The Last Minute

Rating:
Summary: Best Way To Waste Two Hours Of Your Life!!!
Review: First of all, yes this movie was very vanguard, indie, and British. The first 30 minutes had tricked me into thinking that maybe I had stumbled onto a new cult film that I could introduce my friends to so we could lament about how [bad] major studio films are. Over the next 30 minutes you're just waiting on the point in which everything changes for the main character, once it does you anticipate that the last hour of this film is going to drive home excitement and deliver some answers to the mounting questions in your head. This film is loose and vague about details that MOST
serious movie fans want explanations and closure about either NEAR or BEFORE the film ends.... This movie did NEITHER!! What was the relationship between the leader of the thieves gang and the dealer/talent broker? What did the main character do for a living exactly? Why did the main character STAY with the girl for two years just for them to separate in 15 seconds time with no residual feelings between the two? Not even a hug or goodbye!! I felt suckered into watching this movie by a brilliant trailer and marketing campaign and extremely pissed when it ended.
I got NO closure, NOTHING was resolved with the main character. He got [cheated] and got NO revenge!! He left without the girl!!! He got [cheated] for short money at the end on top of it all!! This was perhaps the WORST end to a movie with such a promising beginning. Equally frustrating is that there was NO SUBTITLES!!! You will miss subtle nuances and important intelligible dialouge that would perhaps give SOME insight into what was going on...Or probably just frustrate you further. In closing, I would plead with anyone would loves movies with a PLOT, BEGINNING, MIDDLE, CONFLICT, & CONCLUSION coupled with CLOSURE and overall SATISFACTION after viewing rather than MOUNTING FRUSTRATION and ANGER, then PLEASE, AVOID THIS FILM AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Have you ever seen trainspotting?
Review: I remember watching this movie in the living room and after it was over my dad said," your really scraping the bottom of the barrel". Oh, but he wouldn't understand. This movie was unique in all it's aspect and I loved it. You have scenes were you go into this club where people are doing kinky doctor operations and then you have a guy in a stylish black suite dancing and singing to Frank Sinatra. Who could not love that!! I guess you have to have a slightly different tilt on the world to respect this movie. If you liked this, I recommend Trainspotting.

Rating:
Summary: Have you ever seen trainspotting?
Review: I remember watching this movie in the living room and after it was over my dad said," your really scraping the bottom of the barrel". Oh, but he wouldn't understand. This movie was unique in all it's aspect and I loved it. You have scenes were you go into this club where people are doing kinky doctor operations and then you have a guy in a stylish black suite dancing and singing to Frank Sinatra. Who could not love that!! I guess you have to have a slightly different tilt on the world to respect this movie. If you liked this, I recommend Trainspotting.

Rating:
Summary: An Eye Popping, Brilliant, Emotion Charged Roller Coaster
Review: The Last Minute is one of those truly rare motion pictures that deserves far wider recognition than it will ever get. How unfortunate. I'd never heard of the thing until recently stumbling across quite by accident. A virtual eye popping, roller coaster of a flick, it starts with a BANG and never lets its hooks out of you. Visually, The Last Minute is as impressive looking a picture as I've ever seen.

The DVD extras are (mostly) exceptional adding to the whole experience as few extras features ever do. As darkly hilarious as it is, this "Minute" also packs quite an emotional punch. Kudo's to Mr. Norrington who deserves greater recognition for this amazing film.

One caveat: Norrington wisely employs a terrific device by which we never know what our protagonist does to earn then lose his fame (director and star are on record as being at odds as to what Billy actually does). Were only that same thing had been employed for one scene: When Billy is told he doesn't want to know what's behind a certain door, we shouldn't find that out either. Personally, I laughed (in horror, but laughed) at this scene but I know others who were put off by the movie altogether because of these few seconds.

Every other aspect of the truly most bizarre nightclub "Prosthetic" is genius (as, actually is the moment in question, just too off-putting for most people). It is here where one of the film's most brilliant moments occurs: Percy "Sledge" breaking into the Sinatra classic "I've got you under my skin" while wreaking a gleeful malevolent stream of violence that is about as close to movie magic as we've ever seen.

