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akbuff
Reviews
Payback (1999)
Watch it and learn how to make film noire
If I were teaching a film-making class I would show this film several times and lecture about several facits of film-making this film does beautifully. The pace was right, not boring, not confusing. Each scene was set up, was teased, the ending was falsely hinted, then Wham- you got your money's worth. You were given just enough information to guess and misdirected so you guessed wrong. But the misdirection was fair, you didn't feel cheated. Bam! Satisfaction. Bam! Satisfaction.
The framing was varied and interesting, using rear-view mirrors, overheads and (new) underneaths. Pay attention to the very first scene: great!
The characters, their costume and makeup borrowed a lot from the live actor movie Dick Tracy. You won't mistake one of these for any other. They are all charmingly bad. We can also tell from the charms and outfits of the actresses that the director is a rear-end man, not a breast man. The action borrowed a lot from Road Runner cartoons.
Dialogue: You really appreciate the narrator. Everyone had short, concise, snappy lines. Good sound quality too.
Oh, yeah. I also just plain enjoyed watching it. Fun. Wow.
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)
harmless fun
this is a movie that is not mad at anyone, not trying to push a world view, not really trying to impress. They just told a simple story well. I think the cast had a great time making the movie. It is a simple, pleasant movie with charming colors and agreeable characters. I would recommend it for family viewing and for children alone. It does not take forever to watch, either.