Darth Stujitzu's Reviews

→ in
Tools    





Review sounds good, ill try and look for it, plus have you seen the clips of his new film The Corpse Bride. Looks amazing, they say he based his character with the same traits as Edward scissorhands, looks great, see if you can review this one for us , please!!!!!!


www.sept23.com



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
Stop Making Sense

1984 Directed by ; Jonathan Demme



Film by Jonathan Demme about Talking Heads 1984 sell out tour.


I hadn't seen this film since the 80's, but as it was discussed in my film class, I decided to watch it again.
It hasn't dated well, and to be honest, this film is mostly for fans of the band.
I loved Talking Heads during their heyday in the mid 80's, and I still frequently listen to them on my i-pod, so as a fan it's great to see them in concert. There is a real energy to their performance, indeed at times it looks more like an aerobic's class, with the rest of the band trying to keep up with the relentless pace of frontman David Byrne.
Dodgy 80's fashion aside, this is a no frills film of the band in concert, there are a few extras on the DVD, but they are of very poor quality and badly dated.
Worth a gander if you like Talking Heads, the opening version of Psycho Killer is brilliant in it's simplicity, and all the favourites are here, but if you're not familiar with the band or their music, it's probably better to avoid it.
The film is directed by Jonathan Demme who went on to direct " Silence of the Lambs ", but there is not a lot of directorial flare on show here, and I can think of many better music documentaries that outshine this effort.


Rating 2/5 ( bonus point because David Byrne is Scottish, and was born around twelve miles from where I live! )
__________________
Hey Pepe, would you say I have a plethora of presents?


Toga, toga, toga......


Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour?



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
Hotel Rwanda

2004 Directed by ; Terry George


Inspired by the true events in Rwanda in 1994, where hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina housed over 1,000 Tutsis refugees in his hotel, against the Hutu militia.


A powerfull movie that really hits you hard when you realise that this actually happened. It's soul-destroying to think that during the troubles almost 1,000,000 people were killed by mass genocide at the hands of a Hutu militia intent on wiping out a whole race.
It's easy to see why the film was nominated for so many awards, Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagina is excellent, and it's impossible not to emphasise with him as he struggles to do the right thing against increasingly mounting odds. Sophie Okonedo as his wife Tatiana is also great, and there are strong performances all round, which complement the excellent direction.
I love thought provoking movies, and Hotel Rwanda certainly fits the bill, the film is handled well by Terry George, and he resists the temptation to use gory violence to help the film along, instead he relies more on fine acting and intelligent suggestion of the abhorent, senseless violence.

A great movie, that deserves all it's critical acclaim.


Rating 4.5/5



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
Crash

2004 Directed by ; Paul Haggis



Paul Haggis' take on the racism problem in LA.



Several stories are all interlinked in Paul Haggis' debut feature, the main thread being that racial intollerence is still very much dominant in modern day life in LA.
An impressive cast including Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton and Ryan Phillippe, give strong performances on a difficult subject matter.
The film slightly stretches plausability in order to link all the stories together, but Haggis' clever use of racism as being universal helps to hold the film together. Prejudices are universal, and with racism Haggis is pointing out that the problem has so many different faces that it is hard to deal with the issue in one specific or general case.
During the film we see many different forms of racism, covering a whole range of different cultures and our general intolerance to people of different ethnicity to our own.
An intelligent, thought-provoking film, that while not perfect is a very decent effort at tackling such a difficult subject as a debut feature. Some of the characters are more believeable than others, and some of the dialogue seemed a little awkward and clumsy, but I enjoyed the movie on the whole. A special mention to Ludacris, whilst I hate rappers in movies, most of whom are terrible actors, Ludacris gives a decent performance and didn't detract anything from the overall impact the film made on me.


Rating 4/5



this is one of the movies that i just don't feel like picking up , why? after seeing the commercial for it and seeing that they act with accents ( african accents ) i just thought i couldn't get into it because their accents would distract me way too much....sorry....if they just spoke in plane ol' english it would have been a different story altogether.....



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
The Jacket


2005 Directed By; John Maybury



A military vetran goes on a journey into the future, where he can forsee his death and is left with questions that could save his life and those he loves.



