Reviews

Disturbingly entertaining, or entertainingly disturbing - take your pick

It seems to be the second movie on the topic, the previous one being some 20 years older. I won't go into comparisons, since I've neither seen the older version nor read the book, so here's just a few comments.

1. Everybody notes the inconsistency between ‘robots' and ‘women with implants' concepts throughout the movie. So did I. That's, probably, the only annoying glitch that doesn't affect the overall impression - after all, the dubbing in the copy I saw was one key frame too fast, and it was much worse a trouble.

2. I saw the very final scene coming (I'm not the only one, huh), and IMHO those should have been ‘implanted' husbands there, not the househusbands-in-training.

3. Bobby's plain terrific.

4. Nicole's started showing her age. And it's good for her.

5. Mr.Oz couldn't refrain from throwing in just a tiny bit of gay cliches, but at least they were up-to-date. Let's call it a cameo appearance of Mr.Bloom. And Mr.Mortensen, of course.

6. Is it finally proven that all blondes are dumb? Or that all dumbs are blonde? Stereotypes, stereotypes. However, in my opinion one can afford them in a movie dominated by male inferiority (a nice change, for a change).

7. The inferiority and superiority complexes can drive one whole small town crazy. I wish they had a chance to run Roger for President.

Highly recommended. 8/10

I won't say that I am totally disappointed with this film, but I still cannot get rid of the feeling that somebody's pulled my leg. And is maybe even still pulling, since they've changed the plot (as compared to the book) sufficiently enough to make the sequel mostly unpredictable. Cheap trick, I must say. Well, at least I won't go for it.

Now to the film itself. The FX get a D on a verge of failing. Acting... I only liked the family of vampires and the witch. The rest are... well... acting.

One should also note the so Russian product placement. It cannot get clumsier then that. And product-placing dumplings is probably the best they can do.

The film shows some action, but only enough to make it barely tolerable.

6/10 for trying. But I won't go to the theater to see the Dnevnoj Dozor. Nor will I advise anyone to follow my steps in seeing the Nocturnal one.

I won't be comparing this film to neither Killbill nor Hero (as it's common here in Russia), I'll just say that Takeshi-sama has given us an elegant and fully enjoyable oeuvre.

Probably due to the fact that the main character is blind, the sound track is rich and almost tangible. Different sounds mix in exquisite rhythms, enchanting better than snake-charmers flute (NB: don't spoil your first experience with this film by watching it in non-5.1 environment).

The visual part is equally great. The performance is excellent, and the cameraman does great. The scenes to shoot are also selected marvelously.

A good-humoured and kind story isn't spoiled by streams of cranberry blood and rubber (dismembered) members. It's definitely not cruel at its core. Well, no more cruel then life itself.

Zen-ish remarks here and there are a nice spicy addition to the feast of mind and soul served by chef Kitano.

This is a nice movie that will hold your attention while it lasts, but won't be something you'll be thinking much about in the next couple of days.

Certain inconsistencies in the plot give one a laugh, and after the end there are so many loose, erm, ends, that one can only wonder if they are already planning on shooting a sequel.

The cast is moderately good, with non-demanding roles played on second gear tops. Nothing special is there to be said about directing or visual effects either.

This is probably one good film to make your kid a trifle interested in archaeology, but hardly more.

Summary: Best captured en passant

OK, maybe my opinion is biased because I a) haven't seen these comics and b) have missed the first 15 minutes, so it took me a little while to understand what it all was about.

However, the plot doesn't hold any water, the CGI is way behind Final Fantasy (which I saw only recently, and on DVD, so it was kinda handicapped as compared to real-theater experience the Immortel was for me), and loads of bathos poured out of Nikopol on one's poor ears were next to intolerable.

OK, I understand that the director has got a brand new graphic station to play. But why should people suffer? Why does the guy who actually uses it, learn in the job instead of having some experience already?

If not for the guy whom I went to see this movie with (he was just as disappointed as I), I'd have left half an hour from the start.

Waste of time and money. 1/10

My first and only previous experience with FF was watching over the shoulder of the guy who was playing FF8 on his PC. As far as I understood, its plot has nothing to do with this movie. Not that one complains.

The plot is quite heavy on action, with a nice twist at the end, all archetypes present. Animation is very good, scarce touching moments are distributed evenly in time. All in all, this makes FF an enjoyable evening-at-TV experience. It's even possible to survive it without any popcorn at all.

Tell me somebody, why the bad guys are always red, and good guys always blue?

As with other Ozon films, this one is cast and shot perfectly.

Ozon delivers a snapshot of a fairly ordinary situation of a prodigal son who doesn't come back and lives his own life to prove some point to his father.

The key point and question, in my humble opinion, is the envelope that his sister puts into the box with photos. Can she be sure that it will put the guy back to peace with him (even if it's too late) instead of adding guilt to the already-not-too-pleasant cocktail of his feelings?

Definitely worth seeing, 8/10

The visual sequence of this film is excellent as for any other film by Ozon. I don't know where he gets the camera people, but they all are top-notch.

The scenes that might seem illogical at the beginning keep providing more substance to the characters, and the final (I liked it a lot that it wasn't in the list of the possible outcomes that I had in mind) everything suddenly snaps into places.

The dilemma with this film is that watching it early in the day will probably keep you uneasy for the rest of it, and watching it late in the night might easily make your sleep less sound. The choice is up to you.

Yeah, and Ozon is brilliant in shooting women with cigarettes.

9/10

I'm just starting to explore the so far wonderful world of monsieur Ozon. I've seen only 4 films so far, and with the last one in the row it hit me that all of them were in fact about lonely women and their actions. Not a single non-lonely female character out of 12, and all of them bring heavy impact of surroundings.

This film is probably the only one (out of four) where this impact is for good.

The gay theme is an almost standard part of background for Ozon's films, so it doesn't grab the accent (although the looks of the characters might). Watch for the feelings, not for their objects.

Very nice and fleeting, truly like a summer romance, and while being a relaxation to thought and mind, it gives some food for the soul.

A very nice and romantic film for kids. Excellent songs, excellent humour. The chancellor is a must-see, and his wife is the second-best 'evil woman' after Cruella De Veil.

And the moralization part is blended very nicely into the plot.

An excellent film, and one about people whom no one needs. And about life and ex-friends giving you a finger.

The film has nothing to do with gay-ety, since Mike is just desperate for love, to be loved by anyone, preferably his mom.

This is a life-long quest that ended one episode too late, to my thinking the 'tribute to happy end', however open-ended, has been an unnecessary extra in otherwise perfect story that gets right to your guts.

The movie is good, but proves a long-known point yet again - if you want to get a comedy right, do not use dubbed versions.

6/10 until I find a tape with original sound. Has a potential for much more.

Well, it might be The Peter Zemekis, and all, but the movie is definitely many notches below the Roger Rabbit.

Yes, black, yes, comedy, and yes, I do like the genre, but finding in the end that there were only a couple of crunchies, and even those of popcorn, in a large pool of chewing gum is quite disappointing. Slapstick humor does not become a black comedy.

6- for trying.