Reviews

Cellular has such a contrived plot with silly coincidences and lots of dramatic licence, yet at the end of it all, it was fun to watch. Think Point Break or Con Air, movies so silly and far-fetched, you just sit back and go with it, and you are rewarded with a brisk paced fun little movie.

Chris Evans was a good lead man in his role as the young guy who is drawn into a kidnapping scenario. Kim Basinger does her best femme fatale role, and Jason Staham chews up the scenery as a nasty bad guy. Rick Hoffman does a nice turn as a jerk whose car (and phone) are taken by Evans. He has potential as a good comic relief actor.

Last but not least, there is the great Macy, William H. Macy to be exact. The day spa subplot involving him just cracked me up, and when he is wounded and manages to beat up a brawny thug, and goes flying through the air in a goofy action sequence with gun in hand, you just have to love it.

Sit back, have fun, shout comments at your TV set as the contrived plot devices pile up, and enjoy the eye candy and car chases. Most unexpected fun I've had in a while.

I wanted to like this film, and certainly there is room for a psychological character-driven movie which doesn't go for the cheap thrills. Yet, for the enjoyment of a movie, one requires a believable plot, some pacing and editing, and a feeling of involvement. In The Clearing, what starts out as an intriguing mystery, with a kidnapping and unknown motives, turns into a slow draggy pointless exercise. Nothing much really happens, and the so-called character-driven angles (as expressed by the director in his commentary) really don't add up to much.

Fine actors are wasted here. Robert Redford does his best trying to engage and outwit Willem Dafoe. Dafoe brings a bit of nuance to his character, insofar as one can feel somewhat sympathetic towards him. It's unfortunate that Dafoe has been typecast as a villain, he's gone into the Christopher Walken Hall of Fame of Typecasting.

Wendy Crewson is usually good but her character's entry into the movie was brief and contrived, and I was wondering why they even bothered to introduce her character. By far the biggest waste of talent was Helen Mirren. In the director's commentary, all I heard was how fabulous a talent she is. I agree, she's a great actress. Then why was she not used properly? Only towards the climax of this movie does she get to show herself, but by then the viewer has quit caring.

Too bad, I liked parts of this movie, but as another reviewer wrote, once you're halfway in you know the film is not going to get much better.

White Oleander was a great book, but there are a few nagging omissions in the movie. For some reason, Michelle Pfeiffer is an artist and not a poet in the movie (was the focus group confused?) Noah Wyle's character's name changed from Ron to Mark for some unknown reason.

More importantly, so much was left out of the movie. Before Alison Lohman's character goes to Claire's place (Zellwegger's), she endures lots more than what the movie shows. There is zero mention of the Van Nuys house with the racist foster mom, the black woman next door, the next place which was the Argentinian woman who had a padlock on the fridge etc.. In the book, Claire's place was like an oasis of peace and tranquility, and love. This did not come through the way it should have. Claire was just a short episode in the movie too, which was wrong.

On the plus side the acting was great, Pfeiffer; beautiful but with that dagger glare; Wright Penn as the white trash hypocrite; Renee as the insecure actress and Alison Lohman as a girl going through foster homes and living in her own prison. Good enough movie if you haven't read the book, but a letdown for me.

This movie is a decent family made for TV thing, slice of life from early 50's Arkansas about a cotton-growing family. This movie is well described by others here...but what I want to ask is... what kid had long hair in 1950? I find that a major annoyance, more focus-group casting? Nice to see Scott Glenn and Geoffrey Lewis though.

Like Nicolas Cage in Red Rock West and Con Air, or Sean Penn in U-Turn, Ben Affleck is a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. In this case he impersonates a fellow inmate to get it on with Charlize Theron once he's released, only to find himself forced into an armed robbery scheme with a crazed looking long-haired Gary Sinise.

Affleck is great; I was never a huge fan of his but he cracked me up with the way in which he kept pushing Sinise's buttons. Sinise is way over the top and keeps coming with the nasty one-liners. He enjoys a rather warped variation on dart-throwing for example.

