Reviews

I saw this movie on SCTV and it was horrible. Cam is a classmate of mine, but his films are still the perfect example of Gen-X post-modern bull crap. It pulled basically every "I'm a forlorn movie" cliché you can imagine, even having unnecessary underwater shots, which is just laughable. Connecting the word "river" to the word "drowning" is as stupid as wannabe-clever ideas come. Cam's entrance into the festival world came solely because of his involvement as a volunteer at the events, and the connections he made, and had little to do with his film-making potential, which has its greatest moment when he hired and subsequently began mooching off his excellent cinematographer, Aaron Platt.

People talk about a Godard-like style, but apparently nobody's seen a Godard movie, because these movies are nothing like them. Just because it has jump cuts and is surreal, doesn't mean it's like Godard. You have to be a good storyteller and have an interesting concept in order to even come close, and this film fails in both aspects. Boring, meandering, etc.

The movie starts off strong with a classically Noir situation of an over-the-hill cop letting things get personal, then speeds up quickly with an unrelentingly disturbing and awe inspiring revenge plot. The entire movie is essentially driven by the inner turmoil of the three main characters.

The book-ending episode featuring Bruce Willis might qualify as the most touching, but for me nothing's better than the completely raw visceral ride that Mickey Rourke's episode takes us on. For this episode, I think I can count on one hand the number of shots that don't include nudity, sex, blood, babes, or awesomely drenching rain. That is to say, this episode rocks.

The Clive Owen episode brings this roller-coaster to a screeching halt, not so much because it's less action, but moreso because it's boring. Granted, this episode would probably rock on its own as a short, but in following the Marv episode, this episode totally drags on and on and on with no character motivation other than "I don't want somebody to get hurt or be in a specific location," and negatively-motivated spine plots always suck.

The movie is also bookended by a Josh Hartnett thing, but that's just a tangent. The real heart of this movie for me was the Marv (Mickey Rourke) section which is essentially a very awesome, totally ass-kicking romp where every character we meet dies by the end. This is what moody comic-book adaptations should be: cold, violent, and dizzyingly fast-paced, not some BS involving a see-saw (AKA Daredevil).

Go see it, if only for the section starring Mickey Rourke.

I loved the initial Blade movie, it's in my top 20. Blade 2 offered an acceptable array of action and ingenuity that left me yearning for more. I've often said that action movies should be allowed some slack when it comes to story and character. However, there comes a point where the sacred contract between an action filmmaker and a tolerant action audience is tested and abused to the point where it's not fun anymore.

Blade Trinity, has rejected the slickness of the first two for what can only be described as cheap sentimentality, painful exposition, an overly-convoluted weak plot, COMPOUNDED by an over-zealous effort to make the otherwise dull second act interesting through comic relief.

The movie begins surprisingly poorly, a big shock from an action franchise famous for the introduction of its kick-butt stylization in the prologue (before any story is expected). Basically, vampire brats walk down a stone staircase and are attacked by an armoured hand that's sleeping under the sand. Sound action-packed? Wrong. Howabout if it was followed a COMPLETE AND TOTAL rehashing of the opening sequence of Blade 2, even copying the use of motorcycles by the vampires AND Blade flipping over a speeding vehicle? Sound cool? NO, IT'S NOT COOL, IT'S THE SAME EXACT THING.

Parker Posie plays the female vampire mastermind that's filled the vampire's leadership void created in the second film. I love Parker Posie, she's a wonderful actress, but she staggers in this role, seemingly more from the director's lack of vision than her own abilities. I assume this because, in fact, none of the characters seem to know exactly what they're doing. It isn't until the last twenty minutes or so that a goal for the protagonists is clearly laid out, and even then, it's a bit of a deus ex machina (coming in the form of "Hey, I have the ultimate weapon, sorry I didn't tell you or emphasize the importance of it earlier.")

Meanwhile, in an attempt to give the second act some semblance of drama, the secondary protagonists are killed off, including a BLIND MOTHER. You read it right, the producers actually played the handicap parent card to tug on the audience's feelings. This is called bad writing. BAD, even for a BLADE movie.

