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EdwardMartinIII
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Bells of Innocence (2003)
No vegetables in my dessert, please
(Chances are, I'm gonna spoil Valuable Plot Points while writing this and because I can't determine and don't really care what YOU think is a Valuable Plot Point, then if you are thinking of watching this film and have an issue with learning such things, then I suggest you hop right on to the next review.) You know, I don't mind the cult films being filed under the "cult" section. And people who believe it can go there and get their fill of the "reality". I mean, is it too much to ask that the overtly pseudo-Christian propaganda films be filed with the other Special Interest movies?
I couldn't have been more flabbergasted had Pat Robertson made a porn movie. (or would that be "flubbergasted"?)
It was bad enough that there was an egregiously insufficient count of kicking and punching in this. It was bad enough that the same story has been done repeatedly in much better ways. It was bad enough that it wasn't filed under Special Interest, with other cult films. It was bad enough that it somehow is receiving nods for being "realistic" as if we live in the world where towns get possessed by the "debbil" and the really profound and nasty evil ISN'T done by human beings -- usually in the NAME of religions based on the god of Abraham. It was bad enough having to simply shut the thing down because people were complaining so loudly that it was awful.
No, the really BAD part was when one of our guests stood up after we finally had to just turn the damn thing off, and declared "I for one would like to see something really violent or pornographic now, just to get that OUT of my head. Preferably both, if you have it." And we had just MET her.
Coming Up Easy (2004)
Very cool!
These were the first words that I thought of when I watched this: It was sweet and intense and colorful and real. I liked it very much.
On more than one occasion, I was surprised by the direction events took. This is good.
The characters were all a little whack in their own ways and that was good, too.
There were flashbacks and they didn't interrupt the narrative and they FELT like flashbacks, momentary reveries, in their implementation.
I encourage people to see this movie when they can.
I hope Rebecca Rodriguez makes more movies and I look forward to seeing them.
The Thing on the Doorstep (2003)
Why women are evil
Morgret's "The Thing on the Doorstep", a pretty faithful adaptation of the short story by H. P. Lovecraft, is a chop to the cerebellum. From the opening gunshots to the sizzle of eyes at the end, it's a tumble into an increasingly paranoid fantasy manifested in a supernatural vein. In scenes of normalcy there are the surrealisms and in the most surreal moments can be found anchors of reality.
An Imperfect Solution: A Tale of the Re-Animator (2003)
A fine adaptation!
"An Imperfect Solution" (Oh, what an awful pun!) is a fine adaptation of Lovecraft's Herbert West stories. Although much good can be said of Stuart Gordon's adaptations, the fact is, they've dominated the field as far as adapting any of these oddball stories. Matzke's adapted one in a faithful, period piece, with an obvious eye toward a love for the genre, the material, and the historical flavor of the original work. There is a quiet horror in this movie, a sense of the surreal and the terrifying.
De uanstændige (1983)
You can have everything -- if you're willing to give everything up.
What an odd and beautiful little gem of a movie to find!
An uptight young man and his equally uptight family moves next door to a hedonistic clan, including the beautiful, sexy Topsy, who charms the new neighbor boy Tom. But Tom discovers that the price of loving Topsy may be higher than he's willing to pay -- she insists on absolute honesty and a life and love without possession or exclusivity.
On one hand, it's a bit on the tragic side as Tom struggles with this surreal permissiveness and his highly constrained upbringing and environment.
On the other hand, it offers a glimpse into a life that is simple, beautiful, warm and loving. Topsy's family exists in their own environment and each one is a unique and special character. It's a lovely place to go -- if you're willing to pay the simple price of letting go of all the training you've had until now.
Do try to catch it, even though it seems awfully rare.
American Psycho (2000)
An Ideal Complement
American Psycho is a remarkable adaptation of Ellis' book. It would have been SO easy to make this into a slasher flick, or a standard horror flick, or to add some kind of commonplace intrigue, but Mary Harron didn't do that. She managed to maintain the single most powerful emotion of the entire piece -- despair. The voiceovers delivered by Christian Bale are perfectly in sync with the book. I was surprised to see Bale delivering a few of the monologues vocally, but you know, such an occurrence while transitioning from book to film isn't a surprise and Bale delivers them with a crazed precision and enthusiasm that I loved.
One of the cornerstones of the book was the incredibly inhuman violence perpetrated by Patrick Bateman and a lot of this is skillfully rendered in the film just offscreen, or suggested in a way that was far more frightening and powerful than just-show-us could have been. Here's an example. Bateman picks up a pretty blonde woman. They talk briefly as they walk and the next scene is the next morning. Bateman's in his office, absent-mindedly fondling a lock of blonde hair, which he quickly stuffs in a pocket as someone comes in. Certainly Bateman is nuts, of that we are assured when he kills Paul Allen, but we only start to uncover just how totally disconnected he is as the film unfolds. I refer you to a scene that I call "Sherbet". Our first real glimpse at the creature beneath his skin. But on the gross-o-meter, this would be maybe a three out of ten. We've tolerated much, much worse and not been THAT offended.
I liked it. I especially liked that it's showing in the same theaters as American Beauty. Oh, that just thrills me. I wonder what kind of crossover mistakes will happen...