I settled down to watch the film with an open mind and some degree of expectation, based on the fact that Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney were it's producers.
A confusing mismatch of a film that I totally lost about an hour in. There are similarities to Jacob's Ladder with the subject matter, but whilst I really enjoyed Jacob's Ladder, the same can not be said of The Jacket.
My main complaint is that I felt the film was disjointed and poorly directed, I even had the feeling that Adrian Brody and Kiera Knightly were lost by where the film was going and what the director wanted.
The film relied heavily on certain visual effects to help set up the back story, but it was a confusing mess of a film that I quickly lost intrest in.
What could have been an intelligent and intresting film was badly let down by an inexperienced director who fails to get decent performances from the cast at his disposal, and the film drags it's way to a dissapointing and lacklustre ending


Rating 1/5 ( doesn't even get bonus points for being partly shot in Scotland!!!!)



Thanks Darth for the review, I am not as keen as i was about seeing this movie, Oh well
__________________
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha



Originally Posted by Darth Stujitzu
Had to buy it off Amazon, can't get it in Britain, only in the states.
That means I probably won't find it here oh well, i will have a good look before freak out



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
Los Debutantes

2003 Directed by; Andres Waissbluth



A modern day thriller from Chilie, according to the cover.

Don't rent this, it's a very poor effort and comes across more as a soap opera than any serious acting. There is some graphic nudity from the off, including a lapdancer with a whipped cream bikini, hey if that floats your boat go wild. The story follows a love triangle between the afore mentioned lapdancer and two brothers, and the lapdancer is the local mob bosses' girl, yep, you've probably seen something similar and better. I couldn't even finish it, after about 40 mins I was ready to commit hari-kari, yes fellow Mofos, I have suffered for your sanity, avoid this at all costs, unless you really want to see a whipped cream bikini, which also appears on the front cover, mmmmmmmm, perhaps it wasn't my love of South American movies that brought this film to my attention.


Rating 0.5/5 purely for the cream!!!



Standing in the Sunlight, Laughing
Interesting response to The Jacket. I think you're the first I've seen not rave.
Hilarious about the cream bikini. I'll stop at seeing the cover.
__________________
Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
Originally Posted by SamsoniteDelilah
Interesting response to The Jacket. I think you're the first I've seen not rave.
Hilarious about the cream bikini. I'll stop at seeing the cover.


I normally rave during full moons!!!
As for cream bikinis, always sound like a good idea, but speaking from personal experience.........



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
House of Sand and Fog

2003 Directed by ; Vadim Perelman

An abandoned wife is evicted from her house and starts a tragic conflict with her home's new owners, an Iranian immigrant and his family.


A modern day Shakespearian tradegy, sad and haunting and well acted. Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley are fantastic in their respective roles, and are abely assissted by Ron Eldard, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Jonathon Ahdout.

Aghdashloo and Ahdout reprise their mother and son routine again in season 4 of 24, and it is easy to see that they struck up a good working rapport during the filming of this film.

The film is a little slow moving, but I was especially impressed with the director's visual flair and general handling of the film, and a special mention goes to Roger Deakins the Director Of Photography for some absolutely stunning photography involving the fog mentioned in the title. The house also plays a large part in the film, it almost becomes a character, and in one scene in particular it looks more of a horror movie set, such is the eiree spooky setting.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, sad and poignant, beautifully shot and very well acted, and the fact I have a thing for Jennifer Connelly also helps!

Highly recommended.


Rating 4.5/5



Standing in the Sunlight, Laughing
Originally Posted by Darth Stujitzu
I normally rave during full moons!!!
As for cream bikinis, always sound like a good idea, but speaking from personal experience.........
ha! Well, that's a whole different sort of review.



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
Downfall

2004 Directed by ; Oliver Hirschbiegel


Traudl Junge the final secretary of Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin Bunker at the end of World War 2.


Based on a factual documentary of Junge, the film starts with the actual Junge before she died recounting her thoughts towards Hitler and the Nazis.
I have seen some of the documentary before, it is a very well thought out interview with one of Hitler's closest confidants.
A fantastic film, and I will be surprised if Bruno Ganz ( Hitler ) is not nominated for an Oscar next year, he puts in a tremendous performance that shows Hitler in all his devilish ways whilst still appearing human at other points in the film.
Although based on Junge's testement, it is really Ganz's film, he demands every second of your attention whilst on screen. There are other strong performances, especially from Alexandra Maria Lara as Junge, Ulrich Matthes as the despicable Joseph Goebbels, and Juliane Kohler as Eva Braun.
For anyone who has seen and loved " Das Boot ", this film is a must see, a fantastic anti-war film that at times is a little gorry, but is even more haunting when you see what lengths the Nazi's were prepared to go, especially the scene involving Goebbels' children.

Another fantastic anti-war movie in the mould of " Platoon ", " Das Boot " and " Schindler's List ", it deserves all the praise and accolades it recieves.

