Back Again With 2 Very Different Film Reviews

[Mr_Vindictive]

Haven't been on the board in a couple of weeks.  Been too busy here at work.

Anyway, I had the weekend off and decided to spend it watching movies.  Having been disappointed with most of the crap that is out there now (I.E. Tomb Raider 2-Wasn't my decision to see it.) I didn't have much hope of finding a good film.

Man, was I wrong.  I finally got to see two films that I have been wanting to see for quite some time: Ginger Snaps and The Shipping News.

Ginger Snaps-7/10

I had heard great things about this flick but had never gotten the chance to see it until this weekend.  What a fantastic flick.  I had lost all hope for the horror genre over the past couple of months, but Ginger Snaps got me excited again.  

Two goth outcast sisters decide to take revenge on a classmate by kidnapping her dog and taking fake pictures of it's death.  On their way to kidnap the dog, the older sister Ginger is attacked by a werewolf.  She then, natch, becomes a werewolf.

This film is a fantastic spin on the werewolf myth.  It was gory, fast, and fun as hell.  Having never really been a fan of werewolf flicks, I was suprised to have liked this film as much as I did.  

Fantastic film for rental.





The Shipping News-9/10

This film was the real jewel of my weekend.  I love character driven dramas, especially ones with self-discovery.  And what can I say; I love Kevin Spacey films.  He always gives a perfect performance, and this film doesn't differ.

The story revolves around a man named Quoyle(-Coil-).  Quoyle is a middle aged man who works as an ink setter for a local newspaper in N.Y.  He has no life until one day he becomes sexually involved with a woman.  After having sex with her he tells her that he loves her.  9 months later she has a child.  She then spends the next six years abusing the love that Quoyle has for her.  She brings men home to screw in front of him and he does nothing about it.  

She eventually dies in a car wreck.  At about the same time, Quoyle's aunt comes into town and convinces him to bring his daughter to Newfoundland where his family is from.  They move into the family house, a run down home right on the rocky coast of Newfoundland.

Quoyle soon finds a job as a reporter at the local newspaper.  He then becomes involved with Julianne Moore and her child.  

I really don't know how to explain this film as I feel that it is one that just needs to be seen.  There is hints of psychic abilities, ghosts, incest, murder, piracy and rape as Quoyle finds out more and more about his family heritage.  

Each character's story is as interesting as the rest.  Quoyle had a whore wife who dies in a car wreck.  Wavey's (Moore) husband died at sea.  Quoyle's boss, Jack Buggit, believes he has psychic abilites and has seen a family death in the ocean.  

I know that all of this sounds confusing, but this film is just so fantastic.  I can't wait to buy it on DVD.  If you like strong drama-rent it.  If you like Kevin Spacey (as I do)-rent it.  

Hell, JUST GO RENT IT.

[jmc]

I liked GINGER SNAPS for the most part, but I thought that they had trouble coming up with a way to end the movie.   Still, it was head and shoulders about most of the other recent films.  I think it would have been a bigger success if not for its title, which was probably one of the worst of all time.

[Neville]

Didn't watch the film, but read a "The Shipping News" novel like a year ago, so I understand your inability to explain why it is soo good. If it is faithful to the book - and I've heard it is- it ends up being more an experience than a story. Sure the characters -Quoyle is indeed a great character- and the situations are important, but it is the  whole and the feel it creates what really matters.

[Ash]

I didn't care for The Shipping news.

Filmed in drab tones & colors, I found it a very depressing movie.
I like Kevin Spacey as an actor but I did not like him in this.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I think that the drab colors and depressing mood of the film is what made it so amazing.  You were actually feeling the lonliness and hoplessness that Quoyle was feeling.  Fantastic direction.