movie-pang02-Train.csv

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Pos, by phil curtolo mel gibson   braveheart   gave a gripping performance as the father of a young kidnapped boy in ron howard s ransom    gibson plays tom mullen   a wealthy business tycoon whose past actions are coming back to haunt him as a deranged psychopath   played by gary sinise   forrest gump     and his band of low life thugs kidnap his only son for $2 million    tom and his wife   kate   played by rene russo   tin cup   were instructed not to inform the police   but they contacted the fbi    minutes later   an elite team of agents led by delroy lindo   broken arrow   are in tom s house and wiring every phone    the plot sounds average   just like most other kidnap movies that you ve already seen   and it was nothing more than that    that is until about half way through the movie    suddenly   tom goes to the fox 5 news room and makes a live broadcast saying     this is your ransom    but this is as close as you will ever get to it    instead   i am offering this money as a reward on your head   dead or alive      at this point   the plot thickened   and the unusually slow start of the film turned into a suspense filled action film with great stunts    the last half of the film is very well done    another thing that carries this film are the superb performances by gibson and sinise   as they collide in a game of wits over their cellular phones for most of the movie    owen gleiberman of entertainment weekly commented on the subject     it makes you wonder what kidnappers did before cell phones      before this movie   sinise played mostly   good guys     first in of mice & men   then in forrest gump   and most recently   in apollo 13    but he was surprisingly devilish and cold in his portrayal of a cop gone bad    gibson   of course   was just being gibson   in an oscar worthy performance    although most of the scenes were quite predictable   ransom is a very entertaining and suspenseful film        
Pos, one can not observe a star trek movie and expect to see serious science fiction    the purpose of star trek is to provide flashy   innocent fun    sometimes the stories are compelling    sometimes they re not    but   with the exception of the first film in the series   which provides little more than endless shots of amazed faces     i ve never been bored by any of the enterprise s numerous missions    star trek   insurrection is no exception    the film has gotten some negative reviews   a friend of mine actually thinks it s the worst in the series     but i m not really sure why    it s an exciting   often hilarious movie that engaged me and left me ready for the next star trek film    some say it s a bit too light   and more of a long episode than a film    others say the special effects are cheesy and that it s boring    i simply enjoyed the film    insurrection   which is the second film to feature strictly the next generation cast   introduces us to a race of people called the ba ku   the ba ku are very old   most of them are about three hundred years old     but they actually appear younger with age due to strange radiation in the rings of their planet    of course   these peaceful people can t horde this fountain of youth all for themselves   leave it up to their archenemies   the son a   led by ru afo   f    murray abraham     to mess everything up    the son a   who are horribly disfigured and rely on daily reconstructive surgery to be aesthetically acceptable   strike a deal with the federation to move the ba ku elsewhere and exploit the secret to keep their race from dying    that s when captain picard   patrick stewart   steps in   he realizes that moving the ba ku would kill them   it also helps that he falls in love with a ba ku woman   donna murphy        so   with his trusty crew   picard defies the federation to keep the ba ku in their natural habitat    when dealing with a series with as much history as this   it s not entirely necessary to re introduce your characters with each episode    this is why i believe non fans have a hard time getting into star trek   in order to enjoy it   one has to understand how to approach it    insurrection   however   does a surprisingly good job of us new aspects of the characters    stewart is bold as always   a magnetic screen presence and perfectly capable of holding an entire film together    jonathan frakes   who also directed   is funny as commander riker   a subplot with data   brent spiner   discovering his lost childhood is fairly interesting   and abraham makes a perfect star trek villain   overacting like crazy    frakes showed similar aptitude for direction in first contact   insurrection is an exciting film   with some really attractive special effects and a lot of good action    this is apparently the first star trek film to utilize computer animation   and the result is very pleasing to the eye   particularly in the climactic scenes   in which the son a employ a giant space ship to suck up the rings of the ba ku planet   the special effects have a clean   impressively sharp look    if i have any complaint about the film   it s that it tries to take a moral stance when it s not very appropriate to do so    i don t think it s that big of a deal that the federation wanted to move 600 ba ku in order to save the lives of thousands    better yet   why couldn t they have co existed    insurrection feels a little to light to spring these kinds of big moral questions on the audience    with it s inherent camp factor   the star trek series doesn t seem well equipped to deal with issues like this    i prefer to just enjoy the spectacle    
Pos, a fully loaded entertainment review   website coming in july !  >from ace ventura to truman burbank   jim carrey has run the whole gamut of comic   yet sympathetic   characters    1996 s the cable guy was supposed to be his big   breakthrough   role from zany humor into darker   more dramatic acting    as most everyone knows   the results were   well   less than stellar    not only did the film not do so hot at the box office   but it was also panned by critics    as far as i know   gene siskel and i are the only ones willing to admit that we dug it    the first time i saw the cable guy   in theatres   i was in super critic mode   and didn t really like it    however   due to the fact that hbo shows the movie every single day   i ve had time to lean back   relax   and take in the film    and to my surprise   it grew on me    the plot is rather simple   broderick plays a guy named steven who befriends his cable guy   played by carrey   then is stalked by him when steven tries to break off the relationship    see   steven s been having some problems with his girlfriend   robin   leslie mann     and he doesn t think he has any more room in his life for a new friend    also   some of the cable guy s antics have been creeping him out    carrey   as the cable guy   gives steven various aliases   which later we find out are all tv characters   larry tate   chip douglas   ricky ricardo   etc   he apparently lives in his cable van   and while many critics didn t enjoy this newer   darker   less manic performance from carrey   i thought it was interesting and rather well done    for me   its not the movie as a whole that s enjoyable   but rather several individual scenes   a karaoke jam at steven s apartment   a medieval fight at a theme restaurant   and a bathroom beating   a la liar   liar     just to name a few    perhaps the fact that more of carrey s humorous side comes out during these scenes is what makes them so funny    and if you really want to see something   you ve got to hear his version of jefferson airplane s   somebody to love     sung at the aformentioned karaoke jam    the cable guy has its bad spots   like most any movie    i didn t particularly like steven s girlfriend   and i felt that more focus should have been used on the relationship between steven and his best friend    also   the ending   while having you fooled for a moment   is rather contrived   and somewhat dissapointing    still   i found the cable guy to be a worthwhile venture   if you re at the video store and can t think of anything to rent   i suggest you try it out    or if you have hbo   just wait till it comes on   you won t have to wait long      hell   that s what i do every day    
Pos, when bulworth ended   i allowed myself a sigh of relief     it is possible for me to enjoy political satire      there have been several recent political films that didn t do a whole lot for me    wag the dog   for instance   i found to be an intelligent but heartless film   while primary colors is unbearable and unwatchable in its awfulness      bulworth is a far better film than these   both in its execution and lasting impression      it s a tremendously funny and intelligent picture   but it also has an emotional center    writer/director/star warren beatty allows the audience to identify with his character   and   in turn   we like him and actually care about the story        beatty plays incumbent democratic senator jay billington bulworth   the film opens and we see bulworth sobbing as he watches his television spots over and over again      he hasn t slept in days   nor has he eaten   and   almost instantaneously   he goes insane       he s not stark raving mad   not outright   anyway     but he s definitely bonkers       it s the final weekend of his campaign   and his assistant   murphy   oliver platt   has written him a speech to feed to a group of black people in a church in the ghetto       bulworth begins the speech   but suddenly goes off track and just starts being honest         you mean     one lady asks     the democratic party doesn t care about the african american community           well     he shouts   laughing     isn t that obvious      the story is propelled by a device in which bulworth puts out a contract on his own life   he muses later that it s a bad thing to make decisions when you re suicidal     he keeps seeing a man in sunglasses   graham beckel   whom he believes to be the hitman       bulworth also meets nina   halle berry   with whom he becomes infatuated       suddenly   in the short span of this weekend   bulworth s no nonsense   truth in politics   methods become a national sensation   and he shoots ahead in the polls despite the fact that he s appearing on television wearing gang clothes and spewing more profanity than coherent sentences    beatty s work on both sides of the camera is excellent      his script and direction are both extremely sharp   as is the surprisingly strong characterization of bulworth himself      here is a man who s reached his limit   and his way of lashing back is by screwing over the entire political structure      i like that the film doesn t take a clear shot at any of the political parties or affiliations   but at politics in general and how everything is run by the rich   although the anti rich sentiments do get a bit tiresome by the end of the film        some of the segments are simply hilarious   such as a lengthy rap that he delivers at a luncheon dedicated to him      much of the film is completely absurd   but that s the fun part about it      it s an angry   serious film at the core   but the package that beatty has created is so much more accessible than recent attempts in the genre      what adds to this feeling is beatty s portrayal of bulworth   this is a performance that deserves recognition on a higher scale       beatty is so much fun to watch here    he s always funny   but he s also subtle in ways that flesh out his character without dialogue or hugely noticeable actions       beatty is so good that bulworth   despite his shortcomings as a human being   is an entirely sympathetic and likable character almost from the beginning    the supporting cast is vast and colorful      berry is luminous   as always   and adds to her repertoire of solid supporting roles      don cheadle has a good role as a drug dealer who uses gun toting toddlers to do his dirty work      oliver platt is an actor who should be careful   for someday i fear he may induce a heart attack with the intensity of his acting   though he s very funny to watch       paul sorvino adds the southern accent to his list of mastered inflections    is bulworth offensive      i suppose some may see it that way      i wasn t offended by the film   but then again   i hardly care about politics      i think that people who find this film offensive will just be blindsided by the honesty of the story      the film isn t perfect   of course    the ending didn t quite work for me   and the a few of the scenes between bulworth and nina feel forced   although the eclectic dance sequence is fantastic        but these are minor quibbles about an otherwise brilliant film      bulworth is a smart   uproariously funny picture that proves to me that political satire can scratch far deeper than the surface      
Pos, call 911 for the cliche police if you must   but the eyes are the window to the soul    the finest actors working in films are those who can command the screen with a gaze   paul newman   ralph fiennes   anthony hopkins   morgan freeman    you look at these men on screen and you can tell without them saying a word that there is something going on in their minds   that the characters they play are real human beings    we will never have a chance to discover if tupac shakur could have been a great actor   but he had that unique quality in his eyes    in gridlock d   an oddly effective combination of gritty drama and social satire   shakur and his co star tim roth take sketchy characters and make them exciting to watch through the pure energy of their talent and chemistry    shakur and roth play ezekiel   spoon   whitmore and alexander   stretch   rome   two detroit buddies who share a spoken word/jazz trio   an apartment and a drug addiction with cookie   thandie newton      when a new year s eve party ends with cookie comatose after a drug overdose   spoon and stretch begin to wonder if they are living on borrowed time    they soon make a new year s resolution to get into rehab   but that proves to be easier said than done    as though the temptation to fix were not hindrance enough   spoon and stretch also find their attempts to get clean hitting a road block of bureaucracy   confusion and red tape    the government might be the least of their obstacles   however   as they find themselves suspects in the murder of a drug dealer   and on the run from a nasty thug   vondie curtis hall      in order for you to buy into gridlock d at all   you have to accept it as a surreal odyssey rather than as urban realism   unless spoon and stretch sleep through an entire day at the hospital after bringing in cookie   they are going to government offices on new year s day   in which case they should be thankful they get any help at all    gridlock d may actually be a response to the fatuous social commentary of another urban odyssey   1991 s falling down   which found a besieged middle class white male venting his righteous anger against the system during a trek through inner city los angeles    in falling down   michael douglas  d fens   the character s personalized license plate   echoed in gridlock d by the drug lord d reper s plates   whips out a gun because he can t get breakfast at mcdonald s   in gridlock d   spoon and stretch are unarmed against the demands placed on them before they can get into a rehab center    and where the unhinged d fens became a heroic surrogate for audiences   writer/director vondie curtis hall refuses to let spoon and stretch off the hook for their own part in the situation    one bureaucrat responds to a tirade from stretch with the question     do you expect the world to stop       just  because you picked  today  to clean up      the world in gridlock d is just as frustrating as the world in falling down   but the cathartic moments yield no easy answers this time    hall has some interesting things to say about what we expect from the system   but perhaps not enough of them    a significant chunk of gridlock d is devoted to spoon and stretch s flight from d reper and from the police   and those sub plots serve up some thoroughly predictable moments    in one scene   stretch scares off d reper by getting chummy with a police officer   another presents that old chestnut of the two mistakenly suspected heroes in a public place watching a television news report of the crime which shows their pictures    the entire sequence of events seems designed merely as an excuse to get spoon and stretch running   while the other primary plot has them standing in line or sitting down much of the time    hall also plays with gratuitous inserts of drug paraphernalia and flashbacks to the day before the film s main events   perhaps making a particular effort to point out the talent the characters are wasting through self destructive behavior    oh   the irony of it    tupac shakur made a career in music and movies playing the hard case   and living the life to back it up    in gridlock d   shakur gets the chance to play someone who has seen enough of the way his life could go to know that it scares him    spoon is an idea for a character at best as written by hall   but shakur displays an intelligence and survival instinct which struggle with his addiction    mostly it comes through those eyes   eyes with none of the hardness you might expect from the infamous gangsta    it is spoon who plays conscience to stretch s pure appetite   and roth plays stretch with a gleeful self destructiveness   he reveals that he is hiv positive even as he is preparing to shoot up again   which is as much an obstacle to spoon s goal as any agency or enemy    gridlock d s most cruelly comic scene finds stretch   helping   spoon get into an emergency room by repeatedly stabbing him with a tiny pocket knife   and it becomes an appropriate symbol for how the company he keeps has slowly drained the life out of him    with friends like that   spoon doesn t need enemies   and shakur looks at stretch with the tired eyes of a man who has seen too much    the tragedy now is that we won t get more chances to see those eyes again    
Pos, hilarious   ultra low budget comedy from film school dropout kevin smith chronicles a day in the life of two convenience store slackers   brian o halloran and jeff anderson      they spend most of their day ignoring customers while discussing everything from fellatio to self fulfillment    the premise is strictly sitcom and the photography is grainy as all get out   but you could spend ten times the film s budget   a reported $27   000   and still not get dialogue half as good as this    originally rated nc 17 for language    not recommended for viewers with sensitive ears    killing zoe ===========  remake reservoir dogs as a french art film and you re halfway to killing zoe   writer/director roger avary s slow moving story of a failed bastille day bank robbery    eric stoltz stars as an american in paris who gets in * way * over his head when hooks up with a band of nihilistic bank robbers    he s the safecracker who s blissful unaware that the bank job is a botch job from the word go    though intriguing on all fronts   the film is paced at half the speed of pulp fiction   which avary co wrote with quentin tarantino    in english and french    the road to wellville =====================  based on the novel by t   coraghessan boyle   the road to wellville doesn t go very far    bowels   bowels   and more bowels are explored by dr   john harvey kellogg   a buck toothed and bespectacled anthony hopkins     who   in the early 1900 s   advocated abstinence   vegetarianism   and frequent defecation    he also invented the cornflake    really    checking in to kellogg s battle creek sanitarium are matthew broderick and bridget fonda   just two of the many well known faces in this failed comedy    leave your laughter at the door and you can marvel at the unfunny antics of john cusack   michael lerner   lara flynn boyle   john neville   and dana carvey    the art direction is impeccable and some of the early sequences are amusing   but the novelty quickly wears off as writer/director alan parkers tries his darnedness to turn doo doo into drama    what he ends up with is something that i can t print here    phew !  stargate ========  lawrence of arabia meets star wars    this epic sci fi film is more sheer spectacle than anything else    director roland emmerich   universal solider   shamelessly rips off lucas and spielberg and just about any other cosmic cliche that he can lay his hands on    the film is overlong   the characters are cardboard   and the script is filled with some of the most laughable details in modern sci fi history    that said   there s still plenty to watch here    sci fi fans should enjoy the sculpted sands   the morphing headdresses   and a surprisingly spunky james spader    he plays the egyptologist who gets to prove his theory that that   somebody else   built the pyramids    less interesting are co stars kurt russell and jaye davidson of crying game fame    star trek generations =====================  trek fans may be more forgiving   but   for the rest of us   the sluggish star trek generations is a mixed bag at best    the story is interesting   but each scene goes too long    the cast is earnest   but the direction lacks punch    and so on       the best example of the latter is a klingon comeuppance that delivers none of the impact of a similar scene in star trek ii      original enterprise captain james t   kirk appears on both ends of the story   though they cut the scene where shatner turns to the screen to plead   get a life      remarkably unremarkable    miracle on 34th street ======================  in a season of the specialist and pulp fiction et al   maybe a remake of miracle on 34th street * is * necessary    john hughes certainly believes in santa claus and his les mayfield directed production does nothing to tarnish the memory of the 1947 original    the romance between costars dylan mcdermott and elizabeth perkins doesn t work too well   but the film makes a strong case that richard attenborough is the definitive kriss kringle    his chemistry with children can moisten any eye    no claus for alarm    junior ======  arnold schwarzenegger pregnant    sure   billy crystal did it before in rabbit test   but the sight of schwarz with a bulging belly is a casting coup comparable to dustin hoffman in tootsie    what should be nothing more than a one joke premise actually gets better as it goes along    director ivan reitman   dave   twins   wisely keeps the farce to a minimum   so the first hour moves slower than you might expect    don t expect too many yuks from danny devito   but you can t beat those early romantic scenes between emma and arnie    how s * that * for a collision of acting styles    
Pos, for those of us who weren t yet born when the 1960 s rock  n  rolled around   monterey pop affords an affectionate glimpse of the music that influenced our parents to be hippies    from otis redding to jimi hendrix   janis joplin to the mamas and the papas   and jefferson airplane to the who   this documentary is jam packed with contagious energy    but i give fair warning that i will reveal the ending   which does not do the rest of the film the justice it deserves    shot in 1969 at an outdoor concert that precluded woodstock   the film defies the stereotype of the general population at the time    sure   some have painted their faces and smoke joints   but d   a    pennebaker   the war room   moon over broadway   surprisingly chooses to show a broad spectrum of the audience    no matter who is watching   it all comes back to the talented musicians that stir your soul    the excitement starts before the music even begins    a young girl is cleaning thousands of seats and when asked why by an interviewer   she replies that she feels lucky to do so    there are moments of organized craziness as john phillips   leader of the mamas and the papas and one of the concert organizers   tries to get in touch with dionne warwick    and when one band is tuning up   a member remarks     finally   a decent sound system !    you can tell just by watching these first few moments that this show isn t about vanity   it s about playing the music you love to those who have an appreciation for it   a two way street    this interaction between audience and performer continues throughout the film and becomes infectious to the audience    it s impossible to tear your eyes away from janis joplin as she belts out her ballad about love being a ball and chain    and while the lyrics to   wild thing   may not be all that complicated   watching jimi hendrix mime having sex with his guitar is as captivating as otis redding singing about love    even if you don t recognize every band you see on stage   you can imagine being as enthralled by their work as the public sitting in those seats    the only drawback to the film is the ending   which unfortunately i must reveal    all the other bands   big names then and still today   got approximately 7 to 10 minutes of screen time    in contrast   the last band on camera   a wholly forgettable one   gets an entire 18 minutes of screen time    for a film that s only 78 minutes long   that s too large of a chunk   especially when previous acts are much more stimulating    all in all   monterey pop is a precious   rare look at a time period that still holds sway over us    the variety of music   as well as the beautifully shot performances   are easy to become immersed in    if there was ever any question as to why most of these bands were so popular   this is quickly dispelled    it s almost depressing to think that music this moving doesn t get made much anymore    instead we re stuck with * nsync   the backstreet boys   and jennifer lopez   all of whom should have stuck with modeling    
Pos, the most common   and in many cases the only   complaint against francis ford coppola s 1972 masterpiece the godfather is glamorising of mafia   which is presented as an institution guided by ancient tradition and virtues like honour   loyalty and solidarity more suitable for some gentler   kinder ages    martin scorsese   another italoamerican moviemaker   confronted that perspective with his own   more down to earth vision of mafia in 1973 mean streets   movie that dealt with lower echelons of organised crime    unfortunately for scorsese   his film was unspectacular and too artsy to compete with coppola s influence on mafia portrayals in the movies    seventeen years later scorsese returned to mean streets of new york with another film that dealt with darker side of american organised crime    this film was goodfellas   epic black comedy which is today considered as one of the best and most influential films of 1990s    goodfellas owes some of its initial success and popularity to the fact that it was based on the true story   told in best seller book wiseguy by nicholas pileggi   who would co write the screenplay for the film      the book   as well as the film   chronicled thirty years in the life of henry hill   played by ray liotta     irish italian criminal from new york    at the age of 13 he gets recruited in the criminal organisation of paulie cicero   played by paul sorvino     local mob boss   and gradually climbs up the ladder starting with small errands    after couple of years   together with his best childhood friend tommy de vito   played by joe pesci     he joins the crew of expert thieves led by jimmy conway   played by robert de niro      three of them spend years as best friends and associates   gathering enormous wealth from their criminal enterprises that would culminate with one of the most spectacular robberies in american history    wealth   influence and privileges of men connected with mafia are enough for henry hill to seduce his future wife karen   played by lorraine bracco     who would afterwards remain loyal to her husband despite infidelities   domestic abuse   arrests and would even be accomplice to his own private drug dealing business    but the perfect world of   wiseguys   gradually begins to fall apart   tommy s unpredictable outbursts of homicidal violence   jimmy s reluctance to share his part of the loot with partners and   finally   henry s own drug habit would lead to his downfall and make him question his loyalty to the friends    goodfellas is an excellent example of a film that represents work of a film genius in his full glory    scorsese managed to create a vision which is effective and complete despite being full of contradictions that would ripped the film apart in the hands of less talented filmmaker    world depicted in this film is both ordinary and fascinating    scorsese spares no effort to show us all the violence   hypocrisy and inherent paranoia of organised crime   yet it manages to make it both seductive and funny    after being exposed to two and half hours of the film and three decades of criminal history   based on some notorious real life events     the audience understands why the characters chose such dangerous life paths   trading the superficial and short lasting glamour and prosperity of a criminal to the dullness and poverty of honest citizens    scorsese also manages to break viewer s moralistic inhibitions by showing truly revolting material   scenes that depict personal tragedies   broken homes   human depravity   violence   bloodshed and murder   in all their uncompromising reality   but in a manner that would make it amusing and funny to the audience    with the use of ironic soundtrack   manipulative shots   character s dialogue or narrator s commentary   goodfellas represents the new standards of black humour that would became very popular few years later during tarantino era    even if we don t pay attention to skills with which potentially disturbing material becomes eye pleasing and entertaining   we should admit that scorsese displays his talents of truly original and creative filmmaker    first   we might notice unusual structure of the plot   relatively minor subplot is used as movie s ironic prologue    then   instead of single narrator   scorsese switches to the second character as narrator in the middle of the film only to switch back to the original shortly afterwards    this multiple points of views   both in terms of narration and various subjective shots   only lengthens the ironic distance towards characters and their situation    same ironic distance comes with extremely effective choice of soundtrack    nostalgia for good old times is illustrated with easy listening 1950s pop songs   while depression   paranoia and bad times find their expression in more neurotic rock songs of late 1960s and 1970s    but the soundtrack is most effective when it is used as ironic comment   almost pastoral   easy listening tunes make strong and very ironic contrast to the scenes of violence and bloodshed    however   thing most associated with this film is couple of continuos shots that feature characters moving through large rooms and interacting with dozens if not hundreds of people    such scenes   although they require very great skill and patience during their shootings   became very popular among other directors in 1990s    fragmentary character of the screenplay   which doesn t have straight plot and instead bases film on series of loosely connected vignettes   gives another interesting opportunity for scorsese    he uses this structure of film to experiment   and most successful of such experiments is hilarious   a day in life   segment near the end of the film    another essential element of goodfellas is large but superb collection of great acting talents    the most respectable among them is robert de niro   but his character   who happen to be most quiet and business like member of criminal trio   gets overshadowed by two of his friends and colleagues    joe pesci deserved his   oscar   for supporting role of homicidal psychopath tommy   and his lines   including ad libs   probably represent the most memorable element of the film    ray liotta   although equally talented   perhaps doesn t look as the best choice for narrator and nominal hero of the film    liotta s henry hill looks somewhat too hollywoodised and glamorous among this bunch of low level street thugs    liotta   on the other hand   improves general impression by very realistic and menacing portrayal of drug addiction    lorraine bracco is   on the other hand   very effective and believable as karen hill   wife who gradually descends into same moral cesspool as her husband    paul sorvino is also very effective as patriarch mafioso   and among the supporting cast most memorable is chuck low as pestering small time gangster who unknowingly digs his own grave    as a combination of clever sociological study   black humour and innovative filmmaking goodfellas became something only the truly great films could do   work of art and excellent popular entertainment in the same time    because of this achievement   and also because of the great influence on future filmmakers   this cinematic gem deserves its rightful place among the best films of 1990s    
Pos,    the blair witch project   was perhaps one of a kind   a unique film that played completely on its own merit   managing to scare even the most experienced horror fans out of their senses    its success made a sequel inevitable   but this is not the sequel   i suspect   anyone much wanted    after the release of   the blair witch project     tourists have practically invaded the small town of burkettsville   in order to get a glimpse of the blair witch    locals have turned this mass hysteria into a great business opportunity   selling twig sculptures   stones and dirt like those in the movie   and the exasperated local sheriff patrols the woods with a bullhorn   shouting     get out of these woods and go home !  there is no goddamned blair witch !      jeff     is one of those people   who has used the sudden popularity of the small town to his advantage    after he got released from the mental institution   he created a mobile business that attracts thousands of customers through the internet    as the movie starts he is leading one of these groups into the woods   on the   blair witch hunt      among the five strangers is stephen and his girlfriend   the pregnant tristen   who are writing a book on the hysteria caused by the film called   the blair witch   history or hysteria       and kim   who dresses in black and has some psychic powers    the last member of the crew is erica   a young beautiful witch wannabe   who constantly quotes from the wiccan lore   saying   the first rule of wicca is   do no harm   because whatever you do will come back to you threefold      this strange group plunges into the woods   where they begin to argue about their different approaches to the experience    on the very first night that they decide to spend under the stars amidst the ruins of parr s abandoned house   strange things start happening    when they wake up their equipment is gone and only the tapes remain    after a while they discover strange markings on their bodies    they are somehow lost in time   as it loops uncontrollably back and forth    they are all haunted by hallucinations and horrible nightmares and soon they can not see the difference between dreams and reality    the only thing that they are sure of is that they have brought something or someone with them from the woods      documentary director joe berlinger     paradice lost     helms   blair witch 2     leaving the creators of the first film   dan myrick and ed sanches   in the background    the opening scenes  the documentary showing the townspeople affected by the first film   is a more promising approach   because instead of trying to cover similar ground   it goes outside the first film and makes its own stand    but soon the movie gets confused and sidetracked by its own story   that is never resolved and ends with a very anticlimaxic epilogue    in a way   this is a typical hollywood sequel    more money has been spent and more people have worked on a project that was doomed to fail    the horror and suspense of the original simply could not be repeated    of course in these situations   quantity is more important than quality and profit is more important than the artistical values    from its opening scenes when the camera gracefully panes over the bloody red forest   with carter burwell s     being john malkovich   and   fargo     musical score in the background   you realize that with the exception of its title   this film has absolutely nothing to do with   the blair witch project         blair witch        was filmed by handheld videocameras and nfeatured acting that was mostly based on improvisation    in the sequel the technical aspect of the film is close to perfection   creating a completely different atmosphere    with its graceful cinematography   production design and flashy editing   the film has a very polished look   which is impossible to associate with the first installment    and though berlinger directs his film with an energy and pace that makes the adrenaline rush through the body a couple of times   he has obviously misunderstood the nature of his predecessor    the key is simplicity       blair witch project   had a story which was incredibly simple    that allowed the audience to fill the gaps with our own imagination    the film was practically an empty screen   on which we projected our most frightening nightmares    the effect was incredibly powerful   lasting and entir e everyone   but in a different way       book of shadows   feels incredibly controlled and restrict    here   very little is left to our imagination and the story is so complex and   clever   that the screenwriters are the first to get lost in it    there is is no book of shadows and no conclusion that we can be satisfied with    this is simply a less artistic film that doesn t have the talent and originality of its predecessor    it resorts to fancy cinematography and special effects to create the right effect and doesn t always succeed    but most importantly   it stands on its own ground and has almost no connection with the first movie   which doesn t allow it to destroy the original    in the end   i can t call it a bad effort    it s less artistic   not so scary and less original   but certainly not bad    it s simply different    in fact   if you haven t seen   the blair witch project     you might like this film for what it is    a cross between   the blair witch project   and the   scream    films    the only element that remains constant and similar between the two films is the solid acting   jeffrey donovan and tristine skyler should be mentioned   and incredible sense of surrealism    but it s a common knowledge and experience that   with a few exceptions   every movie sequel is worse than the original and some are even not worth making    to me the story of   the blair witch project   seemed completed   but there are obviously no limits to commercial success that   the book of shadows   is certainly assured    and it s already time to look forward to   blair witch 3      
Pos, seen may 31   1999 on home video   rented      one of the best things about the movies is that they can make you really start to wonder and analyze things in your own   everyday life that you might not have thought much of otherwise    with some films it might be just a secondary issue   but with `dark city  what we get is nearly an entire film committed to philosophizing and theorizing about human memory and how it defines who we are   which is a poignant theme made through an absolutely beautifully constructed film with the kind of story and setting that could only happen in a movie    there s an old role playing computer game called `d   ja v     wherein the player takes on the role of a man who can t remember who he is   where he is and how he got there    the goal is to gather as many clues as possible to figure that out and along the way overcome a conflict    the premise to this film is not unlike that game   only this time we don t have control over the protagonist    we begin by meeting a seemingly ordinary man living in an extremely dark and dirty city   actually   it s more than just the city   it s the whole reality   that isn t just that neo gothic look   a la `batman     `blade runner         but is so fully developed it s almost a different genre completely    later he will learn that his name is john murdoch   sewell     but for now he has no idea what s going on other than the fact something is not right    the fact there s a dead body in the corner goes to enhance the feeling of paranoia and a mysterious   hurried call telling him to leave immediately is also very chilling    this opening scene alone goes a long way to define the setting of the film and its bizarre   horrific tone    the man doesn t know who he is nor where he s going and it s interesting to follow him since we the viewers have no idea either we can sympathize and identify with him    in fact   this is the way all stories begin since it s impossible to know the history of a character   their feelings   values   morals   etc   until after we ve observed them for a while    but in this case   the total feeling of amnesia is an excellent tool towards characterization   developing the mood and outlining the story    eventually   some semblance of a plot begins to unfold as it appears that john is a serial killer wanted by the police    we met inspector frank bumstead   hurt     a quiet   unemotional   soft spoken deadpan man who appears to have been on the trail of the killer for some time    two other important characters are also introduced   dr   daniel p   schreber   sutherland     a neurotic psychiatrist who claims to be john s doctor   and emma murdoch   connelly     a jazz singer dolled up to look like a caraciture right out of the old dick tracy serials or any given leading lady of the old film noir movies    it was schreber who contacted john for reasons that are continually revealed throughout the course of the film    he also contacts emma   which further helps the film reveal what is seemingly a complex   mysterious back story    but absolutely nothing is as it appears to be in `dark city     which is what makes it so fascinating throughout its continual scenes of confusion and vertigo    everything the filmmakers want us to see has some significance   considering how intricate the detail is to every single shot   its lighting   art direction and overall production design   they don t seem to be able to afford any gratuities    however   that might also be what s keeping it from reaching its maximum potential    by continuing to follow john as he wanders around this strange place   so much unlike the real world we know   we come to realize that it s all a hoax    everyone in the city is the subject of an experiment being conducted by a race of aliens to understand what makes humans tick in their efforts to somehow save themselves from extinction    but   as the film s tagline says   `last night   one of us went off      for reasons that are never clearly explained   it appears that john possesses telekinetic powers to can do pretty much whatever his mind can conceive   a process known as `tuning       the aliens   which look like very old bald human men with pasty skin   also possess the power en masse and use it to change the city every night at midnight    at the same time all the humans fall asleep and after the changes are made   they awake and either continue where they left off or begin a new life they have no idea they did not have until then    this premise certainly is interesting and director and co screenwriter alex proyas is able to keep the film consistently mysterious in this regard    he does provide some explanations such as that dr   schreber is an assistant to `the strangers  because he somehow could synthesize memory into chemical form    the aliens mix and match the memories of the city s population to see who will change and who will not    in the process this creates for a good deal of deep   thought provoking philosophies that could be applied to the real world    however   where the film errs is by not playing up the idea of memory versus the human heart as to what makes a person who he or she is    the main characters are all closely intertwined within the seemingly complex murder mystery which never actually happened   yet when they start to go through some of the expected emotions it comes off as distant   static and cold   mediocre performances by hurt and connelly don t help either      for example   john realizes emma is not and probably never was his wife so he does not feel an emotional bond to her   yet in some scenes crucial to the film s plot   we are expected to believe they do have a genuine love for each other   which is also part of the film s climax and ending    and that s what proyas seems to be inferring with the film   but never quite manages to convey in its fullest sense    ironically   this is what made his first film `the crow  work so well   which had a similar theme of struggling to find hope and the human spirit within a nearly identical   dark twisted world    with `dark city  the messenger seems to be mistaken for the message    still   the film is by no means bad and is consistently entertaining and enjoyable    there s a lot to like here   most notably the sheer visual look and style of it all which accounts for at least half the reasons the film is able to tell the story it does    the story as a whole is one of the most original to come out of hollywood in years    `dark city  is what the movies are all about   the escape from the real world    
Pos, linda fiorentino disappeared off the radar after a deservedly heralded turn in the cable pic the last seduction   and her being cast as dogma s lead is nothing short of inexplicable    she s still in fine form as bethany   an abortion clinic worker who s lost her faith    one night   a visitor from heaven makes a fiery entrance in bethany s bedroom    he is metatron   alan rickman     the voice of god   and he needs her help   she must stop two fallen angels from entering a new jersey church the fate of the universe depends on it    god would do it him/herself   but he/she is       missing   having taken up human form somewhere on earth never to be heard from again    bethany is joined on her road trip to the garden state by the   prophets   jay   jason mewes   and silent bob   kevin smith   doing double duty     the slacker minstrels who have appeared in all of smith s films thus far    at some point   rock drops naked out of the sky as rufus   the undocumented   and very black     thirteenth apostle     and offers his assistance   as does divine stripper serendipity   salma hayek      it s a wild ride    they re in pursuit of loki and bartleby   damon and affleck   respectively this is probably the sharpest either has ever been     who were banished from heaven to wisconsin and have discovered a dogmatic loophole that will enable their return    loki decides to wreak havoc along the way with the knowledge that his sins will be absolved at the pearly gates    at one point   he terrorizes a boardroom full of suits with an angry combination of words and bullets    it s a nasty   guiltily enjoyable little scene that asks     how corrupt are you        wings of desire this ain t    since debuting with clerks   smith has grown as a director   particularly in terms of working with actors       chris rock is this film s only weak link between jokes   he s wooden      his no frills visual style hasn t changed much over the years   though   dogma s widescreen compositions at least have blockbuster affectations     nor has his writing his characters still sit around delivering one caustic   hilarious speech after another    dogma chips away at big religious issues namely   the hypocrisy that accompanies any organized system of beliefs eloquently and articulately   but a few of the monologues sound too much like blatant exposition    as well   the verbal introduction of each new person seems to take forever    any movie with this much weighty talk would have a hard time maintaining momentum   hurlyburly   anyone       and eventually dogma s pacing goes slack    a long diatribe from bartleby late in the game   in which he laments the destiny of celestial beings   comes at a point when we ve heard enough    because his change of heart   bartleby is initially the good cop to loki s bad   drives the climax   said rant is given a great deal of screen time    sure   affleck deserved a big moment   damon steals their scenes together prior     but it ultimately makes the film and us feel bloated    like tarantino   smith was a video age sponge who became a sample mad indie filmmaker    dogma pays welcome homage to an eclectic batch of movies   including indiana jones and the last crusade   with silent bob doing his best harrison ford   and weird science a shit demon attacks our heroes !  smith also has a kitchen sink brand of humour   his dexterous maneuvering between the satirical   a cardinal played by george carlin attempts to mount a publicity campaign with the slogan   catholicism wow !     and the scatalogical ensures that no lover of comedy will leave dogma feeling malnourished    i bust   ed     a gut on several occasions    proceedings also get off on the right foot with the opening with the funniest disclaimer ever    it s a disclaimer unlikely to put protestors at ease   for to read it   one actually has to see dogma    the prerelease ballyhoo is in the tradition of the last temptation of christ s   martin scorsese s 1988 adaptation of nikos kazantzakis  controversial novel   in that it is not directly linked to the picture s content but to rumours and heresy    there s a famous anecdote about fletch director michael ritchie inviting picketers of the last temptation of christ into a screening on his dime   just so they could know for certain what they were rallying against       not one of them had watched it      every single person refused    smith and scorsese have a lot in common   and so do the two films in question   because both smith s bethany and scorsese s jesus are hollow shells without their faith    in fact   dogma s denouement   which follows a thrilling showdown that s worth the wait   is a catholic love in   a veritable recruitment poster       i felt sentimental about a religion i don t belong to    now that s powerful filmmaking     smith is nothing if not sincere about his own devotion to god   and that spirituality shines through    it s enough to make me forgive dogma for its editorial sins    my religion is movies    when the catholic league beats on dogma for imaginary crimes against a doctrine   in a roundabout way they re attacking what i live for   freedom of expression through celluloid    i therefore feel that   although i m no bible thumper   i m at least as qualified to criticize dogma as william donohue and his followers    
Pos, you ve heard all the hype    you ve seen all their faces   natalie portman   the professional   as queen amidala   liam neeson   schindler s list   as qui gon jinn   ewan mcgregor   trainspotting   as obi wan kenobi   and jake lloyd   jingle all the way   as young anakin skywalker    if you ve read any reviews   you ve also probably heard that this movie fails to live up to the magic and humanity of the first trilogy    you also may have heard that this one s too kiddie friendly   and doesn t have enough content for adults    believe the hype    the effects are stunning   the digitalized creatures are amazingly realistic   the lightsaber duels are amazing   and queen amidala s sumptuous robes are fit to be worn by queen elizabeth    but there s something missing here   and it isn t budget or effects   it s everything money * can t * buy    the actors struggle as best they can to flesh out broad stroked and flat characters    the most successful at this is liam neeson who   as qui gon jinn   a jedi master to young obi wan kenobi   has quiet dignity and a wise   commanding presence    he is the anchor to this movie   as he is the one character who george lucas apparently spent some time fleshing out    portman s queen amidala and mcgregor s obi wan kenobi don t fare nearly so well    amidala   the future mother of luke and leia and the queen of a peaceful planet being invaded by the trade federation     !       comes off as stoic   stilted and caricatured   it appears as though she was a vulcan geisha in a former life      and obi wan   although mcgregor makes him very endearing   has so little screen time that he s nothing but a robin to qui gon jinn s batman    however   mcgregor does struggle manfully to infuse this surprisingly small supporting role with a spark of genuine insight and humanity   and he does a good job    he also absolutely nails alec guiness    obi wan in episode 4   6   scottish accent   and that really makes his presence in the film more profound than it might have been otherwise    in fact   lucas seems to bank on that preexisting knowledge quite a bit   and that s one of the problems with this film    i would never call myself a   star wars   fan   especially not considering what it means to be a fanatic these days   but i ve always enjoyed the films along with everyone else in america    however   if you are the one person in america who * hasn t * seen the films at all or even recently   or who doesn t bother to brush up on the names of obscure characters   you may be hopelessly lost    for example   one of the film s main   nefarious   characters is senator palpatine    for those of you not recently steeped in   star wars   trivia   emperor palpatine is that scary hooded apparition who was darth vader s master in   return of the jedi   and   empire strikes back      so   obviously   his appearance in   phantom menace   is meant to stir some echoes of his later role in the series   thus making his role here more meaningful    a lot of the movie is like that    r2 d2 and c 3po make token appearances   and it s obvious that lucas is banking on the audience s pre existing fondness for them        because he doesn t do much to add to it in any way    same goes for jabba the hutt   who doesn t look as much mean here as he does corpulent and lazy    even * planets * make foreshadowing guest appearances in this film   tatooine   the desert world where luke grew up     coruscant   the cloud city from   empire strikes back       and alderaan   leia s home planet   which we never actually see   that gets blown up in   star wars     show up or are mentioned briefly in passing    what s the result of tying so many plot points and characters to future films    the answer is that this one seems surprisingly empty    there s no meat   no substance   that makes you want to love the characters as they are   not as they will be    another problem is that there are actually * too many * alien characters in the film    i was distracted by the fact that two of the main evil characters   strange looking aliens who looked like gila monsters   had mouths that barely moved   making them look more like muppets than actual characters    and jar jar binks   a silly roger rabbitish amphibious character   is intended as comic relief   but what he really becomes is annoying   and fast    unlike chewbacca and c 3po   who got their humanity   if you ll pardon the expression   from their interactions with the human characters   jar jar is often left to interact mostly with others of his kind   at times making the movie seem like nothing more than a very expensive   teenage mutant ninja turtles      furthermore   the dialogue is often stilted and corny   and sometimes downright infantile   thereby rendering some characters into nothing more than bystanders to the plot    oddly   this isn t just * my * judgment   lucas has said that he designed this film for kids    well   he s done a good job    the hero of this film   of course   is young anakin   but it was very hard for me to feel any kinship or identify with an eight year old boy    that s not jake lloyd s fault   though   he does a good job of being a cute kid   which is apparently all lucas asked of him    that s another mistake   of course   because the cute tyke becomes darth vader    warning   spoilers ahead ! ! ! !  in my opinion   there was not nearly enough foreshadowing of anakin s future evil in the film    the boy is all blond flowing hair and rosy cheeks   and there s nothing more than a spark of aggression in him throughout the entire movie    he has a doting mother   pernilla august   making her first english  language film   and is a slave to a gross flying gnome on tatooine    but the only indication the audience gets that this kid isn t all hearts and roses is yoda s hesitation in allowing him to train as a jedi under qui gon jinn    his explanation       his future is clouded         warning   major spoiler ahead    enter at your own risk      of course   the noble qui gon dies at the hand of darth maul   a scary looking sith lord who excels at the jedi arts   but has turned to the dark side    this dude has maybe two lines in the entire movie   but he establishes his presence through his amazing moves with his double sided lightsaber   and his scary facial makeup    because qui gon never gets a chance to train the young anakin in the ways of the force   obi wan   qui gon s young padawan apprentice   one level below knightdom     must take over the training himself    so   at the end of the movie   we end where the saga actually begins   with obi wan kenobi and his young apprentice   anakin   darth vader   skywalker    did this story need to be told    i would say no    but is it a worthwhile movie to see    absolutely    if you don t enter the theater with jedi size expectations   and you simply want to be treated to an enjoyable visual spectacle   then this is your movie    the tatooine pod races are a triumph of effects and computer animation    the digitalized backgrounds on some of the planets are an astonishing sight    and yoda and young obi wan are worth seeing for their origins in a simpler   happier time    above all   this is a fun movie    not deep   not meaningful   and not profound    but fun    maybe next time   lucas will hire lawrence kasdan to co write the script   and the guy who directed   empire   will direct    because if lucas does the next one himself   it will be lacking the one thing it needs the most   potential          
Pos, as african american detective vergil tibbs questions a suspected white murderer inside a jail cell   there is a wonderful   eye catching shot which instantaneously presents the main message of the entire film    the shot has tibbs  face completely covered by the shadows of the prison bars    to see these bars blocking his face   we see how separated tibbs is from the rest of the characters in the film    as a black detective conducting an investigation in a southern town full of violent white bigots   no matter how innocent tibbs is   he is still seen by these bigots as a threat simply because of the color of his skin    the bars show that tibbs has not been given a fair chance to show exactly who he is   instead others have chosen him as different and dangerous    this one shot amazes me because it captures a whole theme in a matter of seconds    it perhaps may be the most powerful image i have seen in a film       in the heat of the night   was the first and the best of the three films norman jewison directed concerning racism in america    jewison has a very keen style of displaying various cases of racism as he is neither pedantic nor overly sentimental    in these three films he does an excellent job creating very detailed equal analyses of characters from the abused to the abusers    he is also not afraid to tell the absolute truth about how corrupt society was in the past and is in the present    preceding the very original   a soldier s story   and the recently released   the hurricane       in the heat of the night contains some classic lines and some very memorable characters    the film   which won best picture in 1967 focuses on vergil tibbs   played superbly by sidney poitier as a fearless african american police officer from philadelphia who refuses to give up on an investigation in a white town where is he not wanted    tibbs is a man who rarely loses his temper and that is worth mentioning because he is constantly facing abuse from those around him    as a hero who is not afraid to face off against five men with chains   tibbs is the perfect protagonist    poitier also gives an excellent   noteworthy voice to his character    never nervous and always commanding   his speech patterns are very manipulative as they range from stentorian to soothing    however   unlike   the hurricane   where denzel washington dominated over the rest of the cast   poitier shares the spotlight with rod steiger   who won best actor for his excellent performance    as a sheriff who helps tibbs and warns him of the dangers around him   steiger shows a great amount of skill in his role    he starts off as racist and blind as the other townspeople    he would refer to tibbs as   boy   and would always suspiciously keep an eye on him    as the film progresses though   there is a very gradual change in the sheriff    he begins to see the hardships tibbs faces and he sees the foolishness of his own neighbors    what i really enjoyed about steiger s character was that he did not completely abandon his friends or connect with tibbs at the end of the film    he still could not refer to tibbs as mister tibbs or officer tibbs but rather settled for virgil    instead   it was apparent that he was eventually going to see the world differently in the future    most movies would have a character reversing all of his beliefs and influences in a matter of minutes    this action would not have been realistic at all since it is nearly impossible for someone to believe something one day and believe something else the next day    jewison s determination to make this film as realistic as possible is very obvious here and also very appropriate       in the heat of the night   shows the difference between the north and the south or a major city and a small town in the united states during the 1960 s    it displays this perfectly    however   the actual investigation   although it is not the main focus of the film   lacks interest    it seemed rushed especially towards the end as if jewison had given his message about racism and did not feel like giving a credible explanation involving the murder victim    there were way too many characters added during the last fifteen minutes and some of the scenes during this time period were inane   police officer sam being a suspect was not needed      also   it is given that tibbs is a vigilant homicide detective who is the best at what he does   but some of his discoveries came out of nowhere and how he found out some of the important case details towards the end were never answered    the rushed ending was the only mistake of this otherwise memorable jewison classic       a congratulations has to be given to actor scott wilson    he managed to be in the two best movies of 1967     in the heat of the night   and the even better   in cold blood        
Pos, in wonder boys michael douglas plays an aged writer \ professor with such lived in naturalism that i believe it may be his best performance    ever since wall street   douglas has spent the greater part of his career playing variations on the shark in a suit gordon gecko character he personified in the mid 80 s    in those performances he tended to exaggerate the vehemence of cutthroat businessmen   with much frothing at the mouth while projecting all his bad intentions to the world    you d think such a man would keep his evil wrapped tightly underneath a good natured veneer   but from gordon gecko to nicholas van orton   douglas played the role straight and out in the open    in wonder boys his performance isn t showy or a tour de force   it s simple yet truthful    he embodies grady   a craggy old writer with a predilection for pot and pink bathrobes    grady instructs a writers workshop while working tirelessly on a follow up to the novel that put him on the map    when we first encounter this curmudgeon in the midst of his workshop   we hear his sardonic narration on the soundtrack as students bombard one of their own with unfair criticisms    grady points out   in his narration   that they only do so out of jealousy    their target is the very writerly named james leer   played by the always understated tobey maguire     a student full of potential and one whom grady develops a mild affection for    leer is the kind of youth who seems to mechanically block out emotions    he speaks in an intellectualized monotone with just a hint of dry wit around the edges    he s portentous and gloomy   as if modeling himself after the great depressed writers   though his act is a little too calculated    he reminds me of the self imposed outcast film director   jim jarmusch   dead man   ghost dog      whenever i happen to catch jarmusch in an interview i see the man speaking in a toneless manner   the monotonous drawl supposedly masking depth or contempt for his interviewer     exclusively dressed in black   and with his spiked hair dyed snow white    leer is similar   a guy who equates quirks with depth    tobey maguire fits well in the role    with his round   sweet eerie face he resembles bud cort from harold and maude    but unlike cort   maguire is easier to warm up to   he s a messed up kid reaching for artistic credibility    katie holmes plays hannah   a beautiful   talented writing student just itching to get in grady s pants    this is a plot line i had trouble with    douglas   in his old age   is beginning to resemble jerry springer   a man who has actually paid for sex on numerous documented occasions    at first i found it extremely difficult to believe that someone as beautiful as hannah would desire grady   maybe it s because i m jealous   and wish holmes was throwing herself at me   after all i may just be a lowly internet critic but at least i still have all my teeth     then i think of douglas s real life companion   the breathtaking catherine zeta jones    seeing those two together looks a lot like a kidnapping    suddenly my mind has shifted from the task at hand   that being reviewing this completely wonderful movie   and i m pontificating on why the hell jones would desire douglas    there is a movie in there somewhere    grady   rather chivalrously if you ask me   resists the charms of hannah for sara gaskell   a droll frances mcdormand     who is his age   but also married to another professor    okay   maybe not so chivalrous    there is a great line in the film spoken by douglas about sara where he says     she was a junkie for the printed word    lucky for me i manufactured her drug of choice      robert downy j   r plays a bisexual editor who makes his entrance with a towering transvestite on his arm    downy has mastered the gleefully dry hyper articulate wit of many a hipster intellectual    he s arrogant but completely likeable in his utter arrogance    the actor is perfectly cast here   and remains a joyous movie presence somewhere between a typical tom hanksian comic leading man and edgy character actor    i wish wonder boys had more of him    searching for a plot among the elements of wonder boys would be pointless   for it meanders through its running time   but that s part of its charm    and maybe i m a bit biased towards the film because it takes place in a haven of literary academia   a place i m greatly fond of   and a place rarely explored in american cinema    everyone has a sub genre   be it war films   westerns   dance movies   that they happen to be privy to    i m privy to films about literary types i   e    those individuals enthralled by the written word   and if you are not so inclined it may be wise to knock my above grade down about half a notch    the direction by curtis hanson is more akin to a european film with its leisurely pace and situations that grow from the characters   rather than generic mapped out story points    sometimes the dialogue is too clever   but that s a problem i wish i found with films more often    another minor quibble is that early on the film seems a bit too introverted   like its characters   but as the story progresses it begins to open up    for me wonder boys works as subtle drama because of its insight into artistic types   and as a low key comedy for its chuckle worthy throwaway gags    the gags are like those in the great robert altman   m * a * s * h   the long goodbye   movies   where jokes exist as asides on the fringes   like jokes in life often do    the broader comedy such as the killing of a blind dog   and incessant smoking of marijuana isn t ineffective but not nearly as memorable as the little things    curtis hanson   who before his last film   la confidential   toiled about with exploitation fare like losin  it   an early tom cruise sex comedy   and the hand the rocks the cradle   has graduated to more meaningful films    he directs wonder boys in an appropriately dour style   the comedy coming from the false gloom his characters put up    the morose crooning of leonard cohen would seem an odd song for the background of any party   but in a wonder boys party   it fits    the film is like a piece of literature put up on the big screen    it s the cinematic equivalent to a good read   novelistic in its approach with themes rarely found in american movies    many will find it slight   but i found much to savor among its subtleties    
Pos, plot   derek zoolander is a male model    he is also very dumb and impressionable    for that reason   he is secretly hired and trained   so secret   that even he doesn t know about it   by an underground fashion syndicate to assassinate the prime minister of malaysia   who wants to abolish child labor in his country    will zoolander fulfill the dirty deed    will zoolander ever grace the world his new   look      is this a funny movie    find out below        critique   there s a place in our world for   stupid comedies      films which don t pretend to take themselves seriously   are based on idiotic premises and filled with dumb jokes    there s also a time for them and many would argue that this difficult period of our history   might be an ideal circumstance during which to   relax   by watching something so completely frivolous    well   if you re in the mood for some seriously mindless entertainment   ben stiller and his cast of many have assembled one of the more original dumb comedies in some time    of course   comedies as such are usually very subjective and i could see how some will see this film simply as stupid and unfunny   while others will grant them the   stupid     but consider it funny instead    i personally enjoyed it for the most part   cracked up loudly during a couple of specific sequences and loved the derek zoolander character and the unrestrained whipping they released upon the fashion industry    snap !  it was also nice to see several real life models with small roles in the movie   not taking themselves too seriously    and if you re the type of person who likes celebrity cameos in films   well   don t look any further because dozens of famous faces show up here including vince vaughn   billy zane   winona ryder   christian slater   david duchovny   natalie portman and many   many others    i especially liked andy dick s complete make over as the masseuse    hi larious !  but with all films of this type   there is bound to be some stuff that simply doesn t work    a few particulars which didn t strike my fancy included the bulimia and   orgy   sequence with christine taylor   the break dance fighting   and i also never get why they use real countries in plots like this   why not just   make up   a country   instead of zeroing in on a certain people        i also could have done with less of the taylor character in general   since she wasn t all that interesting and seemed to slow things down every now and then   more zoolander   dude !      but those few missteps were nothing compared to some of the more memorable scenes which definitely did work for me !  i almost pissed myself during the   gas station   disaster   absolutely adored the   walk off   contest   with david bowie as the judge   no less   and appreciated many of zoolander s moronic one liners     i was a merman       a  merman ! !        and i dare you to get his   monkey   photo shoot out of your head after seeing this movie     you re a monkey   derek       a  monkey !      i also really liked the soundtrack and the pace of the film   both of which zipped and zagged   and established a nice rhythm to it all    again   it s to note that this movie is dumb and not for everyone   but my guess is that if you laughed at the trailer   you will likely enjoy many of the quips in the actual picture as well    if you thought the trailer was dumb   skip this dodo bird and go rent austin powers again or something   a film from which there is an obvious influence here    blue steel   baby       yeah ! ! !  where s joblo coming from    austin powers   7/10     austin powers 2   7/10     deuce bigalow   7/10     dude   where s my car   7/10     freddy got fingered   5/10     jay & silent bob strike back   8/10     joe dirt   5/10     meet the parents   8/10     say it isn t so   3/10    
Pos, unzipped is a cinematic portrait of isaac mizrahi   an artist whose palette is fabric    ostensibly   the film is a documentary   but use of that term requires stretching its meaning    many scenes appear staged   and a great deal of cutting and pasting has been done in the editing room    the cinema verite effect is a conceit    genuine spontaneity is at a premium   and everyone is aware of and playing to the camera   especially would be actresses like cindy crawford      director douglas keeve   who was mizrahi s lover at the time   freely admits that he   couldn t care less about the truth   but was more interested in capturing   the spirit and love in isaac and in fashion      despite violating nearly every rule of   legitimate   documentary film making   however   unzipped is a remarkably enjoyable piece of entertainment    while it sheds only a little light on the behind the scenes world of the fashion industry   it presents a fascinating   if incomplete   picture of designer mizrahi    this man is the perfect subject for this kind of study    he s funny   energetic   and eminently quotable    he has unusual views on just about everything   from fashion     it s about women not wanting to look like cows     to mary tyler moore     between her and jackie kennedy   they shaped this country     to style     it s almost impossible to have style nowadays without the right dogs        unzipped also gives a glimpse into the creative process by which mizrahi turns an idea into a dress    it s almost certainly different that anyone would imagine    the designer draws on a variety of sources for his look   including nanook of the north and old bette davis movies   then enlists the aid of a ouija board to help form the collection    in particular   unzipped traces mizrahi s development of his fall 1994 line from its inception in the spring to the final fashion show   which highlights a number of prominent models   including cindy crawford   naomi campbell   kate bush   and linda evangelista    on the technical side   a number of interesting choices were made in filming unzipped    a variety of film stocks were used   super 8   16 mm black and white   and 35 mm color    there is a purpose to this beyond simple artiness    the stock often serves as an emotional key to the movie   and   during the climactic fashion show   color is used to show the audience s perspective   while black and white is for the behind the  scenes sequences    nevertheless   some viewers will be put off by this treatment    while unzipped isn t an expose on the fashion industry per se   keeve has enough clips of petulant models to make the viewer realize how tame robert altman was with ready to wear    overall   however   this movie is far more about mizrahi than anything else   and only when viewed from that perspective does unzipped succeed    when the designer declares that   everything is frustrating except designing clothes    that s beautiful and liberating     it fits perfectly with the image of him that unzipped has constructed    
Pos, dora   fernanda montenegro   sits behind a make shift desk at rio+s major train station    she   in her colorful demeanor   offers a service that is unheard of in the states    she writes letters for the illiterate   who pass through   to try to find lost relatives   find love   or search after lost debts    she+s quirky   she+s elderly   she+s caring    totally trustworthy   right    not a chance    once home   she never sends these letters   saving money on postage   and relishing in the drama contained therein with her neighbor irene   mar   lia p   ra      one of the letters is sent by a young mother with her nine year old son   looking for their father    shortly thereafter   she gets hit by a bus   and the son is orphaned    days go by   and the boy   named josu     roams around the station   hungry   desperate   and somewhat clueless to his predictament    through a series of circumstances too precious to elaborate upon   dora somehow takes a responsibility in trying to find josu   +s father    this means leaving the security of rio   traveling to the outskirts of brazil   where unpaved roads   religious devotees and the poverty stricken become commonplace    films like this remind me as to what i enjoy about some foreign films    it is an opportunity for me to get a fresh breath in another part of the world   so distant from my own    it does so entertainingly   and so heart wrenchingly    and yet   it+s backdrop is merely that    the focus is on the minute transformation of dora   of how she learns to love this little kid   without being cloying or sentimental    the most interesting backdrop is the amount of religious dedication is in the film    dora being an amoral scam artist   could care less about the amount of bickering between the candle lighting of the catholics versus the bumper sticker mentality of the evangelicals    but neither side is trivialized    she even begins to develop an affection for a non drinking evangelical   who sees the problems with dora   if not initially    fernanda montenegro surprisingly got an oscar nomination for this very delicate performance   but the true marvel is that of vinicius de oliveira   who plays josu      he   like the discoveries of j   r   mie renier    la promesse    and giorgio cantarini    life is beautiful      prove that the true acting discoveries may be outside of the united states    he is a natural   and never once grating    send a memo to jonathan taylor thomas    
Pos, the event of events is upon us    people have waited twenty two years for the prequel to star wars and die hard fans have been camping out at theaters for months to get tickets to see it    i don t think that america will ever actually recover from what this hurricane of a film has caused    it is not a bit of an exaggeration to say that this is the most highly anticipated movie in history    anyone who tells you   it s just a movie   is either lying or clueless    it is clearly obvious that after the waiting and the hype actually seeing the movie will be anticlimactic    the second coming of the lord could not live up to the kind of buzz   which is far too weak a word   that star wars epsode i   the phantom menace so effortlessly generated    but that does not mean that the film itself is bad    in fact   it is terrific    i strongly suspect that many of the people who were dissappointed by it have simply surrendered to the media machine and the inevitable backlash    it is set some decades before the events of the original 1977 star wars took place    the film focuses on the fledgling republic of planets and the conflict that is raging   the trade federation   angry at some tax raise that was recently put in place has invaded the small   peaceful planet of naboo    the republic sent two jedi knights   people that can actively communicate with what is affectionately known as   the force       qui gon jinn   liam neeson   and obi wan kenobi   ewan mcgregor   to negotiate    unable to stop the tide of events that was about to occur   the jedi and the queen of naboo   natalie portman   escape naboo and head for coruscant to try and get the republic senate to intervene    on the way they get sidetracked to a planet called tatooine   where they meet the movie s real focal point   young anakin skywalker   jake lloyd      he is an innocent slave boy   but   the force is strong with him   so qui  gon is determined to take him with them to the jedi counsel and get him trained as a jedi    as any self respecting star wars fan should know   anakin will grow up to be darth vader and give birth to luke skywalker    >from the beginning it is evident that this is not an actor s movie    around 70% of the characters   if not more   are computer generated in one form or another   and though the effects are seamless   the movie lacks soul    i think that although the computer has played an incredibly instrumental part in moviemaking this decade   cinema should still be a human art and the phantom menace nearly defies this    this is the lightest installment in the star wars saga thus far   with plenty of broad comic relief to go around   much of it courtesy of an irritating knew character named jar jar binks    he s essentially a computer animated sidekick who says things like   exqueeze me      and   mesa go now   okeday       and although it is often amusing it is also inherently annoying    the visual effects are astounding   although director george lucas often chickens out by cutting away from them   and the movie is a thrilling triumph    if it lacks in plot and in acting it makes up for it through imagination and excitement    the climactic lightsaber battle   oh   come on   as if you didn t already know     among other things   is outrageously entertaining and defines the term   popcorn movie      what made me surrender and give this movie * * * 1/2 stars was the score by john williams    even though it does seem like the man scores every single movie that comes out these days   his work here is nothing short of brilliant    his use of opera during the climax really does add a punch and his ingenious way of utilizing the imperial march as a sort of prophecy is chilling    the phantom menace is probably most effective as pop nostalgia    when you see   a long time ago   in a galaxy far   far away     when the familiar music plays   when the words   star wars   appear on screen   you ll feel a tingle even if you didn t see the movie when it first came out in  77    it feels oddly exciting to be introduced to young anakin   a boy whose innocence   we know   will be taken away and who will soon cross over to the dark side    it is the perfect example of dramatic irony to see the jedi masters aspire to get him trained in the jedi arts   we know that it will do more harm than good   but they do not    we not only feel more involved in the story   but we feel like we re seeing the beginning of a saga that we have cherished for years    the phantom menace   although lacking in human aspects of the story   is a very worthy installment in the star wars    it works as an action flick   visually eye popping and often paralyzingly exciting   it also works as an elicitor of memories   a piece of exquisite nostalgia       1999 eugene novikov&#137    
Pos, sometimes a movie comes along that falls somewhat askew of the rest    some people call it   original   or   artsy   or   abstract      some people simply call it   trash      a life less ordinary is sure to bring about mixed feelings    definitely a generation x aimed movie   a life less ordinary has everything from claymation to profane angels to a karaoke based musical dream sequence    whew !  anyone in their 30 s or above is probably not going to grasp what can be enjoyed about this film    it s somewhat silly   it s somewhat outrageous   and it s definitely not your typical romance story   but for the right audience   it works    a lot of hype has been surrounding this film due to the fact that it comes to us from the same team that brought us trainspotting    well sorry folks   but i haven t seen trainspotting so i can t really compare    whether that works in this film s favor or not is beyond me    but i do know this   ewan mcgregor   whom i had never had the pleasure of watching   definitely charmed me    he was great !  cameron diaz s character was uneven and a bit hard to grasp    the audience may find it difficult to care about her   thus discouraging the hopes of seeing her unite with mcgregor after we are immediately sucked into caring about and identifying with him    misguided    you bet    loveable    you bet    a life less ordinary was a delight and even had a bonus for me when i realized it was filmed in my hometown of salt lake city   utah    this was just one more thing i didn t know about this movie when i sat down with a five dollar order of nachos and a three dollar coke    maybe not knowing the premise behind this film made for a pleasant surprise   but i think even if i had known   i would have been just as happy    a life less ordinary is quirky   eccentric   and downright charming !  not for everyone   but a definite change of pace for your typical night at the movies    
Pos, that thing you do !     r   tom hanks s screenwriting and directorial debut   that thing you do !   has all the qualities you would associate with the most beloved screen actor of the moment   fun   lively   and oh so nice    it is the latter quality   however   that becomes a hindrance   for this  60s nostalgia trifle is so nice and sweet that it teeters on becoming bland milquetoast    that thing focuses on the wonders   a teen rock band from erie   pennsylvania that is suddenly thrust into the national spotlight in 1964 when they score a major dance hit called   of course     that thing you do !    the group s members are   naturally a diverse group   there s brooding lead singer and songwriter jimmy   johnathon schaech     girl crazy lenny   steve zahn     the lead guitarist   a goofy   geeky type known only as the bass player   ethan embry     and the film s center   guy   tom everett scott     the drummer who has aspirations in jazz    along for the wonders  ride to success is jimmy s perpetually neglected galpal   faye   liv tyler      hanks proves to be a capable writer director   deftly recreating the innocent spirit of 1964   which hanks calls   the last innocent year      the spirit is not only reflected in the period clothes and settings but also in the music   which   like the other recent period music film   grace of my heart   was expressly written for the film   hanks himself had a hand in writing four of the tunes  but not the infectious title cut by adam schlesinger   which is guaranteed to stay in your head long after the end credits have rolled   it s still playing in my mind as i write this      it should come as no surprise that hanks the director works well with the actors   eliciting charming   likable work from the entire cast   most notably hanks lookalike scott and tyler   who is remarkable in delivering the film s biggest and best dramatic moment    the work of the young ensemble is so natural that they truly convince as teens of the early  60s   they do not appear to be  90s grungers playacting   retro      yet for all the light   frothy charms of that thing you do !   it s nearly nice to a fault    while this unbridled innocence in film is a refreshing change from all the sinful cinema around these days   there is not enough conflict to keep things consistently interesting    everyone is so happy   basking in the glow of overnight success   marvelling at it all  except toward the end   but even then the tone quickly reverts to sweetness   ending on an appropriately feel good note    there isn t much of an edge throughout that thing  the only thing that is remotely edgy is hanks s turn as the wonders  manager  and thus becomes in danger of being so nice it s bland    but a little niceness goes a long way these days   and there s no denying the entertainment value of that thing you do !   it s just about impossible to hate    it s an inoffensive   enjoyable piece of nostalgia that is sure to leave audiences smiling and humming   if not singing     that thing you do !     quite  possibly for days    to paraphrase a passage from the song   though i try and try to forget that song it is just so hard to do every time they play   that thing you do !    
Pos,    he s back   and it s about time      was the motto for this television series pilot   i call it a pilot   i don t care what fox network says   revival of the cult classic british tv show   doctor who   that spawned no series   which means there are no smart network execs out there   not exactly news to a lot of people   i know      the motto was well chosen    the series was simple   it was about this time lord scientist called the doctor with thirteen lives who traveled around in a type forty spaceship called a tardis outsmarting all kind of alien baddies   including the evil daleks   and the master   who appears in this feature   played very badly by eric roberts    as good as this revival was   there is something missing from it to make sure it was really doctor who    is it the acting    hell   no !  paul mcgann is just as good as any of the other seven guys who ve played the doctor   including his predecessor and off screen friend sylvester mccoy   who appears once more for the regeneration scene      he looks right for the role   is a brilliant actor   and slips effortlessly into the role   the way my two favorites jon pertwee and tom baker would    daphne ashbrook brings class to her role as dr   grace holloway   the doctor s first companion that he kisses on screen   she is not your typical female companion who screams   and spends her free time making coffee for the doctor   she is a tough   spunky american   and ashbrook shows this well    young yee jee tso shows promise as chang lee   and i ve seen him in other stuff in which he usually plays the punk kid who dies at the end   this film included     which   imho   wastes his talent    the only problem with the acting is eric roberts    one time he had to say to mcgann s doctor     i always dress for the occasion      but he broke it up   and said it so slowly that it wounded up sounding like a song lyric     i always        dress        for the occasion      you need an actor less slow and less reliant on moving his hands to act   and who s also british   like mcgann is as the doctor    executive producer phil segal said he was casted because fox insisted on having one american star in the role    i dunno who thought of casting him   but if they re reading this   news flash   eric roberts is * not * a star !  he rides on his sister s coattails   and any hit movie he makes has nothing to do with him    is this problem the kisses to the past    they have references to the show so subtle that non fans would not notice them   only whovians would   and they re good    is it the script or the movie as a whole    the script is a classy piece of work   featuring a master who can spit slime out of his mouth and nice dialogue   and the movie as a whole is one fans will love   and it is a good stand alone viewing for nonfans to enjoy the series    so what is it    simple   no plot    the master   on his last legs   sends for the doctor to rescue him after the daleks put him on trial on their planet skaro and exterminate him    the doctor attempts to take his remains back to gallifrey   but they accidentally land in san francisco   1999   december 31   where the master   with young street hood chang lee s help   opens the eye of harmony   which will suck the earth through it at midnight if the doctor   with the help of female surgeon   dr   grace holloway   doesn t close it by then    virtually no plot    i was told the movie would ve featured the daleks on screen and started with more of a courtroom drama between the master and the daleks   but a lot of rewriting went on on the set    that shows how smart people are   as it would have made the movie a hell of a lot more interesting   and that would ve gotten a four star rating out of me    
Pos, dreamworks pictures presents a jinks/ cohen company production kevin spacey annette bening   american beauty   thora birch allison janney peter gallagher mena suvari wes bentley and chris cooper co producers stan wlodkowski alan ball music by thomas newman costume designer julie weiss film editor tariq anway chris greenbury production designer naomi shohan director of photography conrad l   hall   a   s   c    produced by bruce cohen & dan jinks written by alan ball directed by sam mendes     both my wife and daughter think i m this gigantic loser    and they re right    i have lost something    i didn t always feel this sedated      with that piece of dialogue   we are fully introduced to lester burnham   kevin spacey     a 42 year old man trapped within his own life    lester works for an advertising agency    his growing dissatisfaction with his job is only one of the mid life crisis he is suffering    estranged from both his wife and his daughter   lester starts to crack under the stress    his life becomes nothing more than a series of mastubatory fantasies   and sullen apathy    carolyn burnham   annette bening     is the prototypical career woman/ homemaker    she carefully tends her rose garden   decorates her home with the best furnishings    but inside she is desperate    unsuccessful at her profession as a real estate agent   she drives herself into states of denial and self loathing that only feed her growing resentment towards her family    the third member of this anti family is jane burnham   thora birch     lester and carolyn s daughter    a young girl going through the typical stages of adolescence   but having to also come to terms with her families growing dysfunction    this funny   and frightening   slice of life is refreshingly simple    not one character is given less than is needed to identify him or her    some of the most telling characters are those that serve to highlight other characters    most notably is barbara fitts   allison janney     the almost catatonic wife of retired marine colonel fitts    she has almost no dialogue   and seems to be either recovering from a stroke or suffering from one    colonel fitts   chris cooper   is an angry and frightened man    his rage directed almost singularly at his son   ricky   wes bentley   who has just moved with his family to the same neighborhood as the burnham s    in fact they are the next door neighbors    anymore detail into the personalities of these marvelously diverse characters would deprive one of the many pleasures and surprises to be had in   american beauty      alan ball   who was the co executive producer of the hit tv series   cybil   and creator of the new sitcom   oh grow up     has fashioned one of the most insightful and expertly tuned screenplays to have hit the screen in the past ten years    not one character in this film rings falsely    and the depth of personality in each   is achingly honest and insightful    the plot detailing the last year in the life of a man as he tries to find his own self worth is so resoundingly cliched and at the same time original as to bring to mind such marvelous film work as   the graduate   or   lolita      kevin spacey turns in one of this years most pragmatic performances    his lester burnham is an everyman caught up in the middle of a life that is spiraling into old age    finally unable to deal with the lost soul that he has become   lester tries to return to his youth    he quits his job   actually blackmailing his employer for one year s salary     starts smoking pot   fantasizes about his daughter s girlfriend angela   mena suvari   in a marvelous performance here     starts working out   and finally takes a job at the local fast food outlet    mr   spacey s performance is so remarkably subtle and ingenuous   that we can be certain that come oscar   time   we can be assured to see him name among the five nominees    annette bening also turns in what may be the best performance of her career    carolyn burnham is a woman who has become so insecure as to be caught up in maintaining the facade of normalcy    unable to cope with her growing disillusionment   she forces herself to maintain her demeanor   driving her further and further into desperation   adultery and possibly murder    ms   bening makes the character of carolyn so compelling as to be identifiable to almost anyone    the slow and methodical turn from happy home maker to charnel house martha stewart is too frightening to express in words    thora birch holds her own against the talents cast with her    jane burnham is both an innocent girl caught up in what is a dysfunctional family   and a rebellious child ready to abandon them at any moment    her growing distrust and isolation from her family is something that many parents should view as a warning    she is the prototypical trophy child    when carolyn praises her daughter after a performance by her cheerleading team     i m so proud of you   honey    you didn t screw up once !       the bitterness and resentment are palpable    thora birch is a young actress to watch    praise must also go to chris cooper who brings yet another angry father role to life with depth and resonance    colonel finn is a man in complete denial    his military upbringing masking a desire he is too repulsed to even comprehend    wes bentley as ricky finn is fine as the enigma    the boy next door who may be more foe than friend    a deceitful and calculating young man   whose voyeuristic proclivities mask a deeper and more profound understanding of life than any of the adults around him    mr   bentley s performance is the one troublesome note in the film    that is simply because the character is such a grand and complete liar   that one almost faults the performance for it    director sam mendes handles all of the particulars of the cast and the settings with a sure and composed style that is neither intrusive nor subtle    scenes of carolyn walking through the rain   carry an ominous fission that calls attention to the emotions of the character    the subtle cinematography by conrad hall is wonderful   capturing the season in all of it s harsh beauty   fall has never looked so inviting   yet depressing      every nuance of   american beauty   begs it s audience to think and examine    it is a film that will be discussed and debated for years to come    and well it should   as it is simply one of this years best    
Pos, will hunting   matt damon   is a natural genius    for a movie character   that s usually a death sentence    it s a trait associated with what my brother calls   too good for this world   movies   like phenomenon or powder    forgive me for spoiling the ending   but will doesn t die    this is no formula movie    in fact   it s quite fresh and original    it s a character study more than anything   and that s not surprising   considering it was written by two actors   damon and co star ben affleck    will works whatever kind of job he can get    first he s a janitor   then he works construction    off screen he speed reads books on any academic subject that interests him    on screen he hangs out with his friends   picking fights in robust   romanticized hemingway fashion    lambeau   stellan skarsgard from breaking the waves     a math professor   learns that the janitor   will   is a genius with a special talent for advanced mathematics    having confirmed he s not a fluke or a savant   he does what he can to get will into the education system    he is firmly rejected    finally   will lands in jail for one of his fights    lambeau can get him probation instead of prison time as long as will agrees to therapy sessions and to discussing mathematics with him    will   barely   decides to go for the therapy over prison    lambeau treats will like a son    he s proud of   and amazed by   will s accomplishments in mathematics    he encourages will and tries to give him structure   knowing that   with a little discipline   he could be bigger than einstein    will isn t really interested in academia    he knows he would be the best in his field   and therefore spend all of his time in an office   explaining math to people like lambeau    he would rather work construction   which breaks lambeau s heart    meanwhile   will attends his mandated therapy sessions    it s not long before he shreds all the therapists on lambeau s   a   list    will has read enough psychology to know the tricks of the trade   and how to keep them from affecting him    shrink after shrink refuses to return after will s mockery    lambeau s last hope is his old college roommate   now a psychology teacher at a small time community college    knowing that will is going to try to shred him too   sean   robin williams   agrees to take him on as a favor to lambeau and for the chance to meet this next einstein    true to form   will finds sean s emotional weakness and attacks    but unlike the other shrinks   sean knows what he is in for and continues the sessions    like a foster mother with a fussy child   sean knows that the attacks are defensive and is able to take them in stride    like the foster mother   sean knows that time and quiet patience is the only approach    robin williams is excellent in this role    he s not an actor with a great range   but in the right roles he has great depth    in this movie   as in awakenings   there comes a point when the quiet   shy man accomplishes something of great personal importance   and a smile of pure joy spreads up to his eyes    williams is the only actor i can name who can make an audience cry just by smiling    i have compared will to a foster child and that s not entirely fair    emotionally   he has a lot to learn   but he is not a child    he has thought about his life and made rational decisions about what he wants    sean   his girlfriend   his pals   and lambeau all help him grow   but he didn t start out asking for   or particularly needing   help    his exceptional gift singled him out   and those who love him kept pushing him in the right direction    if i had to say anything bad about good will hunting is that it walks the line between drama and melodrama    it s too sentimental and uplifiting for a straight drama   but the emotions are too subtle for melodrama    it is emotionally engaging   but it s not quite larger than life    this isn t a problem per se   but at times i didn t know quite how to take it    but this is a relatively small complaint about a very good movie    a good movie allows its characters to learn and grow    it doesn t just happen   it takes a good script   good acting   and good direction    good will hunting has all three    if you are at all inclined to see it   by all means   go    
Pos, if there s one thing in common about all of hollywood s major studios   it s that their productions are moving toward mainstream more and more    although twentieth century fox and new line cinema have spawned subsidiaries which specialize in independant or controversial motion pictures   fox searchlight and fine line respectively     it s obvious there s no significant movement underway to promote inventive ideas at the theater    so when a movie like gary ross  pleasantville comes along   wrapped in a blanket of innovative ideas and served up on a platter of fine production   it s a welcome change of pace for all who frequent the cineplexes    although the atmosphere and buzz about the movie are cheery and lighthearted   pleasantville should not be mistaken for a no thought movie    quite the opposite is true   in fact   as director ross skillfully brings a narrative with intense and intelligent undertones to the screen    the story   both about the joys of living life to the fullest as well as the social ills of segregation   captures the essence of statement making in the cinema    not in recent memory has a movie carried such weight of theme into widescale distribution   and even if mass audiences fail to see the ingenuity of ross  work   it is still a testament that his picture was considered worthy enough    kudos to both he and his production staff for putting together this fine picture    it stars tobey maguire and reese witherspoon as two nineties teenagers who   through quite a bit of luck   find themselves zapped into a fifties sitcom named   pleasantville      maguire   as the reserved bud parker   is perfect for the pseudo world   but the rebellious mary sue   witherspoon   is not at all made for the father knows best times    it s not long before she sets the town of pleasantville on end   and begins to teach the townspeople   in a quite unlikely way   what life is * really * like    soon hues of color creep into the black and white world   and while some embrace the change in the passion of realism   others fear the strangeness    at one end is a soda shop owner turned painter named mr   johnson   jeff daniels   and at the other end is a close minded mayor   j   t    walsh   and his chamber of commerce   but the two sides are simply fronts for a clash of ideas that soon involves the entire town    fine performances are turned in all around    maguire and witherspoon are effective as the leads   but the true complements go out to jeff daniels and j   t    walsh   in his latest and final posthumous performance      daniels brings an atmosphere of awe   inspiration   and hope to his character   whereas walsh simply drips of sinister closemindedness   almost to the point where you can sense gene hackman s envy    for daniels   it s his most commendable performance of the last three years   or more   and for walsh   it s a complementary exclamation point on a fine career    also of lesser note is the supporting role by joan allen   and in viewing the entire cast works well together from start to finish    there s not much to dislike about pleasantville   and its dynamic nature makes it the perfect movie for those who want serious as well as those who don t    
Pos, what do you get when you slap together a movie based on a story by the legendary george lucas   directed by virtuoso director steven spielberg   and starring one of the biggest box office stars in the world   harrison ford    you get one hot fudge rockin  good time   that s what you get ! ! !  plot   professor/archeologist indiana jones sets out to find the long lost mystical ark of the covenant before the nazis get their grubby fingers hands on it    adventures   snakes   romance and mucho action ensues    critique   astounding movie packed with non stop action   stunts galore   an interesting story line   great one liners   a solid cast   a catchy musical score   and all the fun and adventure that you could squeeze into a two hour thrill ride    if you don t enjoy this film   then you just don t like action movies   period !  if you re young   you ll enjoy its humor   its cool action sequences and its gross out factor at times    if you re a little older   you ll appreciate the interesting plot line   the romance   and yes   the mountains of adventure    watching this movie made me feel like a kid again   dreaming and fantasizing about fighting the bad guys   travelling to different countries   making the impossible   possible !  harrison ford is perfect as the every man with the brains of a scientist and the brawn of an outdoors adventurer   and spielberg manages to achieve the ideal balance of action   fun   adventure and humor    now if you really want to have a good time   check into this movie on the same night as its two sequels   rent a jug of iced coke   truckloads of nachos and salsa   an adventure hat and whip   and prepare to gag yourself into a world of action movie heaven !  little known facts about this film and its stars   this picture was nominated for eight 1981 oscar nominations   including best picture    it lost that award to chariots of fire   but did manage to win for best art direction   best special effects   best film editing and best sound    actor tom selleck was originally cast as indiana jones   but was committed to his hit tv show     magnum p   i        in filming the well of souls sequence   the producers scoured every pet shop in london and the south of england for every snake they could lay their hands on    hence there are snakes that are identifiable from many different geographical areas    however   once all the snakes were on set   it became clear that there were not nearly enough of them   so spielberg had several hoses cut into lengths   and these were used as well    looking closely   you can tell which are the real snakes and which are not    an early draft of the script had indy travelling to shanghai to recover a piece of the staff of ra    during his escape from the museum where it was housed   he sheltered from machine gun fire behind a giant rolling gong    also in the same script   indy and marion flee the chaos caused by the opening of the ark in a wild mine cart chase sequence    both of these scenes were cut from the script   but ended up in 1984 s indiana jones and the temple of doom    this film begins with a shot of a peak in the jungle which is reminiscent of the paramount pictures logo    the same type of opening is present in its sequels    jock s airplane at the beginning of the film has the registration number   ob cpo      this is a reference to obi wan and c 3po from george lucas  star wars   9   5/10      also   the hieroglyphics in the well of souls include engravings of r2 d2 and c 3po    they can be seen on a post to the right of indy and sallah as they remove the ark    the script originally included a long fight between a swordsman and indiana with his whip    as legend has it   actor harrison ford was suffering diarrhea at the time   and asked if the scene could be shortened    spielberg said the only way he could shorten it was if indy pulled out his gun and just shot the guy    the entire crew laughed and that s how it was filmed    when indy first falls in the well of souls and is face to face with the cobra   you can see the snake s reflection on the glass dividing it and harrison ford   also some fingerprints and stuff like that    when indy is dragging along the ground   hanging onto the nazi soldier s truck with the ark inside   you can see the pad that he s being dragged on    
Pos, `we run tings    tings don t run we       sound advice from capone   paul campbell   to his squaddie   or partner     floyd   winston bell      jamaican film   shot entirely on video   featuring a standard cop movie plot mixed with a dash of john woo styled brotherhood morals   and a little gunplay      capone   a tough as nails super cop   gets a transfer back to his hometown of kingston after successfully taking down some gangsters that have broken into his home   while he was with his lady   and killed his partner in front of him    when he arrives   he discovers that the ghetto where he grew up has gotten worse   thanks mainly to the crime boss wonie   jamaican film veteran carl bradshaw     so named because his left hand has been amputated and replaced by a grasping hook      capone discovers that wonie has been smuggling guns inside shipments of charity supplies for the area churches and   much to his disappointment   also finds out his childhood friend ratty   mark danvers   has been helping him    torn between doing his job and protecting his best friend   capone must make some hard decisions in order to make things right again    directed deftly by first time jamaican filmmaker chris browne   assistant director for such american films as how stella got her groove back and instinct     one hardly notices the film was shot on video after a while    shots are handled so efficiently that they quickly take on the nuances of the aforementioned john woo films   although the action isn t as hyperkinetic as most of woo s films are    the action scenes are handled with a kind of flair though   and eventually begin to take on a life of their own   beyond the hong kong films that they are obviously patterned after      the make up effects are particularly good in these scenes as well   with flawless squib work on display from the effects team    the cast is superb and listening to their dialogue   spoken with thick jamaican accents   half of which have to be subtitled because of their extensive use of slang     just adds to the interest    paul campbell   as the `loose cannon  capone   essays his role perfectly   displaying the right amount of menace and compassion at the right times    mark danvers evokes sympathy as ratty   the part time gun smuggler who is also trying to help the community by building football fields and organizing block parties to bring people together    unfortunately   carl bradshaw is given the least to do and his character as the crime boss seems ineffective   largely because his underlings seem to run all over him     but then again   that could be the way his character was intended to be portrayed    the music in the film is composed of all reggae songs   and the soundtrack was produced by grammy award winning artists   sly and robbie   who have worked with the likes of the rolling stones   maxi priest   bob dylan   james brown   grace jones   herbie hancock   bootsy collins   and carly simon among others      the end credit song   `we run tings    by the group red dragon   is pretty decent and carries on the theme of the movie established early on by the quote that opens this review    oddly enough   desmond ballentine   who plays the character deportee   is well known as a pioneer in the realm of `gangsta  reggae as the performer ninjaman   and he doesn t contribute a single song to the film   that i could see     which is virtually unheard of here in the us    at the time of this writing   third world cop has been put into limited theatrical release in the us   coming off of a six month box office breaking run in jamaica   where it holds the position as highest grossing film of all time   bringing in $21 million in jamaica   which is roughly $500   000 us      palm pictures   the company that released the offbeat   but entertaining six string samurai   is the company releasing the film and considering that their main focus is the dvd market   i can imagine that a disc will be available once the film has left theaters    chris blackwell   founder of palm pictures   was also involved in the production of another jamaican box office smash in 1981 entitled countryman   so i d say he has a pretty good track record    overall   third world cop is a pretty entertaining homage to the films of john woo   ringo lam   tsui hark   and many other action films by directors from hong kong    if action films are your thing and you don t mind intermittent subtitles   then you can t go wrong with this film    the performances and the story are solid   if only a little cliched   and the action is tight    i m not sure what the other jamaican films released in that country are like   but apparently third world cop s honors are well deserved    
Pos, at first glance   it appears that the home alone movies are brainless slapstick intended for those with minds of 8 year olds    that s true of home alone 2 and i d bet money that it s true of home alone 3   opening soon      but home alone actually has a lot going for it   and the cartoon slapstick doesn t get in the way    the mcalisters   all 15 of them   are going to france for the holidays    four adults and eleven kids are spending the night together before heading to the airport en masse    the littlest kid   kevin   is the victim of the older kids  cruelty    kevin s patience runs out when he learns that his plain cheese pizza has already been eaten   and he s going to have to starve    he attacks his big bully brother buzz   who had been teasing him    the fight disrupts the already chaotic dinner   spilling milk and soft drinks all over the table   a few cousins   and an uncle    the knee jerk reaction is for everyone to blame kevin    nobody came to his rescue when he was being teased   but they all point their fingers when he fights back    the ultimate punishment comes from mom   catherine o hara   who sends him up to the spare bedroom in the attic for the night    on his way up the stairs   he tells her that   families suck   and that he hopes never to see any of his family again    that night the power goes out   knocking out the alarm clocks   so the mcalisters wake up in a big hurry to get to the airport    in a surprisingly plausible setup   kevin is mistakenly accounted for   and the family heads off without him    it s interesting that   in a subtle way   his parents never noticed him missing because of their deliberate desire to separate themselves from their children    first they delegate the headcount to an older sibling   and second   they put all the kids in coach while they fly first class    they re two thirds of the way across the atlantic before they realize they are missing a child    meanwhile   kevin believes that somehow his wish has come true    he s finally rid of his family !  life is a dream come true    he can jump on the beds   watch r rated movies   eat gobs of ice cream and potato chips   and dig through his big brother s secret box    slowly   the novelty wears off and he settles into the mundane    he grooms himself   he does the laundry   he goes shopping     i bought some milk   eggs   and fabric softener        he also starts to miss his family   not just for their company   but for the security they bring    the furnace in the basement is a scary monster   the old man next door is a snow shovel murderer   and two crooks are trying to break into his house    macaulay culkin is cute but he isn t much of an actor    still   we can see that kevin s character grows   thanks to some good direction and editing    for example   acting has little to do with the emotional impact of the scene where kevin searches out a seasonal santa at night   just as   santa   is getting in his car    kevin asks the man to pass on his request   he wants his family back   to the real santa    he learned how to deal with the furnace    you turn on the lights and it s not so scary anymore    he goes to a church one evening and there he sees the snow shovel murderer   who actually turns out to be a nice man    they talk about their fears and kevin learns that age alone does not make you less afraid    finally   in the last 20 minutes   kevin confronts his last fear   the bandits   head on   literally      this last act is full of violent comedic slapstick   and after the movie s genuine dramatic setup   it is dessert    it s a lot of fun   and it doesn t overwhelm the rest of the movie    on the whole   home alone is a great holiday movie    john williams  original score has the sound and feel of holiday music without the disadvantage of being overplayed at the malls   and the christmas setting can put you in the mood for those family gatherings    but it does have its flaws    the smallest problem is that culkin doesn t act very well    as i said before   he is cute   but repeated viewings reveal more about how columbus covered himself than about culkin s insight into his character    the biggest problem is that during the cartoony coda   the villains threaten kevin s life about five times    instead of   i m gonna get that kid   they say   i m gonna kill that kid      some might argue that the tone is the same   but i strongly disagree    mixing comedy with specific and viable threats of murder is a sociopathic faux pas    i ll probably never see home alone 3   and i wish i had skipped home alone 2   but i do enjoy home alone almost every year    don t let your impressions of the others detract from the original   which has much more to offer than cartoon slapstick    
Pos,    comedy   rated pg   runs about 1   40    starring   john goodman   kathy moriarty   and a bunch of teenagers    directed by joe dante and written by charles hass     summary   lawrence woolsley   john goodman   brings his new horror film mant !  to premiere in key west during the height of the cuban missile crisis    he hopes to capitalize on the tense moment by providing an escape for the town    we see most of the events through the stories of four teenagers and how life affects them    quick and easy review   i really enjoyed matinee    the mixture of comedy and tension blended nicely    unlike many comedies this film tries   and succeeds   in getting past the stage of doing anything for a laugh    the makers of the film also cared about telling an intelligent story    the performances of all the principals are right on the mark   particularly john goodman as the schlock master    so i would definitely recommend this film to anyone looking for a light hearted   yet interesting way to spend a couple of hours    longer   more detailed review   [beware of spoilers]  the primary reason i enjoyed this film was   that while being a comedy   the film also had an intelligent story to tell    too many comedies today subscribe to the the notion that a comedy need only make you laugh    you watch the movie   laugh a lot   leave the theatre and take nothing with you    matinee is not like that    i left the picture thinking about what i would do faced with the cuban missile crisis    i found myself wondering what would happen to the characters of the film    but most importantly   i found myself caring about what would happen to the characters    the comedy of the film centers around goodman   his character   and the film he brings to key west    i believe that goodman is one of the finest comedic actors in the business today    he is highly expressive both physically and vocally    i felt he at least deserved an oscar nomination for his work in barton fink    the other characters are often lost in a scene with him due to his commanding nature   however   while the star   goodman is actually not at the center of the film    the movie is really the story of the four teenagers   discovering who they are and what they want   against a background where at any minute it could all end    i thought the kids reaction were highly realistic    they tried to block it out   they tried to escape from the concerns of their world    unfortunately it kept creeping back in   particularly with the fear   and the chaos of the time    while the comedy centered on goodman   and the drama on the teens   there was a great deal of overlap    several aspects of the panic are shown in a humorous light    one example is a scene where people are fighting each other for the the last cans and boxes of food in a grocery store    if you think about it the threat of nuclear annihilation seems hardly to be the backdrop for a comedy   but it works here    another reason i like this film is that i like b  science fiction movies    one of my favorite films to go watch is plan 9 from outer space       note i did not say it was one of my favorite movies   but one of my favorite to see      while mant !  never got made   many films like it were   and mant !  serves mostly as dante s homage to the b films he loves    so again i would like to recommend matinee to anybody looking for a good   humorous story    this isn t a gag film like many other comedies but an intelligent   well thought out   film about real people with real problems told in an often hilarious way    enjoy !  
