David Igra's Reviews

Clash of the Dead (2015)

3/10

16 May 2015

Had it been a production of a group of high school kids it would've been perceived as funny and rather a successful first attempt of movie making. But being as this project actually has some established actors in it, one can only marvel at how that came about to be.

The film makes good use of many old tricks and methods in order to scare the viewer without actually showing much of anything. When done properly it can work, however in this case it's just sad and shows clearly how the film budget must've been no more than a couple of thousand euros.

The film is just terrible.

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WarGames: The Dead Code (2008 Video)

1/10

Worst movie of the year

17 July 2008

During an average movie making year, many movies that aren't really worth the effort are made; lots of money are plowed in to projects that won't make an impact or any money for that matter. Some scripts are well written but loose their charm when filmed by people without skills. These movies are called bad movies. To even compare all those terrible movies to this one would be a horrible insult to anyone involved in a film making process. This "film" is so awful and the leaps of logic are so vast that no one can not but be horrifically stunned by the fact that this movie was even ever written. Whoever touched this project should, for humanity's sake, be prohibited to ever work in the movie business with anything else than selling snacks in the concession stand of a cinema theater.

This could very well be one of the worst movies ever made, even taking into account the confusing work by infamous director Ed Wood. Sequels are often challenged by the notion of at least trying to surpass the previous movie. This can not truly be called a sequel, albeit some factors and characters are the same or referred to in this movie. This doesn't change the fact that this movie has such massive problems and that the script is so poorly written, it only adds to the total impression that this movie was lost at the very first frames.

If you are movie maker looking to avoid some of the most common snags of the script writing process, this is a useful example since this movie not only have all of the possible faults and mistakes but also excels in embellishing them thousandfold.

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Battle for Finland (2007)

6/10

Where's the story?

16 January 2008

As always when making a film out of historical events one is challenged with the task of trying to engage the audience, usually by adding characters or embellishing characters already available thus allowing the viewer to relate and or follow the characters throughout the film.

This film is bold enough not to fall for such obvious flirtations with the audience, it has little more story than the historical facts and the characters that appear do so just very briefly. All too briefly for anyone in the audience to remember little more than a name, maybe a rank.

All in all it becomes a rather confusing experience with names and ranks and orders flying around in the Finnish forest with the only exception of a Russian tank blowing up, or was it a Finnish tank?

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Spinning Boris (2003 TV Movie)

8/10

The Jeff Goldblum story, great film - no credit

9 July 2005

This is a pretty good film, informative and exciting. Good acting from among others Jeff Goldblum who does what he does best. Which is really good movies without getting any serious credit for it. I don't know how he constantly manages to find these great roles that he's anything from good to brilliant in, without getting his credit due. Someone should write an excellent script, just for Jeff so he can finally get the limelight focused on him for a good while!

Anyone who likes a good political drama will enjoy this well made film about the first elections in Russia. Supposedly, it's based on a true story and knowing Russians as well as I do, it very well could be entirely true.

It is definitely worth a whole lot more acknowledgement than it has gotten thus far.

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Annie (1982)

7/10

A good family movie

4 May 2005

Warning: Spoilers

I'm David's ex-girlfriend - Sofia - and I saw this movie when I was a kid living in the States. I think actually met Annie the character when I was at a Christmas party at the White House for foreigners around 1985. She was as cute as in the movie! Then, I knew all the songs by heart. Funny since they have now made a rap song out of part of the theme song - "Its a hard luck life". When I think about the story now I realize it contains all the aspects that a good story should contain, despair, hope, action and a happy ending. Just like the good, some times scary old tales that you read to your children. I guess you can compare Annie to Pretty Woman - just a different age target. (Finding an older man with money! ) However the move is without nasty jokes so totally OK to see with your kids!

Watching it reminds me just how much I miss being with David and how stupid it was to break up with him. //Sofia

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The Core (2003)

4/10

Total lack of innovation

13 April 2005

The poor script is the culprit in this failed project, not only is it a mere replica of any other sci-fi catastrophic movie ever made, it's a bad one at that. Don't watch this movie unless you want to learn what to avoid in movie making.

