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About A Boy About Schmidt Adaptation The Alamo Alexander American Splendor Angel Heart Antarctica
Beijing Bicycle Bicentennial Man Big Fish Bon Voyage (2 reviews) Bowling for Columbine Brotherhood of the Wolf
Cast Away Catch Me If You Can Chicago (2 reviews) The City of God (A Cidade De Deus) Cold Mountain The Cooler The Core
Daddy Daycare Daredevil (2 reviews) The Day After Tomorrow Die Another Day (2 reviews)
Elf (2 reviews) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fahrenheit 9/11 Finding Nemo Forrest Gump
Gangs of New York (3 reviews) Gloomy Sunday Gods and Generals Goldmember Good-bye Lenin The Green Mile
Hellboy Hidalgo Holes The Hours House of 100 Corpses House of Sand and Fog The Hulk The Hunted
The Incredibles Inheritance I Spy Into the Void
Jaws
Kill Bill (3 reviews) Kill Bill Volume II (2 reviews)
The Ladykillers Lantana The Last Samurai Les Triplettes de Bienville Levity Life of Brian The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (3 reviews) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (5 reviews) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended DVD Love Actually
The Magdalene Sisters Master and Commander The Matrix The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Revolutions Men In Black 2 Minority Report (3 reviews) Monsieur Ibrahim Monster Motorcycle Diaries My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2 reviews) Mystic River
Ocean’s Eleven Open Range
The Passion of the Christ (2 reviews) The Piano Pieces of April Pleasantville
The Quiet American
Rabbit-proof Fence Ray Red Dragon Reign of Fire The Return Road to Perdition (2 reviews) Rope
The Scorpion King Secondhand Lions Shrek 2 Signs Silver City Sky Captain ... Spiderman (2 reviews) Spirited Away The Sum of All Fears SWAT Swept Away
Talk To Her The Transporter (2 reviews) Troy
Undercover Brother Underworld Unfaithful
Vanity Fair Viva Zapata
X-Men 2 XXX |
Culture Vultures: Movie Reviews
Symark 7/13/02
This was one of two films I've seen this vacation week, which has been productive but has taken some interesting twists and turns.
Anyone who's seen the ads can figure out the plot- Hugh Grant's terminal bachelor character's life is turn upside-down/inside-out by the chance meeting and befriending of a young teenage boy, with both finding with the help of the other, both being very unlikely sources of help, finding the path to what they lack in their own lives.
There's a fairly heavy amount of English dialect/slang, so it's mildly confusing in spots. But this is a very funny film- been a very long time since I watched something that got as vocal a crowd reaction as this got.
Yes guys, it's a date or "chick" flick I suppose, but Grant carries the movie well. Nice ensemble cast, particularly Toni Collette. The comedy script also touches some uncomfortable life angles and dares to not gloss over them.
Robert De Niro was one of the film's producers. It did only lukewarm box office, but I'd highly recommend it if you can see it in either 2nd run theaters. Or, wait for the rental.
About Schmidt Hovencloof 1/6/03
I saw About Schmidt this weekend. It is pretty good, and really fine acting by Nicholson. The story is somewhat depressing, because it reminds us that our lives on this planet are pretty short and the chance we have to make a difference is pretty small.
The Miami Herald gave it four stars, and only gave three and a half to The Two Towers and Bowling for Columbine, and I can see this is what is paramount in the critics’ judgment of a film is the acting. It really isn't possible to find any fault whatever with Nicholson's acting: it is superb, but then again, the story is many times less complex than the story of the Two Towers.
Nicholson has mastered every form of emotion with his blank stares: somehow you look at his face and know what he is thinking and agree with him as well.
On the other hand, The Two Towers and Bowling for Columbine are much more demanding to make, the former because special effects and keeping track of four plotlines and over a dozen characters is necessary, and the former because it involved inventing an entire subgenre.
This is like comparing apples, turnips and raisins of course, and I can say that all three films were entertaining and excellent in their own way, and which you would like more would probably depend on your mood or personality.
Adaptation also got 4 stars from the Miami Herald. I haven't seen it yet. It involves Nicholas Cage playing a playwright and his twin brother, and a weird plot like the directors of Being John Malkovich are famous for.
Adaptation Hovencloof 1/13/03
Adaptation was a tremendously clever movie. It is totally impossible to predict what turns there will be in the plot, and features Nicolas Cage playing two twin brothers: one a neurotic and another more of an extrovert.
If you liked Being John Malkovich, you will love this one. Of course, it had no battle of Helm's Deep in it, but there is only one of those. I really realy NEED that disk!
The Alamo Xavier Onassis 4/12/04
The Alamo got awful reviews as boring and pointless, but I thought it was pretty damned good: a WHOLE lot better than the previous film of the same name starring John Wayne.
Billy Bob Thornton is truly great ad Davy Crockett. William "Buck" Travis is portrayed as the wordy and rather pedantic fellow his letters suggest he was, and Sam Houston as the clever general who realizes that his only chance to win is to retreat and retreat unto Santa Anna screws up.
This film was panned by the critics
because Ron Howard had something far bloodier in mind (it was plenty
bloody for me) and Disney fired him. It attempts to be more
historically accurate than all the earlier attempts, and appears to be
just that. The most glaring fault would be that it suggests that the Alamo was in or very near San Antonio, when in fact it was quite a ways away. The Alamo was moved to San Antonio, I believe in the 1930's, and did not appear as it did during the siege when I visited it in 1968.
I liked the film: it was better in most ways from Hidalgo: better screenplay, better acting, more accurate to the period and place, and more entertaining.
I wouldn't give it an Oscar, except perhaps for Thornton as Davy Crockett.
The guy who played Juan Seguin was also pretty good, as the guy who played General Cos.
Alexander Xavier Onassis 11/25/04
This is an exceedingly ambitious three-hour long biopic directed by Oliver Stone that needed better editing. It jumps around Alex's life from a narration by Ptolemy (Anthony Hopkins) to Alex's youth, then his Persian campaigns and back to his unhappy childhood.
Alexander was, like Aristotle and a large number of famous Greeks, seriously gay. In this film, he married the lovely Roxanne (whom we get to see nekkid - rowrrrr!) and somehow manages to mate with her in a rather memorable scene. His lover Hephaistion gets hugged more than kissed and somehow the constant speeches about how Alexander was all for freedom while the Persians and others were not don't really ring so true. How can an emperor and general give freedom to the people he commands and still be in charge? I imagine that presenting this from the point of view that the 300 BC Macedonian troops would ring even less true, though.
Hephaistion looks a bit foolish in the heavy mascara that he starts wearing in Persia. Probably accurate, but strange-looking, nonetheless.
It was in some ways better than Troy, but the plot is rather disjointed, while the plot of Troy is presented more coherently . If you like battle scenes, there are two really long ones, one in Persia and another in India, both very well done with gallons of gore, rampaging camels and stampeding war elephants. Stone somehow forgot to include the bit where Alexander solves the problem of untying the Gordian Knot by slicing it to bits, which would have been well worth the five minutes to show it.
It should get a nomination for FX, but my guess is that it won't. So far the reviews are pretty awful. The film is better than the reviews. I thought it was worth watching.
American Splendor Xavier Onassis 9/8/03
This was a truly innovative film about reality cartoonist Harvey Pekar. There are three views of Pekar's life presented: the real Harvey, an actor whose name I don't recall but who has the permanent scowl that I always imagined the real Pekar had, and a variety of cartoon Harveys, all of which complement one another.
I can recommend this one to anyone who likes innovative films.
Angel Heart Yellow_crane 10/29/02
At a flea market, for a buck, I bought a video of Angel Heart. This was the director's cut, which means that the video you see if the video that was made, without the pious snipping of scenes by censors.
This film is haunting. The images the director captures are chilling to the bone, and unforgettable. The story was exceptional for a movie line; it was compelling and complex, but never cheated or sold out, and maintained the genius throughout.
It was certainly the best performance by
a great character actor, Mickey Rourke, who showed great promise. Too
bad. He could have been the next Bogie, had steroids not robbed him
of his gift and his soul and made an anvil out of his jawbone. There is nothing cheap in his movie, like a string of panty-clad cheerleaders going into the showers, with music climaxing when the maniac with some mask starts slashing. This is genius horror. Trying to remember if this film was listed in the most scary list. Probably not.
On a related note, I am dismayed by the slashing of the films I get at Blockbuster. Does anybody know the history of this monopoly? Does anyone know who owns it?
Antarctica Xavier Onassis 6/14/04
Another chilly flick was the 1983 Japanese semi-documentary Antarctica about a 1957-58 Japanese expedition to Antarctica that has to leave its 15 or so sled dogs behind when the weather forces them to leave. I bought this on E-bay and it was a retired video store film with the first 15 minutes or so without sound and a fuzzy picture.
Two dogs actually survive. We don't get to see any penguins eaten, but they do eat a seal and a few fish.
Xavier Onassis 6/7/04
We watched a video I found in a yard sale for a buck called Beijing Bicycle, one of those promo tapes that tells you every twenty minutes that you are not permitted to own the tape and should rat out whoever sold it.
Yeah, sure. What do they expect is going to happen if they give tapes away to people who didn't ask for the things? That they are going to mail them back?
Well, not a bad film, with a lot of scenes from Beijing circa 1996, when it was filmed. A peasant from the sticks gets a job with a bike delivery service and must first work off his bike. But it is stolen and ends up in the hands of a student whose father always promises him a bike, but never delivers, this time because he wants to get the sister into the university. (Obvious political message, sure to be missed by most round-eyed viewers: one child is best). The student either steals money to buy the bike in a market or steals it outright: it's never clear. So then they fight over it, stealing it back and forth until they agree to share.
I am pretty sure the director saw the famous Italian film, The Bicycle Thief.
Not a bad film, but certainly an ending too sad to have been an American film.
PS: no one gets the girl. Both the student and the peasant have possibilities, but nope. In any American film the girls would have been gotten, but the Chinese director is obviously too much a realist.
Bicentennial Man Xavier Onassis 8/16/04
When I referred to Millenium Man, I really meant Bicentennial Man, which was based on one of Azimov's robot novels. There have been two films named Millenium Man (a TV film of 1999, another which was apparently never on theatres of 2000), both of them horrid.
I learned of my error when I saw Milllenium Man listed on HBO. The first 20 minutes were pretty ghastly and I fell asleep.
In Bicentennial Man, Robin Willliams stars in the role of an android named Andrew, who lives for 200 years, hence the title. As in AI, he eventually wants to become human, which he does, and then he gets to die. Hmmm. Not a bad flick. I recommend it.
Big Fish Xavier Onassis 1/12/04
We saw this last weekend, and it was pretty good. Albert Finney did an excellent job in the role of a dying Good Ol' Boy salesman who told a lot of tall tales which might not have been all that tall after all. A great cast.
Bon Voyage Xavier Onassis 5/10/04
A GREAT French film with non-stop movement. A dingy but luscious movie actress kills a lover and gets her boyhood sweetheart to dispose of the body just before the Germans invade in 1940. He goes to prison, escapes, and with everyone who is anyone, spies, a Jewish nuclear physicist and his secretary, and the entire government flees Paris to Bordeaux with six jugs of heavy water in the back of a station wagon.
The actress is a lying deceitful babe and she basically manages to pull every man in the film around by his thing. Everyone comes out being extremely goofy, except the Germans, who are goofy, but deadly. I was surprised that there were that many vintage cars left in France. Whole traffic jams of them. Buses and trains, too. Great costumes, memorable performances.
The Bourne Identity Mirstnkim 6/24/02
This movie had so much potential. It actually went along pretty smooth and had some good points. The ending, it was horrible. They just ruined it. It was unbelievable the let down I felt. They built you up for the big fight and then it ended the way it did. It was just plain horrible. In fact it ruined the whole movie experience for me.
Matt Damon was pretty good in it, somewhat convincing. But the villians..oh gag me please. They had no acting abilities at all. The girl was barely so-so.
I did enjoy the beginning. The fishing guy that saved him was quite good and quite believable. I would like to see him in a bigger role. If he had done other films, I did not recognize him.
All in all, don't waste your money on this one. Wait for the video to come out. You won't be missing any real special affects.
Bowling for Columbine Hovencloof 10/27/02
I just saw Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, in which he asks all the pertinent questions about gun control and why Americans murder 11,537 people with guns the year of the Columbine shooting. He interviews the guys who do South Park, Michael Manson, and who else but Charlton Heston, who thinks all that murdering is done because of "ethnicities".
It got a 5 minute applause in Miami, where I have only rarely seen a film applauded.
Heston comes across as a clueless ignorant paranoid fool, which may just be what he is.
It should win the Oscar for best documentary, provided there is not another Holocaust Documentary in competition.
If you don't want to put money in Moore's pocket (maybe as much as 25 cents of the ticket price), then go to the Cineplexarama, buy a ticket for another different film, but watch Bowling for Columbine instead. It is riotously funny. Moore's routine is the best part of the film: he looks like a huge, bloated unmade bed, with a scraggly beard that makes Arafat look dapper, and yet he wins every argument. It's as much entertainment as a documentary. He interviews the guys who did South park (patterned after Littleton), the guys who do the show COPS, Marilyn Manson and a bunch of good ol' boys from the Michigan Militia, who want you to know that they are just ordinary citizens. Very well armed very ordinary citizens. In camo. The audience in Ft Lauderdale laughed throughout the film and applauded 5 minutes at the end. Nearly everyone stayed to watch the credits scrolled. The only other recent movie anyone applauded was Lord of the Rings, which got about 2 minutes.
Turns out that the main industry around Littleton, CO is Martin-Marietta, who makes Weapons of Mass Destruction in massive quantities.