Pos, when  star wars  came out some twenty years ago   the image of traveling throughout the stars has become a commonplace image    when the millenium falcon moves throughout the stars   we see constellations   meteor showers   and cool space ships    when han solo goes light speed   the stars change to bright lines   going towards the viewer in lines that converge at an invisible point    cool     october sky  offers a much simpler image  that of a single white dot   traveling horizontally across the night sky    was it really only forty years ago   when sputnik was launched   and that before then   no satellites ever existed    have we become so technologically advanced that we have forgotten that it was nearly two generations ago where people stood outside to breathlessly see a then technological achievement   even though it was from the russians    it sounds hokey   but when that scene occurs near the beginning of  october sky    i found myself caught up with the enthusiasm of homer hickam   played by jake gyllenhaal    determined to make a dent in the space race   he becomes transfixed with his desire to make a rocket that could fly like the best of them    it is films like this that we know the ending as we buy the ticket    when lovely teacher miss riley   played by laura dern     suggests that he enters his findings into the national science fair   we know exactly who is going to win    but the joy in a film like this is in the little details    for example   homer is clearly not the strongest student in his class    if he has any strengths whatsoever   it is an undeterring vision   and a good organizer    it means that he may have to lose his reputation by associating with the nerdiest kid in school   who knows more about rocket science than he does    it means that if his father forbids him to shoot rockets on company property   that is   the entire coal mining town     he must walk eight miles one way   just to set up the rockets   which will fail   fail   fail   and fail again    homer+s dad is played by chris cooper   a favorite actor of mine since  lone star     here he plays the antithesis of the character he played in  matewan    instead of organizing union rallies   he is the head of the coal miners   who is constantly wringing his hands against the unions    this is will be one of the great unnoticed performances of the year   note how multi dimensional his character is    he is his son+s last nemesis   as one who most likely interferes with his son+s dreams    but he truly loves his son   and wants to see him succeed the only way he knows how    through coal mining    because of his character   we can see how far we+ve come    the revolution of modern technology has allowed for us to see society advanced at a rate far faster than any generation before us    we don+t understand that there were the generations from the industrial revolution who knew of no other way to raise a family    the paradigm was shifting under the father+s feet   and he knew of no other life    so  october sky    far from being merely a feel good inspirational film   offers much food for thought    and this is the best type of inspirational film   the one that you take something with you    btw   the final image of the film is just as simple   is as strong a contrast as the aforementioned horizontal moving white dot against the night sky background    another commonplace image   to be sure   but it must have been breathtaking forty years ago    
Pos, warning   contains what the matrix is    rated r for sci fi violence    starring   keanu reeves   laurence fishburne   joe panteliano  some may be disappointed with the matrix    i ll tell you i was    i sat there and sat there and sat there waiting for something to happen    now wait wait   i know most of you loved it   and i m not saying i didn t like it    what i m saying is the first half was extremely slow    now seeing the trailer it makes you think the whole entire movie is one big special effects show    don t be fooled   this movie has a big story    and big chunks of talky moments    but i will admit the special effects and the acting were above par   deserving the rating above    ok now to the story    well this may take a while    ok first of all   our world we live in now   is not the real world   actually we live inside a computer generated world known as the matrix    a man played by keanu reeves is about to find that out   when is kidnapped and almost coaxed to go into the real world    he does so   and finds out that he can do anything   be anything he wants to be    but he has to fight a  matrix skipping  bad guy   who wants to send him back to his own world or destroy him    laurence fishburne   his guide of sorts plays his character well as does keanu reeves    but i sat in the theatre for over and hour wondering where all the special effects were    yeah there were some in the first half but not enough    the trailer for this movie was really decieving making people think that this was a special effects laden movie    now for the second half   it is explosive   and saves the movie    some of the special effects and fighting were breathtaking    the sound   the music   and all the effects were effective   and the last hour kept us entertained    but with a running time of 2 hours and 20 minutes   this movie is at least 40 minutes too long    one would have wished for a better  matrix    but i do have to say   i did like it and i was entertained    
Pos, national lampoon s animal house   made in 1978 and set in 1962   remains one of the    no   fuck that noise    * the * funniest movie ever made    and this isn t just my opinion   either   everybody knows this   and that s why about a gazillion inferior rip offs have been made   trying to duplicate its success       pcu anyone    and the first person to bring up glory daze gets decked      animal house takes place at the fictional faber college   circa 1962   where the omega frat calls the shots    these guys are wholesome   clean cut   model citizens        i   e    a bunch of assholes    greg   their leader   is going out with mandy pepperidge   but since the silly bastard doesn t believe in pre marital sex   their relationship never goes further than a quick jack off under the stars    neidermeyer is the supreme bozo of the bunch   walking around with his dick out kicking freshman ass and trying to impress the muff    also hanging around these losers is babs   future universal studios employee and serious bitch    now let s just take a peak next door   at the delta house    over here   anything goes   you wanna throw shit out the window    okay    you wanna crush a bunch of beer cans on your forehead and pour honey mustard all over your chest    go right ahead    the frat s leaders are otter and boon   tim matheson and peter riegert      otter is the ladies  man   going out with another girl every night   and boon is the comedian    he s got a steady date   katy   karen allen     but she s sick of playing second fiddle to a bottle of j   d    then there are the others   pinto   a wimp   flounder   a blimp   d   day   a biker   stork   who may or may not have brain damage   and last but not least        bluto !  bluto   played by the late   great john belushi   is the man    he s the kind of guy who slugs back entire fifths of whiskey then proclaim     i needed that      the kind of guy who puts a cream filled snowball into his mouth   puffs up his cheeks and spits it out   and then says   i m a zit    get it      the story is as follows   the omegas are getting the deltas kicked off campus    the deltas   knowing that fighting the omegas is stupid   decide to go out with style   throwing a wild toga party and ruining the homecoming parade    this is the fucnniest movie int he history of the world    do yourself a favor and go see it    
Pos, every year   hollywood crowns a new   it boy     a young actor pegged for major movie stardom    inheriting the mantle from last year s   winner     matthew mcconaughey   is matt damon   and   like mcconaughey   he proves to be more than just a fresh young face   as evidenced in two radically different projects currently in release  john grisham s the rainmaker and good will hunting    damon has his first major starring role   a la mcconaughey   in a john grisham adaptation  in this case   francis ford coppola s take on the rainmaker    damon plays wet behind the ears attorney rudy baylor   who   immediately after passing the bar exam   finds himself representing the mother   mary kay place   of a terminally ill young man   john whitworth   in a big league suit against a negligent insurance company    while rudy s   and the film s   main concern is this case   he also finds time to protect a young wife   claire danes   from her abusive husband   melrose placer andrew shue   in a mercifully brief role      written for the screen and directed by coppola   the rainmaker is the best grisham film yet mostly because it does not take itself too seriously    coppola s most notable  and effective  contribution to the tried and true grisham formula is a sense of humor about itself   which largely comes in the presence of danny devito   as rudy s unlicensed co counsel   and golden globe nominee jon voight   as the insurance company s hotshot attorney      the inclusion of the battered wife subplot feels rather superfluous   but danes is as superb as always    then   of course   there is damon   who nicely juggles the weighty   the insurance case   the spousal abuse   and the humorous   rudy s often comical naivete   requirements of his role without missing a beat    as good as he is in the rainmaker   damon showcases the depth of his talent in good will hunting   directed by gus van sant and written by actor ben affleck and damon himself    damon plays the title character   will hunting   a troubled young construction worker/janitor at mit who also happens to be a supergenius    in an attempt to steer this brilliant young mind in the right direction   an mit math professor   stellan skarsgard   taps his old college friend   community college psychologist sean mcguire   robin williams     to counsel the abrasive   standoffish will and try to help him come to terms with his turbulent life    good will hunting is the touchy feely enterprise its plot synopsis suggests   but to simply dismiss it as that would be to discount the true emotional chords affleck and damon s intelligent script touches    even though no one   and   if so    very  few people   can directly relate to will s burden of superhuman intelligence   the insecurities he suffers are universal    the material is brought to life by the terrific ensemble of actors    williams delivers a nice dramatic turn   affleck   a hot up and coming actor himself   chasing amy     turns up in a warm and charming performance as will s best friend   and the ever appealing minnie driver shines as will s harvard schooled love interest    the clear standout in the cast   though   is damon   who bravely does not soften will s prickly nature but has such a natural ease with the audience that it is hard  not  to care for him    so many names come and go with the fluctuations of the hollywood hype machine   but based on his impressive work in john grisham s the rainmaker and especially good will hunting   it is a safe bet that matt damon is one name we will be hearing a lot more of in the years to come    
Pos, synopsis   leonard shelby   pearce   is a former insurance investigator on the trail of the man who killed his wife    leonard has only a few clues to the murderer s identity   to make matters worse   he suffers from a condition which inhibits the creation of short term memories   meaning that leonard is always forgetting what happened just minutes earlier    because of this   leonard is forced to rely on notes he leaves for himself       memento   traces the investigation back in time from its apparent culmination    review     memento   is the sort of movie i wish i d written   i can think of no higher praise than that    i am envious that nolan has concocted such a brilliant   involved   original movie as this    an instant film noir classic     memento   is virtually flawless    the script is unlike any i have ever seen    a notable achievement in these days of recycled hollywood homogeneity    although the idea of starting at the   conclusion   of the plotline and then moving backward in time to the   start   is not entirely new   never before have i witnessed it executed with such flair and coherence       memento   is endlessly exciting and inventive   a rare story which keeps the viewers guessing during the film itself   and mulling over its connotations long after leaving the theatre    and it is not merely an exercise in cerebrality   there is plenty of action and an unexpected dose of humour to keep the proceedings lively    nolan s direction is equally effective   never losing its crispness and clarity despite   memento    s challenging gimmick    and to top everything off   all the performances rise to the occasion    pierce is terrific as the troubled leonard   moss shows great range as enigmatic natalie   and pantoliano s teddy achieves a splendidly affable yet sinister quality       memento   may be the year s best screenplay   and is certainly amongst the top theatrical attractions of 2001    
Pos, earth is a harsh   unconsoling drama about the time when india gained independence from britain and the ensuing turmoil that engulfed the subcontinent    people who supposedly loved the same land and the same god found themselves in bitter conflict   as the country divided into factions fighting in the streets   indian and pakistani   muslim   hindu   sikh   parsee    the story takes place in lahore   which was indian before partition   and pakistani afterward   regardless of what its citizens might call themselves    the action is seen through the eyes of lenny   maaia sethna     a young parsee girl   but it is really about her nanny   shanta    shanta has a small circle of male admirers    two of the men are suitors   hasan   rahul khanna     a hindu   and dil navaz   aamir khan     a muslim    the others  sikh   hindu   muslim  are older   some are married   but all appreciate shanta   who is played by the stirringly beautiful nandita das       she also starred in deepa mehta s previous film   fire   the first part of a thematic trilogy which will conclude with water      in an early scene   the men are sitting in a park talking with shanta and lenny   political tension in the country is growing as the day of independence nears    one of the men remarks   jokingly   that their little group is probably one of the last places in the city where the different religions can still get along    he is wrong   the men make barbed little comments to each other   spoken like jokes   but with an undercurrent of fanaticism    the tenor of these exchanges grows darker and more bitter as the movie progresses    it is easy to perceive   in these squabbles   the trajectory which ends in mass violence and slaughter    the group around shanta represents   in a sense   a united india   and shanta herself the ideal motherland  one which all love   which inspires hindu   muslim   and sikh to live peacably together    but the circle around shanta is sundered   as is the state    a sikh is persecuted   hides   then flees    another man is murdered    the group of friends will not meet again    the movie is rife with images of breakage and destruction   a plate shattered on the floor   a stuffed toy torn apart by an upset child   and   most brutally   when the tension escalates into violence   a man is held down   tied between two cars   and ripped in half by the opposing movement of the vehicles    it is a visceral and effective metaphor for a country which is being destroyed just as painfully    the crux of earth s plot is the transformation undergone by dil navaz    his sisters are killed in brutal fashion   by hindus   because they are muslim    dil navaz seeks solace from shanta   and asks in desperation that she marry him    but she loves hasan   and tenderly refuses dil navaz s offer    the combination of familial anguish and romantic rejection twists inside him   and it is easy to see how he is seduced by the growing mob mentality   the muslim cause gives him a motive to vent his anger and hate    despite the things he later does   it is to the credit of earth that it does not simply denounce dil navaz and those like him   but shows how circumstances can make decent enough men do monstrous things    the conclusion  the consequence of dil navaz s transformation  is rather abrupt    the story earth tells does not end    it just stops    it is an appropriate finish   giving us closure would have imparted   at least on an aesthetic level   a sense of resolution   of satisfaction    but there was no resolution for india and pakistan  they have been at war   on a small or large scale   for decades    since the personal dramas in earth mirror the political struggles of a nation   it is only right that those dramas should have no terminus    there is no healing to be had   no closure   on any level   despite the needless   tacked on ending   with voice over narration from lenny as an adult   framing the story      earth is   in some ways   an unexceptional movie    it does not reinvent the wheel   following instead the standard pattern of historical dramas    but deepa mehta s directon is assured   and the issues she addresses run deep    earth does for india what movies like zhang yimou s to live and tian zhuangzhuang s the blue kite did for china   they show us the agonies endured by unremarkable people who had the bad luck to be caught up and smashed in the crucible of history    such films strike me as inherently valuable   even when flawed    they may be biased or inaccurate   but they bear the weight of human hardship   and this confers on them a nobility and gravity which other   more inventive films   often lack    it is notable that all three movies were banned in their native countries   the events shown may have happened decades ago   but they still touch a nerve    the issues tackled in earth have a particular urgency in light of the nuclear test bombings that took place last year    in the near future   india and pakistan may launch nuclear missiles at each other    at the time of the tests i had some understanding of the reasons why this might happen   after seeing earth   i have a much   much better understanding    
Pos, up until about a year ago   john travolta s career consisted of those   look who s talking   movies   notice how they never called them look who s talented   and the 1991 bomb shout   which was bad enough to make most people scream      but somewhere along the line   travolta got the starring role in the tarantino masterpiece pulp fiction and his career soared once again    weird how someone whose career was on par with the bee gees back in 1978 would experience fame and fortune once again   while barry   robin and maurice gibb could do no better than a 1993 straight to the cutout bin album aptly named   size isn t everything     and of course   they learned that sales are everything      but now travolta s back on the hollywood scene once again   and i think we all know why    four words   contract with the devil    and this has nothing to do with newt gingrich s   contract with america      no   satan is much more humane    anyway   yes   travolta has sold his soul to the hairy host of the netherworld    how do i know    i own the document in question    amazing what you can buy at those collector s shops for a few hundred dollars   isn t it    get shorty continues in the vein of pulp fiction   with travolta as crime minion chili palmer    he goes to collect some of the mafia s money from a b grade director   gene hackman   and suddenly finds out he wants out of the mob game and into the movie game    sure   a ruthless criminal like him is far too honest to make it in hollywood   but i guess that s beside the point    palmer is determined to get hackman s next project made   so he sets out to convince big star martin weir   danny devito   to star in the movie   bringing along down and out horror actress karen flores   rene russo     who has already had affairs with hackman and devito    it doesn t take a las vegas odds maker to predict that she and travolta will soon be hitting the sheets as well   after the customary sexual tension and denial   which has been used in every comedy from   who s the boss      to speechless    it works in this case   unlike   who s the boss      although it s interesting to note that tony danza has signed a contract with the devil also    complicating matters somewhat are the mobsters who have backed hackman s other films and want in on this one too   along with travolta s mob boss trying to track him down for defecting    get shorty is by no means on the same level as pulp fiction   despite the obvious similarities    this movie doesn t have near the amount of originality or depth as pulp fiction but it is definitely one of the most entertaining movies i ve seen this year   yes   even better than halloween vi      get shorty is my kind of movie   one that mixes intelligent humor with action and violence    i m definitely going to have to check out the novel it was based on    are you getting this   shorty    
Pos, i was fortunate enough to attend an advance screening for the upcoming thriller conspiracy theory    this was   of course   a big deal for me because reviewing movies is basically just a hobby for me and i never get a chance at something like this    not only did i get to see an advance screening   i was able to see an advance screening of a * very good * movie    the very fast paced film stars mel gibson as jerry fletcher   a fast talking   witty   comical taxi driver in new york city    gibson s performance is terrific   and his character is similar to that of martin riggs in the lethal weapon films    gibson again teams up with richard donner   as he did in the lethal weapon films and maverick   and this time around   the combination works even better    the character of jerry fletcher is indeed unique    try to imagine a toned downed version of travis bickle who   this time around   is a jittery guy with knowledge of government conspiracy cover ups    if you can imagine that   then you ve basically got jerry fletcher    in many ways   i was surprised by this movie    to begin with   i was surprised at how good it was    don t get me wrong   it s not going to be accepting any gold trophies next spring   but it was a very enjoyable movie    secondly   i was surprised at mel gibson s performance    he provided a fantastic performance    the previews of this film led me to believe it was an all out action flick   which after viewing   it was almost the opposite in a certain sense    gibson s character has an almost uncountable number of one liners   hilarious situations   and his character is one that the audience tends to side with throughout the film    for instance   jerry s apartment   and especially his security   is memorable    and last   i was surprised at how good the plot is    writer brian helgeland has created a terrific story   and when watching this film   you are left to wonder if all of jerry fletcher s far fetched   or so they seem at first   conspiracy theories are helgeland s own opinions    mel gibson isn t the only stand out in the film    julia roberts is very good in her performance as alice sutton   the department of justice employee who can t seem to stay away from jerry fletcher   who continually visits alice in hopes that she will do something about his theories    he also seems obsessed and in love with her    but whenever he approaches her with another one of his theories   she shrugs him and his beliefs off   continually noting that one day she is going to slap a restraining order on him    jerry   obviously determined to continually seek out the truth   continues to research information for his next conspiracy theory   which will be printed in his newsletter   same title as the movie      although he only has five subscribers   he puts a large amount of time and effort into his work   and publishes his next edition    very soon after he does so   he is abducted and tortured by a sinister man who refers to himself as dr   jonas   patrick stewart      after barely escaping alive   jerry is forced to turn to the only person he can trust   alice sutton    the remainder of the film is almost always fast paced and full of action and suspense   with jerry s life being constantly put into jeopardy    and more along the way   the audience   and alice   learn more and more about jerry s life    many things are explained throughout this film   both to the characters and to the audience    for instance   the meaning of the book   the catcher in the rye   and its ties to assassins   the reason lone gunmen have three names   e   g    lee harvey oswald and james earl ray     and the real truth behind the grateful dead    make sure listen closely throughout the film   as jerry is constantly throwing out interesting tidbits such as the above    definitely   when conspiracy theory hits theaters august 8th   make sure you are standing in line to see it    i am nearly positive everyone should enjoy this film   especially if you are into an action thriller with witty dialogue and numerous suspenseful situations    and even if you aren t   you should still like this film    
Pos, the disney studios has its formula for annual   full length animated features down so pat that it s hard to remember which one you re watching at any given moment       mulan     their 36th animated adventure   is the latest case in point    once again we have a tale focused around a strong central character   female as usual   disney is one of the few studios whose heroines  ariel   belle   pocahontas   and now mulan  get equal screen time with their heroes in recent years      add the requisite love interest and a wise cracking sidekick or two   pep up the soundtrack with a handful of strategically placed show tunes   an introspective number by a pool or looking in a mirror   a rousing anthem   a cutesy   montage backed crowd pleaser     pose a few threats to our engaging lead   and tie things all up neatly by the closing credits    bob s your uncle !  better make that walt s your uncle        kids will no doubt go ga ga over   mulan     or at least the fast food tie ins     but familiarity can   after a while   leave grown ups  this reviewer included  wishing for a little more    maybe an animated feature without  shock !  horror !   the  songs   for example    or maybe a film in which a cheeky chihuahua called pepe longs to become a matador from trinidad      how about simply ditching the sidekicks altogether    it isn t gonna happen    like disney s previous entries     mulan   is slow to make its mark    the animation tends to suffer from some slackness in the early going and the humorous element   a madcap dragon wannabe   in the guise of a loquacious lizard with a case of dry mouth   courtesy eddie murphy s animated vocal talents     plays like an inappropriate if necessary   formula wise   afterthought    however   after about an hour everything comes together and the formula   like it or not   clicks    highlights include a spectacular cavalry charge on a snow covered pass   which   due to the sophistication of today s computer generated imagery   is hard to tell from the real thing     a memorable   show stopping musical interlude     i ll make a man out of you     penned by matthew wilder and david zippel     and last but not least   mulan herself    voiced by ming na wen   mulan is disney s strongest female character to date    when hordes of huns pour over china s great wall and threaten to overthrow the imperial palace   the emperor decrees that every family in the land dispatch one man to serve in the imperial army    since mulan s father is infirm   but proud   the high spirited mulan steals her father s armor and   incognito   signs up to face the mongolian menace    attracted to   but not distracted by   her commanding officer shang   b   d    wong     mulan outmatches her fellow combatants in smarts   wit   and physical ability    she s a woman of the  90s a couple of millennia ahead of her time    
Pos, i had been expecting more of this movie than the less than thrilling twister    twister was good but had no real plot and no one to simpithize with    but twister had amazing effects and i was hoping so would volcano  volcano starts with tommy lee jones at emo    he worrys about a small earthquake enough to leave his daughter at home with a baby sitter    there is one small quake then another quake    then a geologist points out to tommy that its takes a geologic event to heat millions of gallons of water in 12 hours    a few hours later large amount of ash start to fall    then         it  starts    the volcanic eruption          i liked this movie       but  it was not as great as i hoped    i was still good none the less    it had excellent special effects    the best view       the  helecopters flying over the streets of volcanos    also       there were interesting side stories that made the plot more interesting    so       it was good ! !  
Pos, disney s 35th animated feature   a retooling of the olympian legend crossed with   well   the superman story   is surprisingly soft at the center    great wit   great art   and a great villain   james woods as hades   lord of the underworld and local lounge act   can t quite stifle the yawns induced by a bland hero   his colorfully monotonous sidekick   danny devito as the satyrical trainer phil     and a largely unremarkable soundtrack       none of the alan menken/david zippel tunes are particular  ly noteworthy    some lack lyrical snap    others need more memorable melodies    boring ballads we expect   but boring production numbers   too      so   hercules is a bit of a long sit   but you won t stay bored    the highlights include a nifty round of animated action   herc battling a cgi hydra     a steady stream of anachronisms     somebody call ix i i     and pop references     let s get ready to rumble !     a la aladdin   and several long overdue jabs at the mouse s marketing and merchandising depart  ments    while not as rock solid as hunchback   it s a still a new world of improvement over pocohontas    directed by ron clements and john musker   with voice credits including tate donovan   susan egan   bob goldthwait   matt frewer   samantha eggar   paul shaffer   and   as lighting bolt zeus   rip torn   who s having a very good summer   also appearing in trial and error and men in black    
Pos, the computer animated comedy   shrek   is designed to be enjoyed on different levels by different groups    for children   it offers imaginative visuals   appealing new characters mixed with a host of familiar faces   loads of action and a barrage of big laughs   including numerous gags related to body functions and yucky substances   apparently a requisite in contemporary family films      for adults   it s a fractured fairy tale packed with rude jokes that will sail over the heads of the kids    all in all     shrek   is a snappy ride   although there are a couple of points i found disturbing    but first the basics    based very loosely on a 1990 children s story     shrek   follows several momentous days in the life of the title character   a rotund green ogre voiced by mike myers in that pleasant scottish accent he is so fond of using    shrek is a grumpy fellow living a solitary life deep in the swamp   until a local nobleman disturbs his peace    petty tyrant lord farquaad   take away the   awk   in the middle and you have the basis of a string of impolite one liners   owns the land on which shrek resides    he proceeds to turn the ogre s yard into an ellis island for storybook characters when he banishes the fanciful beings from his castle    as a result   shrek finds himself surrounded by legends like the three blind mice   pinocchio   the big bad wolf   the seven dwarfs   and the three bears   to name but a few    an enraged shrek storms to the castle   only to find farquaad   john lithgow   ready to bargain    lord obnoxious wants to become king and the magic mirror from   snow white   has shown him the way    all he has to do is rescue a damsel in distress and make her his wife    the mirror unveils three choices in a presentation straight out of   the dating game     when snow white is shown   the cheeky announcer purrs     even though she lives with seven men   she s not easy !      farquaad selects the lovely princess fiona   cameron diaz   and offers shrek a deal   if the ogre snatches fiona from the dragon protected   lava moat filled castle in which she is held captive and brings her to the throne   the lord will allow the fairy tale pests to move back on his grounds    shrek reluctantly agrees and sets off on his quest   accompanied by a motor mouthed donkey   eddie murphy   determined to make the green grump his best friend    they finally hook up with the princess   only to learn she is not the helpless maiden they expected to meet    for the matter   the dragon offers a few surprises as well    the movie references a great many other flicks   from   babe       that ll do   donkey    that ll do     to   the graduate      but the lion s share of the jokes come at the expense of the wonderful world of disney    the public domain characters made into icons in various disney films take their hits   pinocchio is referred to as a   possessed toy   and when shrek spies a sleeping snow white in his cabin   he bellows     get that dead broad off the table !       but the biggest slams come when shrek visits farquaad s royal domicile   which closely resembles a certain magic kingdom   from its souvenir stands and queue lines to a display of animatronic figures that sing the palace rules in a relentlessly peppy tune that sounds a lot like   it s a small world      which brings me to disturbing point number one    i laughed at all the disney swipes   but found the mentality behind them a bit sad    the acrimony between dreamworks honcho jeff katzenberg and disney big wheel michael eisner is well known    for years the two companies have tried to sabotage each other s film and video releases by issuing similar competing productions on the same day    and now we have katzenberg using an entire movie to attack his former employer    here s a suggestion for the two boys   grow up !  put the past behind you !  there s room in the sandbox for both of you and if you farquaads can t play nice   then go to your rooms !  the other area i found troubling came in the portrayal of lord farquaad    beyond all the irreverence     shrek   actually has a message   people should learn to look beyond physical appearances   because true beauty lies within    it s a lovely notion   but the film betrays its own moral by incessantly taking cheap shots at farquaad s diminutive stature    do we really need a family film reinforcing the idea that mocking short people is acceptable    the pompous   selfish behavior of farquaad is enough to make him a target for zingers    adding short jokes is simply mean    still     shrek   is a rollicking good time    the computer animation is mostly impressive   although several key characters look like animated rubber squeeze toys and the human movements are often jerky     the voice work is strong   particularly from eddie murphy     the laughs come fast and furious   and the moral   tainted though it may be   is a good one    to trot out a clich       shrek   is fun for all ages    parents   though   should remind their young ones during the ride home that taunting others because they are short   tall   skinny   fat   etc   is a bad thing    
Pos, after watching the first ten minutes of this japanese film   you will never eat a bowl of ramen the same way again    there is a scene where an old man is teaching a young one how to eat the soupy bowl of noodles   as a master would teach an eager apprentice       you caress the noodles with the chopsticks     he says     then put the roast pork on the side of the bowl and apologize to it by saying    see you soon        of course   it s meant to be a parody   but there is an earnestness underneath the silliness that makes you take it with a certain degree of sobriety    you begin to appreciate the food as not merely something you eat   not something you like   not something you enjoy   but rather something you experience    experiencing it is a process which engages all of the senses   fulfilling each one on its own terms and weaving them so that the total is a pleasure that is more than the sum of its parts    trust me   you really want to go find a noodle shop at this point    juzo itami s tampopo brings the same sense of the serious parody of food to the forefront by making the story follow the pattern of an american western   set in modern day japan    a stranger   goro   tsutomu yamazaki     comes into town and finds tampopo   nobuko miyamoto     the proprietor of a small   hole in the wall noodle shop   trying to fend off the insults of the local strongman   pisken   rikiya yasuoka      goro   to defend the honor of this woman and her noodles   gets into a fight with the ringleader and his henchmen   emerging bloodied   but victorious    goro finds that tampopo s ambition is to have a shop that people would flock to from far away   just to eat a bowl of her ramen    the problem is   her fare is something less than popular   and less than appetizing    however   goro agrees to help tampopo in her quest   and in the process they seek the wisdom of an elderly noodle expert   enlist the aid of a wealthy patron   and make friends with the former enemy    this film is filled with many little scenes which are absolute gems    take   for example   when tampopo tries to buy the recipe for a delicious soup from another shop owner    the price is too high   but the owner of the store next door will secretly sell it to her for a more affordable sum    tampopo meets him at his store late at night   and he leads her to a back room    she protests   thinking that perhaps this man has ulterior motives   but he insists    just when she is about to bolt for the exit   he shows her a small gap in the wall adjoining his store with the noodle shop next door    she peers through and takes notes as she watches the cook make the soup for the next day   her face filled with a joy that can be felt by the audience    this scene   while comical   is very effective at filling the viewer with a sense of trepidation   then of relief and discovery    there s also an interesting scene where goro introduces tampopo and her son to a bunch of street people who   despite their economic trappings   are all gourmets and master sommeliers    we even watch as one of them sneaks into the kitchen of a restaurant and expertly prepares a french omelet    the scene is meant to bring a laugh   but it also says that no matter whether people are rich or poor   food is something which everyone has in common   and the enjoyment of food is an experience shared by all    there are also a number of unrelated vignettes appearing throughout the film   which help to illustrate and accentuate the role of food in people s lives    a particularly effective one involves a wife and mother being tended to in her home by a doctor    surrounded by her children   she is obviously in her last hours of life    her husband comes home   and seeing her worsened condition   demands that she get up and make dinner    the viewer knows the husband s intention is not to be mean   he is desperate for the normalcy of which he and his family has obviously been deprived   and the wife making dinner is an essential part of this    in a near miracle   the wife drags herself to the kitchen and prepares a quick meal   then brings it to her awaiting family    as the family eats   she looks on them and smiles    preparing food for her family is a joy and a comfort to her   and for a brief moment   she too enjoys the normalcy    then she falls over   dead    for a moment   the family is stunned   but then the father yells at the children     keep eating !  this is the last meal your mother ever made !    crying as they do so   the family finishes the meal    the scene is comical   awkward   moving   and beautiful    by including the vignettes   itami ran the risk of creating a disjointed film   but surprisingly   they do not interrupt the pacing of the main storyline    instead   they even help contribute to the idea that tampopo s goal of being able to serve exceptional food is worthy and even noble    because the film parodies a western   the construction of the plot is fairly predictable   but is still enjoyable as we watch the familiar way in which the   good guys   come together for the final showdown    in this case   the showdown is against the ramen    if they eat tampopo s ramen   soup and all   tampopo knows she has succeeded    it s pretty obvious what the outcome will be   but when a film changes your whole perspective on something you consume every day of your life   you can afford to cut it a little slack    
Pos, there s an old saying that states something about leaving the best for last    george lucas certainly followed that adage when crafting the original star wars trilogy    return of the jedi   the final installment of the series   is easily the most innovative   action packed   and entertaining of the three films    the dark   eerie atmosphere that oozed from every frame of the empire strikes back is gone    instead   for return of the jedi   we have good triumphing decisively over evil   a resolution to a love triangle   and walking teddy bears    even darth vader doesn t seem very intimidating this time around    with the arrival of the emperor   an apparition like creature played by ian mcdiarmid     vader has turned into somewhat of a henchman    return of the jedi picks up at an unspecified time after the conclusion of the empire strikes back    luke skywalker   mark hamill     princess leia   carrie fisher     lando calrissian     billy dee williams     chewbacca   peter mayhew     c3p0   anthony daniels   and r2 d2   kenny baker   are on a rescue mission to luke s home planet of tatooine    their goal   to save han solo   harrison ford   from the clutches of the intergalactic gangster jabba the hutt    it is at jabba s home   a creepy looking stone fortress guarded by hog nosed beasts   that most of the added special effects come into play    from a hysterical scene involving a music group to the dreaded beast outside jabba s sand barge   the effects are top notch    as soon as han is freed from his cryo freeze and rescued from the clutches of the evil jabba the hutt   it s back to outer space   where the rebel alliance is about to face the empire s newest threat   a second   more powerful death star   that   if activated   could spell doom for anyone who stands against the emperor    so   while the fleet prepares for the final battle   luke and company travel to the forest moon of endor to knock out the shield that defends the death star against all attacks    there   they are befriended by the ewoks   the teddy bear like native race   and luke   fearing that his presence is endangering the group   turns himself over to vader    return of the jedi has some interesting elements    the scenes which pitted luke against the emperor and vader are suitably tense and well acted    from a technical point of view   the space battles are amazing   easily hindering anything depicted in the previous films    not only are there many   many more ships   but their speed and range of movement have been dramatically improved    on one level   return of the jedi is almost worth watching for the special effects    in the special edition   even more ships are added   making the final space battle incredibly fun to watch    the acting in return of the jedi is stronger than in the previous films    by now   or then   1983     mark hamill   harrison ford   and carrie fisher have all matured in their on screen personas    the chemistry amongst the trio is terrific    as in empire   billy dee williams gives us another human hero to root for    newcomer ian mcdiarmid plays the emperor as a suitably creepy   cunning   and evil creature   although he s not as imposing as vader was in star wars    although it was great fun watching star wars and the empire strikes back on the big screen   return of the jedi generates a greater sense of enjoyment    with the spectacular   new special effects   the adorable ewoks   the sinister jabba the hutt   the evil emperor   the same old millenium falcon   darth vader s incredible betrayal   the destruction of the new death star   and the always lovable yoda   return of the jedi concludes one of the greatest trilogies ever made with a huge bang    congratulations to george lucas   whose innovative mind entertains us now and will continue to entertain generations to come        
Pos, why do so many children s films treat their target audience with utter contempt    too many of those who write or direct for children s movies assume that the kids just can t handle serious   thoughtful discussions on meaningful issues       the iron giant     which was directed and co written by brad bird   late of such animated series as   the simpsons   and   king of the hill     assumes that not only can children handle such discussions   but that they can do so while being entertained at the same time       the iron giant   holds absolutely no contempt for the young people in the audience   making it a film that s enjoyable for both children and adults alike    hogarth hughes   voice of eli marienthal   is a spirited young lad who lives with his hard working single mother   annie   jennifer aniston     in a small town in maine    after staying up late and watching scary movies on a night his mother is away   hogarth treks out into the forest to investigate what has stolen his antenna and ruined his tv reception    he comes across a giant robot   vin diesel   from space that eats metal for food    after saving the robot   nicknamed the iron giant   from electric shock   hogarth befriends the creature and takes him in as a pet of sorts    because of damage he suffered upon landing   the giant has forgotten what his original mission was   so he just follows hogarth around like a lost puppy    realizing he can t just keep the giant in a barn all the time   and that the giant needs food   he takes him to a junkyard owned by dean   harry connick jr       an eccentric artist who assembles sculptures out of scrap iron in his spare time    it soon becomes apparent that dean and hogarth can t keep the giant a secret forever   because a government spook named kent mansley   christopher mcdonald   has been brought in to investigate mysterious sightings in the surrounding forest area and considers the giant a threat to national security    he suspects hogarth knows something about the giant   and takes up residence in hogarth s house as a lodger    meanwhile   the giant begins to exhibit ominous behavior that suggests he was built to be a weapon of some kind       the iron giant   is exactly what family films ought to be   because it doesn  t talk down to its audience    the story is simple   very simple   about an alien being that drops out of the sky and befriends a young boy    it s very similar to the spielberg classic   e   t       and such comparisons are actually deserved in the case of   the iron giant      the film holds many of the better elements of spielberg s film   such as the ability to be sentimental without turning sappy    the film delivers several serious messages   the most important of which is one s ability to choose one s own fate    hogarth teaches the giant to go against his programming and become what he wants to be   a hero    the final sequence is touching and appropriate   though i won t give it away   i will say that very few will be disappointed    the animation   while not up to disney standards   what could be   after   tarzan         is good enough to make you forget you re watching a cartoon    the giant is computer animated   while the human characters are all hand drawn the old fashioned way    the characters  faces are done quite well   drawn realistically enough to make the personalities credible   but the features are exaggerated so as to allow for the cartoonish expressions that provide for comic relief    fine voice work is turned in by young eli marienthal as hogarth   and jennifer aniston is surprisingly convincing as his waitress mother    harry connick jr   does a nice characterization as dean   and i really enjoyed the voice work of john mahoney   of tv s   frasier     as an army general called in by agent mansley    unlike several cartoon features   each character is actually a developed personality   rather than a stereotype   and is actually integral to the plot   rather than being a superfluous comic relief sidekick   a clich   disney still hasn t ditched      dean   for example   could have been a stereotypical beatnik   his character profile seems to suggest that     but he is presented as a character with real emotions   thoughts   and motivations    even the heavy   agent mansley   is not a villain who does bad things simply because he wants to   but out of his own fear and paranoia    a lesser animated feature would have drawn up paper thin stereotypes and figure the kids won t mind   but   the iron giant   has clearly put a little work into making the characters real   and it pays off    the film isn t only around to deliver heavy handed messages   though    it s also very funny   and the humor is of the kind that both children and adults will enjoy    the scenes in which hogarth teaches the giant to do certain things   such as dive into a pool   are handled well   and director brad bird clearly has a sense of comic timing   having worked on   the simpsons   for many years    a sequence where hogarth and mansley attempt to   outlast   one another by trying to stay awake is very nicely timed   and also extremely clever    the film even takes some jabs at america s nuclear paranoia during the early stages of the cold war   satirizing the lame safety films shown to grade school students that tell them to   duck and cover   in the event of a nuclear attack       the iron giant   has much more of a satirical edge to it than most family films   and the edgy humor is actually quite refreshing    instead of seeing people get bonked on the head   we get well timed   clever gags that seem to have required some imagination to come up with    when you get right down to it     the iron giant   is no more than the story of a boy and his robot    the story is so straightforward   so quaint   that it ultimately becomes charming    though i enjoy the complex plotting of film noir as much as the next person   when it comes to family entertainment   simple is the way to go    it s akin to one of those bedtime stories your father told that had you hanging on his every word   but it s not the story that sets the film above others of its kind   but rather the elements that go into the story   namely real characters and thoughtful dialogue   which   the iron giant   has in spades    
Pos, susan granger s review of   the closet     miramax films    in this hilarious french farce   a shy   boring accountant   daniel auteil   named francois pignon discovers he s going to be fired from his job at a condom factory    lonely and distraught   he contemplates suicide    but then he runs into belone   michel aumont     an elderly homosexual neighbor   who suggests a   sex discrimination   lawsuit to intimidate management    as evidence   belone concocts provocative photographs of pignon locked in a leather clad embrace with another man and mails them anonymously to pignon s boss    when the racy snapshots start circulating around the factory   not only does pignon get his job back but he suddenly finds himself the focus of attention as an openly gay man    his lusty supervisor   michele laroque   is so intrigued that she wonders if   perhaps   she could change his sexual preferences    even his ex wife   alexandra vandernoot   and indifferent teenage son   stanislas crevillen   drop their disdain    but not everyone is enchanted    a mucho macho co worker felix   gerard depardieu     a self righteous homophobe   is stunned and repulsed when he s forced by the pr director   thierry lhermite   to grovel and court pignon s friendship or risk losing his own job    writer/director francis verber artfully milks the farcical comedy as he dissects the hypocrisy of political correctness   veering off track only occasionally into pedophilia    daniel auteuil     the widow of saint pierre     is delightful   particularly with a blown up condom perched on his head   riding on a float in a gay pride parade   and gerard depardieu delivers one of his most restrained   and effective   performances    on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10     the closet   is a frankly sexual   adult 8    it s so clever   in fact   that hollywood is already planning to re make it in english   like   la cage aux folles      
Pos, roman emperor marcus aurelius   richard harris   chooses his trusted general maximus   russell crowe   as his successor    however the emperor s evil son commodus   joaquin phoenix   murders his father before the announcement can be made   and maximus   as well as his family   is sentenced to be executed    maximus is able to escape his executioners   but is later captured and sold as a slave to proximo   oliver reed      proximo is looking for gladiators to earn himself money   he being a former gladiator himself     and maximus reluctantly uses his skills to prove himself a powerful gladiator    when emperor commodus announces that new games will be held in the colisseum   proximo takes his gladiators there to do battle    maximus sees this as his chance to exact revenge on commodus    gladiator begins with a great battle sequence between the roman army and germania   and actually is able to maintain interest during the now required   40 minutes of exposition after a kick ass opening sequence   style of moviemaking    the only downfall of the opening sequence is the editing style used        it s choppy slow motion which is unsettling and distracting    it s similar to the opening sequence in saving private ryan   but nowhere near as effective    the actual gladiator battles are thrilling   but also a bit disjointed    many times it s unclear as to exactly what s going on        all the audience can tell is that blood is being spilled    we re not sure who s blood or by who s hand though    there s an instance of this earlier in the film too that s disappointing    it s comes when maximus escapes his executioners    some flashes and a few quick cuts later and maximus is free        but i still don t know exactly how he did it    russell crowe should have become a major star after his gleefully over the top role as a computer generated serial killer in 1995 s virtuosity    for whatever reason his stardom never arrived        but he should have it now    from here on moviegoers should now be able to say     let s go see the new russell crowe movie      he gets the best scene in the film   and one of the best moments of all recent movies   when he reveals his identity to commodus in the colisseum    it s both rousing and chilling    joaquin phoenix does a very effective job of making commodus a person and not just a cartoon character   which could have easily happened      commodus is conniving   sneaky and whiny   but phoenix never lets the character get silly    it s a very good   and very creepy   performance    oliver reed died during the filming of gladiator   and it s a huge loss to the acting world    i ve always been fascinated with reed        he s one of those very talented performers who once had a fine career but ended up in direct to video junk during his twilight years    it s ironic that this film probably would have gotten him back into real movies again   as he gives a fun and sincere performance    the film is dedicated to him   and he will surely be missed    reed s death presented the filmmakers with an obvious problem   as he still had scenes to be completed    rather than recast the role   and end up reshooting a great deal of footage     a digital version of oliver reed was created at a reported cost of 2 million dollars    ironically   that was probably more money than reed ever earned for a single film    anyway   this digital effect is only used in one scene that i am aware of   for about twenty seconds   and if you aren t looking for it you won t even be able to tell    some of the other digital effects are less convincing however        and like i always say   noticable digital effects take me out of a movie immediately    it s sad that such a good film has these distractions    movies like the fall of the roman empire and spartacus seemed to do okay without the use of computer effects    keep in mind that gladiator is based on real people and real events   but is entirely a work of fiction    however it s a work of fiction that s great entertainment   and another film to add to the list of damn fine flicks released in 2000 a   d    
Pos, what a great film    what a stunning   touching   heart wrenching   heart warming   life affirming   miraculous film    >from its opening moments    life is beautiful  walks that fine line between serious tragedy and uplifting comedy    a car with no brakes speeds through the town   and guido   roberto benigni   motions people to move out of the way    they mistake him to be the fascist president   traveling to their town that day    heil !  heil !  huh    shortly thereafter   the president drives through   and people stare   with blank faces    this is standard   but somehow fresh and postmodern stuff   the clown who is also a jew   triumphs over the anti semitic society in which he = lives    granted    the great dictator  comes to mind  charlie chaplin+s almost masterpiece    i think lib   which benigni wrote and directed   trumps gd in one essential point   chaplin+s jewish barber gives a great speech at the climax   but to do so   he had to break completely from character    benigni is given a similar situation   he is mistaken as a fascist dignitary   and must explain to a classroom filled with schoolchildren = on how scientists have concluded that aryans are the superior race    benigni+s guido stays in character   and delivers the speech   keeping = the subject matter intact while showing the absurdity of its concept    it = is one of the great satirical scenes in modern cinema    there are many other scenes   especially in the first half   which are bright and loopy and funny and silly    slapstick reigns   and although the film is subtitled   there was no doubt that a universal language was being conveyed    and although it+s focus is on the courtship of guido = to dora   played by nicoletta braschi   benigni+s real life wife     a silent undercurrent creeps in    this is clearly a racist society   evidenced by the aforementioned scene and others   and it will soon affect him and = his family    the second half of the film takes place five years later   in an unnamed concentration camp   where guido   dora   by her insistence     and their five year old son   giosu=e9   giorgio cantarini     are deported    guido   seeing the horrors   is desperate to protect his wife and child    for = his wife   who is separated from him   he must find ways to communicate to = her that he is all right    for his son     and this is the most controversial part of the film   he convinces the youngster that this is all one big elaborate game   it+s rules include hiding   being very quiet   and learning to not ask for seconds    which raises the big questions   how do we deal with pain    with persecution    with injustice on the worst level    it+s said that tragedies bring out the best in people   finding strengths they did not realize they had    other times they deteriorate   become overwhelmed = with little strength or incentive to swim    sometimes even   people giggle in these moments   as if there were a vacant emotion behind them   yearning for some brightness to soothe their wounds    benigni+s guido realizes this    he is the clown   but he is not a fool    he sees the slurs and the vandalism   and while feeling the weight of = the verbal attacks   he still has the audacity to see if everyone around = him   perhaps even the antagonists   laugh    his liberty is stripped   but not his dignity   and certainly not the dignities of those around him    it+s obvious from the onset that here is someone who is very much against fascism and the preposterousness of an aryan nation   but does so with a grinning   joyful demeanor    perhaps that is a form of denial    perhaps his alternate reality is all that he could muster   not unlike the very different  brazil       or        perhaps this is an example of great fortitude   with no weapons but = wit    whatever his purposes is subject to debate   but also a sure sign that this is one of the great three dimensional characters   stranded amidst = a terrifyingly risky concept    surprisingly   it works    it is an important footnote that this film was not intended to be an accurate reflection of the holocaust    it+s not that the atrocities are trivialized   far from it    they don+t have to be broadcast and explicitly shown to muster the same horror  less is more    i believe = that benigni was cautious to preserve the tone   and i like the theory that = it is guido+s alternate reality that we+re seeing    however   any criticism that this is rewriting history   that the holocaust wasn+t as bad as it seems   is simply off target    benigni+s film has won audience awards at cannes   at toronto   and is a definite shoo in for best foreign language film   hopefully for best picture as well      he has been made an honorary jew by a jerusalem film society    it swept the italian academy awards    controversy notwithstanding   it is one of the great films this year   and as of this writing   the one to beat for best film    masterful    miraculous    a must see    
Pos, ingredients   starving artist lusting after a beautiful woman from his childhood  synopsis   great expectations   1998   is a modernized version of a charles dickens novel    in the original charles dickens classic an orphan boy named pip learns about life through his friendship with an escaped convict   his relationship with a bitter old lady named miss havisham   and his hopeless lifetime infatuation with havisham s snobbish adopted daughter   estella    the gist of the story is that an anonymous benefactor sends pip to london for pip to become an upper class   gentleman      pip leaves for london with   great expectations   to be groomed into a gentleman so that he can one day be classy enough to marry estella    but life has a way of complicating things    pip becomes an arrogant s   o   b    until he learns just who his secret benefactor is    in this new 1998 version of great expectations a poor florida lad named finn   ethan hawke   with a talent for drawing has an early memory of helping an escaped convict   robert de niro      but soon the focus of finn s life becomes romance   as he develops a lifelong infatuation with estella   gwyneth paltrow     an upper crust girl with some psychological and emotional issues due to being raised in a dysfunctional environment    estella was raised in wealth by ms   dinsmoor   anne bancroft     an eccentric   aged and embittered   man hating single aunt whose groom left her abandoned at the altar on the day of her marriage    this causes estella to  fear the daylight  of relationships   but finn thinks it s just a case of snobbery    when finn becomes a young man   an anonymous benefactor sets finn up in new york with the connections and publicity to be groomed into a famous artist    finn leaves florida with   great expectations   to be a successful artist so that some day he might become classy enough to marry the snobbish estella    what will happen to all of finn s   great expectations      opinion   if you re looking for a romance with a happy ending   look no further   you ve found one here    ethan hawke is romantic lead       he romanced winona ryder in reality bites    he romanced julie delpy in before sunrise    he romanced uma thurman in gattaca    now in great expectations he gets to chase gwyneth paltrow   a rail thin blonde      hawke plays a lovestruck   earnest and unchanged finn throughout the film    meanwhile paltrow portrays estella as alternating between infuriating tease and ice princess   estella s whole purpose is to get men to fall in love and then hurt them rather than become intimate    anne bancroft goes a little overboard as the deranged and pessimistic ms   dinsmoor   while robert de niro carries off the convict part suitably    the difference between the classic dickens novel and this 1998 adaptation is that the dickens novel is ripe with deep and timeless themes about class struggle and love   whereas great expectations   1998   is more artsy   less complicated story about a 1990s artist dealing with a lifetime tease    
Pos, you ve seen this moment before   recently   a particularly troubled character senses danger of the paranormal kind when the room temperature inexplicably plummets to below freezing    the difference is that when it happens to lili taylor s nell in the haunting   we don t care    the hero of the sixth sense   a young boy named cole   is a rich creation   and we wish nothing more than for the ghosts who haunt him to take a hike    the seasons have changed since an ex patient shot jaded child psychologist malcolm crowe   willis   in the comfort of his own bedroom    desperate to get his career back on track   even at the expense of his crumbling marriage   to williams   of rushmore     malcolm councils the deeply troubled cole   osment      the preteen displays all the quirks of malcolm s would be killer   scars on his body   antisocial behaviour   and the reluctance to reveal a big secret    only after cole is locked in a closet by some bullies   and hospitalized as a result   does he divulge to malcolm   in a spine tingling scene   that he sees dead people walking among us   all the time    malcolm assumes   and given his profession   reasonably so   that cole is schizophrenic   not psychic   but the sincerity in cole s anguished confession prevents the doctor from taking drastic measures    he will instead pursue the supernatural angle   becoming a kind of surrogate father to cole   who lives with his single mother   lynn   collette     in the process    the sixth sense has more in common with ghost than poltergeist       though shyamalan does   somewhat unforgiveably   crib the self rearranging kitchen business from the latter      it s far more heartwarming than frightening   and the film would be none the worse for wear without its few pulp shocks    cole attracts the dead for reasons unknown   but they re not out to harm him   really they just want to be heard   even if it means scaring the bejesus out of the innocent gradeschooler    perhaps the apparitions seem more ghastly to us   at first   than they really are because we re looking at the situation through the eyes of an eight year old    that s right   willis   for the first time in years   gives up the spotlight to his costar    we appreciate malcolm s domestic dilemma   but we identify with cole   recalling our fears of the bogeyman or the closet monster or the thing under the bed    both actors deliver immensely likable performances   and their dynamic is manifest    willis convinces us that he s a doctor   something he was unable to do as a horndog shrink in the overheated color of night    osment is phenomenal   a true professional who resists mugging for the camera like some child stars with too much experience in television commercials do    the sixth sense   atmospherically shot by the silence of the lambs  cinematographer   tak fujimoto   is actually a drama its spooky   effective ad campaign is misleading    only because i was expecting something different did i notice rather   feel the movie s running time   which is just shy of two hours    the story unfurls slowly but engrossingly   its unexpected finish is definitely worth the wait    i m not sure said big twist ending is bulletproof   but i admired its audacity    
Pos, hollywood has really done the whole dracula thing to death   no pun intended   honest      it s a shame   too   because the good count was probably the most frightening out the old b movie monsters    i mean   come on    are people really going to get that scared over a big green guy named frankenstein that moves at a speed of five miles per hour    hell no    and not only was the idea of a vampire frightening as hell   but it also carried with it a kind of sensual feeling as well   not commonly associated with horror films    and not only has the idea been done too many times   but with the possible exception of from dusk  till dawn   has not been done very well lately   either    this is precisely why it was so much fun for me watching the original nosferatu    i got to go back to the times when making movies   even horror movies   was considered an art form   and not just done to make cash like nowadays    and that is exactly what this film is   art    i ve been a horror fan since i was eight years old   and to this day i have not seen any horror film cover the intellectual ground that this film covers    let me backtrack a minute    when i say   intellectual ground     i don t mean that nosferatu tackles philosophical questions or anything like that   i just mean that in order for the film to work the way it was intended to   a little bit of thinking is involved    with most modern slasher movies like friday the 13th and what not   you can just simply sit back in your chair and be frightened by the gore that is shown    those movies could have been made by a fifth grader with a good makeup kit   movies like this require the viewer to actually pay attention and ponder what is happening on the screen    you see   this movie has barely any violence in it and even less blood or gore    this is a thinking man s slasher flick    the   nosferatu   of the title is orlock   max shreck     a strange   hermit like count that   as the film opens   is looking for a new home to buy    he employs the help of hutter   gustav von wangenhein     a real estate salesman   or something to that effect   who has a nice home and even a fiancee named ellen   greta schroeder      upon orders from his boss   hutter treks to the transylvanian mountains to visit orlock s castle and speak to him about his new home   which just happens to be right next door to hutter s      the next morning   he wakes up to find teeth marks on his neck       not  really a good sign    he then discovers through some reading that the count is a   nosferatu     or vampire   one of the undead that feeds off the blood of living humans    but by the time he pieces this together   he is too late   orlock has already embarked to hutter s hometown via boat    will hutter reach his destination in time to save his fiancee from the deadly clutches of count orlock    the character of orlock is   of course   dracula    the only only reason his name was changed was because this was an unauthorized account of bram strocker s novel    just thought that was an interesting little side note        probably the only way you will get to see this fine film is by purchasing a copy of arrow entertainment s digitally restored cut   now available in stores    however   this version is quite different than maunau s original masterpiece    the movie is now sporting a new soundtrack by band type o negative and color tinting   much like the 1984 version of lang s metropolis    now   i really appreciate what arrow entertainment is trying to do here   bringing a classic like this to the attention of a wider audience that might have otherwise just skipped this one    but alas   i like watching movies the way they were originally intended to be seen    but that s just my bag   you may like the newer   more   modern   version better    either way   i suggest investing your money in a copy    if you like what they have done with it   pop it in the vcr and enjoy    if you re like me   just do what i ll do during future viewings   turn the color all the way down on your television   hit mute   turn on some bach or mozart or whatever   dim the lights and prepare to view what is truly one of the greatest films ever made    
Pos, stendhal s syndrome   a condition where   in the presence of art   a person becomes engulfed in a painting and hallucinates and may afterwards suffer symptoms such as depression   suicidal behaviour and personality disorder    grim stuff   to be sure   but the subject of a remarkable film from italy s master of the horror thriller dario argento    boasting an unforgettable soundtrack from the grandfather of film music ennio morricone   the stendhal syndrome is a quite magnificent return to form for argento    it follows his disappointing american debut trauma   1992     the patchy opera   1987   and several mediocre films he produced for young italian director michele soavi in the late 1980 s    based on the novel by graziella magherini   the film stars argento s daughter asia as young roman police inspector anna manni in pursuit of a brutal rapist killer    visiting florence to follow up several leads   she is lured by the killer alfredo   thomas kretschmann   to an art gallery   a favourite haunt where he hopes to identify exactly who is on his tail    at the gallery anna is overwhelmed by a painting and faints    posing as a bystander   alfredo briefly comes to her aid and having now identified his pursuer   a strange game of cat and mouse begins    a gripping story evolves   and a coherent one   too   which may surprise those familiar with argento s often lumpy narratives    the stendhal syndrome is not a simple cop hunting killer scenario    it is a disturbing and often compelling study of the central character s psychological disintegration    the script explores its psycho sexual themes with intelligence and candour   perhaps too much so for more sensitive viewers    but as dark as its themes are   the stendhal syndrome emerges as one of the most artful and effective european thrillers of the last ten years    argento is once again working in his native italy   and he fully exploits the opportunities to use art and architecture for both symbolic statements and as departure points for several brilliant hallucinogenic sequences    effects whiz sergio stivaletti serves his director well here   and the cinematography by giuseppe rotunno is consistently excellent    the film s opening 20 minutes segues between hallucination   flashback and real time with tremendous style    proof that   at his most inspired   argento remains one of the world s most exhilarating filmmakers    the cast is generally good   though marred at times by dubbing into english that renders speech all but emotionless    asia argento s performance is by turns risky   awkward and fascinating    it s a difficult role   and given her relative inexperience on screen she deserves applause for her efforts    thomas kretschmann is chillingly effective as alfredo   and marco leonardi   of cinema paradiso   and possibly the most gorgeous looking man in italy   does okay as anna s work colleague and increasingly confused love interest    but perhaps the stendhal syndrome s single most striking element is ennio morricone s soundtrack    active since the 1960 s   morricone has scored over 100 films in his career and this must rate as one of his finest efforts    it s mostly a variation on the one theme   a slow circular melody for strings and wordless female vocal possessed with an extraordinary   haunting beauty that lingers long afterwards    it s been three decades since argento and morricone worked together    this is a long welcome reunion    if the film has a fault   it is that the last half hour drags a little and the film doesn t quite reach a completely satisfying climax    but by the closing scenes   the stendhal syndrome has already offered us enough to qualify as one of the very best films of dario argento s career     * note   see the uncut print from japanese laserdisc if you can    dubs of this version are available from various video dealers on the world wide web    
Pos, close your eyes for a moment   if you will   and imagine the sound of stephen rea s gaelic brogue   silky smooth and irish like a pint of guinness    a lackadaisical   naughty little schoolboy voice that flirts and gambols    an acerbic   sing song metered voice that evokes the startling imagery and language of anthony burgess    a clockwork orange      a voice that deliciously conjures scenes both porcine and puerile   like those out of   delicatessen     or   the tin drum      imagine all of that   and you ll get a good sense of what you can expect from   the butcher boy      imagine that and more    neil jordan s latest film   stars   rea in more ways than one    rea   the accomplished irish actor most notable from his star turn in jordan s   the crying game     contributes a restrained and managed performance as da brady   a small town drunk in an unnamed irish community in the 1960s    but it s his wall to wall narration as the butcher boy of the title   da brady s son   francis   that makes rea s   performance   worth watching   worth listening to    and that s only half the fun    playing the young francie brady is newcomer eamonn owens and he is   without a doubt   a revelation    for as much as rea s voiceover permeates almost every scene of   the butcher boy     owens commands virtually every frame    it s impossible to take your eyes off him    with his crop of carrot colored hair   ruddy complexion   and overall grubby appearance   francie brady is an unlikely hero   refusing to be done in by his alcoholic   trumpet playing father   his depressive   suicidal mother   or the neighboring   bespectacled monster known as mrs   nugent   fiona shaw      in fact   everything was ok until   the nugent   came to town    now   she poses as much a threat to the safety and security of town bully francie and his best pal joe   alan boyle   as the looming commie menace     the butcher boy   is set at a time when the fear of nuclear obliteration is first and foremost in the minds of many         pigs !   screams mrs   nugent at the brady menagerie       you re all pigs !    it s the start of many a related image    after ma brady is shipped off to the   garage   for psychiatric observation and da brady downs one bottle of whiskey too many   francie finally loses grip of his fantasy world of cowboys and indians   the lone ranger   and other comicbook characters    squealing like a stuck pig   francie does   the likes o  that   on the nugent s living room floor   and is himself whisked away to a very catholic remand home for   boney arsed bogmen     where his ever fertile imagination  and clever chicanery  runneth over    director jordan s vivid treatment of pat mccabe s nightmare novel produces a sometimes disturbing   dark comedy littered with surreal touches   such as sin   ad o connor playing the virgin mary      it s not as outlandish as the trailers make out   instead   this remarkable film focuses on the effects external influences have on the friendship between two boys   schoolboy chums in real life     allowing us to empathize with their plight in the presence of extraordinary behavior    it s bleak and it s black but it s fundamentally very funny    rea talks us through it   beautifully   and owens drags us though it   admirably   and   in tandem with jordan s sure hand   theirs are contributions to make   the butcher boy   a film worth savoring    
Pos, zero effect gets its title from the main character   daryl zero   bill pullman     although we don t understand what it truly means until the very last line of dialogue in the film    zero is a private investigator   perhaps the best private investigator who ever lived   at least he d like to think so      however   he s a socially inept being   and eccentric in every possible way    this fact certainly makes his talents as a private eye even more bewildering than they already are    zero s accomplice is steve arlo   ben stiller     a   normal   guy who does the business side of the job    he s the one who actually speaks to clients and explains zero s greatness as an investigator    the opening scene has steve explaining the many virtues of zero s talents to soon to be client gregory stark   ryan o neal      it turns out that stark has lost a key to a safe deposit box   and is now being blackmailed for something that he apparently knows nothing about    zero takes the case   and the plot thickens    his path leads to a young   pretty paramedic named gloria sullivan   kim dickens      despite her luminous and seemingly harmless presence   she turns out to be the one blackmailing stark    through his investigations   zero learns why   but not without developing feelings for gloria    feelings that   because of his reclusive behavior   are new and confusing to him    i have no particular affinity towards the mystery genre of film    i can idly enjoy movies about private investigators   and   every once in a while   a film like chinatown comes a long that blows me away   actually   no private eye film has ever reached chinatown s greatness      zero effect   which is jake kasdan s first effort as writer/director   is a film about a private investigator that succeeds in all attempts   it s an original   funny   and completely involving motion picture    with so many cliches available to this genre   i find it amazing that kasdan avoided all of them    but he didn t just successfully avoid flaws   he has created a great film here   one that had me interested and fascinated from the first shot to the final moment    take   for starters   the great cast of characters    pullman is terrific as zero   showing a comic flair that i really haven t seen from him since spaceballs    zero is the kind of guy who seems at ease switching personalities so frequently as he does here   the fact that he s an almost exaggeratedly twisted   emotionally unstable man outside of his profession is not at all difficult to believe    pullman s performance is much more layered than it might seem at first glance   and the occasional voice over as he s going through the motions of his job are insightful and often hilarious    ben stiller is also a very funny individual   he s the kind of comedian who makes normal lines sound funny       i ll shoot you     he says to stark at one point       i have a gun   and everything      his character is also well drawn   with an interesting subplot involving his girlfriend   angela featherstone   who is not happy with the extensive amounts of time he must spend away from her due to the unpredictability of his job    o neal also gives his character a bit of depth   and kim dickens   last seen   and underused   in mercury rising   gets a chance to show us her talent here   giving gloria the realism this kind of character really needs    i find zero effect to be an immensely funny and witty film    kasdan s humor is of the best kind    soft spoken   and mostly dialogue driven   though there are some great visual jokes      it s the kind of humor that s funny even after you ve seen it five or six times    there s one scene in which zero talks about how detached he is   an how that makes him such a great detective    what we see during this narration are various shots of him sitting on a bed   or standing motionlessly   with his hair destroyed and an utterly blank look painted on his unshaven face   his eyes pointing to something off camera   but obviously to nothing in particular    i can t convey to you how funny this is   but what makes it great film making is that it has a point    scenes like this are frequent   and they provide solid characterization of zero    as a side note   i don t consider myself an average viewer when it comes to comedy   not to sound elitist      i find things funny that many do not   and vice versa    there was a clump of people near me in the theater laughing uproariously through this film   and the rest of the theater was relatively silent through most of it    i have a feeling the humor here won t appeal to everyone   but there s certainly enough story and character development to keep anyone s interest    jake kasdan   son of writer/director lawrence kasdan   is only 22 years old    i found this out after seeing the film   and i can t remember ever being so impressed with a film maker    his direction is stylish without being pretentious   and his writing is mature   full   and developed    zero effect is the kind of film that i ll buy for my collection    smart   original films like this are rare as it is   but this one actually has a heart and a soul    at the end of the film   i was involved in the characters   and i was satisfied with the outcome    and   with kasdan s undeniable talent at such a young age   all i can do is hope to see a lot more from him in the future    
Pos, the long kiss goodnight   r   meryl streep tried it and failed    even pamela anderson lee made an attempt but fell flat on her well bared assets    however   geena davis could very well become the first bankable american female action star with the long kiss goodnight   a preposterous but incredibly fun action thriller directed by her husband   renny harlin    davis plays samantha caine   a mousy suburban school teacher and mother whose memories only go back eight years    with the help of ethically questionable private detective mitch hennessey   samuel l   jackson     she slowly remembers  and reclaims  her past as charly baltimore   tough as nails cia operative    needless to say   with the reappearance of samantha/charly comes the appearance of an assortment of no goodniks out to erase more than her memory    shane black netted a cool $4 mil for his script   i m not so sure if his prose is truly deserving of such a hefty price tag   but for what it s worth   it delivers the goods    like black s previous work   such as lethal weapon and the last boy scout   the script juggles some impressive action scenes with funny   quirky dialogue    the humor especially works well in this case   for the story is so preposterous that the laughs help to keep things from taking things too seriously    but there s no argument that the more unbelievable sequences are original and entertaining as hell   who can resist the sight of davis tossing her daughter from a hole in her house into the nearby treehouse or chasing after a car        while ice skating    jackson and davis make a good team    jackson is funny as ever as ever   in fact   his spirited line deliveries   especially when he first appears   are more than reminiscent of his work as jules in pulp fiction    as good as he is   the one who should benefit the most from this project is davis   who shows much promise as an action heroine    what makes her so effective and why she should succeed where streep and lee failed is that she doesn t take herself too seriously    she is obviously in on the joke   slyly taking jabs at herself and at the situation    this is not to say that she doesn t need work  sometimes she lays on the   toughness   a bit too thick and comes off too much as a caricature    but should the public embrace the film and   in turn   the notion of a kick ass female   davis could have found her special niche    it seems as if davis and harlin s first collaboration   the middling pirate epic cutthroat island   was just a dress rehearsal   albeit a very costly one   for long kiss   in which the wife husband team hit their action stride    anyone simply looking for a fun   escapist entertainment that requires little to no thinking will find this film to be a more than welcome kiss    
Pos, screen story by kevin yagher and andrew kevin walker    screenplay by andrew kevin walker    inspired by the short story the legend of sleepy hollow by washington irving    directed by tim burton    starring johnny depp   christina ricci   and casper van dien    special appearances by christopher lee and christopher walken    synopsis   investigator ichabod crane journeys to 1799 sleepy hollow to investigate a series of murders involving decapitation    townspeople believe the spirit of a dead german mercenary is threatening them    cute blonde katrina and a listless orphan help crane solve the mystery    comments   tim burton has directed a number of entertaining and groundbreaking films over the years    batman   of course   is perhaps his best known film and led to a string of less successful sequels    he s done biographical work   on the director ed wood     children s movies   nightmare before christmas     and a homage to alien invasion movies   mars attacks !      sleepy hollow   his newest feature which fans have been anticipating for a while   shares the similar dark and atmospheric style of his earlier work and counts among his better movies    sleepy hollow quite obviously draws its inspiration from the old period horror films of the 1950s and 1960s   especially hammer studios  reworkings of dracula and frankenstein   and american international s series of movies based on the works of edgar allan poe    christopher lee   in fact   star of many hammer productions over the years   appears at the beginning of sleepy hollow as a judge who sends ichabod crane out to investigate the murders    the movie also borrows from the universal monster movies of the 1930s    one of the climatic scenes involves a windmill and obviously takes its cue from frankenstein    i mention these allusions for a reason    seasoned horror film fans   including myself   will smile at their inclusion in this film    with the recent disappointments in theatrically released horror movies   especially the blair witch project   the most overblown turkey of the decade     we needed a film like this    not only does it have a sense of history   but burton s skillful use of setting and mood make this an entertaining exercise in horror    the film s eerie landscapes and foggy towns   indeed   overshadow the actors and the plot as the most noteworthy aspect of the movie    johnny depp   a veteran tim burton actor who has appeared both in ed wood and edward scissorhands   plays ichabod crane   who has apparently changed occupations from irving s original story and is now an investigator    depp is adequate in his role    no more   no less    equally adequate is christina ricci   who plays the love interest in the film    she s a good witch too    how cute    one of the few weak parts of sleepy hollow is the wooden and cliched dialogue between the main characters    the two actors   however   carry the movie well enough   but the supporting cast is what makes this movie shine    veteran actors such as jeffrey jones and michael gough   who played the butler alfred in all four recent batman flicks   are terrific as the aging townsfolk involved in the conspiracy which depp uncovers    while i do not wish to reveal crucial plot points   i can say that the storyline becomes quite confusing    you have to pay attention    andrew kevin walker wrote the screenplay    he s the one who also wrote 8 mm and seven    walker is quickly becoming one of the premiere suspense writers in hollywood   and sleepy hollow certainly doesn t hurt his growing reputation    as one might imagine from a gentleman like walker   sleepy hollow is quite graphic    there s a lot of blood and a lot of beheadings    this is definately not a flick to take the young kids to    a lady in front of us took her two young sons to see it and spent about 25   30 minutes covering the youngest s eyes with her hand    he was obviously upset by the movie s intense violence    if you re looking for a good scare   however   sleepy hollow is definately recommended    
Pos, mpaa   not rated   though i feel it would likely be pg   for martial arts violence      with three movies already   re   released theatrically in america   and at least three more on their way   jackie chan is one of the newest   hot properties   in action adventure stardom   and it s just about time    for over twenty five years   jackie s been starring in martial arts and action movies in hong kong   thrilling audiences with both an incredible grasp of acrobatics and martial arts and a wonderful sense of comedy       drunken master   has the distinction of being the first jackie chan movie to   make it big     this is the movie that supposedly set jackie up for big stardom in hong kong    i m not entirely sure why   exactly    in many ways     drunken master   is similar to most of jackie s other early films   such as   fearless hyena   i and ii     master with cracked fingers       half a loaf of kung fu       spiritual kung fu     and others    in fact   looking at all these early films together   one gets the impression that they were stamped out   cookie cutter style   at a rate of four to six per year   all using the same casts and telling very similar stories    to be honest   i think that early jackie chan movies are something of an acquired taste    they re quite different from action movies as we know them in america    these films tend to be set in the chinese countryside in an indeterminate period sometime in the distant past   with fairly slow plots that often meander far afield and sometimes seem to exist only for the intention of stringing comedy and fight scenes together       drunken master     though its plot is tighter than some   is no exception       as an aside     drunken master   was the first jackie chan movie i ever saw   and i saw it the way it was meant to be seen       in  a movie theater in seattle   as part of an asian film festival    at the time   i didn t really think it was anything special       but  after having seen more films like it   it s kind of grown on me         drunken master    s storyline is very similar to that of other early jackie chan movies   such as   fearless hyena   i and ii and   master with cracked fingers     slacker martial arts student is taught the martial arts by a harsh seeming master   and has a big fight with an evil bad guy in the end   a formula that has been   adapted     to put it kindly   by american films such as karate kid      more specifically   jackie chan plays the part of wong fei hong   aka   naughty panther     a fun loving   practical joking kung fu student who is too good at kung fu for his own good   but not  quite  good enough    after embarrassing his instructor s assistant by beating him roundly   then beating up a bully in a marketplace   wong fei hong tries to hit on a pretty girl   but discovers that she   and her mother   can hit back   better than he can       and  is further chagrinned to discover that the two women are his cousin and aunt   respectively    his father   wong kei ying   is unhappy about this   and is further annoyed when the father and brother of the bully show up to sue for damages    kei ying soon institutes a harsh regimen of punishment   which fei hong does not like at all    while escaping from this punishment   fei hong meets up with a drunken old man   who proceeds to thrash him soundly   then take him on as a student and thrash him some more    this turns out to be su hua chi   a legendary master of drunken style kung fu    he assigns fei hong a series of bizarre tasks   such as filling jugs with water while hanging upside down from a frame   cracking walnuts with his hands   and other such exercises   that seem like more pointless cruelty but are actually strengthening him up    then   when he s ready   he teaches him the seven styles of drunken kung fu    unfortunately   the lazy fei hong only practices six of them           drunken master   features some wonderful martial arts sequences   with jackie winning some fights and losing others    it s been said before   but i ll say it again  these fights don t just  happen    they re as carefully choreographed as any ballet performance   and it shows    in his fights   jackie often makes use of objects found in his environment   benches   jugs   cups   bowls   fruits and vegetables  often in new and surprising ways    the fight scenes   particularly those toward the end of the film   are unparallelled in most american films    whether jackie wins or loses   it s really something to see       and  it s often as funny as anything   too    and funny is the other thing jackie chan is very   very good at    there s very little that s new in this movie  jackie winning fights   jackie getting beaten badly by a master   jackie going through punishment or training       these  schticks have all been seen before   in any one of several dozen similar jackie movies from the seventies and early eighties    but they re still hilarious as ever    likewise   jackie has a  great  supporting cast   many of whom were also in other early jackie films   and they re often the source of plenty of hilarity on their own    the really big thing about   drunken master     though   that inspired several copycats   including a couple starring jackie himself   and a sequel fifteen years later   was the drunken style kung fu    i m not certain whether or not this is actually a genuine style of kung fu   but the principle behind it is to imitate the wobbly movements of a drunkard to lull the enemy into a false sense of security       and  it apparently helps if you re drunk while you re doing it    genuine or not   i have to admit   there s just something incredibly fun about watching a fellow who looks utterly sloshed wading into a group of startled opponents and making mincemeat out of them before they even realize what s going on    come to think of it   perhaps this element is what accounts for this film s success over any of the other jackie films       it s  not just martial arts   it s the kind of martial arts that makes you stop and go     whoa          on the negative side   the cinematography in this film is nothing special   the film stock is rather primitive   the plot is often rather slow   and the subtitles are sometimes extremely hard to read against the background       gone with the wind     this isn t    still   if you like martial arts films   or like what you ve seen so far of jackie chan and want to see more   give it a shot    it s much more   real   than chuck norris or jean claude van damme    you might very well like it    another interesting thing about   drunken master   has to do with its video availability in the us       drunken master   is the only early jackie chan movie that i know of that you can find in its original   letterboxed   hong kong subtitled form   commercially available on vhs   from magnum video   in a gold box   for about $10      there are plenty of other early jackie films around   but these are typically either in dubbed   pan and scanned form or else import tapes priced for rental instead of purchase    thankfully     drunken master     at least   is available in the aspect ratio in which it was meant to be seen   at a very affordable price    if you like   drunken master     take a look at the numerous other early jackie chan films that are out there   even the dubbed ones aren t really  too  bad       if  nothing else   you can enjoy the martial arts choreography while making fun of the dialogue      i particularly recommend   spiritual kung fu       half a loaf of kung fu     the   fearless hyena   movies   and   snake & crane arts of shaolin      also   the mostly unrelated storywise sequel     drunken master ii     will hit theaters in american release sometime later this year   though what its american release title will be is still uncertain   and comes  highly  recommended by this reviewer    also   for a rather different interpretation of the character wong fei hong   who is in fact a popular figure from chinese folklore     i ve been told to suggest the   once upon a time in china   series starring jet li   though i haven t personally seen any of them yet      if you choose to watch   drunken master     i really hope you enjoy it   and i hope it starts to open your eyes to the wonderful world of asian cinema that s out there    all in all   i give this film an    
Pos, well   i know that stallone is 50 years old now   but in daylight he doesn t look it !  daylight is a great disaster movie    if you ve seen cliffhanger   you ll know stallone s character already    a guy with a bad past   but is in the right place at the wrong time    a tunnel connecting new york and new jersey has both sides collapses when a group of robbers collide with a truck carrying * very * flammable toxic waste    a dozen or so people survive the collapses and the incinerating fireball   and what a fire ball it was !    stallone   a former emergency medical service man   is chauffeuring a rich couple around   when they reach the outside of the tunnel   before the explosion    then   30 minutes into the movie   boom !  >from here on   the plot takes a back seat   and we are treated to some of the best camera work and action staged    most all the action is plausible and will hold you at the edge of your seat    there are a few melodramatic parts here   but   they tend to work out well    there is no general antagonist in this film   but the action and suspense makes you forget all about that    daylight is a great film   i saw a non matinee showing of it   and i thought it was worth every penny    the characterizations are mostly flat   one dimesional   but they have enough in them to get you to care for some of the characters    rob cohen   dragonheart   does a great job with this film    
Pos, logical time travel movies are a near impossibility    considering that the skeptic s best argument against the possibility of time travel is the idea of altered realities   writing a script that deals with this problem is an imposing task    occasionally   we get a film that does manage it    terry gilliam s   12 monkeys   was one such film    but more frequently   we get films that don t much deal with it at all    there is one question to ask in this case   does the film have other virtues that override the existing logical inconsistencies    the   terminator   films made up for them with exciting action     back to the future   did it with an entertaining story   and the new film   frequency   pulls off the trick with a strong package of its own    is   frequency   filled with plot holes    yes    does it matter    not really    the film opens in october of 1969    firefighter frank sullivan   dennis quaid   puts his life on the line every time he suits up for his job   then goes home to his loving wife julia   elizabeth mitchell   and son johnny   daniel henson      the double pronged story flashes forward to 1999   where johnny   now jim caviezel   is all grown up and working as a police detective    a strange occurrence    the appearance of aurora borealis over new york city    allows father and son to communicate through the same ham radio frank used in  69 and that john has found in the present day    though both are initially skeptical of the idea   john eventually takes this opportunity to warn his father against his impending death in a warehouse fire   and he succeeds in saving frank from certain doom    now flooded with memories of a full life with his father alive   john is initially overjoyed   until he discovers that the changes to the timeline have been disastrous   a serial killer that would have died has instead lived to kill seven more women    frank and john now must work together to set things right   with john using the information he has gathered in the future to instruct frank on what to do in the past    the premise of   frequency   is unusual   and requires getting over one very important mental hurdle to fully accept   john and frank are the only ones conscious of how the timeline has been changed as a result of their actions    this isn t explained   you just have to go with it    when frank doesn t die in a fire   john is the only one who remembers it differently   while everyone else remembers it the new way    the concept also runs into problems concerning just how synchronous the two realities    1969 and 1999    are to each other    sometimes frank s changing the past results in something happening right away in john s world   and sometimes john gets the changes ahead of time    now   the filmmakers might have perfectly good explanations for this   and i could probably come up with something fairly convoluted   but nevertheless logical   if i thought about it hard enough   for example   the reason john gets advance information of the serial killer s murders was because the change had already happened in frank s world   and john is only witnessing the * projection * of that change     but explanations aren t really the point    when   frequency   gets cooking   it s a riveting little thriller   even if it is confusing    what matters to a film like this is if the plot makes sense in the moment   and   frequency   works as long as it keeps moving    the film manages to be engaging despite the logical confusion    director gregory hoblit and screenwriter toby emmerich structure   frequency   as good hollywood entertainment   establishing decent   likable characters   making us care for them   and setting up a goal to be reached and a conflict to be resolved    i liked many of the creative touches   the split screens   allowing us to see how the universe is being affected in both realities   and the greater framework of baseball to drive the action forward    it actually uses the 1969 mets orioles world series   the one that featured the amazin  mets   to great effect    frank uses john s advance knowledge of the series outcome to convince his friends to believe him       admittedly   this device may only be of interest to a baseball fan like myself      i even liked the final scene   which features frank and john both fighting the same man simultaneously in different time periods    some may find this scene blindingly confusing   as the reality shifts start coming fast and furious   but it does make sense if you think about it   and give the script a lot of leeway     and let s face it   it s a darn cool way to end the film    there are enough surprises and plot twists in   frequency   to keep you on your toes   and as a result the movie avoids growing stagnant    the other major thing to appreciate about   frequency   is the handling of the father son relationship    quaid and caviezel carry off their parts easily   it s a rock solid job from both actors    the relationship is instantly credible because they find the human truth behind the high concept   how would one react to being able to communicate with a dead relative   or with a future descendant    watching the exchanges between frank and john will give you a pretty good idea of how to answer that question    the credibility of the human relationship is absolutely crucial to the rest of the film   if we don t believe in the characters   we don t care about the outcome of the thriller plot    here   we do care   because we like the lead actors    i also liked some of the supporting cast members    elizabeth mitchell gets stuck with two thankless roles   playing julia the doting wife * and * mother   but still performs admirably    andre braugher   late of the television show   homicide   life on the street     gives a nice supporting turn as frank s best friend and future colleague of john    he has a lovely scene in a diner in which he tries to explain the situation to julia while frank s world series predictions come true before his very eyes    braugher strikes the perfect facial expression here   simultaneously dismayed and amused    perhaps the only thing i didn t like about   frequency   is the overly sentimental coda   during which the camera s focus goes a little too soft and the baseball theme gets carried overboard    but that s only because the film had already earned a poignancy without resorting to cheap tactics    i freely acknowledge that   frequency   may best work as a   guy   movie   since it focuses on the very male oriented idea of father son relationships   echoes of   field of dreams   can be easily heard     but the underlying concept is universally applicable    who wouldn t want to speak with a long dead parent    or see how their children turn out       tell me about your life   son      excuse me while i mist up    and don t call me a sissy    
Pos, blade is the movie that shows that wesley snipes really can live up to his potential as one of hollywood s premier leading men    blade is based on the comic book character of the same name and has that comic book kind of feel to it    it is a very stylish movie and for the most part that style works very well    although   at a few points i thought i was watching a music video as opposed to a movie    the ideas behind blade are good   as is the basic plot of the story    but at times   things seem to get a bit muddled   and the writers appear to want to do too many things at once    that really doesn t take away from the story too much   but it does hurt it a little bit    blade   snipes   is half man   half vampire    his mother was bitten by a vampire when she was pregnant with him and as a result he has many of the classic traits of a vampire    including a thirst for human blood that must be kept under control by a special serum which quenches his blood lust    blade has spent his life hunting down and killing vampires as a sort of revenge for the fact that one of their kind killed his mother    but this isn t as easy as it seems   because the vampires in blade s world are more sophisticated than the ones that you find in most films    the government and other authorities know of the existence of vampires   but they let them feast of the population at large because they are taking bribes from the vampires    where do vampires get money    well   in blade   they run multinational companies in order to finance their vampire organizations    i personally thought that this whole secret corporate world run by vampires to be a very clever idea   and a great addition to the movie    blade runs up against the evil deacon frost   stephen dorff   a maverick in the vampire community    he isn t content to live among humans   and is convinced that the vampire race is the superior one and he means to insure its superiority    he has managed to translate the ancient vampire scrolls that tell of the method of making him an all powerful vampire    rendering him virtually unstoppable    it s up to blade to see that this doesn t transpire    admittedly   blade is style over substance through and through    the story is a relatively forgettable one   but it is fun none the less    the acting in blade is just about what you would expect from a movie of this type    this isn t a film that is going to win accolades for its performances   and the actors know this    the movie is played for fun and nobody seems to think otherwise    it s a popcorn movie   and no one involved has any illusions otherwise    blade s production values are as slick as any that you will find in your typical summer blockbuster    the combat sequences between blade and his vampire targets are incredibly well done    although   the mtv style cuts did get on my nerves after a while during long sequences    blade is a fun movie with an interesting take on the vampire genre    this is not the movie for those of you who like your vampires in tuxedos and living in coffins in the basement of some gothic castle    what blade excels at is bringing the classic lore of the vampire into the next century with a fresh outlook on life    very cool    
