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Reviews
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
A Successful Experiment!
_The Blair Witch Project_ is, indeed, a very frightening movie; more interestingly, it's a pretty successful experimental film, of a sort I can't recall having seen before. The directors performed an experiment in "method film-making" here, taking three actors, giving them cameras and basic instructions in their use, set them loose in the woods and (evidently) spent some time scaring the blue daylights out of them while they played with the cameras. The results are very effective, not least owing to the film's complete obstinacy in refusing to explain what it is you're seeing. This film is possibly better enjoyed if you've seen the "teaser" segment on the Sci-Fi channel: it provides some useful context in which to place the actual film.
A Doll in the Dark (1997)
Miserable!
A suspense movie without suspense, a thriller without thrills. Not to mention a workable script, acting, direction, etc. The story is muddy, and what of it can be grasped is just silly. The big excitement was wondering how soon it'd be over.
Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (1997)
Somewhere Between Fascinating and Sickening
I could barely take my eyes off this thoroughly demented movie, except for the parts where I absolutely _had_ to. Flanagan was definitely a crazy man, by all standard measures, but had a sort of bizarre integrity about his approach to life, as unique as that approach was.
Not a good movie for the squeamish, or even for those who don't think they're squeamish. _Alien_ did not prepare you for Bob Flanagan.
Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
A Severe Disappointment
A terrible movie, and a hack adaptation of a decent story by William Gibson -- the saddest aspect of it all is that this will never be done right. Keanu Reeves does his typical "acting" job -- his emotional range goes all the way from "wooden" to "histrionic", with virtually no stops in between. The fact that Mr. Reeves fails to die, graphically and horribly, is another disappointment. Should have been titled "Johnny Moronic"