Reviews

The Tracey Fragments is a dark Canadian film starring Ellen Page directed by Bruce McDonald. It's about 15 year old Tracey Berkowitz who is trying to find her brother after she hypnotized him into thinking he was a dog. The movie is non-linear and sorts through Tracey's memories. It's rated MA15+, for the F word being said every few lines, and a few scenes little kids might find 'creepy'.

The underlying story is something we've all seen before, but the execution of the plot in terms of time line is addictive, interesting and original. We really get a good look inside Tracey's head, which I find fascinating. There are too many paper-flat characters out there. The script is very tight, well written (Tracey's rants in the bus are quirky, amusing and at times powerfully poetic), the events are a lot of things we haven't seen before... it's generally entertaining and intriguing. My only problem with the script is the over-usage of swearing. I understand Tracey is in a dodgy place, and is angry, but honestly, do you guys really have to drop the F bomb every sentence? 8/10

The presentation of the film is gorgeous- the clothes, colors, sets... Take a look at any screen shot- it's beautiful, stunning- fantastically done. My only complaint is some scenes looked too dark. 9/10

There is a definite sense of character. They're all human, as cruel or eccentric as they turn out to be. Of course, Tracey is the best developed character, but it's clear that the writer put some thought into the others, as minimalist as it may be. I remember their names. That counts for something. 8/10

The music is eerie enough. It fits the color scheme they were going for, but sometimes I felt something more powerful would have been fitting. Sometimes it's hard to tell there's even music going on. 6/10

Ellen Page is someone I look up to. Her ability to be completely immersed in a character and portray completely realistic, believable, raw emotion is breath taking to me. It sounds real- her whimpers of fear in the scene near the end, or the scene in the telephone booth send chills up my spine. The others are decent actors too, but they don't get to show off their ability so much. 9/10

Seems like a perfect movie, right? WRONG. I agree the split screen effect gets extremely frustrating. I completely understand what the creator is trying to do, and for the first 20 minutes or so I thought "What is everyone complaining about? There's nothing wrong with the split screen effect" but the more the film went on, the more I found myself really wishing they'd show us scenes normally- so we could see the detail in the shot- I know the director probably wanted us to feel this way. Tracey is annoyed- the viewer is annoyed/exhausted... etc. In a sense, we are Tracey in her mind... but some scenes I thought "Why would she be in a confused state of mind here?".

Yes, I agree with many users that this was the films drawback. There were many scenes where I didn't have a clue what was going on because of the way it was filmed (done on purpose?) but ... GAH! In the words of Tracey Berkowtiz "F you, f you, f you!" F you directors! 4/10

What annoyed me even more was that the Behind the Scenes Feature was done in split screen also. What the heck!? GIVE MY EYES A BREAK!

I also got annoyed when I found out that all the "Tracey ReFragmented" winners were just really short clips. A few of the entries (on the official website, hosted by Youtube) are the entire film in one screen. Why couldn't they put one of those on the DVD as well? I don't want to be wasting internet money watching a horrible quality Youtube version of the movie!!!

I reckon they need to re-release the DVD as a "collectors edition" and have one of those entries on there! PLEASE? Millions of fans are begging you!

So that makes an average score of: 7.3/10

It's a shame because I could be rating it 9/10 if they put a freaking VERSION OF THE MOVIE IN ONE/TWO SCREENS ON THE DVD!!!

I recently re-watched this and was surprised by how many times I was moved to laughter or being close to tears. I have read a few of the books, and I find it strange that they compressed 3 books into one movie- I'm sure it would get just as much money if they did a more "accurate adaption" to the books. It stands alone.

The acting is fantastic. Jim Carey is a little TOO crazy in some scenes, but otherwise he portrays Count Olaf in an amusing 'let's parody villains' sort of way. Emily Browning and the guy who played Klaus are fantastic- you feel their sadness, their anger.... you care for them. Of course Billy Colony, Meryl Streep and Timothy Spall do a great job. They're living versions of the characters! In the technical department the movie is beautiful. The costumes, "sets" and scenery look beautiful, detailed and polished. The music is memorable and makes you feel the appropriate emotions at the right time. The script is witty, well written and fairly tight. It focuses highly on dialogue, but the book is very much the same. It was nice to have some action in there (the train) even though it was not from the book. (from what I can tell). The end is touching.

