Reviews

I was eight or nine years old when this aired. About all I can recall is that it was frightening and gloomy for a kid to watch, but I often did nevertheless. One thing I seem to recall is that the aliens could kill people by touching them with a device on their palms that looked like a joy buzzer. I remember one episode where a man was sitting at the wheel of a parked car and an alien rose up in the seat behind him and touched the back of his neck with one of those gizmos. Spooky. This must have provided at least a bit of the inspiration for "The X-Files." It also had a motif, if I recall correctly, reminiscent of "The Fugitive." Along with "The Outer Limits," this show really had a terrifying effect on me. I used to have to hide behind my dad's big chair and peek out around it to watch this, and "The Twilight Zone" and "Alfred Hitchcock" as well. I wish TVLand would air a few episodes.

When I was a child I had a great fear of moths. Something about the way they fluttered around the porch lights, and maybe the silly cartoons I watched where moths would chew the clothing off people, making a sound like a buzzsaw. My parents kept trying to assure me I had nothing to fear because moths don't bite or sting, but it took me quite a few years to get over my moth phobia.

Unfortunately there's disappointingly little to be afraid of in "The Mothman Prophecies," as well, except perhaps for kids who don't know any better. I kept waiting for the moment when the movie would get halfway scary, instead of just weird, confusing and moody, but the moment never arrived. It was like watching "Close Encounters" with all the scenes of UFOs edited out to leave only Richard Dreyfuss acting like a nutcase.

I'd have to say the fault rests mainly on the script. The acting was just fine and the visuals were good, particularly the climactic scenes at the end. That makes it all the more frustrating, because it appears that a lot of talent was wasted on a story that had about as much impact as a moth hitting the radiator grill of a truck traveling 70 mph.

God help me, I love movies about dumb guys, and this one is definitely a dumb-guy classic. And believe it or not, it's all rather good-natured humor. I'd say it's the best Ben Stiller movie I've seen so far, just edging out "Meet the Parents" and not a gross-out flick like "Something About Mary." OK, it's totally silly and frivolous, but it's silliness and frivolity at it's best. The best scenes are the brainwashing segment and the "walkoff" between Zoolander and Hansel with David Bowie as referee. And it's great to see Ben and his dad working together.

The Josh Kornbluth character in this flick is so much like me it hurts to watch it. OK, I've never really "temped" and I've had a "perm" job for more than a year now, but the disgustingly messy apartment, the tasteless sportshirts, the procrastination... it's downright scary. I saw from the demographic breakdown of votes for this movie that women aren't crazy about it but it gets high marks from men, especially middle-aged men. So it must be a "middle-aged pathetic guy flick." Speaking as a pathetic middle-aged guy, it was sometimes painful to laugh at myself, but I'm quite happy that I got a chance to experience this movie. "Haiku Tunnel" is the "Bridget Jones's Diary" for us hopeless males who have (as Josh's lawyer boss charitably put it) an "artistic temperament."

I'll admit this movie has its faults. It owes a great deal to American serial killer thrillers and cop buddy flicks. There was too much exposition crammed into the last 30 minutes, and I'm still not sure I completely understood the big revelation at the end. Still, I enjoyed it. I especially liked the fight scene between Cassell and the skinheads, really got my adrenaline pumping. The opening sequence showing close-ups of a cadaver was (probably a poor choice of word) fresh. The shots of the French mountains were exquisite and foreboding. Cassell's two cop sidekicks were good foils and comic relief. I think the movie showed a gothic side to France that I as an American don't often see.

(Warning: This includes a few comments that MIGHT spoil some of the suspense or fun for some viewers.)

Good news for all you XY-chromosomed cineastes still smarting from being dragged to see "The Joy Luck Club." It matters not if you, like this reviewer, are automotively challenged. I can barely jump-start, much less hot-wire, a car, but I dug the hell out of this flick anyway.

