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arvig
Reviews
The Party at Kitty and Stud's (1970)
An excellent film, showcasing Stallone's true acting talent.
I know people might try to debate that the first "Rocky" or perhaps even the first "Rambo/First Blood" film shows off Stallone's acting talents much better then this small independent film made at the start of his career. But for me, this shows off Stallone's true acting talent, true skills. The subtle nuances he gives the character of "Stud" truly make the film come alive. The fact that his first film was a romantic comedy with some slight erotic undertones (although perhaps not as erotic as let's say "Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot") shows what might have been if Stallone hadn't picked a direction like drama with Rocky, and action films with the Rambo films. Believe me, although I suppose both make good "popcorn" movies, his acting pales in comparison to the work in this film. Rent this, buy this, borrow this, or do whatever else you must do to see this. You'll regret not seeing this film on your deathbed if you don't, it is that good. The only minus? There's some odd sex scenes that seem to have very little to do with the plot or character development, but this was the freewheeling 70's too, and I'm sure they were put in to heighten the erotic aspects of this film. (Again, I find "Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot" a bit more erotic, though).
Eagle Eye (2008)
Mindless, fun in an unintentional comedy sort of way
Going to make some comments before I post my actual "review" (Note quotes): 1) I'm checking off spoiler more to be careful then anything, my comments will contain mild spoilers, not a synopsis of the whole plot.
2) I don't often write reviews, so forgive me if I ramble a bit or if this doesn't read like a conventional movie review.
Anyway, this movie is basically mindless fluff and fun in an unintentional comedy sort of way. The movie starts off unrealistic and goes to absurd very quickly, and stays there to the very end. In fact, absurd is a strong understatement for a good portion of this film. The plot holes can be sailed through by a small aircraft carrier. But, although I found myself gawking at the TV screen (I watched this on DVD at someone's house three days ago) wondering how much more absurd this film will get, I also found myself able to enjoy it, but only as unintentional comedy. For me, the level of absurdity and the plot holes simply just made it impossible for me to enjoy it as a thriller, or even as an action film.
To give an example, instead of going through the "Rube Goldbergesque" series of convoluted actions done my Aria, the computer villain of this film, why didn't Aria hire a couple thugs or a Private Eye or some such to capture Jerry, take him to DC and then give him instructions to get to Aria itself? No-one gets killed, no-one but Jerry is involved. One can threaten Jerry via threatening members of his family or his friends playing poker if he refuses to comply, no need to also kidnap the young mother (her character's name already escapes me) and threaten her son to have her along to assist. That's just one of numerous plot holes within the film. There's of course the issue of what if one of the vehicles our two heroes takes breaks down, what if they get fed up, think Aria is bluffing and throw out their cell phones and make a mad dash to the Canadian border (they start out in Chicago, so Canada isn't really that far) and so forth. There's even the characters of Jerry and the young mom being able to hold their own against trained security guards, Jerry doing this a couple more times against other security guards and police officers. Yet they establish that neither character has military or police training, the young mom is well, a young single parent, Jerry is a slacker living in the shadow of his twin brother. One could have easily said that Jerry like his brother joined the military, but simply enlisted, and was discharged unfit for military duty or some such, or a medical discharge or something along those lines. Gives him enough basic training to at least be able to hold his own against people like cops and security guards, without breaking the character being a slacker at all, nor does it make things too absurd, he was just a common grunt before medically or dishonorably discharged. But even little things like that to explain how he could do these things were ignored.
Anyway, this film isn't Uwe Bowl absurd or bad. Please don't take my comments in that vein. But it was pretty absurd, and it does show. But, on a "bad movie night", it's mindless fun.
Babel (2006)
Looks like I'm in the minority with regards to this film
I suspect I might be in the general minority with regards to this film. Mind you, the acting was superb, in fact somewhat ironically it makes me wish to track the careers of actors I had not heard of before seeing this film. That, along with it's direction is why I'm not giving this film a single star. I blame neither the actors nor the director. I blame the script.
But, to me this film is in a category of "Crap happens", I will say it that way to avoid vulgarity. Otherwise, a film that mistakes pathos and unrelenting tragic events for a deep, moving story. I would honestly suggest that anyone who is diagnosed as clinically depressed not see this film, it might drive them to suicide, and I am not trying to be sarcastic with this statement.
The whole idea, is that one rifle causes all these tragic events. To be specific, the shot fired by one of the Moroccan boys. Yet, why would they shoot a bus? Yes, they are children, but we're still to honestly believe that children that know that said bullets can kill a jackal, and that would know that a moving vehicle, especially a bus would contain people, would fire upon it, simply because the man who sold it to them said the round would travel up to 3 kilometers? That is one such absurdity that we as the audience is to believe. From there, the unrelenting gloom and tragic events unfold in a quagmire of depression. Yes, I do expect a film like this to be tragic, I don't expect some shiny, happy film from this. But I don't expect this level of unrelenting sadness, nor do I want it.
There are other things left unanswered too. For instance, why the younger of the two Moroccan boys was spying on his own sister while she bathed, what was written on the note the deaf-mute girl gave to the police officer, why, even in her seeking love, said girl would actually disrobe and attempt to clumisly seduce the police officer, what happened to the two children who attended the Mexican wedding, and so forth. I do wonder if this was an attempt to force us to stay interested in the film, to force us to wonder what happened, almost as if the writer of the script didn't have faith that his own movie wasn't memorable enough. He had to leave things unanswered, strings untied, so we're forced to decide to dismiss them, or ponder what may have happened. Perhaps if this film wasn't such a mire of depression, I might actually choose to do exactly that. But in my mind, I wish to wipe the memory of such from me. I don't see self inflicted emotional angst via what should be a form of entertainment and art as enjoyable.
Obviously this film isn't for me, please take this as my opinion, not an attack upon anyone who does find this film enjoyable. Again, I shall credit all actors within this film, and even the direction. It's not their fault that the script made them in many cases unbelievable as people, it's not their fault they were stuck trying to make the coincidences around a single rifle believable.
Anyway, my two cents on this film. Perhaps I don't comprehend it. If so, then I do ask that people not flame me for an opinion, I of course fully welcome it if people disagree..as long as they choose to do so in a non-condensending, respectful manner. Any flames, any arrogance or narcissism or snobbish replies to my first review here on the IMDb will simple be laughed at by me.