The question remains: how is it that Americans kill 11,357 people in one year with handguns, and yet the British kill fewer than 100? the Canadian figure is 300-something. Canada is slightly bigger than one-tenth the size of the US, so the proportionate figure for the US would be around 3,000, not 11,357. Americans are nearly four times as likely to shoot one another as our friends in the Great White North. It's a valid question any way you look at it, and most of these people did not have to die. Perhaps some of them just deserved a bruise or a noogie, at most, others, nothing at all.
Brotherhood of the Wolf Mjolnir 10/9/02
Is it good? Sure it is....I wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't. The film mixes a lot of different genres, and makes it work. It's a monster movie, kung-fu flick, mystery, romance. It's certainly worth a look. My two favorite characters are Mani, a Mohican scout who travels with the hero and Sylvia, a Florentine prostitute who is far more than meets the eye.
Mark Dacascos (from the TV series "The Crow") plays the kung-fu Indian, and the excellent Italian actress Monica Bellucci plays Sylvia.
Gilly 1/24/04
Saw this with Tom Hanks on ABC; no more Monday Night Football; a good flick. Will anyone ever find Wilson?
One shortcoming that struck me; no fowl. You'd think a deserted isle [or is it an atoll] would be alive with birds of one sort or another. This thought came about to seeing Hanks eating sea foods and fish, but little with fat on it...over four years I think that would be life threatening.
Catch Me If You Can Xavier Onassis 5/5/03
I rented and saw this last weekend. Extremely well done. Also saw the Nick Nolte film The Good Thief, which was also quite well done. Catch Me If You Can is a con-man impersonator film, and the CD version has interviews with the original impersonator, who kited severall millions in bad checks in the 60's.
Nolte's film is a remake of the French film Bob le Flambeur, a heist film. The best part of it is Nolte with a sexy Bosnian chick at his side, breaks the bank at Monte Carlo in a legit way on the same night of the heist.
Parts of the heist are not obvious and to understand the whole plot I bet you will have to rent it and see it over.
Juniorbushites need to be warned, however, that the main characters of both films are half-Frenchies, and that in both films, there are Frenchmen or at least actors portraying Frenchmen. While watching the rental flick, I sipped half a bottle of Beaujolais. Nyah!
Chicago Mirstnkim 4/2/03
I couldn't even sit through the whole movie it was so bad. I have no idea how it won so many awards. Something about girls dancing with their ribs showing, just sort of made me ill. They must have starved those dancers for this movie.
Chicago Brass 4/4/03
Well, being a "theatre person", I was shocked that they were able to turn it into a movie. I was completely blown away by the style of it and the talent of the people involved. I didn't see any need for Oscar nods for any of the cast members except maybe C Zeta-Jones, but I definitely think that it was a brilliant film.
I said to Michelle when we left that the editing is what made it so great and then the cinematography. There was this shot of Zellweger where the whole screen was black and she was just in a pillar of light way back in the screen. Holy Crap! That was art!
The blow out number was the Cell Block Tango. The way it was staged. The way they shot it. The way it was edited, just brilliant!
The story was a little light as most musicals are but what are ya gonna do?
The City of God (A Cidade De Deus) Hovencloof 3/10/03
I saw A Cidade de Deus, a Brazilian film about a housing project/slum of the same name that has been nominated for best FL picture.
I read the reviews that said "don't walk out before the end like those people at Cannes and other festivals." So I didn't, and neither did anyone else in the Ft Lauderdale where we saw this. I admit I was sorely tempted, as it's just one bunch of punk goons or drug dealers getting killed after another. Most of them all seem to deserve killing, but they weren't shown as villainous enough for the viewer to take joy in their removal.
The reason I am not supposed to have bailed was that one young punk gets a camera and decides to take pictures rather than shoot guns at his fellow gangster teeny-boppers, and he becomes sort of a hero and gets laid by a lady reporter as well (not that you get to watch).
As a result of his photos, a particularly nasty drug dealer Little Ze gets killed by a bunch of pre-teen gangsters called the Runts, and several crooked cops get busted.
If you liked Reservoir Dogs or perhaps Pixote you MIGHT like this. Apparently it is based on a true story from the 80's or 90's. But so what.
I won't be tempted to watch it twice. I should have seen Gods and Generals, but apparently it is so long the theatres only want to show it once or twice instead of 3 X per night.
Cold Mountain Xavier Onassis 2/16/04
I saw Cold Mountain this past weekend. It has to be the best Civil War film ever made. It is not exactly true to the novel, which was also great, but it is extremely true in spirit to the despair and anarchy that were prevalent in the CSA during the final years (1864-65) of the Civil War. Sort of a film version of "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down", except in NC rather than GA.
The casting was excellent, as were the costumes, sets, and dialogue.
Cold Mountain was filmed not on location in North Carolina, but in the Transylvanian Mountains of Romania. The mountains seemed rather different from mountains I have seen in the US personally as the Rockies, the Sangre de Cristos, Cascades, Olympics, and Appalachians of WV, GA and TN: These seemed higher, with different trees, but I can't really say they don't look like Western NC because I haven't been there.
The Cooler Xavier Onassis 1/26/04
I saw this film last weekend. EXCELLENT performances by William H. Macy and the Alec Baldwin and the female lead whose name I should remember, but can't at the moment. Check out imdb.com for full details. The camerawork was also great.
A cooler is a guy like Bernie Lootz, a guy with luck so bad, he ruins the luck of everyone around him, and is hired as sort of an indentured slave to Baldwin, the owner of an "old fashioned" casino called the Shangri-La Paradise (or is it Pair-o-dice?) to queer the luck of winners and run them into losers.
He falls in love with a hostess and naturally he becomes a winner and that makes things happen.
One review said that the ending was predictable, but of course there are only two predictable endings and well, you watch it and tell me which one you expected.
A great flick. You will hate and admire the Alec Baldwin character simultaneously.
The Core Mirstnkim 3/29/03
I saw it today and what a good movie, though the acting was not as quality as I would have liked the story line was quite good. Some of the special affects were quite good.
It is worth seeing. My son and his friend really liked it. My daughter liked it and shed a few tears. I predicted everything that happened but I still enjoyed it.
Mirstnkim 5/11/03
I loved it, and it was very funny.
Daredevil Brass 2/15/03
And unfortunately, I have to say it was shite.
I would have to say that it was the most ham-fisted film I've seen in a long while.
It was so basic. It looked like a student film made with too many expensive toys.
Colin Farrell is so melodramatic and over the top that he has now claimed the title of "World's Greatest Scene Chewer" from Kathy Bates in The Waterboy.
I'm sure for someone who might not be in the know about Daredevil the comic, the film was just a bit of fun and frolic. I, however, think that it could have been so much more.
It reminded me of the old Hulk show or the old Spider-Man shows. The Kingpin's office looked like I built the set. And I'm sure that during the shooting the catchphrase, "So what? It's a comic book movie."
I knew it was going to suck ass as soon as I saw the CGI rat in the first shot. I mean crap!!! That CGI rat must have cost a hundred times what it would have cost to have a real one even if you had to pay someone to train to walk to certain spots! Criminy!
Daredevil Symark 2/16/03
Saw it yesterday- took my middle son to it and was expecting very little. Was pleasantly surprised. Well cast, particularly MC Duncan. Affleck was convincing as a dark, conflicted figure. Characters were developed, but things weren't bogged down- it is a comic book dramatization, after all, not Hamlet. Plenty of humor, particularly Farrell's character- his "costume" line lets the movie make fun of itself. Also a very nice use of music to set the mood and keep things flowing at a fast pace.
This is hardly a film I'd normally bother to see in a theater but am quite glad I did.
The Day After Tomorrow Xavier Onassis 6/14/04
This weekend we saw The Day After Tomorrow.
Not a complicated film: dumb plot (global warming causes a new ice age "because of the ocean currents").
GREAT special effects. The Dubya-like President "didn't make it" to refuge in Mexico, the Cheney-oid VP apologizes for being sooooo wrong about global warming.
Unlike the Squid people of Independence Day, in this one the weather is not defeated and pretty much all of the US that doesn't freeze to death ends up in Mexico. Latin America's debts are forgiven.
Die Another Day Universe Prince 11/23/02
Well, I've seen the film. It is, imo, an enjoyable ride. Halle Berry looks great (of course). And she plays a cool, wisecracking, deadly American secret agent. Would be very interesting to see if she shows up in another Bond Film. The action was good, including some hovercraft action, sword fighting, some good ol' hand-to-hand combat, and, of course, stylish and well armed cars in action. The plot was straightforward and easy to follow.
Is it a great film? Hell no. But then, if you expect great drama and character development from a James Bond film, you're never going to appreciate them. It is, however, fun to watch. Which is the whole point of a Bond film.
Die Another Day Symark 11/29/02
Couldn't agree more UP- personally, I'm not a Bond film nut, but took my boys to see it today and was very pleasantly surprised. Yes, Bond films follow a predictable formula, but they gave Berry's character plenty of storyline weight and I thought she brought a lot more than looks to the role. Excellent stunts- only one shot that looked terribly artificial (those who see the film will know the sequence), but all in all a very worthy effort.
I do think they have to spend a bit to get some name actors to play the heavies. Think, say Anthony Hopkins.
Hey, come to think of it, Gore isn't doing much anything useful these days????
Xavier Onassis 11/10/03
I saw this because the reveiws were a lot better than for the usual Christmas film. It was not sappy, it poked some fun at previous Christmas films, and the acting was better than average.
The mustachioed snowman announcer of the perennial "Frosty the Snowman" TV shows, with the voice of Burl Ives, still looks like Burl Ives (as much as a snowman could), but is narrated by Leon Redbone (and sort of looks like him too).
The plot was sort of cornball. It seems Santa has had to put in a turbojet engine in the sleigh, which used to fly on Christmas spirit alone. Now, it seems there isn’t enough Christmas sprit. Apparently the population boom has had no effect.
Of course, you cannot make a Christmas film without being cornball.
Slightly less clever than "Olive, the Other Reindeer", who you might recall, was actually not so much a reindeer as some sort of terrier or hound.
Elf Brass 11/11/03
I actually went to see Elf this past weekend also. It was cute and I have to admit, I laughed out loud many times.
The third act is a death march though. I didn't laugh very much during it and it was like they were trying to hurry up and get it over with.
I'd give it a 6 out 10.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Xavier Onassis 4/26/04
We saw this film last weekend. It stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. She is a somewhat dingbat Barnes & Noble clerk with constantly changing hair (pea green, royal blue, scarlet) and they fall in love and move in together, but after a while she gets bored with him and not only leaves, but has all memories of him erased from her mind by a crew of four, only one of which seems to have a clue.
In retribution, Carrey's character, who seems to have some sort of job and is a very shy drudge, decides to have her erased as well. He can't seem to want to have her erased and there are a lot of special effects involved when faces, backgrounds and other stuff disappears selectively.
It was good, but not as good as the other previous films by the same writers, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, both of which I thought were more thought-provoking.
I was surprised to see how much Carrey seems to have aged in the last few years.
It's not quite a comedy, not quite science fiction, not quite a romance. A bit hard to classify, but better than average.
Xavier Onassis 6/28/04
We saw this last weekend. It was better than either of his other films, Roger & Me and Bowling for Columbine.
His view of Juniorbush is summed up in a clip of the latter addressing a banquet of his most wealthy contributors, a number of whom sounded pretty drunk.
The haves and the have-mores, he calls them (drunken yuks) then he says "some folks call you the elite, I call you my base." (more drunken yuks).
Bush seems to come off like a two bit actor reading lines written by others and occasionally (after the 911 attacks) by a two bit actor waiting rather cluelessly for further instructions, staring into space.
The propagandistic touches were mostly the selection of ironic background music. It's a personal and a public view of the mistake that was and is the Juniorbush administration. I read where it mentioned the Al Ghraib prison, but the version I saw didn't.
He revisits his forlorn home town of Flint, left to rot and burn by GM's fleeing to Mexico a decade and more ago. The treatment of a social worker whose son has joined the military and then was killed in Iraq was especially touching.
It showed to a sell-out crowd twice: the audience applauded it warmly, which is very rare in Ft Lauderdale. Anyone wanting to see it had to come an hour early and wait another hour to get in.
Moore follows Congressmen around, trying to get them to send their kids to Iraq. This is, in my opinion, entirely fair: no one should vote to send someone else's kid unless they are willing to send their own. He also follows a couple of Marine recruiters who cruise the mall where the poor kids hang out, promising a career as a musician, a mechanic and several other fields to HS kids. They don't mention the Iraq War at all.
I hope it helps to defeat Juniorbush and increasingly nasty "Duck" Cheney by a large majority. They didn't deserve their positions in the first place and deserve a rerun about as much as My Mother the Car.
Finding Nemo Xavier Onassis 6/2/03
Finding Nemo was excellent: better than either of the Toy Story films (which are tons better than most of Disney's toons).
I really liked the seagulls: they are Republicans doing what Republicans do best. A real hoot: I give it four out of four stars.
Forrest Gump Brass 6/30/02
It’s a love it or hate it movie which symbolizes the way Americans think about issues. Even to the point that people sometimes say they like this part but not that part. There are always people who think that Forrest was just stupid and there are those who think that Forrest was not bright but was honest and hard-working and that symbolizes Americans.
The film is set against America's history. Forrest goes from the fifties to the nineties and has an impact in small inconsequential ways on major events in our history from Watergate to "Shit Happens". Every aspect of our country's nature is explored from the hawks to the doves, from the screaming sergeant to John Lennon.
Forrest is an all-American boy. He falls for a girl and he never forgets her. He serves his country. He loves his momma. He keeps his promises. He takes care of his own. He believes in God.
But mostly, Forrest lives "the American Dream". He's not so poor as to have the rags to riches, in my opinion but he is from the rural south and through his adventures he stumbles on wealth pursuing his promises and his dreams.