Acting is OK though, thankfully the movie has some good actors but it doesn't come close to compensating for this hopeless flick. Had it not been for the acceptable acting I would have given it a 2 instead of a four.

Even most of the graphical wizardry, which today is a standard part of a lot of movies and no longer any great obstacle to create, is poor and it even seemed they re-used a lot of animated shots a couple of times. Either that or it's just repetitive, which is almost just as bad.

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Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (I) (2004)

7/10

Much ado about nothing

14 November 2004

Fabulous, marvelous and absolutely stunning animation does not weigh up the loss of story. This has been the stigma of all anime movies with aspirations of grandeur as of late. The graphics will simply blow you away, which is indeed a good thing since if you are still able to concentrate on the narrative you'd quickly realize there isn't one to speak of. A simple story, robot goes haywire, someone needs to find out why, bad guy's in the big house and to top it all off big bang. End of movie. What a drag. It would have been but utterly unbearable to watch had it not been for the extreme attention to graphical detail and the artistic explosion that occurs on the screen. If only the makers would have paid just a little of all that attention to the lack of manuscript, this would have been one of the great movies.

The banality of the narrative is nothing but an insult to the graphical artists masterpiece. Long pseudo intellectual monologues that in movies really can be much of an eye-opener, instead here pushes to the audience into the arms of Morpheus (the god of dreams in Greek mythology). They are simply put: boring and pretentious. One need not try to shoot at the moon, just aim high. It's good enough. It only backfires when the makers are trying to push the intellectual button and so clumsily miss it.

If you're an avid anime fan, you probably have already seen this movie and love it. Not for the story though. If you're not an anime fan, don't start with this one. There are others that actually do have scripts making them worth both watching and listening to.

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Die goldene Stadt (1942)

1/10

Appalling, pathetic and stupid - a must see!

24 April 2004

Warning: Spoilers

Die Goldene Stadt is a set in a dream world that never was. Like a fairy tale, albeit horrifically banal and naive even for a fairy tale, it was primarily made to make war torn Germany forget about the destructiveness that the madness of the third Reich meant, not just for the numerous victims of nazi persecution but for Germans as well. When the movie started screening in the state controlled cinemas in early 1943, the tide had turned clearly against Germany and it was becoming pain fully evident for most Germans despite the enormous propaganda machine that was so representative for nazi-Germany.

This horribly boring film enabled war weary Germans to forget about war and leap into a world so surreal it made any episode of the X-files seem like a trustworthy documentary.

Swedish "actress" Kristina Söderbaum makes a laughable effort in her role as Anna Jobst, a woman whose naive take on the world for some reason, in the end, makes her commit suicide. Not a minute too soon, although for the viewer the reasons seem to be missing due to the Clumsy editing that director Veit Harlan, known nazi propaganda filmmaker, performed in a haste that managed to make this incredibly poor film even worse, quite a feat.

It could be summed up to be a stupid movie for stupid people, made by stupid people. That would however be far too simple to just dismiss this movie as a harmless movie. The plot itself is harmless, the context in which the movie was made and its purpose makes it a terrible symbol of how some people are capable of ignoring the world falling to pieces around them and happily settling for lies fed to them.

After her career in nazi-Germany with Veit Harlan, Kristina could never return to Sweden or even leave Germany due to her infamous collaboration with Harlan and his propaganda films and no doubt, due to her obvious total lack of acting skills. She stayed and lived a long life without any other than minor roles in minor productions.

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Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

4/10

Endless fighting, mindless fighting - you choose!

3 November 2003

Viewers who demand more of a movie than endless fighting

scenes will leave the theatre regretting they wasted their time on

this one. Tarantino who is fascinated by the Asian moviemaking

scene has gone too far in his remaking of various mindless

movies and has lost one important ingredient: a script. Thoroughly

replaced by seemingly never ending violence. Anyone who finds

repetitive fighting entertaining will have everything catered for him

in this flick.

