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  • Film & TV Moderators: ghostfreak

FILM: Mini-reviews of a bunch of random movies

In the mood for something light and different, I went to see Italian for Beginners. It's involves the lives of six people in a very small town who all have faced loss recently and come together through the Italian lessons they take at the local college. It's a Danish movie, with subtitles, which cause a little confusion. Since the movie involves these characters speaking Italian sometimes to some people and then Danish other times, you have to pay attention to the language to determine some of the plot. I know that sounds odd, but for example..there is a part where one of the men is falling in love w/ the Italian girl and he speaks to her in her language, that he is not so familar with--a great expression of love for him. But, the subtitles are English subtitles either way. Sorta keeps you on your toes I suppose ;)
Aside from this--the characters aren't ever developed in too much depth. You don't know *why* they are how they are..you're just seeing a small section of their life. Without knowing anything else about the script, I'd wager it started as a short story. I don't think this brevity keeps it from being a beautiful glimpse of love and attraction--as it ends with happiness for everyone. I walked out of the theater with a smile on my face. :)
I would definitely recommend it if you're having a down day. Might be more of a "girlie" movie though.
 
Well, well, well....today I did the two for one special. I paid the discount matinee price of $4.50 to see High Crimes and then walked across the hall to watch Clockstoppers. Lots of free time? Yeah, but it was also hot today and my air conditioner wasn't working.
High Crimes This movie just sucked! It is a lame rehash of Double Jeopardy and all the other sucky movies Ashley Judd has been making lately. She plays a powerful lawyer on the verge of becoming a partner in her distinguished law firm. She and her perfect husband are trying to get pregnant. Gee, their life seems so nifty....except the plot is so thin that they don't have any friends and the husband doesn't seem to have a profession. Well, no matter....it turns out he is wanted for nine counts of murder by a military court. It seems he led a double life....and during a mission in El Salvador (or somewhere) he went nutso and machine gunned down some villagers. Ashley, totally shocked by this double life, decides to resign from her law firm and defend her husband. She eventually realizes she needs some help...so she rounds up a recovering drunk played by Morgan Freeman because he used to be "the best." In his last five movies, Freeman has played the same archetypal role over and over again....luckily I kind of like that character, otherwise this movie would score even lower. There are some downright stupid plot twists, made all the sillier by Ashley Judd's inability to carry off her leading role. I am not some misogynist just waiting for her to get naked, but I don't think she plays the "logical strong-willed but double-crossed woman" very well. And it is not for lack of practice. I think she can play a crazy or whimsical character pretty darn well, if it matters. Anyway, enough babbling....this movie gets a score of 3/10. Without Morgan Freeman, we might be talking 1-1.5 territory. Avoid, avoid, avoid!
Let's shift gears....
Clockstoppers I went into this movie with zero expectations. The plot revolves around a teenage boy who cleverly sells stuff on Ebay so he can get enough money to buy a car. His father, a famous professor, wants him to be less whimsical and more analytical. The kid wants to spend his time riding his bicycle (LOL), trying to hit on the South American exchange student and hanging out with his friend the DJ who works at the paintball store. LMAO! Things get funky when one of the father's former students asks for help with a project. It is a watch which sends you into hypertime! The person wearing the watch can move around while everyone and everything else freezes. I know, some corny shit. The kid finds the watch and is preparing to sell it on Ebay when he discovers the time manipulation powers. He and the Venezuelan hottie go out for a night on the town to play with the contraption. They stop by a club where his friend is competing in a DJ contest called PLUR. :o Damn, the friend is a horrible DJ so the boy and the girl go into hypertime and help him throw down a blistering set. All is fun and games until the evil corporation that was funding the project shows up to get their watch back. There is assorted shenanigans, the father is taken captive and eventually the two kids team up with the former student to pull off a rescue. This movie can be considered by a couple different standards. If you are comparing it to the Orange Country genre, I'd say Clockstoppers gets a 5/10. On the other hand, while I am really too damn old to like this sort of a silly movie, since I really enjoyed stuff like Matthew Broderick's War Games or John Lithgow's The Manhattan Project, I will score it a 8.5/10. Bottom line: Don't trust my rating of 8.5 unless you liked the two movies I specifically mentioned. Otherwise, go with the 5/10 and maybe give it a look once it comes out of video.
The irony of it all? I liked the randomly selected movie (Clockwatchers) better than the one I specifically went to see (High Crimes). Just goes to show....
[ 08 April 2002: Message edited by: Catch-22 ]
 
