Cazziewaffle Reviews

Pathology (2008)

He's no Hero anymore

[1/10 · 6 January 2009]

Pathology has an intriguing concept: can you commit the perfect murder?

When an exceptional medical student, Ted Grey, and a seemingly good guy joins a prestigious Pathology team this is exactly what he finds out a group of them do. They play God. They kill random people in apparently perfect ways, and then their fellow students have to work out how they did it.

This could have been a gritty, psychological thriller, but it completely sucks out all tension and suspense that the concept could provide by what I can only assume is sheer laziness.

The plot is as transparent as a just washed window. You can see what is coming from a mile away. It's your standard good guy turns bad and then turns good again (if you can call it that). But this is barely fleshed out, there was no climax, no chase, no development – nothing gripping about it at all.

The characters are so badly written that they can't even be recognised as characters. Ted, the 'hero' of the story, has no character development, no motivation; he starts off being a loving fiancée and the type who didn't seem interested in his other bonehead colleagues, and yet he is won over by one beer and suddenly he is doing drugs, killing people and sleeping with the enemies girlfriend!

The rest of the characters are even worse. They have no redeeming characteristics, nothing to make you like them, and they are also meant to be some of the best medical students in the country? It would be highly unlikely they got accepted into college, let alone medical school! And why would they even commit these murders? They give each other the flimsiest of excuses, but surely they don't really believe them? The audience sure don't.

Overall, it was a laughable movie. When it comes down to it, it feels that it was written by a teenage boy who just wanted to mix a whole lot of sleazy sex scenes with a whole lot of gore. And talking of the gore, it is not at all shocking. If you keep track of any medical dramas such as House, you're not in for much of a surprise as it isn't much gorier than any of the shows surgeries (until possibly the end, but by this time it's too late and too ridiculous!)

It's a shame though as it had two promising leads: Milo Ventimiglia of "Heroes" as Ted Grey and Michael Western, who has appeared in a few high-regarded TV shows, as his enemy Jake Gallo. Apparently they should stick to TV, they seem to have a much better judgement of it.

The Man Who Cried (2000)

The woman who cried.. of boredom!!

[4/10 · 1 August 2006]

It started off promising enough: It is of a young girl, who's father is sent to America to make a better life for his family, but when she is sent there she gets on the wrong ship and gets taken to England, where she is re-named Suzie. She is tormented and bullied, but she has one gift - her singing which helps her get into a dancing troupe in Paris. Now she can earn money and start the search for her father again. But from this point, the point where the movie can really get interesting, it shudders to a halt and never gets moving again. Yet lots of things happen. She meets Lola (Cate Blanchett), a fellow Russian who just wants to marry a rich guy and she meets opera singer Dante Dominio and these could be interesting characters, but they're not, and it's set around World War II and the Nazi's get involved which puts Suzie's character in danger because she's a Jew... yet it is told in the most bland and boring way and you couldn't be less interested! You just sit there wishing the movie to finish.

The cast was good though. Cate Blanchett (she really showed us again that she is one of the best actresses around) and John Turturro especially. Christina Ricci never seems fully convincing and Johnny Depp, sadly, was under used. He is the gypsy she falls for and their love story was so unbelievable. They had zero chemistry to start with, and they barely uttered two words to each other and suddenly she was prepared to throw her life away for him?

But it was stylishly directed and the music was beautiful and powerful, but you get the feeling it could have been so much more and more fleshed out. It was about the characters yet you didn't care for them nor do you really feel like you know them. Especially Christina's character, who is the driving force of the movie. You didn't care whether she found her father or not, or whether she even got out of Paris alive.

I can't really recommend it. Everything was bland in it apart from it was quite nice to look at (and Johnny Depp was nice to look at too), but no film is worth sitting through just for that. The only reason you should watch this film is if you're one of the fans who want to see all the films of a certain actor, and if you're one of those people about one of these actors (as I am), then I guess you should see it. Just have a huge mug of coffee at your side.

