Arabiana Jones Boy, I’ll tell you that when this was new, it was great. This was before Lucas and Spielberg made it impossible to have a straight ahead adventure film with no winks at the audience. This was when special effects were more believable because the monsters were so unlike humans. This was before Arabs… Continue reading Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)
Tag: p2010
Comments first posted in 2010
Funky Forest: The First Contact (2005)
Visits With a project like this, it is as likely that it is a random goof as something with some structure. It could be both. As this was sent to me by a fellow viewer, and because I am so inclined, I tend to see structure. And what I see I like — a lot.… Continue reading Funky Forest: The First Contact (2005)
Glitch (2008)
Canine Cells This is bad in all the ordinary ways. The idea is bad and the general setup. The science is bad. But many of the background characters are worthwhile. The usual pattern for these cartoony projects is to have the main characters operate in an environmental sea of props and secondary characters who are… Continue reading Glitch (2008)
iMurders (2008)
Kernel Panic You know what? This is pretty incompetent in a few ways, but the incompetence works for it. This is a murder mystery of the old school. You are introduced to characters. Murders are being committed. Clues are placed around. Many suspects and many motives are given. There is a chatroom angle, but that… Continue reading iMurders (2008)
Moon (2009)
I, Me, Mine Movies like this, ones that have open seams, are made for me. This happens to me a lot. This is a story with no intended ambiguities. A solitary man on the moon discovers he is an expendable clone, discovering then conspiring with one of his siblings. There is some plotting and a… Continue reading Moon (2009)
In the Realms of the Unreal (2004)
Lost Battles Henry Darger was a man damaged in childhood who went on to lead a reclusive, long life. As with many of us, he was pulled into a fantasy world. Unlike nearly all of us, he found a way to reify that world in text and images. He had no intentions of ever sharing… Continue reading In the Realms of the Unreal (2004)
In Her Shoes (2005)
Dislexika Once you know chronic problems faced by certain trades, you will notice how some projects reach to do some necessary thing. For instance, filming people around a dinner table is rarely done well, and almost never with great effect. So watch what the filmmaker does to change the geometry so that the shot can… Continue reading In Her Shoes (2005)
In My Father’s Den (2004)
Spatial War, Redhead Landscapes, Image and Word Woven Together Apart Australia is vital to my life in film. From an American perspective, New Zealand is normally clumped in there as well — something that annoys Kiwis to no end. At least in terms of film, they differ: more direct, honest, intimate. Unfortunately, you pretty much… Continue reading In My Father’s Den (2004)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
Imagination Imagine the standard paragraph here, the one others are writing about Gilliam’s grand ambition but lack of execution. The man made a very bad career decision, to try to map his very particular and limited imagination into film. He has two notions only. One is dear to my heart: the idea of an inner… Continue reading The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
Extraordinary Measures (2010)
Dying You can see the pitch: real life, dying children, desperate father, two bankable actors who have made money in action movies but who sputter otherwise. In other words, there is no intent to put anything of value into this: it intends to milk us based on stuff banked by others. Unfortunately, everything — other… Continue reading Extraordinary Measures (2010)