Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: MIRRORS

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Community » Film Handlers' Movie Reviews » MIRRORS

Author

Topic: MIRRORS

Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 08-23-2008 05:38 AM

UA at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn NY
11:40pm show
Format: 35mm Scope, on a 50ft, nicely curved screen / analog SR; that's right, I said ANALOG
Presentation: 2.5 (of 10), and they get half of that only for the curved screen.
It has that Super35 look -- long shots look a little soft, and over all, it looked a somewhat grainy.
There was dirty film at all reel joins; loud audible POP at every reel join, indicating gappy slices.
1 visible lab splice not removed.
Did I mention DIRT? The film JUST OPENED TONIGHT, yet they still managed to find a way to use it as a door mat.

Detracting from the impressive curved screen, was a disgusting amount of ambient light which was so bad that there were no blacks at all -- only orange. Where the image faded to "black," the screen remained perfectly lit in an orange glow. It wouldn't have mattered, film or digital, in this house as the image would still look like washed-out crap, which has always been my contention --a poorly run house will give a lousy presentation no matter what the equipment in the booth.

Now about this [puke]

of a movie. The lame story was written and directed by Alexandre Aja (THE HILLS HAVE EYES....but no big grosses), so he gets the rotten tomattoes throw at him TWICE! It's about an ex-cop (Kiefer Sutherland) with a dark "past" which already is causing him lots of mental stress even before his real mind-fluck starts. He's taken a night job as a watchman in a huge department store that had suffered a massive fire. No electricity there, so this poor ex-cop who is mentally unstable to begin with, is forced skulk around with a flashlight aimed at all the scary burned mannequins for what seems like the whole first hour and a half of this dog. Skulking and looking and skulking and shining his flashlight here and there and then more skulking. Sutherland seemed out of his element....he doesn't seem sure if they were still shooting 24 -- he does try to make the best of terrible directing and an even worse script. Hokey dialog abounds. Half the time the dialog was nothing but stilted, unnatural exposition, almost like a narrator trying to explain the ponderous plot which doesn't make any sense anyway.

WARNING --- MILD SPOILER --- MILD SPOILER --- WARNING

When the ex-cop gets to tracking down a schizophrenic nun to drag her back get the dead people out of the mirrors, well, I wanted to run to for the door. But it's the kind of thing where you've invested an hour already and you figure, it's GOT to get better. Believe me, it doesn't. I really have never seen quite a hodgepodge of crap thrown at a script hoping it will wrap everything up, but then it can't, so it tries for one of those "OH....GIVE ME AN EFFIN BREAK" endings which is totally unsatisfying (as if by this time anyone even cares -- they just want to get the hell out of the theatre).

As for the SFX, there are a precious few really good ones, mostly having to do with seeing how wide a woman's mouth can actually open up, and then there are the mirror effects. The first or second time with the mirror stuff, I admit is quite startling (but then again, they SHOW THAT IN THE TRAILER, so how startling can it be, really?). But even that gets old really fast. Other than the few really effective SFX which you can count on one hand, for the rest of the effects, Aja resorts to lots of gratuitous gore with lots of blood pumps squirting movie blood out of body parts....cheap and as boring as it is unoriginal.

Oh, yah...and you'll find lots of what we all just love -- lots of handheld cameras whizzing back and forth in barely lit scenes to make sure you can't see the MANY really shabby special effects.

And how long are we going to have to suffer that tired cliche of a quiet scene with a character cautiously walking as the camera follows in on a very tight shot and then AAAAAAAAAHH -- a pit bull, or an iguana, or a monster, or a giant spider, you name it, JUMPS into the frame and the character jumps and usually screams or shouts VERY LOUD -- oooooh SCARY! It's so old and hackneyed that it's not even worthy of mention other than every time it's done, the film rating score should drop one point automatically -- it should be a statutory demerit. Well, Aja has no reluctance whatsoever using this tired old cheap effect in this stinker.

After about halfway thru, the storyline seems to get bogged down in its own convoluted mish-mash of supernatural hogwash that is just way to convoluted for its own good and by now no one gives a sheet. Basically I am saying it SUCKS. The only good thing about it is the cop's wifey-poo, played with very convincing emotion by the beautiful Paula Patten. Other than that, I give it 1.5 [bs]

Oh yah, PS -- about that thing you always hear that people will always go to the movies in a theatre because of that "social" phenomenon thing....well we experienced that "social" crap first hand not 5 feet from us, in the form of a half deaf old geezer and his half deaf old wife who talked NON-STOP in loud voices thru the ENTIRE FILM! I mean without even a pause during the screams or the very loud car chase. They commented to each other, and at times, even gesturing wildly at the screen. Unbelievable. My lady kept gripping my hand till it turned white because she could sense just when I had come to the end of my rope and was about to yell something at them, which she hates. If I were by myself, I would have just asked nicely if they intended to talk thru the ENTIRE FILM (which, as I said, they did). As for the management....not ONCE did an usher or anyone else from the theatre staff venture into the theatre to offer them muzzles.

| IP: Logged

Rob Ferreira
Film Handler

Posts: 25
From: Conway, NH, USA
Registered: Oct 2005

posted 09-17-2008 09:54 AM

I loved this movie. Alexandre Aja is a horror God IMHO, and has yet to let me down in this field. High Tension was one of the best gore/slasher flix to be released in a decade, and he wrote it at age 22. I've seen thousands of horror movies, and I love his work.

Mirrors could have been better, obviously - but it's by FAR the best remake of a K-Horror film there has been. Aja took a very dull K-Horror flick and made it into a great, edge-of-your-seat slasher flick. Filled with all the gore I'd expect from his style of filmmaking.

As far as the old people talking throughout your whole show, I'm sorry. Why didn't you just go and get someone to tell them to STFU? Since you didn't like the movie anyway, it's not like you would have missed anything.

It's too bad this movie was such a bomb. So far they all of his movies have been, but Aja's still awesome in my book.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.