One Battle After Another (4 Stars)

Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills are members of a left-wing revolutionary group called French 75. The similarity with Germany's Baader Meinhof group is deliberate. Perfidia falls in love with Steven Lockjaw, an army colonel who's hunting the group. She's arrested, and she gives the names of the group's members in exchange for being put in witness protection. She continues the affair with Colonel Lockjaw for a short while, but then she disappears.

16 years later Colonel Lockjaw suspects that a girl called Willa Ferguson is his daughter. Without telling anyone about his suspicions, he arranges a large army task force to find her.

The film is very topical. It doesn't mention the name of the current American president, but there are many scenes which make me think about him.

There's a lot of action, in comparison with Paul Thomas Anderson's other films. It's a very good film, which I need to see again when it's released on Blu-ray.

Love Lies Bleeding (4 Stars)

This is the first film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

It takes place in an unnamed town in New Mexico, close to the Mexican border. Jackie is hitchhiking from Oklahoma to Las Vegas to take part in a body building contest. That doesn't look like the most direct route, but when you're hitchhiking you have to take whatever rides you can get. She's short of money and sleeping rough. In the opening scene we see her having sex with the manager of a gun club to get a job as a waitress.

Louise is the manager of a gym. When Jackie comes in to work out the two become lovers. They're both lesbians. Jackie only sleeps with men when she needs something from them.

It's a small town where everyone knows everyone. Louise's father is the owner of the gun club. The man Jackie slept with is Louise's brother-in-law JJ. Louise's father also makes money by illegally smuggling guns into Mexico. The FBI suspects him, but doesn't have enough proof to act.

Things start moving when Louise's sister Beth is so badly beat up by JJ that she ends up in hospital. Jackie takes revenge, breaking into JJ's home and killing him with her bare hands. Murder needs to be carefully planned. Spontaneously killing someone leaves clues. Jackie and Louise do their best to get rid of the evidence, but it's not easy.

The plot meanders on, with ever deepening conflicts. I shouldn't give away anything else, except that the film becomes even more fascinating as it continues.

I have a simple question. Is it normal for a bodybuilder to be a heavy smoker? I would have thought that Jackie would do without cigarettes in order to remain fit.

This was a good film to open the Nights Festival. I admit that I enjoyed the lesbian sex scenes with gratuitous nudity. What do you expect from me? I'm a man.

Donnie Darko (5 Stars)

Incredible! I've been given another chance to see "Donnie Darko" in the cinema. That's the way it ought to be seen. It was shown today as part of the "Best of Cinema" series. It really is one of the best films ever made. German cinemas are cultivated and show the very best. I was also impressed that the cinema was almost full. There were only a few empty seats in the front row.

Here's a question for my readers. When Donnie, Gretchen and Frank are sitting in the cinema, what film are they watching? Don't google it, that's cheating. If you don't know the answer, watch the film again.

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Into the Wild (4½ Stars)

True Stories #23

Name: Chris McCandless

Lived: 12 February 1968 – 18 August 1992

Film dates: 1990 to 1992 (death)

Film made in 2007

Was Chris McCandless a genius or a madman? Most people would say the latter. I'm sure his family and friends thought he was mad. I'm in a small minority of those who respect what Chris did in the last two years of his life, even though I would never have attempted to imitate him.

In 1990 Chris graduated from Emory with a BSc in History and Anthropology. He told his parents we was planning to study Law at Harvard next. It's unclear whether he really intended to do this or was just telling a lie to keep his parents happy. He never went to Harvard. He didn't even return home with his parents. He remained on campus to finish his affairs, and then he drove due west, the opposite direction of his home. He abandoned his car at the side of Lake Mead in Arizona, removing the license plates to make the car harder to trace. He burnt his drivers license and his social security card, and he changed his name to Alexander Supertramp.

As far as possible, Alex (to use his new name) tried to live without money, but sometimes he needed to buy things, such as a kayak, so he took temporary jobs, such as a farm worker. His dream was to travel to Alaska and live in the wild, with nobody around him, but he made a very roundabout trip. He zigzagged across the USA, sleeping on freight trains, and finally rowed illegally into Mexico.

Several people have attempted to draw maps of his travels, and they don't all agree with one another. This is the map that I consider to be the most accurate, based on the film. I hope it's not too confusing.

Wherever Alex went he made friends. They were good friends who genuinely liked him, but he didn't treat them well. He didn't like to say goodbye, so he slipped away in the middle of the night.

