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Reviews
Crocodile (2000)
Outstanding
Get serious, this is one of the best worst movies I've seen in a while. We're sitting around the apartment one evening when I spot the title, (I've always been partial to Crocodile movies after the event that was Lake Placid), we flip to it, luckily right at the beginning, and I'm hooked. You can't deny the humor in the ridiculous acting, the bad plot, and the horrible locations.
Just a few of my favorites (I guess there are spoilers here, but let's be honest, if you made it to this, you've already seen the movie and just wanted to laugh and commisserate with the rest of us):
1. These actors are badass, they definitely need to be brought back for another feature monster film.
2. How do these lose each other so quickly and easily in a sparsely wooded area when they're running from the thing, I mean, it's not like they were trekking through the dense wilds of the Amazon here.
3. And why do the scenes in the woods and on the shore look like they were shot in my backward or on the beach at my lake house? This lake must be surrounded by the most eclectic surroundings of any lake on earth, sometimes there's swamps, dense forests, scrub pines, and the Mojave desert near the end, must be in the sub-temperate zone.
4. The crocodile (which they must have spent most of their money on computer generating, little tip, should've just pocketed that to feed yourselves after the cut from the box office on this one goes away) is as big as and eats a house boat, yet then fits in the gas station.
5. What the hell is the purpose of the old croc hunter and the sheriff, they get eaten without striking a blow, hell it woulda been cooler if the grizzled old guy had pulled out his croc gutting knife and at least contributed a little.
6. And, a kid gets ingested whole, then spit back out because he's covered in bug spray? Inspired.
What was this movie lacking? More nudity, those girls were some cute little ditties, a little more naked action would've taken this outstanding comedy right over the top.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Incredibly stunning film
Before I get into the actual movie, I'd like to comment on some of the reviews that I see in the papers, where many critics start off their reviews by noting that the movie is really in no way related to the video games. Well first off, obviously these people have never played any of the games enough to know that none of them are related to each other in a sequential way with related story lines and the same characters. The 9 games have been marked by recurring characters like Moogles, Chocobos, and guys named Cid. And, certainly mythological references in summon monsters and weapon names have cropped up throughout, but as far the games being part of a decology, (or whatever you would call a 10 parter when Final Fantasy X comes out), thats never been the case. But, you can't expect that in this film, you delve too deep into obscure names and magic and you risk losing any mainstream audience. And, for my money, this movie actually reminded me a lot of VII.
But, on to the movie. Visually, it's incredible. You'll see scenes where you can actually lose yourself and forget that you're seeing computer animation and not real people. It was beyond anything I could have ever imagined when I first heard this movie was being made, and I have high standards from Square. The realism in the imperfections in the characters is incredible, dilating pupils, moving eyelashes, skin imperfections, everything brought to life. And when I read that Sakaguchi said this was only a third of what he thinks he can do in realism, and that they actually had to compromise on a lot of minor details, it makes me anxious to see what the next one may look like 2 or 3 years from now.
As far as the story, well, I'd be remiss if I didn't say it leaves a little to be desired, simply because you can't help but compare it to the games if you've played them. For someone who's never played them, that wouldn't really be a problem though. It does adhere to the Final Fantasy theme of what begins as a small personal quest and ends up as a fight to save the world. But, I think it lacks the depth of plot and character development you find in one of the games. I think you have to cut Square some slack though, it was their first attempt to shoe horn the regular 15 or 20 hours of plot they normally get into under 2 hours. It does leave a very concise film with characters you can connect with, something we could use more of these days with 3 hour epics with characters you couldn't care less about. But, I do hope that next time out they're able to achieve a little more depth in the 2 hours, and I'm sure they will, they've never disappointed. Overall, 8 or 9 out of 10, I'll need to see it again to be sure.