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petzoid
Reviews
Death Sentence (2007)
The movie of the year
What relieve it is to finally see a great movie after all the crap that came in the form of movies this year. This movie about a quiet, reserved and happy family man whose family is torn apart by the murder of his oldest son, has a breathtaking pace. It is not at any time boring. There are more quiet scenes that deal with loss of the son therefore with the grief of the family members that are left behind. I personally think that these scenes are very convincing and could bring those with a soft spot to tears even. I loved Kevin Bacon in this picture and I would say that the development of his character from a family man to revenge seeking monster is very convincing. As I do not live in the states I can not comment on how realistic certain situations are concerning police work in particular as stated in other comments and by my feeling I would say that there a some scenes that could not go down like this in real life. That why I could not give a ten for this one.
One a more personal note I would like to say that I loved the way the self-justice is carried out in this piece although I am not at all a pro violence kind of guy. But damned it felt good seeing justice brought onto these people. And after all it is cinema isn't it?
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
A brilliant piece of work
I am glad to be able to write a completely positive review on a movie for once! I have to admit I had not heard anything about this piece until it was recommended to me by a colleague at work who could not stop praising this movie. The movie is a masterpiece from the beginning to the end. The story of a Tax Agent who lives a boring, unfulfilled life of work and neurotic spleens suddenly starts hearing a narrators voice actually narrating about his life. Everyone who is a bookworm will love this one. For one thing the idea is intriguing and the viewer is wrapped up in the story after minutes. You just want to know what happens to main character. Secondly the cinematography and visual effects of the movie are just brilliant.Anyone interested in graphic design is (in my opinion) destined to love this movie. I watched "Stay" as well and liked it but this one is Forsters Masterpiece. I am looking forward to Forster's new project "Kite runner" because I loved the book and am confident that it will make great movie!
The Living and the Dead (2006)
"Not" one of the best movies I have ever seen!
On the Cover of the rental DVD it said that is was one of the best movie some movie critic had ever seen. I have to say that I love movies that contain a certain depth and make you think and the quotes on the cover promised just that. I actually had to start this movie twice because I stopped it at the first try after 15 minutes not being able to concentrate on the "storyline"(there actually is not really much of a storyline to begin with).What I am trying to get across is that this is just not a movie that captures you in the first couple of minutes and also this is definitely not a horror movie. The horror is supposedly rooted in the fact that there are two very sick people (one mentally and one physically) that are locked in together and try to care for each other.
The deranged or mentally ill son might be portrayed in a realistic fashion but that does not make it less annoying to watch his character rummage through this movie. What I found most annoying is the overuse of fast paced pictures combined with nasty techno music. I do get it that this is meant to emphasize his progressing madness but I would say that the audience would have understood this without using this stylistic device 5 times in a row. Another maddening element are certain jumps in the time line that make it even harder to follow the already chaotic "storyline" I found also utterly unrealistic that a concerned father would leave his terminally ill wive and his deranged son who, as he notes earlier is "not very good with strange people".
Altogether a very unpleasant movie not only because of its content but because it is very hard to follow and even harder to connect to any of the characters portrayed in it!
Death Proof (2007)
Only for car fanatics!
I guess you either have to be totally into cars or certain American series from the 70's to like this movie. I really cant understand why this movie has such a high rating. I have to admit I liked Kusrt Russell in that role and he did a really good job but this movie has no story or plot or anything. The car chase is exiting alright but really not that spectacular. How about some background information about why Mike does what he is doing? The end of that movie is utterly disappointing and leaves you with the feeling that you just wasted time you could have spent doing something productive or even watch a decent movie. I do understand that this flick is supposed to be a homage to B-Movies but I guess I just dislike B-Movies then.
By this movie I was reassured again that Tarantino is just way overrated!
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
highly overrated movie!!
To start this of I have to admit that i watched the movie in the (dubbed) German version which might be a reason why I could not catch on to this particular piece. One thing is for sure Adam Sandlers acting is superb although I cant understand why this one is supposed to be his best performance. I think he is way better in "Click" an even better in "Spanglish". If you are into good cinematography this should be your choice because it really has some great pictures in it. I personally disliked the psychedelic(very colorful)bits in between different scenes though-I guess thats a matter of personal taste. The whole story kind of has a slow pace and is in some parts utterly unrealistic (the telephone thing) and the Soundtrack is quite annoying from time to time.I think this supposed emphasize the Main Character's state of mind but I feel that it made the Movie hard to watch. I you want to watch a good movie of this Director go watch "Boogie Nights"