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Film
Prophet's Movie Reviews Page 10
The Prestige (2006)
Starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Scarlett
Johansson, David Bowie, Rebecca Hall
Film Prophet's Review...
Christopher Nolan's non-linear movie engineers scientific possibilities
indicting dangers of perpetual toil and antagonism to obsession. The
amazing script by Nolan and his brother give a rivalry a new perverse
perspective. The crafty storyline surprises are thought-provoking and
clever to tamper with. Bale and Jackman play devoted onetime partners
and now rival magicians in gaslight London who battle each other for
stage secrets. Each envies the other's secrets in completing the act.
Angier, Jackman, has the showmanship talent while Borden, Bale, is about
the trick itself. The men contest about predicaments and moral ethics
about tricks in show business. Their sacrifices into work by designing
illusions devour them in being the front runner in the rivalry rather
than realizing what really matters. The duel is so seductive and
unremitting during their battle of intellects. Often they communicate to
each other about tricks through their eyes, but what appears ordinary in
the film sometimes sets up the film’s own tricks. It sustains a tone of
false impressions by misdirecting the audience's attention. There are
three timelines to conceal the movie's own surprising secrets in its
perplexing and entertaining written plot. The plot is so well written
and the direction is superb centering on the main characters. The
changing cluttered narrative swings from Caine’s voiceover to diary
entries written by Bale and Jackson as this movie’s editing does not
unfold the story chronologically like in Nolan’s Memento. The pieces
come together when the entire movie finishes up. Various flashbacks of
acts shape the present to develop the magicians. They are used as a
misdirection device to keep the audience tuned into the final solving
ambiguity in the magical act of the prestige. Additionally, this review
itself can be a prestige by not writing or explaining the trickery of
the film's premise. The movie title refers to the third and final part
of a magician's successful trick by bringing the ordinary back
shockingly. The greatest trick that explores this consumption is The
Transported Man and Angier’s obsession with discovering Borden's secret
about it. Angier wants an explanation that is more elaborate and
complicated then what he is being told. ‘As soon as you give up a
secret, you’ll be nothing to them. Never show anyone. They'll beg you.
The secrets will impress no one and the trick you use it for is
everything.’ There are hefty accents in the Victorian England setting
and there are some very dull colors of browns and blacks with dark
lighting. The stage tricks repeats for the movie audience in front of
different crowds on screen. Neither man plug in his show to the crowd
and there is no marketing technique. It is about the design to outdo one
another in the following show or sometimes during the act. The acts of
vengeance against one another are gripping such as sequences of
incognito disguises surprising one another as crowd volunteers. They go
about stealing tricks and doing it better or sabotaging the other's
success. Their bitter rivalry has its consequences of obsession and
insanity deceptions.
Final Grade: B+/B
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Starring Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn, Molly Shannon,
Steve Coogan, Rose Byrne
Film Prophet's Review...
Sofia Coppola’s costume period piece accounts of a naive young girl in
1774 who became the queen of France before the French Revolution.
Marie-Antoinette, Dunst, is supposed to partake to achieve an alliance
between Austria and France by marrying Louis XVI, Schwartzman, the
grandson of King Louis XV, Torn. Though she noticeably does not for
several reasons that aren’t really towards her and things get worse in
Versailles. She inhabits the traditions and customs of queen privileges
as attendants dress her and keep track of her at all times. After the
movie production finished, it was a long wait till the national release,
but that sometimes means the publicity plunges during the course of the
year and that is true for this movie. The art direction and set designs
were fine, but with all that time and effort going into designing the
sets, a script with just a few lines where a chunk are cheap jokes from
the supporting characters was poor. Jason Schwartzman is not one to
imagine as Louis XVI, still he never says or does anything interesting
during the movie as there is little conjugal relations between Louis and
his wife. The contemporary music attempts modern Marie in order to
humanize the queen, but then it switched back and forth between
classical and eighties rock. The movie is slightly joyful; there is no
dramatics. They are involved in gossip parties to talk about diamonds,
sex, and champagne, the trivial things. There was really no plot or
narrative and the second half did not pick up and fell apart even more
The casually strung together scenes are leisurely paced with the lack of
spoken dialogue as Marie moves along and is told where to go next. Sofia
has a tendency to direct in silence and some vague areas to work in her
favor. The story is the growth of Marie surrounding the social context
of this time, but in fact they hardly socialized with each other. Dunst
was never a problem. She fit in her role inherently in every scene as
the ordinary folk just gawk in her walking presence because no words are
communicated. The dresses and set layouts do the speaking, not
literally. The audience sees what she sees and it is nothing but mere
facial expressions of wealthy shallow people dressed in neat costumes.
In a scene, servants and others aid the new young royal married couple
when they enter bed together for the night. Other scenes consist of
Marie sitting in her bed and other girls fancying their clothing care
displaying new outfits and shoes as instrumental or rock music carries
on. It isn't about politics; it's about Marie-Antoinette’s tranquil
unfortunate times at Versailles featuring mostly stubborn people. The
people are also phony. She claps for ten seconds when no one else does
then everyone does to follow and support her when an opera number ended.
She was a frivolous, not realizing what is happening out of her borders,
such as France’s bread shortages and debt. She wanders around
uninhabited locations doing nothing so she is unfairly blamed for the
economic troubles of France. The movie ignores history just as she does
in Versailles and she is not of concern until things get bad. At the
end, she is being blamed by crowds of people and tide turns against her. She
didn't ask for any of this extreme constant treatment and supervision
like a spoiled light-hearted martyr.
Final Grade: C+/C
Freaks (1932)
Starring Olga Baclanova, Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Harry Earles
Film Prophet's Review...
Director Tod Browning has a cast partly of living humans playing as
real-life circus spectacles who are deformed, short, and unpleasant to
the public eye. They are circus sideshow freaks in the practical world.
Although, none of their acts are shown to display in a crowd which don’t
matter anyways, the one that truly carries the weight shows up right at
the start of the film. A carnival barker hypes a sideshow freak in front
of a small crowd and tells her story, which the movie proceeds. The
movie audience doesn't see what she looks in the first minute but only
hearing the crowd of disgust. A beautiful but callous high-wire artist,
Cleopatra, later marries a circus midget, Hans, who inherited millions.
She plots with her strongman lover to poison him to death for his money.
In retaliation, the freaks in a herd protect the midget and get even
with them, hideously. Ahead of its time, the unusual, gothic cult movie
was banned in several countries for a long time, eventually inspiration
lots of modern monster movies with similar themes. The freaks are
abnormal in a way. Some are with no legs walking on hands, or with
distorted heads and treated worse than children. The movie is not always
seen for the right reasons, but many people can't look past what they
see or hear with those voices. Along with other regular people in the
circus, muscle man Hercules humiliates the poor Hans, who gets some
sympathy from concise teases. Frieda, acted by Daisy Earles, as her
midget sister crying at the opposite end of a table to Hans from laughs
at him during the wedding feast sequence is very affecting. Running at a
little over an hour, the other characters in the circus are not of
importance. Some though are physically deformed people, such as
conjoined twins and hermaphrodites, than having costumes, makeup, and
technology as the freaks. Some argue that freaks are the normal ones in
the movie and the normal ones are the freaks. Cleopatra is originally
accepted by the freaks admiring her beauty, but she revolts and mocks
them soon enough. Consequently, she is deprive of inane humanity and
gets disfigured somehow off-screen. She will still nevertheless be part
of the carnival, but the visitors will be viewing her in a cage instead.
