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Reviews
The Man Without a Face (1993)
An good, interesting look at the teacher-student/father-son relationship
This was a beautiful film. It starts out strong, sensible, and reminds me of "To Kill A Mockingbird" in the way the community treats and regards the reclusive McLeod (Gibson).
Gibson in strong here. So is the young Nick Stahl. They really seem to make a connection on screen. The two actors pull off the teacher-student relationship wonderfully while their characters convincingly fall into a friendship that becomes reminiscent of a father-son relationship.
"The Man Without A Face", however, is not without its flaws. I just was never truly convinced that McLeod would not consider having his face repaired because he thought it "didn't seem right", as is the only explanation given in the movie as to why McLeod has dodged plastic surgery. Further more, sometimes I feel they are hitting the idea of "McLeod is scarred and ugly looking" too hard on the head. They make it seem too much of the reason why McLeod is socially hindered. If anything, it should be his suspected history of child molestation and withdrawn and bitter nature that causes more awkward moments than his scarring.
The story of Chuck, the young boy in the film, is more solid and believable. He lives with his mother and two half-sisters. All three kids come from different marriages and the mother is on her next husband. The sardonic and emotionality withdrawn Chuck refers to his new step-father as "The Hairball." Chuck is distant, emotionally neglected and verbally abused by his mother and sisters who have little empathy for other people.
It is only when McLeod and Chuck begin to really form a friendship that both of them become better people.
I personally found this film well done, heart warming while tragic, and flawed but a good watch. If you're interested in human relation movies and the whole social dynamics in families and communities bit, see it.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Imaginative, inspired, horrifying, somewhat inconclusive, yet satisfying
A Clockwork Orange is an amazing movie full of imagery, grotesque behavior of rape, fighting, murder, karma, heart-wrenching sympathy and eyebrow-lifting shock combined together in a single wonderful package that (aside from the old-fashioned cassettes and records) defies time.
The movie is told and centered around young Alexander "Alex" de Large, who lives in the not-to-distant future as a young and violent sociopath. One of my few complaints is that Alex (McDowell) does not look the age of Alex in the book (teenage).
Alex lives for three main passions: ultra-violence, sex, and Beethoven's masterful classical music. Eventually, however, Alex's cruel and violent behavior catches up to him when he kills an old cat lady. "You are now a murderer Little Alex," laughs Alex's parole officer, and Alex is sentenced to prison for 14 years.
But Alex is quickly sick to the bone of prison and he finds a way out of his long sentence by volunteering as a test subject of the Ludovico Technique: a grotesque and harsh new form of aversion therapy still in the works.
When Alex completes the program, however, everything begins to go terribly wrong. People, who Alex had done wrong to in the past, seek revenge on the now helpless young man. As vicious and torturous karma works mercilessly on Alex, it drives him to the edge and he begins to fear for his future, his humanity, and his life.
Imaginative, inspired, horrifying and satisfying all at the same time, A Clockwork Orange is a strange and somewhat inconclusive movie that raises more issues by its end than answers.
WARNING: A Clockwork Orange is graphic and NEVER holds back. Sex, violence, everything is show except for the guys' genitals. Women are completely naked, raped, and beat around. Guys, while not raped, are certainly treated not much better. It is a bleak future in Alex's world filled with R-rated violence and (surprisingly) not as much bleep-worthy swearing as you one would think.
Saratoga Summer (1995)
A story about a little girl who buys a race horse
Saratoga Summer is renamed "A Horse for Danny". It came out when I was little, and I had to wait until I was older to understand it fully. The story itself is about an 11-year-old girl named Danny, who wins a dice throw for a small horse with incredible bloodlines. While Danny is confident in her horse's-Tom Thumb-abilities, there are plenty of others who don't believe the horse has what it takes to win in the high stakes world of racing.
Personally, I like the movie. It's funny how it's laid out, including how 11 year old Danny watches over trainers' shoulders to collect data of racehorses, and then gives the information Moody, a man who takes unofficial bets from gamblers outside of the track. Danny seems to wander on her own a lot. And the plot does not lack villains, who help to enhance the feeling of the competitive racing world.
Overall, the movie is good, not great. No legendary, will-be-talked-about years to come here. Happy-ending, good hearted story about a girl, her horse, and how they win with the odds against them.
Underworld (2003)
Help! I need someone! Help! I need someone who will stop making these awful sexy-so-cool-vampire-movies about blood lust and deadly evil stuff that's just not there!
So, if my summary is so angry sounding, why do I give this movie a 5? Simple, because even though I am (obviously) no fan of neo-vampire lore (that means vampire lore that constitutes freaky cult-followers who actually want to be vampires and think that sucking the blood of others and having teeth like knives are cool)this movie kept me watching. Despite the plot that sounds incredibly stupid when you say it out loud to someone-"Oh yeah, it's a movie about vampire and werewolves locked in empire species survival and war"-it is presented with an incredible flair and elegance that is rare in neo-vampire lore.
Beckinsdale is perfect as Selene, and if she had not been so good with the part, the movie would have gone from being another blood-filled vampire action flick to just down right painful to watch. Thank goodness for her acting skills.
The hybrid werewolf-vampire, Speedman, was also a high for me in the film. A nice change from common dark-too-overly-made-sexy lore to a way cool, out of the blue weird creature that just kicks you in the gut and forces you to go, "Damn, that's cool..." On the scale of all around movie quality: 5 On the scale of all vampire-action-flick quality: 9