Add to all this, the stunning pictures of America from the Mall in Washington to the New England Autumn leaves to deserts of the Southwest. I think there's even some waving wheat. Also the smooth mixing of American music from “Free Bird” to “Running on Empty”.
I'm sure there are other films that rival it in grandeur and standing in the cinema, but for me the most American film is Forrest Gump.
Brass 12/24/02
Quite a bizarre film. It was like an amalgam of all of Scorcese's films in a way. Daniel Day Lewis is amazing. I didn't even mind DiCaprio very much. Diaz is okay.
It’s lush and intricate, but there's a lot of odd things that I felt didn't help.
I give it a 7.5 out of a possible 10.
Gangs of New York Xavier Onassis 3/31/03
I finally saw this film last weekend. I can see why Scorcese wanted to make a film of it: it is a series of interesting stories, and I really should read the book. Daniel Day Lewis was great as Bill Cutting the Butcher of Five Points, but Leonardo DiCaprio's character was a pretty wimpy adversary to Day-Lewis' character. It is very gory, the stage designs are excellent, and the sense of history was great.
It sort of reminded me of Dune, in that there was so much of the story that was untold that it was somewhat hard to follow. The difference was that I had READ Dune, and haven't read the book this was based on.
The ideal vehicle for the Gangs of New York would be a mini-series: perhaps 20 episodes about the origins of the Dead Rabbits, the Pug Uglies and the other gangs and the history of the city in general. An Italian-American describing the takeover of America by the Irish from the Americans is also somewhat disturbing. The general idea is that the Irish deserved to take NY away from the locals because there were so bloody many of them.
All in all, I liked it MUCH better than The Hours.
Gangs of New York Hovencloof 4/2/03
Most people think that any life story and history will make a great story, novel or film. This just simply isn't true. It takes an easily recognizable conflict to be an kind of plot at all.
Scorcese in Gangs of New York definitely makes a point: the Nativist Butcher Bob and his Irish adversary Jimmie Vallens the Priest's Bastard son square off for one last battle, but the US Army arrives to end the draft riots, killing Butcher Bob and seriously wounding Irish Jimmy. The message is that gang rivalries are no longer meaningful, as NY has become the staging area for US History.
The main criticism is that the film is too long and too complicated. I suspect that the book was considerably less clearly plotted, and it is quite long.
Gloomy Sunday Xavier Onassis 2/29/04
The title sounds awful, bit this is a great film. The original title is Gloomy Sunday, a song of life and death.
There is a triangle of Lazslo, a Jewish restaurateur, his waitress and lover, Ilona, who is Hungarian, and the restaurant piano player and composer of the song "Gloomy Sunday", Andras. A unsuccessful interloper to this triangle is Hans, a German dork at the beginning of the film who becomes less dorky (and more German) as the film takes place in the Budapest during the mid-1930's through the end of WWII.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0155722/combined
If you can, see it. The plot is clever and is sort of an allegory of European history. It is in German, or at least the version I saw was.
I think it probably has more to do with true morality than Gibson's crucifixion does.
Gods and Generals Hovencloof 3/17/03
We saw Gods and Generals this Saturday. It is a loooooooong film, a bit less than 4 hours, but if you know your Civil War history, you are sure to like it. Robert Duval does a great Robert E Lee, but most of the focus is on General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and Maine General Chamberlain.
Ted Turner and a zillion other re-enactors are also included. The time span is between the Battle of Fredericksburg until the Wilderness campaign, (1862 until 63) in which Jackson was mortally wounded by his own men.
The reviewers (whom I suspect know diddly about US History: most of their ancestors were not in the US at this time) said that it was dull and too long, but I thought it was really good, For those with smaller bladders, they did graciously include an Intermission.
The Wilderness campaign was a lot more horrible than shown in the film. After hundreds of soldiers were wounded in the woods, the woods caught fire and they were burned to death with no way of helping them.
Another great Civil War film was Andersonville, made by Ted Turner about the notorious CSA prison camp near Andersonville, GA.
Real life usually does not have anything like a well-developed plot: so if you want a good linear plot to a historical film, you much warp history.
Andersonville and the earlier film about the war crimes trial of Andersonville Commandant Willard Wirz did in fact have as coherent a plot as any war film I've seen. Gods and Generals had no really definite central characters.
Goldmember Brass 7/29/02
Woops.
So, I went to see that Austin Powers movie.
Scale of one to ten: 6.45
I didn't like the first one when I saw it in the theatre, but then it got played ad nauseam on the HBO and I grew to like it more and more. When the second one came out, I really enjoyed it and laughed a lot.
So, I figured even though I had seen most of the movie in the previews and clips whenever Meyers and all the cast had been on talk shows and such, I would go and check it out. One of my friends loves Austin Powers and my wife was wanting to go, so off we went.
The theatre was about 90% full which usually means there will be some idiots talking or something, but there wasn't and it was one of the other scenarios of when the theatre is full: everyone wanted to see the movie and we all laughed and enjoyed it.
There are a lot of surprises in Goldmember. I won't tell you what they are, but they are fun and don't really add a lot to the story but I laughed at them. The story is pretty simple and not really the point. I'm sure everyone has an idea of what the movie is and so I will say that it is that and I had a good time seeing it.
Good-bye Lenin Xavier Onassis 4/5/04
We saw this last week. It is the tale of a mother who was intensely dedicated to the Communist government of East Germany (the DDR), and her loving son. She has a heart attack shortly before the Wall comes down. She goes into a coma for the next 10 months, and when she comes to, to prevent her from getting a fatal shock, her son and daughter do all they can to keep her from finding out about the fall of the DDR.
It's a German film, quite funny, and I bet a LOT funnier to an East German, as there are a lot of obvious inside jokes about old defunct DDR brand names and the like.
It was quite entertaining.
At no point do we see old Ronald Reagan saying "Mr. Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!"
The historical events are portrayed as being motivated entirely by Germans. I bet it was a lot more accurate than Gibson's Jesus flick. It was a lot easier to watch and made a lot more sense to me.
The Green Mile Cynthia 5/12/03
SPECTACULAR.
Kimba 3/30/04
I saw Hellboy last night
It’s a fun movie to watch.
kept my attention all the way through.
It might do well overall
I never read the comic so That should be a plus that I liked it anyway.
some pretty funny lines in it.
ron purlman is perfect for that role.
I hope the non-comic book folks like it, so there will be sequels
Hidalgo Xavier Onassis 3/8/04
This was a pretty good adventure film, pretty loosely based on a fellow named Hopkins and his horse named Hidalgo, who apparently were racing long-distance horse races around the turn of the century.
The race takes place in Arabia, supposedly beginning in Aden and ending in Damascus, but at the end of the race we see the winning team of Hidalgo & Hopkins prancing in the surf, and well, Damascus is not on any sea or ocean. See any map. I thought they told us what the route was at the beginning, but perhaps they were too poetic. It was not clear they he was racing, since in much of the film, no other riders are anywhere in sight.
I imagine that some Arabs have fun poking fun at the portrayal of the Arabs in this film, since they are pretty much all stereotypes except for Omar Sharif's character: swarthy and crafty. It was filmed in Morocco, not Arabia, and I imagine that the Sahara and the Arabian Desert are quite different to someone who lives there.
Viggo Mortensen who plays Hopkins seems to be rather perfect for being unshaven and besaddled with great adversity. His character is supposed to be one-half Sioux, and well, no, Viggo looks maybe one-half Laplander at most. Injun he ain't, at least in appearance. A whole tribe of Sioux could not grow those whiskers.
Entertaining, and the horse may have been the best portrayal by an animal in a feature-length film, ever. I am assuming it was the same pinto horse throughout the film, but I am no real expert on horses, so maybe there were several.
Holes Xavier Onassis 4/27/03
I saw Holes last weekend, and really enjoyed it. It is a kid flick, but with a really clever plot and a bunch of veteran actors who seem to be having a really good time acting in it.
Like the Miami Herald, I give it 3½ stars (on a scale where the best film I have seen lately, LOTR: The Two Towers gets 4.)
The Hours Hovencloof 2/12/03
I saw The Hours. It is one confusing flick. There are three stories going on at the same time, and they are not spliced together in a coherent manner.
There is the tale of Virginia Wolf, who is writing a novel called Mrs. D (forgot), and eventually drowns herself after greatly annoying her poor husband and servants. There is Laura Brown, who lives in California and reads Mrs. D (forgot), and perhaps as a result, leaves her husband and son and flees to Canada forever, and there is a third woman who is the friend of Laura Brown's grown, gay son, who is dying of AIDS in New York and offs his sorry self in lieu of winning some major life accomplishment book award. The camera zaps back and forth between these women, all played quite well despite the confusing screenplay and it is barely at the end of the film that we see any relationship between them at all. It put me to sleep. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
House of 100 Corpses Mjolnir 4/14/03
I've been waiting for this to come out for quite some time due to a lot of the hype surrounding it. Rock star Rob Zombie's long awaited horror flick has finally been released this weekend. If you're not a fan of horror films, skip this post and the film. I am a fan of the genre, and have been waiting for it for some time, so I saw it Saturday afternoon.
Is it any good? It was OK. The film deals with a kinda tired plotline...4 teens driving cross country get ambushed by a red-neck psycho family from hell, much like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Then it's a hour and 1/2 of blood soaked weirdness. Films like this are a good start for beginning filmmakers, and since Zombie is an obvious fan of the genre it was perfect for him. It was pretty graphic, but I have to wonder if this was the watered down/edited version. Zombie went through a few different distributors to get this film out-most wouldn't touch it due to it's content (most wanted to give it an NC-17 rating). Maybe a "directors" cut DVD will show the full, un-edited version.
House of Sand and Fog Xavier Onassis 1/19/04
We saw this last weekend. The acting is excellent. It is based on a novel. In the mid-70's, a disoriented woman whose husband has left her because she wanted kids and he didn't, lives in a house on the bluffs near San Francisco that she inherited from her father. She works as a house cleaner.
Pacific County sent her a business tax bill for $400 or so, which she didn't pay and then took downtown and told them she didn't owe it, and forgot about it. She doesn't ever read her mail, and doesn't know that the County has decided to auction off her house for nonpayment of taxes until the cops come and evict her. One of the cops, named Burdon, befriends her and they become lovers.
The house is bought for $45,000 by an Iranian colonel who was deposed with the Shah and has come to this Land of Opportunity and even become a citizen who has been working two jobs in construction and in a Quickie Mart to support his wife and son in luxury in a high rent apartment. His plan is to move into and sell the house for its market price of $175,000, after the fashion of the late-night TV get rich in real estate flimflam infomercials, and then continue buying and selling houses until perhaps he and his wife have matching Rolls-Royces (well, Mercedes 600's: Iranians dislike the Brits) like the infomercial clowns.
Each character has a tragic flaw which leads to the rather unsuspected final conclusion which I am not going to give away.
The photography is excellent: the fog almost becomes a character. The sand, well, there isn't a whole lot of sand, and I am sure you will all agree that sand just isn't as dramatic a thing as fog.
GREAT acting. Not all the Farsi is translated.
The Hulk Kimba 6/22/03
I saw it also At the very least the pacing was off The revision is somewhat ok, but Im starting to think ang lee is starting to j. scumacher it. ex. batman4 needs more energy For a 1st hulk movie, I think the approach should be to make the audience feel like the hulk. get that repressed anger out I think that’s what people are looking for here. Everyone I know who want to see the hulk said that’s what they want to see.
The Hunted Mirstnkim 3/16/03
I saw The Hunted on Friday. It was a pretty good movie. If you want to see what Portland and my little area of the world looks like, it is a good showing of it. It was all filmed in my area.
The Incredibles Xavier Onassis 11/14/04 This film was the best Pixar animated film yet. Unlike Toy Story I and II, Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc and Finding Nemo, this is not really a kid's film. The main characters (Mr Incredible, his wife, Elastistigirl, his kids Shrinking Violet and Dash, Edna the Supersuit designer, Frozone the superkool Black hero and bad guy gadget inventor Syndrome are all original enough to be called original, but similar enough to other superheroes (Superman, Plasticman, the X-man bunch and some James Bond types) to be interesting. Making Mr. I's wife a female housewife version of Plasticman was extremely clever, as was Edna. There is also Syndrome's very seductive-looking secretary, who doesn't fit any real stereotypes. The plot revolves around the fact that the government is so tired of lawsuits from collateral damage to citizens who were in some way impaired by acts of superheroism that it has put all the former superheroes (maybe two dozen are mentioned in all) into a witness protection program, where Mr. Incredible finds his life as an out of shape insurance claims adjuster intolerable, and Elastigirl has become a suburban soccer mom. Mr. I and his old buddy Frozone sneak out and do superdeeds anonymously just to stay in shape and are identified by Syndrome's secretary. Syndrome was once a big fan of Mr. I, who was rejected as a sidekick Incrediboy and has morphed into a sort of cross between Goldfinger and the Green Goblin and has dedicated himself to offing superheroes and creating a role for himself as the ultimate Gadget driven superhero. He has a couple of flaws: he isn't as competent as he thinks he is and he wears a cape. You will learn why a superhero should not wear a cape in this film. Great action scenes. Lotsa Syndrome's generic flunkies are wiped out. Nifty and very dangerous gadget weapons. I was expecting another after the credits surprise, but there was none. The credits were more along the lines of those for an old Bond flick. We spoke about Plasticman being ideal for a toon superhero, and all of that seems to have been realized in Elastigirl. I expected a great film from Pixar, but this was far better than expected. Inheritance (In Danish, with English subtitles) Xavier Onassis 9/13/04 Christoffer is running a restaurant and happy as can be. His wife is a luscious actress, and they are having a fine time in Stockholm. Then Christoffer's father commits suicide and Christoffer feels obliged to take over after his mother lays tons of guilt on him. His father was "a good man", but to his mother he was just a weak schlub. It seems obvious that his father got to be president by marrying her father. Turns out that his father was a beloved boss, but the firm was not making money. He has to shove aside and then fire his brother-in-law, then can 200 workers, including the jolly old fellow who used to baby sit him, then toss out Nels, his father's closest associate because the French company he merges with doesn't like him. He also loses the love of his lovely wife and misses out on raising his son. Incapable of love for anyone or anything, it looks like Christoffer's life will be one of despair and utter sterility. It doesn't look like any members of his family will inherit the firm, either. Towards the ends of the film, Christoffer gets drunk on five or six bottles of wine and assaults a rather ugly maid, making a disgusting fool of himself. Probably very accurate about how to succeed in a globalized industry, where only the heartless s.o.b’s can survive. One wonders if "The Donald" is like this in real life. Well-acted, good set design, but not all that entertaining. Melancholy Danes playing other melancholy Danes. If you find Kirkegaard amusing, this is your kind of film.
