“Cypher” has an excellent concept presented to the audience on-screen, and that’s what’s disappointing. The film is a socially relevant observation of two (what I can assume are) humongous corporations fighting for dominance in a futuristic world of greed and deception, these two humongous companies are shifty and cold and use their employees to represent them in apparently mundane meetings about stock and products. This is an excellent topic and brilliant concept that could have made for one of the most thought provoking gems that went undiscovered. When the film ended (I was so happy when it did) I was left boggling my brain wondering how good this film could have been.
Tag Archives: C
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
The ultimate question one has to ask with this film is, was Riddick popular enough to base a franchise around? A cool character from an obscure forgettable science fiction film? The only memorable character whom many people refer to as “That cool guy from Pitch Black”? Did they do testing to see if people would respond to Riddick? Not likely, but my more realistic idea is that Diesel needed a hit so he went with his career making character as Stallone and Schwarzenneger are doing to re-claim their popularity.
A Cinderella Story (2004)
While it calls itself a variation of “Cinderella”, it’s really just yet another of the million versions of “Pretty in Pink”, because If I don’t recall Cinderella wasn’t as dumb as a brick, and Prince Charming wasn’t old enough to be her uncle. But when you get down to it and cut through all the bullshit, this is another of Duff’s tepid vehicles with the score comprised totally of her “music”, along with a main character that deifies her as someone she isn’t. I don’t understand what her appeal is except to assume that she’s getting roles for being blonde, white, and pretty.
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004)
Mary is this whiny brat who dreams of becoming an actress; she wants to so badly that she speaks in Shakespearean droning dialogue but never really says much, and is smart enough to know the works of George Bernard Shaw, but isn’t smart enough to know that Jersey isn’t that far from New York. Regardless, she gets into a tizzy when she is forced to move from New York to New Jersey with her family (reasons unexplained) and thus her chances of becoming an actress are ruined… well, she really is a drama queen, ever hear of something called the LIRR? It’s this huge train station with trains that takes people wherever they want, and, big surprise, you can go from Jersey to New York in only three hours. How can the writers omit such a logical detail such as that?
Coffee and Cigarettes (2004)
This movie has a lot of quirky, funny moments. Iggy Pop Meeting Tom Waits, for instance, and just jawing about whether they’re on the jukebox or not, and the White Stripes talking about Tesla coils and the resonance of the earth. It’s an arty film, and if arty films are your bag, you’ve found the right place. If you like Jarmusch, you’ve also found the right place. There are a number of recurring themes that resound nicely. Certain cups, certain patterns on tables, and certain lines of dialogue are mentioned.
Chernobyl Heart (2003)
On April 25th and 26th, 1986 the worst nuclear power accident in the world, and in history occurred at Chernobyl in the Ukraine (formerly the USSR). The Chernobyl nuclear power plant located had 4 reactors and while testing reactor number 4 numerous safety procedures were disregarded. At 1:23am the chain reaction in the reactor became out of control creating explosions and a fireball which blew off the reactor’s heavy steel and concrete lid. Thus the Chernobyl accident killed more than 30 people immediately, and as a result of the high radiation levels in the surrounding 20-mile radius, 135,00 people had to be evacuated, a lot of the cleaning workers who came to fix the accident died quickly, and some in a matter of years due to the immense amount of radiation they’d received while cleaning, but Chernobyl left a lasting legacy with the accident, a legacy within the city’s children.
Confidence (2003)
“It’s all confidence,” main character Jake Vig declares (Ed Burns), a slick and charming conman who leads an assembled group of conmen into some of the most brilliant cons. Taking a page right out of the classic “The Sting”, a group of professional conmen pull a fast job on a schmuck at a club, but when they discover that the schmuck they duped was about to deliver his money to mob boss Winston King, one of their men is killed and now they must confront King. King, a rather erratic but threatening boss makes a deal with them: if they pull a job on his rival Morgan Price he’ll give them a cut of the money and let them live, now with many uneasy partnerships with a few new conmen, a difficulties with an investigator who is on their tail, they must pull the con and not get arrested. But who is getting conned? And who can be trusted?