Changing Lanes This past weekend I saw it with some friends. We had all been intrigued by the previews, but unfortunately this movie seemed to take an interesting idea and make it as cliched as possible. Ben Affleck plays an arrogant young associate who is rising through his law firm, thanks in part to being the son-in-law of one of the partners. Samuel L. Jackson plays a recovering alcoholic who is trying to reunite with his family. Affleck is on the way to the courthouse while Jackson is hurrying to appear at a hearing to get visitation rights to see his kids. They get into a car crash on the interstate. Affleck gives Jackson a blank check, wishes him "better luck next time," and leaves him stranded by the road. One problem....Affleck left behind an important file. :o He arrives at the courthouse without this file and all hell starts to break loose....meanwhile, Jackson arrives too late for the hearing and loses custody of his children. Uh oh. I found it hard to be sympathetic to either character. Both men tried to disguise their weaknesses with agressive behavior, but this little insight into their personalities does not somehow make them likeable or redeemable. Their little cat and mouse game seemed much more interesting in the previews, too. Jackson makes the most of his role, and to me his performance clearly outclasses Affleck's effort. I also thought William Hurt did a solid job as Jackson's AA sponsor, especially when he delivered the best line of the film: "You are addicted to chaos!" This film didn't give much in way of suspense or intrigue. Even though the characters had their own little realizations towards the end of the movie, I can't really say there was much in the way of character development, either. Changing Lanes was not irritatingly bad, it just didn't live up to all the hype. 5.5/10
 
Frailty I had modest expectations when I walked into the movie theater for the $3.75 matinee showing. The previews had looked promising but I got the sense the movie might seem more interesting than it really was. Boy, was I wrong! An FBI agent is called in at midnight to interview someone who has some new information about a string of murders committed by a serial killer. Matthew McConaughey, previously known for saying "It'd be a lot cooler if you did!" in Dazed and Confused, announces that his brother is the "God's Hand Killer." Most of the movie is told through effect flashback sequences. A father and his two sons are living a comfortable life in Texas in 1979. One night the father wakes up his sons and announces that an angel came to visit him. The three of them have been choosen to "kill demons!" One son seems to play along, while the other begins to realize that his father has completely lost it. They start kidnapping demons (victims) and bringing them back to their farm to destroy (kill) them. The story just slowly drew me in and I started imagining what I would do if I was a child and my family went crazy. I don't want to give away the plot, but there were a couple of twists so shocking that I actually hollered "Oh damn!" out loud while sitting in the theater. Frailty definitely has a lot going for it when it comes to character development and setting. The pacing was also excellent, and the plot comes into focus as the action shifts between flashback and present day. I'd definitely recommend this movie and give it a 9/10!
 
oh, i beg to differ with you on "frailty".
ugh, it was so full of bad acting, maybe it's because i was expecting a twist at the end, but i kinda guessed the "surprise ending"...part of it, at least. <- run on sentence!
god, bill paxton was SO shitty in that movie. and, the whole premise/plot was incredibly corny.
but, that's just me. =) i would give it a a 4/10. it's the 4 only because it had such great comedic value. "KILL THE DEMON!"
 
I have yet to see Frailty, but I have to side with Poopie on this one. Bill Paxton has ruined far too many good movies with his sub-par acting. DOWN WITH BILL PAXTON!!
Adios,
Steve
 
I sort of expected the ending, too, but I just bought into the story that was being told. (I don't want to give spoilers, so I can't elaborate.) I do agree that Bill Paxson is a shitty actor. Ooops, correction: he is the type of actor who can successfully fill a role if it is already close to his real personality. So that's not really acting, it is just standing there and saying certain lines of dialogue. It is not as aggravating to me as Andie MacDowell, who actually ruins at least a couple scenes per movie. I would say people like Paxson are merely effective in a very narrow range of roles. Sandra Bullock is another "actor" who shares Paxson's style of thespianism.
And speaking of Sandra Bullock....
Murder by Numbers Argh! Oh, what this movie could have been! Instead....blah. As you might know from the previews, two high school students decide to commit the perfect murder. Sandra Bullock plays the police detective trying to track them. I was hoping this movie would fully explore the weird dynamic going on between the Leopold and Loeb wannabes, but instead the focus of the movie was split between the killers and the personal problems of the Sandra Bullock character. I found the Sandra Bullock character boring and irritating. The first third of the movie she acts hard as nails, smacking her gum for special emphasis. (Oh, is that a thespian technique to demonstrate intensity?) The middle third she acts like a down-and-out near alcoholic. The last third she just acts sort of like a recovering victim moving towards closure. Whatever, the movie would have been so much better just eliminating her character's subplot. Oh wait, but Miss Bullock is the co-executive producer for Murder by Numbers! That explains why her character was given this sappy storyline. Returning my attention to the killers, there is the odd-ball intellectual loner who is dressed in all black. People refer to Killer #1 as Bonaparte. Killer #2 is the arrogant, self-absorbed preppie kid who is bored with all his wealth and popularity. Bullocks refers to Killer #2 as Goldilocks. Bonaparte and Goldilocks hate each other as far as the high school knows, but every night the two get together to hatch their murderous plan. The movie would have been better served to focus on how neither one of them was an individual killer, but when Bonaparte and Goldilocks get together there was a kind of synergy and the result was deadly. As it was, the movie falls flat and actually manages the difficult task of drifting into cliche territory. The best actors in Murder by Numbers were definitely the Bonaparte and Goldilocks characters, with an honorable mention to the teenage girl who sits between them in class. I give Murder by Numbers a 4.5/10.
[ 27 April 2002: Message edited by: Catch-22 ]
 
