House of 9 Review

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(More customer reviews)I was pleasantly surprised by House of 9. As the movie begins, I saw the premise unfold and thought... what a great idea... sort of SAW 2 meets BATTLE ROYALE meets SURVIVOR.
Although more of a ripoff of SAW 2 (or maybe SAW 2 was a ripoff of House of 9? Not sure, maybe it was unintentional), HOUSE of 9 approaches the subject with fresh ideas and MORE REALISM. Where Saw 2 struggles to be commercial and come up with BIZARRE and MORE BIZARRE ways to kill people with the funky contraptions and riddles, HOUSE of 9 keeps it real.
As 9 unwitting people are snatched off the streets and wake up in a house that is sealed and unescapable, they are told that one person will be allowed to leave the house, and that person will be given $5 million... that one person is the soul survivor... meaning... the only way out... is for them to kill each other.
Where Saw 2 wastes no time getting into the depravity and murder and the thin assumption that a bunch of criminals will want to murder the son of the man who put them in prison, HOUSE of 9 keeps it real. It explores human nature and the unwillingness to comply and wait it out. How long would it take for a house full of strangers to actually want to kill each other? And how? there is one gun, with few bullets.
The mostly unknown cast, with the exception of Dennis Hopper and Kelly Brook, deliver well. As time goes by, the food is minimal, the personalities are clashing and tensions are building. Violence is coming and you can feel it, despite the members of the house's relucatance to participate in the sick game.
Unfortuntaley, the director relied to heavily on a couple of MTV montage moments that seemed to go on forever, the movie is actually a really good comment on human nature, madness, survival and what happens to a person when they've taken the life of another.
I'll admit... 4 stars... may, just may be a little too strong, and 5 stars is WAY TOO STRONG... but the movie was entertaining and better than most of the little straight to video movies that hit the video store shelves. I never once wished I was watching something else. I wanted to watch it unfold and see what was in store.
Not to mention, the ENDING was FANTASTIC! The ending... the final scene when the winner picks up their money... was the best part of the movie.
Rent it, watch it, I only recommend to buy if you're a big Kelly Brook fan. And who isn't?

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Nine strangers wake up in a house with no recollection of how they got there and no way out.A voice on the PA introduces them to the grisly game they’ve been chosen to play – Last man standing wins $5 million in cash and their life back.When all attempts to break out together fail, tension turns to violence and violence to death and suddenly it’s every man for himself as they fight for their lives… Why are they here? Who will survive? And what will it cost them in the end?

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Elegy (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)When I saw this movie - which in itself was not an easy task because it was relegated to obscure theaters at inconvenient times - only six other people were present. Clearly this movie was not made with popular appeal in mind. No guns, no CGI, no well-cued schtick and obvious dialog. Just stunningly acute direction and acting that takes the breath away.
I have never seen a film containing so much pain yet so beautifully delivered. Kingsley and Cruz turn in exquisite performances, though of course Kingsley dominates as the eternally commitment-shy academic David. It is a testimony to Kingsley's power as an actor that he enables us first to feel sympathy with David's desire to seduce his student, and then sympathy with his moral and emotional equivocation, and finally sympathy with the utter devastation that comes from the loss of his beloved.
Aside from the scenes in which David interacts with his estranged son - scenes that really could have been deleted without harming the film in any way - there is never a spare moment. This is a movie about isolation, loneliness and desire - the desire for contact, connection, and ultimately for hope. It is spare, terse, and under-stated. Unfortunately we do not live in a time when these virtues are appreciated, and many professional reviews have been very wide of the mark with their myopic criticisms.
The direction of the movie is light and assured, a million miles from the heavy-handed journey-work of most directors. Nothing is over-emphasized. Kingsley turns in what must be one of the top two or three performances of his career. The movie assumes an intelligent audience - perhaps the reason why so few people have actually seen it, and why fewer still have appreciated its richness. But for anyone who enjoys film-making at its very best, this is a must-have for the DVD or BlueRay collection.

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Respected cultural critic and author David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley) is a middle-aged college professor who, for years, has lived in a state of "emancipated manhood." His romantic conquests are many; his lasting commitments, few. But when a stunning young student named Consuela Castillo (Penelope Cruz) enters his life, her otherworldly beauty captivates him to the point of obsession. Soon, their erotic relationship evolves into an undying and passionate love in this gripping drama that explores the power of love to blind, reveal and transform.

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Colors (1988) Review

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(More customer reviews)Hailed by critics as one of the more important films of the 80s, "Colors" nonetheless is a fairly straightforward tragedy--there's no other direction for the story to take. Robert Duvall plays a veteran police officer working L.A.'s mean streets; hothead Sean Penn joins his CRASH anti-gang unit, predictably testing the elder partner's patience and reserve as he just tries to keep the peace and make it through that final year to retirement. Both actors bring more depth to their cliched roles than might be expected, playing off each other surprisingly well, even in moments where they are given little more to do than react. But "Colors" offers no real answers to anything. The cops are presented mostly as well-armed zookeepers, while the gang members, blessed with youth and health but not much brains, run violently about, making the story mostly a series of aimless confrontations. Art imitating life? Maybe. But careful audiences might feel they've been bamboozled, despite director Dennis Hopper's rather lofty take on it. With some scenes that are genuinely tragic and gripping--the shooting of an unarmed suspect and the movie's final scene, to name two--and a romantic subplot that deserved more time--Maria Conchita Alonso seems to just get warmed up as a bad girl flirting with the notion of being good--"Colors" seems to have more going for it than it really does. Watch it mainly for the performances and the suggestion of complexity.

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Controversial film about the conflict between police and the street gangs in Los Angeles.Genre: Feature Film-Action/AdventureRating: RRelease Date: 2-OCT-2001Media Type: DVD

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Out Of The Blue (1982) Review

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(More customer reviews)Originally destined to be a rather innocuous melodrama starring Raymond Burr, this became something far different when Dennis Hopper took the directorreins.
Hopper turned the focus off of psychologist Burr and onto destructive teen Linda Manz, and in the process created one of the only truly punk films. Manz is exceptional as CeBe Barnes, a girl who quickly finds that the return of her father (Hopper) from prison will not spell the familial bliss she had hoped for, and more likely lead to much worse.
In addition to Manz' stunning portrayal, Hopper and Sharon Farrell are superb as the girl's burnt-out and unreliable parents in this disturbingly dead-on look at a family on the brink.
DVD transfer is gorgeous, a welcome replacement for the criminally atrocious EP tapes that have been floating around for awhile. Features a neat trailer and radio spot from Jack Nicholson. Commentary from Hopper, producer Paul Lewis, and the distributor is fascinating, though far too sporadic.
After this movie, the only thing left unanswered is why we haven't seen the wonderfully talented Linda Manz onscreen more often.

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Dennis Hopper is a hard-drinking truck driver who loses control of his truck under the influence and slams it into a busload of screaming children. After serving his five year sentence, Hopper finds his daughter, Cebe, the love of his life, grown into a rebellious punk in a backwater town. Having barely been looked after by her junkie mom, Cebe's hopes of once again becoming a "normal" family painfully, prove to be doomed, as she desperately tries to hold everyone together. Hopper's loose, naturalistic style and sympathetic yet critical attitude infuses the drama with a painful power that finally erupts in a devastating & thrilling conclusion.

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