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Hard Candy, a review by Emma

Hard Candy
Running Time: 100 minutes
Director: David Slade
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page

Trailer:

Hard Candy tells the story of 14-year-old Hayley (Ellen Page) and the older man named Jeff (Patrick Wilson) she meets in an internet chat room, after talking online the two agree to meet in a coffee shop, after this they agree to go back to Jeff's home and photography studio. At Jeff's home a confident Hayley tells jeff she will only drink a drink she poured herself and goes into the kitchen to make them both "screwdrivers" a cocktail mixed with orange Juice and Vodka. But Hayley's warning of "never drinking a drink you did not pour yourself" is about to get a lot more important.

Hard Candy has some amazing camera angles and shots, the cinematic look and almost constant blur of the background make the two main characters prominent in almost every shot. There are a lot of close up shots that help the raw emotion in some scenes come out these extreme close up draw the audience in and help the characters seem more believable in a situation which seem far from it, Although its said that the initial story idea came from producer David Higgins who had read stories from japan about school girls who took revenge on the men that had groomed them via the internet.

What is strange about the characters in the film is both Hayley and jeff  are as guilty as each other, at the end of the film we are no closer to discovering who either character really is or what their real connection to any of the major plot points is. both actors give amazing performances as their individual characters something that those extreme close up benefit from greatly.

Interestingly throughout the entire film there is just 9 minutes of music, whats interesting about this is the backing track of the film is generally made up of ambient noise for example breathing sounds, whats more interesting is that the director (David Slade) was originally a music video director. There are just two songs in the film overall.

I really enjoyed Hard Candy, it had me on the edge of my seat, there is a lot of suspense in this relatively short film although i personally felt it could have been shorter, maybe this is because I hate waiting, there is a very long surgery scene" which I admit I thought was too long. For a film with just two characters I can't believe there is just that one point that seemed tedious. overall this film is a great psychological thriller, one id recommend and definitely a great first feature for Slade.



(From Emma's New Film Reviews! on April 15th, 2011)

A Film Unfinished, a review by Antares

A Film Unfinished (2010) 84/100Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on July 12th, 2021)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

The Dead Zone: Season One (2002/Canada) IMDb | Wikipedia Lions Gate Home Entertainment (United States) Length: 565 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Plot:
Based on the characters and story from the best-selling book by Stephen King, The Dead Zone is a unique psychological thriller that combines a rich mix of action, the paranormal and a continuing quest for justice.


The Dead Zone
1.01 Wheel Of Fortune
Writer: Stephen King (Original Characters By), Michael Piller (Screenwriter), Shawn Piller (Screenwriter)
Director: Robert Lieberman
Cast: Anthony Michael Hall (Johnny Smith), Nicole DeBoer (Sarah Bracknell/Sarah Bannerman), Chris Bruno (Walt Bannerman), John L. Adams (Bruce Lewis), Rick Tae (Dr. Tran), Anna Hagan (Vera Smith), Gina Chiarelli (Nurse Elaine MacGowan), Michael Rogers (Frank Dodd), David Ogden Stiers (Reverend Gene Purdy), Emily Holmes (Allison), John Hainsworth (Barker #1), Campbell Lane (Barker #2), Justin Stillwell (Boy Student), Kenya Jo Kennedy (Child in Bedroom), Nicole La Placa (Girl Student #1), Mercedes de la Zerda (Girl Student #2), Chris Kelly (Hockey Coach), Michael St. John Smith (Mike Kennedy), Liliane Lee (Mother Tran), Diana Ha (Older Mother Tran), Bryce Hodgeson (Player #1), Alvin Sanders (Principal), Dominic Louis (Sarah's Son), Evan Smith (6 Year Old Johnny), Victoria Billingsley (6 Year Old Sarah), Nicholas Lee (3 Year Old Dr. Tran), Donald Fong (Uncle Tran), Ed Chow (Younger Uncle Tran)

This series is a based on a Stephen King book. There was also a movie based on it with Christopher Walken. The source material is very fitting as a premise for a TV series. I always enjoyed watching it. The first episode is a good introduction and has many elements which were also in the movie (I haven't read the book).

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on April 2nd, 2011)