A French Mexican British acid western directed by Jan Kounen, based on a comic by Jean Giraud A.K.A. Moebius, starring Vincent Cassel, Juliette Lewis and Michael Madsen.
Treasure hunters have founs a map to the Native American sacred mountain. The sheriff recognizes one of them as an old enemy and tries to stop him. Luckily, the sheriff is friends with the local shaman, who helps him.
This was like a western, but more. The cowboys were rougher and tougher and there was Indian magic. The plot held my attention very well because there was always something going on. The characters were pretty good, but I would have cast a more extroverted hero. Michael Madsen played a good villain, but should have had more dialogue. Video was high quality and very creative. There was a wide range of shot lengths and camera placements. There were also some CG dream sequences which were very convincing. It was alright that it didn't look photorealistic because it was only used for dream material and worked well like that. Audio was good. I could hear the dialogue, there was appropriate music and I found subtitles which included English as well as all of the foreign language parts. I rate this best, mostly for plot and video. Watch it!
An American thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky, starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder.
A ballet dancer works hard to get the leading role in a show, but her mental stability and personal relationships are falling apart.
This took time to get cool, but was well worth the wait. Obviously, the climax scene was my favorite part. The plot had some depth and the main character was very well developed. The camera-work was good and there were some special effects used. The pacing starts out very slow and builds speed toward the ending. Overall, this is what I'm looking for in a good movie. I rate this one of those solid green ratings. Watch it!
A British Canadian American crime drama directed by David Cronenberg, starring Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel.
A young pregnant woman has her baby delivered before she dies. The nurse steals the diary of the dead mother and tries to have it translated from Russian and find her family. It turns out that the dead mother was a sex slave for Russian gangsters.
The plot was very complex and non-linear. The story of the nurse was mixed with parts of the Russian girl's diary and the dealings of gangsters. Characters got a little confusing too. The nurse, driver and mob boss were easy to keep track of, but everyone else just kept piling into the already messy plot. The video style was clear and pacing seemed right, but was too quick for me to absorb the story thoroughly. The camera-work looked appropriate and acting was convincing. Viggo Mortensen was Aragorn in Lord of the Rings and Naomi Watts played secondary female lead in Tank Girl. Overall, it was very well-made confusing mess. I rate it o.k. Watch it if you really want to unravel the plot mystery.
