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kgwest
Reviews
Blessed (2004)
Not Great
I tried really hard to give this movie the benefit of the doubt telling myself that any moment now it was going to get better but it just never did. I feel like someone sat down & made a list of a lot of things they wanted to put in a movie. (pretty girl, flash house, cute kids, ancient artifacts etc..) Did them all poorly on the cheep & threw them together with no thought about plot, point or purpose. Both the acting & script left me with no connection to the characters what so ever leaving me feeling like i couldn't care less what happened to them. The end result, a poorly made, budget feeling film lacking any substance at all.
Honogurai mizu no soko kara (2002)
An almost great movie
In all fairness my expectations were really quite high for this movie & unfortunately I was left feeling a little disappointed. Everything was was going so well. A totally creepy thriller all be it a little predictable but who cared it was great anyway. Then suddenly without warning it almost turned into a totally different movie. Predictability went out the window and so did any possibility of a reasonable ending. The general feeling in our house was that of watching a good movie crash & burn on the home straight. However for the most part it's superb acting mixed together with classy film making to produce a truly unnerving movie.
Grind (2003)
Not for grown ups
Our to pre-teens and a bunch of their mates all of which have skateboards, freestyle bikes etc.. thought this was great. They laughed at all the jokes, ood & ard over the tricks and looked suitably concerned whenever things seemed grim. My husband & myself however knew everything that was about to happen well before it did and grew more and more irritated by the over the top stereotypical characters. Not even the skateboarding managed to save it for us having seen a bit more of it than the kids we were not quite so easily impressed. On the upside they were totally entertained on a rainy afternoon loving so much they even watched the making.
Versus (2000)
It's a specialist movie
What can I say? It's a specialist movie and in order to enjoy it you need to follow some simple guidelines. 1. Always watch foreign films in the language they were filmed in other wise they take on a whole new kind of ridiculousness.(this doesn't need any other kinds) 2. When the words zombie & porthole get used in the same sentence adjust your expectations finding realism in a movie is about as likely as finding Shakespeare in a comic book. 3. Expect a lot of gore take a sense of humour and have a good laugh.
On the up side the makers of this film have made all the characters so unique making it incredibly easy to follow each character which isn't always the case in some Japanese films. Personally I loved some of the characters' they were funny, cool and oozed style. Plus it has one or two surprises up its sleeve.
Matchstick Men (2003)
A great character driven movie
I know this movie has taken some plot criticism but all this is easily overshadowed by the truly endearing characterization. I was pleasantly surprised to come across this little gem of a film filled with interesting charming characters sympathetically portrayed. The only downside for me was Bruce McGill as Chuck (nothing more than me personally not being a big fan of his). This made for perfect lazy Sunday night viewing on the couch with a bunch of friends. Loved the clever use of music & the simplicity of the lovely cinematography. The whole story plays secondary roles to the characters so don't be put off by petty gripes about silly things like deposit boxes. Cage was great managing to squeeze an occasional chuckle out of even the most unenthusiastic viewer in the place.
Adaptation. (2002)
less than average
I like character studies, I like black comedies, I like Nicolas Cage but I did not like this movie. The way it jumped between 2 sets of characters, one having flashbacks the other dreams left the whole thing feeling disjointed and lacking flow. The characters lacked any endearing characteristics leading to a total indifference towards what happens to them. However the voice overs by cage (especially his intro of himself)was the saving grace of the film taking it from an awful 1 to a less than average 4. I should have known better it was created by the same people that created "Being John Malkovich" and I found that a little less than average as well. If you too like character studies, black comedies and Nicolas Cage then see "Matchstick Men".