Pos, the truman show   paramount pictures   running time   1 hour 42 minutes starring jim carrey and ed harris directed by peter weir after a long wait   jim carrey s dramatic debut finally makes it to the big screen    in case you ve been asleep for the last few months   the plot centres on truman burbank   carrey   who leads an seemingly idyllic life in the beautiful town of seahaven    his life seems so perfect   however   because it s controlled by christoff   harris   creator of the truman show   the program burbank is unwittingly the hero of    that s right   burbank s life is being broadcast live to the american public   and seahaven and all it s inhabitants are inclosed in a massive sound stage    the film takes the jerry springer format one step too far        with an idea so different   it would be easy for the director and screenwriter to dumb it down and appeal to the lowest common denominator    luckily   the film remains sensible enough to appeal to all ages   yet never seems to be a dumb carrey movie    talking of carrey   he s perfect in this movie   enjoying the best role in his career    his character is a re inforced stanley ipkiss from the mask   1994   and is completely suited to carrey s persona    he occasionally falls into ace ventura mode   shrieking and being silly   but generally the audience is watching subdued carrey    he s not completely dramatic like the film promises   however    ed harris brings an extreme intensity to christoff   the megalomaniac creator of the show    quiet and well spoken   he burns an image into the viewer    unfortunately   he s barely in the film   and for the first hour dosen t appear at all !  also disappointing is natascha mcelhone s character sylvia    she plays the role well   but her character is sadly underwritten and is pushed to the sidelines just when the audience is used to her    the supporting cast is excellent   and the town of seahaven looks delightfully perfect   so perfect it s creepy    the philip glass soundtrack is also superb   and is used to great effect during the film    peter weir keeps the film going   clearly having fun    the film is far more upbeat than his previous films dead poets society and green card    although it is slightly slow to begin with   about half an hour into film the pace really picks up   and when christoff is introduced fully the film is on a roll    sadly   though   the film is practically over when the film is in full steam    also   concerning the ending   it is slightly too ambiguous   which was disappointing    the screenwriter   andrew niccol   who bought us gattaca   1997   delivers an entertaining script   and manages to keep the plot in trim    while christoff s plans to keep truman in do get increasingly silly   they never go over the line   which would have been easy for niccol to do    also   there s some funny gags involving product placement and the people who watch the show    overall   the truman show is excellent entertainment    certainly different from the usual crap hollywood produces   it should be viewed by everyone    it offers something to every member of the audience   and you would almost certainly not come out disappointed    overall rating=  review by david wilcock   1998     you know   for kids     norville barnes  
Pos, no film in recent has left me with such conflicted feelings as neil jordan s harrowing   humorous   horrifying adaptation of patrick mccabe s novel about young lad francie brady s   eamonn owens   descent into madness in 1960s ireland    on one hand   it was difficult for me to become invested in francie s story because he is such an unsavory character   unjustifyably venting his rage at his nosy but otherwise harmless neighbor mrs   nugent   fiona shaw      on another hand   i found it difficult to laugh at some of francie s darkly comic shenanigans because he obviously is such a sick   needy child   having been raised by a drunken father   stephen rea   and a suicidal mother   aisling o sullivan      on yet another hand   i also found it difficult to completely sympathize with francie during his more emotional scenes because some of his   for lack of a better word     bad   deeds are so incredibly shocking in their brutality and the malicious glee in which he performs them    however   the butcher boy s power is undeniable   and the film as a whole is unforgettable  perhaps because it is so disturbing    what makes it so unsettling is the francie s overall wink wink yet matter of fact attitude about everything   expressed in a cheeky voiceover narration delivered by the adult francie   rea again      think heavenly creatures played largely for laughs   and you ll sort of understand    anchoring the whole film is the astonishing debut performance of owens   love francie or hate him   you cannot take your eyes off of owens    the butcher boy truly is a twisted   unusual film that is bound to make just about anyone uncomfortable    in the lobby after the screening   i overheard one man raving about how great yet disturbing it was   i also heard one particularly offended woman say with disgust     that movie was so unfunny !       i didn t know what to expect    it s like something you chase for so long   but then you don t know how to react when you get it    i still don t know how to react        michael jordan   on winning his first nba championship in 1991       or    my thoughts after meeting him on november 21   1997  
Pos, just how inseparable is the team of sgt    martin riggs   mel gibson   and sgt    roger murtaugh   danny glover      let s just say that when one partner asks the other partner to strip to his boxer shorts and then further asks him to run out into the middle of the road   flapping his arms while feverishly cackling like a chicken just to create a distraction   his partner actually does it !  the familiar lethal weapon family is back   including rene russo   who is now the expectant mother of riggs  child and joe pesci as the soprana like   foul mouthed former accountant who has decided to become a private eye    new to the team is chris rock   also a fast talking   up and coming detective    trouble seems to follow the two veteran detectives where ever they go   and in this film   that is no exception    even when they are just taking a leisurely boat ride   they somehow manage to collide with a freighter ship    we here some ominous music   which clues us that a confrontation is about to happen    gunfire ensues   and when it s all over   the detectives want to learn more about this freighter by questioning a chinatown crime lord    although they don t know what they re looking for   their inquisitiveness causes the bad guys to take some action    and there s plenty of action here for two movies    led by fighting sensation jet li   whose martial arts skill is nothing less than impressive   he does what he can to make sure that no one finds out what they are up to    li is ruthless in his approach   will kill anyone just to make a point   and develops enormous disdain for the two detectives    there are terrific car chases   explosions and gunshot galore    it s a summer action recipe followed to the letter   and the result is nothing less than pure   unadulterated summer fun    but even too many explosions can get boring    to counter that   we are treated to several amazingly choreographed fight sequences with jet li    luckily   he d rather fight hand to hand instead of firing off guns    meanwhile   when the detectives aren t reloading their guns or running from fireballs   they re engaged in sophomoric banter and silly conversations that provide a nice diversion from the hail of bullets    everybody gets in on the shtick    russo screams during her delivery   the crime lord has a few funny bits when he s being interrogated while being given laughing gas   and pesci and rock are very funny as they go at it discussing the drawbacks of having cellular phones    gibson and glover are always in sync and the film moves at a brisk pace to get to the final and terrific mano a mano    score one for the old guard    
Pos, since 1990   the dramatic picture has undergone a certain change of style    now   instead of emphasizing feel good stories replete with characters of noble virtues   the screenplays and direction point toward human struggle and sorrow    this realist tendancy can be inspiring at times   as 1993 s schindler s list shows    most of today s mainstream drama   however   creates an overabundance of emoting that can turn off members of the audience    that s why pictures like october sky   which are a throwback to the good ol  dramas of yesteryear   are such a welcome relief in contemporary cinema    the movie is based on the true story of homer hickam   jake gyllenhaal     a teenager in the 1950 s company town of coalwood   west virginia    it s a well known fact that the only boys to make a name for themselves are the ones that get out of the town on football scholarships   the rest grow up to work in the coal mine    the mine   which is run by homer s father   chris cooper     is not the place for homer   however    after watching the soviet satellite sputnik shoot across the october sky in 1957   homer feels a connection with the outside world    as he puts it     anyone in the world could look up and see the same thing i did      drafting two of his best friends and the brainiac outcast   homer begins to construct rockets    with the help of their history teacher   miss riley   laura dern     and several mine workers   the four are soon bound for great things    october sky is a skillfully crafted film   and most of that credit must go to director joe johnston    johnston    whose career in the film industry includes everything from directing well known titles like jumanji and the rocketeer down to an uncredited role as a death star trooper in star wars    certainly knows what he s doing here    he molds characters which are true to life and also fun to watch into a plot that is straightforward and robust    he does not push any barriers   but instead adopts a conservative style of filmmaking which enhances the film s charm    his finesse brings out elements which might otherwise be lost    such as the relationships between homer and various mine workers   or the silent struggle between homer s mother and father    the cast is well chosen   although the true bright spots are the supporting roles    laura dern   jurassic park   lends a strong performance in the role of the history teacher   giving the boys the support and guidance they need    her role is instantly likeable    chris cooper   the horse whisperer     as homer s father   is less likeable    even downright despicable at times    but his turn here gives gravity to the movie    he s definitely a driving force in homer s life   and his more humane moments give the piece a certain dynamic that is commendable    the script is generally cheerful   projecting the boys  endeavors in a lighthearted manner    there are moments when it becomes predictable    such as the train tracks scene    and there are moments when it sacrifices orginality for the need to come up with an emotional plot twist    it highlights the essence of youth   however   and for its exceptional job at this it can be forgiven other missteps    october sky should be a success with audiences    although it doesn t have the appeal of current teen flicks like varsity blues or she s all that   it certainly holds an undeniable quality that older crowds will lean towards    it s a welcome change to the dramatic genre   and one that everyone should see    
Pos, a big surprise to me    the good trailer had hinted that they pulled the impossible off   but making a blues brothers movie without jake blues   john belushi   is such a dumb idea i really had no hope    they replaced him just fine    not with john goodman   he didn t do much of anything   but with the brilliant actor joe morton   who can really sing    the fourth blues brother is j evan bonifant   who s ten    this was another of my fears for the film   but he s a really good dancer   and plays a mean harmonica   although he may have been dubbed      things that intellectually had bothered me before   like no mission from god   everyone being richer   it not being filmed in chicago    gave me no problems at all    i m quite pleased that there were less car pile ups   because they meant less music   and john landis seems to have lost interest in the whole thing    there s a few early crashes   and then one huge pile up   but after that it all stops    it s just the music    one of my problems with the first is that cab calloway s song is so good the actually blues brothers look dull after him   but there s no problems with this    the music is all as good as ever   tons of great musicians showing up    with the exception of johnny lang   who can t sing   all the musicians do a great job    the only real problems i had was the special effects    these were superfluous and a waste of money    since the film isn t doing very well   they could mean we have no possibility of another sequel   which i want to see    the bluegrass version of riders in the sky is even better than rawhide       http   //www   geocities   com/hollywood/academy/8034/  remove no spam to reply       drive carefully but recklessly     mama   child s toy   the only excercise i take is walking behind the coffins of friends who took exercise      peter o toole  
Pos, after having heard so many critics describe   return to me   as an old fashioned hollywood romance   i kept asking myself going into this movie   what exactly is an old fashioned hollywood romance    what made   return to me   old fashioned and old hollywood    was it the tunes from sinatra   etc     legendary singers the senior citizens in the film constantly harp on    was it the glamorous   sophisticated feel    the charisma of the two leads    even now i can t say that i have gotten any closer to the real answer   because i haven t see that many old fashioned hollywood romances    i don t think any of the romances i ve seen have been classified as such    which leaves me the option of vaguely agreeing with my fellow critics      return to me   was old fashioned in the sense that it reminded me of the way the younger generation perceive venerated old hollywood magic   the way i perceive cinnamon spice and apple cider    it was traditional   magical    we knew it couldn t be too daring   or have any surprising plot twists that many cynical modern romances are apt to throw in    it was a romance told with such endearing simplicity   tenderness   and love   from director bonnie hunt   that it couldn t help but sparkle with charm despite its shortcomings    the film owes a lot of what it has to bonnie hunt s direction    from the very first bird s eye view of chicago   zooming in slowly toward the insignificant bob rueland   david duchovny     accompanied by the   return to me   ballad   by whom       we can tell we re in for something sweet    the scenes between the characters are endearing   truthful   with just a hint of fantasy    real people don t act that way   real people aren t that nice    we know all this   and yet we want to believe in these folks  existence    the premise itself seems to have sprung out of a fairytale   but hunt s rooting the fairytale in common chicago folk simultaneously lends credit to the scenario and tinges everyday urban life with a hint of the ethereal    everything is ordinary  yet beautiful  in this film    >from the festive little family restaurant to grace   minnie driver   and bob s wardrobes    from the eloquent   not in a hurry to progress storyline to the dainty watercolors that grace paints    from the animal stars to the way all the characters interact on screen    the most beautiful part       return to me   has done an excellent job of assembling together a group of actors who blend in effortlessly as a family   the audience has no trouble at all believing that this rambunctious family actually does exist    we care for them   laugh with them   cry with them   we re concerned that the little boy will pick up cursing from his father    whatever hunt did   she brought out the naturalism in all of the actors    disappointingly   david alan grier s charlie   however much i like him   was the most flatly written    duchovny here does a laudable job of shaking off his fox mulder persona    with the help of his fellow co stars rarely do we see any hint of special agent fox mulder    instead we have a normal guy who when he falls in love shows more delight than fox mulder will show over the span of an entire season of   the x files      duchovny   who is excellent at understatement and self deprecation as an actor showcases his considerable comedic talent on screen    minnie driver is engaging as always as the sweet   innocent grace with nothing but a good heart to offer    though an unlikely pair   duchovny and driver gradually warm up to each other as the movie progresses    while   return to me   functions remarkably as a laugh out loud comedy   a romantic scenic tour through chicago   and a tearjerker   the story is set up so the film ends up having nowhere to develop    the entire climax of the film hinges on when and how grace is going to tell bob that she actually was the recipient of his wife s heart    we already know that there s going to be a happy ending   we feel like we spend the entire film   however enjoyably   in a straight line going towards that point    as a result bob and grace click almost too quickly  yes   i know she s supposed to have his ex wife s heart and everything  it seems too effortless    the main subject is a love story   and the family scenes i love so much unfortunately are overused and distract from the turmoil of the two main characters   whose story might not have that much meat after all      however   in the spirit of   return to me     it won t do to be too picky about how   old   hollywood tells its stories    i loved knowing that this was a labor of love for bonnie hunt    it shows    the bottom line     return to me   is nothing remarkable   and yet its sweetness   sincerity   and charm might touch your heart in ways that you hadn t imagined    
Pos, wild things is a suspenseful thriller starring matt dillon   denise richards   and neve campbell that deals with all the issues   sex   love   murder   and betrayal    the setting of the film is a town named blue bay    it consists of many swamps and slums and   on the other hand   rich estates owned by the town s different benefactors    the film opens just before the beginning of a senior seminar at the town s ritzy   expensive high school    it is here that we meet all of the core characters    there s guidance counselor sam lombardo   police officers ray duquette and gloria perez   dark mysterious senior suzie toller   and the popular head cheerleader kelly van ryan    we first see that all of the senior girls are smitten with the handsome guidance counselor   but none more than kelly    throughout the first portion of the film we see how far kelly will go to get sam until she accuses him of rape    shortly after   suzie   too   confesses that sam raped her as well    this pushes kelly s sex craving mother   sandra   to stop at nothing until sam is convicted    during the trial   kelly gives a teary confession of how sam raped her    however   it is later revealed by suzie that sam never raped either of the girls   it was all a vengeful plan against the guidance counselor    after sam is cleared   kelly s mother pays sam a very substantial amount of cash in order for him not to sue her    it is then revealed that sam   kelly   and suzie were all in on it together    it is here that the film starts to reveal just who is being honest with each other and who has their own hidden agenda    matt dillon stars as sam lombardo    sam is the kind of guy that every woman would like to sink their claws into   and sam obviously knows it and uses it to his own advantage    he isn t the obvious best of actors   but dillon does give a convincing performance    however   his talents seem to be rendered useless near the end of the film   making it look as though his character has lost all of his ethics and principles   although he never had many to start out with in the first place    neve campbell   who most people relate to scream and scream 2   plays blue bay outcast suzie toller    suzie obviously has some serious issues to deal with which are obvious from her first scene in the film    campbell is very successful with this character   adding the slightest bit of charm to a seemingly repulsive character and making her fun to watch    playing kelly van ryan is denise richards    kelly is your typical   rich   sexy   head cheerleader who thinks she can have any man she choses   like her sexpot mother sandra    one of the most interesting things about this film is how it compares and contrasts the relationship between kelly and her mother    denise richards   still hot off the press from starship troopers   gives the most interesting performance in the entire film    in the beginning   kelly looks to be a paper thin character   but richards adds a little more spice and ultimately makes the character not only sexy   but dominating as well    kevin bacon gives one of his fair performances as ray duquette    this character looks to be one of the most boring   predictable in the film    however   it is a relationship revealed between him and suzie that adds depth to his story    still   the film doesn t seem to gain much from bacon s performance   only his name    in the supporting cast   theresa russell plays the much oversexed sandra van ryan   daphne rubin vega gives an unappealing performance as cop gloria perez   and bill murray shines as sam s lawyer   ken bowden    hats off to murray for adding the perfect touch of comedy to the film    although wild things was displayed by the press as being an erotic thriller   the eroticism   which is portrayed with good taste   is kept to a minimum and focuses more on the plot and the relationships between the characters    this is truly a very good film worth seeing if your looking for a movie with a thick plot filled with it s share of twists    
Pos,  * * * * * * minor plot spoilers in review * * * * * * * * * * * * no major spoilers are in review * * * * * *  the previous two   alien   films have each had their own unique styles to them    the ridley scott s alien was very much a stylistic suspense film    james cameron s aliens was much more of an action film    and i liked each film separately for which it was    now alien 3 is out    and it is it s own film in the same right that alien and aliens were    unlike aliens   alien 3 requires that you have seen aliens    this is very important as the story picks up exactly were aliens left off    the survivors of the expedition to lv 426 are returning home after battling and beating the aliens    the climactic fight scene between ripley and the mother alien on the sulaco in aliens left behind one item   an egg    in the opening sequence we see the egg hatch   find its quarry   which leads to a fire aboard the sulaco when the facehugger is injured   an leads the sulaco to jettison the hypersleep tubes in an escape vessel    this vessel crash lands on fury 109    everyone in the vessel is killed   except ripley    the facehugger is jettisoned with them and survives the crash    fury 109 is an ex mining/maximum security prison    when closed down   some of the lifer prisoners decided to stay and live out the remaining years on the planet    all the prisoners are men who have not seen a woman in many years    ripley s arrival sparks a problem with the inmates    as for the new haircut that ripley and the prisoner s sport   there is an infestation of lice on the planet    being an ex prison means that there is no way off the planet and no weapons    so the prisoners and ripley are off to face the alien on their own    i will not go into detail   but you can guess what happens here    the alien is loose and no one believes ripley s outstanding story    she finds comfort in the arms of the colony s doctor    yes   after 57 years ripley has sex    it is not gratuitous   in fact   we don t even see them kiss   but it is just as well    a sweaty sex scene would not have worked in the context of the film    there is a lot more gore in alien 3    in fact i would guess to say that there is more in alien 3 than either of the earlier two    it also sports a new alien with 4 legs !  i won t say how   but it leads us to believe a few new things about the alien and its cycle   which i am sure will be explored in alien 4    sigourney weaver is back as ripley and provides another excellent performance of this character    her scene during the autopsy of newt is enough to garnish her another academy nomination    the rest of the cast is also quite good    notably   charles dance as the doctor with whom ripley finds momentary escape from fury 109    alien 3 has a very distinct look    this is due largely to its director   david fincher    mr   fincher   who until now has only directed music videos and commercials   has done an incredible job here    his direction is excellent and makes this film come to life in ways no   alien   film has before    for mr   fincher   i see a long prosperous career ahead of him    the music was also done by a newcomer to the film industry    elliot goldenthal has created a deeply moving score which lends itself to the claustrophobic setting that the   alien   series been set in    this time the score is not so much a rip off of star trek ii   james horner s aliens      this score has a choral back up at times and even lends itself to the old style of ennio morricone scoring    this is a great score    the ending to alien 3 is quite good    there were times i thought that hollywood would come in and screw it up   but it played very nicely    i will not ruin the ending for you    go see the film    i consider it to be a much more involved film than any of the other films released so far this season    alien 3 is a worthy successor to aliens and alien    and when they make alien 4   perhaps they will be able to find yet another new direction to take it in    
Pos, are you tired of all the hot new releases being gone by the time you get to the video store    wafflemovies   com is dedicated to finding those hidden gems that lie on the shelves    everyweek   wafflemovies   com  reviews independent film and big studio pictures that deserve a second chance on video    here is a sample review    welcome to sarajevo  in light of america s recent intervention in kosovo   welcome to sarajevo is a reminder of the horror america and the world ignored for years    set in sarajevo 1992 and based on actual events   this picture examines the human and societal casualties of war    the picture opens with a family escorting their young bride to her wedding    as they make their way down the street   a sniper shoots the mother of the bride    yet another reminder that daily life in war torn sarajevo can never escape the horror of war    in this scene   we meet joe flynn   woody harrelson     an american reporter who stops reporting to help a priest carry the mortally wounded mother into a church    joe is cocky   but also good at heart as he continues to carry out kind deeds for people he doesn t even know    his fellow reporter is the british michael henderson   stephen dillane      michael is quickly growing tired of the horror that surrounds him and the world s lack of interest    henderson is haunted by the memory of an altar boy who witnesses the mother s death as well as a young girl who he finds orphaned in a hospital after a mortar attack on citizens waiting in line for bread    he decides to take action when a united nations  delegation descends upon the area to declare yugoslavia the fourteenth most dangerous place on earth    henderson begins a series profiling an orphanage located on the front lines    he finds children of all ages living in fear and taking care of each other with the help of one adult    during his visits   he befriends a pre teen girl   emira   emira nuseric   who serves as surrogate mother to baby roadrunner    he promises to get emira out of harm s way if he gets the chance    after the un delegation leaves the country without rescuing any of the children   henderson loses hope    however   his reporting has grabbed the attention of nina   marisa tomei   and her children s aid group that helps to find homes for the yugoslavian orphans    unfortunately   only babies are wanted for adoption   so henderson pledges to take emira to england    the group of children   nina and henderson depart the front lines on a dangerous escape for italy    can they complete this dangerous trek through the war torn countryside and avoid hostile troops gathering up muslims for concentration camps    the movie was beautifully and sensitively made    director michael winterbottom and screenwriter frank cottrell boyce vividly express the societal destruction that has occurred    they show the destroyed lives   families that have been split up   and the desolation that everyone attempts to cope with    this is best exemplified by the group of yugoslavians henderson   his producer and flynn have befriended    the group of twenty somethings reside in a bombed out bar without life s simplest pleasures and amenities    one of them is an accomplished musician who spends his days playing the piano and promising to play a concert when sarajevo is declared the most dangerous place on earth    like the rest of those deeply effected by the war   this small group tries to survive instead of trying to live    winterbottom brilliantly intersplices scenes with actual news footage to give the film the feel of a documentary and keeps the viewer aware that many of these horrors are being carried out thousands of miles away as you sit safely in your living room    the picture is also bolstered by beautiful cinematography that captures the devastation of this city that hosted the 1984 olympics    winterbottom and boyce also produce a realistic portrayal of the reporters covering the atrocities    this portrayal is much more flattering to reporters than earlier wafflemovies   com  selection mad city    we watch them struggle to cover the horror   while trying to remain professionally detached    however   they are human and question the reason behind it all   why no one cares   and how they can get out    stephen dillane is wonderful as henderson    he portrays the character as an everyman caught in the middle of extraordinary events    dillane avoids making the character overly heroic and preachy    henderson realizes that he cannot save the world   but he can help a few    it is a wonderful opportunity for dillane after he had to suffer through the denis leary sandra bullock disaster two if by sea    woody harrelson continues to prove that he is one of the finest   most versatile actors of his generation    harrelson plays the cocky celebrity reporter with a heart of gold by allowing the character s caring nature and vulnerability shine through    harrelson is equally adept at taking on roles as zany leading men   cheers   white men can t jump   as well as excellent supporting roles such as this one    this ability will serve him well and give him a long   successful career    america s involvement in this struggle comes seven years after the events of the movie take place    for those who do not have a full understanding of the history of the conflict   the entire movie   most importantly the opening scenes   provide a history lesson    war is a foreign concept to most of us in america    battles are fought thousands of miles away among people we have no attachment to    televised images of the gulf war are all the experience most of us have with war    this picture brings it right into your living room and makes you think outside of our own small world   something we don t do enough of in 90 s america    
Pos, many people dislike french films for their lack of closure    while possibly shallow   i ve often had a desire for a sense of epiphany   or at least a resolution   in the films which i view    there is no revelation in un coeur en hiver in the traditional   however   the film is incredibly successful in its passionate dramatization of a passion denying protagonist   stephane   daniel auteuil      stephane   daniel auteuil   is a master violin maker    he is passionless about all that which surrounds him except his craft and the music which his craft is responsible for producing    even the relationship between he and his boss   maxime   andre dussollier   is a controlled   and almost manipulated association   highlighted by the fact that stephane permits maxime to win close squash matches    in the beginning of the movie   stephane is a closed   solitary individual and the audience is carefully left to wonder about the depth of emotion behind this enigmatic man    camille kessler   emmanuelle beart   is a master violinist and the new love of maximes    maxime is so much in love with camille that he plans to and does leave his wife    like stephane   camille is outwardly very controlled and reserved   sacrificing all thought and emotion to her violin and the music which emerges    when stephane and camille meet   there is a recognition of a bonding by both individuals    however   whereas camille submits to the wild interplay of emotions which she now feels for stephane   stephane only admits that camille is attracted to him    stephane ignores his feelings for camille   which the audience cannot help but to see is present    as the movie progresses   the two characters become more and more polarized in their views and emotions for one another    these two people   with very similar approaches to life initially   react to their new circumstance very differently    stephane becomes even more rational and controlled   while camille becomes more tempestuous   until she almost borders on suffering a nervous breakdown due to the inability to consummate their relationship    however   their approach to each other is perhaps not surprising considering their vocation    the audience is led to believe that stephane may have been a genius as a violinist as well   due to his relationship with a master violin teacher    however   apparently   he could not be a violinist due to his intolerance for flaws in his playing    consequently   stephane becomes a precision craftsmen with the instrument and no longer plays    in contrast   camille had almost given the violin   years earlier    however   with the aid of her manager   she has progressed to being almost one of the world s finest   successfully submerging herself to her playing    during the course of the movie   we see both characters evolve as they struggle to meet the challenge of their new emotions    stephane attempts to remain unchanged    however   we do see subtle hints of his transformation    one of the most obvious is when he defeats maxime in squash    the development of all of the characters   many of which is not included in this synopsis   is incredible    american movies   with rare exceptions   have not and i would daresay cannot approach foreign films in character development    in its essence   this movie is about the development and growth of the characters   camille and stephane    the portrayal of all the other characters in the movie   including a death   is to further the development of camille s and stepahne s characters    i am not sure why berardinelli says     at times it becomes difficult to determine whether stephane should be pitied or vilified   and it is to auteuil s credit that he manages to maintain this uncertainty      this movie is not about judging stephane s actions as being right or wrong   but about viewing their growth and accepting the characters as who they are    i find the ending appropriate   unfortunately   i found the last ten minutes which led up to the final scene to be very unfulfilling    this portion of the film is where the   sense of closure   could have been successfully accomplished    unfortunately   there is a hurried and almost a soap opera type surge of emotions from all of the characters    while ravel may not be quite as accomplished as schubert or mozart   ravel has his day in this film    the synergism of the tension of ravel s music and tension on the screen is the best i have ever seen    the directing in this movie is wonderful    the actors and actresses are excellent   each playing their part with great sincerity and warmth    emmanuelle beart s personality is beautiful    and needless to say   i must say that emmanuelle beart   herself   is beautiful    besides the near ending   the only other criticism of the movie which i have is that the movie is almost too cerebral    i almost left with the sense little happened because almost all the changes which occur in the movie happen in deep in their psyches and little in their personalities or the situations which they end as part of    the one question which i am left with is while they have accepted their lot   has their attitude towards love changed    i have several possibilities which i believe the movie hints at   but i am unsure of which the director is espousing    in summary   this movie is solely about the character growth of two characters who almost develop a relationship    in the process   we see their attitude towards life and other people    in itself   i do not believe un coeur is a complicated movie    where it does become complicated is when we juxtapose the scenes of the movie into the greater walk of life where we   as americans   have preconceived american notions of relationship   love   and people    i do wonder how the movie translates when viewed within its native french culture    however   i   bringing my american preconceptions   enjoyed the film    i would welcome any comments about this movie from any who have seen it    
Pos, the keen wisdom of an elderly bank robber   the naive ambitions of a sexy hospital nurse   and a partnership that blossoms between the two are the fine components that make up a modest   little caper adventure entitled `where the money is      the elderly bank robber is henry   paul newman     a famous criminal that was only recently caught    he has pulled off dozens of successful heists and has probably stashed away a small fortune    always the shrewd thinker   he begins working on a plan to get out of jail    this involves years of studying buddhism and self hypnosis    when he is prepared to execute his plan   he uses what he has learned to fake a stroke    now a seemingly twitching vegetable   he is temporarily transferred to a state run home    carol   linda fiorentino   is the nurse that cares for him    she s a very bright person with a good heart    yet   her life is a miserable waste of time    the most exciting thing to do in town is to fix cars    her days at the hospital facility are spent leading wheelchair calisthenics    worse   she s in a dead end relationship with high school sweetheart wayne   dylan mcdermott      they became a couple because they were king and queen of the prom    to her   this made sense long ago    but now   it s a different story    wayne seems equally bored with his life   but is content enough to stay put    wayne s greatest ambition is to become a night shift supervising foreman    carol feels as lifeless as many of the other hospital patients   but she s never been anywhere else and doesn t see many other opportunities in life    however   when henry falls under her care   her outlook begins to change    the medical reports may state that he suffered a massive stroke    carol   however   begins to grow suspicious that henry may just be faking it after all    maybe she can get through to him   and maybe she can learn something about the money that he has stashed away    the opening 30 minutes are filled with hilarious attempts of carol trying to bring henry   back to life      and what are some of carol s resuscitation techniques    perhaps an erotic lapdance might stir his senses    if that fails   maybe she ll try a little shock therapy by pushing him off a 20 foot high pier into the cold lake below    when he finally comes out of his state of self trance   the movie s direction changes   though it remains equally if not more entertaining    carol sees that henry is filled with charisma and self assuredness    she is invigorated by his commanding presence and refreshed by his vibrancy    this   of course   puts wayne in an odd situation    henry and carol s bond grows stronger when they enter into an agreement to rob an armored car    henry needs this heist because he is unable to retrieve his original stash    meanwhile   this is carol s ticket to a better life    wayne is uncomfortable with the situation   but helps out nonetheless    however   his lack of commitment threatens their success    the heist sequence is suspenseful   well paced   and casts the uneasy feeling that something will horribly go wrong    `where the money is  does more to spotlight newman and fiorentino than it does to showcase a story about a nifty heist    newman is the real joy of the film   adroitly showing that at age 75   he s still really hot stuff    he possesses a sly smile   displays a dominating attitude   and a projects a demeanor that is undeniably attractive    fiorentino is also a fun presence    you root for her despite her sense of amorality    sure   she wants to commit robbery and has little compunction about pushing a wheelchair stricken man into a lake   but we can see that to escape her dead end world   she needs to do something drastic    with two charismatic characters such as these   it s hard to ignore that `where the money is  is where the fun is    
Pos, robert benton has assembled a stellar   mature cast for his latest feature   twilight   a film noir mystery set amid the fading stars of hollywood    paul newman stars as retired detective harry ross    harry has spent the last couple of years doing odd jobs for jack and catherine ames   gene hackman and susan sarandon     a pair of married actors who have fallen from the limelight    when jack sends him on a routine delivery job   however   the old instincts kick in    soon   harry is wading through a mystery where friendships and lives are on the line   and he no longer knows who to trust    there are plenty of familiar faces throughout twilight   in addition to newman   hackman and sarandon    james garner plays raymond hope   a former cop and one of harry s best friends    stockard channing plays verna   harry s former partner   and possibly a former love interest    reese witherspoon is mel   the distrustful daughter of the ames    and liev schrieber is her scuzzy boyfriend    giancarlo esposito appears as harry s bumbling detective protigi   and john spencer is a suspicious police captain    with a cast like that   it s almost worth watching twilight just to stargaze    luckily   there s more to the film than some sort of actor s recognition ceremony    twilight has a solid film noir ish plot    it may not have as many twists and turns as some of the classics   but it has much more than a lot of what passes for film these days    the major cast members all deliver strong performances   as can be expected of their caliber    however   none of them have that little extra oomph which would make them memorable    the supporting cast is enjoyable   if a little underdrawn    stockard channing s character   in particular   is a cipher    there s more to her character than the film takes the time to describe    it s a minor   but irritating   flaw    with a solid cast   and a good plot   there s a lot to recommend about twilight    it s biggest flaw is actually its short running time    at a slim 94 minutes   there s a lot of stuff that s packed into an awfully small package    still   the chance to see newman   sarandon and hackman working together is worth a cramp or two    
Pos, warning   anyone offended by blatant   leering machismo had better avoid this film    or lots of blood & guts   men against men and mano et mano stuff    in other words   it s a walter hill film !  with a john milius script !  i always picture these guys getting together and producing a movie between arm wrestling matches    these films always contain male characters i have a very hard time identifying with   probably due to the likelihood that any meeting between them and me would result in my arm being ripped off and then my subsequent death by beating with said limb    and we got tough guys galore   here   drug running banditos by the dozens   all dirty and sweaty and pretty ill tempered   overall   a secret task force of army commandos who are in the area to cover up   supposedly   any connection between the government and the drug runners   and lots of shit kicking texas dirt farmers who d as soon shoot you between the eyes as look at you    in particular   we got nick nolte as one hard ass texas ranger   powers boothe as the drug kingpin   michael ironsides as the leader of the secret army   and rip torn as the local sheriff    torn is the sympathetic figure of the group   he smiles before shooting anyone    as to women        well   i ve never seen jane fonda or meryl streep in a walter hill film   and at this rate   i doubt i ever will    women exist here to look good   comfort the man   and get argued over    gosh !  just like the old days        frankly   this is a pretty good movie   if you can accept the premise and can take the macho stuff    the cinematography is excellent   the cast of characters is broad and has texture   the script is quite good   and the film lets you keep up with what s happening yourself   without spelling it out to you    i appreciate a film that makes me have to think to keep up    finally   there s lots of sam peckinpah slow motion shoot ups    
Pos, accepting his oscar as producer of this year s best picture winner   saul zaentz remarked that his cup runneth over    one could almost say the same about his much prized film    rarely is the screen so overflowing with potent imagery   symbolism   ideas and metaphors   complex and literate storytelling   all possessed of an intelligence that invites    even demands    constant scrutiny   an acuity of perception and observation that must somehow yield the truth    in short   the antithesis of all things hollywood    yet this surfeit of signals is made to serve a rather pale and thinly realized love story whose emotional impact is as dry as a desert wind    ralph fiennes is the title character   an amnesiac burn victim whose gradual return to memory   and particularly the memory of love   is the ostensible focus of the film    but despite the use of numerous flashbacks to help put the pieces of this personal puzzle together   we never learn enough about the man to feel much empathy for him    his emotional life before the story begins is an essential clue that remains withheld    the same can easily be said for every other character in the film   of which there are too many    juliette binoche s nurse comes as close as this film gets to an emotional heart    at least we learn early on that she is scarred by the deaths of those close to her   and so we understand why she is eager to escape the company of her comrades in order to seek refuge in the convalescence of a mysterious   disfigured   dying stranger    even this information is imparted so quickly and in such cursory fashion   however   that it verges on the comical    with so many characters enjoying so little screen time   the film s 160 minutes can be taxing    yet there is something so captivating about the sensibility behind the camera that i couldn t help but feel that greatness was in the air    hints of it were everywhere    in a man who hates ownership but wants desperately to possess his lover   in ancient cave paintings of swimmers copied casually by a modern day swimmer in the sahara   in the way the shifting sands of time obliterate everything more completely than a world war    there is enough latent meaning to supply college film students with paper topics for years    but ultimately the emotional truths writer director anthony minghella was grasping for were never revealed    in the end   i was left with the impression that i had witnessed quite an oxymoron   a haunting bore    bore is perhaps too strong a word    but after drinking in the rich production values   the cup remains only slightly over half full    
Pos, a bleak look at how the boston underworld operates   a film which was based on the best seller by george v     higgins    it is seen through the weary eyes of a 51 year old   small time hood   eddie   fingers   coyle   mitchum      he got the nickname when a mob boss in his underworld element shut the draw on his hand as a punishment    his current dilemma is that he got caught running illegal booze by truck and faces a 3 5 year stretch in new hampshire   something he feels will be a life sentence for him since he doesn t think he could survive prison at his age    he is also concerned that his wife and three kids will have to go on welfare    he could have cut a deal and gotten off   if he turned his boss over to the d   a     but he figured he would never live if he did that    he is currently gun running for a gang of very successful bank robbers led by scalise   rocco      the masked bank robbers operate by always first going to the bank manager s house and holding his family hostage and then they go to the bank and force the manager to open the vault for them or else his family gets it    on one of the heists   they kill a bank officer who pushes the alarm    coyle s best friend is dillon   boyle     a hit man for the mob   working as a bartender    he is a permanent stoolie for the treasury agents   as an aggressive young agent named foley   jordan     who likes to be called uncle   gives dillon breathing room to operate some of his low level crime activities and to work the bar even though he has a prison record   as long as he keeps getting valuable info from him on things happening with the gangs    with the sentencing date closing in on him   the already convicted coyle is out on bail and looking for an angle to cut his jail time    he contacts agent foley and gives him a few inconsequential tips and then decides to do something that goes against his grain    thinking he made an iron clad deal with foley to get his sentenced squashed in new hampshire   he gives him the place where a sale of machine guns is going down   knowing full well the young hustler   keats   selling the guns is a lot like he was as a youth and when arrested will be facing a life sentence    but foley tells him after he arrests the gun dealer   that new hampshire wants more before they take away his jail sentence   they want him to be a full time informer    warning   spoiler follows in next paragraph    the bank robbers are setup and caught in the act and the mob boss is convinced coyle did it and gives dillon the contract to take care of his friend    the contemptuous dillon befriends coyle and treats him to a steak dinner and takes him to a bruin hockey game while getting him boozed up    coyle takes a look at the young bruin star bobby orr from his upper deck seat and says     to be young like that and have his future   he s the greatest hockey player in the world      dillon then takes the drunken coyle for a long drive and executes him mob style   having a kid who works for him dump the body in some bad section of boston    this is a great atmospheric film due to the realistic noir mood it sets   of the hopeless situation the low level criminals are in   and how they are forced to live with fear and the uncertainty of what horrible thing will happen next    the city streets are ugly   the gangsters are shown to be capable of any action to defend their own interests   whether it is betrayal or murder    there is a fatalistic feel about their lives   something robert mitchum wears as easily as others put on a hat    mitchum gives this film all the intensity and purpose it needs   as it overcomes a thin plot    it makes you see the characters for what they are without any false sympathy for them    mitchum is a loser   and   that he lived so long   is a tribute to his skills as a survivor    but in the end   he even loses the respect he had among his underworld friends as a standup guy   as he wrestled with his code of honor and lost even that battle    
Pos,    footloose   has only one goal in mind   to reel in an audience with cheesy sentiment and feel good antics    and i hate to admit it   i fell for it    the movie is about a teenager   bacon   who moves to a small town from the big city   and discovers that dancing has been banned by the local reverend   lithgow      he ends up falling for the preacher s daughter   singer   and showing the whole town what the magic of dance can do    as mentioned at the beginning of this review     footloose   is an extremely hokey and predictable teen drama    there are virtually no surprises   and the writing is second rate    so why did i enjoy it so much    for one thing   the cast is great    kevin bacon oozes charisma in an early role    we re rooting for him right from the start   and   unlike most films of this genre   bacon doesn t play him as the   rebel without a clue   sort    yes   he does rebel   but he s also polite when he needs to be    and he never broods    the rest of the cast is equally impressive    john lithgow   seen here playing a normal guy for a change   is playing a man who would normally be a flat out villian    but lithgow plays him as a concerned father who is trying to do what he feels is best for his daughter    by the end of the film   we feel a genuine sense of love and understanding between him and the lori singer character    another nice touch is the music    we see the parents of the kids complaining that the music they listen to is filled with   sexual innuendos     but that s not true at all    the title track   performed by kenny loggins   is upbeat and fun    during the final sequence   i was overcome with the urge to get off the couch and start dancing    of course   i soon realized that would be a little pathetic    anyway     footloose   is a charming little surprise    don t let the premise prevent you from watching it    it sucked me in   and it ll do the same to you    
Pos, as i walked out of crouching tiger   hidden dragon i thought to myself that i had had just seen a great film    with the passage of a few hours i tempered my enthusiasm and started pondering the question of whether a masterpiece must implicitly be a   great   piece of work and viceversa    attempting to make a distinction may be a matter of splitting hairs    i avoided a commitment by appealing to etymology    as the word implies   a masterpiece is any work which embodies the skills of a master    as such it should suffice to say that it is a product of exceptional quality    crouching tiger   hidden dragon fits comfortably in that category    crouching tiger   hidden dragon immerses the viewer in an idealized world of oriental folklore   with the requisite blend of legend   fantasy   magic and mythology    it is reminiscent of a wagnerian epic with characters which might as well be half gods   greater than life   purer than life   stronger than life   physically invincible and able to accomplish superhuman feats   but with a human soul that makes them ultimately vulnerable    all the classic elements of the oriental mystique are thrown into the mix   including the art of contemplation and the concept of martial dexterity as the physical equivalent of spiritual advancement    the classic struggle between good and evil is the inevitable backdrop   with advanced masters of each and a golden pupil   which must choose between the two    it is the gifted pupil who   under the influence of the evil master steals the holy grail in the form of a magic sword which is the focus of the conflict at the heart of the legend    the elements of romance at two different levels of enlightenment   a pair of masters and a pair of youngsters   are poignantly represented    the paradox of oriental restraint existing side by side with all consuming passion in the same breast is projected effectively    the fight scenes are stunning balletic tours de force   not to be taken literally but clearly to be enjoyed as superb cinematic art   as are the prodigious leaps and flights to   from and between rooftops   the martial combat at the top of swaying bamboo branches and the combatants skipping like pebbles along the surface of a lake    there need be no question of suspended disbelief when one is in the presence of poetry    as in a wagnerian opera there is a substantial story line   which takes place at an ordinary human level   yet the entire project is to be accepted as a work of art rooted in fantasy    do not assume   however   that the art is limp wristed    for those who are put off by the   art   label this film can be confidently recommended as engrossing entertainment at the levels of adventure   action and romance    there are no weak performances in this movie    michelle yeoh imbues her character with depth   humanity and wisdom    chow yon fat projects dignity and purity of heart    zhang ziyi is a budding superstar    she is radiantly beautiful and totally persuasive in a multifaceted role    cheng pei pei as the evil master and chang cheng as the bandit prince acquit themselves admirably    kudos to screenwriters james schamus   wang hui ling and tsai kuo jing   choreographer yuen wo ping   photography director peter pau and music director tan dun   each of which contribute quality components to this extraordinary film    ang lee as the director   co producer and mastermind of the project gets the lion share of the credit    this is destined to be one of those films that everybody likes   including those who hate martial arts movies    don t miss it    
Pos,    crazy/beautiful   suffers from the damned if you do   damned if you don t syndrome    after a spate of flighty   cookie cutter teen films   the romantic drama addresses alcoholism and parental loss along with its love story    but rather than applaud the production   early reviews have dismissed it as an overblown   afterschool special      even worse   in the wake of federal trade commission hearings that blasted the industry for marketing violent and sexual movies to young people   the studio got a case of the heebie jeebies and forced director john stockwell to re shoot scenes and cut footage to   tone things down      needless to say   the filmmaker was frustrated       we were trying to make a cautionary tale     he told newsweek     and we couldn t show the behavior we were trying to caution people away from      regardless   the film works   thanks to exceptional performances from its lead players and a script determined to transcend stereotypes       crazy/beautiful   is quality fare   good enough that i half expected the summer movie crap police to walk into the press screening and confiscate the print for   failure to incorporate explosions and poop jokes      set in pacific palisades   calif     the story follows the burgeoning relationship between two teens    every morning and evening   carlos nunez   jay hernandez   takes a two hour bus ride in order to attend pacific high school    an honor student and star athlete   carlos is responsible   modest and focused as he works on securing a place in the naval academy    all is well until he meets nicole oakley   kirsten dunst     the daughter of a rich congressman   bruce davison      nicole is a drunk apparently hell bent on self destruction    carlos is smart enough to recognize the danger in getting involved with her   but he is only human and she has the greatest smile    plus   as her father notes   she has a real knack for drawing others into her downward spiral    as with   save the last dance       crazy/beautiful     god   how i hate lower case titles   takes situations that look stale on paper and makes them seem fresh    while noting the racial and social differences between the kids   the screenplay dances around most of the clich   s   there are still several mtv moments   though      the filmmakers make a point to give characters that crucial extra bit of shading that turns them into individuals instead of stereotypes and the actors take it from there    cute as a button dunst forces the viewer to share the pain beneath nicole s behavior    she is credible enough that when dad urges carlos to get away from her before she drags him down   i hoped the boy would listen    as carlos   hernandez is a revelation    hunky without looking like the product of a hollywood design team   the young man can really act   we will see a lot of this guy in the future    aside from its title   the biggest problem with   crazy/beautiful   is its ending   which wraps everything up too fast and too tidy    after carefully presenting credible characters and situations   the conclusion feels rushed and lazy    still   this is the kind of film that deserves accolades from critics instead of cheap shots       afterschool special   my ass     crazy/beautiful   is the real deal    
Pos, everyone knows someone like giles de ath   stuffy   arrogant   set in his ways   and at war with anything that could in any way be associated with   progress      giles is a writer   but the product of his typewriter is the kind of scholarly stuff that is immediately put onto library stacks where it can gather dust until some graduate student needs another reference for his or her thesis    his house looks like an immaculate museum   with no television   microwave   word processor   or other technological gadgets   only the electric lights betray that he s living in the twentieth century   not the nineteenth    this is the kind of role that could easily be turned into a flat stereotype   but john hurt   in what is certainly his best performance in a decade and possibly the most impressive of his long and distinguished career   turns   erstwhile fogy   giles into a three dimensional human being    despite his tunnel vision   it s impossible not to like the man   especially after his entire being is transformed by that singular affliction to which no one is immune   love    and   as giles discovers during the course of this amusing   warm hearted motion picture   it s possible to find the object of one s affection in the most unusual places    giles   who is a widower and a recluse   does not frequent the cinema   but when he learns that an e   m   forster film is playing at the local theater   he screws up his courage and decides to go    what he doesn t realize is that the movie house is showing two films   the forster adaptation and a teen exploitation flick called hotpants college ii    a nonplused giles ends up sitting in a darkened room watching buff male and female bodies in various states of undress    just as giles is about to leave   however   he notices ronnie bostock   jason priestley     and   suddenly   it s love at first sight    giles is enraptured   and the moment hotpants college ii is over   he beings to scour stores for bostock memorabilia   including teen magazines and video tapes       in order to watch those tapes   giles must buy a vcr   but he initially doesn t realize that he needs a tv to use the vcr      eventually   not satisfied with being the world s foremost authority on bostock   giles boards a plane and travels to long island   where his idol s home is located    bostock is away when giles arrives   but the wily englishman manages to befriend ronnie s supermodel girlfriend   audrey   fiona loewi      eventually   the actor arrives home and   impressed with giles  demeanor and intelligence   he begins to rely on the older man s advice    but   while giles  affection runs deep   ronnie s feelings are less constant    love and death on long island is a comedy   and a very funny one at that    in fact   for its first half   the film is nearly perfect    it suffers a fall off once giles reaches new york   and the ending   with its none too subtle homosexual overtones   is a little too overbearing for the lighthearted material that precedes it    in his gently satirical approach to popular culture and movie stardom   writer/director richard kwietniowski   adapting from the novel by gilbert adair   is 100% on  target    in the process   he not only creates a truly likable and memorable character in giles   but says a few things about the transforming power of love   even if it is unrequited    from start to finish   this is clearly hurt s movie   he s in almost every frame    it s a role that the veteran actor must have relished   because he makes giles an unforgettable motion picture figure   and does so by means of dialogue delivery   body language   and ever changing facial expressions    jason priestley   cashing in on his beverly hills 90210 image   is surprisingly effective as the shallow ronnie    he is charismatic   and it s not hard to understand why giles is attracted to ronnie    meanwhile   solid support is provided by the appealing fiona loewi and the always reliable maury chaykin    love and death on long island is many things wrapped into one   a social commentary   it tackles the thorny issue of film as pure art versus film as mindless entertainment     a buddy picture/love story   ronnie and giles have one of the most interesting relationships found anywhere on a movie screen these days     and a   fish out of water   tale   victorian relic giles forced into the modern world      yet   despite the many laughs love and death offers   it never takes cheap shots    it has a vibrant   beating heart   and that makes the comedy all the more worthwhile    
Pos, for many people   procrastination isn t a problem to overcome   it s a high art    we ll do just about anything to put off a task    when the deadline for this column nears   it s the only time during the week dishes get washed and the bed made and laundry done and plants watered and        eventually   hopefully   sometimes   there s a breakthrough and we actually get down to work    amazingly it s almost always easier than we dreaded and after finishing   that sense of oppressive apprehension melts away    and then   the next time   we do it all again    english professor grady tripp   michael douglas   is a master    seven years ago   his first book was a hit    he s been working on his second    a short 200 page piece    since then    fearful that he can t live up to the first   he can t bring himself to finish it    no writer s block   he s nearing 3   000 pages with no end in sight    now he s having a particularly difficult day    the college s annual writers conference is bringing in accomplished novelists reminding tripp that other people are finishing  their  books    during the first day   his wife has left him   his married girlfriend informs him she s pregnant and his agent is in town with a six foot transvestite in tow    by the evening   our besieged writer is driving though the snow covered streets of pittsburgh with a suicidal student beside him   a stolen jacket that marilyn monroe wore on her wedding day in the back seat and a murdered blind dog stuffed in the trunk    this could be a pivotal point in his mid life crisis    and then there s the next morning    there s a lot to like about this movie    there are no huge explosions   shattering glass or computer generated dinosaurs to distract from the very real human issues    grady is caught up in the curse of people who accomplish great things early in their career    in the world of   what have you done for me lately       he knows his second book has to be better than his first    instead of finding out   he drifts   comfortable in the insular cocoon of academic peter panhood    he doesn t have much of a life and neither does his star pupil james leer   tobey maguire      james may be suicidal and psychotic    certainly everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie    he makes up a past of working clash anguish because the truth of wealth and comfort just isn t interesting enough    as the weekend progresses   they are both forced to fully engage life    that s the question they must face   comfort or real experiences    the film takes some interesting chances    non traditional relationships are presented as matter of fact    extra marital   gay   interracial   professor student   here they aren t judged   merely choices    the actors are all first rate    douglas triumphs   playing against type as he spends most of his time disheveled   unshaven and clad in a pink women s house robe    maguire s disengaged alienation works perfectly here    robert downey jr   as grady s agent livens up his scenes    director curtis hanson     l   a    confidential     makes a few missteps    the women are underused    frances mcdormand does a good job of her limited role of sara   grady s married lover but we never understand much of who she is    the chemistry between the two of them is non existent which makes some of the ending unconvincing    katie holmes is a student with a major crush on the professor   but her character goes nowhere    we never even see grady s exiting wife    this is very much a guy s film    the varied relationships between the men are much more convincing than any of the others    grady s alternating mentoring and rejection of james is the centerpoint of the film   not him and sara    as the boomers age   expect to see more mid life crisis films to catch the attention of that demographic    eventually it ll probably become cliche   but right now we ve got a winner    i ll finish this in a second    right now i have to grab some paint    i noticed some trim in the other room that needs a little touch up       michael redman has written this column for so long that he s made mid life crisis a career choice      
Pos, meet joe black   reviewed on nov   27/98    starring brad pitt   anthony hopkins   claire forlani  in   meet joe black     brad pitt plays death    that s all that really needs to be said   but nevertheless   i will provide the three of you that have seemingly been living in a cave with a plot description    death decides to take a holiday   what with all the rigors of soul collecting and all   and forces anthony hopkins into showing him what it s like to be human    death assumes the body of brad pitt   and from there   much trouble ensues    for one thing   death as pitt falls in love with hopkins daughter   played by claire forlani    obviously this enrages hopkins   because really   what can death offer    besides eternal damnation   of course    there is also a sub plot about forlani s ex boyfriend   she dumps him for pitt   trying to take over hopkins company       meet joe black   runs just under three hours    i ve always thought that such obscene running times should be limited to historical epics       meet joe black   is neither historical nor is it an epic   though i get the feeling martin brest   the director   desperately wants it to be    every single scene in the movie goes on about 3 4 minutes too long    and the ending takes about 20 minutes longer than it really should    a severe editing job could have made this movie excellent   instead of just good   which is what it is    pitt   an actor i normally loathe   is actually quite engaging as death    i believed his performance   and i could see why forlani s character would fall in love with him    i have to agree with roger ebert   though   who found it hard to believe that an entity that s been around for all time wouldn t know what peanut butter was    that has nothing to do with pitt s performance   of course   but it is a little distracting    hopkins gives his usual excellent performance    he s able to portray the angst of a man who knows he has very little time left   without making him an obnoxious whiner    and in her first major studio role   claire forlani is surprisingly good    she has a sweet tenderness that allows the audience to instantly root for her    so     meet joe black   is a good movie hampered by it s ridiculous running time    had the film been cut by an hour or so   i have no doubt that i would be calling it one of the best movies of the year in this review    
Pos, call it touched by a demon    gregory hoblit s fallen is a serial killer movie with an unusual   horrific twist    if marketed properly   this film could have crossover appeal for both those who appreciate supernatural tales like the prophesy and those who crave grim   dark thrillers like silence of the lambs and seven    in fact   there s even a little twin peaks to be found here   albeit with the lion s share of the weirdness distilled out       remember bob      the biggest failing of fallen is that   although it s consistently interesting   it s not always as edgy and suspenseful as one might hope    a serial killer   elias koteas   has been on the loose in philadephia   but detective john hobbes   denzel washington     the noblest man on the police force   has brought him to justice    now   during his last hours on death row awaiting his inevitable date with the gas chamber   the mass murderer cryptically tells hobbes     what goes around really goes around      shortly thereafter   he begins to sing   time is on my side   as he s taken on his last walk    minutes later   the state of pennsylvania has carried out the execution and edgar reese is dead    but for hobbes   the nightmare is just beginning   because reese wasn t a normal psychopath   he was the host body for a mythical dark angel named azazel    and   with reese s death   azazel is free to hop from body to body   murdering and wreaking havoc at will    only hobbes and a pretty   female theology teacher   embeth davidtz   have an inkling of what they re up against    the rest of the cops   including hobbes  partner   jonesy   john goodman     lou   james gandolfini     a newcomer to the department   and lieutenant stanton   donald sutherland     don t have a clue   and   as a result   they are in mortal danger    as depicted by hoblit   primal fear   and cinematographer newton thomas sigel   philadelphia is a dark   dreary place   a gothic city rather than a modern one    no skyscrapers or other monoliths of current architecture or technology are shown    the most famous landmark to appear isn t the liberty bell or independence hall   it s geno s steaks    shadows and night scenes abound    the days are cloudy and unpromising    this is the kind of setting where it s easy to believe that fallen angels walk among men    fallen s plot is brimming with potential   not all of which is realized    somehow   i would have expected a more frightening tale to emerge from something with this kind of premise    but the level of terror   like that of gore   is kept in check    nevertheless   there are several creepily effective scenes as the spirit of azazel moves from body to body when people bump against each other on crowded city sidewalks    the film also boasts a chase sequence of a kind that can best be described as unusual    of the several dozen actors to play azazel   the best is by far elias koteas   exotica   crash     who   despite only being on screen for about ten minutes   gives a fantastically charged performance    john goodman also seems to be enjoying himself   although his role for most of the film is relegated to that of a burly sidekick    sadly   however   these two are the only ones who excel    everyone else   including denzel washington   is boring    washington s flat performance is the most disappointing surprise of the film    it s not that he s bad per se   but he s not very interesting    there s no real sense of vulnerability or desperation in the way he portrays his character   and that keeps us distanced   however slightly   from hobbes    as circumstances become progressively more dire for the cop   and as his life or death chess game with azazel approaches the point of checkmate   i expected to be more on the edge of my seat than i was    washington s subdued approach is part of the reason for this   i never felt a sense of urgency    however   at least washington was believable   which is more than can be said for embeth davidtz   schindler s list   and donald sutherland    to be fair   the flaws in their characters aren t all acting related   neither stanton nor gretta milano are well written    that said   however   there s nothing inspired about either davidtz s or sutherland s work    both appear to be sleepwalking their way through the parts   as if they know that their contribution to the film is one of advancing the plot rather than developing a multi dimensional individual    narratively   fallen has a few glaring weaknesses    although the plot proceeds with a convoluted   game like structure   it uses a denzel washington supplied voiceover to overexplain matters    at times   this is actually helpful   and it has a use beyond the obvious   but there are occasions when ponderous lines like   i like the night   sometimes you come face to face with yourself   become a little hard to swallow    in addition   fallen is saddled with the same kind of disgustingly bland   generic theology embraced by numerous movies and tv shows like touched by an angel    however   despite the negatives   i m still recommending fallen on the strength of its complex plot and especially its ending   which i loved    the final scenes are startling   audacious   and unexpected    it s not often that a plot development takes me by surprise the way this one did    at a time when most movies fall apart in the last ten minutes   fallen manages to buck the trend and redeem itself    this is not a great motion picture   but   considering how bad most january releases are   it s a reasonably entertaining way to spend two hours    and   whatever you do   don t walk out on the film before the end credits have begun to roll    
Pos, james l   brooks   one of the developers of the simpsons and director of broadcast news   returns to the big screen with this entertaining   if slightly flawed comedy    nicholson plays melvin udall   probably the most horrible person ever on the screen    he s racist   homophobic   and never has a good word to say to anyone    so   nobody talks to him   except waitress carol conelly   t   v  sitcom star hunt   who was last seen in twister   1996      naturally   udall   conelly and gay neighbor simon bishop   kinnear   who nicholson hates   all hit it off in the end    like good will hunting   1997   and titanic   1997     even though the outcome is completely obvious   as good as it gets is an enjoyable   funny and warm comedy    nicholson is hilarious as melvin   churning out insults with superb relish    only nicholson could get away with the lines that melvin delivers    hunt is also good as waitress carol   and easily rises to the challenge of nicholson    there s also   thankfully   a bit of chemistry between them    kinnear   as the gay neighbor   seems to have a slightly underwritten role   he s more of a plot convience than a character    although his performance is good   his character just seems to exist to help melvin and carol come together    in fact   the scene stealer is simon s dog   who is funnier than nicholson    but then again   pets are always cute on screen    providing solid support is cuba gooding   jnr   jerry maguire   1996   and yeardly smith   who is the voice of lisa simpsons in the simpsons   although gooding isn t as good as is character in maguire   he is still fun    he overacts a little   but not so much as to be annoying    smith is also good   although she has a fairly small role    even director lawrence kasdan   body heat   1981   makes an appearance as a doctor    but this is primarily nicholsons film   and every scene he s in   he s steals it    he s character is so hateful   though   it s amazing that anyone talks to him at all   especially carol    and this is the films main problem    it s totally unbelievable that carol would ever consider liking melvin    she doesn t fall in love with him naturally   the film forces her to fall in love with him    also   melvins character seems to go too nice   too quickly    i would doubt anyone with a character like melvins would be able to turn back to a nice   loving person    it would take a helluva long time   much longer than this film would like to make out    brooks direction is good   though   if a bit average   but he usually manages to get an emotion out of the audience    he handles the comedy scenes better than the sentimental ones   he tends to pile on to much schmaltz   but generally he s good    there s also a nice soundtrack by veteran composer hans zimmer    but   generally   as good as it gets achieves what it sets out to do   which is to make the audience feel good by the end of the movie    the movie is a bit overlong   but nicholson is such good fun that the running time passes by pretty quickly    overall   as good as it gets is a fun movie   even though it may be unbelivable   and certainly worth seeing   if just for jack nicholsons performance      not quite as good as it gets   pardon the bad joke     but still good fun    
Pos, after a stylistic detour with mrs    parker and the vicious circle   which   despite its uncomfortable tone   was close to being a conventional movie     director alan rudolph has returned to his unique brand of film making with afterglow   a romantic black comedy about love   betrayal   and self absorption    while these may not be the most unusual themes to fashion into a motion picture   rudolph s atypical approach to the characters and their situations makes for an intriguing   if not always pleasant   movie    it is said that rudolph is a polarizing director   meaning that most viewers either love his work or hate it    until mrs    parker   i had not been overly impressed by his movies    i found equinox   his last pre  mrs    parker effort   to be irritating and frustrating    i was somewhat surprised   therefore   to discover that i liked afterglow    there are several reasons for this   but the paramount one is that rudolph seems to have muted some of the most strident   mannered aspects of his approach    the characters here are more like real people with genuine problems   the story is absorbing   and the acting is top notch    in short   rudolph has created a world that it s worth spending two hours in    afterglow introduces us to two unhappily married couples    jeffrey byron   jonny lee miller   is a cold   seemingly heartless businessman who is sexually indifferent to his young wife   marianne   lara flynn boyle      for her part   marianne is so obsessed with having a baby that she never attempts to interact with her husband on a human level    all she s interested in is seducing him during those few days when she s ovulating    after he refuses to make love   she decides to find someone else to play the role of sperm donor    the other couple   lucky   nick nolte   and phyllis mann   julie christie     are an older pair   but they re no more content than jeffrey and marianne    a mysterious fracture in their past relationship has driven them apart    they remain married as a matter of convenience   but   since phyllis won t allow lucky to touch her   they have an unspoken agreement whereby he can fool around as much as he wants provided that no lasting bond is established as a result of these affairs    the landscape of emotional pain between them is palpable    the four characters begin interacting when marianne hires lucky as a handyman to fix up the inside of the apartment she shares with jeffrey    the two of them are immediately attracted to one another   and it doesn t take long before they re lounging together   naked   in her pool    meanwhile   jeffrey   who is captivated by older women   runs into phyllis in a hotel bar   is smitten   and invites her to accompany him on a weekend retreat to the mountains    the romantic couplings of the characters are interesting in that they illustrate the multiple faces of love    sex means something different to everyone   to jeffrey   it s an unpleasant chore   a loss of control   to marianne   it s a means to a maternal end   to lucky   it s an enjoyable distraction that blocks out his marital troubles   and to phyllis   it s a method of establishing or denying emotional closeness    ultimately   none of these characters appears to love anyone else as much as they love themselves    the greatest strength of the film lies not in the script   but in the performances    jonny lee miller is perfect as the selfish   callous   suit and tie businessman    those who recall him as sickboy in trainspotting will find that he is almost unrecognizable here as the image of conformity    lara flynn boyle   who wasn t impressive in rudolph s equinox   is greatly improved   making marianne a jumble of sexiness and vulnerability    nick nolte is delightful as the uninhibited lucky   and he manages to deliver some of rudolph s most pregnant lines with practiced ease    the clear standout   however   is julie christie   who is nothing short of delicious as the world weary phyllis    her often wry   occasionally cutting asides are the source of much of the film s humor   and there s hardly ever a moment when she doesn t steal the spotlight from her co stars    i don t know if afterglow is the film to convert rudolph  detractors   but it seems that this movie is a little more accessible than some of the director s earlier productions    enough of his trademark style remains   however   to reassure his supporters    afterglow is basically a four pronged character study    the plot is not especially compelling   but the character interaction is   and that s the real reason to see this motion picture    rudolph has painted an able picture of the non romantic side of love    the one that has more to do with tolerance and familiarity than with affection and attraction    
Pos,    the fugitive   is probably one of the greatest thrillers ever made    it takes realistic   believable characters and tells an exciting story that s totally believable throughout    this isn t an over the top action flick for the sake of action   this is an intelligent adventure story with a real sense of mystery to it and it works perfectly    harrison ford stars as dr   richard kimble   a man who is wrongly accused and convicted of murdering his wife    the entire premise of the story revolves around this murder   but is not told in a straightforward manner    we constantly see flashbacks to the murder from kimble s perspective    hints are dropped from various times of the night kimble s wife   helen   sela ward   was murdered    we don t get to see who the killer is until much further into the story    in fact   we might even have a little doubt about kimble s innocence ourselves    the film doesn t spend much time on the details of kimble s trial and conviction as it is not the point of the story    one of the greatest action scenes ensues as we get a botched escape attempt by his fellow inmates which leads to a fantastic train wreck    but it does not at all seem gratuitous or formulated   it is actually suspenseful to watch    this movie is so incredible because it s able to take elements like these and make them wholly original and believable    tommy lee jones almost steals the show as deputy sam gerard   a u   s   marshall who is an expert in hunting fugitives    from the moment he appears we know a huge game of cat and mouse is about to occur    kimble and gerard are equally matched as there is no way to tell how one is going to outsmart the other    most of the film deals with richard s complex investigation as he tries to find the one armed man who killed his wife    ford does not have a lot of lines here   so it is stuart and twohy s script and davis s outstanding direction that make the film as great as it is    just watching richard use his keen intelligence and wits   disguising himself   and doing his own detective work is very interesting    we know just as little as he does as to why his wife was killed   so as he learns more so do we    meanwhile gerard and his staff are using all their skills to hunt him down    at one point they run into each other and a great chase ensues   but richard is just too smart for them    he leaves clues for gerard to show his innocence and to help him solve the mystery    one of the greatest charms to the film is its sense of humor    there is a great sense of comradeship between gerard and his two closest deputies cosmo renfo   pantoliano   and biggs   roebuck      they are trying to catch what they believe to be a dangerous murderer   yet they constantly start up small talk with each other   making funny wisecracks and one liners   but not in any kind of distracting manner    the final act concludes with another terrific chase    richard figures out who the killer is and confronts him   and although we get a typical fight scene   the case is far from solved    the man who ordered the murder has been under our nose all along   and we don t realize this until the end when both richard and gerard put the pieces together    maybe the finally scene is a bit much   but it still has a believable atmosphere to it    we re so relieved when justice is served    it s not the plot is that makes   the fugitive   great   it s all the motions the characters go through to make for an intriguing story    watching a seemingly average man go through as much as this is what makes the movie so adventurous    if only hollywood could produce more movies like this       10/31/96     1/29/97     6/13/97   [see also     nick of time   ]  
Pos, i think that any competent member of the human race who s ever seen a movie  any movie  could probably predict just about every turn in the wedding singer    even though i try very hard to not predict films as i m watching them   especially not romantic comedies     the plot of this particular film just advanced before me seconds   and sometimes minutes   before i actually saw it happen on screen    but i don t care    not even a little    my reasons for this are simple   1   adam sandler is great    2   drew barrymore is great    3   the movie is so funny    there are parts that left me gasping for air because i was laughing so hard    i haven t laughed this hard in a movie since austin powers    sandler plays robby hart   a wedding singer who once had dreams of being in a rock band and writing his own music    in the opening scenes   he seems like a happy go lucky wedding singer   at least partially enjoying his profession and doing a rather good job of talking down a really drunk individual   steve buscemi   who decides that his brother s wedding is a good place to tell the whole world that his life   up to that point   was utter pointlessness    a week later   at his own wedding   he is left standing at the altar by his ex fianc   e   linda   angela featherstone      with his life in complete disarray   he meets julia   barrymore     a waitress    she is engaged to glenn   matthew glave     and is to marry him in about three months    julia and robby become good friends when she enlists him to help with the wedding plans    soon   and predictably   it becomes pretty clear that glenn is a jerk   and that robby and julia really love each other    oh sure   it s trite    and if anyone making this film expected us to   like   feel suspense or something while watching the wedding singer   then they truly underestimated their audience    what makes the story bearable   aside from the terrific costumes and 80s music   are the performances    barrymore is simply adorable here   i ve never seen her look so close to the way she did in et      not only is she pleasant to look at   but her acting job here really is a good one  and it doesn t hurt that the character is likable and adequately well written    and the jerk   played in full force by graves   is just as despicable as any villain in any romantic comedy i ve ever seen    naturally   the true star here is sandler    i think the guy is flat out hilarious    he can say something that just isn t funny   and his delivery makes me laugh    his comedic performance here equals that of happy gilmore   but in this film he goes much further and proves to me that he can   indeed   hold his own as a leading man in a romantic comedy    whereas his roles in his previous films kind of had sandler playing sandler   the wedding singer gives him a character that   for the first time   he actually has to fit into    as far as i m concerned he succeeded   and this film is testimony that he does   in fact   have some range in his talents    and the movie is just so funny    perhaps the best moment is when he sings a song for julia that he claims is a little uneven because he began writing it while in a good mood and finished it after his fianc   e abandoned him    this is the part that literally had me groping for a breath of air    and while the film   like all romantic comedies   takes a hiatus from laughs towards the end because the plot has to finish up   there are more than enough truly hilarious moments in the first hour that make up for any slumps in progress during the second half    my formal complaints for the wedding singer aren t very important    the film is predicable   but who cares    the characters are extremely likable   the movie is ridiculously funny   and the experience is simply enjoyable    in addition to this   i can t imagine anyone seeing the preview and not wanting to see the film    in that order   i conclude that it is pointless for me to even have written this review    i just want everyone to know that i laughed    a lot    
Pos, based on the boris karloff s classic by the same name   the mummy starts off with the high priest of osiris   imhotep   who murders the pharoah for his mistress and is punished by being mummified in the most horrifying way possible    bandaged up   having his tongue removed   and being covered in flesh eating scarab beetles   then entombed       all while still alive    recap a few thousand years later   where a soldier named rick   played by brandan fraser   aids a young historian named evelyn   played by rachel wiesz   and her brother   jonathan   played by john hannah   in finding the book of amon ra   in the process inadvertently freeing the mummy    problem is that the mummy wants to revive his mistress   using evelyn as a sacrifice        walking in with relatively low expectations   i thought this movie was actually pretty good    the visuals and cgi are astounding   and obviously not cheaply done at all    they pack a ton of detail into the images   especially during scenes involving mummies rendered completely by cgi    the computer special effects makes for some brilliant scenes   such as unnerving moments involving flesh eating scarab beetles and moments where the mummy goes after the people who freed him   after all   those who took his artifacts are cursed      unfortunately   the film attempts to be way too much in such a short span of time   becoming a tug of war for control between genres    on one hand   it is a fast paced action film    on the other   it s a frightening horror film    and on the side   it s a hilarious comedy    ideally   for it to be successful   the film would have to focus on one the more action oriented aspect   with one character serving as the comic relief   that would be johnson      the problem with this film is that it has at least three characters serving as comic relief   with rick occasionally delivering his witty one liner    if they were trying to make a horror action comedy   it would have helped if it were established early on in the film   but unfortunately   with the backstory of imhotep s entombment   that would be impossible    and then there s the slapstick fight scene between a sword wielding rick and an army of mummies    while really well done   it had the feel of slapstick comedy    replace the sword with a chainsaw and you d effectively have ash fighting zombies in army of darkness    while entertaining and funny   it feels really out of place    but at least it s a break from the naive heroes that brendan fraser has been playing a lot of    on the whole   the movie is pure popcorn fare from beginning to end   entertaining the audience    but i must end my review with a plea to movie theatre owners       turn  the sound down !  while a lot of theatres have good sound systems   my ears were almost ringing as i walked out of the theatre   the sound is particularly irritating and will make you crap your pants if you re not careful      when they were showing the trailer for the upcoming schwarzenegger film     end of days     it was so loud i couldn t make anything out    
Pos, on re watching italian writer/director dario argento s much lauded murder mystery tenebrae   i was struck more than anything else by how many sins he commits as a storyteller and manages to get away with    in emphasising style over matters of plot argento is somewhat notorious in cult film circles   but some aficionados still praise tenebrae as the greatest of his   giallo   murder mysteries    while it s certainly not perfect   repeated viewings reveal it to be nonetheless a densely plotted and terrifically stylish thriller    the story follows a promotional visit to rome by famous american mystery novelist peter neal   anthony franciosa   where he discovers that a serial killer is on the loose inspired by his latest book   tenebrae      with the police on his back for leads   he decides to take a personal interest in the case and he soon becomes drawn into a mystery where all is not as it seems    the film benefits enormously from a fine central performance by franciosa    he brings grace   charm and a deceptive benigness to his character which provides an interesting foil to both the violence of the books he writes and the unfolding real life horror around him    the film is awash with a fascinating psychosexual tension    argento peels back the facade of showbiz and jetset lifestyles to reveal an amoral   ambivalent   shadowy world where desire in all its forms has become a dangerous business    tenebrae is perhaps the most multi layered of argento s scripts to date and there is much bubbling underneath the surface here    it may take at least two or three viewings to appreciate all the psychological themes at play    in that respect it strongly recalls his previous giallo deep red/profondo rosso   the full length italian language version   and fans will enjoy spotting the recurring themes    needless to say for argento fans   there is no denying the director s brilliance as a stylist    many of the action and murder sequences are directed with his characteristic finesse and feature plenty of intriguing camerawork    they are all the more impressive for the fact that in this film argento creates mood by filling his scenes with light   rather than the dark shadows and deep rich colours of earlier works like deep red and suspiria    instead   tenebrae s set design and lighting paints a sleek   clinical   chilly vision of a vaguely futuristic urban world    and the soundtrack s mix of electronic atmospheres and gothic rock by frequent argento collaborators goblin is the perfect accompaniment    so tenebrae has much to recommend it   no question    still   constantly nagging at the back of this viewers mind is several lumps in the narrative    some critics argue that logic doesn t matter in argento films   but damnit   it matters in all films to the point where viewers don t deserve to feel cheated    by the way   if you don t want to know the solution to the mystery then skip the next three paragraphs    about an hour into tenebrae the story takes an unexpected twist which   properly handled   could have proved ingenious    we witness the murder of the serial killer himself by a man who   we later discover   is none other than the author peter neal    he is insane   apparently    the murders then continue for the remainder of the film as neal decides it s time to settle some personal business involving his neurotic wife    he is finally revealed to us as this   second killer   in the film s bloody climax    but argento muffs the twist   both technically and narratively    you see   we are supposed to be tricked into thinking that during this scene peter neal is actually an innocent witness who was crouching in the bushes nearby the whole time and spying on the killer s house    but thanks to poor editing   its had to believe neal could have murdered the killer anyway    bad cutting puts the timing way out    in other words   he s almost in two places at once    during this crucial scene we are also thrown a ridiculous red herring    by the film s end you realise that for the sake of an alibi neal must have self inflicted a nasty injury in this earlier scene to make it look like he was attacked by a fleeing assailant    the injury    he banged himself on the head with a bloody great rock !  thus   the revelation of the   hero   as a killer   and anti hero   in the final scenes may still prove shocking   but its all somewhat implausible by the time the end credits have rolled    helpfully   in the end we do learn that the bizarre flashbacks of personal humiliation and murder that have permeated the film belonged to neal all along    but there too is a problem   as the explanations offered for his motivations are psychologically fuzzy to say the least    the story owes us a better understanding of franciosa s mind   his concealed madness and his sudden murderous rampage    tenebrae is also marred by annoying little inconsistencies    for instance   a teenage boy and girl leave a hotel room and minutes later we see the girl riding off on the back of a motorbike    we would assume the rider is the same boy   but it turns out to be some male character we aren t even introduced too !  that s careless filmmaking   pure and simple    why   you may ask   do i go on about the story s flaws    because when it comes to visuals and set pieces   argento is one of the most exciting filmmakers in the world    take one of the extended scenes in tenebrae    an upset girl wandering the streets at night needlessly taunts a guard dog to the point where   almost unbelievably   it jumps a high fence and chases her across town    finally   as she desperately seeks escape from this crazed canine   she accidentally stumbles on the serial killer s lair    it s an absolutely masterful sequence   tense and exciting   and communicating a wealth of information through visuals alone    and that s exactly the kind of thing that makes the flaws so frustrating    too often   it seems   argento s films as a whole are less than the sum of their impressive parts    mind you   if you love murder mysteries then tenebrae is still worth a look    and if you re a fan of argento s unique style of giallo thriller then it s essential    see the uncut widescreen version if you can and drink in some of the wonderful cinematography by luciano tovoli    it s a stylish   great looking and quirky film despite the problem narrative    a shame   because it doesn t have to be that way    take argento s more recent stendhal syndrome   1992     where with the aid of co writer franco ferrini he fashioned a solid storyline without sacrificing any of his surreal weirdness or visual panache    proof that he can do it   if he tries        
Pos, as any sociologist will attest   your childhood and the types of parents that you have will heavily influence your happiness as an adult    parents that are supportive and environments that are nurturing will yield children who will embrace the values and norms that can allow them to live healthy and productive lives    but if your upbringing is marred with violence   hate and dysfunctionality   then your journey towards a happy adulthood will be saddled with psychological obstacles almost too great to overcome    `affliction  explores how a man never truly escapes the grip of an unforgivingly nightmarish childhood    the man in question is wade whitehouse   nick nolte      here is a man who is like any other citizen on the surface    he is a productive member of the community and goes about his daily routine much like you and me    but as you scratch beneath the surface   something scary and evil begins to rear its ugly head    we see that he is a mean tempered person    he has a hard time taking control of his emotions   which usually gets the better of him    he is quick to apologize for his actions and wants to be a gentle person   but something is sparking a tendency towards violence    he also has tremendous problems with relationships    he is divorced and his only connection to love is his daughter    but his bearish persona and stature alienates her    he is visibly shaken by her rejection even though she says that she loves him    his demeanor also puts his relationship with a local townsgirl   sissy spacek   at risk    she tries to remain true to him and supportive   but for women unlucky enough to attach themselves to this kind of person   relationships will ultimately end like sentences ending with an exclamation point    finally   he is spiteful and vindictive    as a rejected father   he initiates a custody battle that seems hopeless    as the town s only police officer   he issues a speeding ticket to a man whose father has just died    we can see that this is a man that is both afflicted and living with pain    he is a prisoner and a slave to it    he is moving towards a level of madness and insanity that defies comprehension    what kind of force can move a man to the edge of his emotions and beyond the reach of people who genuinely care for him    we learn that the answer is his father   james coburn      this is the kind of father that every son would be ashamed to have and that any woman would be afraid to meet    he is an overbearingly misogynistic and frequent drunk who rules with an iron fist    we see his tyrannical behavior through flashbacks    to heighten the father s churlishness   the flashbacks are shown as home video footage taken by a very frightened person    very effective    today   wade s dad is quite elderly   but still manages to instill fear into a grown man    the influence that the father possesses is inescapable   and its unsavory effect clamps down hard on the tortured wade    the result is every son s nightmare   becoming like the father that one has always dreaded to be    this is a terrifically presented piece of psychological drama   and nolte turns in a strong performance as a man whose pain seems to become a detriment as well as a necessity    he s a hulking person who is still reduced to whimpers when in the presence of his father    coburn displays heft as the bitter dad    but   it s most certainly not saturday night friendly fare    there s nothing light or fluffy about this film    that may turn many moviegoers away    but it s certainly worth noting that this is a well acted drama showcasing nolte s and coburn s raw acting talents    
Pos, is evil dead ii a bad movie    it s full of terrible acting   pointless violence   and plot holes yet it remains a cult classic nearly fifteen years after its release    explaining why this movie stands out from others with similar plots   including the original evil dead   is extremely difficult    `well what s it about      `five people stranded in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere struggling to survive vicious attacks from a variety of ugly   hairy   wart covered monsters      `come on i saw a movie just like that on monster vision last week    why should i see it again      `no evil dead ii is different   it s funny      `it s funny to see people die    are you sick or something      maybe i am and maybe director sam raimi is as well to create such an enigma of a movie    his unique execution is as sarcastic as subtle   as disturbing as it is hilarious    an example of raimi s odd approach   a monster   formerly protagonist ash s girlfriend of all people   is cut in half by a chainsaw and a tidal wave of blood comes from the open wound    sure it s over the top   but it is so over the top that it is laugh out loud funny   just try watching ash with a straight face as he unexpectedly is showered with ten gallons of blood   staining his face and knocking him back a few feet    the whole movie is like this   watch ash get beat up   watch ash defeat the monster   watch ash get beat up again by another even zanier monster    the more repetitive and unrealistic the movie gets   the more amusing it becomes    no matter how sick it may sound   it is funny to watch bruce ampbell s ash get his butt kicked every five minutes    and raimi takes advantage   he has ash tormented by the head of his girlfriend   by the body of an old lady   even by his own right hand    like the less superior idle hands   we watch ash uncontrollably hit himself over and over again until he is forced to cut off his own body part    but it doesn t end   ash now has to fight his severed hand which now moves with the same celerity as thing from the addams family    all of these events   thrown at you from minute one with roller coaster  like camera movements   at first become shocking   then inexplicably funny    raimi expects the audience to laugh and as the film progresses   he seems to be enjoying himself even more by borrowing the classic mirror scene from the marx brothers  duck soup   then bringing more characters into the picture to comically kill them off    with a running time of less than an hour and a half   raimi gets away with the impossible   making a horror film with more gore than plot and intentionally more laughs than scares    ending evil dead ii with an opening for the third film in the series   raimi obviously had a lot of fun making this movie and couldn t wait to make it s sequel    