Wayne was Alex's boss on the farm.

Mads was a Danish hippy camping on the banks of the Colorado.

Rainey was a hippy who travelled around the USA in the comfort of a mobile home. Alex could have learnt from him.

Tracy was the girl who could have been Alex's big love. Alex resisted her advances because she was only 16.

Leonard Knight was a man who lives in the desert preaching God's word to the hippy community at Slab City. In the film he plays himself.

This is Salvation Mountain, built and decorated by Leonard in his earlier years.

Of all the friends that Alex made, the closest was Ron Franz, an elderly leather worker. Ron loved Alex like a son and put him up for weeks, but Alex still attempted to leave his house in the middle of the night. Luckily Ron was a light sleeper. He insisted on driving Alex the next 100 miles of his journey to Alaska. Alex promised to visit Ron when he returned. But he never came back.

On arriving in Alaska Alex moved into an abandoned bus, which he called the magic bus. He lived from hunting wild animals. It was paradise for him. After nine weeks he intended to return to civilisation, but his path was blocked by a river which had grown wider because of the melting snow. Due to the lack of wild animals (and possibly the fact that he'd run out of bullets) he had to resort to eating berries. He poisoned himself and died after 113 days in Alaska.

Is "Into the Wild" an inspiration to coming generations to follow Chris McCandless into isolation, or a warning to stay at home in comfort? I don't think it will convince anyone to change his mind. The film will only reinforce the views someone already has. The only lesson that I would draw from it is to be more careful. If you really must do something as crazy as abandoning civilisation, make sure you have a Plan B in case things don't work out. You need a safety net.

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Hitler: The Rise of Evil (5 Stars)

True Stories #1

Name: Adolf Hitler

Lived: 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945

Film shows: 1899 – 1934, mainly 1919 to 1934

Film made in 2003

This is the first in a row of true stories that I intend to watch over the next two months. Many of the films are biopics, but others aren't, even if they're primarily concerned with one person. The film I watched today is a good example of the difference between biopics and normal true stories. A typical biopic of Adolf Hitler would show his whole life, or at least the most significant deeds in his life. This film begins early in his life, but it ends in 1934, before the main events began for which Hitler is remembered. Other films that I intend to watch show even smaller excerpts from a person's life.

I originally intended to make January 2022 my True Story month, but when I counted the films based on true stories in my film collection I realised that I had almost 50 films. I managed to cut my list down to 40, but I couldn't bare to remove any more. I wanted to start on January 1st, but after the death of Betty White "Lake Placid" took priority.

True stories aren't always completely true. I don't just mean mistakes in a film. Often changes are made for the sake of dramatization, to make a film more exciting or easier to understand. If it's only small factual changes, I'll ignore them and not even mention them in my review. If there are large changes, I shan't include the films in my list.

The German Wikipedia page includes a long list of historical inaccuracies in the film. Most are trivial mistakes, such as the wrong telephones being shown in offices. They don't detract from the quality of the film.

"Hitler: The Rise of Evil" is a film that's divided critics. The majority heaped praise on it, but a large number criticised it for showing Hitler in a favourable light. They don't get it. The film shows Hitler in his formative years, before he committed his major acts of evil. We see bigotry and racism in his early years, but we also see him as a passionately patriotic man struggling to make Germany great again. No man is all good or all bad. The film does its best to paint a neutral picture so that the viewer can understand what motivated him. He wasn't a man who suddenly dropped from the sky and killed six million Jews. The film shows his development, his triumphs and his failures, in the 15 years before he came to power.

The film is based on several historical sources, but the main source is the memoires of Ernst Hanfstaengl, a close friend of Hitler until 1934. He and his wife Helena witnessed things that nobody else did. For instance, after the failed putsch in 1923 Hitler attempted to shoot himself in Hanfstaengl's house, but Helena talked him out of it. This is doubted by many historians, but I see no reason for Hanfstaengl to lie about it.

Ernst and Helena Hanfstaengl are the main supporting characters in the film, alongside the journalist Fritz Gerlich, who was so passionate in his enmity of Hitler that his wife accused him of being the same as Hitler. The SA boss Hans Rohm is also prominent, initially a close friend of Hitler, but later falling into disfavour. 

People think of Hitler as a monster, but he was also a man. Most people today say they would never follow such an evil person. It's easy to say those words in retrospect. Hitler was a talented speaker with great charisma. He could win over his biggest enemies with his words. Without naming names, I have friends that I think could fall under the influence of a man like Hitler. We need to learn from history. Once a man like Hitler is in charge of a country, it's already too late. We need to stand against him before he comes to power.

