Rating: 
Summary: Can't I give it more than a 5???
Review: Where was I when the film "Strange Days" was released? Where were you? Do any of you remember it?
It's awesome...electrifying...superbly cast...well edited...a riveting soundtrack...and a must-see for thriller fans.
No! This is not another review of one of my horror flicks. This is simply a thriller...non-stop from start to finish. It's sci-fi theme is so subtle, you really don't feel like it's unreal.
If you liked "Natural Born Killers", "The Salton Sea", "Blow", and other riveting classics, this one's for you. How can you go wrong with a cast like this?
It stars Ralph Fiennes. Ralph, who is also the Red Dragon in last year's three-quel of "Silence of the Lambs", smuggles SQUIDS. What are SQUIDS? As you know, I don't give away plots. Let me just say that Ralph is "the Santa Claus of the subconscious" and peddles real-life cerebral clips (I'll leave it at that).
He's joined by Juliette Lewis, who starred in "Natural Born Killers" and is just as dynamic in her role as a rock star in this gem.
Add to that Angela Bassett, who is (to me) the best African-American female actress on the planet. You will agree when you see her this time.
Not to mention Tom Sizemore, who starred as the police investigator in "The Salton Sea".
Then there's Michael Wincott, who starred in one of my all-time classic films, "The Doors".
And how about Vincent D'Onofrio, who also starred in "The Salton Sea", "Men In Black" and "Full Metal Jacket"?
Needless to say, the film also cast Glenn Plummer as a rock hero. Glenn also starred in "The Salton Sea" as the dealer with the "crossbow"...remember?
Add to that the bizarre twists and turns that culminate with a shocking ending. This movie never ends. It takes you down a road map filled with lefts, rights, u-turns and rollovers.
And yes, for you guys (and gals), it is sexy. The thread that holds the movie together is the passion of a man yearning to keep his woman...a woman wanting his man to understand "love"...an underground populace searching for fantasy and surreal "clips".
This film will take you on a journey you've never experienced. The cover of the DVD box reads..."...anything is possible. Nothing is forbidden." Right on! If my review helps you decide, then don't try a rental. Go buy it! I guarantee you'll watch it more than once, twice, thrice.....
On a scale of 1-10 in this genre', "Strange Days" gets a 10. It was a 9 until I realized how hypnotic Juliette Lewis can be. She has a raw talent to be rough, sexy, real, passionate and spoiled...all in one breath. Her appeal should be a standard in Hollywood these days. She's totally believable and uncensorable. ENJOY!
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious Movie
Review: I wanted to like this. Really, I did. I worship both Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett. But this just turned out to be another dark, muddled virtual-reality fantasy.Film noir is one thing, but this was just too damned dark. I'm sorry that technology has gotten to the point where directors feel that they can shoot dark scenes without additional lighting, because they abuse it. I spent most of this movie wishing that I had a pair of US Army-issue night goggles, just so that I could follow the action. Because, honey, I could barely see half of the movie. This film had nothing novel to say about virtual-reality; in that respect, it was just a warmed-over version of "Total Recall" and a half-dozen others of that time. Another reviewer noted the fact that this "futuristic" movie, which was made in 1995, made no mention of the concept of the Internet. That's the problem with these "a few years in the future" type movies - by the time they actually come out, they're out-of-date, and within a few years they're almost quaint in their datedness. The only thing that made it worth watching was the kiss at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic SciFi Noir!
Review: This is a fun and interesting movie, which is a sort of Film Noir about a not-too-distant future (well, technically, now passed). The film takes place in 1999, and a kind of mind recording device has been created which allows experiences to be replayed verbatim. The main character is a really sleazy pusher ex-cop, who gets caught up in a murder mystery. The murder victim is one half Malcolm X and one half Tupac Shaqur. I found the racial subplot interesting, and the surprise ending was fun. I highly recommend this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Just what the slacker ordered
Review: I love movies I can identify with. Lenny is just one of the guys in this movie that helps me do that. An ex-cop thrown off the vice squad for falling in love with a prostitute he later burns for. He spends his days dealing illegal clips to make ends meet. He goes from club to club. His sleazy, slacker and loser image is what makes him so admirable in this movie. He is a man that his lost the one thing that makes him happy. A great sci-fi type film that is perfect for the single, loser, stay at home friday night type of guy like myself.