I Spy Mirstnkim 11/5/02
I took the kids to see this movie this afternoon. I loved it. In fact we all loved it and laughed a lot at the comedy in it. It is not a serious movie and Murphy is incredibly funny.
When all three of us agree on a movie, I can predict that it will be liked by others. Definitely worth seeing if you really enjoy funny movies.
Into the Void Xavier Onassis 3/15/04
This was a spectacular and exciting documentary about two British mountain climbers who climbed 21,000 ft high Siuma Grande in Peru, a previously unclimbed peak and almost did not make it back.
I am pretty sure it will not outgross Starsky & Hutch in any sense of the word, but if you are interested even minimally in mountain climbing or just want to see some spectacular mountain scenery (it was filmed in Peru and the Alps), you will like it.
Cynthia 6/12/04
Revisited the flick tonight a bit... Was there ever a more well acted scene than the one where the drunk captain recounts a moment in his life, his history,( which turns out to be a real life experience in ww2), ...a time in his life when he and other men were stranded floating in the pacific , after a battleship is destroyed.....hauntingly he tells the story of the USS INDIANAPOLIS slammed by a Japanese torpedo downed in the middle of the ocean, being picked off by a great Tiger shark.... with no chance of rescue as no signal was sent out.
So the men formed in a small group in the ocean.....screaming men....wrestling the water to scare away the shark...starring him in the eyes.......but he comes at ya...."those black eyes"..."you hear that high pitched screamin' the ocean turnin' red"...
...wow....That scene still gives me chills to this day.
I have forgotten the man's name...but h has since passed away.
Universe Prince 10/11/03
I went to see Kill Bill today. To watch the story unfold was a joy. As seems to be the usual with a Quentin Tarantino film, the story is not told in a linear fashion. It begins with an opening black and white sequence of a bloody Uma Thurman in conversation with the as yet unseen Bill of the film's title. Tarantino claims this is reminiscent of the old Alfred Hitchcock Presents television show, but it seemed a bit more like an old film noir scene to me.
Anyway, the movie then jumps ahead about four and a half years to a nice suburban house where Uma Thurman's character, The Bride, sets about attempting to kill one of her old working pals. Lemme 'splain. The Bride (who has an ordinary name, but it's bleeped out in the film, for reasons known only to Thurman and Tarantino I suspect) was a member of the Deadly Vipers Assassination Squad. Apparently one day she pissed off Bill, the man behind the Squad, by attempting to exit the group and get married. She was also pregnant at the time (and that is very important to the story, but I won't say more). On The Bride's wedding day, she and her groom and everyone else there for the ceremony were dispatched with so much violence and gunfire by the Deadly Vipers Assassination Squad. Somehow, The Bride survived this, though remaining in a coma for four years. Upon waking up, she promptly set about achieving her revenge, which is to say killing those who had been her team members on the Squad and, of course, Bill. Apparently, the other team members have moved on to new things, and so The Bride begins to hunt them down one by one.
As I said, the story is not told in linear fashion, rather it leaps back and forth along the sequence of events, but I never found it to be confusing in the least. Tarantino always lets you know what part of the story you're seeing. Whether for a sort of inside joke or for revealing plot points, he unfolds relevant events in a skillful way. I can understand why the local paper here made a mistake about the length of the film. (The film is about one hour and fifty minutes long, but the local paper claimed it was only 93 minutes.) The film fairly flies along, certainly not feeling like nearly two hours.
Of course, there is a lot of violence and blood in Kill Bill, and that may not be your cup of tea. If, on the other hand, you enjoy good fight scenes, you will enjoy Kill Bill. The climactic sword fight at the end is outstanding. The Bride, dressed in a recreation of Bruce Lee's fighting outfit in Game of Death, proceeds to slice, dice, and otherwise cut her way through several dozen sword wielding baddies and an insane school girl with a flail/buzzsaw combo. It is a lovely thing to behold. It is beautifully choreographed and splendidly filmed. And the music suits the scene (and the movie for that matter) almost perfectly.
And the twist/cliffhanger ending is excellent. It's a great tease to inspire the viewer to come back for more when the second volume of Kill Bill hit theaters in February.
Kill Bill Brass 10/12/03
Well, I went to see the new Tarantino film and I was blown away.
What I took away from it more than anything is the fact that our Quentin has grown up (sort of). Still there is the gratuitous violence that invokes laughter most of the time and an occasional "Oh crap that was cool!" and the inevitable bone-crunching "ew, gross."
Kill Bill's story unfolds slowly but never do you check your watch. Wry smiles are the shot du jour. Tarantino gives you winks to his other films to let you know that he's still the same old Q while at the same time crossing into the genre of martial arts films that we know that he adores seamlessly to explore different realms in his own manner.
Visually, Kill Bill is very much like Pulp Fiction. Glossy, lots of color but it’s been tweaked to give it a more animated (anime) style. The violence is drenched in blood but you don't ever think "Oh my god, that's horrible!" because it is laughably over-drenched. I saw the film with my wife and with a couple of our friends. One of our friends is notorious for not wanting to see violence or "scary" movies. I was cringing when I would see the violence most of the times because I was thinking "Good lord, David will be traumatized by this" but as glanced down at him at one point during the bloodiest battle and he was laughing and having a good time.
In one way, Kill Bill is very different from Pulp Fiction and I found myself missing it: the dialogue. Kill Bill has very little of the idle chit chat that has been Q's hallmark. There are no ten minute discussions of "Like a Virgin" as in Reservoir Dogs or what they call a Big Mac in France. There are cute lines that evoke laughter but I wanted to hear The Bride discuss something with someone for a few minutes to give us some insight into her head. This is the only thing I missed but I didn't think of it till long after I left the theatre so it wasn't a drawback in any way.
A local movie-reviewer here in Memphis (she's the head of the film commission as well) said that this movie will flop because it is so violent and gory and just plain gross. I, respectfully, disagree. This movie is NOT for people who think that movies are real life and that anything onscreen could and will be re-enacted by children; however, this is a movie for adults who have been weaned on movies and pop culture. In other words, anyone over the age of 18.
I haven't put Kill Bill on my top ten list of all time (yet) but it is a great movie that I think adults and older teens will enjoy greatly.
Kill Bill Kimba 10/20/03
Just saw Kill Bill.l the intro is worth the price of admission for me. I haven’t seen that image in 20 yrs. tarantino took full advantage of the studio cutting the film in half. that was a painfull ending. there is no way Im not seeing the second half. gogo is too much. check it out 4 stars
Kill Bill Volume II Brass 4/17/04
I went to see Kill Bill Volume II today. It rocked!
However, there was a trailer that absolutely blew me away. One of the greatest films ever made was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Art and action.
This looks better.
These trailers are non-English but the one I saw today was. And the film is brought to America by Quentin Tarantino.
Kill Bill Volume 2 Kimba 4/26/04
Just saw Kill Bill Volume 2 outstanding!!!!!! But there might be scenes people may not get. I speak cantonese and a little mandarin. and I spot stuff that other folks may not get. and I think I know why gordan liu is playing pei mei. There is no greater master than gordan liu. master killer is the best movie ever
Xavier Onassis 4/19/04
First off, those old British Ealing Studio comedies were a riot at the time they were made, but precisely BECAUSE they were so good, techniques from them have been copied again and again for movie and TV comedies so often that what was really clever and original in them now seems trite. The original film is certainly worth seeing. It's black and white, the sound is tinny and the music sounds dated, though.
The Coen Brothers, who recently did the great O Brother Where Art Thou? set this film in Mississippi, but in modern times rather than the 1930's. Tom Hanks, a pedantic professor of classics, assembles a crew of central casting types to burrow underground and rob the Bandit Queen, a riverboat casino. The professor is the brains of the heist, the brawn is supplied by "Lump" a dimwitted jock. The inside man is the intensely inarticulate, profane and dim Gawain, portrayed by a Wayan brother, and they are accompanied by Pancake, a mustachioed Liberal in a safari suit with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and The General, a chain-smoking dapper Vietnamese.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a greatly misunderstood malady. It figures into the plot somewhat.
They pretend to be musician friends of the Professor and tool around in an ancient Caddy hearse. The Professor rents a room from a churchgoing fundamentalist Black preacher's widow who has a very convenient root cellar.
It is a morality tale from the first sight of the gargoyles on the Mississippi River bridge and the constant chain of garbage scows headed for Garbage Island. Edgar Allen Poe, who also wrote morality tales is amply quoted by his fan, the Professor, and his raven has as big a bit part as any bird I can recall since Tweety.
It's a LOT funnier than the reviews. I don't think the reviewers were very perceptive of all the literary and film allusions in The Ladykillers. Hanks seems to really have fun with the professor, whom he plays as one might after watching constantly watching Ernie Kovacs' character, Percy Dovetonsils, for a day or so.
No ladies were harmed in the commission of this film.
Lantana Yellow_crane 11/2/02
I checked out Lantana at the video store and watched it tonight.
I highly recommend it.
This was a complex story that dealt with personal relationships, and though complex, was simply structured, not overly intense or overly complicated. In fact, one of the great accomplishments was the ability of the author to make it understandable in story line, enabling anyone to follow the interplay of the characters.
The congruency and integrity of the psychological aspects were immaculate. Interestingly, you felt yourself experiencing a phenomenon that one rarely experiences when Hollywood attempts this kind of movie--you were watching an adult film, with adult problems, with adult tone, etc. There was sex, but that is not the 'adult' aspect of which I speak. Hollywood pretty much calls a film 'adult,' and proceeds to reveal a tale wherein there is a lot of gratuitous sex, while the characters act much like little more than adolescents.
The changing scenes, with characters revisited anew with each change, were done with a poignancy and pith that I admired greatly.
This film, written for the screen--taken directly from the author's original stage play, told great truths without all the usual pretense and reliance on intensity for intensity's sake that accompanies most films in this genre. In every aspect, I found it believable, and not pandering to the dramatic.
The Last Samurai Kimba 12/28/03
just saw The Last Samurai. That’s a real cool flick I hear the blood of my ancestors screaming out to me. Which is crazy,because I’m not japanese. I don’t know what their yapping about. But anyway check it out And the theatre is still pack?? go figure
Les Triplettes de Bienville Xavier Onassis 2/2/04
This is a rather delightful cartoon made in France, Canada and Latvia in which a very devoted mother with a bum foot spends her life training her son for the Tour de France, only to see him kidnapped by evil French gangsters who enslave him in a weird racing machine.
But she and her morbidly obese dog are assisted by a trio of elderly musical divas who live on frogs they catch with hand grenades.
The story is somewhat silly, but the drawings are highly original and what goes on in the background even more so. The obese Statue of Liberty holding up a hamburger flashes by in an instant, but is priceless.
The location of Bienville is not clear: it could be New York or Quebec or perhaps Montreal.
The dialogue is sort of mumbled, at times in French, at other times in English, but the entire toon depends entirely on the visual effects. I have never seen anything like it.
It reminds me of cartoons done at the Zagreb Studios in Yugoslavia in the late 50's early 60's in a way, as well as the cartoons of Gerald Scarfe, but still quite distinctive.
Levity BT 12/4/03
Just finished watching Levity with Billy Joe Bob Thornton and Holly Hunter.
It was anything but. All about redemption and making amends and serious things like that.
Do I have a case for false advertising?
Not a bad flick otherwise.
Life of Brian Xavier Onassis 4/9/04
With The Passion still in the first-run theatres, I got the urge to see once more that most entertaining of the "Jesus movies", Monty Python's Life of Brian.
It was every bit as funny as I remembered it, right down to the Judean People's Front and the opposition People's Front of Judea. The latter commit hari-kari in unison right under Brian's cross. The main JPF that Brian belongs to manages to satirize the PLO, the Jews and modern British leftist movements in general all at once.
What have the Romans ever done for us? Well, there's the aqueduct, the sewers, the education, the roads, and such.
Pilate comes out as a fop with a best friend named Bigus Dickus, which the feckless centurions laugh at and get punished for.
John Cleese is a Centurion who catches Brain scribbling Romans Go Home on the wall, and after torturing him into conjugating and declining the proper words, commands him to write it 500 more times all over Jerusalem. That's the Nominative Plural, there, son, not the hablative singular!
The Lord of the Rings Hovencloof 1/3/03
I do really like LOTR and plan to buy them all as soon as they are available.
I expect I shall watch them more than any other movie, too. On the other hand, isn't Sauron a little dim on strategy? Things are best done in order, as everyone knows: "Finish your vegetables, THEN you can have ice cream." But Lord Sauron still hasn't got his body back and decides to wipe out the Men of Rohan.
Wouldn't it be wiser to breed smarter Orcs and send them after the ring, THEN attack the Elves, Men, Hobbits, etc? Don't the Ringwraiths have rings that control all the various races, and then the One Ring Rules Them All, right? So Get the Ring, Sauiron, you dummy!
