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Ian Jones
Reviews
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
The way of the Samurai is the only way
This is a fantastic film, seemingly ignored by most - It is incredibly understated and moody, from the slow memorising utterings from Forest Whitaker to the driving rap music played in the background.
If you like Leon - watch this now. The story of the single minded assassin, a complete loner in the world, but with a strange obsession (plants or pigeons anyone?!).
You could possible look at this as a re-working of Leon, such as the poignant moments such as Leon and Natalie Portman, and Ghost Dog and the French Ice Cream seller, but this is an excellent piece of cinematic genius in it's own right.
It has everything - who would have thought Forest could be this cool? There are many funny bits, and it is full of memorising slow motion clips that add atmosphere to the whole picture.
Please see this - It isn't the greatest film ever made, but you will be thinking about this for days, thinking of all of the intelligent messages about life it tells.
Enjoy.
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Brilliant!
Oh yes - a cartoon that made me cry with laughter at the end 'bloopers'. A cartoon for gods sake! I shouldn't laugh that much at a couple of drawings.
The first film was OK, but this is fantastic. Just stick around at the end..."Why monkey nuts?"
8/10 (there isn't a perfect 10 film)
The Yakuza Way (1999)
No. Please...No more....
Oh No... Why was this film made? I've seen some bad films in my time, but this is by far the worst!
The acting is terrible, and even though the film is only 1hr 15 mins long they keep reminding you with awful pieces of dialogue about what happened a few minutes ago. There certainly aren't any subliminal messages in this film!
The morality is fantastic - the cops just allow them to get away with murder and drug dealing because its "the Yakuza way"!!
Oh well, I suppose it gave some actors a little work for a while...
If you do watch it (and it's worth a laugh at least!) Check out the shoulder pads on the main character, and the shadow of the sound boom visible after the "yakuza" is given a necklace by his sister. Brilliant!! ....and I thought Robin Hood, Men in Tights was bad!
Pitch Black (2000)
Great film.
I though this was a great film, setting the atmosphere brilliantly by hardly showing the creatures until it was too late.
Ok, some of the actors weren't too good, and the scientific aspects were a little dubious to say the least, but it's still a very scary movie that grips you from start to finish.
Vin Diesel is very good in the lead role, showing that not every main character has to have impeccable moralities, and the special effects make the film even better (eg. Riddicks special vision and the view of the aliens).
Not brilliant, but Hollywood does worse with 99 out of 100 films. Hey - and I didn't even notice one piece of Americanized soppy pap!
The Usual Suspects (1995)
What can I say - brilliant!
Superb. I unfortunately missed this at the cinema, but I caught it on video, as I would encourage anyone to.
There aren't many films better than this, and it'll have you guessing 'til the bitter end.
For those British films fans - imagine watching Taggart, sitting in with your girlfriend and trying to guess who the villain is - with this film you'll change your mind a dozen times, and still try to say you knew who it was at the end!
Anyone who says they saw the end is lying!!
The acting is brilliant - Gabriel Byrne is as cool as an actor (not including shaft!) can be, and Kevin Spacy gives probably his most accomplished performance - not easy when you have been the star of films such as American Beauty, The Negotiator and Se7en. He is quite simply the greatest actor of the modern era!
PLEASE watch this. You won't get much better. Who is the mysterious Kaiser Sozay?