Pos, it s rather strange too have two computer animated talking ant movies come out in a single year   but that is what disney and pixar animation   s latest film represents    while a bugs life isn t nearly as deep as it s predecessor   dreamwork s antz   it is just as funny    a bug s life centers   appropriately   around the life of an ant   named flik    flik   cutely voiced by newsradio s david foley   hates sticking too tradition and attempts too find new ways of harvesting food and other task    when one of his inventions causes the offering too be completely lost   the leaders of the colony send him out on a mission too get him out of the way    the offering is food that a vile group of grasshoppers force the ants too harvest for them    the leader of the grasshoppers is hopper   who is fiendishly voiced by oscar winner kevin spacey    when the offering is lost hopper is very upset and he vows to return shortly too retrieve double the amount of food    when the leaders of the ant colony send flik out on his mission   they never dream he will be successful   they just hope they can get him out of the way so they can harvest the extra food    flik s mission is too hire some warrior bugs too fight off the grasshoppers when they return    instead flik accidentally hires circus performing bugs   who he mistakenly assumes are warriors    when he returns with the `warriors    the town is ecstatic until they find out the truth about their heroes    a bug s life has animation that is simply stunning    the sheer uniqueness of the day to day bug life is very imaginative    together with the great voice acting   this film is the perfect holiday family film    its main weakness is that it couldn t beat antz to the theaters   making it seem like stale material    
Pos, not since oliver stone s natural born killers has there been a movie this incendiary   and not since david cronenberg has a so called mainstream director been this willing to repeatedly tiptoe the fine line between pointed social commentary and outright social irresponsibility    while fincher s films have never suffered from a lack of shock value   his major character killings in both alien 3 and seven are fine examples     fight club marks the distillation of his pitch black comedic sensibility   see 1997 s the game   into something like a definitive statement    jack   norton   acting as both narrator and protagonist   is your typical cubicle clone   whose disillusionment is amplified by a seemingly incurable insomnia    on the offhand advice of a doctor   he sits in on group therapy sessions for everything from blood parasites to testicular cancer    here he meets bob   marvin lee aday   aka meat loaf     a cancer emasculated eunuch with profound gynecomastia    strangely   the release he finds while sobbing on bob s breasts allows him to sleep at night   at least until a fellow group therapy   tourist   named marla singer   carter   comes along to ruin things for him   forcing a grudging compromise that recalls monty python in its dark hilarity    later   he meets tyler durden   pitt     a soap salesman with a decidedly subversive outlook on life    one night   after his ikea  furnished condo explodes   don t ask   you ll just have to see the movie   awright       he is goaded by tyler into a fight   and damned if it doesn t feel good    it is pure   raw existence   a brief moment of clarity and purpose that makes his dreary workaday life pale in comparison    he moves into tyler s squalid abandoned mansion   and they form the titular organization   an underground therapy group where men bond with bare knuckle savagery and very few rules   the first two of which are   don t talk about fight club      armed with charisma and an attractive anti corporate philosophy   tyler assumes leadership of the burgeoning membership of white collar slaves and dead end mcemployees    resentment creeps into jack s heart   made worse by the fact that tyler is also regularly and noisily boffing the hated marla    funded by a frivolous lawsuit   tyler begins molding his devotees into an army dedicated to mischief and mayhem    their initially juvenile pranks   like pissing in food and putting spike belts on roads   quickly evolve into something more like sedition   and jack fears that things have gone sour    it is after this point   when you are plenty uncomfortable and wondering just how far fincher will go to say something original   that the film uncorks a disappointing plot twist    it is so contrived   and so conventional compared to what precedes it   that everything which follows   including the ending   becomes far less interesting    it s a major   though not fatal   flaw   and for a director as notoriously unpredictable as fincher   it feels like a cop out    fight club is going to be misconstrued by a great many people    in the early going   it has a downright dangerous feel   it seems to be saying that violence and civil disobedience are good for the soul   and this is undoubtedly the message that a few moronic punks are going to take from it    i ll be mightily surprised if imitation fight clubs don t spring up here and there   and i ll be even more amazed if fincher isn t vilified for it by the same humorless witch hunters that are currently after oliver stone    they needn t bother   because fight club is less a message movie than fincher s elaborate attempt at a joke    tyler durden   for all his dionysian allure   is really nothing more than the logical   and far less hypocritical   extrapolation of all those self help gurus who constantly show up on oprah to preach their me first gospel of self actualization    in this context   the joke works   but like the latest columbine joke   some people will get it and enjoy a good laugh   and others won t    hopefully   though   their silly moral outrage won t spoil the joke for the rest of us    
Pos, plot   a bunch of bad guys dressed up as elvis impersonators rob a vegas casino during a presley convention    the boys eventually get together to split the money   but as plans change   double crosses occur   dealing and wheeling goes down and the crew set up for the road    who s on the up and up   who s the real bad guy and who s gonna get to bang courteney cox are just a few of the questions which will be answered by the rest of this movie    critique   the funnest movie that i ve seen so far this year !  it s got style   it s got tough guys talkin  shite and it s got plenty of bullets to go around    a definite hunk a hunk a burnin  adventure !  a guy s guy movie through and through   and one that ll set your jollies to high if you dig on the rough stuff    it s not very original   it goes on for a little too long   but costner and russell make it happen   as two shite kickin  elvis lovers   who don t stop till they   more or less   drop    this movie s got some pretty intensive shoot out scenes   one of the coolest robbery scenarios that i ve ever witnessed   featuring several elvises with guns a blazin  and the king s music playing in the background   and a decent helping of double crosses   sharp dialogue and funny moments    in fact   even though the cast is filled with many name actors   b actors as they might be for the most part     most of them do their bit and succeed well in passing the torch onto the next victim    but the true glue that holds this film together   other than the spirit of elvis himself   is costner and russell   who play their badass characters to the t   sure   russell s been down this road before   but costner surprised me with his nastiness    i guess he s pissed at all the box office bombs that he s been in of late   but he sure played a great unstable elvis impersonating robber here    in the end   the bottom line with this movie is having fun   kickin  ass and making sure there s enough bubblegum around to chew afterwards    and smoke  em if you got  em   folks !  there is also this one really great show down scene between costner and a cop   that ll have you crackin  up and lovin  it all at the same time    the violent scenes in this movie are violent and the entire film is wrapped in a soundtrack that ll kick your arse from this end of the theatre to the next    it should actually come to no surprise to anyone that the director of this movie comes from a music video background   with plenty   and i mean plenty   of camera tricks   cuts and edits   but for this kind of flick   it actually works    the film is not perfect though   it starts off with a pretty big bang   but then pulls a way of the gun on us   and slows the pace down somewhat in the middle   while characters intermingle and disperse    i was personally kept in the game despite some soft spots   and enjoyed the overall ride for what it was as well    and did i mention that courteney cox looked mega hot in the movie    no       okay    well i just did !  i coulda done without her whole   romance   angle   but to be honest   it doesn t take up much of the film   which is generally covered in blood   explosions   guts and elvis nods    try to see how many   inside   connections to the king you can guess    of course   it s no secret that i am quite a big elvis fan myself so please take this whole review with that grain of salt in mind    i also like these types of   guy   movies a lot   and even though the film doesn t bring much originality to the table   it does offer a pretty coherent story   some nice twists and turns   humor and a big ol  helping of whoop ass coming straight from costner and russell s respective boots    probably not a film for everyone   but definitely for those who enjoy the guns   the charismatic bad guys and a fun   if entirely disposable   adventure    now see how many elvis songs i ve used to pun my way through this phony review below    the elvis songs also recommend this movie !  so whether you re lonesome tonight or any other night   remember to pack the teddy bear with bullets   leave your little sister at home   bring your bossa nova baby and rock out of that jailhouse   cause this movie ain t one to return to the sender    i really beg of you   whether you re stuck in the ghetto or crying in the chapel   to slap this cinematic ring around your neck and love it tender    and no suspicious minds either   folks   cause i got stung by this movie   i mean it really shook me up   and unless you re the devil in disguise himself   i think you won t be able to help falling in love with this lucky charm either    so don t be cruel   don t turn away   don t curl up with your latest flame tonite   whether she be a hard headed woman or not   and surrender to the hound dog of movies that is this film    it s now or never   folks    trust me   i did it my way and the heartbreak hotel of crappy movies that i d seen so far this year is far behind me    joblo has now officially left the sanity of his mind and this building    thank you       thank  you very much ! !  where s joblo coming from    get carter   7/10     heat   8/10     honeymoon in vegas   9/10     payback   8/10     reindeer games   5/10    reservoir dogs   9/10     way of the gun   6/10    
Pos, >from the commercials   this looks like a mild mannered neil simonesque tale with mary tyler moore baring her bra touted as the highlight    instead it turns out to be a hilarious film running in high gear from beginning to end    the concept is deceptively pedestrian    an adult adopted son is looking for his biological parents and encounters eccentric characters along the way    the movie demonstrates just how far a good script and actors can take a mundane idea    the son and his wife take off on the search accompanied by a woman from the agency who located his parents    following one dead end lead after another   each funnier than the previous   they eventually end up in new mexico with his real biological parents   alan alda and lily tomlin    it s difficult to condense the mile a minute plot    seemingly hundreds of scenes jump on top of each other without giving you a chance to recover from the last one    without giving too much away   one of the better episodes involves a gay federal alcohol   tobacco and firearms agent attempting an arrest while tripping on lsd as his bi sexual partner is upstairs licking the armpit of a woman while her husband is in the next room seducing their traveling companion    and it s all done in a fairly clean   almost   well   maybe not exactly   family fare manner    a grand cast   tomlin   alda   moore   ben stiller   patricia arquette   tea leoni   george segal   interacts in a seamless parade of laughs    drawing from a more hyper woody allen style   the film succeeds beyond expectations    
Pos, i m not quite sure how best to go about writing this review    i must admit that i was a little disappointed by barry levinson s political satire   wag the dog     but in retrospect   this has less to do with the film itself than with false expectations i had going into it    quite a few of the reviews i have read led me to believe that this film was absolutely hilarious and would make me laugh out loud the whole way through   and it didn t do that    they also led me to believe that it would deliver a vicious and all too true attack on the way the american political media works   and it didn t quite do that either    a few of them even suggested that it would prove a worthy successor to stanley kubrick s   dr    strangelove   in the tradition of political black comedy   and it most definitely didn t do that    that said     wag the dog   is actually a very clever satire on the shady manipulations of political figures and those who assist them    the story revolves around the attempts of political spin doctor conread brean   robert deniro   to distract the american public from the accusations that the president   who is up for re election in two weeks   sexually harassed a young girl in the oval office    the accusations   the script suggests   are probably untrue   but as brean so pointedly puts it   that isn t particularly relevant   the scandal is likely to derail the president s campaign regardless of its truth or falsehood    brean   along with his assistant   anne heche     decide to contact hollywood producer stanley motss   dustin hoffman   to enlist his help in concocting enough propaganda and special effects trickery to make it appear that the u   s   is going to war with albanian terrorists and thus propel the president to victory on a wave of patriotic fervor    as i said     wag the dog   is not quite as laugh out loud hilarious as i had expected   but there are some genuinely funny moments to be found here   such as when   in an echo of a familiar movie clich     the camera pans out over an urban sunset to the strains of uplifting   inspirational music   then cuts to a studio to reveal that the singing is coming from a group of musicians whom motss has assembled to perform   we have the right to fight for democracy      another scene shows us how   with modern editing equipment   an actress running across a sound stage with a bag of potato chips can be turned into a frightened young girl and her kitten fleeing a terrorist attack on her village    the most consistently effective gag revolves around the propaganda team s attempt to forge a fictional war hero out of sgt    william   old shoe   schumann   woody harrelson     an ex military officer who turns out to be a first class psycho    of course   not everything goes as planned   the cia   for example   realizes what s going on and strikes a deal with the president s electoral opponent to report to the media that the   fighting   has ended   forcing motss and brean to come up with a new angle on the supposed albanian crisis    still   even with the cia s involvement   the film falls a little short in terms of making this scenario believable    regardless of the official word from the president or the cia   wouldn t the major media outlets have eastern european correspondents who could verify that there is   in fact   no fighting going on in albania    the film never addresses this question   nor does it show the reactions of the american public to the news of the apparent war except for a few scenes which border on the farcical   such as when basketball fans litter the court with shoes in support of the aforementioned sgt    schumann   we are apparently meant to assume that everyone is buying it    there was also an instance   towards the end of the film   in which one of motss s forced reinventions of the story seems to contradict what he and brean had been selling to the public thus far and could conceivably have given the game away    with these plot holes     wag the dog   doesn t quite work as a satire of american politics   but it does send up the mentality that might lead to these kinds of machinations in the first place    brean and his advisors never seem concerned that what they are doing is unethical   rather   they worry about how convincing it will be and whether or not they have enough money to pull it off    the film takes a decidely dark turn towards the end   as we learn how far they are willing to go in order to keep the propaganda campaign a secret    motss and his hollywood buddies   meanwhile   seem completely out of touch with the rest of the world and just see this undertaking as another creative project    in fact   one of the sources of conflict in the film is motss s increasing restlessness with the idea of not being able to take credit for producing the fake war   in his mind   it is the greatest work of art he has ever created    i think it s fair to say that   wag the dog   underachieves a little bit   more attention to the public reaction and tighter plotting might have made this into a four star film and a classic satire    still   the issue of an american president using war and patriotism to distract from scandals or domestic unpopularity is a very real one    wag the dog takes the issue one step further and asks   what if the war wasn t even real    with this premise and the talented cast   the film still delivers more consistently than most   whatever its flaws    
Pos, the sheer horrific audacity of the nazi plan to exterminate the jews of europe is almost incomprehensible    people may make documentaries about it for another hundred years and still not understand the organized   methodical hatred    five concentration camp survivors from the last days of world war ii tell their stories in the last days   the first documentary from steven spielberg s survivors of the shoah visual history foundation    the five interviewees are linked by their hungarian ancestry    as the introduction explains   even as germany started to lose the war   the nazis stepped up their extermination of the jews in europe    in 1944   hungary had the last big population of jews within germany s reach   and they became the last target of hitler s   final solution      each of the five tells his or her story    their stories are intercut chronologically   starting from normal life in pre war hungary    they recall the nazi invasion of hungary   being sent to   work   camps and their realization that they were actually in death camps    they recall their horrible   precarious lives in auschwitz and buchenwald   the deaths of their family and friends   their loss of hope    each recalls his or her unfathomable   eventual liberation    and finally   the last days shows their cathartic   pained   modern day return to their old homes and the camps    needless to say   their stories are horrifying   amazing   and emotionally draining    by themselves   the stories would be forceful testaments   but by cutting them in parallel   their impact is multiplied by five    the last days is a talking heads style documentary    it s mostly pictures of people telling their stories   intercut with period photographs and newsreel footage    in this kind of movie it s almost impossible to get archival pictures from the same time and place being discussed on screen   but director james moll made a better effort than most at finding specific   or at least relevant   images to go with his subjects  narration    the liner notes   one of the many nice features of this dvd   indicate that there is some never before seen historical footage in the last days    it s not clear which scene it is    it could be one of two that i hadn t seen before   both powerful    one is rare color footage   shot by an american   of piles of victims in cattle cars    there is something jarring   something unsettling about seeing the pictures in color   when so much of the footage from world war ii is in black and white    another segment shows walking skeletons   survivors who are so starved that they hardly look human anymore    there has been a glut of holocaust movies and i was skeptical that a new documentary would have anything new to say    but by focusing on hungarian jews during the last days of the war   moll told a specific part of the story in a new way   in greater detail    and i m glad he did because his careful filmmaking stands up well compared to other movies on the same subject    the transfer to dvd is rich and beautiful    x mozilla status   0009f words for a holocaust documentary   but some of the interviews take place in europe in late spring   when skies are blue and trees are green    also   the movie was shot on 35mm film   and not video !      so the richness and detail are impeccable    the dvd s features are plentiful and well chosen    there is a theatrical trailer for the movie   which is a great introduction to the subject matter    there are about fifty still photos   both from the production crew and from the private collections of the survivors    also   the disc has two complete versions of the movie   widescreen and full screen     both on the same side    one of the more interesting dvd features is an outtake segment for each of the survivors   plus one for the crew      you d think outtakes would be inappropriate in a holocaust documentary   but they re not bloopers    instead   they are solid   moving segments that were probably cut from the film only for length    one of them continues a confrontation that was only touched on lightly in the film    renee firestone   one of the five   spoke on camera with dr   hans m   nch   a german doctor who ran the medical clinic at auschwitz    firestone was aggressive   questioning the doctor about what his children thought    the doctor was evasive and clearly uncomfortable    another of the outtakes showed bill basch saying a prayer for his dead friends at auschwitz    he ends his prayer by saying         forgive me for surviving      it s ambitious to shoot a documentary on 35mm film    it s ambitious to make it on a subject that has saturated cable   television   and movies    it s ambitious to make it 54 years after the events it covers    but the last days handles all these potential obstacles very well    it s only fitting that the dvd   with its wealth of interesting and relevant features   would also be ambitious and successful    
Pos, it is easy to label something sentimental or tear jerking when one has not experienced the heartache of losing a child   whether that may be in life or in death    after having said that   i will also say that this movie does all of the above very well    one gets that choking sensation in the throat   because of grief   when one brother forgives another for a costly mistake   or when a husband hugs his wife after a long estrangement    there is no ocean   no drownings and it does not conjure up memories of yet another   ordinary people     in fact the only thing remotely connected to the ocean is probably tap water and the toilet flushing   not that this literally happened in the movie      so what are the lessons learnt   1    don t take your children to class reunions    2   don t leave them alone in the lobby   not even for a second    michelle pfeiffer once again plays the role of a highly strung wife and mother   a trend that started with   a thousand acres  and   one fine day     my comment is that she is exceptionally fine strung in this movie   so much so that when she has a nervous break down   the veins on her temples bulge impressively    whoopi golberg also puts in an understated performance   playing a lesbian cop   with a name that makes one want to reach for a lollipop    lastly   who are the ideal companions for this sort of movie   my grandmother comes to mind    
Pos, i know that   funnest   isn t a word       fun   is a noun   and therefore cannot be conjugated like an adjective    but that s the word that came to me right after viewing   chicken run      no wonder   this is the kind of movie that reduces you to childish expressions   like   that was the funnest movie i ve ever seen !    so to hell with webster s      chicken run   is one of the funnest movies i ve seen in a while    i can t remember the last time i ve seen anything funner    the chickens at tweedy s farm are up to something    living in a concentration camp like atmosphere   they are led by one plucky hen called ginger   voice of julia sawalha   who continually comes up with plans for escape    and always gets caught   subsequently spending day after day in the coal box    one night   a brash american rooster flies in over the fence   calling himself rocky   mel gibson     famous flying rooster and circus performer    rocky promises to teach the chickens how to fly   and the situation grows more desperate as the nefarious mrs   tweedy   miranda richardson   decides to abandon the farm s egg selling plan for a pie selling plan    she orders a huge pie making machine   cackling     chickens go in   pies come out      what sort of pies    chicken pies   of course    co director nick park and his studio   aardman animation   produced three oscar winning short films     creature comforts       the wrong trousers     and   a close shave      the latter two were the second and third installments of a trilogy starring the delightful team wallace & gromit   a man and his dog famous for getting themselves into increasingly peculiar adventures    part of what made the   wallace   films brilliantly entertaining was park s uncanny ability to make an old story seem new       the wrong trousers     for example   pulled out a lot of old hitchcockian suspense tricks   and   a close shave   owed a great deal of inspiration to classic detective stories    but in the hands of park and his team   the stories felt fresh and inspired   and not the least bit contrived    now teaming with co director peter lord   park has created a similar creature in   chicken run      the plot is largely lifted from   the great escape     watch for a quick reference to the ball bouncing scene     with some spielberg inspired action sequences providing the excitement    thing is   the film doesn t feel like it s been lifted from somewhere else     chicken run   feels fresh   alive   like nothing else ever done    part of it is the original idea   who in the world came up with the idea to make a prisoners of war movie starring chickens    park and lord milk the incongruity for all it s worth   the characters treat their situation as if it were dead serious   and to them   it is    but they re * chickens *   so it s funny to us    another thing that helps   chicken run     and most of park s films   succeed is the animators  subtle way of giving nods to the very films they re cribbing    there are references to   the great escape     obviously   and   stalag 17      the chase sequence inside the chicken grinder parodies both   raiders of the lost ark   and   indiana jones and the temple of doom      there s even a nod to   the blues brothers     if you can believe it   and the filmmakers even get in a little light hearted ribbing at the expense of their star voice actor   taking a couple of very subtle jabs at mel gibson s nationality and film history    the   braveheart   reference is a hoot if you catch it    when you consider just how fine a line resides between a funny parody and a redundant one     chicken run   is downright brilliant in its execution    consider this   since july of last year   i ve seen dozens upon dozens of   blair witch project   parodies   on television   on the radio   and online    out of all those   maybe one or two were amusing   the rest tiresome    why    because once you got past the thought that   they re parodying that&#8216   blair witch  movie     most of the parodies had nothing to offer    no insight   no original idea   no greater purpose    they were only funny if you had seen the movie   otherwise   you got nothing    conversely     chicken run   doesn t lean on its parodies    the film references are never the sole focus of any scene    if you ve never seen   indiana jones     the chase sequence is still fun    even if you have no idea who mel gibson is   rocky remains an interesting character    park   lord   and screenwriter karey kirkpatrick realize that an audience does not need a parody shoved in their faces before it s understood   and as a result     chicken run   is filled with visual and verbal jabs that are never too obvious   but not quite vague either    enjoyment of this movie doesn t require knowledge of film history   but if you ve got it     chicken run   is that much richer    the voice cast turns in uniformly lively performances   and the characters they play are given so many subtle nuances that it s hard not to fall in love with every one of them    ginger is perfect   spunky and opinionated   but with a soft heart that forbids her to leave her companions behind   and julia sawalha   known as the cute mousy girl on   absolutely fabulous     nails it    she has warm   human chemistry with gibson   whose rocky hides his personal doubt under a brash gung ho veneer    the characters  inevitable romance doesn t feel contrived   but sweet    poor mr   tweedy   tony haygarth   suspects the chickens are organizing in some way   but his limited intellect prevents him from figuring things out   and his overbearing wife certainly isn t any help    jane horrocks delivers a lovely voice characterization as tragically optimistic babs   a hen that runs away with most of the best one liners   all while perpetually crocheting a sweater     and two supply trading rats that seem to have walked straight out of a monty python sketch nearly steal the show during the lively central swing dancing sequence    they even come up with an inspired riff on something that s baffled scholars and theologians alike for decades   the chicken vs   egg dilemma    one might have expected this inevitable joke to come off as wearisome   but as with most of   chicken run     it comes as a delightful surprise    the film manages to cross all barriers   it should be accessible to both children and adults   brits and yanks   rats and chickens    the animation is first rate    remember that this was all done the old fashioned way   with actual humans moving clay figurines around on a tiny set bit by painstaking bit   and you see just how truly remarkable   chicken run   really is    this movie possesses that same quality that makes pixar studios  animation great   precise and unwavering attention to detail    as in such top notch family fare as   a bug s life   or   toy story 2       chicken run   has something to offer in nearly every frame    certainly a passive viewer can enjoy it as a straightforward story with a worthwhile moral and some surprisingly touching scenes   but a active   attentive viewers will enjoy it even more because they ll catch all the details    anyway   the movie s just a boatload of fun    funnest damn movie i ve seen all year    
Pos, capsule   a short punchy action sequel to the two dinosaur films made by steven spielberg    joe johnston directs a straightforward story of an excursion back to the island of the dinosaurs    it lets us see some new dinosaurs   is that an oxymoron     and gives us a nice and generally reasonably written adventure    the film is neither ambitious nor pretentious    i had a good time       low +2    4 to +4    here goes my credibility    this is a film on which i expect to be in a minority    i liked the third jurassic park film    i even liked the second jurassic park film    in a lot of ways jurassic park   the lost world was a creative three way braiding together of michael crichton s novel the lost world   arthur conan doyle s novel the lost world   and the classic silent film version of the doyle    jp2 was an adventure   as doyle said     for the boy who s half man or the man who s half boy      that is what all the jurassic park films are    expecting them to give the viewer insights into the human condition is like expecting your car to vacuum your house    the classic adventure films like gunga din or king solomon s mines had under written characters also    jurassic park iii is an all out adventure on an island inhabited by dinosaurs    the characters are a little more complex than they at first appear to be   and even that is a little more complex than i was expecting    some of the characters who start out looking stupid and useless prove to be neither as the film proceeds    that degree of complexity combined with those very realistic looking dinosaur effects is just about as much as i require    i feel i got my money s worth    the story opens with eric   played by trevor morgan   and friend parasailing near the forbidden island of isla sorna off costa rica    this was the research island where the dinosaurs were created for the now defunct jurassic park    they hope   no doubt   to get a look at the island s dinosaurs from a safe height    the height is safe   but driving the boat in the water is not    the two soon find themselves in trouble and have to ditch their parasail onto the island where they do indeed get a better look at the dinosaurs than they had intended    flash to the united states and someone is offering to fund paleontologist alan grant   sam neill   in his research if he will go and fly over isla sorna and act as a guide    he has said that no force on earth or heaven could get him back near real dinosaurs    but again money convinces him to drop what he is doing and go    doing the convincing is a wealthy and eccentric couple   william h   macy and tea leoni   who has been just about everywhere else in the world and wants the adventure of seeing real dinosaurs    they too plan to see the island from a safe height grant is relieved to learn    he will fly over this island at a safe altitude just this once    right    guess what happens next    jp3 probably functions better as a sequel than jp2    first it has alan grant and ellie sattler   laura dern   back rather than the much less appealing ian malcolm    sattler has a much smaller part in jp3   but is still present to tie this story to the first    curiously each film seems to arrange to have a signature scene with characters holding on to some large metal object that is about to fall some great distance    one thing that does not quite fit with the earlier films is just as grant discovers that raptors may be able to talk to each other   suddenly they seem to be doing it all the time    they did not appear to be conversing in the previous films    of course   these raptors look a little different also   so perhaps they are a different related species    not only are they more intelligent than in the past films   they are also more sympathetic    in this story they are not just killing machines   they have reasonable motives for what they do beyond nutrition    this time around they may be a little too anthropomorphized    each new film in the series introduces us to some new dinosaurs   of course    in this film a major threat is from a spinosaurus   not as common or as popularly known as a tyrannosaurus   but larger and presumably more nasty    it has a crocodile s head and the body that looks like a dimetrodon walking upright    perhaps as an economy measure or just to create a mood the visual effects team frequently obscures our view of the dinosaurs    sometimes they just move too fast to see    occasionally darkness or fog obscures our vision    a few times we get unconvincing matte shot   particularly of the laboratory    but there is less money on the screen in terms of dinosaur effects than in the two previous films    the musical score by don davis borrows heavily from john williams s score for the first film    joe johnston   who directs   already has to his credit two very good films i recommend the rocketeer and october sky    a team including alexander payne and jim taylor known for election writes the screenplay    the film they have made is a long way from great cinema   but it still is fun    if you get a thrill from seeing what look very much like live dinosaurs alive today   the film is for you    i rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the  4 to +4 scale    
Pos, just look back two years ago at the coen brothers  comedic gem the big lebowski   change the actors   take away the bowling alley   add a record store   and you ve got high fidelity   or maybe the other way around since nick hornby s novel high fidelity came first      either way   it s been done before   a trio of losers cracking jokes and complaining about their failed romances   yet it remains consistently funny    why is this    maybe because you know your life is much better than this   you know these guys are more pathetic than you are   and you know its ok to laugh at them because they re fictional    director stephen frears   possibly not intentionally   has created a movie that makes you feel good about yourself and even that ostensibly no good uncle who watches television twenty four hours a day    when watching high fidelity   expect to laugh at someone else s pain   realize what you are laughing at   and then laugh again    i laughed at dick   todd louiso     the shy   timorous   steve buscemi character of lebowski   who seems to know what he is talking about but either can t put it into words or is harshly rejected by his friends    i laughed at the john goodman character barry   jack black     an exact replica of the comic bookstore owner on the simpsons   pudgy   egotistic   and obnoxious at the same time    and i laughed at rob   john cusack     the jeff bridges type   whom the story revolves around    rob is the character easiest to relate to   but he is nothing like you at all    he uncontrollably cheats and lies   then is unable to realize why he can not hold onto a woman    and like his other miserable friends   pop music is where he inevitably goes for comfort    he spends the afternoons at his job quizzing his coworkers with obscure trivia or listening to new music and either deriding it or praising it    whatever human emotions the clash   aretha franklin   and bruce springsteen records hold   rob and co    grasp them and help fill voids in their social lives    rob has built an extensive collection in his record store as well as his home and he organizes them depending on what mood he is in    during this confused stage of his life in which the movie focuses on   rob is trying to cope with numerous rejections over the years by visiting past girlfriends and eventually asking why they dumped him    but these aren t any girlfriends   these girls made the all time top five break ups in the history of rob   rob s incessant use of lists show how pop music has played a major role in his life      the plot in three words is   women and music    the approach director stephen frears takes by having the charismatic rob speak directly to the camera is very effective    it gives high fidelity a quickly paced   informal structure   adjectives which perfectly parallel rob s own lifestyle    it also helps open the viewer s eyes as to how annoying barry is    jack black steals the show with a hilariously realistic performance as a total sleaze ball    just listening to him speak for five minutes makes the audience immediately sympathetic for rob   who must work with him every day of the week    what frears does so well is that he makes us feel sorry for rob while laughing at his misfortunes    john cusack plays his character convincingly but it is the strong supporting cast   consisting of big stars and character actors   that really defines rob    now instead of rob just talking to the camera   after he explains something   the remaining cast members physically and humorously create what he is trying to say    the only problem with high fidelity is that it doesn t end when it should have ended    instead the movie goes on for a torturous twenty minutes that seem a lot longer than that    also bruce springsteen is completely wasted in a brief cameo halfway through the movie    high fidelity is a cheerful   old fashioned comedy with a voluminous soundtrack and as many laughs    i just hope hollywood keeps creating losers on the big screen   they make everyone look and feel great    
Pos, plot   a human space astronaut accidentally falls upon a planet ruled by apes    he is taken prisoner along with some other humans   and tries his best to escape his simian captors    oh yeah   and did i mention that the apes can talk    kewl !  critique   despite this film not looking like a   tim burton movie   or its lead human character showing any signs of being a human being himself   i did find myself generally entertained throughout most of this film and do recommend it as fun   summer fare    although the thing that sets this movie apart from all others is definitely its incredible ape make up jobs and characterizations    i mean   i was completely convinced that every single one of these apes was for real !  i also have to   give it up   to all of the actors inside the costumes   not only for waking up at three in the morning every day to get make up slobbered all over them for 2 4 hours   but for coming through their costumed exteriors and selling us their characters on the screen as well    i especially enjoyed bonham carter s performance   who i believed to be the most developed character in the entire film   human or ape   and tim roth s bad guy   who chewed up scenery and oozed evil in every scene in which he took part    plot wise   i liked the beginning of the film   the whole build up once wahlberg got into the village   the escape and most of the fight scenes   but once things got out into the deserted area   and the final battle sequence     i kinda lost a bit of my interest    i was much more intrigued by the interactions between the characters and the whole idea of   human beings as animals   then i was about the end battle sequence   which just seemed a bit too typical for this kind of film    i also hated the   kid   character who just got on my nerves and didn t really care for the way that the battle sequence was resolved   i won t ruin it here but c mon guys       you  coulda thought of something a little more plausible than that   no        but the thing that held this movie back more than anything else was its lead character   his cold demeanor and the zero chemistry that he shared with either one of his inter species love interests    this dude didn t seem to give a rat s ass about anyone but himself and i ultimately didn t really care about what happened to him either    now i m not sure if this was the fault of the actor or the script   but the film suffered because of it    visually   the movie was also nice to look at   especially the apes !     but i definitely expected greater coolness from tim burton    the   surprise ending   that highlighted the original planet of the apes film back in 1968   felt a little tacked on here   and despite being interesting   didn t really make all that much sense to me   unless you look at it from a sequel point of view      so overall   i loved the whole   feel   of the planet   the apes that ruled it   the manner in which they treated the humans   screamed   shouted and reverted the entire evolution chain   but didn t appreciate the film s lack of human character development   why was kris kristofferson even in this movie     and the fact that its lead male and female humans were just plain boring    but i would still recommend this film as a fun   summer movie with laughs   creepiness and a really cool premise    ps   for anyone who has seen the original   i cannot believe that they didn t at least bring back the scene in which the lead human character   in this case   mark wahlberg   goes nuts at the world in which he s suddenly been thrust     this is a mad house !      type of thing      the guy in this film barely seems to be   put off   by the fact that he s surrounded by apes who can speak english ! !  where s joblo coming from    the arrival   8/10     battlefield earth   7/10     godzilla   4/10     instinct   6/10     mission to mars   3/10     pitch black   7/10       1968   planet of the apes   9/10     sleepy hollow   8/10    
Pos, disaster films have a tendency to be very formulated and very cliched    to see a disaster film with actual originality   or at least a decent plot twist   would definitely be a welcome surprise    unfortunately   folks   it s not likely    dante s peak is cliched   and at times corny   but also pretty decent    to be honest   i wasn t very interested in seeing this film   and word of mouth   as well as several reviews   didn t make it sound promising    so i was pleasantly surprised that to find that this movie wasn t bad at all    it s pretty run of the mill   but it s not something i would say is merely   ok   to watch    in case you don t know   dante s peak is about a volcano and the city which lives in it s shadow   dante s peak   who would ve guessed   eh        pierce brosnan plays the volcanologist sent to study the volcano and   perhaps more by hunch than actual scientific proof   is determined that the volcano will be arupting in the very near future    due to the lack of more substantial evidence   nobody warns the small town   and when they finally do   it s in the middle of the town meeting that the volcano finally blows    brosnan   all around good guy   will   of course   save the day            or at least the mayor of dante s peak   linda hamilton      naturally the two will become infatuated with one another       if you think i just ruined a plot development   you haven t seen very many movies !    there s also the virtually neccessary kids and pet dog to tug at your heart strings    and of course   the kids or the dog   at least one or the other   will do something heroic            but hey   i don t want to ruin all the surprises !  if there was a part of you that was hesitating seeing dante s peak merely because it was rumored to be a waste of time   i urge you to watch it and decide for yourself    it s not brain food   but it succeeds at what it s meant to be            an enjoyable   suspenseful movie about the fury mother nature can unleash !  
Pos, in brief   best bleak comedy film since heathers    full of wonderful swipes at the fifteen minutes of fame mentality that feeds so much of modern american pop culture    go see it !  so   i prepared for this film by watching a moving interview on   hard copy   with pam smart   the new hampshire media teacher who was convicted of engineering the death of her husband back in the 1980 s       hard copy    s diane diamond asked smart what she thought about nicole kidman s fictionalized portrayal of her in the new film to die for    smart replied that she thought kidman s character came off as a dumb   vicious tramp and she thought that the publicity the new movie generates might just hurt her chances in her latest court appeal       smart was convicted and given a life sentence for her part in the murder of her husband      smart s got a point    it wouldn t be the first time that the public took the better scripted and well acted movie version of an event as the absolute truth over the duller and far less artistic real life version    however   given a choice between the mass media  happening  of the real event and the fictionalized movie   i would definitely opt for the later    real murderers rarely have dialogue as witty as what buck henry has written for this movie and smart   while pretty and alluring   is no match for the cinematic charms of nicole kidman    to die for begins in a town called little hope   new hampshire   the archetypal dry and intellectually barren american suburb    the story concerns the ambitious suzanne stone and how she tackles the obstacles between her and her life long ambition of being  on tv      of course   one of those little obstacles turns out to be her dull and unambitious husband larry   played by matt dillon    but   with a little imagination   some charm and raw sex appeal and a rather novel approach to junior achievement   our heroine manages to overcome the nay sayers in her life   at least temporarily    kidman triumphs in the trashy role of suzanne    i have never really been all that fond of this actress but she shows a wonderful flair for comedy in this picture    her portrayal of the incredibly shallow and dumb femme fatale resonates    kidman knows a star making role when she sees it and she plays the conscience deprived suzanne as the ultimate career driven   post feminist uber temptress from hell    she is ably abetted by wonderfully demented comic dialogue   which kidman delivers in a unselfconsciously funny way    at one point suzanne is expounding on her knowledge of world events to her future husband and sister in law       you know     she knowingly exclaims     gorbachev would still be the leader of russia or whatever   if he had just had that ugly purplish thing removed from his head      her husband beams at suzanne s profound knowledge of world politics and then proudly proclaims that this qualifies her to be the next barbara walters    this is very close to pop culture bashing heaven   folks    the other standout performance in the film is delivered by joaquin phoenix    he plays jimmy   a burned out teenager who becomes addicted to suzanne s sexual favors    kidman s character   vapid though she is   is a sort of suave beacon of success to jimmy and his lost friends russell and lydia   winningly portrayed by casey affleck and alison folland    phoenix looks like the very embodiment of gen x slackerhood   as envisioned by tabloid tv   of course      his jimmy has the dead eyes and demeanor of a kid who knows that he ain t going anywhere   ever    phoenix reacts to the sexy suzanne with a sort of obsessed amazement and he makes us believe that a loser character like jimmy really would be willing to kill for someone like suzanne   someone who actually noticed him    gus van sant   drugstore cowboy   my own private idaho   direction is first rate    he keeps the pacing in this not quite thriller snapping along    van sant rightly keeps the focus of this movie on the amoral suzanne and doesn t stop to proselytize the audience about the rightness or wrongness of her actions    van sant trusts his material and trusts his audience to  get it  without stopping to explain what is funny about this all american story    the screenplay   by buck henry   is absolutely great and includes some of the best bleakly comic lines i ve heard since heathers    henry s story is a blast against the shallowness of the american media and the mindlessness of fame   yet the screenplay delivers this sharp message by focusing on just a few characters    henry ably manages to avoid diluting his story by aiming at too many targets and the result is a crisp and funny mini classic    danny elfman did the original music for this movie and he delivers another eccentric   loopy score that strongly echoes his themes for edward scissorhands    either film score would make wonderful background music for halloween trick or treat parties    all in all   a wonderful production   well worth your seven bucks !  to die for   a columbia pictures release directed by gus van sant    written by buck henry score by danny elfman starring nicole kidman   matt dillon   joachin phoenix based on the book by joyce maynard    rated r   for language and mature themes       respect the r   not for under 14 s   rating       stars    go see it    
Pos, i relish those rare opportunities when a talented screenwriter can make me feel like a fool    i spent the first hour of forces of nature slowly stewing over its grim attitude towards marriage   grousing to myself about its transparently planes   trains and automobiles plot machinations   and waiting for the inevitable hollywood denouement    this was a mass market romantic comedy   after all   a genre which has been taken over by teenagers and   even in its best days   worked hard to perpetuate the romance = infatuation paradigm    then marc lawrence did something wonderful   something which made the entire film click into place   he showed me a comic love story about grown ups    it certainly didn t look that way from the outset   which introduces groom to be ben holmes   ben affleck   at his bachelor party   surrounded by friends and family whooping over his   last night of freedom      ben loves his fiancee bridget   maura tierney     but the doom and gloom pronouncements of everyone around him have him questioning the meaning of this  till death do you part business    then   on an ill fated flight from new york to his wedding in savannah   ben meets sarah lewis   sandra bullock     a free spirited woman with a string of failed careers and relationships behind her    as transportation troubles thwart them at every turn   ben and sarah begin a three day southward journey in which their connection grows ever stronger   ben seeing in sarah the chances he s never taken and sarah seeing in ben the stability she s never had    forces of nature gets off to a solid enough start   setting up the characters and the situations with plenty of witty dialogue    ben is an ideal role for affleck s easy going charm   and he plays the straight laced straight man without forced exasperation    sandra bullock   for her part   is more loose and appealing than she has been in her last half dozen films combined   avoiding her recent habit of playing any semblance of character depth as moping    the two performances    part of a great top to bottom cast    are effective and connected from the start   yet the script s apparent sympathy with the marital horror stories ben hears makes it difficult to enjoy the romance completely    lively and funny though it may be on a consistent basis   forces of nature leaves a bitter taste that feels like self justification    the kicker is that those acidic anecdotes serve exactly the opposite purpose   leading to a surprisingly emotional resolution    forces of nature isn t about a man developing a fear of commitment   it s about a man learning what commitment means  to him    learning that it s not what he thought it was    lawrence s script feints and dodges before reaching its happy ending   an ending which is happy because people make the choices that make the most sense    earlier scenes that might have felt like throwaways take on more resonance   and that bitter taste sweetens into something fresh and genuine    though one too many plot contrivances keep ben and sarah together through the film   and they do exchange the obligatory mutual character analysis of bickering screen couples   forces of nature wraps up so perfectly that you ll end up remembering the humor and the simple wisdom    that is   provided you re not put off by the ridiculously busy direction of bronwen hughes    for a brisk romantic comedy   forces of nature comes loaded with some of the most over directed scenes of the year   teetering hand held shots   why not low or high angles   sweeping pans    occasionally the hyper real approach works   with cinematographer elliot davis creating a world of fantasy romance   far more often   hughes refuses to let a scene be what it is   covering it with flourishes so thick you almost can t find what s underneath    a script this smart and mature deserved a more restrained director   but even hughes  excesses can t spoil this unique concoction    forces of nature may restore your faith in romantic comedy as something with the power to enchant   something that can make you happy to be proved wrong when you expect a tale for and about adolescents    
Pos, warning   this review contains some spoilers for the 1964 film   fail safe      if you haven t seen the film yet   proceed with caution    nutshell   a relevant   intelligent   suspenseful drama    still powerful today   even after the end of the cold war                           fail safe     usa   1964   drama   111 minutes  screenplay by walter bernstein based on the novel by eugene burdick and harvey wheeler produced by max e   youngstein directed by sidney lumet  review by jamahl epsicokhan                       the most ironic aspect of nuclear war is that it doesn t have a winning side and a losing side    in a nuclear confrontation   everybody loses   and the aftereffects have devastating effects that impact the entire world  assuming the world survives    the idea  and perhaps the only real option  is to avoid war at all costs    this is the theme of sidney lumet s   fail safe     a fictional drama based on the novel by eugene burdick and harvey wheeler       fail safe   takes place during the heart of the cold war   the actual film was released two years after the cuban missile crisis     when the united states and the soviet union were in static discord over an issue that can be summarized in a single word   communism    the premise centers around a combination of accidents and operation flaws    five u   s   bombers carrying nuclear warheads are ordered to set a routine course for moscow after an unidentified aircraft is spotted heading toward america    the unidentified aircraft turns out to be a commercial airliner   but a mechanical failure strikes the military base that commands the bombers    suddenly out of contact   and with standing orders to remain on course until receiving new directives   the bomber pilots cannot be recalled   and they proceed to moscow with the intention of destroying it with a nuclear strike    a great deal of   fail safe    s plot follows various characters as they attempt to devise ways of stopping the u   s   bombers from reaching russia s borders  at any cost    the plot is compelling   and the story creates urgency and dread by painting the grimmest of worst case scenarios    the reality sets in quickly as one attempt to turn the bombers after another fails    general bogan   frank overton     taking orders directly from the president of the united states himself   henry fonda     is powerless  the fate of the world lies in the hands of an automated   pre programmed system that may not be stoppable   simply because the creators of the war machines were too efficient in their task to make a no win situation winnable    the events in   fail safe   are fascinating because they re anything but predictable   but the real reason   fail safe   works is because it understands more about nuclear war than what exists within the confines of its plot    a key ingredient to the film is its ability to create an ongoing polemic about nuclear war   communism   the cold war   and the united states  role in all of it    most of this is through the film s use of the character groeteschele   walter matthau     an arrogant civilian theorist of nuclear weapons use who   incidentally   is on the president s advising staff for analyzing the statistical plausibility of waging a nuclear war    many of the film s most pointed messages arise from discussions where groeteschele is one of the key voices    early in the film   he hosts a dinner party where he explains the importance of   strategy   in a nuclear assault to   minimize   casualties       what s the difference between 60 million and 100 million dead      a guest asks impatiently       forty million     groeteschele responds wryly    the problem with groeteschele s mindset is that he * believes * nuclear combat to be a viable method of war    the only difference to him between nuclear armageddon and conventional warfare is the raw data and the casualty totals    groeteschele realizes that these weapons can destroy the world several times over    yet his answer to the arms race is not to slow down and try to cool the situation off   as general black   dan o herlihy   has often recommended    on the contrary  according to groeteschele   that would lead to russia having * more * nuclear weapons than the u   s     which would clearly put america at a disadvantage    such a stance was perhaps the central paradox and misguided practice of the arms race       fail safe   clearly sees it as one of the central issues of the cold war   and   likewise   it becomes a central theme in the film    why continue to build such machines of mass destruction while already possessing enough of them to destroy the world several times over    is it wise    is it even logical    no   not really    although   fail safe   is more about the issue of nuclear weapons than it is about the political ramifications of communism   there is a scene in the film that deals with communism in an intentionally superficial   one sided sort of way    again   this is achieved through groeteschele   who is easily the film s most important character in terms of the larger theme significance    in addition to providing the central   pro nuclear war   voice that the film warns against   he also makes key remarks about communists that show just how much fear and resentment people of the period were prone to when it came to communism    the context the film uses suggests that this hatred was often glib    one of groeteschele s   logical   trains of thought ventures so far into fantasy theoretical prediction that it s merely absurd    he labels the average marxist an   unfeeling   calculating machine   that will do whatever it takes to preserve itself    groeteschele takes it so far as to say that if the u   s   drops the warhead on moscow   the soviets will * instantly * surrender   for to retaliate would invite counter measures that would further destroy russia s home soil  which must be preserved at all costs    groeteschele seems to forget these people are human beings with emotions   general black quickly reminds him that the soviets would attack out of revenge  as any normal person would    the irony here is groeteschele s own mechanical theorizing    he is so quick to judge the enemy that he doesn t even realize his own seemingly programmed thought patterns    once the film makes it evident that turning the u   s   bombers will be impossible   the question becomes what the * consequences * of destroying moscow will be    just how will the soviet union s leader react   and what can the president do to convey his best intentions       just * how * does one pass off the deaths of millions of people as an * mishap *      with the help of his translator buck   larry hagman     the president negotiates at length with the soviet leader   in scenes that prove amazingly taut and powerful in their simplicity   with lumet s long takes of fonda and hagman in the same frame   exchanging the dialog between the president and the soviet leader    without getting into too much detail   i will say that the compromise they ultimately reach is very costly   yet necessary and as sensible as possible under the circumstances       that is   as sensible as a nuclear   incident   can probably be      it does accomplish what it must   it avoids an all out war   something that simply isn t possible because of its all too real consequences    dramatically   the ending is quite powerful   and the use of o herlihy s character as the symbolic   matador     providing a bookend to the film by ending the story while tying into his dream sequence from the film s opening     is particularly appropriate       fail safe   is a production of a major hollywood studio   released by columbia pictures     and it has the structure of a high tension suspense thriller that one might expect from a hollywood film    nevertheless   under lumet s direction and walter bernstein s intelligent adaptation of burdick s and wheeler s novel   the film continues to have a lasting effect even after the events on screen have unfolded    the film often warns that the automation of war is something that may make nuclear holocaust an unintentional consequence of such mass arming    but it was the conscious   human choice to * initialize * this automatic arming that   fail safe   also finds dangerous    in retrospect   the arms race seems to be one of the most puzzling exercises in futility of the century    it s just fortunate that both sides were finally able to come to their senses and slow down   rather than continuing groeteschele s dangerous approach of speeding up and causing a possible meltdown    
Pos, andrew lloyd webber s musicals   preferably his early work with lyricist tim rice   present a musical which is totally unlike any musical before its time    webber and rice do not subscribe to the gaity of such musicals as   oklahoma !     or the slapstickness of shows like   a funny thing happened on the way to the forum      they instead tackle hot issues from our past   and view them differently   and pack them together with redundant   catchy music   as well as thoughtful lyrics    like   jesus christ superstar     which examined the rise and fall of jesus in his last days from a fame perspective   in the cool tune   superstar     a dead judas comes back from the dead to ask jesus why he didn t spread his message wider       evita   takes an inventive stance on its topic   this time being the famed wife of argentinian dictator   juan per   n   eva   who slept her way to the top and became famous chiefly because she got attention   much like the woman playing her   madonna   although i think madonna did rise to the top for her musical talent   among other things         evita   deals with the rise and fall of eva per   n   a woman who captured the heart of the nation after marrying juan   jonathan pryce     then died at the young age of 33   creating an international stir of mourning not unlike that of princess di   the two do share a bit in common   although it wasn t like di slept to   the top        webber and rice sure chose bizarre topics for their musicals   but they always have a point for doing it    here   they wish to expose her for what she is   but still show that despite all of her many drawbacks   her lying   and covering up for her fascist husband   but show that she was still a good woman with fairly good intentions   and her death was very sad    it s also a musical   with almost no words not unsung    the film plays like a rock opera   much like their   jesus christ superstar     with many giant musical sequences just like the old musicals   even if they do possess very intelligent lyrics   which create not only an intellectually enlightening experience   but also a very entertaining one    after all   this is a musical   and webber s musicals never undermine this    they are a balance of energy and intellectual depth   walking on a fine line between the both   and never stumbling on either side    this is why the beginning of   evita   is kind of a let down    okay   it is a let down    i m not saying the opening moments are bad   because they re pretty good    but what comes after is a lifeless   un entertaining   and totally unrewarding sequence where she cons a singer   jimmy nail   into taking eva to buenos aires after a one night stand    in the musical   it s a fun   energetic sequence   culiminating in the show stopper     buenos aires     which is also lifeless    then a punch is pulled as we see eva being screwed over by the singer   instead of her leaving him   where she ends up singing the sad tune     another suitcase in another hall     which was meant for a later character   screwed over by eva    the portrayal of eva in the beginning is too soft   seeming like parker and oliver stone   who adapted it for the screen   are afraid to present her for what she is   even while it s being narrated by a hater of eva s   the omnipotent   antonio banderas     who presents her in a negative light    for a while   it looks like alan parker can t pull it off    however   the film pulls itself together in a flash   and after that song is over   and the giddily nihilistic song   goodbye and thank you     where we see eva go through a long line of lovers who help her ascend   is magnificent   darkly comical   and just gleeful    from this point on   the film is hypnotic   satisfying   and satirical    no more punches are thrown   and the basic outline of the original musical are in tact    we see eva woo and marry juan   get him out of jail   rise to stardom   falter a bit   come back   and then gradually die of cancer   i think it was because of cancer      more importantly   many of the themes from the musical carry on with this   as well as some filling in the gaps reconnassaince work    juan   who is pretty underwritten in the musical   is given some extra scenes   and exposed as what he was for eva   an accessory    a muted scene where he tries to visit her respective room but is shunned allows us to learn more about juan   and understand his sadness more than we did before    >from the   goodbye and thank you   number on   the film shows eva trying to cover up for the horrible government by doing cheap and petty things which wooed a nation   and saved a government   even while it left the nation s people downtrodden    but despite this   the nation still loved eva   and when she slipped into death   the world mourned her because she was a star    that s when our narrator   ch     comes out to show that she wasn t the great woman she really was   and expose her fame    describing this character is difficult   mainly because he has no real realistic background   he s said to be based on the revolutionary ch   guevera   but the two probably could have never met   like they do in the film     but he serves as a perspective on eva   but even his perspective can t help us from feeling bad when eva dies a pathetic death    alan parker   no stranger to bizarre musicals   he s done   fame       the committments       bugsy malone     and   pink floyd the wall     the latter which is absolutely brilliant     nails the film   exposing everything for what it is    we cry for evita at the end because we feel we should   by the way it is presented    his direction is manipulative for a reason   to show the mourning for what it is    and there is energy throughout   with lots of bright colors   and scenes which are cinematically entertaning   as well as enriching and deep   such as the balcony scene where she sings   don t cry for me   argentina     and her death sequence   which is poignant becuase of how sad it is    madonna s golden globe winning performance is much like the movie   starts kinda downhill then goes up quickly   remaning there for the rest of the film    at the beginning   she looks like she s too busy concentrating on her singing to act   but she eventually gets it right   though never really getting the presence of   say   patti lupone   who did the role in its american premiere back in the late 70s      her death   though   is brilliant    her singing could be better though    i know she took lessons to improve her range and all   but it still sounds like she s trying to hard    she sounds way too soft in several places where she should be comanding   like       patti  lupone   i heard her sing on an old   evita   cd   and you could just feel her stage presence without even seeing her      but it s generally very good   although not up to the brilliance the role really requires    antonio banderas   who is almost like a guilty pleasure these days   i m one of the few people who thinks he rocks     is extremely comanding in his performance   presenting a lovable narrator    his singing is very good   though nothing compared to the original   mandy patinkin    he does have a pretty good singing voice   and a great range    and jonathan pryce is pretty awesome   although very brief at times   in his role as juan   seeming to put on a poker face for his melancholy facade    although it gets off to a rocky start     rocky    s polite for what it really is     it soon picks up and becomes a wonderully poignant musical    like the other musical released in  96   woody allen s   everyone says i love you       it s a reminder that the hollywood musical may be dead   but it can come back every now and then for a brief performance    
Pos, there s more to a quilt than fabric and thread  each patchwork design has its own unique story   or stories   to tell    in how to make an american quilt   the first hollywood release from australian director jocelyn moorhouse   proof     we come to understand how the tales of the seven makers imbue their creation with passion and vitality    all the sorrows   joys   longings   sufferings   and loves of these women are sewn into their quilt and   as their bittersweet memories are given expression   one young woman applies these lessons of the past to her own uncertain future    motion pictures are filled with male bonding rituals   how to make an american quilt presents a distinctly feminine alternative    the   quilting bee   consists of seven members   sisters gladys   ann bancroft   and hy   ellen burstyn     sophia   lois smith     a woman known for frightening children   emma   jean simmons     the timid wife of a perpetually unfaithful man   constance   kate nelligan     who has been having an affair with emma s husband   anna   maya angelou     the leader of the group   and marianna   alfre woodard     anna s daughter    the project they re busy with is the wedding quilt for hy s granddaughter   finn   winona ryder     who has just become engaged    she s spending the summer with hy and gladys   and away from her fiance   to decide whether a lifelong commitment is really what she wants   and whether it s better to marry a friend or a lover    one of the greatest pleasures of how to make an american quilt comes from watching an array of fine performances by an impressive ensemble cast    from winona ryder   ann bancroft   ellen burstyn   and maya angelou to minor players like rip torn   claire danes   and kate capshaw   this film is overflowing with realized talent    the performances are good enough   in fact   to cover up many of the script s weaknesses    how to make an american quilt is basically an unremarkable   if affecting   tale of love across the generations  a sort of truncated american version of the joy luck club   with a dash of fried green tomatoes added    there are probably too many characters    so   instead of really getting to know a few of them   we are presented with quick glimpses into a single defining event in each of their lives    we learn about the root of the smoldering resentment between gladys and hy   and are told the reasons why emma stays with her husband and sophia is so irascible    there are other episodes as well   the love of anna s life   marianna s soul mate   and a look at the reasons why constance entered into an affair with her friend s husband    the sum total of these tales is meant to provide the framework for finn s story   whether to go forward with her marriage or dally with a hunky stranger    there is no emotional epiphany in how to make an american quilt    the stories are all well told   but it s difficult to really connect with the characters  their moments pass so quickly    while we certainly feel something for each of the eight principals   our emotional investment is tenuous    there isn t enough depth to pull the viewer in all the way   and many of the personalities and relationships feel half  formed   like a quilt with patches missing    to put it bluntly   while i enjoyed watching this film   it didn t   do much   for me    on the whole   how to make an american quilt is a nicely understated drama that has a lot to say about love   passion   and monogamy in relationships    finn s segment is by far the most compelling   because she s the focal point   her actions are shaped by everyone else s experiences    the other patches of this american quilt are successful only to varying degrees    if there s a disappointment here   it s that the script doesn t have more resonance   but the privilege of seeing such a fine cast in top form allows a viewer to enjoy this picture even if the story is somewhat conventional    
Pos, mimi leder is probably best known for her stunning work as a director of the hit tv show er    her mast famous episode     love s labour lost     dealt with the ordeal of doctor mark greene as he tried his best to save the life of a pregnant mother and her child    the way she moved the camera and created tension throughout every scene was amazing    there was more excitement and adrenaline rushed suspense than just about any of hollywood s big blockbuster movies    so it s only natural that leder would get to direct her very own hollywood blockbuster    and i have to say   after a shaky beginning   she does not disappoint    peacemaker deals with the theft of nuclear weapons by terrorists   which is obviously nothing new    the first half hour goes into detail   way too much detail   about how the weapons are stolen    despite a few good images   including a train collision and a very impressive explosion   none of this was very coherent    it s long and drawn out   and i would have settled with a more implausible beginning that would have moved the story along better    once george clooney and nicole kidman enter the picture   it begins to take off    george clooney is an air force colonel with connections all over the world    he has a nice sarcastic wit and the rough edges that you expect from most clooney characters    nicole kidman is head of a white house team on weapons smuggling    there is the usual flirtatious banter between the two   but that is dispensed with quickly    the story takes clooney and kidman across the globe   trying to figure out who has the weapons and where they are going with them   clooney  goes through bouts of sarcasm   frustration   determination   and revenge while kidman works against her own insecurity and self doubt    this is when leder starts to show her true stuff    she starts us off with a nifty little car chase as an appetizer    then we get clooney doing heroics in and out of a helicopter    then that leads us to the brilliant final showdown on new york city s crowded streets   and a madman with a nuke walking among them    mimi leder is a natural at creating suspense    she reminds me of wolfgang petersen in her ability to make the most routine action sequences exciting and breathtaking    nicole kidman is an intelligent female action hero    you re not gonna find her falling down so clooney can come back to save her    george clooney is a real movie star    many of you may have hated him as batman   but this guy is for real    he has a natural screen presence   and an ingratiating personality    he ll be around for a while    dreamworks is off to a satisfying start with peacemaker    
Pos, i have to say it    tim burton s retelling of planet of the apes is more fun than a barrel of monkeys    ok   that s off my chest    no more monkey puns   i promise    seriously   though   planet of the apes is one rip roarin  summer outing   filled with thrills   action   adventure   wit and bits of funny   dare i say   monkey   business    i know   i know   i promised    and for those film buffs who are fond of the original   burton s version includes a couple tips of the hat to that movie    mark wahlberg stars as capt   leo davidson   a deep space pilot whose ship gets drawn into a magnetic field and hurled into the future    he crash lands on a planet where apes are the dominant species and humans are hunted   captured and sold into slavery    despite being darker than the original   burton s film is not as heavy handed nor as sanctimonious    some of the movie s flashes of humor are surreal as well as typically burton   an organ grinder ape with a midget or an elderly ape taking off a wig and removing false teeth as he prepares for bed    then there are the parents who buy a little girl as a pet for there young daughter    the seller advises the parents to get rid of the girl before she reaches puberty     one thing you don t want in your house is a human teen ager     he says    you don t have to be an ape to realize the truth in that statement    touches such as these are what stamps this movie with burton s brand    lines that hearken back to the original movie are sprinkled throughout   the first words spoken by an ape to davidson as the astronaut is regaining consciousness and grabs the simian s foot to try righting himself are     take your stinking hand off of me   you damned   dirty human      anyone familiar with the first version of the film will   of course   recognize the irony in that piece of dialogue    another of burton s in jokes is to have charlton heston   star of the original   play the chimpanzee father of tim roth s gen   thade    the young chimp goes to visit his dying father    both have one thing in common   a hatred of humans    with his dying breath   the elder spews out his vile     damn them   damn them all to hell     he says before expiring    that is the famous line heston s taylor shouted at the conclusion of the original after discovering the planet s terrible secret    the performances throughout are top notch    wahlberg plays davidson not as some gung ho hero   but as a confused and somewhat frightened explorer who only wants to return home    he is reluctant to lead the human rebellion   his only objective being to find a way off this upside down planet    this hesitation is what makes his character believable and vulnerable    roth is ferocious   cunning   cruel and savage as the fascist chimp who wants to rid his planet of all vestiges of humanity    he leaps and bounds as if he had springs on his feet    it is a masterful turn    helena bonham carter is ari   the chimp who believes that apes and humans can live in peace and as equals    hers is a smart   compassionate characterization    michael clarke duncan is big and brutal as attar the gorilla aid to thade who blindly follows his leader until his faith is shaken    a fine comic outing is given by paul giamatti as limbo   the ape slave trader making a living off the misery of the humans he captures    as the battle between apes and humans looms   the cowardly limbo pleads     can t we all just get along     echoing the words of rodney king    much of the success of planet of the apes goes to burton s technical crew   especially production designer rick heinrichs and the legendary rick baker who created the ape makeup    burton s musical collaborator   danny elfman   provides another fine score   though it is not as memorable as his work on batman or sleepy hollow    the movie s only letdown comes at the very end where burton tries to outshock the finale from the 1968 original    he comes close   but falls short    otherwise   planet of the apes is what a summer movie should be   an amusement park ride filled with lots of action   stunts and a few laughs    this is one feature in which the expectations lived up to the pre release hype    
Pos, urban legend surprised me    based on the last few films the genre has produced   including but not exclusive to the likes of i know what you did last summer   disturbing behavior and the disappointing halloween   h20     i was positive that i was in store for another mildly entertaining but silly and ultimately boring rehash of the scream phenomena    thankfully   legend rose above it s soggy premise to become not only a hip   scary and stylish entertainment   but also what will probably become one of the best films of the year    you re all familiar with the plot   a bunch of overly horny teenagers get systematically slaughtered by a masked maniac who s identity is not revealed until the closing moments of the film when it turns out to be   you guessed it   everybody s favorite veteran of the whodunit flicks       the  only person you didn t suspect !  however   just because legend doesn t really break any new ground as far as literary or even technical achievements go does not mean that it can t qualify as first class entertainment    it was   believe it or not   one of the funnest times i ve had at the movies all year    the thing is   i m not really sure what made this particular stab   pardon the pun   at the genre seem so fresh and alive    maybe it was the above par performances by the movie s two leads   jared leto and   cybil   actress alicia witt      or   it could have been the on  target direction by jamie blanks    more likely   though   it was because of the inspired premise    i don t think i need to tell you that a killer hacking people up ala urban folklore is much more frightening than a killer fisherman    urban legend begins with a sequence that reminded me of the classic scream opener   not so much in plotting as in attention to detail that makes for an absolutely chilling teaser for the rest of the film    a pretty young coed is driving down a deserted road when   gasp !   a gas problem   hee hee   forces her to stop at an equally deserted gas station for a refill    one problem   though    would you want to stop at a station run by brad dourif    i thought not    predictably   the attendant ends up coaxing her into the main building to sort out a problem with the credit card company    it s odd   though   when you pick up a phone to realize that nobody s on the other line    naturally   the potential victim escapes into her car and drives off    and the when we least expect it       whack ! ! !  a decapitation    it turns out that the creepy looking attendant was just trying to warn her about the maniac in the back seat of the car    so who is it this time    the obvious candidate is the slightly off kilter professor at the college the girl went to   none other than freddy kruger himself   robert englund     who teaches a class on urban legends    a ha    or could it be the fame hungry local journalist   leto   looking for a meaty story to put on his resume    like all movies of this nature   one of the chief pleasures is trying to guess whodunit    and it turns out to be   of course   the one you didn t suspect    i m not going to pretend urban legend is anything more than it is   but i must give credit where credit is due    and this flick definitely deserves credit for being what not many other recent horror films have been       fun     * complimentary movie ticket courtesy of valley cinemas in lodi   ca  
Pos, capsule   the verma family is having a wedding and all the relatives will come for the multi day festivities    mira nair s film is pleasant enough with a little human drama   a few family secrets   some sadness and some happiness    you have seen it all before   but perhaps not from india    the photography is colorful and the music is very agreeable       low +2    4 to +4    mira nair previously directed salaam bombay and mississippi masala    her newest film   written by sabrina dhawan   is very similar to previous films like betsy s wedding but it is set in new delhi    a wealthy family is having a wedding    an indian wedding is a multi day affair as much a family reunion as a nuptial    even more than in the us   it is an excuse for a lavish and extravagant family get together    the film shows us what the family does together and at the same time follows several family members  individual story lines    aditi verma is marrying hemant   an indian engineer working in the us    she had previously had a relationship with vikram   her supervisor    latit   her father   played by naseeruddin shah     is juggling many problems   not the least of which is worrying about the caterer has hired pk dubey    dubey is a rather eccentric man with a taste for eating the marigolds he uses for decoration    even dubey will soon be romantically entangled when he becomes interested in alice   one of the family servants    several family members arrive giving rise to several plotlines involving sex   family secrets   or both    there are heartbreaks and there are people falling in love    some of the subjects covered are probably near taboo for indian films    western audiences will appreciate a look at unfamiliar indian customs like women painting their hands with henna    on the other hand it was not clear   to me at least   if scenes like the family singing together are typical of indian culture or if they are a convention of indian musical films    this seems a particularly westernized family with the father wearing american designer sweaters and the family speaking mostly english    the latter will   however   help with an international release    sabrina dhawan s screenplay is vibrant with witty dialog    we have seen films with plotting very much like this   but the indian setting makes a great deal of difference    director mira nair calls the film an affirmation of life    i rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the  4 to +4 scale    
Pos, the love for family is one of the strongest driving forces in any man s life   especially for those who have fostered their family under precarious circumstances    thematically in cinema   love for family has been used frequently and emphatically to highlight more abstract aspects of characters   it is rare   however   for it to develop as outstandingly as it does in roberto benigni s neo classic drama   life is beautiful    through a central cast of father   mother   and son   benigni demonstrates the wonderful   undying love that a family shares in the best of times and the worst of times    life * is * beautiful for guido orefice   roberto benigni   directing himself here for the sixth time in his career     an italian jew   master con man   and aspiring waiter extraordinaire    living in 1930 s italy   he lives a carefree life of good fortune   it is made even better when he happens upon a pretty schoolteacher named dora   nicoletta braschi      although dora is already engaged   guido manages to sweep her off her feet and persuades her to marry him instead   the two have a child named joshua   giorgio cantarini      unfortunately for the happy family   the third reich and its nazi minions occupy italy and imprison all jews in work camps    it is after the movie takes this dramatic turn that the movie s theme of family love becomes the strongest    although prior to this turning point benigni plays guido with a sort of goofy charm   he relaxes the role to ensure his son s happiness    now   instead of awkwardly seducing the sweet dora   he constantly reassures his son that everything will be all right    benigni s performance is truly a well rounded one   and certainly one of the more fluid turns all year    the supports are all strong as well   but the movie truly excels in its script    life is beautiful is a self proclaimed fable   one which tells its story in grand   two part fashion    in certain parts it manages to sink to the level of a   saturday night live   spinoff    a number of humorous skits connected by a token plot    but in the movie s second half the script s circular nature becomes admirably obvious    characters make reprise appearances in fine form   and certain events which are intially curious become critically linked to the plot s outcome    in all   fans of foreign film will see this as a memorable motion picture   and novice movie watchers may take this opportunity to see their first   artsy   film    life is beautiful is an artsy movie by convention but easily accessible to everyone   and above all is a fine thematic picture    
Pos, while watching wes anderson s rushmore   it may be surprising to think that the role of max fischer   the film s anti hero   was not written with jason schwartzman in mind    the young actor   making his film debut as a 15 year old student at the exclusive rushmore academy is so perfect in the role that it comes as a shock that anderson auditioned some two thousand other prospective stars before discovering schwarztman    schwartzman plays max   a student who is more interested in his extra curricular activities   such as writing edgy plays like   serpico   and being president of the rushmore beekeepers   but sees his grades suffer as a result    on the brink of being thrown out   he lands himself in even more hot water when he falls for first grade teacher rosemary cross   olivia williams   and enlists the help of millionaire acquaintance herman blume   the great bill murray   to build an aquarium   on rushmore s baseball field   in her honour    unfortunately for everyone involved   blume finds that he has feelings for miss cross as well   which gets in the way of max s plans to woo her    max is one of the best written characters we ve yet seen in the 90s   and schwartzman plays him to perfection in one of the finest comedy performances ever given by someone of his age    as everyone else has probably already pointed out   he is reminiscent of a young dustin hoffman   although i was reminded more of paul from   the wonder years     from a visual standpoint   at least      hopefully   if he avoids typecasting as weird   quirky loner types he should earn himself a good career    bill murray is his equal as blume   displaying a depth we haven t yet seen from him    while this isn t his best performance   that honour goes to groundhog day   he is still terrific here    williams isn t given much to do except react to schwartzman and murray   but still does fine work    rushmore seems to go just a little too long but   while it isn t a perfect film   it is a definate must see for anyone who wants to see that rarity   an american coming of age film that actually works well without an excessive amount of sentimentality    anderson has created a modern classic with a star who should   with any luck   rise to even greater success    
Pos, no   i did not read the novel by thomas hardy     jude the obscure     his final novel   final because this film created such an outrage that he never wrote again   see   i did do some research on it   about a man who is plagued with bad luck throughout his entire life    but   after watching the movie   i can imagine how incredibly depressing it is       jude   is a satirical film from start to finish about society s way of spitting out and chewing up those unwanted in its system   but what s remarkable is how timeless this film is    the film takes place in the late 19th century   or early 20th   wasn t really sure     but its story could even be retold today in modern form   although it d be kinda different   a given      it tells the story of jude   christopher eccleston   the psychotic accountant from   shallow grave       a simple   dim witted young man with big dreams    in its bleak   foreboding opening   shot in grainy black and white   he gets a lesson from phillotson   liam cunningham     his teacher   as they stand upon a mountain   looking upon a city in the distance   he says all you have to do is work hard and you can have anything in the world    after marrying and divorcing an immature woman named arabella   rachel griffiths   because they frolicked in the hay   literally   but did not ultimately share anything in common   he moves away to a town with a giant university   with a chance to learn more   and get ahead in life    taking a welding job   he works hard while studying constantly for his college bars   reciting latin over and over again   and training himself    but when he sends his application for the school in   he is bluntly told to just remain a worker    another reason for going to this town was because someone in his family lives there   sue   kate winslet     his cousin and a very intelligent but kinda mischevious young woman who wants to be a school teacher    she and jude click eventually and become very endearing friends   so much that when she spends the night at his flat after running from her apprentice teacher job   for none other than phillotson at the local school     there are rumors that she and jude did some nasty business   nudge nudge      several twists turn in the storyline   and eventually jude and sue do do some nasty business   an interesting scene   to say the least           and are soon born into a controversial non wedlock   as she eventually gives birth to their baby   and jude inherits his son from arabella   who turns up again after awhile    because they aren t married   and because they re cousins   they run into problems with every place they go to   carrying around two children everywhere   and only staying in lodges for a very brief period of time   then moving on    if you didn t think this was harsh enough   wait till you see what happens later on        the sad truth is that jude is one of the miserable people who can never get any luck in this world    he will never gain any true happiness   and any happiness that happens to him will be fleeting   and will probably bring more horrible instances to his life    part of it is his fault   he s too optimistic   and too gullible    but society has a way of taking these people   and hurting them until their death    the ending of   jude   is bleak because it has to be   although i hear the ending of the novel is even worse   guess i ll have to read it now         jude   offers a satirical view on society s cruelties   but shows no way of curing this   and thank heavens it doesn t    there s no way to relinquish the selfishness of society   and any solution would be too small to cure such a mass problem    satire has always been one of the few ways of changing certain people s minds   and that s what   jude   is    sure   it s one hell of a downer   but it needs to be    the film also posesses two fantastic performances from its two leads   and some good supporting work along with it    christopher eccleston   slightly resembling richard edson with his new look and dumb expression   plays jude wonderfully   sometimes bringing a big dumb smile to his face   and making him kind of child like at other times    kate winslet   in a pre    titanic   performance   is brilliant   nailing every psyche of her character   and creating someone who s troubled but very seductive with her personality    kate may be the best actress in her age group   if you don t believe me   see   titanic     branagh s   hamlet       sense and sensibility     and   heavenly creatures     the latter one being my favorite performance of hers      in the supporting roles   liam cunningham is a wonderfully flawed teacher   exposing all his bad parts   but ultimately being a pretty good person   and rachel griffiths is wonderfully immature as jude s wife   whom he never divorces       jude   moves at a very slow pace   and keeps taunting its viewers with chances of happiness for its protagonists   which would drive some people nuts    but those who appreciate good social commentary with their films   no matter how slow or downright depressing they are   this one is both   will appreciate   jude     though i doubt anyone truly enjoys it    
Pos, quaid stars as a man who has taken up the proffesion of dragonslayer after he feels he is betrayed by a dragon early in the movie    he runs into the last dragon in existence   and there is a genuinely amusing battle between the two which results in a standoff where quaid is in the dragons mouth   but has his sword pointed at the dragons brain    eventually   they decide to call a truce   and they work out a deal    since he is the last dragon   he will pretend to die and quaid will be able to get paid for it    their scam works at first   until they come to a town without any money    instead the town sacrifices a girl to the dragon   but of course   draco is a nice droagon   so he won t eat her   there is however a very amusing scene where draco is hitting on the young girl    of course   as you can probably tell by the plot   this is a silly movie   but it does know when to take itself seriously at the right times   unlike eddie   which was serious all the time    you could probably call this a medieval comedy   because there are more laughs here than in eddie and spy hard combined    dennis quaid makes a fine hero    pete posthlewaite provides some ghreat comedy as a monk who journeys with them    dina meyer is appealing as the sacrificed girl    but lets face it   the movie is really about the dragon   and what an amazing creation he is    connery s voice and ilm team up to provide us with a truly magnificent dragon    so   if you are going to see this movie for a strong hard core medieval epic   you are going to the wrong movie    if you are going because of the dragon   you will not be dissapointed   and you will be provided with plenty of laughs that smooth out the boring parts in the script    
Pos, it has been 20 years since a terrence malick film hit theaters    his new film   the thin red line   is a strange   beautiful   enigmatic mess of a movie    the first thing that jumps out to one when they see the advertisements for this film is the huge cast    it is filled with above the title stars    the cast   for the most part   gives great performances    john travolta   whose role is nothing more than a cameo   seems not to have attacked his performance with that much verve    george clooney   whose role became a cameo in editing   gives a strange performance    one wonders if he knew that his performance would become the object of ridicule through a character s narration    the rest of the cast   especially nick nolte and elias koteas   are unambiguously fantastic    these actors   and they are   with two exceptions   men   were lured by the name of malick    terrence malick is a cinematic legend    he has often been called   the j   d   salinger of cinema      his two previous films   badlands and days of heaven   are spectacularly beautiful and obscure motion pictures    after he made them   he disappeared for 20 years    this film marks his return    what he s made with the thin red line is a film that seems less concerned with plot than with the emotion of the moment    the narration which fills the film   and perplexes many   not only lets us hear the narrators   the characters themselves   pontificate   but also lets us hear such of the moment thoughts as   i m scared      the rather simple plot of the thin red line is used as a canvas on which many stories are painted    the plot couldly simply be boiled down to an assault on a hill    a plot synopsis for the thin red line is difficult   because the story is fractured    many stories are here   from the clash between the lieutenant   elias koteas   and the savage colonel   a voracious nick nolte   to the private   ben chaplin   who uses his love for the woman he left behind to keep him going    the fracturing of the story is ultimately a fault    it is as if an artist spent an incredible amount of time artfully sculpting tiny statues and then threw them into a box   shook the box   and poured the results onto a table    this basically creates a mess   but the stories can be discerned and enjoyed    i m not declaring that the film has no structure    while saving private ryan used warfare to bookend the plot   malick uses reflection and glorious shots of nature to bookend about 90 minutes of combat    the battles in the thin red line are astonishing and display a mastery of filmmaking    the astounding cinematography in this film must also be given notice    this film uses color and light in such a fantastic way   that it will be sad to see it degraded when it has to bee transferred to video    ultimately   malick has crafted a film that is a movie that enjoys looking through the treetops more than regarding the war that rages below them    the film is filled with nature photography and the regarding of nature    while some have said that the anti war message and pro nature tubthumping was juvenile   it was done with so much complexity and thought   that it cannot ever honestly be called childish    after seeing the thin red line   i was haunted by it and am quite ready to see it again    
Pos,    stuart little   is one of the best family films to come out this year    it s a cute   funny and very good natured film that has nothing for parents to squirm over except a few mild cusswords    though i read the book a long time ago and i really do not remember what it was about   i do know that this film does not disappoint    finally a movie gets released that is as good as the trailer makes it to be   with a few surprising twists   some very funny moments   and a few sentimental moments all mixed in to one great little movie    stuart little is a mouse    he has finally gotten a new home after being put up for adoption   he now lives with the littles    a nice little   no pun intended   family that lives in their apartment next to central park in new york city    they have a little boy george   played by the adorable jonathan lipnicki   and now they have a new son    at first stuart takes a while but he finally adjusts to being part of the family and even getting along with the pet cat    george doesn t take too well to having a mouse for a brother at first   but once the two play together they instantly bond    stuart however is missing something   and he wants to know who his real parents are    the littles try and find his parents and one day they show up on the doorstep wanting stuart back    hesitating the littles know what s best for stuart and so does snowball the pet cat   he and his friends try to get stuart but in the end we find out the truth about stuart s past ending up to a sentimental and very heart warming ending    one thing i noticed about the film instantly was the fantastic special effects    just like in   star wars   episode 1  the phantom menace   stuart little and his family are all computer generated and they look fantastically real    from the detail of their fur   to the detail of the way the walk   the special effects team put a lot of time and effort on this $90 million dollar film and it shows    another movie that this has in common with is   babe   with it s talking animals and people understanding them    it has a family friendly atmosphere and is never really scary or suspenseful enough to even scare the youngest of kids    michael j   fox does the voice of stuart himself and just like in the   homeward bound   movies does a fantastic job and brings more out of stuart than anyone else could    he to me fits the character perfectly and ends up making stuart even more lovable    another gem of the film is nathan lane as snowball    when he was timon in 1994 s   the lion king   i would have sworn he was a comedian   and now in   stuart little   he brings the most out of snowball and makes him one of those characters we love to dislike    for the human actors geena davis who never gives a bad performance does not disappoint here as well    she fits nicely in her character and there is a good chemistry between her and hugh laurie who plays mr   little    both make us believe they are happily in love and married and jonathan lipnicki as their song is even more adorable than he was in 1996 s   jerry maguire      even though stuart little is completely cgi   the human characters and stuart have a nice chemistry together and even makes us believe they really do care for each other       stuart little   is ideal family entertainment for this holiday season and will not disappoint youngsters or adults for that matter    we get entertainment   laughs   cries and more fun at the movies this season than probably any other movie    its nice to see a pg rated movie out at christmas that everyone can see    even though it has a $90 million dollar budget i m sure it will make over that or just below it respectively    for all you parents out there trying to find a good family movie   i have yet to see bicentennial man as i write this but as far as i know   stuart little   and   toy story 2   are by far the best family films this year    a winner      
Pos, as with his other stateside releases   jackie chan s latest chopsocky vehicle   mr   nice guy   is contrived   blockheaded   and lacking in narrative logic    but also like those other films   it is a highly enjoyable ride    once again   chan s screenwriters   here edward tang and fibe ma   have taken the easy way out and named their star s character simply jackie   with no last name    this jackie is a world class chef who co hosts a popular cooking show on australian television    of course   jackie also happens to be a talented martial artist   and these skills come in handy when he becomes involved in an ambitious reporter s   gabrielle fitzpatrick   expose of a drug dealing ring    other plot details   involving a videotape and a biker gang   are irrelevant   in fact   as is the case with most chan films   the plot itself is just about irrelevant    the sole purpose of mr   nice guy s existence are chan s comic fight scenes   and those here do not disappoint    director samo hung   who has a cameo role     a longtime collaborator of chan s   does not waste any time putting chan in action   diving head on into a wild chase/fight/shootout after a brief cooking show prologue    other impressive set pieces follow   most notably a chase in a mall   which directly leads to some frenzied   if cliched   can you say fruit cart       business involving a runaway carriage   and an extended late film sequence at a construction site   in which a hilarious pursuit through a maze of blue doors culminates in some exciting fights involving boards   cement mixers   and a deadly buzzsaw    none of the action sequences in mr   nice guy are as spectacular as supercop s thrilling helicopter train finale or rumble in the bronx s daring leap between two buildings   nor is anything as inventive as the ladder fight or air tunnel climax in first strike and operation condor   respectively    but the action delivers   even if the energy peters out before the film s end   the finale   as spectacular as it is   is a letdown for fans of chan s athletic prowess      filmed almost entirely in english   even so   the voices of some english speaking actors are laughably dubbed     mr   nice guy hints at jackie chan s latest transition to hollywood productions   he made ill fated attempts with 1980 s the big brawl and 1985 s the protector     next in the pipeline is rush hour   a stateside production co starring chris tucker    hopefully that film will be a mere diversion in tinseltown   and chan will continue with exuberant hong kong productions such as mr   nice guy   for his unique charm and reckless abandon are sure to be diluted by american hands   much like they have been before    
