Reviews

One child is shown often away from the undesirable peers, and under the influence of his parent and siblings.

The tacky subplots building up to the real focus of the movie are pretty cheesy and monotonous.

The real world looks more cyber-y; the virtual world looks phoned in.

Some of the deadpan art film clich mixed with weirdly OTT action can be hilarious and lack self-awareness, but I find that pretty enjoyable.

Also, picking a favorite voice in this movie is like picking a favorite child.

Alphaville also progressively brightens as the movie goes on.

Its a pretty fun movie that goes out of its way to be badass, consequently subjecting itself to action clich I typically find this stuff groan-inducing in modern action flicks, but when its accompanied by 80s grit, violence, and Rutger Hauer, it can be worth a look.

This is a genre paradigm: conveniently placed thunder cues, shadows, howling wind, shadows, eccentric old folks, shadows, a mad butler, an old Gothic-y estate, flickering shadows, candle lighting, and the occasional emphasis on a shadow or two.

It may not be one of the most compelling movies ever made, but its definitely one of the most fascinating.

I think this stuff normally seems trite in modern pop culture, but the movie whores it out enough to make it work for me.