Reviews by shawn tomorrow

i feel like i've heard this story...kinda...

a fun romp through shakespeare's romeo&juliet with ample reworking. half the time you'll forget that the story you're watching is so well known. as well elton john's reworking of some of his own works makes the score for this a bit like deja-vu.

no need to tell the plot other than here its two yards full of gnomes of a different color. one yard is red gnomes, the other blue. and you know what happens from there.
some really unusual characters in there as well. a mushroom is totally mute despite being a main character. and a lawn flamingo from an abandoned yard adds another dimension.

cute, clever, funny and fun. what more could you ask for? well its not spot on comedy. it could have done a lot more with these characters and as far as sequels go they'd have to reach far to carry on with these characters as well.

so its not perfect? its still good.

when i first saw this movie it was intoxicating. rich and unsettling story line that seemed to come out of nowhere. it messed with your mind a bit and it felt good. thats what a movie should do.

theres been a lot of movies that tackle these sort've things since then (as i write this the film is 16 years old.) so i wasn't entirely sure it would hold up. seeing it now some things are a little bit from being perfect, but all in all it still commands a audience.

its still very plausible as a warning, and its still surprising as a film. the story leaves you questioning what you do in your life and what effect it will have. it also suggests that we can't know the ultimate effects and we may cause worse things to happen by trying to prevent them. it leaves enough unanswered to keep us thinking to this day.

basic plot: a man from the future is sent back to gather data to help scientist in the future fix a viral armageddon that happened in the past. they don't know the source of the virus...but don't or can't change the past. the man meets a psychiatrist who becomes integral to aiding his path and at the same time meets a patient that will also play a part in his data collection...albeit its not what he thinks it is. we learn the true story through messages sent to the future and interpreted...previous data collection to which meaning is attached...but it may not be correct. they are trying to fill the gaps in the whole story.

theres no need to explain this. watch the story unfold its a good journey. i've never read reviews of this film and i'd wager a guess some out there would pick apart the holes in the plot. i've no need for that. its a good story, its compelling, there's nothing overtly obviously off. i enjoyed it again and will again another time.

perfume is a period piece that does something quite different. its not a traditional period piece that'll fill the screen with boring detail. instead it spends all its time telling a tale that is one part fantasy and one part mystical. its unique.

my first impression wasn't good. over-saturated filtering is just tacky unless you're telling a comic book story or something of the like. i guess you could take perfume that way but it wouldn't do the film justice. if they had just left the film alone or done something more subtle it would be much more appropriate.

then the narration begins...which will kill this movie for some people but for myself i don't mind it (hell, i even prefer the narration in bladerunner). it definitely sets this movie a tone which is a fairtale of sorts.

then the story and thats where this movie truly shines. its just unexpected and utterly unique. its about destiny and failure, success and consequences. and thats all that needs to be said here. its a story just enjoy it.

acting is good to great. i found the main character to be less than great but perhaps appropriate.

just top notch stuff worthy of praise.

i'm willfully ignorant of some movies. i don't like going into a movie with an opinion. and sometimes that means i avoid figuring out what they're about before i watch them. even films as well known as this, i prefer to remain clueless until i see them. if it is at all possible. i knew nothing about taxi driver other than its considered good and has robert dinero in it...as a taxi driver.

so here is what i think for what its worth:

its a slow film but a distinct one. an original concept and i never really knew what to expect as it played out. not in a 'figure it out' game sort've way...simply as the character evolves the film changes drastically.

the movie starts as this washy nostalgic romp through the dingy new york of the 70's. the main character travis bickle (deniro) gets a job as a taxi driver and begins telling what he sees in new york as a cesspool of hell; prostitutes, junkies, gangs, etc. he seems to hate it and at least its suggested in several parts of the film that he may be writing these rantings as a journal possible for a novel.

then he sees a beautiful woman, who he obsesses over. she works for the campaign of a (fictional) presidential candidate. he stalks her, then woo's her in his own awkward way, but then quickly blows it by taking her to a porn movie. then he begins to loose it. from there, the film turns into a movie about a man obsessed with killing a presidential candidate...and a heavy obsession with guns and "standing up" against an opponent. he goes so far as to build contraptions to be able to fling the guns from his sleeves into his hand in a instant sweeping motion. set for the kill: and then the moment...where he tries to pull the gun from his coat pocket (what happened to the gadgets...was it a fantasy?) and is nearly caught...
theres another part where he decides to go help a young prostitute that had gotten into his cab earlier in the film and finds her pimp etc, yet finds seemingly that she doesn't want to leave and preceeds to tell her how horrible she is. in the end after almost getting caught at the assassination attempt he's trying to save her again by killing everyone around her and nearly gets killed himself...instead he becomes the hero???

