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scheller_2003
Reviews
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
A rarity indeed! A teen movie with brain and heart
It is sometimes pretty difficult to differentiate good and bad movies. I like to believe any kind of movie can be good -- horror films, art films, chick flicks, action etc. This is a teen movie -- and a damn good one. It is what I like to call "a teen movie with brain and heart". The story revolves around four best friends which are going to spend summer apart for the first time. Miraculously, they find a pair of pants that fit all of them (despite their different body features) perfectly. (It is a teen movie, and one has to accept its premise in order to like it) Once apart, the pair of pants bring the four separate stories together. In common, the four girls will have growing experience, often revolving around losses and new beginnings. The cast incredibly strong for such kind of movie. Amber Tamblyn (from "Joan of Arcadia") and Jenna Boyd are good as the authors of a "suckmentary" about their hometown as standouts. America Ferrara (from the independent "Real Women Have Curves"), playing the Latin girl trying to get to terms with her uptown dad, shows incredible range and vitality and almost steels the film away. However, director Ken Kwapis has a firm hand and make all the stories interesting - the plot is completed by Alexis Bledel ("Gilmore Girls") involved in a light "Romeo and Juliet" story in Greece, and Blake Lively is a soccer player trying to lose her virginity in Mexico. Kwapis never loses focus and the film ends up being a satisfying experience: none of the stories is left without conclusion, but the script leaves the most interesting of them to the last minute. "Siterhood of the Travelling Pants" is not ashamed to be what it is: a very well-made commercial fare.
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
All the wrong choices
Only fans of the Broadway musical may enjoy this failed attempt to repeat the success of "Chicago". Director Joel Schumacher made too many wrong choices for the film to work for a broader audience (which helps to explain its middle-range performance at the box office). The cast could have been much better, since there were a lot of actors willing to take part in the screen version of Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical. Emmy Rossum, as the female lead, is a bland presence, but does not compromise the result. But the leading men are a disaster: Patrick Wilson is inexpressive and unattractive, and Gerard Butler gives a wooden performance as the Phantom (he does not even have a good singing voice to justify the part). Schumacher also has chosen to populate the movie with "foggy" scenes to enhance the supernatural aspects of the story. The result, in a scene that takes place in a cemetery, is almost laughable. The scenes that take place in the theater are much better, especially the ones that show people working backstage. To save the movie, there are excellent supporting players (Miranda Richardson is classy as always and Minnie Driver is amusing as an Italian diva). In terms of direction, the only memorable musical number is the one that takes place during "The Ball of Masks".
Office Killer (1997)
I guess people did not get it...
I was impressed to see this film had so many bad reviews, both from critics and viewers. I saw it and I actually think it is a very good inside joke, it is only necessary to get the "spirit" of it. Director Cindy Sherman uses gore and some very curious camera positions to make you a little bit scary and also laugh once or twice (not out-loud, though). The performances from Carol Kane (totally crazy) and Molly Ringwald (in a very against-the-type turn) are very good. The supporting cast (German actress Barbara Sukowa and The Soprano's Michael Imperioli) is also interesting. I think this film makes a perfect midnight video snack with some friends.