Proof (2005)

Felt somewhat unfinished and undeveloped...

[6/10 · 1 August 2006]

The story is short and to the point.(I'll take the summary from IMDb, as it couldn't be summarised better): "The daughter of a brilliant but mentally disturbed mathematician (recently deceased) tries to come to grips with her possible inheritance: his insanity. Complicating matters are one of her father's ex-students who wants to search through his papers and her estranged sister who shows up to help settle his affairs."

It is hard to know what to say about the film because it focuses solely on this. There are no little sub-plots, or other developments of character outside of what is going on to them within the time that passed during the film. But what it did focus on was (most the time) interesting, involving, powerful and done really well, but because you never really got rounded characters or story, it just felt somewhat lacking and under developed, which was annoying because it could have been such a great film if it just had that little bit extra.

The performances were especially great (well, most of the time in Gwyneth Paltrow's case.. but more on that later!), and the story was heart breaking. But at the same time, I don't feel we were given enough to time to really come to grips with it, it seemed to gloss over everything very quickly, and because of that it never seemed to get anywhere and then it ends, very abruptly. It didn't seem to have the depth it really needed.

BUT as I said, it was extremely powerful at times and that mainly came from the acting. It's an actors piece, it has to be said. Jake Gyllenhaal and Hope Davis were consistently great (and it was nice to see Davis looking glamorous for once, after seeing movies and movies of her as the dowdy girlfriend) but Gwyneth Platrow went from being absolutely amazing, to me thinking "Aren't you an Oscar winner?" and sadly, Anthony Hopkins was pretty ordinary, and didn't seem crazy just eccentric (compared to say Russell Crowe's infinitely better performance of John Nash in "A Beautiful Mind".. of who Hopkin's character is supposedly based upon).

But if you are interested in films about insanity (as I am) or a fan of any of the actors, I'd say give it a shot but just don't expect too much.

10 Rillington Place (1971)

Just one word... Phenomenal!

[10/10 · 23 July 2006]

The movie is as perfect a one as I have seen in a long time. Real (literally!) characters, real dialogue, phenomenal acting, everything was spot on.

I was hooked from the second it started. Very ordinary, post-war, working class English setting, a little eerie, and an old woman comes knocking on the door of 10 Rillington Place and the most ordinary looking man opens it, all friendly, making the usual small talk, acting all concerned with her health, your average neighbour.. and then he goes and kills her,completely calmly and not at all in a gruesome or violent way. Completely calm. He even talks to her soothingly whilst she's taking her last breaths.

This totally sets the scene and tone of the movie. It's a very quiet and composed movie which makes it even more sinister. Just like the main character... on which this film is based, the real life British serial killer John Reginald Christie.

The film is the story of a young couple, Timothy and his wife Beryl, who move into the flat above Mr. Christie's at 10 Rillington Place and befriend him, having no idea of the tragedy he will bring upon them.

It is nicely paced, and there isn't much action. It is just a wonderful character study, where we get emotionally involved with each and every of the characters, which makes it even more difficult to swallow the way he treats and manipulates everyone. And we get to this level thanks to the wonderful, WONDERFUL actors. John Hurt, who rightly got nominated for a BAFTA for this role, plays Timothy Evans, and he's stunning. He is a man of few words, but you can understand exactly what he is feeling, and it is powerful. And then of course there is Richard Attenborough who is just overwhelming as John Reginald Christie, the best performance I have seen of him, and I cannot believe he didn't get more credit or nominations, as he is terrifying, yet you know if you met him in the street, you'd trust him completely. He is what makes the movie.

Completely and 100% recommended.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

That was meant to be one of the scariest films ever?? I don't think so!

[4/10 · 7 January 2006]

Three teenagers disappear in the woods of Burkittesville, Maryland whilst filming a documentary about the legend of the "Blair Witch". A year later their footage is found.