It's like he is following the strategy of the same villains that used to spend 30 minutes setting up James Bond to cut him in half with a band saw while explaining his devious plan in its entirety. During this time, Bond is secretly untying himself. It would have been better to just shoot him and mail a letter to M-5 later.
On the other hand, it would have sort of ruined the story...
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King MissusDe 12/17/03
Wow.
Excellent, excellent movie.....I lost track of the number of times I cried. The audience was so into the story.....I don't think I've ever been at a movie where there were so many instances of clapping and cheering at different points.
The one criticism is that towards the end, the screen fades to black and there was some scattered 'end-of-movie' type applause, but then another scene started. After that, people were getting antsy and it was obvious that they were ready for it to be over....the rule of thumb is "always leave them wanting more", but in this case, Jackson could have found ways to move the ending along a little better, I think.
All in all, a fantastic movie on its own and an amazing end to an amazing trilogy. I can't wait for the extended version to come out!
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Xavier Onassis 1/2/04
I agree with you totally on the Return of the King. We saw it in Paris, at a huge multiplex, where it took half an hour to seat the audience. The house was packed, even though this was the original English-language version with subtitles in French, rather than the dubbed French version, which was sold out first.
It managed to sew up all the various subplots involving Frodo, Sam, Bilbo, Gandalf and of course the King himself. I am also planning to get all the extended versions and to have an all-Middle-Earth home festival every year or so.
It is clearly the best movie of the year and LOTR is the best series of films ever made.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Brass 1/2/04
As far as the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy, I wanted to enjoy it very much and I did, but I have to admit that towards the end of Return, I was getting antsy and ready for it to be over. And when it was over, I was like thinking, "Well that was a nice trip but I'm glad to be home now."
When Frodo started that shit with the ring is mine on the edge over the fires of Mordor or whatever, I just wanted Samwise to just push his ass over the edge and be done with it.
And did we really need all those shots of Frodo through cheesecloth and looking so knowingly at Sam?
And the ending was straight out of The Wizard of Oz. I could just hear Frodo saying to Sam, "I think I'll miss you most of all, Scarecrow."
Don't get me wrong, it was the most amazing series of films ever made and I am so heartened to see the outright devotion to the books and the time and effort and money it took and it was all worth it, but I was pushing for it to move towards the end of Return.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Universe Prince 12/18/02
Well, I've seen it. It's great. It's a magnificent film. And I'm not saying that lightly. It's nearly three hours long, but it sure didn't seem that way. This film has a faster pace than Fellowship of the Ring, despite having the Ents. Speaking of Ents, see The Two Towers and you too will believe that trees could speak and walk. Wow.
The film starts with an expanded version of the end of the showdown between Gandalf and the Balrog (which does seem to have wings of a sort, if you're one that cares about that). Later, you'll get to see Gollum/Smeagol. Wow again. I won't say you can't tell he's CG, but Weta did an amazing job of making Smeagol an expressive character, in his face and his body language. The CG effects, including Smeagol, the Ents, and the fight at Helm's Deep are outstanding. To George Lucas who said they couldn't make this trilogy without I.L.M., you were are wrong as you could be. I.L.M. could learn a thing or two from Weta.
The acting is very good. Brad Dourif is, as always, excellent. As the hobbits begin to understand the scope of what they have involved themselves in, you can see the growth in their attitudes. Bernard Hill as King Theoden does a very good job of showing a leader in a desperate situation, wanting to protect his people without having to send any of them into a conflict that may get them killed, and yet knowing that destruction is coming anyway.
In case you hadn't noticed, I like the film. I highly recommend this film. I don't lightly call a film great. Great is a superlative reserved for only the very best films. And I would say that The Two Towers is a truly great film.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Hovencloof 12/22/02
I saw this several hours ago, and it is better than the Fellowship of the Ring, which I also loved. Peter Jackson is a cinematic genius, especially when you consider that the middle film has neither a beginning nor an end.
Unlike other action films that are heavy on the FX, like The Matrix, in The Two Towers I think everyone can identify with at least a half-dozen characters or more. I liked The Matrix, but the plotline was a bit deficient.
It is great if you can show the characters behead Evil Personified, but best of all if you care enough to sympathize with the character and agree that Evil Personified DESERVED beheading.
I was not only better than I expected (and I expected I would like it) but better than I could have imagined.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Brass 12/23/02
I saw The Two Towers over the weekend as well. I enjoyed it a lot.
There were parts of it that completely bowled me over. I actually was blown away by the shot of Gandalf and the Balrog falling through the hole in the ceiling of the huge underground cavern. It was a very long shot of them falling from the hole to the water below but I loved every second of it.
Gollum was brilliant. I actually had an emotional reaction/attachment to a CGI construct which I had thought never possible. There is actually buzz around about the actor who voiced and provided the movements for Smeagol.
Of course, the cinematography is outstanding.
I give it an 8 out of 10 because it drug a little for me at times.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Mirstnkim 12/23/02
Just back from seeing this exceptional movie. Of course I sat spell bound with my popcorn and pop. Had to use the girls room so bad but withheld the urge because I was glued to my seat. I could not have missed a moment of it.
There were no real surprises except maybe the trees. I loved the movie and highly recommend it. It had better special effects than the first but the story line was not quite as good but all in all equal to the first, imo.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Plum 12/26/02
Andy Serkis, Gollum/Smeagol, should win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, IMO. That scene where Gollum is fighting for control with Smeagol and Smeagol wins was amazing. The facial expressions were derived from Serkis' and the voice was all his own. An incredible feat. He conveyed more from those two things than Viggo Mortensen conveyed through actually appearing in the film. Okay, that's not hard, I'll grant you.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended DVD MissusDe 12/5/03
One thing I'll say for the LOTR extended DVD's is that they have spoiled me for other DVD's with extras on them....the amount of extra footage that has been cut into the films themselves (requiring each film to be rescored since the music has to match the action) and the extensive background material is absolutely unparalled.
What I am looking forward to someday is the release of the bloopers - but I know that won't happen for a long time. I know that on The Two Towers director/writer's commentary section, Jackson and the writers were joking about re-releasing the extended DVD's again with even more additional footage, because there is even more that we haven't seen yet.
The section that details how Andy Serkis collaborated with WETA and how the blending of CGI and acting created the characterization of Gollum is especially fascinating. They have set a new standard in the industry; by all rights, George Lucas should be cringing with shame when he compares Gollum with JarJar Binks.
Seeing what Jackson has been able to elicit from his special effects teams does make me curious to see what his vision of King Kong will be, even though I've never been especially interested in the story. But I have faith in Jackson's talent and I'll see the film.
Counting down to December 17th and The Return of the King.................
Love Actually Cynthia 5/8/04
The cast is great- Theme is marvelous-story hits home on every level for SOMEONE....
Alan Rickman When you think we live in a world of hate of greed, you must see this film. It's delightful. They even mention 9-11 in the opening scene. ....and it opens and closes in an airport. Man, what a film. I loved it. LOVE ACTUALLY is all around.
Xavier Onassis 9/1/03
I saw this last Saturday. It was very well done, very realistic and according to what I have read, many of the inmates of these twisted sisters say the film portrayed the sisters as more sadistic and abusive than shown.
Master and Commander Xavier Onassis 11/17/03
I saw this last Saturday, and it is the absolute most authentic XIX Century sailing ship movie I have ever seen. Russell Crowe was great, as were the rest of the cast, and the costumes, ship and action scenes were terrific.
It always bothered me that Clark Gable could wear five layers of clothing for two weeks sailing about the Caribbean and it would get neither sweaty nor dirty.
When you see it, note the scene where they are rounding the horn, the ship is covered with icicles and up there on the bow is some sad sailor taking a dump.
Someone should get an Oscar for the wardrobe and set design at the very least.
The Matrix Hovencloof 12/23/02
The Matrix had great special effects, but I thought the plot was quite confusing, and I just couldn't bring myself to CARE about any of the characters. It seemed like a puppet show due to the lack of humanity in the characters. Everyone is manipulated; we are all zombies dreaming in pods, so what. Just my opinion.
I MIGHT watch The Matrix again in a couple of years IF it happens to be on TV. I would like to see The Two Towers again right away.
The Matrix Reloaded Brass 5/20/03
My rating: On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 7 (for now). First the bad:
CGI sucks. Just throw it out. Didn't need it in the first one, don't need it now. I loved all the fight scenes but the would have been a thousand times more amazing with just the real folk jumping around and guys in masks playing the extra Smiths.
I loved that fight scene with all of them but I could see the fakery and that ruined it for me. The scene of the guy jumping onto the hood of the car was an amazing thing but it could have been done with a real person using a blue screen and not a video game figure with a face pasted on it.
Secondly, the story was just too fraught with unnecessary filler. I don't care about Zee not wanting Link to go on the ship. What I wanted to know about there was what happened to Tank. He was alive at the end of the last one. And who was this kid that idolized Neo? I think a lot could have been explored with Neo and his followers. I want to see a movie about that.
Lastly, I've got some questions about why Neo can fly and catch bullets and all that but he still fights people in the Matrix. Why not just squash them? I know there must be a viable answer because the first one was so layered and so well thought out that I find it difficult to believe that they would just not address some of these things. I'm going to see the movie at least twice more in the theatre and try to sort that out.
Now, the great:
Of course, all the fight scenes were amazing. I was blown away by Neo's superhero type moves in the Smith fight. And the Morpheus/ghost fight in the car as they're trying to escape on the freeway. I loved it all. I want to see it again just to see Trinity jump off the bridge onto the truck full of motorcycles.
The flying. Absolutely the part I loved the best. They nailed what past films couldn't do. It was slightly CGI at times but DAMN! When flew down into the city and had clouds behind him, I was into it. And when he flew in and saved Morpheus and the Keymaker. Whew!
The dialogue. I was just overloaded on all the cause and effect stuff. I know that it will lead me to many drunken discussions so I know I want to sort through all that again.
All in all a great film except for the CGI.
The Matrix Revolutions Universe Prince 11/8/03
Well, when I was talking about The Matrix Revolutions before it came out, I was telling my friends "All your questions will be answered, and all your answers will be questioned." I was half right. Certainly Revolutions raises a number of questions, but it provides few answers.
The film picks up almost right where The Matrix Reloaded left off. Neo is in a coma, as is Bane, the fellow "infected" with Agent Smith. Neo is promptly "rescued" in a series of events that seem to have little to do with the rest of the film. Bane also wakes up and proceeds to foreshadow (though perhaps unintentionally) the puzzling nature of the rest of the film.
The sequence set in Zion seems rather formulaic actually. The outnumbered but defiant troops are assembled for the 'final showdown' and of course show much heroism along the way. There is the disillusioned general who thinks they have no chance, and the leader of the troops who makes the noble sacrifice and the youngster who proves himself by screwing up his courage for the crucial moment of the battle. Still, I have to say, the entire sequence is pretty intense and visually stunning. The swarming Sentinels are a beautiful thing to behold.
Anyway, by the time that sequence is done, the story remembers that Neo is supposed to be saving the day. And so it returns to Neo and Trinity, who are making their way to the machine city. Neo has a daring proposal to make to the machines who have, by this point in the story, found themselves more threatened by the ever multiplying Agent Smith than by the One. Which leads the film to the climax, the showdown between Smith and Neo.
And this battle is truly huge. There are plenty of 'wow' moments as we see the power of this battle between the Matrix's titans.
Yet, I found myself thinking that the Wachowski brothers had forgotten some of the lessons Neo supposedly learned in the first Matrix movie. And Revolutions leaves plenty of questions unanswered. And it is not resolved in the manner that the first two movies lead one to expect. (Though, to be fair, it is foreshadowed in Reloaded.) And perhaps most befuddling to me is that the Wachowski brothers end the film with the implication of more story to be told. Certainly this film and the entire trilogy will give folks plenty to debate for years to come. ] It has been said that the first Matrix film is about birth; Reloaded is about life; and Revolutions is about death. Perhaps that is so. Certainly the imagery is there. I would say, though, that Matrix is about discovery; Reloaded is about examination; and Revolutions is about understanding.
Men In Black 2 Brass 7/6/02
So, I went and saw it last night.
First of all, it was probably the best movie experience I've had in a while. Meaning the theatre was so quiet and respectful of each other. No one talked loudly. No one thought they were watching TV. The audience laughed at most of all the same things at the same time. Very pleasant. I saw it in one the upscale, "grown-ups" theatres in town. You know they sell wine and lattes and sushi at the counter. I've had other good experiences there but some really bad ones too. The elderly love to go there and talk about the lines as they happen.
Anyhoo, the film itself was fairly solid. Almost as good as the first one. Some of the fun was knock offs from the last film and some of it was just not funny.
Some of the humor was cheap, admittedly but I found myself laughing in spite of myself. The effects were pretty good. Will Smith was the same and there's really odd scene with Tommy L. Jones that had me taken aback for a moment.
I recommend it. Oh yeah, some very crazy cameos in it too!
Minority Report Symark 7/13/02
This is a film you want to see immediately again just because you're convinced you missed some details.
This is also the film Spielberg needed to right himself after the only so-so A.I.
Cruise plays the lead, and the plot is quite involved, set in the future, revolving around a system of incarcerating people for predetermined murders- any more explanation would give away too much. This is a relatively long film but lots of good effects and a plot with twists aplenty.
Cruise was also very good, and I'm not at all a big fan of his. I will also be interesting to see where Colin Farrell's career goes from here- he seems to be a cross between Jude Law and Christian Slater. The film is nearly stolen by a young English actress named Samantha Morton.
