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akeru
Reviews
Novocaine (2001)
horrible.
That's really the only word for this. What a travesty, to take such a great concept and make such a piece of crap. A noir comedy should be exactly my cup of tea, too. But the comedy was too uneven, and the noir touches were mixed into a modern-sensibilities romantic plotline that indicates the director doesn't understand noir. The plot contained holes in areas that were just too vital - the ultra-shocking climax turns out to have been completely unnecessary in the denouement. I liked the visual gimmicks though; wipes using an X-ray effect, and intercuts of animated X-rays at key moments. It was visually good - reminded me a bit of "Suture". But altogether one of the most disappointing films I've seen in a while.
Pitch Black (2000)
Uneven, but unforgettable
I just read many of the previous comments on this film, and I agree with most of the positive *and* negative ones. The editing is tight; the pacing is perfect; the visuals are beautiful, atmospheric, and menacing; the performances are convincing. All in all, I just can't completely pan this film... but I also can't seem to get completely past the snippets of jarringly god-awful dialogue, the continuity errors (for example: the creatures were fine in very faint light at some points, but in others it kept them at bay) and the fundamental reliance on palpably contrived plot devices. Just once, I'd like to see a party of survival-hopefuls include a character with a superhuman talent that *isn't* completely appropriate to the set-up. Inclusion of a character with night-vision in this movie was just too 'deus ex machina' for my taste.
There were moments when the director tried to deviate from cliche, and it's too bad that those attempts were so obvious - the self-conscious aspirations only underlined the fact that the movie was working on a foundation of cliche. It remains a very compelling film, but it could have been better. "Pitch Black" was almost close to being a classic.