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siblancomusic
Reviews
The Doorman (1999)
Good idea but looks like a student film
I bought this movie for 50 pence so I didn't have huge expectations. The theme is of interest as I have some knowledge of club doors and the premise of an ex-soldier going to work on a an L.A. door is a good idea that could potentially offer an insight into a gritty underworld.
The acting is not terrible but is in truth fairly amateur however it's hard to gauge the quality because the production values ARE terrible.
The lighting is awful and the shots are so dimly lit that it almost seems black and white and you sometimes can't see the characters properly. The sound is awful and in one of the early key scenes where the lead character is being introduced to his employers at the club where most of the action takes place, the dialogue is drowned out by background traffic. Background noise is a problem throughout this movie and you have to strain your ears to hear what is being said. This may explain the fact why this movie is ridiculously over-scored. It's not that the music is bad. It's just that there is background music played almost every other scene and it doesn't compliment the actors' dialogue but drowns out and/or detracts from what they're saying.
Also there's not much in the way of reality here. I've never once seen a bouncer do a spinning karate kick on a punter however they seem to be here in abundance.
In summary this would get bad marks if it was a student film and how it got released and made it as far as the UK is beyond me. The premise does offer potential for a good movie and if this film was re-made with a decent cast, professional production values and some re-works to the script with consultation from a real doorman to provide some realism to the fight scenes, there would be a good movie here, so the makers of the film should consider re-pitching the idea in my opinion.
The Informers (2008)
This is movie is utter rubbish!
I have never read any of Bret Easton-Elis' books but apparently he wrote American Psycho and that movie was very good. This one isn't.
A "capable" but frankly D-list cast plod their way through this dire script with little enthusiasm. For those that didn't know apparently LA/Hollywood has a dark side to it and the inhabitants spend their time doing drugs and having casual sex (I thought they spent their time going to bible class and singing Kumbaya with the smurfs). I suspect they realised early on it was a turkey and just did their job as quickly as possible. The late Brad Renfro was the best of the bunch.
A few subplots intertwine (badly) and nothing of any consequence happens whatsoever. Apparently the book is quite different and has vampires in it or something so god knows what the screenwriters were thinking here because there's no undead chomping on the lifeless actors faces, although this actually would have made the movie vaguely interesting.
I would tell you what happened, but frankly I don't really know myself because the whole thing is so disjointed. Did I mention the script is AWFUL! I don't know if the writers really suck or if the book is just rubbish but there is no story or point to anything that happens.
A few people have speculated on some kind of "AIDS being spread amongst the characters" sub-plot, but there is no real evidence to base this on any more than there's a sub-text in Teenwolf that predicted the current global financial crisis. Apparently in the book it's made clear the girl that dies at the end had cancer anyway, so this is probably just people looking for something more to this film than there actually is. Which wouldn't be hard.
If you were involved in writing, producing or directing this movie please don't ever create anything for film ever again as you are terrible. Thanks!
Felon (2008)
Truly Excellent AND REALISTIC Prison Film
This is simply an excellent movie. The acting by everyone involved is excellent and this movie grips you. At first I was sceptical as I thought it was going to be another "innocent guy goes to jail" movie but this movie is so much more than that. The use of a real prison and real prisoners as extras (watch the DVD extras) is immediately apparent and gives this movie a perfect air of west coast prison life possibly never seen before. The feelings of hopelessness, vulnerability and frustration are well portrayed as is the random conscious-less violence. The gang name (Aryan Brotherhood, Crips, Southern/Northern Mexicans) are all real West Coast gangs and the language also is authentic. Someone who was a consultant in this movie definitely did time or worked as a guard at somewhere like San Quienten, Pelican Bay or Chino and the gangsters do for once look like the real deal. Dorff is outstanding and gives probably his strongest performance to date. Kilmer and Perrineau are also excellent.
This movie has some harsh themes and won't be suitable for everyone. However it's a prison movie and you only have to look at the cover to know it's not "The Green Mile" and the few people who have given this movie a negative review shouldn't have watched it in the first place knowing this and frankly should feel a bit ashamed for writing bad reviews on a great piece of work simply because it's a subject matter they know nothing about and in truth find very uncomfortable. I don't like chick flicks but I don't come on here talking trash about them I just don't watch them. This movie refreshingly, lacks the Hollywood sheen of many prison flicks and yes there are clichés here but nothing is perfect and it's a movie not a documentary(although the camera style is geared towards this style).
I really didn't expect this movie to be anywhere as near as good as it was so all I can say is watch it!
This Is England (2006)
I seem to be the only one who thought this was rubbish!
The mood of this movie is pretty good and it captures the feel of the 80's well with some good performances.
However.....
The script is run of the mill with the exception of a couple of comedic moments and comes off as being weird where I expect it was intended to be edgy. The characters are totally over dramatized and unbelievable and full of right wing clichés that the script writer probably saw watching a panorama documentary on the national front. The biggest problem is this movie has no real story. It ticks all the right "arty" boxes but nothing actually happens and at the end you are left wondering what the point was.
Very disappointing