The film and entire story manages to orchestrate under the impression of a very long episode of “The Twilight Zone”, and carefully takes its time setting up the characters which, writer Larry Fessenden (who also directs, and edits) probably knew would ultimately affect the audience in a deep way. Hardcore horror fans probably will eventually become uneasy and impatient, but I was willing to sit through the entire film, because as the story progresses, I was very engrossed. Fessenden manages to skillfully craft a story of such sophistication, that no commercial Hollywood writer would have been able to think of it. Fessenden also manages to create some truly endearing, charming, and very realistic characters that the story revolves around, and I was very captured by the essence of the family.
Tag Archives: Drama
John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)
So, yes, “Vampires” didn’t exactly turn out to be everything I’d hoped, and perhaps I was expecting too much from John Carpenter, and I admit to being a bit disappointed, but all the while “Vampires” while not one of Carpenter’s best, ends up becoming a fun exploration and view into Carpenter’s experimenting with the vampire genre. Very loosely based on the book “Vampire$” (sans John Carpenter moniker), the movie you see here was looked down upon by many fans of the book which happened to have a lot of satire, and happened to be more in the vein of “Scream” as in not taking itself too seriously, while its commentary on many social dilemmas and basic morals on good and evil, greed and its connections to morals, and this is the perfect example of what the Hollywood machine does to a good book, but it’s not to say this isn’t a good movie.
The Others (2001)
Alejandro Amenábar’s “The Others” is a surprise in a year filled with tepid, tripe we get over-hyped force-fed at the box-office. “The Others” is a very sophisticated anecdote of complex and well paced horror in a time where horror has plodded. The atmosphere and Gothic aesthetic feels like classic supernatural horror in the vein of Robert Wise’s “The Haunting,” with reliance on old school horror devices and unique elements of mystery and ambiguity rather than full CGI.
Spider-Man (2002)
“With Great power, comes great responsibility.” – Uncle Ben
Superhero and American icon, Spider-man is born finally in the new box-office smash movie directed by acclaimed and cult director Sam Raimi (Evil Dead). In case you don’t know the famous story, Peter Parker, a geeky photographer at his school who is constantly bullied and has eyes for the neighborhood good girl Mary Jane, is bitten by a hybrid radioactive spider on a field trip to a science lab. The next day, the effects make him a superhuman giving him all sorts of spider powers. Meanwhile, a new evil is born. Multi-millionaire, Norman Osborne, while trying to explore a new experiment, gets hit with a split personality and becomes insane with power. Now Spider-man must stop this new menace before the Green Goblin hurts the people Peter holds so dear.
A Walk to Remember (2001)
In a less predictable, commercial and more intelligent feature-film debut, pop-star Mandy Moore stars as Jamie Sullivan, the local preacher’s daughter and an impish reclusive bookworm who is constantly ostracized by her classmates. Shane West plays Landon Carter, the local ne’er do well (yes, I use that word, so I’m un-cool) who constantly gets into trouble with his friends. One night after nearly killing a friend, he is forced to star in the school play alongside Jamie. Soon, the two become friends and they fall deeply in love with one another despite the resistance of her father.
Domestic Disturbance (2001)
At a running time of simply an hour and twenty-one minutes “Domestic Disturbance” speeds through its narratiuve, and never leaves times for suspense, tension, or even logic. If the director Harold Becker had added a half hour more to pad the story and fill in the gaps, there likely would’ve been some great stuff. But that’s only really wishful thinking as “Domestic Disturbance” seems to ride on the fact that it’s hopelessly silly and lacking in thrills. In a movie that casts as Vince Vaugn as its primary psychotic villain, it becomes plainly obvious that the studios just aren’t even trying.
A Knight's Tale (2001)
Man, it really pisses me off when such a movie with such heart has tons of flaws to it. First off, the beginning of the movie threw me off so much. I mean, classic rock in medieval times? While two knights joust, we see the crowd of peasants and noblemen pounding their fists on the wooden banisters to the beat of Queens “We Will Rock you.” Am I missing something?