The Christmas setting makes things even funnier. If you like stuff like Red Rock West, Fargo, Midnight Run and Con Air this could be up your alley. Don't expect anything resembling great art or serious suspense here, but it is pretty snappy with the one-liners and a real hoot.

As someone who's read a lot about the Civil War, I was very much interested in this prequel to Gettysburg. I figured that even though some might have found this topic boring, that I would love it. Well, on the positive side, Stephen Lang was excellent as Stonewall Jackson, and the Fredericksburg battle scene was thrilling; it really illustrated the futility and carnage of that attack. (although Gen. Lee seemed to be standing on the wrong side of the river once or twice). Jeff Daniels reprised his Gettysburg role as Chamberlain and once again he played the part very well.

On the down side, several scenes should have been cut entirely. Chamberlain's goodbye to his wife, the Silent Night singing, and ESPECIALLY that extremely annoying phenomenon known as The Cute Kid. I expected such nonsense in The Patriot, but in this so-called epic trilogy it was way out of whack. The Cute Kid seemed to get as much screen time as Robert Duvall (who didn't have much to do, unlike Martin Sheen in Gettysburg).

This movie focuses on three 1861-62 battles...First Manassas, Fredricksburg and Chancellorsville. It isn't meant to be a strict history of the first two years, it is more like the Civil War as seen through the eyes of Stonewall of the Confederacy and Chamberlain, the philosopher/citizen/soldier of the Union. It could have been a lot better, and in 2 and a half hours instead of 4.

Needless to say, may the non history buff beware!!

Hmm, let me see, there's a Bangkok movie with Leo running into "Daffy" (a manic Robert Carlyle who was fun to watch)...the beach movie where the community adjusts to Leo's arrival, and the third part which was a total mess. Leo's little pantomime among the smuggler-drug dealer types with their guns at their side while they were sleeping was either the most ridiculous moment in movies for a long time or the funniest. Leo DiCaprio is not yet a great "bad actor" like Keanu Reeves or Nicolas Cage, but he's getting there.

Relax and have fun with The Beach, it's got some eye candy, scenery and a bit of action here and there, but mostly it's just a very silly messed up movie that you should just sit back with your friend and enjoy pointing out all the inconsistencies and bloopers. Hilarious.

Gosford Park has an interesting Upstairs Downstairs look at the class system in England in the 1930's, and it is well acted, particularly Emily Watson and Maggie Smith, but the flaws in this picture are many. There was no real direction to the plot, the murder seems like a gratuitous thing when it finally does occur. Count me among the people who have never liked Robert Altman, in fact I think MASH and Nashville are two of the most overrated films ever made. Here again, despite the fact that I have watched so many Brit films and TV series, I had to use closed caption for much of the movie because of Altman's infuriating need to have people talking on top of each other. The picture simply lacked focus and cohesion, too many characters, and did I miss something or what the heck was the purpose of Mr. Blond and Rupert?

The Royal Tennenbaums is dreadful, the most overrated film so far this decade. Having actors play against type is usually a tried and true way to make a movie interesting, but here it is pointless. Gwyneth Paltrow has stringy hair and smokes cigarettes, okay, so what? Ben Stiller wears a 70's Adidas track suit...ha ha! Owen Wilson crashes his car into a dog, man that was funny/sad wasn't it? Creating offbeat characters and having an interesting idea on the surface doesn't translate into a good picture. I'm like a lot of people, I enjoy films like Memento, Run Lola Run, others like that which break the mold of formula filmmaking a bit, but like others here, I got sucked in and it was a huge waste of money seeing this. Awful, dreadful, crap, and a huge waste of good people. Gene Hackman tries, he really does, even he can't save this mess.

