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Krapnov
Reviews
The Last Man on Earth (2015)
Very enjoyable!
Unless the show was really misrepresented prior to airing, I would swear some people here were being dense on purpose when came the time to review this show.
"Why" is Phil Miller the last man on earth is not an important consideration at this point in the story really. Complains about what you would or would not have done as the last person in the world is also pretty irrelevant.
It merely sets a background with which you are familiar and then comedy ensue.
Is it a bit low-brow? Yes. Is it a bit cliché? Maybe, I don't know.
I know I sure didn't feel offended that the male role was depicted as a unkempt slacking masturbator while the female was being an uptight hysterical whiner. Sure it's a bit easy but there is still plenty of room for characters development.
Does it work? Yeah! I had a few good laughs, and I enjoyed myself. What more do you people want??
Dredd (2012)
As long as you know what your getting into...
I'll say it right off the bat, this is not a movie for everyone ; I went to see it with my girlfriend (she expected to hate it even before we set foot in the cinema and she was not disappointed in that regard) but we had an interesting argument about it afterward.
I'll admit the movie has it's flaws ; The boldly advertised '3D ' is more a marketing statement than a real thing and manage to be somewhat annoying at time. Mostly some seemingly random items are brought to foreground while the action continue unabated. With the exception of a few scenes (the perspective view of characters under the influence of SLO-MO for instance) I would have been happier with the 2$ supplement '3D' cost safely tucked in my pocket.
Over-the-top CGI animated blood splatter deserve a mention as another mild irritant ; Nothing beats the old' fashionned 'exploding-blood-pocket' special effects in my book.
Also, even with the impressive budget allowed to produce such a venture, some visual elements, makeup and costumes manage to look cheap and cheesy.
The cast is mostly appropriate though the mandatory villains lack in the personality & style department (Lena Headey which I usually find pretty good is surprisingly forgettable in this one).
As for the storyline... Well let's just say it's pretty straightforward, no subleties there. This is not a bad thing in itself as this is an action movie but those who do not have any previous knowledge of just who or what Judge Dredd is will find the narrated voice-over (at the beginning) a pretty thin setting for the remaining 90 minutes the movie last.
Yet even so,I was happy with what was presented here ; There was (almost) no half-baked attempt to humanize the heroes nor any of the out-of-place romances between characters which usually plague such blockbusters.
Overall it manage to be entertaining, keep a serious tone without being pretentious and it deliver what it promises ; A 'no-brainer-action-packed-blood-fueled-straightforward-sci-fi' movie.
Defendor (2009)
Like a solid punch in the kidneys!
One would think that comparing a movie as to the experience of physically receiving a punch to the kidneys would not be a positive point in favor of the said movie, but they would be dead wrong.
Both would product a painful and immediate reaction! Now the question is will you be willingly submitting yourself to it?
This movie bring forward very disturbing themes, much like receiving cold water in the face when your not expecting it.
It shine a very realistic and very crude portrait of the darkest problems of modern society, things we barely talk about in the news except when something especially gruesome happen.
It talk about living with mental disabilities ; Kids with mental disabilities get a much higher rate of abandon whether voluntary or not (because parents became to old to maintain them anymore) than say "normal" kids. And while this is statistically an isolated phenomenon, those kids eventually become adults. They grow up to become the nameless guy that brings the grocery carts back in your local grocery store. The one that live in a crummy apartment building a life of confusion and cold loneliness.
It also talk about international human slavery and prostitution, situation where a person has so little resources and means to escape their predicament that they willingly accept the basest human abuses in exchange for short periods of temporary escape and false security. It's not as comfortable a subject to bring forward when the victim is humanized and you can see the actual consequences first hand.
Intertwined to all this drama is a lighter side brought forward by the incredible performance of Woody Harrelson portraying Arthur who's "a little light upstairs". The 'humor' to be had in this movie come from the various confrontation between Arthur's alter ego 'Defendor' and the local crime underworld. The ineffectiveness of its homemade crime fighting gadgets (who turn out to be somewhat effective) can only produce a hearty laugh.
But don't let neither the 'comedy' tag nor the 'darkly funny' label fool you, this is a drama. It is a mean movie that force you to consider that there is a somber and almost unbearable side to every big city, that this is perhaps actually happening in your neighborhood.
With that warning in mind, if you expect to see a broodingly intelligent and well produced movie with a solid cast, this is it.
If you intend on inviting some friends over for a few laughs or snuggling with the girlfriend go rent 'Kingpin' (also featuring the magnificent Woody Harrelson) instead.
Bekushiru: 2077 Nihon sakoku (2007)
Definitely not a classic... yet visually pleasing & entertaining.
To summarize my thoughts in one phrase I'd say that this is unfortunately one of those production that just fall short of achieving greatness.
It has most of the essential elements right ; The main storyline is original and interesting enough, artistically speaking its on par with what is to be expected of any big animation studio at the time and furthermore it has just enough action throughout not to be dull.
For me, its biggest flaw has to do with characters development ; Motivations of each protagonist while made obvious are SO one-dimensional it give no chance to the viewer to get drawn-in to the storyline.