....and the hits just keep rollin' along....
The Cat's Meow The story revolves around a yachting sojourn that William Randolph Hearst hosted for about a dozen of "his friends and associates" in 1924. Someone (sorry, no spoilers) dies under mysterious circumstances and a cloak of secrecy is cast over the entire weekend. The characters includes Marion, the young starlet played by Kirsten Dunst, who is the mistress of Hearst. Charlie Chaplin has designs on Marion and spends the weekend trying to seduce her. There is Thomas Ince, a film producer with a failing business, who is unscrupulously pursuing a business partnership with Hearst. There is a gossip columnist played by Jennifer Tilly, who is suitably annoying and irritating. Ince also brings along his mistress, an attractive young actress who is trying to start her own career but actually seems to be in love with the unlikeable Ince. Chaplin continues to pursue Marion, driving the jealous and insecure Hearst to the breaking point. Yep, that's all I can say without giving away the end. The movie tries to capture the carefree attitude of the 1920's but I was distracted by seeing at least five anachronisms aboard the yacht. I don't know what statement Peter Bogdanovich was trying to make, but The Cat's Meow just didn't work. The only likeable character was the novelist Elinor Glyn, who adds some much needed humor and a dose of reality. The comparisons between Gosford Park and The Cat's Meow are inevitable. And...yep, Gosford Park wins hand down in my opinion. 4.5/10
[ 28 April 2002: Message edited by: Catch-22 ]
 
Life or Something Like It :X Argh! Make it stop! Okay, I will do my best to review this sorry excuse for a movie. Angelina Jolie plays a shallow career-obsessed TV beat reporter. Some dude who I suppose is intended to exude rugged masculinity plays her producer. I deduce this fact primarily from how he was sporting the George Michael (Wham!) perpetual three-day stubble approach to facial hair. Anyway, the plot consists of a street psychic predicting that the Jolie character will die in less than a week. Ooooh, suddenly that changes everything! 8) She turns introspective and realizes how pathetic her life has always been. Nonplussed about what to do next, she turns to the equally vacuous producer to give her life meaning. But can anything give Life or Something Like It meaning? Nope! There are lame subplots about the producer's son and the Jolie character's sister/father. There is also a painfully awkward sequence where an inebriated Jolie sings a hokey version of Satisfaction and an unlikely twist where her character gets a surprise promotion to the New York affiliate. Not to engage in blatant misogyny, but Jolie is merely a fairly attractive woman who has much greater appeal to the pretentious wannabe lesbos than to most straight males. (C’mon, you know it is true!) If you want to be titillated, go rent 1998's Gia. If you want to be entertained, see something besides Life or Something Like It. 2/10 Avoid!!!
PS: I was flipping through some old issues of Playboy, and I saw where Leonard Maltin gave Open Your Eyes a rating of 1 out of 4 bunny heads. I usually tend to agree with Maltin, so keep that in mind when comparing Vanilla Sky (a remake) to Open Your Eyes (the original).
[ 11 May 2002: Message edited by: Catch-22 ]
 
