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Reviews
Miami Vice (2006)
Forget the crap, enjoy the rest
I don't understand the score (at the moment 6,3) for Miami Vice. I've seen it 2 hours ago (just released here in Belgium) and it's maybe the best blockbuster I've seen this summer. OK, there's a lot of crap. The story is quite predictable and we've seen it before like a thousand times. Jamie Foxx end Colin Farell are too cool to be believable and the little love game between Farell and Li is just badly implemented. But if you forget this crap, you see an extremely entertaining and thrilling film. Beautifully filmed, well acted and with a great soundtrack. The shootout at the end blows you right out of your seat, almost like the bank robbery in Heat did. This is no stylized, slow motion bullet ballet we see to many times. This is rough, bloody, dirty en extremely loud; Mann gave what I expected, a great no-nonsense police thriller crafted by a master. Just take the crap and enjoy the rest...
Strike Zone (2003)
Striking the zone of the heart
I saw Strikezone on the 4th disk of the Extended Edition of Return of the King. A documentary about Cameron Duncan (more a tribute to him by Peter Jackson)had Strikzone and DFK 6** (I forgot the full number) edited into it. The story of Cameron Duncan, who was struck with bone cancer at a young age, brought tears to my eyes, and his 2 short films stroke me. This guy was talented and could have brought some great full length movies if he had the chance.
Strikezone is a stunning short film.The story, about a cancer patient coaching a softball team, is just great because it came from real life experiences from Duncan himself. With this easy story Duncan tells his own story, he transmits his own feeling to the viewer. That's why watching Strikzone is such an emotional experience. But also the camera work and direction is just fantastic, regarding the circumstance's in which it was filmed (The last months of Duncan's life, coming with a lung injury). After all i liked DFK more, because it was more minimalistic and even a bit harder, but Strikezone is the fantastic testament of a young filmmaker who died to young. It even inspired me to take on Director Studies in Brussels next year...
8/10
(Please don't mind the grammatical or spelling mistakes. I am raised in Dutch ;) )