Review of Salvador (1986) by Ben W — 17 Jan 2005

So, so, so...

[b]Life Aquatic[/b] - I love Wes Anderson, and think his past three movies are great, but Life Aquatic was a huge let-down. It lacked the emotional depth of Royal Tenenbaums and it became a farse with the pirates and such. Yes, I laughed at times and did enjoy it visually, but this film just overall didn't do much for me. Hard to decide on a rating for it (it was 7/10, but decided to change it after reading what I just wrote).

[b]The Great Escape[/b] - A wonderful classic is this apparently true story about World War II Allied Powers' POWs trying to achieve freedom again. At times its sad, and at others its light-hearted with a good flowing sense of direction and cool complicated schemes. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's one of the most enjoyable classics.

[b]Salvador[/b] - Oliver Stone's debut piece wasn't quite what I expected, but it had a great performance from James Woods as an American journalist in El Salvador during this horrific crisis. While the film didn't focus as much on the suffering of the people as I might have wanted, it still achieves it's goal of getting the audience to feel for its characters and people.

[b]Evil Dead II[/b] - The strongest of the Evil Dead series (in my oh-so-humble opinion) is quite the enjoyable flick. It's actually the best horror film ever made if it were up to me, and gladly it is. Sam Raimi's humorous yet gore-filled flick is just pure entertainment and wonderful filmmaking. The special effects are wonderful and Raimi's ability to keep the audience on their toes even during the simplest of moments is great. I could watch this film over and over again and never get tired of it.

[b]The Evil Dead[/b] - This debut effort from Sam Raimi is a great horror classic, but it seems to slow down a bit towards the middle (which is actually when things start happening). To me, the best moments are in the first act of the film, and from there on, its just a mindless gorefest (yet an enjoyable one). It lacks the humor of its successors and goes for a more straight-on approach to the horror genre, and it, at many times, works.