Highly recommended


Rating 4.5/5



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
Lord of War

2005 Directed by ; Andrew Niccol


Based on true life events, Niccol's film stars Nicholas Cage as Yuri Orlov a Russian/American gun runner.


I was really looking forward to this film, it's the first time in ages I've had the time to catch a movie, and the trailer gave me further encouragement that I would really enjoy this movie.
So why did I ultimately not enjoy the movie? Firstly the trailer is misleading, I was expecting a more action packed movie along the lines of the Rock, also starring Cage, but I don't think I'm spoiling it for anyone when I say that what you see in the trailer is the majority of action in this movie. Instead what I found was an over long, over bearing monologue of small stories thrown together over the space of the last two decades.
I like Cage as an actor, Jared Leto too is always watchable, but ultimately I found it very difficult to find any empathy towards any of the main characters, and what I'm sure was a very good idea was poorly written and executed.
The main problem lies in the writting, Cage gives a running comentary through-out the whole movie, that for me became tedious and boring after about twenty minutes. Cage plays this role completely deadpan, his character seems to be emotionally void, which while I'm sure was part intentional, does nothing to help breathe life into a dull and tedious film. A strong supporting cast of Jared Leto, Ethan Hawke, Ian Holm, Bridget Moynahan and Eamonn Walker as the main villan of the film are given little to do or work with, only Cage's character is fleshed out, but as already stated not to my satisfaction.


Ultimately, Lord of War failed to tick any of the right boxes for me, and I felt let down by a film that promised much but delivered little.
Dissapointing, I hope Cage finds better films in the future.

Rating 2/5



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
Product Placement


2004


So, not exactly a movie, but instead a documentary/concert following DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist on their famous Product Placement tour featuring gigs from Tokyo, LA, New York, San Francisco, London and Glasgow.

So what makes this different from other DJ tours? The main concept of the tour was for the two DJ's to make a contemporary and cutting edge set using only old 45 singles.
People not familiar with Shadow or Cut Chemist( from hip hop band Jurrasic 5 ) will probably want to give this a miss, but for anyone who likes hip-hop, nothern soul or scratch djing this is a masterpiece of two incredibly talented scratch dj's at their very best. This is the kind of DVD you could play at a party instead of music, there is very little commentary, instead the music is the most important element, and is given the most screen time. My personal highlight is DJ Shadow mixing with two 3" records, a true craftsman at work.
I've been a fan of both DJ's for years, and it was good to see them collabourate together to produce a totally fresh and original set using only old soul singles from a bygone era, the fact that the DVD comes with the cd of the tour is a great bonus.
Another great music DVD to add to my collection, however, Scratch by Doug Pray is still my favourite!


A soulsensational 4.5/5



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Hmm, I didn't get the impression that it was action packed from the trailers.....I'm still looking forward to this one.
__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews



Sir Sean Connery's love-child
Mindhunters

2004 Directed by ; Renny Harlin


For seven elite profilers, finding a serial killer is a process of elimination. Their own.......

If only someone had thought to have eliminated Renny Harlin, my sanity might not be so fragile! I saw the trailer for this ages ago, and I was wondering when it was getting a general release over here, so when I saw it had gone " straight to video " I was slightly worried.
I'm going out on a limb here, I like Val Kilmer! There I've said it, it's all out in the open. I know he has a reputation for being a bit of an arse, and he has made a few ropey movies, but I always check out his films. After watching Mindhunters, I can only assume Val owed the Weinstein brothers a huge favour!

This is a predictable by the numbers serial killer turns the roles on his pursuers film, the twists were sad and predictable, the cast mostly second rate, and was a tad heavy on the melodrama.
You've probably seen films like this before, all the cliches are here, the damaged hero who must overcome her biggest fear, everyone becomes a suspect to try and create a feeling of unease and tension, the superhuman return from the grave hero, the final twist and the predictable ending. I think Harlin thought by killing off a major character early on ( similar to Sam L Jackson in Deep Blue ) it would throw the audience and keep them on edge. Perhaps I've seen too many similar films that always have the same predictable story curve, but for me Mindhunters is one of the poorer efforts I've seen in years, similar to Saw, it's one of those movies you will either love or hate.
So is there anything here to reccomend? For me, two words; Patricia Velasquez, the yummy mummy from the Mummy!

A sad, predictable waste of a movie, good for scaring young teenage girls perhaps, but probaly not anyone else! ( apologies to young teenage girls, you can come out from behind the sofa now, hey wait, what are young teenage girls doing behind my sofa... ) See it's that bad I'm halucinating!!!


Rating 1/5