Monthly Archives: January 2006

Stillwater (2003)

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Stillwater (2003)“Stillwater” is a carefully constructed thriller from director Adrian Kays and his debut feature film, depicting a troubled young man in search of his father and uncovering a gruesome past in the process.

The problem with it is that it is too carefully constructed and the “craftsmanship” gets into the way of the story in as much as your interest wanes as the plot unfolds. You recognize that all the ingredients for a thriller are there and that the director has thought it through, it’s just not interesting. Compelling storytelling needs compelling characters and ambience. The actors unfortunately could have been better and the sound track is just annoying at times.

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

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Harry Potter 4As with all Potter movies I had no expectations whatsoever and the 4th instalment evolving around the The Goblet of Fire is no exception. What works well in the book, does not really transport too well onto screen, the Tri-Wizard contest is boring to watch and basically just sets the stage for the actual plot, a plot that is just too obvious and leaves no room for speculations and eliminating any possible suspense even if you haven’t read the books.

The “kids” are getting too old for their parts and Daniel Radcliffe never impressed me so far with his acting talents. However, if you like the books so much then you might also like the movie version of it.

Granted, this one is darker than its predecessors but that does not make it neccessarily better. The effects are OK but nothing I am too thrilled about either. Movies that rely on CGI too much are at risk of being shallow. Potter 4 is just that, a shallow Pop-Fairytale mass product, albeit a well made one.

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Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

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Dominion: Prequel to the ExorcistDominion: Prequel to the Exorcist is the prequel as it was meant to be or so they say. Not having seen the prior version of the prequel I thought I might as well go with the “right” version. “The Exorcist” does not need an introduction and easily qualifies as one of the all time classic horror movies of our time. This prequel basically sets the stage for what is to come in the Exorcist and it does that in a very dull and cheap way.

The genre tag “drama” is probably the most fitting since there is hardly any thrill and certainly no horror involved in this version, except for a few scenes with red eyes and evil voice which rather seem comical than frightening. The effects are typically bad for a “no budget” production and only add to the comical effect, esp. the blue, red and green lights in the sky towards the end and a hovering budda like alien-devil is something where you usually switch off because you even stop laughing at that point.

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Happy New Year 2006!

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A very happy new year 2006 and a cozy one! Not like my flat which is at 14 degrees Celsius at the moment due to a power outage that happened after I left for the party last year (yesterday afternoon). I just came back (the next year), in hopes of a nice and cuddly flat since it’s really freezing outside. Well, it’s freezing inside, too! And the warmth of my notebook is keeping my fingers from freezing. OK, that’s slightly exaggerated, power is restored and my two radiators are slowly heating up this igloo. Happy new year everyone!