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Son of God (2014)
Pointless
Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' is a masterpiece of filmmaking, everything from Caleb Deschanel's cinematography to the great performances, it's a great achievement in filmmaking. 'Son of God' never settles down, we experience miracle after miracle with bits and pieces of "teaching" in between. I remember in one of the biblical books Jesus calmed the tempest with his WORDS, in this film we see him wave his hand around like a Jedi. The film is too caught up in the miracles he performed, but never settles on other important parables that give his word MEANING. This movie is a cartoon, since it sensationalizes the wonders that The Christ performed. Does this mean that he is only Jesus because of the miracles he performed? There are too many parts that were tweaked around, for instance Peter's name used to be Simon, yet when we meet him he is already Peter. it's the little things, the little details that make this production one of the worst.
Fruitvale Station (2013)
What was the fuzz all about?
Fruitvale is not a very interesting film, it's really a propaganda movie, about the oppressed black man, there was a deleted scene in the film, where Oscar Grant mentions that "Obama isn't a nig***", because he wasn't from the hood. I wonder why Coogler omitted that from the final film. Either way, the film tries to play the audience with cheap sentimentality, ie. the dog that gets run over. There's also too many scenes where he's driving around his car, and those scenes have absolutely no purpose. Nothing interesting really happens in the film until the very end, when Oscar gets shot, the whole movie just builds to that moment, the rest of the film is filled with scenes of Oscar and her little girl, highlighting points in his life that are meaningful to him. I felt nothing for the film, because it had nothing interesting to offer, you can get the same effect from watching a reality TV show. The film tries too hard to depict every African American as victims, which isn't entirely true. This film is extremely narrow-minded, and I can see how it completely played the critics and its audience. Once you see the film, there's no need to see it again. I honestly don't understand how this film gained the attention it did.
American Hustle (2013)
An enjoyable film with many shortcomings
I have to admit that I was allured by the film's critical acclaim, and having seen and immensely enjoyed 'Silver Linings Playbook', I thought I was in for another David O. Russell hit. The film has its moments, the plot is fairly simple, con artists get busted by the FBI, and they have to dig themselves out of a hole, by helping the FBI catch a bunch of crooked politicians. The story progresses with moments of jealousy and all sorts of dysfunctional relationships. The film's structure and style is a complete rip off from Martin Scorsese: the voice over, music, freeze frames, slow motion, flash cuts, are all trademark Scorsese storytelling techniques, which are over used. The ensemble was enjoyable as a whole, but individually I felt like I was watching caricatures of people and not actual people, in the exception of Jeremy Renner. Overall, I really did enjoy the film, I see it more as a comedy, I felt none of the characters were ever in real danger, or any of the "drama" plausible. Anyone who goes out to watch this movie will probably enjoy it, but it won't blow your mind or leave an impression. You'll forget you saw it once you get out of your seat.
The East (2013)
Not thrilling enough
I had somewhat high expectations before having seen 'The East', I heard so much about 'Sound of My Voice' and how it was picked up by Fox Searchlight. The East tells the tale of an eco-terrorist group, dubbed 'The East', they are comprised of forlorn characters with a troubled past, and it usually has to do with massive corporations, such as pharmaceutical corporations ruining the lives of countless many. At first I identified with the entire group, it reminded me of The Long Voyage Home, where you have all these spiritually defeated characters in one ship, and it's their loneliness and frustration that brings them together, they all have a troubled past, and are outcasts, displaced personalities from what they once knew as home. Sadly, 'The East' was so caught up in its ploy of the whole 'secret agent infiltrating a group of criminals and falling in love with them', this sort of thing derived from Raoul Walsh's 'White Heat', and it's never been done the same way ever since.
I felt the Brit Marling character should have been more caught up in her work as a secret agent, and would do anything to get ahead, but that wasn't the case. I really felt nothing for her character, it was perhaps the wrong approach in my point of view, the film felt too structured that it imprisoned the characters in this thin plot of sabotage and espionage, and that's really what it all is, except it's not even thrilling to watch. If there's one personality in The East, that i felt had more human value or credibility, it was the Ellen Page character, the fact that her father was the cause of so many ruined lives, and that she left her own family was something of interest, but that wasn't well developed. Brit Marling was so distant and cold from everything, it was almost like watching a robot, I felt absolutely nothing for her; she has a subdued approach in her acting like Joan Fontaine, but even Fontaine was so understandable, as in Rebecca, we identify with her because she is misplaced in this very rich and lonely environment, and it's a wonderful performance. With Brit, there was nothing to build upon for her, there was a serious lack of emotion, and whenever she did try to emote before the screen, it didn't feel right.