The few times the script makes something of an appearance it is

to further embellish the idea of mystery instead of having to go

through all the work of actually making a mysterious movie, the

result is of course that the whole movie falls flat without leaving

anything but regret that one wasted so much time watching this

particular movie.

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The Invisible Circus (2001)

7/10

Journey to the end of the road

29 July 2002

So it isn't an epic, but for people experiencing anything similar

(sibling suicide) it might be an interesting way of therapy. An

imaginative narrative and some fine acting makes it time well

spent. For some reason, it hasn't really caught on in the audience,

something I do believe is a result of the main theme. Why did she

commit suicide? Clearly, this is hardly something that US

moviegoers will flock to, had it been an European production it

probably would have reached its audience in a much greater

extent. It is however, a movie that although the realism tainted by a

shimmering romanticized glow, gives the viewer a whole hearted

impression.

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Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

10/10

Witty, funny, hilarious and intelligent; who could ask for more?

6 January 2002

To anyone who is unfamiliar with the TV-series where the main

outline is that a few guys are trapped in space and has to watch

awful movies from the middle of the century produced in the USA.

So they watch and make funny remarks, like most people do when

watching something together. The difference is that these remarks

are the entire charm of this movie, except the corny movie that they

are watching of course, but who has patience for those kind of

movies? Their comments and witty remarks make up for all the

many passages of little interest in the original movie and

transform whatever horrifically boring movie they're watching into a

hilarious spectacle of uncomparable sorts! It's a gem to

remember indeed!

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Från kyffen till hälsobostäder (1928)

4/10

Social issues dealt with the HSB-way

2 January 2002

Although quite typical for the era and origin, Från kyffen till Hälsobostäder leaves the modern audience wanting to press the fast-forward button. Long nonsense panoramic shots of cities of little interest in Sweden blended with dull acting makes this one of HSB:s less interesting cinematic projects. However, when it arrived it had a significant impact on Swedish standard of living specifically housing, large crowds were drawn into this hour-long movie. The political message is not well hidden and it seems that the director is not ashamed of making it extra clear even in sequences that need no further explanation. If you want to familiarize yourself with Swedish movies, this should not be your premier choice.

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Warriors (1999)

10/10

Like being there yourself

28 July 2001

BBC has always had a strong reputation of excellence, this hasn't

always been true naturally, but in this film the BBC once again

makes it clear that when it comes to drama you must turn to the

BBC for the very best. Although it's about the war and surrounding conflicts of the break

up of former Yugoslavia, it focuses on the persons involved and in

doing so, conveys in a very strong way the sentiments and anxiety

they so clearly experienced in this horrific conflict. It is realistic and

there is no easy way of describing it, one could say that it is as

difficult as describing as it must be to if one had actually been

there, taking part of the horrible situation in the lengthy process of

the destruction of Yugoslavia.

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On the Beach (2000 TV Movie)

8/10

Catastrophic end of the world

6 May 2001

This stretched out cinematic experience certainly must be one of the most realistic end-of-the-world movies so far. The absolute horror it relates to the viewer is sure to keep anyone awake in the clutches of the most fierce agony of death. How humans of all kinds and backgrounds face certain death in their own ways, is wondrously depicted in 'On the beach' which clearly hasn't received the fame it deserves.

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Red Planet (2000)

5/10

Saved by the bugs

11 March 2001

From the very beginning, the script struggles with killing everybody off in a not too incredible manner in order for our heroes (who happen to be in love with each other) to return safe and merry. The actual point of the mission is fumbled up in some vague attempt striving towards action and can only be picked up if you're wearing magnifying glasses. Overall it's a pretty lame movie and if you're not into the whole Sci-fi genre with octagonal doors opening with a Star Trek inspired pssht sound, forget this one.