Don't Say a Word is a no-brain thriller from start to finish. Douglas is convincing enough as the psychiatrist whose daughter is kidnapped for reasons not worth mentioning, suffice to say that he races around in his Land Rover a lot through the streets of NYC. First of all, bad acting alert! Jennifer Esposito is awful as the "tough" detective, or maybe it was the cheesy lines she had to deliver. Of course he's married to some model type, Famke Janssen, who isn't there for her acting ability either (pretty well nonexistent). This wife of his, with a broken leg, suddenly has the powers of Wonder Woman when attacked by big strong homicidal men who have just gotten out of Attica. Oh well....

Brittany Murphy is quite appealing however, especially when she warbles "I'll never te--ell!" I'll give this movie an A for asinine, B for brain dead, C for confusing and D for dumb. Oh yes, there are a few shots of Esposito's rear end, I guess they're trying to do a J-Lo copy with her. "DROP....YOUR....WEAPON...." man that's acting. Poor Michael Douglas, what was his agent thinking?

Proof of Life comes under the heading "decent timewaster". Meg Ryan's husband, played by David Morse (who turns in his usual solid supporting performance) is kidnapped by rebels in an fictional Andean nation (Peru, Ecuador, take your pick). After getting no help from the embassy and the oil company who had cancelled the kidnapping insurance previously, Russell Crowe arrives on the scene, an Aussie who joined the British Army and served in the SAS. In other words he is a formidable presence who is Ryan's only hope. Crowe is pretty good as usual. The movie plods along slowly, and there are more than a few times when the pace calls for some serious tightening and editing. At 2 hours and 15 minutes it's 15 minutes too long.

David Caruso does a good job as Crowe's sidekick in the special forces field, but his time on the screen is too short. His role reminded me a bit of Willem Dafoe's role in Clear and Present Danger, but it isn't fully realized. As for Meg and the sparks between her and Crowe, one tends to forget about the tabloid news that shadowed this film, she holds her own in a role more suited to her than the one she played in Courage Under Fire. All in all, Proof of Life is a decent enough movie, it's the usual formula but not bad.

This film starts out in a promising way, small bookstore owner Meg Ryan is about to be put out of business by mega-store guy Hanks, with the twist being that they are also anonymous e-mail friends. It was a good premise for a romantic comedy, and Hanks and Ryan have done well together in the past, but the storyline becomes contrived and implausible, and the whole thing falls apart. It's as if the execs in charge wanted to do Sleepless in Seattle again, instead of just doing their best with this movie as it stood. You've Got Mail runs way too long, and I really had a problem with Ryan's increasingly warm feelings towards Hanks, who is trying to put her out of business. Totally implausible!

Swordfish has John Travolta who is always charismatic as a bad guy, and the always worthwhile Don Cheadle, but the movie itself is dumb, cliched and a bit of a mess. Halle Berry's topless scene just screamed "Gratuitous nudity!" There was no real point to that, as photogenic as she is. Hugh Jackman makes Mark Wahlberg's wooden performance in Planet of the Apes look energetic and lively, Jackman is that dull, and I was rooting for Travolta's character the whole time. There's the "who cares" techno babble wasting precious minutes, and the whole bus in the air thing is ridiculous. This movie could have been a tongue in cheek bit of fun like Con Air or Face Off, but it just doesn't work.

First off, although Kim Basinger adds some depth to her character as the film proceeds, it boggles my mind how she was nominated for a best supporting Oscar, let alone win it. It simply shows how a little buzz from a few people can get a steamroller going. On the other hand, Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe were robbed of nominations, both (especially Pearce) give terrific performances. This is a story of corruption in the LA police force, and the period atmosphere and byzantine plot make this a modern film noir to be reckoned with. The body count becomes ridiculously high and this theme has been done much better (see Chinatown) but the end result is a satisfying film.

Kevin Spacey, Danny Devito and James Cromwell all add to the enjoyment with their roles. I still think this film is hugely overrated though, #36 of all time on IMDB is way too high. LA Confidential is overlong, the plot stretches believability at times and again, this genre has been done better.

