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absolom7691
Reviews
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie (1995)
Not gory and full of conspiracies
Many people have commented on this movie, giving it a bad review because it does not contain gory and shocking images from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This says a great deal about our audience today. The movie industry has spoiled us with blood and gore to the point where that is all we want to see. No, this doesn't have the blood and horror that some are looking for. Others on here have said that it is missing all of the shocking tests and terrible things that the government did long ago to people and animals. No, it does not contain that either. That being said, if you are looking for gory and disturbing, rent something else or just get archived footage of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki aftermath. If you are looking for a government conspiracies, go rent the X-Files and don't waste your time here.
This movie is about the atomic bomb and its development. It has a brilliant score alongside William Shatner narrating. It is a collection of wonderfully remastered footage of many of our nuclear tests. I think this film really illustrates the horrific and terrifying beauty of an atomic bomb. I would dare say that it is art piece that gave me chills at the thought of what this device could do. Like I said, there is little to no gore or shocking footage so it would be safe for young people to watch and understand what these devices are and how unimaginable the repercussions of using this device. It is easy for young people to lose appreciation for such things as new video games and computer games have "nukes" to throw back and forth at the enemy without any real consequences.
The only downside I found to this film is, though it presented itself as non-biased throughout most of it, it did leave an overtone of "The US is responsible and stopped using them for testing while other countries still do and they are poisoning the world..." It never comes out and says that, but it seems to allude to it when showing China's nuclear test after the US had banned atmospheric testing. Of course, like most of this review, it is only my opinion.
Knightquest (2001)
Mediocre at best
Not a bad try. This one had so much potential. It could have been cleaned up so much with just a little bit more concentration on the art of film making itself. The story was good, the characters (despite some melodrama) were believable, and the script wasn't too bad. It found a nice niche in which to settle.
This film seemed to lack in the technical area. The sound was horrible (obvious overdubs). The video is very low quality. Normally, I am bored with film makers who inundate us with special effects and CG simply because it is available to them. This did quite well in that area, even though there were a a lot of cg animated scene. The flight scenes were animated very well, but the models used were of very poor quality or the rendering was low quality (maybe to save time for rendered scenes?). The night scenes and color keyed (green screen) scenes were choppy. This killed the film for me. It did so many things well and then all of this cheapened it. I am not sure if this was due to lack of time or budget or care.
The fight scenes were choreographed well, given the actors' lack of martial arts training. The sabre fights were believable to some extent. The thing that ruined the fight scenes is the double-sabre bo-staff. This worked in Episode One ONLY because Ray Park, who played Darth Maul, is a world class Wushu master. He could wield a weapon like this believably on camera because of his years experience. Those who have never been trained in this art cannot portray this accurately and it looks very poor. The overzealous try to insert these sabres in their films and it just looks bad, like a bad fight scene in a trashy spaghetti western. Please stop using these, they look cool until the actor starts swinging it around like a baton.
Overall, this could have been a gem but, in what appears to be haste, it dropped the ball. I have yet to find a fan film the can bring a decent balance of good acting, good story, and good CG (well rendered and not too much of it). The only one that has come close is still Reign of the Fallen by David McLeavy.
This is another one that I tried hard to like, but in the end, I was yawning. Do try again though. Use these comments for betterment and do not take them personally, we all want to see a good film! :)
Broken Allegiance (2002)
Best of the poor
Of all of the really poor fan films, this is one of the better ones, which isn't saying much. The plot is a wonderful idea, but the script is poor. The acting doesn't help to clean it up much either. There is very little character development and the story seems rushed. I can see this evolving into a series of films that follow the empire's pursuit of Ruan and Calis. If it does, I hope the character development is given a little more attention. The writing needs something, maybe some literary help from an English professor or teacher. The opening story synopsis that is presented in the traditional Star Wars fashion (tilted and fading away) says it all. The opening synopsis switches tenses from past to present which is a no-no in literature and reeks of mediocrity.
The only thing that saves this film from being a complete disaster (besides Niobe Dean, looking the way she does) is the wonderful cinematography. The camera work was very smooth and professional. The director took the time to set up every shot to avoid the scene looking like someone holding a handycam. They also tried to stay away from static tripod shots which other fan films have bored us with. Someone on the crew has clearly taken or is taking film making education.
Even though the special effects are somewhat cartoonish (as can be expected with their limited budget), they tried to focus on building actual sets rather than relying solely on computer models like other fan films have done. This gives the picture a more mature and believable look. I loved the use of actual pyro in this. Most fan films rely on cg pyro which is garbage and cheapens the film.
I hate to close it out this way but again, it seems as though a group of people wanted to make a fan film and utilize the available computer tools for effects rendering and so forth. This seems to be a plague among fan films. Concentrate on making a good picture, then spice it up. Don't build a picture around your effects. This film would be so much better if the writing was refined and the characters were more developed. This is a step in the right direction for a fan film, but it can do so much better.
Al as in Al (1995)
Wow!
This is one of the best short films I have seen in a long time. The storyline flows like a river, the comedy is fresh and witty and the characters have a "real" aura about them. The fact that this was filmed in black and white only enhances the film further. This film has a Swingers feel to it in the fact that, those of us who have been in relationships really identify with the characters in a very personal way. It is almost as if Martin has taken a snapshot of one of your own dysfunctional relationships and has put it on display.
I previously saw this on Atom Films but it has been removed. Unfortunately, I have no way of finding it. I have tried but have had no luck. If Martin has put this on DVD, I would love to buy a copy. If anyone knows where I can obtain it, please let me know.