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tallquasimodo

Member since 6/12/2007, last signed in awhile ago.

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Interested in:Action, Adventure, Comedy, Comedy Drama, Crime, Epic, Fantasy, Historical Film, History, Horror, Science & Technology, Science Fiction, Sports & Recreation, Spy Film, Theater, Travel, Visual Arts, War, Western

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The Matrix

Sleep Dealer
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
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"Sleep dealer is above all an interesting film. It is a truism that the best science fiction is usually that which tells a story about people, rather than whatever new gadget or idea forces it into a genre (sometimes rightfully) looked down upon as little better f tits and lazers. While Sleep Dealer treads ground that has been seen before in films like Blade Runner(1982) and The Matrix(1999) it would be unfair to compare it to either. What sleep dealer has and the above do not, are normal people. There are no Hard Boiled Deckards or Messianic Neos here, just people trying to get by, and maybe make thier world a little more bearable. As a novice director, Alex Rivera is one to watch in the future. While the Sleep Dealer is long on interesting imagery, it comes up a bit short on confidence in showing it. With a surer hand on his next feature he could be a big name in his chosen corner of the film world " [More]

Sleep Dealer

Casablanca

Yesterday
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
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"Yesterday is for the most part an entertaining film. The plot gets a little too convoluted, and the film probably would have worked better were it half an hour shorter, given that much of that time could have been removed from the dramatic pauses that are the primary vehicle of weight and portent in Korean acting with little or no detriment to the story. The science behind much of the plot mostly sounded like a load of crap, and there were a few too many pointless flashbacks, but watch a single episode of any Korean drama and it's obvious that the heavy-handed exposition is so ingrained that the director can hardly be blamed. Where the movie succeeds are the shootouts, rivaling that of most high-budget hollywood fare, with more masked commandos than you can shake a stick at. The movie's other real selling point is the atmosphere. Make no mistake, the effects crew had more than likely all seen Blade Runner half a dozen times, and the director was obviously a fan of Casablanca, ... " [More]

Yesterday

Finnegan's Wake

Finnegans Wake
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
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"When I stumbled across a chance to see a little-circulated film version of Joyce's notoriously difficult novel, I jumped at it. I knew very little about the book other than that most people who had successfully read it usually had or wound up with advanced degrees in English. Myself not being one of them, I thought I would give it a shot nonetheless. The movie was quite difficult, though not traumatically so. The style is perhaps closest to that of Eraserhead in that it is dreamlike, though the palpable similarities end there. Though I have no frame of reference on which to judge it, I am fairly certain that in 1963, and probably even today, that no closer adaptation could be made, and almost certainly would not be made. If you're facing the book as an assignment of some sort, little harm would probably come to you if you watched the film along with an attempt to read the book, using it as a guide, though your professor might not see eye to eye with that view. " [More]

The Vanguard

The Vanguard
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
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"Matthew Hope's first time at bat is a bit of a mixed bag. Solid camera work and surprisingly decent special effects, when used set his The Vanguard above most indie action fare. What it doesn't do well is the nonsensical story, with little explanation of characters or their backstories that seems to matter. What kind of chip does our arab soldier cut from the back of his neck? How did our protagonist come to live in the woods for five years? Where did he get those hand-axes that he seems to be so effective with? All of these basic points are sacrificed to the movie's attempt at the feel of isolation, but for the most part they fail. Low budget isn't much of an excuse, if you're working in a visual medium, your viewers expect to be shown, not be forced to make their own inferences. " [More]

A Better Tomorrow

Blackjack
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
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"Watch this movie for the gunfights, John Woo's specialty, not for the acting or the plot. Dolph Lundgren plays Jack Devlin, AKA Dolph Lundgren, in this predictably paced and sappy story of overcoming one's fears and taking care of the daughter of a friend who died in a car accident, while protecting an up-and-coming supermodel from a mysterious assassin. This is less convoluted than some of the plots of John Woo's movies. The real draw here is Dolph diving through the air with two handguns like Chow Yun Fat in some of Woo's better movies. (The Killer, Hard-Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, A Better Tomorrow 2) " [More]

