Change Your Image
movieBill
Reviews
Il deserto dei tartari (1976)
Not your typical war film
If you're expecting an action film, then you'll be disappointed. If you'd like to experience a different type of war film, then you're in for a treat. The premise is simple, a junior officer is sent on his first posting to a distance fort on the outskirts of the empire. With the isolation goes promotion opportunities and perhaps imminent glory on the battle field. The problem is that no one has seen the "Northern Kingdom" soldiers for sure, but signs of advanced scouting parties keep the men's hopes up and helps to alleviate the daily grind of training and preparation. The belief that a border incursion is pending has kept some of soldiers at the fort for their entire careers. The cinematography is spectacular and works hand in hand with the tension of anticipation. The viewer is effectively drawn into the stiff military culture and the mentality of the soldiers, but like them you have a sinking feeling that although the day of reckoning is very close it may never come.
Il deserto dei tartari (1976)
Not your typical war film
If you're expecting an action film, then you'll be disappointed. If you'd like to experience a different type of war film, then you're in for a treat. The premise is simple, a junior officer is sent on his first posting to a distance fort on the outskirts of the empire. With the isolation goes promotion opportunities and perhaps imminent glory on the battle field. The problem is that no one has seen the "Northern Kingdom" soldiers for sure, but signs of advanced scouting parties keep the men's hopes up and helps to alleviate the daily grind of training and preparation. The belief that a border incursion is pending has kept some of soldiers at the fort for their entire careers. The cinematography is spectacular and works hand in hand with the tension of anticipation. The viewer is effectively drawn into the stiff military culture and the mentality of the soldiers, but like them you have a sinking feeling that although the day of reckoning is very close it may never come.
Shi mian mai fu (2004)
Huge romantic component
If you are a fan of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero" then you will likely enjoy this film as well. Like its predecessors, this movie is heavy on style, costumes, cinematography, and impossible martial arts combat, bow and arrow, and knife throwing sequences. The more combatants in a scene (say the bamboo grove fighting scene) the more special effects seem to take over. On the other hand the one on one combat scenes were fairly realistic and riveting (the fight during a blizzard comes to mind). Unlike it's predecessors, there is more stress placed on the love story and character dialog then on martial arts action and large epic type scenes, likely as a result of a much smaller budget.
Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro), our hero, is tasked with infiltrating "The flying daggers" an anti-government group, with the help of one it's members, Mei (Ziyi Zhang). A good deal of the film consists of Jin and Mei making their way thorough the country, which develops into a love interest. In fact the movie revolves around the relationships between the three main characters, with intrigue, deception, and double crossing thrown in. There are many love scenes (nothing memorable), which seems to detract from the expectation of a martial arts film, or maybe the intent was to make a love story with a martial arts back drop.
If "Crouching tiger..." and "Hero", which were epic martial arts films, then "Flying Daggers" is a smaller more intimate martial arts love story.
Employee of the Month (2004)
It's all an illusion, dark comedy/drama with plot twists
David Walsh (Matt Dillon) is a banking officer, who's life seems to go terribly wrong when his job review sandbags him and instead of being made employee of the month, he's fired. To make matters worst after work his fiancée, Sara Goodwin (Christina Applegate) confronts him with his infidelity, ends their relationship and tosses him out on the street. How could things get any worse (or better)? His friend Jack seems to think things are finally moving in the right direction, all David needs now is a night of drinking, a handgun, and he'll be ready for some payback, unless a bank robbery interferes with his plans.
The acting is very good, and in some scenes great, with Steve Zahn (Jack) stealing most of the scenes he's in. Peter Jason is also outstanding as Mr. Gartin the tough Bank VP. The humour is very black, and the dialog well written. From the opening scene and repeatedly during the film, the idea that life is an illusion is mentioned. But it's not until several unforeseen plot twists later that the viewer realizes that two separate plots have been simultaneously unfolding, or maybe not.
If you like any of the cast, dark humour, good acting, a plot with twists and turns, then this is a little gem you should try out.
Absolute Aggression (1996)
Trying to be a B movie
The movie's premise is that by 2011, the USA economy has collapsed, crime and unemployment are rampant, and the UN now controls the country. With prisons overflowing, virtual reality gaming offers the public a needed diversion. Prisoners fight for their lives ("die in the game, die in life") in middle ages' jousting, viking raids, 17th century US/British fort battle, and jet fighters dog fighting scenarios. What little remains of the US army, have become rebels dedicated to freeing prisoners and destroying the gaming system. Not bad, sounds promising.