Norrington has a cast that, quite simply, could not have been improved upon with Max Beesley giving a stand out performance as Billy - to watch the youthful energy of his clubby dance moves and the enthusiasm with which he embraces his burgeoning fame slip into confused despair, hopelessness and attempt at self redemption. Beesley has us routing for him even at his worst, for I think most of us can identify with Max's plight.

As the aforementioned Percy "Sledge" - Jason Isaacs is nothing short of terrifying, executing his violence with a Fred Astaire like grace and precision which is utterly disarming.

The Oliver Twist twist of the underground urchins with their modern day, more violent, Fagin (who doles out drug treats to the kiddies) is chillingly beautiful.

I also found the extended mad scene similar resonating strongly with Shakespeare's Lear - Max's meltdown/unhinging being so closely tied with what is happening in nature. Brilliant.

If "Minute" had been released theatrically stateside, I can't imagine it wouldn't do huge box office. There are audiences literally screaming for this type of originality. Hopefully, it's not too late to try. The seconds are ticking . . .

Seriously. See this movie. Or else!



Rating:
Summary: Looks great, boasts of originality but does have its flaws.
Review: The Last Minute looks simply fantastic and the editing is outstanding. If you liked the look of Blade (Stephen Norrington) then you will love this underground film but it is marred by some alternative-indie movie formulas that we have seen a million times before.

The film is mostly played out like an acid trip and is definitely a powerful vehicle for our lead actor - Max Beesley. The music is techno orientated for the most part and it certainly will appeal to new generation director movie fans. The film is part fantasy driven with lots of surrealism and bizarre elements. The premise is a simple one. A young man finds his mystery artwork hyped up to be the next big thing but eventually it all falls apart for him and he ends up homeless and on the needle. The film is fast and furious as our anti-hero parties down in London, meets a cut-throat talent agent, drug dealers, S&M discos and a yearning to explain the world to everybody now that he is such a great thing. In a split second it all falls down for him and he finds himself in gutter covered in puke, without any money and in need of a place to live. He ends up stealing, living in the underground with a group of renegade London kids under the control of a Fagan type character like out of Oliver Twist. It looks really great. Sadly as soon as he goes on the needle we start to hit Trainspotting territory and this is where the film fails. For all its originality it is a shame that the filmmakers had to delve into that formulaic, guy hooked on scag, needs to break out from his crap world and get a life, sort of deal. It would have been much better if it just stuck with the failed artist trying to break out of his current depression.

Again I can not understate how great this film looks and it does have Lynch appeal but sadly it is not the cult offering that it purported to be in the beginning. A great slice of indie film making but Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream do it much better.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing film....great DVD...buy it!
Review: This DVD is unlike any I have ever seen before. It's more like a video game than a regular DVD. I used to play with the Residents CD Rom's and Gingerbread Men, if you remember those, and there was some cool little access point to new worlds, hidden amongst the pages. This is the TLM dvd.
The film itself is interesting and action packed, as well as funny, in a dark comedic way. It's very british and has a vibe like Trainspotting(rmemember the toilet scene). Some of the accents are hard to follow, but I liked that because it was very english.
There is one scene which made me freak, where they have medical fetishism going on in some trendy London club. I won't be going there myself, but was intrigued enough to dig deep into the DVD to see what the hell that was all about....there are answers to loads of questions hidden in the DVd itself.
I'm not a technical expert when it comes to movie making but this looks like a big budget film to me, although Palm normally does indie stuff, so go figure.
Also the music was great. It was techno / electronic and I don;t know all the artists but it has Leftfield, AMon Tobin and Aphex Twin for sure.
Anyway, if ou love edgy movies and video games you might like this.

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeously decadent film
Review: This is the most heart-wrenching film I've seen in years. A combination of dark humor and extreme trauma at it's best. Stephen Norrington has pulled Arthur Miller's ploy of ripping out your soul and sticking in his.

The story is fantastical; just watching it is like being shot through a blow-dart gun of fantasy, but the gun's real. Wonderfully manipulative direction, I can't compare this movie to any other because it would be just that: a comparison, and there is no point in comparing a unique film with another.

The writer manages to convey a message of the unreality of reality. His colors are brilliant, his music sharper than glass, and the sounds of this spooky little world actually have texture.

