EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

panpiper If we are to judge this movie by Hollywood blockbuster standards, then it deserves it's average 5/10 stars rating that it has here on IMDb. This is not a great movie, but I have paid to see many out of Hollywood that are worse.That said I am mightily impressed with the quality of result that was achieved with virtually no budget. This was largely shot with volunteer work, on a shoe string budget most of us could come up with by begging from parents and friends. This movie stands as an example to all of us that we really could make movies ourselves if we really put our minds to it.

Efenstor The visually perfect endless series of paintings: astoundingly beautiful, surreal and lifeful. One of the most atmospheric movies I've ever seen, fresh and worthy of remembrance. No, it's no action, it's even somewhat slow. Out of all standards, sometimes it even looks like a sort of a video-clip put to the majestic (not bombastic!) symphonic music of Rob Simonsen. Despite of a plenty of dramatic moments the film still leaves a good trace. The story looks really like a part of the main character's life, not just a story written by an author: characters appear and disappear playing their roles in the spiritual quest of the hero, the hero moves to his ghost-like aim haunted by the memories of his recently lost love, analyzing his chivalrous past and finding himself on the rediscovered path of honour. A little-known gem. Hardly believable that someone is still able to make such movies in 2003. 10 out of 10.

rudden I love fantasy and SF in film, from cheesy Japanese rubber suiters to big budget Spielberg. Bad films have their own peculiar charm. It pains me to report that "Westender" is a bona fide bomb that fails on just about every level. It's an attempt to combine several genres, which as we've all seen can work pretty well. The problem is, it does all of them badly.The "Heroic Quest" forms the basis of the plot. Without giving too much away, the story line is as formulaic and generic as you can get...MINUS the final moment of resolution/redemption that usually caps this kind of film. It didn't really end...it just sort of...stopped. Roll credits. But there are a few other film styles that waft through this stinker like farts on a breeze. They include: The "Metaphysical Journey of Exploration", exemplified (and much parodied) by directors like Bergman and Antonioni. This accounts for the interminable sequences of the sun-baked hero staggering across vast wastes. This is Symbolic, you see, of his Inner Emptiness: and the grass on the far side of the desert is Symbolic of his Newly Awakened and Heightened Spiritual Consciousness. Phew. Pretty darned mystical. With all due respect to the reviewers who found profundity in this excruciating exercise in undergrad angst...there isn't an interesting idea to be found in the whole nine hours of the film. (Yes, I know what the duration on the label says. But it FEELS like nine hours. At least.) "Revisionist Medievalism" (in the style of "Ladyhawke" or "Princess Bride") wherein people in Middle Ages costumes and settings exhibit contemporary characters and language. It can be funny. Here, it's just inconsistent and annoying. "Hommage", in which characters and situations borrowed from other films pop up, presumably to show us the director is aware of them. So we have little moments that resemble low-budget Kurusawa, Boorman, Fellini, and others. If the film worked, these might have been amusing. It doesn't, and they're not, except as a mild distraction on your descent into torpor.And one final comment for folks who have commented on the "stunning beauty" and "epic grandeur" of the scenery: you know, if you take a camera somewhere beautiful and shoot a wide shot, you're going to have a nice looking shot. There's not much trick to it.

James Dearing Thsi has to be one of the best movies I've seen in a while. Be warned, though - those of you used to Hollywood spoon-feeding you stories, incapable of chewing and swallowing them yourself, won't like this. There's a gray organ inside your head which apparently many movie viewers have forgotten how to use, assuming they ever knew in the first place. You have to use it to enjoy this movie. I think that's the reason that movies like this are not made by studios - they know that if you actually start using your brains, you'll get tired of the mass-produced you've-seen-one-you've-seen-them-all movies that they depend on selling and re-selling and even in some cases re-re-selling. Congrats and thanks to Warner Brothers for agreeing to take a risk and sell a good movie.This is one of the 2 movies I can think of that really show how good a movie can be, the other being Spirited Away.