Unfortunately the dialog is poor which translates into mediocre acting. As for action, the gun play is comical; actors shoot wildly in various directions without ever aiming, and the act of poking their heads around corners and shooting alternates between good and bad guys. It seems like no one in the cast has ever held a firearm before. The sword play is not much better, with some obvious fatal thrusts under the armpits of the victims. At one point our heroes make their escape on a two seater ATV, which I would guess has a top speed of 20 mph, but that's all the speed they seem to need to, out run soldiers who are only a split second behind (and lack the marksmanship hit a target just in front of them) and zigzag between pursing tanks (which they blow up with dynamite sticks).
It gets worse. The sets are improvised and revolve around an abandon industrial warehouse. Prisoners in suspended animation sleep on a racking shelving system available at Walmart, the VR goggles are adorned with gold document stickers available at Staples, prisoners are moved about in a plastic dumpster (the type apartment buildings use for recyclables), surgical tubing is used for handcuffs, the knights helmets are obviously made of cardboard/plastic, and I could go on, but you get the idea.
To top things off amateurish titles and special effects that could be (and probably were) created on a PC, are dispersed throughout.
This flick does have a few redeeming scenes, to men at least. Topless nudity is featured prominently. Amy Lynn Baxter (formerly a Playboy playmate and a Penhouse pet) has an incredible set. Then there's the viking raid scene, where four women run around topless and get there tops ripped off (repeatedly in that order).
If you're thinking, hey I got a camcorder, a PC with simple video editing software, a few days to write a script, two dozen friends who can serve as crowds/soldiers/prisoners/commandos/indians/knights or whatever, some stock news footage that can be spliced in, cooperation from the local army reserve detachment, and maybe some government funding (to pay for Amy Lynn's topless scene). Then you've hit on the formula for this venture.
J. Christian Ingvordsen wrote, directed and stars (as the main villain) in this venture. It wouldn't surprise me if he claimed to be a reincarnated Edward D. Wood Jr. A+ for tenacity in getting this thing made. If you're a fan of low budget movies then this flick might be of some interest, but still does not have the appeal of Mr. Wood's cult classic turkeys. By the way the DVD previews other movies from Mr. Ingvordsen. Airboss (1.8 IMDb rating), Bog Creatures (2.5 IMDb rating), both distributed by mtiVideo, I don't intent to see either or visit the web site.
Why did I bother renting and watching this to the end? Good question. My gym offers free movies, to encourage members to return for another workout before $5/day late fee kicks in, and on that particular night little else was available. I watched it mostly thinking I could do better, and the topless scenes prolonged my attention as well. Maybe having free movies at the gym is not such a good idea. I need to find another gym before this happens again.
A 2 on 10, out of respect for getting this thing made some how. OK, OK, the rating is mostly for seeing Amy Lynn topless.
Goin' Down the Road (1970)
Gripping, time capsule of the working class in 1970 Toronto
I stumbled upon this low budget Canadian movie while flipping channels, and although somewhat slow in areas, its grittiness and realism gripped my attention from beginning to end. At first it appeared to be a Canadian version of "Midnight Cowboy" which was released a year earlier, however as the movie progressed it became obvious that the story being told was different.
The heros, Pete and Joey, are high school dropouts from the economically depressed east coast (Nova Scotia), who like so many others travel to the big city (Toronto), in search of a better life. Their enthusiasm is quickly dashed, and they settle into a series of minimum wage jobs, ranging from factory work to washing cars. As the underdogs I couldn't help routing for them, in particular Pete has aspirations for better jobs and dating classier women. However Joey's interest in Toronto's nightlife, working class women and constant beer drinking holds his friend back. Even an interviewer's candid comment "You need to get more education or go back home" does not provide the wake up call Pete needs. In the end Pete and Joey can't seem to help themselves.
Although the main characters appeared to be in their 40's (both are heavy smokers), a decade or two too old for their roles, the acting, dialog, camera work, sound track and interactions with other bit characters worked very well together to distract the viewer from this fact. In particular the scenes of our heros hard at menial work and at play were extremely well done.
All in all, a realistic drama and time capsule to the working class of Toronto in 1970, particularly interesting to Canadians, and lover's of dramas and foreign films.