Critics » David Keyes
David Keyes

David Keyes

""Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." "People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.""

Agrees with the Tomatometer 74% of the time.

Biography:
A love of films. A love of the written word. What better way to combine them? I started this little movie reviewing gig on the 'net back in 1998 when I was just 17. At the time, the idea wasn't exactly a developed one on my part (I never even fathomed the concept until it was suggested to me by a high school instructor), but once it began, it was as if I was physically incapable of stopping. For that year and the next, film criticism was life. On a personal level, it was also a visceral experience, something that I and I alone could do without having my work comprimised by some kind of looming superior (I guess school gives you that mentality naturally). For a time following the whole K-12 thing (and even a bit into college), I wanted this to be a career. Unfortunately, time and dedication, especially in isolation, tends to build walls around your ego -- thus, I was put off by the impending notion that I couldn't have complete control over my own material in a paid profession, so the idea went from being a career goal to a recreational hobby rather quickly. Thankfully, I wasn't as defensive about my other Journalistic talents, so I didn't give up on the vocation entirely. I currently freelance for publications whose primary audiences are those that thrive on information-gathering, and the prospect of objective and thorough reporting is an art in itself. But one doesn't write just for the sake of writing, either; it has to be something engaging on a personal level, otherwise your wasting your time. Though movie reviewing has taken a back-burner in recent years to other things, it has nonetheless lived on in some capacity -- and for the sake of staying up with the times, that simple old free Geocities site I opened in the summer of '98 was moved to its own fully-paid server in early 2004. Cinemaphile.org is the culmination of all that work, and I'm proud that I am able to keep up this little hobby in a way that doesn't seem easily disposable. I love the movies and I love writing about them, and I intend on keeping the hobby under my belt as long as people are still willing to hear what I have to say.
Favorites:
Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" John Boorman's "Excalibur" Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" Joel Coen's "Fargo" Jonathan Demme's "Beloved" William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" Christophe Gans' "Brotherhood of the Wolf" Mary Harron's "American Psycho" Werner Herzog's "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" Akira Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood" Meyno Meyjes' "Max" Bill Paxton's "Frailty" Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" Alex Proyas' "Dark City" Ridley Scott's "Alien" Quentin Tarrantino's "Pulp Fiction" The Wachowski Brothers' "The Matrix" Robert Wiene's "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"
Publications:
Cinemaphile.org , David Keyes' Cinema 2000
Critics' Group:
Online Film Critics Society
Total Reviews:
643
Total QuickRatings:
1
Location:
Troutdale, Oregon