The story is muddled in spots, but the acting is on par with the great effects. Cruise as co-producer and Spielberg get high praise for choosing an excellent cast. This is a film that needs to be seen in a theater to be appreciated- don't wait for it to go to rental.
Minority Report Mirstnkim 12/19/02
I just watched this movie last night. It was an incredible movie. I am not a huge sci-fi fan but this was incredible.
And that red little car? Wow, I want one too!!
Though Cruise was ok in it, I think other actors could have done better. Though the storyline was not hurt by him in anyway. He was believable but just not quite the sci-fi actor that I would have considered. I think Nicholas Cage would have been ideal in this movie.
Minority Report Kimba 12/19/02
I saw that yesterday also the ad part also creeped me out It’s actually plausible remember when we surf the net some sites gets a cookie and spams us later amazon when we look at a book it give recommendations to other books the movie does that also a commercial big brother Not a bad flick.
Monsieur Ibrahim Xavier Onassis 3/29/04
The title of this French film was shortened to Monsieur Ibrahim for the US, but it is a really well-acted film. Both Omar Sharif, as the Turkish shopkeeper Ibrahim, and the actor who played the young Jewish kid who he helps to come of age are great.
The scenery of a rundown Paris neighborhood during the 1960's was extremely well done. I never imagined that so many Simcas, Panhards, 2 CV's and ancient Peugeots and Renaults existed. The scenery of the desolate mountains of Eastern Turkey was also evocative and well chosen. I am sure it is a more worthy film than Kill Bill or anything featuring "The Rock".
Monster Xavier Onassis 3/22/04
This was a biographical film about the only woman to be executed in modern times in the US, Aileen Wuornos, played by Charlize Theron. The acting was terrific, but the story was more than a bit depressing. Theron is a beauty, but Wuornos was far from being attractive and she must have taken a whole bottle of ugly pills to play that role. Considering that Theron is a doctor's daughter from South Africa, her job was doubly difficult, because she had to get the Florida accent down right. Exceptional acting, she deserved the Oscar. Her girlfriend Christina (I think Christina) Ricci was also great.
Motorcycle Diaries Xavier Onassis 10/17/04 I saw this last night, and it is very good. It is about a trip young Che Guevara made with his buddy Alberto Granado when he was 24 and Granado was 29. They left their middle-class families in Buenos Aires, went way South into Patagonia, and across the Andes and up into Chile, Peru and eventually Venezuela. Che had asthma. I didn't know that. There was no mention of his American grandmother, Benita Lynch, I believe her name was. The local Miami newspaper reviewer was a Cuban and resented any portrayal of Guevara as anything other than a carpetbagging monster, and only gave the film two stars (of four), but it was MUCH better than that. It was filmed on location, and the scenery is fabulous, as are the interesting characters they meet along the way. The film leaves Che (whose nickname was Fuser) and Alberto as they drift down the Amazon into Brazil and on the Venezuela (it is possible to sail down the Amazon and turn left and down the Orinoco). Alberto gets a job in Caracas, and Che flies home. The cycle, a 1939 English Norton they call El Poderoso leaks and burns oil and eventually expires when they hit a cow at high speed somewhere in Chile, after which they proceed on foot and hitchhiking to Cuzco, Macchu Piccu and Lima, then they get a ride to Pucallpa and go down the river to a leper colony at San Pablo. The asthmatic Che manages to swim across a wide and dangerous river (maybe the Amazon, probably the Urubamba, I need to look at my maps). As someone who spent his 20's traveling around Mexico, mostly on second class buses and trains, I can say that the film captures the Latin American character perfectly (which the usual stuff directed by Americans -as Romancing the Stone- does not). My Big Fat Greek Wedding Hovencloof 1/27/03
I decided to go see Nemesis, but when we got to the only theatre that was still showing it, the projector was broken and we saw BFGW instead. It was the best wedding film I have ever seen, mainly because there was no indication throughout the film that the two people would NOT get married, and tension was maintained only by the desire to see how the families would eventually react to the marriage of a Greek woman past her prime to a xenios (foreigner). The groom was the guy who played KHBR's Chris in the Morning DJ on Northern Exposure. He is a year older than the woman who played the bride (he is 41 this year, she is 40).
The makeup used on her was amazing. She loses at least 12 years in appearance.
I am sure I can rent Nemesis fairly soon if it doesn't win an Oscar and come back to the theatres if the projector doesn't get fixed.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding MissusDe 2/22/03
I didn't see this until it came out on VHS. I had gotten to the point of being sick of hearing about it and how successful it was and how funny and seeing Nia Vardalos all over the place, etc. No movie could possibly be so good as to garner all this attention....no way.
Boy, was I in for a shock...I was so wrong! This is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Nia Vardolos not only played the part of Toula brilliantly, but her writing is what floored me. She was able to use dialogue (a mixture of conversational exchanges and her own narration) to make the audience understand the Greek culture and her own family's quirks.
This is definitely a movie to buy...and I hope that Hollywood takes notices of how successful it was, despite a PG rating.
Mystic River Brass 10/20/03
As I suspected: Fair.
A superb story is wasted on Eastwood's amateurish direction. Mystic River is a terrific simple story of three boys who grow up in the same neighborhood. There are no horses, no sprawling vistas and not super tough guys who just have one-liners so why was Clint Eastwood allowed to direct this pic? There is major drama that is just lost. Amazing performances could have been turned in if this had been a Scorsese film. Eastwood just plants the camera and shoots what happens from what I can tell. The images are flat and static. Penn turns in his stock Penn performance remembering from acting school that one teacher who always said that "trying not to cry is more powerful than actually crying". Once or twice is good in that but eventually when he is supposed to cry, he still tries not to cry. Robbins is surprising a little in that he plays a tortured man who was literally a tortured boy and he's good in that way. I enjoyed his performance quite a bit.
Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburn look like they're doing their turn on Law and Order or something. Bacon could have some great moments but when it comes, nothing. He is just Bacon. And Fishburn is playing a part more suited to Charles Dutton. I mean, he's really good in it but you can only polish a turd so much, youknowhatImean?
The greatest insult is the misuse of Laura Linney and Marcia Gay Harden. Good lord, two greats of our time and they are bit parts? Un-freaking-believable. There is a scene at the end with Linney that is enough of a taste to make you mad. It was like they filmed a bunch of stuff that got cut with her but that was the one that they just HAD to put in. And Harden is just in the background all though she is somewhat pivotal.
There story is the real star but with the half-assed way it was directed it comes out tepid and all one can say is "Wow, that was a movie that talked about something that happened". Oh, well, they can't all be Unforgiven.
JayC 28 6/24/02
I saw this over the weekend and really enjoyed it. Many reviewers were too picky, citing its 'slickness' and complaining about the ease of which these crooks are able to pull off some of their tricks. But who cares? The movie was fun to watch, and the cast was excellent, especially Carl Reiner and Brad Pitt (who is a much better actor than he is given credit for). I wish they had more screen time for Don Cheadle who was very funny as a British thief with a strong cockney accent.
Check it out. It's worth the rental and it is much better than the bland original with Sinatra.
Open Range Mirstnkim 8/15/03
This was a very good movie. Reminded me a lot of Lonesome Dove. Duval is so good in this film. Costner is ok. Costner reminded me of his old self from Dances with Wolves.
There is not a lot of special affects which is fine with me but there is a lot of story. I recommend it.
Xavier Onassis 3/30/04
I COULD say that I finally went to see this film, but that would not be exactly true. What happened was that a friend of a friend somehow lent a copy of a DVD that someone else had filmed in a theatre to me. I know this because during the first five minutes or so, the shadow of a head travels across the scene, sits down and disappears. I am pretty sure Mel did not allow this in his version. So I did see it. The scene selection of the DVD was very poorly done.
In the beginning, there is severe darkness. I tend to think that this is because this is the way that the film was made, because the beginning scenes are nocturnal, when Jesus is arrested, because later on there is plenty of light. But it does rather look as though it had been filmed in someone's cellar.
The characters in the first parts of this film seem to do a LOT of mugging, reminiscent of the expressions seen on old silent flicks like those of David Wark Griffith (Intolerence, Birth of a Nation) and others (Battleship Potempkin). Expressions of horror and surprise. A bit overdone, in my opinion. The eyeballs roll and the teeth flash more than I (were I the director) would deem necessary.
The story seems fairly close to the NT Gospels. It seems that the main exception is that Jesus is tempted by a rather feminine looking Satanic figure (I know this because she comes with a snake, which Jesus stomps severely). I am hoping no real serpents were harmed in the making of this feature. The same figure appears in the mob scenes as Jesus struggles on to carry his cross all way through Jerusalem and up the hill. This temptation, which takes place when Jesus is alone in the howling wilderness before the Gesthemene scenes, takes place in the woods in the dark just before he is arrested by the soldiers in this film. It is not apparently a flashback.
The theory of Christianity is that Jesus in AD 33 or thereabouts (probably 27 AD, as Jesus was apparently born 6 BC: the Evangels forgot to mention specific dates for some odd reason) and his grisly, painful and gory crucifixion somehow has made it possible for everyone who has ever sinned and will ever sin be able to get to Heaven as a result. For some reason, God is Omnipotent, but somehow planned all this in advance, so presumably all those who had gone before (Cain, Pharoah, Alexander the Great, Tiglath Pileazer, and such) were waiting in Purgatory until Jesus came alone with the possibility of salvation. Eventually he will return at the End of Days and sort everyone, both living and dead, out. You have to accept this premise to understand what Mel is doing: by seeing how much Jesus suffered, you should also understand how really rotten, sinful and bad you and everyone else has been. You should be very ashamed about this and repentant for it, and unconditionally grateful for Jesus for taking the rap for you.
Well, all those sins (Pharoah's cruelty, Cain's fratricide, Alexander's buggery, as well as those hateful things you said to Becky Sue back in 1973 and the puppy you kicked in '79) and many, many more were anticipated from the dawn of time, and have been atoned for back in 27 AD or 33 AD when Jesus was flogged, scourged, kicked, punched, clobbered, humiliated and crucified. All you have to do is admit that He did this for YOU and well, you will be saved. Halleluljah.
That is where Mel Gibson is coming from. This is the most medieval film I think I have ever seen. Mel's goal is for you to see every flick of the lash, every twinge of pain, every aspect of Jesus' final agony so that you will appreciate what Jesus did for you, you corrupt sinner, you.
There are quick several flashbacks to Jesus' ministry, curing the sick, speaking to the multitudes at the Sermon on the Mount (or so it seemed to make), but no major miracles, unless I blinked.
I think I could easily imagine Gibson telling the actors playing the Romans soldiers to be even more cruel, to never miss a chance for another whipping, kicking or poking. They were more cruel than the Nazis in any Holocaust movie, more cruel than Freddy or Jason or Leatherface or any of the Living Dead, or even Sauron or Saruman or the Uruk-hai. That evil. King-Hell Superbad.
The violence goes on and on. Blood spatters and appropriate squishing sounds issue forth. Jesus groans, the spectators hoot and cry and holler every step of the way. There seem to be more extras waiting along the side of the streets and paths in this film than there were orcs who turned out at the Battle of Helm's Deep. St. John, Mary and Magdalene accompany Jesus up to Golgotha. Mary seems to be a bit young to be the mother of a 33 years old son, but of course, she was conceived without sin and I am certainly no expert on how this would affect her facial collagen levels.
I can also surmise from the actors in this film that the people at the time of Jesus seem to have brushed and flossed their way to excellent dental hygiene. Everyone in this film appears to have really beautiful, straight teeth. Sugar was in short supply back then, I hear.
Jesus is nailed through the palms of the hands, which I have heard, won't hold a person's weight. Experts have declared that if you really want to nail a body to a Cross and make it stay there, you will need to hammer the nails through the wrists. Of course, people with stigmata always have them on the palms of their hands and I imagine that this is why Mel sticks with the traditional paintings, legends and sculptures.
One of the thieves (Dimas, I think) says that he thinks that he deserves to be crucified, but that Jesus doesn't. I can agree with half of this. I can't see anyone as seeing that anything he has done would cause him to say that he thinks crucifixion was a fair punishment though. After all, Dimas and Gestas were just THIEVES, not murderers, pederasts, rapists or anything approaching Hannibal Lector, Ed Gein or or Jeffrey Dahmer, or at least that's what the Bible says. I don't think anyone deserves crucifixion even a mild form of it, such as Tony Curtis or Spartacus got, let alone what Jesus went through.
At the end, we hear the scraping sounds of the stone being rolled into or perhaps out of place, covering the tomb. The wrapped shroud deflates, and a figure with a hole in his right hand walks across the camera and pop, it's over. Is that all? Yes, it seems to be all.
Pilate comes across as a self-serving politician who doesn't want to risk an uprising. Caphias and the Jewish priesthood seem to be really evil, sniveling, vindictive wretches, and are far and away the best dressed fellows on the set. It is really easy to hate them. They reminded me of the evil priest that collaborated with the Nazis in Indiana Jones and the Lost ArK, the one who was melted when he opened the Ark. (At the time, I wondered why anything that could melt folks like that be contained in a box).
I am glad I saw The Passion, because I was curious and felt I could not comment upon it unless I did, which still seems logical to me. I am glad that the Romans didn't use impalement in lieu of crucifixion, because I am pretty sure that this would be even more painful and even harder to watch. This film is indeed rather hard to watch. It's not entertaining in any way, and after about half an hour I continued watching only for the same reason someone who has made it to the second base camp wants to reach the summit. I cannot conceive of me wanting to make this film. There are many aspects of the Jesus story that I find interesting, but this is the part that I would not spend more than 15 minutes on. Too gory, overkill in the extreme.
