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rory_keyes
Reviews
L'emploi du temps (2001)
boring like nothing I've ever seen before
I suppose if you're REALLY into the type of movies that explore the untouched depths of the human soul and inner turmoil (and without using a whole lot of words...just a LOT of pensive expressions), this could be the perfect film for you! Personally, I prefer movies where something happens.
Frankly, I was bored senseless. About halfway through the film I started watching the movie in 2.5x speed, which made me realize appreciate a whole new aspect of subtitled films...you can get through the terrible ones a WHOLE lot faster.
This movie was just a lot of foreplay with absolutely no follow through. I read later on that the film had been "based" on a true story of a depressed, unemployed man who actually ended up killing his whole family. Now THAT could have been an amazing movie! Sadly, this ending was not NEARLY as gripping. I think I spent about $1.99 renting this movie, but I came to realize that there's some things in life that are worth more than money. Namely, the 2 hours of my life that I wasted watching it which I will never have back.
Briar Patch (2002)
RENT THIS MOVIE!
After watching this movie and THOROUGHLY enjoying it I thought that I'd check to see how it did on it's IMDb rating and frankly, I was STUNNED! A two point four!?!? I couldn't believe it! This was one of the most surprisingly enjoyable movies that I've rented in a long, long time. Although somewhat predictable, the simplistic mix of drama and humor, the colorful characters and the original plot all elevate the quality of this movie FAR above many others I've rented recently. I can't imagine why people feel this movie deserves such a low rating, but give it a chance and I don't think you'll be disappointed. Just don't forget to come back once you've watched the movie and help to give it the rating that it deserves.
Ray (2004)
Some ups and Lots of Down's
While there's no denying that Jamie Foxx's acting throughout this entire movie is simply excellent, in my opinion it's the only thing carrying the film. Other than being FAR to long, there were several scenes throughout the movie which were downright awful...the type of scenes that left me a little frustrated, since they could've been easily excluded, and yet detract from the movie so much that I actually laughed several times (and NOT during any scenes that were intended to be even mildly humorous). Most of these foul-ups dealt with the overly sappy character development and miserably cleched dialog between the young Ray Charles and his mother, but also popped up in other randomly odd places throughout the flick just enough to keep things from getting too realistic. Ultimately, the mix of good and very bad led to an overall disappointing film. My advice: save the money for something better and wait for it to come out on video.
Saw (2004)
Squandered potential
A good movie, but it COULD have been great. Things started out interesting, soon became thoroughly captivating, but eventually took a tragic nosedive. Not in terms of the plot (which remained quite good), but the acting, for some unexplained reason, becomes almost unbearably bad for the last 20 minutes of the film. This was especially disappointing since it was from the climax of the movie onward, which causes the movie to go out with a whimper rather than a bang. Granted, the acting was not spectacular in general, but it was at least ignorable for most of the movie. Such a shame to see bad acting detract from what was otherwise a very respectable film. Overall, it's still a must see for suspense/horror movie buffs.
Ônibus 174 (2002)
get to the point please
Overall, I have to admit that I was spectacularly bored throughout the first hour of this movie. I may have been turned off by the fact that I was expecting a movie (since it was compared in the synopsis to City of God...which it is by NO means in the same league as) and got a longwinded documentary instead. Although there were some redeeming highlights to the film which gave an interesting look into the lives of the street youths, they were few and far apart with EXCESSIVE amounts of drawn-out, uninspired filler bridging the gaps (ie: zoomed in shots of legal documents - there were quite a lot of these).
Sadly, I have to admit that I didn't make it to the end of the movie (which was unfortunate because from what I read it apparently picks up somewhat). However, I still stand behind my poor review. I have made it to the end of some TERRIBLE movies before, but I couldn't manage this one. It may have had presented a profound issue, but it did so in a poor fashion.