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Donnie Darko (5 Stars)

As my regular readers know, I don't consider my blog to be primarily a film review site. It's a film diary. The difference is important. I write about every film I watch, without exception, in the order I watch them. I also write about a film every time I watch it. Today is the eighth time I've watched "Donnie Darko" since I started my blog, so I can't think of anything to write that I haven't written already.

So this post won't get many hits. Tough luck. There are plenty of other posts that are popular with my readers. Check out my popular post list on the right of the screen, if you're reading this on a PC. Unfortunately, you won't see it if you're reading on a phone. According to my blog statistics (which only I can see) 44% of my readers use a Macintosh, 36% of my readers use Windows and 2% of my readers use Linux, so it's only a small percentage of my readers who use a phone.

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Donnie Darko (5 Stars)

For me this was a dream come true: the chance to see "Donnie Darko" in the cinema. I missed it when it was the cinema 20 years ago. At the time I lived next to a large cinema on the edge of Birmingham. I walked past the cinema every day on the way to the bus stop. I even remember seeing the poster for "Donnie Darko" hanging outside. The blue shading made it look like a horror film, so I wasn't interested. In 2001 there was already Internet, but it wasn't as prolific then as it is today. What I mean is, it wasn't as easy to find summaries of new films as it is today. So I missed it.

I forgot all about it until three years later. I was chatting about films in an IRC chat room. One of the girls said, "Donnie Darko is the best film ever made". Another girl replied, "Yes, it is". That made me jump in my chair. Two people told me a film was the best film they'd ever seen, and it was a film I'd never seen. I couldn't let that rest. When we stopped chatting I ordered the film online before going to bed. That was 16th April 2004. (Amazon keeps perfect record of my orders). It arrived a few days later, and the rest is history. It immediately became one of my favourite films. In my recent top 100 film list I put it in second place. 

I always regretted never having seen the film on the big screen. Now I finally had a chance. There was a special screening today to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its release. It was shown in connection with a strange short film called "Nimic" starring Matt Dillon. I've never been a fan of short films. Either too little happens or too little is explained. In this case it was the latter.

The theatre was almost full, apart from the empty seats necessary for the Coronavirus social distancing. Before the film began, the host asked how many of us had already seen the film in the cinema. Very few hands went up. Evidently, the film was never shown in German cinemas, apart from film festivals. In 2001 "Donnie Darko" was shown at the Fantasy Film Festival in Stuttgart. Then the host asked how many had never seen "Donnie Darko" before. About a third of the audience put their hands up. That amazed me. I thought that almost everyone would be a fan of the film. However, I envy the first-timers. "Donnie Darko" is a film that deserves to be seen on the big screen. I tried to forget the film and enjoy it as one of them. The film is overwhelming. So much happens, and the intensity steadily increases as the film progresses. When the song "Mad World" began in the final scene, I had tears in my eyes.

"Donnie Darko" isn't an easy film to understand. It's a film that needs to be watched several times. If it's too complicated for you, watch the Director's Cut, in which there are additional scenes that explain things. Then go back and watch the theatrical version again, because it's better. Take my word for it.

Now I want to see the film in the cinema again. Maybe the 25th anniversary, if I live that long. I'll probably watch it on disc again in the next few weeks.

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Donnie Darko (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #2

"I hope that when the world comes to an end I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to".

Donnie Darko is a mentally disturbed teenager who lives in the sleepy little town of Middlesex, Virginia. He frequently sleepwalks and wakes up on the golf course or on the side of the road. On 2nd October 1988 a giant rabbit called Frank tells him to wake up and leave the house. While he's away an aircraft engine falls on his house, directly onto his room. Frank warns Donnie that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds.

Thankful that Frank has saved his life, he proceeds to do whatever Frank tells him to do. He smashes the water pipes and floods his school. He burns down the house of a local motivational speaker.

Donnie considers himself a superhero. He also believes he's doing God's will, although the God he believes in isn't necessarily the Christian God. He's willing to sacrifice himself to save the world.

When he's in the cinema watching "Evil Dead" with his girlfriend Gretchen, only he can see Frank. Is Donnie insane? Donnie doubts his own sanity, but if he doesn't try to save the world, who else will?

The film's plot is mind-bending. It has to be watched several times to be understood. Three years after the theatrical release, a Director's Cut was made with scenes inserted that make the film easier to understand. That's the version I watched today. It's good, but I prefer the theatrical release, which I'll be able to watch in the cinema a week from now.