Rating:
Summary: You can find better sci-fi in Blade Runner & Dreamscape
Review: This was a sub-par bit of sci fi that recycles the 'future is desolate' idea of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and the 'wouldn't it be interesting to explore the thoughts and experiences of someone else?' idea of Dreamscape. People in a gloomy almost Y2K LA jack into other people's lives. A couple of the life experiences available for public consumption turn out to be killings. The talented actors waste a lot of time flailing around trying to figure out among other thing who the killer is. The voyeuristic... murder mystery portion of the plot is an interesting idea but so it's cluttered with a bunch of cheap false leads and worse Ray Fiennes character mooning over Juliette Lewis as to kill the story idea. The actors do their best and the special effects are little more than good film editing. Mostly it's a way to [spend] two hours but you can definitely get better science fiction for your money.
Rating:
Summary: nothin' means nothin', lenny...
Review: i saw this movie in the theater in NYC and it was so powerful that when angela basset is getting the... kick out of her by the LAPD and i little black kid jumps on on of the riot police, thus inciting a riot, every black audiece member (which was about 90% os the people there) started sceaming and there was almost a real riot. i wasn't sure if i was getting out alive. and then, after all of that (and several other conspiratorial happenings which i won't reveal), the movie ends up being just a love story, i loved it! it seemed to be about so much, to be saying so many things, racial barriers, addiction, ect. But it comes down to the end and says all that really matters are the people you love and the people who love you and knowing who really cares or what's best for you. it was beautiful, and i have never seen an audiece react to a film like that (unless the film really...). the performances are fantastic and ralph finnes is wonderful in a role that isn't exactly what he's known for. and cameron's script is mearly flawless, makes you wonder how he fell from this to Titanic.
Rating: 
Summary: Drawn out and very boring
Review: I had just seen this on VHS and I find the movie incredible boring. It's nearly 2 and a half hours long, which is was too long for a movie like this. This was directed by James Cameron, pre-Titanic. The film was made in 1995, but set in Los Angeles at New Years Eve, 1999. The movie does expose the corrupt Los Angeles Police Department (which was probably inspired by the Rodney King beatings back in 1991, which lead to the riots in '92). Strange Days came out at a time when the Internet was starting to enter the mainstream, but not one mention of the Net can be found there. The theme here is virtual reality, or at least here, Memory Replay by using this little disc and a device to put on your head to relive pleasant or unpleasant memories, or to find out who the villians were. My biggest problems are the weak plot, the bad acting, the even worse clothes, and the fact the violence seem to often get in the way of a plot. The movie tries to depict social problems of a not-so-distant future (which is now the past), the corruption, and social decay, but it simply falls flat. Sorry to say, but Strange Days is simply not one of James Cameron's better moments. You're much better off renting this tape before you think of buying it.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange Movie
Review: I have a feeling this movie was very much overlooked by the movie goers when it was released. It was unjustified.
This movie is about a new technology that puts your X-Box, Game Cube, PS2, and PC to shame for entertainment. You get to see, feel, exist in whatever the program is. Why? because the program was made using impulses taken directly from the brain of the person doing the deed, whether it be robbing a store, doing something a bit kinky, or commiting a murder. The tech is illegal, so it is all underground. That is where the fun starts.
The movie is set in the last few days of 1999, so you get a glimps of the future as seen from the past. The movie surrounds this one disc that contains something that everyone wants, something that can change the way things are. Sorry, no spoilers, folks. However, it is most likely NOT what you are thinking it is; it was not for me.
Very well made, much in the style of Dark Angel, which makes sense as Cameron wrote it. Cameron may have been thrown into the forfront by Titanic, but his best work in in sci-fi. Works like The Terminator, T2, The Abyss, and Aliens, just to rattle a few off. Do keep in mind, though, Cameron wrote and produced this only, the camera work was done by a very able Kathryn Bigelow, who has also done Point Break. This movie is far and away a better film than Point Break.
Rating:
Summary: Lots-o-action - ok acting
Review: Kind of a plot rehash in parts - ex-cop turned crook, but still a good guy at heart. Lots of great clothes on the chicks, kindy of kinky in parts. It's `Brainwave`+`Out for Justice` with a little `Bladerunner` tossed in. Strictly B-list actors, but this movie was made for eye-candy, not oscars. It's one of those that grows on ya', so if you like action, cyberpunkish techno, and see-thru tops, pick it up.
Rating:
Summary: My first contact with Skunk Anansie
Review: The wailing banshee that surfaces in one of the nightclubs during this movie was my first contact with Skin from Skunk Anansie, and one of the reasons I bought this DVD. One of my favourites.
|
