Reviews

The only thing that saves it are the performances by the many familiar faces that star in it, which were mediocre at best. Would have been nice if there was more of an actual story or point to the thing. Every 10 minutes or so I was saying to myself "Is this going anywhere?"

I liked the songs they used (respectively), but I felt most of them to be very intrusive and distracting from the story. Especially that riff with the strings that would play at the beginning or end of almost every scene. And there were some scenes where complete silence would have served so much more to what's going on, for instance when that pizza delivery kid was stealing the rest of those drugs while we watched the dead guy. The music killed that scene.

Also, I think the writers/directors have some kind of hostility towards women which is displayed time and time again in this film. The way the women are portrayed is as if they're stupid and clueless as to what's going on. The anal sex scene, the brother pushing his sister to the floor and the girl getting punched towards the end just seemed like a way for these guys to express their own short comings with women, and I viewed it as borderline degrading.

And that one actor Jorge Garcia, his random Spanish words mixed with his English dialogue didn't seem to make sense, and I speak Spanish fluently. No one throws in fully conjugated and otherwise unknown Spanish verbs while talking to monolingual white guys.

I thought the look was alright. The lighting of the party at night kinda made it hard to look at, but it emulated the real life lighting of a party like that I suppose.

So yeah, 5 out of 10 for me. It probably could have been better if they'd gone through a couple more drafts of the script.

Out ranking it's sequels because of the beautiful cinematography by Ron Fricke, this one not only astounds the senses but it teaches a lesson to us all by only uttering one word that at face value means nothing, but once you've watch the film and that definition comes up it all starts to sink in.

Some of my favorite shots were the rolling clouds, what looked to be Utah's Lake Powell, the trucking in shot of the fighter pilot standing in front of his plane, the comparison between urban developments and microchip construction and what appears to be footage of the fateful Columbia mission.

It's a great ride and a great exposition of what's going on in our world. This one along with the two sequels has images that are just as shocking today as they were back in the early 80's.

After seeing 3 commercials for it during the superbowl and various versions of the trailer in the theatre I just thought this was a lame action packed capitalization on Keanu's action star status.

Boy was I wrong.

After familiarizing myself with the comic a bit before seeing the film, my hopes for the overall tone of the film were set. I knew what it should have been and what it shouldn't have been.

Constantine I would describe as a Biblical Apocalyptic Demonic Noir Film. There's very little "action" in the film, and when there is action it's very necessary and not at all gratuitous. Keanu surprisingly has the right look for the part and does a good job of avoiding those Ted Theodore Logan mannerisms we all recognize. His performance is stoic, disturbed, straight and well executed.

My only miff about the film is that the pacing towards the end is so slow and dragged out that the whole climactic feeling and rush that we should have in such scenes is sucked out of us. Peter Stormare is brilliant as Satan, Gavin Rossdale is surprising good as the demon Baltazar and that one chick from The Mummy although speaking with a strangely low voice does a worthy job.

Lawrence's direction was well done, with some influence we can see from our man Terry Gilliam. But every shot is interesting and that's what I look for in a good director.

Overall, I recommend this film, just be wary that it was influenced by a DC Comic and is ALL FANTASY! I believe Neil Gaiman even contributed to one of the comics in the past, so many of us may be interested in this subject. I only hope that a film like this can open some doors for Good Omens to be made.

Try to step out of your "adult" self for an hour and 47 minutes and enjoy a true "movie" that takes advantage of all the medium has to offer.

A classic Star Wars/Buck Rogers/The Rocketeer/Indiana Jones/The Day the Earth Stood Still type of movie that just entertains you and overloads your senses with such fantastic stunts and effects. This movie wasn't made for you to believe that any of it is at all possible, it is a fantasy film using classic sci-fi themes for its basis.

All movie buffs, Star Wars nerds and Ringers should love this movie. If you don't, then you don't like "movies"

I saw this film after delaying for months due to poor reviews by critics and people on IMDb. I'm sorry I delayed, no matter how you rank the films, the Coen Brothers can never go wrong.