Pos, the premise of wag the dog is so simple that it s adequately explained by the commercials    with 11 days to go until the election   the president   who we never see   calls in political dirty tricks artist robert deniro to distract attention from a burgeoning sex scandal    deniro enlists hollywood producer dustin hoffman to produce a   pageant     a phony war against albania   fought on the blue screens of hollywood and the recording studios of nashville   with woody harrelson as the reluctant   psychotic hero    and if there wasn t anything more to the movie than this   it would be a second rate heist comedy at best   enlivened by great actors    like sneakers goes to washington       a heist comedy    yup    deniro and hoffman are   stealing   the election   so to speak   and the movie is more about how they do it    and the fun they have doing it    than anything else      wag the dog succeeds because it s based one great truth   the american people are stupid    ok   maybe it s not   love thy neighbor as thyself   or even   two plus two makes four     but a truth nonetheless       any average person who thinks that they re really smart about the two things this movie satirizes    moviemaking and the political process    is invited   nay   challenged   to spend a week either watching a movie actually being made or 48 hours straight watching c span when the house is in session      and because we re so utterly   predictably stupid   hollywood knows that a certain percentage of us will go see hard rain or magoo   washington knows that we won t notice a few million dollars spent here and there on porno art grants and cigar subsidies    and deniro s character knows that american geography skills are so weak that we won t be able to locate albania on the map    the beauty of wag the dog is that it isn t a light   meaningless comedy about politics   like speechless   the michael keaton   geena davis picture   or from the level of light hearted politcal satire to near greatness    nor is it a hard edged cynical look at the manner in which a morally deprived   ethically challenged baby boomer connives his sleazy way into the white house   like primary colors    and yes   i am a little disappointed in the way the last two elections turned out   thanks for asking      instead   david mamet s script strikes that delicate balance between comedy and cynicism needed for satire    it does this by keeping us in a fantasy world where most of the schemers  schemes come off beautifully   and fail only in entertaining and humorous fashion    deniro is playing a variation on his al capone character from the untouchables   without any of the violent rages    it s all     what do i love    what is it that brings me joy    baseball     minus the savage bloody beating with the bat    he threatens a lot of people   mind you   but he s doing it in a very nice   polite way    it s a very mellow   restrained performance   which fits in with the air of gamesmanship in the script    hoffman   on the other hand   is giddy   exuberant and joyous    this kind of thing is what his character lives for   and he s so excited that he can t even shut up    even on the edge of disaster   he s bright eyed   behind oddly tinted sunglasses   and positive    insiders note that he s basing his character on some powerful but anonymous producer    which may or may not be true   but hoffman still exudes the kind of lets put on a show electricity that you figure a producer needs to have    the best part and the most frustrating part of wag the dog is in the supporting cast    the characters are so well drawn and so well acted that we want to see more of them   listen to them talk in that wised up mamet dialogue   get to know them better    which we don t    anne heche   is dead bang on in her portrayal of a political press aide    cool and composed on the outside   panicked and frenzied on the outside    denis leary   one of my favorite actors    see the ref   is the   fad king     who handles the profitable   back end      t shirt tie ins and shoe contracts and other creative   innovative ways to separate a fool from his money    they could make a whole movie   just about the fad king   and i d go see it    willie nelson and merle haggard handle the musical end of things fabulously   from the upbeat gospel chorus theme song   to the weepy country waltz   to the hilarious   ballad of the green berets   parody    woody harrelson has a brief   but memorable part as the overmedicated   hero   of the albanian conflict    craig t   nelson   as the opposition candidate   and the ever reliable william h   macy   as a wacky cia agent   are given surprisingly short shrift       one of my small gripes is that we never see what the spin doctors on the other side are doing      wag the dog is a funny movie about serious problems   the trivialization of american politics   the role of the press in dumbing down the issues   the impact of hollywood in creating campaign commercials   the reduction of all things political to soundbites and sidebars    the list goes on    we can solve most of these problems by taking a greater role in our national life and educating ourselves as voters and citizens    wag the dog reminds us of what can happen if we don t    
Pos, as the film opens up   expectant unwed mother sally   played by drew barrymore   encounters her baby s father in a fast food drive through window    after he gets his milkshake   he drives off   only to be pursued by a military helicopter    from this moment forward   you know that this isn t going to be your run of the mill romantic comedy    home fries tells the tale of the relationship between sally and dorian   played by luke wilson     a helicopter pilot who has a different kind of connection with sally       more  than he would care to admit   hint   it has something to do with the father of sally s unborn child      after taking a personal   and professional   interest in her   he finds work at the local fast food restaurant at which she works   and the fun goes on from there    this movie is a lot of fun    it is comedic on two levels   as a romantic comedy and a dark comedy    the romantic moments are sweet   yet not sappy    one of the more poignant moments is when dorian accompanies sally to lamaze classes    however   the dark comedic moments are more memorable    this is also a tale of revenge   and a funny one at that    the father of sally s unborn child also happened to be a married man   whose wife is played by catherine o hara    she does a wonderful portrayal of a jealous wife who is targeting the person who had an affair   and is not above getting other people to do her dirty work       my apologies if this sounds cryptic   but there is too much of the plot to give away      rounding out the cast are jake busey as angus   dorian s overzealous brother and daryl mitchell as roy   dorian s trainer at the fast food restaurant    the dialogue is sharp and not filled with sappy overtones   even with the romantic nature of the plot    if there are any complaints   it is over drew barrymore s performance    while she does light up the screen   there are moments when she doesn t seem all that convincing    the movie was filmed in texas   and most of the characters have southern texan accents    drew barrymore s accent tends to come and go   luke wilson doesn t seem to have this problem      as well   she seems awfully agile for a woman that is eight months pregnant    still   this movie is one that will please many viewers    with plot twists galore and hilarious dark moments   this is sure to entertain    
Pos, the second jackal based film to come out in 1997   the other starring bruce willis was simply entitled the jackal     this one stars aidan quinn and donald sutherland   and is directed by a man who hailed from joblo s own alma matter   concordia university in montreal   canada    the story is based on the exploits of the real terrorist known as the jackal   but does not pretend to be 100% factual    plot   naval officer ramirez   quinn   gets called upon by the cia to impersonate the international terrorist known as the jackal   in order to put an end to the actual militant s radical activities    he is chosen for this role because he physically resembles the real terrorist to a tee    ramirez reluctantly agrees to take part in this   assignment     and soon finds himself wrapped up in a true web of international terrorism   intrigue and double personality syndrome   which does not sit well with his uninformed wife and kids back in the states      critique   great premise is executed with enough style and thrills to keep the piece interesting throughout its close to two hour runtime    admittedly   i wasn t a huge fan of any of the main actors in this film   and didn t expect much from this movie beforehand   but surprisingly it did have its thrilling moments   as well as a mostly plausible and absorbing story line    the first hour is mostly just a build up of things to come   and does offer a great characterization of the jackal   but the second hour is the one that really cranks in the cool scenes and a sweet ending    quinn was adequate in both roles as naval officer ramirez and the real jackal   but didn t offer anything extraordinary   in my opinion    sutherland and kingsley seem to be playing the same role that they ve played in both of their respective careers of late   but nonetheless   appeared to relish the cold heartedness of their chosen characters    i didn t like performance put forth from quinn s wife in this flick   but then again   she doesn t show up in most of the film   so that wasn t so bad    i did however enjoy director duguay s interesting style and cinematic vision    this thriller could easily have been boring during many sequences   but duguay always seemed to find something interesting to show the viewer    i thought that was neat    having said that   i didn t think the first hour needed to be as long as it was   and the film did have me tinkering on the bridge of believability when the   fake   jackal met with the   real   jackal s girlfriend without much retrospection on her part   but all in all   not too many complaints in a movie that could easily be enjoyed by all those who take pleasure in the spy and terrorist thriller genre    little known facts   ben kingsley s real name is krishna banji   he stands 5   8   was born in scarborough   england   and won the best actor honor in 1982 s academy awards presentation for the title role he portrayed in ghandi    many scenes from this film were actually shot in montreal   canada   joblo s haven of restfulness      donald sutherland has fathered actor kiefer sutherland   is canadian   and apparently still owns a place in the north of montreal    
Pos, one of the last entries in the long running carry on series   carry on behind is very similar to carry on camping in that it involves a group of holidaymakers descending on a  caravan  site    professors anna vrooshka   elke sommer   and roland crump   kenneth williams   and a group of archaeology students stay in the caravan site owned by major leep   kenneth connor   so that they can explore the nearby roman settlement remains    anna has a little trouble understanding english and sometimes people get the wrong end of the stick     for instance   when anna is asking for  scrubbers for dirty caravan    she means that she wants a scrubbing brush to clean the caravan !  arthur upmore   bernard bresslaw   and his wife linda   patsy rowlands   take her mother daphne barnes   joan sims   and her minah bird on holiday with them    mother in law jokes prevail    furthermore   the trouble that joe and norma baxter   ian lavender and adrienne posta   have with their large irish greyhound allows for some comical moments between the two families    fred ramsden   windsor davies   and ernie bragg   jack douglas   leave their wives   liz fraser and patricia franklin   behind for a fishing holiday    however   they have more in mind than fishing when they catch sight of two young girls   sandra   carol hawkins   and carol   sherrie hewson      the story involves the disruption caused by the archaeological professors of the day to day running of the camp   the search for the minah bid and greyhound   the major   fred and ernie s desperate need of a woman   a misunderstanding leading to a striptease at the caravan park s pub   and a shock in store for daphne    the partnership between sommer and williams is very effective and amusing    this is what binds the movie together    joan sims stands out as the demanding mother in law   bernard bresslaw and patsy rowlands work well together as husband and wife   and carol hawkins and sherrie hewson are a welcome addition to the cast    on the other hand   there are low key performances from kenneth connor and peter butterworth as barnes the handyman   and there are very poor performances by windsor davies and jack douglas who spend far too much time on the screen !  even though there is no real plot to speak of and the jokes are getting bluer due to the new scriptwriter dave freeman   there are enough truly comical moments and bright and breezy performances to lift this carry on above many of its predecessors    although the regular cast is depleted   the ones that remain show that they can still make a good carry on film    a relative flop at the cinema   this movie deserves a lot more recognition    
Pos, the cryptic teaser trailer has been unspooling in moviehouses for quite sometime now     it mu5t be found      so what   exactly   is the fifth element    after seeing luc besson s ambitious   much shrouded in secrecy science fiction fantasy   i could not help but be let down by the actual answer   which is not nearly as exciting nor clever as one would think    but what is far from a letdown is the film as a whole   a wildly imaginative feast for the senses that does what all the best science fiction films do  create a universe unlike any other presented on the silver screen    the biggest irony of the fifth element is that the one thing that has been kept under such tight wraps  the actual storyline  is the most conventional   dismayingly so   element   pun intended   of the film    speaking in the vaguest possible terms   the basics of the plot are as follows   in the year 2259   a great force of evil threatens to consume the earth   and only the four elements  earth   wind   fire   and water  united with a fifth element can stop it    figuring into all of this are new york cabbie korben dallas   bruce willis     a shady   southern drawling entrepreneur by the name of zorg   the hilariously hammy gary oldman   picking up where he left off in besson s the professional     a priest   ian holm     and a mysterious creature named leeloo   milla jovovich      all of the pieces come together in a tidy and somewhat underwhelming  and unsurprising  fashion   but there is no denying that this basic story holds some intrinsic interest    what remains interesting and exciting   however   after brief glimpses is the fascinating world besson has created with production designer dan weil   director of photography thierry arbogast   visual effects supervisor mark stetson   and the crew at digital domain    the look is absolutely mesmerizing right from the opening moments to the last    the frenzied cityscape of new york   with its vibrant day glo colors   tall buildings penetrating high into the clouds   and the swarm of cars   cabs   and other vehicles flying through labyrinthian skyways   is absolutely breathtaking to behold   especially in a wild car chase sequence early on in the film    but it would not have been a completely captivating vision if the people inhabiting the settings weren t equally as interesting   and are they ever    in addition to the exotic menagerie of alien creatures that populate this world   from bulky robots to dog like mangalores   the humans are outfitted in costumes by eccentric designer jean paul gaulthier   best known for creating madonna s pointy bustier get up in her blonde ambition tour    gaulthier s outlandish creations   such as a number worn by leeloo made entirely out of white straps   feel more at home in besson s futuristic vision than on any fashion runway in the world   they add to the sense of otherworldliness about the film    while besson s bold vision is the biggest virtue of the film   it also could be its biggest obstacle to reaching a mass audience    for all its imagination   certain things about the film may be a bit too quirky and bizarre    i really do not know what middle america will make of the most outrageous character of the film   ruby rhod   chris tucker     a flamboyant disc jockey who makes dennis rodman look conservative  he makes a raucous entrance dressed in an animal print dress   sporting a blonde hairdo in the shape of a hair dryer   speaking in high pitches at rapid fire speed    at first this character s hyper energy is funny   but the act wears out its welcome very quickly    not irritating   but just as strange   is a musical number by blue skinned alien chanteuse diva   maiwenn lebesco     who sings  and dances  an aria that is an unlikely blend of classical opera and techno    the tune   as with the entirety of longtime besson collaborator eric serra s innovative score   is haunting   but it is also completely jarring    then there are the campy touches of humor besson and co scripter robert mark kamen sprinkle throughout   which too often are silly and forced   a comic sexual encounter between ruby rhod and a flight attendant is highly distracting and not very funny   to boot    the story s weakness shines through in the climax and conclusion of the fifth element    while still visually and aurally spectacular   the events detailed are not as exciting nor powerful as they should be    the big   serious dramatic climax was met with more than a few snickers   and it ambitiously strives for a profundity which the film had not even begun to work toward    as such   at the end there is a sense that there was something bigger at work here   that there was still more left to be said about this story and these characters    this suspicion was confirmed by besson himself   who told me in the lobby following the screening   imagine that   the filmmaker watching the film with the   enemy     the critics   that what had made it to the screen was really just the first half of the lengthy original fifth element screenplay and that the second half  now titled mr   shadow  is still waiting to be made    still   despite the story problems   the fifth element is an artistic triumph for luc besson   rarely does a filmmaker s original vision come to the screen in all its audacious   undiluted glory    it is a fascinating example of how of one artist s fervid imagination can transport an audience into an intoxicating fantasy world generally seen only in dreams    
Pos,    very bad things     is the most delightfully morbid film of the year   a movie that goes so far over the deep end with its outrageousness and violence that i couldn t help but be won over by the material    the film starts off with five friends leaving their homes in los angeles for a bachelor party in las vegas    the groom to be is kyle fisher   jon favreau     who is about to be married to the controlling   wedding obsessed laura   cameron diaz      the other friends are real estate agent robert boyd   christian slater     quiet charles   leland orser     and brothers   michael   jeremy piven   and family man adam   daniel stern      after a wild night of gambling   boozing   and drugs   a stripper   carla scott   who was paid for by robert comes into their hotel room   but after a freak accident   to everyone s terror   she is killed    as robert puts it     there are two options   go to the police and go to prison   or bury her out in the desert where no one will ever find her      after a security guard enters into the hotel room unexpectantly and sees the body   robert is forced to kill him as well       okay   there is only one option now    you can forget about calling the police     he says    by the time the five friends return home and as the wedding draws nearer   most of them are overcome with guilt   which sets off an even more elaborate series of event   that includes much   much more murder   double crosses   and the inevitable wedding from hell       very bad things     which is actor peter berg s feature film directing debut   is the shockingly perverse and wicked comedy that     there s something about mary     wanted to be    it pulls out all the stops to create something fresh   original   and hilarious   even if that requires surprisingly graphic violence   gore   and a slew of truly hateful characters that all get what they deserve by the end    the screenplay   also written by berg   is   to put it mildly   very funny and courageous    during the second act of the film   some of the fun was beginning to slightly dwindle due to so much death   which was beginning to undermine the humor   but it eventually recouped itself with a climax that has to be seen to be believed    the dialogue is edgy and inventive   and this film proves that a movie doesn t necessarily require likable character to be extremely enjoyable    there s more fun   i think   in showing ignorable people getting their just desserts    cameron diaz gives her best performance to date here   and has a lot of fun in playing the hateful laura   who eventually turns out to be more crazy than any of the five male friends    diaz puts so much overblown energy to her character that i really do think she deserves a supporting actress oscar nomination come next january    by the time she is beating someone to death with a coat hanger   and reciting lines like     stuff him in the crapper and get your ass upstairs     i couldn t help but crack up at how   balls to the wall   this film had become    jeanne tripplehorn creates another character original   as daniel stern s wife   who late in the picture   we discover   is a tough kick boxer that should not be messed around with    it is at this level that     very bad things     was so entertaining and surprising    just when you thought you could predict what was going to happen   there would be a little twist involving the characters that would be absolutely wacky    the last sequence was perfect and managed to go even further over the top    although i enjoyed the film immensely   let me make this clear     very bad things     is not a movie for everyone    it is more tasteless than anything i have ever seen   it is more violent and bloody than a r rated film usually is   and it is offensive    luckily   these are elements that i would prefer in a comedy   since it clearly shows the filmmakers were set on making a no holds barred   politically incorrect comedy    the fact that this film slipped through the cracks of the usually mainstream and   safe   wide releases coming out lately   still gives me hope for the hollywood film industry    
Pos, it is hard to imagine that a movie which includes abortion and incest as prominent plot devices could be so sensitive   so delicate   so insightful and yes   even so enjoyable    somehow   the cider house rules manages to keep an even keel in the face of the harsh subject matter and allows a substantial amount of heart to shine through    set in the 1940 s   the film tells the story of a unique young man named homer wells   tobey maguire   ride with the devil      an orphan   twice rejected as an infant by possible adoptive parents   he grows up in the care and under the tutelage of dr   wilbur larch   michael caine   little voice     father figure to the orphans of st   cloud   obstetrician or abortionist to the unhappily pregnant women who come there seeking his help    figuring that as long as homer was going to stay at the orphanage   he might as well be of use   dr   larch begins teaching him all he knows about obstetrics    soon homer is delivering babies like a professional    he refuses to perform abortions   instead wondering why the couples just didn t behave more responsibly    larch   too old and experienced to have such youthful ideals   marvels that homer   continues to have such high expectations of people      such is the result of an insulated upbringing    though skilled in certain medical procedures   homer remains woefully naive and ignorant about most everything else    he finally figures that in order to find his place in the world   he must go out into it    befriending a young couple who had come to see dr   larch   he hitches a ride with them and parlays that into landing a job as an apple picker with a group of black migrant workers at the orchard where they lived    thus   homer begins his worldly instruction   with new friend candy kendall   charlize theron   the astronaut s wife   a willing tutor    tobey maguire is well cast yet again as an inherently good man who is seeking answers to life s questions        many of which he was unaware needed to be asked    he demonstrates a quiet strength and thoughtful curiosity that is both warm and appealing    michael caine is   in a word   brilliant as the caring caretaker of these orphans   many of whom he helped to bring into the world    calling them   princes of maine   kings of new england   in his ritualistic goodnight   mr   caine manages to communicate the love and commitment larch has towards these children without becoming maudlin or saccharine    delroy lindo   a life less ordinary   has many powerful moments as mr   rose   the strong and charismatic leader of the apple pickers whom homer joins    director lasse hallstrom   what s eating gilbert grape     and screenwriter/novelist john irving   the world according to garp     who adapted his own work for this movie deserve much of the credit for the balanced approach to the sensitive subject matter    regardless of one s personal stand on the divisive matter of abortion   it is hard to imagine anyone becoming offended by the evenhanded treatment used by these filmmakers    the title is a reference to a list of rules posted in the quarters of the illiterate apple pickers    figuring the rules didn t apply to them since they didn t have a hand in writing them   they decide to ignore the list and make up their own rules as they go along    dr   larch   in his own way   acts similarly    there is a danger in that line of reasoning    god has also given us a set of rules    unlike the list posted in the cider house   god s rules   if followed   promise us benefits beyond our imagination    and yet   many continue to ignore his   rules   preferring to make up their own as they go through life       trust in the lord with all thine heart   and lean not unto thine own understanding      proverbs 3   5 [kjv]  just as a builder follows a designer s blueprint or a conductor follows a composer s score   why shouldn t we follow the rules of life given to us by life s architect for our own blessing    
Pos, known as the most successful   highest grossing romantic comedy in history   director garry marshall apparently struck gold with   pretty woman     which opened quietly during the summer of 1990 but   thanks to positive word of mouth   was able to reach upwards of $175 million in theaters alone    the question of why it worked so well lies directly with the film s two charismatic stars   richard gere and julia roberts   since the story itself is none too original or even believable    the other winning element that makes   pretty woman   so entertaining is its genuine sweetness and innocence   which is rarely as palpable in today s films as it is here    edward lewis   richard gere   is a suave   extremely wealthy business mogul who   at the start of the picture   breaks up with his girlfriend over the phone after a nasty argument   and abruptly takes his friend s car and gets lost on hollywood boulevard while trying to find his hotel    stopping the car along the street   he asks a woman   obviously a prostitute   for directions    agreeing to get in his car and show him for ten bucks   edward ultimately accepts   they strike up a conversation   and before long she has been asked up to his penthouse room on the top floor    this meeting does not lead to sex   however   as edward confides that he d rather just have someone to talk to   and offers her $300 to spend the night    just as well   since the hooker   named vivian   is a beautiful   generally upbeat young woman who is the type of person that can lend an understanding ear    the meeting between these two completely opposite people does not end the next morning as planned   when edward finally offers to pay vivian three thousand dollars if she will stay with him for six days and nights while he is in the area   keeping him company and acting as his companion to business dinners and get togethers    since vivian firmly tells edward at the beginning that she will do anything with him except kiss him on the lips   which always leads to unwanted intimacy when dealing with her customers   the obligatory rule of the genre says that by the third act   edward and vivian will finally   truly   kiss    allegedly planned as a grim   downbeat drama until garry marshall came on board as director     pretty woman   has been transformed in all senses of the word into a classic fairy tale   a la   cinderella      the premise is hardly believable and its portrait of prostitutes hanging out on the streets of hollywood boulevard is just about the most idealized portrayal that there could have possibly been    you honestly don t need a high iq   or any iq   for that matter   to guess how the film will end   and the story is as old as my great great grandma bertha    the supporting characters are almost all sketchily written and less than gratifying   and the screenplay is no award winner    and yet   amidst all of these qualms and flaws     pretty woman   is an astoundingly charming motion picture   and it is definately easy to see why it became such an overnight sensation with moviegoers    you d actually be amazed how far bemusement can go   and there are a few select moments   not even whole scenes   mind you   that are as romantic as anything i ve seen on film in the 1990 s    additionally   the film belongs   and its success can be attributed   to two people and two people only   and they are richard gere and julia roberts    playing sex symbols throughout the  80s with such pictures as   american gigolo   and   an officer and a gentleman     gere branches out here to play a more quiet   almost shy   but still alluring   character that believably could sweep julia roberts off her feet   and vice versa    julia roberts   in her breakthrough role after 1988 s well received   mistic pizza   and 1989 s   steel magnolia     for which she was nominated for an academy award   is radiant and funny as the wordly vivian   who surprisingly could be a role model for impressionistic viewers   not for her line of work   but more for her sheer intelligence    it would have probably been easy to have written vivian as merely a flake   but screenwriter j   f   lawton clearly cared too much about his central characters to do such a thing    after   pretty woman     roberts   along with meg ryan   became the reigning queen of romantic comedies   with her latest being the just released   runaway bride     which repairs gere and roberts together once again     and no wonder    roberts has continually proven to not only be a strong actress with a flare for comedy   but also one who can efficiently do drama   and in almost every film she appears in   it is difficult not to fall in love with her along with her male co star    an especially strong scene that gere and roberts do together takes place after edward foolishly tells one of his co workers that vivian is actually a prostitute   and he then approaches her   making sexual advances    no only does this make vivian feel cheap   especially since she had previously been posing as a more professional   eloquent young lady   but it also maddens her that edward would demean and betray her in such a way   and ultimately causes her to question where exactly her life is leading   and if she likes this particular path    on the more dreamy side   the film is filled with romantic scenes that are simply effervescent to behold   especially one in which edward enters into the hotel s lounge to see vivian turn around and not only reveal her marvelous cocktail dress   but also her inner   and outer   glowing beauty    another subtle moment has vivian lovingly blowing a kiss to edward   who is asleep   and placing it on his lips   since she still is unsure if she should be getting attached to this man who may very well be out of her life forever in a short couple of days       pretty woman   does not blatantly step wrong until the very last scene   which is a happy ending   as you d expect   and wouldn t have it any other way   that somehow does not work   perhaps because of its undeniable contrivances    this one misstep does not put a damper on the rest of the film   though   because there is just far too much magic at work here to disaffirm such a petty problem    helped along by a warm   memorable supporting performance from laura san giacomo   as vivian s best friend and roommate   and a fabulously catchy soundtrack   in which all of the songs prominently aid in the movie s overall fulfillment     pretty woman   is a sparkler of a motion picture   and has what it takes to act as a blueprint on how to make the quintessential romantic comedy    
Pos, the dramatic comedy cousins has all the necessary ingredients   a witty and whimsical script   inspired performances   a great sense of humor   a large and wonderful cast   and the beautiful scenery of vancouver    it s a movie of weddings   marriage   family   infidelity   and  oh yes  love    like 3 men and a baby   cousins is an americanized version of a french film   1975 s cousin   cousine    the plot is complicated   but it goes something like this    larry and tom are cousins   each of whom is not so happily married    tom starts an affair with larry s wife   tish   and to get even   larry and tom s wife   maria   pretend to have an affair of their own    soon the pretending turns to love and cousins is off and running    cousins is populated by a wide assortment of interesting characters and caricatures    the acting is first rate down to even the smallest supporting role   and virtually every performance deserves mention    ted danson   in his first starring film role   finally gets to play a character with some depth and sensitivity    while larry may be confident and charming like sam malone on   cheers     he is also complex and vulnerable   with more between his ears than empty space    as maria   isabella rossellini is a joy to watch   she is shy   sensuous   and immensely alluring    sean young is perfectly cast as larry s picture perfect wife   tish   a superficial and trendy make up consultant    keith coogan   from adventures in babysitting   is wonderfully weird and eccentric as larry s rebellious son   mitch    and finally   lloyd bridges in a tour de force performance is mitch s rambunctious grandfather   he provides some of cousins  best lines and laughs    like moonstruck   cousins is a mix of drama and comedy    the film is larger than life and has a keen sense of the absurd    it understands human nature extremely well and milks it for every possible laugh and heart tug    how often do you see a movie where you believe that two characters truly and sincerely care for and love each other   as friends and as lovers    well   to its credit   cousins is just such a movie    let s hope the french continue to provide us with the inspiration to make films like cousins  
Pos, this remake of   la cage aux folles   features a gay couple pretending to be straight in order to pull the wool over the eyes of their son s future in laws    the couple   robin williams and nathan lane   are about as archetypal   or as the less kind might put it   stereotypical   gays possible    williams owns a nightclub featuring drag queens where his partner performs as the featured star    they live above the club in what could not possibly be mistaken as a heterosexual abode    williams is excellent as should be no surprise    gene hackman as right wing potential father in law is refreshing in one of his few comedic roles    the real star is lane    his attempted transformation from one of the most obviously gay men in the world to the straight shooting uncle is hilarious    perhaps it is a personal failing on my part   but the crying and screaming drag queen faux high drama just grates on my nerves and the first few minutes of this film are filled with it    luckily   for me at least     it doesn t last long and the rest of the story focuses on the relationship between the men   their son and the deception    the question of stereotypes is a touchy one    these guys personify the homophobic gay image    you can almost hear the swishing    if you think that they are supposed to be representative of every gay man in the world   you ll be outraged    but if you can accept the view is that this is a movie about gay individuals   you ll love it    your choice    
Pos, seen may 19   1999 at 5 p   m   at the crossgates cinema 18   guilderland   n   y       theater #1   with my brother john for $8   50    [theater rating   * * * *   excellent seats   sound and picture]     critic s note   this review is the longest i ve ever written and still only scratches the surface    i d recommend this be read only by those who have seen the film as a form of critical analysis      as my friend and fellow film critic ted prigge said in his review of `the phantom menace    how do i even write this review    never mind the fact that i ve been waiting for a new `star wars  movie since i was seven years old    never mind the fact everyone on the internet had already dissected and discussed the movie before it was even released    never mind that there s so much going on in this movie in terms of plot   action   special effects and long term story that to analyze every aspect would take a lot of time and energy and still wouldn t cover everything    and also like ted does in all of his reviews   i ll try to review this in a way different from my usual reviews and instead write as casually as possible as if i was talking directly to you   the reader    before we can begin analyzing the specific aspects of the film   many of the most general and most significant factors must be considered   to get the specifics of the film   skip this and the next four paragraphs      as has been made obvious for the last several years   another trilogy of films will be produced to account for the [missing] initial three installments of the `star wars  series   the first of the films was actually episode four   not one      george lucas   the creator of the series   has probably just assumed most people know the first produced trilogy   `star wars     `the empire strikes back  and `return of the jedi    is actually the second trilogy   chronologically    in media interviews in the past he has explained why the movies were made out of order   but i can t recall his reasons    with this new film he as writer and director has also assumed viewers are at least vaguely familiar with the storylines and significant plot points of the first trilogy   err        second trilogy        well you know what i mean      and in order for this review to be thorough many of those significant points must be mentioned which   unfortunately   may serve as spoilers so proceed with caution    [critic s note #1   it is one my personal policy not to intentionally analyze spoilers because i would like my reviews to be able to make sense to the reader both before and after viewing the film reviewed   but it would be nearly impossible to do the film justice here without breaking the rule    critic s note #2   reviewing this film also breaks the universal critics  law of reviewing movies   which as roger ebert coined   `it s not what a movie is about   but how it is about it      because so many outside factors come into play in the film s plot and significance as part of a trilogy   and just considering modern society   it again would be difficult   if not impossible to simply review the film as a completely autonomous story   ]  first of all we have to catalog what we know about the film before even going into it    we know that young anakin skywalker will grow up to become the evil ruler darth vader who is also the father of luke skywalker   who will lead a successful revolution against him and his empire    we know obi wan `ben  kenobi was the trainer of anakin in the ways of `the force  in attempts to become a jedi knight   but would fail and thus anakin would fall to the `dark side      we also know something about `the force  itself   that it is some kind of universal force which determines fate and can be manipulated by those whose minds are expanded enough to believe in it and feel it   the jedi      what we don t know for sure is the history of the ruling of the galaxy   which is most likely much longer and more complex than any government we have had here on earth    to me   this was one of the most fascinating aspects of the first three films because there seemed to be a subtle   definite order to all the complexity    also   it seems that we re supposed to be familiar with a few other details about the story which have come out of the thousands of comic books and paperbacks published in the years since the movies ended    most notably   details regarding the emperor from `empire  and `jedi     and that he was once a senator and his last name is palpatine    for those who haven t kept up with all the `star wars  paraphernalia over the years   there is still a way to know these details simply by recognizing an actor   or his voice at least      with `the phantom menace  being the first chapter of a long saga   one would assume the basic groundwork would be laid   including the history behind all the major factors of the series   especially `the force  and the jedi knights    unfortunately   this film does more of the opposite as it simply builds on top of what must be a history so long and detailed it could never be explained    i didn t liked that aspect to this film and is one of the reasons it falls just short of greatness    if you re going to tell a story from the beginning   tell it from the beginning   is it possible that after this trilogy is complete there could be another trilogy of episodes  1 through  3 to clarify the back story even further        but i digress    i ve said so much and yet i haven t even touched on the specifics of the film itself    all these necessary `disclaiming  elements should go to show just how vast the story of the `star wars  series is and this individual film itself    what we get here is a movie not unlike any of the other three we ve come to know and love since the late 1970s    its similarity to the other films helps to keep the spirit of the series familiar   but at the same time seems to be a flaw in the filmmaking process itself since it sometimes rings of unoriginality    the basic story is rather sorted   complex and even confusing at times    we re told that an army known as `the trade federation  has set up a blockade around an seemingly insignificant planet called naboo    we re not given too many details to clarify the back story of what the federation is and what their purpose is   instead the film opts to get its story moving quickly    we re introduced to two jedi   the master qui gon jinn   neeson   and his apprentice obi wan kenobi   mcgregor      the two are acting as ambassadors of some sort in hopes of ending the obvious hostility between the federation and the planet s queen   amidala   portman      the leader of the federation   an alien called viceroy   is following the orders of a strange   mythical character   an older human man whose face and body are covered and shadowed by the black robe and hood he wears    he is referred to as lord sidious but considering his appearance   and especially that creepy evil voice of his   he is a obviously one of the most significant characters in the series    sidious communicates to viceroy only through digital transmissions and never in person    clearly his actual whereabouts are something he wants to keep secret because that would also reveal his identity   which is never openly revealed in the film   but should be clear to most viewers    i have a feeling we ll delve into his background in the next two films      but it doesn t take the film long to spring into action and within minutes our hero jedi are fighting for their lives and the film s story begins to move along    the film doesn t have one specific plot and works in the same manner as the other films in the series where as what we get is one mini plot and adventure on top of another    there are so many of these mini plots within plots in this film i would not describe them all because it is what gives the movie its hook    the other films have relied on this type of storytelling   but because of the limits of the technology at the time   the films  screenplays were also limiting    the sense of limitlessness here is what gives `the phantom menace  its unique traits    as we already know   the film takes place at least a generation or two before the original `star wars  trilogy which means a lot of the background which was unclear and/or unexplained may be cleared up here as it is the beginning of the vast epic story    and here the most significant storyline is that involving the discovery of 10 year old anakin skywalker   lloyd     by qui gon jinn and his introduction to the jedi council    to briefly summarize the story   jinn stumbles upon skywalker in an attempt to buy parts for queen amidala s spaceship which was damaged in efforts to free her from the federation    their meeting on tatooine is mostly chance but of course jinn chalks it up to the will of the force    jinn can feel that skywalker has a great natural power in the force   and through another sub plot involving a bet on skywalker in a fantastic race he will enter   more and more details of his significance begin to reveal themselves    this also provides for a new elaboration and explanation of the force which has never been mentioned before    in fact   it seems to be something so important it is upsetting it has never been mentioned before    the element seriously undermines the mystical aspect of the force and transforms it into something more physical and scientific which is completely unnecessary    by the film s third act all the major significant elements become tied together in a rather familiar execution of the plot    it s funny how the reality of the `star wars  world seems so embedded in mythology   new age like philosophy and religion and yet the solution to all the major conflicts in the series has been violence    not that this technique hasn t been used in movies and in real life situations countless times throughout history    and at least it s all in the spirit of the ultimate powers of good versus evil in a fun and exciting matter    it does border of the cartoonish sometimes   but that s just the film appealing to our inner child   which is the basic reason the entire saga exists and has become such a big part of our modern society    `the phantom menace  delivers exactly what you d expect from a `star wars  film which is why it succeeds as well as it does but is always why it never truly achieves greatness    so many things in the film we ve seen before and done with more heart because the filmmakers concentrated just a bit more on story and character because they were limited    but this film is far from bad because it at least embraces the spirit of sheer fun at the movies    
Pos, the story of us   a rob reiner film   is the second movie this fall that touches the viewer in a way they are rarely touched by a film   as they can see their everyday lives in the usually once in a year films    well   1999 has two of them   the other being the instant classic about a very dysfunctional family   american beauty    the story of us   a film about the highs and lows of marriage and family   is a well written   heartbreaking and insightful film that made the majority of the audience   including myself   cry    the story of us tells the story of ben   bruce willis   and katie   michelle pfeiffer   jordan   and asks the question     can a marriage survive 15 years of marriage      the film is about two individuals who have come together   spent a good chunk of their lives together   and shows when our main characters are   him   and   her     during the bad times     and when they are   us     during the good times      the story of us is about their entire 15 years of marriage that is collapsing day by day    ben and katie now only see and live with each other because they don t want to devastate their children with the fact that their parents no longer   or at least say they don t   love each other anymore    ben   a cartoonist   and katie   a crossword puzzle writer   have grown apart during their fifteen years of marriage   as they have grown to follow different views on life   family   and marriage    katie is the more organized   sophisticated type   who wants to plan everything out   while ben is a spontaneous   adventurous individual who doesn t mind doing things differently than they were planned    the story of us plays out nicely   as the film opens with ben sharing his story with a therapist   told to the viewer through flashbacks    as the film progresses   it switches between ben and katie talking to their therapist   with their stories being told with flashbacks of their marriage    this method is highly effective   as we see the characters changing from year to year   slowly growing apart    through the flashbacks   we get to see the story of them through both of the character s eyes   and this gives us a strong sense of what their characters are really like   as the story of us has three dimensional   believable main characters    the screenplay   written by jessie nelson   stepmom   and alan zweibel   dragnet     is a touching   down to earth work that hits a chord within the viewer   much like another one of nelson s films   stepmom    the script has an open honesty and outlook on life   one that is so realistic   you feel uncomfortable at many times   because so many situations the characters are in are undeniably familiar   as most families these days most go through the hard times   as ben and katie must    if it wasn t for the first 15 minutes that the writers wrote   which are rugged and certainly flawed   the story of us would have been this year s best picture    bruce willis   a usual action/adventure star   has certainly turned himself around in the past year  he went from being a man who was being typecast to the same role in action movies   to a distinguished   sophisticated actor   as in last summer s the sixth sense   and now in the story of us   willis shows the world what he can really do if he is fed a good script    although i wouldn t pick willis as the choice actor for ben jordan   willis handles himself nicely   and shines in a few of the film s most powerful scenes   enough that make his performance a definite contender comes awards season    where to start about michelle pfeiffer    pfeiffer s performance is spellbinding and ultimately strong   as she brings her character to life with such charisma and emotion   you wonder how   how it is possible for someone to portray a real person with such realism    pfeiffer s performance is one that if not recognized by the academy next spring   will be in the heart s of any viewer that has watched this moving film    the story of us is one of 1999 s most real   yet funny films   as the razor sharp script evens out the laughs and the tears to keep the viewer hooked    superb acting   direction   writing   story   and soundtrack that always sets the mood for the film   which is beautifully composed by eric clapton and marc shaiman   make the story of us a touching   unforgettable motion picture that will touch the hearts of viewers across the country  and will certainly become one of the most talked about movies of the fall    the film s major high points are the fights between ben and katie   as the two constantly accuse of each other of whose fault it is that their marriage has collapsed   and although they also say things like   it s over     or   i hate you     you can tell the two still share a deep connection   and that inside   somewhere   they are still an   us      the bottom line   a wonderful   enchanting   and heartbreaking film    one of the most realistic   heartbreaking films in recent years    
Pos, warren beatty returns to the screens in the funniest   craziest and hard hitting movie in his career    based on a story concocted by himself   and also written by beatty   bulworth gives a good insight of what beatty thinks of the american government system    beatty stars as senator jay bulworth   who s going through a nervous breakdown    after hiring someone to kill him   he completely changes his campaign strategy and tells the honest truth about what s  really  happening in american politics   much to the annoyance of assistant dennis murphy   platt      instead of everyone hating him   the american public love him    however   inside his party   more people want to kill him than just the hired assassin    and he also strikes a relationship with black girl nina   berry      it s remarkable that this film was released at all    much more open than the rather subdued primary colours   bulworth barely gives the american politic system a good name    the outrageous remarks bulworth makes to his potential voters are very funny   and also somewhat true    it s great that beatty isn t afraid to let loose on a subject    talking of beatty   he s excellent in the role of the demented senator   clearing having fun    and seeing warren beatty have fun is a rare sight indeed    even in dick tracy   he was the most straighten face actor       then again   he was the only characters face we could completely see      the film gives an opportunity for the 61 year old beatty to indulge in some rapping   which he does with gusto   and also quite well      and seeing beatty as a  homeboy  has to be seen to be believed    it s nice to see that beatty can laugh at himself    second best is oliver platt as the flustered   coke snorting assistant   who goes over the top when he finally snaps    halle berry is fine   and sexy   as the intellectual nina   who comes to like the senator    also popping up in the supporting cast is paul sorvino wit h a strange accent   laurie metcalf as the exact same characters she s also played   and christine baranski of cybill fame as bullworths wife   who all contribute to the fun    and   this being a political film   the ubiquitous larry king makes an appearance   as   * shock *   himself    the writing and directing   both by beatty   are above par    the direction is very nearly sitcom like   but suits the film perfectly   and both the politics are gangland parts are handled well    the script is funny   and the raps are actually well produced and humorous   and quite clever    they re not cringe inducing   at least    the script makes many points about society in america today   and isn t afraid to make any bold statements about what is a flawed system    best of all   the film is thought provoking   but directed and written in such a way that the film feels as light as a feather   and is very entertaining    there s also a great rap soundtrack with some well chosen tunes    bulworth is a film with many advantages   and few flaws    perhaps it could be somewhat embarrassing to see a 61 year old man rapping   but beatty does it so well it s irrelevant    in fact   there s very little against bulworth   except for the language which is very heavy   but then again it should be expected    bulworth   then   is well worth watching    a david wilcock review   1999     you know   for kids     norville barnes  
Pos, the long and illustrious career of robin williams   which has included both forgettable turns like mrs    doubtfire and flubber   was punctuated with the actor s first academy award in 1998 for his role in good will hunting    it was his first truly dramatic role since 1989 s dead poets society   and critical remarks were unanimously positive    his next role   that of a deceased pediatrician in what dreams may come   was unfortunately lackluster    and so   after a six year stint as a comedic actor   the proof on whether or not williams can cut it in the dramatic league has come down to patch adams    williams is the title character   hunter   patch   adams   sporting scruffy facial hair that falls between the clean shavenness of dreams and the grotesque hairiness of will hunting    we re introduced to patch as he commits himself to a mental institution because of his suicidal tendancies    it s at the institution   however   that he discovers a latent talent for relating to people    he removes himself from the institution and enrolls at the university of virginia s medical college   where he finds that medical doctrine is a calculating   impersonal trade    his attempts to inject humanity into the profession result in several bouts with expulsion   and the movie climaxes with patch s appearance before the state medical board    the characters are well defined in an oscar worthy sense    although the script does not perform well as a narrative    there s little story to be told outside of patch s skit length experiences    the script does go a long way toward building the relationships of characters    at medical school   patch meets up with truman schiff   daniel london     an outsider like himself who relishes patch s zest for humanity    the two instantly become the best of friends   and it s easy to see why    monica potter plays patch s love interest   a young woman who personifies the things that patch hates about medical school    for some reason he s attracted to her   and although it never gets said   the audience understands from an intrinsic point of view    the script    based on hunter adams  own story    works well this way    the rest of the cast   bob gunton as the villain professor in particular   is solid    director tom shadyac   liar liar   leads us in and out of patch s life in a sound   intentional manner   combined with williams  presence on screen   the movie rarely becomes boring    patch adams  lack of purpose is its major shortcoming   and for the first ninety minutes out of two hours   there s little feeling of continuity or the passage of time    nevertheless   it s an emotionally moving picture   and patch adams looks to be one of the more memorable of the holiday season    it succeeds at everything it tries   and only fails at the stuff it doesn t try in the first place    by and large there may be another oscar nomination herein for williams   but more importantly   it s entertainment for the entire family    
Pos, in recent years   harrison ford has been such a grave screen presence   scowling through the likes of tom clancy s jack ryan series    the fugitive    and last year s smash  air force one    that one wonders if the rogue charm that made him such a superstar had been completely drained from his system    apparently   it was just lying dormant    with ivan reitman s enjoyable romantic comedy/adventure  six days    seven nights    the lovable scoundrel is back   giving audiences a fresh reminder of why ford is one of the most enduring and popular modern screen icons    ford plays quinn harris   a carefree and slightly slobby   endearingly so   pilot in the tropics whose broken down plane crashes in a storm   stranding him and his charter   new york magazine editor robin monroe   anne heche     on a deserted island    of course   the sophisticated robin and the salt of the earth quinn are at odds long before the plane goes down   and all manner of hostile repartee is exchanged between the two from their first meeting    while some of the lines fall flat   the formulaic motions work because of the unexpectedly electric chemistry between ford and heche    both actors   who have largely done serious works as of late   seem liberated by the lack of dramatic weight on their shoulders   and they deliver their zingers   as weak as they sometimes are   with beguiling abandon    naturally   there s nothing like a life threatening crisis to bring two people together   and quinn and robin s warmup to each other is sped up even further by the arrival of some bloodthirsty pirates    granted   some conflict needed to be introduced on the island   but this tacked on development from writer michael browning is a bit too obviously thrown in for the purpose of adding gratuitous action scenes    but the point is to get the two together   and their newfound affection causes complications for both   but mostly robin   who came to the islands on a vacation with her fiance frank   david schwimmer     who frantically awaits her return on the home island    reitman   and old   reliable hand at breezy comedies   keeps the pace brisk and capably handles the more action oriented sequences    his big accomplishment   however   is bringing the old   smiling ford back    as appealing and charismatic as he always is   ford hasn t been quite this charming and affable in years   he s obviously having a blast   and the audience cannot help but have one along with him    holding her own is heche   whose scrappy character never becomes the screaming ninny she initially promises to be   as the plane goes down   she frantically pops stress pills      she can take her lumps   physical and otherwise   just as well as quinn   making her a formidable foil and ideal match    formulaic and light as a feather    six days    seven nights  could be cited as a classic example of the summer   popcorn   movie season s lack of substance    it s certainly fluff   but it s unpretentious   undemanding   and  most importantly  fun fluff that goes down as easily as a frothy pina colada on a balmy tropical beach    pass the popcorn    
Pos, near the end of 1996   analysts remarked that the year would be the last in which disney would stand alone as the animation king    the following year   1997   saw the first sleeper entry into the genre from a studio other than the magic kingdom   twentieth century fox gave baronial russia to the masses in the form of anastasia    at best   that s all it was    a sleeper hit   designed to surprise but not shake the industry    in 1998   however   things have been decidedly different    there have been a number of pushes on disney s death grip on the market   and fifty one weeks into  98   a new champion has emerged    dreamworks  the prince of egypt succeeds where all of the other conventionally animated products have failed    the other two contenders   warner brothers  quest for camelot and disney s own annual entry   mulan   lacked inspiration and drive respectively    although camelot was borderline abysmal   and can t really be considered a shot at the title   mulan had the makings of winner    unfortunately   it was saturated with traditional   disney cute animation   and lost points against the rapidly changing face of the competition    in making the prince of egypt   dreamworks has strayed from all of these hallmarks and created a genuinely unique product    the animation is flawless   and   aside from a bug s life   is the best looking movie to date    the animators have nimbly mixed both flat and spatial effects   and the 2d/3d combination is something that artists from disney and fox have heretofore struggled with    the key to success   however   was that the visuals were used not just because they looked cool but also as a method of advancing the plot    namely   some of the most important action sequences   like the parting of the red sea   were done almost entirely in 3d    dreamworks is the first studio to prove that they ve got the stuff of success   and that they re capable of challenging disney    the story is also well written   and the characters voiced with talent    for the most part   the plot follows its source material    the book of exodus    although only in the most general sense    the writers took a few creative liberties   and most do not damage the story in any way    in fact   the shakespearean relationship between moses   val kilmer   and the pharaoh rameses   ralph fiennes   makes the story more interesting if anything    moses   a hebrew   is saved from the slaughter of the firstborn sons by his mother when she sets him in a basket on the nile   he floats into the pharaoh seti   patrick stewart    s palace and is taken in by the royal family    moses grows up but learns of his heritage and flees into the desert   where he discovers the burning bush and is commissioned by god to return to egypt and free the slaves    by this time   rameses is now pharaoh   and the two brothers   now on opposite sides of the line   face off in a battle of wills and divine intervention    the cast of voices is most impressive   and also includes such noteables as sandra bullock   jeff goldblum   danny glover   and steve martin    the script does not have a lot of one liners in it   and god is reduced to a voice that might well be mistaken for the same one that spoke to kevin costner in field of dreams   but overall the story is exciting and interesting    it s decidedly for an older crowd   and the tykes who haven t had a few years of religion class will be hopelessly lost    but for those who make the bid   the prince of egypt can be a great watch    
Pos, capsule   a rock and roll fable   indeed    like a hubert selby   jr   novel filtered through equal parts damon runyan and bruce springsteen   and a ton of fun    streets of fire bills itself as   a rock and roll fable     and the description is perfect    this is a stylish   great looking   and breezily enjoyable movie that feels like a hubert selby   jr     novel with a damon runyan rewrite   irected by bruce springsteen    noir is one of the few truly american movie genres   aside from the hollywood musical and the western    this is post wwii brooklyn noir   for lack of a better label   with a generous injection of rock  n roll and an all around confrontational attitude    it all works    the plot is simplicity itself   rocker ellen aim   diane lane   is kidnapped by a vicious street gang   led by a bloodthirsty fellow named raven   willem dafoe   very nasty      her old soldier flame   played by michael pare   comes back into town to save her   but doesn t count on a whole bunch of things going askew    that s about the entire plot   save for the spats with ellen s manager   a hilarious rick moranis     an encounter with a doo wop group that winds up becoming ellen s supporting act   and a whole gang of other fun little touches    but in movies like this   when is the plot important    the movie is all style   all visuals and attitudes   quotable lines and posturing    and it delivers all those things consistently and with great brio and pacing    no surprise that it was directed by walter hill   48 hrs       who understands this kind of macho romanticism perfectly   and has put together a movie that s a mixture of times and sensibilities   but perfectly unified in tone    when was the last time you could say something like that about a movie   especially a movie where it seems like someone gets decked on the jaw   * and * passes out   every 2   63 minutes on cue    streets of fire isn t the greatest movie ever made   but it occupies a totally unique little niche   and enjoys the position it has    anyone with a weakness for doo wop   neon   motorcycles   rainy streets   the el   studebakers   gang pictures   lonely heroes   and a great looking gal giving the microphone both lungs will eat this movie up    i did    
Pos, jack nicholson has a funny way of playing characters with very few redeeming qualities   but whom you end up liking anyway    in as good as it gets   the character in question is melvin udall   a successful novelist with obsessive compulsive disorder who seems bent on having as little contact with people around him as possible   except when he feels like being a royal pain in the you know where    he s mean    i mean really mean    the opening scene shows him shoving a little dog down the trash chute of his manhattan condominium    every day   melvin eats at the same cafe   sits at the same table   and gets served by the same waitress    you can tell that this is his favorite place to be a vicious nuisance   when his waitress carol   helen hunt   tells him he can just go sit in another section   and all the other waitresses just cringe    one day   melvin makes a comment that goes to far   and carol   genuinely hurt   comes down on him like a ton of bricks    at that point we find that she is not only the only person who can put up with him as a matter of course   but is also the only person who can get to him   too    another person who often crosses melvin s sights is simon   greg kinnear     an artist who lives on melvin s floor    aside from the fact that he lives near the terror of the city   simon has the added benefit of being gay   making him a prime target    simon s friend frank   cuba gooding   jr       also gay   does not fare much better    when simon walks in on a pair of men robbing his apartment   he is brutally beaten and sent to the hospital   and frank   who has grown tired of seeing his friend take the verbal abuse dished out by his neighbor   intimidates melvin into watching after simon s dog while he convalesces    this is the same dog melvin had earlier shoved down the garbage    an interesting thing happens when melvin takes this dog in   melvin gets to like the dog   and the two develop an attachment which is the catalyst to melvin s softening up to the world around him    it doesn t happen overnight   but throughout the film   he bites his tongue here   cares a little there   and most miraculously   falls in love    one of the best elements of this film is watching melvin try to express feelings which are not the usual negative ones he so often shares with others    he s traveling terra incognita here   and it shows    good performances are turned in by all principal players in this film   especially by nicholson and hunt    they play well off of each other and have a genuine chemistry which makes it a pleasure to watch them on screen    greg kinnear   who is becoming known for his supporting film roles   is also very good at playing the vulnerable simon    he gives a short monologue about what it means for him to be an artist   and delivers it with such inspiration and conviction that you actually get to feel some of what he feels    cuba gooding jr   performs with a hyped up level of energy which contrasts nicely with that of kinnear   and comes through with a near constant comic performance    the screenplay   by mark andrus and james l   brooks   is clever   touching   and funny    the best part about it   however   is that it is filled with characters we care about because they are actually interesting    melvin is a man we can t quite figure out   but whose mannerisms and quirky qualities capture our attention    carol is a working woman living with her mother   trying to take care of a child with a debilitating respiratory problem    simon is a man who is a success in his circle of peers   but who is still not accepted by much of society    combined with the talent of the actors   these characters make the film    the one noticeable area where the film is lacking   however   is the absence of cuba gooding   jr   through the second half    his character makes an exit which is supposed to be temporary   but the film ends before his return   leaving his relationship with simon and melvin unresolved    i would have liked to have seen more of his character in general   in addition to a part in the film s conclusion    there s one actor   who will probably not be recognized by any awards   but who contributes greatly to many of the movie s best scenes and who deserves mention    this is that little dog    he plays such a pivotal role to melvin s character development   actually serves to forward the plot   and has some absolutely scene stealing moments   that it is hard to believe he is simply an animal    award or no   however   when even the dog puts in a good performance   you know you ve got an outstanding movie    
Pos,    i ve been told by several people    you re old fashioned    you want to do everything by hand       topiary gardener george mendonca complains   defending his continued resort to hand shears in trimming his intricately privet sculpted animal creations       this is the only way you can do it and do it right      snip   snip       some people believe that we are gonna replace ourselves by building these machines   and that may be     muses mit robot scientist rodney brooks   who builds robots that run on instinct       there may not be a place for humans in the future   if we re really successful         you feel that there s a and looking directly into errol morris s camera       i know you are    you know i am      in some ways the slickest film yet from nonfiction auteur morris   the thin blue line   a brief history of time     fast   cheap & out of control is reportage of the highest order    journalism students should dream of making connections like these    cross cutting among interviews and filmed segments   morris traces the lives of four disparate professionals who seem to share nothing but an immersion in their work   and then threads them around one another in an intricate quadruple helix    the fun is settling into your theater seat and wondering just what the hell one story can possibly have to do with the other    what morris manages is something akin to an intellectual magic trick   an interrogative sleight of hand    one of the things that feels different about an errol morris documentary    besides the always striking visuals    is the interview style   where subjects seem to look directly at the viewer    weary of pressing his cheek against the camera lens to get this effect during conversations   morris developed an elaborate double camera gadget he calls   half jokingly   the interrotron    through a rig that uses a pair of teleprompters to project video images of the interviewer for the subject and vice versa   these folks talk   startlingly   right to the camera    to the video image of morris   and by extension to the audience    the gardener wonders whether   after his death   anyone will be interested in maintaining the garden that he s devoted half his life to tending    the robot scientist is more than a little pleased to note that his creations may be primal examples of what an insect or even an animal is    a complicated set of sensory receptors    the mole rat specialist is delighted to catalog the ways in which these vermin animals behave like insects   and notes that they may be more suited to long term survival than people    and the circus trainer pines for a long lost ideal that was exemplified by world renowned trainer and showman clyde beatty   who starred in such serials as zombies of the stratosphere   excerpted at some length here   with affection      starting to detect the patterns    fast   cheap & out of control contains a multitude of parallels and tiny intersections   culminating in what feels like an elegy   the film is dedicated to morris s late mother and stepfather      the film is balanced on that airy precipice dividing the already musty past from the alternately exhilarating and terrifying space that is the future       the title is taken from brooks  wish that nasa would send a payload of hundreds of expendable robots to scurry about the martian surface   creating a sort of road map for the terrain    fast   cheap   and out of control      with able assists from editors karen schmeer and shondra merrill and cinematographer robert richardson   oliver stone s longtime collaborator     this becomes a cinematic contraption that s a wonder of narrative divergence and coherence       further enhancing the picture s wacky intellectual mood is the playful score by alloy orchestra founder caleb sampson      different story threads inform and comment on one another with the serene inscrutability of a kieslowski film   or a surrealist dream    by cobbling together out of these motley musings a thesis on the nature of craftsmanship   invention   and existence itself   morris reveals the presence of cosmic themes    creation   evolution   death    in earthbound lives    at the same time   and just as significantly   he pays tribute to a consuming passion for one s work    this breakdown of the dichotomy between the everyday and the extraordinary is likely as profound as anything you ll encounter in pop culture this year   and the visuals cry out for the big screen    don t miss it                                                                   directed by errol morris edited by karen schmeer and shondra merrill cinematography by robert richardson music by caleb sampson u   s     1997                                                                 
Pos, the deer hunter   directed by michael cimino   is truly one of the greatest movies ever made    a captivating drama about the lives of a group of friends from a small russian american pennsylvania community   the deer hunter promises to be one of those movies that you will never forget    in this academy award winner for best picture of 1978   outstanding performances are turned in by all actors   and cimino s brilliant directing provides the perfect vision into the character s lives    the first act of the film provides us with an inside look into the lives of a group of men from a small community who work and hang out together    michael   portrayed perfectly by robert de niro   is shown early on as the natural leader of the group    after a days work   the men leave their jobs at a factory to head down to the local bar   where john   george dzundza   works    three of the men   michael   steven   john savage     and nick   christopher walken   will be leaving shortly for vietnam   but not before steven gets married    after the marriage   the group   including axel   chuck aspegren     spend one last day on a hunting trip   one of their favorite past times    this sequence of events enables us to view the lifestyle of a normal group of men   who will be suddenly and permanently affected by the ravages and separations of war    the wedding scenes   although criticized by many as being quite long   actually enhance even more the purpose of the first act    the outstanding performances by de niro   walken   streep   savage   and cazale   who died very shortly after the filming of the movie was completed   really begin to shine through and promise not to halt in the near future    the second act of the movie begins with the trio of men on the front lines in vietnam   stationed in a south vietnamese village being attacked by the viet cong    the men are eventually captured and held in a floating prison on a river    this prison   run by the v   c      initiates the horrifying scenes in the movie   where the prisoners are forced to play russian roulette against each other    steven   who is emotionally marred by this turn of events   is secluded in a tiger cage with water up to his face when he refuses to participate    michael shows his leadership again by convincing nick that the only way that steven will survive is if the two friends play against each other   and moreover   they must play with 3 bullets in the gun    personally   i felt that de niro s absolutely gripping portrayal really was displayed in a brilliant way in these and the following scenes    the men are eventually able to escape   but are separated    michael is able to get steven   who ends up losing his legs   to medical care   while nick finds his way to saigon and a u   s   army hospital    michael returns home and does not feel at all like a hero    he wants to avoid the celebrations and recognition that his friends would like to bestow upon him    he assumes that nick is still lost in vietnam    the third act concentrates more on walken s character   who eventually stumbles upon a small gambling operation where the game is   again   russian roulette    only in this game   you play for money    michael has learned that nick is possibly still alive and returns to saigon to attempt to find him    the two narrowly find each other at the russian roulette games   but do not link up until michael discovers nick participating in the games and tries to bring him home    a very emotional   and   for many   a very disturbing movie   the deer hunter is a truly magnificent movie that should not be missed    the greatest performances possible are turned in by all actors   and cimino s directing   which is considered to be at his all time best in this film   is equally dazzling    do not miss this film   it will captivate and astound you    
Pos, with storytelling this compelling   who needs books    based on the book by author james ellroy   l   a   confidential is probably one of the best piece of work produced by hollywood in recent years    together with director curtis hanson   the hand that rocks the cradle   the river wild   whom ellroy corroborated closely throughout the shooting of the film   resulted in a movie with a plot and and script so tight   an atom would have to squeeze itself through    set in the 50s   the story revolves around 3 policemen of vivid personalities    jack vincennes   spacey   is the cop who is more concerned on busting with fame and stardom ala hollywood style   concentrating heavily on work which will attract him media attention    there is also the young hot shot rookie   ed exley   pearce     fresh out of the academy and all out to carve a name for himself in the footsteps of his legendary cop father    the tough and unnerving bud white   crowe     a cop who believes in justice   the swift and violent way    3 policemen   distinct in their characters and paths but all of them working in a place where there is no real distinction between good and evil    when his partner is murdered on the day of his resignation   bud sets out to find the people responsible but unwittingly delved himself into something more than just a simple robbery murder    even after exley receives a promotion for his work on the murder case   happenings began to link itself to the murder    the 3 eventually reach a point of convergence when what actually began as a personal investigation turns out to be an uncovering of a complex web of organised crime in hollywood    the last time i remember a film so clever and compelling was when i watched the usual suspects    in l   a   confidential   you do not get the shock and cleverness as the former but it has a lot more of `story  going for it    there is not a single moment in the film in which i felt was slow at all    surprisingly   though spacey did a very convincing job as the street wise vincennes   the movie was carried mostly by the two rather `unknowns    pearce and crowe    pearce s exley is cool and calculative in his actions and there is a slight hint of val kilmer in his appearance    crowe s bud white is the most impressive of all   head strong and temperamental   he should obtain some sort of recognition for his work here    superb acting     wonderful storytelling and one of the best climaxing gunfights ever    easily the best hollywood piece for 1997    
Pos, synopsis   committed to an asylum   the marquis de sade   rush   continues to publish pornographic literature   aided by young maid madeleine   winslet      abbe coulmier   phoenix     who runs the hospital   disapproves of the stories   but humours him in the hope of achieving a cure    de sade s craft and life are threatened when the emperor dispatches dr royer collard   michael caine   to stop the marquis  work   permanently    review     quills   is an exploration of the marquis de sade   his madness   his cruelty and his perversion   his obsession with sex in any form   no matter how obscene    but   quills   also details the marquis  determination   to write in spite of the obstacles put in his path   and to propagate his words to the masses    the extent to which de sade is willing to go to practise his trade is amongst the movie s most intriguing elements   as when de sade scribes a story in his own blood   or narrates a tale via of a chain of fellow inmates   cell to cell    to provide a contrast with the marquis   wright involves him with two very different characters    one is the abbe   a handsome   charming and kindly man whose desires are stymied by his oath to god    the abbe lusts for madeleine   but it is the wizened marquis who is able to have her    and then there is royer collard   a hypocrite who in truth is as sadistic as any of the marquis  motley creations    rush is splendid as de sade   utterly inhabiting the character    kaufman s direction is fine   and he is able to bring a sense of bizarre humour to the grim proceedings    the plot itself is rather mundane and plays out unsurprisingly   but this is virtually unimportant    for two hours     quills   acquaints us with the marquis de sade    and   more frightening still   allows us brief insight into his scatological soul    
Pos, with more and more television shows having gay characters   and even the infamous   ellen   sitcom being centered on the life of a lesbian   the movie industry too seems to be gaining more and more homosexual based plot lines    the birdcage was critically acclaimed   as was this years chasing amy    then along came in & out   and all three of these films are on my top ten list for the years in which they were released    it s also noticeable that this   alternative lifestyle   becomes less and less taboo as the years go by   and it seems that using comedy as a medium is proving a worthwhile effort    while it s a very serious issue to many   it is the comedies that people are flocking to see and that are gaining notoriety    but the way we re using comedy to present homosexuality is also changing quite dramatically    while the gay community was once very stereotyped and used to laugh * at *   it is more and more becoming something we laugh * with *   and when a movie like in & out comes along   it is something that both heterosexuals and homosexuals should be able to thoroughly enjoy    it doesn t poke fun at the lifestyle   it simply uses it to all it s comedic capacity   just as love   sex   marriage   birth   death   and anything else has been    the idea for in & out was born the day tom hanks won his oscar for portraying an aids afflicted gay man in philadelphia    if you remember   during his acceptance speech   hanks gave a highly emotional tribute to the gay community   and even sighted a former gay teacher of his as a major inspiration in his life    it s a serious and touchy subject   but producer scott rudin viewed it as the setting for a potentially hilarious comedy   and pitched it to screenwriter paul rudnick    it s true that if this same film had been written by a heterosexual   it may have been more controversial   but because it was written by an openly gay writer   the prerogative was set    kevin kline   who only seems to become more and more acclaimed   stars as howard brackett   a high school english teacher in the small   picturesque town of greenleaf   indiana    after a three year engagement to fellow teacher emily montgomery   joan cusack     a wedding date has been set   and the hubbub surrounding it is almost as big as that surrounding another huge story   greenleaf high graduate cameron drake   matt dillon   is up for a best actor oscar    the small town eagerly awaits both events   and both seem quite astronomical   but little does anyone know how much one will affect the other    when cameron drake is announced the winner   the excitement is heightened as he pays tribute to his high school english teacher   mr   brackett    everyone is cheering back in greenleaf   that is until cameron tacks on those three calamitous words     and he s gay      the town becomes silent as the entire population joins in a simultaneous jaw drop    the thing is   nobody   including howard   can understand how cameron came to that conclusion   and such wild and unexpected news can only wreak havoc in such a conservative american haven such as greenleaf    naturally the questions pour from howard s fiancee   parents   debbie reynolds & wilford brimley     students   and the high school s principal   tom halliwell   bob newhart     and the evidence starts to become more and more obvious   howard is clean   neat   honest   sincere   a romantic   and perhaps the most incriminating fact   he loves barbara streisand    the frenzy isn t helped any when camera crews from every conceivable news magazine and   entertainment tonight   wannabe show up at greenleaf high the very next morning    one particular reporter is peter malloy   tom selleck   of   inside entertainment     who unlike the collage of other reporters   wants to spend a whole week in the life of howard brackett   including coverage of his wedding    the intrusion is all but welcome by howard   who is going more and more out of his mind with each passing minute    it seems that no matter where he turns   a camera is being shoved in his face and questions regarding homosexuality are being tossed to him like frisbees    the dominoes begin to tumble as howard s closest friends begin acting different and principal halliwell hints at a possible termination of employment should howard indeed be gay    it all sounds very devastating   and it would be if it weren t presented with near perfection by one of this year s most delightful ensemble casts    kline seems only to improve with age   and he is downright perfect here    the great thing about this film is that every single character has a moment to shine   and they use it wonderfully    every single actor turns in one of their best performances ever    dillon has never been so likeable   cusack has never seemed so perfect for a role   and brimley   reynolds   and newhart all provide huge laughs when they re up to bat    rudnick s script is heavily laced with wit and humor   and you ll likely find yourself laughing out loud for a solid ninety minutes    while in & out doesn t carry enough to give it four stars   it remains one of the best done films of the year   all around    the script is exuberant   the actors are absolutely top  notch   and we re allowed just the perfect blend of heart tugging so as not to bog down the laughs    it remains a solid comedy throughout its entirety   yet we re still allowed a sappily touching ending    despite it s subject matter   and one scene that comes almost too close for comfort on explaining gay sex   this is a movie that everyone could   and should   enjoy    frank oz   best known as a voice talent for muppets   directs this film quite delightfully   using all the potential rudnick s script has to offer   which turns out to be quite a bit    check this one out    you ll have a gay old time    
Pos, with his last two films   shine and snow falling on cedars   australian director scott hicks has proven his cinematic flashbacks to be some of the best out there   and his latest   hearts in atlantis   is no different    its structure   beginning and ending in present day with one long flashback in the middle   is similar to the green mile   which is a bit ironic considering both were based on stephen king books    the parallels don t end there   either    atlantis was adapted by william goldman   who had previously penned the big screen version of misery and is in the process of working on the script for king s dreamcatcher    even the film s content is a bit reminiscent of mile    in fact   it s the perfect blend of the feel good  60s nostalgia of stand by me   also by king   and mystical power hokum of mile    king s atlantis is a book comprised of five related short stories   but the main focus here is on the first   and longest   tale   called low men in yellow coats   the film s title comes from the second chapter      it s set in 1960 harwich   connecticut   where 11 year old bobby garfield   anton yelchin   lives in a boarding house run by his cold   self centered mother elizabeth   hope davis   joe gould s secret     who seems to care more about her wardrobe than her son    bobby spends his time with his two closest friends   john sullivan   will rothhaar   and tomboy carol gerber   mika boorem     who become something like the kevin   paul and winnie of harwich    when a new tenant moves into the vacant room   the fatherless bobby finds a male role model in ted brautigan   anthony hopkins   hannibal     a mysterious stranger who is vague enough about his past to make bobby s mom suspicious enough to at least momentarily turn her head away from the mirror    ted teaches his young neighbor about the wonders of literature   after his cheapskate mother gives him a library card for his birthday     dispenses prophetic words of wisdom and even pays bobby one dollar a week to read him the local newspaper and keep his eyes peeled for the low men   a group of people chasing ted to exploit his special powers    i won t go into what these powers are   but they re considerably toned down from the book   and don t involve black stuff flying out of ted s mouth   a la mile      atlantis  present day setting which bookends the film is based on the novel s final chapter   titled heavenly shades of night are falling   and features david morse   in yet another connection to the green mile   as a married   middle aged bobby who learns of the death of both of his childhood friends and returns to the dilapidated boarding house in which he spent his formative years    atlantis is nowhere near as flashy as hicks  cedars   which is disappointing but understandable considering the switch from the completely amazing robert richardson to the occasionally amazing piotr sobocinski   the oscar nominated cinematographer behind krzysztof kieslowski s red    the acting is solid from everyone   including hopkins   who never once makes you think of dr   lecter    most impressive are youngsters yelchin and boorem   who both had tiny parts in along came a spider    while i didn t really have much of a problem with goldman s screenplay   i do need to point out at least one inconsistency    goldman   for those of you who don t read premiere   writes what seems like an annual criticism of everybody else s films   carefully explaining why they all suck   make no sense and insult their audiences   while somehow failing to mention the crap that he s penned   like the general s daughter      it s mean spirited but fun to read   mostly on account of nobody else in hollywood having the balls to say anything remotely negative about anybody else in the business   including michael jackson   o   j    and robert blake      in atlantis   which is supposed to be told through the eyes of young bobby   one would assume he would have to be in each scene in order to have the memory to which to flash back    well   he s not   and it doesn t make sense    1   41   pg 13 for violence and thematic elements  
Pos, corey yuen s latest film     hero   is notable on two fronts    first this is the film to bring back the shaw brothers studio back to the forefront of film production    secondly   the film is the re discovery of yuen biao    the film opens around the end of the qin dynasty   when many immigrants were making their way to shanghai    poverty and crime rule most of china    a young man   ma wing jing and his brother enter the fabled city and become laborers at the pier    tam see is the most powerful gangster in town   having control of the center of the city and having an alliance with the british army    wing jing and see become friends during a confrontation    their friendship grows as both men start to realize their dreams   wing jing s to be a powerful and wealthy man   and see to settle down with a woman he can truly love    wing jing meets the singer at the club   jessica hester   and falls in love with her   not realizing that she is the star attraction    after stealing her picture from a display   wing jing and his brother plot to impress her    first they rob two foreigner s of their money and cloths   and set up a midnight rendezvous    unfortunately   wing jing has run afoul of a rival gangster   yeung seung who has bribed the police in an effort to gain control of see s night club    the two bothers are arrested and held until they manage to escape just before dawn    jessica   having waited outside in the cold with her manager all night   gives up and returns home    see decides to retire   he gives the night club to wing jing   as repayment for saving his life during an attempted murder    see arranges the trade and ask his lover   valerie chow   to take care of wing jing    unfortunately   she has sided with yeung seung    the performances in the film are all top notch   with fine turns by takeshi kaneshiro as ma wing jing and jessica hester and valerie chow    the comic turn by yuen wah   previously known as the mad vietnamese in samo hung s   eastern condors     is a marvelous surprise    his gift for comedy is marvelously understated and hilarious    the stand out is by yuen biao who returns to the screen after a string of disappointments   with a stellar performance    his tam see is a triad boss who knows that his time is coming to an end but still has the cunning and craft to uphold his pride    his gangster is almost non violent   in that he only retaliates   never instigates violence    but when the time comes to fight   yuen biao has never looked better    corey yuen directs the film with a maturity and a sense of pacing that has been lacking in hong kong movies as of late    the lighting   cinematography and staging of the film are beautiful to watch    the action scenes do not disappoint either    this is the most aggressive and inventive martial art choreography i ve seen in some time   actually surpassing jackie chan s work in both  rumble in the bronx  and  first strike     the special effects team deserves praise for a fantastic job of making the impossible look possible    an early fight between takeshi kaneshiro and yuen biao on the back of a horse is to be seen to be believed    also noteworthy is the score for the film   done in a marvelously lush orchestral style   not representative of most hong kong fare    i would dare to say it ranks as high as the scores for both   titanic   and   rosewood   as best of the year    all in all     hero   marks a grand return to filmmaking for shaw brothers    this is the film that gives us faith that hong kong cinema is alive and flourishing    
Pos, synopsis   in this cultural exploration   a chinese american computer engineer named fang   peter wang   decides to take a month long vacation to visit his sister mrs   chao   shen guanglan     her husband mr   chao   hy xiaoguang     and their teenage daughter lili   li qinqin   in beijing after 30 years of separation    fang brings his asian american wife grace   sharon iwai   and his college aged son paul   kelvin han yee   along   both of whom don t speak chinese    the encounter between the two families allows the audience to compare the eastern and western cultures as well as the ambitions of individual characters    opinion   sometimes a film is plot driven    sometimes it s a character sketch    a great wall   1986   can be called a culture sketch   as opposed to a character sketch because it gently compares a chinese american family to a beijing family    fang s family is thoroughly americanized    fang is an upper middle class professional who enjoys jogging and argues with his boss    his wife can t cook chinese    his son has a white girlfriend and complains of racism when fang encourages him to befriend an asian girl    meanwhile fang s beijing sister advocates absolute loyalty to the  work unit      her husband is a retired official who has heard rumors of american depravity   homosexuals running the streets     and her daughter lili longs for american freedoms in a youth culture where studying for college entrance exams is the most important thing in life    the two families spend a month slowly learning about each other    there is no ultimate  answer  or final comprehensive understanding after the month long vacation    the film is neither here nor there   it s a neutral   meandering   gentle   portrait of life on both sides    
Pos, note   some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers    be forewarned    on december 20   1996   amidst all the year end oscar bait releases from the major studios   miramax s genre label dimension films quietly released a sly little ensemble slasher flick titled scream    although the teen horror market had been given up for all but dead in recent years   the film shocked industry observers by scoring consistently high box office returns   eventually topping $100 million domestic and becoming one of the most successful films of its type in history   while delighting audiences by finally presenting a set of knowing slasher flick protagonists who were aware of the all the standard cliches associated with the genre    the sleeper success of scream sent shockwaves through the industry    suddenly   everybody was looking for hip   inexpensive fright films that might be able to reap similar fortunes    the strategy of casting young tv stars to draw the youth demographic was given a boost    scream director wes craven   previously best known as the creator of new line s a nightmare on elm street film series   was thrust back into the limelight    and scream s rookie scribe   kevin williamson   burst onto the film scene in stunning fashion    it s hard to understate this last point    mr   williamson has   based upon his produced screenplays as of this writing   scream   i know what you did last summer from october 1997   and now scream 2     enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame   quickly become the most well known screenwriter amongst the entertainment weekly reading   box office figure watching youth culture since    well   since that quentin tarantino guy   whom   it is said   has also achieved some renown as a director      indeed   in a singularly freakish oddity   it is the screenwriter   mr   williamson   and not the director that has been receiving the lion s share of acclaim for the success of scream   and the print advertisements for scream 2 s theatrical release are similarly indicative of his increasing prominence   while the traditional   a film by wes craven   drapes the film s title in the ads   right below it   in equal sized font   yet   reads   written by kevin williamson     an affirmation of the screenwriter s contribution to the project which may be unprecedented       i can envision the board of wga   licking their chops at this coup and counting the days until their goal of   a film by   is attained      and   much like mr   tarantino s screenwriting   mr   williamson s work is vaguely unconventional   incorporating both contemporary pop culture references and allusions to other films into the dialogue of his characters    in scream   they satirically discussed other horror films   here in the sequel   the characters discuss the relative merits of film sequels    scream was written in 1995 during the infamous bob dole rampage against hollywood   and mr   williamson s rejection of this tirade clearly influenced the writing in both that film and this sequel    while the sequel was planned from the outset    a treatment of scream 2 was included when mr   williamson sold the screenplay for scream    the basic premise for the film and the reunion of the surviving characters nevertheless seems extremely artificially contrived   and it s only at about the film s midway point when it becomes engaging    like its predecessor   scream 2 opens with a splashy   eye grabbing prologue which only vaguely ties into the film s principal narrative   this time around   we re following the exploits of a young couple   jada pinkett and omar epps   attending a riotously gleeful sneak preview screening of stab   a running film within a film gag where the   true life   events behind the first film has been turned into a movie      however   although it tries hard and has some good ideas    the nightmarishly enthusiastic audience in the film vaguely reminded me of the one i was sharing the theatre with   and i was certainly thinking about gutting the overly noisy person a few seats away myself after about fifteen minutes    the prologue is a pale imitation of the bravura opening sequence in the original with drew barrymore   where her performance not only convinced me that she * could * act   but was so good that it would rank among the best performances in a horror film that i ve ever seen      there are too many knowing   hip pop culture references crammed into the scream 2 sequence   and the setup isn t nearly as cleverly frightening as scream s   while the first film s preface dizzyingly built up to a final shot that was exhilaratingly terrifying   the payoff here is almost campily theatrical    flash to the campus of a smalltown ohio college   where returning characters sidney   neve campbell   and randy   jamie kennedy   have relocated for their studies and to escape the notoriety from the events in the first film    the murders which open this film result in reuniting the survivors    single minded tabloid tv reporter gale weathers   courteney cox   roars into town to cover the breaking story   while ever awkward former deputy dewey riley   david arquette   flies in to protectively guard over sidney    they re joined by cotton weary   liev schreiber     who was falsely accused of homicide in a cameo appearance during the first film   his role here is significantly expanded    the film incidentally provides surprisingly little backstory   although i suppose a good case can be made that it really isn t necessary    not because so many people have seen the first installment   but because this is   after all   a sequel to a slasher film   what do you * think * happened to these characters in the prior movie    there s a lot of new faces on the scene too   sidney s new boyfriend   derek   jerry o connell   and her new roommate hallie   elise neal     randy s fellow film student mickey   timothy olyphant     gale s newly assigned nervous cameraman joel   duane martin     omnipresent local journalist debbie salt   laurie metcalf     co ed cici cooper   ms   buffy herself   sarah michelle gellar     and a pair of simpering sorority sisters   rebecca gayheart and sirens  portia di rossi      any of these characters could be the killer    or for that matter   could be the next victim    as is seemingly becoming a regular staple of a kevin williamson screenplay   the narrative is once again framed around the increasingly flimsy premise of a whodunit    one problem that scream didn t have was keeping you interested in the identity of the killer    here   and to some extent in i know what you did last summer     mr   williamson s screenplay seems slightly hampered by trying to turn the identity of the killer into a mystery    the film occasionally becomes so bogged down with misdirection that you can sense it straining at the seams to try and drop red herrings left and right at the expense of its thriller elements       it doesn t help matters any that the killer s alter ego is fairly obvious from the get go      indeed   the finale plays as full out camp when the villain is finally unmasked   frothing at the mouth with glazed eyes    this is one of those cases where the villain goes on such an endless diatribe about their machinations   scheming   and motivation   that you actually get bored listening and just want them all to get on with it    while the basic setup and premise for the film is fairly contrived   the aspect where it s head and shoulders above its predecessor is in its suspense sequences    they re staged much more imaginatively here   save for the first post prologue murder   which is handled in such a mediocre   conventional fashion that it seems to be culled directly from the predictable 1980s slasher flicks that the first film satirized     and are much more fun to watch    it s hard to hold back a smile during a giddy scene where sidney and her companion have to climb over the incapacitated killer in order to escape from a car wreck   and a cat and mouse chase involving gale and dewey in a campus sound lab is very nicely staged   although its ultimate resolution is hilariously overblown    in terms of its characters   the strong part of the film is the interesting relationship between gale and dewey   who ambles onto the screen accompanied by his very own theme music      their verbal sparring at the outset provides much humour    an exchange where dewey defensively rebukes charges of a perceived aura of incompetency is well written    and there s a curiously endearing aspect about their relationship amidst all the mayhem and bloodshed    on the other hand   sidney is pretty dull here    she doesn t have any compelling presence   and there s nothing particularly interesting about her this time around to make us care about her other than that she s the returning heroine    given this   and the fact that there s no strong second banana character for sidney   elise neal s role isn t nearly substantive enough to adequately fill rose mcgowan s shoes     it s no wonder why the roles for gale and dewey have been significantly augmented for this installment of the film    what surprises me the most about scream 2 is its zealousness in decimating its cast    the film s mounting body count bears out the fact that * no * character is safe   well   * almost *     while in principal i applaud this bold policy   at some point you ve got to be wondering about just how many characters will make it to the next sequel       i was particularly surprised with the untimely demise of one in particular   whose casting for the next installment of the series would ve seemed obvious      but hey   as rose mcgowan s character said in the first film     no   please don t kill me   mr   ghostface    i want to be in the sequel !    look what that got her    
