harlock-10 Reviews

The Girl Next Door (2007)

This goes on more than anyone realizes

[24 July 2011]

I give this a 10 not because I liked it, but because it pulled very few punches. Supernatural horror has nothing on the real thing, and this is the real thing. Anyone is capable of anything given the right conditions, and Ruth provides them. This movie shows both sides of suburban America, and even though set in the 1950s for distance, is visceral in a way things like "Hostel" will never be, because its right here. The far away places so many people fear are right next door. Believe it.

I don't like movies where there is a character that represents the audience, and there is none of that here. We see the action from the point of view of the child whose adult self is telling the story, but nothing is explained, or buffered. No one is let off the hook, including the main character. The actor who plays the narrator as a child is fantastic, emoting with an understated power that reveals his helplessness, and explains the man he will become.

The real horror of this movie is that we are all guilty.

Splice (2009)

Frankenstein Meets a Young French Woman

[5/10 · 5 June 2010]

Nothing redeeming is said about human beings in this movie. Nothing. Not that I have a problem with that. I enjoy the occasional misanthropic epic. Unfortunately this one suffers from fits of gratuity that don't really fit the characterizations, even if they are required to move the plot along. Rationalize for me what Adrien Brody's motivation is for doing what he does with the beastie? It is required for plot advancement, but that is tantamount to having a loaded gun fall out of the sky into a soldier's hand when he suddenly runs out of ammo. It's helpful, but explaining it is impossible.

That being said, there are some interesting themes explored here(although not explored very well). Parent child relationships, incest, spousal replacement, corporate greed, the possible amorality of science in the face of "exploration". All are touched on, and there are some interesting moments of gore as well.

This doesn't feel original to me, since Frankenstein and Species explored many of the same themes, but it sure is cool to look at, and the beasties designed for the movie are topnotch. Ms Cheneac deserves more credit than she will probably get for an amazing and completely pantomime performance that conveys the emotional realities of her character perfectly. Everyone else is just making license plates.

Also, the angelic/Satan motifs are slightly heavy-handed, but still as I said, really cool to look at.

District 9 (2009)

this amazing movie will tank at the box office

[10/10 · 16 August 2009]

THIS IS ONE OF THE TOP FIVE SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES EVER MADE. Unfortunately, I don't think people are going to want to go see a movie where it's the humans that are the bad guys. These aliens don't invade, except in the way Cubans invade Florida when they try to escape Cuba: barely alive, hungry and dehydrated.

This is a movie about racism, class-ism, corporate greed, governmental stupidity, and the lowly preying upon the lowlier, but it is also about hope, love, and redemption. It has much to say about the absurdness with which we underestimate one another, and the way a few greedy bastards ruin it for all. Manipulation of everyone for personal gain is the rule, and that is accurate in our world today. In that respect, this movie is non fiction.

But as I said, no one wants to go to the movies to see the truth. Even it is as well made and compelling as this one is.

Closure (2007)

Payback's a Bitch

[7/10 · 17 March 2009]

This film had its problems. The setup was contrived and the father's death convenient, and as a linguist, I had issues with Ms. Anderson's accent.

That being said, I enjoyed the movie immensely. Aside from the accent, I found the acting to be riveting, and everything post rape to be taut to the point of breaking. I was disturbed by the subject matter, but refused to look away because it was believable, and the camera's refusal to look away from the violence I found refreshing. The brutality encased all of the principals in a cocoon that brought out the humanity in a rapist and the rapist in a human being. There were no "good guys" in this movie, only an innocent. Everyone but the daughter end up guilty of something, and this is not explored nearly enough in cinema today. I say well done for the courageous performances, even if the getting there was a greased slide bringing everyone to the point of now return.

Snow Angels (I) (2007)

only one weak point

[7/10 · 13 December 2008]

I have never been impressed with Kate Beckinsale as an actress, and her acting in this movie adds more proof to my assumptions. My wife and I watched it together and neither of us bought her performance, especially when she was "emoting". Her entire performance felt forced, except when she was sitting on the table talking to Arthur in the Kitchen of the restaurant. Aside from that, she didn't come close to the reality and pain that the other actors brought to their roles.

Sad.

Sam Rockwell's performance was stunning, as was Michael Angarano's. He will do great things. Rockwell already is.

I found morbidly fascinating the small town reality of woven lives, everyone knowing everyone, and the effects their decisions and actions have on one another. Having grown up in a smallish town like that, I understood the feeling, and found it eerily resonant.

Sad.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008)

save us from pg-13 horror films!

[1/10 · 11 November 2008]

This movie stank. it could have benefited from a few more rewrites, perhaps some decent acting, fewer plot holes, and twists you can't see coming as soon as the opening credits role.