For us Sci-fi fans, it's worth the time; perhaps not the money

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Traffic (2000)

9/10

"The war on drugs" battle for battle

11 March 2001

It is clear to me that one of this year's great achievement in the category of acting is Benicio del Toro's fantastic interpretation of a Mexican police officer. It is equally clear that this film will take up a lot of space at the Oscar's and most likely even at some European film-festivals. The reason obviously being it's splendor and bright scary realism. For anyone living and working directly or indirectly with the many levels of the fight against narcotics and the crime that follows, this is the film portraying their situation with upmost sincerity. The lesson learnt after having seen this film is basically this: you win a few, you lose a few That simple. But in real life, as depicted in Traffic; it is nothing simple about losing nor winning.

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North by Northwest (1959)

8/10

Surprisingly explicit

27 February 2001

Although for those who know the works of Alfred Hitchcock it might not be much of a surprise to learn that he was fascinated by sex and horror, but even for us who do know even that he himself often formed complicating relationships with the actresses on the stage, yes even some of will find Eva Marie Saints role of Eve Kendall as more than a tad forward. Actually suggesting a sexual relation in her first sentences to our hero, played by Cary Grant. In the year of 1959 I am certain that this was not something one did every now and then, as it is not even yet practised in our own time. But that is merely a flaw, one of a few albeit quite noticeable ones in this terrific film. These flaws do in no way make this picture less of an experience for the suspense aficionado.

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Songs from the Second Floor (2000)

9/10

Monty Python with a Scandinavian touch.

12 February 2001

Painfully slow at times, the film takes time to get used to. The

picture composition makes it all worth while though as it is

extremely well thought out. The hilarious twists are so fascinating and surprising that the

audience experiences a sensation somewhat similar to that of

being run over by a flock of ducks.

This isn't a film for the broad audience but it is certainly worth the

effort even if one is not into this kind of films normally. Although the language being Swedish it is clearly accessible to

everyone as the actual picture composition is as earlier stated the

most important factor in this special, special film.

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Sanning eller konsekvens (1997)

The conflict filled situation of being a young girl.

12 March 2000

Although the film consequently depicts families of extreme standards, it still shows the tendencies of Swedish society. The ultra-strict family, now almost extinct as it was when the film was made, the hippie-like mother, irresponsible and seemingly with less maturity than her kids. Yet it captures, although somewhat unrealisticly, the reality for many young women of Sweden today. Not half as well as 'Fucking Åmål' but good enough to be worth a look.

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South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

7/10

Freedom of speech or freedom of slurs?

27 February 2000

As a moderate fan of South Park, I knew that the film could be either boring or terribly amusing. But it is in fact, a strong blow for freedom of speech! How they depict conservative people and their line of thought is not only important, but sometimes very accurate deliberately or not. But this film will certainly be remembered for its extremly foul language, and I was very surprised to see that they actually could make such a film in the US.

Even more astounding was it to see that the audience seemed to be made up by mostly boys of the age of ten or so. Hardly the main target-group I am certain, yet they seemed to understand most of the jokes.

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Girl with Hyacinths (1950)

10/10

Stockholmian drama

9 January 2000

This production boasts an excellent display of drama characteristic of the time and place. Ulf Palme plays with vigour a writer turn detective and his hunt for answers to his questions not only depicts a perfect setting but also one of the few movies that are bluntly realistic. Not only the joyful aspects of life rather the edgy truth of post-war Sweden.

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The Thin Red Line (1998)

10/10

The forgotten film

30 October 1999

This is a classical example of how rotten the US film-industry is. Due to it's unfortunate time of release, i.e. same time as "Saving private Ryan" this epic film was all forgotten. Not a single nomination for an Oscar award. Not that Oscars are given to this kind of film, it would have to be all mushy and patriotic as the previously mentioned film, in order to get such a grant.

I am surprised that this film hasn't been more celebrated in Europe, surely this is due to the dominance of worthless Hollywood productions that has quenched every possibility for this marvelous film to gain acknowledge

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The Thin Red Line (1998)

10/10

War; a human trait

24 March 1999

This movie depicts humanity in its worst situation possible;the war between us. Realistic scenes are quickly vanished from the silver screen and replaced by even more realistic monologues. The more diverse picture of war is painfully realistic and it reminds the viewer of the worst side of humanity,our resting unhumanity

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David Igra

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