Themes are how outer beauty does not inevitably link to inner qualities
and no matter how many times the freaks appear, they are just freaks in
the film by appearance despite any inner qualities still labeling them
as freak. Others are of course greed as Cleopatra is cold-hearted after
all and what lies between normal and abnormal. The movie builds to its
memorable climax moment of a dark rainy storm night where the freaks
extract vengeance transforming beauty to one of theirs, but even more
monstrous and shocking and that is that is horror by being reduced to a
hideous outward appearance.
Final Grade: B
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Starring Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe,
Gibson Gowland
Film Prophet's Review...
At the Opera of Paris, a mysterious, lonely phantom forces a famous
singer to give up her role to his unrequited love and unknown singer
Christine. Christine meets this phantom, a masked man, in the catacombs
lair underground, where he lives. Lon Chaney plays the bitter and
vengeful phantom hiding a deformed face behind a mask who terrifies the
Opera Garnier causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to impose the
management to make the woman a star. He continues to be rejected and
becomes infatuated by his understudy soprano and takes her under his
wing when Christine continues to see her fiancé Raoul. The universal
story is told numerous times in all sorts of entertainment forms and
kinds originating from a French novel. It is of high reputation and the
timeless concept of the Phantom still fascinates. This movie is not a
musical as there is no singing since it is a silent film. In the
romance, horror fiction, and mystery macabre, they imitate singing, no
lyrics are sound, but just over a short amount of time. There are no
voices, just a harmony of the score, so the phantom does organ playing
than singing to influence, entrap, and enchant Christine. The falling
chandelier right in the middle of the crowd seating, the famous
unmasking scene, and most of the underground lake scenes are the real
extravaganza detections in the film. The ambition and curiosity is right
away in the story with no holding back with the gossip describing facial
appearance of what others in the play have seen, as the phantom leaves
illegible notes behind. On the downside of things, the two-color
Technicolor was awkward near the end with the title cards and screen. It
is sometimes blurry, noisy, too dark or just too white, shaky, and
unclear. It is not fully dynamic only by music in the flow of things and
drains of energy in the three quarters. However, it is more grotesque
and has more booby-trapped tunnels than in any later version, which is
for the better. The makeup, eyes, and posture for Chaney are
frightening, exemplary in dark tones used to heighten the evil and
anger. Before the audience sees the hideous skull ghosting face, viewers
first sees him as Christine does, under a mask and as a cloaked figure.
He develops a penchant for vanishing and roaming around the cellars. The
movie is more about him than romance, the play, or the trivial
characters so it is closely related to the title, as it all points to
the phantom. Often disappointed many times by the following attempts
movies have made at bringing this story to the screen, nothing compares
to the original story in this silent film. It is the best version of
story, but because contemporary audiences are way too familiar with it
about a century later, it loses the novelty touch of first exposure.
Final Grade: B-
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Starring Ivana Baquero, Maribel Verdú, Sergi López, Doug Jones, Roger
Casamajor
Film Prophet's Review...
Guillermo del Toro's Spanish fairy tale unfolds a fantasy and war saga
mixed with horror elements that is really an adult fairy tale. In early
forties Civil War northern Spain, a twelve year old girl, Ofelia, moves
with her ailing pregnant mother and Fascist Captain stepfather into a
new home in the countryside cut off from a lot of things but the war
still lingers. Ofelia follows a small fairy to a dense labyrinth maze
near the farmhouse. She meets a faun who tells her that she is the
reincarnation of the underworld kingdom's princess. Her spirit is the
long-lost princess and the daughter of the king. Combining historical
family drama and fantasy myths to horror opens territory that’s
groundbreaking in storytelling borders. Much of the fantasy is
overshadowed by the civil war subplot involving a brutal captain who is
too bold and ruthless. This plays a key comparison in comparing war and
fantasy to horror simultaneously weaving in an adult storyline that Toro
directs attention to the evils of war. The Captain and Ofelia’s father
is easily a sadistic character with his violent oppressing constraints.
Ofelia's fairy tales resemble the harsh war times that are brutal as
horror in the ordinary present world. Dignity is destroyed by the
Captain’s threatening violence to others, but yet the film looks
stunning despite its captivating immortality dilemmas as he is a vicious
leader on the protagonist side for quote some time. The harsh drama of
the military fighting the insurgents to torture and death is another
method to the complex of sadness. The movie appears of a mainstream look
with stunningly beautiful textures, but it has unusual human struggles
in a cold dreamlike state with exasperation. There are a few fantasy
sequences where Ofelia attempts to complete grueling tasks that’ll take
her to be the princess of the underworld. It is a race to seek the full
princess status. The visual effects and imagery in the fairy tale
imagery are vivid.... the magical cinematography and symbols include a
mysterious passageways, long narrow green trees, bright flies as pixies,
creepy small or big insects buzzing, a fat toad, magic chalk, and a
fantasy structure with the walls. The Pale Man, the guardian of the
labyrinth, adds height to the horror and his sequence is the most
striking part in all of the film. Ofelia, who is never really scared and
has no screams, has this book that narrates a story and draws itself as
she turns the pages, though the fairies and the story behind the Pale
Man are left hazy. The mother, captain, and daughter relationship
surrounding duties and the unborn son heads into the movie as the book
of fantasy slowly turns its pages as it is heavy about the cruel and
abusive control of the Captain and father. The movie's creatures and
pixies enchant myth and terror for truth and splendor in an engrossing
imagination mixing the dread of the Spanish Civil War.
Final Grade: B+/B
Battle Royale (2000)
Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Takeshi Kitano,
Chiaki Kuriyama, Kou Shibasaki
Film Prophet's Review...
Japanese students must kill each other in order to survive. One school
class per year in Japan is selected by lottery to go to a deserted
island and obliged to kill each other with one remaining alive. In the
upbringing, they have protested against the school system and the adults
begin to worry, so the government created a program in which students
are selected go to an island handed with weapons separated to hunt and
kill each other until one remains to become the winner. A new class this
year of forty-one ninth grade students is drugged up and end on the
island. They have to fight each other for three days until there only
remains one left. They all have a metal collar around their neck so that
the officials can track positions and detect a pulse, and it will
explode by breaking rules or being in a danger zone that lights up by
daily schedule. They are forced right into the action without an alert
and they are unaware of what is leading up. The government discipline on
the youth is ultramodern and sadistic, but the drama the movie provides
is gripping. It's a ludicrous idea, strikingly original with the
direction by Kinji Fukasaku, as the exploration of the sinister idea is
convincing with creative violence on sensitive material revolving around
the problems with Japanese youth. Based on a novel, the film is close to
being an anime style. It is far-fetched and unbelievable, so suiting for
an anime format. Deaths occur frequently and it is brutal never knowing
when one will go. The screen documents the deaths in text in sequential
order of occurrence. The beginning with their seventh grade teacher
physically abusing them in front of class strikes a concern and the
thought of the youth being slain by mates in a coercion is more
unbearable than the subsequent because all the knife stabs and such are
expected then. Most do not have reason to kill and play before
witnessing deaths. They all react to the program differently; some are
harmless or aggressive and it shows how all of the students cope. The
middle of the movie is fatal as most are wounded, injured, exhausted, or
just chilling out. Most of the students are submissive throughout while
others students savor the opportunity. It all depends on attitudes once
they are out there and a big difference is their different bags of
weapons they were handed. Some have sharp shooting arrows, handguns, big
guns, stun guns, axes, or little of a weapon like a pot lid. These can
be used as intimidation forms of protection, even though they are
untrained in weapons as many of the characters were equated down with
their weapons. The characters stay true, testing best friendships,
leaving messages of farewell behind before game begins, and the tragedy
sets up after they leave the classroom on the island. It is clear which
students will last toward the final showdown with those who have more
killing or background scenes. Photographs remind them with some
flashbacks to normal times to gradually know the main characters. Life
at stake and motivations to carry on creates friction between teenagers
in the game of elimination. “Really trusting someone is a hard thing to
do.” The viewer ponders what he or she would probably do in a situation
like this with the reluctance and paranoia. There are not many plans or
strategies because everything is so quick and they are young. Complex
questions are regarded with the film’s futuristic and social issues… the
shift from the childhood to adulthood through the thirst for blood and
violence. The students do share childlike qualities, by being kind and
having frisky attitudes, but it is not for long. Friendships and
loyalties part ways, hate shapes, and the motivation to survive
increases for the fight for survival. “And then, I'm glad I found true
friends.”
