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sth1979
Reviews
Strange Things Happen at Sundown (2003)
If you're looking for a decent vampire movie, look anywhere but here.
I gave this movie a 1 out of 10 rating.
Storyline: Mildly interesting, though predictable and not too original.
Acting: Awful? Horrible? Pathetic? Take your pick.
Cinematography: Decent for a shot-on-video movie, but low quality audio and bad lighting really drag it down.
Special effects are non-existent, but not entirely cheesy due to clever use of camera positioning, etc.
Pacing: It's way too long (135 minutes)
Pros: Good insight into the psyche of someone who is forced to kill in order to survive. Comic relief provided by "The Reaper" who dresses in a Grim Reaper caul, but with psychadelic socks that change every scene.
Cons: Bad acting, poor cinematography.
As movies go, the only people who will find it interesting are the very VERY small group of people who are 1) really into vampires and 2) delve into the psychological aspects of reluctant killing. If this doesn't describe you, stay far far away from this film.
Frankie & Hazel (2000)
A pretty good performance from a decent script.
This film struck me as a project that had a lot of the right ingredients, but somewhere along the way they didn't quite come together. I don't know who made it, but it has a slightly Disney-esque feel. While parts of it are improbable (like when a pre-teen runs for a public office) and tend to prevent the story from being taken seriously, there is a healthy dose of normalcy (whatever that is) to keep things balanced and in perspective. The acting is alright. Strangely, the relationship between Frankie and her grandmother is convincing, but the relationship between Hazel and Frankie is a bit...off. It's interesting to see how she has to work hard to keep a balance between her best friend, her grandmother, and her two passions: ballet and baseball. Being a baseball player myself, it was quite painful to watch Frankie try to hold her own on a team of boys, but it does a good job of showing the struggle she faces. I read somewhere that she isn't really ballerina, but the editing in this film did a very good job of making her dancing look not only natural but beautiful. Overall, it was a good film about honesty and ambition, but its star Mischa Barton didn't quite achieve the level of realism we saw during her performances in "Lawn Dogs", "Lost and Delirious", and her small but shocking performance opposite Haley Joel Osment in "The 6th Sense."
Lawn Dogs (1997)
Elitism, cynicism and self-righteousness bring out the best and the worst of us.
I first saw this movie in 1998, and it had such a powerful impact that when I saw The 6th Sense a year later, I immediately recognized the young Lawn Dogs star Mischa Barton (who played the murdered little girl opposite Haley Joel Osment in that suspense film), who shines with an amazingly convincing performance. What makes this film unique is that it takes us to an island of true innocence in a sea of cynicism and hypocrisy. At its core, this is an off-beat story of love between friends, but nothing close to what most people would call a "love story." It has the distinct feel of a fairy tail while retaining a firm grip on the grittiness of modern life. I read somewhere that it was written to be a parody, but fortunately, that idea was replaced by one of doomed hope. If you've seen The Green Mile, it will probably take you a while to relinquish the fear that Sam Rockwell's character Trent is going to brutally strangle his young friend, but that probably serves to accent the subtle menace that builds up to this film's surreal (but beautifully fitting) closing scene.