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The Crow (1994)
Best movie I've seen in a while.
You see a crow winging over a scene of urban decay; the majority of the buildings are on fire. A young girl's voice says, "People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right." Welcome to the world of The Crow, one of the most powerful films ever made.
The Crow, written by David J. Schow and John Shirley and directed by Alex Proyas. Its story is simple, much like the graphic novel by James O'Barr by the same name: a man and his fiancée are killed, she is raped and tortured, and he comes back as an undead to wreak bloody revenge on the gang that did these horrible things. The execution of the plot sets it apart from similar revenge tales. Everything from the scripting, the casting, the direction, and the acting set this from a simple popcorn movie and into the realm of true art.
First, the scripting. There are so many wonderful quotes in this movie that it is impossible to list them all. Each character is given its own unique voice and personality, from the lowly hot-dog vendor to and especially the mysterious and creepy Top Dollar, head of Detroit's underworld of drugs and violence; who has a penchant for saying things like, "Dad gave me this. Fifth birthday. He said, 'Childhood's over the moment you know you're gonna die,'" while gazing at a snow-globe containing a miniature cemetery.
Of course, brilliant as the script is, none of these characters would have found their unique voice if not for the casting by Billy Hopkins and Susan Smith. Michael Wincott is absolutely the only person to play the Top Dollar envisioned in this film. (In the comics, Top Dollar is just a leader of a small drug ring.) Ernie Hudson was a solid choice for Sgt. Albrecht. Introducing Rochelle Davis as the world weary and cynical at thirteen Sarah was a stroke of genius, and casting Brandon Lee as the title character, Eric Draven, a.k.a. The Crow, was an inspiration.
Of course casting is only as good as the actors' performance. In other roles, Lee put in less than stellar performances, but as Draven, Lee created an opus. He takes a role that could easily been played as an emotionless machine and brought depth and humanity to it. In one ad-lib scene between Draven and Albrecht, he speaks lines that sum up the whole movie: "Little things use to mean so much to Shelley - I thought they were kind of trivial. Believe me, nothing is trivial." Then, as he starts to leave, Albrecht asks if he is just going to vanish again. Draven replies with a wistful smile, "I thought I'd just use the front door," making people see and feel the aching for normalcy in this character through his inflections and body language. Wincott is at his spooky best, but, surprisingly enough, also brings a dark sensuality to his character. Hudson underplays his role, lending it a certain believable, every-man quality, as him and Sarah are the two most normal and sanest people present in this dystopian view of Detroit. Particularly note worthy is the performance by David Patrick Kelley as T-Bird, the leader of the gang that murdered Eric and his fiancée, Shelly. He became so immersed in his role that he bought a classic first printing of Milton's Paradise Lost, Book IV, costing thousands that he was supposed to read from during the murder scene to use as a prop on the film. Rochelle Davis manages to walk a fine line of fragile, youthful hope, and the expected bitter cynicism that one might find in a thirteen year old whose mother is a drug addled prostitute. She brings pathos to this character without making it syrupy and unpalatable. It is true brilliance when one considers that this is her first role.
The director of this film also did a superb job. Proyas brought the best out of his actors, obviously, but special attention should also be given to the rich visual styling of the film. The graphic novel was black and white, an ambiance that Proyas achieves in his film by shooting everything in washed out sepia tones making it feel like a rich and fantastically old picture book, or like the viewer is seeing things under water at dusk. Proyas did the unthinkable in that he worked lovingly on a low-budget action flick and elevated it to art.
Of course this film, like any other, has its detractors. Some say that it glorifies violence. Granted. It does glorify violence revenge. That doesn't change the underlying fact that this is a truly beautiful film, and does have another, positive message of not taking one moment for granted with a loved one, since one never knows when that loved one won't be there any more. Some say that it is a simple "bug-hunt" film. Once again, this is true. The difference is that most such films are indifferently put together and aimed at the lowest common denominator, while this film strives for and achieves a higher level than that. Finally, some might say that it was ghoulish to release a movie where the star died while filming it. I must say that at first I thought the same thing. I was drug to this movie by a girlfriend, and I entered ready to hate it. Having seen it, and Brandon's other works, I have to say he would have wanted this movie released. It is his masterpiece. I can think of no better swan-song for any actor than the job that Brandon did on this film.
The Portrait of Dorie Grey (1996)
You'll fast forward through the sex for the plot.
A model has a photo done of her by a photographer who's madly in love with her. As she becomes more and more depraved, the photo ages and looks uglier and uglier with her remaining physically beautiful. It truly is a compelling story. I was glued to the seat watching it, and even found myself fast forwarding through the sex to get to more of the story. Not that the sex wasn't hot, but the story itself was fascinating and insightful, a true rarity in porn. I highly recommend this film, it is art and porn both. I loved this film. More adult entertainment needs to be like it. If it was, maybe we wouldn't have to fight all the time for first amendment rights that should be protected none the less.
Dung fong sam hap (1993)
Enjoyable for what it is, not what it's not
This film is early wire-fu at its best. It is not Western cinema, and has to be viewed in the cultural context of wire-fu. It has great action sequences, over the top acting and plot line, unbelievable CHI powers, in other words, everything we love about wire-fu, and to review it in any other context is muddled reasoning at best. It's themes of redemption and honor is particularly poignant. The heroines are comic book perfection, the villains, get high marks for creepiness factor, and the supporting cast provides interesting foils. Not the best film, but a great one none the less. The Heroic Trio is definitely one of the better popcorn films out there.