The East is far from a good film, it is mechanically out of tune, and there are no characters I could feel or even begin to understand, I didn't understand why 'The East' was such a high-priority risk, but I suppose we would have to look at the Boston bombing incident, people tend to lose their way at some point, so I suppose keeping eyes and ears on any kind of homegrown terrorist organization is a sound idea, but I had trouble believing any of it; it mainly felt that secret agents wouldn't behave the way they behaved in this film, it didn't feel well researched in that regard. Yes, she infiltrates this group, but why? Why is she doing what she is doing? It seems a bit aimless, and so does the entire film.
Creative Nonfiction (2009)
I liked it
I loved Creative Nonfiction, this is the type of film people should look at in terms of production cost. When you're starting out in film you have to do a lot with nothing, and that is exactly what Lena does. You can see the raw talent that Lena possesses with her acting and dialogue. I think what makes the film so effective is that, as the viewer, I felt like I was prying into Ella's life. It's almost like going through someone's phone and digging through all their inner-most personal conversations and pictures. The whole movie was like a diary, and I think people are interested in that. Whenever we overhear a conversation about girls talking about their sex lives, you sort of want to linger around and overhear, because it's interesting. Creative Nonfiction is just that, it's a personal diary of a college woman's life.
The objective, hand-held camera-work works great, still photography would have made the scenes monotonous, and it would have played out within the first 15 minutes. It's an impressive debut by the very young Lena Dunham.
When the Zombies Come (2013)
Uninspired
Sundance 2013 has featured some of the worst short films ever in their respective program. "When the Zombies Come" is no exception, the short is filmed like a documentary, which draws inspiration from the TV show "The Office" - there is no story or even any characterization. The short merely focuses on the inane notion of an imminent zombie apocalypse and indulges in the fantasy of taking refuge in an Ace store, where many sharp weapons could be used to kill these zombies. That is the whole premise for this short, and nothing else happens! It baffles me how stuff like this made it into the festival, considering not too long ago we got to see some great short films like "Bottle Rocket", PT Anderson's "Cigarettes & Coffee"... this year it seems like these shorts were chosen at random, and it doesn't make any sense. When the Zombies Come is just one of the many horrible short films in the Sundance 2013 festival.
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
Resident Evil: Retribution (3D)
The Resident Evil franchise has been good to me. In this review I can only voice my own interest in the franchise, I should also note that the Resident Evil series should not be seen as films, but as mere products to help sell the next video game. That is of no consequence to me, I understand what to expect before I pay for my ticket, and I've known what to expect ever since I paid to see Resident Evil: Apocalypse.
I have been a loyal fan of the series since its inception, and I managed to see the first movie on DVD when I was about 14 years old. At first I didn't think the movie was good, I thought it was disgraceful. But, gradually the first Resident Evil movie became my guilty pleasure. I've somehow learned not to pay attention to the storyline, because there is none, you won't find a storyline in the Resident Evil movies, they purely stand on their own, and the only thing that holds them is its leading lady, Milla Jovovich. The reason for such an ambiguous approach is that more sequels could be milked until people get sick of them.
Here's what I love about Retribution, and all those other movies that came before it. Two words. Milla Jovovich. Milla Jovovich is an iconic and legendary figure in the action genre. Just like Greta Garbo was queen of the silent era, and Bette Davis the queen of the talking picture, Milla Jovovich owns the action genre. There is never a dull moment when Milla Jovovuch is kicking ass, shooting her weapons in glorious slow motion, and not to mention her high-flying kicks.
This babe is what has transcended the entire Resident Evil series into art. Yes, I said ART. The art of ass-kicking has never looked so good with Milla in her tight spandex, blazing sub-machine-guns in 3D. If you want a reason to watch this movie, then there it is. Paul W.S. Anderson is no hack either, he's interesting as an action director, more so than abysmal hacks like Luc Besson, even more so than Robert Rodriguez. I also love his futuristic set piece, you must admit that they are very creative. As long as Milla Jovovich stars in these movies, they can count on my 15 bucks to watch her.
For those complaining about the movies not being like the games, you try and a adapt a video game into a movie! To make a film out of a video game, you need to recreate the entire thing, because all you do in the games is solve puzzles and shoot at zombies for countless hours. How can you make any kind of cinema out of that? It's impossible. It;s like trying to drive a car without an engine, you have a good looking body, but no engine to make it go. And that's what Resident Evil games are in a nutshell, they look good and scary - but that's about it.