Final Grade: B
The Wolf Man (1941)
Starring Lon Chaney Jr., Evelyn Ankers, Claude Rains, Ralph Bellamy,
Warren William
Film Prophet's Review...
Larry Talbot, Chaney, returns from America to his father’s mansion home
in Wales after the death of his brother. He visits a fortune teller at
gypsy camp in the woods with two females and soon after Larry attacks a
wolf in which attacked one of the women after her palm reading. Larry
heard her scream and ran in that direction and beats the wolf to death
with his silver cane, but also gets bit. The view the audience sees is
between a tree trunk when this happens. Detectives, doctors, and cops,
Larry’s father’s pals, and other villagers join in a hunt for the wolf
as if the small village is obsessed with werewolves. Claude Rains, Boris
Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr. are the top men who portray
legendary monsters in early black and white films. Universal Studios was
money and three of them are present in this film. Lugosi has a small
cameo role as a gypsy, the fortune teller who foresees the fate of the
wolf attacks. The cast provides acute acting and this is perhaps
Chaney’s signature role. Chaney is excellent as the bothered man and
Rains assists wholly as his father. Chaney excels in his role as Larry
Talbot and the Wolf Man who is a likable tragic figure; a victim to the
werewolf's prey in torment. Maria Ouspenskaya is notable as the gypsy
woman who only knows about the truth of Larry’s werewolf status kind.
The film comprises of this in agony, but not much in dealing with the
aspects of the full autumn moon folklore of the werewolf tales. The
makeup art effects on the transformation from man to wolf is neat and
elapses over time, haunting feet up, then terror strikes and the English
speech breaks down to howls. The forest is foggy, the woods are dense,
and the fog covers the ground in almost each scene at night. It’s about
in the middle of the film when Larry turns into the Wolf man and he
can't help himself from turning into a werewolf. There is humanity
beneath the horror because the beast can not control himself till death.
‘Gwen, I won’t need this, I want you to have it, it will protect you.’ A
silver wolf cane in a jewelry store with a lady of interest arises the
first werewolf talk. After an early romance, it is fast and alarming,
and strange things follow Larry. The werewolf lycanthropy with the full
bright moon, pentagram marking, and silver bullets are covered very
briefly in talks after the first attacks. The full moon wasn't fully
capitalized, but the frantic occurrences confuse him and everyone to
know what exactly is happening in the entrapping story.
Final Grade: B-/B
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Starring Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning, Nestor Paiva,
Whit Bissell
Film Prophet's Review...
Often forgotten when naming the leading legendary monsters in horror
films, the name of this creature is the title of the movie, or some call
him Gill-Man. He lives under water, no not a mermaid, but a human fish
creature unknown and unbelievable as sole kind of its species. A
scientific expedition searching for fossils along the Amazon River
discover a prehistoric living creature still alive. The fossils they
recently found indicate that some Devonian Period monster may still be
lurking in the territories of the Amazon. This original story sets in
mysterious Black Lagoon, where the crew has close encounters with the
Gill-Man, who lives under water and is just defending his turf. The
image mostly associated with the web-footed creature is carrying a woman
in his arms. However, the creature is not mimicked, lampooned, or
recreated as frequent as others. The fifties were seen as inferior to
the thirties with the boom of the extraterrestrial science-fiction
start. Many other old monster movies have scenarios of beauty and beast
like King Kong, though there is perhaps less than a few minutes of that
here on and off. The creature is enamored with the leading lady, Julie
Adams, very quickly. Remarkably well produced especially by fifty
standards, it is stationed in one locale on a small ship on water that
just stays there waiting for the gill-man to appear. It’s technically
crafty at its time without looking tacky. There are neat underwater
scenes with a portable moving camera when a couple of the scientists go
scuba diving and searching. Those scenes are aided with melodious music
and the stream of the gill-man in there with them. Camera angles are
also coming from under the sea looking up to the surface, think Jaws,
where a female is swimming freely and undisturbed. The creature’s
toiling with the small ship's crane net in the water is natural horror,
a sign that the crew is out of comfort zone. The creature’s early
horrific ensnaring of man-handling two men under a tent is photographed
exceedingly. The underscore of the movie remains to be the sighting of
the gilled creature any time on screen. This includes when the music
hits and his webbed fingers approaches the out of the water to land in
the beginning. He is timely anticipated withholding the imposing figure.
His appearances are balanced and in one scene, the spotlight from the
ship at night shows the first full showing out of water, leading to a
dark underground cave of hideout. The direction has an excellent full
capacity of the creature with the crew battling below and above water
taking place right around the ship. The unprepared scientist explorers
do carry along sharp arrow weapons in their constant hunt as he
reappears and strays away in the water. The philosophical dispute
between business and scientific research creates plenty of troubles for
the crew who some want to take back for credit. ‘We're off for
photographs of studies, not trophies - bring back the real thing.’ The
lines are humorous, and sharp like the camera shots. ‘We must have the
proof!’ For instance, the shot of an injured man in the bed where the
camera shows an open window nearby and the creature’s hand is reaching
over is absolute astonishing. The music comes to a vivid crescendo when
the creature appears and then struggles to survive against mankind and
civilization to the eventual end.
Final Grade: B/B+
Halloween (1978)
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, P.J. Soles, Brian Andrews,
Nancy Kyes
Film Prophet's Review...
Several particular movies don't call for reviews. This is one that
doesn't yield a review because it is a movie in its own. At the same
time, it's in the elite of its genre to discuss and it’s the uprising
and foundation of the slasher suspense film in horror cinema making.
