Se7en

I have seen this movie several times but the last time must have been several years ago. this movie does lose a bit of its impact on further viewings but I still remember it being one of my favorite films after my first viewing. Everything about this movie is engaging to me. From the opening credits featuring a remix of a Nine Inch Nails song to the climax at the end, this movie keeps me interested throughout. Seven has a very dark mood throughout and David Fincher (Fight Club) does an amazing job of setting the mood even further with dark lighting and interesting settings.

This movie has a great cast that delivers in every aspect. Kevin Spacey plays his part with such perfection that I am not sure anyone could have done any better. I would put it on par with Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. Having a great cast is great but it has been demonstrated in the past that cast alone can’t hold a movie together. Luckily This film also has a great script and amazing director. Everyone does their job and does it well with this film. This film is what Saw tried to be and while it was good, it couldn’t hold a candle to the tone and performance in this film. If you haven’t seen this I suggest you immediately head to your nearest Video store and pick up a copy. Be warned though, it is a bit gory.

My rating 9.5 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

Captivity

Elisha Cuthburt is a supermodel who is drugged at a bar and wakes up to find she is being held captive in a sealed room. Her captor begins to torture her in both mind games and pain to make her submit. She soon realizes that someone else is being held captive in an adjoining room and the two of them try to escape. Everything however is not how it seems.

This movie may have been doomed from the start. There were extra gore scenes added before it was released in the U.S. The problem is that these scenes really look like they were thrown in and it ruins the movie. The acting is fair but not good. Even Elisha, who I normally like, is not her best. There are also several really stupid things like why Elisha’s character would make love to someone when she knows her captor is watching. Honestly overall this movie seems poorly written and badly put together.

Rating 4 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

Broken (2006)

Recently released on Dimension extreme DVD, the box cover promises intense gore. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to this. Broken is the story of a madman that kidnaps women and makes them play deadly games (kinda a backwoods rip-off of Saw) and then forces them to be his slave. There is not much more to the story than that and there lies the major flaw in this movie. While there are parts that live up to the box cover, they are few and far between. The overall story is very boring with not much going on. It has very little action and even less character development. This is honestly very poorly written. I don’t mind killers where we don’t know motivation, but here it really seemed like we should have gotten to know why he was doing this.

While poorly written, it is not all lost. I do think it was well shot and some parts were flat out beautiful. The credit sequence is quite intense and really fools you into thinking you are about to get a nice movie. Overall it is very boring with some decent bits of gore. It does have a pretty good ending but it is not worth your time to make it to it.

My rating 4 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

Hellavator: The Bottled Fools AKA: Gusha no bindume

Set in a futuristic Japan which is a bit like “big brother” in George Orwell’s 1984 (although not near to the extent Orwell took it). A school girl (with some serious mental demons) accidentally starts a huge fire by dropping her cigarette (cigarettes are a felony in this world). While the girl is riding up to the top of the huge building we meet some strange characters, including some very creepy prisoners that are being transported to be executed. A bomb explodes (seemingly caused by one of the prisoners) and brings the elevator to a stop. The movie delves into all of their secrets, and boy there are some weird ones, as they all try to survive each other.

The film uses lots of strange editing to differentiate between the past and when the girl is reading someone’s mind. It also uses an abundant amount of quick editing which works pretty well here. It also has a pretty creepy soundtrack through much of it which really adds to the strangeness of it. I found this film to be petty intriguing where allot of “mind trip” type movies fail. It makes you wonder allot and throws lots of curveballs but never goes too far in my opinion. This film is in Japanese with English subtitles so bear that in mind if you look for it. The subtitles stand out well and are not hard to follow without missing action. I would say this is one of the most interesting films I have seen this year.

My rating 8 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi380436761/

Hannibal Rising

Hannibal Rising tells the story of America’s most beloved psychopath before we first saw him in Manhunter and Silence of the lambs. The story starts with Hannibal as a small child and shows how his family was killed during World War II. He was particularly troubled by the murder of his sister (which was pretty heinous I must say). He also ended up living in an Orphanage which was located in his family’s former home. Hannibal eventually finds his distant aunt and moves in with her. From here he really starts to become the killer we know and love. He sets out for revenge on those that murdered his sister.

Now onto the movie. I should start off by saying that, while I enjoyed Silence of the lambs when I first saw it, I am not the biggest fan of this series. With that being said, this movie is a bit different from the others in tone and style. I felt the acting by Gaspard Ulliel not particularly inspiring and at time pretty over the top. He did come across as very creepy (which I assume is what they were going for) but he just didn’t give me the felling of silent dread that Anthony Hopkins did. The story was a bit uninspired and kind of patchy in spots. I also didn’t like or believe the sexual tension between Hannibal and his aunt. While I understood Hannibal’s anger towards the men that killed his sister, it seemed a bit contrived.

The death scenes were pretty good and some were bordering on great but that couldn’t save the movie for me. I liken this to many sequels that have had to change main cast members and couldn’t quite capture that same feel. While not as bad as Dumb and dumberer as far as prequels go, it is leagues below Silence of the lambs. I would recommend it to fans of the series but have reservations going in. Non series fans should watch something else.

My rating 6.5 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.