Unfortunately for this movie, there was the germ of a good idea here, but it was handled like an eight grade book report about a book the student has no real understanding of. I liked the idea of the mother stalking her, and why. that was a nice twist on an old idea. what i didn't like was someone like Jake Weber, whom I generally like, being left to cringe his way through this crap. His is the only redeeming character, or could be, if the writing weren't so awful.

this movie has all the earmarks of a "money maker", by which i mean, "let's see how much we can make during opening weekend before word gets out". cheap sets, bad costumes, no name actors with the exception of Jake Weber and Nina Cziemasko(yeah I know I blew the spelling of her name).

so what was I thinking, going to see this movie? I have a soft spot in my heart for crappy unintentionally funny horror movies. unfortunately this doesn't even meet that criteria. Go to your local video store and rent Killer Shrews. At least that movie has no illusions about itself. i'd rather watch irish setters dressed up as mutant rodents any day of the week and twice on Sunday, than knowingly waste money on this tripe.

Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Feh...

[4/10 · 8 November 2008]

Jonathan Demme said in an NPR interview that the script made him cry. I sat through the entire movie trying to figure out why. I couldn't involve myself with any of the characters. Due to attempts to make them less one dimensional, they ended up being almost reprehensible. While reprehensible is fine, I needed some hook in this movie to engage me, and I couldn't find it. I think all of the characters in this movie were well acted, but I just didn't care about any of them. And the rave reviews I've heard of Debra Winger's first performance in years seem a little unwarranted. I have loved Debra Winger in many things, but this was not one of them. She has complained about the lack of meaty roles for woman, but as far as I am concerned this one should have been on the "lacking" list. Did she just need the money?

The other issue I have with Jonathan Demme in general is that his movies will take an issue, put it in the forefront of the movie but not really comment on it in any realistic way. The family that doesn't have a single person in it who is anti-gay in "Philedelphia" is one example, and then the interracial marriage in this movie is another. I think it is admirable to show those realities in a positive way, but to have no one comment on it at all, in a family that is constantly nagging one another about every other issue under the sun? Please. No one is that politically incorrect yet politically correct at the same time. We all have our failings. It is impossible to surround yourself with people who are perfect in this way and in no other.

The last thing I would like to say is that, bearing all these things in mind, I liked the documentary style, with the external view and the hand-held camera. I think more movies should be made this way. It hearkens back to Robert Altman's earlier works, where the scenes include everything going in background as well, rather than focusing only on the people. The environment the scene takes place in has as much of a role as any of the characters, and in this style there is much more interaction with it. So I dig that, but that's about it.

In the Valley of Elah (2007)

Harrowing

[10/10 · 18 August 2008]

This movie was a stunner. Not because of the content, but because of the slow deliberate way it muscles through the content. It pulls no punches and even its subtleties will tear you up(the scene where Susan Surrandon's character sits next to the phone table having just found out what happened is one of the best scenes I've ever seen on film, principally because its utter stillness explains everything that has happened up to that point, and what will happen in the rest of the film). Wow.

We are taken apart right along with Hank as his assumptions about the Army he is a veteran of crumble. He does not crumble, we crumble for him. It is a definite statement about the nature of responsibilities when it comes to war. It's not just our government, its all of us. The best part about it is that, rather than the usual liberal in trouble or trauma, we see a patriotic, conservative man deal with the insanity of the "new war". He reminds us what is good about patriotism and belief in what our country is supposed to represent. And i'm a knee-jerk liberal.

For a different, quieter take on the aftermath of life in the war zone, not to mention Tommy Lee Jones' best performance since "The Fugitive", SEE THIS MOVIE. Everyone in it is outstanding, but his performance goes beyond.

10,000 BC (2008)

lets play the forget prehistory game

[1/10 · 7 March 2008]

roland emmerich should not be allowed to make movies anymore. aside from the racist theme of this movie(all the principles are white, all others are noble savage supporting characters who can only be led by a white man, the female lead is a blue eyed woman who starts out Asian and becomes french. all the "evil" character's are of color, while three white men can enslave thousands of "africans" by pretending to be gods) the business regarding mammoths helping to build the pyramids is flat out ridiculous, along with the pyramids themselves existing 12000 years ago. anyone who opens a history book enough to come up with a setting ought to be able to better than this.

this smacks of outmoded nazi ideas about the aryan race. doesn't this bother anyone????

Dan in Real Life (I) (2007)

the best thing about this movie is the chemistry between its 2 leads

[5/10 · 7 November 2007]

the extended family portrayed in this movie is so completely unrealistic as to make it laughable. Come on! Family aerobics? Perfect relationships in which conflict seemingly evaporates? Wish I lived there. And Dan seems to be the only one with problems. But where did his problems come from? He was raised in the perfect family. So his wife died and he is sad. But perfect guru mom should have brought him through that long before the events of the movie take place.

