POMO

Even as a simple but effective action movie (see Broken Arrow), Windtalkers would be too slow and ponderous by today’s standards. However, it doesn’t want to be a simple action movie, so it mixes Native American spiritualism and humanism into the firefights and explosions. And it does so to such an extent that the result tastes like a rotten apple. That Native spiritualism is actually quite unbelievable and is in contrast with the gratuitous nature of the heroic action scenes (slow-motion shots of Nicolas Cage after his successful one-man-show action scenes). The gratuitous action scenes also conflict with the whole humanistic level of the film, which is diminished by the depiction of the Japanese as a race worthy of damnation. In short, it is neither proper action in the style of Black Hawk Down nor “something more” in the style of Saving Private Ryan. Someone here either didn’t know what they wanted to make or they just fucked up.

Play It to the Bone is a would-be psychological road movie about two complex-ridden boxers travelling across America on their way to a big fight. Along the way, they attempt to resolve each other’s long-hidden personal problems. Due to their inability to communicate openly, they fail to do so and end up “solving” everything in the ring, with boxing gloves on. This is a terrible film with terrible characters that only a bored social worker could care about.

Daylight is damned failure with lapses in logic and a lack of originality, but it’s pleasantly surprising in the end. It was pleasing that Sylvester Stallone didn’t play just another action hero in it, but a likable flesh-and-blood rescuer. It was also pleasing to see that the whole film is not just another action flick, but a decently built-up thriller about overcoming obstacles in finding the way out of hell. And in technical terms, it’s excellent (the bombastic explosion at the beginning!). In short, it’s a small, unassuming but satisfying disaster movie that offered more than I had expected from it.

Excellent actors, sensitive directing. But what’s up with that screenplay? From roughly the midpoint (the first hypnosis), K-PAX develops in a direction that’s completely different from where it was initially headed and its conclusion is the culmination of a story that never took off in the film! Not to mention that the hopes offered by the promising start and the whole first half are thus sucked into a black hole between Mercury and Pluto.

No film without dialogue has said as much to me as Battleship Potemkin did.

A very respectable contribution to the genre that’s hindered only by the cheaply conceived visual form and by the overdone affectation (slow-motion shots). Otherwise, however, We Were Soldiers isn’t lacking in pacing or raw realism, or a firm foundation of thought, or a strong leading personality in the form of Mel Gibson, who is the best thing about the whole film.

The Idiots is a film about stepping off of the beaten track and finding absolute mental freedom and happiness. It is also a film about the very difficult and, for a weaker individual, impossible way back. Despite all of the positive feelings I have for The Idiots, however, I would have cut it down to size, making it shorter. The subject is great, but not enough for a two-hour movie. It would have been better with an 80-minute runtime, which would suit the nature of this semi-experimental film.

Acceptable only as guilty-pleasure trash with a seductively perverse feel. As a sequel to the earnest, powerful horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it’s a slap in the face to fans of the original.

Why wasn’t I allowed any insight into the characters’ feelings for the entire first half (until the argument) and I felt like I was in a cold-storage unit the whole time? Why doesn’t Todd Field also tell the story visually rather than relying on the actors and editor for everything? This static, depersonalized style of directing without images doesn’t sit well with me. And given the great subject and actors, that’s disappointing.

Pitch Black is a low-budget sci-fi B-movie whose directorial ideas make it a treat for lovers of the genre. Just the sight of the flying “dragons” through Riddick’s glasses puts the viewing experience of most other sci-fi flicks to shame.