Since the whole theme of the movie is about 'humanity' and what it represent to be human, one would say this make the ending sequence appear especially hollow.
It would have been interesting to emphasize on the love,hate hopes & fears of the doomed Japanese denizen (as well as of those of Mariah's crew members) instead of merely presenting them as background elements ready for the proverbial 'Grinder'.
This is especially aggravating with the main 'villain' whose dialogs & motivations are so 'cliche' they made me cringe.
Had they for instance removed the whole first part set in 'Japamerica' and merely had Serra's team wiped out upon attempting infiltration (oh please kill Leon already!) and instead had her stranded far from home grieving for her friends and surrounded by 'enemies' who later became people who then became friends, then you might have had a good emotional setting for what came next.
In short, an above average production, pretty to look at all the while being mostly forgettable ; No reasons to get out of your way to get it, yet with enough good content that you should at least see it.
Time Bandits (1981)
An entertaining fantasy piece... Or an insightful movie you'll feel like sharing then TALK about it ?
I think the magical key phrase for truly enjoying this movie can be resumed simply in 'WHAT IF'...
It is my personal belief that Mr. Gilliam beside managing to weave a visually convincing and entertaining children fairytale (one that still appeal to kids 30 years after it was made), also managed to raise a serious questioning in both the young and the adult viewer (in most of them I do hope) about the way we see the world around us.
A younger (or simply disinterested) audience would while following the story, somewhat 'fill' the darker more adult oriented undertone portions of it with something familiar.
What is hinted AT but left unsaid on screen is then resolved in a conventional fairytale fashion and it remain at that, a Tale... One that involve midgets in a fantastic setting doing wacky things like 'swimming' or riding a tank that shoot lasers in Legoland.
But there is much more going on there, and that's where the 'Pythonesque' experience is to be found.
(A bit of a comparison could be drawn here with 'Edward Scissorhands' from the work of Mr.Burton before he stopped being relevant).
There's that ONE moment where you should stop to think, 'Yeah but what if?'
For the characters portrayed on screen, the events unfolding represent their 'Reality'... Why should this be interpreted differently because its presented as a 'Tale' to the viewer?
- Are Kevin's new friends 'simply' lacking strong moral values for the way the story resolve itself BECAUSE they are to be portrayed as 'thieves'??
- Is what some people might refer as 'overacting' simply not loud *HINT HINT* "What is happening is not to be interpreted literally" ??.
Wasn't the Legal System (encompassing Law, Currency & Government) the very fabric of which bind our modern society together conceived by the same minds that simultaneously wrote the 'Iliad' and made sacrifices to Gods?
This is precisely where Terry Gilliam shine, subtlety.
HE and few others are timeless reminders of why CINEMA can occasionally be ART instead of simple mass 'entertainment'.
As so, applying a rating to a 'somewhat visually dated children story' is entirely subjective to whether or not it made you think 'around the edge' afterward.
Eden Log (2007)
A well executed, well thought movie.
As this movie begin, we experience the same feeling of bewilderment and confusion that the actual protagonist as he awake with no recollection of its surrounding, persona or purpose ; He experience only the most primal fears and urge to survive.
Viewers should realize that throughout the whole movie and up until the very end, the main character never appear to regain fully his memory or humanity. Each time we are given a clue of the whole portrait, so is the "hero" through visual playback (never a flashback).
While he is able to realize having played apart in those events, he is never personally involved. He has no emotional connections with them.
So while he is given a setting, his only goal is to get out and survive (most of the time through cunning and brute force).
One should not review this movie in comparison to the "Alien" genre ; It is not intended an an action-packed tension-building blockbuster, and it doesn't revolve around space or aliens or even "scare tactics" (though it have some of those elements).
What this movie is really about is Man against it's surrounding ; Human nature used against itself by a new sentient life form to his own purpose.
It's an interesting idea and it is what is being cleverly presented here.
It deserve praises.
No Blade of Grass (1970)
Everything in it make perfect sense.
At least to me it does. True, this film is a little dated. True as well, most randomly inserted footage of polluted rivers/dead animals & flashback are annoying at best, not really providing any insight or contributing to the overall atmosphere of the movie ; but then, it cut the monotony of the roaming band, allowing a smoother transition for the following "action" scenes.
So indeed, this movie is not without its flaws, but I hardly understand some of the harsh comments regarding the acting or the scenario ; the casting is excellent and the storyline somewhat believable. Without giving too much clues, if you consider what they go through before getting to the countryside, I wasn't really shocked by the general "shot first and ask questions later" attitude of the "hero", nor did I find the relatively short span of time before the collapse of organized society surprising. (Just look at what a panicked mob can do today and just imagine that there was actually such a dramatic event as portrayed in the story...)
So overall, I'd highly recommend this movie for any amateurs of "end-of-the-world" movies, providing you can get past the pseudo-ecological message and the general feeling of age. (which shouldn't be a problem if like me, you love B movies from the 70's - 80's.) A great late-night movie to which I would really like to see a remake made.