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Into the Wild (4½ Stars)

I have an ever growing list of films that I intend to rewatch, but that didn't stop me from grabbing this film from my shelf today. I had a good reason. Three days ago there was an article in the BBC about the so-called "Magic Bus" shown in the film. It was abandoned in an open field in Alaska some time between 1960 and 1970. In 1992 the hermit backpacker Chris McCandless took shelter in the bus and lived in it until he died, 113 days later. In 2007 the film "Into the Wild" was made, using a very realistic imitation of the bus. (It would have been too expensive to film at the location of the real bus). This made it popular as a tourist attraction. Since the bus can only be accessed by wading through a river, it's a dangerous place to visit. There have been multiple deaths in the last ten years. Now the US army has removed the bus. The message is simple: Stay away!

What motivated Christopher McCandless aka Alexander Supertramp to drop out of society? Based on the evidence of the film, it was because he was disgusted with the evils of humanity. Why are people bad to one another, day in day out? It doesn't make sense. If you're bad to them, they'll be bad back to you. It's one long domino chain of evil.

I like to think that the chain stops with me. I have many faults, especially my pride, but I don't repay evil with evil. Recently a person I've always considered a good friend unleashed a tirade of hatred against me on Facebook, accusing me of hate speech, though unable to prove it. He unfriended me with the sole purpose of being able to continue lying about me without giving me a chance to reply. Do I yell back at him? No. I repay evil with good, in an attempt to reach his heart.

Chris was on the road for two years, but it was the final 113 days that killed him. Maybe he could have remained in the Not-So-Wild. You can find more love among hippies than in the city, but it's still not a perfect life. Even hippies have relationship problems.

Chris could have found romance with the hippie girl Tracy. He turned her down because she was too young, only 16. He should have realised that age is only a construct invented by the outside world, not something for hippies to worry about. It wasn't until the end of his life that he wrote the words:

"Happiness is only real when shared".

Does that mean that he realised that he'd never really been happy? That would be a sad conclusion to make at the end of his wonderful life. At the end of his life he was suffering, but that wasn't because he was lonely; it was because he was struggling to survive. If he'd been able to live alone in comfort, maybe that would have made him happy.

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Lying (1 Star)

This is a new record for me. It's the first time I've ever watched a film that I absolutely hate three times. The first time was in September 2010, just before I started writing my blog. I know that because Amazon records when I ordered items. I hated it immediately. I watched it again in October 2016 as part of my Leelee Sobieski marathon. I still hated it. Today I picked it up again, because I was certain the film must have some redeeming qualities. It doesn't.

A woman called Megan meets three other young women at a yoga class. She invites them to stay a few days at her country house. Megan's brother Henry turns up on the first evening, but she insists that he leaves. Girls only.

For the next three days the girls eat, sleep, chat and drink wine. They engage in meaningless conversation. The highlight of the stay is when they pretend to be feeding plastic dolls on the lawn; pink food parcels for the girls and blue food parcels for the boys. The three guests leave when they find out that Megan is lying about her age and her finances.

Jena Malone looks bored, but not as bored as I was watching the film. My only interest today was laughing at the stupid dialogue. For instance, here's a scene with Megan and her brother:

Megan: "What did you say?"

Henry: "Nothing".

Megan: "Yes you did. You just said something".

Henry: "I didn't say anything".

Megan: "You said something about pizza".

Henry: "No I didn't".

Megan: "You said like really quick, like is there pizza or I want pizza".

Henry: "No I didn't, I was just sitting here".

Megan: "Dude, you said that, I swear".

Long pause. Henry has a puzzled look on his face.

Henry: "I don't think I said anything".

Megan: "Yes you did".

Henry: "Really?"

Megan nods seven times.

Henry: "I don't know".

Megan: "I just thought it sounded funny".

Henry: "Did I?"

Megan nods.

Henry: "Hmm".

Another long pause.

Henry: "Well do you?"

Megan: "What?"

Henry: "Pizza".

Megan: "No, Henry". 

This is just one example of many insipidly meaningless conversations.

Here's a challenge. If anyone who knows this film can name one good reason why it deserved to be made, I'll buy you a drink. Otherwise I'll continue my life in the knowledge that this is one of the worst films ever made, a painful waste of the time and efforts of the film's highly talented actresses.