It is really impossible to compare this film aesthetically with other films. It isn't intended to be entertainment; it doesn't seem to afford any of the actors an opportunity to excel at acting. James Caveziel, the actor who plays Jesus, is entirely adequate to the cast, but for most of the film he is more a prop than a person, he is that bloody and objectified by all that cruelty. Since I don't think that it is any way logical to blame anyone alive today for what happened then to Jesus, I can't see where it could make me hate anyone for what even that nastiest of Jews, the priest Caiaphas did in real life.
For me, all the violence and gore made it difficult to forget that I was watching a movie more than usual. I suppose at some point, someone will make a holographic Crucifixion film with more realistic sounds coming from every direction and the smells and blood droplets sailing through the air that will be more effective at convincing the viewer that he really is there.
The usage of Aramaic and Latin was a stroke of genius, because it made for less a conflict that everyone who has ever been to Sunday School has of Jesus in their mind, bit it also tended to make it somewhat harder to get into the action.
Maybe you should see this. But, don't bring any children under 16. That would be parental irresponsibility in my opinion.
The Passion of the Christ Mirstnkim 4/3/04
XO, I am glad you saw it. It is good to hear the opinion of someone who is not Christian.]
First though, this movie was not made for entertainment purposes. It was made to be a message. As harsh as this movie was, it gives a pretty good accounting of what happened to Jesus. Something that is very important to Christians.
This movie was violent but it made me really think on the suffering of this innocent man. The other thing it did was open my eyes to the brutality of that Roman period. Jesus was not the only man dealt with in such a brutal way. The Romans were cruel and enjoyed blood and brutality.
As for your take on Satan. The snake was prophesied in Genesis. Gen 3:14-15 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:
"Because you have done this,
As for the nails, you’re right, a body could not be held up that way, but if they bound the wrists with ropes and the feet with ropes as they did in the movie, I believe it could be done.
It was a deeply moving movie for me. I also agree that it should not be seen by everyone, especially children.
The Piano Hovencloof 2/16/03
I was turned off by the smarmy blurb on the poster that this was "more authentic than Spielberg" as I think Spielberg has made a number of great films, including Schindlers' List.
But it was very god and well-made and had a much more European, much less Hollywood flavor to it. It reminded me of that other great Holocaust classic, Art Spiegelman's comic novel, Maus.
The blurb wasn't written by Roman Polanski, so I can't fault him for that. It was quite an excellent film. I am not overly fond of Holocaust films, but this was among the best.
The scenery of destroyed Warsaw was very impressive. And of course, the star and most of the Jews in the film LOOKED Jewish. I am not saying that all Jews do, nor do all Poles look Polish or Germans look German, but it seemed to add a sense of authenticity to the film. It made one wonder "How is he going to sneak by the Germans?"
See it, you will probably like it.
The piano music was excellent, too.
Pieces of April Xavier Onassis 11/24/03
This is a good, fairly wacky flick about Thanksgiving, obviously made on a budget. Good acting, good writing, clever script. Much better than a Thanksgiving Hallmark Special, because it's not at all mawkish or gloppy.
Pleasantville Cynthia 6/3/04
YOU KNOW....this movie was on again TBS in our "town".
May all your dreams be in color....
Xavier Onassis 4/7/03
I saw this over the weekend. Michael Caine is great as usual. I highly recommend it. It has what seems to be very authentic scenery and costumes for the period (1950's Saigon, mostly). He is betrayed by and then betrays the bogus eye doctor CIA agent. Good riddance, anyone would say, because the Caine character is as sympathetic as the CIA bozo is annoying.
Stray Pooch 5/17/03
I just watched this movie last night. It is a true story of Australian "half-caste" (mixed aboriginal and white) children who were forcibly removed from their homes by the government to be educated and ethnically cleansed. Kenneth Branagh does his usual amazing job of portraying Mr Neville, the oh-so-well-intentioned "protector" of half-castes who administers the program. Three children set out from a government camp to find their way fifteen hundred miles to home along the rabbit-proof fence that runs the length of the country. They outsmart Neville and his tracker, who pursue them over the course of nine weeks. Neville's assessment of the escapade: "Just because they use Neolithic tools does not mean they have Neolithic minds." This true story tells of the racism and Eugenics-like policies of Australia that continued until 1970. Worth a watch.
Ray Xavier Onassis 11/25/04 This is a bio of Ray Charles Robinson, who became known as Ray Charles because Sugar Ray Robinson was apparently as many black Rays as the celebrity standard could use in the 1950's. This film was made with the approval of Ray Charles himself, even though it portrays him as a heroin addict and a womanizer. Strangely, you still can't help from admiring him and perhaps even identifying with him somewhat, because of his musicality and charisma. Not that the film made me want to try heroin. I was unaware that Charles was a heroin junkie until I saw this film. I figured he just got busted for weed by Herbert Hoover's Black-hating FBI, as Chuck Barry was. I was rather surprising that Ray was not put away for decades, as many others were. It goes to show what having huge amounts of money and a good lawyer can accomplish in the US. Jamie Foxx was great in the role and the set design, the costumes, the authenticity of the scenarios was also terrific. Unlike many shows about musicians, it was a true bio and the music added to, rather than detracted from, the story. It ought to get at least a nomination for an Oscar, if not an Oscar itself. The casting seemed great, even though I was not familiar with the bandsmen like Fathead and his wife and girlfriends. The actors chosen seemed authentic and were carefully chosen in such a way as no one could confuse them, even white folks to whom all Black people seem alike. If you like any of Ray Charles music (and who doesn't?) see it, it's a really good biopic. Far more authentic than most. Red Dragon Mirstnkim 10/8/02
I went and saw Red Dragon tonight. It was very good and followed the book very good. In fact I had chills as I left the theater. It was just as good if not better than Silence of the Lamb. Hannibal was a disappointment but Red Dragon was worth every penny I spent on my matinee price..lol
Actually, it caused me to have some moments of heart racing because there are times that it is so evil that it truly gets to you. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Reign Of Fire Mirstnkim 7/12/02
Just back from the movie. Was a bit surprised that I liked it. It definitely is not a chick flick, so BT you are safe. The theater was filled with males with ages ranging from 13 to 60. A few women, and mothers..lol were dragged along. It is full of action, the plot is predictable but the acting was superb. The dragon looked like Satan himself, and frightened me just a bit. There were real human emotions used in the story line. If you are looking for super special affects, you will not find them. It is a fairly simple film but worth seeing.
For the record, my son loved it and stated he will buy the movie when it comes out.
The Return Xavier Onassis 6/1/04
Because we thought the entire concept of The Day After Tomorrow was classic hype, we passed on both that and Van Helsing and saw a Russian film that someone in the Miami Herald thought was worth 3½ stars. The plot is a couple of brothers in some forlorn Siberian town whose father returns after 12 years away, with no explanation as to where he was or why he came back. He talks the boys on a long camping trip. He has a lot of money with him and makes mysterious telephone calls along the way. Eventually they get to an island in a huge lake in the forest. The father digs up a box and hides it in the boat, then the boys go fishing and exploring. The ending is inconclusive. Perhaps if I were Russian I would what was really going on. Maybe he was a Chechneyan war soldier, maybe it was stolen diamonds, but the ending is not conclusive.
The acting is good, and it shows some scenery one doesn't see in other films, though nothing spectacular. The boys obviously are changed forever into men.
It would have been just as good on video. The soundtrack was poor, with exaggerated gurgling in the lake scenes, Maybe the songs sung at the end, which were not translated, answered the questions posed.
If you look at the notes about this film in imdb.com, you will see that there are a lot of religious images present in this film as well, and probably other allusions to things that would be obvious to those who are Russian orthodox and/or speak Russian.
The film is organized into seven days of a week: Monday through Sunday. The Russian word for Sunday means "Resurrection", which is also closely related to the title of this film.
If you don't like Russian films you probably won't like this one.
Road To Perdition Mirstnkim 7/28/02
I saw this movie last week. It was predictable but the acting was absolutely wonderful. This is a definite Academy Award movie. I highly recommend it. Its PG-13 rating was a bit low though, IMO. With all the violence and blood, this movie should have been an R rating.
The young boy definitely deserves recognition from this movie. He played his role as well as any I have seen. Hanks. of course. is awesome, and Paul Newman makes you love the bad guy. I really liked this movie.
Road To Perdition Yellow_crane 8/5/02 I finally saw Road to Perdition.
I have a couple of thoughts.
First of all, re the comparison I read somewhere calling it the best crime movie since The Godfather; while this may be somewhat true on a loosely bound evaluation, it seems to set up a comparison between the two, which would still make The Godfather an easy victor.
Secondly, much has been written about the acting by Tom Hanks in this movie. I will agree that Hanks is a good actor, but would also need to stipulate that his being such a good fella (pun intended) makes the 'road to Overpraise' an automatic greased slide. Public seems awed beyond the pale that he could convincingly play a bad guy, which admittedly he did pull off.
But this honeyed preoccupation has, in my humble opinion, inadvertently caused an oversight in the acting arena--that of the supporting actor Paul Newman. Newman portrayed his complex yet congruent mix of vulnerability and unsettlingly menacing cold-bloodedness with flawless believability. One would have to go to the great Larry Olivier's totally solid, not-overplayed portrayals of limbic malevolence in Khartoum and The Marathon Man for apt comparisons.
Rope Plum 9/2/02
First of all, the cinematography is amazing. Filmed to look like it was taken in one continuous shot, the technique helps you feel like you are really in the room watching the story as it takes place. The movie, in fact, does take place in "real time," in that the movie is 80 minutes long and the story takes place over an 80-minute time period.
The plot itself is not terribly complex, but the characters certainly are. This paragraph does contain some spoilers, although the force of the movie is not in suspense, but in the interactions between the characters. It is, unsurprisingly, a psychological drama; a game of cat and mouse between two students, Brandon and Phillip (played by John Dall and Farley Granger), and their mentor, Rupert (played by Jimmy Stewart). Loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb murders, the story does leave you questioning human psychology. Taking the musings of their mentor to an extreme, the students decide to commit the "perfect" murder, in large part just to have the experience of having murdered. However, the experience for them is not just to commit the murder and get away with it. They further devise an elaborate plot to display their intellectual superiority -- they stuff the victim's body into a chest, cover it with a cloth, and throw a dinner party to which they have invited the victim's father and fiancé, as well as their mentor and, ostensibly, the victim himself. The evening goes on with the guests wondering why the victim hasn't shown up and Rupert slowly starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The murder and dinner party have a different effect on the two students. Brandon's sense of intellectual superiority is puffed up as he drops little hints here and there, convinced that no one will figure it out. Phillip begins to feel frightened and guilt-ridden as the evening progresses. Jimmy Stewart plays the part of Rupert as he figures out what has happened and his reaction to and disbelief of what his offhand musings have wrought with absolute brilliance. I highly recommend this movie to everyone.
Yellow_crane 10/18/02
Well, I checked out The Scorpion King, with The Rock.
I do not know who the Rock is. I was not sure he was not some kind of computer generated character, in that his classic square lines and the facial features actually resembled the exaggerated drawings of comic book heroes of the genre--somewhere between the "Hulk" and "Conan."
He was not a great actor, but I enjoyed the film, and enjoyed him in the lead, as well. The action was well done, the choreographed fighting was good, and the film was laced with some good, unexpected campy puns.
Secondhand Lions Xavier Onassis 9/23/03
I saw this last weekend. It is pretty good mostly because of the characters played by Robert Duvall and Michael Caine. I thought it was entertaining. I don't think I'd give it an Oscar, but I did enjoy it. The plot was sort of a muddle with some unbelievable parts.
Halley Joel Osment (not sure of the spelling) the kid in The Sixth Sense was the central character. Overall, he did a fair job, but Caine and particularly Duvall pretty much upstaged the whole affair. It would be an interesting film for kids. There are quite a few vintage 50's cars.
Shrek 2 Xavier Onassis 5/24/04
We saw Schreck 2 last weekend, and it is truly funny, better than the first Schreck. The Antonio Banderas Puss in Boots character and the Eddie Murphy donkey manage to really keep the yucks coming. The film is full of derivative scenes from over what seems like a hundred other films of all sorts and American pop culture. (Aliens & Ghostbusters, just to name two) The land of Far Far Away (Princess Mrs Schreck's homeland) is presented as a sort of cross between Hollywood (with a banner sign on the mountain) and Bel Air (with the Royal Palm boulevard). Many of the characters are obviously based on real types, I am not sure whether the Fairy Godmother character with the red half glasses is supposed to be Rona Barrett or Luciana Goldberg some other LA highly annoying muckymuck older broad. She spends most of the film trying to marry her favorite (maybe her son Prince Charming) off to the Princess. Pinocchio, the gingerbread man, a giant monster gingerbread man (reminiscent of the Stay Puft marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters), the three pigs (pig jokes) and the three blind mice (blind jokes) figure into the plot, which does NOT end when they roll the credits. Oh yes, Eddie Murphy gets to BE pursued as a White Bronco. Heh, heh.
The joke was on over half the audience, who thought the film was over before the final scene. Don't leave until the very, very end or you will miss it.
There are very few films that are worth owning in that you see stuff you overlooked the first three or four times, but this is one of them.
The animation is great (way better than Disney) and the humor is off the wall and not sappy as Disney does it. It is in a league with Finding Nemo and the Toy Story flicks.
If you liked these or the first Schreck, you will definitely like this one.
Signs Brass 8/12/02
M. Night Shyamalan can do pretty much no wrong in my opinion.
The Sixth Sense was a brilliant masterpiece that used the pacing and simplicity to strike fear and produce emotion like few films have done. Unbreakable continued this style with the addition of the comic book geeks’ world that gave a total package I could not resist.
Now with Signs, Shyamalan has continued the style and the simple dialogue that can provoke emotion without effort. The actors merely walk through the film saying what he has written and that is plenty. They have different voices as they should, but the dialogue blends to give information, provoke images and emotion.