Some would say this is the most dominant type of horror in comparisons
with modern day. That is very true, but to review a movie most people
know about and have seen countless number of times is in assessment with
every movie, not just one genre where the majority is bad. In the movie,
the entire setting is around the day of Halloween and then finishing
through its night. The film begins in dawn with a lit jack o lantern
against a black backdrop and the memorable and recognizable soundtrack
score. The age is young Michael Myers and what the vision features is
two eye peek holes from a mask, striking his sister to death in their
home on Halloween night. Fast forward fifteen years, the menacing Myers
escapes from a psychiatric hospital and visits his hometown while
creeping three high school female babysitting friends who soon become
the targets of the unstoppable figure. His doctor is in pursuit of the
convincing sadistic villain, the ultimate boogeyman. Doctor Sam Loomis
attempts to track and stop Myers and believes he has been looking
forward to this one Halloween night. He arrives in the small suburb in
Illinois, in which the suburb setting is also key… making it connect
with the night where Halloween essentially exists. As his doctor says,
he has no reason, no conscious of understanding. There are no motives to
threatening teenagers visible to the audience, only allowing them to
guess. That may be the mere drawback to a thin plot, but that is behind
the villain. Michael never speaks one word to anyone and his thoughts if
any are kept to him self away from the audience, but his actions are
indulging and lasting. The audience hears his breathing, but as inhuman
he is, he disappears into the night shadows as he gradually closes in
his terror on the girls. He lurks in the wide open though in secret.
Michael Myers has incredible stalking speed. Laurie, Curtis, catches the
occasional sight of him standing dissonantly on lawns and corners. John
Carpenter's directing and crafty camera tilting works the personal point
of view of Myers so effectively. This approach is returned too every so
often with the musical score. Every frame from his eyesight consists of
stylistic techniques. In one scene, he look onwards from school gates
without a head or face showing and again, the camera excels. Sometimes
the camera positions as if Michael is always watching from the street
looking onwards to the characters, even when he isn't, especially in
daylight… that is how excellent the camera work. Sometimes he is
actually there in a stolen station wagon riding by. Another major reason
for the success of Halloween is the musical score composed by a piano
melody. The frequent tune appears almost by the minute, as Michael
appears in places to a glimpse then disappearing immediately with a
second look. The cinematography is great and the musical score adds to
the atmosphere considerably, cunningly creepy. The final body count is
relatively low in terms of the sequels. There are no gratuitous twists
or gore to gross the audience in scares. Carpenter makes the deaths
scary rather than just disgusting. Noted often for Jamie Lee Curtis’
breakthrough screaming role and the iconic Michael Myers character, the
film has led a spree of sequels with some revolving around Myers. Curtis
does not scream until the last fifteen minutes, where Myers is not
speeding on feet, just patiently walking and the audience never sees him
run, such a cliché contemporary. Though none of the sequels completely
match up to this John Carpenter’s original film, Myers proves to be
immune to permanent death in its chilling conclusion.
Final Grade: B+/A-
The Wicker Man (1973)
Starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento,
Ingrid Pitt, Aubrey Morris
Film Prophet's Review...
Sergeant Howie travels to an island called Summerisle to investigate the
disappearance of a young girl. He discovers that the people are uncanny
and unhelpful in this secluded society to the public world, but he is
determined to get to the bottom of the disappearance. Weird people doing
weird things in a weird place do not necessarily express a horror
atmosphere. The title of the film, Wicker Man, is a weird title too and
it is not clear to those who don't know anything about this story and
its final harsh ten minutes to what the title signifies. The film
exposes, yes that is the correct word to use, a Pagan society in old
customs about raising crops and the worship of vengeful gods. All of the
ugly pagan rituals and situations presented are very unbelievable. The
art, lighting, and costumes are bland, and the opening is slow. The
painful guitar folk music accompanies the movie very frequently.
Religious hymns and landscape views are covered in the movie while not a
whole lot goes on but too much bad singing. The story can be thin and
uninteresting because of this especially when there are no shock
elements until one at the end. Howie is appalled when he sees that the
schools are teaching the children about sex in very indecent ways in
public sites. He hangs around for a long time till something happens. A
landlords’ daughter keeps unsuccessfully attempting to seduce the devout
Christian cop. Mystery and faith tying in together makes the story
skewed and hard to enjoy with scare pagan values defeating Christian.
There are too many odd moments in the movie which are utterly unrelated
to the any plot. The movie contains folk songs performed by artificial
characters in the British film with paltry lyrics. The music scores over
the film during many scene transitions with more views of the meager
civilization and people. The cast has also little charisma and dull
lines. The abundance of constant terrible slow singing and rituals that
make the story secondary is one flaw, but another one is most of the
movie carries out in sunny daylight. Howie tries to figure out the place
with corruption to his face and people not cooperating. There is no
horror at all for an hour and a half… there are repetitive sequences of
Howie questioning people in daylight about how did the girl in the
photograph die or whatever for the most chunk of the movie and they all
say they haven’t seen her. He watches females dancing around bonfires,
again during the day, while he goes about prattling to others.
Final Grade: C-/C
The Invisible Man (1933)
Starring Claude Rains, William Harrigan, Henry Travers, Gloria Stuart,
Holmes Herbert
Film Prophet's Review...
Adapted from H.G. Wells' novel, the early horror film encompasses the
classic tale of a scientist turning himself invisible and carrying out
the fantasy about what it would be like to be invisible, eventually
causing him to coerce the countryside as an invisible killer. Claude
Rains gives an unforgettable, and unseen, performance as the compelling
title character. It is a remarkable feature since Claude is not seen for
basically the entire movie. His distinctive voice establishes the
invisible man to his vicious, but exuberance insanity. At the period of
the talkie started to boom, the lead act in this movie ironically has
little body language and physical acting. Dressed in pass bandages, dark
glasses, and cloths to show some form of presence, it is hideous when he
is partly undressed. The movie is technically surpassing at that day of
age from a visual standpoint when the main title character is not on
screen. Along with Claude’s voice, he is accomplished by authentic
special effects that aim towards the story… moving of objects like doors
opening, glasses breaking, a rocking chair, and other spectacular
special effects and tricks. The visual effects make the sensation of his
body room around and move through rooms and places. Although he is on
screen in nearly every scene of the film, he isn’t visually present,
leaving Claude’s performance to be almost a complete vocal one. The
audience watches the characters in the movie from a point as he does as
the audience is just like the characters as well since they can't see
him. A great thing is that the audience envisions he is actually
invisible the whole time he is dressed in ragged clothes. The movie
begins excellent as he is already invisible seeking a shelter at a snowy
inn as the wind noise outdoors adds to the effect. He turns his room
into a science lab and just wants to be left alone and requests to be
undisturbed. It doesn’t last long when he is seen, then tossing people
down the stairs with a screaming lady. This leads to a stunning scene of
him undressing in his room headless as he relishes his mad ghostly
laugh. Fun and often humorous sequences follow as it is hilariously evil
when he runs around and can't be stopped physically, fooling around the
town. It is interesting to find out about the regulations of food and
drink and like that, the script has human and scientific elements. There
aren’t any talks after a minute that aren’t extraneous to the title
character and his story. His friend scientists talk about how he worked
in secret and is missing. The town works together in search parties to
find him as the invisible man is losing his sanity. His vain and
bad-tempered personality gets to him. His murder talks with his
allegedly crime partner is hilarious in Claude’s deadpan tone. Momentous
influence to the mad doctor subgenre, director James Whale creates a
disguised mad man in the stupendous black and white atmosphere.
