Change Your Image
notify-christina
Reviews
The Craft (1996)
I thought it would be a low-budget movie, but it was quite OK
Although it looks like those cheap and hastily made, straight-to-DVD films, it was actually good to watch.
Nothing groundbreaking, but quite good for a night home.
It did have a story behind it ( troubled teenagers, dysfunctional families, social prejudices), it did have some acting (where I thought there would be nothing but sleazy chicks that try to make an impression). The filming was good, too. Intense and tight.
At some points it was a real thriller. Not gore or something, but quite disturbing. Better than some block busters.
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
The Body (2001)
Felt like a soap opera episode
Good idea, good cast, good camera, poor script and lazy dialogs. I didn't expect it to be a landmark, but the production didn't even try enough.
It could have been a great religious thriller (the idea was good) and a great political statement (at least three sides to depict).
What the movie does instead, is deliver lazy dialog, simplify the religious implications and picture the local politics in the safest way possible.
Nothing intense enough. After I saw the film, it felt like a soap opera :(
Madagascar (2005)
I still laugh when I watch it for the nth time...
Ten for animation (facial expressions etc), ten for smart one liners, ten for twists, ten for the penguins, ten for the way pop culture references are smoothly inserted in the plot and help it progress instead of just being there...
It's not an easy cartoon to watch if you want to catch the references and the messages. It looks bubbly and fun and warm and fuzzy, but I think there are hidden layers to be found.
*spoiler*
Friends become friends because they live close to each other (in the same zoo) and share their waking hours... but friendships are tried when the animals are out of their comfort zone and have to face real life (the jungle and their own self) They decide to accept each other for what they are and not because they happened to share some activities.
I don't know how many times I've watched it and still enjoy it.
Pars vite et reviens tard (2007)
When you change the original story, you'd better be a good writer.
The film was okay, not brilliant but good enough to watch if you want an easy time with not much tension. It felt more like a soap opera episode. From the trailers I knew they would kill the original story but I thought it would still be a good movie, because of the actors. It's not horrible, the acting is fine and I like this way of filming, but the plot is quite shallow at parts and the characters do inexplicable things. There are serious plot holes, because the film makers spent lots of screen time showing us naked behinds of dead bodies and there was no time left for giving the characters some depth and consistency. The writers go straight to the point before the first ten minutes and then try to build tension on things that couldn't support it. All the plot holes are explained in the book.
*spoiler*
The scare wasn't in the possibility of a plague outburst but in not understanding how the trails were connected and why.
If you've read the book or intend to do so, don't watch the film. Don't even think about it. It has changed EVERYTHING and reveals vital parts of the book in the first four minutes. Different characters, different plot, different ending. Only the basic story is the same, but that's like saying 'it's about a serial killer'. EVERYTHING is changed, this movie is definitely not based on F. Vargas book. In fact, it's the opposite for 75% of it.