Juliet Binoche is wonderful as always, and Dane Cook is at his shallow best, and I believe the chemistry between Juliet and Steve. What I don't buy is anything else.

"The Family Stone" was a much better movie about essentially the same things, with much more believable relationships. Abrasive, occasionally abusive, but much much more realistic.

See "The Family Stone" if you want realism. See this if you want Fantasy.

The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (2007)

I have not seen this movie but...

[23 October 2007]

This was one of the books I treasured from My childhood, and it bothers me that Susan Cooper would let the source material be used in this way. There was no female lead in the book. There was no abusive family situation in the book. These elements are useless to advance the plot of the novel and should have been left out of the movie. The signs aren't found by will to use in a selfish way. They are to help in a larger cosmic war.

I say boycott this movie, anyone who read the book and loved it. Anyone who read it to their children, avoid this. Children are purists about literature, and this unnecessary, waste of celluloid would bother them.

30 Days of Night (2007)

A better Vampire Flick *spoilers*

[8/10 · 23 October 2007]

I have been waiting for years to see a vampire movie where there weren't erotic undertones. I know why this became part of the standard mythology, but I never much cottoned to it. From an evolutionary point of view, vampires are predators, and I guess I would prefer to see them act like it. I don't need posturing. I don't need sadistic/masochistic sex, or the "goth" type tragedy of it all. I like the idea of a vampire that revels in his/her horrific nature. And we see that here in spades.

Unfortunately, the movie omits the conflict between elder and younger vampires which is large motivational factor in the graphic novel. That conflict between old school/world vampires and new school/world vampires actually plays out in the book. Tragedy v. Tyranny. It was a great aspect to the book, and would have helped give context to the vampires attacking this town.

As to the movie itself, I thought it was nicely constructed and kept on moving, concentrating on the isolation, and tension felt by the people of the town. The supporting characters weren't given much to work with, and dropped like flies one by one, but they were sympathetic in their ways.

I was finally impressed by something Josh Hartnett has done. And Melissa George was good for a strong female lead. We need more fighters and fewer screamers on the feminine front in movies.

And Unlike some folks I've spoken with, I had no problem with the screaming vampires. As predators, they address the beasts within themselves in that way. Works for me.

Wolfen (1981)

one of the few instances when the movie was better than the book

[16 June 2007]

I have seen this movie several times over the years,and enjoyed it each time. Finally, this week I picked up a copy of the book and read it. It was well written, and compelling, but the story was very different. In the movie there is a political/ecological underpinning that really isn't in the book. I was expecting deeper delving into the rich v. poor, native v. invader themes, but there was none of it. It was just a standard chase novel where the intelligent wolves hunt the humans. There is a lot from the Wolfen p.o.v. and that is interesting, but I enjoyed the movie for its human interpretation of wolfen motivations. I thought they had a greater presence without knowing necessarily exactly what they were thinking. There is more fear in that. Unfortunately, Strieber wrote himself into a corner. By making us care as much about the wolves if not more than the humans, he loses the good ending. the movie's ending was much more satisfying. so those of you out there who feel like they need to read the book, don't. just enjoy the movie. those of you like the book better and are wondering about the movie, don't waste your time. you will be disappointed too.

Primeval (2007)

racist piece of trash

[14 January 2007]

this movie was awful. white people go to Africa and every black stereotype of the violent, raping, stupid, witch-doctoring, fool is present and accounted for. the only "good" black people in the movie are either American or want to be. and Orlando Jones, who ought to know better, twice talks about how slavery was a good thing. before i get flamed, i know he was being sarcastic, but still, it was poor form for a man who has been a stereotype basher on mad TV and a great example for young people in drumline.

secondly, the filmmakers try to be socially conscious by showing the violence going on on a daily basis in Barundi is destroying the people's lives, but it all comes from a white American perspective and totally negates their intentions. none of the africans in the movie have any real screen time except the homicidal ones and the assimilationist boy who wants to be American.

in fact, in the background of shots where we see the africans, they are smiling and going on with their lives like there isn't a problem anyway.

Even the attempted rape scene is handled badly, with big black man on top of hot white woman, but she has absolutely no personal repercussions after the fact. like she gets raped every day and its no big deal. must be nice.

the best(read "most ridiculous") thing about the movie is that the crocodile turns out to be a MCGUFFIN!!!!! it serves only to get the white people there to witness the murder of one family and talk about how the violence in Barundi is the real story.

and lets not even talk about the stupid ad campaign about a serial killer with 300 victims. this only serves to frustrate and offend those of us who enjoy a good serial killer pot boiler.

don't waste your time with this useless piece of celluloid. go rent alligator. at least it has no illusions about being anything other than fluff.