The other aspects: story and characters are all the marvelous invention of Lemony Snicket. All the characters are unique, memorable and likable- even if they're evil or crazy. Well developed all around. What can I say? If anyone disliked this film, it was probably because they were comparing it too much to the book. As I said before: the movie stands alone, so it's best to enjoy it! :) The end credits are very stylish.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a coming of age, sci-fi, psychological drama. There is absolutely no parts of this anime that are bad, except the steady decrease of animation quality over the course of the anime. The best parts of this anime are the story and characters. The story is believable, original and engaging- the names of the Angels are based of mythology (I'm pretty sure?) which is extremely clever and adds to the shows dark mood. While the premise is simple enough, the story is highly character based. It's the characters that spice it up.

Shinji, Asuka, Misato and Rei Ayanami seem at first stereotypical bimbos, but have an incredible amount of back-story and depth to them. All of them are memorable and original. In a way their complicated psychology seems like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock film (forgive the comparison). The setting makes the story interesting- it gives it an eerie feel.

The artwork is fantastic and the animation can be better at points (the amount the characters move around) but otherwise satisfactory (colors are great). 6/10 My only complaint would have to be the background music. If they improved the soundtrack it would have brought a lot more to the scenes. Otherwise the opening and endings are awesome! Oh, and the scripts are tight, and almost every scene adds something to the story, so that's a thumbs up!

I think the reason Gundam Seed fails is because the creators weren't too sure of what they wanted it to be. Do they aim to please mecha fanboys or focus on the deeper story? When you strip Gundam Seed to it's bones, the key ideas are very decent. They're interesting, intriguing and ultimately entertaining. The execution of these ideas aren't half bad either. Where Gundam S fails is in focusing on Mecha battles too much. It's not that Mecha battles are something I dislike, the ones in Eureka Seven and Neon Genesis Evangelion prove to be entertaining. Why? Because they are relatively short and animated with detail, fluidity and with a motivation to get a specific response out of the viewer (fear, excitement...). It's also clear they want to work each scene to it's potential. Gundam Seed fails because it has WAY too many Mecha scenes- mostly irrelevant to the progression of the story- and they go on for WAY too long. 80% of an episode would be spent on these fights, and people at desks going "People firing at so and so location" "Fire!" and "Evacuate situation" .... it becomes repetitive, TEDIOUS, annoying and plain boring!

The characters and story are the best part of the show. Kira, Cagalli, Lacus, Flay are all unique and posses their own backgrounds. The side characters also prove being likable. They're generally well developed and well rounded. I found the character interaction scenes a lot more interesting and entertaining than the fight scenes. HOWEVER, the show focuses on these interactions and relationships 20% of the time.

It's so FRUSTRATING because if the creators thought through each episode a bit better, it would have been 24 or 13 episodes long- but each scene would add something. Each scene would be interesting. The fight scenes would be a LOT better. They could have spent more money improving the animation and sound with this too. Overall, you would have something that deserves 8/10. Sadly, Gundam Seed is just a lump of wasted potential.

The artwork is very strong. Each character looks different to the other. The backgrounds are passable. What I thought was disappointing was their use of color. The colors are generally too bright and detract from the scenes. They don't set mood very well. If the colors were a little duller, like Evangelion, it would have came off a lot darker. The characters don't move around too much, so the animation is flat in that department, but this can be blamed on the length of the show. Cells are repeated in fight scenes- soon enough you see the SAME fight scene over and over... it's just like: GET ON WITH IT.