Sure it doesn't have as many gags as their previous films, there isn't a hoard of eccentric characters and the camera doesn't take on as much an obvious role in the film. But if you can pay attention you will actually find yourself laughing hysterically all throughout.

It's not slapstick, it's a dark, comedic take on a subject that is taboo with the majority of the population. If you want something with the same premise but tries too hard to be funny go rent "Heartbreakers" with Jennifer Love Hewitt.

But I would advise you to rent this film, and if you already have but didn't like it, rent it again, pay attention, look at the subtleties and laugh, dangit!

I give this film a 31/2 out of 4 Stars!

Although it wasn't completely made by the original collaborators (Dali & Walt Disney), it still has their vision taken from their storyboards. This is classic Dali mixed with a female protagonist who has the familiar Disney style face.

Great story, with a wonderful somewhat tragic ending.

I just saw this great film at a free sneek preview. I had read some reviews about it being the next "Big Fat Greek Wedding", not so. I would call it the next "What's Eating Gilbert Grape". "Gilbert Grape" had a wonderful balance of both comedy and realistic drama and "Pieces of April" has the same quality to it. I laughed all throughout, and when I wasn't laughing I was feeling for the characters and their disfunctions.

This film was shot all in DV and it looks great. It gives you that feel of a well made home movie, therefore giving it some more realism. The pacing of the movie leaves not a dull moment and the characters are hilariously believable. Katie Holmes is beautiful as ever in her "black sheep child" gettup, and Oliver Platt has some great moments as the sensible father concerned for his daughter and his (physically) sick wife.

Oh, and remember the librarian in "Ghostbuster"? She's the grandma in this and she's hilarious.

If you're feeling indecisive about seeing this film, you should decide to see it. You'll feel good about it and if you're in a depressing hole it'll pull you out of it, just as it does with its own characters.

Both Welles and Terry Gilliam have this dream of bringing this film to the screen. Both have had tragic endings in their productions. But at least we have this footage to show what might have been. Unless Terry Gilliam gets another shot, I would recommend to any film maker who will pull it off to research this film as well as "Lost in La Mancha" to see what should be done visually.

Now, typically I don't like movies like this one. I'm more into Black Comedies, dark sci-fi, mystery, suspense, drama films. But being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints myself, and a former missionary in Guatemala, I had to go see it.

I hated the previous "Mormon" movie "God's Army", with it's melodramatic portrayal of a missionary's life in L.A. and it's blatent use of church ordinances to stir up emotions in my fellow members of the church. But what was great about "The Other Side of Heaven" was that you weren't bombarded with all the LDS dogma that you wouldn't understand unless you were already a part of the "Mormon" culture.

It was just a story of a missionary (to use a generic use of the term) who goes to another country and faces all the difficulties that we all would experience if we were to go to another country trying to express what is most important to us.

The love story was believable, since it was true. And it wasn't overdone like the droning love story in "Pearl Harbour" where the man had too decided to leave his woman for a while.

Mostly, as a former missionary myself, it brought back a load of great memories from my own mission and my own experiences.

I highly recommend it for all.

I just fell upon this movie while watching the IFC channel and I hadn't been back from Guatemala for long. After living there amongst the natives I was able to get to know them better and understand their culture more. Seeing this film brought back a lot of those memories and reminded me of the many stories I heard of the army's genocidal tendencies towards the indigenous people of Guatemala. The cinematography for this film is simple, but it shows the beautiful landscapes and run down third world towns in a way to almost show us the same details that we would see if we were really there. We have to remember that the characters portrayed in this movie are very real, they may not have the same names, but they do exist. Even the war vets who have gone to levels so low we cannot even imagine. If you would like to understand what went on in Southern Mexico and Guatemala during the 80's, I would strongly recommend this film. It left a very strong impression on me.