good to see movie that doesn't use the much common and enough-seen style of today's action flicks, the way this film shows the action seems out-dated. Also the film's pace should be higher, again it feels 70s-ish. As usual these days, there are some nice twists and turns in the story. Paul Walker does a decent job, but not as convincing as in "Running Scared". Laurence Fishburne he fails to put any life in his bad guy role. I am not impressed of Olivia Wilde in the leading female role. At least she tries hard to be more than decorative. 5/10
Plots with a View (2002)
Black comedy with a heart of gold
I have seen this film on a Sunday evening and I must say there is no better way to end the weekend. I am totally pleased with the humor and the warm charm this film offers. It simply leaves me in beautiful mood. Watching this film means having a great time and keep a warm feeling.
The film offers sharp black British humor and feels very fresh to me. You really enjoy the story and the characters. Brenda Blethyn is SO great. I don't know exactly why. She's too old to be a love interest for me and too young to be my mother. But I really feel comfortable when she shows up in the movie.
Some may say the story was thin and predictable. But who cares? There simply has to be a happy end, dancing in the sunshine! Are the characters stereotypes or cut outs? I don't know- better I don't care! I just loved them and enjoyed watching them.
Furthermore, I must say that I usually don't like romantic comedies. But this one is outstanding: a black comedy with a heart of gold !!
Katze im Sack (2005)
Unbelievable Characters Bored Me To Death
Uninteresting characters, unbelievable reactions, no interesting settings, almost no story: That's the summary of nearly 1 1/2 hours of watching "Katze I'm Sack", lifetime almost completely wasted. I wonder why some people think this might be a way out of German film crisis. It can hardly get any worse. This film was described as a brave new way, but what do we get? It takes about 30 minutes until the "story" really begins. The very beginning when Karl meets a homosexual wind craft technician is completely obsolete, that story line is vaguely picked up later, but with no reason or result. The films main problem is to have a story spanning 2 days with the main characters meeting seldom. The owner of a safety firm, one of the 3 main characters in the film, hardly ever meets or interacts with the other 2 leading actors; the scenes he is in could be from a completely different film. Even the Karl and Doris (the other 2 main roles) have almost no common film scenes. That's not the way to tell an interesting story. Moreover, the fact that they meet so rarely makes reactions so unbelievable: *SPOILER AHEAD* Why should a woman leave her job and (platonical) friend behind to go away with a stranger to which she talked to on a train and then met him again in a karaoke bar where they talked ca. 6 sentence?
Subway (1985)
Out dated
I have not seen the film in the 80s, so this comment is strictly from a year 2006 point of view: This film may have been considered good when it has been originally released way back in 1985. When I see it today it is just terribly out dated. Christopher Lambert with a ridiculous blonde hair cut, Adjani totally overdressed in 80's designer clothes and wearing the ugliest pimp earrings I have ever seen. You also see Roller Skates again and you wish you don't. The problem is that the film is only based on decoration, it totally lacks to transport some of the "eighies feeling". Just presenting dead style is not enough to fill over 100 minutes of run time. This is just a pile of decoration without any soul.
Hitters (2002)
Bored to death
The most boring film I saw in recent years. Lots of talking, TV- like acting for displaying total uninteresting and cliché people. There simply is not a single sign of action in the first 20 minutes after the title credits. Is this a mafia film or not ? Where is the gang war the DVD cover talks about? Most annoying is the restaurant owner who keeps reciting Shakespeare one liners all the time. You will loose interest in this poor "main character" fastly. I am honest to say that I saw the rest (after the first 20 min of pure boredom) accelerated, in 4 time - 8 times DVD speed. It keeps being lame. I'm just glad that I didn't spend more time with this total failure film.
Triggermen (2002)
lame and boring
This is the most boring version of the well- known plot. What the film lacks the most is speed. Nothing really happens over long periods. It also fails poorly to catch any interest for the main two characters, the Englishmen who pretend to be the killers: they're just dull, lame and silly. The dialogs really suck; they're never funny to make up a good comedy nor are they sensible to make up a really believable gangster movie.
The only good thing about this whole movie is to see Pete Postlethwaite again (as the retiring crook); his daughter in the film is nice and beautiful. But these advantages don't compensate the severe boredom which you suffer when watching this movie.
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
just boring as hell
One of the most boring films ever. The Sandler character is an uninteresting choleric depressive. The female main role is a nice and ( for her age) pretty person, but it's never understandable why she falls in love with the idiot. The film's plot is just plain silly but not funny. And most of all, it is terribly slowly told. You really want to watch this movie at double speed (at least) and you're really lucky when your DVD player supports pitch adjustment for audio at double speed viewing. And the "art"?? Some camera views are really unusual, but art? I wonder why so many reviews have this idea. So don't waste your time and money.
Gedo (2000)
Poor even for its kind
This movie is poor. Especially the action scenes are very badly performed. The martial arts is one of the worst in recent years: People behave like puppets and as seen in many low budget movies, enemies seem to stand in a queue: only one is attacking the "hero" at once. Talking of the "hero": One of the cops (Gary Daniels) is supposed be the protagonist in this movie. But he such a lamer without any style. I really hated him and really wanted HIM to get killed.
Also, I wonder why this film is rated 18+. There is almost no real explicit violence in this movie. No head shots, no dust of blood from bullet hits, nothing at all. Bullets don't even punch holes into cars. Only the later scene in the grill meets today's standards.
The only reason for an 18+ rating might be the fact that the cop's (imho) ugly wife's breasts are visible in one totally displaced sex scene, which summits a totally lame and boring side story of the cop's private life.
The swordsman himslelf is however great. It's also a nice idea to have the Yakuza guys talking in Japanese (with subtitles)
Doom (2005)
Entertaining, but not really DOOM
This film is really entertaining. There is less action than to be expected from adaption of 3D shooter game, but the film is never boring. Amazingly it has more story than most of its genre competitors. A good SF action film all in all.
BUT: IT'S NOT REALLY DOOM !!!
I have played the 3 Doom PC games and I miss so much of it in the film. The biggest difference to the game is that there is a team now to fight the monsters, whereas the games were single hero based. OK, it might be difficult to make film with one here to fight them all, but I'd still prefer that. Also, there is no hell-gate/ spawning like in the games in the Doom movie. The reason for the monster mutations is genetical enhancement now. Why don't they stick to the good original reason? Finally I must say that I missed the Doom monsters in the film very much. They just have the zombies and Imps (without their fireballs !) and a (great) pinky demon. None of the other enemies from the game are in the film, which is really a shame in my eyes.
Red Eye (2005)
a very slow starter
This is a great movie with a very slow start. The first 20 min. are way too long. This is the time it takes until they finally get on the plane and the story really begins. If you'll see it on DVD in the future, double speed watching might be a good idea for these first 20 minutes.
But after that it's really a thrilling movie with a rather conventional ending.
Actors are quite good, though not brilliant. A definite drop out is the "Cynthia" character, the substitute hotel manager . You will not believe that a woman like her gets such a job. She's just over nervous and acts silly all the time.