huxleyhobbes Reviews

Miami Vice (2006)

Approaches flawless.

[10/10 · 4 August 2006]

I've been a fan of Michael Mann for some time now, because of obvious reasons (Heat and Collateral, namely). This is a new reason. It is very, very tightly told, I have never seen better pacing in a movie. You don't get long soliloquies or dialogues, you just get the characters as they are, and through the movie you see why they are who they are.

I have rarely seen as intense a performance as that given by Farrell in this movie. Foxx shines brightly as well, but IMO Farrell gives one of his best performances here.

The mise en scène is faultless. The camera-work, choice of camera and film itself, everything is amazing. The soundtrack and use of it could not have been better, in any way I can think of.

Go and see Miami Vice.

Azumanga Daioh: The Animation (2002)

Absolutely, categorically fantastic.

[10/10 · 3 July 2006]

I usually try to avoid hyperbole - I've studied enough English to know how overdone it can be. And in this case I will avoid hyperbole as well. I can quite honestly say that Azumanga Daioh is the best anime I've ever seen, and probably the best show.

Scratch that, actually. The number of *things* of any form which can match Azumanga can be counted on the fingers of both hands.

In every single episode, I found myself laughing out loud, going "Awwww, sooo cute!", and smiling with just... happiness. This is an idiosyncratic show, but also an incredibly poignant and touching one. I can think of nothing else which touches me so deeply that it makes me cry a tenth as often as And does. In that sense, it is the best feel-good panacea I have ever come across, or heard of. It's possible I am forgetting a Norse myth which spoke of something better, but I doubt it.

The show is also, of course, incredibly funny. Whilst there is the occasional joke lost in translation, or which benefits from a little knowledge of Japanese culture, the vast majority of the humor is accessible to anybody who cares to watch it. It has more classic lines than anything except perhaps Monty Python.

Put simply, this show has everything necessary to be a classic. It is for Azumanga Daioh that anime and television and efficient, modern distribution methods exist. If you have any soul, any joy in your body, I cannot recommend this enough. Import it, track it down in stores, do whatever you can to get a hold of it. Well, anything except theft. Everyone involved with the creation of this masterpiece deserves every penny they are paid, and several edifices to their greatness besides.

Silent Hill (2006)

Pretty decent piece of film.

[8/10 · 23 April 2006]

Having been a rather hardcore gamer for most of my life, I have been rather disappointed by most of the movies based on games we've got so far. Though Super Mario Bros. has a certain charm. Anyway, along comes Uwe Boll and makes things even worse than they already were, and pretty much destroys any chance they have of being taken seriously - when Resident Evil is the best you have, it's a pretty sorry state of affairs. I've not seen DooM, I should note.

And then along comes Silent Hill. And, by some strange contrivance of the universe, it's actually a rather good film. The problem is, however, that there are certain points where things could have been done much better, and because we are being served a very nice dish of movie-based-on-game, it's rather saddening to have to endure those missed opportunities.

I felt the first half to be the strongest - that was when the mystery and confusion existed, and the unknown is always scariest. Once things ramp up, whilst it is well executed, it becomes less and less scary. The major problem I had was with the denouement, which I liked in narrative terms, but which I thought was poorly told.

Special mention should go to the special effects department, which I hear tell was mostly the work of prosthetics and makeup, with remarkably little CGI involved. They have created an incredibly good-looking world (Well, as good as Hell can look.) and they deserve a great deal of credit.

I don't know if I voted correctly in giving it an 8. I think a 7 might be more appropriate. But I can see a genuine effort to make a good film here and in large part it succeeds. I didn't have the heart to vote lower, to be honest. I recommend the movie to fans of the game (Most accounts from real fans, rather than people who've casually played like me, indicate a great deal of enjoyment.) and to ordinary folks who want a pretty good, fun movie.