geomac39

there was a review quote " If you liked " Traing Day " then you will like this. No, its way past Training Day in violence. Way past anything I've seen in the gritty reality stakes. A bad part of Los Angeles, where the population, it seems to me, is split between predators and prey.... and even the prey are opportunists who will turn to crime when it suits them. Thats the message of this movie. A corner of Tinseltown where civilisation does not exist, where anarchy rules, where the police are the most powerful criminal gang and will do anything to stay there. Everything's corrupt, except possibly the impotent Internal affairs office. Police officer played by Cuba Gooding Jr says to his partner played by Clifton Collins Jr. " Don't you get it ? there ARE no gangs, we've got rid of them all and WE are the only gang left " A good movie, but one that left a strong feeling of foreboding in me, and a realisation that all of us depend on a very thin veneer of civilisation, which, when overstressed can collapse in ruins.

I watched this all the way through, though I cant pretend I liked it. The overwhelming impression of this movie was confusion. I had zero idea of what the hell was going on. All the effects of a shocker movie were there, the insects,the momentary glimpses of things undetermined, to raise the tension, the creepy caretaker, the muted colouring, the mutilated corpse, flashbacks, the almost abandoned building which was an ex hospital with, handily, a morgue in the basement ! etc etc. For me a movie must have entertainment value, there was none here, the story was nasty all the way through. Acting ? Colin Firth, Mena Suvari... first class as you would expect when you manage to acquire actors of their standing you want to put them in a better vehicle than this movie.

I am going to have to stop picking DVD's on their cover graphics, which was the case for EPOCH. This is a comedy ? yes ? must be because I laughed a lot. EPOCH is not just a stereotype, but a STEREOTYPE of a stereotype. Lets see what I can remember..... alien chamber with long threads of vapour inside, check. Entities a copy of the ones from ABYSS, check. Ethereal off key male voices, intermittent kettle drums with the odd bass drum to raise tension, check. Thuggish trigger happy US rangers invading a sovereign nation, check. Incompetent officers at loggerheads, check. A nuclear weapon with red number countdown, check. A scientist trying to defuse such bomb with a Swiss Army knife,check. The artifact collapsing with giant rocks falling down ( Indiana Jones, the Mummy etc. ) Aliens deciding that we are worth saving eventually, check. Last, but not least, a virgin pregnancy. I watched it all the way through ignoring the "turkey meter " warning horn. I don't normally do this so it MUST have some entertainment value which I am unable to fathom. Over to you, folks !