Fantastic quotes are spread throughout the film - so, I see - you all
sit there doing nothing, nothing! Universal studio horror at its best,
it’s the prime of madly horror amusing movies.
Final Grade: B+
The Queen (2006)
Starring Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms, Alex
Jennings
Film Prophet's Review...
The film takes an approximate glance between Queen Elizabeth II and
British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s interaction in royal London
following the death of Princess Diana of Wales. It documents and looks
at the relevancy of the royal family to government in modern society and
the period between the death and funeral of Princess Diana. Press
matters into the film, by archives, as well to the characters, by
television news, as most of their lines come straight from observations
of what they see on television in their palace. They are politically
social adults with the voting polls races landslide type of blissful
chat about superiors and elections. Blair defends the Queen to the
press, as they exchange mediocre advice to each other. As nervous and
uncertain Blair is, the Queen is accused of not showing enough remorse.
The dialogue is soft, and so it does not create intense interaction,
just as how the royal tier likes it. It mixes fact by footages of Diana
with fiction in dialogue by the performers. More coherent true words
come from their televisions than their small opinions on it. Paparazzi
follows a car around at night for a minute is the most drama or action
this film depicts and it was really below average. There are no big
scenes and the film is mostly slow. The set design is rather immobile,
too delicate, as everything is an antique, very precious up near. The
objects and furniture are set in the distance away from the characters
in the background. The camera is not up close to the performers either,
so there is always room for the setting and appropriate manners and
gestures when meeting the queen, the title character, and calling some
majesty. This is an actors' film in a way, but not a whole lot goes on
in the true-life storyline and some light humor was supposedly written
and so, none was etched in mind. There is no comedy in the film really
though it is a Biography-Comedy. Princess Diana is captured by news
reels and archives. A dozen of two second archives for several occasions
during the film do not establish a storyline. In fact, it vacates the
film even further, akin to the scenery. Ten minutes within after the
news of death, the royal characters try to state a concern about Diana,
but they are really people with few concerns so that they don't really
know how to handle a misfortune like this… so they spend time looking at
televisions and contacting people over the telephone... from the
distance... for the entire film, because these characters in the royal
level are never really close to each other or to the audience. It did
not go into the relationship between the Queen and Diana which could
have added credence. During the long stretch of Diana's accident, the
film is proper and esteemed towards the delicate situation. The rise of
modern politics to the royal family is by coping in front of their
televisions and the ol’ Queen is to look glamorous with tears. Their
hair and clothes always look ideal no matter what time of the day it is.
It is a series of unexciting tabloid accounts and discussions with the
Queen and the Prime Minister, but it all did not transmit well to the
silver screen.
Final Grade: C+/C
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Starring Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, Barry Pepper, Paul
Walker, Joseph Cross, Tom Verica
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by Clint Eastwood and screen written by William Broyles Jr. and
Paul Haggis, the story focuses on heroism towards three men, Doc,
Phillippe, Ira, Beach, and Gagnon, Bradford, whose lives are celebrated
around the end of the Second World War for most notably raising the
American flag on Iwo Jima. One photograph taken at one position at time
represents fleeting interpretations from subjective beliefs to some,
but for those in the photograph, a lifetime caught in the flash. The
photograph of six soldiers raising an American flag on the flank of
Mount Suribachi is the Japanese island commanding high point. It
signaled more than just words, actually speechless relieves for
Americans at home. This Pulitzer Prize winning photograph condenses
victory and optimism of men in war and the six men in the picture become
instant war heroes. The three who remain alive are sent to America for a
tour of entrances, applause, handshakes, waving, and speeches about
buying bonds to support war while mothers ask the three if their sons
were in the photograph with them. They are men who are reluctant,
manufactured by this and are short-lived because of it. The film opens
with the photograph spread on the newspapers, as the film goes back and
forth between time periods to wipe out the vagueness of the photograph
and the men before and after on Japan then. Eastwood and the editing use
some foreshadowing techniques in the editing that skips around in eras
where key events are transpiring. This is most effective when the
memories of the three soldiers are visited back to the screen that
weren’t finished before, as they are completed visually to the audience.
The film goes back to the battle at Iwo Jima and leads up to the
flagpole truth. The arrival at the Pacific war against Japan is grinding
plausible; loud gunshots, mass carnage, and sudden death that lasts for
over ten minutes at the first part during the movie. The production
design with the fleet ships and all is vigorous, as there are no bright
colors, except one can recall the Strawberry or Chocolate part at
another point in the movie. Eastwood makes it apparent how meticulous his
attention to detail is, especially the casting. After neither soldier is
truly introduced in the opening of the movie, they are ready to set on
battleground. When the movie concentrates on the three, they develop
during war and after when it matters to the story. The doctor provides
immediate on battle field medical help to wounded Marine soldiers who
had no chance of survival. Adam Beach as Ira plays the alcoholic Native
American who endures the unconcerned racism of the era and the unwilling
rise to national hero. Barry Pepper as their dedicated sergeant was
magnificent in his supporting role. The reluctant men were not only were
fighting for their country, but for their buddies. In one scene captured
at night, a handful of Japanese men run towards and stagger American
soldiers from behind in a pit. This ensued Barry Pepper's character to
not shoot his rifle from a distance, rather approach the Japanese men
with his long narrow knife insistently. The narration at the end of the
movie is by another character who isn’t really introduced, but like the
characters, the movie is not close to being ideal. Character names are
tossed around who are dead men names who are not expanded in the story
but only in the lasting experience of fellow soldiers. The audience does
receive some inducing parts in the story of weep to mostly the three men
during their causes later on in a few wrenching moments. The end product
of the movie as a whole is poignant and moving. It's semi-tragic towards
war that is a drama that revolves around it. Newspapers print what the
home wants to see and read. The movie is a homage to the honor the dead
of the war. Society creates national heroes in one jiffy who sadly fade
out of the picture when the present glory is over.
Final Grade: B+/A-
The Departed (2006)
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg,
Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin
Film Prophet's Review...
Set in Boston, the story follows a gangster-to-cop, Damon, who infuses
the police department working both sides and a young undercover cop,
DiCaprio, is sent to infiltrate the Nicholson’s Irish mob during the
same time. These two find out that a mole is in each respected party and
neither knows about each other’s identity. Their objectives are to find
out who is the mole and try not to mess up by being the mole to others
on the original side. Director Martin Scorsese has a talent pool of key
actors who were all tremendous in the male dominant play. Scorsese
certainly brings out the best in every performer. Also, one female
character is in the mix between Damon and DiCaprio holding an innocuous
integral part. Nicholson savors each moment in front of the camera with
improvisational excitement leading the city's most infamous organized
crime in the story. The other actors occupy supporting roles grand. Ray
Winstone, Mr. French as Nicholson’s nearby partner, is solid and Anthony
Anderson as part of the police department has a perplexing role at
couple of ending sequences. Scorsese’s load of American Gangster epics
continues where two young Irish men in a Boston's Irish community
pretend to be like one in brutal cop-mob activities in a dangerously and
witty environment. Nicholson begins and addresses the tone of the film
with a dark figure contrasting the lighted ones as the lighting captures
the soul of the antagonist character. He takes a kid under his wing who
grows up to be a cop, Damon. As various occupations, murders, and false
accusations wind down through acts like head shootings, fist bashings,
and grudges, more intricacy happens after every stressful scene for two
and a half hours. This is really DiCaprio’s movie to shine in, in which
he does superbly. It is paranoia confined acting for DiCaprio plus Damon
over suspense in finding out identities. Secret information pass by in
forms of cell phone text messages to alert the opposition party from the
other side to counter plans of penetrated operations. An interesting
facet is when other characters try to find out who is the rat by leaking
artificial information to people in the party just to discover if
somehow the false information is sent back to them from the wrong way.
