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randy_lejeune
Reviews
Bandh Darwaza (1990)
Bad movie . . . very, very bad movie
Well, this is it folks . . . Bollywood's answer to third rate B-Movies. This is a pathetic little farce about vampyres in India. The chief vampyre looks like he is wearing a Halloween mask, the whole movie is cheap and dark looking, and basically looks like it was shot in someone's back yard. If you can't find it in your local video store, don't bother. They don't get any worse than this.
Der Golem (1914)
Expressionist Classic
The cinematography in this movie is STUNNING. One feels as though one were a captive in an alternate dimension of reality; an almost Lovecraftian world where the very geometry of the buildings seems to writhe and come to life. The atmosphere of Budapest in the Middle Ages seems to be captured perfectly. After the Jews being ousted from the town by royal decree, the leader of the Jewish community crafts the Golem out of clay and brings him to life in a black magical ceremony (interesting to note that among the crimes accused of the Jews in the edict, one was witchcraft). The Golem then is brought before the king and results in the Jews being allowed to remain. But the Golem falls in love(!) with a young lady and runs amok. The story is a classic and there is a considerable amount of drama here, but the real gem of this movie are the incredible visuals and the atmosphere. One of the greatest expressionist classics ever made. Far superior to "Caligari" in my opinion.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Dumb City Kids Get Lost In The Woods
This movie stinks. A trio of three dumb city kids go off into the woods with little food, but apparently a truckload of film and try to film a documentary about the "Blair Witch". We are treated to about 20 minutes of a black screen and a good 15 minutes of some pretty trees. Other than that, these guys just go about scaring themselves and boring the viewer. The 'documentary' aspect of the film is overdone, as these guys can't even manage to hold the camera straight most of the time, and the dialogue rarely rises above a fourth-grade level. All in all, about as interesting as watching paint dry.
M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931)
Become The Murderer
This is probably one of the best films depicting a serial killer that I have ever come across. The movie plot is pretty absurd with the whole of the self-righteous "underground" world of criminals uniting to catch the kindermorder who threatens to blacken their reputation! The Nazi propaganda is typically moronic, but that can safely be ignored to get to the climax where Lorre is being "tried" by the gangsters and gangland killers who think they are so much superior to them and he launched into his tirade. The killer is not an evil man, but one driven by an insane urge to kill, regardless of the consequences. Unlike the rest of the criminals who prosecute him, he does not do what he does for gain, but because his very nature, a drive that is alien even to him, forces him to obey. The sheer power of Lorre's performance, especially in the prosecution scene, blasts most other movies out of the water. There are few scenes as intense and revealing as this one. As a member of the progeny of UFA's expressionist classics, the movie is visually quite stunning and of course, highly artificial in its plot and acting, but this in no way takes away from its dramatic power. I wonder how it would have turned out had Lang not been under the Nazi censors who forced him to fell for his life a few years later?
Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996)
Garbage
If there is one movie that is worse than the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" then this has to be it. A story of a scheming woman who intentionally sleeps with her "best friend's" (Tara) husband on the day of Tara's wedding and then doesn't have the sense to keep quiet about it in revenge for Tara's crime of being born in a higher caste than she. Maya gets everything she deserves as everyone else is left cleaning up the mess that she created. One of the central ideas of the film is that if a lady isn't aware of the "Kama Sutra" then she'll never be able to keep a man, which is as silly as cooking televisions. The "guru" who supposedly teaches this art to her young pupils is so stupid that she can't even seem to tell the difference between love and sex, but is nevertheless portrayed as being a "wise" woman. The scenery is OK, but far outdoes the plot and the acting. Save your money. If you want real porno, try some X-rated stuff, and if you want a better story, try the daytime soap-operas or typical Bollywood fare.
Fire (1996)
Touching Love Story
This was a great film in every sense of the word. It tackles the subject of tribadism in a society that is quite intolerant of any deviations from the norm. It criticises a great many Indian customs that many find oppressive -- such as the arranging of marriages by others, the importance of status and face, religious hypocrisy, sexism, the valuation of women in terms of their baby-making capacity, the binding concepts of duty and so on. At the heart of the film is a touching love story that goes beyond such limitations of the society which the two protagonists find themselves. The film is well-acted and genuine, completely believable from beginning to end, unlike most Bollywood flicks. The main faults of the film as I saw it was first, that the two lovers seem drawn to one another not necessarily by a natural affinity for each other as much as the fact that they are stuck in dead-end marriages with no passion and no rewards. This may play a part in the sexual awakening of the characters, but most people stuck in the same situation will not "turn homosexual". It seems clear from the beginning of the film that the two characters are quite heterosexual -- when Radha does her scene at the end of the movie with Aashok, she makes it quite clear that "without desire she was dead", and the implication was that if he had desired so, he could have fulfilled her quite completely, and also when Sita seemed very disappointed when her husband seemed to not like her. Such situations do not turn people into homosexuals -- they may seek comfort in others in the same position, but inthe film it is not at all made clear that they are lesbians from the beginning -- quite the opposite. Some people are bisexual, it is true, but most tend to be either hetero- or homosexual. In the case of the ladies in the film, both had insensitive jerks for husbands . . . if this had not been the case, would they have naturally found the need to express their desire in a relationship that they may have otherwise not have considered? The film ignores this. The other fault is the naming of the characters . . . the names Sita and Radha seem contrived deliberately to shock and outrage (imagine a film in America depicting a gay relationship between a man named "Jesus" and another named "Paul"!) by using names associated with various Hindoo scriptures. The film is strong enough to stand on its own and needs no such devices in my opinion. At any rate, the faults do not take much away from the power of the movie. It is indeed a very touching and powerful story -- the images and characters will stay with you a long time after you leave the theatre.
Grayeagle (1977)
Oh, brother . . .
One of the "newer" versions of the old western genres, the Indians are the good guys in this poor excuse for a movie. A chief named "Grayeagle" kidnaps a white lady who turns out to be of Indian descent so that she can rejoin her tribe, and naturally, she ends up defending her kidnapper and being grateful to him for bringing her "home", while another guy tries to hunt Grayeagle down. Long, boring, stupid and poorly acted. Don't waste your time.
The Benny Goodman Story (1956)
Good Film
Although in general, Jazz is one of my most unfavourite types of music, I was captivated by the story. I couldn't get up once I had started watching it. Donna Reed and Steve Allen really brought the story (partly fictional by the way) of Benny Goodman out and intrigued me enough to want to learn more about his life and the sort of music he played. The musical numbers in the film are among Goodman's best, and really liven the film up. A great film.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Important Film, But A Bore
OK, this was an important film for its time -- no one can dispute that. It revolutionised the use of the camera and the use of space in the mise-en-scene. But the thing is that the story is just unbearably dull! The characters are too hammy and look like they are acting and fail to get the sympathy of the audience at any time. Kane is a jerk who has about as much self-understanding as a two year old kid. How can most people relate to him? If you are really into the history of film or cinematography, this movie is of immeasurable importance and it should be studied. But if you just want to see a good movie with characters that you can relate to and a plot that is interesting, go elsewhere . . . this film is all art and no soul.