Y Tu Mama Tambien The movie opens with a young couple having a vigorous goodbye fuck, and the tones of sexuality only continue to run rampant throughout Y Tu Mama Tambien. Tenoch and Julio are two young friends whose girlfriends have gone away for the summer. They lounge around Mexico City, avoiding their futures and enjoying the parties available to priviledged youth. They meet a young woman from Spain who is married to one of their cousins. Almost being obnoxious about it, they try to coax her to take a vacation with them. The young woman soon tires of her husband's infidelities, and decides to accept their offer (much to their surprise). They set out for a Mexican beach that does not actually exist, but oddly enough they eventually find an isolated paradise. Along the way there are a few twists and turns, namely dual seductions and some revelations that damage the friendship between Tenoch and Julio. The grand finale is a full on threesome during their final night at the beach. Whoa! Well, it seemed to capture that weird vibe that always ran between Tenoch and Julio....and come to think of it, they did masturbate together earlier in the movie. LOL Anyway, the context did not seem that gratitious because all of Y Tu Mama Tambien seems to be highly sexually charged. I thought the character development was excellent, and the shots of Mexico City and rural Mexico gave a great backdrop to the movie. The storytelling was consistent, interesting and logical. The dialogue was subtitled, which is fine, but sometimes the color/font was difficult for me to read and I would miss what was happening on the screen. The title ("And Your Mother, Too!") is taken from when Julio reveals that he had fucked Tenoch's mother. Overall, I give Y Tu Mama Tambien a cautious recommendation. Wait for the video release. 7/10
 
that george michael wanna be is ed burns, who wrote and starred in the brothers mcmullen and she's the one. i <3 him. he is a sexy beast!
i haven't seen life or something like it, but i was kinda disappointed to see both of them in it. thanks for the tip catch-22.
 
^haha! Someone is reading this thread! ;)
Okay....I have been up for quite a while so....
Insomnia Damn, this movie really has some weight attached to it. We have Al Pacino as a grizzled LA homicide detective who is being investigated by internal affairs. Hilary Swank, nicely filling out her blue jeans and looking very feminine, plays a newbie cop in remote Nightmute, Alaska. Robin Williams, who I don't care for as a comedian, does an excellent job as the creepy killer of an underage girl. Oh, and Insomnia is directed by the guy who brought us Memento. My interest had been piqued by the heavy advertizing, and I was definitely satisfied with what I saw. Pacino and his partner travel to Nightmute to aid in the investigation of a young girl's murder. The interesting subplot is that Pacino's partner has decided to cut a deal with internal affairs, and when they return to Los Angeles, he is gonna effectively kill Pacino's entire career. Hmmm...while pursuing Williams through the fog, Pacino "accidently" shoots his partner to death. Never one to resist cutting corners, Pacino decides to pin the shooting on Williams! WHOA! He seems particularly adept at changing the evidence....faking and lying his way to get out of the jam....but just one problem. Williams saw Pacino do it and starts blackmailing him. As Swank investigates the death of Pacino's partner, Williams and Pacino play a cat & mouse game that really held my interest. Another subplot is that nightfall never comes to Nightmute, and the constant light triggers severe insomnia in Pacino, further clouding his already shaky judgment. Not to spoil anything, but I would have LOVED Insomnia if the ending would've been a little different. Specifically if (a) after Pacino's confession to the hotel receptionist, he would've just gotten on the plane and went back to LA and (b) Swank, while sitting in her truck holding the bullet, had decided to drive away and toss it out the window. But...that's not the ending Hollywood wanted, I suppose! :X The scenery in this movie was beautiful. The quaint/peaceful setting seemed a nice backdrop for the turbulent story. I recommend Insomnia, please watch it if you get the chance. 8.5/10
[ 25 May 2002: Message edited by: Catch-22 ]
 
Enough I could make a corny joke about how I walked out of this movie muttering, "Enough!" It was that bad. I haven't seen a movie this crappy since Domestic Disturbance because this piece of shit had no redeeming qualities. I got so bored that I started studying the drapes that lined the theater walls. Here is the piece of shit plot: J-Lo is a waitress named "Slim" when a debonair multi-millionaire entrepeneur with a nice jawline sweeps her off her feet. They get married and have a daughter. Five years later, J-Lo finally realizes her husband has been cheating on her and confronts him. He responds by beating her up and then delivering an awkward soliloquy about how he is an alpha-male. Whatever. She flees with the five-year-old daughter and he tries to track her down. Time passes and she bounces between Michigan, Seattle and San Francisco. (The people responsible for Enough make no effort to capitalize on these interesting locations, either!) At some point, J-Lo decides that a showdown is necessary and starts a humorous training regimen. She breaks into his house and has Rambo-like fight to the death with her estranged husband. Hmmm...yeah, it was really that lame. 8) I will be quite frank: Enough would be strictly straight-to-video if J-Lo was not playing the lead role, and she should fire the agent who attached her name to this trainwreck. If you like J-Lo, save your money and go rent U-Turn or Out of Sight instead. Don't see Enough. 0.5/10
 