questionable but not unreasonable ending.

excellent acting all round. great story albeit a bit wandering. great filming. deserving of its success. though i will admit i wouldn't call it my favorite and find some of it questionable. some has been said for instance of its racist tones. there are not friendly portrayals of black people here and the main character gives some hints that he's racist. its challenging to accept but i think should be seen as somewhat a reflection of the characters not necessarily the movie (although it'd be easier to make that claim if there were black characters that were more well meaning in the film..as it is the friendliest black people in the movie look like questionable people at best.)

as movies go, as stories go, it was definitely entertaining and remains as good today as when it was filmed.

great stuff.

first 4 of the leprechaun films.

leprechaun: the original with jennifer anniston playing a teen aged girl...when she's obviously well beyond that already. yeah she's younger than in friends, but she's far from looking like a teenager and...well she never could act so she can't act like one either. we'll dismiss that because its only truly annoying at the onset when they establish these details. from there she just doesn't her normal attempt at acting...which mind you isn't horrid but is also never great.
this first film is begins with an old man that steals the leprechaun's gold in ireland and the leprechaun comes to his home in north dakota get it back. kills his wife and gets caught again by the man and put into a crate...but still manages to give the guy a "stroke". enter the new home owners a man and his "daughter" aka anniston as a teen(cough)ager. and he's hired a group of house painters including, not surpisingly, a "hot" guy (who's not really of course), a kid, and a mentally slow man, presumably brothers. the crate gets opened, the gold gets found, and we have the horror movie plot.
all in all its a bit slow getting to the horror, but nothing is aweful about getting there. the acting is fair, the story fair, the filming pretty good, and so on. an enjoyable albiet not particularly scary unless you haven't seen this sort've thing before or have an irrational fear of leprechauns i suppose.
i did actually enjoy the kind've commical foot fetish...or rather show fetish...that is used against the leprechaun...creative..if silly. worth seeing. would watch again. nothing profound though. (6/10)

leprechaun 2: he's back and after his gold again...lost a shillin'...again. this time he's after love too. and right away he has a girl he wants to make his and its his slave's daughter...but he's prevented and then he finds another and manages to make her his "wife" but the boyfriend wants her back. the boyfriend is a LA tourguide with his uncle. this also embark on the leprechaun pointlessly getting involved in random killing...spicing up the gore in the movie without making it any part of the plot...whatever. the boyfriend also learns that wrought iron is the only way to kill the leprechaun (not sure what happened to the four leaf clover theory...). and then along the line somehow the shilling when he has it makes it impossible for the leprechaun to hurt him....which is stupid because we already seen him kill people with his gold but who am i to say... truthfully theres nothing really good here but for a cheesy horror its fun enough. the added gore works fine and the silly rhymes begin to become a signature in this film. overall good if a bit lacking in serious scares. almost ruinned by seriously bad acting on the girls part...not bad normally but her attempts at scared or sad is just horribly awkward. (6/10)

leprechaun 3: on to las vegas... a pawn shop owner is given a sculpture of a leprechaun...(you see where this is going right...duh!) he tells the shop owner not to touch the amulet aka necklace. (yeah...) and of course he takes it off the sculpture and it comes to life...and leaves it pot of gold with the shop keeper...and immediately comes back for it. meantime....country boy visitin' the big city...stops...bumbling stops...he almost runs over a girl who needs help with her car. she's a vegas magician...or rather assistant aspiring towards her own act (a subplot never used)...he helps her she gets him into the casino because he's underage....he loses his college money betting and is told to go the pawn shop and pawn his watch to win his money back. finds the owner killed and finds a gold shilling on which he makes a wish....suddenly these movies include wishes being granted but without any logic...they did it before in the last movie. in the first movie they got a wish for catching the leprechaun...which would have to be "give me your gold"...the second movie they got three wishes for having the gold...the third movie now they get a wish for each shilling they have of the gold except theres only one shilling ever being passed around. whatever again...don't over think it. the casino is full of unsavory characters to fill time and to make some plot devices moving the shilling about and letting the leprechaun destroy the wisher somehow. interesting subplot which has to be new...the country boy used the wish to get a winning streak back...and did so...the leprechaun while trying to find his shilling, which had just been stolen from the boy, bites the boy and bleeds onto him. now he's infected and becoming a leprechaun and he and the love interest...you know the hot city girl he saved...have to kill the leprechaun to save his life. oh and this time in order to kill the leprechaun they have to destroy the gold which they do by burning it...ummm...nevermind. not half bad movie gorier again, not bad acting for the most part....on and on. then cut to the last scene and they have a shilling still....oh oh oh is there a part four...why yes there is: (6/10)

