The Best of Dystopia

What else to expect from this dream team-up than a masterpiece? Delicatessen is a fabuously toned film, the best sequence being the "sounds" montage. Just great. Have to see it if you have any interest in scifi, dystopian films, Jeunet's work, or solid films in general.

This movie must have been made specifically for me - one of my favorite authors done by the only modern film-maker I could imagine taking the material on - and done in the interpolated rotoscoping style I adore!

Just saw this classic for the first time yesterday, having known the story from other scifi sources. I like the visuals in this, even the obvious miniature of the city's "railway" system. It's a rare scifi film that feels like the pace and distribution of plot facts feels as even and ensnaring as Logan's Run. The second half of the movie is especially rewarding in terms of depicting a foreign and unique alternate universe. It is a bit incredulous how often Francis keeps coming back to hunt down Logan, and consequently I did get caught off guard by Francis' big jump scare (though it was immediately followed by an internal groan of "not this guy again!"). Thought this was great and well deserves its label as "classic scifi".

One of the best films of all time, and also a science fiction flick!

One day David Cronenberg decided that he needed to remake Videodrome, but make it about video games, and eXistenZ was born (pronounced eggs-iz-stends). Unfortunately, that movie was not as good as Videodrome, even the cult French movie Avalon surpassing it in terms of story concept, though it was packed with Cronenberg's very cool aesthetic for blending flesh and circuits. Of course, the prop design is great, and talented actors begged to be in this, but it's just not resounding. It's Cronenberg, so it's well done but like I keep finding myself saying abut some directors: it just doesn't compare to their other films, which while is a fault for Cronenberg, most other directors would be blessed to have done this well. The pace works well, almost too well as the 90 minutes whiz by a bit too quickly. Just needed more....material than some typical scifi twists and mimicry of PKD paranoia.

Love this film. Met the sound engineer, and Soderbergh's regular sound guy since sex lies & videotape, Larry Blake. This is an out-there movie for people who love image, symbolism, montage, and astounding sound mixing. Slightly inexplicable in terms of its plot, but basically everything builds around an important man making an important speech and makes some damn amazing detours on the way. My favorite scene involves people's dialog slipping in and out of different languages, in different chronological order, speaking backwards, all kinds of great stuff. Plus some great send-ups to the pop videography of the early 90s with the bug exterminator's segments.

Just finished re-watching the Cube series, and this is still my favorite entry. The drama is tight, and the production design is actually my favorite of the three Cube movies. This is a suspense movie that has broad appeal, whereas the sequels would only appeal to people fascinated with the "Cube" idea. This is solidly shot with great acting, and establishes a consistent mood of the many emotions one would experience inside the Cube: hopelessness, claustrophobia, frustration, exhaustion, and the lunacy that results.

"So Fucked Up" highlight:
the conclusion

I can't rate "Blade Runner" because while perhaps a splendid movie and innovative beyond imagination to scifi and arthouse dramas, I cannot review it because of my extreme love for Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? the novel by Phillip K. Dick from which this movie takes some plot elements and the main character. Nothing can compare with the visuals in my head when I read DADOES? .

Interesting premise, tight form. Hard to care about the characters except a select few - still better empathy here than in most gorefests like this. (Two weeks later) After two more watches, still feel the same amount of connection to characters (just enough but not that much).
A fun ride, a good movie, and well executed, this is a new classic in the Asian gorefest category. A remake is in the works for the American market, but this is truly a sublime staging of slaughter.

"So Fucked Up" highlight:
girls in the watchtower go stir crazy and kill each other

7-31-08
Added 1 star because of top production value and because I like the new "welcome to BR/take your packs" scene. The story and premise still suck, and this is full of too many missed opportunities for or awkward inclusion of minute, but important, references to the first movie.

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What can I say other than "this sucks because it is completely without direction and a resounding theme (or even just a decent one) but instead is just a restaging of many famous battle scenes, except with teenaged kids in stupid uniforms (they have ORANGE in them) instead of Nazis, Navy Seals, Green Berets, or typical adult army grunts".
Here the "kids' view vs. the grownups' view" is downplayed due to an emphasis on a political commentary on the United States as a nation that is obsessed with "bombing terrorists" and has the long list of nations bombed to prove it (That's what the lesson is at the beginning, not stuff about BR and the internal stresses in Japanese society causing the BR Act, but which countries the US has bombed in the last fifty years (to which I say, look at everyone else's records too; fifty years is a long time). But I guess it is saying something about the outgoing Bushie that even as early as 2003, foreign genre films were already laced with an anti-Bush backbone.
Another large statement is trying to be made about "terrorists", how the only difference between "revolutionary" and "terrorist" is the outcome of the declared war. A true thing, but not communicated properly; they should have read Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta" granted the movie version wasn't out yet but that central idea and concise execution has existed for hundreds of years. Just take a better model from the political war genre and plug in your characters and instantly this could have been a great B version of 'City of God'.
Get the first movie in a high definition version; don't waste time on this misstep of a sequel.

The sets, action, and cinematography are great, but this is more geared towards an action audience than a scifi audience as this is a more realistic dystopia. The problem though is that the story isn't original or engaging. Basically, this movie relies solely on its images to induce emotion in the audience. Nice flick, but I will probably never watch it again as it wasn't that compelling to warrant a second view.

Can't believe I've neglected to review this!!! Maybe it's just that a movie like this, I had too much to say and put it off for too long. It's an incredible CG action flick, the characters actually provoke emotion in the audience, the visuals are all stunning, and the plot is appropriately complex. Such a great movie and must see for anyone into anime or scifi.

This is my favorite Phillip K Dick adaptation to hit the screen, though many may blast me for not favoring Blade Runner. I may not like Tom Cruise, but he does a great job in this. The story is perfectly adapted for screen; it is just as unsettling, paranoid, and perplexing as Dick's prose.

Fantastic design though it is less like a Dickian world than Total Recall or Blade Runner as it has the sleeker, cleaner design like Paycheck. One of my favorite adapted stories and a classic science fiction film.

An interesting scifi noir set in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve 1999 . Fiennes play a great hustler of full cerebral cortex experience discs. This main technology in the film will remind many of eXistenZ, though Strange Days released first. Interesting dystopic view of Los Angeles which reflects on the Rodney King riots. The pacing is addictive. The twists are typical, but still fun. Must watch for fans of scifi dystopia or those interested in virtual reality. I'm surprised this movie doesn't have a cult following.

Was not at all disappointed. The key here is that in scenes set in the game, it feels set in a game and scenes set in "real realities" look real (though both the game and real worlds utilize the same effects palette, just producing starkly different results).

The story is also tops, but the intrigue of falling deeper into the game ultimately overshadows what the script props up as the character's real motivation.

I'm really suprised this film doesn't have more of a cult following. I highly recommend it to scifi fans, dystopia fans, gaming fans, technophreaks, VFX freeks, philosophy phreeks, animator/animation junkies, film-makers and just film fans.