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lumberton_2000
Reviews
Sleep in Heavenly Peace (2007)
Dark comedy shows real potential
This sick comedy of errors and accidents takes a real-life incident and turns it on its ear. It's the sort of story (involving a grisly accident and a desperate survival attempt) that could be -- and probably has been -- turned into a treacly, uplifting TV movie; but the execution here may remind you of the Black Knight Sequence in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It would seem far-fetched if something very much like it hadn't actually occurred and been well-documented.
Production values are surprisingly decent (props include an ambulance and giant drill-thingy), makeup effects are sufficient to pull off the necessary illusions, and the acting ranges from competent to very good. Fortunately, the best performance is by the actor who's on screen for the entire runtime. This guy's a trouper, and pulls off a couple of pratfalls Bruce Campbell would be proud of.
(This is not some over-the-top, "splatstick" gorefest, by the way, contrary to another reviewer's comments. You'd see more grue on the average CSI episode, and the humor here is mostly derived from the situation rather than spurting karo syrup.) Good score and nice crisp cinematography, particularly for the outdoor scenes.
The ending threw me at first; I expected a final capper, some kind of dark joke to top the previous ones, maybe an E. C. comics sort of twist. The actual conclusion is more subtle. It struck me as ambiguously bleak, and goes for pathos and irony rather than an in-your-face "gotcha." On those terms, it works quite well.
Good, economical visual style, great use of real snowy locations and some laugh-out-loud funny moments (watch out for that fence!) make this one worth your time. I'll be keeping an eye on Mr. McMahon.
Saw (2004)
Jigsaw an Objectivist?
I find it depressing that so many people think this sad, laughable mess is a decent movie. Someone called it Se7en for Dummies, which does Se7en a real injustice. Well, at least it was better than Crossbones, which was Plan 9 bad.
Other posters have commented on the many, many flaws in logic, but here's the one that bothered me the most, because it renders the entire premise invalid. (If someone has already commented on this and I didn't see it, please excuse me.)
SPOILER
Jigsaw allegedly disapproves of those who "don't appreciate life." The junkie woman in the bear-trap device is told she can go free if she cuts into the body of another human being to find the key that will release her. It turns out he isn't dead, and she has to make a choice. She does. She kills the man, and frees herself. Her behavior is utterly selfish, and Jigsaw rewards her for her ruthlessness. She later says: "He helped me," as if being forced to do this has made her a better person. As far as I can tell, no irony is intended. It would be cooler, and more logical, if she cuts him open and finds a tape that says: "Sorry, wrong choice. You're supposed to appreciate the life of others, too." Then her head gets ripped in half. So what Jigsaw really taught her is to look out for number one (he must have read a lot of Ayn Rand). Do any of the movie's fans even get this point?
On an unrelated point, note to director Wan: speeding up the footage so people run around in fast-forward mode is funny, not scary. It looks like Keystone Cops, and it made me laugh. If you wanted to eliminate all tension, you did the right thing. It was really hilarious near the end when Tapp is "driving" after Zep (Tapp and Zep? Where are Crackle and Pop?) in an obviously stationary vehicle.
What was with the gratuitous, endless scene of Tapp terrorizing the mom and kid for no reason? Cheap sadism? Padding out the running time?
This movie should have been an hour long, and on the sci-fi channel.