Pos, note   some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers    be forewarned    it s startling to consider that it was only a few years ago that film distributors would worriedly rearrange their summer release schedules in order to give the annual disney animated feature juggernaut a wide berth    the lion king had just cracked $300 million domestic in gross to become one of the most profitable ventures in film history   continuing to build on a sturdy base left by prior flicks aladdin and beauty and the beast    since then   though   disney s animated features have shown an unbroken string of diminishing returns   with pocahontas   the hunchback of notre dame   and this year s hercules successively proving less and less potent    with the once seemingly impregnable disney stranglehold on the market share suddenly looking mighty vulnerable   and faced with their first serious competition in the animated film market from fox s anastasia   disney has brought xmas home early by dusting off the feature which sparked the modern revival of feature animation   the little mermaid    while the animation for the film is   as is typically the case for disney films   unquestionably top notch   the magic in the little mermaid is not its animation   but the wonderful innocence of its story and its rousingly superb music    the film s storyline is fairly straightforward    young teen falls for handsome man   father disapproves and assigns hapless chaperone to his daughter   teen disobeys father and goes to desperate lengths to win her man    except in this case   the chaperone is a crab   the teen is a young mermaid   and the object of her desire is a human prince    what makes the little mermaid so affecting and so emotionally resonant is the richness and charm of its characters and the sheer clarity and honest simplicity of their emotions    from the moment mermaid ariel lays her eyes on prince eric   she s resolutely smitten   and she s such a pure and endearing character that one can t help but invest their heart with her    this simple but touching love story   coupled with a healthy dose of smart humour   makes the little mermaid a remarkably captivating picture    one of the interesting things about the little mermaid is something which now curiously dates it   the voices cast for its motley crew of characters    this film was produced just before the distracting concept of using celebrity voices became in vogue   which started to a certain degree with beauty and the beast and was irrevocably exacerbated by robin williams  much heralded turn in aladdin   by the release of the lion king and henceforth   the majority of characters in the animated films were voiced by celebrities    while it s understandable that animated features lacking the name recognition or drawing power of disney   say   balto s use of kevin bacon and bridget fonda   or even anastasia s showcasing of meg ryan and john cusack   would be forced to turn to this strategy in order to hype their products   it s unfortunate that even disney has embraced this policy    do we really need to hear   say   demi moore as esmerelda in the hunchback of notre dame    is the film s entertainment value really augmented by hearing a recognizable voice   rather than a voice which best suits the role       i m not exactly on the edge of my seat for eddie murphy in the upcoming mulan      fortunately   the performers who voice the characters in the little mermaid   although perhaps more obscure   are impeccably cast    chief among them is jodi benson   a 1992 tony nominee for her stage work in crazy for you   who voices the film s heroine ariel to perfection   with a wonderfully expressive speaking voice full of youthful vigor   and gorgeous singing voice   ms   benson provides a most engaging anchor for the film       she s the only reason i d even consider catching flubber      similarly   samuel e   wright is terrific in the showy role of sebastian   the weary guardian crab    he easily milks his lovable character s comic moments for all they re worth   and his rendering of two of the little mermaid s big tunes      under the sea   and   kiss the girl      have become the stuff of legend    pat carrol is deliciously villainous and vampy as the evil sea witch ursula   while kenneth mars  booming voice conveys the stern yet affectionate authority of ariel s father   king triton    in large roles and small   edie mcclurg as dotting busybody carlotta is ideal   and rene auberjonois has great fun with his exuberant french chef     the little mermaid is impeccably cast    of course   the little mermaid will probably be best remembered for its remarkable collection of songs composed by the songwriting team of alan menken   music   and howard ashman   lyrics     who had created little shop of horrors and would go on to compose beauty and the beast and aladdin for disney before mr   ashman s untimely death    not only are mr   menken s tunes unbearably catchy   but mr   ashman s charming lyrics are fully integrated into the film s storyline so that the songs are a virtual extension of the character s dialogue   and consequently work wonderfully within the context of the film    mr   menken s score for the film is equally top notch   the sequence where eric   voiced by christopher daniel barnes   and ariel tour his kingdom in a horse drawn carriage becomes magical and wondrous with mr   menken s fine score    it appears that most people prefer the delightfully colourful production number for the calypso styled   under the sea   as joyfully crooned by mr   wright   which won the academy award and golden globe awards for best song    indeed   one of the many little joys in screening the film during its re release was listening to children scattered throughout the audience singing along with the tune    but my favourite is ms   benson s heartfelt rendition of the ballad   part of your world     an achingly beautiful tune of yearning and hope   wonderfully lyricized by mr   ashman   which   accompanied by the film s most dazzlingly polished animation sequence   packs an emotional wallop which literally brought tears to my eyes    during the song s reprise   which builds to a crescendo with ariel arching on a rock as a wave crashes in   the cumulative effect is nothing short of breathtaking   and one becomes acutely aware that this single instance is one of the finest in animation history    as of this writing   november 1997 has come to an end   as has disney s limited 17 day re release of the little mermaid    there s no question that the primary motivation for   if not the film s reissue itself   at least its timing   was to reinforce disney s dominance in the animation market and provide direct competition to fox s costly new upstart animation division and their first major venture   anastasia    in every respect   the re release of the little mermaid appears to be a success    the film s 1997 grosses have pushed its cumulative domestic gross over the magic $100 million mark   the little mermaid proved to have remarkably strong drawing power for a film initially released only eight years ago and in many homes on video   pulling in close to $10 million in its opening weekend   and although nobody could possibly expect the little mermaid to possibly defeat the aggressively marketed anastasia in head to head competition   it siphoned enough from the fox film s opening weekend totals to keep anastasia from the coveted weekend leader spot   allowing for disney s odious flubber to sweep in on the subsequent week and wrestle the family demographic market share away    but although disney s motives in the reissue of the little mermaid were self serving and protectionist   the real winner is the public    any reason to put this film back into theatres is a good one   and it s a true joy to see this heartwarming gem back on the silver screen    the little mermaid is the best film to come out of the disney s modern animation renaissance   and one of the greatest animated films ever made    
Pos, this christmas   little ralphie parker   peter billingsley   wants nothing more than a red ryder bb gun under the tree    although cautioned by many that he will   shoot his eye out    ralphie remains optimistic   conjuring up a detailed scheme to get on the good side of his parents and teachers    it could be possible that no one has ever wanted anything with more passion than ralphie wants this bb gun   and the story of his eternal struggle is a charming one    `a christmas story  is a favorite among many during the holiday season   and boy   it is certainly easy to see why    ralphie s endless desire for the bb gun may transport you back to your childhood   when you were craving a certain gift for christmas and the anxiety was almost indescribable    evoking pleasant childhood memories is only one of the many things `a christmas story  does so well    here are a few features that make this film such a charming little package for everybody during the holiday season    1   period detail    this film is based on the memoirs of late humorist jean shepard   who shares his experiences as a young boy living in the 1940 s with loving detail    shepard narrates from a first person point of view   divulging his various adventures one snowy december   in which visions of taking aim with his new bb gun replaced that of sugarplums dancing in his head    shepard s first hand commentary of several situations is not only downright hilarious   but also witty and warm   with various metaphorical meanings that ring perfectly with the essence of comic timing    on top of that   young billingsley s stupefied reactions to each predicament is absolutely perfect in contrast with the narration    director bob clark captures the look and feel of the era with wonderful technicality    i can hardly imagine a more accurate depiction of what christmas for young ralphie must have been like    2   mom and dad    both melinda dillon   as mom   and darren mcgavin   as   the old man    are perfect in their roles    it s hard to fathom a more agreeable pair for the requirements of a story like this one   with each possessing at least one memorable trait that instantly separates them from the wooden caricatures that could have been featured    for instance   he is a bloodthirsty turkey hound   and she is forgiving and understanding when it comes to some serious issues    in portraying the writer as a persistent but mild mannered young lad   peter billingsley has struck quite the chord    his performance is richly textured   making all of the humorous situations he stumbles into radiate with flavor and enjoyment    which brings us to          3   the comic situations    there are plenty of memorable moments in `a christmas story     moments that undoubtedly will improve in comic potency upon each new viewing   with so much more to explore and to cherish    i am particularly partial of the   f word scene    in which ralphie blurts out the shocking four letter obscenity while helping the old man in the yard    again   shepard s method of handling this amusing scenario is nothing short of comic wizardry    the numerous sequences that stick in one s mind include   of course   the famous department store santa scene   in which billingsley has some problems in telling old saint nick what he wants under the tree    i could go on   but i ll finish on this note   `a christmas story  is a standout among holiday movies   because it captures so much in a meager 90 minutes    not only is it funny   it s often genuinely hilarious         not to mention warm   fluffy and touching in all the appropriate places    i plan on making `a christmas story  a christmas tradition    why don t you    
Pos, in intolerance   d   w   griffith told four different historical stories at the same time   cutting from one to the other    each of the stories builds to a fast paced climax    in magnolia   paul thomas anderson tells several stories each just tangentially connected to the others    yet the stories and where they are going are all independent    what is strange about these stories is that they are all synchronized    each story builds to a tense moment   or what appears to be intended to be a tense moment   but then lets the tension dissolve    while the tension dissipates one character starts singing a song and in each plotline the major characters sing along   even though they are not in the same scene    then toward the end the stories each build to a tense moment again    it is almost as if the characters are somehow psychically linked    this creates some strange effects    the stories are about empty desperate people with dysfunctional relationships    the strands have varying degrees of bizarre content    we have the story of a dying man earl partridge   jason robards   wanting to get in touch with his son and make amends    phil parma   philip seymour hoffman   is his nurse who is frantic to help partridge achieve his final goal    partridge s young wife linda   julianne moore   is getting more and more anxious as partridge dies   but for an unsuspected reason    frank mackey   tom cruise   runs the kinds of self help seminar that businesses like so much   but he aims his at teaching disaffected men how to be real shit heels in dealing with women in an angry backlash to women s lib    officer jim kurring   john c   reilly   is a patrolman who has a need to feel he is making the world a better place    jimmy gator   philip baker hall   hosts a popular children s tv quiz show that really exploits and destroys children as we see from the stories of current quiz kid stanley spector   jeremy blackman   and former quiz kid donnie smith   william h   macy      the film juggles all these stories for over three hours   but even after all this time not one story is resolved satisfactorily    each story moves toward a single bizarre common climax   but it is not one that seems to do much but derail each story    the common climax itself is ambiguous in many ways and it fails to really tie up any of the stories    the film seems to be built around strange events and weird history   but it really has little to do with the content of the stories   though they all are connected in part by one weird event    magnolia will probably bring some much deserved attention to paul thomas anderson   though in my opinion his two previous films   hard eight and boogie nights were better told stories    it is interesting that one starts to look forward to actors from anderson s company    john c   reilly seems to be a standard fixture    particularly notable is philip baker hall who gave a mesmerizing performance from the first scene of hard eight    here he several of the characters are mesmerizing   but that characteristic is not really used    as studies of characters these stories are each worth following    as well rounded stories with a beginning   middle and end   they leave something to be desired    but the film is willing to do the unexpected and that helps make the film worth sitting through    i rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the  4 to +4 scale    heavy spoiler        heavy spoiler        heavy spoiler        heavy spoiler        during the strange climactic event of the film we get multiple messages from the filmmaker that the event we are seeing really does happen    and in actual fact   it does    since biblical times rains of frogs have been interpreted as signs of displeasure of the gods    it is   however   a perfectly natural   if somewhat unnerving   phenomenon    the cause is associated with whirlwinds    we know that tornadoes over land can rip up land and even objects of some size from the ground and hurl them into the air   holding them aloft    the reader may remember the unfortunate cow in twister    smaller objects can be hurled high into the atmosphere and then be kept aloft by the updrafts for surprisingly long periods of time much as hail and chunks of ice are    when the whirlwind is over water   animals near the surface   frequently fish and frogs   may suffer the same fate    essentially they are vacuumed up by the whirlwind   held aloft by updrafts   and finally dropped elsewhere    so while the rain is possible   some doubts do creep in    the rain of frogs depicted in this film may be of greater scale than i had pictured for a rain of frogs    it seems unlikely the frogs would still be alive when dropped    it is not clear that geographic conditions are right for los angeles to have this sort of phenomenon       frankly i have no idea on these points      otherwise the event was quite believable    what we see in this film is much more credible than the phenomena we saw in volcano    in the film it is left ambiguous if the rain is a sign from god since there are many references to exodus 8   2       and the frogs shall come up both on thee and upon thy people   and upon all thy servants      however a rain of frogs   though it feels biblical   is most definitely not a biblical portent    note that the previous verse says   and the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly which shall go up            so the bible is referring not to a rain but to an infestation from the river    the only other reference to frogs in the bible is as a symbol for uncleanness in revelation 16   13    
Pos, contact is the 1997 movie i ve seen the most   five times to be exact    four of those times were on the big screen   but even on a tv   it s a very impressive film    the same can t be said for films like independance day   but that s because contact is a rare example in sci fi filmmaking where the story is treated more importantly than the special effects   and all of us know looking back that id4 didn t offer much outside of some one time delightful eye candy    contact s wonderfully presented story deals with ellie arroway   jodie foster     a radio astronomer whose preference of study involves the outdated technique of   merely listening   to sounds out in space    her interest in the field of astronomy developed at a very young age   encouraged by her loving father   ted   david morse     who let ellie use a small ham radio to pick up on frequencies and communicate with people as far away as pensacola   fl   that was   of course   before the days of internet chat rooms      while everyone else uses modern technologies to aid them in the search for extra terrestrial intelligence   of which the program seti is an acronym for     ellie prefers to pop on a pair of headphones and see what she can pick up on   keeping the youthful magic and intrigue strongly alive    ellie s strong scientific basis essentially makes her an atheist   a belief likely influenced by the death of her father while she was still quite young    in puerto rico   she meets palmer joss   matthew mcconaughey     a writer examining the effects of technology on the world s overall happiness   a one  time seminary student who describes himself as   a man of the cloth   without the cloth      despite the vast differences in opinion regarding a   supreme being     ellie and palmer hit it off   and even take the time to sleep together    it s a weak and hurried relationship   but director zemeckis needs it to add to the plot later on    meanwhile   dr   david drumlin   tom skerritt     who has authority over seti but finds the program a frivolous waste of time and money   is ready to pull the plug on any and all seti funding    this leaves the passionate ellie searching for new sponsors   eventually finding a setup in new mexico and leaving palmer with no explanation   and only a one night stand to remember    it is in this nm city where   several months later   ellie finally picks up on a strong signal from outer space   perhaps the most profound discovery in the history of science    when the signal is closely examined   many new developments spring up   and before long   drumlin is stepping in to take over the operation he once scoffed at    eventually   it is concluded that information in the signal may be blueprints for a transportation device used to teleport an earthling to vega   where the signal seems to have originated      the media swarms   fanatics go further off the deep end   scientists clamor for new information   politicians huddle in discussion of appropriate actions to take   and presidents are morphed into a celluloid reality   remember when zemeckis couldn t get enough of this in forrest gump        as if that weren t enough   ellie s discovery leads her to the nation s capital where she again runs into palmer    contact is based on the novel by carl sagan and deals heavily with the subject of science vs   religion    the impressive thing is how well both aspects are presented   with no signs of bias    arguments for both sides are intelligent   solid   and thought provoking    when palmer joins a selection committee to choose an ambassador to vega   of which ellie is a leading candidate     personal convictions play a more important role than love interests    the question is   can a person who doesn t believe in god truly be the best representative of earth when 90% of the planet * does * believe in a higher power    even when the film wraps up   it s uncertain whether it s meant to play as an advocate for religion   science   both   or even neither   and in our modern day society where   right and wrong   is only opinion   at least speaking   politically correctly       the ambiguity is an incentive    don t get me wrong    as much as it sounds like it   contact isn t merely a theology class rolled into a reel of film    it s a * highly * enjoyable two and a half hours    despite its seemingly heavy issues   it s not a tedious undertaking to watch this film    the special effects are outstanding   though   warning !    highly depreciated on the small screen    even so   some of the subtle visual effects   that will likely go unnoticed by many   are even more impressive than ones more recognizable as   sci fi      the storytelling is rich and complete   and although there are moments in the film that feel quite pretentious   and at times   even hokey     it s easily one of the best 1997 films   and one of the best sci fi films i ve ever seen    this is zemeckis  best since back to the future   and for those of us who actually know that forrest gump was astronomically overrated   zemeckis now has real reason to boast    
Pos, roberto benigni is a clown in the tradition of chaplin and keaton    this italian film star   best known in the united states for the poorly received son of the pink panther   has done the near impossible by creating a comic fable about the holocaust    but benigni s life is beautiful   la vita e bella   is not so much a story of the holocaust as it uses that monstrous outrage against humanity as a backdrop to tell a story of familial love   devotion and sacrifice    the movie starts out as a typical slapstick farce with benigni s guido arriving in the small tuscan town of arezzo in 1938 to fulfill his dream of owning a bookstore    like many of the slapstick clowns who preceded him   most notably the almost forgotten harry langdon   benigni s guido has a childlike innocence    he ignores the growing anti semitism of the fascist government    instead   guido ardently falls in love and persues dora   a local school teacher who already is engaged to a local fascist official    in benigni s tightly wound script this is the same fascist official with whom guido had an earlier unfortunate   yet slapstick   encounter    guido wins dora    they marry    fast forward about five years    guido   dora   and their 5 year old son   giosue     giorgio cantarini   are a happy family    guido has finally fulfilled his dream of opening a bookstore    but racial and anti semitic tensions are on the rise in italy   and guido has determined to do his best to shield his son from these harsh realities    the task becomes even the more difficult when the family is deported to a concentration camp    here   guido must use all his skill and imagination not only to shield his son   but to keep him from being exterminated    it is at this juncture in life is beautiful may tend to offend those whom the holocaust has touched    for the scenes in the concentration camp lack the horror   the pain   the unimaginable suffering of a schindler s list    true   many italian jews were not deported until the war was nearly over   and most were not sent to the death camps   but to work camps where they were used as slave labor    unlike steven spielberg   benigni is not out to tell the story of the holocaust    his story is about family and the lengths a parent will go to protect a child    for guido   to save his son   transforms the entire experience into an elaborate game    giosue   must follow the rules without question to amass 1   000 points    the winner takes home a tank    therefore   guido tells him   he must remain hidden in the barracks    he cannot make a sound nor allow the guards to see him    guido explains this during a hilarious sequence when a german guard barks the camp instructions to the newly arrived inmates    guido   lying that he understands german and can translate for his fellow prisoners   instead lays down the rules for his son to allow him a chance to survive    throughout their imprisonment   guido s quick thinking continually keeps his son from harm s way    ultimately   the allies rescue the camp    in a poignant scene   giosue   comes out of hiding just as an american tank rolls into the compound    the boy goes wide eyed with wonderment and delight   thinking he has won the game    the price for his victory is most high    benigni has succeeded in using the blackest moment in human history to prove that even in hell   a ray of hope and salvation can penetrate the darkness    life is beautiful is a fantasy   a fable    it is not to be taken as a record of the holocaust    those who object to it are missing its point    and that is simply where there is hope   where there is life and where there is love   the spark of humanity will never be extinguished    committed to lifelong learning through effective communication  
Pos, larry flynt is a self proclaimed smut pedlar and the owner/publisher of the multi million dollar hustler publications company    the people vs   larry flynt is the story of larry flynt s fight for the freedom to circulate and sell his pornographic magazine   hustler    based on a true story   the film is almost a documentary in that it s a very vivid and detailed look at larry flynt s life    woody harrelson gives an excellent performance    he conveys flynt s peculiarities and his character with depth and focus    by the end of the film the audience actually finds themselves   somewhat grudgingly   liking larry flynt    this is some feat given flynt s apparent lack of any morals or ethics and his extremely smutty and childish behaviour in court    however   flynt has a number of things going for him   he s rich   he s funny   and most importantly   he says exactly what he means    larry flynt s wife   althea leasure is played by courtney love    larry meets althea at one of his clubs   and they fall in love   a very sexual and open love      both of them indulge in a world of too much sex   and eventually too much drugs    flynt had been taking an excessive amount of pain killers after being paralysed from the waist down   which was especially upsetting for him   by an assassin    althea had joined him in taking the drugs    following an operation flynt decides to stop taking drugs   althea does not have any such plans   nor the determination to follow them    as the film progresses we see her become increasingly frail and sick    courtney love obviously has a great understanding for althea s situation   as she is brilliant in portraying althea in every respect    it s extremely sad to watch althea literally wither away    edward norton plays flynt s lawyer   alan isaacman    again   this is a solid performance    the audience finds it easy to sympathise with isaacman who somehow puts up with flynt s courtroom antics    flynt is not only childish in the courtroom   but downright rude to the judges   and lands himself in a lot of trouble   and even in a mental institution   because of it    isaacman is very easy to like   and great at proving   in quite clever ways   his points to the court    milos forman has done a great job in directing the people vs   larry flynt    it is not really an exciting or thrilling film   but instead a highly interesting portrayal of a true story    due to larry s character it is also   at times   a very funny film    however   it is much more than that    it is about the fight for freedom of speech   anti censorship   and the right to be able choose for oneself what to see and buy    an excellent look at flynt   his life   and his story    keep a look out for the real larry flynt who makes a cameo as judge morrissey    
Pos, virtual reality is a topic that has almost defined its own genre    since  dark city    1998     films about alternative universes and parallel worlds have been coming one after another    the most popular and original of them all has been the matrix    all the films released after it   have been less successful    david cronenberg s existenz   released only a couple of months after the matrix   was accepted and even appreciated   by some     but the hype was gone    and when  the thirteenth floor  aired this fall   it was completely overseen and ignored    i admit that this issue has become something between tiring and annoying   feeling like eating the same meal over and over again    it was therefore i was less than excited   when i went out to see to  the thirteenth floor     however   i was positively surprised by josef rusnak s latest picture    matrix was an entertaining thrill ride through dreams and reality   combining the best of hollywood s action and effects with an intelligent story    existenz was a violent   gory and unsettling journey through reality and virtual reality   ending in blood and madness     the thirteenth floor  is somewhere in between    instead of going after the crowds   the action audience   like the matrix     or aiming at the horror fans   like existenz      the thirteenth floor  presents a more intelligent plot   witch will provide a less entertaining and more serious experience   that the true science fiction lovers will find rewarding    in a near future       on  the thirteenth floor of a classified building   a genius scientist   hannon fuller   has created a simulated world   his personal dreamworld   where every inhabitant is a complex   selflearning program that only believes it is real    right after the first testing of this world   fuller     is found murdered    douglas hall       his closest friend and business partner   immediately becomes the prime suspect and must enter through the thirteenth floor in search of the truth    a beautiful woman   gretchen mol   who suddenly appears on the scene may hold the key to the mystery   which might unravel the horrifying truth about his own existence    the first   download into simulation   is impressive    it is the creator s first visit to his world   his creation    in order to enter this virtual universe   you have to take over someone s identity   become another person    this is called conciseness transfer   and this is part of the tragedy in the film   people   wake up   in unknown places and strange things start happen    they start to doubt in their own sanity    these innocent people pay for the mistakes of their   users   and creators with their sanity and their lives    it is a frightening reality   the fact that all the people in the simulation   the program links   are living out their lives   oblivious   not knowing that they are puppets in someone s fantasy    with an appealing     blade runner     type   of detective story   this film presents the beauty and possibilities of virtual reality and the lurking danger that is always present    our modern world is metal and glass    cold   unfriendly   impersonal    the thirties are different    colorful   beautiful   elegant   virile    this contrast demonstrates a wish for change    virtual reality is here portrayed as a magical   enchanting power that seduces you into its endless possibilities    to some it is just a journey to their personal paradise   to some a personal playground    a life without any consequences    for others   a way to start over and   correct   their mistakes   by living in an illusion of their past    virtual reality is a wizard that transforms your hopes   dreams and fantasies to life    at least that s how it is all beginning    but when you re waking up from your dream   the real world seems worthless and unreal and all you can think off is returning to your personal paradise    this   almost narcotic effect   soon turns into confusion and ultimately madness    some important and interesting philosophical questions are raised    what is real    what is thought    who are we    if these were answered   this film would be the greatest science fiction ever made    they are off course not answered   but posed in an intelligent manner    the visual aspect of the film is one of the key elements   since it portrays the contrast between these computer simulated universes    kirk m   petrucelli has done a marvelous job with the recreation of the thirties with its glamour   grace and color   and setting this world in opposition to our own    an almost caricatured recreation of the nineties    there are some honest and decent performances by an almost unknown cast and harald klose s moody musical score that is at in right place at the right time    a rather unusual thing about the thirteenth floor  is the almost complete lack of special effects    there are no cgi animated creatures   no bullets in slow motion    this is a more philosophical approach   reminding about the european way of filmmaking    this is off course a major disappointment to the audience that is used to endless gunfights and mutated amphibians   but the more serious science fiction buffs and  dark city  fans will be pleased    this film is interesting and inspiring    it has everything existenz doesn t   but it lacks the immediacy and intensity of the matrix    and then there is a happy end which   like in  dark city    completely alienates it from the rest of the story and context    the plot itself is not as original as the filmmakers want us to think   since they have virtually sucked out all information from the best science fiction classics   including blade runner and  dark city     with this in mind    the thirteenth floor  doesn t make an oscar candidate or a film that will be remembered a year from now   yet this is a beautiful   elegant and intelligent take on virtual reality    
Pos, i don t know what movie the critics saw   but it wasn t this one    the popular consensus among newspaper critics was that this movie is unfunny and dreadfully boring    in my personal opinion   they couldn t be more wrong    if you were expecting airplane !  like  laughs and agatha christie intense mystery   then yes   this movie would be a disappointment    however   if you re just looking for an enjoyable movie and a good time   this is one to see    honest   it is    this story is about a 4th network   wbn   taking to america s airwaves in 1939    penny henderson   mary stuart masterson     the station owner s secretary   must deal with her overbearing boss   an unimpressed sponsor and writers ready to quite on a moment s notice   partly due to the fact that they haven t been paid in weeks    among the mayhem   she must also deal with her soon to be ex husband   roger   brian benben   who desperately wants her back    unfortunately   her problems only get worse as the night goes on and the body count rises without explanation    while trying to woo penny back   roger must deal with the police and try to find the killer that lurks at wbn    mary stuart masterson does well in her role as penny   i m trying to be unbiased so i won t tell you how amazing she looked     although brian benben gets most of the screen time    along with the two leads   are several recognizable faces   including corbin bernsen   l   a    law     michael mckean   laverne & shirley   and bobcat goldthwait    the special effects are amazing   and fooled me   which some may argue isn t very difficult to do   in many scenes    although the movie sometimes goes overboard with the physical comedy   it more than makes up for those mistakes throughout the movie    overall   i gave it   or an   depending on what system you use    some comments collected from friends    
Pos, it was with great trepidation that i approached +mary+   the farrelly brothers+ latest film    i knew the film would be funny  the trailer alone had me laugh harder than the actual comedy i went to see    but i also knew the film would be an equal opportunity offender   attacking the sensibilities of the politically correct with reckless abandon    i figured the film would be raunchy   maybe another lucky escapee from nc 17 hell    i may laugh   but would i feel better in the morning    i needn+t have worried    +mary+ is the sweetest   warmest   all out laugh and grossfest this side of  animal house     surprisingly   the farrelly brothers have walked that very tight line of making a touching romantic comedy on the side   and filling the details with five or six outrageous howlers    they make laughter   the toughest job for a filmmaker to do   look easy    the plot is typical    thirteen years ago   geeky ted   ben stiller   lucked out in having dazzling mary   cameron diaz   go with him to the senior prom    as luck would have it   on that very day   he was hospitalized    why   i shall not tell   but i assure you   it isn+t pretty    he hires a private investigator to find her   pat healy   matt dillon      he becomes one of the great comic villains    upon finding her   he too is lovestruck   and so pursues her   lying about his occupation and getting his teeth capped    it is only a matter of time before ted finds out that he had been double crossed   and goes to get her for himself    would the geek get the girl    puh lease    the ending is pure hollywood   no surprises there    but the absolute joy in this film is how this simple premise allows for humor in zippers   hair gel   the mentally disabled   the physically handicapped   interracial marriages   homosexuals   skin conditions   serial killers   tanning   and drugged up dogs    the dog on speed sequence alone is worth the price of admission   and belongs in the film comedy hall of fame    and yet   for all the targets that are hit   the film maintains its sweet tone    mary   playing the straight role   is as sweet and caring as she is beautiful    she is totally devoted to caring for her mentally handicapped brother   warren   w    earl brown  miles away from the cameraman in  scream       mary+s sunniness carries the film here  it compliments the below belt gags that come at you    cameron diaz makes her totally charming   and the audience respects her   even though women in general do not usually undress before an open window    ben stiller also fares very well   totally changing his image from his  reality bites  and  flirting with disaster  straight men to being a     how to say it       a complete loser    braces   greasy long hair   not too bright   and very very funny    dillon is exceptionally creepy   especially with his capped teeth    and rounding out the cast is ted+s friend dom   chris elliot     tanning addict magda   lin shaye     modern troubador/greek chorus ron lichman   and mary+s sweet mom   markie post   where has she been   !      not everything works    chris elliot+s role   skin blemishes and all   becomes merely tasteless and boring    there+s lousy dialogue about eight minute vs   seven minute exercise tapes    and there are long stretches without much going on    but the wait is worth it    when those extraordinary sequences hit   the entire theater erupted with howls   tears    belly aches   that in some sequences carried over to the following scene    the farrelly brothers have finally done it    yes   there are some raunchy bits   but when it is all over   it+s not nearly as bad as it could have been    while tasteless   it didn+t cross any lines   at least not with me    while raunchy   it wasn+t nearly as bad as  porky+s  or  boogie nights     and it is sweet enough to be considered a date flick    after the funny but sour  kingpin  left a negative aftertaste in my palate   comes the funniest sex farce since  a fish called wanda     approach this with an open mind   and you will reap the benefits hugely    
Pos, a standoff    a man holds a woman   a diplomat s daughter   hostage in his embrace   a gun pressed to her head    a cop   impaired by drink due to his wife s philandering   trains his gun on the man s nether regions   threatening to shoot    another cop holds his gun to his partner s temple   forcing him to disarm    the scene unfolds like a foursome bidding in bridge  upping the ante   signaling tacitly   going for game    the second cop retrieves the first cop s weapon   the suspect lowers his   and the woman caught in the middle moves  in slow motion  to safety    it is then that the intoxicated officer makes his move   grabbing for the assailant s gun    the room turns upside down   a shot rings out   a cop is down    shot in the back and paralyzed for life    the young man who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time is sent to prison for six years for a crime he didn t commit    storytelling has always been one of pedro almod   var s greatest gifts and in   live flesh   he gives us a twisting   turning   compelling tale peppered with well written   colorful characters    characters who find themselves   more often than not   in carefully constructed scenes like these    characters played by actors we might not know   but who look strikingly familiar nevertheless    take the ruggedly handsome victor plaza   liberto rabal     for instance    before he gets out of prison he could easily be mistaken for that almod   var favorite   antonio banderas    when we first meet elena   francesca neri     the woman in the middle of the nervous shakedown   she looks like spice girl barbie with her frizzy shock of orange hair   but later tones down her look sufficiently to pass for juliette lewis    elena s husband david   javier bardem   is the cop crippled in the shooting and he wears david schwimmer s bemused expression throughout    playing the inebriated cop and his cheating wife are jos   sancho and angela molina  no lookalikes spring to mind   but they round out the excellent cast    it s a credit to almod   var s craft that these five individuals cross paths and intertwine with such credulity       live flesh   begins and ends with a live birth and the film s contradictions come almost as often as the contractions    between the two childbearings   coincidence   irony   and a hefty dollop of sex form the key elements of this thoroughly entertaining film    although based on a ruth rendell story     live flesh   is brimming with the acclaimed spanish director s high heeled flourishes    women are at times alluring and repulsive   their extravagant hairdos and animal print coats providing colorful highlights to the intricately woven drama   an eye bruised by an abusive husband here   a mouth bloodied by an impromptu delivery there    while in prison   victor learns bulgarian from an inmate and learns to love the bible   quoting from deuteronomy thereafter not unlike the way by which david and sancho refer to themselves as   guardians of a sick flock      victor s pre fab inheritance is a shambles in a slum resembling sarajevo       dear son   i got cancer   his mother writes to him in jail    she dies before he is released and it s at the cemetery that victor is reacquainted with elena  redemption   ultimately   substituting for revenge    
Pos, with stars like sigourney weaver     alien   trilogy   and academy award winner holly hunter   the piano   raising arizona   etc     together in a single hollywood production   one would immediately identify the film as a potential academy award hot shot    sadly for copycat   though tightly scripted and nicely plot   is still at heart   a typical hollywood thriller    helen   weaver     after a traumatic near death encounter with a serial killer   darryl   harry connick jr       has developed a phobia for being outdoors   so to speak    incidentally   helen is also an expert on the subject of serial killers   which make her a juicy target for serial killer wannabes    a year has passed and strange deaths begin to terrorise the city of san francisco    detective monahan   hunter   and getz   mulroney     baffled by the unorthodox methods of killing used by the killer   seeks the professional help of helen   who   as expected was reluctant at first    copycat   borrows   a lot from silence of the lambs and in most cases   it did work    but copycat tries to be a little bit more by immersing the audience into the lives of its main characters to give them more believability   this was rather unnecessary as the scenes seem to disrupt the mood of the entire film and also        much of the time wasted could ve been used to build up the suspense and injected with drama    even so   weaver and hunter act very well in their own departments        weaver being the vulnerable yet strong within character   as in aliens   and hunter being the short   tough   texan speaking cop   as in raising arizona      harry connick jr     a very good jazz singer   shines as the imprisoned serial killer a la hannibal lecter    which comes to the moment of judgement   drum roll please            copycat is a good thriller    although the plot is highly predictable and one can actually predict the rest of the movie after about 45 minutes into the show   copycat survives from the moments of anticipation where the audience are held on to their seats   in anticipation of the killers next immediate move    this worked pretty well and will offer audiences a couple of unexpected jolts    nice movie to bring your girlfriend to          
Pos, no   it is not a bad film   in fact it is so good in achieving its purpose   i actually wished for the film to end itself quickly    event horizon is not your run of the mill sci fi film   i m sure many who have watched this will agree with me    it is not even original in that sense   and it does borrow heavily from films like alien   hellraiser and even blade runner    the magic of this film lies in its unorthodox setting and methodical build up that makes it wonderfully horrifying    the story brings us to the year 2050   where space travel have since enormously progressed    the event horizon is actually a ship built for a secret experimental purpose   it has the ability to fold time and space thus making it possible for travelling distances not reachable in a man s lifetime    the ship disappeared as soon as it went into operation but after 7 years   it reappeared again within the orbit of neptune    a search and rescue team led by miller   fishburne   is given the task to check for survivors of the event horizon    the designer of the ship   dr   weir   neill   follows along to satisfy his curiosity on what actually happened to his otherwise technologically impressive ship    event horizon is a sci fi horror film   much truer to the word than say   alien would ever be    while in alien   the crew has to cope with a ferocious creature while encased within tight spaces   in event horizon   the forces which goes against the crew is undefined but yet so powerful and horrifying    the story unfolds itself slowly and the suspense buildup is superb   up till the point where i really felt like saying out loud `enough !  i can t stand this anymore !      there are more than enough jolts to send your adrenalin pumping overtime    the story in itself is not exactly something very exciting and also   the acting is only at most   average by most commercial standards    even so   the essence of horror is carried out very well in this film   thanks to its well paced storytelling   disturbing set designs and some really gory sequences   which incidentally   has been quite generously removed by our censorship board      director paul anderson   who did mortal kombat   and his team of `atmosphere  creators have done well in keeping event horizon within the bounds of the term `horror     this picture did not do very well in the us box office most probably for the dread factor impact it has on most audiences   people will not see it again and not many would recommend their friend to watch this    although on the face of it   event horizon is mostly molded for mass entertainment   many thrills   spills and suspense to keep audiences in focus    however   the offbeat horror element which it ultimately convey audiences is very disturbing    my friend and i could not say a word to each other for quite a while after going through the `experience  of event horizon    i guess it was just the immense feeling of dread which the film had cast upon us    be forewarned   this film is not for the faint hearted nor for pure entertainment    be prepared to be disturbed if you should decide to watch this film !  event horizon is highly recommended     but at your own risk !  it has been a long time since good horror embraced the big screen   and event horizon is one    
Pos, capsule   earthy   experimental   difficult   shockingly frank   even for 1997 !     and ultimately refreshing story of a black man on the run from the cops    the first few minutes of sweet sweetback s baad asssss song   yes   i checked    that s the correct number of ss   are without dialogue   just eerie montages of sounds    a young boy   obviously malnourished   is taken in and fed up by several loving mother surrogate figures    then one of them takes the boy to bed for a sexual initation   underneath the title credits   that s far more confrontatory and shocking than any ten basic instincts    probably because it has the directness and clumsiness of real life   something we re not used to seeing on screen    this is one tough movie to swallow   no matter who you are   but that probably reflects more on how pallid and unchallenging movies have gotten lately       i suspect the sex scenes in movies like el topo and salo would probably melt the synapses of most modern audiences      the plot is simple but not simpleminded    sweetback   hassled by two white cops who are apparently just looking for an excuse to beat up on a black man   breaks his bonds and runs like hell    along the way he moves through a good many of the kinds of environments that we are only just now being seen in a more serious light in the movies    or at all   for that matter   the slums   the missions   the ghetto    in other   lesser   movies   sweetback would be machine gunning everything in sight and the end credits would roll over a pile of bodies   in this one   we get taken on a kind of a tour of the depressing and anarchic world that sweetback takes for granted    ssbas first appeared in 1971 and was promptly rated x     by an all white jury     as director melvin van peebles crowed in his legendary ad campaigns     and it s hardly surprising why    there s a good deal of sex in the movie   but it s handled in a way that s unsettlingly frank    a frankness that spills over into the rest of the movie    in one scene   sweetback visits a friend s house in the hope of getting sanctuary there   and the other man chats him up while on the toilet    we re not used to coming this close to people in real life   let alone in the movies    especially not people who are not made out to be glamorous    the movie is also full of experimental stylistics that are relatively unused today   but probably because of that seem curiously fresh and new in van peebles  hands    one scene   in which a man is interrogated by the cops   is loaded full of menacing energy as they fire off a gun inches from his ears   and suggest his deafness through a cleverly edited soundtrack    another note   ssbas is not so much anti white   that would be too easy   as anti authority   and as the movie goes on to demonstrate   authority exists in many forms    governments   churches   and even the paranoid inside of one s own mind    ssbas is ultimately about thirsting for freedom    and it looks like we could use a little more of that in our movie diet   god knows    
Pos, a fully loaded entertainment review   website coming in july !  i didn t really expect very much when i rented stuart saves his family    the movie bombed at the box office   and i had never really liked the saturday night live sketch on which the movie was based    my real concern   though   was the general reputation of snl related movies translating to the big screen with less than stellar results   half baked   anyone      i was surprised to discover a truly entertaining   often hilarious yet also touching little film    it is an al franken production through and through   who not only created the title character but also wrote and starred in the picture    for those of you who don t know   al franken plays a guy named stuart smalley   who has a really annoying show on a public access station about increasing your self esteem   etc   although not a licensed therapist   stuart smalley is   as the program proudly boasts     a graduate of several 12 step programs      stuart is doing well enough with his tv show   but he keeps getting distracted by family troubles    stuart s relatives are a mess   his dad and brother   harris yulin and vincent d onofrio   respectively   are alcoholics   his sister is overweight and getting over another divorce   and his mom is in constant self denial and solves all perceived problems by baking    then   disaster strikes    stuart accidentally insults the manager of the station and gets his show revoked    he is forced to move back in with his family after he can no longer support himself   and there the comedy truly picks up    franken wrote all of the characters not just as cliches or stereotypes   but as sharply drawn   real people    although smalley s dad has always imbibed too much   stuart can still recall times when his father seemed like an okay guy    also   after an accident towards the end of the movie   both stuart and the audience learn that there is more to his mother than previously thought    although filled with small   very funny scenes   stuart saves his family also has its share of dramatic moments   especially towards the conclusion    for a lightweight comedy   it handles these scenes especially well   often better than many so called   serious dramas   of today    all the more amazing is that such a movie comes from a saturday night live sketch that is essentially a one joke bit    if you feel like renting a comedy   and you haven t seen this film   i definitely recommend you try this one out    you ll laugh       you ll  cry         it s  all there    
Pos,    oh my god   i sounded just like a mother !    mrs   pascal   played with devilish wickedness by genevieve bujold   tells her son       didn t i sound just like a mother         you are a mother     her son marty tells her disgustedly       i know   but i still can t believe it    i look at you people and wonder   how did you ever fit in my womb      marty   you see   is a grown up twin    although his sister   who thinks she is jackie o   is certifiably insane   marty fits right in with the rest of this highly dysfunctional family in the witty black comedy the house of yes    mother and daughter   played in a brilliant performance by parker posey   are both varying degrees of wacko    most dysfunctional families in the movies are more angry and mean spirited than diabolically abnormal as this one is    the daughter s fantasy of being jackie o is probably the most sane part of her being    mrs   pascal is the sort that will not let jackie o keep a hairbrush downstairs since food is kept on that level    she explains to marty s new fiancee   lesly   tori spelling     soon after their first meeting that jackie o was holding marty s private part when she came out of the womb    the dialog by wendy macleod   based on the play by mark waters   is so sharp and biting that it seems in danger of cutting through the celluloid at any moment    the script   reminiscent of a david mamet play   flows smoothly with its fast paced intelligence and mesmerizing set of bizarre characters    the exaggerated setup has lesly and marty arriving at the family s out of the way mansion during a thanksgiving day hurricane    in this storm are two sane individuals    the fiancee is a giddy   school girl type   embarrassed by everything   a complete contrast to her rival jackie o s bitter pseudo sophistication    as the two twins  younger brother   anthony   freddie prinze jr   plays the all america boy type whose only foible is his explicit obsession of bedding his brother s fiancee that night       we all have our secrets     jackie o tells her potential sister in law   and boy   does she have a few    this is a house filled with them       when lesly calls it the family s   home   to mrs   pascal    they ve never had a visitor before lesly    mrs   pascal becomes discombobulated until she realizes that lesly is talking about their   house        in a film that gives new meaning to the phrase     made for each other     the twin s biggest   but not their only secret   is that they ve had a long term incestuous relationship    they don t like to discuss it   although they are not particularly ashamed of it    perfect for viewers who can appreciate perverse comedy   this story never pulls its punches    jackie o tries in many ways   few subtle   to show that she is a better match for marty than that ditzy fiancee of his    in one scene marty and lesly are playing chop sticks together on the piano when jackie o pushes her aside and starts playing a challenging classical piece for four hands    marty joins her as his fiancee looks on with envy    the chemistry between parker posey and josh hamilton is nothing short of amazing    they put down their little brother and most of the other sane people in the world    their ripostes are engaging filmmaking at its best    director mark waters keeps the show s energy level high and lets the leads sling zingers at each other at a furious pace    his crisp direction ensures the movie has nary an ounce of fat on it    jackie o is temperamentally incapable of being nice    and being jealous   she cuts lesly down mercilessly       were you poor      jackie o asks her when she finds that lesly committed the crime of growing up impoverished       did you eat pies    chicken pot pies         pancakes actually   lots of pancakes     lesly replies with her usual sincerity       a donut king   so is she like the queen        jackie o cattily inquires of marty when she learns that lesly works at a donut king       are we entertaining royalty      with rolfe kent s whimsically sinister music it never seems clear where the story is headed    will it end in a big emotional explosion   a murder   people slowly cutting each other up with words   a familial catharsis   a weather disaster or what    the emotionally charged play is clearly going somewhere   and the engaging characters captivate the audience with their spell    i ll not say more except that the ending is perfect and a bit of a surprise    the house of yes runs a blazing fast 1   25    it is rated r for sexual situations and conversations   mature themes   violent overtones and some profanity    the movie would be fine for older and mature teenagers   i   e     treat the movie as it were rated nc 17    
Pos, i don t know how many other people have had the idea cross their mind that their life could be an ongoing television show watched by another world of people   but it s something i used to wonder about when i was younger    i can t decide if i first thought it because i watched a lot of tv or because my brother hit me in the head with a baseball bat   but i m pretty sure andrew niccol   screenwriter for the truman show   has had the same curious thought    the truman show is about a man   jim carrey   whose entire life has been engineered by a corporation and marketed to the public    since birth   he s been living in the fictional island town of seahaven   fla     which actually exists as a giant domed set just beyond the hollywood sign    all the people in truman burbank s life are actors   and the anonymous townfolk paid extras    people watch truman s life 24 hours a day   live   with no commercial interruptions    revenue comes instead from product placement   a staple of contemporary hollywood   with truman s friends and relatives describing their consumer items in cheerful and optimistic tones    the sun rises and sets on cue and everyone likes everyone else    even if you haven t seen the truman show   you ve probably learned most of the crucial details from the commercials   the trailer and other promotion blitzes    if anything i ve written so far is a surprise to you   then i pity you for making me a primary source for your entertainment news    either way   you should probably know the premise of the truman show going into it   because otherwise you ll probably think it sucks    it begins with jim carrey looking into a mirror   reciting the crucial   eat me   scene from alive   wishing his neighbors a good day   afternoon and evening   and living in domestic bliss with his wife   laura linney      but weird things start happening    a stage light comes falling out of the sky   truman hears people tracking his movements on the radio and he swears he sees his dead father    we learn through a flashback that his father drowned when truman was a child   sailing through a rainstorm    the death was staged by director christof   ed harris     who wanted to put a fear of water into truman to keep him from leaving the island    similar cruel manipulations keep him from stumbling upon the truth   not the least of them truman s best friend marlon   noah emmerich     who assures him he s not in on any conspiracy because the last thing he d ever do is hurt him    as truman s trusting eyes tear over   christof fades up emotional synthesizer music for a worldwide audience of people who apparently never watch anything else    there s even a daily behind the scenes update from harry shearer that captures the highlights of truman s existence    the key to a movie like this is in finding the right balance between humor and drama   because a premise like this has its obvious implications in both directions    and it all hinges on carrey   who has to balance comic naivet with a real sense of longing and drive to find out what the hell is going on    he s come a long way from talking butt cheeks in ace ventura    most fundamentally   it s just plain interesting to follow along as director peter weir shows us just how they can capture a person s life without the person realizing it    how they coordinate extras   hide cameras and feed automatic lines to actors    the most interesting thing about the truman show is that most of us can probably imagine some ambitious director pitching a show like this    sure   the most interesting tv genre of the  90s has been reality programming and jerry springer s popularity is through the roof   but those people deserve to be humiliated for turning their intimate details over to the airwaves    and when news shows use hidden cameras   it s done in the name of the greater good   not entertainment    but merge the two and you ve got the truman show    right now   it s implausible    i mean   the fcc won t let you say the s word on the air   do you think they d let you broadcast every detail of a man s life to the entire world without his consent    one day   though   it could happen    and   even though it would mean the end of privacy   people would eat it up    you know they would    
Pos, no filmmaker deconstructs a story as well as atom egoyan    i m referring   specifically   to the narrative form    in the sweet hereafter   egoyan tells his story in a similar framework to his exotica or the adjuster    said story   of a fatal school bus accident in the small town of sam dent   british columbia   that shatters the morale of the locals   is told in a most unstraightforward manner    when the film opens   the accident has already happened   and stephens   the wonderful holm     a polite ambulance chaser   has arrived with the promise of a lawsuit that will eek out the truth of what really occurred that fateful morning    throughout   we get to meet the parents of the dead   broken souls who follow stephens like   the pied piper     passages of which are read during the film      but there is one living passenger   the paralyzed nicole   polley     whose dark secrets of a life before the accident may affect her decision to testify    we finally do see the accident   about three quarters into the film   which is a stunning visual effect    a horrific long take that shows the bus sliding   then stopping   then collapsing into a frozen lake   is the best digital trickery in any movie this year and   perhaps   ever   in a motion picture    the fractured narrative also intercuts a preoccupied stephens on an airplane   traveling to meet his hiv positive runaway daughter   as well as glimpses of the artificially happy lives these people led pre accident    i have a problem not with the story or story structure   but with egoyan s heavy  handedness behind the camera    for the first hour or so   i can quite honestly say i was on the verge of tears   these are miserable   miserable people    but that s just the problem   so anguished are these folk that sympathy wanes after a while   when a lot of sadness becomes too much    also   a subplot involving incest rings untrue    perhaps it wouldn t feel so contrived if it weren t shot in such a tasteful manner    there are two characters who are father and daughter   when they first appeared i thought they were lovers    i was half right    nevertheless it s worth seeing    the delightful critic geoff pevere recently wrote that   american films are about action   canadian films are about consequences     hence a recent wave of films about the effects of shock and death from toronto directors   including crash and kissed    the sweet hereafter is much better than either of these two films   simply because it s not boring or   in the case of kissed   afraid of its own material   necrophilia      egoyan is a fine   fine   postmodern storyteller   whose work is entertaining   edgy and smart   if a bit too intellectual at times    though i harped on the weightiness of the material   i was always absorbed   engrossed   and surprised by the sweet hereafter    
Pos, i know what i would do with $4   4 million if i found it in a previously undiscovered airplane crash site   especially if i were with jacob and lou       huh      well   in any event   that is the situation hank   paxton   finds himself in    he and his dim witted brother jacob   thorton   and tubby friend lou   brent briscoe   come upon a large bag of cash inside a plane wreck    against his better judgement   hank decides to go along with the idea of keeping it rather than going to the authorities    the rest of the film is a question of who is going to die to keep this a secret   and is it worth it    a simple wish lies along the lines of very bad things   clay pigeons and even fargo   and is kind of wrapped all into one little dark bundle    oh   and its much better than any of those    sam raimi took a departure from his normal freak show horror monkey films and made this stylish and intriguing picture    he really lets the audience sit back and watch the events unfold rather than force them down our throats as many directors prefer to do    i think raimi knew he had a winner on his hands and decided to direct the picture on a natural flowing course    one of the film s components can be linked to a recurring theme in terrence malick s the thin red line    in malick s three hour bore a thon   he makes an interesting attempt to link mother earth to his war story    it seemed nothing more than an occasional pretty cut to a field of flowing grass   a small bird   or a flowing body of water    sure   there were obvious metaphorical connections   but there was no subtlty to his efforts    raimi does a fine job of tying in a fox in a chicken coop and birds of prey to signify the future of the characters    i think most viewers may miss the comparison   but it is a very intriguing ingredient in the film    and then there s billy bob thorton   who is proof that the independent film industry is vital to the life blood of hollywood    if it can continute to produce people like thorton   hollywood will be ok    he gives a fantastic and devastatingly deep performance here    it is not as engrossing as his carl childers character in slingblade   but is is just as complex   if not more so    jacob is slow and simple   and yet we so often see him deep in thought    i wondered if he was thinking about things that he would never say   or didn t know how to say   or if he was just taking a long time to think about the thing he just said    here he really proves his worth as one of the best character actors in the industry    though the plot is somewhat unoriginal   it has a very appealing new twist in its characters    paxton gives one of the better performances of his career as the straight and serious leader of the group   a far cry from chet in wierd science      perhaps bridget fonda is miscast as his advice giving wife   but she certainly doesn t do anything ruin the picture    a simple plan can be included in the group of recent small hollywood films that is just dark and pretty un redeeming    but at least this one has an important message   unlike so many of its counterparts    
Pos, i saw simon birch in a basically sold out theater   on a sunday afternoon    when the movie was over and the audience was exiting   i didn t hear one negative comment   and i didn t have any to offer    simon birch is primarily about the friendship of two twelve year old boys   simon   ian michael smith   and joe   joseph mazzello     and what destiny holds for both of them    simon is a dwarf   who was not supposed to last through the night after birth due to a weak heart    surprisingly   he does   and now constantly reminds everyone that he is a living miracle    simon thinks god has a plan for him   a purpose for his life   and his condition   he just doesn t know what    joe is an illegitimate child   referred to both comically and dramatically throughout the film as a bastard     who s mom   ashley judd   won t tell him who his father is    simon has more than just dwarfism as a problem   the people in the town don t really like him   because he isn t   natural      even his own parents don t care about him   and are disappointed they didn t have a   normal   son    he is also harassed in church by the local pastor   rev   russell   david strathairn   and simon s chain smoking sunday school teacher played by jan hooks    the only person   other than joe   that really cares for simon is joe s mom   who he also looks up to as a mother    it would be just simon s luck   that he would accidentally kills joe s mom   something you are told at the beginning of the movie    joe   now motherless as well as fatherless   feels the need to find out who his real father is    with the help of ben   oliver platt     the local drama teacher and joe s mom s current boyfriend   before her death     he will attempt to locate his dad and get in a little trouble on the way    most of this trouble is laugh out loud funny   although not all of it is    simon will also look for god s plan for him   although he loses a little faith along the way    starring in the first   and last   five minutes of the film is hollywood s newest dramatic actor   jim carrey    jim plays the adult version of joe and does a impressive job starting the film off   and then tying it up just right    this is the first character jim has played that is not over the top in anyway   and he does a commendable job    simon birch is written and directed by mark steven johnson   this is his first film as director   but he has written several films   including the grumpy old men series    he does an outstanding writing and directing job here   the film s structure is flawless and its flows together perfectly    the dialog goes from extremely funny to morose without missing a beat    the cast is excellent    joseph mazzello gives the stand out performance    joseph is outstanding for someone of any age   not alone someone who just turned 15    ian michael smith   in his film debut   has such a strong physical presence that you believe he is simon without any hesitation    other great performances are turned in by the rest of the supporting cast    i loved this movie   it is far and away one of the best films i have seen all year    take your whole family to see simon birch   it is a magnificent film  an american masterpiece    
Pos, the saint was actually a little better than i expected it to be   in some ways    in this theatrical remake of the television series the saint   and its series sequel the return of the saint   val kilmer plays simon templar   an elusive thief who makes a living by stealing things from others for others    this movie closely resembles a james bond flick    it has the classic bond symbols   a man who can do just about anything and get away with it   a woman whom the man persues   a villain out to achieve something for himself who kills anyone to reach this goal    kilmer actually provides a rather good role in this movie   although at times you are left to ponder how he actually gets out of the many tight situations    the movie begins in his childhood in a strict school run by catholic priests    as a young boy   kilmer s character enjoyed magic and would often journey away from his schoolwork    that is until his school teacher finds him reading a book and demands that the young boy proclaim his name   that of a catholic saint    he refuses to do so and instead announces who he wishes to be    this leads to a devestating mistake   which is something that will stay in his mind throughout his life    kilmer s first mission that we are shown is to steal a microchip from ivan tretiak   played by rade serbedzija    during a press conference   he must make his way into a heavily guarded vault area   avoiding guards   cameras   and many other potential obstacles    once his mission is completed and he is safely home   the fee is paid    when he logs into his bank account and finds that he is only a few million dollars short of $50 million   he decides to carry out only one more mission   then retire    dr   emma russell   portrayed by elisabeth shue   has discovered a way to produce energy by way of cold fusion    this new advancement would change the world and save thousands of lives in the areas of russia   where millions are without heat and are freezing to death    the only problem is   tretiak would like to have this for himself and use it to gain power amongst the people    this presents the option for kilmer to achieve his goal    tretiak hires him to steal the equations   small pieces of paper   from shue    one of the enjoyable features in the film is the disguises that kilmer dawns to complete his missions    they are very convincing   not only to the characters in the movie   but to us    kilmer utilizes one such disguise to lure shue s character into getting to know him even more   which would provide him a means of stealing the energy formula    when the two meet   and end up having a sensual experience   kilmer s character is seemingly falling in love with emma russell   as she is falling in love with kilmer s alter ego   a traveling artist    yet   he must reach his goal of $50 million   which requires him to steal the energy formula   putting his feelings aside    shue s character is eventually able to track down simon templar by putting the pieces   the names of the catholic saints   together   something no one else is able to do    when she finds him   they are left to team up and reclaim the energy formulas from tretiak    the saint is very action packed   with few slow points    the sound was very well done and added to the many intense moments    along the course of the movie   there are even a few   although brief moments of comedy    these moments are almost always thanks to kilmer s extraneous   very convincing disguises and personalities    all in all   a rather enjoyable movie with nearly non stop action    
Pos, the thirteenth floor   the third in what i would call   the reality check movie series     is very similar to the other reality check movies released this year   the matrix and existenz    all three made you think   made you wonder what is real   what isn t   and if our world is just a huge game    the thirteenth floor doesn t reach the level of originality   creativity   and curiosity sparked by the matrix and existenz   but it certainly gives a great shot at it    in the matrix   we were told that the humans are simply a virus    in existenz   we learned that our life could be just a game    in the thirteenth floor   we learn that we are just electronic devices   living under another world of electronic devices    there is just one world on top of another   and everything in them are fake and electronically generated    the thirteenth floor took a huge   risky turn that i didn t expect it to take   and i m not very sure it was such a great turn to make    rather than focusing just on the reality parts of the film   the thirteenth floor becomes a murder mystery that ends up tying in with the different worlds    after the mysterious murder of computer program designer hammond fuller   played by armin mueller stahl   douglas hall   played by craig bierko   a man that worked under fuller for many years   must travel through an electronic computer device that fuller was using   to the year 1937   which consists of computer generated characters only    the simulation of 1937 is just like it was back in the olden days    all of the people involved are just characters   or are they    douglas strongly believes that a character traveled through the transport from their world to ours   and killed fuller    along the way   douglas interacts with many different potential suspects   and a woman who claims to be the daughter of fuller   jane fuller   played wonderfully by a talented young actress   gretchen mol    the thirteenth floor is a plot driven movie from the time the film gets going   and doesn t use spectacular special effects and big sound to keep the viewer s interests    i was worried that this film would be too much like the matrix and existenz   and i wouldn t enjoy it   but there were enough twists and turns to keep me thinking and attentive to the film    unfortunately   many potential would have been great scenes were thrown away with predictable content   letting the viewer know the outcome of the scene long before it happened    the scenes that aren t original or interesting seem to go absolutely nowhere   leaving you wondering     what is the point of this      sometimes it was hard to believe that this story   with terrible dialogue   some bad acting   especially from craig bierko   and scenes that go absolutely nowhere   are actually true    i know this isn t a true story or anything   but a film should be able to make you think that it is    on the plus side of acting   we get to see the missing from main character action since the film masterpiece shine in 1995 actor   armin mueller stahl    in the thirteenth floor   he is back and is still giving believable and amazing performances    another plus is gretchen mol s realistic performance   creating her character with depth   not just staying in the one dimensional phase    don t expect the intensity of the matrix or existenz to come out of the thirteenth floor   just expect another film that messes with your mind for awhile   and shuts you down like any other movie would    thrills   chills   and spills aren t what you will get in this film   but you will just get another trip to send your mind on   scrambling it until you ve had enough    the bottom line  let s hope this is the last of the   reality check   based movies for awhile    
Pos, i tried hard not like this movie without succeeding    it contains parts of bringing up baby   any hepburn/tracy film   part of the plot of war games   cary grant and rosalind russell in his girl friday   elevator shaft action   train action   and murder    it is cute   funny   suspenseful   a little bit     sexy   a little bit      one of the bad guys was a surprise    the pace is fast enough   there are some   action   scenes    i think that this is a reasonable family summer movie for families with older kids who have already seen maverick    julia roberts and nick nolte are fine separately and together    i really identified with the julia roberts character   wishful thinking   i know !     but i do have better hair !  her hair   a very dull dark brown   has no color    she could use some highlights    they both do fine with their roles   he s a bored columnist with the chicago chronicle and she s a hotshot   cub   reporter with the chicago globe    they have great fun trying to out scoop each other to solve one case throughout this movie    i like the one story focus    other actors include charles martin smith as roberts  boss   olympia dukakis as nolte s coworker   nora dunn also with the chronicle   and marsha mason as a congresswoman    basically this movie is reasonably fun    there is a serious mystery to solve   and i enjoyed following a fun couple solving the mystery    it is a pleasant change of pace from movies that take themselves seriously    i do give successful comedy high marks    
Pos, plot   jet li is a chinese cop asked to help some french policemen nab a bad guy    but one thing leads to another   and the next thing you know   li s being chased by the same french cops with whom he was supposed to be working    a lot of ass kicking   face whippings   gun fights and       okay   a little more ass kicking ensues    critique   very cool !  now here s a movie that gives you exactly what you re looking for   if what you re looking for is kickass action   a palpable good cop/bad cop story line   some hardcore stunts and jet li slam dunking everyone in sight !  the film also moves fast   a mere 95 minutes     develops a certain   cute   chemistry between fonda and li   has nice surroundings   paris   baby !   and gives us one of the best bad guys that i ve seen all year    tcheky karyo is the devil incarnate in this film    he is pure evil    they should have called this movie bad lieutenant 2 as keitel has nothing on this man    what a great   great monster !  my favorite line of tcheky s was when li was explaining the whole   kiss of the dragon   thing to him and he cut him off by saying   kiss my ass !    pure action movie poetry    anyway   other than him   jet li also handled his   acting   pretty well in this film   with very little real dialogue to say   but enough to make us believe his character    actually   just looking into the man s eyes generally tells you a lot    fonda was also pretty good   despite playing one of the most trashy and abused women that i have seen in quite some time   but i still felt kinda bad for her   so i guess she did her job okay    but in the end   nobody goes to see this kind of movie for oscar performances    we go to see jet li movies because we want to see jet li kicking a lot of ass from side to side   and this film delivers gangbusters on that front    and yes       they have no wire fu in this movie       i  say again       no  wire work   no bullshit stunts with li floating around in mid air for over a minute    it s all straight action   fist to fist   boot to face and all around cool stunts    if that s what you re looking for   i don t see how you will be disappointed with this film    yes   it s not very original in plot   just take luc besson s own la femme nikita and mix in plenty of his own the professional et voila !     does have an annoying hip hoppy soundtrack that just got on my nerves after a while   i also would have gotten rid of the whole acupuncture thang         and will have anyone not willing to restrain their disbelief   rolling their eyes all over the place    but was i entertained    thoroughly    does the film feature more gunplay   martial arts and over the top kills that most recent action flicks    yes   again    does this sound interesting to you    well   the answer to that question is entirely up to you    one thing that i would definitely recommend is   as jet li pointed out himself on his website   that you leave the kids at home for this one    in fact   you might even wanna leave yourself if you can t handle the more violent of sequences    all in all   a rippin    roarin  fun time !  where s joblo coming from    black mask   5/10     blade   7/10     la femme nikita   8/10     lethal weapon 4   7/10     the matrix   8/10     the professional   9/10     romeo must die   3/10     rush hour   7/10     shanghai noon   6/10    
Pos, i ve never been a member of the robin williams fan club    a little bit of his improvisationaly schtick goes a long way   and i sometimes feel as though i m watching a 40 year old class clown    in his films   williams has often tried to balance his mania with touchy feely emotion   leading to wildly uneven performances    mrs    doubtfire seemed ready made for the same problems   but instead it proves to be williams  best comic screen project yet    while it still contains some characteristic self indulgence   mrs    doubtfire is nonetheless an engaging belly laugh comedy served up with high energy    williams stars as daniel hillard   a cartoon voiceover artist with a penchant for irresponsible behavior    one such incident proves one too many for wife miranda   sally field     and she files for a divorce    unemployed   living in a disastrously unkempt apartment and faced with limited time with his three beloved children   daniel decides to respond to miranda s ad for an afternoon housekeeper    he turns to his brother frank   harvey fierstein     a theatrical makeup artist   and emerges as euphegenia doubtfire   a matronly 65 year old englishwoman    daniel uses his access to the house to keep an eye on miranda s flirtation with a wealthy client   pierce brosnan     to spend time with the children   and to learn something about responsible parenting   all the while trying to keep his identity hidden from the people who know him best    mrs   doubtfire has to overcome a mountain of implausibilities to work   and basically it does so    the most crucial is that no one in the family recognizes daniel   and thanks to the fantastic special makeup that s instantly believable    it may be one of the most convincing transformations ever committed to film   making dustin hoffman s dorothy michaels look like milton berle    more problematic was a series of calls daniel makes to miranda posing as nannies from hell   it s a bit hard to swallow that she doesn t recognize any of the voices as her husband s    perhaps the biggest contrivance we re asked to swallow is that daniel could make a quick change into mrs   doubtfire in a few minutes    there s more to realistic makeup than slapping on a latex mask    fortunately   these are inconsistencies which only attract attention as the credits roll    during the film   i was generally too busy laughing    after getting off to a slow start involving too much of williams  riffing   mrs    doubtfire kicks into high gear once the wig and pads are in place    daniel s frantic attempt to fool a court officer is wonderful   as is the climactic restaurant sequence   even though i saw the resolutions coming a mile away    clearly   most of the credit for doubtfire s success goes to robin williams    it took putting him in drag   but for once he plays a comic character that isn t just robin williams with a different name    he thoroughly inhabits euphegenia doubtfire   and seems to relish the scenes in which he gets to play her as blunt and foul mouthed    wisely   he never aims for saintly    his responses to the intrusion of new suitor stu are often petty   but the kind of thing most of us might do with the benefit of anonymity    it s one of mrs    doubtfire s charms that neither daniel nor miranda is perfect   just people trying to be better    as miranda   sally field is solid in a background role   and pierce brosnan is nicely understated as stu    the children are also good   although mara wilson is almost oppressively cute as the youngest    the supporting players merely step aside and allow williams to do his thing    it s easy to see mrs    doubtfire as little more than tootsie warmed over   and it s true that there are both broad themes and specific details in common    but mrs    doubtfire manages to carve out its own space   particularly through the surprisingly honest moments involving a judge s decision and the ultimate status of daniel and miranda s relationship    there s nothing dazzlingly new in mrs    doubtfire   but there are plenty of laughs   and good comedies are always in short supply    and it s nice to see robin williams just act for a change    
Pos, weir is well respected in hollywood for turning scripts with difficult subject matter into deceptively simple   powerful films   the mosquito coast   utopia   and fearless   post traumatic stress disorder   among them    in the truman show   weir essentially breathes life into the now tired concept of media manipulation by tackling the material from the inside out    it certainly helps that he has an underrated performer in top form playing the title character   truman burbank    by now you must be aware of the premise   unbeknownst to him   truman   carrey   is the star of his own tv series   a 24 7 peep show in which he is surrounded by actors and placed in loosely scripted situations   people around the world tune in for the voyeuristic thrill of his genuine reactions to fictitious stimulants    `seahaven    his hometown   and the show itself   are the brainchild of christof   harris     who presides over his creation in the base of a fake moon   directing over 500 cameras and hundreds of actors and extras    for 30 years   truman suspects nothing `we accept the reality we re given     poses christof but a desire to break free of the sunny town and visit a long lost love in `fiji    mcelhone   who was actually an actress fired by christof for trying to break the confidentiality agreement   overwhelms him    thus   christof and his team suddenly find themselves working twice as hard to keep the veneer of seahaven intact   lest truman discover the world outside and put an end to the highly rated program    in a few broad strokes   weir creates a convincing second reality   and he has the good sense not to bring christof into the picture until almost three quarters through    this allows us to comprehend and accept truman s world before we contextualize it    for all his madness   christof has shown the world a place without violence and hardship   and demonstrated that a human being can function well within it    truman is an inspiration to his audience because he grew up to be   well   so darn nice   like a sibling   or   perhaps more appropriately   a caged animal in an interactive zoo     they want to see him succeed    the surrealistic soap opera is completely plausible thanks to a tight screenplay and a sympathetic carrey he really is an everyman here   abandoning his facial contortions in favour of a credible   wide eyed bewilderment    cinematically   the truman show is impeccable   stylishly photographed by peter biziou and littered with symbolic images    as well   it employs wojciech kilar s piece   zycie za zycie  masterfully and beautifully    if the film has any flaws   one may find them in laura linney s characterization as meryl   truman s   wife     i doubt that betty crocker impersonation would fool anyone     and in a subplot involving truman s `father    which feels curiously incomplete    there are a few stupendous sequences   and the film pulls off a wonderful trick   we become truman s audience as much as the loyal viewers in the film    they wear buttons asking `how will it end      i couldn t wait to know myself   though i didn t exactly want it to end   for this inspired movie is possibly the best and most complex summer picture in years    
Pos, synopsis   it s 1977 in a small italian american neighborhood in new york    disco music is popular   and the sexual revolution is on   but the people of new york are not happy    in fact   they re terrified    as in spike lee s do the right thing a heat wave has the city in its grip   and peoples  tempers are flaring    the cool of night offers no respite   the neighborhood is being terrorized by a nocturnal psychotic killer who calls himself the son of sam    no one knows who the son of sam is   and no one is safe    all around new york people are different    aside from cultural groupings and ethnic neighborhoods there are differences between individuals    in the italian american section of town a philandering husband named vinny   john leguizamo   tries to hide his trysts and sexual behavior from his long suffering newlywed wife dionna   mira sorvino      vinny s friend ritchie   adrien brody   hates disco   works at a gay strip club and doesn t want any of the neighborhood folks to know    ritchie s girl ruby   jennifer esposito   is trying to escape a reputation as a slut    everyone s different   but nobody in the film wants to be framed as   alien   to the community    unfortunately   the killings help create a climate of suspicion pits neighbor against neighbor    opinion   director spike lee s summer of sam is not about a psycho killer    nor is it about cops trying to apprehend him    it s about differences and how   given the right conditions   even close neighbors can fan the hostile flames of irrational suspicion    one thing i found interesting in summer of sam was the use of sex    in other movies sex is glamorized    for example   james bond gets a sexual reward for winning    or boring made for video   suspense   movies are spiked with gratuitous lingerie scenes just to keep the audience awake    and every movie or soap opera character in these flicks seems to have expert sexual prowess    not so with summer of sam    in a very gutsy move director spike lee shows sex without fantasy    sex is there   but it isn t gratuitous or titillating    in fact   some of the main characters are downright lousy in bed    sex is in the film because   sexual   deviance is part of the film s major theme of   difference   breeding hostility    in my opinion this kind of movie sex is cutting edge for 1999   as rare and thought provoking in american cinema as showing a spanking    
Pos, part one of   the strangest movies ever made   series at www   mediajunkies   com  by scott watson  [light spoilers   nothing you shouldn t read]  existenz has been called   a gooey matrix     and while this is a correct description in some ways   in others it is completely off    the only thing the two films have in common is the idea of a virtual reality that is indistinguishable from normal     real   reality    a major difference is that   the matrix   has a base reality that is obviously the true reality   while existenz does the impossible and makes us accept the most bizarre reality ever as true    and oh what a reality it is    david cronenberg has shown us before that he knows how to create strange movies   naked lunch   crash     but this one is one of the strangest    maybe it s because of how the mundane is mixed with the bizarre    technology is organic   but only some of it    cars are normal    gas stations are the same    cell phones are glowing bug like appendages    you jack into a virtual reality game using a quivering pink gooey animal like apparatus   referred to simply as a   pod        high technology has been replaced with organic creatures   and it provides a truly surreal setting for the characters    a famous game designer   allegra geller   a fine looking jennifer jason leigh     flees a demonstration of her latest game   existenz   after an assassination attempt    she is on the run   from who   i m still not sure     and has to save her pod by playing her game with   someone friendly      that someone friendly is her dubious companion and security guard   ted pikul   jude law      unfortunately he is lacking a fundamental requirement for playing   a bioport    sort of a hole in your spine   ok   exactly like a hole in your spine     a bioport allows you to plug the vaguely entrail looking wires from the pod into you   allowing you to play the game    luckily a bioport can be installed easily   they install them in malls     so off they go to get one    after a crazy series of events at the local country gas station   they are able to plug in and play existenz    the plot itself is a surreal melding of conspiracies   reality distortion   chinese restaurants   and multi appendaged amphibian things     it s a sign of the times        but the plot   while cohesive in it s own creepy way is secondary to just trying to figure out what the hell is going on in this universe    cronenberg just slaps this weird organic tech world into the viewers lap   and it s up to you to figure out how all these things work    and that s the true joy of this film   entering the vaguely nightmarish world in which existenz takes place    you learn a little bit piece by piece   oh   they make pods out of those     and it s just enough to get you to accept the world that is presented to you    there are all kinds of twists and turns as the characters wander around   including a fantastic scene in a chinese restaurant that will leave you trying to assemble something out of your moo goo gai pan for months afterwards    also the bioports are occasionally used for things other than porting into existenz   the specifics of which i will leave for you to discover    there s lots of little things that set off the weird o meter   like the little tiny pods that you can buy in the video game store   the two headed amphibian creature   and why that guy at the gas station s name appears to be   gas      it all adds up to a supremely far out trip   and given the choice i think i would rather live in the matrix s virtual world        oh wait   i already do    
Pos, good films are hard to find these days    great films are beyond rare    proof of life   russell crowe s one two punch of a deft kidnap and rescue thriller   is one of those rare gems    a taut drama laced with strong and subtle acting   an intelligent script   and masterful directing   together it delivers something virtually unheard of in the film industry these days   genuine motivation in a story that rings true    consider the strange coincidence of russell crowe s character in proof of life making the moves on a distraught wife played by meg ryan s character in the film    all while the real russell crowe was hitching up with married woman meg ryan in the outside world    i haven t seen this much chemistry between actors since mcqueen and mcgraw teamed up in peckinpah s masterpiece   the getaway    but enough with the gossip   let s get to the review    the film revolves around the kidnapping of peter bowman   david morse     an american engineer working in south america who is kidnapped during a mass ambush of civilians by anti government soldiers    upon discovering his identity   the rebel soldiers decide to ransom him for $6 million    the only problem is that the company peter bowman works for is being auctioned off   and no one will step forward with the money    with no choice available to her   bowman s wife alice   ryan   hires terry thorne   crowe     a highly skilled negotiator and rescue operative   to arrange the return of her husband    but when things go wrong    as they always do in these situations    terry and his team   which includes the most surprising casting choice of the year   david caruso   take matters into their own hands    the film is notable in that it takes this very simple story line and creates a complex and intelligent character driven vehicle filled with well written dialogue   shades of motivation   and convincing acting by all the actors    the script is based on both a book   the long march to freedom   and a magazine article pertaining to kidnap/ransom situations   and the story has been sharply pieced together by tony gilroy   screenwriter of the devil s advocate and dolores claiborne    the biggest surprise for me was not the chemistry between crowe and ryan   but that between crowe and david caruso    dug out from b movie hell   caruso pulls off a gutsy performance as crowe s right hand gun while providing most of the film s humor    ryan cries a lot and smokes too many cigarettes   david morse ends up getting everyone at the guerilla camp to hate him   and crowe provides another memorable acting turn as the stoic   gunslinger character of terry thorne    the most memorable pieces of the film lie in its action scenes    the bulk of those scenes   which bookend the movie   work extremely well as establishment and closure devices for all of the story s characters    the scenes are skillfully crafted and executed with amazing accuracy and poise    director taylor hackford mixes both his old school style of filmmaking with the dizziness of a lars von trier film    proof of life is a thinking man s action movie    it is a film about the choices men and women make in the face of love and war   and the sacrifices one makes for those choices    the sacrifices that help you sleep at night    
Pos, i must admit i m going to be a bit biased in my review of the new romantic comedy serendipity   because that also defines how i met my current girlfriend    the magic and mystery of our fated encounter is also embodied in the quirkiness and freshness of the very funny and very romantic serendipity    i am not a big fan of the romantic comedy genre   but something drew me to this film    maybe it was the casting of the underrated jeremy piven in a supporting role   and the hilarious eugene levy    maybe it was my hope that john cusack would get the redemption he justly deserves after such crap as high fidelity   con air   and pushing tin    but maybe it was because i feel as giddy as a school kid right now with this whole romantic thing currently in my life    the story of serendipity is simple    two people   john trager   john cusack   and sara thomas   kate beckinsale   looking ever so hot     have a chance encounter over a pair of gloves    with buck henry smack dab in the middle    charmed beyond repair   these two knuckleheads grab a sundae together at a caf   called serendipity   talk about that irresponsible thing called fate and the avenues it leads people down   and spend a few hours at the local ice skating rink    but with each of them already involved with other parties   sara has john write his name and number on a $5 bill and she writes her name and number on a copy of love in the time of cholera    sara declares that if this   thing      let s just call it love    is destined to happen   fate will bring them together in the future    years later and on opposite coasts of america   john and sara    both engaged but still unsure whether they have found their soul mates    decide to seek each other out to rest their doubts    what happens then is an enjoyable and often hilarious cat and mouse game with the fates   involving such items as mistaken identity   a graduate homage   john corbett as a freaky new age musician   and eugene levy as an irate and crazed salesman    to find out if that   thing   was right after all    fortunately   first time screenwriter marc klein has sketched strong   well rounded   characters to propel a predictable and corny narrative    coupled with deft directing by michael chelsom   director of the very unfunny town and country and the very funny funny bones   and the use of time lapse camera work to illustrate the passage of years    the film comes off with genuine believability and sincerity    both piven and molly shannon make nice sidekick characters  on the flipside   films such as you ve got mail   made in heaven   and even high fidelity are the quiet inspirations for the film s main journey at hand    but it s what happens to the unexpecting characters left behind in the romantic wake after john and sara find happiness this is the most unsettling part of the picture    
Pos, in some regards   making a movie is like trying to stretch a rubber band as far as you can without breaking it    try too hard   and it snaps   but too much reservation means someone else will come along and pull it farther    in simon birch   director mark steven johnson shows us just how to master the technique   he takes advantage of caution and poise   but also risks his movie with a few bold steps    in the end   he s not only holding an unbroken band   but he makes the audience appreciate the lengths he went to direct such a fine feature    there s no doubt about it   the film that johnson has crafted is rich    he chooses for his setting the quaint town of gravestown   maine   leaves turn bright orange in the fall   the grass is a lush green   pure white snow falls in the winter   and the sky goes on forever    the characters continue that turn   our two leads are simon birch   ian michael smith   and joe wenteworth   joseph mazzello      simon is the smallest baby ever born within the records of the local hospital   and by age twelve he s only two feet tall    joe is the bastard son of rebecca   ashley judd     and by age twelve he s ready to know who is father is    naturally   the two outcasts become good friends and share many adventures together   from disrupting sunday school to doing community service to playing little league baseball    in a wonderfully executed performance by ian michael smith   simon birch is convinced that he s god s instrument   and there must be a reason he s so small    joe doesn t quite buy it   but he sticks by simon   the two tough it out through the worst of times and are each other s only true friends    early on   the two meet up with ben goodrich   oliver platt     rebecca s new boyfriend   and although the bond isn t immediate   ben and the two boys develop a liking for each other    both platt and judd give solid performances that lend their characters a deep likeability    the audience cares about them as much as they do about joe and simon   a testament to the acting jobs of both    finally   jim carrey gives a cameo as the adult joe in the present day   and his few minutes here are relatively more impressive than his entire performance in the truman show    mark steven johnson s sense of drama and writing is fantastic    the script is loosely based on john irving s novel   a prayer for owen meany   but it s so far off the source material that irving actually requested the credits be changed from  based on  to  suggested by      along those same lines   it s almost unfitting to compare the two   johnson uses tension   humor   atmosphere   and suspense to create an original drama of forrest gumpian proportions    by no means has he developed a project of similar popularity   gump made over 300 million dollars while birch ought to pass out of sight in a few weeks   but the winning idea remains the same    simon birch is a different look at a different life   and one that will most likely be studied in film school classes in decades to come    in the present   however   it s an enjoyable little picture that everyone ought to take a look at    
Pos, on the basis of this film alone   i never would have predicted that   in two years   quentin tarantino would become the country s biggest hotshot director    reservoir dogs has hints of the tarantino brilliance that emerged in pulp fiction   but is a much less substantive   more conventional crime story than the big pf    here s what the two movies do have in common          scenes of intelligent   amusing dialogue with no relevance to the plot   a story that jumps back and forth in time rather than going in a logical   chronological sequence   graphic yet necessary violence   an engaging crime story   dialogue liberally spiced with swear words and racial/gender slurs   three of the same actors   harvey keitel   tim roth and steve buscemi     a mexican standoff ending   although this one is considerably less optimistic than pf  reservoir dogs is an entire hour shorter than pulp fiction because it s only got one story to tell rather than three    crime lord joe cabot   veteran actor lawrence tierney   has assembled five criminals who have never even met each other to pull a diamond store heist    the five are instructed not to reveal their real names or personal details or anything the cops could use if one of them was captured and interrogated    instead   they are all given code names off the color chart    mr   white   keitel     mr   pink   buscemi     mr   orange   roth     mr   blonde   michael madsen     mr   brown   tarantino   and mr   peach   tarantino s chin      most of the movie s running time is spent with mr   white and pink waiting at a warehouse for the others to arrive    mr   orange   meanwhile   is on the floor   dying from a gunshot wound    the police had arrived at the scene of the crime way too soon   leading white to believe one of the five was an informant    the story s background unfolds through a series of flashbacks   of the crime itself and the meetings between joe and the criminals prior to the crime    eventually   blonde arrives with a police officer hostage   and what follows is a truly brutal   uncomfortable torture scene    let s just say picasso would be inspired by what blonde does to the cop s ear    a lot of the time   reservoir dogs seems like your typical gangster heist gone wrong movie   but there are a few sequences that are uniquely tarantino    the opening scene in the coffee shop starts the movie off on a high note the rest of it doesn t live up to   as the criminals plus joe have a conversation on   among other things   tipping philosophies and their interpretations of madonna s   like a virgin      another scene involves roth s lengthy manufactured story about running into a group of cops and a police dog in a bus station bathroom while carrying a giant bag of marijuana    neither of these have much plot relevance but are given ample time to develop   like the captain koons gold watch speech in pulp fiction   only here these sequences are more enjoyable than the rest of the movie    reservoir dogs is good but it s no pulp fiction    
Pos, it s a fact that a good thriller or action movie doesn t need violence to be good or worth watching    all it takes is potential violence to make the audience bite their nails    and what kind of violence could be more efficient than a global thermo nuclear war    and potential violence is the premiss wargames is built upon    a computer whiz kid   david   is usually contended with hacking into the school computer to change his grades    but after having read an advertisment for an upcoming computer game   he wants to be the first to play it    instead of getting into the computer at protovision software he accidentally comes to the frontgate of norad    with the help of jennifer   a girl in his biology class   he starts to play a nice game of nuclear war with wopr   war operation plan response   a top notch computer at the time   but now hardly faster than my own computer    i remember being 12 and watching this at the cinema    it was very efficent at giving you a scare in those days and that hasn t changed    of course   a nuclear war seemed to be much more of something that could actually happen back in 1983    i wouldn t be surprised if this gave people nightmares    i hope it still does since you still hear about school kids hacking into the computers at pentagon    broderick and sheedy are just fine as the young teenagers   although her interest in david remains a mystery      but the rest of the actors are   by no fault of their own   restricted by the script to play one dimensional grownups    david s parents are the same kind of parents that populate all these college comedies from the 1980s   movies like secret admirer   porky s or zapped and the norad general beringer is straight out of dr   strangelove    if for no other reason   you should see this movie to enjoy how far the computer technology has gone since those days    david uses the same telephone for calling friends as calling other computers    the modem is some kind of device that he puts the headset on    far from any 56k modem my guess is that it s some kind of 2400 bps modem   the kind of technology you now find at your local technical museum    the big computer at norad has a lot of flashing lights   just like those you see on star trek or any old sf movie   but it s hardly impressing compared with what you can get today    what are the lessons we can learn from wargames    1    make sure there are no secret backdoors into military computers    2   thank you   whoever it was   for giving us a graphical user interface when we use our computers !  