Sounds compound because that is what it is. Glaringly clever and tricky,
the malice roots beneath the two undercover cop and mob positions from
both corresponding parties are entirely sound and stimulatingly complex.
The movie progresses into the minds of the audience midway when the
undercover infiltrate situations blooms. The swift editing is lucid and
quixotic, gliding from one scene to the next keeping the pace moving.
The dialogue is stern, arrogant, and hard-nosed among the cops and mob
members. Many surprises happen in unexpected plot turns and developments
with so many characters at supply. The last half hour is so fast and
convoluted while the first half hour is a gala on black humor through
prejudice, sexual, and derogatory terms used to hilarity on heritages
and professions. The entire main cast gets a piece of the incitement
with some sort of ensuing encounter, but no more than Wahlberg who is
excellent at this portion of a comedic relief. Away from the plot, one
movie surprise is Wahlberg as scene stealer which has hardly happened
before especially in all his lead work. This performance is the best of
his career and Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen as head positions in the
police force also drive the film into the right direction from Scorsese.
Final Grade: A-
Les Diaboliques (1955)
Starring Véra Clouzot, Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel
Film Prophet's Review...
Director Henri Georges Clouzot’s French black and white mystery in a
psychologically gloom atmosphere ends with a message for the audience to
others, ‘don't tell them what you saw.’ Two anguished women are the wife
and mistress of an all-boy vicious boarding school principal and
headmaster as both connive together in a scheme to murder him. The man
has pompous traits nevertheless an entertaining piece. The wife is
practically vulnerable of committing the crime and somewhat displaced in
bewilderment, as she is dreading an escape without divorce. “I must warn
you, if you miss your chance, he won't miss his.” They drown him in a
bathtub after a drug dose and dump the body to let someone find it, but
the body disappears. Everything went so proper that the audience shares
almost half of the anxiety by the two females and they get real uneasy.
This all happens at the turn of the hour before the audience starts
inflowing into the story and begins wondering what happened when the
movie demands an intolerable attention. The story withholds the plot
developments of worries between the mounting frictions toward everyone
in the story. In a frivolous start, children run around, the husband is
upset over little things, and adult characters mingle without a plotline
yet to fall into place until the tricks let loose near the end. Little
scenes build up to the big ones… hiding and sealing evidence from others
with the body carried along with them. At a careful pace, building
tension slowly, it sets up patiently and soundless at steady activities
by acting, editing, pacing, writing, and camerawork all moving along.
There are no loud noises and music score as it’s pure acting and
cinematography. The lighting is brilliant for the finale nerve-wracking
sequence of stifle. Ambiguous splattered clues arise that just torture
pain for them and the audience should not stop watching for a second.
Excruciating suspense in full of scary scenes in between middling ones
slowly drive the women paranoid. There is no chance of recognizing the
clues as misdirection aims at mental pressure. The wife is a bundle of
nerves and weak minded at stake, fainting occasionally with a heart
condition, and the mistress is a cold blonde. Shock, mystery, ugliness,
insecure worries, diabolical pawns… all words to fit the description of
the final hour without going into the paranormal-like plot There are no
killer antagonists, crazy people, haunted mansions, heroes,
incarnations… and it still shapes up to be a horror film. The most
memorable sequence is right at the end that the warping revelation can
not be enlightened in words. Watch very closely.
Final Grade: B+
Pumpkinhead (1989)
Starring Lance Henriksen, Florence Schauffler, Jeff East, Cynthia Bain,
Kerry Remsen, George Flower
Film Prophet's Review...
The eerie horror film of myth and decency attains a group of traveling
city young adults and dirt bikers who go into a redneck country where a
witch can unleash an unstoppable demon called Pumpkinhead buried under a
pumpkin patch to kill anyone or group who has done iniquitous, murderous
acts. The story all occurs in one long day and night near the woods. It
has a persuasive angle of the father's devotion towards his young son
and the grip of his resentful desires battling with an inner evil
spirit, which is out of the blue terrifying. The hour before that grip
is dawdling by environment in a thin intrigue. Secluded log cabins in
strange tiny folk area on dry and dusty green land covers the scenery as
it may be unlikely a suburban audience will connect to the surroundings.
The slender presence of the witch with her flimsy speech is a memorable
scene. The father resurrects a demon to extract revenge on his son’s
death in a culture where money doesn't really mean much as family is his
mere value. It is not a movie of various enthralling special effects or
with blood and gore everywhere. The sound effects, noises, artificial
fog, unnatural lighting, and score are all average and there is little
build up to any of the kills in a cabin. The very mawkish characters and
others frighten kids of unbelievable myths near a small grocery
vegetable place before anything visually is scary. Irresponsible actions
carry on and try to cause themselves to innocent people later on by
dumbfounded ill outcomes on an accidental silly motorcycle mishap. They
weep about drivel and they’re angry at each other for little reasons as
the viewer is expected to care who won’t. It's grueling to believe and
root for these foolish young adults with severe and unrealistic acting
and past actions. A half of the group is wiped out in a few minutes.
When one is eliminated, the others just stand there in a yards of
distance away and watch and yell out the name when one is on the verge
of death without doing anything to save the victim friend. Really, they
are all helpless stranded to die because they’re marked and no one
should help to get in the way... the unspeakable evil. Pumpkinhead’s
complete physical appearance is saved in a while, but somewhat
disappoints into a Xenomorph replica from Alien. It is an Alien meets
Deliverance type of atmosphere. The creature effects were sometimes
limited when the demon is up in the trees or on rooftops and so on. A
person is slaughtered after being carried away or raised by a long
gripping palm. There is nothing unique or powerful about the demon
except a clever villain twist and that that demon dwells on forever.
Final Grade: C/C+
The Lost Boys (1987)
Starring Corey Haim, Jason Patric, Kiefer Sutherland, Dianne Wiest,
Corey Feldman, Edward Herrmann
Film Prophet's Review...
A mother and her two sons travel to a Santa Clara in California, a
teenage land of murder. At nights, the town is plagued by teenage
bikers. The younger son, Haim, makes friends with two other boys who
claim to be vampire hunters while the older boy, Patric, is drawn by a
girl into the tribe of teenage vampires on their nocturnal spree of
bloodsucking havoc. As the brother is slowly becoming one of them,
mystifying complications arise during the summer vacation, populated by
teenagers everywhere. The stellar top-notch music really adds to the
overall sensation and ambiance, especially the track Cry Little Sister.
