Tag Archives: thriller

books, Minimalist Reviews

Pirate Latitudes, a novel by Michael Crichton

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By James Gilmore

Book cover for Pirate Latitudes, a pirate novel by Michael Crichton, on Minimalist Reviews.Pirate Latitudes is taut genre novel written by one of the modern masters of suspense, Michael Crichton.  Intense and inventive, the action and drama never fail to entertain in a story laden with clever ideas in plotting and execution while widely diverse, fascinating characters populate the novel.  Crichton fulfills and defies every pirate cliché by making them his own, transforming each element into something unique and poignant and exploring to its logical, if not surprising, conclusion.

Unfortunately, Pirate Latitudes once again exhibits Crichton’s two major weaknesses: (1) his talent for gullibly accepting stereotypes (valid or not) based on his research, and (2) failing to provide any greater depth or meaning beyond the story itself, which is where the limit of the story’s impact can be felt most.

A thrilling ride for Crichton and pirate lovers; a guilty pleasure for lit-heads.

Rating: 3 / 5

Minimalist Reviews, TV

Blue Gender, an animated series by Ryosuke Takahashi and Koichi Ohata

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by James Gilmore

In an attempt to branch out in review material, Blue Gender is this blog’s first Minimalist Review of a TV series—a Japanese anime TV series at that.

Movie poster for Blue Gender, a Japanimation series by Ryosuke Takahashi and Koichi Ohata, on Minimalist Reviews.

Seemingly inspired by another anime series called Neon Genesis Evangelion (and occasionally approaching near plagiarism of it), this 26-episode animated series proves to be an incredibly dark, violent and gory sci-fi that is externally centered around a chosen few individuals who pilot exoskeleton suits (read: big robots) to fight off a global alien invasion. Internally, the story is about one individual trying to find his purpose in a seemingly pointless existence.

Although the series stays afloat with decent execution, it suffers from numerous logic holes, a unique but blunted concept (a directorial issue, see below), and a bloated, inefficient plot spread too thinly over 26 episodes. Even though it improves somewhat over time, the whole series still feels two episodes longer than is necessary. The plot is sometimes too predictable due to directorial shortcomings in dramatizing big reveals, even if they do occur on cue in a solid over-arching structure. The underlying emotional/relationship content remains adequate for the genre but could have been taken much further given its powerful seeds. Barely worth mentioning is the all-too-frequent laughable dialogue and occasional clips of unnecessary nudity (justified as “fan service,” which is typical of the anime supergenre).

Despite its numerous shortcomings, Blue Gender remains coherent, well structured, directed, animated and characterized, ultimately leading to a surprisingly entertaining end result, even if the commendable main character has a habit of becoming irritating a little too often. Testaments to the series’ impressive visuals are its gruesome imagery, realistic future technology, intimidating foes and intense battle sequences, most notable in the first six episodes. Most striking of all is the uniquely remarkable soundtrack which combines dirty grunge and dark choral with the experimental.

In the end, Blue Gender is worth a look for those into adult sci-fi series featuring an alien invasions, big robots and wholesale slaughter.

Rating: 2 / 5

Minimalist Reviews, movies

The Mothman Prophecies, a film by Mark Pellington

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by James Gilmore

The most remarkable feature of The Mothman Prophecies is its arrestive visual acumen and atmosphere. Not a minute goes by without haunting imagery gracing the screen.

Movie poster for The Mothman Prophecies, a film by Mark Pellington, on Minimalist Reviews.

Unfortunately, the story is weak at best, and its interlocking pieces ragged, tired, or forced. Although the supernatural entity known as “the Mothman” is supposedly the lynchpin of the story, he need not exist at all since the plot involves a number of individuals having prophetic visions, and the fact that the Mothman sometime appears in them is only incidental. Also superfluous to the plot is the main character’s relationship with his wife (the focus of the B Story), which fails to have any conclusive ending nor any reason for inclusion in the film except as a weak initial impetus to move the protagonist to the remote location of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

Laura Linney’s acting performance is worth mentioning. Despite the minimalist approach to her character, it proves to be one of her best performances and indicative of her serious dramatic acting ability.

This psychological/supernatural thriller is also a borderline horror, and will appeal to those in the mood for an intriguing, even perplexingly illogical, filmic experience.

Rating: 2 / 5

Minimalist Reviews, movies

13 Assassins, a film by Takashi Miike

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by James Gilmore

Movie poster for 13 Assassins, a film by Takashi Miike, on Minimalist Reviews.

