2011 Audience Comments – Features

Audience Comments: like every year, we give you a representative sample of the comments found written on the Audience ballots. We also provide the overall rating of the movie by each commenter, so that you can contextualize (or scratch your head over) the comment and the rating (Very Bad, Bad, Mediocre, Good, Very Good). Sometimes, we comment on the comment (in bold and italic letters)

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8^th WONDERLAND (FRANCE 2008, 94’, Colour) Directed by Nicolas Alberny & Jean Mach

AUDIENCE AWARDS: BEST FEATURE, BEST SCREENPLAY

“Very clever and powerful movie. The most contemporary Sci-Fi of our time!” (Good)

“Irritatingly simplistic about its subject.” (Bad)

“Even if you don’t agree 100%, the movie poses questions worth discussing…” (Very Good)

“Naive (unfortunately) and very ‘American’ (at the end)”. (Bad)

“A milestone, and probably prophetic as a possible way out of the dead-end of this World” (Very Good)

“A very good idea for implementation” (Very Good)

“I wanna live here” (Very Good) (probably meant”there” except if the reference is to SFF-rated ATHENS!)

“The reason I love Science Fiction”. (Very Good)

“It could have a more realistic portrayal of Internet” (Good) (why? Do we have an obsession with realism?)

“Very contemporary, caustic, audacious. The surprise of the festival and obviously the Audience darling. Congratulations for the multi-lingual, multi-national, global-everything. It opens up thoughts and minds. Dense movie. We hope we can watch it again”. (Very Good)

“UTOPIA” (Very Bad)

“One of the best Sci-Fi movies of the last five years”. (Very Good)

“Contemporary, “politically correct”, ironic, feasible? It reminded us of many different aspects of the tragedy that the World as a whole experiences (and some more than others). A reference also to Julian Assange? (Very Good)

“‘Pleasantly naive movie of political -and not so much science- fiction.” (Mediocre)

“One of the best I have seen in years. Very interesting for us International Relations professionals!“.(Very Good)

“Thanks, Science Fiction Club of Athens!” (Very Good)

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THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS (USA 2011, 104’, B/W) Directed by Sean Branney

AUDIENCE AWARDS: BEST DIRECTOR

“Way to go Shawn!” (Very Good) (it is “Sean”)

“Nice portrayal of the era, imposing music (at times rather tiringly imperative). Loss of script intensity in the 2nd half, but a serious directing effort. The expectations for a movie worthy of the Lovecraft name were high, especially after the excellent “The Call of Cthulhu” that was screened the previous day”. (Mediocre) (Call of Cthulhu was made by the same team that made Whisperer)

“Totally Lovecraft“. (Very Good)

“A bit tiring”. (Good)

“Rocks! Very retro, very 30’s-40’s” and “Flawless era movie” (Very Good)

“In HD and multi-channel sound, but in black & white? Unacceptable. To hell with this “black & white trend” in movies. When I am going to the horse races, I don’t have to ride there”. (Bad)

“A very good rendering of the book. What I expected to see but didn’t, was the scared letters of Akeley before he invites him (Wilmarth) to his farm. Congratulations! (Very Good)

“Pity that the movie continued after he saw the name on the canister. And please, no more COMPULSORY female presence. Nice Try!!!” (Good)

“Long Live Orson Welles!” (Good)

“If you are a fan of this style of 50’s American cinema, you adore it”. (Good)

“It left ecstatic even those that don’t know about Sci-Fi.” (Good)

“Lost the beat in many instances. I would want more imagination in the Creatures. Nice atmosphere”. (Mediocre)

“Amazing movie… it managed to give me everything… suspense… excitement…horror… adventure”. (Very Good)

“Overrated bullshit! Only marketing!” (Very Bad)

“The two screening for this movie were not enough, as proven by the Audience numbers (both sold-out). If it had been shot and screened 70-80 years ago, Lovecraft himself would have felt his blood freeze! (Good)

“I liked it initially, but at the end it spoiled everything”. (Bad)

“Remarkable movie, mainly because of its style and atmosphere. Bravo!” (Good)

“A bit weak at the end”. (Very Good)

“Lovecraft appears outdated in our days, since there is not a second re-reading of his ideas and meanings. But directing and atmosphere were exemplary.” (Good)

“Excellent! Very good rendition although not totally faithful to Lovecraft’s story. Let’s hope they will shoot more films!” (Very Good)

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THE DEATH I DREAMED (GREECE 2010, 92’, Colour) Directed by Panagiotis Kravvas

AUDIENCE CONTROVERSY AWARD

“Great performances, excellent soundtrack -I didn’t like the close-up of Christos (character) holding fire! It made me worry about the future (which is something). Viva Greece regarding production value! CONGRATULATIONS. (Very Good)

“So bad it turned interesting”. (Mediocre

“The directing was a blend of “Red Circle” (cult crime Greek TV series), Papakaliatis (actor/director popular mainly in the female species), MAD video clip (TV channel for teens) and American b-horror movie” (Very Bad) (from the rating we conclude that for some reason the commenter considers all the above ingredients as negative… why, really?)

