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SanAndrez
Reviews
Max Payne (2008)
A Bit Closer To Hell
To make any kind of sense of it, I need to go back seven years - back to the night the Pain started... 2001. I had absolutely no idea what I was installing on my slow and old computer back than. Only the knowledge that the game was from 3DRealms and Remedy. After a couple of minutes of low frame rate and sordid texture detail my life was changed forever, for good or ill. It was a king-hell bastard of an experience. There is no other game in the world that had such a massive impression and love from first shot. Yeah, you get it.
We all know that Hollywood has a special policy about converting famous games into high-budget flicks. "Use the original name, change everything else." This sums it up. The wrong turn about the Max Payne movie is that it is a full-scale profit orientated. If it was filmed as a tribute (1:1) in mind, things would have been very different. The script is "skillfully" altered to something very vague and misleading that the only people who will like it, are those with no knowledge about the game. There is no Vladimir Lem, no Alfred Wooden, no Frankie "The Bat" Niagara, no Vinnie Cognitti, the valkyr is blue, there is no dark humor and Max Payne is a sissy stoned on V with totally no clear idea in mind. B.B. is a very sensitive and nice guy, Nicole Horn is just an old hag in a limousine with no army of killer suits behind her, the motto of Aesir is changed to something else, there is no Punchinello, wait? Or is there? I can't remember, anyways - the only reasonable advice to the masses is - turn around, walk away, blow town.
Eden Log (2007)
A Nocturne Trip
Hands down. A truly interesting picture held in the gripping nocturne atmosphere of the dark sci-fi. Very simple, little dialog and few action-filled scenes with lots of details and original ideas. Eden Log is something like a debut from the french director and with this stylish calling card I am helluva sure we will be hearing from this guy again. The story is compelling the viewer making him no less confused than the main protagonist and that was the whole point. The viewer becomes the main persona searching for answers while tripping balls through the dark corridors of the tech cave. The director could easily made it clear with one sentence in the beginning like the most of the crapbag movies today. "The year is... this is... he is... an experiment... and he... " and the rest would be just blank silence with no reasonable point at all. Indeed. Different approach is needed worldwide. I can't even remember the last know good sci-fi movie I've enjoyed and Eden Log came like a small shotgun blast in the head. The black/white editing is very convincing, make-up effects, acting and the ambient sounds and music are very horrific. Man, I really loved the deep voice and look of the Guards. Reminds me of F.E.A.R. from Monolith and this is the funky thing. The whole movie seemed like a filmed game to me. So, if you like sci-fi, this is the movie for you.