hardcoresocrates Reviews

I Survived a Zombie Holocaust (2014)

How Did They Do This for Such A Low Budget?

[10/10 · 22 November 2015]

This is about as light and fun and Kiwi as a Zombie film is going to get. Maybe negative reviewers prefer their zombies to focus on complex nasty deaths and no story. As someone who needs more than that, I really enjoyed this film.

ISAZH is about Zombies, yes, but more so it is about a hopeful young man whose self doubt threaten his ability to succeed in his career and his love life. Each character presented with their flaw gets it resolved in the end, as any good story should, but in this case, those flaws are resolved at the hands of the undead. Brilliant.

This film hits all the tropes, with some real laugh-out-loud moments, some parts where you just have to turn your head away from the screen, and some point where you find yourself chanting for the supporting heroes to make their final try.

Yes, you sometimes see the fact it was lower budget, but this was made for $200K and change, which should be physically impossible. These guys did it. You should watch it.

I look forward to seeing their next project.

Charlie Bartlett (2007)

Rare Heart

[10/10 · 30 June 2007]

If no studio wants to invest in your film, it's because they know that unless all the stars align with your project, they're not going to make money. Well, the filmmakers here -- from the producers to the PA's -- obviously labored enough to force those stars into line, and make a terrific film that is bound to bring box office returns.

As a filmmaker watching this film, what confused me at first was how, as the story begins, there seems to be no structure, but it still made me hang on every word. Like any good film, that structure remained invisible throughout the whole film; it was only in retrospect that I could see how well this journey was laid out for us to effortlessly enjoy ourselves with realistic comedy, absurdist comedy, genuine romance, genuine father/daughter struggles and a variety of questions we should be all be asking ourselves. No filmmaker-knows-all solutions here.

This has an R rating, because the MPAA is afraid that kids can't handle talk about teenage Ritalin use. Either we all embrace the neo-comic book code era http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6543/, or we have to convince the industry to ditch this mindless censorship club that attempts to protect our children from the new perspectives that they need more than ever.

Tell them what you think at www.mpaa.org/AboutUsContactUs.asp

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

Hilariously Bad

[2/10 · 21 December 2005]

If you wanted something that was all formula and no... acting, execution, dialogue, originality, believability, cinematography, interest, logic, decent stunts...

You found it!

A very cool roller rink in LA on Venice near La Brea, run by a great family down there, was the location for the end. It was wonderfully underutilized.

It was somewhat enjoyable in its suckiness.

Hope they cashed in good!

Because that's all they made it for.

The Family Stone (2005)

Wow. Floored. Amazing.

[10/10 · 1 December 2005]

This is one of the better films I've ever seen. Top 5 on my list of all time. Easily.

I'm afraid of sounding like a Fox exec or something, because I'm the first to write something, and I'm about to gush about this movie. Look up my history for some kind of legitimacy.

Never has a film made me laugh so hard one second and cry so hard in the next. At several points, the film knocked the wind out of me in a funny moment and made me gasp with anguish on the next inhale. It is the perfect combination of the family comedy and character drama film. A film that could have gone indie, but instead went Hollywood enough to guarantee a larger audience will be touched by the film.

I'm exhausted on the high of seeing the film and eating some great tacos tonight, so I'll try to break it down as succinctly as possible:

ORDER OF BRILLIANCE (starting with the most effective)

1. The Structure -- The way these characters are interwoven is brilliant and seamless.

2. The Characters -- The people we're made to fall in love have serious faults that, depending on the situation, are hilariously fun or sadly crippling to them.

2. The Acting -- This is, by far, the best ensemble performance I've ever seen. I love CRASH, but this ensemble has more group scenes than the one-on-one scenes that dominate CRASH.