I see this movie has been getting lukewarm reviews, yet a bleak unentertaining self-indulgent mess like the Royal Tennenbams is praised to the skies. The Shipping News is a nice little movie, nothing special, but it has the right combination of drama, scenery and humour that I enjoyed watching it very much. Kevin Spacey plays Quoyle, an inksetter at the Poughkeepsie News going nowhere in a dead end job and a marriage to a flagrantly cheating woman (Cate Blanchett). Circumstances take him and his aunt (Judi Dench) to Newfoundland, where a new life begins. Julianne Moore does a fine job as Wavey Prowse whose life intersects with Quoyle's.

For those like me who have read the book, there are a few omissions, such as the younger daughter and no mention of Quoyle's friend Partridge, yet Lasse Halstrom strikes a balance between faithfulness to the story and the sweep of scenery and atmosphere. Much like last year's Chocolat, it is a gentle film that one can spend 2 hours enjoying. I'm not sure that Spacey is the right actor to portray Quoyle, yet he does an excellent job going against type, so perhaps that's what acting is all about. So if you want to see a good enjoyable and involving movie, see The Shipping News, and leave self indulgent crap like the Royal Tennenbaums to those who like being bored senseless for 2 hours.

A retired pitcher (Alan Arkin) finds out his long time battery mate was elected to the Hall of Fame, but died just before finding out. The movie is Arkin coming to terms with his regrets of the past, and driving to Cooperstown, but with the ghost of Greene in the car with him. Along the way come his great nephew who practises meditation, and a girl they pick up along the way who is fanatical about baseball. The movie touches on the plight of the non-white baseball player, the "Zen" of the game, and the regrets and grudges people keep between each other.

Unfortunately, the movie had way too many silly moments and forced situations, that one best beware that this is not Field of Dreams. The pacing is glacier-like at times as well. Just a Sunday afternoon time waster kind of movie, nothing more.

Aspen Extreme is in the mold of movies like All the Right Moves, Youngblood etc. nothing special but just a fun little movie. Paul Gross and Peter Berg are two guys from Michigan who go to Aspen as ski instructors (??!) and explore their new vista. Berg of Chicago Hope and Gross of Due South make an excellent partnership, I found myself rooting for them from the beginning. Gross is the pretty boy who captivates both the rich teaser and the super cute radio jockey (played by the captively cute Teri Polo). The movie is humorous for much of the first half, but then takes a darker turn, and tends to drag on in the second half as well. The ski scenes are okay but I felt like I was watching a specialty adventure sports channel, in other words it was overkill. Otherwise it's just a late night timewaster which I expected to be boring but instead was fun and a good little movie to watch with a lady friend. 5 out of 10.

This picture started out with good intentions, Bacon the scientist out to test the theory of invisibility, and Shue is cute as usual in her role. It all falls apart after that, it's your typical Hollywood thriller now, filmed on a soundstage with special effects galore, minus any kind of humour, wit or soul. In other words, don't waste your time watching this. Get the audiocassette tape with John DeLancie as the Invisible Man instead, also starring Leonard Nimoy. Now that was good, and HG Wells is well served, unlike with this mess.

I enjoyed Judgment Night, mostly because of Leary, who smirks and hams his way through this movie. Estevez, Cuba and friends drive to the wrong side of town, where Leary is ruling the streets. Just sit back and enjoy, it's a generic plot, but good fun. Leary referring to a gang leader as "Webster" is just one of his many good lines, delivered with his edgy style. Estevez and Gooding are fine, and once the movie starts rolling it's basically a chase through the dark streets. Nothing special, 6 out of 10 for me.

In this era of big budget nonsense like Pearl Harbor, Jurassic III and Tomb Raider, The Score is a breath of fresh air. It is a heist movie, we've seen it before in different variations, but this movie was compelling nonetheless. DeNiro plays his character straight down the middle, and slips into his role seamlessly. He is a Montreal jazz club owner and also a professional high stakes burglar, who approaches his craft with caution and professionalism. Edward Norton is the cocky young guy who has the "inside info" of a great treasure in the Montreal Custom House. Marlon Brando is the man with the connections who is like the producer/fence of the whole operation.