leprechaun 4; in space: sounds dumb right...you're right. the filmmakers i guess decided they wanted to do a sci-fi film and being that its a leprechaun film hilarity ensues...sort've. the jokes are lame which is just as true in any of these...but where this fall dreadfully short is the rest of the attempt. bad acting, bad script, totally unbelievable in any conceivable realm. i mean they didn't even try to make this a plausible space film. instead its about a group of soldiers sent to some alien planet to kill any alien life forms. thats right this is about alien species from different planets and in fact humanoid like aliens that we have relationships good and bad with....wtf? and what the group of soldiers stumble into is of course the leprechaun's home cave (complete with bat sounds and another alien creature which is promptly killed). here he has his newest to be wife...who is a queen from another planet and the leprechaun is plotting to become king. also a sub plot of scientists and a wizard of oz character called both wizard and dr. mittenhand. in truth its watchable stupid...but its stupid! (3/10)

theres more leprechaun films after this...i can only imagine...and i'm frightened

notes about this dvd pack: theres 2 dvd's in the box; disc one is 1&2, disc two 3&4. normal, except that the menus, setups, and even the style of the discs are different. the first 2 films are on a single sided disc and come with nothing featurewise nor subtitles (closed captioning works). the second two films come on a double sided disc and offer subtitling. these are also full screen versions. maybe some where filmed that way i dont' know...i didn't check and i cant' imagine it'd make one lick of a difference.

dark star is by people behind halloween and aliens...but its a comedy. should be cool right? well...

1974 sci-fi, theres some amazing works to look at. this film isn't one of them. even by the current standard of the time this is slow and dis-interesting.

we're told over and over that this is a comedy...says it right on the box...but there is absolutely nothing funny in the film. its clear carpenter and co thought they could be funny but instead they just force us to sit through situations that are nonsense. an intelligent bomb that wants to detonate but has to figure out if it exists....haha zzzzz.

this film would have been better if they had intended it to be serious...hell these guys clearly should've done what they knew and made a horror flick out of it. as it is, a comedy without laughs, its just a drag.

mind you, i sat through it. its not horrible...just not good. if i had nothing better to do and nothing better to watch...maybe i'd watch it again. in all likelihood i will never again watch this.

vik muniz is an interesting photographer. truthfully his work has much more to do with drawing than photography...but the photo exists as the finalized work which is otherwise transient materials. he's probably most famous for a series of chocolate syrup works, although his sugar drawings are equally as known. suffice it to say, that his work has gained a large audience as well as large prices. better yet, it deserves it...its good work, done well, interesting, and at minimum appears genuine.

this documentary has ups and downs but remains well worth seeing.

its completely different from what you'd expect, and perhaps want, from a film about a photographer. there is some interesting bio/history given (details about his past that i wasn't aware of). the majority of the documentary, however, is about the people he is working on in this "project"; the "catadores" (pickers) of the Jardim Gramacho garbage dump (the worlds largest in Rio de Janeiro). this is where the film is ultimately important, yet the artist's "intent" here become questionable. its an honest intent, he intends to help these people by making portraits of them, selling the photos primarily at an auction, and then giving those proceeds back to the pickers. fair enough.

the questions arise in his approach to the people. he meets them, finds there are thousands of them, picks a few good "characters", and proceeds to hire them to help in the makeshift studio warehouse to create large scale portraits out of the trash. in doing so he takes them out of the dump, gives them wages in a safer and cleaner environment, and makes them something they were not...assistants to an artist.

to their credit the artist, with his assistant and his wife, discuss this moral dilemma and theorize what will happen after this "project" is completed and the pickers return to their normal lives. although their limited psychological evaluations and social considerations are sadly underdeveloped. the film makers fall short here addressing the issues involved. everyone involved here clearly should have gotten some outside opinion and been much more careful about how they preceded.

that being said, one is left to wonder how much of this is promotional material and what facts were left hidden away from the viewing public. the film crew here has an agenda and its married with the artist and his "project". The film itself is part of the "project". they begin the filming at the point where vik's assistant has scoped out the sight they are going to (Jardim Gramacho). there is no one to give this any air of honestly or truth. there is absolutely no other opinion or research on this. it left me suspect of the happenings and the after effects. this is not to say that there is anything wrong or bad done here, nor to say that there is in fact evidence being withheld. what i'm saying is that the filmmakers have failed to close this hole and leaves open a massive question about the possibility of this "project" causing some harm either to the pickers (highly unlikely) or to the selected few (much more questionable).