3. The Casting -- That's different than the acting. The balance was brilliant. Lovely to see Diane Keaton as the obvious choice for such a character, and lovely to see Sarah Jessica Parker in a not-so- obvious role. Luke Wilson plays sort of an aloof version of his brother Owen. Rachel McAdams; after this year, she's hand down the number one under-thirty actress in Hollywood.

4. The Invisible Dialogue -- I don't know if the director telegraphed it to them or what, but the reactions of the actors, timed perfectly by the editor, were as important as the words the actors brought to the table.

5. The Reveal -- You learn just enough about the story behind the story to get you curious for the next reveal. Their secrets deepen the characters and the bonds with one another.

6. The Cliché Twist -- This being a holiday movie, you're going to expect characters to fall in love with who they're supposed to fall in love with, but these moments' realism and heart behind them turn the potential eye-rolling moments to moments that are sweet, tender and heartbreaking.

From opening scenes, I was sucked straight into falling in love with this beautiful family; immediately aware of the distinction between the quirky characters and their unique relationships with one another. It touched me on so many levels. As a filmmaker, I aim to achieve maybe 3/4 of what I saw tonight by the end of my career – and the guy did it all on his second film.

If you like solid movies with real characters in real stories, see this movie.

ADDENDUM: I never watch trailers, until after I see the film. They inevitably ruin several key moments and revelations, if not the entire film. I recently saw the trailer, and I must say that it has ALMOST NOTHING to do with the real film. It makes it seems like a cute, cliché family film a la Meet The Parents. It is not. This may be why there's some backlash against it; it's a bit of a bait and switch, perhaps. Knowing my tastes, I would have never wanted to see this film, if I had seen the preview.

Walk the Line (2005)

People Need to Stop Swooning

[6/10 · 26 November 2005]

I don't get what makes this film great. I'd say it was good, but not great, if I felt that way, but I'd venture to say it's not even good. Phoenix and Witherspoon are great actors, amazing voices, chemistry... WHO CARES?

I'd love to watch the two of them in concert, that'd be great. But this is a movie. And great acting does not a movie make.

A movie is supposed to have a story. Man has bad childhood, Man gets Married to someone, finds a new gal, gets addicted to speed, new gal helps him, they get married. That's not a story; that's framework.

Singing between plot points does not cut it. Watching Phoenix lie on the ground half- conscious, get up and fall down again for 45 minutes, is not interesting. The first 10 minutes, I'm rooting for him. But if he doesn't try new things, to help himself or have something happen until his gal locks him into a room for a month, I'm checking my watch and waiting for the cliché to be over with.

Now, maybe this aspect of his life was cliché. Maybe the man was a walking cliché. But I doubt it. As the music producer said early in the film (paraphrasing), What are you going to sing the minute before you die that's going to say who you really are?

In other words, who is this character, what makes him different than Jerry Lee Louis? Ray? Any of the other cliché movies where a singer has a bad childhood then success then stress then speed then sadness then salvation then story ends?

I learned not much about Johnny Cash. Learning his Dad was a jerk and his gal stuck by him didn't do squat for me. I want to learn something in this movie that I can't learn by reading a 3 sentence summary of the film.

Expect more, guys and dolls. Don't let hype and the fact that they spent more money promoting this film than they did shooting it fool you. Don't let them cash in on his recent passing and the Hollywood hype. Have a nice day.

Don't Look Back (1996 TV Movie)

A joke

[3/10 · 14 November 2005]

Predictable Unmotivated Pointless Caricatures Contrived Actors did what they could Actors clearly indicated they were embarrassed to do this Not one emotional connection REAL SEQUENCE FROM FILM "Who you callin?" (sic) "The police"(sic) "You can't do that, Stevie. Hang up the phone"(sic) "Jesse got a sh-t load o' drug money, you can't go involving the cops"(sic) "I'm not so sure stealing money from criminals is a crime. Even if they arrest him at least he'll be alive"(sic) "Listen to me, Stevie, this ain't handled right, Jesse's gonna end up dead. Now hang up that f-in phone." (sic) Best Friend starts to load up guns Brother, "Hey, what're you doin'?" No answer. "Hey, I got a family to worry about." (Keep in mind his child is sitting right there watching-ish all of this) Then more and more and more exposition

Notice how in the above sequence, at no time do the police on the other line say, "Hello? Hello? Uh, we can hear everything you're saying. We're sending someone over there right now."

