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helizara
Reviews
Mil nubes de paz cercan el cielo, amor, jamás acabarás de ser amor (2003)
beautiful, atmospheric confusion
Looks like film noir and Bergman. Plays like Lynch. Amazing looking and sounding film. Pretentious? Yes. Did I understand it? Not really. Does that matter? Not a jot. A beautiful, haunting, melodic flow of images and ideas.
But without the excessive artyness, with the plot clearer and more attention to characters, or to put it another way, with a director half as good as its cinematographer, it could have been amazing all over.
Huutajat - Screaming Men (2003)
Why rubber ties? Why not
One of the funniest films I've ever seen. Are they conceptual art, are they music? Who cares? They do it cause they want to and doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks. Great tongue in cheek look at the view Finnish culture has to how the rest of the world see them. An absolute must see.
Dans ma peau (2002)
bland, superficial and tedious
I was bitterly disappointed with this film. I was expecting something, deep challenging and thought provoking. As it was, yeah I nearly walked out as well, but only through boredom. The special effects are at a level of unrealism only surpassed by bad horror films- found myself laughing at scenes meant, presumably, to be something other than comedy. What could have been a fascinating portrayal of self injury ends up as forgettable blood porn and if you want that go see Crash, at least that cast can act.
National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002)
It shouldn't work...
It shouldn't be funny. It should be the worst bit of gross-out comedy ever churned out, until the next one anyway. There's nothing original about it, the actors only just manage to act and the jokes are your staple sex and toilet gags. And I should be in the position where I've just given this 0 out of 10.
But I'm not. Somewhere in this mishmash of predictable plot, crude scripting, bad acting and it's many other faults, there's the funniest film I've seen in ages. Ryan Renyolds somehow pulls it together creating an hysterically funny comedy with a trace of tender romance thrown in. Van Wilder would seem to be the exception to '38 wrongs don't make a right' rule of film
The Last Great Wilderness (2002)
Monarch of the Glen crossed with The Wicker Man.
This starts out looking like a run of the mill road trip film then suddenly you realise it's tripped into Wicker man territory. Well worth seeing, especially if you're familiar with the atmosphere in the highlands of scotland as its full of subtle references to the attitudes of the location, which really ring true.
In a way it's a one actor movie but Alastair Mackenzie does well as Charlie, although for anyone who's seen Monarch of the Glen it's difficult to stop seeing him as Archie. That being said the supporting cast, the usual suspects from the scottish luvies, do well too.
Overall a delightful, well observed comedy on the nature of escapisim.
The Bourne Identity (2002)
formulaic nonsense
This movie bored me to tears. Hideous miscasting (Julia Stiles, what were you thinking?), the people you want to see more of are given bit parts (Brian Cox, Clive Owen...) and the wrong people die. No explaination of Jason's existance is given and the only bit of directorial style is the opening sequence and after that all is downhill. It's no more than an excuse for Matt to be an action hero and attempt to convince us he can act by having some lines in foreign languages. Utterly without redeeming features
Atlantis High (2001)
fantastic!
One of the best 'children's' dramas ever. Wonderful use of the surreal and bizarre with hysterical one-liners and the weirdest plots you ever saw, in mainstream TV. Watch it if you ever get a chance, it leaves your 'Sabrina's quaking in it's wake
New Waterford Girl (1999)
should've been good but...
...there's just something missing. It looks good and sounds good but it's really just another 'coming of age in a small town' film. Admittedly it's quirkyness raises it from the masses in this genre, but not by much. it's predictable, the quirkyness is often taken to the point where it's irritating and at times it's saved only by Andrew Mcarthy's performance I'm not from canada so may be a lot of it was lost on me but a good film should be international
Flirt (1993)
fantastic
Flirt is such a great film. Maybe it just didn't get the distribution it deserved, as is the way with so many films. It takes the idea of making a film based on a very simple, almost cliched, idea and plays with it, producing a thought-provoking and intelligent film, that explores how society and cultural norms change and how they govern our lives
Live Through This (2000)
Another show without the acclaim it deserved
Ok so it's not Cassablanca, it's teen soap opera but it's good teen soap opera and worth a watch if you get the chance. Some good performances by some unknowns, who seem to have since disappeared again and an original plot all help to drag this well above the normal US teen drama level.
Romance (1999)
A Must See
I saw this at the Edinburgh film festival and although I didn't agree with a lot of what the director said at the Q&A I still found it a very good film. I find it strange that several others have commented on it being made by a woman because I don't think it could have been made by a man, there are too many images and concepts that are, for want of a better phrase, female specific.