Recently I watched “The Hitcher“. This film had some potential, but it totally blew it. It was interesting to see it now, because it reminded me so much of “Death Proof” which I saw just a few days ago, and which has a somewhat similar theme to it.
I think that Sean Bean did very well as a maniac. He was exactly the type of the killer I like seeing in this type of films. Sophia Bush provided quality female part. And the rest of the guys weren’t all that bad. However, the person who did blood control for this film was completely out of touch. There was too much blood in a places where none was needed, and there wasn’t enough where it was needed the most. A huge minus here, which sorts of ruins the movie, considering that it was mostly supposed to be about blood. It was also supposed to be about roads, and it did have a few car chases and crashes. Nothing special here though.
Overall, a 6 out of 10. Watch it on a boring Saturday, if you have nothing else to do.
I went to see “No Country For Old Man“. I’ve heard some buzz about this film - with it getting major ratings and collecting a few Oscars - but I never read too deep into it or even watched a trailer.
The movie turned out to be pretty good indeed. An interesting story, nice story telling, good photography, pretty good acting on all parts, and so on. But what really captured my attention was the quietness. This is probably the most quiet movie I’ve seen in years. Even though it has a few gun shots here and there, I was struck by an almost total absence of soundtrack, as well as how quiet actors are speaking. It almost sounded like real life, where people don’t argue, shout, or kill each other every 15 seconds…
This quietness wasn’t only in the sound. It was also in visuals and acting. Many modern films, especially those that involve guns, choose to go for stunning special effects with bits and pieces flying around, smoke covering up things, etc. None of that happened in this film. There were some special effects, but they were very moderate and appropriate, without destructing attention. Same goes for acting. Although there are some high profile actors, such as Tommy Lee Jones and Woody Harrelson, they aren’t shining. They do their job and do it well, again, without stealing any attention from the film itself.
I went to see “I Am Legend” with a few friends of mine. Some of them saw the film before a few times, but decided that it was worth another view anyway. That pushed my expectations up a bit. But. The film was indeed worth it.
Here are the things that I liked, in no particular order:
Will Smith. He is a good actor. It just that most of the times he has to do those rather simplistic roles. But in this one, you can see the talent. He does really good.
Visuals. There are some really cool images in the film. In fact, it’s the visuals that create the bigger part of this movie. There is some excellent photography, which could have been easily transformed into still images and paintings.
Drama. There seems to be no shortage of movies about viruses, zombies, and the end of the world. However, so many of them fail to create the drama around the events. Broken families, numerous victims, and blood rivers seem to be present everywhere. But rarely they are used to create the horrific sense of sadness and pity.
Of course, there were a few things that sucked in this movie. I’m not going to go through the details on these, since they aren’t worth it. However I’d like to mention the zombies. I think that the choice of rather cartoon-ish characters was wrong. More “realism” in this area could have made the movie almost perfect.
I’d give it a strong 7.5 out of 10, and a recommendation to watch it, even if you are not a fan of the sci-fi end of the world horror. It’s pretty good.
The other day I watched “Cloverfield“. It was slightly boring, as it was supposed to be, assuming it was filmed somewhat amateurish. It was a bit tiring on the eyes as well. The “Blair Witch Project” kind of tiring. It had some suspense in it, and even some special effects, but it was missing something. I can’t put my finger on it just yet…
Overall, it was pretty good. If you decide to watch it, I’d recommend to get it on DVD or something and watch it on smaller screen (TV/computer). It really doesn’t need all the size of the cinema screen. And it won’t tire your eyes as much.
I almost went to bed, when I noticed a movie starting on TV. The opening titles mentioned Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe in main roles and Alan Parker in director chair. Titled “Mississippi Burning“. I was still considering, so I checked IMDB for the rating. It came up with 7.6, so I decided to watch it.
Directed by: Alan Parker Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller Cast: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif, R. Lee Ermey, Gailard Sartain, Stephen Tobolowsky, Michael Rooker, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Badja Djola, Kevin Dunn, Frankie Faison, Tom Mason, Geoffrey Nauffts, Rick Zieff IMDB raintg: 7.6 My rating: 8.0
I almost went to bed, when I noticed a movie starting on TV. The opening titles mentioned Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe in main roles and Alan Parker in director chair. Titled “
