dukebrazi Reviews

V/H/S (2012)

Hmmmph

[4/10 · 12 August 2012]

The trailer is a lot better than the movie. I was hoping for something to hold the short stories together. Or something scary. It has a nice premise, but they even screw that up. This is like the opposite of "Cabin in the woods", which is "#%#% great. They even had a short sequence that was getting a bit scary - there were potential there. But then they instantly destroyed it all. FFS, this was a good student film, but not ready for anything else. The acting was surprisingly good enough. The production value was surprisingly good enough. The writing made it not scary and without an ending.

If you liked the trailer for this movie = don't see the movie thinking it's as good as the trailer.

Meeting Evil (2012)

Weird movie.

[5/10 · 1 April 2012]

Weird movie - and not in a good way. I really wanted to like this movie, which probably never helps, but the story and character behaviors are so far-fetched it kinda ruined it for me.

I had not read the book, so Sam's character made me wonder about his motives etc which kept me interested to the end.

The acting is solid but the editing seemed a bit off. It felt like a direct-to-DVD on production value for some reason.

Not the worst movie but I can't really recommend it with so many other better movies out there. Keep your expectations low if you're gonna see it.

Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)

Imo, the best of the three movies.

[6/10 · 23 January 2012]

I didn't really like the first movie, and thought the second movie was worse than the first one.

So I don't really understand why I bothered watching this. But I'm glad I did. It's a prequel, but I saw it more as a stand alone movie.

It has some really clever scenes and I especially enjoyed the first 70 minutes or so of the movie.

I guess most people that has any interest in this has already seen one or both of the previous movies and if you thought they were so-so or better, you should certainly give this one a chance.

It has some frustrating moments when characters act a bit weird and irrational but that's true for so many horror movies I suppose.

The Snowtown Murders (2011)

Great movie!

[4 January 2012]

Before I say anything else, it's a great movie! However, it's probably me being a bit slow - but I had some problems understanding who all the characters was and how they all were connected. I didn't really hear (or maybe understand) all of the dialogue either.

I can't really blame the movie for that though! Such extremely great performances from all of the cast. Really nice photography and suggestive atmosphere that never was over the top. Looked liked a perfect blend of documentary and great cinematography.

If you're intrigued by the synopsis of this movie - watch it! It is however a very dark experience that will create the mood the events deserve.(I don't know anything about the real events or how close to them this is however, but knowing that it is based in real events makes it a lot darker imo.)

Suing the Devil (2011)

Jeeeeeebus!

[3/10 · 29 December 2011]

I really liked the premise of this movie but it really didn't deliver.

The biggest flaws were the writing and direction. If you have a great director you can see poor actors act in natural way at least. It doesn't seem fake and jolt you out of the experience.

In this movie, it was kinda reversed. Malcolm McDowell was great! Really great! But the other cast was, to be honest, really, really bad. But I do think some of the blame for that should go to the director.

The story itself and the dialogue is really dumbed down which is the biggest flaw in my opinion.

If you want to see a more entertaining version of the same source conflict - "The Devil's Advocate" does it soo much better.

And if you're more in it for the brainy stuff - "The Sunset Limited" is great and like a grown up version of this.

The production value was really uneven - looked and sounded more like a film school project, just below TV-movie except some scenes with Malcolm McDowell, he was really top notch for such a over the top character. He really nailed it imo.

Antichrist (2009)

It's not a scary movie, a bit disturbing perhaps..

[6/10 · 14 September 2009]

I know that there are a lot of references to other cultural bigwigs and subjective layers that could be references, homages, or the like.. Even "Nietzsche" has been brought up again.. But I don't think he would've liked this movie.

But It's Lars Von Trier so of course every critic that sees a "high culture" reference must say that it's genius, or other critics would think that he/she didn't .... "get it".

Yup, It's not a great film for the masses, It's not a great film period........

It's an OK film though.

If you watch movies and see them for what they are - movies. And you liked "Ravenous" - you'll probably think that this movie is pretty decent too. :) Sure, this movie von Trier really shined when it comes to photography, cinematography and acting - I have to admit that it all was excellent.

The titel was veeeery misleading for the average viewer (i.e. me!) the story is another take on "misery" with focus on grieving parents that lose control. It's not a "scary" movie though that will make you jump at your seat, it has some gruesome footage so children should not watch this movie - but it's not scary in the sense that it shocks you with surprises.

The Steam Experiment (2009)

A non-horror saw.

[5/10 · 25 June 2009]

Even if I got frustrated with almost all the characters at some points I can't blame it on poor acting. They were acting their parts.

This is a mystery/thriller vehicle with good actors trapped in bad writing.

In the very first minutes of the movie, the main antagonist is honoring his mentor proclaiming how much he is ahead of his time. He's years ahead of his time, no, he's light-years ahead of his time.. After that he goes on about how the protagonist doesn't have the intellectual capacity for his task. It got me thinking.. "light-years" is not a measure of time, it's a measure of distance. Sure maybe the antagonist could be kinda slow but it didn't look like they were going for that in the movie. Sure, you could say that someone is ahead of others by "miles" or something like that but it doesn't really matter to me. I thought it was kinda dumb and that is what I thought of the movie as well. I really like Val Kilmer and I really hate that I so often see him i movies like this.

If this is broadcast on TV and you can't fall to sleep - it's worth the watch. But that's being generous.

The Collective (2008)

Pretty good, despite the fact it reeks of low budget.

[6/10 · 25 April 2009]

The direction and editing of this movie is really good. The acting is varying from OK to really good (the "Conor"-character being one of the top performed). I can't really put my finger on why exactly it looks so low budget because nothing stands out as lacking in that regard so I'm guessing it's pertaining to the equipment used.

So I look forward to see future productions from the same director and producer.

The biggest problem with the movie is the plot. It's OK, but it's not very original and without giving any specifics away, it has moments that feels kinda .. silly.. And I thought it totally lacked a sense of suspense. But that's just personal taste I suppose. If you like mystery-type thrillers you can give this movie a shot. It's solid work behind it and probably delivers what you would expect from a low budget movie in this genre.

(I don't know if it _is_ a low budget movie but it certainly has that feel to it.)