sinomafile Reviews

Crank (2006)

What a ride!

[10/10 · 17 September 2006]

Crank is a jarring reminder that watching movies should be pure entertainment. The movie was an excellent execution of a good plot device. The graphic treatments, editing, and sound design all contributed to the fun, modern adrenaline pumping fun of the movie.

All in all, this was a surprisingly well thought out action movie--I highly recommend it for anyone who feels that being a viewer has become boring. You'll laugh, you'll scream; you'll even feel empathy for Chev! This may not rank as one of the best films of the year, but it certainly will be one of the most entertaining! If you love action, if you love comedy, if you love drug humor and gratuitous nudity, and if you want people to just get to the point damnit, then Crank delivers on all levels and then some!

Reversal of Fortune (2005 TV Movie)

Incredibly Irresponsible Social Experiment

[2/10 · 5 September 2006]

This film is "riveting" but in much the same way a car crash is riveting. It's hard to look away. Overall, this film is nothing more than an incredibly irresponsible social experiment--and a futile, biased experiment at that. The filmmakers are manipulative and seem to have no problems going for the lowest possible denominator. The manner in which the money is presented to Ted is pure exploitation. The intervening steps that the filmmakers force Ted to participate in (meeting with so-called experts) were empty and devoid of any substantive attempt to connect with Ted. Instead, it's painfully obvious that they serve to cover the filmmaker's posteriors and to further exploit Ted's situation. The worst part is that the filmmakers stop following Ted after 6 months; and seemingly are cut off entirely from the subject they had followed so closely months before. If they had cared, they would have found better "experts" to help Ted. If they truly wanted to see what Ted would do, then they should have let him spend the money without any intervention. This film is at best a high-brow Jackass stunt and not a documentary. It's sad to think how much $100,000 could have actually changed a homeless person's life had it been put in the right hands.