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sebastiansawko
Reviews
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
"Are you happy in your life?" "It's a big question!"
"Happy Go Lucky" is a character-driven drama that's both funny and poignant at the same time. Pauline, or Poppy is at the center of the story. She is a 30-year-old primary school teacher and the heart of sunshine in a world of mostly miserable people she comes across in her life (her pregnant sister, the psychotic driving instructor and the "grandiloquent" bum are good examples).
The magic of this movie comes from a delicious combination of sparkling dialog, superb acting and intelligent direction. The core beauty of the film, however, lies in the portrayal of the quirky yet believable characters who fill the screen. The most important of these is obviously Poppy.
The protagonist seems to be on a constant high (I guess she suffers from endorphin overproduction); she approaches life with optimism and smile, she loves to giggle and help others, she's full of life and good intentions. Some people have said that her character is unrealistic and her incessant cheerfulness can be annoying. That's the point of the movie, I think. Happiness, or true contentment with our own life is so foreign to most of us that we find it bizarre and irritating to see someone who actually IS happy with theirs!
The film should be subtitled "Scenes From a Life" as it depicts different aspects of Pauline's mundane existence, such as flamenco and driving lessons, work in primary school, get-togethers with friends, etc.
For me the driving lessons are the highlights of the film because of the sharp dialog and the engaging interplay between Poppy and her misanthropic driving instructor. What we witness here is a clash of personalities representing opposite ends of the spectrum, Poppy being the calm carefree butterfly she is and the driver an antisocial hot-tempered neurotic. The development of the fiery relationship between the two is a feast to watch.
At the end of the day this movie forces you to ask yourself questions about the way you approach life. Where am I on the spectrum? Closer to the driving instructor or Poppy?
If you like socially/psychologically oriented cinema with a strong believable script and a moving intelligently written dialog, this is a film for you.
Silent Hill: Homecoming (2008)
Good as a game, bad as a Silent Hill game
#CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SH2 AND SH4#
(A NECESSARY) INTRODUCTION
Firstly, I know that games are made to make money. Much too often the most important thing for the creators is to pander to the tastes of the AVERAGE gamer, who often thinks, "Hey, I fork out my parents' hard-earned bucks and I want to get what I already know and like fog, flashlight and Pyramid Head, 'cause he was sooo cool and I wanna be like him! Oh, and make it all more accessible, 'cause the previous games were too weird and open to interpretation. I just wanna shoot some monsters dammit!"
Secondly, I realize that most games are made to entertain. Fine by me.
However, I always thought SH was an exception to the rule. I felt that Team Silent's primary ambition was to create ART and not pure entertainment. They were willing to share their own artistic vision with us, and were not afraid to challenge the fans of the series with new (and sometimes risky) ideas. They could have just repeated the well-tried formulas over and over again. They didn't do it. Each of the first four games offered something new and unexpected. Each new installment thrilled and surprised the gamer. Team Silent concocted four highly ORIGINAL and INVENTIVE works of art. They never compromised their creativity because they never completely succumbed to the casual gamer's expectations. In other words, they had the balls to defy our wishes.
I mean, if you want to create true art you should never listen to the masses, but to your own sense of artistic sensitivity. Be like Zappa, Zorn or Patton. Be like Lynch, Bunuel or Jarmusch.
I never wanted SH to be tailored to my demands! I wanted it to surprise me, shock me, make me FEEL and THINK and REEVALUATE my ideals. Well, that was the case with the first four SH games. Now, with Origins and Homecoming it's over. SH is officially dead to me.
THE REVIEW PROPER
I feel that with the new team the main concern was how many bucks the next SH game would/should earn. It's like they wanted to play it safe and their main goal was to please the old fans and at the same time make the game attractive to casual gamers. They had no true artistic vision of their own they just reverently imitated and combined the "coolest" elements from the previous games to suck up to the fanboys and added some "in vogue" novelties to broaden the target market. Hence, to me Silent Hill is no longer about art or new ideas it's about making easy money through imitation rather than creation.