The glam rock and clothing definitely has a teenage appeal. The acting
and characters have attractive energy absolute in fun flowing
consistently with light frivolous humor throughout the movie. At night,
they go out to cruise the boardwalk at an amusement park and inhabit the
after-dark teenage world. The
ambitious entertainment genuinely stirs amusing fear. It’s a nostalgic
stunner of rowdiness in a product during its period. Enjoying the pleasures of youth, there’s a foremost splash of
humor to the horror tale and the result is an exceedingly entertaining
film. ‘My own brother a vampire, well you wait until mom finds out
buddy.’ Danger lurks behind every character at every place. Everybody
chases everybody around with lots of nightly awesome riots, wind blowing
screams, and some concise special-effects gore. The vampires and other
characters, stylish setting, and climatic tone create its heinous
atmosphere than having too many effects. The young acting by the cast is
terrific, all the way down to the dog who by the way is the greatest and
smartest dog in any movie, are all having tons of wild fun with their
parts especially Sutherland as the evil David. He doesn’t even need to
speak a word and his face is still vivid to express that mean cool
aroma. Motorcycles ride over the sand by an ocean blaring some eighties
pop tune and it is still effective and entertaining without digging into
a robust plotline. Ultimate allusions and teases, for instance Chinese
food and falling off a bridge, leads into more hip music similar to
Labyrinth. The flying vampire camera view is clever, as the movie truly
creates its own world and draws viewers into its reckless journey when
horror movies were cool. These vampires are not old and lonely as it
shows. Joel Schumacher directs this horror film that doesn't let down in
any manner with classic signs of vampirism to believe there is such a
thing. The final long action sequence of house wrecking excitement is
fantastic. ‘Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die.
It's fun to be a vampire.’
Final Grade: B+/B
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Starring Jean Marais, Josette Day, Marcel André, Michel Auclair
Film Prophet's Review...
Long before Disney made the movie an animation musical, the French were
the first to display the story live action to motion picture. Unlike the
Disney production, there are no fancy little characters like teapots
singing tunes or anyone singing at all in that manner. There have been
several adaptations, but this one, the original version directed by Jean
Cocteau is considered the best screen play, though the animation version
was nominated for best Oscar picture. The fairy tale about a beautiful
woman kept in a magical castle by a beast is an established folktale
with cultural recognition, so nothing should come to a full surprise. An
elder merchant father lives in a country farm with his son, whose
handsome friend wants to marry Belle, and his three daughters. Two of
the daughters are real selfish and pretentious who misuse the third
daughter, Belle, as a servant, though she capable of happiness. The
merchant gets lost in the forest and enters a strange castle. He picks
up a rose for Belle when he leaves and the beast is disgruntled because
roses are the only thing he truly loves at the moment. He sentences him
to death, unless he gives up one of his daughters within three days.
Belle volunteers herself and lives in the castle with the Beast who is
not as callous as it seems by his appearance. The black and white
photography has a surreal quality in set designs in the mansion. For an
example, a candelabrum is made from moving human hands out of a table.
The smoky atmosphere is almost dreamy, without any modern costumes or
makeup, altered by camera shots and nothing is usual in the castle. Face
statues are alive, plants grow over walls, gloves are magic, doors
speak, and mirrors talk. These enchanting effects make the film
mythological between the coarse and moral subject in the characters’
subconscious. The anticipation of the Beast grows during the family time
in the exposition. The music is extraordinary, but scarcely, and the
enormous looking dresses and clothes are part of the living. Beast's
first entrance is alright, but his strained voice is a strange descent.
The projected enemy in the Beast is the first impression and a
pre-notion associated with appeals and personal visions slightly change
the interpretation later in the story through the Beast’s words and
kindness rather than images, which is ironic because the film is mostly
visual poetry over words. The objection of the movie is to show that the
Beast is a nobleman with affection for Belle and that Belle’s sisters,
brother, and his friend have some evil quality attached. The second half
of that objection works when Belle hands over a diamond necklace to one
of her sisters and it becomes a thread even though they aren’t
astonished by the change. The Beast is dressed very subdue in jeweled
velvet clad like a nobleman, but he is tempered by raw animal instincts.
The romance is not convincing, rather forced, because the love is not
proven emotionally and there is no sense of humor. In about ninety
tender minutes, there aren’t many scenes to develop between Belle and
the Beast as the Beast always rushes into asking for marriage, right
away. The Beast comes right out and tells Belle about his inner-self,
but there is not enough showing like the expressions in the Disney
animation. He tries to entice her over time with magic, hospitality,
repeating proposals, and kind words without even discussing about each
other. Belle is not in love with the Beast over the course of the film
until she talks to her father when she returns that she is going back on
her deed. It does not suggest how Belle came to love the Beast so
quickly. The brother’s friend who was supposed to marry Belle is jealous
and plans to kill the Beast, but he is really a prey to the Beast’s
humane wishes of seeing her. No one is in disbelief of what the Beast is
capable of, but suddenly jealously and curiosity are strong negative
themes coming from them. At times coming to the end, the sublime
dialogue is plain and dry like cardboard. The characters are stationary
walking through slowly in a big house, magic fortress. Beginning as a
Once upon a time quote in text from the director, the happy ending is a
disappointment to many to see the Beast change into just another
superficially pretty guy. The ending sequence with the mystic arrow is
great, but after that the final piece is abrupt and futilely bizarre.
Final Grade: B
The Howling (1981)
Starring Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, John Carradine,
Elisabeth Brooks
Film Prophet's Review...
Popular TV newswoman, Karen White, Wallace, is sent away with her
husband to a country resort by her doctor on a retreat after a
traumatized experience with a sexual predator when helping the police
lure the killer. The opening of the movie is static much like the
acting: a droning street atmosphere, contact immediately with the serial
killer including some inadequate radio transmission, and a dubious story
to begin with. The resort evidently has strange residents and it is
clear during a long folk campfire sequence of people hiding who they
truly are. Karen hears strange howling noises at night and that is
because the country resort is run by odd people who are all werewolves.
The adults and others victims are feeble and while there is no big
dilemma or drama between them, the film’s subject with werewolves horror
is somewhat disappointing really until last dozen of minutes. In the
mawkish narrow, slow story, the humor is nonexistent when it tries lousy
at doing so. It’s low-budget and dated, and the werewolf craze in the
early eighties was its spark at time. Consisting of a very prototypical
horror backdrop, the material is brainless and shallow like the
characters. At partial times are an alarming one high pitched music
score in the background, unsettling voices, crass sound effects, and
gory flesh. However, all of these things are kept short and hazy at
temporary escalated heights. The colors are dulls and the setting has a
hideous interior as some scenes act redundant. Sometimes strange or just
boring lacking alluring occurrences to be haunted by, a blonde woman is
the protagonist and the movie counts on her being frighten and
terrorized but that hardly happens in the first hour as one may expect.
She battles with her subconscious instead and the dangers that surround
her. The audience is disgusted with what she sees, but entertained
whilst watching even though how horribly bad and impractical it really
is. ‘He's one of us now.’ The effects were probably considered
impressive over twenty years ago, but about three minutes is spent on
one semi-grotesque mutation. Despite the final dozen minutes, most of
the wolf action and sightings appear in small cabin brawls during the
daylight. These wolves occasionally act like vampires with teeth and
biting, but there is a distinct difference. The movie does hold off on
the werewolf appearance before revealing the pulsating hairy
transformations, which soon become cyclical and extended.
Final Grade: C
The Black Dahlia (2006)
Starring Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank,
Mia Kirshner, Fiona Shaw
Film Prophet's Review...
