Eric's Talk

Chapter 27

It could have had a bit more substance or provided a bit more concrete reasons WHY MDC did what he did, but other than that, this is a really interesting and unnerving film, highlighted by a haunting performance by Jared Leto. She's only got a small part, buy Lindsay Lohan ialso does a pretty good job, as does Judah Friedlander. It's worth watching at least once.

Disney's A Christmas Carol

Great special effects,Delightful fun for the family this holiday.

Were the World Mine

"Shakespeare was queer, too!"

An early episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, called "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", had Xander perform a love potion, which backfiring - at first with welcome results - had seemingly the entire female population of Sunnydale suddenly in love with him. Typically for such a strongly written tv series, even this largely "throwaway" episode was wittily written, had some great ideas, and the after effects (especially Xander's relationship with a now betrayed Willow) were not ignored. Were the World Mine takes the central idea of a love potion, here magically found hidden within the text of Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream, and spins it by having the formula attract people of the same sex. Obviously filmed on a low budget, I can only imagine how fantastic this would have been with just one more rewrite and a few million dollars chucked at it. Nevertheless, this is largely a huge success, is massively enjoyable and plays very well with Shakespeare's words - mixing styles together in clever ways. It works well as a musical - with imaginatively staged and choreographed routines - as a charming romance, as a comedy drama, and as a big two fingers up towards outmoded and outdated homophobic institutions, such as religious organisations and boarding schools (you can send your hate mail to bitemyass@gmail.com). It's also beautifully photographed. Best of all is the above average acting from all involved, which really took my surprise. Tanner Cohen as lead Timothy not only has the angst and hormones down pat, but also has a great singing voice (reminiscent of Jay Brannan). But special mention should go to the three leading women - Wendy Robie as the drama teacher, Judy McLane as Timothy's mother and Zelda Williams as Timothy's best friend, Frankie, who are all excellent. I urge you to watch this with some of your gay fearing friends and make them squirm. Now, where can I get one of them flowers?!

Law Abiding Citizen

AWESOME!!!! Gerard and Jamie Foxx are a fantastic pair.Intense and twisty,I loved it!!

Amelie (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain)

Loved it! This has been on my see it soon list forever.A film desidned to have the viewer fall in love with the story.I have never really seem anything quite like it.Its amazing what one random act of kindness for a stranger will spark off in another persons life.See this movie if you haven't already!! =)

Amelie (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain)

Loved it! This has been on my see it soon list forever.A film desidned to have the viewer fall in love with the story.I have never really seem anything quite like it.Its amazing what one random act of kindness for a stranger will spark off in another persons life.See this movie if you haven't already!! =)

As Good As It Gets

This is a good movie with a wonderful story and a great cast. Didn`t really remembered it from the last time I saw it but now I want forget this beautiful story. Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt really makes this story come to life.

Things We Lost in the Fire

A good movie about moving on with your life after loosing the one you loved. Sad but a good story and movie

Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity

This one got way too overhyped for me.I was expecting some truly terrifying stuff.Really let down.Still some things you aren't ready for and one hell of an ending,I would just wait for the dvd. =)

Michael Jackson's This Is It

Electrifying!! What a sad sore reminder that Michael is gone.Anyway we are so lucky that this film was put together to hold Michael's legacy together.I do believe that this concert would have put Michael back on top.This concert was amazing and over the top,but in a good way.You get to see this man in a firm,creative businessman,yet he remains humble and full of love.He has so much energy and charisma. The new version of Thriller is AWESOME.Just am amazing film,See this one!!!

(500) Days of Summer

This romantic comedy follows the relationship of Tom and Summer, from the getting to know each other as friends to the awkward meeting months after the end and the...well, one shouldn't give away too much. That may sound as if it has been done similarly many times before, but it hasn't. This film brings more fresh ideas to the genre than most others of the last ten years.
Examples? The story is not told chronologically, but with emphasis on what seem to be randomly mixed but very important days from the relationship. Or: The morning after the first sex (Day 35) Tom walks down the street with a big grin, sees himself as Han Solo in mirrors and soon bursts into a musical number including cartoon birds. There are plenty of more cases, like the wise advice-giving teenage sibling, the expectation vs. reality split screen or the beautiful "childhood footage" opening sequence.
All those wonderful quirky ideas, together with an excellent soundtrack, the lovely characters and the very natural acting (especially Zooey Deschanel as Summer is wonderful), make for a charming, funny, sad and true movie experience. And the best part? The movie works for cynics, couples and singles all the same. Wonderful!