Blackjack

The Good, the Bad and the Weird

The Good, The Bad, the Weird
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
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"First: two disclaimers. I saw The Good, The Bad, The Weird in South Korea, and though the theater advertised exclusivity on English Subtitles, the film was all in Korean, of which I only understand about 1 word in 20. The film itself had its own disclaimer stating that the visual effects weren't finished, and the credits were in roman characters, so I think it may have been the cut that was screened at Cannes, or a very similar one. The film itself was fantastic. The cinematography was amazing, the action frenetic, the comedy, while low brow, was amusing, and sometimes reminiscent of a children's game called "ddong chim." Not being Korean I can't comment on the plot, though the acting seemed genuine enough. The Good "bastard" was good, the Bad "bastard" was bad and the Weird "bastard" was suitably representative of the Korean idea of crazy. I am also not familiar enough with the actors to say whether the performances stand out from their usual work. The most I can really say ... " [More]

Assault on Devil's Island

Assault on Devil's Island
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
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"Despite my best efforts, I can't truly dislike this movie. Sure it's derivative, sure it's predictable, sure the acting could be a lot better, but it's also an entertaining if not a good movie. Hulk Hogan and his team of Navy SEALs does whatever the hell they feel like and shoot quite a few bad guys along the way. See Hulk Hogan crush a coconut with his hand, fail to be surprised when he emerges from his house with a rocket launcher, or when Shannon Tweed shows her tits. " [More]

Avenging Force

Avenging Force
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
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"This movie was not, in any sense of the word, good. It had a few entertaining moments, mainly lame attempts to be cool. Jacked up trucks jumping over stuff, and the overuse of crossbows. As unoriginal and unentertaining as it was, it neither picked my pocket nor broke my leg, and thus deserves slightly more than one star. " [More]

Desperado

Tokyo Drifter
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"I really wanted to be impressed by this movie, and I was, in a sense. The color is fantastic, and the cinematography is nothing to sneeze at either. It even had what must have been some very cool gunfights for its time. Unfortunately the narrative itself was too hard to follow. Call me racist, but I had trouble differentiating the various bosses from each other due to the similarity of their names to my western ear. This left the majority of dialogue fairly difficult to comprehend. I wish I had seen this movie before being exposed to some of the better handgun-based action movies made since, such as A Better Tomorrow, A Better Tomorrow II, The Killer, Hard Boiled, Desperado, etc. Even The Wild Bunch could be included in that category. " [More]

Tokyo Drifter

Cyborg

Cyborg!
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
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"This is not a good movie, though I might call it entertainingly bad. Directed by Alber Pyun, notable B and exploitation movie director, it features Van Damme as a dude with unexplained martial ability, which leads to a lot of roundhouse kicks as he wistfully remembers the tragic experience that left his woman dead at the hands of the local evil gang leader. I watched this movie for the post-apocalyptic content, of which it has some fairly decent shots of ruin and destruction, but also 80s mannequin effects that don't hold up very well. The fight scenes are pretty rediculous in that way that few other than Van Damme can accomplish. Unfortunately it was also pretty short on one-liners, lessening my enjoyment. " [More]

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Re:Pick a Pair
By tallquasimodo in Movie Games
"I would nominate Le Samourai and Ghost Dog. Pretty interesting to see a couple of different takes on the bushido code for modern hitmen. Ghost Dog was a bit silly though. " [More]

The Dark Crystal

The Dark Crystal
By tallquasimodo in tallquasimodo Blog
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Somehow missed this one as a kid, though that's excusable merely because it was made before I was born. I enjoyed the fleshed-out fantasy world and the general lack of human actors. While I admire it for being incredible for the time in which it was made, it has not held up particularly well over the years. I hate to say it because I believe there is more artistry in puppet-work than in CGI, CGI has really spoiled me. All the puppets were wood and plastic, lacking even the facial emotion of the earliest Pixar movies. The guys in suits were really cool, but were still just guys in suits. The seams were just a little bit too visible. Not a bad movie, but I am niether the target audience nor close enough to the era in which it was made. " [More]