This man has really beat the living hell out his peers. His grasp of satire and story-telling is far more mature than it should be for his age. It's an overwhelming film and often difficult to watch; there is so much emotion happening. It's funny, it's sad, it's maddening, it's frustrating.

It's just a gorgeously decadent film and I wish we were allowed to cuss on these reviews because I cannot say enough how good this movie is. Buy this movie. Get the unrated version. Watch it a hundred times. Learn from it. Learn from him.

After being lobotomized by this beautifully horrible world that's been created, you'll at the very least be left with one thing: Stephen Norrington's un-paralled combination of stunning visuals and music as a technique of story-telling after there are no more words left to say.

Rating:
Summary: wow, this movie is by the director of blade!
Review: wait a minute, thats not a credential. blade was nothing special in my opinion, but it wasn't especially terrible like the last minute. the back cover of the dvd compares itself to trainspotting, a clockwork orange, and fight club, among others. it claims to be more of everything from those movies, like a crazy, wonderful hybrid of a movie that is supposed to be an unforgettable experience. of course it is not, that is why i gave it 1 star. even with no hype based on other movies, this one still sucks. i'd like to compare it to a body consisting of skin and muscle. the muscle represents all the silly flashy stuff put into the movie to cover up something nonexistant: a plot, a character that you know something about and/or care about(the figurative skeleton, which must be in place for the muscles to work). i hope that analogy works well enough. so, the movie has a fair amount of imagery that is supposed to be wierd like a underground london party with a medical fetish theme, or the crazy old man that rules the underground with an army of knife-wielding outlaw children. these supposedly interesting scenes and characters seem too one-dimensional because there is no real story, just these chaotic cut scenes and "cutting-edge" electronic soundtrack i don't really care for. one of the other reviewers mentioned many hidden special features that explian the movie better and kind of gave you the whole picture. i don't agree. the special features were simply the cast and crew speculating about what you the viewer doesn't know either. you never get to hear from the writer/director, so i guess that is why you never find anything out. i must include the bright spots of this dvd, and there are three. 1. one character is known as a crooner, even though he dosen't look like it. he does a killer performance of "i've got you under my skin" while prancing around the afforementioned fetish party. 2. the one bright spot on the soundtrack is a good one from aphex twin, which plays during the closing scene. 3. one of the more unusual special features is the inclusion of some music videos that have nothing to do with the movie. the third video is el-p's "deep space 9mm". this is one of the coolest videos ever by one of the most original rappers ever. please enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: wow, this movie is by the director of blade!
Review: wait a minute, thats not a credential. blade was nothing special in my opinion, but it wasn't especially terrible like the last minute. the back cover of the dvd compares itself to trainspotting, a clockwork orange, and fight club, among others. it claims to be more of everything from those movies, like a crazy, wonderful hybrid of a movie that is supposed to be an unforgettable experience. of course it is not, that is why i gave it 1 star. even with no hype based on other movies, this one still sucks. i'd like to compare it to a body consisting of skin and muscle. the muscle represents all the silly flashy stuff put into the movie to cover up something nonexistant: a plot, a character that you know something about and/or care about(the figurative skeleton, which must be in place for the muscles to work). i hope that analogy works well enough. so, the movie has a fair amount of imagery that is supposed to be wierd like a underground london party with a medical fetish theme, or the crazy old man that rules the underground with an army of knife-wielding outlaw children. these supposedly interesting scenes and characters seem too one-dimensional because there is no real story, just these chaotic cut scenes and "cutting-edge" electronic soundtrack i don't really care for. one of the other reviewers mentioned many hidden special features that explian the movie better and kind of gave you the whole picture. i don't agree. the special features were simply the cast and crew speculating about what you the viewer doesn't know either. you never get to hear from the writer/director, so i guess that is why you never find anything out. i must include the bright spots of this dvd, and there are three. 1. one character is known as a crooner, even though he dosen't look like it. he does a killer performance of "i've got you under my skin" while prancing around the afforementioned fetish party. 2. the one bright spot on the soundtrack is a good one from aphex twin, which plays during the closing scene. 3. one of the more unusual special features is the inclusion of some music videos that have nothing to do with the movie. the third video is el-p's "deep space 9mm". this is one of the coolest videos ever by one of the most original rappers ever. please enjoy it.