The Door in the Floor

Tod Williams skilfully adapts a portion of John Irving's "un-filmable" novel A Widow for One Year; A Door in the Floor is a wonderful, beautifully acted and photographed film and is an exploration on grief, guilt and love that feels both unique and, most importantly, completely real. Jon Foster, who plays Eddie as a mixture of confused hormones, has this almost monotone delivery, which, like Keanu Reeves' most honest performances (My Own Private Idaho, River's Edge), draws you in and makes you very aware of the actually quite complicated feelings beneath the words being said. Kim Basinger proves once more that she can be a remarkably good actor; Marion is a broken being, unable to be close to her daughter for the feelings that just being near to her bring up. But it is Jeff Bridges who really delivers. Initially what seems like his default 'slacker' mode (Ted wanders his house either wrapped in a sheet or naked, completely unbothered by embarrassment, and makes Eddie type the same lines out over and over, with minor grammatical adjustments, in search of the perfect sentence) is revealed to be a kind of survival mechanism, for he too is grief-stricken - in a very different way, but no less damaging. The film offers no real resolution but does allow at least two characters a kind of catharsis. The final images are sure to raise questions but it isn't the answers that are important, in this fascinating and unquestionably moving film.

A Perfect Getaway

Starts out kinda slow,Pretty good overall. =)

The Omen

Creepy classic, that after more than 30 years since its making, still stands strong next to its contemporary counterparts. The directing is superb and the story very captivating. Not to say spooky and quite graphic. Much like The Exorcist (which is sort of like a sister film to this one, as they're quite similiar to eachother both tone- and storywise), it has some scenes that are pretty disturbing. So if you have weak nerves or get easily upset, you may want to think twice about seeing it. For those of us that can handle it though, this is an enjoyable experience from beginning to end. Not to be missed if you're a horror fan!

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

There were so many things that went through my mind after seeing this, that I almost had enough material to fill a whole novel. But to try and summarize my experience (and make things easier on the eyes), I've here split up all the impressions, into what I thought worked and what I thought didn't.

What worked:

* The intro scene. Altough quite short in length, it started off the movie on a high note and instantly grabbed my attention.

* The action. Comes in a very generous amount and is really well-directed (for the most part at least). High on entertainment value and a guaranteed cure against boredom.

* The cast. Overall, I liked the actors. Altough ranging quite widely in talent level, they had pretty good chemistry together and there was no one that I found to be really bothersome or annoying.

* The special effects. Not Transformers-good, but still pretty awesome and well-made. The scenes in Paris were particularily impressive, and provided this movie with some wow-factor.

* The story. Altough nothing new or original, it was exciting to follow and had very good pacing (even if things moved a little too quickly sometimes).

What didn't work:

* Joseph Gordon Levitt's acting. At least when he was playing the Doctor. Very over-the-top and like a lame rip-off of Darth Vader.

* The script. Flat as a pancake and filled with a lot of hackneyed and prosaic lines. There were also some character actions that were really out of place and difficult to buy.

* The humor bits. Okay for the most part, but sometimes so embarassingly corny that it made me cringe in my seat. Certainly not one the movie's strong points.

* The flashbacks. A half-hearted attempt to give the characters some depth, that fails due to bad timing, poor dialogue and sloppy directing.

To make some sort of conclusion of all this, it's evidently a film of very uneven quality. Perfect for all the action-buffs out there (including yours truly), but if you want something that also stimulates the intellect....well, then you're gonna have to look somewhere else. Because as much as I hate saying it, this film has about as much substance as a helium balloon, and a script that probably weighs about the same. Even so, it's still good enough to deserve my recommendation. Why, you might ask? Well, because it's rich on an ingredient that is vital for this type of movie; namely good fun. And that goes a long way in my book ;-)

Trick 'r Treat

Now infamous for being shelved for the best part of two years because the studio didn't know how to sell it, and then unceremoniously dumped on DVD in October 2009, this is a surprisingly successful horror film. Described as an anthology, it does have something of the visual style of the like of Tales From The Crypt and Creepshow but the skilful interweaving of the stories means it doesn't have the episodic feel of those franchises. Presumably, the various stories/threads are what the studio found difficult to exploit when it came to trailer/marketing campaigns, but Halloween is bankable time at the box office and surely they could have given this a theatrical release simply by banking on the TrueBlood factor of Anna Paquin, or the iconic image of the cute/creepy cloth-headed demon who appears throughout (and is put to good use on the poster art). Had this been a box office success, it could well have started a new franchise or at least a resurgence in this kind of storytelling that would have made a nice/needed balance to the likes of the Saw and slasher-remake franchises that currently occupy screen space during October. Regardless, the stories here are mostly very ingenious, mixing up equal parts scares, laughs, nostalgia and surprising twists, with an especially impressive Werewolf transformation which finally (almost) rivals those in The Howling and An American Werewolf in London. This would make a brilliant double bill with Drag Me To Hell.