DooDee's Talk

The Tracey Fragments

This is a film that has bright, exciting ideas about cinema as a storytelling medium and a vessel for emotional power. Employing bold editing techniques and visual concepts, the film is a character study that gives us the internal and external view of the title character's world. Ellen Page's work is much better in this film than in her Oscar-nominated performance in Juno (released the same year). This film jarred me, astonished me, affected me and gave me something to talk about for days afterwards. Definitely a favorite.

The Tracey Fragments

This is a film that has bright, exciting ideas about cinema as a storytelling medium and a vessel for emotional power. Employing bold editing techniques and visual concepts, the film is a character study that gives us the internal and external view of the title character's world. Ellen Page's work is much better in this film than in her Oscar-nominated performance in Juno (released the same year). This film jarred me, astonished me, affected me and gave me something to talk about for days afterwards. Definitely a favorite.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The sixth chapter of the adored Harry Potter series is certainly not a dissapointment, as Harry comes into the possession of an old book previously owned by the Half-Blood Prince. Great action!

Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)

The moving story of Jean-Do Bauby, a successful man who suffers a stroke and then learns to communicate (and write The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) by blinking. In a word, beautiful.

Insomnia

An L.A. detective investigates the murder of a teenaged girl in a small Alaskan city; only problem is it never gets dark out and he can't sleep. Great story of black mail from Christopher Nolan.

The Lucky Ones

A funny and touching story about three soldiers on leave from Iraq who must drive from New York to St. Louis when their flight home is cancelled. Along the way, some interesting things ensue.

Public Enemies

An interesting telling of the story of notorious gangster and bank robber John Dillinger and his accomplices. The shootout scenes are very nerve-wracking! Well-casted and well-executed.

Mystic River

Clint Eastwood directs an all-star cast in this brilliant film about finding a young girl's murderer. Dennis Lehane's stories are as twisted as they are remarkable! Robbins and Penn are great!

Dead Man Walking

Beautifully adapted by Tim Robbins, this film about a nun comforting a man on death row, demonstrates a touching story and powerful performances by Penn and Sarandon. Excellent!

Drag Me to Hell

After such a long time, i'm back!!!
It gives me pleasure to write my first review in a very long time for Drag Me To Hell because it's not just a normal release to go unnoticed. This is the savious of modern horror movies and a probable knock on the head to all those wannabe movie makers who attempt to make horror movies but always seem to fail. It's probably because they don't take the material the yare dealing with seriously and they don't even take themselves seriously or they wouldn't have accepted working in lame projects. Well we all thank Sam Raimi for his spectacular vision that once proved that he's a horror genius and after a long absence from this genre scene he came back to lift horror movies up once again.

To be honest, when i first read the plot i thought it would be another ridiculous attempt coz the story has been done and milked so many times in movies that i was seriously getting bored from the idea. We have seen so many movies about people being cursed to go to hell and then try to lift the curse by using paranormal ways which often don't work. Usually i will turn off the tv or stop watching the movie by the middle but i didn't even consider doing that while watching this movie. The movie is an instant charmer from the second it begins. It doesn't waste time with silly introductions that eventually leads nowhere but goes immediately into the story so the viewer will be captivated and enters the mood of the movie instantly.

All those who are familiar with Raimi's works know that humor is an essential part in his movies specially horror ones. Now most horror movies turn out funny and ridiculous unintentionally because of the lack of serious work in it. But Raimi as usual succeeds in adding the humor element in this movie without depriving it from its seriousness but instead relieving the viewer from the tense atmosphere that is always dominating so he will get a chance to take a breath even for a minute. Usually this moments came in really tense scenes or scary ones. It was a risky business adding them in such scenes but it was brilliant. And as i said, the scene never lost its scary or thrilling sense but just the viewer was given a chance to have a laugh in a movie that is dominated by scares. And some scenes will make you laugh out loud, it happened with me!

Now to get to the really important part, the scary terrifying part. To be serious, i usually fall asleep in horror movie not only for the fact that they have lame plots but also coz they miss the main point of them being made which is scaring the viewer. That's a whole different situation here. I jumped off my seat in some scenes. In others my heart was pounding so fast it would stop. It's just a brilliant mood builder and maintains it throughout the whole movie.

What's interesting in Drag Me To Hell is that it was daring, direct and straight to the point. Usually, horror movies that deals with things that has to do with devil are shy to show a personification of the devil. Those fears are sometimes at their place coz maybe this image they show might be ridiculous and then this terrifying image won't be terrifying anymore. Now Raimi was daring in what he did here showing a silouhette in an indirect way but explains how hi vision of the devil is. As typical as it was, it managed to send the message which is this terrifying legendary creature that we all fear.

My only bad critic is Raimi's sometimes cliche use of camera angles that was a bit cheap and not at the level of the whole movie. He was brilliant in his angles and everything but there were some moments when there was some repetitions in his angles.

The performances were a step up for modern horror movies. It's the first one to have such good performances since The Others and The Orphanage. The whole cast as a group wasn't great since some elements only managed to give just fair performances. Lohman was very good in her role. But two people were excellent show stealer. The first was Adriana Barraza in a brilliant appearance. But the real star was that old geazer playing the lady who curses Lohman. She was absolutely stunning and so into the character.

Samson and Delilah

Probably one of the best Australian film ever, certainly one of its most powerful, dealing with the nation's elephant in the room, the indigenous Australians. A harrowingly confronting film about youth, indigenous culture, disadvantage and poverty ultimately turns into a subtle but extremely moving love story. A quietly beautiful film that gets under your skin and shakes you too your core. Particularly powerful from an Australian perspective the film looks hard at a shameful fact of Australian society, without moralizing or pointing blame, the film transcends the subject matter and creates a powerful love story. But be prepared for its slow style and its ability to emotionally drain you.

Fargo

A man in debt hires two thugs to kidnap his wife so he can collect ransom money from her rich father. When things go awry, sweet Margie is called to save the day. McDormand is brilliant!

Thriller

The greatest music video ever . Little recomendation from me in memory of Michael Jackson R.I.P

I'm not exactly a fan just an admirier of his music, mainly from the 1980's. Thriller is one I love.

1958-2009

Never Back Down

He's Just Not That Into You

A funny romantic comedy about coming to terms with the mess of love, lust and loathing and discovering whether you are the rule or the exception in the "dating pool." A brilliant cast!

Body of Lies

A strong action film about a CIA operative attempting to take down a major terrorist leader, all the while working with iffy allies. A good watch. Anything with Leo DiCaprio is golden!

Che: Part One (The Argentine)

The Lion King

The Hangover

A funny comedy about a group of guys who go to Vegas for a bachelor party only to get wasted and forget the past 24 hours come the morning. Good cast. A really entertaining watch.