Flipside Movie Emporium

[Danny Baldwin]

Any chance the High Tension DVD has the subtitled version, NW? I'd like to watch that before the dubbed one, if I can...

A lot of people seem to like it a lot more, for understandable reasons.
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Danny Baldwin

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[Michael Scrutchin]

[the night watchman]

[beltmann]

I don't disagree with any of NW's or Michael's criticisms of High Tension, especially about the twist being a massive cheat... but at the same time I think I was more willing to enjoy--or be suckered by?--what actually did work in terms of pacing, style, and tone. Here?s what I jotted down earlier in this forum: ?Most reviewers correctly nailed High Tension for its stupid twist ending and ridiculous dubbing (which inexplicably comes and goes). Yet none of them bothered to mention how, for most of the way, Aja creates a gripping exercise in first-person perspective?almost everything transpires from the POV of the main character, which often relegates the violence just out of sight or barely within earshot. (Don?t let the complaints of graphic violence scare you off? what?s truly shocking is Aja?s surprisingly tasteful restraint.) There are several taut sequences in the film?s midsection that are genuinely impressive. Too bad about that awful, nonsense ending, which really does mar the entire enterprise.?

Was I wrong about Aja?s ?restraint?? Maybe. But I know that while I was peeved about the ending, I never felt the movie was overtly cruel and brutish--perhaps because Aja stages his violence with an eye for first-person tension rather than merely for aesthetic "beauty."

I guess the movie?s considerable flaws didn?t let me forget that, for most of the way, I had a reasonably good time. I'm quite surprised that out of the three of us, I'm the one who liked it best.

Eric
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

[Jim Harper]

I loved it, twist ending or not. It tricks the viewer, but it doesn't ruin the film. Mind you, I was clued into it from the start, especially since it's a witness account, and the main film opens in a dream.

I think the twist was primarily done to piss off anyone who subscribes to absurd feminist readings of slasher movies. He's not playing fair, but it's a worthy aim.

[Jim Harper]

11/10/05 - 21/10/05

The Eye 2 (dir. Oxide & Danny Pang, 2004)*

What Have You Done to Solange? (dir. Massimo Dallamano, 1972)*

Evil Breed: The Legend of Sam Haim (dir. Christian Viel, 2003)*

Junk (dir. Atsushi Muroga, 2000)

Frankenfish (dir. Mark AZ Dippe, 2004)*

Exorcist: The Beginning (dir. Renny Harlin, 2004)

Evil Dead Trap (dir. Toshiharu Ikeda, 1988)

Wizard of Darkness (dir. Shimiko Sato, 1992)

Anatomy (dir. Stefan Ruzowitzky, 2000)

Uzumaki (dir. Higuchinsky, 2000)

House of Wax (dir. Jaume Collet-Serra, 2005)*

Guard from the Underground (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1994)

Spider Labyrinth (dir. Gianfranco Giagni, 1988)

Hellboy (dir. Guillermo Del Toro, 2004)

Infection (dir. Masayuki Ochiai, 2004)

Saw (dir. James Wan, 2004)

Identity (dir. James Mangold, 2003)

Kingdom of Heaven (dir. Ridley Scott, 2004)*

Return of the Blind Dead (dir. Amando de Ossorio, 1972)

The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (dir. Jorge Grau, 1972)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (dir. Terence Fisher, 1959)*

Okay, here goes. The Eye 2 is a ponderous, bleak film with a very infuriating payoff that pretty much negates the main premise of the film. Avoid.

What Have You Done to Solange? is an above-average giallo with plenty of sleazy and violence thrown in. Not as good as Argento (for example), but much better than many such attempts. Incredibly un-PC; I can see why this is unlikely to get an uncut UK release any time soon.

House of Wax is cheessy fun, while Evil Breed is the most boring film to feature several pornstars. Total amateur crap. Frankenfish however is considerably more entertaining than any movie about giant fish has any right to be.

Kingdom of Heaven was great. Nice to see a balanced (and accurate) portrayal of the Crusades, and well-acted all round too.

[the night watchman]

[the night watchman]

[the night watchman]

[Jim Harper]

[beltmann]

[the night watchman]

[Jim Harper]

[the night watchman]

[Danny Baldwin]

10/20-10/26

In chronological order

Stay (Forster, 2005) - The anti-climatic ending twist didn't bother me in the least, mainly because of the fact that my mind was so eager and inquisitve when trying to figure out what was happening. There are some dead giveaways throughout the duration, to be sure, but its mere ability to make me simultaneously entertain numerous possibilities made it a worthy experience. Ewan McGregor is awesome, Ryan Gosling is creepy, and Naomi Watts is hot. It's one to see.

North Country (Caro, 2005) - Like Crash, the movie tritely tries to make its messages seem too universal, rather than focusing on the delicate brutality of the events which unfold throughout the plot. Still, it's no small feat that I believed Charlize Theron in the role without all her Monster makeup, and that I found myself reacting to the material as much as I did. The portrayal of how sexual harrassment affects the protagonist in her daily life is questionable, in certain ways, and the third-act is melodramatic, but Niki Caro and her cast (especially Theron and Richard Jenkins) pull it off.

Goodnight and Good Luck (Clooney, 2005) - I'm conflicted. Some of me says that focusing on Thomas McCarthy brings historical relevance to the insight on the media that George Clooney would like to portray here, but the majority of me thinks that his lack of detail hinders his statement. All he really has to say about the communist witch hunts is "Ah! A conservative thought of them and therefore all modern conservatives are evil!" Still, his portrayal of journalism and its effects is entirely riveting, and the creamy B&W photography of the movie is beautiful. I was surprised by how entertaining it was.

Domino (Scott, 2005) - Ridiculous and incoherant--and I freggin' love it. Keira Knightley's goin' crazy with nunchucks, Christopher Walken's watching it all unfold on camera, there's a strange scene of desert copulation, random dialogue is subtitled all over the screen, and a character's arm is shot off so that his tatoo which holds the code to a safe. To me, Tony Scott's movies are like those that Tarantino would've made as a teenager; they're unpolished and all over the place, but likably so.

I'll refrain from listing them preferentially, as all are solid efforts, despite none of them being remarkable.
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Danny Baldwin

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