Like most filmic male-fodder, it has a rather silly premise. If Memphis has gone straight, why doesn't he just call the cops as soon as he's found out that the creepy Limey has nabbed his baby brother? Why does he keep his promise to steal all those cars after the Bad Guys have released Kip (as if they would!)?

Well, because if any of that happened, the movie would be too darn realistic and it would spoil all the fun. You wouldn't have the reunion of car-stealin' buddies, the young wannabe crooks would never get the benefit of the oldtimers' wry wisdom, and Memphis wouldn't get back together with the impossibly sexy female mechanic.

No doubt volumes have already been written about the cool chase scenes, so I won't dwell on that. Here's two things I really liked about this movie:

1. Giovanni Ribisi did an excellent job of mimicking Nicolas Cage's vocal quirks. Not a blatant imitation, but a credible echo. You can really believe they were raised in the same family.

2. They did not spoil the mood with a bunch of sappy romance between Memphis and the pouty blond grease monkey. Just enough exposition to let the viewers know they had a past, without a lot of digression into hurt feelings or momentum-sapping lovemaking scenes.

Besides, that'd be totally unrealistic. When you've got that many cars to steal on deadline, you can't waste your time making out -- no matter how delicious and engine-savvy the babe happens to be.

"Ravenous" holds up remarkably well for a movie that can't decide whether it wants to be a comedy, horror or Western. I was a bit put off by some of the historical details, such as the soldier Reich's Billy Idol hairstyle and the dialogue that was decidedly NOT antebellum (The Colonel kept saying, "Wow!"). Would the U.S. Army really let a soldier get away with smoking "loco weed" and taking peyote in the 1840s? I don't know.

Anyway, the "Eat me" quote that flashes on the screen at the beginning of the film should tip anyone off that the film is intended to be tongue in cheek (appropriate considering the subject matter). The soundtrack, as others have noted, is annoying at times, but perhaps that's all part of director Bird's grand scheme. I have to agree with other viewers who say it smacks of "cult classic."

Officer Jim Curring hasn't had a date in three years, since the divorce. He spends his days in his patrol car talking to an imaginary videographer as though he were on an episode of "Cops." He gets a call to investigate a noisy disturbance at an apartment where he finds a desperate woman addicted to cocaine. It's love at first sight.

John C. Reilly deserves some kind of award for his performance as the devout, sincere, beleaguered and lonely patrolman. His story alone would make "Magnolia" a great movie, but it's only a part of the mosaic. Jason Robards, Tom Cruise, William H. Macy, Henry Gibson (as barfly Thurston Howell) and other actors too numerous to list make this a movie a great team performance. There's no "big star" -- every character is important and painfully human. The movie is full of bittersweet humor, but much more life-affirming than "Boogie Nights."

I just wonder, though, were any frogs harmed in making this movie?

Like "Fires on the Plain," this documentary gives you the side of World War Two they left out of the John Wayne films. A Japanese war veteran is haunted by memories of fellow soldiers who were executed (and eaten!) by officers in New Guinea. Ironically, the officers used false charges that the soldiers were themselves cannibals as an excuse for executing them. The old soldier goes on a quixotic and unpopular crusade to bring the truth to light.

Every American who thinks he or she understands World War Two should see this movie. Few Hollywood films about the war have defied the stereotype of Japanese soldiers as emotionless brutes obeying orders without thinking. We like to think that every Japanese man was ready and able to fight to the death, right up to the day we bombed Nagasaki. "Fires on the Plain" shows a different reality: troops pathetically undersupplied, demoralized and starved to the point of cannibalism. They euphemistically refer to human flesh as "monkey meat." The movie and novel on which it was based also put to death the myth that Japanese soldiers all preferred death to surrender: They had good reason to believe that their enemies were in no mood to take prisoners. To me it raises a question most Americans would rather avoid: If the Japanese military was so beaten down at this point in the war, why was it necessary to nuke Hiroshima?