Unfaithful Awesome on so many levels and the best movie I have seen in months! Diane Lane plays a slightly bored housewife who lives in the suburbs with her husband (played by Richard Gere) and son. She is visiting Soho when a random gust of wind knocks her down! A young man passing by offers to help bandage her skinned knee, and after some misgivings on her part, a passionate affair ensues between them. Richard Gere has been noticing something is amiss with their marriage for quite a while. He has made legitimate attempts to keep the romance kindled with his wife despite being very busy with his successful business. When he finds out about the affair, Gere goes to confront his wife's young lover. I don't think I spoil much by saying that Gere kills the young man. Unfaithful ends with the family growing closer together. Comparisons could be made to Eyes Wide Shut and In the Bedroom, but Unfaithful is a much more complete story than either of those two movies. Each character is sympathetic in their own way...it is hard to assign fault to any of them. Other good things about Unfaithful...Diane Lane makes the sex scenes very hot! Richard Gere does a great job of taking over the screen during the last quarter of the movie when his performance shifts from subdued to intense. I was also impressed with how Diane Lane portrayed her character's dilemma, and seemed so legitimately tormented yet intrigued by her affair. The frenzied clean-up-the-murder-and-dispose-of-the-body sequence is worth the price of admission by itself. This movie definitely left me thinking long after I had left the theater. I have to give Unfaithful a 10/10 because I can't think of any way to improve it.
[ 30 May 2002: Message edited by: Catch-22 ]
 
Catch, as usual i agree with you about 'unfaithful', i wouldnt give it a 10, because it didnt blow my mind.
Yup Diane Lane makes for a good sex scene without being vaulgar, I think her age has something to do with this.
Richard Gere usually bugs me, but I think he did well in this film.
It WAS so similar to 'in the bedroom'
So yeah, i'm going 8/10
 
Y Tu Mama Tambien gets the same rating as Vanilla Sky???
Umm how about Vanilla Sky stole the script and story line for that movie from every kid who wrote a story in third grade! Would any body have even cared about that movie if Tom Cruise and Cruz weren't in it...nope. That movie was garbage..okay yeah there were a few neat lines...and agreed some were thought provoking but the movie as a whole was poor.
Y Tu Mama Tambien was a beautiful piece of work. The characters had me captivated within only a few moments of the starting of the film. The cinematography was good...and the story was excellent. My heart almost dropped when they were in the car and the girl was talking about how her boyfriend died..and then the narrotor took over and told the story about the accident on that part of the road. The movie took me on an emotional rollercoaster. These two young boys so uninterested by life...making up rules but totally disregarding them...caring for nothing but sex, drugs, parties etc...riding in a car with a women who loved, lost...and was dealing with a deep dark secret that she dare not share...did you even think that was gonna happen at the end?? Oh so beautiful...so inspiring...so tragic...but somehow uplifting. I would give it 9/10 and Vanilla Sky 4/10
"Life's like the surf...so give yourself away like the sea"
[ 06 June 2002: Message edited by: SugarCandy ]
 
Sum of All Fears-seems like they're making a lot of movies these days to showcase hot actors...this is one of them. The only thing this movie has going for it is that it comes after sept 11 and thus somehow reminds us all just how possible and real a nuclear attack is! I give it 4/10-yup same as Vanilla Sky...story sucked and had a cool few points and scenes..but not many.
 
Did anyone miss me? ;)
Spiderman First off, I must explain that I was never into comic books into a kid and don't really understand the whole genre. Still, Spiderman's plot just seemed pointless and boring. There's this high school nerd that no one likes. There's this girl (ol' alien-face, aka Kristin Dunst) who has a big, bad boyfriend. Hmmm....is it too late for me to see Enough again? Anyway, the high school takes a field trip to visit a university laboratory. The mild mannered nerd gets bitten by an experimental spider....something about his DNA changes, and he is now SpiderMan. There are a couple of weak chuckles as he tries to figure out his new super-powers. He decides he needs a car to impress Kristen Dunst, so he enters the world of professional wrestling to make some quick cash. Poor "Macho Man" Randy Savage....first he was reduced to Slim Jim commercials, then he lost his hair....now he is down to being in crappy movies. I don't know, I give up. I should've just walked out of this one. I really try to make an effort, so I will continue... Uh, the nerd's best friend's father becomes a super-villain. It is up to Spiderman to foil this super-villain. Spiderman ultimately saves the day. The end. 0/10
[ 17 June 2002: Message edited by: Catch-22 ]
 
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