After the mysterious death of a loved relative, reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) discovers the source behind the death and begins to investigate. What she begins to discover will be a descent into darkness and evil that will forever change her life. This was based on the original Japanese horror series of movies that took Japan by storm and became a classic. The execs at America took notice and decided to remake it hoping to spawn an equally engrossing hit. What is spawned by it is a truly horrific movie that has the makings of a masterpiece. The one thing that stood out from this movie is the incredible cinematography.
Tag Archives: Drama
Lilo & Stitch (2002)
This is a very disappointing effort from Disney. The entire movie is very pedestrian and nothing entirely stands out within the viewing of this. First off, the plot, though sweet is very contrived and never brings to mind the words innovative, which most Disney movies are known for. The movie is a rip-off of “Extra-Terrestrial”, the only problem is, “E.T.” is a better movie.
Murd3r By Num83r5 (2002)
The movie barely has any legs to stand on as far as a real story goes. The story is slow moving and often lagging, going on and on focusing on Sandra Bullock’s character, who is barely interesting to begin with. I like Sandra Bullock and know she’s capable of giving great performances in movies, but her selection of scripts is terrible. I found her character to be very unlikable and often annoying as her personality goes all over the place in the movie. I’m not sure if I can call this a true psychological thriller, based on the fact that the movie’s tension and atmosphere is all wrong and often very annoying.
Empire (2002)
“Empire” is a fiasco for the record books, one that desperately tries to carve heroes out of thugs, gangsters, and deviants, and fails horribly. The movie, noticeably, takes much of its formula from better gangster flicks, including “Scarface” and rips apart the movies, taking each element, pasting it together in this. The entire narrative and pitiful attempts at character development are annoying, slow and so predictable it’s disgusting. Franc. Reyes directs this like a film student, never contributing anything new or different to talk about.
The Time Machine (2002)
For a movie with such a big budget and such incredible special-effects, it’s hard to believe this is so terrible. I think Guy Pearce is a great actor and should be in roles better suited for him rather than starring in low-level cheesy roles such at this. He tries his best to work with the material he’s given in this movie and seems to work hard but it doesn’t pay off simply because of the story. Director Simon Wells, great grandson of H.G. Wells and director of animated films such as “Balto” and “The Prince of Egypt” completely misses the point of the novel and turns it into a cheesy science fiction flick. The movie is loud and gaudy, often giving to the audience more style than substance and presenting a paper thin adaptation.
Metropolis (Metoroporisu) (2001)
Based on the comic book by Osamu Tezuka, we visit Metropolis, a humongous city where high-class humans roam free and robots toil and work underground occasionally surfacing illegally. We meet detective Shunsaku Ban and Ken-ichi two people searching for a scientist performing illegal experiments with robots. This is probably one of the most unusual anime movies I have ever seen. The entire animated sequence and character designs closely resemble the works of legendary animator Ralph Bakshi (Cool World, and Fritz the Cat). No two characters in this movie look alike and no two characters seem alike. Many people who hear about this seems to think this movie is an animated Japanese remake of the 1929 Fritz Lang “Metropolis”.
The Opportunists (2000)
Victor Kelly (Christopher Walken Catch me if you can, Deer Hunter) is an ex – con from Queens who’s out of luck running an auto shop that basically being driven into the ground. One day a mysterious Irish relative appears claiming he’s related to him. However, he is soon lured back into crime by he and two other eager security and, left without any options, he decides to plan a heist to rob a low – security bank.