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 643
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Rating T-Meter Title | Year Add Date
3.5/4 68% Titus (1999) " ...audaciously steps outside of the tradition when it comes to film adaptations of the bard's works, but it also does so much more: notably, find distinct meaning in a play where all notions of importance lacked a central point." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 30, 2013
4/4 91% Stand by Me (2000) " When you are an adventure-seeker stuck in that odd transition between early youth and adolescence, few movies resonate more than "Stand by Me."" — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 26, 2013
100% Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2012) " Seldom has a film inspired so much dislike in viewers towards the very system designed to protect them." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 20, 2013
91% Paradise Lost 2 - Revelations (2000) " The unanswered questions at the end of "Paradise Lost" were the kind that could inspire not only a need for a follow-up documentary, but indeed an entire political movement. " — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 19, 2013
96% Paradise Lost - The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) " What a sad commentary on humanity and the flawed justice system it relies on." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 17, 2013
3/4 60% 300 (2007) " Our instinctual desire to sneer at the implausibility of the story is stalled by a sense of ambition that seems unmatched even by the standards of the Hollywood assembly line." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 13, 2013
2/4 60% Riddick (2013) " One would suspect that a man who took such audacious risks in the second film would have a few more surprises up his sleeve for the third round, but I guess not. " — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 12, 2013
90% Viskningar och Rop (Cries and Whispers) (1972) " Some have called it the most painful movie he ever made, and it is easy to see why: the three sisters at the center have lost the wisdom of compassion and replaced it with unending pathos." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 10, 2013
4/4 90% Network (1976) " The mystic quality within "Network" is that it pitches curve balls at us that have meanings relative to our unique situations, and all of them encompass a value that is beyond simple comprehension." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 6, 2013
3.5/4 98% Mud (2013) " Often the movies absorb these ideas in plots that are eager to retread to action and violence, but Nichols finds a resonating and sharp tone here that understates those desires." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 5, 2013
2/4 91% Blue Jasmine (2013) " None of the characters seem to be human, but rather objects conditioned by a series of tactical tragedies. " — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 3, 2013
100% M (1931) " The movie looms over our cinema like a hand of consequence, haunting us with its austerity and power long after others have faded from the mind." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Sep 2, 2013
4/4 91% The Secret of Kells (2010) " This is perhaps the most enchanting and zealous animated endeavor you will see this side of the Pixar lineup." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 29, 2013
2.5/4 56% Man of Steel (2013) " The screenplay by David S. Goyer is like an arm wrestling match between brain and muscle, and when one takes charge the other falls out of line." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 28, 2013
1.5/4 12% The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) " This is a premise that might work in the hands of more eager filmmakers, but here it is reduced to a collection of fragmented scenes designed to mystify and infuriate. " — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 26, 2013
3/4 63% Hitchcock (2012) " A movie about the late great director poses a question too great to ignore: how does one truly capture the idea of Hitchcock in a span of only 99 minutes? The answer is you can't, and here is a movie that, thankfully, knows that." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 23, 2013
4/4 84% Magnolia (1999) " As the years pass and we are weathered by universal experiences, the predicaments of Anderson's characters seem less pathetic and more like the plight of everyone we love and admire." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 22, 2013
2.5/4 54% Oblivion (2013) " Are we really seeing a movie called "Oblivion" at all? Or is it merely a succession of concepts pulled from the likes of "Blade Runner," "Planet of the Apes," "Total Recall" and even the director's own "Tron: Legacy?"" — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 20, 2013
3/4 68% Elysium (2013) " In a handful of aspiring filmmakers that have hard things to say about the state of our world and the histories we may be doomed to repeat, here is one who isn't afraid to confront the future head-on and match it with hardened criticism." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 19, 2013
1.5/4 35% Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) " Somehow, you can't help but feel vampires deserve better." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 16, 2013
3.5/4 73% The Red Violin (Le violon rouge) (1999) " Like the immaculate instrument it follows, "The Red Violin" is a piece of filmmaking fully refined by the hands of someone who believed in the material, and the effect it leaves us with is one of transcendence." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 15, 2013
4/4 77% Melancholia (2011) " The journey von Trier has taken to this one immaculate moment has been bold to say the least, but at long last, he has revealed his full ability, and the result is his masterwork." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 13, 2013
49% Antichrist (2009) " Because of its impassioned conviction, placing it on a scale of value is practically irrelevant." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 12, 2013
1/4 33% Joyful Noise (2012) " Noise it is, joyful it is not." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 9, 2013
3/4 72% Pacific Rim (2013) " Fueled by an ambition that channels enthusiasm for characters and narrative details above the high-octane action, and driven by visual effects that are a compliment to those traits rather than a distraction. " — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 8, 2013
