Change Your Image
votepalantine-1
Reviews
In the Market (2009)
One of the worst horror movies I've ever seen
Unbelievable. An awful example of poor acting, inconsistent plot and out-of-place dialogues. Only the effects of good old Stivaletti can be saved (apart for a blueberrish blood...) The three main actors, if we have to call them so, have an incredibly forced, annoying, amateur style, seems like they are reading a book, or a fairy tale to a kid.... Dialogues of the first part of the movie are less boring than annoying (and they are REALLY boring), trying to set the scene for the horror to come but actually making you hope that the three will be slaughtered slowly and painfully - at least, I thought this had to be the less they deserve for the poor job ;o) The plot is also really childish: you are robbed of all of your belongings and what is the first thing coming up in your mind after unsuccessfully trying to call the police? Going in a mall and spend the night there! Oh, come on! You are supposed to be in Italy and you don't find a gas station, a hotel or a restaurant to call the cops from? And you don't cross another car for the whole movie?????? Then it comes the second part and you say "yeah, now the fun begins", but no! You find a butcher who instead of carefully slicing them to death, starts ranting about nonsense, (and OK, he's supposed to be a mental) but for how long? He never quits talking! Splatter only consists of a couple good cuts and when you're ready for the best part, HE SHOOTS THEM WITH A CAPTIVE BOLT?!?!?!?!??!?! And it ends! Regarding the direction, well, it has some good moments, but hey, will you stop quoting Tarantino (Deathproof, sort-of trunk shot...) or Rodriguez (dusk till dawn becomes dawn till dusk, opening hours of the market) every second shot? OK, you like them, I like them, we're pals, but you don't have to do it if it doesn't fit the movie! Finally, I really enjoyed the movie only once, when the butcher is hunting down the three; he walks across the fridge aisle trying (I think) to "quote" Freddy Krueger and the effect is really funny, I laughed for minutes after! Vote: 2
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Seriously, thanks but no thanks
I was so excited at the idea of a remake of the original movie, and I was aware that my expectation could not have been matched. But this! Directed poorly, acted worse, not a single "scary" moment, you could foresee every development in the story..... Not even a laugh! When you see bad horror movies, at least you can have a good laugh or two... this was just plain boring. As regards the new Freddy, well, it's true that this makeup is more similar to what one expects to be a burnt face (seriously, who has seen a really burnt face?) but it's also true that the old makeup gave Robert Englund some way to act, to have some facial movements and memorable grins. At least, I hope it was the makeup preventing Jackie Haley's acting... Disappointing.
Novecento (1976)
Great great great movie
One of my all-time favourites. I don't want here to write a long comment, but shortly explain the vote. Great direction, great photography and great music, here Bertolucci, Storaro and Morricone are really doing their job. The plot: to me, excellent. Many flashbacks, intricate for some extent, but never boring. And yes, Attila is sometimes simply too much evil for us now, but please remember what Nazis and fascists did in Italy... for example, Nazis in a small Italian village (Marzabotto)actually threw newborns in the air like they were clay pigeons and shoot at them, only for sport... and Attila is exaggerated? Photography is something you just have to see; some mass scenes, as the funerals of the old communists or the embrace between the Partisans and the peasants make you feel as you were there. Music: Morricone (and Verdi!). And that's all. He never goes wrong. Finally, a note. The poor acting of most of the peasants is because they actually WERE peasants of the Po Valley. Like Pasolini, here Bertolucci just uses real people to represent themselves 50 years before: look those beautiful lined faces, you'll never find actors like them...
Il caimano (2006)
Good movie on a slippery topic
First, I enjoyed this movie a lot. I loved the whole lot of film quotes and cameos of directors, including a couple of Moretti trademark takes (like the painting of the scenes while dancing). Someone could say before seeing it "Hey, here's another Michael Moore trying to turn some votes from the conservatives..." but this is TOTALLY wrong. Moretti is above all a director, and you can like him or not, but his movie is something completely different. You will continue to enjoy this movie in 20 years, while apart from some history students, I foresee no such a future for Fahrenheit 9/11... Back to "The Caiman". This is the first movie ever on such a slippery topic like our beloved Prime Minister (oh, yes, FORMER Prime Minister now...). As many readers may know, he was by far the main actor of Italian politics for nearly 15 years now, and no one dared to take a picture of the Italian society, so widely influenced by him and his TVs (good or bad, doesn't matter here). Why, you may ask? Because it's too easy to flatter or offend such a controversial guy; Moretti managed to softly skim over the whole thing, trying to take a picture of Italy in these years... Silvio Orlando's character voted for him, and he never quite criticizes him; the scenes of the would-be movie are soft, never judging, in some cases even childish. As Moretti said, the aim of the movie is not to let the people know the facts about Berlusconi; they are widely known, even by his supporters. But then it comes to an end. And here is no more softness or light. Orlando manages to have the money to shoot only the end of the movie, here Nanni is the actor interpreting the Caiman. He is impressive, bitter, sharp and his grin is something hard to forget. But, still, he is Him; freed from the restraints of physical similarities, it is the same Moretti we've seen as Botero in "Il Portaborse", only Botero now is not so fictitious or unreal. Botero has become the Caiman.