Here's what I find wrong with SH Homecoming:
In short, the game is well-produced but STALE.
In more detail:
1) FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT
It's repetitive all the trademark features of the previous SH games are used in a basically unchanged way, which makes the game dull, predictable and unscary.
Cases in point: flashlight, fog, locations (hospital, sewers, prison), monsters (nurses, dogs, straitjacket monsters), music (exactly the same ambient stuff we've already heard so many times before) and the most important thing: storyline (an ugly imitation of SH2 story and some elements from the movie). The problem lies in rehashing the same things for the FIFTH time without adding anything substantially new to the ATMOSPHERE or the STORY!!!
I know they've improved the fighting system, introduced dialog trees, changed the viewpoint, etc but these things are just small cosmetic changes that can't hide the fact that the franchise suffers from stagnation it's got stuck in a rut!
I mean, how many times can you fight the nurses? How many times can you visit hospitals? How many times can you listen to the same ambient tunes during conversations? Jeez, the overexposure just makes the game BORING.
2) TWO IS A COMPANY, THREE IS A CROWD
There are too many characters in Homecoming (I think around a dozen in total!). SH was about isolation and solitary quest for the truth, here we get a team effort. It was an interesting idea to introduce more characters, but come on! The game is "teeming with unnecessary people"! Some characters are totally irrelevant to the plot and you can't help but wonder why they're in the game at all. This overabundance makes the game less creepy and claustrophobic.
3) BOO! GOTCHA!
The game has a very tired approach to inspiring fear in the gamer. Namely, there are a lot of jump scares and loud action scenes reminiscent of typical Hollywood film productions. Again, all this is too familiar and derivative to produce true fear or excitement.
4) I WANNA PLAY A GAME
In all truth, the game is more gratuitously disgusting than scary. It bows more than once to the trendy sub-genre of torture-flicks there's blood, guts and cutting and drilling aplenty. In my humble opinion, the graphic nature of some of the scenes is out of place in a game like SH. (Do you remember the subtle way they showed James's crime in SH2? Or when in SH4 they only showed the deaths of two of Sullivan's victims? The other three acts of violence were implied!) Please, don't turn SH into "Hostel", for Mary's sake!
To sum up, although well-executed, the game is derivative on all fronts and doesn't introduce anything substantially new to the series. If you enjoy the feeling of deja vu in your gaming experience you will probably like this game. If you crave for something original, surprising and inspiring you are in for a disappointment.
Speed Racer (2008)
A fabulous cinematic experience! An orgasmic roller coaster ride!
Wow, just wow! This film is like a big, sweet, richly garnished, multi-tiered cake. It feels so fresh, bouncing and visually stunning. It's beautifully filmed in vivid flamboyant colors. Each frame offers the viewer rich candy-like sweetness, which is by no means nauseating and fits the plot and the mood of the film perfectly. It's been made with wild unfettered imagination, heartfelt enthusiasm and meticulous attention to detail. This abundance of detail is especially appreciated on repeated viewings.
Plot-wise it's basically a film for older kids or teenage comic book fans, however, in my opinion, adults will also appreciate it. There is a lot of slapstick humor to be found, and the flick requires a tongue-in-cheek approach if you want to fully appreciate its over-the-top charm. The characters and sets are cartoonish, but in a good inspiring sense and the general feel of the movie is that of a fast-moving action-oriented comic book on screen. The editing is flawless and flowing. The pace is fast and you will never get a chance to feel bored, though you may find yourself a little overwhelmed by the amount of eye candy and the panache with which the action scenes are done. The camera work, frame angles and editing are all innovative and very artistic.
To sum up, this film is a breath of fresh air in film-making. It's ferociously imaginative and blindingly colorful, loaded with breathtaking racing sequences and extremely pleasant to the eye. Don't listen to the ever-grumbling professional critics; if you are young at heart and thirsty for a lush cinematic adventure give this small masterpiece a chance!
PS: The movie is NOT another Matrix! It's visual genius, but has a totally different style and tone from the Trilogy.