Nocturnal Animals (3 Stars)

I missed this film when it was in the cinema two years ago. Normally I would go to see any film that stars Jake Gyllenhaal. I forget what the reason was. Probably there were too many other good films being shown at the time.

Edward Sheffield and Susan Sutton were students in New York. Edward studied literature, Susan studied art. Those are both creative subjects, but their career choices were different. Edward wanted to become an author, while Anne wanted to become the manager of an art gallery. The two got married, but the difference in their attitudes between wanting to create art and administer art is what eventually tore them apart. Susan couldn't relate to Edward's stories. When Susan met a handsome young businessman who had nothing to do with creating art she left Edward to be with him.

After the divorce Edward and Susan didn't see each other for 19 years. That's a long time. Now Susan's husband is having an affair, and she's beginning to think that she should have stayed with Edward. She's pleasantly surprised when Edward mails her the manuscript for a new novel that he's dedicated to her.

Over the next few days Susan sits reading the novel, and the story becomes more important to her than her real life.

The film tells three stories. The first story takes place in the present, Susan's relationship to her husband. The second story is told in flashbacks, and it concerns her romance and break up with Edward 19 years ago. The third story is the novel, in which she imagines Edward playing the main part, the family father Tony Hastings.

Supposedly Edward's marriage with Susan was the inspiration for the novel. She sees a connection, I don't. The film is too random for me. The opening scene with the naked women dancing in stars and stripes costumes is so thinly connected to the rest of the film that it seems to be nothing more than gratuitous sensationalism.

I watched "Nocturnal Animals" on Amazon Prime today. Amazon and Netflix are the two largest providers of streaming content, films and television series. They are mutually exclusive. Anything shown by Netflix isn't available on Amazon, and anything shown by Amazon isn't available on Netflix. Despite Amazon having less material than Netflix, it has several advantages over Netflix, especially in Germany.

1. Amazon Prime customers get free delivery of parcels from Amazon.

2. Amazon Prime is much cheaper than Netflix, 69 Euros per year instead of 11 Euros per month.

3. Amazon Prime members are eligible to a free credit card.

I need to say more about the third point. In England and America credit cards are usually free. That isn't the case in Germany. Almost all credit cards have a yearly fee of 30 to 50 Euros. The Amazon Prime credit card is very valuable to German customers, so the yearly Amazon Prime price is effectively only 39 Euros. Apart from this, the card has a cashback offer of 1% for normal purchases, 2% for purchases from Amazon. As far as I know there are no other cashback credit cards in Germany, which makes it Germany's best credit card by far.

Sign up for Amazon Prime, even if you're already a Netflix customer. It's worth it.

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Donnie Darko (5 Stars)

"If God controls time, then all time is pre-decided".

I'm continuing today with my mini-marathon of my three favourite films. "Donnie Darko" is in second place. It's a film I could watch every day and never get bored with it. The only problem is that I'd miss out on so many other wonderful films.

I watched it with my son, who's never seen it before. I wasn't sure if he would like it. Mostly he likes action films, whereas "Donnie Darko" is a twisted science-fiction mystery with a plot that's difficult (though not impossible) to understand. I needn't have worried. I looked sideways at him a few times and saw him sitting in awe. This is a film of such depth that it's impossible not to be overwhelmed.

The next time I watch the film I ought to write more about the minor characters. Every named character who has a speaking role, however brief, plays an important part in Donnie's story. They've all been set like perfectly formed stones in a mosaic. The film would be incomplete without any of them.

I also need to write about the religious aspect of the film. Donnie's messianic nature, sacrificing himself to save the world, is obvious, but there are many other subtle references. Donnie is struggling to find God throughout the film. He doesn't succeed in his search, but he feels compelled to do God's will. He's been selected by God to do something that nobody else can do, and God has endowed him with foresight and enhanced physical strength. God rewards him by giving him moments of physical intimacy with Gretchen Ross. It's Donnie's destiny to die alone, but at least he won't die a virgin.

My next review will be more detailed. I hope.

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Hitler: The Rise of Evil (5 Stars)

In my last review I said that this is the best film ever made about Adolf Hitler. I'd like to repeat that, while explaining what I mean. Many of my friends still don't understand who Hitler was. They don't understand why people voted him into power. 70 years after the end of World War Two we're still being bombarded with anti-Hitler propaganda that makes it impossible to know the truth about him. We know what he did. He killed six million Jews. That makes people think that the Germans voted for him because he was a racist. That's not true. If Hitler had gone on the radio saying "Vote for me so I can get rid of the Jews" he would have been lucky to get even one seat in the German parliament.