Author James Ellroy's forties novel based on the murder of Elizabeth
Short delved into the lives of Los Angeles cops and fraud. The
lackluster direction by Brian De Palma and the depiction on the graphic
storyline with a noble cast lineup goes sour and adapts the book
unpleasantly. Sgt. Lee Blanchard, Eckhart, and Officer Bucky Bleichert,
Harnett, are two ex-boxers who become cops involved in a hunt for the
killer who mutilated Short whose corpse was found on the edge of a
vacant lot in a tireless investigation that was notoriously unsolved.
Proven actresses play dress-up with vamp appeal in a noir conventional
atmosphere. Johansson’s character kept changing entreats, and Swank’s
Irish accent also kept changing from bad, to none, to decent, and
repeats. The movie concentrated on the style than the actual content
from the book and it was being too hard to be natural and ended up being
unnatural. The sun shining out of windows and the shades of curtains
that reflect accordingly is quite fascinating. Mia Kirschner, as Short
generates more impact in black and white flashbacks from footage
archives that was ostensibly more than enough than all the other parts
together. The purpose of scenes flew terribly and jumps to the next
botched scene of no real introduction or resolution to anything. The
conversations have sentences with no more than three words attached from
terrible lines. They act stern and sprinkle goofy squat lines. The movie
is so long-winded that a viewer would turn off the brain because the
lines certainly weren't attracting it. The confusing plot with too much
and incoherent at times is just bad. The inexplicable physical
attraction is deceiving, unrewarding, and diluted inconsistent with
convoluted demeanors and it disgraces Elizabeth Short who is cut short
once again. The movie is not even about her and bar from her, it is
purely fictional. Not a single scene is about her; rather it just shows
her acting auditions. Pointless acts of violence are placed in order to
develop Harnett's character which failed along with his distraught
voiceover. Harnett as Bucky falls for Kay Lake, Johansson, Lee's
girlfriend and Madeleine Linscott, Swank, serving as unnecessary
subordinates in an out of the ordinary mess. It is exhaustion from the
beginning that was slow with fast confusing editing, awful joking lines,
and an absent plotline. It ended up being about two male detectives
showing up at endless city crime without any backdrops to any of it and
turns out to be vague for a long time then over-plotted at last. Roger
Rabbit has a hundred to one proportion of clear and entertaining
adventures than this film. The concrete title story serves as one of the
subparts to Bucky’s fractured and confused, unrealistic and implausible,
life which is a movie about him. He spends more time residing with each
female than investigating the core of the title story during the center
of the anti-climatic film and it leaves little time to wrap up the
movie’s end considerately.
Final Grade: C-/D
Faust (1926)
Starring Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard
Film Prophet's Review...
The German doctor myth legend Johann Georg Faust who has been displayed
in several sorts of entertainment mediums such as operas and comic books
arrives very potent in this German silent film directed by F.M. Murnau.
The story surrounds a plague in early sixteenth century between a
fictional battle of God and Satan’s war over earth to obtain souls. They
wager on the soul of Faust, an old long bearded prayerful alchemist.
People have cried for help to his way during the spreading famine and
disease as if he is the only savior on the planet so Satan sends
Mephisto, a chief demon, to tempt Faust with his return to youth in
exchange for the end of the plague and misery. Murnau’s artistic style,
considering when it was made, was super technical and sometimes
downright ghastly combining with the story standpoint of
supernaturalism. The makeup and costume designs, the textures and
lighting where most of the frames are blacked out, all look quite
authentic and surrealistic. Sometimes clay model prototypes are used, or
life size puppets in an enormous fog and raging steam of sights and
acting motions. The detail in the special effects is nightmarish with
twisted small areas even though the movie covers the entire universe of
ground and air, flying on cloudy floors, and vast dark images to astound
the strangeness of its horror. All of the sets and characters look quite
sinister. There’s long camera pauses, nudged editing that every object
on screen is always vanishing or altering with the smoke, and Murnau
pulls out many materials for the sets to establish a sinister
atmosphere. It does well expressing the story if someone didn’t have
sound because the images are so staggering and the acting cordially
states the expressions and gestures. ‘The portals of the darkness are
open and the shadows of the dead hunt over the Earth.’ There is no spare
time chat; every cue and title is lyrical mixed with an omniscient
unfolding. After Faust is enticed, the story embraces a love angle
merely by spell and potion for the rest of the way and the ominous
matter in the beginning slowly disappears. The film never quite recovers
from this. Murnau’s Nosferatu is still the better film because there is
one central character confining inducement the whole time. In this film,
there are small doses of supernatural matters contrasting with humanity
in short time spans but there is not a lot focus on one mass. The story
and paranormal setting falls flat related to the first dozens of minutes
with the old Faust and the plague. It gets carried away with love
planting and wretched potions and spells by the vampire looking Mephisto
and his evil temptations of wishes. Arbitrary places and people are all
over the place and Mephisto exercises his power among people when the
old Faust and heavenly creatures are not around on picture. The devil
may receive Faust's soul, but only when Faust has attained complete
human happiness, without the curse. Outlined with themes of morality,
evil, religion, and love, the movie is an understanding of human beings’
reactions with fundamental evil where people are free to choose any
means of virtue.
Final Grade: B
Johnny Stecchino (1991)
Starring Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Paolo Bonacelli, Franco
Volpi
Film Prophet's Review...
In the highest-grossing movie in Italy up to that date, a married woman seduces a credulous school bus driver to Palmero, Sicily so that she can have him killed because he looks like a double towards her a disreputable gangster husband who snitched on his fellow mates. Stecchino is Italian for toothpicks, and it is the nickname given to Dante by Maria to replicate the real menace, Johnny’s identity. Dante is passed off for the snitch and Johnny hides from the mob. The dim-witted Dante is made to look and act just like Maria’s criminal husband though Dante is so naive that she doesn't really do anything because he messes up on his own to irritate people. An example is the interaction with the cardinal about sugar. Dante is kind, but a blundering and wimpy guy who likes to steal bananas as his zany habit. He steals one banana up his coat sleeve at a fruit store every morning and faces repetitive temptations that occur frequently no matter where he is. Probably promptly the audience will associate bananas with Benigni in this movie afterwards. Roberto Benigni plays both men in a dual role. Hearing Roberto's voice echoes that he is having fun, plus he also co-wrote the story and directed the film. The first half of the movie is dimwitted for humor and audience laughs before the fun parts during Dante mistaken identity. After he arrives in a different country, he believes all this criminal fuss pointed at him has to do with a stolen banana but it's not that. The balcony scene is a fine example where he has no idea. Much of the humor is embedded into that for a lengthy amount of scenes during the second half of the story depending on Dante not realizing that everyone thinks he is someone else. The area where the script pulls part of it off is where he discusses his wrong doings with true gangsters without ever mentioning particulars. However, the low-key and lightweight comedy is very loose and unwise. The adolescent attitudes are displayed by shoddy adult appearances and it is uneasy to connect with, especially with the dullness floating around of context before when Dante heads to Palmero. They all are bums no matter what profession they have. It has frolicking music and gestures, several phrases and actions, but weak in several characters who appear in one scene with Dante and then don't show up again as they aren’t energetic like Roberto’s acting. The first half also has a vacant and empty story before the plot sinks in similar to Life is Beautiful, which takes a while until it gets to a certain point after strolling along. Benigni did become more familiar to American audiences through this movie. |
