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Happycat
Reviews
The Matrix (1999)
Fascinating and flawed example of cinematic art.
This film excels at being a movie. It is filled with images and concepts only possible in today's cinema. I've been waiting for computer imagery to finally lend itself to films which were impossible before. This is such a film.
However, certain elements detract. The filmmakers obviously became very involved in the universe they created. So much so that they tend to either delve into meaningless details or worse; Explain the mystery away. At a point about a third of the way into the film the curiosity that kept me involved was quickly dispatched with filler dialogue. "What?" I thought, "How can they cripple this film so easily?".
Regardless, the action scenes are involving. The dialogue is largely tolerable (compared to recent fare), the cinematic style is interesting, and the effects are sometimes subtle and sometimes breathtaking. Keanu Reeves seems to have settled for a much more subtle approach here, an improvement in my mind.
Personal peeve... When did Laurence Fishburne go Michael Jackson on us? Obviously the the cinematographer did not know how to handle the exposure of dark skin. In almost any given shot Fishburne appears to have had his ethnic heritage stolen from him.
Nadja (1994)
A modern masterpiece.
This film received its fair share of support from critics and fans alike. However, despite good reviews and a loyal following it is still a vastly underrated film. Michael Almereyda has crafted a film which will have to endure time to receive the appreciation it deserves.
A Dracula-esque modern day myth with subtle humor and shades of Poe this film is truly a work of genius. The story is remarkably tight and the characters around which it revolves are rendered in incredible depth. Wry humor lends to the tale with brilliance. At one point a title card reads: "Transylvania" and to illustrate the location a small boy hops around with a Mickey-Mouse hat on his head. Not quite the wolf-ridden moors you expected, but still...
Elina Löwensohn shines as the title character, it is not every actor who can so elegantly work with dialogue such as this. She delivers with a candor that is almost absent from films of the last few years, the major ones at least. Galaxy Craze shines brightly opposite Martin Donovan. Peter Fonda is perfect as the Van Helsing character. Suzy Amis, Jared Harris, and Karl Geary do not fail to impress.
Look for Jim Denault's lush 35mm cinematography. He deals out light sparingly to accomplish with sheen and brilliance what most cinematographers dream of. An image so seeped in mood that any one still-frame contains such power as to function independently from the whole.
"Nadja" transcends the limitations of its medium to become something that is truly rare in the modern cinema landscape... A work of art.
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Again, proof that the revitalized horror genre is doomed.
Let's face it, when "Scream" came out a few years ago it rekindled interest in a movie genre nearly dead. Unfortunately the audience who embraced it was not the audience for which it was intended.
The audience that bought into that movie wasn't aware of what it was satirizing. They'd heard of "Halloween", but seen it? Probably not. If they had then they wouldn't be screaming in fear every time someone leaps into frame only to be revealed as a roommate or friend.
Most of the people who saw "Scream" and will go to see this are unaware that they are receiving their older siblings hand-me-down; a host of abandoned plots and cheap tricks. There is nothing here that wasn't in the horror movies of a decade ago, or even, for that matter, the decades before that. They've been targeted by studio executives, and judging on the reaction of the audience I saw it with, targeted successfully.
It will only be a matter of time before these movies outstay their welcome with this generation of younger movie fans.
Eight-year-olds beware, you're the next target!