ranev Reviews

Schindler's List (1993)

Spielberg's attempt at serious filmmaking

[10 August 2002]

There are many things I admire about this film. Spielberg is certainly one of the few Hollywood directors with European sensibilities; on some occasions during the film one is reminded of the works of black and white greats Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal) and Andrzej Wajda (Ashes and Diamonds). However, I think that the problem with both of Spielberg's WWII movies is that the boy from Cincinnati never actually lived through the war (he was born a year after its completion) so while he may be able capture its goriness to last splattered fragment of human skull he never captures its horror. As it is, many of the supposedly dreadful sequences of Nazi brutality play more like smut than anything else. Also, the silly and rather racist Anglo-German, Anglo-Polish and Anglo-Russian accents were distracting and completely ruined the film's authenticity. Spielberg should have hired an international cast and used subtitles but, then again, he probably wouldn't have made as much money. Which brings me to this say that the only thing that prevents Spielberg from making "The Great American Movie" is that he is a crowd-pleasing blatant sentimentalist. Notice the simplistic ending that scores easy points for Schindler. Finally, it would have been courteous to the other 7 million non-Jewish victims who perished in the Concentration camps if Spielberg had at least acknowledged their existence.

Resident Evil (2002)

Blah

[5/10 · 23 March 2002]

There hasn't been a commercial zombie movie in quite a while thus I was quite excited to watch this one. So I joyfully trotted to the cinema, paid for my ticket and took a seat. It all started quite nicely with people ruining around and having their heads chopped off by berserker elevators. Then I smiled when Mila Jovovich courteously showed a nipple because you simply can't have a good zombie movie without gratuitous nudity. But the further I got into the film, I mean the movie, the more disappointed I became. This movie is so tame! I wanted to see zombie brains splatter on walls. I wanted to see people being decapitated in graphic detail. I wanted to see Mila shoot a double barreled plasma powered bazooka twice her size at that tongued creature and to make it blow up in tiny little chunks of bloody goo. This is a zombie movie guys, where is all the gore?

Blade II (2002)

The best comic book movie i have ever seen

[9/10 · 22 March 2002]

There are two types of sequels it seems: ones that, to put it lightly, aren't all that good and ones that surpass the original (like Terminator II and the Empire Strikes Back). Thankfully, Blade 2 happens to fall in the second category. This is, quite frankly, the best comic book movie I have ever seen mainly because the people who made it knew exactly what they were making. It is true that the plot is not all that much but it is full of enough twists and turns and blood (gallons and gallons of it) and guts to keep us interested. Anyways, compared to the crap we've been getting lately, crap that's even gone as far as to win Oscars (Gladiator anybody?), this is Shakespeare. I mean, I even found one of the last scenes rather genuinely beautiful and tragic (I'm not kidding, please don't throw tomatoes at me 'cause I'm over-sentimental). But anyways, for people who want to see a really gory, action packed movie that's actually good well you really can't go wrong with Blade 2. In fact I think it is the only gory, action packed movie that's actually good I've seen in quite a while.

Life as a House (2001)

It's crap but...

[7/10 · 5 February 2002]

This movie is crap; there is no doubt about it. It tries to be quirky but it comes off perverted. Also it is oversaturated with pointless and quickly forgettable subplots. Finally, it is sentimental in a bad, sappy, unsubtle kind of way. Yet there is something captivating about Kevin Kline's and Hayden Christensen's performances as a kid and his dying dad. They are the movie's only salvation. They make their strictly one dimensional characters gain an extra dimension, not an easy task with the juvenile script they had to work with. Here's hoping they I see them again in a better film.

Gladiator (2000)

What a sad waste

[7/10 · 20 January 2002]

It's starts out like any good epic should with a masterfully filmed and executed exciting battle sequence that sets up the audience for one of those rare Hollywoodian confections that are both entertaining and artsy. Unfortunately, it all goes downhill from there. It isn't the performers faults since every single one of them give amazing, emotional, even, at times, riveting performances (the kinds you should find in better movies) and who give the whole picture more class than it deserves. It isn't Hanz Zimmer's nor Lisa Gerrard's fault since they have composed a score that's almost (and I do mean almost) as unforgettable as the Godfather's. And it certainly isn't Ridely Scott's fault since he yet again succeeds in immersing the audience in the world he has created. No, the ones who are to blame are the people who wrote the saccharine, clichéd, soap-opery script and who, in the process, have wasted all of this incredible talent. They should be fed to the lions. It's an entertaining B-movie that could have been a classic. Just like Titanic in a way.

Iron Monkey (1993)

Tons of Fun

[9/10 · 20 January 2002]

This is an entertaining, action packed masterfully choreographed, and, at times incredibly funny, kung fu picture, or whatever they are called. The final battle sequence is especially memorable if, a bit unfair, but it's, at times, a little bit too violent (I much rather preferred the suppressed violence of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Legend of Drunken Master). It's tons of fun though and, most surprising of all, it has quite a decent story. Enjoy!