3.5/4 89% Lincoln (2012) " This is a wonderful film, full of detail and behavior, and one that lifts broadened historical details into a poetic marriage of humanity and triumph." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 6, 2013
100% Angst Essen Seele auf (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul) (1974) " The movie operates in passages of such raw and resonating veracity that they seem almost too stark to be in a movie." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 6, 2013
100% Körkarlen (Korkarlen) (The Phantom Carriage) (Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness) (1920) " The Phantom Carriage is not so much a whole film as it is a filmed collection of ideas, but the manner and enthusiasm to which they are realized is arresting, and hypnotic." — David Keyes' Cinema 2000
Posted Aug 1, 2013
94% The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde inseglet) (1957) " The movie is an unbending breakdown of the human soul, and perhaps one of the finest - and most confrontational - ever made." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 1, 2013
67% Il portiere di notte (The Night Porter) (1974) " Morbidly fascinating work, choreographed from within a vacuum devoid of feeling and retribution, and spearheaded by a director who must find some sadistic pleasure in being such an exacting provocateur." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 1, 2013
3.5/4 92% Silver Linings Playbook (2012) " In an age when the concept of comedies about possible kinships between characters is dominated by sugary devices and contrivance, here at last is a movie about real situations, real people and the natural experiences that evolve from them." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Aug 1, 2013
3.5/4 88% Django Unchained (2012) " It is plainly a nonstop riot of humor and excitement, and one that matches its delicate nature with an equally calculated sense of importance in leading us to the most satisfying climax possible." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 30, 2013
3.5/4 96% Ratatouille (2007) " Ratatouille follows the pattern of dazzling entertainment set long before by the first Toy Story picture, but elevates it to something more resounding than just a routine cartoon adventure with colorful characters or sight gags." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 24, 2013
1/4 62% Evil Dead (2013) " Maybe I am just getting too old for this stuff." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 19, 2013
2/4 59% Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) " This is the kind of movie that doesn't so much rush off the screen as it prances off with its nose turned up in the air." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 18, 2013
0.5/4 24% P.S. I Love You (2007) " I hated every calculated second of it with a passion." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 17, 2013
3.5/4 81% The Neverending Story (1984) " Here is a little adventure that fed on our uncultivated need to think, and wonder. It gave many of us our first taste of cinematic possibility." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 16, 2013
2/4 75% Despicable Me 2 (2013) " The story is unfocused, and capped by a resolution that has notable holes in reason, but even that could be forgiven in a cartoon with an arsenal of laughs." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 16, 2013
2.5/4 —— Lo (2010) " There is undeniable charm at work throughout "Lo," which rushes right into a story with minimal fuss and is able to answer all its questions and establish solid enough groundwork for a plausible conclusion in just 80 minutes. " — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 11, 2013
4/4 66% Cloud Atlas (2012) " A movie that transcends all structure for a meaning much deeper than can ever be written in clarity." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 10, 2013
3/4 50% Now You See Me (2013) " Surprisingly delightful audience entertainment, unburdened by overzealous special effects and loud soundtrack cues and driven by a story that, well, just likes the idea of being smart." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 9, 2013
1.5/4 92% Drag Me to Hell (2009) " After a certain point, the movie becomes our own cinematic damnation from which there is no escape." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 7, 2013
3.5/4 49% The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) " ...rushes from the screen with ambition and color, excitement and thrill, and a relentless sense of optimism that catapults the story and its visuals to striking heights." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 4, 2013
1/4 22% Event Horizon (1997) " If I were a psychologist hired to analyze the people who made this, I would conclude that everyone involved needed to take their inner child out back and shoot it." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 3, 2013
4/4 74% Prometheus (2012) " It is easily the most cerebral endeavor of its kind since "Minority Report."" — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 2, 2013
1.5/4 51% Doomsday (2008) " ...a Whitman's sampler of bizarre story ideas and visual gimmicks, congealing around a premise that is so straightforward that it affords them no groundwork for stability or realization." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jul 1, 2013
2/4 39% 2012 (2009) " ...seriously, how often do we want to escape into worlds that are hell-bent on ravaging our sense of security with invading aliens and furious natural disasters?" — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jun 29, 2013
0.5/4 20% I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (2009) " This movie doesn't know the first thing about comic timing. It's tone deaf, tasteless and irrational material that has all the misplaced arrogance of a rebellious high school drop-out who thinks he or she is too ahead of the game for people to understand." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jun 29, 2013
3.5/4 88% Poltergeist (1982) " "Poltergeist" is a lot more dedicated to its cause than most viewers today are probably used to. It builds to something of value. That may not make it the most profound film of its genre by any stretch, but it does make it one of the most memorable." — Cinemaphile.org
Posted Jun 29, 2013
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