Reviews

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was a brilliant low budget film, that had a phenomenal approach. High grade scares done with a minimum of gore and a retro 1930's feel. The film also looked and felt like PATRICK SHANE DUNCANS 84 CHARLIE MOPIC....the film had a "documentary feel" to it without it being a documentary. A sequel??? The logical one would be the fate of the original cast...or a prequel in the Burkittsville subplot mentioned in the film. As far as SUNDANCE type indie movies go this film is sheer genius in the amount of intellect it took to concoct this story and execute it. I am in awe, it was a brainchild of pure creativity that sparked this film and it's success. The question is ....how do you improve on low budget perfection? Many didn't like the herky, jerky camera moves, however, the film has a classic horror feel. The gross outs are minimal and the anxiety factor is at an all time high. This fits into the little film that could category with a small town horror myth feel to it....every town has a cult myth..mine does...what is more terrifying is that mine is true.

This was a great low budget police film about corruption in the LA sheriffs office. The film revolves around a young black cop, who stumbles onto a corruption case invovling police brutality towards minorities. The film also highlights just how easy it is to get blackmailed by people who are supposed to be on your side. THE GLASS SHIELD while lacking the stigma of bigger films like LETHAL WEAPON, tells a human tale about a cop and his female partner, however, I feel Lori Petty's role could have been bigger. There was another part of this film that touched on something briefly, sexism on the law enforcement circuit. The trailers for thisa movie suggest it was edited heavily and that the character played by Ms. Petty played a significantly larger role in that version. The logical direction for this film would to have been having the black cop and the woman police officer piercing the layer of corruption together in lA. A great film that tells a stroy from a african american point of view. The film also highlights the conflict within the african american/black community towards police and police brutality and how it is hard for even them to sometimes accept black police officers. An interesting film with a interesting and powerful premise. Don't expect a 600 rd. shoot out with "yuck yuck" laughter and Riggs and Murtaugh in this one...expect substance.

The problem with this film is that it is a mob movie without the mob. Slightly boring and at times overly pretentious, the portrayal of CHRIS PENN and CHRISTOPHER WALKEN are noteworthy. This film was missing something...like a PLOT. From the maker of the BAD LT. (about police corruption) this film is a DAYS OF OUR LIVES look at the REAL lives of mobsters. i might have to watch it again to enjoy it more but the acting was superb, and Gretchen moll and Anabella Sciorra were excellent in this film. One thing this film does convey well was emotion and period look. I am a big fan of the ADDICTION (a commentary on demon possession done as a vampire drug allegory) but I'm sure with time I will enjoy this more...true arthouse does this. The film succeeds on the level that the mobsters are portrayed as 3D human beings and not DICK TRACY villains out of a comic strip. I sense the film was edited profuseley diminishing it's power, nonew the less a good look at a disfunctional mob family set in early 1900's NEW YORK.

Lili Taylor, kathryn Erbe and Christopher Walken star in a horror movie of an intellectual nature. Perhaps one of the most provocative films I have ever seen, this film describes vampire blood addiction in a drug/demonic possession metaphor, much the way a soldier kills a person or a group of people more efficiently when he gets a combat high. The film is a cautionary tale in layers...layers of vampirism..intellectual, sexual, emotional, educational overlording,...this film was shot in black and white and has one off the most REALISTIC vampire attack scenes on film. So realistic I almost had to leave the theatre. THE ADDICTION dispenses with slasher gore and delves into the psyche and gives us the WHAT IF LOOK into a person taken over by vampirism...the film is also a social commentary as well, with out the AW SHUCKS cheap one liners and gore of teenage vampire films. The film in scenes equates vampires similar to the men at MAI LI, pol pot and Hitler. It also goes for a quasi reliigous /nitzsche approach to explain the vampire bloodlust as a metaphor for power rape and emotional control. Done on a shoe string budget...we have the VAMPIRE in the big city story without the kitsch. Give this one a try...your brain cells will thank you.