Bicentennial Man

Bicentennial Man (1999) starring Robin Williams, Embeth Davidtz, Sam Neill, and Oliver Platt.

Before...I can't remember my exact feelings when I first watched this film but I am pretty sure they would be something close to excitement. A film based around Isaac Asimov's Robert laws...surely that is exciting...well maybe just for a geek like me...ah well. So excitement was up there...I watched and was disappointed...lets see if my views have changed years later.

This film follows the 'life' and times of the lead character, an android (Williams) who is purchased as a household robot programmed to perform menial tasks. Within a few days the Martin family (Davidtz, Neill) realizes that they don't have an ordinary droid as Andrew begins to experience emotions and creative thought with the help of an inventor (Platt). In a story that spans two centuries, Andrew learns the intricacies of humanity while trying to stop those who created him from destroying him.

My wife's view..."too long ago to remember, it wasn't as bad as we were expecting★★★☆☆"

Where to start...first thing that both my wife and I were surprised at was the length of the film...it's only just over 2hours and yet we thought it was nearer to 3. This is not a good thing. To have the feeling that a film is over an hour longer than it actually is means that it drags and it has no oomph or pizazz to keep your attention.

The special effects on this film are impressive, but that is about all I can say about it, it is neither clever nor dramatic enough to keep me all teared up when it should do. It is over emotional and all a bit sappy for my liking. All in all thoroughly unimpressed with this film, so little to say about it too...which leads me to give this film...

★★☆☆☆

Thoughts and developments...

Have no fear, the blog is not changing merely evolving. One of the key problems with film reviews these days is that I find more often than not they do not take into account the genre and try to judge the film against all the other films out there. From now on I will try to rectify this. Each film will have a genre label attached to it, so you can have a quick and easy access to searching through my blogs quicker for what you are looking for. On top of that the review will reflect the genre that it is meant to be in more than I have done in the past! :)

Comments and appraisals are most welcome!:)

Drag Me to Hell

Drag Me To Hell (2009) starring Alison Lohman, Dileep Rao, Lorna Raver and Justin Long.

Before...I had heard very good things about this film. Said to be one of the scariest films ever and in reading the back I had to agree. All about curses and spiritual stuff...it made me scared of What Lies Beneath! So i was looking forward to hiding behind a pillow for this one, quite apart from the fact that it's a new horror film from the legendary Sam Raimi!

A loan officer (Lohman) ordered to evict an old woman (Raver) from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse, which turns her life into a living hell. Desperate, she turns to a seer (Rao) to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.

My wife's view...she did not have one as she cleverly left me and a friend to watch this one!!

Where to start...before I begin this review I feel it is necessary to let the reader know that I am not one of those "quiet horror movie viewers". I don't sit there in silence and take the film in. I will talk to the TV set. I will say to the characters (some people have said I shout) "Don't go in there" or "Don't open that door" or as was used last night effectively "NOOOOOOOO". Already from this piece of information you will realise that this definitely was a scary film. It wasn't pant changing in it's scariness like What lies Beneath but it was up there. Anyway onto the review...

As Julie Andrews once said "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start". What Raimi is really good at is building up tension. Fiercesomely and violently he plunges straight into the horror with a brilliant sequence of a small boy being dragged to Hell. Then after the opening credits we are quickly introduced to Christine Brown and soon before we know it she is cursed. The great thing about this film is that it is tense and keeps you tense for 93minutes.

You are fearful about what is to come and yet at times it flies off into a comedic vein. I know Raimi's past films with the Evil Dead franchise had comedy but it was not until this morning in reading the reviews for Drag me to Hell that i realised that this too was supposed to be a comedy horror film.

It is such a rarity in the film world for someone who can balance pure horror with such hilarity. Yesterday when watching it I feared that Raimi had lost the plot and there was too much cliché and silliness in it, however this morning, in doing my research for the film I found that these comedic elements are very deliberate on his part. Looking back I realise that it is an excellent device to lull the viewer into a false sense of comfort only to scare you half to death a second later.

The performances are chilling and you definitely sympathise with both Lohman and Long (her boyfriend in the film). The woman is horrifying and I hope she doesn't haunt me in my dreams, last night I was free of her and I hope it stays that way! Last night I was going to give this film 3 stars, but armed with the information that Raimi's comedy genre is deliberate I cannot help but have a more compassionate view of this film. It makes me like it more...and so I am going to give this...

★★★★☆