Embarrassment for all. Oops.

Waiting... (I) (2005)

Perfect Fit for the Genre

[9/10 · 28 September 2005]

I saw this film at the Screen writing Magazine thing tonight.

I don't give 10 stars. I don't.

I decided that, with this one, I'm going to take a look at the genre and see how well it's done. The film fit into the coming-of-age, capturing-suburban-corporate-hell, dick-joke, root- for-the-good-guy, root-for-the-cocky-asshole, watch-the-shy-guy-get-his-ass-kicked- (literally) perfectly.

Got in, made you laugh, hard, and left you happy at the end, also learning a little lesson about standing up for yourself and knowing when to move on. The performances in here were solid, despite the silly characters. No one was over the top enough to take you out of the story. Kudos to the filmmakers for sticking by this film for so long and making it happen. It's what everyone wishes to achieve.

I went into this movie knowing nothing, which as I've said over and over, is the best way to see a film. I had no idea it was low budget or by a first-time filmmaker until after I saw it. It's better that I didn't know, because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if it's a $200 movie or a $200,000,000 movie; if it works, it works, and if not... not. This works.

I'd see it if I were you, especially if you like films like Old School, Dodge Ball, Swingers, Office Space, Clerks, etc. Have a nice everything!

Separate Lies (2005)

Sometimes Holding On For Too Long... Isn't Too Long

[7/10 · 21 September 2005]

Separate LIES changed my life. Actually, the Q&A did.

SPOILERS BELOW. Read only if you watch trailers or if you've already seen it:

The Emily Watson character cheats on the Tom Wilkonson character. My first reaction to the puppy-dog-eyed Emily was "It's Over. Dump her. Bad riddance." For some reason, he stuck around. Not in a pathetic way. He just listened. And tried to accept her needs. At times he needed to leave. But he stuck by her and let her live her life. But I still wanted to see her

Afterwards, Julian, the screenwriter and director, talked about the film. I'm glad he did, because frankly I am too you and was too immature to get the point before he broke it down for me.

Tom's character loved her, and no matter how much her pursuit of her needs might disagree with what he wants, he would always love her. The relationship and love they shared wasn't a lie, all of a sudden, just because she wanted to be with someone else. The fact that she wanted to be with someone else didn't make her who she was. When you get past fifty, there's a strong chance that finding the love of your life won't come around again, so you can't be as dismissive as you were when you were younger. You have to try and make things work, because the alternative may be much worse.

She needed what she needed, and she couldn't help that. He had to learn to let go of her if he wanted to be the full man he could be. He helped her in pursuit of her lover, even when it hurt him.

Another thing: Julian said that the strongest tool of a controller is guilt.

Again: The strongest tool of a controller is guilt.

At the end of the film, Tom released her from her burden. He felt a need to let her know that he loved her, but not to in order to get her back; he wanted to let her know she didn't need to feel guilty or think poorly about the relationship, just because it ended in such a terrible way.

It is not my way to review a film based on the message, rather than the execution, especially when I understand that message better when it is explained to me by the director, but I make an exception here, as I feel one more mature than I would benefit from seeing the film.

The execution of the film-making was a nice, British pace. Rupert was slimy and revolting. Tom and Emily were their usually solid, real characters.

Corpse Bride (2005)

Disappointing

[6/10 · 16 September 2005]

I am perplexed by the over-exuberance of those who have voted on this film. I have a feeling many have voted before actually seeing it.

The movie is... fine. It's really nothing exceptional. Nightmare Before Christmas blows this out of the water when it comes to character development, complexity of animation and story telling.