“AT LAST! We made a step… towards some direction!!! Excellent.” (Very Good)

“All the bad things heard and written about the movie, proved to be true. It’s unbelievable how bad a movie can be!!!” (Very Bad)

“The most professional Greek movie of the festival! By far the best!” (Good)

“Altough a bit comical, overall entertainingly bad!” (Very Bad)

“Aisthetically good, nice music, a lot of teeanage angst cliches, it doesn’t attempt to understand the motives (not that it should) but the aesthetic enjoyment of “Evil” and “Fall” (see also the Alan Parker-Mickey Rourke movie) => result: superficial +the bad guy is not convincing! But a good try for a newcomer! (Mediocre)

“It starts ok, then you get bored, no unexpected. At the end it gets ridiculous. Tragic! Nice music”. (Very Bad)

“Very good music” (Very Good)

“Music was very good but at times not a good match with the image. In general a nice film, good result. And WE ARE WAITING FOR THE NEXT ONE! ΙNSPIRATION INSPIRATION INSPIRATION!!! (Good)

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ΤΗΕ ORACLE (United Kingdom 2010, 72’, Colour) Directed by Shamus Maxwell

(2nd place BEST FEATURE, 2nd place BEST SCENARIO, 3d place BEST DIRECTOR)

“Laughed my socks off! Very sweet actress (the leading actress I mean – Kate Bishop) ” (Very Good)

“The good thing with the movie is that it had humour. My vote, no offense, has to do with my personal taste”. (Bad) (???)

“Acting was very good!” (Good)

“Ingenious!” (Very Good)

“Perfect Humour” (Πολύ Καλή)

“What the Blonde had to do with anything? Every time she appeared it was as if there was a parallel movie going on, a cheap romance, and the main movie tumbled. A pity, an excellent idea got wasted”. (Mediocre)

“Μen In Black great. Reminds of Delphi. Keep on the good work!” (Very Good)

“Interesting scenario, very entertaining! Mediocre directing (talking heads)” (Mediocre) (so, directors out there, you have to make your actors run around most of the time!)

“Smart Script and excellent sense of humour!’ (Good)

“I really enjoyed the movie. It kinda felt like a parody to me and I liked it!” (Good)

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DEPOSITARIOS (MEXICO 2010, 110’, Colour) Directed by Rodrigo Ordonez

“With low budget and mediocre actors, a good film was shot”. (Good)

“Very slow. Excellent story idea”. (Good)

“One of the best I have ever seen”. (Very Good)

“I was thinking more of what the film didn’t say, rather than journeyed”. (Mediocre)

“It opens more issues than it can handle”. (Good)

“Excellent” (Very Good)

“Not totally original, but more humane and existential. A bit chaotic and broken, needed better climax at the end. Nice ending though”. (Good)

“Was much improved after the first minutes. Very interesting subject, the movie explored it much more than others”. (Very Good)

“Bad photography, very diffused the script, good intentions”. (Bad)

“Complex and confusing, I didn’t grasp the whole of it, but very interesting and well-made”. (Good)

“Very good idea, lost it somewhere in the middle. Directing was porfessional, scenario a bit loose”. (Good)

“A ‘realistic’ Sci-fi movie, ranging -and balancing- from raw cynicism to romanticism”. (Good)

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Α ΗΕΤΕDΙΚ ΚΟR/THE 7^TH CIRCLE (Hungary 2009, 107’, Colour) Directing Arpad Sopsits

“Very good photography and strong performances”. (Very Good)

“Devastating. We got sick!” (Very Good)

“At some points very interesting, rather boring in others”. (Good)

“Left me completely unmoved. Not even religious-fantasy. Not convincing at all that what the children were thinking and doing could lead them to XXX (spoiler) (Mediocre).

“Very good acting, especially the children”. (Good)

“Awesome, the antitheses, the black and white, the puerility and the destructiveness”. (Very Good)

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FROST/COLD (GREECE 2010, 57’, Colour) Directed by George Pitsakis

“I liked the acting, the portrayal of the 50’s era, but most of all the ghost”. (Very Good)

“Better to avoid worn-out story cliches. Nevertheless, good first try”. (Bad) (???)

“Bravo!” (Very Good)

“‘Characters totally cliche. With a few bright moments, mediocre directing. Satisfactory special effects. Not very interesting and predictable, the script (it would have done better if it had focused on the issue of violence in love relationships)”. (Mediocre)

“Amateurish performances. That’s why music overtook the image in some scenes. Regarding atmosphere, directing was good enough. Wanting, in the rest. More emphasis shoud have been given in atmosphere and mystery, to have a better result.” (Mediocre)

“I pissed in my pants..” (Very Good)

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ΕARTHLING (USA 2010, 110’, Colour) Directed by Clay Liford