Pos, there exists a litany of differences between a successful action movie and a successful suspense movie    action movies are typically devoid of plot other than a simple byline which can string together several explosive sequences   while suspense movies hinge on plot and subtlety and the ability to bring everything full circle    for fans of both genres   however   realism is key    action fans want to know that the weapons and methods their heroes are using are authentic   and suspense fans want everything to fall into an explainable framework by the movie s end    on this advice   director john frankenheimer   the island of dr    moreau   strives for realism in an interestingly dynamic balance of suspense and action for his latest thriller   ronin    the depth of intrigue in ronin is quite amazing   considering the fare that s fallen into the same category over the last few years    the script   written by j   d   zeik in his big screen debut   approaches levels of complexity that had people spinning away from mission   impossible two years ago    a certain number of people will be lost by this   but afficianados will appreciate it all the more and return multiple times    frankenheimer masters the script with poise   and tells us a dark but stoically realistic tale of a group of post cold war mercenaries working to earn their paycheck    his ability to convey feeling and character while promoting explosiveness and tense atmosphere works well here   and ronin becomes a better movie because of it    robert de niro headlines this cast of noteworthies in a performance that is the most outstanding of his in quite some time    he takes command and offers much gravity as the ex spy sam   a man who s called to france to help a shady operations controller named dierdre   natascha mcelhone   recover a package    the package becomes the central motivator for the entire cast   especially once the requisite double crossing begins   and its role is skillfully penned by zeik    at times   however   zeik s tale becomes almost too reminiscent of mission   impossible   de niro might easily become tom cruise   the package might become cruise s computer disk    fortunately   the focus here is almost entirely on the package   whereas in mission the script was more concerned with the double cross and why it happened    the action content is impressive   and it lives up to the hints given in previews    the only fans who will be disappointed are those who expect full blown combat scenes and instead are forced to suffer through moments of slowness    ronin does take a degree of intelligence to follow all of the nuance from start to finish   but even the uninitiated will be able to keep a grasp on most characters mand subplots    the suspense tapers off considerably by the end   a bit of a drawback because of its height at the movie s open    considering these factors it s good to see that ronin was a project that turned out well   and it s another good bet this month    since quality is usually sparse during the early fall months   it s definitely worth the visit    
Pos, jay and silent bob strike back   kevin smith s swan song to his two most famous characters   is the best received comedy that i ve seen since there s something about mary   which is a tea party in comparison to the foul mouthed humor in jay and silent bob strike back    the audience didn t just laugh   they went wild with boisterous laughter and heavy applause throughout    in short   if you like really raunchy humor   you may find it   as i did   to be the funniest movie of the year       on the other hand   if you are one of those who walked out in disgust with smith s dogma   then jay and silent bob strike back is not the movie for you      in one of the fastest paced movies of the year   the story has jay and silent bob   jason mewes and kevin smith     a pair of card carrying drug dealers   traveling from their new jersey convenience store home to hollywood so that they can stop a movie    it seems their comic book alter egos   bluntman and chronic   are being used in a movie without jay and silent bob s consent    jason biggs and james van der beek are slated to star in it    jay and silent bob strike back has more and better used cameos than just about any movie that i ve ever seen    among others   they include carrie fisher as a bible toting nun   mark hamill as a comic book version of his famous alter ego and gus van sant as a director too busy counting his money to yell     action !    best of all are ben affleck and matt damon who mock themselves and their movies    the film stops several times to make fun of itself and of the audience who was   stupid   enough to buy tickets to this movie       actually   purchasing tickets to this film is extremely smart given that it delivers more laughter per dollar than anything in recent memory      the film even skewers people who write about movies on the internet    guilty    although it s filled with inside jokes   you ll still be laughing even if you only get some of them    it s easy to understand enough so that they are still funny    jay is a motor mouth who hasn t met a subject that he couldn t vulgarize    his favorite topic is oral sex   but   being an equal opportunity profaner   he s willing to make crude jokes about absolutely anything    but it is his buddy   the aptly named silent bob   who is responsible for most of the movie s success    his reaction shots   with his wildly exaggerated eye movements   are comedic gems    the story s main subplot concerns four animal rights activists   justice   shannon elizabeth   and her three sexy buddies   sissy   eliza dushku     missy   jennifer schwalbach smith   and chrissy   ali larter      these charlie s angels types give a ride to our heroes on their trek to lalaland to stop the picture    jay tries to put the moves on justice   but he doesn t stay in command of the situation for long    one of the funnier sight gags has the women using a pink   clam shaped   birth control case that contains high tech gadgetry    granted   it s not the movie for everyone   but   if you like kevin smith s brand of humor   you ll find that this is his best    and   as i said earlier   it s the funniest movie of the year thus far    no   wait    forget   `thus far      it s bound to be the funniest movie of the year    in a time when almost every movie feels obligated to come in at pg 13 so that they can rake in the maximum cash   it s great to see a filmmaker with the guts to target only a mature audience    jay and silent bob strike back runs a lightening fast 1   35    it is rated r and contains pervasive crude humor and language and sexual situations    it would be acceptable for high school seniors and older    the film opens nationwide in the united states on wednesday   august 22   2001    in the silicon valley   it will be showing at the amc and the century theaters    
Pos, damn those trailers    had it not been for the advertising of this film   which reveals far too much about its contents   i would have been glued to `under the sand     as it is   the film retains some value   thanks to an excellent performance by charlotte rampling   and a more mature francois ozon in the director s chair    marie   charlotte rampling   and her husband jean   bruno cremer   lounge on the beach    she takes a nap while he goes for a swim    when marie wakes up   jean is nowhere to be found    she contacts authorities   but they can t find him either    did he disappear to start a new life    was he killed by accident    did he commit suicide    marie still asks herself these questions a year later   and in order to move on with her life   she must find some answers    it s a fine premise   and this little movie uses it to the limit    the film moves at a leisurely pace   a bit slow   but relaxing    it s a very visual story   and you can pretty much just sit back without reading the subtitles    this is mostly thanks to the excellent camera work by antoine heberle and jeanne lapoirie   who shot the film in a dreamy haze   and the lead performance by rampling    rampling is so expressive in her portrayal of marie   you connect with her character instantly   despite that she s delusional    the scenes where she interacts with her husband   who she still believes is alive   are heartbreaking    she can t quite get over him    they ve been married for twenty five years    the other actors   particularly jacques nolot   are excellent too    the sex in the film is rather unneeded   but compared to ozon s `criminal lovers    it s the disney channel    likely to cause some discussion afterwards   `under the sand  is a fine movie going experience    while it s hard to recommend as entertainment   it s a fine adult alternative about how we deal with loss    ozon seems to ask what you would do   and that s certainly a hard question to answer    
Pos, bob the happy bastard s quickie review    rush hour  so what s the problem with 48 hours clones these days    they always try for the same thing that eddie murphy and nick nolte had    that was the problem that plagued these clones   not to mention the actual sequel   another 48 hours   a complete waste of film    but   at last   someone has a different take on the matter   and it s director brett rainer    rush hour features jackie chan in his first u   s   action movie   playing a chinese detective who s being flown to the us to investigate the kidnapping of the chinese consulate s daughter    of course   the fbi is upset that he ll be interfering in their investigation   and stick him with an lapd office with a big mouth  of course   that s chris tucker    what makes rush hour work so damn well is the chemistry between the energetic chan and the absolutely hilarious tucker    tucker mouths off to chan at every given opportunity     i m michael jackson   you tito         and chan delivers a few zingers of his own   as well as some terrific fight scenes    the story s pretty much your average fare   but with a decent twist involving the main villain   a highly clouded figure named jun tao    at least it s entertaining   and the concept is excellently realized    a particular fight scene in a chinese office   where chan and tucker duke it out with the bad guys   is funny and energetic at the same time    and the finale s a real treat as well       chan  delivers yet another fantastic stunt for the fans with a 10 story drop    rush hour is just the sort of film you ll get a kick out of on any night of the week    just make sure you don t look for anything culturally different and you ll be fine  drunken master ii this ain t    
Pos, this sunday afternoon i had the priviledge of attending a private screening at the sony astor cinema in new york city   of james cameron s most heralded film   titanic    postponed from last summer   with an escalated budget that makes it the most expensive movie in history   this was one film i was eager to preview    so   is this movie going to sink or swim this holiday    my best guess         it will sink   though with many awards attatched to its hull    no doubt   titanic is the most elaborate disaster movie ever made    it boasts the most amazing effects that i have ever seen done to date    to see a ship fall apart   with actual people running across the ship   flying across the deck   and falling to the water   is just amazing to look at    the effects are so stunningly realistic   you would swear you were looking at actual footage    but titanic is more than a disaster movie   and that s where the problem lies    there is a love story attatched that nearly ruins the entire premise    i ll give a capsule summary of the story without spoiling anything for you    the film begins with a modern day excavation of sorts of the sunken titanic    we see actual footage of the sunken ship   as cammeron had set up special cameras to film the wreckage on the ocean floor    bill paxton leads the expedition   in search of sunken treasure    what he finds instead   leads him to a mysterious old woman who recounts her tale of the titanic voyage    we meet rose   kate winslet     a young woman   who comes from an upper class family    rose is to be wed to a man she does not love    we meet jack   leonardo dicaprio     a young man   who comes from a poor financial background   and wins a ticket aboard the titanic   in a poker game    the two meet under interesting circumstances   and the love story begins    add in a jealous fiance   and a not so nice law officer played by david warner   and you have a story that   well   gets a bit overplayed and oversappy    i must add   at this point   that the most likeable character in the movie is played by kathy bates   as a woman with   new money   who is a lot less uptight than the other rich folk on the ship    she is a pleasure to see on screen    when the ship does hit the iceberg at exactly 1   40 into the film   and eventually sinks   you never really feel for any of these characters    the film is just loaded with unlikeable rich snobs and other folk you never really get a grasp on    the effects are tremendous    from the roars of gears and pumps in the engine room   to a doomed ship cracking at the seams   this is an effects picture that looks and sounds like no other    we saw titanic in dolby digital surround   and by far   it is the best sounding movie i have ever seen    my friend commented it was the best sound mix he has ever heard    when people are in the water   at film s end   you are surrounded by the voices of lost soles    titanic runs far too long    the movie is 3 hours and 15 minutes in length    and   while most of the first 2   5 hours runs very fast and well paced   the final 45 minutes almost comes to a sudden stop   and you realize that this sappy love story has to finish itself out before the movie finally ends    don t get me wrong about titanic         it s  not a bad as i am making it out to be    it really is an exceptionaly well made film    the costumes and sets are incredible   and true to the time period    the ship is painstakingly created exactly true to form   as we see actual pictures of the modern day wreckage   transformed into the movie depiction    this film will certainly win on effects   costume   set design and sound    cameron has certainly made his best film to date    unfortunately   titanic is not a best picture candidate    it just doesn t have a strong supporting story    it s an exceptional disaster film with sappy filler inside    it just doesn t have the emotional impact that i suspect mr   cameron was shooting for    i predict that titanic will open to likeable reviews    it is a film worth seeing    i predict that it will only do moderately well at the box office    with its extreme running time   and lack of enough robust to get substantial word of mouth   i expect that it will do even better on home video    this will certainly be the definitive ac3 movie for all you home theater enthusiasts    titanic opens december 19th   and is released by paramount pictures and twentieth century fox    i give titanic 3 stars      that s not bad    ron epstein  riginally posted in home theater forum ===  
Pos, a common complaint amongst film critics is   why aren t there more literate scripts available      quiz show gives signs of hope that the art of writing isn t dead in hollywood and that we need not only look to independent films for thoughtful content    paul attanasio s script takes what could have been a tepid thriller   the quiz show scandals of the late 50s   and delivers a telling parable about the emptiness of the post war american dream and the golden bubble that surrounds and protects tv networks and their sponsors    the film is riddled with telling symbols   e   g    a  58 chrysler   a radio announcement of sputnik   but is never heavy handed    deft direction by robert redford and keen performances by ralph fiennes   john turturro and rob morrow dovetail perfectly with the carefully honed script    redford departs from the usually overlight     cable tv quality   sets and camera work so common in recent 20th century period pieces    quiz show perfectly captures the colors and textures of the eisenhower years    although i was only 4 years old when the   twenty one   scandal broke   enough of the 50s icons survived throughout my childhood for me to recognize the authenticity of redford s almost tangible palette    from plastic covered furniture to carefully coifed contestants   the images ring true from that era of rampant consumerism   of a generation that had gone through 15 years of depression and world war without   disposable income     before the manifestation of its american dream    the film deftly weaves several themes together   from assimilation and exclusion of jews from   the good life     to the lengths that a scion of a literary family will go to to match his father s fame    though the 50s audience that is   rocked   by this scandal may initially seem naive to us   they should appear all too familiar   with our current national passion for the rise and fall of icons like michael jackson or tonya harding    charles van doren and herbie stemple were the overnight mega celebrities of their day    the tv audience is almost a fourth main character   always at the center of the decisions being made on their behalf    at the film s end   the credits roll past slow motion footage of that same 50s tv audience   mindlessly laughing at some piece of fluff    like the distorted mirror that captured a blurred swastika at the end of cabaret   this   mirror   may reflect an image we re not all that comfortable with    
Pos, whew   this film oozes energy   the kind of breakneck   no  holds barred   in your face risk taking filmmaking that is seldom seen on screen these days    like the marginal   motley bunch of post apocalyptic youths director danny boyle tries to depict   trainspotting veers on the edge of utter mayhem but ultimately retains its footing and control    the result   a movie that is a delightful example of how the medium is the message    the message   a bunch of losers with loser names   mark renton   ewan mcgregor     spud   ewan bremner     sick boy   jonny lee miller     tommy   kevin mckidd     and begbie   robert carlyle      bored   aimless and restless   their routine consists of getting drunk at the local pub   grooving to techno or glam rock at the local disco and getting shots up the arm at the local den and procuring cash through a variety of methods   some ingenious   others plainly dumb and desperate    not part of the daily dose if obtained   sex is a bonus    you can find these characters as they are   foul mouthed   dirty   pathetic   ugly perhaps but definitely interesting   in irvin welsh s cult novel of the same name    what makes the film a completely different experience is how director boyle uses every tool at his disposal to make the filmic medium synchronous with the message    one of the first things you ll notice is how the camera seems to dart around restlessly    it ll truck into a character s pimple   just as soon as it will dolly out to an establishing shot    distracted and curious   it ll maintain a character s eye level or drop right to the ground to show the doped out eye view    you ll even find characters peering into the camera   their faces smeared across the wide angle lens    this film camera is just another one of the guys    tiptoeing that indistinguishable line between fantasy and reality   boyle employs a healthy dose of surrealism to get the message across    bored kids daydream and bored kids deprived of a heroin fix have nightmares    i don t want to give too much away   but if you cross chuckie from child s play with some of the wacky fantasies in heavenly creatures   you might have an idea just how fun or pants wetting scary the alternate state of consciouness can be    that said   this film has a good share of drugs   consumed   vomitted   defecated   pissed off   exchanged   bought   sold   injected   smuggled   enjoyed and regretted    if that isn t your cup of tea   nobody forced you to see the film    stay at home and rent up close and personal    and what s a buzz without tunes    from pulp to iggy pop   yes   he s still alive     the aural landscape is as engaging as the visual energy permeating the film    good and bad vibrations tangle like the conflicting desires and values of the message    every once in a while   a film comes along with the kind of energetic filmmaking that matches the intensity of its characters it hopes to depict    trainspotting is that shooting star that burns across a sky littered with static constellations    dom is a part time filmmaker who graduated from northwestern university s radio/tv/film programme not too long ago    he has laboured on various music videos and short films in and around campus and chicago    nowhere town   a 26min short film that he shot   co directed and co produced recently scooped up the grand jury prize at the charleston international film festival for best student production    he is currently finishing a couple of small projects    with his minute amounts of leisure time   dom does nell impersonations    
Pos, steven spielberg s   amistad     which is based on the true story of a group of africans who revolted on board a slave ship   then were captured and taken to america where a legal dispute ensued over who   owned   them   is concerned with several different aspects of this story    first   the film addresses the issue of the inherent evils of slavery    second   it deals with the historical involvement of several american politicians in the case   including president martin van buren and former president john quincy adams   anthony hopkins      last   and most importantly   it examines the cultural confusion experienced by the africans who were forced into slavery and the damage done to their native culture in africa by the slave trade       amistad   succeeds at least partly with all three of these elements    i have to admit that i was a little skeptical as to how much i could really get out of another   anti slavery   movie    having seen several other movies and documentaries about slavery   i doubted that there was much i didn t already know about it    fortunately   i turned out to be wrong    for one thing   spielberg s camera never once gets near a southern plantation and instead sticks to the slave ships and the slave traders  operations in africa   so   amistad   was dealing with a different part of the history of slavery from the very beginning    and some of the images here are   in fact   much more harrowing than what we usually see in movies about slavery    one scene in the middle   in which the crew of a slave ship dispose of some of their   excess   slaves by throwing them overboard to drown   has to be one of the most disturbing film images of the year    spielberg digs farther into the evils of slavery than i was expecting he would   and in fact he probably goes about as far as a movie director can without getting an nc 17 rating    the stark suffering of the africans is contrasted sharply with the shallow luxury of the politicians   such as president van buren and queen isabella of spain   whose naval officers were involved in the legal dispute and who was only a small child at the time    exposing politicians as narrow minded   opportunistic hypocrites is fairly standard stuff   of course   but spielberg and writer david franzoni do it well enough that it still comes off as something more than just a simple exercise in audience manipulation    the film also examines the contentious nature of the slavery issue at the time   such that john quincy adams   and probably other politicians like him     who clearly disapproved of the practice   was reluctant to get involved in the case until it was appealed all the way to the supreme court    the biggest success of   amistad   is probably the characterization of cinque   djimon hounsou     who emerges as the de facto leader of the kidnapped africans and struggles to communicate with baldwin   matthew mcconaughey     the lawyer who represents them in court    through cinque   we are given a window into the native culture   as he and the displaced africans try to explain to the prison guards what they need for a proper burial of a dead tribe member   or find an illustrated version of the bible and try to understand the story of jesus christ    cinque sees the dispute with a clarity and simplicity that   again   contrasts with the technicalities and mechanics of the legal process and of the political squabbles       what kind of country is this   where laws  almost  work     he asks baldwin in bewilderment   when he learns that the case must be re tried before the supreme court    spielberg s direction tends a little bit towards the manipulative side at times   such as when he adds a heavy orchestral swell to cinque s angry outburst in the court room    still   there isn t enough of this for it to be a serious problem    the main flaw in this film   which prevents it from earning four stars   is that it seems like spielberg and franzoni can t quite handle all of these issues at the same time   so instead they settle for addressing each one separately and simply editing the results into the same movie    this summer s contact   for example   dealt with several issues at once   but each of them was somehow present in almost every scene and   most importantly   all of them were resolved at once       amistad   tries to pull it all together in the end with a speech from adams   but it somehow feels a little forced   and in any case the speech itself   which lasts almost fifteen minutes   wears out its welcome about halfway through    perhaps the best way to describe it is this     amistad   is three four star films edited into one    almost every individual scene works   but the final product is lacking the necessary focus and coherence   and thus is less than the sum of its parts    however   i can t honestly say how it could have been done differently   and in any case the story comes through with enough raw emotional power that it is still a very good film   and thus i recommend it to anyone who can handle the disturbing imagery    
Pos, he has spent his entire life in an awful little apartment   raised and cared for and imprisoned by his domineering mother    she inspires his love and his fear   and instills in him a similar love and fear of jesus    he has a rudimentary grasp of language   mouthing monosyllables and repetitions of his mother s phrases    he is taught that the world outside is fatally poisonous   his mother dons a gasmask whenever she goes out the door    he is 35 years old in body   but a child in mind and spirit    he is the premise for bad boy bubby   a defiantly original australian movie about a man called bubby   nicholas hope   who has spent his entire life in an awful little apartment   etc     etc   then one day his father   ralph cotterill   appears    his father is a shabby down at heels priest who appears to have permanently misplaced his religion    unsurprisingly   he is not thrilled with the way   his   boy has turned out    he is   however   rather pleased at renewing his acquaintance with the mother   claire benito     and   more to the point   her ample breasts    soon they are copulating on the dingy couch   while bubby crouches   confused   in the next room   acutely aware that the mother who had devoted all her attention to him has a new interest    bubby s relationship to the world may be warped   but it is at least stable    the father s arrival disturbs his precarious balance   causing an oedipal conflict which ends  freud would be pleased  in violence and   as a result   freedom    bubby intuits from his father s arrival that the air outside is breathable   he leaves the apartment   his past   his world   behind    so far   so good    the first thirty minutes or so of bad boy bubby   which bring us to this point   are quite brilliant    the movie is at its best when its stays within the constraints of bubby s hermetic two room universe    it follows through unrelentingly on the implications of its premise   bubby is used by his mother for sex   he unwittingly suffocates the pet cat with cellophane   he is terrifed by the notion that jesus will beat him senseless if he sins    it is grim and savage and appalling   but also strangely tender  de heer   having imagined a life as bizarre as bubby s   does not exaggerate for comic or grotesqe purposes   but simply empathizes    he observes what it might be like    the intensity of these opening scenes   with their minimalist mise en scene   immerses us in a claustrophobic environment which seems to be a decayed stratum of our own world   and owes much to david lynch s eraserhead   not least the ambient industrial white noise of the soundtrack    for thirty minutes   the movie maintains the feel and mood of a reality that does not seem far removed from our own    then de heer lets bubby out   brings him into contact with our world   and the film never quite recovers    our unlikely hero finds himself in port adelaide   where he wanders the streets and meets people   where he suffers and learns and survives    he is seduced by a young woman from a salvation army band   how an anti social half wit with no sense of hygiene manages to get laid mere hours after his escape is not the sort of question the film encourages   wisely     he is given free pizza by a sympathetic waitress   he insults a traffic cop and is punched in the stomach   he shares a few beers in the back of a truck with a rock group   he is imprisoned and raped   he becomes a translator for mentally handicapped people whose speech is impaired beyond comprehension   he is loved by a motherly large breasted nurse   carmel johnson              it goes on   by turns inventive   silly   tasteless   endearing   and sometimes all of these things at once    de heer never seems to be sure how bubby should interface with the real world   the tone shifts   uneasily   from fable to realism to satire and back again    the scenes which try to touch base with a believable version of reality are the weakest   the film is best understood as a kind of parable   and   indeed   the religious implications of bubby s experiences are foregrounded   icons of jesus on the cross hang from the mother s walls   bubby dons a priest s collar stolen from his father   a church organ playing atheist lectures him on the necessity of unbelief   the woman who redeems him is named angel    the manifold stresses of our world do not shatter bubby s mind   do not fragment him into psychosis   rather   the world accomodates him   and heals him    although de heer s touch is at times overbearing   bubby s salvation is touching   what seemd at first a harsh lesson in the damaging effects of the social construction of reality becomes a na   ve humanist tale of improbable hope    a hapless rock group write a song about bubby and sing it for him and so give him the gift of community    he returns the favour when he steps on stage one night and becomes their frontman   turning the fragmented impressions of his experiences into performance art   and turning the band into a popular draw    innocence triumphs    bubby becomes a holy fool   an idiot savant   and graces us with wisdom    it s a strange turn of events   but by now we shouldn t be surprised   because bad boy bubby ain t like other movies    
Pos, being that it is a foreign language film with no known names with a select number theaters showing it     shall we dance   won t be seen by that many people    and that s a shame   this is a funny   enchanting   and goofy movie full of laughs   surprises   and wonderful dance sequences    the surprising thing about   shall we dance   is the universal appeal of the story    a us version is in the works   and it s no wonder   it s not really all that culture specific    although there is a narrated set up that adds some extra resonance to the proceedings   about the view the japanese culture has about ballroom dancing     the movie is so rich in character and appeal that this added layer isn t at all necessary to understand or enjoy the film    the only important unexplained japanese specific reference that may leave some a bit puzzled is that 1000 yen is roughly $10   when you see the film   and you should see this film   you ll know why      a middle aged company man realizes that achieving all the goals he set for himself in life   a house   a child   and good marriage   still doesn t translate into a fulfilled life    after glimpsing a melancholy beauty looking out from a dance studio window while on the train home from work   sugiyana   koji yakusho   decides after some trepidation to take up ballroom dance lessons in order to meet the woman who has stirred something in himself    after finding the weekly fees for private lessons from the elegant and beautiful mai   tamiyo kusakari   too rich for his blood   sugiyama opts for groups lessons simply to be near her    we then meet the players in this gem of a movie   who all have their own reasons for joining the class    later on   we meet aoki at the dance studio   naoto takenaka     a co worker and all out weirdo and one of the laugh riot highlights of the film    the story   laughs   and touching scenes evolve as the movie goes along    it s a pleasure to watch such a wonderful film that is propelled almost solely by the characters and performances    it s difficult to explain the charms of the film without revealing too much   the movie abounds with little revelations that subtly shape the characters   and in the end   each one is that much fuller and more understood by the time you leave the theater    it s one of those movies that only the french seem to make anymore   no big plot   no special effects   no gunplay   no tragic consequences   no forced examinations of the nature of love   and no insights into the nature of evil    just a warm   funny   endearing film that will charm the pants off of you    when was the last time you left a theater feeling all warm and fuzzy inside       shall we dance   will do that to you without any treacly aftertaste    
Pos, when i first heard of contact   the hype was building it up as a sci fi blockbuster    now   with that in mind   coupled with the knowledge of jodie foster s involvement in the project   i thought   what in the world is foster doing in a sci fi blockbuster            as it turned out   my expectations were completely nullified and turned topsy turvy    robert zemeckis   back from the euphoria created by his last film   forrest gump   once again proves his mastery in fusing tales of adventure with along the endearing lines of human spirit    don t get me wrong   contact is sci fi   but with a definite difference    based on the late carl sagan novel of the same name   the story delves itself in questions on science and god   fact and faith    allie   foster   is a radio astronomer    she spends her time listening to the stars   via ultra huge communication dishes in search of intelligent life beyond the solar system    her passion for `long distance communication  is the result of her younger days being spent avidly in front of a ham radio system   a hobbyist radio communication device   which her late father bought for her    a scene which particularly strengthens the audiences  view of the passion is when she asked her father whether she could contact her late mother through the ham radio system in which her father replied   not even the most powerful radio in the world can do that   now      allie s research is based on the seti project   search for extra terrestrial intelligence     in which she listens to radio emissions from other galaxies in the hope of finding one which would suggest intelligent manipulation    her work has never been off the scrutiny of the us government   which considers it a waste of taxpayer s money and politically unviable   her supervisor   tom skerritt   pulls the plug on seti    undaunted   allie managed to gather a loyal group of `believers  and eventually found funding from a large private corporation    the following months were treacherous to their hopes and research as they are contantly pressured by the government but all that changed when one day   she caught an emission of a seemingly intelligent repeating sound wave    the news of her find attracted hordes of alien believers   cultist   the media and of course   the government    the situation became intense upon her discovery of pictorial plans on building a form of transport which were embedded within the repeating sound emission    as the world join forces to build this transport   allie is desperate to be the one to go    she enrols herself among a few hopefuls   to represent the world when the transport is ready for operation    her eligibility for the spot failed when she is questioned on her beliefs in the existence of god by the president s spiritual advisor   mcconaughey     allie   being an atheist   a result of her belief in fact and science   refuses to budge upon questioning    at this point the movie plot thickens considerably as she is romantically involved with the president s spiritual advisor    a strong point which propelled the movie is the depth of its main characters played by foster and mcconaughey    from the very first meeting scene   it is obvious that the two of them was sort of kindred spirits but they were worlds apart in almost all aspects   foster being a person drawn to science and facts and mcconaughey being one who believes in faith   hope and the power of the unseen    the meeting of their worlds   added with the situation which they are put into makes the entire storytelling process near flawless    many people who read the synopsis of this film would find it a tad too ridiculous   but by actually immersing yourself in it   gives you an entirely different perspective   one which is free from bias and pre conceptions    zemeckis and his team of screen writers have done a remarkable job in telling this tale through film    contact works by not delving in controversy but rather   touches the thinking audience   urging them to ponder upon the questions raised in the film concerning fact and faith   whether one can actually find compromise within    i consider contact as one of the must sees for this year    
Pos, you ve got to love disney    no matter what they serve up   it is a guaranteed success as long as it s animated    kids have to go see the movie    then they have to get the toys    oh   the video came out    got to buy it   or risk little billy s temper tantrums for the next month    all of this culminates in the childhood equivalent of a pilgrimage to mecca   a visit to the magic kingdom    stay at the disneyland hotel !  buy a disney t shirt !  eat an ice cream mickey mouse on a stick !  it s both a vertical and horizontal monopoly when you think about it    dale carnegie should have had it so good    what s most amazing is that all this success is in spite of a severe lack of originality    you see   disney animated features these days have two components   theme and plot    the theme changes with each new movie   the plot does not    the plot is a mold into which the characters of some ancient fable are dropped   and try as they might to rise above the characters of previous features   they are nearly always destined to do no more than the same    however   while the success of a disney animated feature is generally a given as far as box office receipts   merchandising dollars   and glimmers in the eyes of little children   critically they are as varied as anything else that hollywood has to offer    luckily   disney s latest animated offering   mulan   manages to be engaging and refreshing   even while rife with formula    the film starts with the invasion of ancient china by the huns   led by the imposing shan yu   miguel ferrer      soon   china s emperor   pat morita   mobilizes his armies and decrees that one male from each family in the country shall serve to fight in china s defense    when the fa family is served notice   it is the elderly father   fa zhou   soon tek oh   who must answer the call   as there are no other males in the household    fearing her father will surely be killed in battle   fa mulan   ming na wen   disguises herself as a man and sneaks off with the royal orders to join the chinese army    mulan   based on a chinese epic poem   is a classic tale of the triumph of the ugly duckling    mulan herself is a disgrace to her loving family   as she has a difficult time fitting into the traditional woman s role   and in a very amusing scene where a matchmaker attempts to assess her value to a potential husband   we see that   grace   is not one of her strong points    very early on   we are presented with the high importance of bringing honor to one s family   and by botching her chance at gaining the favor of the matchmaker   mulan fails at that task    by leaving home to fight in her father s place   she may not only spare his life   but bring honor   too    as is the case with most disney musicals   the songs are first rate and pervasive throughout the film    i m not sure if they will get much airplay   but at least one of the songs will no doubt receive recognition come oscar time    both lea salonga   who provides the singing voice for mulan   and donny osmond who sings for shang   the captain of mulan s army unit and obligatory love interest   are more than competent   although salonga s voice translates much better to animation    you have to hear it to understand    interestingly   the musical numbers which are so often done with big flourishes are surprisingly muted in mulan    there is no significantly big number   which is customary as the second or third song in a disney film   but this does not detract significantly from the rest of the movie    it is   however   an expectation which has been built by disney s own formulaic history   and some viewers may feel as if something is missing    artistically   the animators have chosen to adopt the more subdued pastels of chinese artwork   and although this may not live up to the vibrance so associated with many of the other disney works   it helps to contribute a more authentic   and therefore more credible   nature to what otherwise may be seen as a typically   disneyfied   ethnic tale    there are also a couple of visually standout scenes   one involving the charge of shan yu s hun army   which utilizes the same computer enhanced imagery disney animators have employed since the chandelier in beauty and the beast    the other scene worth mentioning is so quick you might miss it    when mulan resolves to take her father s place   she dons her father s old battle armor   and unsheathes a sword    as she does so   you can see her reflection in the polished metal    it just left me thinking     that was really cool      a wonderful range of performances delight the audience throughout the film   varying from the straight   such as soon tek oh as fa zhou   to the comical   such as harvey fierstein as yao   a gruff   pugilistic member of shang s conscripted army    even more outrageous is eddie murphy as mushu   the diminutive guardian dragon sent to look after mulan    although an obvious attempt to relive the chemistry brought forth by robin williams in aladdin   murphy nevertheless distinguishes himself with his own winning performance    i found the choice of b   d    wong as shang a little strange   you may remember him as martin short s wedding planner assistant in the father of the bride     but they used robbie benson for the voice of the beast in beauty and the beast   so i guess anything s possible    in any event   wong performs admirably as well    one character which provides a significant amount of humor is grandmother fa    she deserves recognition not only because of the levity she brings to the movie   but also because she is voiced by two very remarkable people    june foray   who supplies grandmother fa s speaking voice   is a venerable voice actress who may be best known for her work as rocky the squirrel and natasha fatale   as in boris and natasha      marni nixon   who provides grandmother fa s singing voice   is the same vocalist who dubbed the voices for anna in the king and i   maria in west side story   and eliza in my fair lady    with this in mind   hearing grandmother fa is like listening to a little piece of history    mulan is the latest disney animated feature to get away from some of the eurocentrism which for so long dominated disney films    in an effort to be culturally sensitive   and to avoid a   miss saigon    type debacle     disney has also wisely chosen to employ many asian american actors for both lead and supporting roles    in addition to the actors already mentioned   the cast includes such ubiquitous talents as james hong   gedde watanabe   james shigeta   and george takei    i guess clyde kusatsu wasn t available    at a running time of slightly under an hour and a half   mulan moves quickly and provides solid entertainment for both children and   happily   adults    this is the kind of disney feature that makes you wonder what they will do next   rather than hope that the next one is better    
Pos, with three pre  to mid teen children and an aging father in law to care for  cooking and cleaning and laundry   drop offs at little league practice and pick ups from ballet practice  margaret hall s life is rife with complications    and with her naval officer husband stationed somewhere in the north atlantic   virtually impossible to reach by telephone   margaret leads the crazed life of a single parent    but margaret s hectic world is about to get a lot more complicated    her teenage son beau   a talented trumpet player with strong prospects of being accepted into wesleyan university s music program   has fallen in with the wrong crowd    his mother drives from their idyllic   lakeside community of tahoe city   california to the sprawling urban metropolis of reno   nevada   with its imposing concrete superstructures and seedy neon lit nightclubs   to confront the 30 something man who has befriended beau       stay away from my son   margaret warns darby reese    her words   however   appear to fall on deaf ears as reese turns up drunk at the family homestead later that evening   urging beau to join him in the boathouse    there are words and advances and some pushing and shoving and beau runs back into the house   passed his startled mother   as the crack of a wooden railing giving way breaks the cold blue silence and an intoxicated reese tumbles out of sight    the next day   on her morning walk   margaret discovers reese s lifeless body lying crumpled on the shoreline   a boat anchor impaled in his chest    with her maternal instincts working overtime   margaret quickly ferries the body out into the lake   weighs it down   and dumps it overboard    but margaret s life is about to get a lot more complicated    soon after the body is discovered   snagged on a local fisherman s line   margaret is paid a visit by an attractive seeming blackmailer in a red nova    alek spera threatens to hand over compromising videotape of beau to the police unless margaret comes up with $50   000 by 4 o clock the next day    but margaret s life is about to get a lot more complicated   for alek turns out to be something she never expected    based on elisabeth sanxay holding s novel   the blank wall       the deep end   is a well crafted thriller written and directed by scott mcgehee and david siegel     suture        it makes the most of a talented but not particularly well known cast  goran visnjic plays alek with a suave likeability   jonathan tucker shines as the conflicted beau   peter donat is amusing as grandfather hall   and josh lucas has an equally small but effective role as the hapless darby reese    the film is also lovingly photographed by giles nuttgens and features an evocative score   courtesy peter nashel    but it owes everything to british actress tilda swinton    swinton   whose pale faced ethereal beauty has graced many of derek jarman s films     caravaggio       edward ii       the last of england       plays margaret hall in   the deep end   and   like charlotte rampling in this year s   under the sand     turns in a commanding and accomplished performance    margaret is a devoted mother who is willing to risk everything to protect the ones she loves   and swinton captures every frustration   every fear   every subtle examination and every fervent realization and every nervous oscillation of her being    the role calls for an extremely wide range of emotions none the least of which is simply playing a mother beset with a multitude of domestic responsibilities    many can relate to that   of course   it s the murder cover up and the blackmail and the fear of losing one s son that swinton so gracefully   so graciously   makes resonate with the truest of colors    the end is deep all right   and there isn t a single shallow moment in tilda swinton s canon    
Pos, i hate to burst your bubble   but after all the star power   mega bucks   screenwriters   directors   and cool trailers   men in black is not the best movie of the summer    it s pretty good in it s own right   yes   but i would probably split the   best movie   honors among face/off   spawn   con air   and maybe event horizon    it s main problem is that it s quickly forgettable   and i can t remember one truly good scene from it    from con air   it was the scene out in the desert when they were digging the plane out from the dirt    in spawn   it was the   living room hell   conclusion at the end    in event horizon   it was the video of the event horizon crew being taken over by hell s forces    and all of face/off was pretty dang good    but as for men in black   the only scene i still recall is when will smith is squishing all those giant roaches    i remember it not for it s humor but because i am hate roaches with a passion and was pretty disgusted    and yes   i did see mimic   which is something i ll touch on in a later review    back to men in black   is it just me   or does that sound funny      i remember first hearing about men in black back when i was a comic geek in the 7th grade and read magazines like wizard   etc     for those of you who aren t comic geeks   wizard is basically to comics what car and driver is to cars   what the new yorker is to high society   what boy s life is to boy scots    okay   that one was pretty pathetic      few people know this   but men in black is based on a very obscure comic book that was   while not honest politician rare   very hard to find    this was after the release of the high grossing batman forever   and it said that tommy lee jones and chris o donnell were being considered for the roles   in the comic book   there were no black men in black    kind of weird   huh      all i can say is   thank god they didn t cast chris o donnell    i know i can t be the only person on the planet who thinks he s an annoying   preppie little snot        sorry    my apologies to o donnell fans    i actually had a 7th grade teacher who was a big comic collector and was set to buy some of the comics from him   anticipating rather craftily that   if the movie was a big hit   it would drive up the price of the comics rather nicely    he decided not to sell them to me   because they were   innappropriate      hmm          so now you re probably wondering why i ve wasted about 5 paragraphs with lame anecdotes from my junior high years    good question    i ll move on to the movie now    as you probably already know   will smith and tommy lee jones   agents k and j   respectively   belong to a top secret agency known as divison 5   or it s nickname mib   men in black      men in black is a reference to the black suits and sunglasses the agents wear   and they re mission is to investigate reports of alien landings and keep the aliens under control while they re here on earth    not to get too technical or spoil the plot for the 6 people in the world who haven t seen this movie   but a basically big roach type bug lands in a redneck farmer s yard   inhabits his body   and attempts to destroy the entire universe    not bad   eh     i have no idea why i just typed that    i m not even really paying attention anymore      the special effects are good yet dissapointing in men in black    i found their main headquarters to be boring   as were the   cool weapons   they had    the noisy cricket just plain sucked   no matter what anyone said    and the movie definitely surprised me in tone   although it probably shoudln t have    it s director   barry sonnenfield   is known for   black humor     directing both addams family movies    this movie was basically a   black comedy     not an action/sci fi like i expected from the trailers    don t get me wrong on what i think of this movie    it s not bad   i gave it * * *    it was mostly entertaining throughout it s run   and had a very good ending   although i think i was the only person in the theater not amazed by it    my diagnosis for this picture   a good weekend rental   but not worth a movie ticket    of course   the movie is now long gone from theaters   but that s beside the point    i think    
Pos, susan granger s review of   osmosis jones     warner bros      if the farrelly brothers taught anatomy & physiology in school   no one would cut ever class    this hip   live action/animation story begins as a monkey snatches a hard boiled egg from frank   a zookeeper   bill murray     who grabs it back   drops it   then gobbles up the contaminated morsel   explaining     if it hits and ground and you pick it up within 10 seconds   you can eat it      like   fantastic voyage     1966     the pseudo science animation then takes over when his body s immune system contacts traffic control as an ingested virus hits the digestive system     be on the alert for illegal organisms !    eager to right   a stomach evacuation mistake   he once made   a cocky   clever   courageous white blood cell   chris rock   declares     this is a crime scene !    and teams up with a conscientious   phi beta capsule   12 hour cold remedy called drixenol   david hyde pierce   to chase down and destroy the deadly   red death   virus   laurence fishburne   that s determined to take frank down in 48 hours   beating ebola and e   coli to a medical record    watch out for mucus mudslides   chaos in cerebellum hall and the detritus from booger dam   runny nose     along with comic turns from molly shannon and chris elliot   plus the voices of william shatner and brandy norwood    peter and bobby farrelly   along with writer mark hyman and animation directors piet kroon and tom sito   have turned their penchant for gross out comedy   encompassing flatulence   festering sores and   popping a pimple without a permit     into a funny   farrelly funny family film    on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10     osmosis jones   is a wildly imaginative   original   explosive 7    and perhaps   as they re laughing   kids will learn where to find their uvula   along with nuggets about nutrition and hygiene    
Pos, i must say from the outset that i have never been much of a kurt russell fan    i ve seen some of his films   silkwood   backdraft   unlawful entry   and while he gave adequate performances   i have never been impressed with his work    breakdown   then   is something of a surprise    russell gives a fine performance   as do most of the cast   one that is not upstaged by the action orchestrated in the second half of the film    to say that he holds the film together would not be completely true   but he does it no harm    russell plays jeff   one half of a married couple travelling with his wife amy   kathleen quinlan   cross country to san diego to start a new job and a new life    while journeying through the desert their car breaks down and   left helpless and stranded   jeff waves down a passing truck driver   j   t    walsh   who offers to take them to a nearby diner to call for a tow truck    because of a nasty incident earlier with a couple of ruffians   jeff decides to stay with the car while amy gets help    that   it seems   is the last time jeff   or anyone else   sees her    breakdown has been compared to several movies   george sluizer s the vanishing   the original   hopefully   not his appalling hollywood remake     steven spielberg s duel and any number of hitchcock films    as with these   breakdown does not   for the most part   stray down the conventional path of the american action thriller    jeff does not become a gun toting vigilante on the hunt for his wife   but instead becomes a scared   confused everyman who has no idea what the hell is going on    when we do find out what has happened to amy   it does come as a slight disappointment   if only because it s too early in the film   i for one could have done with an extra twenty minutes or so of mystery and bewilderment   but this affects the film little    russell   as mentioned earlier   is very good in his role   and kathleen quinlan is nowhere near as annoying as she was in apollo 13    j   t    walsh   as the possibly evil truck driver   is terrific   he is one of the best of the fine batch of character actors hollywood doesn t seem to know what to do with   but director jonathan mostow is on the right track here    the reason he makes such a great villain is that he actually looks like a real person   one anyone would be able to trust   which makes the plot that much more believable    breakdown is what hollywood doesn t make enough of   a great thriller with believable characters and scenes that do   indeed   have viewers on the edge of their seats    one of the most genuinely exciting films i ve seen in a long time    
Pos, with the success of the surprise hit alien   directed by ridley scott   a sequel was inevitable    in fact   after watching the first film   a sequel was wanted   particularly by this reviewer    handing over the director s chair to recent box office gem james cameron   who had only made two films previous to this one   pirahna ii   a surprisingly dull film   and terminator   making cameron a household name     the alien series got a face lift of immense proportions    instead of being a suspense/science fiction film   cameron alters the series and changing it into an action picture    what results is one of the most terrifying films ever created    a film like aliens comes along only once in a while   and when it does   audiences are usually unprepared for it    i never saw this movie in theaters   but i wish i could have    the terror and fright must have been unimaginable   most likely with audiences members literally shrieking in fear    aliens is an action film unlike any i have ever seen    with a science fiction plot   cameron gives aliens added testosterone   pumping up the action and fire power from the original film    in fact   aliens is one of those few sequels which tops the original    perhaps what makes the alien series so impressive is the hero  or heroine   as the case may be    never have we had a more sympathetic hero in an action film   and never have i seen such an impressive acting job done by the main character    sigourney weaver is possibly the only actress who could play this character and make her realistic enough for us to care about    placing a woman in these situations would sometimes seem unusual   but because of weaver s presence   a woman is the only suitable hero    aliens begins 57 years after alien ended    lieutenant ellen ripley   weaver   is discovered in hypersleep on the nostromo and is awakened    she explains how she is the only survivor of her past encounter with the aliens   but   the company   is doubtful    they explain that a colony of families is flourishing on the same planet from which she just left    despite stern warnings from ripley   the company remains rigid and won t call the families back    however   when the company loses contact with the colony   ripley s story seems much more feasible    one of the company s directors   carter burke   paul reiser     wants to gather a team to travel to the planet    this team includes a buff private vasquez   jenette goldstein     a questionable corporal hicks   michael biehn     and a loyal android bishop   lance henriksen      burke tags along with ripley as they fly to the planet in order to locate the members of the colony    arriving on the planet   the team finds most of the human life extinguished in a cocoon type environment    the only survivor is 12 year old rebecca   newt   jorden   carrie henn      ripley finds this a chance to be the mother she never had the opportunity to become   and she becomes newt s surrogate mother    ripley and newt are the only ones who knows what has happened   and soon   all hell breaks loose    aliens not only multiplies the thrills and suspense from scott s version   it also multiplies the number of aliens in general    alien focused on one alien in particular which systematically killed each crew member   except ripley   who managed to jettison the alien out of the nostromo    aliens focuses on an entire race of these aliens   and as a result   the chills are incredibly heightened    then again   this is james cameron   the guy who has given us true lies and terminator 2   judgment day    he is the best action director out there   topping renny harlin   who directed cliffhanger     and only he could create something as terrifying as this film    it seems that every alien film seems to have some memorable scene or scenes   and aliens has the motherload    with perhaps one of the most astonishing endings ever created for an action film   aliens climax never seems to hit until the viewer is nearly pushed to extreme exhaustion    i can t recall another film ever to sustain this level of intensity throughout   never dropping for a moment    just when you think the movie is over   something else will occur   and it starts right back up again    with a seemingly endless conclusion   aliens ends with one of the greatest moments in film history    this scene is usually the one remembered most from the film   as lieutenant ripley steps into one of the lifting machines to fight the alien queen    using flawless special effects   the climax is exhausting   leaving any audience member drained from extreme anxiety    of course   for a film of this genre to work properly   the technical aspects must be realistic enough for us to believe what we see    aliens is completely realistic   even a decade after its initial release    the special effects are wonderfully seamless   with a terrifying alien to go with them    one of the most overlooked aspects of this film is the music   composed by cameron regular james horner    horner has created a terrific score   receiving an oscar nomination for his work    not only that   horner has also created one of the best scores for any action film   or science fiction film ever   and that includes 2001   a space odyssey   which was mainly a compilation of well known composers      in fact   the climax music is also some of the most recognized of film music    the production design is incredible   which also happened to snag a nomination from the academy    dark corridors lit by red lights are very impressive   but more impressive is the amount of terror which arises from well lit locations    normally a film will be very dark in order to scare a viewer   aliens uses lights to scare the viewer    then   of course   is the cinematography   which uses point of view shots   along with video feeds in order to build suspense    some of the scariest scenes involve the perspective of ripley    surprisingly   the acting is not only above average for this genre   but some of the best    sigourney weaver received an oscar nomination for her portrayal of ripley   incorporating the right amount of sympathy into her hard edged persona    weaver soars above the rest in this film   but she is supposed to    carrie henn gives an above average performance for a child   developing a three dimensional character from her quiet attitude    lance henriksen is terrific as bishop   showing that androids don t always have to be flat characters    jenette goldstein shows a fair amount of enthusiasm with her role   and steals several scenes of her own   though her personality becomes slightly annoying when she isn t fighting      michael biehn gives a very nice performance in the most obligatory role of the film    however   biehn does a good job   making it seem original again    paul reiser may seem like an odd choice to play the sleazy corporate director   but reiser manages to pull it off quite well   however   i still see him as paul on tv s   mad about you        a very good cast   which also includes bill paxton and william hope   highlights this action film   making it stand out from others    aliens is rightfully rated r for violence   gore   language   and terror    aliens is sort of the redefining moment of the science fiction genre   as alien was more of a suspense/horror film    aliens pumps up the stakes   and cameron directs it with professional quality    cameron certainly knows how to make a good action film   but here he proves how he can create some truly horrific moments on screen    technically astonishing   aliens  only flaw is small characters who are only there to get killed    aside from this   you probably won t experience anything like aliens for quite a while    
Pos, ingredients   neophyte lawyer   legal situations   corrupt insurance company    synopsis   rudy baylor   matt damon   is an ethical kid fresh out of law school who must juggle three legal situations at the same time    rudy s girlfriend is attacked by her violent husband   rudy s elderly landlady wants to arrange her will so that her children are excluded   and   the family of rudy s friend with leukemia is suing the corrupt insurance company that wouldn t pay for a bone marrow transplant    rudy is new to being a lawyer and is thoroughly outgunned   but luckily he is aided by a sleazy ambulance chaser   danny devito   who has failed the bar exam six times as well as by the kindly presiding judge   danny glover      jon voight plays leo f   drummond   the intimidating and arrogant leader of the all powerful insurance company s team of lawyers who will do anything to oppose justice    will rudy defeat leo    will he enjoy being a lawyer    opinion   the good news is that this movie has a happy ending   and it features a guy trying to do the right thing    director francis ford coppola does this film a little differently than the stereotypical law movie    in the typical lawyer movie there s one big case and the movie focuses on solving it   and somewhere along the line surprise witnesses and motives turn up before the good guy wins   after lots of gripping courtroom drama      however   coppola s movie is deliberately more low key     the rainmaker  plays out like a personality sketch of young rudy as he gets emotionally involved with and tries to save various little quirky side characters    in the background rudy s voice narrates his feelings and makes half cynical jokes about the legal profession in general    two factors combine to make this movie less heavy than it can be    first   rudy s time is split juggling three cases   rather than concentrating on a single high stakes case    also   rudy s use of voice narration in place of acting makes the film lose some of its dramatic edge    the end result is an entertaining low key law movie where the good guys win   and rudy narrates his way into coming of age    
Pos, in one of my many videos i have attained from the local library   casablanca was my third classic in some weeks    the others being citizen kane and vertigo   yes   i am trying to see as many of afi s greatest movies ever made as i can      but   casablanca stood out from the rest for me   it was actually watchable    what most hail as the greatest american film ever   casablanca isn t so much a love story as a political frenzy with a love triangle thrown in    it seems that star humphry bogart spend about 85 percent of the movie with various leaders of the nation instead of with ingred bergman    that annoyed me   as did the ending    why didn t the plan turn around   !    surprisingly   i enjoyed the film    i liked bogart s character and his acting   not over the top as most actors in his era      i once read about if you had a choice to be in a movie   which one would it be   and a women said casablanca    at first i was thinking to myself   why      then   as i watched the film again   i understood why    the movie is very well done and the script top notch   although i doubt i understood more than half of the political mumbo jumbo    casablanca is   in my mind   no classic   like solaris     but it is a good film and stylishly shot    hey   hollywood   how about this   a remake with harrison ford and anne heche    now that would be a classic    
Pos, capsule   suprisingly more of a comedy than a straight action flick   which isn t necessarily a bad thing    not exactly oscar caliber   but one helluva bullet riddled good time    extended review   you know   i remember when hitmen were evil   murderous scum    alas   the times are a changin     in a recent string of movies   hitmen are suddenly wise  cracking   fun loving killers with hearts    this brings us to hong kong director kirk wong s first american feature   the big hit    oddly enough   about the same time last year a similar film   grosse point blank   was released    advertised as a quirky comedy with hints of action   it turned out to have a suprising dosage of it    the big hit is quite the opposite    it was hyped as   the new film from producer john woo     so one would it expect lots of stylized killing and action    however   there s a sore lack of it   which is about the only thing wrong with the big hit    the film starts out with mel smiley and his cohorts doing a job on a white slaver    mel   played by mark wahlberg in a dopey   milquetoast role   is a killing machine   he flips   spins   even breakdances whilst popping caps    sadly   he doesn t get a chance to do much of it    except for the beginning set piece and the last 20 twenty minutes or so   the film is in comedy mode    the action   at least what there is of it   is prime cut stuff    wong   after numerous hong kong features   makes quite a nice u   s   debut    however   his pacing is a bit off   with the action sequences only bookending the movie and not lasting long enough    they start off electrifying and fresh   but just kinda stop    normally   this would hamper a movie to the point of being unenjoyable    luckily   we have ben ramsey s screenplay   a bitingly funny piece of work    the only problem is there might be too much humor   one joke makes you laugh so hard you miss the next few    some of best gags include an oriental film maker down on his luck and one of mel s hitmen pals that has just discovered onanism    the only problem is how some of the minor characters are handled   some being there only for a laugh   which sometimes works   sometimes doesn t    overall   the big hit may have it s flaws   but it makes up for them in a stylishly directed   gut wrenchingly funny joyride    definately one of the better ways to spend two hours    
Pos,    when will the devil take me     he asks rhetorically in lulling voice over    the spoiled title character of  onegin    pronounced oh negg in   is waiting on death to relieve him after a lifetime of rapacious behaviour    martha fiennes  debut feature is   quite literally   filmed poetry   it s based on an epic russian poem by alexander pushkin     a profound study of regret   of how we confuse shame with guilt    when we first meet eugene onegin   ralph   acting for his sister   another brother   magnus   composed the score     a philandering aristocrat from st   petersburg   he has just inherited his uncle s estate    with plans to sell it   onegin pays a summer visit to the manor   which is located in an underpopulated russian countryside   and not long into the trip he meets a neighbouring family of blue bloods    smitten with olga larina   headey     he befriends olga s fianc     vladimir lensky   stephens     while olga s sister   tatyana   tyler     romanticizing his flippant attitude   he s a nineteenth bad boy     falls for onegin    in one sweaty   inky torrent of passion   tatyana writes him a love letter    he is at least intrigued by the note but rejects her affections   it is implied   because he can    soon after   tragedy strikes   and onegin makes himself scarce    when we catch up with him   six years later   he has just returned to st   petersburg   where at a grand ball he discovers that an old friend   donovan   has married a more womanly and wordly tatyana    this time   onegin finds her irresistable    what is most amazing about ralph fiennes  performance is his subtle physical transformation from dashing snob to miserly grouch    overwhelmed by a top hat   the onegin who pines for tatyana seems smaller in stature than the one who brushed her off   an ebeneezer scrooge trapped in christmas past    the actor has been constricted playing heroes for too long now there s room to breathe in a role that s made up of shades of gray like   onegin      petula clark sang of a universal phenomenon in   parking lot       you don t know what you ve got   til it s gone      onegin s about face on tatyana speaks for those of us   read   most of us   who need confirmation that someone or something is wanted by others before we want it as well    what the character feels is not jealousy but remorse   embarrassment   even   at having let her go    out of identification we feel empathy for onegin   a callous bastard    tatyana s emotions echo a thousand ditties   but that makes them no less vital    she changes   too   from a girl in crush to a woman with divided loyalties    tyler acquits herself surprisingly well among her uk co stars   filling in sketchy gaps by expressing base sentiments in a series of wanton stares    they both have faces   mr   fiennes and ms   tyler   capable of conveying archetypal russian misery     onegin  could have added up to little more than a distinguished episode of   masterpiece theater     even with its current cast of thoroughbreds intact   were martha fiennes not at the helm    an mtv background   she cut her teeth directing rock videos for xtc and others   has positively influenced her sense of pace   though   thankfully   not her shot lengths no spasmodic cutting here     at just over 100 minutes    onegin  clicks along like a brisk walk through valleys of despair    the film has an atypical period look   as well    absent are the sumptuous tableware and antique furnishings that stand in for plot and character in those drippy merchant ivory productions    the sets are almost expressionistically bare   echoing the loneliness of the protagonists       cinematographer remi adafarasin often allows space to engulf them   i m reminded the climax   which unfolds in a sea of white      martha fiennes has a clear command of cinema   and her spare   often painfully human visual presentation of   yevgeny onegin   is arguably the most lucid translation of pushkin s difficult text yet    ms   fiennes may be the most exciting female presence behind a camera since jane campion    
Pos, bruce barth s mellow piano plays in the background as conflict erupts in a little country town of florida    ulee s gold feels like another fonda creation  on golden pond   it has a soft   calm surface with a tempest brewing underneath   the cinematography creates a place of gold   yellow   and olive colors   the music is stirring and tranquil    both deal with the hardships of family life    peter fonda gives his undoubtedly best performance in victor nu   ez s new film and patricia richardson   home improvement star   shows she is worthy of big screen attention    nu   ez is probably independent film s greatest asset   along with john sayles   and he proves his talent with a slow pace and undulating   heavy tension    peter fonda s performance borrows from his father henry fonda s in on golden pond  there is a great vulnerability that he gives the character ulee jackson and just like his father   peter fonda is quiet   emotional   and weary in this exceptional role    ulee jackson   the film s protagonist   is struggling    pressure is mounting at the wrong time    he is a beekeeper and this is his   busy   season    he has to deal with his two granddaughters  needs and erupting hormones   he is forced to pick up his daughter in law in orlando who is strung out on drugs and take care of her   and he is faced with a challenging task   unsettled business his son   who is now in prison   has left behind    he finds his daughter in law   helen   with the two men his son robbed a bank with    she has apparently told these two men that the money that resulted from the robbery is with her husband    that is why he got caught  the police found him with the money    now the two men are demanding they get the cash   or they will come after ulee s two granddaughters    ulee promises he will bring it to them and takes a deranged helen back to his serene little home where her two children that she abandoned scrutinize her with contempt    ulee is a man who lost his pals in war  he was the only man in his platoon to survive    he refuses help from anybody and does not respond to affectionate gestures    he is a bitter   closed off man whose only passion is his beekeeping   his granddaughters   and his dead wife    connie   his next door neighbor   finally gets through to him with friendly favors    she is a nurse and helps helen get through her turmoil with drugs    ulee s gold is the story of a man who believes he is fine as he is  until the truth is revealed painfully to him   he is cold and unfeeling    of course   in the end   ulee softens up   but his journey is absorbing and we have fallen in love with his tiredness and weariness    what is admirable about the movie is peter fonda s winning turn as ulee and the story that feels like nobody s fool but   in the end   ends up in a class of its own    
Pos, susan granger s review of   big eden     jour de fete    it s utopia   this tiny town tucked away in the timberland of northwestern montana   where old codgers lounge on the porch of the general store to pass the time away and the local matchmakers   nan martin   louise fletcher   eagerly pair off the young people   regardless of sexual preference    there s nary a homophobe or bigot around   much to the surprise of henry hart   arye gross     a successful but lonely manhattan artist who returns home to care for sam   george coe     the ailing grandfather who raised him    and with the simultaneous re appearance of his best friend from high school and object of his unrequited love   tim dekay     now divorced with two young sons   the fact of his homosexuality must be faced    to complete the triangle   there s the tall   taciturn native american   eric schweig   who owns the general store and lovingly yet secretly prepares gourmet meals for henry and sam    this fable about home and family is a major debut for first time film maker thomas bezucha   a former designer for coach and polo/ralph lauren   who is meticulous about minding details   using ballads like   welcome to my world   and   achin    breakin  heart   to set up the concept of our universal longing to find a place in which we can love and be loved    in the paradise of big eden   what you are doesn t matter as much as generosity of spirit   respect and kindness    sure   the plot s implausible but it s a good natured fantasy so allowances should be made    and rob sweeney s photography of glacier national park is spectacular !  on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10     big eden   is a charming   quirky   off beat 7    it s a heart warming romantic comedy about a gay man who doesn t die of aids or wind up alone at the end    
Pos, when you go to the movies as much as i do   you unfortunately end up seeing certain movie trailers one too many times    such was the case with frequency    every time i went to a screening   there was the frequency preview    it looked awful    it looked cheesy   sappy and ridiculous    it looked like a flop    well   whoever put that trailer together should be fired   because in terms of pure entertainment   frequency is one of the best of the year thus far    frequency boasts a compelling story line    an occurrence of freakish solar activity allows police detective john sullivan   james caviezel   to speak to his fireman father frank sullivan   dennis quaid   through a ham radio   despite the fact that frank has been dead for 30 years    john is able to give his father information that prevents his death in a warehouse fire   but by doing so causes other changes    somehow   a serial killer s reign of terror   which in the original timeline had been stopped at three murders   extends to ten victims        including john s mother    this is director gregory hoblit s third film   the other two being primal fear and fallen      with all three   he s managed to attach himself to great scripts   this one by toby emmerich   whose only previous movie experience was as a music supervisor on numerous new line films   and add equally great direction    also   he apparently likes to have his films wrap up with a kick ass ending    frequency is no exception   the ending is unpredictable and incredibly satisfying    hoblit is three for three   and i hope he can keep it up    now everyone can argue logic this and logic that all you want with the sci fi elements of frequency    but the fact of the matter is that time travel has never been achieved    who s to say how something works and how it doesn t when it s never happened    is it because we ve become accustomed to time travel   laws   from other places like   star trek   and the back to the future trilogy and   quantum leap      yes   if you sit down and think about it   certain plot elements in this film probably won t make any sense    most films are like that    don t let that dissuade you from seeing this fantastically entertaining film however    when frequency was over   it made me wish i had seen it with my father so i could have given him a hug   okay okay   shut up      when you break it down past all its sci fi elements and serial killer antics   frequency is simply a movie about a father and his son and the bond that they share    it s touching   it s sincere   and it s what ultimately makes this movie work    [pg 13]  
Pos, it must be tough to be a mob boss    just ask paul vitti   robert deniro     a man who finds his job as mafia head to be rather stress inducing    i can believe it   too   one can t even begin to fathom the turmoil he must go through when he s forced to choose between an ice pick   baseball bat or sledgehammer to torture victims with    suffering from reoccurring panic attacks   paul decides he needs to consult some professional help    and who better than billy crystal    after appearing in bottom of the barrel flops   father s day and my giant   crystal finally finds a reliable costar and some very promising material here    playing vitti s private shrink   the two very different stars strike an unorthodox   but interesting relationship that carries this enjoyable comedy on a steady wave of laughs from start to finish    casting robert deniro as paul vitti is something of an in joke   i think    placed in this mobster s shoes   deniro gets to spoof characters he himself played in films like the godfather   part ii and casino    it s obvious he s having a lot of fun doing so    the man behind the camera is harold ramis   whose credits include ghostbusters   as writer and star     and his best directing effort   the bill murray vehicle   groundhog day    ramis has a knack for drawing laughs because he simply knows what s funny   and here he manages to accentuate the strengths of nearly all the actors    the only character who weakens the payoff is crystal s bride to be   lisa kudrow      playing the same dumbed down role as she does in friends   kudrow is amusing   but doesn t fit into this comedy mold as well as the director may have hoped    the supporting cast sparkles    joe viterelli is hilarious as jelly   vitti s pea brained right hand man   and chazz palminteri is a show stopper playing a fellow mobster who s in desperate need of the definition of `closure     the movie manages to maintain consistent chuckles throughout   putting the emphasis on 3 or 4 really big laughs that will have audiences grasping their sides    the situation is just too cute to resist    it s unfortunate that the language gets somewhat out of hand    but hey   if you re in the mafia   using obscenities probably comes naturally    and near the end   seeing billy crystal attempt to walk and talk like a mob boss is truly a special treat    
Pos, the caveman s valentine starring samuel l   jackson   ann magnuson   aunjanue ellis   tamara tunie screenplay by george dawes green   based on his novel directed by kasi lemmons   * * * for more film   dvd and books about movie reviews   plus annual coverage of the toronto international film festival   visit  film freak central    http   //filmfreakcentral   net  | now with search engine * * *  a strange mixture of  shine     basquiat     angel heart    and grant morrison & dave mckean s graphic novel   arkham asylum      the caveman s valentine  is a feverish tale of a homeless madman cum detective who   on the morning of february 14th   discovers a   valentine   just outside his new york cave   one of ella fitzgerald s strange fruit   stuck in the crotch of a tree  a young male model murdered and frozen to a branch    believing at first that his imagined nemesis stuyvesant   shooting evil rays into his mind from atop the chrysler building   is responsible for the murder   romulus   samuel l   jackson   is put on the trail of an avant garde photographer in the mapplethorpe mould   david leppenraub   colm feore      his minor sleuthing interrupted by the occasional delusional fit and bouts with an ecstasy of creation   romulus was a brilliant julliard trained pianist prior to his psychosis     romulus uncovers clues and harasses suspects on his way to convincing his police woman daughter   aunjanue ellis   that even though he s a nut   that doesn t mean that he can t solve a high profile society murder    every moment an exhausting workshop of ideas   and every character the same    the caveman s valentine  is a concept so   high concept   that it suddenly became clear to me that the film fits into the comic book genre of entertainment   with romulus s   caveman   a slightly more mundane version of todd mcfarlane s urban noir hero   spawn    with a long vanished wife   tamara tunie   acting as a spiritual guide   the occasional social caste commentary   the secret base in a cave   a divergent genius personality with a network of informants and supporters   and a wickedly colourful arch enemy   the film piles on the lurid comic book details and dizzying slapdash colours to such a lavish extent that i was vaguely surprised that the blue police cars weren t inscribed with   gotham pd      that being said    the caveman s valentine  can only really succeed as a heroic fantasy   a frank miller graphic novel that has the audacity to portray the blood staining a field of virgin snow expanding to form the shape of a heart    the difficulties with the film spring from the misunderstanding that it somehow adheres to the conventions of a thriller or a police procedural when   in fact    the caveman s valentine  is a superhero fable that takes on the cause of the homeless   again like mcfarlane s spawn   while attacking the entrenched ruling classes in government and the arts    it is no small detail that our hero   romulus   is not only named for a member of the ruling class who lived his life   in legend   without knowledge of his royal birth   but also that our romulus has turned his back on the comforts of the literati in favour of a mystical existence living in a cave in a park   in the romulus mythology   signs of romulus  royal blood is brought by twelve vultures   while in the film   the call to action for our hero comes in the form of not the carrion birds   but of the carrion itself    whether or not romulus of  the caveman s valentine  will found a nation   or   in the case of novelist george dawes green   upon whose novel his own screenplay is based   a franchise   the fact remains that  the caveman s valentine  is easily the most misunderstood film of 2001 thus far    it   along with m   night shyamalan s  unbreakable    is a mature cinematic extrapolation of the graphic novel format which has   since miller s seminal   the dark knight returns     redefined the comic medium as one suitable for mature ruminations on psychologically sticky topics    readers of sam keith s brilliant   the maxx   comic series   or of mtv s short lived animated adaptation of the same   are already familiar with the idea of a homeless man placed in the position of knight errant and king of his own twisted demesne    the failure of both   the maxx   tv show and of  the caveman s valentine    not forgetting the initial backlash against  unbreakable    suggests that the public may not be ready for america s surprising contributions to dark fantasy    luxuriantly lit   brashly saturated   and comic panel framed with a virtuoso grace by cinematographer amy vincent    death in venice   ca      while inhabiting robin standefer s    practical magic    mesmerizing sets    the caveman s valentine  is an unremittingly gorgeous film    kasi lemmons   following up her brilliant 1997 debut    eve s bayou    which played on similar themes of manufactured realities and mysticism   fulfills much of her immense promise with a tale of seraphs and lost boys   artists and suffering     the caveman s valentine  is an elegant and piquant expression of hope for justice in a tilted landscape    clearly not for every taste   when approached with the correct paradigm   it is one of the most stunning and intensely fascinating films of the year   a redefinition of the hero archetype for a post modern audience with urine stained wool trench coats in place of blue tights and red capes     the caveman s valentine  is a fine and a courageous film   crazy enough to suggest that the delirious yammering of an idiot savant is the best and truest paladin of order in the chaos of eliot s rat s alley wasteland    
Pos, expand the final fifteen minutes of home alone into a feature length film and you ve got baby s day out  an agreeably amusing children s comedy about a bumbling band of kid kidnappers who are unwittingly outwitted by an innocent infant    the plot tracks a trio of crooks posed as photographers   mantegna   pantoliano   haley   who steal nine month old bennington august cottwell iv   aka baby bink   from his old money home    but the plan goes awry when baby crawls out an open window and into the streets of downtown chicago !  following the path of his favorite story   called   baby s day out     baby rides a bus and visits the zoo and winds up at a skyscraper construction site    while baby stays unscathed   the crooks fare worse for the wear    the stooges get hit by boards and dropped from roofs and   of course   suffer multiple crotch injuries       john wayne bobbitt should probably steer clear of this one      like he did in planes   trains   and automobiles   john hughes again demonstrates his mastery of the simple set up and extended execution    here   he s aided and abetted by a director   patrick read johnson   whose choreography could rival a coen brother    best bit   baby crawling across a busy city street    baby s day out has only two emotions  awww and ouch  and the actors play them accordingly    forget the cartoon concern of lara flynn boyle or cynthia nixon   disposable as mom and nanny   respectively   the ones to watch are the ones who are wincing    joe mantegna is a great head stooge   barking lines like   that little doo doo machine is my retirement money      brian haley has a great scene with a gorilla   while joe pantolianto plays curly to mantegna s moe     * he * is funny    needless to say   twins adam and jacob warton are adorable beyond belief    
Pos, waiting at the train station near the beginning of fury   joe says   `after all   we re human      in the context of events to transpire   joe s line is prophetic   foreshadowing the internal conflict of the protagonist in the latter half of the film    does being human necessarily imply humane behavior    through the baseness of human character exemplified in the formation of a mob   fritz lang prompts the viewer to consider whether our inclination towards impulsiveness supersedes our civility    expressing his abhorrence towards the rise of nazism in his homeland   lang takes great care in creating a sense of discomfort during the scenes of mob hysteria    in the scene prefacing the lynching   the mob achieves critical mass at the bar    deputy meyers is brought in as an exalted informant   but when he is unable to augment the mob s myth of joe   he is quickly renounced from his position as town gossip    we see in a shot where two bar patrons are arguing that the deputy looks around nervously at the growing monster and then carefully slips out of the bar    what is quietly horrifying is the realization by both the audience and the deputy that the crowd no longer exists within the confines of reason and has succumbed to what the barber referred to as impulse    what once was excitement to the deputy has turned into fear with the realization that he is now powerless    to the audience   the deputy s quiet exit concurs with their own sinking feeling of uneasiness as the mob s delirium crescendos    lang educes this discomfort not through movement of the camera   but rather its stillness    the shot s composition places the audience equidistant and directly across from the pair of arguing patrons and the deputy effectively becomes a mirror to our own apprehensions    as the intensity of the mob closes around deputy meyers   it does so around the viewer as well    the stationary camera in this shot heightens our fears because when the deputy escapes   we are deserted by our reflection and the viewer becomes the sole proprietor of sensibility amongst a swarm of irrationality    because the camera does not track the deputy s movement   we are left with an amplified perception of desertion and vulnerability    as the bar scene progresses   the camera pans 180 degrees to reveal the fury of the mob    this shot is unique because it is a point of view shot where the audience   not a character in the film is the subject    while a long   or dolly shot may objectively reveal the size of the mob   panning from the mob s belly distorts the audience s spatial reference and exaggerates the claustrophobia of the scene   we feel we are at the epicenter of something infinitely large    we see close shots of people s faces   contorted by their rage    with the pivot of the pan being in the center of the mob and angry members within a short radius of the pan   lang offers the viewer a sense of what it feels like to be the subject of a lynching    in this shot the audience is at the mercy of the mob   lang s camera makes us feel vulnerable and powerless as joe must have felt in the jail    in some greater sense   it must have been what lang felt when he saw his countrymen overcome with unjustifiable hatred towards their own humankind    lang s observations of his fellow man succumbing to mob behavior left him with an indelible image of malevolent human behavior    as joe faces his peril   trapped in his burning cell   his dog rainbow rushes to be by his side    lang makes rainbow a martyr to contrast his humanity against the recklessness of his human counterparts    using his camera to create shots that elicit disturbing images of mob mentality   lang depicts man s volatility and `impulse  towards inconceivable cruelty    reprising joe  s line at the train station   we are induced to question why our primeval impulses so easily transcend our humanity    
Pos, because the press screening of   planet of the apes   was one day past last issue s deadline   i was afforded the opportunity to see the film a second time   listen to audience reactions and read a heap of reviews before writing this piece    the chief complaints of those who disliked the futuristic adventure appear to be that the movie focused on visuals instead of substance   that the story was thin   that mark wahlberg s character was colorless and that the surprise ending sucked    to those people i would like to say   what the hell did you expect    this is a tim burton movie   boys and girls    tim burton movies have great art direction and thin   clunky stories    for the blissfully nasty   disjointed and underrated   mars attacks !       jonathan rosenbaum of the chicago reader and i were two of the only critics in america to praise the movie   burton reportedly tossed vintage   mars attacks !    trading cards onto the floor and based his story on the ones that landed face up    burton s re imagining of the 1968 story of an astronaut that lands on a planet where apes rule men looks great    the apes   courtesy of make up magician rick baker   are dazzling and ape city is a wonder to behold    like astronaut leo davidson   wahlberg     the film hits the ground running   whisking viewers through a head spinning series of solid one liners and engaging vignettes and establishing a sense of thrust that carries us through the more traditional fight scenes that come later    as for wahlberg   consider what burton does with his character    from his start as a filmmaker   burton has shown his fascination with colorful misfits   pee wee herman   the joker   ed wood   the ack acking martians   etc     and lack of interest in standard issue heroes    so leo davidson spends most of the movie getting the living shit kicked out of him before the biggest guilt trip in history is dropped on his shoulders    as for lack of color   remember   leo only launches into space to get his monkey back    he doesn t want to lead humanity and he isn t looking for romance from a pretty   but dull human   estella warren   or a dynamic ape   helena bonham carter   terrific as an equal rights activist      as a man who just wants out   wahlberg is focused   subtle and sly    the surprise ending provides the requisite shock   and some more dandy visuals   particularly of the approaching authority figures     but admittedly isn t nearly as satisfying as the one in the original    for the original ending to work   we only had to make one simple connection   for this one   we have to write a whole new screenplay    the 1968   apes   boasted a handful of great scenes   cool looking monkeys   a deliciously hammy performance by charlton heston   who appears uncredited here as an aged chimp on his deathbed   re delivering a classic line   and a killer ending    but viewers had to suffer through numerous dull stretches punctuated by social and political messages delivered with the grace of a wrecking ball    the 2001   planet of the apes   offers a different set of great scenes   much cooler looking monkeys   fine acting from wahlberg   bonham carter   paul giamatti and tim roth   and a not so good ending    it also gives us another chance to experience the skewed vision of tim burton and that s nothing to complain about    
Pos, in 1977   something never though possible happened    the film star wars was released   with extraordinary   never seen before techniques of special effects    the film set a new standard for special effects in film    not only did it set a standard for the special effects   it set a standard for film itself    the plot is one of the most creative i heard ever    the legend of star wars starts long ago with the jedi    the jedi were warriors who were wiped out by the dark side    darth vader is the leader of the dark side    ben obi wan kenobi   played by sir alec guinness   was one of those jedi who is still alive today    darth vader was once a jedi   until he turned to the dark side    years after the killing of the jedi   darth vader is still around causing trouble    r2 d2 and c 3p0 are both what we call   driods     or robots that are of assistance to humans    while an attack on the ship that princess leia   played by carrie fisher   is aboard   she inserts a message to r2 d2   who is also on the ship    to obi wan kenobi pleading for help    the princess is captured by vader   but r2 d2 and c 3p0 get away on an escape pod that eventually lands them on the remote planet of tatooine    the jawas   or small creatures who sell droids   pick r2 d2 and c 3p0 up to sell    they are bought by luke skywalker s   mark hamill   family    while luke is cleaning the droids   the message from princess leia is found    luke finds this obi wan kenobi   and learns that obi wan was a friend of luke s father   who is now dead    luke also learns his family was a jedi    after luke s family is killed by tropps from the dark side   ben decides to put luke through training to stop the dark side and destroy them once and for all    ben wants to create a new jedi    first   the two must find princess leia and serve her    han solo   played by harrison ford   and his sidekick chewbacca   played by peter mayhew   are consulted about providing a ship to complete the tasks necessary    after meeting up with leia   the film really picks up    luke continues his training as a pilot and to become a jedi   ben kenobi confronts darth vader   and many other interesting events occur    star wars is an amazing epic    the plot is so original and amazing   i cannot believe it    the special effects   especially for its time   are wonderful and realistic    the space scenes in particular are the most fun to watch    the ships flown by all are very unique and creative    the costumes are also out of this world    the scenery is so different from anything i have ever seen before    there are a variety of different very memorable set pieces that will stay with me forever    the entire premise of star wars is amazing    the creatures and droids that we see throughout the film are one of a kind    even the human characters are different    every character is extremely likable and different from characters from other sci fi films    the acting on everyone s part is great   especially that of sir alec guinness s    even though the concept is not realistic at all   it is pulled off very nicely    the acting   setting   effects   costumes   and sound make it work    if any of these were messed up   star wars would have come off as one huge joke    the ending works very well   and left it very open to the sequels that came afterward    in early 1997   a special edition of star wars was released    the film was re mastered so it looked better than it did in 1977    a few creatures were added here and there   and even an entire deleted scene with han solo and jabba the hutt   seen in return of the jedi   was added to the film    think that s enough    on may 19   1999   star wars episode i   the phantom menace will be released   followed by two more films that will reveal what went on before a new hope    with this   star wars is bound to become the greatest tale told in our time    
Pos, if you want some hearty laughs   then rat race is the movie for you    this unpretentious little comedy   which sneaks into theaters today with very little hype   will have you bouncing in your theater seat    and while the film fits neatly into the low brow   slapstick school of comedy   one refreshing aspect is its lack of mean spiritedness    the plot follows a group of people chosen at random by an eccentric las vegas casino owner   john cleese   who must race from vegas to a bus station locker 700 miles away in silver city   n   m    inside the locker is a duffel bag containing $2 million    the first one to open the locker   gets the bag and the money    what the group of participants doesn t know is that cleese s donald sinclair     i can do anything i want   i m eccentric !     is staging the race as a betting game for a group of high rollers at the hotel    the participants include vera   whoopi goldberg   and merrill   lanai chapman     a newly reunited mother and daughter   disgraced pro football referee owen templeton   cuba gooding jr       italian tourist mr   pollini   rowan atkinson     randy pear   jon lovitz   and his family   the bumbling con men duane and blaine cody   seth green and vince vieluf     and cynical young lawyer nick shaffer   breckin meyer      various amusing encounters and mishaps befall the participants en route to silver city    screenwriter andy breckman adds a nice touch by not having the racers try to sabotage one another    the most side splitting situations involve vera and merrill s encounter with the squirrel lady   a nice nutsy cameo by kathy bates   owen s commandeering a charter bus full of lucille ball look alikes on their way to a lucy convention   the cody brothers misadventures with a hot air balloon   a flying cow and a monster truck   and the pear family s stopover at a barbie museum   which turns out not to be what they think it is    the pear family situation is a fine example of the way breckman s script builds the laughs    without going into detail   this bit segues from the museum to hitler s touring car   to eva braun s dark lipstick   to lovitz burning his tongue   culminating at a ceremony honoring world war ii veterans    rat race s cast is first rate    cleese is wonderfully devilish and madcap   lovitz is   at first   a bit whiny   but his character grows on you   gooding is having a fine romp   and dave thomas almost steals the show as cleese s deadpan assistant   a man   born without a personality      the film is directed by jerry zucker   who knows something about comedy    along with his brother   david   and friend jim abrahams   he was responsible for such hits as airplane !  and ruthless people    a throwaway subplot   which is good for some laughs   features cleese and his buddies   betting on a series of outlandish situations   including one dealing with a hooker and pepto bismol    this is a fun little feature    the only letdown comes at the finale   which is too touchy feely and sweet   almost negating what came before it    rat race is a summer sleeper   but it will keep you awake   as will the laughter of those watching around you    
Pos, i had a chance to see a sneak preview of city slickers ii on campus last night    i went in with the expectation of a film with the similar flavor which made the original such a success   personal growth and insightful humor about life    i came away somewhat disappointed in this regard   getting some of the latter and not much of the former    the basic plot revolves around billy crystal   who plays mitch robbins   turning forty    he s now become the station manager of the radio station in which he worked in the original    he s given a job at the radio station to his best friend   played by daniel stern   out of sympathy while stern s character works through his divorce    his loser younger brother   john lovitz   comes to mitch s house to bum a money and place to live   all while mitch and his wife try to celebrate his birthday    during the celebration   mitch discovers what appears to be a treasure map in curly s   the cattle drive leader in the original played by jack palance   old hat    after a business trip to las vegas   crystal   stern   and lovitz stay a few extra days to go off in search of the treasure    on the way   they run into curly s twin brother   duke   played by   you know who   jack palance    first of all   the cinematography was beautifully done   especially the outdoor scenes in the desert    the scenes are such that i would like to see some of those sights filmed myself    there is some character development during the film    the actors remain true to their characters and play them well   without overplaying the jokes    the movie is a good basic adventure   with enough plot twists to provide for an ending that is difficult to predict    the movie is paced well   but with a couple slow spots in the middle and towards the end    humor wise   the film has a good number of jokes which maintained my interest throughout the film    there are memorable moments like when stern is bitten by a snake   but there are fewer jokes to laugh at in the sequel   surprise   surprise for a sequel   right        however   the slight bitter aftertaste i have with this film has to do mainly with the film s manipulation of the audience    the film tries to pull your heart strings too much regarding how close the characters are to each other   like when mitch had decided to suck the snake marrow out of his best friend s butt    this is done again when the gang meets up with some members of the cattle drive group from the original    there were also some parts which appeared unrealistic   like whether the stampede would start in the way it did or why they didn t worry more about water while tromping around the desert    some strenuous stretches of the imagination are required here    since the objective of the gang is to find gold and get rich   unlike finding themselves in middle age like in the original     i also found it harder to empathize with the characters during their journey    overall   i d say that the film is an entertaining and humorous adventure with some story line deficiencies making it less worthy than the original    it may be worth the full price of admission   but a matinee would be a better bargain    
Pos, the   submarine   genre of movies seems to be one of the most intriguing and compelling types of storytelling there is    think about it        these films are completely based in reality   yet only a handful of people have ever been on one   making them fascinating to the general public    they aren t like movies that take place on a plane or a train   as anybody can get on one of those    and they aren t like movies that happen in outer space either   because no one s done any of that stuff yet    when a new one comes out   you don t hear anyone say   ugh   another submarine movie   like people tend to say   ugh   another boxing movie      look at modern movies that involve submarines   das boot   the abyss   the hunt for red october   crimson tide        all are well regarded as top notch entertainment    gladly joining that bunch is u 571   which stars matthew mcconaughey as the executive officer of a u   s   naval submarine during world war ii    we learn he has been denied a recommendation for his own command by his superior   bill paxton      mcconaughey s crew then receives orders that they will be boarding a disabled german submarine to steal the enigma   a german communications encoding device that has stumped allied intelligence    the mission goes horribly wrong however   and as a result   mcconaughey and only a handful of his crew   as well as a captured german   become trapped aboard the u 571 in enemy waters    the first great thing about u 571 is the film s opening sequence    the german crew of u 571 are under attack   which sets the events of the rest of the film into motion    it s tense   exciting and fascinating    and i applaud the filmmakers for not copping out and instead keeping the entire sequence in german with english subtitles    most movies with a scene this long would have panicked and had the german crew speaking english right away    once the plot gets moving   u 571 gives us action sequence after action sequence   making the audience wonder   ok   now how do they get out of this        the stakes keep raising   much like in executive decision   an excellent action thriller     and even though the audience knows how the film will end   it s a lot of fun getting there    i only have two minor complaints about the entire film    the first comes from the scenes which follow the opening sequence    while their purpose is to introduce us to the characters and to get the story going   which they do     i feel as though it could have been done much quicker   and less conventionally    i mean   did we really have to see the ship s crew at a wedding    because of that   you now know exactly what s going to happen to the groom !  my other gripe would be during the film s finale    there s an explosion which ends the film that is one of the weakest looking cgi effects since the president s plane crashed into the ocean at the end of air force one    i cannot stress this enough        until a cgi effect can be made to look like a model effect   stick with using models    yes   u 571 is historically incorrect and there are surely some specifics in the plot that people who have been onboard a submarine will tell you   that couldn t happen     but the overall point of this film is entertainment    it succeeds fantastically    [pg 13]  
Pos, we share the descent into darkness of a talented boy pianist    years later we see his subsequent resurfacing   in the mid 80 s a damaged man walks out of a rainstorm and back into the world    the movie charts the causes of his mental breakdown    based on the life story of david helfgott   this australian film is a rich exploration of the pressures drilling in upon a child genius   compounded by the looming shadow of a domineering father    in the 1950 s helfgott emerged as a child prodigy    the film traces his relationship with his father   whose encouragement comes at the cost of demanding david have no life beyond that of the black and white keys    david is offered places in the usa   but his father refuses to let him leave australia    the effect this has upon helfgott is cleverly told via a single reverse tracked shot   david is sobbing on the front doorway of his music teacher s house    he is well lit via the external house lights    his teacher isn t home    we pull back and see that the dark front room s window has it s curtains open    there   in a pool of blackness   is a grand piano    david s fall over the dark cliff has begun    instead of being told in a linear mode   shine jumps around in time   ala   pulp fiction      this narrative device works well   we see david as a boy   teenager in london and mental patient in various snippets    the film then neatly loops back for its uplifting conclusion    adult helfgott s return to the light is told in linear fashion    the lead role is played by 3 different actors   with the teenage david   taylor   and adult david   rush   standing out    whilst rush is known for his tv work in australia   i think this is his first major cinema work    his david   whilst clearly damaged   he keeps quoting his   daddy   in a babbling word torrent   cuddles strangers and grabs women on the breasts   is both touching and funny    taylor s teenage david is the more sympathy producing role    we are mute witness to his gradual breakdown as the pressures just keep on building    his father wants him to play the very demanding rachmaninov s 3rd   whilst his teacher wants to start him with a simple mozart    technically this is a beautiful film and a lot of thought has gone in to the production    i particularly like the use of slow motion and sound effects    one scene has adult helfgott happily babbling in a car in the rain    the sound of the windshield wipers fades up over his voice    with a clever subtlety   the wiper sound appears to morph into a rhythmic thumping   but of the same beat    the image dissolves and we realise the thumping is the slow motion applause of a crowd    but it s us being clapped    we are young david walking up to the stage for our first public show    the music   as you would expect from a film of this subject matter   is critical    and it works very well    the  miming  of the actors piano playing is faultless   apparently rush didn t mime   he really did play    helfgott s life is certainly not without it s sympathetic people    indeed his return to the  normal  world is accelerated by his chance meetings with two very special women    his ultimately uplifting story is a magic piece of theatre craft    it shows that with the  help of god  we can all find our way back home    
