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tophatcat64
Reviews
The Match (1999)
A Sunny Day from a Vaguely Recalled Summer
The Match is a light, airy, slice of life movie that's capped off by one of those clichéd "final game" type sports movie scenes.
First, the good stuff. The Match generally has excellent cinematography, as Mick Davis takes full advantage of the endless rolling highlands that make up Scotland. There is always a feeling of freedom in shots of Inverdoune's people and buildings as the director gives his characters space to move through out the shot. Wullie floats through the countryside on his bike, children run free through the street, sunlight streams across wide lakes. There is nary a crowd to be seen outside.
Benny's bar is also an excellent set piece. I don't even drink and I would love to hang out at Benny's. The director uses the lighting to create a great deal of warmth in the well-aged wooden walls and tables.
There are also lot of quirky details in the movie that get a chuckle. The man and his son having to brake their bread van by jumping out and pushing against it. The "gets me hard" mechanic mentioning why he chose the violin. Buffalo attempting to ride a bike drunk. One detail in particular though, struck me as really above and beyond the usual attention to detail. One character in the film (I don't know his name) always wears an eye patch and in the Hawaiian party at the bar he replaces it with some combination of grapes and leaves on a strap. Absolutely hilarious and I commend Davis for going the extra mile there.
Now for the bad stuff. Wullie and friends are a lovable bunch of losers. I never actually caught everyone's name other then Wullie, Buffalo, Rosemary, and Gorgeous George but the movie never forced me to learn about them as very little time is spent developing anyone outside of Wullie, and even he is still very much a piece of cardboard as a character. Wullie's mother is probably depressed but we're never really told anything else beyond that. Rosemary is going off to college or a new job but she mainly exists as a symbol of progress for Wullie, the only reason he'd have to leave his village. Gorgeous George is a generic rich scumbag complete with the usual villain clichés of misplaced vanity, snarling voice, and evil henchman in the form of Le Bistro's soccer team.
The last act of the film is easily the worst part of the movie. Wullie's mother suddenly reveals he is the great grandson of Benny himself (eh?!) and he discovers Benny's long lost uniform upstairs in the attic. Fast Forward, time for the match. Wullie's team manages to arrive just before they would of had to forfeit, all in matching Benny's uniforms (where the heck did the other ones come from?!). The game starts. The Bistro team is obviously better prepared having witnessed them practicing through out the entire film and they jump out to an early 2-0 lead. No surprise there, we've only seen the Benny's team practice twice and they still look horrible. But UH OH, here comes an avalanche of sports movie clichés. Wullie's mother gets off her duff and arrives with words of encouragement (Unexpected-Love-From-A-Formerly-Cold-Parent). Wullie shouts really loudly and gives THE SPEECH (+100-To-Sports-Talent-Pep-Talk). The formerly indifferent former soccer pro joins Wullie's Team (Reluctant-Ringer-Finally-Decides-To-Join). Wullie's team scores two quick goals and miraculously outplays Bistro. The Bistro captain takes out former soccer pro's knee (Dirty-Move-Takes-Out-The-Star) and it's up to Wullie to take the penalty kick with 15 seconds left (A-Chance-For-Redemption). Wullie draws upon the nearly random memory of his brother falling to his death while they were kids, and manages to score.
Yay.
Ironically the underdog sports team in this movie has more to play for then nearly any sports team I've seen. If they lose, their bar gets shut down and demolished by Gorgeous George. As it's set up in the film, that would largely mean the end of any kind of life for the pup-goers and I truly believed that. These people NEED that bar. It's too bad they had to cheapen the game so much by drowning it in clichés and squeezing it into the last 10 minutes of the movie.
Overall, a feel-good type movie that had potential to be a lot more.
Watership Down (1978)
Very Intense
*Spoilers* I just saw Watership Down for the first time yesterday and I can honestly say this is one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen. I'd also like to add that I am 20. Watership is pretty much one of those "life is hard" films except with animated rabbits as the main characters.
Watership down chronicles the journey of a small band of Rabbits, lead by the charismatic Hazel, brawny Big Wig, and the seemingly prophetic Fiver in their quest for a new home. Along the way they encounter a great many dangers. They encounter one small group of rabbits that have some kind of sick deal with humans when they lead big wig into a snare. The other major confrontation being with the General and his facist rabbit government.
There's a pervasive element of fear throughout the entire movie. The chilling walk through the woods in the beginning of their flight when they notice a wolverine ominously looking at them from a bush, blood dripping from it's jaws, violet uttering "It must have just killed". The most disturbing scene for me that I doubt will leave my mind in the vision of the rabbits buried alive in their warren by the unfeeling humans, dead bodies cramming into the clogged exit holes, suffocating and dying in swirling masses.
Now, while I didn't particularly enjoy this movie doesn't mean it wasn't a good movie. However I really don't think anyone under 10 should see this film with its level of intensity.
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)
Need for Speed
The main problem with this movie was the lack of real automotive verve and the fact that Nicholas Cage is a horribly uncharismatic actor. I loved how it started off with the excellent credit sequence with the pounding blues song, shattering of glass and the roar of the engines as they sped away underneath flashing city lights. And then cage shows up, and all energy immediately drained from this film. I think the fact that they made the thefts have to be so in-and-out covert that they lost the fun in what should have been a movie full of purring engines, rampant (aka MORE THEN ONE) car chases, and vehicular jocularity. I mean for crissakes this movie is about STEALING CARS not going grocery shopping. Other then the chase with eleanor near the end of the movie it was just, boost the car, next shot driving into the dockyards to deliver the cars. I mean cmon now, even though I only got brief glimpses of the amazing machines these people are stealing I still was in awe of them. This movie called for, no DEMANDED, more time spent on the power of these cars. Cage's character himself says he steals cars for the joy of it and not the money, so let's SEE IT. And Cage, it would help if you could act above your nose, I don't think I saw him even scrunch up his forehead or blink his eyes during this movie. To make a bad pun, this movie's potential was Gone in 60 Seconds