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Reviews
Special (2006)
Open your eyes
Go out and see this great movie if you can. If this movie is in your neck of the woods, and your searching for something to do on a cheap matinée Monday night, this is your ticket. Your week will be better because of it. Actually, pay full price for this movie because its worth it. And because the directors and actors deserve the extra $5.00 or what have you.
I got the privilege of seeing this film at its opening night in the Zurich Film Festival. A little treat followed after the movie with a Q & A with writer and co-director Jeremy Passmore. This USC grad and his home-e came up on a whim with the idea of this movie, and within 18 months ( 18 days of shooting) made this feature. The movie itself: great storyline with phenomenal acting by one of my favorites M. Rapp. He was undeniably crucial in making this movie seem 'real'. So fabulous was this 'low' budget superhero movie. Fabulous. The characters, the foundation, the storyline, imagination ... the believability and emotional recognition for the characters ... it all was there. Made me want to laugh, made me want to cry and made me want to change the world. Awesome. That is what movies are supposed to make you feel. Hats off to these two directors and their crew with their first film ( which they were going to put on CCards before they got backing from agencies ... among other things) From what Jeremy was saying, everyone was supremely underpaid and overworked, but in the end, all knew that the finished product was worth more than anything. One of my top 10 for 2006.
The Fountain (2006)
good visuals I guess
As for many things in Aronofskys movies, the visual embodiment is always on the plus side. I unfortunately was awed only by THE visual prowess of this movie, whilst the storyline, character development, time of script, and plot were all sub-par. Alright, I must give credit to the WOW factoid when looking at the 21st century design of the scenes, but other than that, most all was lacking continuity and overall structure.
I definitely loved the jumping between centuries, overlapping imagination and reality, but the falseness and lack of depth within the characters was unnerving. There was absolutely no charisma between Wolverine (oopps) Hugh Jackman (whos emotional outbreaks made him look like he was going to kill somebody, instead of make you feel for his character) and Rachell Weiss. There love story was bland, confusing and relatively boring. As events unfolded, I had no care for her, or her status. I just wanted to see more visual effects. Sad. Reason being? Because no one else in the movie did either. She is ... oh well, anyways ... moving on .... Not powerfully emotional, or structurally, but the power from this movie comes from visual effects and the soundtrack. Both of which are extraordinary.