13 Assassins is nothing less than an old-fashioned samurai movie in color. You might even call it Seven Samurai II (or x2 is almost as appropriate). The slow, character-oriented first half of the film is just like that of class Kurasawa, making the second half all the more dazzling when it slams the viewer into 21st century filmmaking. Takashi Miike uses opposing perspectives of the same samurai ideology to juxtapose violence as a necessity against violence as a luxury. Without a doubt, Miike has created some of the greatest samurai battles ever committed to film. Unfortunately, 13 Assassins appears lacking in deep, profound thematic material.

Rating: 4 / 5

Minimalist Reviews, movies

Oldboy, a film by Chan-wook Park

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by James Gilmore

Movie poster for Oldboy, a film by Chan-wook Park, on Minimalist Reviews.

Unique, brilliant, the fantastic child of a truly artistic endeavor. A seemless marriage of script, camera and directing. Oldboy combines an intimate examination of human nature’s darkest facets with an entrancing story of revenge, love, and selfishness.

Stay tuned for the 2013 American of Oldboy, directed by Spike Lee and (according to rumors) starring Christian Bale and Rooney Mara.

Rating: 5 / 5

Minimalist Reviews, movies

Cloverfield, a film by Matt Reeves

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by James Gilmore

Cloverfield (2008) is like reliving a Godzilla movie from the ground and might be more aptly named “Godzilla Takes Manhattan.” Still, it is truly a B-movie concept with A-level execution.  Filmed in the style of minimalist cinéma vérité with the main action taking place over a 24-hour period, this tense adventure is delightfully immersive and filled with excitement at every twist and turn, although a satisfactory epilogue feels unfortunately absent.

Movie poster for Cloverfield, a film by Matt Reeves, on Minimalist Reviews.At times the first-person camera work will make the viewer ill, it eventually settles to the point where one no longer notices. There are annoying eruptions of chaos and some repetitive dialogue, but these are fairly superficial in comparison to the overall emotional and visual strength of the film. The character of Beth (played by Odette Annable) stands out as glaringly weak in comparison to the remainder of the robust cast, with the exception of “Hud” (played by T. J. Miller), whose character may rank among one of the most annoying in history—nearly on par with Jar Jar Binks.

The most blatant issue Cloverfield is that it feels comprised of two separate films intercut together. The opening of film accurately captures 21st century youth in its indigenous environment, complemented by enough relationships and life problems to carry the rest of the film without any monster at all.  While the monster portion of the film certainly connects the two parts of the story, they could have been separated into two equally-satisfying stories.

Cloverfield is also reminiscent of Quarantine (also 2008), only without the quarantine, or Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project (1999). 

Rating:  4 / 5

Minimalist Reviews, movies

Black Swan, a film by Darren Aronofsky

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by James Gilmore

Movie poster of Black Swan, a film by Darren Aronofsky, on Minimalist Reviews.

Black Swan is perfect in both conception and construction, although the plot and main character leave something to be desired. Despite a very good script, Aronofsky’s masterful directing far exceeds it, nearly surmounting the story’s shortcomings. Nina and Erica Sayers both lack adequate character depth, as does their relationship. The end result is a strange film whose story fails to engage the audience enough to match the superb filmmaking which surrounds it. Once again, a potential masterpiece is thwarted by a thin script. On the other hand, the exquisite filmic storytelling boasts powerful imagery and cinematography with a strong European—but especially French—influence.

Excellent casting with outstanding performances by the actors. Mila Kunis’ surprising performance demonstrates her capability to grapple serious acting weight while Vincent Cassel’s work falls nothing short of superlatively stunning. Natalie Portman delivers her best performance to date upon transformation into the Black Swan, but otherwise remains her usual self in which she appears to be perpetually on the verge of tears.

On a side note, one might almost call Black Swan “The Machinist for Women.”

Rating: 4 / 5

Minimalist Reviews, movies

Inception, a film by Christopher Nolan

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by James Gilmore

Movie poster for Inception, a film by Christopher Nolan, on Minimalist Reviews.Christopher Nolan’s Inception sports an original but difficult concept, which the film explains surprisingly well, although more could have been left to the speculative imagination. The unfortunate side effect of having a difficult concept is that it requires a lot of time to illustrate, meaning the film takes 60 minutes to get to the heart of the concept, at which point it runs with the intensity of a driven madman. The close cutting adds to the dreamlike quality of the story but cannot alter the impression that one is watching two or three films rolled into one—the total of which ultimately seems lacking in a final or third-act twist whose gravitas is appropriate to the story. Fortunately, the aggressive pacing of the story helps blunt the ham-fisted dialogue and the glaring plot hole which serves as the crux for the third act. As for acting, Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance is adequate but overshadowed by the quiet show-stealer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Overall, a slight disappointment but a supremely wonderful, well-executed concept.

Rating: 3 / 5