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sdrshadow
Reviews
Shan gou 1999 (1999)
Almost worth a look.
I was very excited to see the Oriental version of our '80s slasher movies. I won't say I was disappointed but there were some small irritating points. The first was the part where Soldier was fighting with the killer. I have no idea what the song playing was saying, but it sounded like something Madonna would record an English version of. It seemed very out of place. The second point was the incredibly strange surprise ending. I won't give it away here, but if you think about it-that just came from left field. Summing it up, there was hardly any suspense, not too much blood, one small sex scene, and some slightly disturbing scenes(all involving the young retarded son). Not much to recommend but kinda worth it if you miss the slasher films of the '80s. Just don't expect too much and you might have some fun. One last irritating point(a small one). I don't know who they get to do the subtitles on these movies but they are very distracting due to the strange broken english style. Are there not any Americans living there that could be hired to do a better job or is it not worth it. I would be willing to buy more if the subs were done a little better.
The Minus Man (1999)
BOOOOOOOOOORING WITH A CAPITAL B!!!!
Owen Wilson, one of the most overrated and boring actors of our time stars in the most boring psycho-film ever made. Great writing, HA! You want great writing, watch a David Mamet movie. With, The Minus Man, you get another lame overpraised independant film that consists of a million miles of dialogue that goes deeper and deeper into boredom. I have never understood this fascination with dialogue that goes nowhere that only critics, independant filmmakers, and those who don't want to feel like they're not "in-the-know"(college students, young film students etc...) seem to understand. Don't get me wrong, there are some great dialogue films(even independants)that include Whit Stillman's Metropolitan and Barcelona, Richard Linklatter's Slacker and the aformentioned David Mamet just to name a few. I would like to point out that the only redeeming value to this movie is Janeane Garofalo. She does a great job and shows that there is a lot more to her than we have previously seen.
Armageddon (1998)
An explanation for the outrage.
I would like to address the people who say that it's just an action movie, chill out, etc... I, personally like brainless action movies, but there has to be a limit. My limit came when I saw this piece of Hollywood garbage. I won't go into the plot or details of innacuracy, everyone else has done such a great job of that already. I just want to say that the reason some feel so passionate about this is because we have seen certain movies that show the heights of the creative mind at work, you can see the sweat of Welles when you watch "Citizen Kane", Kurasawa's passion in almost anything he's done, and even today watch Kenneth Brannagh's "Henry V" and you see an incredible acheivement in filmmaking. When I watch a film I want to see the work, the passion, the love of film. I feel when you watch something like this there was no passion(except for a quick buck), no love of the movies or the audience, nothing but macho flag-waving cliches.
Just so you know, some of the great action flicks that actually have some meaning and passion behind them include: First Blood, Saving Private Ryan, Leon:The Professional, Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, and tons more I can't remember right now. Look for originality and passion not just action on top of action.
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Surrealistic Nightmare!!!
When I read the comments of those that were unimpressed or talk about the dated style and bad acting, I really can't comprehend these people actually having a love of movies. I think one thing that isn't understood is that the whole movie is more of a nightmare than a straight-forward film. After watching this movie over a dozen times in the last ten years, I feel that this seemed to be the intention of the director. I have also had deep discussions with others about how this is a "good" movie but cannot compare with the "masterpiece", Cape Fear. I truly believe that the acting of Robert Mitchum was vastly superior in, Night of the Hunter and the one thing that ruined Cape Fear was the extremely overused "spooky" music every time something was happening. Night of the Hunter deserves its place among the greatest, not just in horror but films in general.