Corpse Bride was cute, nice, cliché. While it started with a strong promise and premise, with a glowing gray world with family characters, all went wacky when Victor went into the forest. This is about where you wish you were in the forest with Jack instead.

Unlike those you meet in Halloweentown, the dead characters are not interesting, all either blue or bones. The humor and puns are forced and repeated, in case you didn't get that pulling the sword out of the dead dwarf was funny the first, second, third, fourth or fifth time.

The songs were great in the beginning, sparse and annoying in the middle. At times, the sound effects were louder than the lines themselves, so lyrics of the songs and/or punchlines couldn't be deciphered.

The bride character was so one-dimensional that I didn't care about her, until her act about how she wishes she were alive -- a touching song there. Interestingly, Victoria, through just her "acting" seemed more developed than any of the other characters, save for Victor.

Some of the characters' actions were less than motivated. Victor suddenly going from uninterested to willing-to-marry because of sharing a 20-second piano duet with Corpse Bride? The Parents obsessed with finding Victor, then just disappearing out of the story?

What saved this film for me was the ending, which, while predictable, was so heart-warming and honest... Great 1st and 3rd act does not a good film make.

I don't want to be negative. I'm about as big of a Tim Burton / Danny Elfman fan as anyone else, (sans freakish obsessions or those who think Jack Skellington is some evil bad ass I need to buy on a t-shirt at the mall so my parents will see what a rebel I am), but this movie was little more exciting than Frosty The Snow Man. I didn't hate it. But it wasn't worth my midnight premiere.

You might say, "Oh, this is a children's film. It doesn't need character development, a logical story or interesting songs."

To that I might say, "Shut up."

This film will soon be forgotten, like James and The Giant Peach, whereas masterworks like Big Fish, Batman and Nightmare Before Christmas will live on forever.

Thanks for reading.

The Baxter (2005)

Loved It

[9/10 · 2 September 2005]

I saw this last night at the GenArt Screening on Sunset and Crescent Heights. I had no idea what the film was about, who was in it or anything before I went -- the perfect way to see a film.

It was smart, funny, formulaic in a good way, with a twist. I love the slightly-over-the-top performances of the main characters that is just enough to make you laugh at weirdness, but keep you into the story. Think Will Farrel in Old School or a more subtle version of what you see on Stella with a solid story line, the show on Comedy Central.

All the characters fit their role perfectly, which is crazy for a low budget production. By the way, I had NO idea it was low budget until the filmmaker mentioned it after the Q&A. Also talked to him at the after party about a project I'm putting together, and he was great to talk to.

Only reason this doesn't get a 10 is that I save that kind of thing for Citizen Kane and the like. SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!

The Incident (1967)

One of the Best Films Ever Made

[10/10 · 20 August 2005]

Any detail of any film is a spoiler, to me.

I turned this on late on night about ten years ago, and it sent a fear through me like no other I've seen. That fear was, "Would I be too afraid to stand up and fight?"

I turned on the film for the first time when the guys were just about to get on the train. That was a perfect beginning for me. Later, I saw it again, and saw all the other stuff about how bad they were. Watching it the first time was a better experience; if you start with the train, you live the experience like you would in real life -- no knowledge of anybody's character until that character acts.

Kisses and Caroms (2006)

CLERKS is a good call

[7/10 · 24 June 2005]

This is quite an accomplishment for a no-budget film. Good acting (not a common no- budget commodity), beautiful, intelligent and 3-dimensional women and quirky philosophies that really make you think.

You should check out this movie for yourself, especially if you like CLERKS and guy-trying- to-figure-life-out-while-sleeping-gorgeous-funny-women-along-the-way type films. A funnier, fun SIDEWAYS.

In sum (10 lines required, here): It's funny It's smart It's inspiring to filmmakers who believe a good story, along with support from competent actors and DP's and friends and crafty, is all you need.