Rating: 
Summary: Great Film.
Review: This is one worthy of owning! It's an interesting movie with an exciting plot. It's hard to believe how low the budget was for this movie and that the whole thing was filmed on only one set! Some of the acting isn't the best, but still manages to overcome that and reveal a real good movie underneath. It is simply a quality indie flick.
Rating:
Summary: Well done, especially under the circumstances
Review: This film illustrates one of the defining (to me) notions of art - the mastery of a small, elegant skill set. For example - chess mastery is a great art because the number of moves and rules in chess is small, while the number of possible games are almost incomputably large. This self-described "action" film was made on a shoestring, with a one-and-one-half room set, 7 actors and a very few special effects shots. Within this framework, the filmmakers managed to create an engaging, very suspenseful film. The characterizations tend toward the iconic rather than the individual, but different sides of the "iconic" personalities are developed. For example, the strong, alpha-male character being alternately strong and protective and violent and bullying. Some of the subtext (and indeed, the text) is self-consciously "political" in a way that navel-gazers might find compelling. Your Reviewer finds the use of politically loaded terms like "military-industrial complex" in filmic dialog pretentious and mood-spoiling, inviting as it does reflexive identification in the audience with or against a character or characters, thus reducing characters to stereotypes and audience members to constituencies. The strong acting, however, keeps audience sympathy. This really pays off because the lack of a "big name" star left the writers free to kill off any of the characters at any time, raising the stakes and the suspense beyond most mainstream films. For this, I forgive speechifying and occasional lapses (okay, just one REALLY BAD lapse near the end) into Hollywood-style schlock-shocks. The overall premise of the film, however, obeys the greatest dramatic law (IMHO), in that it obeys its own rules - and those rules involve some pretty hefty math, which the producers give the audience credit enough to comprehend. Most Hollwood films can't even keep their own rules. This film does. Well shot, good production values, acceptable characterizations and dialog, and well-developed, suspensful plot makes this a definite should-see film, especially for aspiring filmmakers. I know Blockbuster stocks this film, and NOBODY rents it. Be one of the few and check it out. Oh - also of note, the commentary track is excellent. Not much else in terms of special features.
Rating: 
Summary: "Twightlight Zone" + "Survivor" = Cube
Review: Now I know where the networks got their idea for the "Survivor" shows on TV .... great movie. Loved it. Great idea for a theme park.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting & Mesmerizing!
Review: Cube... the first thing that comes to mind is, naturally, a cube. But this movie takes the "Cube" concept a little further. A handfull of strangers wake up in a cube that connects to other cubes. They must choose the right path, or the right cubes, and if they don't, they suffer a horrible death. The acting is great along with superb dialouge. The movie is downright spooky and made me think. There is a lot of math terms, which only scholars might understand. The fact that the makers of this movie thought outside the box, or cube, is excellent. I loved the idea and how different it was compared to other movies. I definately reccomend this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Good idea, terrible result
Review: The movie is an interesting premise and could have been very intriguing. This is not the case, though, and the reality is fairly unfortunate. The movie is trite, the characters flat and one-dimensional. For a movie that could have contained such interesting characterizations, the actors (or director, or script) fail to give any depth to the characters. It is miserable. There is tension in the film, but it is annoying, not appreciated. The movie is manipulative, and has nothing particularly remarkable to say.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, no doubt
Review: I was somewhat surprised, when I read that people didn't like the movie due to the "cop" character, which I believe to be THE most developing char. in that entire movie. Its played to excellence, although maybe not oscar-worthy, by Maurice Dean Wint. The story is breathtaking, really. It catches you from the beginning and keeps you locked down till the very end (even through most of the end-text as well) and... It's just really worth seeing if you like a little brains in a thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: Good effort and originality marred by blatant amateurism
