wanyon
Reviews
Dollhouse (2009)
Joss Whedon comes of age
I was never enamoured with BUFFY-THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Even less so with ANGEL. I watched BUFFY from the first episode until part-way through the second season before giving up on what i found to be derivative teen-orientated nonsense. Sure, it was great light-entertainment for teens with little imagination, but for a wider audience i always felt it fell short. I was always surprised that they ran out of creativity by the end of the first season and had already begun ripping off famous films left, right and centre. How they got away with the blatant wholesale theft of story ideas from the likes of THE THING, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, etc. i do not know!
But DOLLHOUSE is Joss Whedon's coming-of-age...
I am not a great TV fan of the past few years. There is much NOT to like about television. But of the few series' i HAVE admired greatly, there have been the likes of cable shows (and occasional network shows) such as THE SOPRANOS, CARNIVALE, BROTHERHOOD, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, 24, LOST, HEROES, DEXTER, MAD MEN, etc. and i would never have believed that the creator of BUFFY and ANGEL would be able to come up with such a mature concept as DOLLHOUSE. Sure, there are signs of the occasional lapse into juvenile scripting, but those occasions are so few and far between as to be barely noticeable. The fact is, what i found intriguing and entertaining after one episode i grew to admire greatly by the season's end. Whedon is crafted a clever, mature and exciting new concept that has plenty of room for growth and many exciting prospects in creativity. As for Eliza Dushku, she obviously knows a great thing when she sees it and her role as Producer as well as star is proof of her savvy. The role of 'Echo' is one that only comes along once in a generation and a role that most people would die for. Being able to take the lead role in an exciting new network show and sink your teeth into something that offers the ability to play a variety of characters and showcase your abilities must be every performer's dream. Eliza Dushku, already established as a talented actress, has landed the dream opportunity to showcase every fact of her talents on screen (as well as behind-the-scenes) and will, without a doubt, make her name as an A-lister with this one.
Well worth your time, this series will undoubtedly go from strength-to-strength in coming years and, i am confident, will manage to survive the current TV climate's penchant for early cancellations.
I only hope that Whedon and Co. don't fall into the trap that i felt made BUFFY derivative. This series has enough creative potential to drive it for years to come...
Darkness (2002)
Balaguero does it again!
After the soul-destroying effort that was the awesome LOS SIN NOMBRE (aka The Nameless), Jaume Balaguero returns with DARKNESS (or THE DARKNESS as it is to be released in the U.S. because, after all, that will make all the difference!) another claustrophobic, angst-ridden cinematic assault on our emotions that you watch just HOPING that everything will be alright in the end. But of course, as with real life, nothing is ever that simple... The story for this one lacks the complex layers of LOS SIN NOMBRE, instead substituting the weaving narrative in favour of a more simplistic story with more of an accentuated focus on a handful of basic themes and a mystery to unravel. The sense of dread is also reduced somewhat compared to LOS SIN NOMBRE but the tension levels are increased at a faster rate throughout this film. They need to be, as the first 20 minutes of the film are standard characterisation scenes and the it needs to kickstart the audience after establishing the main players. The use of visuals and audio tricks and volume by Balaguero are more evident than ever this time around. Even to the point that Balaguero relies on well-crafted scares and creepy atmosphere from shadows and, well...DARKNESS! Leaving a bad taste in ones mouth is something i think he revels in and this is another example by the future of modern horror that he wants to HURT you and make you feel crushed. For those of us who like to have the rug pulled from under us and left with that bad taste in our mouths it is indeed a bitter-sweet pill. But for those who like comeuppance, revenge or to see good win the battle over evil it will be a very bitter pill to swallow in the end...
Los sin nombre (1999)
The Nameless? I was THE SPEECHLESS!
I saw this film a few years back and have been a supporter of Balaguero ever since! It starts on a very disturbing note and then constantly pushes and pushes your buttons. I can only compare it to being on a torture rack and in pain from the start only to have the cogs turned constantly and very slowly increasing my agony for every minute of my time spent on it until i reach my limit only to realise that the end is SO much nastier now that they have stopped turning the cogs that a totally unforseen pain and agony is about to hit me just when i thought it was over! The tension levels are very slowly but expertly cranked up throughout this film from the opening moments until the very end...and even THEN the cruelest of climaxes awaits us. I have read comments about the ending to this film that do not do it justice or feel that it does not work. I cannot understand or share that viewpoint. Any such accusations levelled at this film are lacking. The climax is simple, yet one of the most intelligent, psychologically perverse, emotion-shredding and horrible (without resorting to blood) ever commited to celluloid. On it's own it would pack a seriously intense punch...but as the climax/pay-off/culmination of such a profoundly creepy film it is downright cruel and disturbing and a fitting finale to a soul-destroying film... Balaguero's style has been disregarded by some as too similar to that of David Fincher. Well, the similarities in LOOK are there but style isn't based on cinematography alone. The film is a beautifully dark, stylish, polished affair with menace in the shadows, angst around every corner and terror on the horizon. Dread and evil have not been portrayed this vividly for a long, long time...
Troll 2 (1990)
Fragasso is a troll...
Totally inept film that even trash afficionados will have a damned hard time sitting through! I know I DID!!! Mind-numbingly awful stuff, this one really becomes a chore after the first 15 minutes. Originally intended as a dark fairytale for kids shot for TV, some enterprising (and i use the term loosely) company decided there was money to be made in hawking this crapola to the video masses. Man, if i could just spend 30 seconds in a room alone with just ONE of those distributors... The, ahem, 'special fx' are strictly as follows: green goo and very bad rubber over-the-head goblin masks that are about 5 sizes too big for the heads of the moronic midgets wearing them! I watched D'Amato's RETURN FROM DEATH (FRANKENSTEIN 2000) straight afterwards so as to regain my faith in supertrash as sub-entertainment in its own right...
United Trash (1996)
A film like no other!
A totally deranged movie starring Udo Kier and Kitten Natividad, this one founds itself sitting on a shelf while distributors ran a mile! If you want a better idea of the basic theme of the story, refer to the other user review available for you here. I would just like to say that this film remains unavailable (to my knowledge) anywhere in the world except for maybe Germany, where my screener tape is from. The reasons for this are that the film is a depraved, high-camp, grim and mercilessly bad taste film about a big-breasted nympho who gives birth to a negro-dwarf that has a vagina in the top of it's head that ejaculates! The dwarf-offspring's name? Jesus Peter Pan!!!!! Full of extreme imagery and sickening sexual deviance, it is a trash connoisseur's wet dream! No wonder it never found a release! Udo Kier recently expressed his shock that i had even heard of the film let alone managed to own a copy. According to Mr.Kier, the film was so contentious that distributors were afraid of picking it up and hit almost killed his career as well as the careers of all who worked on it! Apparently, many people were not amused with the film... I don't know why!