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diggerjohn111
Reviews
Event Horizon (1997)
Futuristic Horror at Its Best
I am amongst the group of people who loves this film. I think that this was the kind of film that fits only a special genre of fans, "the ultra-macabre". Many film viewers see the future as being more akin to a Star Trek-like existence, with humanity achieving an almost Utopian society and venturing to the stars unified and harmoniously, and quite boringly. This film dares say, "Not so fast. It is scary out there." The concept of "inferno ex Astra" is a literary and cinematic road not taken as often as it should be.
I took from this film the idea that humanity is still young and inexperienced, and playing dice with the greatest force of nature (singularities) could lead to horrors unimagined before. Far from a perfect film, Event Horizon should still be lauded for its daring as well as the brilliant performances of the heroic Fishbourne and the deliciously evil Neil. It may be far from unanimous, but I loved this film. Event Horizon, a classic of Futuristic Horror.
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Masterpiece of American cinema (yes, American)
Letters was brilliant. Letters was almost entirely in Japanese. Letters starred Japanese actors, including the excellent Ken Watanabe. But it was an American production, directed by Clint Eastwood. Set as a Japanese view of the invasion of Iwo Jima, it is the companion film to Flags of Our Fathers. Though Flags was very good, it seems like Eastwood got a better grasp of the setting when he shot Letters. The story was far more convincing, dark and moving. Letters captured the horrors and even boredom of warfare masterfully. The film worked best because it didn't gloss over the Japanese Bushido Code of Warfare, but it also didn't make you feel any less for the main characters. To me, it seemed that the mission of this film was to get western audiences to understand the Japanese view of the Second World War, without apologizing for it. Letters succeeded in this with magnificence and showed the true terror and hopelessness of the Japanese cause by the time the invasion of Iwo occurred and yet had a poetry to it. It was almost as if Eastwood channeled the spirit of the late master of Japanese film, Akira Kurosawa and directed more than a movie, he directed a bleak yet beautiful film. This film was more than just a war film, it was a work of art. It demonstrated the oneness of humanity in our most barbaric and tribal setting. Mr. Eastwood, this was your finest hour.
Sometimes in April (2005)
Sometimes in April
This was one of the most moving films I have ever seen. Didn't have the flash of Hotel Rwanda or Schindler's List, but possibly surpassed them in substance. This is not a film for the squeamish, but a film about genocide shouldn't be if it is to deliver its message with maximum effect. Even 11 years on, we in the West get only glimpses into the happenings of the Rwanda Genocide and even fewer in the Western World even attempt to understand the reasons. In just 100 days, over 1 million Tutsis and Moderate Hutus were killed while the world looked the other way. I think this film demonstrated this very well, while at the same time it showed that there were some (Debra Winger's character) in the West who tried everything to help but could do nothing. It doesn't blame the West for the genocide like an uber-liberal, Michael Mooresque America-bashing festival would, but doesn't forgive the West for letting it happen either (which is more than reasonable). "It was Rwandans killing Rwandans", was the line used by the US Army general in the film to give an excuse as to why nothing was done by the outside world. But I think the most important message in this film was that in the living hell that was Rwanda during the genocide, there were still incredible acts of courage and humanity (the Hutu farm wife who sheltered the Matron and the school girls). An aspect of the film that struck hardest with me was how quickly the spiral of madness and slaughter struck so quickly and so terribly. The interplay between the main characters also showed that many of the people who complied in this most evil of crimes were not monsters out of a horror novel, but regular people who through self-interest or ethnic bigotry became the tools of this remarkable insanity. To sum this up, I gave this movie a 10 out of 10. The reason why I did is because this is a movie that should be seen by all. To paraphrase the motto of the survivors of Hitler's Holocaust, "Never again", Sometimes in April reminds us all that we should keep to that promise.
Shichinin no samurai (1954)
quite possibly the greatest.
This is possibly the greatest film ever made. Samurai has influenced every one from Kubrick to Spielberg and Lucas. How can you say anything bad about a film by the greatest master of film, Kurosawa? I think Kurosawa's greatest achievement in this film is the fact that he managed to make the viewer "see the color" in a black and white film. I think this film also shows that you do not need a billion dollar budget to make an amazing work of art. Akira Kurosawa can best be described as a director that has a film genre all to himself that directors can emulate, but can never duplicate. The ideas of the film were also revolutionary, the notion that a samurai can show human weakness was a new one in Japan at the time the film was made. Kurosawa not only gave the Age of Japanese Shogunate wars a human face, he also made it presentable to the Western film viewer. There is nothing in this film that any human being cannot sympathize with and I think that is the greatest gift that this film, and the entire collection of Kurosawa's films give to the world.