Pos, today   war became a reality to me after seeing a screening of saving priivate ryan    steve spielberg goes beyond reality with his latest production    the audience is tossed about the theatre witnessing the horror of war    please keep the kids home as the r rating is for reality    tom hanks is stunning as capt john miller   set out in france during ww ii to rescue and return home a soldier   private ryan   matt damon   who lost three brothers in the war    spielberg at time takes us inside the heads of these individuals as they face death during the horrific battle scenes    private ryan is not for everyone   but i felt the time was right for a movie like this to be made    the movie reminds us of the sacrifices made by our ww ii fighting men and women    we must not ever forget them as many gave the ultimate sacrifice   their lives so that we may live in freedom today    for this i thank them and for steve spielberg for making a movie that i will never forget    the academy will not forget tom hanks come april 1999   as another well deserved oscar with be in tom s posession    
Pos, well   i ll admit when i first heard about this film   which was before dante s peak   i could just smell what  twister  had started    so now it seems that we re in a full fledged return to the  70 s disaster film era    with  twister     dante s peak     volcano  and soon  flood  and james cameron s extremly expensive  titanic   i ll say first off i enjoyed  volcano  much more than i did  dantes peak     part of that is just being biased as i usually enjoy anything that tommy lee jones appears in    i ve been reading a lot about the movie being  cheezy  or  hokey  and really didn t see or think that once during the entire film    i get bored easily and this film didn t bore me for a minute    another thing   and boy am i bitching today !   that bothers me is when critics and such go on about   well thats not really possible      you know what    i couldn t give a bloody damn if it s possible or not   really i couldn t    it s a freaking movie and i don t want reality thrown in my face    i want to be able to see the impossible   the all might   what if   to many reviewers have seen one to many movies !  the special effects are the second star to this feature    they are so amazing that i found it hard sometimes to believe they were indeed fx and la was was not burning to the ground    they did an incredible job and come oscar time   if they remember   some notice better be thrown there way    
Pos, note   some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers    be forewarned    during the three years since the release of the groundbreaking success pulp fiction   the cinematic output from its creator   quentin tarantino   has been surprisingly low    oh   he s been busy    doing the talk show circuit   taking small roles in various films   overseeing the production of his screenplay from dusk till dawn   making cameo appearances on television shows   providing a vignette for the ill fated anthology four rooms    everything   it seems   except direct another feature length film    it s been the long intermission between projects as well as the dizzying peak which pulp fiction reached which has made mr   tarantino s new feature film   jackie brown   one of the most anticipated films of the year   and his third feature film cements his reputation as the single most important new american filmmaker to emerge from the 1990s    things aren t going well for jackie brown   pam grier      she s 44 years old   stuck at a dead end job     $16   000 a year   plus retirement benefits that aren t worth a damn     as a flight attendant for the worst airline in north america    and she s just been caught at the airport by atf agent ray nicolette   portrayed with terrific childlike enthusiasm by michael keaton   and police officer mark dargus   michael bowen   smuggling $50 000 from mexico for gun runner ordell robbie   samuel l   jackson     who has her bailed out by unassuming bail bondsman max cherry   robert forster      the loquacious ordell   based out of a hermosa beach house where his horny   bong hitting surfer girl melanie   bridget fonda   and agreeable crony louis gara   robert de niro   hang out   operates under the policy that the best rat is a dead rat   and he s soon out to silence jackie brown    meanwhile   the authorities  target is ordell   and they want jackie to help them by arranging a sting to the tune of a half million dollars    only through a series of clever twists   turns   and double crosses will jackie be able to gain the upper hand on both of her nemeses    although jackie brown marks mr   tarantino s first produced screenplay adaptation   based on the elmore leonard novel   rum punch       there s no mistaking his distinctive fingerprints all over this film    while he s adhered closely to the source material in a narrative sense   the setting has been relocated to los angeles and the lead character s now black    in terms of ambiance   the film harkens back to the 1970s   from the wall to wall funk and soul music drowning the soundtrack to the nondescript look of the sets    even the opening title credit sequence has the echo of vintage 1970s productions    the opening sequence featuring ms   grier wordlessly striding through the lax   funky music blaring away on the speakers   is emblematic of films of that era    the timeframe for the film is in fact 1995   but the atmosphere of jackie brown is decidedly retro    of course   nothing in the film screams 1970s more than the casting of pam grier and robert forster as the two leads   and although the caper intrigue is fun to watch as the plot twists   backstabbing   and deceptions deliciously unfold   the strength of jackie brown is the quiet   understated relationship developed between jackie and max   when they kiss   it s perhaps the most tender scene of the year    tenderness   in a quentin tarantino film    sure   there ve been moments of sweetness in his prior films    the affectionate exchanges between the bruce willis and maria de madeiros characters in pulp fiction and the unflagging dedication shared by the characters of tim roth and amanda plummer   or even in reservoir dogs   where a deep   unspoken bond develops between the harvey keitel and tim roth characters    but for the most part   mr   tarantino s films are typified by manic energy   unexpected outbursts of violence   and clever   often wordy   banter    these staples of his work are all present in jackie brown   but what s new here is a different facet of his storytelling    a willingness to imbue the film with a poignant emotional undercurrent   and a patience to draw out several scenes with great deliberation    this effective demonstration of range prohibits the pigeonholing of mr   tarantino as simply a helmer of slick   hip crime dramas with fast talking lowlifes   and heralds him as a bonafide multifaceted talent   he s the real deal    this new aspect of mr   tarantino s storytelling is probably best embodied in a single character    that of the world weary   sensitive   and exceedingly professional max cherry   whose unspoken attraction to jackie is touching    mr   forster s nuanced   understated performance is the best in the film   he creates an amiable character of such poignancy that when he gazes at jackie   we smile along with him    much press has been given about the casting of blaxploitation era icon pam grier in the lead   with the wags buzzing that mr   tarantino may do for her what his pulp fiction did to bolster john travolta s then sagging career    as it turns out   ms   grier is solid in the film s title role   although nothing here forces her to test her range    i do have to take exception to the claim that this film marks her career resurrection   though    she s been working steadily over the years   often in direct to video action flicks   but also in such recent theatrical releases as tim burton s mars attacks !  and larry cohen s original gangstas   where she first teamed up with mr   forster      of course   it s true that her role here was a godsend    a meaty a part as this is rarity for * any * actress   let alone one of her age and current status in the industry    while jackie brown may disappoint those looking for another pulp fiction clone   it marks tremendous growth of mr   tarantino as a director whose horizons are rapidly expanding   and whose characterizations have never been better    and while the film s narrative doesn t really warrant a running time of 155 minutes   it s filled with such sumptuous riches   ranging from the brashness of the vivid soundtrack to entertaining   inconsequential conversations between the characters   that there wasn t an unengaging moment    with an impressive trio of feature films under his belt   it ll be interesting to see what he tries next    
Pos,    last night   could have an   aka   tagged on the end of it that says     it s the end of the world   and we feel fine         last night   is about just that    the last night of planet earth s existence    the world is going to end at precisely midnight   january 1st   2000    how scientists were so accurately able to predict when this catastrophic event would occur is never explained    nor is the event itself    throughout the entire movie   no explanation is given as to why this is happening    in doing this   mckellar   who also wrote and directed the film   seems to be trying to transcend the genre    he s attempted to make a film about people   and how each of them deals with their last night of life    the film contains no science fiction elements   which allows the viewer to concentrate on the feelings and actions of the characters    mckellar is largely successful in his attempt to rise above his material    the film is set in toronto   and follows several people in their various escapades on the last night of existence    there s mckellar   who plays a man who just wants to be alone when the moment occurs   but keeps getting interrupted by a woman   sandra oh   in search of her husband    her husband   played by david cronenberg   is spending the day working at the gas company   informing people that they will attempt to keep providing gas right up until the end    finally   there s mckellar s friend   played by callum keith rennie   a man who has spent his final months trying out every sexual perversion you can think of    mckellar has crafted a gang of the some of the most interesting characters i ve seen in a film in months    these people all felt real to me   especially the character played by sandra oh    we can see her desperation   her utter need to be with her husband in the final hours    rennie is good   too   as the man who wants to literally try everything before he dies    he exudes such charm and likeablity   it s not surprising that we re rooting for him to get what he wants    but for me   the biggest surprise in the movie is mckellar    i knew that he was a talented director   but i had no idea he could act as well    his insistence to be alone   much to the dismay of his parents   is something that most people would find difficult to understand   but as played by mckellar   we can understand his reasons    he doesn t buy into the whole notion that just because everyone s going to die   he should immediately find some companionship    he realizes the relationship would be forced   and they would only be together for the sake of being together    mckellar gives a brilliant performance   and i hope he alternates between directing and acting    my only quibble with the film is that we never find out why the world is ending    i really wanted to know   and my need to know was hanging over the film at all times    i appreciate the fact that mckellar didn t want the material to rule the film   and that he wanted the movie to be more of a study in human behavious    however   in not telling the audience what the cause of earth s destruction is   he s left a big question that is in their minds throughout the film    another problem is we never see anybody panicking    i would imagine if the world was ending   and there was nothing to be done about it   a large segment of the population would be going out of their minds    instead   we are treated to shots of a giant crowd partying like it s new year s eve    i just didn t buy the fact that everyone had completely accepted their fate    no one had the urge to   rage against the dying of the light      despite these small problems     last night   is one of the best movies of the year    as opposed to the moronic   armageddon       last night   treats the subject at hand with maturity and believabilty    and bruce willis never shows up to save the day    
Pos,    a bug s life   may not be   toy story     but it s more close than   antz   was    i really liked   antz     basically because   yes   it is clever and witty and intelligent   and it has the temerity to take a chance and put woody allen in the lead   perhaps the year s most inspired casting     but there was   in fact   something missing from it   and i m the first to admit that    maybe it s that it never totally lets go and takes off into real innocent fun   it s too obsessed with its orwellian message to become totally engaging   and if it weren t for woody allen   it would have been just a really clever good not great flick       a bug s life   has a similar premise   and it also has disney to insure that it s g rated and not totally over kids  heads like   antz   was   not a bad thing   believe me     but what it also has is a tone that s completely innocent even when it s also remaining perpetually clever       antz   is still the more witty film   and i love it for it   and   a bug s life   is more for general consumption   but it s also more entertaining    it broadens its horizons   and when it really moves from the ant colony   it really shows us a whole new world we ve never seen before   and it s take on the evolution of bugs is a lot better than the one in   antz      it s also light and clever    the visuals are   instead of earth tones   bright worldly colors   and still gives the amazing visual technology of   antz   at least a worthy contender    the characters are also nicely realized   though watered down for broad consumption   they still carry more wit than the contemporary disney animated films    the lead character   flik   voiced by dave foley     is nothing more than a slightly less neurotic z from   antz     but foley makes him nearly as engaging as allen made z   instead of gene hackman playing the villain   we get the much more menacing kevin spacey as the lead grasshopper   the nicely titled hopper    and for the romantic lead   we don t get spacey sharon stone   but intelligent and hard to get julia louis dreyfuss   who doesn t even come around until the very final frames    not that the plot s really any better than the one in   antz     it s basically yet another redux of   the seven samurai     with an ant colony under the control of giant grasshoppers forcing them to produce a product for them or else    when flik   a bone fide inventor   creates a time conserving apparatus that accidentally destroys the season s donation   he puts them all in risk   and is sent away so that he won t screw anything up with the pretense that he is searching for help to fight the grasshoppers    he runs into a group of   warrirors   who are   unbeknownst to him   a group of carnival bugs   and they agree to help under similar false pretenses    these bugs are an equally wonderful assortment to anything in   toy story     foppish walking stick slim   david hyde pierce     german caterpillar heimlich   joe ranft     quick tempered and insecure male ladybug francis   denis leary     pretentious praying mantis manny   jonathan harris     his assistant butterfly hypsy   madeliene kahn     spider rosie   bonnie hunt     and two fleas   tuck and roll   michael mcshane     who speak in undiscernable jibberish    the writers lightly touch on each bug s place in bug society and the malleability thereof while making a wisecracks at everything they can   and blowing the audience away with wild visual treats    grasshoppers jumping in unison seems like a menacing earthquake    a small bird becomes an ominous mortal threat   whose usual mild mannered squeal is a scream of death    the bug city is a modern day metropolis   complete with fireflies temping as traffic lights and a fly sitting on the curb   holding out a cup   with a sign lying next to him that says   kid tore off wings      and a rainstorm is like a giant flood   with each drop acting like a small bomb dropped at millions of miles per hour    around this   the pixar animators stage several large set pieces   like a resuce mission halfway through that is as wild and entertaining as anything this year   and a wonderfully exciting action piece at the end   a chase scene at night through the labyrinthine branches of a small thicket    meanwhile   each character gets the spotlight to be completely idisyncratic and interesting   something   antz   couldn t do   and by the end   over the end credits     a bug s life   pulls it s final punch   out clever ing   antz   with a series of incessantly hilarious faux bloopers that come just at the right time   when those who leave immeadiately after the final frame of a film have left   and you can brag that you were one of the elite who stayed and got the full money s worth of entertainment    still   it s no   toy story      that film   maybe above any animated film i ve ever seen   encompassed almost true perfection in story   character   and wit    it proved that it didn t need to brag about it s cutting edge technology to really soar   it s the least visually striking of the three computer animated films thus far   but is still the most satisfying     and created a perfect world of idiosyncratic delights and innocent fun    yet   a bug s life     as well as   antz     are still amazing films   and prove without doubt   that if you re gonna make a computer animated film   send it to the guys who created these three flicks   evne if they re not working under the same roof    
Pos, when i saw the trailer for   the sixth sense     i didn t expect much from it    my snap judgment was that it was a watered down version of   the shining   or possibly a late entry in the glut of angel related movies/tv shows of a couple years ago    but all the buzz motivated me to give it a shot    it turned out to be one of the most satisfying movie experiences of the year    bruce willis plays child psychologist malcolm crowe    at the beginning of the movie   he is admiring an award the city has given him for his work   but he is soon confronted by vincent   a patient malcolm failed years earlier   donnie wahlberg former new kid in an impressive cameo      a year passes   and malcolm is treating another child with the same symptoms vincent displayed    cole sear   haley joel osment   is a withdrawn kid who is called   freak   by the other boys in the neighborhood    weird things seem to happen around cole his mother   olivia williams   leaves the kitchen for a moment and returns to find every cabinet and drawer open even though cole hasn t moved and cole seems to know things that a kid his age shouldn t for example   that there was once a gallows in his school    he steals religious icons from churches to build a chapel in a pup tent in his bedroom    the trailer gave away the movie s first major plot twist    if it hadn t   the first hour of the movie would be more engrossing because we wouldn t know what s wrong with cole    if you re lucky enough to have not seen the trailer   stop reading this review right now and go see   the sixth sense      anyway   since the trailer gave it away   i figure it s fair game to discuss here    once malcolm gains cole s trust   cole reveals his secret   he sees ghosts everywhere    dead people wander around not knowing that they re dead   invisible to everyone except cole    malcolm gradually begins to realize that cole is telling the truth    the box office success of   the sixth sense   has generated a lot of press about how horror movies rule the box office this year and lots of theories about why that s so    i hate to burst anybody s bubble   but   the sixth sense   isn t really a horror film    at its core     the sixth sense   is a touching story of how a troubled kid and an emotionally scarred adult help each other to move past their problems    some scenes with the ghosts are wonderfully creepy   though    one that really got to me   the ghost of a boy says to cole     i ll show you where my dad keeps his gun     when the ghost turns   we see the bullet wound in the back of his head    osment gives the best performance i ve ever seen from a child actor    it s hard enough to find a grown up in hollywood who can give a subtle   realistic portrayal !  although willis gets top billing   cole is really the protagonist of the story   and osment truly brings the complex kid to life    if only willis  work were as impressive    accustomed to delivering catchphrases rather than dialogue   willis is stiff and awkward as malcolm   his most challenging role to date       this is a bad omen for his next movie     the story of us     which chronicles the ups and downs of a marriage      writer/director m   night shyamalan has a light   poetic touch that goes to the heart of the viewer without seeming sappy or trite    he s also a skillful storyteller   as the movie s ending demonstrates    only when the final secret is revealed do you realize that shyamalan has been hinting at it throughout the movie    look for a cameo by the director as a doctor who treats cole    bottom line   osment should get an oscar nomination   and you should go see this movie    
Pos, near the end of frank capra s holiday classic   its a wonderful life   george bailey   jimmy stewart   is feeling down    he has devoted his life to others   and never fulfilled his dream of leaving his small supburb town   bedford falls    standing upon a bridge above stormy waters   he looks down   contemplating suicide    he has potential he hasn t fulfilled    yet   he has done so much for others    as a young chap   his ambition was to leave his hometown of bedford falls    but times and ambitions change    things happen   and he s stuck    his guardian angel is there   and shows him that       it s  a wonderful life    in a whirlwind tour of the town   george sees what life would be like without him    he learns the moral lesson   that to live is a gift    his earthly problems are solved    the climatic scene is a marvel    frank capra s film is a centenial classic    watched and re experienced by every generation    wonderful life is one of the few pictures of times gone by that seems as fresh   maybe fresher   then it did when it was first released    many films of the thirties through seventies have aged poorly    but this one is a near flawless example of how well a perfect script and timing can mesh with first rate acting   wit and suspense   glorious music   and terrific set peices    the only even slightly dated scenes are those at the begining in which god has a long chat with clarence   george s guardian angel    they aren t all that bad   but they remain corny and a little out of place    nevertheless   this is one film that deserves its place in time   cinema history   and our hearts    it can be equally appreciated by anyone of any age    here is one genuine masterpeice   a classic that reaches heights and ambitions near perfection    this crackling good mixture results in a film which is at once funny   exciting   moving and uplifting    the film itself is almost a reversal of the life of george bailey    there isn t too much to it   but capra and the gang   various screenwriters   composers   actors   plumet the material to its fullest potential    the result is a film    though not at first intended to be pigeon holed as a holiday film    that will always be remembered   celebrated   and loved    
Pos, jerry springer has got nothing on   wild things      john mcnaughton s new thriller tackles more tawdry themes in less than two hours than springer s notoriously sleazy talk show broadcasts in two weeks    bisexuality   threesomes   poolside catfights   slutty rich bimbos   even redneck gator wrestling   they re all part of the movie s raucous   complex storyline    but even trash tv topicality can t drag   wild things   down    this crazy campfest plays like something you d find late night on the usa network   only infinitely more palatable and with a solid ensemble cast    despite a smattering of needless scenes   most of them sexual in nature     there s wicked fun to be had here       wild things   would be a guilty pleasure   only there s no guilty feeling involved in having a good time with it    high school guidance counselor sam lombardo   matt dillon   is well liked in the town of blue bay   especially by pretty   popular kelly van ryan   denise richards     whose family name is among the florida yachting enclave s most financially prominent    hoping to take her crush to a physical level   kelly seductively slinks into lombardo s house after washing his jeep for a fundraiser   but   the very next day   tearfully admits to her trollop mother   theresa russell   that she was raped    before long   blue bay detectives ray duquette   kevin bacon   and gloria perez   daphne rubin vega   are listening to similar allegations from kelly s rebel classmate suzie toller   neve campbell      lombardo   who maintains his innocence   hires neck brace sporting   opportunistic lawyer ken bowden   bill murray   to defend him in court    the previews give away the following revelations   so if you haven t seen any of the movie s spots on the television or in the theater   you might want to skip to the next paragraph    while cross examining suzie on the witness stand   bowden gets her to break down and admit that the alleged rapes never took place    that kelly had concocted this entire scheme because she was angry that lombardo was sleeping with her mother and not with her    to pay lombardo for the damages   kelly s mother breaks her daughter s trust fund and gives him $8   5 million    but lombardo   kelly and suzie are actually all working together   and plan to take the money and run as fast as they can    duquette and perez   however   begin to suspect that there s more afoot to the case than just false accusations    if there s a major drawback to   wild things     it s that it s oversexed to a fault    the much talked about hotel room menage a trois between dillon   campbell and richards is a turn off    it s also cut short   sorry   guys     and should have been cut shorter    the movie grinds to a halt for pure titillation once too often    what we don t see is far more effective than what we do    another example of this is kevin bacon needlessly going the full monty in a shower scene    er   no thanks    also   bacon s duquette feels simultaneously underdeveloped and overwritten    daphne rubin vega   from broadway s   rent     tries to compensate for a superfluous character    theresa russell is just plain wooden    and when   in the end   all is out in the open   ask yourself if certain scenes involving these three were really necessary    but what keeps the movie from being throwaway junk is an engaging chain of surprises   some predictable   some not   that never seems to end       wild things   has more twists than a crate full of corkscrews   and most are so gleefully   over the top nasty that you can t help but be charmed by their absurd showmanship    a great deal of amusement also comes from watching bill murray in a supporting part that appears to have been written for his sly comedic talent   murray s a stitch   especially when pulling up beside the van ryan limo after winning lombardo s case and flipping them off    and don t leave when the closing credits hit the screen   or you ll miss the film s best part    four bonus flashbacks that smooth over plot holes while offering a few more tiny turns   plus a final scene that caps everything off with a great stunner of a bombshell    speaking of bombshells   denise richards   who plays almost every scene in a blue bikini top   does the teen tease thing with a malicious allure that she was never allowed to flaunt in   starship troopers      matt dillon flexes his sleepy voiced sex appeal   and pulls off personality changes with chameleonic precision    neve campbell   lovely as ever except when sporting a blond wig   gives suzie a vengeful vulnerability that makes her the most interesting member of the conspiring trio    re edited and toned down a bit   the dynamics between these three actors could have carried the film to greater lengths    but what we re given works well enough       wild things   is highly entertaining and   indeed   very wild    
Pos, the happy bastard s 30 second review  big daddy  happy gilmore as a father    of course !  that s the latest scenario presented by adam sandler in the new movie big daddy   a movie that s passable but isn t really considered some of sandler s best work    he doesn t actually play happy gilmore in the movie   but a variation of him    he s sonny coufax   a man who s living off a settlement he got for a cab running over his foot and his one day a week gig as a tollbooth man   tollbooth willie        his girlfriend   kristy swanson   is fed up with his lifestyle and demands a change before she leaves him    enter a 5 year old kid   who s mysteriously dropped at his doorstep and intended for his preppy roommate   jon stewart     who s off in china on a business trip    from there   coufax basically acts as the kid s father   teaching him different things like peeing on the side of a building and tripping up skateboarders with sticks    he even manages to use the kid in a sort of con game to get the attention of a beautiful law office worker   joey lauren adams     but   somehow   he also garners the attention of social services   who aren t particularly pleased with coufax s actions   as he pretends to be his roommate to keep the kid    the reason i say it s not really sandler s best work is because it gets really sappy towards the end of a movie   showing some odd feelings that somehow didn t really belong in a sandler vehicle    i mean   it fits the movie s tone and everything   and sandler handles it well   but it s just oddly placed   that s all    fortunately   it doesn t destroy the goofy glee path it s been following and it still makes you feel good    sandler does a good job here   as he does in most of his movies    rob schneider   however   is irritating as his friend   an immigrant delivery boy who can t read    stewart   in his minor time on screen   is great   and adams remains a joy to watch    look for steve buscemi as well as a homeless bum    he s a hoot    directed by dennis dugan   director of happy gilmore     the movie remains a good couple of hours to pass the time with    again   there are faults   but   hey   everyone needs to get emotional sometimes    
Pos,    six days   seven nights   is a summer movie that gets the summer movie experience deliciously right   a commendable achievement considering the season thus far has been littered with some pretty uneven fare    here s a genuinely fun fluff piece that knows it s fluff   recognizes it s fluff and is admittedly proud to be fluff    of course   the casting of harrison ford in the broadly comedic lead role plays a sizeable part in the movie s success   ford is such a concentrated dramatic actor that it s easy to forget what a funny guy he can be    as his female counterpart   anne heche also deserves a big pat on the back for her sweet   goofily charismatic performance    the age difference   ford s 56   heche s 29   matters not    these two click in a charged way that s hard to come by    the story is a no brainer    ford stars as gruff but loveable island aviator quinn harris   while heche is career minded but loveable new york magazine editor robin monroe    robin   on a tropical vacation with fianc   frank   david schwimmer     gets assigned to supervise an emergency photo shoot in nearby tahiti   so she reluctantly hires quinn to fly her there    the plane crashes during a terrible storm   and they immediately find themselves stuck in a deserted paradise with few ideas on getting back to civilization    a series of unpleasant   often hilarious catastrophes leaves little choice but for both members of this unlikely odd couple to fall for each other    meanwhile   back at the resort   frank is tempted himself by quinn s shapely female tagalong   jacqueline obradors      that subplot obviously exists to get us rooting for the quinn robin pairing   and while it makes for a few good laughs early on   it eventually becomes a contrived distraction from the far more engrossing misadventures of quinn and robin    and since the film spends most of its time with the castaways   this flaw is only a minor inconvenience    director ivan reitman keeps the pace brisk    at a slim 101 minutes     six days   seven nights   never wears out its welcome   where a lesser film could have felt like it was as long as its title    michael browning s clever screenplay allows for plenty of notable one liners   my favorite   taken in context   is   you mean  arrrgh  pirates         and though it essentially boils down to one mishap after another   they re all quite engaging    even the movie s more   serious   moments are played with a wink    heche has been under undeserved fire over whether or not her private life with ellen degeneres would affect the   believability   of   six days   seven nights     heterosexual pairing       so she s a lesbian    so what    deal with it      of course it doesn t   and here   her naysayers are proved wrong in a big way    in fact   her chemistry with ford is what really makes the film click   these opposites attract with the utmost   endearing electricity    at one point   when the two are discussing the likelihood of romantic interest   heche asks ford how old he is    after several wrong guesses     forty five     fifty          he whispers his age to her       you still look good     heche stammers       i still  am  good     ford replies    she s good too   and together   they make   six days   seven nights   one memorable ride    
Pos, the release of dolores claiborne into wide release this weekend adds another entry into the long list of film adaptations of stephen king s work    this slow moving character study provides some outstanding acting performances by the principals   but suffers from a tepid conclusion   inconsistent direction   and may not have wide commercial appeal    when the maid   dolores claiborne   is found brandishing a rolling pin standing over the bloody and dead body of her employer   it seems like an open and shut murder case    upon hearing of the death via a mysterious fax   dolores  estranged and bitter daughter   esquire magazine writer selena st   george   returns from new york back to her tiny island village childhood home    as the two clash horns   the story behind the mysterious death of dolores  abusive husband two decades ago   ruled an accident despite the protests of detective john mackey   is revealed    did dolores kill her husband    and did she kill her employer    dolores claiborne is certainly more of a character study than a suspense thriller    consequently   it is fortunate that their cast includes some of hollywood s finest character actors   such as bates   leigh and strathairn    kathy bates plays the film s title character   and gives a sensational lead performance    dolores claiborne is essentially a showcase for the talent of bates   as her character has a huge amount of screen time    she dominates the screen   producing a character that is compelling and arresting   as we watch the character go through two decades of history via flashbacks    kathy bates  performance is award calibre stuff    the rest of the cast is also very good    jennifer jason leigh plays the perpetually sour   bitter helena st   george well   and christopher plummer seems to be enjoying himself as dolores  ever present nemesis   the determined detective john mackey    david strathairn is particularly interesting and suitably smarmy and despicable as dolores  husband   joe st   george    judy parfitt is fine as dolores  tyrannic socialite employer   vera donovan  it would have been interesting to see   say   meg foster in this role    child actor ellen muth is also worth noting as the young selena during the flashback sequences   she is very impressive    the direction of dolores claiborne by taylor hackford wildly varies throughout the film   ranging from some parts which are quite clever in their own right   to parts which are embarrassingly hokey    the segues between flashbacks and the present are very hit and miss in terms of effectiveness    the pacing of the film tends to be numbingly slow   which tends to undermine any suspense which might be built up    however   the cinematography by gabriel beristain is wonderful  i particularly like the chilling ice blue hue permeating the present day scenes   contrasting well with the many nova scotia ocean shots  and danny elfman provides a surprisingly understated score for the film    it would seem that the commercial potential of dolores claiborne is limited    none of the performers in the film could be classified as a big draw   and its pacing may be a turn off to those expecting a gripping suspense film filled with twists and turns and car crashes and axe wielding psychopaths    although being essentially the only film in its genre in release now   it may also be hurt by the negative perception of king works   even with the recent critical success of the shawshank redemption and the stand    dolores claiborne suffers from a very unsatisfying conclusion   and moves very slowly    however   the performances are uniformly excellent   particularly kathy bates   and the film has its moments    on my four star scale   i give dolores claiborne three stars    
Pos, seen september 13   1998 at 4 p   m at rotterdam square mall cinema 6   theater #2   with chris wessell for free using my sony/loews critic s pass    [theater rating   * * 1/2   good seats   average sound   picture unstable]     rounders   is exactly the kind of movie parents don t want their kids to see    it s not that it s a drunken orgy of sex and violence   but because it s a film that flat out says you can make a career out of gambling    and to take make things   worse   it proves this through its original   fascinating story    there have been countless crime films both past and present that evoke the   noir   mood   that is   the dark   shady atmosphere where the vices of the world become more fascinating on screen than they would in real life    this film starts off in the tradiational noir style   introducing us to the underworld of modern gambling where the stakes are high and so is the price for losing    matt damon stars as mike mcdermott   a 20 something law student in present day new york city who tells us how the game of poker is really played    damon narrates throughout the film   but the entire opening scene is voiced over so perfectly to completely and totally define the setting    mike s about to go up against teddy kgb   malkovich     a russian gangster who looks like a serial killer    but then again   he practically is one and the film does everything to convey that sense   the look in his eyes   his slow movements   his intricate mannerisms   all combined with the classic noir cinematography of isolated brightness within the darkness of the underworld   literally      damon in the flesh might seem a little out of place with his expensive clothes and perfectly groomed features   but his narration is what brings it all together    he never sounds like he s reading from a script   nor that he s trying to embellish anything   it just comes natural to him    the screenwriters use the right words and phrases to describe the mood   from the smell of the air   to the logic involved in reading the other guys  faces and cards   and all without sounding remotely trite    immediately we get the sense that poker isn t for gamblers   but for near  geniuses with nerves of steel    the game is a quiet war   with strategies just as complex and the same sense of honor among the soldiers    the gangsters mike plays against are the same ones that might kill someone for scratching their car   but when it comes to the game of poker   all respect is due to the winner because he is truly the better man    the film does an excellent job in establishing its atmosphere during the first act    it concentrates so much in this aspect that the background and the progression of the story stumble a bit    we learn only a little about mike   both past and present    presently we know he has a girlfriend named jo   gretchen mol   who he constantly argues with over his gambling    they go through a few break up/make up cycles until mike s childhood pal and fellow rounder   worm     norton   is released from prison    it s not at all surprising worm owes thousand of dollars to the mob   but what is surprising is how the film is able to take such a predictable element and execute it the way it does    technically   the plot isn t unlike many children s sitcoms in which the   good   kid s   bad   friend gets the good kid in trouble and yet the good kid remains friends with the bad kid    what this film does is use a different medium to tell that story    mike and worm have been in over their heads their entire lives   but both share a passion for out thinking the other player who is trying to do the same to them    where as worm prefers to go the sleazy route of cheating   hence his jail time     mike always takes the cards he s dealt and works with them    sometimes they pay off   i   e    his ability to pay his way through law school on his gambling money     but other times they don t   i   e    the fact he takes himself out of the game and works a steady job after dropping $30   000 on a single hand      once things start happening the film is able to expand and develop its plot into an intricate web of detail and mood    mike and worm bob and weave through all kinds of games at all kinds of places   from socialites  mansions   to taking the tourists at atlantic city   to outwitting the gangsters that control it all    everything they come into contact with is a big poker game in that everything s a battle against the cards destiny deals    one scene demonstrates this perfectly in which mike is told by a judge   martin landou   in a perfectly cast and performed role   that destiny is everything and yet nothing at the same time    matt s good at gambling but he s also got potential to be a great lawyer    he could go professional as either   but with one he could lose everything or win big   but with the other there s stability but not much risk involved    can someone who s gambled his entire life really cash in his chips and leave    if the film had been just a subtle lesson in poker playing   then the ending is our test    everything is told from mike s perspective   but we re finally able to recognize some things on our own    this makes the final   against all  odds showdown seem like just that    it works just like the game it revolves around   showing us some of the cards   but still evokes the element of the unknown   and the consequences thereof    what separates   rounders   from most other films about games is the fact the challenge and the skills are more important than winning in the end    
Pos, there was a lot riding on this movie    everyone even moderately interested in the   scream   series was dying to know how it would end    what would be the   final act      this is the end of an era for them   a movie which has kept them up nights searching for clues on the internet   talking and tossing around rumors with their equally enthused buddies   and   for kids under 17   those elaborate plots consisting of buying a ticket to one movie and hopping into   scream   while narrowly escaping those menacing ushers who are only a year or two older than themselves    no need to worry     scream 3   is endlessly inventive and entertaining   a fine epilogue to the series that made kevin williamson a household name   reinvented the horror genre   and continued in the self referential   post modern tradition of quentin and co    so   how does the story go    as opposed to what some fanatical internet sites would have you believe   sidney prescott   neve campbell     now all grown up and constantly dealing with her pass in the constantly tormented sector of her psyche   is not living in hollywood fulfilling her dream to become an actress   but rather in upstate california   living   understandably   alone in the confines of fences and vast security systems    she works at home as a crisis center affiliate over the phone    but that       s not where the movie starts off    instead   in a tactic that reminded me of the somewhat similar   and conceptually horrifying   sequence in   eye for an eye     1995     cotton weary   liev schreiber     now a big star   drives home to his girlfriend in traffic when the killer calls   demands the location of sidney       s home   and   when he doesn       t get it   threatens the life of cotton       s girlfriend christine   and cotton can       t do anything to stop him    the rest of the sequence is particularly clever   setting up a constant throughout the picture   the killer has a high tech electronic voice changer that tops that of the first two    not only does he sound unmistakably like talented voice over artist roger jackson   ha   ha     he can now easily duplicate the voices of the lead characters   including sidney   and the returned gale weathers   courtney cox arquette   and dewey riley   david arquette      at the same time   stab 3   the third film within a film based around the characters and events of woodsboro and windsor college   has taken a less authentic approach this time around in return to woodsboro   whereas the account of the first two films was true   the franchise within   scream   has now become totally fictional    nevertheless   we learn   cotton made an appearance in the movie which is now in production   as himself to be killed off in the first scene    so   it seems that the real killer is offing our heroes in the order in which they bite it in the movie      either the actor portraying them   or the real thing    sometimes both    clever   indeed    but   who goes next    no one knows    three different scripts were penned   we       re told   to keep the true finale off the internet   a nod to the   scream   2 fiasco a few years back   and no one knows for sure which one the killer read    still   all the while sidney stays concealed in her home   only visiting dad for the first half hour of the film   while also having horrifying visions of her mother   which takes us back a bit to sidney       s fear of becoming what her mother was      or   at least   what her mother was secretly    when sidney finally ventures out to hollywood as the murders become more prevalent   she       s chased onto the set of stab 3   wandering through   woodsboro     written and directed as an odd   surreal   nightmare indeed   this is one of   scream 3         s finest moments    okay   over the years   i       ll admit that i       ve become quite the   scream   fan    no   i don       t have the ghostface costume or the director       s cut laserdisc   but i often find myself compelled to pop in the dvd of either member of the preceding duo   and can get quite caught up in the dramatic element of these films   yes   i said   dramatic element       sometimes debating with family and friends the possibilities and endless theories that have become quintessentially affiliated with   scream      throughout the film   though   i noticed a much more subtle approach than the other two films    granted that there       s stabbin a plenty going on throughout   but there       s considerably less blood   less gore    honestly   i like this approach    it       s more classical   more rebellious   constantly demonstrating the capable direction of wes craven    he knows when to hold back and at the same time makes the movie ooze with energy   illustrating the delicate poise flowing from his years of experience    some critics have noted that   scream 3   seems to take itself more seriously this time   maybe so   or maybe screenwriter ehren kruger   arlington road     who took over after williamson had scheduling conflicts   saw an opportunity for true irony      maybe even a little bit of satire      if the film worked in a few more clich     s    what puts a damper on this otherwise exceptional and creative film   i       m afraid   is the ending   or   rather   the identity of the killer    it does the job   i guess   accomplishes what it should   bringing the three films full circle   but upon my first viewing it seemed rather dissatisfying because it appears a little too contrived   too arbitrary   after a second viewing   which i endeavored upon due to this recurring disapprobation   the killer       s identity still seems a little too random   but his motivation came across more sound this time around   and the eventual conclusion was ultimately more satisfying    all in all     scream 3   does not fall victim to the most lamented principle of a trilogy   it is not the worst of the films    as a trilogy     scream   was a lot of fun   refreshing   humorous   offbeat    almost sad to see it go    but then   it does seem best to quit while you       re ahead   and   scream 3   does a fine job of providing closure to its characters    for now     scream   holds the title as the finest series of horror films to be committed to celluloid    not too shabby    
Pos, ingredients   pouring rain   small flooded town   damn about to burst   bad guys going after millions of dollars  synopsis   at one point in the story townsperson karen asks hero tom what happened to her church    he replies something like     the church is flooded but at least the floodwaters put out the big fire    well   the fire wasn t that bad   since   while the church was burning   looters apparently thought it was safe enough to break through all the priceless stained glass windows      in hard rain a small town is nearly deserted due to flooding    everyone has had to evacuate because it s raining   and now floodwaters are rising so high that buildings are being submerged and the nearby dam is about to break    enter a working class smart alecky new armored car driver named tom   christian slater      suddenly his security truck carrying over three million dollars gets stuck on the flooded street and is waylaid by armed looters    tom has no choice but to grab the bag full of money   hide it   and swim for his life    this makes for an action movie full of jet skis   speedboat chases   and gun battles   as tom tries to evade and outsmart corrupt cops and armed looters until the national guard can answer his distress call    he is befriended and aided by a spunky churchgoing young woman from town named karen   minnie driver      but unknown to tom and karen   the national guard never heard tom s initial distress call    will tom and karen survive the natural and manmade disasters    opinion   don t expect thought provoking issues or dramatics    there s not much more to this movie than hiding   running   swimming   shooting   and saving handcuffed heroes from drowning   but that s what makes it escapist and fun    relax   take your shoes off   and break out the popcorn    
Pos, although many people have compared this new gangster comedy to the hit hbo drama  the sopranos     analyze this is witty and entertaining enough to be a good movie in it s own right    billy crystal plays wiseguy shrink ben sobol   who new  patient  happens to be gangster boss paul vitti   de niro      ben wants nothing to do with vitti   as he s about to get married to laura macnamara   kudrow   and having a gangster as a patient wouldn t really help    but ben is soon drawn into vitti worlds   and reluctantly helps vitti to sort his life out    all done in a comic fashion   of course    although never brilliant   analyze this is also never rubbish   which makes for a fun ride    billy crystal   who hasn t had a good role since city slickers way back in the early  90 s   is given a role that lets him fully exploit his wiseguy act    he s pretty funny while he does it   and although his character is a little close to his character in city slickers   he s pretty funny    robert de niro is hilarious as vitti   playing it dead straight but coming off as really funny    he s a serious gangster unaware that he is a comic gold mine    lisa kudrow   barely seen as crystals  estranged wife to be   basically reprises her phoebe role from t   v series friends   which is getting rather tiresome   and doesn t come off well on the screen    the supporting cast is apparently made up of the entire cast of casino and goodfellas   and are all funny caricatures   especially vitti s bodyguard jelly   joe viterelli      the film genuinely plays like a proper gangster movie   but with laughs instead of hard ass talking    it sometimes gets a little bloody for a light hearted film   but it strangely fits in    spoofs are made of famous gangster movies   including a nice parody of the godfather    the italian tunes playing throughout the soundtrack contribute to the fun    there s also some odd plot points   fbi guys appear and suddenly disappear for no apparent reason    it is true that analyze this has had a somewhat chequered production history   and perhaps the plot points were expanded in a earlier version of the script    unfortunately   this is hollywood   so we will never know    harold ramis   best known as egon from ghostbusters   has a deft touch with directing comedy   as shown in the immortal groundhog day   and the less immortal caddyshack    all the comic potential in a scene is dug out and presented to the audience    the script   written by ramis along with peter tolan and ken lonergan   starts off funny   remains funny for the most of the film   but sadly peters out somewhat during the last twenty minutes where it wrongly enters more serious territory    the film is short   however   and just before audience interest is waning the film suddenly goes into a rather rushed and unsatisfying ending and the credits roll    analyze this is a good comedy   and is certainly worth watching    robert de niro sobbing is reason enough to watch it   even though it does seem forced   or like a parody   although i think this was intentional      crystal is his most likeable in years   kudrow is given as little screen time as possible   which is a good thing   and de niro is just awesome    it s no goodfellas   and it probably won t be remembered as much as groundhog day   but analyze this is a well done comedy that won t leave you feel cheated    
Pos,    being john malkovich   is the type of film we need to see more    today s films are either blockbusters that entertain us with tiresome formulas   or those that have similar themes    malkovich falls under none of these categories   and it s quite refreshing to see that occur    this strangely provoking story   is actually somewhat understandable    john cusack plays a puppeteer trying to make it to the big time    his wife   cameron diaz   supports the both of them by working at a petstore   which explains the obscure pets they keep in their apartment    when cusack finally realizes he needs to get a job   he finds an ad for a filing clerk    when he reaches the building   he arrives at a 7 1/2 floor    it s there that he discovers a secret portal that leads to being john malkovich for 15 minutes at a time    meanwhile   cusack meets a business partner   catherine keener     in which he falls madly in love with her    the only problem is   she has no interest in him what so ever    the whole portal thing   isn t just a toy   in fact   it becomes cusack s dream    being inside malkovich s mind   gave him the opportunity to basically control mlakovich   like a puppet   and to fulfill his fantasies    i don t want to give away too much   but cusack becomes too attached with his discovery    in my opinion   this idea is absolutely brilliant    it s really quite scary to think that someone could become you   control you   be you    it makes you wonder why we act like we do   and why sometimes we blurt out things or act out something out of the blue    even if the script is super sharp   i can t help but find the ending displeasing    it could have lead up to something more   or at least an amusing conclusion    it tried to explain a mythology about the portals   that made it seem rushed    other than that   i had a very enjoyable time    the acting was quite delightful as well    john cusack has finally been given a chance to prove his ability   and he does it well    he s by far the most underrated actor due to a lack of popularity   but i m hoping that will change    cameron diaz was her usual charming self   although i felt that part was wrong for her   but she pulled it off    john malkovich himself continues to creep out people with his eerie facial expressions and tone of voice    who else s mind would be better to explore    the director   spike jonze   who appeared in last month s three kings really catches my attention with this project    i knew he was bizzare   but not to this extreme    he too is likely too receive media attention       being john malkovich   isn t an excellent film   but it is definitly entertaining and will eaisly become a cult favorite    what s even better is the film s puzzling message       am  i nick lyons    
Pos, as feel good formulaic as it may be in its own way   shall we dance    also demonstrates a kind of charming restraint you don t often find in american films    this japanese import tells the story of a middle aged accountant named sugiyama   koji yakusho   whose mundane life is shaken up one night when he spots beautiful mai kishikawa   tamiyo kusakari   in the window of a dance school    intrigued by her melancholy demeanor   and slightly infatuated with her     sugiyama signs up for weekly classes at the school    and   much to his amazement   ends up as attracted to dancing itself as to his young sensei    meanwhile   sugiyama s wife   hideko hara   becomes suspicious of his late wednesday nights   and sets a private detective on her husband s trail    in a hollywood film   you can bet that sub plot would be turned into a stream of slapstick comedy and crazy misunderstandings    in shall we dance     writer/director masayuki suo dispenses with it in a matter of minutes   using it to set up later character interactions rather than letting it overwhelm the story with pratfalls    neither does he make the climactic moment of victory a competition between the hero and some mean spirited token rival    suo gives his comedy the graceful movements of his subject matter   allowing the humor to flow from the characters rather than forcing it upon them    an opening prologue in shall we dance    goes to some effort to place the film in a sociological perspective   explaining how contrary ballroom dancing is to the japanese sense of propriety    it s a forced message in a story which doesn t need such a culture specific angle    the dance school in shall we dance    plays the role of a singles  mixer   with everyone vaguely embarrassed to be there yet taking the opportunity to try on new personalities    most amusing among these new personalities is the one adopted by sugiyama s co worker mr   aoki   naoto takenaka     a balding systems analyst who becomes a fiery latin lover when he dons a frizzy wig and begins to rumba    sugiyama s awakening is less overt   but koji yakusho does a wonderful job showing a transformation of small steps    it s a delicate performance with a huge heart    shall we dance    is a fairly lightweight experience   which makes its final half hour rather a long sit    suo crams a lot of exposition into very little time   including an unnecessarily detailed back story for mai   resulting in a sluggish march towards the resolution    it is here that shall we dance    feels most hollywood conventional   attempting to blind side the audience with a truckload of emotional catharsis    suo might have been better advised to conclude with the small gem of a scene in which sugiyama and his wife take their first tentative dance steps together    that s the real joy of dance shall we dance    conveys   its ability to create an intoxicating mood of romance which can soften the stiffest shirt    
Pos,    the tailor of panama   is a different kind of spy movie    despite the presence of pierce brosnan   there is nary a hint of james bond flash here    instead of big action scenes   leering super villains and empty headed femme fatales   we get interesting characters and an intriguing situation    based on the novel by john le carr     who also co wrote the screenplay   the film offers viewers something rarely seen in theaters this time of year   a solid   well told story    brosnan plays andy osnard   a british operative walking on thin ice    his british superiors ship him off to panama   making sure he understands that he had better not screw up the placement    osnard arrives in the tropics virtually oozing contempt for his new co workers and his new home base    when shown the bridge of the americas by a person marveling over the fact that   since the creation of the panama canal   the structure is the sole connection between north and south america   he barely keeps from yawning    brosnan clearly relishes the chance to be the antithesis of 007   investing the suave spy with a distinct reptilian quality coupled with an air of indifference that irks his fellows to no end    searching for a way to get information on the government   osnard sets his sights on harry pendel   geoffrey rush     an unctuous tailor serving the panamanian elite    harry claims to be a transplant from britain s renowned saville row   but osnard knows his secret   the tailor is an ex con who served five years in prison after torching his uncle s shop in an insurance scam    he also knows that harry is up to his ears in debt   having spent a fortune on an unsuccessful farm    osnard offers harry a way out    he will pay for information harry has gathered from his upscale clientele    eager to comply   harry offers what he knows   then starts concocting tidbits to keep the money flowing    before long   he is forced to spy on his loving wife   louisa   jamie lee curtis     an aide to the canal director    harry s little lies build   eventually taking on a life of their own    osnard turns in reports about the   silent opposition     a group threatening to upset the balance of control over the canal    the bogus revelation proves explosive   leading to meetings in washington d   c   over how to best protect the vital waterway    meanwhile   osnard wallows in his newfound status   enjoying the best the city has to offer and wooing an attractive co worker    and harry grows ever more fretful   fearing the consequences if his clients   not to mention his wife   learn about his lies    geoffrey rush is wonderful as harry   fawning over his customers by day and savoring his rich family life in the evenings   all while playing secret agent in the off hours with his new benefactor    rush makes harry a credible figure   presenting the various levels of the character so effectively that he remains sympathetic despite his duplicity    after gaining fame playing larger than life characters   rush flips everything around for this role   using his energy to depict the quiet desperation of a man slowly realizing that the solution to his troubles may be worse than the original problems    although she gets far too little screen time   jamie lee curtis imbues louisa with a depth greater than the screenplay provides her    of the central characters   she is the only one that exhibits maturity and genuine self confidence    curtis is one of my favorite female actors   whiplash smart   sultry and charismatic   she deserves more than supporting roles    speaking of supporting characters   there are some great ones here    harold pinter is amusing as harry s uncle benny   who pops up throughout the story in a number of creative ways    also shoring up the proceedings is jon polito as a corrupt banker and dylan baker   who is a riot as a united states general straight out of the dr   strangelove school of armed patriotism    but the most important secondary performers are leonor varela and brendan gleeson   both outstanding as two wounded activists    their presence adds weight to the story   reminding us that beyond the charades of the leading men   there are real people that have suffered greatly over the politics connected to the canal    director john boorman adds additional verisimilitude by shooting the film on location    instead of using panama city merely as a colorful backdrop   he adroitly weaves in footage of all aspects of life there    the metropolis   described by one character as   casablanca without heroes   pulsates with life   underling the folly of the two foreigners playing dangerous games that could have a disastrous impact on a great many people       the tailor of panama   succeeds because the principals behind it were bright enough to make it more than a simple entertainment    
Pos, perhaps it s time for me to say a little about my reading habits    i really do like to read   and i ve enjoyed many books in my lifetime    my problem is that i m a slow reader   and not very dedicated    i ll enjoy portions of a book and then set it down for months at a time   it s taken me the last six weeks to get through the first one hundred pages of anna karenina   even though i m loving the book      in addition to this   i typically don t read anything created after the 19th century    the only reason i bother with this bit of information is because i feel bad admitting   time after time   that i haven t read any of the books on which these films are based   the only exception   i believe   is great expectations      however   i don t think it should be necessary to read the book beforehand in order to judge the quality of the film    needless to say   i haven t read the elmore leonard novel out of sight   on which steven soderbergh s new film is based    i can t say how faithful of an adaptation it is   or if it lives up to leonard s vision    i can say that it s a terrific film   with sharp acting   great dialogue   and pumping full of energy and style injected by soderbergh    it s certainly a nice distraction from 1998 s lineup of brainless blockbusters   all hopelessly wishing that size mattered    out of sight proves that it doesn t    i had originally written george clooney off as a one note actor   incapable of depth but occasionally showing a little flair    after seeing his latest performance in this film   i ve changed my mind    this guy can act   but he also has that forceful presence that most certainly will make him one of those $20 million superstars    here   he plays jack foley   a middle aged guy who robs banks for a living    he does it because it s fun   i think   but the film opens with him getting caught because his car won t start    he goes to jail    which is interesting    only to break out five cinematic minutes later with the help of his friend   buddy   ving rhames      we re then introduced to karen sisco   jennifer lopez     a u   s   marshall who   conveniently   is waiting with a shotgun as jack escapes    fortunately   they take her hostage   and she and jack spend some quality time in the trunk together as buddy drives them to safety    the central conflict arises when both jack and karen become obsessed with one another   though their respective jobs make them superficially incompatible    we soon learn that the film is not told in sequence   and   since this is a gritty crime comedy   flashbacks of pulp fiction should arise      at first   i kind of felt that it was a gimmick   but i guess it was a gimmick in pulp fiction   too    it s a fun gimmick   though   and soderbergh treats the material with enough humor that everything comes off naturally    i ve only seen a few of soderbergh s films   i was impressed both with kafka and sex   lies   and videotape     but i think he s excellent at what he does    he s an artist without making it obvious   and without being pretentious   which is always admirable    he uses tricks   yes   lots of freeze frame stuff here     but it all adds to the smooth and quirky currents in the film    as i said   clooney is terrific   and he s matched by lopez    lopez is   of course   beautiful   but she can act   too    i can sense that she s honing in on her skills   for she comes off more natural here than she has in any of her previous ventures   not that stone gave her much help in the loathsome u turn      the two actors have arresting chemistry with one another    the best scene in the film   by far   is the seduction scene    the brilliance of this scene is also due   in part   to soderbergh   for he cuts back and forth from their quiet discussion in a bar to the physical act which takes place a few minutes later    the scene is a series of soft nuances and glances   layered upon light dialogue   and the result is one of the better love scenes in recent cinema    meaningful and engrossing    the supporting cast is strong   led by the always reliable ving rhames    dennis farina   who plays karen s father   is good   as is don cheadle as the profoundly stupid villain    steve zahn   who plays jack s nearly brain dead accomplice glenn   steals all of his scenes   and that s in a film where every scene is already at a high level      all of the actors are helped by the dialogue and the intelligently constructed script by scott frank    out of sight is certainly a light film   although there are a few heavy moments that will linger in the memory    overall   i can recommend it simply as great entertainment    not every film has to change your life   and it s nice to see a movie that uses the art to tell a great story and simply to entertain its viewers    as for the book   this film is good enough to make me believe that there might be something in the text worth looking at    
Pos, note   some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers    be forewarned    among my fanatical ticker tape worshipping friends   there s one who happens to share the same philosophy espoused by the central character in darren aronofsky s darkly original pi   the entire stock market can be reduced to nothing but a series of patterns which   through analysis   will produce information to accurately forecast future behaviour       an example of the mentality involved   if the stock price goes up like this   and then down like that   and then sharply up this way   it then will go * this * way      while i freely admit that i know less than nothing about the market   knowledge check   prices up    good   prices down    bad   most of the time   at least   and hence really couldn t comment with any authority   it s always nonetheless struck me as an incredibly naive oversimplification of an astonishingly complex system   and besides   if it were that simple   no doubt somebody would ve already figured it all out      the difference in this case is that while my colleague   an otherwise assuredly realistic individual   truly believes in this in and of itself as a valid forecaster   pi uses this ideology as a device with which to investigate its character s psychosis    it s also vastly more convincing with its argument       mathematics is the language of the universe     insists genius protagonist maximillian cohen   sean gullette   in a cool   mantra like voice over which repeats throughout the picture    since nature can be expressed in numbers   and there are patterns everywhere in nature   he reasons with eminent logic that finding the patterns will allow him to predict anything    the ups and downs of the stock market   how many games the yankees will win this year   the flavour of jam i m going to put on my toast tomorrow morning    obsessed with finding the proverbial key to the universe   max lives in paranoid   self imposed solitude in a seedy nyc chinatown apartment   single mindedly toiling away with his monstrous homemade computer system    sullenly withdrawn and plauged by debilitating migraines   the elusive pursuit of a mysterious 216 digit number his machine spits out one day is driving him into madness    the story   then   is basically an eccentricity   but it s a clever   astute eccentricity   perceptively zeroing in on the modern mistrust of mathematical reductionism   in an age where a dominant societal phobia is one s individualism being replaced by a series of numeric identifiers   max s all consuming penchent for numbers at once creates a lingering   unsettling mood    it helps matters that he s not a particularly likable protagonist    all attempts of friendliness from neighbours are curtly rebuffed by max   a spindly   neurotic looking individual who hasn t the time to indulge in pleasantries    for a film which puts its lead character front and center   mr   gullette appears in virtually every scene     pi takes a refreshing and effective approach in avoiding conventional aesthetics   because of our ambivalence with max   we re not so much avidly rooting for him to triumph with a moment of epiphany as we re following him through this plot with a sense of mixed dread and morbid fascination    it s more disturbing journey than quest    still   we do care about max s fate    teetering on the edge of dementia   he winds up being pursued by two different groups which want to pick his brain   both fronted by deliciously perky   resolutely cheerful representatives with inevitably duplictious intentions    as we know   in films where paranoia is a dominant element   see the truman show s laura linney character     or for that matter   in real life   it s always the ones who never stop smiling at you and are overly friendly that are the ones of which to be wary    pi   a film that addresses patterns   itself intentionally adheres to an identifiable pattern cycle    headache scene   important revelation or bit of plot development   pill popping montage   hallucinatory nightmare   with decidedly cronenberg esque undertones    few other directors are as equally adept in bridging unsettling concepts and body themed horror     nosebleeding reality    the repetitiveness   far from being tedious   is effectively maddening   more than anything   the picture aims to get under our skins and take in events from max s claustrophobic perspective    in this regard   it wildly succeeds due to mr   aronofsky s striking direction    it s a rarity that a film so completely immerses itself into a protagonist s warped perspective of his surrounding   and high contrast black and white cinematography combined with constant usage of extreme close ups lend a heightened sense of paranoia to the proceedings       in some scenes   the stark composition in conjunction with the lumbering approach by mr   gullette make his character curiously resemble a latter day max schreck   from nosferatu      using savage   jittery lensing and rapid cuts to create a sense of disorientation   the picture is often dizzying to behold   and max s effective isolationism is emphasized by shots from the so called snorri cam   which keep him in plain focus while the environment races by in blurred bursts    pi s raw   aggressive visuals are reminiscent of david lynch s early work   in particular   eraserhead      the film s sinister tone splashes onto the screen immediately with a dazzling opening credit sequence ably backed by a sly electronic score by clint mansell   and gradually increases in intensity    still   amidst all its kafkaesque qualities and overall dispassionate mood   pi does occasionally display a sense of humour    at one point   marcy dawson   pamela hart   great fun   entices max with the offer of an invaluable treasure   a one of a kind        computer chip       isn t it beautiful     she coos    a showcase for mr   aronofsky s technical virtuosity   made for $60 000   it s since gone on to capture acclaim at the 1998 sundance film festival     pi is an intriguingly cerebral story which   ironically   is perhaps the most purely visceral film of the year    
Pos, upon arriving at the theater during the opening credits   i took my seat and prepared myself for what appeared to be   hellraiser meets the crow      but as soon as kiefer sutherland began speaking the narrative monologue   describing   the strangers   and their reasons for contacting human beings   i was hooked    there was something especially compelling about the nature of his voice    i knew from the start that i was going to witness the actions of his character rather than the actor attempting the character    sutherland played the role as a true veteran    upon the completion of his monologue   the camera arrives on sutherland in such a fashion that you can only wonder how long alex proyas spent on cinematography    i would imagine   for a film of this caliber   that maximum hours of work were spent where they were needed the most    the film flowed beautifully    as i was being taken through the intricate regions of the   dark city     a clever plot began to unravel   to the point where the last time i had seen such clever plot twists were in   the usual suspects      not to mention a series of special effects that would make james cameron literally turn green with envy    but if you re not exactly the biggest sci fi fan   caveat emptor    get ready for the atmostpheric darkness of   12 monkeys   or   the crow   without the boredom or depression    the concept of the plot is as mindstretching as   12 monkeys   was   however   so be prepared and be sophisticated    and imagine a picture that finally does justice to the comic book gone feature film fad that hollywood has recently become abusive of    dark city simply puts   spawn   to shame    in fact   during the climax of the film i couldn t help but feel the strong presence of an   akira    esque explosion throughout the general feeling of the movie    so my initial predictions were wrong    this film is anything but the meloncholy of   hellraiser   parts one through five    i m never one to base a film entirly on special effects   so know that when i give dark city  it s actually because the film contained all of the neccessary ingredients to keep me entertained and awake from storyline to plot twists to camerawork to even   tsk   tsk   special effects    not since contact have i recieved such deep insight into the way the human mind operates and never this year have i been so blown away    the best film i ve seen all year   and easily one of the best i ve ever seen  
Pos, kadosh means sacred in hebrew    amos gitai s fictional work   after spending most of his career doing documentaries   is a grim story about a failed hasidic marriage   even though the marriage is a loving one    the marriage will symbolize the clash of cultures in modern israel between the native israeli s modern viewpoint toward religion and the political savvy hasidic s intolerable one   as both groups are vying for control of the secular government    gitai   devarim/yom yom   is a labor party leftist   who believes that if the rigid hasidic ever got control of the government   it would sound the death knell of israel    the emphasis of the film is on how the ultra orthodox jews of that sect live by the letter of the torah in everything they do and how they subjugate the women to accept their vision of god s law from only the male s view    that if they ever got control of the country   their intolerant attitude would subjugate the country the same way the women are    the story takes place in jerusalem s jewish quarters called mea shearim   where we are taken down sinewy back streets with placards pasted on the walls   and into the crowded apartments and prayer rooms where the protagonists live out their idea of the proper jewish life   which is much different than the way most jews live in israel    this is a controversial film   in that the women are unhappy and the male attitudes are to such an extreme patriarchal ones   that the film is bound to anger most viewers   no matter their belief    it is a slow moving   meticulous film   that grabs hold of you by the collar and never lets go    the force of what is seen   though filmed in an objective manner   never taking a cheap shot at the hasidim   is nevertheless bound to leave questions about the nature of such a practice of strict observance    the film is meant to be critical of such a rigid people   as it implies how they kill the spirit of everything they touch and with their extreme phobic attitudes   it makes it impossible for them to unite the country when they can t at present live in harmony with their own people   and it would be even more impossible to imagine them living with their arab neighbors in peace    the film opens as meir rises at dawn and goes through his prayer ritual   where every prayer is made to the virtues of god    he even thanks god that he didn t make him a woman    his wife rivka accepts the fate she was born into and looks at him from the next bed where she sleeps separately according to hasidic custom    she looks at him with glistening eyes   not questioning the laws or rebelling against her secondary role and how her religion keeps her from studying the talmud and having all the modern conveniences of life   and from seeing movies and tv    meir is a talmudic scholar    his father   abu warda   is a rabbi at the yeshiva    he has been married for ten years and his wife has not been able to give him a child    since the hasidim look upon a woman s role in life being only to conceive children   and cook and clean house for the man   while the man s role is to spend his time in prayer   therefore there is an insurmountable problem in this otherwise loving marriage    she receives an anonymous letter that states   a woman without a child is no better than dead      meir s response   is that it is written like that in the talmud    meir s father tells him that the marriage contract must be broken     a man who dies without progeny rips a page from the torah      all the blame is placed on rivka   who is thought of as unpure as the reason for her being barren    she will go through countless ritual baths to cleanse herself   as her rigid mother   koenig   dunks her in the holy water and says a ritual prayer for the 12 times she is dunked as an homage to the 12 tribes of israel    their religion doesn t permit them to be examined extensively by a doctor    rivka goes on the sly and finds out that it is her husband who is sterile   but she cannot tell him that because of their religion    so when meir s father chooses a younger woman for his son   she is exiled to live alone in a cold apartment in the same jewish quarters    rivka s spirited younger sister malka does not want to get married but wants to live a more liberated life    she has a long time romantic relationship with a fellow hasidic yaakov    but   because of the way they were both raised   she is still a virgin    when yaakov joined the israeli army to fight in lebanon   something his sect is not allowed to do   he is thereby banished from the sect even though he is still a believer    he now works as a singer in a nightclub    malka s mother is worried that her daughter won t get married   so she arranges with the rabbi for her to marry yossef   someone whom she doesn t love    yossef is a very stern follower of the order   he is also a political activist who drives around the city in a sound truck with a bull horn urging jews to stick together and fight their godless enemies    the two sisters are close and languidly discuss their options   with rivka telling her sister to accept the marriage   it will make her happy   but   while malka is reluctantly forced into accepting it   she has other plans to ruin this bogus marriage    the harshest scene in the film is on malka s wedding night    yossef prays to god for a child and then robotically gets malka to spread her legs   and without the least bit of affection   only a nervousness shown on his part for the function he supplies   as he goes inside her and rams her hard   thrusting away until the act is completed and then retiring without a word or gesture of love    the sisters have choices   like everyone else in life does    but the choices are obliterated by one s beliefs   circumstances   and inward nature   and how difficult it is to carry out those choices if it goes completely against the way one is brought up    for the sisters   the choices are life or death ones    gitai by closing in on the daily rituals   tight living quarters and close knit community   has shown how difficult these choices are for those who have never seen another world and have been kept in the dark all their life    the film ends with the forlorn malka walking atop of jerusalem and looking down upon it as an outsider would   and everything seems strange to her   all the things she once thought of as being set in stone are now harsh memories   as she has made her choice   and the price of that choice is very heavy indeed    
Pos, the film   magnolia   can be compared to a simple flower as its title and movie poster suggests    the dozens of characters introduced and developed are like the petals on the flower    they all come from the same stem and as the flower begins to develop they grow farther and farther apart    the numerous characters in the film are all closely connected no matter how different they are from one another socially    from a humiliated but kind cop to an aging game show host   each one of these characters is suffering the same kind of pain    they are each seriously lonely and seek the perfect companion to end this loneliness    whether this companion is a distant family member or a spouse   each character begs for one and spends the whole film searching for the perfect one       magnolia   is a clever   well thought out film from prodigy director writer paul thomas anderson of   boogie nights   fame    the detailed character analyses and the powerful script make   magnolia   memorable    however   what really is impressive is that even though there are tons of characters in several unrelated stories   the film is never confusing    anderson s control over transitioning from one story to another story is masterful    he also knows exactly when to cut to another subplot since not one of   magnolia s   scenes drag on too long    any three hour film that does not deliver even one uninteresting scene is definitely worth recommending    from the fascinating beginning to the risky yet surprisingly satisfying ending the film just doesn t get boring    it is obvious that anderson put a lot of time into connecting each subplot    this is the ultimate game of six degrees of separation    every character is connected to every other character by at the most two degrees    for example   cop john c   reilly is connected to game show host phillip baker hall through hall s daughter melora walters who once went on a date with reilly    the fact that each character is so different from the others yet so similar shows that there are universal pains that all classes   races   and genders suffer    anderson s explanation to prove this point is both accurate and convincing    the only mistake anderson made in trying to connect his characters was by making his actors all sing an aimee mann song simultaneously    this was foolish not only because it was unbelievable and hilariously erroneous but also because it had a broadway musical feel to it and this movie is about as far apart from your typical broadway musical than you can get    the performances in   magnolia   are perfection    this is a classic example of flawless casting and flawless ensemble acting    anderson allows many of hollywood s best supporting actors to blossom at what they do best   character acting    all of the main characters in each story are perfect because they are able to reveal more emotions and attitudes in their brief time on the screen then most movie stars can do in a feature length film    worth noting is tom cruise   who stepped out of his usual superficial starring role and into a funny but depressing tour de force performance    he was probably noticed more than the other actors in the film by award givers because his role here is so much different and impressive than those in the past   however any actor in this film could be nominated for best supporting actor without any complaints   the only problem i had with the acting was that a few of the characters felt seriously edited down such as melinda dillon s character as phillip baker hall s wife    she seemed to be thrown in towards the end and i felt very little sympathy for her because i had not seen her enough earlier in the film       magnolia   uses several effective metaphors to describe its characters    anderson has the talent to make the audience sympathetic towards numerous people in only a few hours    to see that anderson is able to perfectly portray this many different types of people shows that he has a keen sense of diversity    diversity is what makes a director successful for a long period of time    i predict a lot of diversity and success from anderson in the future    
Pos, no humans were harmed   tested or tasted in the making of this film    all recipes are fictions    twentieth century fox does not condone cannibalism    a psychological thriller that will scare you to the depth of your soul !  director/writer antonia bird shows us that the most terrifying horror is not provided by giant beasts   but instead by monsters lurking in ourselves             they were a party of settlers in covered wagon times and they had to resent to cannibalism in order to stay alive        this true story   briefly mentioned in   the shining     has no turned into a 143 minutes long motion picture    in 1847   the united states was a land of pioneers   of gold starved americans making their way west    it was a period of manifest destiny   the inevitability of the country extending its boundaries   stretching out its arms and consuming all the land it could    capt   john boyd   guy pearce   has become both a   hero   and a victim during this period of relentless consumption        in ways he could never have imagined    boyd s journey to hell begins when he is awarded for an act of cowardice during a horrific mexican american war battle earns him banishment to a desolate military outpost   a waystation for western travelers in the barren and icy sierra nevada mountains in california    upon his arrival he is greeted by a small   motley group of soldiers   including his commanding officer   hart   jeffrey jones     a previously intelligent and sophisticated man who has lost his aristocratic origin in the heat of battle and has pretty much given up on life   toffler   jeremy davies     the fort s personal emissary to the lord   knox   stephen spinella     the veterinarian that plays doctor   who never met a bottle of whiskey he didn t like   reich   neal mcdonough     the no nonsense soldier of the group   and the seriously   over medicated   cleaves   david arquette     a cook whose meals are inspired more by peyote than culinary ambitions    into this cold   bleak and bizarre world staggers a stranger   colqhoun   robert carlyle     a half starved scot who had been traveling with a group of settlers until they became snowbound    seeking refuge in a cave   they soon ran out of food   and were forced to consume one another    colqhoun barely escaped becoming an hors d oeuvre himself    our heroes then decide to journey through the mountains to find the survivors   and colqhoun tags along to help out    soon it becomes clear that colqhoun s tale has ramifications beyond cannibalism and the will to survive    it involves an old indian myth called weendigo   which states that a man who eats the flesh of another steals that person s strength   spirit and very essence    his hunger becomes an insatiable craving   the more he eats   the more he wants   and the stronger he becomes    there can never be enough   and death is the only escape      it s all fairly sickening and you have to have a healthy stomach to see the whole movie through    as professionally made as the movie is   you have to wonder who they thought would come piling into the theater to see this    teen age horror fans won t care because none of the soldiers look remotely like neve campell    older folks might show up when they hear that the movie is actually a satire about the pioneer spirit   but they ll be disappointed once all the raw meat starts getting waved in their faces    but jokes aside   this is a film that is well worth watching    it has wonderful and mature characters   that few horror film s can boast of and a strangely effective story that continues to electrify you till the end    the two main characters are also the most interesting    boyd is a simple   honest man tiered of war   killing and fear    his sacred wish is to live a normal   quite life away from gunpowder and blood    colqhoun is different    he proves that a man   on the brink of death   would do anything to stay alive   including sacrificing his own soul    he believes so much in this indian myth that he starts to change physically    it is the power of the human mind and conviction that make miracles happen    the atmosphere in   ravenous   is macabre and bizarre   scary and surreal    completely isolated from the rest of the world   stands fort spencer    here time stands still   and nothing changes    the inhabitants are soldiers driven by war and pillage    they are all somehow losers of society that have been banished    men that are used to killing and have not done anything else in their entire life    men that are nothing   and has nothing to loose    the result is some sort of cabin fever    cannibalism is more like a sick game for them    since they find no pleasure in living   they find some excitement in killing and dying    it s like   who s going to die first      the unchangeable icy landscape   where birds do not sing and even wind doesn t move the leaves on the trees   resembles kubrick s   the shining      it s hard to not get mad here !  one of the scary aspects of the film is a strange connection that the viewer establishes with the characters   and starts to understand them   although they have turned into half crazed killers    music is another factor that strengthens the atmosphere    a strange musical score   composed by michael nyman   the piano   and damon albarn   that often seems out of place   and in complete contrast to the image   somehow reflects the characters  twisted reactions on the world and their situation    the director herself stated that it was   ok to laugh   during the picture    and i must admit that it is often very funny   in a strange way   such as the wonderful quote         it s  lonely being a cannibal    you don t get that many friends          or when colqhoun is quoting ben franklin   saying   eat to live    don t live to eat         but  mostly it is frightening and shocking as it goes deeper into the minds of these strange men and we witness their psychological change    every actor does a great job    especially robert carlyle as the sinister and intelligent cannibal   and guy pearce as the moral and honest soldier   nagged by his undeserved honor    this strange couple resemble lestat and lois in neil jordan s  interview with the vampire     actually there are many amusing parallels and connections to vampire movies   since the topics are so alike       ravenous   starts wonderfully and continues to shock and scare until it gets to the finale   where it looses focus and gets too primitive and rather boring    however these little failures don t diminish the impression    this is a bizarre dark comedy about the human mind and its change in different situations    it is a scary fable about the monster that lurks in everyone s soul   a dark side which we re all trying to hide    but it s there    always    it is one of the most frightening and successful horror films since   the shining             i said no food    i didn t say there was nothing to eat            colqhoun   ravenous  
Pos,    good will hunting   is two movies in one   an independent take on the struggle of four boston pals and a traditional hollywood     prodigy child   film complete with upbeats   downfalls   sporadically moving situations and plenty   plenty of shtick    unusually directed by gus van sant     good will hunting   overcomes the banalities of its story by affirming the emergence of fresh   new talent    the film stars matt damon as will hunting as a mathematical   rebellious whiz kid inadvertly discovered by a college professor   stellan skarsgard     who places him under psychological supervision with robin williams    in a nutshell   that s it    the core of the   good will hunting   is damon   who infuses the script   co  written by   chasing amy s   ben affleck   with just the right amount of warmth   sensitivity and humanity to accentuate his position as a refreshing multi  talented performer    but it s the acting that hits the mark   and damon hits all the right notes   flying over robin williams  deja vu role     awakenings   was written all over this   as a devastated shrink who has closed all contact with society due to his wife s tragic death    damon effortlessly blends the carelesness of a gregarious   confused thug with the absorbing ingeniousness of someone like einstein    his rich   complex character is the pulp of   good will hunting      everything else pales in comparison       good will hunting   exposes the lack of profoundness of deliberately schmaltzy storytelling   but   unlike   little man tate   or   phenomenon     it doesn t set up its story in a black and white   point a to point b be manner   but as the saga of an extraordinary individual whose feasibility for success doesn t automatically signify he must make easy   familiar choices   like the protagonists in the aforementioned    
Pos, curdled is a deliciously dark and witty black comedy   but its humour won t appeal to everyone    to be specific   let me give you an example    do you know in pulp fiction where jules and vincent go on brain detail after marvin and his head accidentally get separated    if you thought that was completely tasteless and unfunny   don t see curdled    on the other hand   if you found that sequence to be pretty funny   you have the sense of humour that curdled is aimed at    our film s heroine   gabriela   played by angela jones   is a woman obssessively curious about murder and serial killers   she even keeps a scrapbook of news articles    luckily for her   miami is being plagued by a serial killer rampage   her scrapbook is getting pretty big    the killer s nickname in the press is the blue blood killer   because he preys on older rich socialite women   and he s played by william baldwin   this is not a spoiler      one particularly striking m   o    on the blue blood killer is his propensity to decapitate his victims    gabriela is watching television one day when she spots an advertisement for a firm whose line of work is perfectly attuned to her interests    she immediately quits her job   and signs on with pfcs   which stands for post forensic cleaning service    no points for guessing what they do    her workmates are confused by gabriela s fascination with murder   to them   it s just a day job    there s a hilarious locker room scene where they debate whether decapitated heads can talk   and what they would say    gabriela s partner   elena   played by mel gorham   is particularly perturbed by gabriela s wide eyed fascination   and becomes really upset when gabriela volunteers them to clean up the blue blood killer s latest scene   they re the messiest   you see    unbeknownst to them   the last victim left something on the scene which would id the blue blood killer   so he s also heading over there      the comparison to pulp fiction earlier on was not accidental   quentin tarantino executive produced this film   which began life as a short film he saw at a film festival    apparently tarantino was so impressed that he helped braddock convert this into a feature length film    there are other parallels   the star of curdled is angela jones   the top billing goes to william baldwin   but really   jones is the central character     who s probably best known for her role as esmerelda villalobos   the death obssessed taxi driver in pulp fiction    that role was written specifically for jones based upon her similar character in the aforementioned short film   curdled jr    jones is great in curdled   she s wonderfully funny and maintains an amusing wide eyed naive curiousity about murder without compromising her character s innocence or likeability    she can express so much with one lift of her eyebrow    it s a great performance    reb braddock s direction is extremely sharp and clever   toeing the line between black humour and bad taste    the best scene in the film is an outrageously funny sequence involves jones and dancing   any more than that would be a spoiler    the opening credit sequence is also inventive and amusing    of course   it s impossible to really take this stuff seriously   but then again you re not really supposed to   braddock knows the audience is in on the joke   and makes it a fun little romp as a result    the one drawback of curdled is that it was based on a short film   and it feels like it   the material is just stretched too thin in order to fulfill a feature length running time   and some parts just seem to drag    while its running time is already a short 94 minutes   it could really stand to lose twenty minutes or so to give it better pacing    curdled seems destined to be a nice cult film for miramax    it ll be interesting to see if it will appeal to mainstream audiences as well    
Pos, it is often said by his fans that hal hartley movies are an acquired taste    indeed    while perhaps less dangerous than tequila shooters or bungee jumping   they require no less amount of physical stamina and concentration    i felt rewarded at the end of henry fool   this movie creeps up on you at a slow 139 minutes   i mean creeps and despite the final shot s ambiguity   i left completely satisfied    henry fool     used to have an   e      arrives at garbageman simon grim s house   claims the vacant basement apartment   and almost instantly inspires simon   urbaniak   to take up writing henry   martin donovan look alike ryan   is an ex convict   a once great author who has been   exiled and marginalized   by the publishing community because of his criminal activity    simon s poetry turns him into a local sensation   as it causes mute women to sing   high school girls to swoon   and councilmen to rile against its   pornographic   content    meanwhile   henry seduces both simon s dependent mother   porter   and immature sister   sundance queen posey   with philosophical babble   which is by turns brilliant and inane   and breathy animal lust    these story elements result in climaxes both inevitable and unpredictable   the teacher student relationship formed between henry and simon eventually reverses itself    henry fool is sprinkled with hartley ian flourishes   simon drinks milk from   udderley s     the big teen hang out is called   world of donuts     simon wears his garbageman s uniform throughout   the editing style is decidedly elliptical           which is key to the conclusion s said ambiguity      the performances by the three leads are abrasive at first   self consciously   quirky     the introductory scenes are a chore    these people do grow on you because they convey genuine passion   a belief in themselves   and because they have long term goals   henry and simon may drink a lot of budweiser and hang out on the streetcorner   but they aren t pop slackers    the story is rather classical   the tutor is a better talker than a doer   raised on books   the timid tutee has innate talent his master only dreams of       shades of film school          the finished film is epic in its proportions for a story so small   and the final third does test one s patience   yet henry fool is tight   hardly excessive in its length    how refreshing to see a movie this long in 1998 devoted entirely to character    and unless i nodded off   not a single building exploded    this   hartley s seventh feature   is contemplative about   the artist     fortunately   we never get a sampling of simon s work   and it s a testament to the actors and the screenplay that by the end we can surmise what sort of thoughts would pour from these writers  pens    
Pos, most people fit into two different categories   you either love woody allen   or you hate his guts    my family   for the most part   hates him and his movies    i think he s very funny   but his shtick has gotten forced and contrived over the years    so maybe taking his body away was the best decision any producer could have thought of    unrestrained by physical boundaries   allen s humor comes shining through    those who had problems with his physical appearance will be able to join the rest of us in laughing at allen s intelligent observations of life    those who had problems with his verbal comedy may want to skip this one    in 1995   a film was introduced to audiences which sparked their imaginations and showed them something they d never seen before    toy story used state of the art computer technology and presented a world of toys who would come alive when no humans were present    many critics will call that a better film   but i believe they only say that because it was a completely original motion picture    antz   however   has upped the ante considerably    disney s a bug s life isn t due out for another two months   and dreamworks seems to have received the better end of the deal    by beating disney out   they have satisfied the audience s thirst for computer animated films    but don t let that fool you   disney is definitely not scared    in the past two years   competitions have broken out between studios    in 1997   it was the volcano duel    in my opinion   dante s peak came out way ahead of its predecessor   both in time and in quality    volcano had an original premise   but destroyed that with some very ridiculous situations    in 1998   there are twice as many competing films    first was the comet competition   and armageddon blew away it s cheesily dramatic competitor deep impact    but now   it s even more interesting   as one beloved studio   disney   goes up against the newcomer   dreamworks      who will prevail    time will tell   but i m sure that mr   mouse has nothing to fear    this may sound like i didn t like antz   on the contrary   i d put it up there with toy story    but due to it s pg rating   many parents may be put off by some of the dialogue which shouldn t appear in disney s version    some of the dialogue in antz pushes the envelope for a family oriented film    sexual innuendoes and profanity pop up occasionally   which makes dreamworks  animated feature geared more for an adult crowd    the humor is also written especially for adults   though many kids were laughing in the theater i attended    this is the type of film that should be made for families more often   entertaining for kids and entertaining for parents    antz begins with a hilarious monologue which seems a meld between woody allen s shtick and franz kafka s metamorphosis   the short story of a man who wakes up to discover himself as a bug    z   allen   is a troubled ant   believing he was not made to be a worker       when you re the middle child in a family of five million         he comments about his neglected childhood    one night   z is sitting in a bar with his friend weaver   sylvester stallone     discussing his pathetic place in life    in walks princess bala   sharon stone     whom no one recognizes without a crown    bala asks z is he would like to dance   and they engage in a pulp fiction esque dance while everyone else is following the leader    after discovering that she is the princess   z falls in love   but there s a problem   bala is getting married to general mandible   gene hackman     a ruthless leader who merely wants to control a better and stronger colony    in order to do that   he must eliminate not only the queen   anne bancroft     but the weakest of the colony   namely the worker ants    but to get rid of the queen   he needs to get rid of the loyal army ants who would be willing to die for her    he and colonel cutter   christopher walkin   come up with a plan to send the loyal ants off to battle   where they will surely be killed    the queen is reluctant at first   but decides it is best for the colony    meanwhile   z wants to meet bala again   and he asks weaver   an army ant   to switch places with him    so z gets sent off to battle   but he manages to survive the slaughter by the termites    the battle sequence is absolutely stunning   though you may have flashbacks to starship troopers   which contained a very similar sequence    however   antz and that 1997 film were both in production around the same time   so the similarities are merely coincidence    the second half of the film revolves around z s kidnapping of bala   and their search for a mythical place called insectopia    there   an ant can be his own boss and have all the food he wants    the adventures z and bala get into are surprisingly high in tension   especially one involving a magnifying glass    looming over the targets like the spaceships from independence day   in fact   i m just going to assume that the producers referenced id4 intentionally      the ants look up in awe   and then a beam of fire blasts into the ground    visually   it s an exciting rush of adrenaline    but don t be fooled        little kids shouldn t see this   as they may just try and copy it    after seeing antz   i vowed never to intentionally step on an ant again    hopefully   children will learn that killing ants is rather cruel    as an animated film   antz is probably the best you will find to date    visually   it s as stunning as what dreams may come    the best aspect of animation is the fact that the characters aren t limited by gravity    they can take ridiculous situations and make them seem plausible    one great moment involves a mass of worker ants bunching up to form a wrecking ball    the animation is so perfect that you can virtually see every single ant on the ball    however   the most exhilarating scene involves bala getting stuck to the bottom of a young boy s shoe    it s truly a great example of film making at its finest    with computer technology   the animators have carefully made the ants  faces look similar to the actors providing the voices    the best example would have to be barbatus   danny glover      at one point   you can even see the pores on his face   although   i doubt ants have pores        do they        barbatus also has a touching but rather gruesome scene as he has his final words with z without a body    young kids may be disturbed by the site of a dismembered head   but a good deal of humor is derived   more appropriate for adults   of course      disney s a bug s life looks good   but i don t know if they will be able to best dreamworks  newest animated feature in terms of animation    if not   then dreamworks will have done something no other studio could do   go head to head with the big mouse   and knock him down   yes   anastasia was good   but not nearly as good as even the worst of disney      vocal talent is always essential to an animated feature   and antz has one of the best line ups seen since toy story    in fact   it far exceeds that one    woody allen has always been funny   but here he transcends most of what he s done in the past few years    without a body   his comic timing is the most noticeable thing    in fact   i m pretty sure that the writers let him improvise a lot of his lines    sharon stone as bala shows off some of her comic ability   though for the most part   stone works best as a dramatic actress    sylvester stallone   teamed up with stone once again   is beginning to solidify his statement that he wants to be an actor   not a typecast action star    after a snub at the oscars last year   stallone is proving himself as the serious   or comedic   as illustrated here   actor that he is    gene hackman is superb as the gruff talking general   almost doing another take on his crimson tide persona    christopher walkin is probably more noticed by his voice   and so many people will remember him from such hits as batman returns    anne bancroft has a minimal role   but she s effective nonetheless    danny glover has a small role   but he does a very   very good job    dan aykroyd and jane curtin also lend their voices as two lovesick   euro trash bees  both are very unrecognizable   especially aykroyd    jennifer lopez plays a worker ant who falls in love with weaver   although most people won t recognize her voice either    many people will recognize grant shaud s voice as the foreman    he played miles on the tv show murphy brown    this is definitely a huge cast with some high profile names   and it will definitely help it s grosses    of course   you can probably tell where a lot of the $60 million budget went to   also    directors eric darnell and lawrence guterman are relative newcomers   though guterman did direct a 1994 feature   headless !      but both show an incredible talent for this type of a picture    tense at times   and very funny throughout   the two hold this film together like professionals    the screenplay by todd alcott and chris weitz is quite simple in plot   but it contains a lot of subtlety that makes the film more suitable for adults    kids will delight in the animation   while parents can laugh heartily at the humor    most of it will go over young children s heads    does that mean you shouldn t take kids to see it    not at all    they will have a lot of fun watching this one    what is great is the themes that are given to us    part social commentary   part romance story   and part moral drama   antz gives everyone something to talk about   whether it be the animation   or the discussions of individualism and community    thankfully   it s not subtle in either aspects    antz is rated pg for mild language and some intense action    sometimes the language can be pushing the limits for a family movie   but the violence is what should keep kids at home    the battle scene has ants melting in acid   and bugs being speared to death    and the magnifying scene shows an ant disintegrate in the beam of sunlight    but other than that   and some sexual innuendos     it s a perfect choice for some wholesome fun at the theaters    i doubt many children will understand the sexual innuendos unless they are old enough   but it s still advisable to leave really young children at home    have i confused you enough    if you do take your kids   i recommend seeing the film with them   because more than likely   you ll enjoy it the most