Change Your Image
madskirt
Reviews
Unbreakable (2000)
UNBELIEVABLE...at first
Do you ever remember me being sick....who among us CAN'T recall being sick, whether we have or have not? Seems we are no more than puppets being manipulated by the writer/director. Willis IS everyman, ordinary, dull even, susceptible and in need of a little DRAMA to spice up his grey life. (Hence the lame attempt at a pick-up in the opening scene on the train: he's not a bad man; he's just a bored man.]
Enter Jackson's character: the large headed freaky exaggeration of a man [a cartoon?] a DIVERSION!.
At first Jackson elicits empathy. Later we are 'led' to believe he has fulfilled his destiny, perhaps even found a cure for his own ills through his opposite, his inverse, his 'negative' image.
Destiny is certainly a part, but a cure is not what he seeks. Jackson is the author of this short story in square boxes and it is Jackson who gets all that he seeks. He allows Willis to take a small step towards his destiny. But, from his wheelchair, Jackson achieves more. Jackson is working from familiar turf, lame, incapacitated, a place he's been all of his life, from birth. Willis' is forced to tread unfamiliar water.
Jackson is bored too and needs a DIVERSION: enter everyman. There is no evil without good...no white without black...no broken without 'UNBREAKABLE'.
Along Came a Spider (2001)
I WAS HOOD WINKED!
This one got me good! Didn't see it coming or going and consequently thoroughly enjoyed the 'ride'. I'll leave it at that with this caveat: go in without prejudice or preconception and leave entertained. Many red-herrings, no spiders, lots of rain, an acceptable quantity of decent acting.
Deterrence (1999)
A pleasant surprise at first; a Biblical prophecy last
Got lucky and caught this little gem on cable without promo, hoopla or expectations. Had a little trouble seeing Kevin Pollak as the 'prez' until the story unfolded. On the surface it's a might makes right battle of good over evil ala Sid and Marty Kroft. (Hand puppets.) Then I settled in for the real story. Pollack is a weak, never-elected, mid-term veep come reticent-president called to task. The handlers try to handle, the president tries to preside and for a bit we believe he is without wits. We learn about our nation's security, the definition of security, and we are reassured while we recoil in horror. Only later do we get the second coming in Pollack and the necessity of his ultimate action. Only more relevant on the heels of the events of 9/11.
Wildly Available (1996)
Too true to be entertaining
Looking for escape? Don't look here. Most likely you've lived this film already. The first rate actors (except the lead), a decent script, engaging, nicely integrated sex scenes and complex characters do not resonate. The too-little-like-real-life beginning burrows down to a raw, indefinable center and (just when it starts to get interesting)produces a dry, too-much-like-real-life ending. The muddled motivation of the supporting characters is clearer when measured against the lead. Why does he seek outside the marital relationship what he already has? As my mum used to say: "Why buy the doggy collar when you have the ball and chain for free...dear?". To fully, frontally, enjoy this film, watch it with the sound off or be prepared to jump the fantasy vs. reality fence often...perhaps too often. Overall: PLOT 1)it has a plot; ACTING 2) by real actors; SEX 3)kinky and plentiful right up to the unfulfilling end; LENGTH 4) too long at the start, too soft in the middle, too short in the end.