In lesser hands Norton's role could be a generic one, but Norton once again proves himself as the man to watch in films, he simply walks away with this movie (with no disrespect to the other 2 greats). As for Brando, well, I could say "The horror, the horror", but he does lend his personna to his few scenes and it's fun to see him again. Angela Bassett serves merely as decoration, her role doesn't flesh out DeNiro's character very much.

As for the plot, it is very riveting after a methodical buildup, and certainly the ending was well worth the wait. Very satisfying movie, and a good antidote to most of the garbage that Hollywood is churning out these days.

Planet of the Apes has some major flaws to get over, and despite a solid final 30 minutes, the film has some problems. Mark Wahlberg comes off as a cocky punk, and his acting is so wooden and one-dimensional, you wonder what they were thinking when they cast him. The tendency is for Hollywood to cover all the bases, so you get your generic supermodel, mouthy 12 year old boy, cute little girl, and so on. Roth was fine, but overall the script was nothing special, the battle scenes were uneven, and the preachy subtext about racism/animal rights was as subtle as a hammer on the head. There were some entertaining moments, but add this movie to a long list in the past few years as case studies for "What's wrong with Hollywood" or "How to Monkey up a good idea" or even "Why must Hollywood always Ape old classic movies?".

I have no problem with action movies, but not when they're stupid and boring. Even the car chases were contrived and uninteresting. This movie managed to waste the talents of good people like Cage, Jolie, Duvall and Will Patton. What a waste of 2 hours!

Holy Smoke was an interesting movie for about an hour. It was quite offbeat and there was a well constructed cast of characters, and until Winslet's character hooked up with Keitel it looked to be an interesting angle on the whole cult deprogramming phenomenon. Afterwards, things went from silly to ridiculous, and the film totally lost its focus. It's typical of directors in this era to mess up their movies with self-indulgence, and this one is no exception. I always enjoy the performances of Keitel and Winslet, but in this instance they were misused.

More so than the Altamont debacle, the Isle of Wight Festival was the end of an era. Morrison and Hendrix would soon be gone, and the impracticalities of mass concerts like this is shown in all the turmoil that occurred here. This is a documentary movie with terrific musical numbers in a wild mix, from Leonard Cohen to Ten Years After, from John Sebastian to the Who, from Tiny Tim to Miles Davis to Taste. The most revealing glimpse into the future is the progressive rock juggernaut taking sail, with Emerson Lake and Palmer a million miles away from Joni Mitchell-type hippiedom. The invasion of the stage by a man during Joni's set serves to contrast the "do your own thing" attitude with the "let's tighten up security and make some money" realities which would become the norm soon enough. There's a middle ground here which is energizing. Certainly this is no Woodstock '99, which was simply a horrible evil place with no redeeming qualities.

Wall Street could have fit in very nicely in the theatres today. The bull market of the late 80's can be compared to the insane dot.com market of the late 90's, the same mistakes made on Wall Street repeated themselves again. Hal Holbrook's character is the voice of reason in Wall Street, telling Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) to stick to the basics, and not get carried away with going for the easy buck. Fox is entranced by dynamo Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), whose specialty is taking over and "wrecking" companies, "because they're wreckable". Gekko takes Fox in as his protege, teaching him the ropes and showing him the realities of greed. Fox becomes corrupted, and despite the sobering influence of his union man dad (Martin Sheen) gets ensnared in Gekko's web. Great performances all around, Douglas was deserving of the Oscar, Charlie Sheen was very good in his role as well. There are terrific supporting roles in this movie; Martin Sheen, Holbrook, Terence Stamp and Oliver Stone's favourite character actor, John C. McGinley. For all of Stone's later failed movies, Wall Street hits the nail on the head, and above all entertains the audience. It's hard to see how the same man directed trash like Natural Born Killers afterwards.