there are two short bonus segments: one on a "character" whose story was left out "at the last minute"...presumably for time constraints. their story (a couple) is not as interesting ultimately. the second is a short 18 minute post story, which does suggest that things have gone better for this group a selected people, as well it suggests that the money may have helped the whole group some (although the dump will ultimately close in 2012 and they will have to adjust to a new job elsewhere or else-how). again because this is clearly filmed as part of this documentary, it has essentially the same need to be positive rather than truthful.

i give them the benefit of my doubt, and realize that just because they didn't resolve those issues well does not mean they did anything morally wrong. its a problem for the film, not for the project, not for the artist, not for the filmmakers. simply a limitation of the scope of the documentary work shown here.

the story is amazing, heartfelt, enlightening, and as i've said well worth watching. i will watch this again i'm positive. vik is an amazing artist. this is a great view of his working process. its a great body of work. its a good film....good camerawork and good sequencing. and the music was great too....surprised to see at the end the credit going to moby!

despite a flaw, one of the better documentaries out there. and given that this was done in 2009 we may have to wait for the final story to be told. i hope vik remains important and that sometime this will be revisited to see what became of these "characters"

just awful.

marketed as a comedy; its not. natural born killers; its not. cool; its not. horror...some elements but far from worth it.

no plot.

was there a script? why bother.

bad dull acting.

people who analyze this have sh*t for brains.*

half assed senseless porn...but not nearly as good as any ever made.

i'm positive i'm dumber after watching this.

i'd hate this movie with all my heart but i just wish i had that hour and a half back. its not worth remembering other than to never ever watch it again.

*for those who think this is profound deep meaning sort've stuff: its about a girl choosing between jesus and the devil. if the devil is chris kattan's mr. peepers from snl as a gay porn star who'll f**k absolutely anything that moves or once did move and jesus is keanu reeve's surfer impersonation in point break but dumber than his ted character in bill & ted's and as boring as can possibly be. the girl is the best character. if she could say a line of dialog convincingly it would still amount to nothing but "f**k" and worse.

to be updated as (re)watched:

lurking fear: i thought i had seen this movie before but i can hardly remember any of it. like all full moon movies if you're expecting profound you're barking up the wrong tree. they were and are straight to video and now dvd...and now actually blu-ray although i don't have a clue why you'd pay for blu-ray of their movies they were never shot with any quality. although i have to say i think the transfer on this dvd is shit. a lot of the dark tones suffer from noise and tone reversal. lurking fear tries to be cool but isn't. tries to have action but doesn't, tries to be scary but isn't that either. what it has is b-movie cheesy horror. watchable but weak. i could comment of specific instances but its pointless. these were quickly done, super low budget, and thats what you expect for full moon. that said this isn't their worst and does have its redeemable moments. but i can't say it ranks among my favorites either. 6/10

dirty carnival is about a low level gangster trying to make enough money to help his family and his gang and what he'll do to get at it.

i had no idea what this film was going to be about before i watched it, other than what the packaging implied. that would make you think this is a heavy action thriller all tight and slick.

when the movie starts however we see his group of young wannabees being somewhat goofy and nothing like professional. and while the main character is given a somewhat cool and collected almost philosophical introduction we learn quickly he's just a kid with seemingly little ambition but to make it by. his boss isn't all that convincing either until the main character, byung-du, asks him for more money. then his boss seemingly shows his ugly and violent side.
this sets up a problem for byung-du because his family is being evicted and his gang is barely eating. enter a meeting with his boss and his boss's boss, the big boss hwang.
hwang is being taken by a lawyer he wants gone. byung-du's boss chicken's out. and byung-du sees his opertunity, although he clearly doesn't have the ambition nor want to do it, he does anyways. as a result he rises to power and wealth. theres a love story in here too and byung-du's new gangster live interferes with it.

ultimately its a movie about the choices we make and as in this case becoming exactly what we hated.

its a good movie and well worth seeing. the story is deep and rich. the only thing that keeps me from giving it higher ratings is that its all over the place insofar as what kind of story it wants to be. shot somewhat loose but with action scenes that should require slick editing and choreography. it begins as what seems like it might be a comedy, is at times a love story, is on occasion an action film, and then a mafia/gangster film right down to godfather like score on occasion but thumping techno action other times, then a heartfelt social drama. maybe thats actually more realistic....i'd give it that...but as a movie it seems a bit sloppy without an overall style consistent throughout.