The music for opening and closing credits are EXCELLENT! It's a lot of JPop, but well composed (Yuki Kajuira is a genius)... it's not fluffy pop, but well sung fast paced numbers. See Saw has beautiful music, and all the theme songs are incredibly catchy. 9/10 What else? The dub is decent enough- nothing sticks out as being awful, besides maybe the wooden quality of the performances, but this is because of the dubbing process in general. Go for the Japanese.

Overall, I would love to see someone edit the show into something shorter and see what happens to the entertainment and re-watch value.

This film is a perfect example that a movie can not be successful with a high budget alone. It's obvious that there was a lot of time and effort dedicated into this: the animation is fluid, detailed and superb- the soundtrack isn't too memorable except for the ending song by Celine Dion (at least I think it was her). The musical score is powerful full orchestra material. Kudos to the animators and music composers! 9/10. However, the story and characters fall flat. It feels very 'been there, done that', predictable and plain uninteresting. The characters have distinct personalities but nothing too likable. They annoyed me to no end. I tried really hard to like this, but I didn't care about the story- it was cliché action-adventure plot. There were 'jokes' that weren't funny. It was vomit inducing predictable from start to end. The dialogue was cliché and awful- especially the last line "It's not ... that gives you wings, it's love!" Whatever it was, I remember cringing. I was wishing it would hurry up and finish. I wasn't the only one either- the people I went with thought it was boring. Please watch the Asterix and Obelix Cleopatra film if you're going to watch any. This was a waste of time.

Let's get this clear. This is a kids movie directed at kids, so it's obvious adults are not going to find it as good. But there are plenty of good kids films that adults can enjoy, and this is not one of them. This is a pretty good demonstration of what NOT to do while making a film.

It's very obviously low budget. The lighting, scenery and presentation of the movie is just plain wrong. Not pretty, not fun to look at. - The music is the only OKAY thing about the movie. The Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato songs are the strongest with good vocals, authentic music (compared to the rest) and corny, childlike but inspiring lyrics (kids need something inspiring!). The Tess songs (2 Stars, 2 Cool for You) are highly edited and sound like Paris Hilton. Although fast paced, the lyrics are stupid and the message isn't good. Here I Am was well sung, but musically doesn't have much merit. The singing is hard to hear in We Rock, but catchy and annoyingly 'We're all in this Together'. 6/10 The characters are underdeveloped and forgettable. We have all the stereotypes: the innocent lead, the bitchy girls, the best friend, the supportive parents, the love interest, the idiot guy... it's very annoying how stereotypical they are. I wanted to hit Tess in the head! The only good thing about the characters is they are somewhat likable and Mitchie is a cool name.

The story is kiddy material that everyone has seen before. Obviously they weren't trying to have an amazing story, but the execution of these are cringe worthy at points. The script can come off as stupid ('What's that look?') when it's supposed to be serious.

The only good acting comes from Demi Lovato and the adults. The Jonas Brothers were embarrassing. The others don't stand out. 6/10 The movie could have been a lot better if they made the most with the material they had. They needed to keep the quality of the songs consistent throughout. They needed to be as good as This is Me or Play my Music. For this they need people who can sing (bye bye Tess). They could have done better with the lighting and presentation (costumes, make up, colors). Make them look sharper, prettier and keep it consistent with the feel of the movie.

The filming could have been improved for the songs. Demi could have been dancing or something during This is Me and Here I Am could have been more interesting. Sure, it's cliché, but they could have filmed it in a unique way and used the lighting to make it look different color wise. Get Joe Jonas to practice acting a hell of a lot more before bringing him on set.

In other words: make it look pretty. I would have given it a 5 or 6 if that was the case.

Okay, let's look at this objectively. The filming is the only thing that doesn't stand out. It does it's job to convey a point, and that's it. No eye boggling cinematography here.

