Night Watch - Reveiw

Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor)
Directed By: Timur Bekmambetov
Written By: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: Konstantin Khabensky, Cladimir Menshov, and Valeri Zolotukhin
Russia's highest grossing film has finally hit the America's. I saw I trailer for this movie back in 2004 and was super excited by the wild visuals, and unique story, but it just kind of dissapeared. It has finally come out and I got a chance to see a few days ago, and it was enjoyable. I have seen it twice, and the second time around made much more sense plot wise. The first time I saw it I think there was a lot lost in translation, which is sad, but the story is quite complicated. To say the least, the movie looked beutiful, with so many odd color choices mixed with totally unique camera movements makes this one of the most visually interesting films I've seen in a long time. The acting was spot on, absolutley no complaints, but not speaking the language, I'm focused more on the subtitles, which is sad for such a visualy heavy film. This movie is the first in a triliogy, based on the novel by the same name. It's about two groups the Night Watch, and the Day Watch. The Night Watch monitors the forces of darkness (night), and the Day Watch monitors the forces of light (day). The whole movie, and I'm guessing the series, focuses around a child who is this movies "the one" and he must pick a side, either the Night Watch, or the Day Watch, and suppopsedly whoever he choses will eventually become the winning side in the ongoing struggle between the two forces. I hope I can find a translated version of the book because I think I will get much more of the story than I did through the film, but there are two more movies, and the second has already come out in Russia, so hopefully number two can make it's way state side. Overall, with beautiful visuals, solid acting, and a slightly confusing story, I give Night Watch a 7 out of 10.

Ultraviolet - Review

Ultraviolet-
Directed by: Kurt Wimmer
Written by: Kurt Wimmer
Starring: Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil, 5th Element)
Cameron Bright (Thank you for Smoking, Butterfly Effect)
William Fichtner (Crash, Contact)

"Ultraviolet", the latest from Kurt Wimmer, the man that wrote and directed the cult sci-fi gun fest "Equilibrium". Even if you didn't know that "Ultraviolet" was made by Wimmer, it would still be obvious that it had some connection with "Equilibrium". So many scenes and fights are almost straight from "Equilibrium", which is not a bad thing, but then again, that's just about all "Ultraviolet" is, it's an action violence movie, by which I mean sprinkled between the action is a healthy dose of violence. The story that moves you from fight sequence to fight sequence isn't preticulary compelling, but one shouldn't watch this movie for the story. The style of special effects mixed with Wimmer's unique directing makes it a very interesting movie visually. Acting is unecessarily decent, or I should say that there is so little acting rather than just action that it really didn't matter whether or not they were good actors. Although I wouldn't pay to see it in theaters again, I would be willing to rent, possibly even buy it just so I can see all the cool fight scenes, and listen to the directors commentary because Kurt Wimmer, from what he's said in the "Equilibrium" commentary, has some very interesting things to say. If you're looking for crazy, off the wall, fast paced, gun filled action, then it's at least worth a rental, but if you're looking for something to really open your eyes and move you emotionally, then go watch something with Julia Roberts and pretend that you are entertained. 6.5 out of 10.

Side Note: I highly reccomend "Equilibrium", it stars Christian Bale (Batman Begins, The Machinist), Taye Diggs (Go, Rent), and Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings, Goldeneye).

Welcome to Hollyw00t

Ahoy and welcome to Hollyw00t, a place for a geek to give, in this case, his views on anything and everything, that has whatever to do with movies.