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Reviews
Strictly Background (2007)
Just another face
I just left a screening of Strictly Background at the New Hampshire Film Expo. This is one of the most sincere and touching documentaries I've seen in a long time. The basic premise carries us to Hollywood and into the lives of Background Artists, or extras to us lay people. Extras are the truly unsung heroes of the movie business. Without background players, we wouldn't have movies. It's a really simple film that gives an honest glimpse of the life these folks live. Some do it for fun, some do it to break into the "Business," some do it for a few extra bucks. All the individuals interviewed have a true love of making movies, even if it's as set dressing. As the movie progresses it's informative of the movie making process, but at the same time it's emotional in the sense that we are following the hopes and dreams of all these extras. Some make it, some don't. One gentleman lives in a rented storage unit for $100 a month. We go to casting calls, jobs and "specs", where an extra goes to a set in the hopes they might be needed that day. By the end of the movie I realized I was rooting for all of them to get that next job. The director did a great job of drawing us into these lives and the emotional roller-coaster that goes along with this kind of work. Not an easy task in our cynical society. It's funny, interesting and at times heartbreaking. I highly recommend this film to any kind of cinema fan as well as anyone who is curious about the real Hollywood.
Die Another Day (2002)
007 for the MTV generation. *Minor Spoilers*
*Minor Spoilers* First off, let me say that I'm a big Bond fan. I have all the movies and have read all the Fleming novels as well as some of the Gardner novels. This outing of MI-6's super spy started out really well. For the first 30 minutes or so, I thought that maybe the producers had finally decided to "grit" the series up a bit, then it turned into sci fi fluff along the lines of Moonraker or Diamonds are Forever. Two of the lesser films in the series. My biggest complaint was with the CGI used in the second half of the movie. In 40 years and 19 other films, the Bond franchise always set the standard for amazing stunt work. Now all of a sudden they go with really bad CGI action sequences, ie. the para-surfing scene as well as the disintegrating plane at the end. I felt as if I was watching a cheap version of XXX. It wasn't bad enough that CGI was used, but it looked really cheesy. The numerous in-jokes were cute, but unless one is a fan of the series, may lose alot of the humor. I'd recommend this to fans of the franchise, but not fans who are looking for a return to the old Bond. This is Bond for the MTV generation, quick and explosive, but not too heavy on plot.
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Not too shabby
I think too many people are being waaaay to critical of this little low budget flick. This wasn't filmed to be the next best picture winner, nor was it filmed to be a cinematic masterpiece, it was made to be exactly what it is...a fun little popcorn flick for fans of the genre. I'm a bit of a horror fan and every website that mentioned it raved about it, so I was quite curious when I found out that it was being released here in the States on DVD. I am somewhat bummed that this never received a theatrical release here. I think it would have been a fun movie in the theater. The visual effects are decent for the budget, and more importantly, they aren't CGI. I think CGI is overrated and severely over used in today's movies. The use of actual makeup in this added a certain sense of grittiness not found in many horror films today. The plot and premise, even if they are a hybrid of several different films, are still original in the delivery. Much like the idea behind the recently released "Below" which takes the submarine in a wartime situation and adds the spookiness of a ghost story(unfortunately it was a poor movie, even with such an innovative idea,) this takes the ground pounding soldier movie, and spins it into a werewolf movie. I personally enjoy it when a director can take two fairly well used ideas like that and create his own movie. This movie won't be everyone's cup of tea, I actually recommend it to horror fans and folks who like a bit of graphic violence every now and then but not permeating a whole two hours of film. All in all a fun way to spend a couple of hours and I don't think that anybody in this movie's target audience will be very disappointed.