It's hard to know how to review this film, because the only reason it was thought to be so unbelievably scary is the great advertising idea… advertise it as if it was real! If I had watched it believing it was real, I would have been freakin terrified. I would have felt the terror of the actors; I would have felt the frustration and the anger; I would have heard every tiny noise they heard and I'd have probably been hoping that they got out there alive, even though I knew they had been missing for a year, so it wasn't really likely and I would have loved (well, be left wondering by) the ending!

But I didn't. I saw it knowing it was false and I felt.. not much. From the beginning the characters were already annoying me, and they just got worse as the film went so it was hard to feel anything for them; I laughed in disbelief at the ridiculous things they did (One of them purposefully kicked the map into the river when they were already lost (???)); and the repetition of them running around the woods screaming at each other and then sitting in the tents terrified of the noises they could hear outside, yet still trying to capture what it was on film, got a little tiring.

And then there is the famous ending… not so great after all! But again, would have been effective if you believed it.

The only thing that still works though is the use of the idea that it's scarier when you can't see what is out there. This was used to good effect... up to a point. There are a lot of shots where it's all just pitch black and all you can hear is their frantic whispering about what the hell it is that is out there, or, in some cases, just silence and you're just waiting to see if something passes by, but this is used to often and it got too routine by the end.

And I have to say I loved the hand held camera style of filming, very effective and I have to give credit to the actors… they were great! I would have believed them!

But it doesn't leave any real affect on you, so my advice: don't watch it expecting much.

The Island (2005)

Not your average action movie!

[16 August 2005]

Michael Bay's "The Island" seemed to be everything you'd expect from your average, typical, Hollywood type summer blockbuster… the attractive actors, in this case, Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor; a hell of a lot of over-the-top action and a seemingly incoherent plot… Definitely your typical cheesy-type popcorn blockbuster! But, is that really all there is to this movie?

Set in the not-so-far future, the year 2019, the world, as we know it, has apparently been contaminated and all the survivors are kept in a carefully controlled, contamination-free environment. The only thing keeping any of them going is the idea that they maybe chosen to be sent to "The Island", the last contamination free zone on the planet. Lincoln Six-Echo (McGregor) questions his existence, and rightly so, as he discovers that they're all actually human clones, and he escapes taking his best friend Jordan Two-Delta (Johansson) with him, and they run for their lives as they are pursued by the scientists behind their existence.

Compared to other not-so-great Michael Bay movies such as "Armageddon" (you can't get a more typical Hollywood summer blockbuster!) and "Pearl Harbor" (ok, I wouldn't really call that your typical action movie, but it's definitely typically Hollywood!), "The Island" is actually quite good.

For one, they seemed to put more effort into the story. Yes it is set in the future, but only 14 years ahead so they could have some futuristic elements (some awesome looking trains and your expected advanced technology) but it was nicely mixed with the present day, so it wasn't too far detached from the world as we know it, which made the whole prospect seem a lot more real and actually quite unsettling. And they threw some interesting thoughts of morality in them, which helps edge the film towards being thought provoking!

The cast do well in their parts. Better than expected, as I never really expect anything from actors in action movies. But it does help that you have a cast that have proved to actually be able to act slightly better than your average actor. McGregor and Johansson had the chemistry needed, and they definitely could hold the film. But the supporting cast definitely stood out too. Steve Buscemi was great at giving the comic relief needed; Sean Bean was extremely convincing as the sinister scientist behind it all, and Djimon Hounsou brings some unexpected depth to his character, the guy hunting the clones. In fact, all the cast bring some depth to their characters, which I found unexpected and refreshing to see in an action movie.

The action was your usual over-the-top action; car chases, explosions, and stunts you can't believe anyone survives. It's nothing you haven't seen before, and these were the parts in which the movie dragged and definitely helped make it your average action movie.

So, for once, it was the story and the cast that made the movie more interesting and not a complete waste of your time! I'd say see it if you're a big fan of the action, and if you like sci-fi.. or if you'd just like to see an above average action movie!