Movie news on your iPhone today!
Advertisement
Sign in
Username   Password         Forgot password?
Wanna join? Sign up
Find movies you'll love

JakeStevens Blog

  • Great Story, Bad Editing

    Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
    Under discussion:

    Rendition  (2007)

    I'd say it's mostly the languid pace that began to kill this film for me, because the performances are all top notch. Even the story is well written, with my only gripe being *POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT* Fatima's story line, which takes place in the past, but for dramatic tension, this is not revealed until the denoument, which as I just stated in my review of "The Usual Suspects" manipulative and contrived (Suspects NOT falling into that category, fortunately). I genuinely felt annoyed that everything up to that point had been told to mislead me and make me feel more emotion at the end. There are also a number of plot holes (who DID make that phone call?) which, in my opinion, are hard to ignore. Hmph. I guess I expected more from Tsotsi's director. And now I hear he's doing the "Wolverine" movie...Hollywood. Another one bites the dust, as they say.

  • An Unusually Good Film

    Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
    Under discussion:

    I'm usually very wary of films with a "mind-bending twist" at the end of the film, as they tend to be manipulative and misleading throughout, only to be told at the end that what you saw wasn't REALLY what you saw. Another close instance of "bad" filmmaking is when a character wakes up to find out that everything we've just witnessed was a dream. You feel cheated, and it's become a tired cliche when a suitable ending can't be found. Fortunately, this was not the case with The Usual Suspects, and even in subsequent views, the film holds up under close scrutiny and doesn't lose any of its verve. Worthy of all the accolades heaped upon it, DEFINITELY watch this film sometime in your life, preferably before someone ruins it for you.

 


Advertisement