The actors add very little to the over-all package. There is no reason to make them oddballs as it was for Samuel Jackson for instance to have that haircut and wear those purple suits. Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix and the children are supposed to be you and me. They are everymen caught in a situation they cannot control and they react for the most part as most audience members might.
Their story centers on a crop circle that appears in their corn field and then the circles that subsequently appear around the globe. It is not the story I thought it was going to be and yet it was the story I thought it would be. It was just told in a different manner than I expected.
I really enjoyed it despite its message of faith and “someone looking out for us”. Ugh, what a crock, but Shyamalan is brilliant despite his pandering to the religious right. I overlooked that nonsense and enjoyed it immensely.
I highly recommend it for everyone.
Silver City Xavier Onassis 9/20/04 This is a political drama, featuring Chris Cooper as Dickie Pilager, the dimwitted gubernatorial candidate and son of a conniving senator. He hooks the body of a dead illegal Mexican and that sets off a chain of events that pretty much show how the public is duped and deceived by a cabal of wealthy greedheads. John Sayles has made films I liked more, notably Matewan and Sunshine State, but this one was pretty good, and better than lots of what is out there. It's not really competing with Anacondas, in which these snakes, see, are junkies protecting the blood orchids which give them superhuman, excuse, super-serpentine powers, and defend them against determined (and delicious) orchid fanciers. If I were a boa constrictor, or even a diamondback rattler or even a Gila monster, I'd prefer Anacondas. One sees so few films about athletic reptiles these days. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Xavier Onassis 10/5/04 This is a truly dumb plot with a whole lot of great special effects. We are in the World of Tomorrow, just before WWII happens, perhaps the spring of 1939. The sets look like Art Deco stuff from the New York World's Fair (Trilon and Perisphere at Flushing Meadows) that inspired Waly Disney to come up with Tomorrowland. You get to see hundreds of giant marching robots marching down 5th Avenue, squishing cars and not squishing brave reporter Gwyneth Paltrow. They have come to steal resources, but how exactly they’re marching down 5th Ave. is rather unclear. Eventually she links up with Sky Captain (Jude Law), a Flying Tiger mercenary pilot who has inexplicably left China and accompanies the brave reporter, who somehow likes to take pictures but is short on film, and they find where the evil genius Dr Totenkopf is loading up some sort of Space -Ark with animals. He also is into animal breeding and has designed some interesting dinosaurs. Oh yes, he has been dead for 20 years or so. It is sort of like someone had a whole drawer full of really kewl special effects they made in film school and they designed the film around them. Really fun to watch, but switch off your mind first. Spiderman Brass 11/17/02
Quite by chance, I watched the movie on video yesterday. There were those shots of nostalgia that I loved. One was taken from an Alex Ross painting with Spider-man swinging out of the sun.
The other aspect that I loved was Spidey's overall joy at swinging and being so powerful. That is almost enough to bring tears to a fanboy's eyes because I remember thinking that would be so great.
On the flip side though, there were things that I did not enjoy. Willem DaFoe was Number One there. It seemed like a cop out to me and I didn't buy his dia-monologue with himself. It seemed forced and like he was phoning it in. I think he was feeling haughty amongst all kids and the idea of a comic book movie. And I also think that he felt he was finally going to be in a blockbuster movie like he should have been in Batman. He was up for the Joker and then Nicholson's deal got okayed.'
Plus all the poor ole Mary Jane crap. Mary Jane in the comic was a ballsy, self-confident woman. Not some white trash girl next door.
Plus there were some moments where I felt like I was watching the old Electric Company bits. The moment that comes to mind as an example is when he and MJ swing down onto the rooftop garden and he tells the people there not to mind them "she just needs to use the elevator". The mask is a problem. They need to look at animating it somehow. Even just eyebrow arcs and letting the jaw move when he talks would help.
What they need is ME there to consult.
LOL
Spiderman Cadizat 11/16/02
Finally saw the movie, WOW. The interweaving of classic comic scenes; one was Spidey decending behind Green Goblin [DeFo ewas excellent casting] in the inverted spider pose in the burning tenement filled my heart with nostalgia.
I was waiting pointlessly for the Spidey Sense depiction of half face Parker/half face Spiderman mask. The evidence of web from flesh, as opposed to Web shooters was a copout. My only demerit. Poetic license/coincidence; both Spiderman/Green Goblin in effect born on the same night.
Spirited Away Mjolnir 3/29/03
I saw this film last fall at a small Indy/art-film theater. Back then, Disney had it in very limited release and it got very little notice. Now that it has won an Oscar for best animated film, Disney is re-releasing it with much greater distribution. If you want to see something different, go see it.....it's really worth your time. Take the kids too.
The Sum of All Fears mjolnir 6/2/02
Today I went to see a matinee showing of The Sum of all Fears (paid only $5!). It wasn't too bad, although I cannot bring myself to forgive the producers for changing the villains from Islamic Extremists to Neo-Nazis. Ben Aflleck was 'ok' as Jack Ryan, although he was way too young IMO. I still think Alec Baldwin made a better Ryan. Anyone who is familiar with Tom Clanncy’s books will know the character John Clark. In Clear and Present Danger, that character was portrayed by the horribly miscast Willem DeFoe. Now, he is portrayed by Liev Schrieber, who also IMO is a much better match, though a little too lighthearted in some scenes. The nuclear blast that occurs in Baltimore was horrific, and hopefully we will never see such events happen. One funny gag in the film: A group of Russian scientists are building the bomb in a remote location. They handle the core of plutonium with minimal protective gear, only rubber gloves. They remark how they can feel the heat from the plutonium corroding. When finished, one scientist gets out a cigarette and asks if any of them want a smoke. They give him looks of horror...as if he is crazy to do such a thing. Handling exposed plutonium isn't as bad as a filtered Camel. Over all, a decent film...worth a look.
SWAT Mirstinkim 8/17/03
Awesome movie. Even chicks can enjoy this one. Well my daughter and I both liked it. Of course my son was in action heaven.
Samuel Jackson is a brilliant actor. Just loved him in this film.
Swept Away Xavier Onassis 4/9/04
And for something completely different, the Japanese cartoon film Swept Away, which Disney had redubbed in English and French. Very imaginative, and more so since much of the mythology (dragons, river spirits, bathhouses for the spirits) are purely Japanese. The animation is lyrical, the dubbing is great and the story is enchanting. Maybe parts are too intense for kiddies under eight or so, but okay for anyone older.
Hovencloof 1/6/03
I saw Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her week before last. Very, very good, with more empathy and fewer polt tricks than he is famous for.
The Transporter Brass 10/18/02
Well, I took my wife to see it last night. I wanted to see it for the kicking of ass and she wanted to see it 'cause she's smitten the guy that's in it, Jason Stratam.
Well, it had lots of cool ass-kicking and some cool stunts. The wife loved it 'cause they used every excuse to get the guy shirtless. They even had a scene with him wallowing in oil. I think they wanted to have him shirtless 'cause you couldn't tell him from all the other guys while everyone's kicking ass. Overall, I give it a 6 out of ten with ten being the best.
I was looking for a La Femme Nikita/The Professional and I got a slightly cheesy, poorly acted Kurt Russell flick.
The Transporter Universe Prince 10/12/02
The Transporter is an excellent action film. No, there is not a lot of character development. But what is there is pertinent to the story. The action is amazing, a true pleasure to watch. The Transporter - ahhhhh, this is what an action film should be. To be honest, it reminded me of Enter the Dragon, not in terms of story, but in terms of its attitude toward the story and the action. I hope this film does well, and I hope Hollywood--hello XXX production team--pays attention.
Troy Xavier Onassis 5/17/04
We saw Troy this weekend and it was a lot better than expected. It varied more from the original text than LoTR did (the elimination of Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire being the biggest variances).
The Trojan War is shortened from a multi-year siege to a month or so, and a number of heroes are omitted, but of course, the Iliad is a very, very detailed and long epic poem. It is true to the spirit of the original, and the acting, soundtrack, FX, costumes and set design are spectacular. The battle scenes are on a par with the LoTR's Battles of Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith, other than of course, there are no giants, mythical beasts and such.
Legolas, the brave, blond archer of LoTR is now a darkhaired and sincere, but rather wimpy Paris. Helen is played by a woman who makes Bo Derek look rather common.
I recall some scientists suggested that beauty be measured in units called the millihelen. Helen of Troy had the "face that launched a thousand ships", and so one millihelen would be the amount of beauty required to launch a single ship.
If you like epics, you really should see this. It makes Cecil B. DeMille's epics like The Ten Commandments look hokey. There is a greater degree of realism, with dirt, sweat, blood and realistic ancient grunge. The Trojan Horse looks like it should, having been built of wrecked and charred boat parts.
Plum 6/2/02
This film was hysterical. Although they did change a few things from the Internet animated show, the movie was still excellent. Every stereotype you can imagine (and a few you can't) was poked fun at. Eddie Griffin was excellent as the smoother than smooth Undercover Brother, working for the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. in its struggle against the villain known only as The Man. Aunjanue Ellis was perfect as Sistah Girl. And David Chappelle was priceless as Conspiracy Brother. And, of course, Chris Kattan was funny as The Man's top henchman, Mr. Feather. Definitely worth seeing.
Underworld Xavier Onassis 6/8/03
This was a really good movie if you like the tango. It was pretty good at giving a look at Buenos Aires, where it was filmed.
It was fair at getting into the mindset of an assassin. Robert Duvall was a bit old for the part, but the main problem was that there were way to many holes in the plot and scenes that didn't seem to have any justification. I am glad I saw it at the $3.00 theatre. It would be worth renting. I don't expect any Oscar nominations.
Unfaithful Cynthia 3/29/03
The last movie I saw was Unfaithful. Diane Lane was terrific in this. The subject matter is one of great danger in reality, and those who have affairs are risking the very lives of all members in the family...psychologically speaking. Not a good thing!
Vanity Fair Xavier Onassis 9/7/04 We saw this film mostly because the Hurricane turned the lights and the AC off, but it was a really good costume drama. It was the 16th film (according to imdb) of Mira Nair, the Indian director of Mississippi Marsala and Monsoon Wedding. It's an adaptation of Thackery's Vanity Fair, a novel they made me read way back when that seems to have a much less tedious plot when streamlined for the film. It deals with the tale of Becky Sharp, the daughter of a penniless painter and a Parisian opera singer, born at the end of the 1700's, and her best friend Amalie, who she meets in a sort of orphanage/finishing school. It covers the late Napoleonic period. Becky can sing, she is beautiful and, well, "sharp", and has a lot of ambition, which of course, means she plans to marry money, preferably of the nobility, but merchant money will also do. She uses all her gifts (including both her looks and her ovaries) to accomplish her goals. All in all, she makes out better, I think, than most governesses. In Thackery's day, novels were entertainment and rather expensive and people wanted a nice long read. The novel accomplishes this quite well: it covers over thirty years and all manner of twists and turns. There is a wonderful array of character actors, playing the rather annoying members of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, with a brief appearance by His Majesty, George IV (I think, but Victoria's father) and their servants. The costumes are amazing and look really uncomfortable, but seem accurate. Poor Becky marries the nephew of a brassy old crone who really has a thing for her dog (a whippet, I think) who is an officer in His Majesty's Army and a gambler, and unfortunately is disinherited. So Becky carries on with an influential rake, the Marquis Steyn (pronounced, of course "stain"). Her best friend marries a perfectly awful officer named George, who gets killed at Waterloo. Naturally, she loves his dearly, and ignores the other officer who deeply loves her from a distance, At any rate, if you are interested at all in what life might have been like in the early 1800's in England (sharing an island with such fops would be an excellent reason to come to America) you should see this. You don't really get to hate the characters; just see them as rather accurate cartoons. The wigs of the less wealthy members of the cast are a real riot to behold. There is enough to the novel Vanity Fair to make a REALLY GOOD series, if only you could get this cast to do the whole novel in the format of a Mexican telenovela. His film, in my opinion, manages to do a pretty good job in 140 minutes or so. I imagine it will get a couple of Oscar nominations. Viva Zapata Yellow_crane 9/3/02
I consider Brando's performance in this movie to be his more powerful, even though he played an actual and very human Mexican revolutionary, and not just some Tennessee Williams' sulking boy-mannish machismo with a bad karma hard-on.
Anthony Quinn garnered an Oscar for best supporting actor is this one, playing Brando's brother in the revolutionary setting during the turn of the century re revolutionary heroes Zapata, Pancho Villa, Oberon and Caranza.
Another great performance was by the quintessential character actor John Wiseman, who played an unforgettable amoral political junkie who initially stirred the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata--played to the bone by Brando--into action, and later devised the ambush that brought him down. Wiseman is a very under-rated actor. He was visually a haunting force with a bottomless talent.
This film had moments of brilliant portrayals of the Mexican people, their customs and their culture; no surprise, though, as the original film script was penned by John Steinbeck, the Noble writer who, more than most, understood the romance and tragedy that is Mexico, and did so from a perspective that contained none of the usual bias and condescension that Southern California is famous for, but with an affection and a true understanding of the character of Mexico.
Brass 5/3/03
I saw the new X-Men movie today. I really enjoyed it. Some very cool cameos. Some stuff that I didn't expect to happen, happened and there is allusion to what will be happening in the next one.
XXX Mirstnkim 8/22/02
Ok, my son dragged me to the movie, even buying my ticket because I was reluctant to go. and......................... I'M IN LOVE!!! lol
What a great special effects movie. I was quite impressed. I also was impressed with quiet little things that I pointed out to my son. XXX does not drink, do drugs, nor smoke. He may not be quite the role model I have in mind for my son but he isn't too bad. Buy time the movie was over I was even finding him quite attractive.
It is a worth seeing movie and would be best seen on the big screen.
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