This film, which was originally made as a two-part mini-series, leaves us in no doubt that he hated the Jews. He held speeches against the Jews in the early 1920's, but this was no longer emphasised in the 1930's. The main policy of his party was always the rejection of the Treaty of Versailles. This was something the German people wanted. This is why they voted for him. Another important policy was the suppression of Communism, which most Germans associated with anarchy.

When you watch this film, don't just concentrate on Adolf Hitler, however admirable you might find Robert Carlyle's performance. Watch the people around him and how they react to him. Watch how everyone falls victim to Hitler's charisma. Even the reporter Fritz Gerlich was initially fascinated by Hitler before turning against him. Ernst Hanfstaengl, on whose memoirs most of the film is based, was totally swept away by Hitler's persona. For him Hitler was the man who could make Germany great again.

The question I have to ask myself, and I hope my readers will ask themselves the same question, is whether I would have voted for Hitler's party in the 1930's. I might have voted for him in 1930, and I would almost certainly have voted for him in 1932. As a typical German I would have blamed the Treaty of Versailles for the poverty and starvation in the country, and Hitler was the man promising a change. Naturally I would have regretted my vote a few years later, but in 1932 I would have thought he was the best choice. That's the problem with democracy. We have to make a decision based on insufficient information.

I've read a lot about Hitler over the years, but one thing I've never understood is why he fell out with Ernst Röhm. They were close friends in the 1920's. Some writers suggest that it was Hitler's other allies, in particular Hermann Göring, who turned Hitler against Röhm. Other writers suggest that Hitler broke with Röhm because he wanted to organise a military putsch instead of waiting for an election victory. I'm not happy with either opinion. This film shows that Hitler was disgusted by Röhm being a homosexual, which was certainly true, but it wasn't reason enough to have him executed. It probably had more to do with the Georg Bell affair, but I don't know enough about it. I had never heard of Bell before watching this film, but he must have played an important role in the Nazi Party in the early 1930's.

If you want to learn about Hitler there's no way around reading books about him. I also recommend reading "Mein Kampf" before you start talking about what you think he thought. However, this film is a good place to start, and it will only take up three hours of your time.

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The Neon Demon (4 Stars)

Jesse is a 16-year-old girl who moves from Georgia to Los Angeles to become a model. On arriving she meets a photographer called Dean who takes her first photos. She uses these pictures to present herself to a modelling agent, who immediately recognises she has talent.

The modelling business is hard and merciless. As Jesse quickly rises to the top the other models ask her who she's been sleeping with to get so far. They don't believe that it's possible to become a top model without sleeping around. Jesse is naive and hardly believes what's happening to her. She's like a deer caught in the headlights, as her new best friend Ruby tells her. Ruby says that she's a makeup artist, but she doesn't admit that she does makeup for corpses to prepare them for burial.

The lights are bright, the music is loud, and Jesse's virginal innocence prevents her from seeing the dangers of the new world she's entered.

The Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn has a psychedelic style which is unique today. He has more similarity with 1970's directors like Robert Fuest. There's a distinct similarity with the colour contrasts of Stanley Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange". The clash between the superficial beauty and the depths of the horror beneath the surface is staggering. After watching "Neon Demon" you have to rub your eyes and ask yourself if you really saw what just happened. This isn't a film for everyone, but it's a film for viewers who like to be shocked.

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Sucker Punch (3½ Stars)

There's something about this film. The promotional photos, like the one above, all look very sexy and titillating, but when you watch the film itself its very unerotic.

I've watched it twice before and only given it 3 stars. Today I watched the extended version for the first time and have decided to give it an extra half star.

The film has so much promise, but it fails to reach its potential. It's a clever film that runs on three levels of reality. Normally I like films like that. Something is missing, I'm not sure what. The missing character development is a large part of the problem, but that's not all.

Maybe we can find an answer if we look at Zack Snyder's other films. Over the last few years he's become the main director of the DC films. He specialises is films with lots of action and very little story. In "Sucker Punch" there's more of a story than in his DC films, but the over-the-top action scenes are so unnecessary that they can be deemed gratuitous.

If only Emily Browning could have cracked one smile in the film I would have been happier. One little smile would have made all the difference. I'm not saying she was the wrong actresss for the role. Her little girl look suited the film well. She played her part the way she was told to by the director, but it was wrong. She should have put more heart and emotion into the role. She was the right actress, but the film had the wrong director.

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