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nickpalmer57
Reviews
Snowtown (2011)
Ideas, not emotions
This is an interesting film.
It forces you to confront your assumptions about justice, family, loyalty and class. Many of the shots stick with you, and feel uncomfortably real. The acting is all impressive, especially Daniel Henshall who is mind-blowingly good as both the affable father-figure, and the blood-thirsty maniac.
But with all of these great qualities, you can't help but feel like you're just observing things happening, and not engaging in anything emotionally. This seems to have been a specific choice made by the filmmakers, since they put us in the point of view of Jamie, who barely reacts to the world around him.
It's an interesting idea - putting us in the point-of-view of a teen who has become deadened after a nightmarish upbringing where he's molested by the neighbor and ritualistically raped by his older brother.
As an experiment, it works - we watch the events of the film with the same detachment he does. But as a story it fails, because it's impossible to engage with anything we see taking place. Instead it all just adds up to a few grisly deaths on and off screen, and an endless number of conversations around the dining room table about murdering child molesters (seriously - do these guys talk about anything else?).
Overall, it was an interesting idea that left me totally indifferent.
The Innkeepers (2011)
Much more comedy than horror
Man I wanted to like this movie.
I just about killed to get into a screening of it at SxSW. I'm a huge fan of Ti West's previous film House of the Devil, and was ready to have the crap scared out of me again. The set-up is great: The weekend before an old hotel closes up shop, a pair of desk clerks go ghost hunting with terrifying results. All signs pointed to this being the highlight of the festival for me, but sadly it wasn't.
Before I criticize it, I have to say, the thing I was most impressed with was just HOW different it was from House of the Devil. West made such a splash with that film, I really expected him to follow it up with another straight-forward horror flick. Instead, he's made a surprisingly funny, lighthearted supernatural romantic comedy with just a couple scares in it.
I'm not sure that most people would define it as a romantic comedy (it certainly doesn't end that way) but for most of the film the focus is much more on the chemistry between the two charming leads than it is on anything ghostly.
And I guess that's my major issue. I feel like he wanted to make a film with laughs and scares, but ended up just making a comedy. West has shown that he clearly knows how to build suspense in House of the Devil. But in several scenes that could have been genuinely terrifying here, he plays them out in a way that just kills the tension. Sometimes it's the way their paced or shot, but mostly it's in the way the characters deal with them. It never feels like they're ever in any real danger, because they're always quick with a funny response.
This was a letdown for me, but I imagine it will widen his audience a bit. I'm still looking forward to seeing what he makes in the future.
The Nature of Existence (2009)
What happens when a dumb person tries to make a movie about complex questions.
What happens when a dumb person tries to make a movie about complex questions? You're looking at it.
There's nothing to be gained from watching this. Nygard gathers tiny sound bytes from hundreds of people ranging from priests to his screenwriter buddy to some mentally unstable dude who shouts things at strangers on the street, then pastes them together, thinking complete incoherence will somehow add up to something profound.
Instead, you get meaningless, obvious conclusions that have less to say than those "Coexist" bumper stickers. We all need love and faith of some kind in our lives? Really? That's a profound thought? Nygard emerges as a self-promoting dim-wit, who manages to awkwardly shoehorn himself into every scene. He clearly wants to be the next Michael Moore/Morgan Spurlock, but lacks the intelligence or humor to pull it off. Total waste of time.
Kill List (2011)
Interesting idea, but a failed execution
I caught Kill List at SxSW and was pretty disappointed.
There were a number of things I did like about it. The acting was all really strong, and the best moments came when the director just took a step back and let the actors perform. The director also did a great job building tension throughout.
The thing most people will be talking about is the crazy left turn the story takes in the 3rd Act. (Spoiler Alert!) After close to 2 hours of a straightforward hit man movie, it suddenly becomes a bizarre occult horror flick. It's a huge departure from everything that's come before it.
My issue with it isn't that this departure makes it feel like two completely different movies (which it does). My issue is that it doesn't do either of those movies very well. The hit man plot is as stale as it gets: Guys heading into 'one last job' before hanging it up for good. They even use the Tarantino-esque title cards between scenes, which I thought went out of style in '98. The only surprises come from how gory some of the violence gets.
I was completely bored and disengaged by about halfway through, so when these two stumble into a witchy sabbath I was actually pretty excited for the change of tone. Sadly, the horror part is a big letdown too. The filmmakers don't manage to build any real suspense, and the big SURPRISE at the end lacks any emotional resonance since we don't care about anyone involved anyway. They pulled off a similar twist in A Serbian Film with a much more powerful result.
The Ring (2002)
Obnoxious and cliche
Contains Spoiler Yeah, so it was startling at a couple parts, and the director knows how to make you jump by cutting quickly to a LOUD SOUND. Real gift you got there, Gore. However, the main characters are SO selfish and obnoxious, and the supporting cast SO clearly cardboard copies of 1,000 better characters in scarier films, that this film ultimately is just frustrating and kind of lame. At best it's a decent mystery, but c'mon, is this REALLY as scary as people are saying, or did the quick cutting just make you jump a bunch? After all, STARTLING is not SCARY (though just about all of the horror directors out there seem to have a really hard time understanding this). My main beefs with this silly movie were 1) Why, if this broad cares so much about her little Haley Joel does she ignore him the entire flick, and leave him at home with the babysitter for 90% of the film? The writer thinks so low of the audience that this chick can treat her child like crap the whole time, but if she keeps saying "I'm doing this for Haley Joel #2" then we're all supposed to go "Holy crap! Guess she does love that little brat." I had a lot more points to make, but I'm only writing this to keep from an essay I've been putting off, so I'm just going to make one more point - Who the hell kills themselves by gathering all the appliances in the house, creating some weird crown out of hot dog tongs, then hoping in a half filled tub and switching the surge protector around your neck to "on." Naomi Watts shoulda yelled "Uh...hey Mr. Old Man...you can do the trick with just a toaster in the bathtub." But I guess that wouldn't be so CHILLING and DISTURBING. Ohhhhhhhhhhh. I'm shuddering just thinking about her looking through old newspaper articles and saying "What did you do to yourself, Ruth?" just like EVERY character in these hackneyed plots has to say when their in the basement looking though old newspaper articles. This had such potential, and is just kinda gay at best. Try a little harder! C'mon, it's not THAT hard to be scary. Although, I beleive I'm in the minority, since everyone's running around saying this gave them nightmares. I'm jealous. I wish I was scared this easily. I'd go to thrillers a lot more often. Oh well, back to writing my freakin essay. Grrrrrrrrrrr.