But I haven't even gotten to the worst part. The Ryan Reynolds comic relief character, instead of punctuating the drama like you're supposed to do with comic relief, instead becomes uncomfortably pronounced in the expositional scenes. Non-sequitors also seem to be the flavor of the day, an example being a poke at the "techie" character with the line "Hey, have you ever gotten laid?" This would normally be funny if we shared in the joker's confusion over the technical jargon being expressed by the "techie" character, but in fact, the information being provided is not only easy to understand, but also, get this, ESSENTIAL to the plot. Wrap your mind around that contradiction.

As usual, in the vein of recent large action titles (aka Van Helsing), the visuals are amazingly vibrant and dynamic. Gabriel Beristain's cinematography borders on stupendous, leveraging every possibility of dramatic lighting, camera movement, depth of focus, and dynamism available. I'd even go so far as to say the craft of motion photography has reached a new golden era in great part to Blade Trinity and other movies of its kind.

But as any Neanderthal can tell you, "great visuals no make great movie." The ultimate blow comes simply from the concept of the film itself. The movie starts off with the suggestion that Blade must fight a two-front war (against both humans and vampires) without Whistler. At the end of act one we're ready for an epic and dramatic triangle of combat between Blade, humans, and vampires. But too quickly, the plot COMPLETELY changes. In fact, the humans don't even make an appearance until the last FIVE MINUTES of the movie. What happened to the two-front war?!?!?! VERY DISAPPOINTING.

I give Blade Trinity 3 out of 10 stars, 3 stars coming from the excellent cinematography and the superfluous use of the phrase "mother f***er."

I was lucky enough to see the film and talk to the director and editor in one of my classes at UCSC, where Shaun Peterson is an alum. I felt the movie held its own as an interesting black comedy, especially for only $7,500.

Its on-screen strength comes from Ian McConnel, who plays the unsure buddy of the jerk, Ryan Johnson (played by writer/co-producer Connor Ratliff). McConnel is able to successfully propel this pathetic character into a believable protagonist which the entire film centers itself around, despite having considerably less screen time than Christina Puzzo and Connor Ratliff, who gave good performances as the other two main characters.

The dialogue fluctuates in quality, sometimes going off into tangents on entertainment trivia, creating more of an annoyance than a motif, even though I could relate to much of what was being said. There are, however, some very genuine moments of pause and revelation between the three main characters which deserve some praise.

I enjoyed the DV aesthetic in such films as 28 Days Later and Dancer in the Dark, but I really disliked the cinematography of this movie. Camera movement was hyperactive and the lack of proper focus went beyond stylistic (see Belly for this) to the realm of plain amateurishness. I felt as if the cinematographer and director, in lieu of simply comprising with the DV aesthetic, threw most of photographic theory out the window to the point where it detracted from the awesome performances.

The editing, however, was very spot on. Pacing, both structurally and within scenes, kept things at a good clip throughout, which is why I think this film was able to get to the next level of maturity, away from common amateur film and towards something more enjoyable.

For a reference, I could describe this as a mix between Election (dir. Alexander Payne) and Clerks (dir. Kevin Smith).

For many reasons, this is easily the BEST space-flight simulator ever to be made as of 2002. Don't let the fact that it came out in 1995 fool you. With amazing game dynamics and an unparalleled storyline, this game will not only pull you through the missions and levels, but also into the story itself.

You find yourself not as a terrorist rebel of the Skywalker universe, but as a sentinel, an elite sentinel, of the Emperor's vast and powerful war-machine. Missions start off as you start off in your career, as a nobody pilot whose skill quickly shows itself. By the end of the game you have been recognized by the entire Empire and are the Emperor's Hand in all his starfighter operations. You fly alongside Lord Vader, a witness of the spectacle that is possibly the greatest pilot in the galaxy, and take your orders from Grand Admiral Thrawn, the methodical and genial Imperial naval tactician whose shear brilliance nearly brought a new age of Imperial rule years later. Missions are not the everygame hubub of attacking and defending with a few surprises here and there; no way, these missions get nearly impossible by the end, and you have no choice but to become not just good, but the best, capable of crushing all opponents who stand in your way.

This game doesn't just allow you a platform to become a good computer game pilot, it gives you the experience, the training, the cunning, and the shear technological prowess, to beat the best not only the Rebellion, but the Empire, can throw at those loyal to the Emperor. Oh, and you WILL be loyal to the Emperor by the end of the game.