The music is memorable and enhances the scenes immensely. Great catchy, well varied songs that make you feel what the characters are: Earth Angel and Johnny B. Goode come to mind. 9/10

It's rare to have memorable characters in film since little details get washed over, but BTTF's plot is highly character based, which works in being entertaining as well as informative. You'll remember all the names of these characters. 9/10

The plot itself is quite simple, but well executed. It's fun with all the different genres. 7/10

The acting is excellent. Chris Lloyd's performance is very over the top and eccentric, but memorable all the same. Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson's performances are very honest and moving. 9/10

In terms of entertainment I find all the foreshadowing (1985) a little dull, but it's impossible to delete it since it introduces all the characters. The script is very tight and well written, the tension builds as the film goes along.

I've watched this a few times so I'd say the re-watch value is very good.

Somersault has a lot of good things about it. Visually it looks beautiful and eerie. The music, while not enhancing some scenes to their potential, fits the visuals as naive and pretty. The acting is excellent, the conflict between Heidi and her mum is a stand out- as well as some key scenes at the end. The story is simple but touching and interesting.

Where does Somersault fail? The script could have been tightened. It went off developing all these different characters (the coworker girl, that other lady). While character development is a good thing, it felt out of place in this movie. The story is essentially about *Heidi* and her flaws as a person, NOT all the other characters. When I re watched this, I skipped 90% of the unneeded extra character development scenes and the movie became a lot more moving and entertaining. If the movie was presented in a typical Hollywood fashion, the extra character scenes could be hyped up a lot more, but the style the director took prevents this from being done in an entertaining way.

This movie is 100 minutes long. They could have cut it down to 60 or even 40. If the script was watered down so it KEPT TO THE POINT OF THE STORY then I would be giving it 8/10. So have your DVD remote ready and skip some parts :P

Even though the special effects aren't great (although hilarious in how bad they are- even though they were probably good at it's time), the Technicolor looks really fake and bright, the filming isn't the best, the sound is a little dodgy, this movie is pretty creepy and is worth seeing once. Nothing too scary happens until a quarter the way through, but it's done so we can connect to the characters and grow to like them. The plot is pretty thin, but an original and memorable one.

Bottom line: technical aspects are terrible (compared to the stuff we have out now), plot is thin, but the ideas, script and execution are very original and clever! I was left on the edge of my seat in suspense at some parts- and that hardly ever happens to me.

It's hard to rate this because of the time it was made and the lack of re-watch value, but I'll go somewhere between 6-7.

While the Grudge is not an outstanding movie, it has a few classic elements to it- like the creepy imagery and the rattling noise. I think it's one of those films you have to see once, whether you dislike it or not.

The plot: It's there, certainly, but very thin since it's horror. Besides the small amount of back story on why the house is haunted, the movie only consists of random events happening. 5/10

Characters: What characters? They were ordinary people, so you can relate to them, but forgettable as all hell. 0/10

Horror Imagery: Classic and creepy, just as it should be. 7/10

This Japanese version is better than the remakes because:

There is no dramatic music: so you can never tell when something's going to happen. In the remake they would build up all this music... you think "Oh great, scary bit coming up. Brace yourselves" then nothing happens, and it's a stupid repetitive cycle.

All three remakes are in the one: so it more quickly gets to the point.

Acting is brilliant and filled with emotion!

Of course this movie won't change your life... so you can easily skip it without missing lots. But if you're going to watch the Grudge, see this version!

This movie annoyed me because of how pointless it was. The money put into this film could have been used in a far more constructive way.

Besides developing the Jason character, it had absolutely no substance: no plot, no substantial dialog.... It was just people screaming and thinking they're going insane (it's a horror movie, of course you're going crazy). You've got mindless violence and a sex scene- but they were not enjoyable. It was obvious they were put in there as a last resort. It was like the movie was so horrible they had to 'spice it up' a little.

I don't remember the characters names... it was just random horror events happening, which were more disgusting than scary. There were no characters in this movie, it was just a bunch of idiotic, stereotypical, flat, generic teenagers- none of them had any development or were likable in any way.

I felt like my IQ had dropped once it had finished, it was a chore to sit through so I never want to see it again. It was a total waste of time.

It gets points for special effects.... everything else is a big fat 0!