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ibrankovic80
Reviews
Sinister (2012)
Starts off superbly - loses its momentum half way
Let me just make it immediately clear that I am not recommending horror aficionados to give the movie a pass. There are some pretty good elements here. The first half of the movie gave me quite a formidable scare. As you delve into the riddle that Ethan Hawke's character is trying to figure out, the story-line appears remarkably promising in my opinion. I was so nerve-wrecked by what I was seeing and hearing that I started doubting whether I would have enough pluck to go down to the basement later that evening to get my laundry out of the washer. I think the most important components that make this part of the movie work so well are great 'camera', surprisingly original (and at moments truly terrifying) sound production, and a great approach in presenting the negative character - very cryptic, shrouded in mystery, with only a few (bone chilling) glimpses being revealed.
What then follows is your realisation that you can already sort-of infer which way the story is going to go for this family. What remains hard to predict is whether they are all going to be saved or all die a terrible death. By the movie's middle part, the main character divulges a piece of information which made the rest of the movie simply too predictable. Intelligent horror movies preserve this type of mystery for the very end. That detail on the murder pattern will, to the movie's further detriment, turn out to be even more ill-conceived due to the fact that it simply has no rationale from a killer's perspective. So the family moves away, SO WHAT? There is no explanation why that aggravates the pagan creature. Plus, the main character basically has this same realisation half through the movie, so why on earth is he shocked at the end when the policeman calls him up to tell him that? Another detail that irked me so profoundly: the stereotype-academic expert character, with his spot-on, yet unconvincing, information about the creature.
Nevertheless, I had a good shake (initially), and I enjoyed the "snuff" home videos.
Les Misérables (2012)
Les Insufferables
I am quite frankly flabbergasted at the amount of positive reviews by viewers and professional critics given to this movie. I do not remember the last time that an audio-visual experience inflicted me with so much pain, both mentally and physically. I think my theatre seat still has indentations from me clutching the chair frantically throughout the movie. I felt like the Clockwork Orange protagonist when he's tied down to a chair and fed those nauseating stimuli (the main difference being that he got to listen to some quality music in the process). It is probably the worst movie I have ever seen. And I've seen a lot of hubris in my time.
The review by MouthyMatthew summarises it the best. Over the top. Chords and themes excruciatingly repetitive (How possibly wouldn't they be? I mean, every line in a 159 minute movie has been "sung", down to the most banal mundane statement you can imagine.). The movie successfully drains your life energy as it progresses, since you have to employ a supernatural effort to stick with the characters' lines.
What would be a series of seemingly important storyline details ends up receiving a very cursory treatment. For instance, Fantine's tragic life trajectory. Furthermore, why on earth would they hire Hollywood bigshots with a singing talent of a sexually frustrated walrus to play these parts?? And the accents, oh, for the love of god. What the hell? Overall impression: laughably sappy (yet unconvincing) and above all insufferable.
In my humble opinion, I think people should not see this movie if they have not been exposed to the story earlier, by reading the book or seeing a good musical production of it. I truly hate that this will be my first impression of both the story and the characters, the one that I will always be stuck with.