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Reviews
eXistenZ (1999)
Should be made an illegal substance
This film affected me in a very bizarre way. The Fly and Videodrome left me in a similar state - slightly disturbed, impressed and thoughtful over what I had just seen. But eXistenZ went further and, for 20 minutes after leaving the cinema, my perception of reality appeared to have taken a bit of a beating.
This film creeps up on you, moving along throughout in an increasingly complex and confusing manner, then suddenly pulling itself together in the end to leave you reeling in your seat.
I have never had quite such a strong reaction to a film: walking back home was a very bizarre experience, with nothing seeming very real. Cronenberg has masterfully created a film that questions reality, and moves its own paranoia into the audience.
An incredible experience. Let yourself become totally enveloped in it. Just make sure you remember what is real and what is not...
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Entertaining, but not a patch on the original
The Phantom Menace was hyped up beyond any sane person's realistic expectations. Consequently, anybody who didn't get swept away by the ridiculous merchandising and press hysteria got to see a rather fun and very well-made film.
Austin Powers 2 has also been hyped up a lot, with reviews shouting how it's as good, IF NOT BETTER!, than the original. With these seemingly sensible opinions of the film, I had high hopes for the sequel, seeing as the original Austin Powers is one of my favourite comedies (along with Myers' other creation, Wayne's World).
However, AP2 was rather disappointing. The vast majority of the film's jokes were simply lifted straight out of the original, with no variation. The rest relied entirely on the viewer's knowledge of pop culture. Depending on how clued in your are to Myers' take on the latter half of the 20th century dictates how much you will get out of the film. The original included parodies and sly references in a subtle and very clever way; The Spy Who Shagged Me shoves them in your face.
More worrying is the fact that Myers seems to have forgotten how to play Austin. Whereas before he came across as a slightly off- centre semi-hippy, stuck in the '90s which he couldn't quite figure out, this time round he just seems like a boring old fart who is trying desperately to hold on to memories of the '60s.
His portrayal of Dr Evil was very good, although we got to see perhaps a little too much of him. His new creation, Fat Bastard, was amusing for a while but soon became boring. Mini-Me was irritating from the start.
Still a funny, entertaining film, but not a classic comedy like the original.
Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (1999)
Evan Chen has made a great musical debut.
I thought A Call To Arms was a superbly entertaining hour-and-a-half of television. Much, much better than Thirdspace, and far better paced and structured than the very good but very *flawed* In The Beginning.
The much-criticised music was, in my opinion, excellent. It was perfectly in sync with the more cutting-edge, 'funkier' tone set by the visuals and script, both of which were noticeably different to B5's.
Evan Chen certainly brings a new sound to the B5 universe, and gives ACtA and Crusade a whole new musical flavour. At times it was too intrusive, but that was partly down to JMS' tendency to always have the music too loud on the soundtrack. The casio-keyboard instrument was a bit irritating for a few seconds of the entire film...
Generally, however, the music moved the film along wonderfully, giving it a very kinetic feel. This music has far more potential already than another classical score. As good as the Williams-Horner-Arnold scores are, do we really want *another* imitation?
The B5/Crusade crew have tried something new. And it worked; not everywhere, but it worked. And it'll get better. And better.
The Exorcist (1973)
Biggest disappointment I've ever had...
Having recently been able to see The Exorcist for the first time due to it being banned in the UK, I was prepared to watch the scariest film, the most stomach-churningly horrific film ever made.
I was terribly, terribly disappointed. In my opinion, this is the most over-hyped film I know of. Its main aim, to scare and shock, fails utterly. Most of the time the supposedly horrible events are actually rather amusing, due to the stupidity of the characters or the rather lame and over-ambitious effects.
Despite some good moments, such as the final moments of the exorcism itself, this film is simply *boring*.