Monthly Archives: September 2005

Broken Flowers (2005)

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Broken Flowers (2005)The latest Jim Jarmush movie Broken Flowers is in the tradition of all Jarmusch movies a mood piece where you begin a journey, visit different places much like in a road movie and in the end return to where you came from not quite the person you were in the beginning.

Don Johnston with a “t” (Bill Murray) recently dumped by his girl friend and contemplating life in his newly gained solitude receives an anonymous pink letter claiming he has a son who might come looking for him. Only by sharing the news with his neighbor is Don coaxed out of his passiveness after much convincing. Without much to go on his neighbor and hobby detective commences to formulate a cunning plan to uncover the mystery and sends him on a readily planned road trip to visit his past, to “check in” on his former girl friends from twenty years ago.

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Shogun (1980)

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Shogun (1980)Back in 1980 people were glued to the TV because of – believe it or not – Richard Chamberlain or rather Anjin-san, the character he played in one of the best miniseries ever: “Shogun“. A masterpiece.

Now I do not know about “Shogun” boosting the popularity of japanese food in America during that time or the trend of American-Japanese marriages or how many viewers really learned Japanese together with Pilot-Major John Blackthorne on his journey to become a samurai. But I can tell you this much: this journey is so gripping and vividly narrated and presented that you will be pulled into this world completely.

Toshirô Mifune playing Lord Yoshi Toranaga has such an incredible stage presence that you can just watch in awe. If you have seen any Akira Kurosawa movies you will know what I mean. On top of the brilliant acting the sets and costumes are all just beautiful and you can immerse yourself completely in this world riddled by feudal intrigue and political power games with Anjin-san right in the middle of it.

The Shogun DVD Box with an approx. run time of 547 minutes on 4 discs (plus 1 Extras disc) offers nice picture quality (fullscreen 4:3) and 5.1 DD Stereo sound and above all it delivers unmatched viewing pleasure for it’s value. Once you start watching you will not be able to stop.
10/10

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

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Shaun of the Dead (2004)“Shaun of the Dead” is a tribute to George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) and follows the original plot line by and large in a rather unconventional manner. Ironically, it is even rated higher than the original although only by a small amount. This is mostly due to the fact that “Shaun of the Dead” is a funny movie if you are into British humor that is. Splatter like slapstick and terrifc perfomances all with posh British accents give this movie the certain “je ne sais quoi”. I know, the French invented it but what can you do?

“Shaun of the Dead” is not a horror shocker. It has blood and gore but you can only but laugh at scenes like “There is a girl in our garden”. A zombie as Shaun and Ed find out minutes later when they push her and she trips and rams an iron pole through her stomach. Getting back up with all that glibbery noise and a huge hole through her body she is coming at them both… minutes later we learn the importance of having a record collection at hand.

There’s lots of incredibly coherent and witty dialogue that will make you see Zombies in a whole new light, like “Okay. But dogs CAN look up!”. And you know that once “you’ve got red on you” things are going to be bad. Really bad. So bad that you will “Take car. Go to mum’s. Kill Phil – Sorry. – grab Liz, go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over. How’s that for a slice of fried gold?”
7/10

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

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Chronicles of Riddick (2004)“The Chronicles of Riddick” is just more Riddick, more CGI, less story, less character development than in “Pitch Black”. Besides having Riddick as protagonist, the two movies are not connected with each other and once again he finds himself smack in the middle of a life and death situation, this time in form of the extremely hostile company of Necromongers bent on dominating nothing less and nothing more than the whole universe.

There is a scene at the beginning where all the Necromongers, facist bunch they are, rally to hail their Lord Marshal, which greatly resembles a scene from “Triumph des Willens” and I bet it’s no coincidence either.

Even though the facist master race is led by an all powerful half alive half something else Lord Marshal who commands the powers of the Underverse (yeah right), Furion and facist misfit Mr. Riddick will just kill everyone (that matters) and keep what he kills, just as we expect him to do. Honestly, I don’t think anyone else than Vin Diesel can actually play Riddick; let’s face it, he is Riddick. No really, who else could growl so impressively?

Still, “The Chronicles of Riddick” is entertaining but it does not reach the intensity of “Pitch Black” and is hardly more than a solid SciFi action movie on CGI steroids.
5/10

Pitch Black (2000)

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Pitch Black (2000)Not being a fan of Vin Diesel, except for his work on “The Iron Giant” (1999), I finally sat down and watched the unrated version of “Pitch Black” (2000) and “Chronicles of Riddick” (2004). Not expecting anything I was pleasantly surprised to find myself entertained. “Pitch Black” has a classic horror/suspense setting where a group of people is marooned in a strange place (here: dead desert planet) and being killed off one by one either by each other or by a yet unknown party (insert: random Giger monster).

Since Riddick is the convict and track record mass murderer in the group he also is the prime suspect and main target but is he really the one the group should be afraid of?

With extreme lighting and harsh contrasts the director manages to create a very tense and hostile atmosphere that benefits from the barren desert set, intensifying and multiplying the omnipresent foreboding of doom. The plot is simple and supports only minimal development of the characters. Something most movies of this type lack is depth and “Pitch Black” is no exception. It also leaves much to be desired when it comes to logic, so you better not question anything that strikes you as impossible.

Imagine a desert planet where there’s daylight for 22 years (3 suns) and when darkness comes it is pitch black and you suddenly realize you are not alone. Are you scared of the darkness? If so then you will get some nice thrills out of “Pitch Black” and if not you still might wonder who will be the last one standing in the end.
6/10