Review: Shot on a budget of only 365,000 dollars and taking place in only 2 adjacent rooms that light up in different colors, this 1997 independent film is about six total strangers who wake up one day in a giant maze of interlocking cubical chambers. These people include a cop, a doctor, an escape artist, a building designer, a mathematician, and an autistic person (who doesn't come until later). They don't know why they've been put in there, but without any food or water, they don't have long to survive, especially when they find that the maze is riddled with deadly traps. As they use their skills to work together to find their way out, they also try to find reasons why they've been imprisoned in the Cube.Sounds cool, doesn't it? One is tempted to write a rave review on this film just because of its unique plot. There's no denying that "Cube" is a very interesting movie, and it seems like a rather promising one from the beginning. Unfortunately, the film just doesn't blow your mind the way you'd expect it to. The acting, writing, and directing all have amateurism oozing out of their ears. All six of the characters in the film are named after prisons, but that's about as much thought that was put into them as it gets. There was no detailed history of the characters before they woke up in the Cube. Consequently, they are so flat and illogical that I really felt no sympathy towards those that do succumb to the Cube. I was especially unimpressed with Maurice Dean Wint's performance as the exceptionally high-strung and unlikable cop. Oh, and did I mention that it took the mathematician about 5 seconds to figure out whether or not the number 676 is prime? *sigh* All right, if you overlook the flat-as-a-pancake acting, you might actually feel some suspense in the first half of the film. This notably comes into place when the prisoners have to make their way through a room where the slightest noise triggers a deadly matrix of spikes to emerge. That's another good thing about the movie--cool special effects. But from the midpoint and onward, the film really loses its sense of suspense and gets just plain lame when the autistic guy supplies his astronomical mathematic abilities to try to figure out the way the Cube works. Wow, I never saw that one coming! And another gripe: the film's incoherent dialogue also tries way too hard to be philosophical and just winds up being vague, particularly in the last few minutes of the film. Which brings me to the ending. The ending is not only predictable, but also wholly unsatisfactory. I won't give it away, but it leaves you feeling cheated even if for some reason you enjoyed everything else in the film. In the end, you still have no answer to some of the most basic questions raised by the film, particularly those that you first think of when the film begins. What it all boils down to is that this film just isn't as intriguing, suspenseful, or profound as it seems to think it is. Despite courageous effort and some neat visuals, you can practically taste the amateurism of the director(s) and actors. Leave this independent film on the shelf at your local video store, and just watch "The Matrix" for the millionth time instead.
Rating:
Summary: in/outside the cube
Review: Six people trapped inside an enormous cube; six different perspectives to human life; six ways to survive. What is "the cube"? A complex structure, a maze filled with traps, nothing seems to be what it seems. To me, the unpredictability of the cube resembles the personalities of its prisoners. It is also (as so many here have stated before) a metaphoric representation of the world, life and the society today (people thrown inside a cube with no real reason...mildly existential). The Cube is fairly a good movie, much better than most sci-fi movies I've seen lately. The shortcomings, however, were painfully present. First of all, the acting: The "cop"-character was so overdone, so "action film character". His "scary" expressions and furious emotional explosions were hilarious. Then the psychologist, Holloway, again, nerve stretching over-acting. Other actors were fine, altough Worth's nihilism was at some points a bit pretentious. Second, the deeper meaning of the story and the characters remained, if not hollow, at least rather vague. There was some depth to the conversations and so on, but it seems like the director had wanted to make a bit more accessible movie of this story, which could have been so much more (quite sad, really). Well, anyway the movie offered an interesting plot, some good chills and kept me concentrated 'til the end. The opening scene was also great.
Rating: 
Summary: Great premise. Heavy twilight zone influence but...
Review: not the greatest excecution in the world. it's funny to listen to the directors commentary and hear the problems he had with his own editing. I have to say that although this film had problems, he did a hell of a job depspite having a short time to film and a limited budget. the sets were very well done and had a suitably claustrophobic feel and look The acting however was pretty cheezy. the cop character was way over the top and the bleeding heart liberal woman was a little nerve grating. I have to say that even with these problems the film is certainly worth seeing and keeps you watching engrossed from beginning to end. reccomended.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly good sci fi flick
Review: A surprisingly interested film that reminds me of a superb Outer Limits episode. It starts with some action and moves into both a math film (Does such a thing exist?) and right down into existentialist material. I found the lack of special effects and big budget work memorable and enjoyable. Too often, films are made for effects first and only after for the script and acting. A few things I didn't like about the film however, include the cop character going beserk, which seems unrealistic given that his daily job would require him to be resourceful. The left leaning doctor was also sterotypical and annoying. I did like that only the mentally challenged man made it out, and the dark ending.
|
