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Smiley Face (2007)
Faris carries it
What about Anna Faris? She is not listed on the site as a participant of any sort, but her exuberance, talent and charm carry this entertaining fluff right to the bank. This young comedienne has such great promise, and is so cute that I am astonished she has not received more attention from the media: she is a potential contemporary heir to Burnette and Lucille Ball. She's prettier than Joan Cussack yet may have similar talent and intelligence. The director uses her deftly here and the film DOES deliver on its unself-conscious promise to entertain its audience -escapism that doesn't insult your intelligence...colorful fluff that does not compromise or pander to the stupidity of he youngsters who will see it. Ms Faris deserves more credit and more work! She will certainly be an asset to any director's efforts.
You go, girl!
Noise (2004)
Noise & Crash; yes/no?
Presently it's late January 2009. Though I enjoyed "Noise" extremely, I was so impressed throughout -even distracted- by the way it evoked my recollection of "Crash". That "Crash" (by Haggis) released in the US in '05, (and not the '96 one by Cronenberg). I've not found any mention of any perceived relationship, derivative similarity of voice or plot, between these 2 nearly simultaneous films in any online review or comment I perused neither here nor off-site. My mild surprise has further intrigued me and motivated me to post this.
Perhaps many more Yanks will see it now that it has had such a broad exposure via Sundance - yet I wonder if anyone other than plain 'ol ME has had the same thought. You have? Then please do post that up. Thanks.
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Never submit your first draft
We all err: it's the human way to mess up. I try to learn from my mistakes, and by 7th grade it had become clear that important homework, reports and other import assignments -even my higher priority personal letters papers- always would benefit tremendously from a fresh view after a night's sleep, and a few re-reads and spell checks.
This project is very like what happens when a child, in a state of giddy optimism and confidence, hands in the sloppy first draft with its erasures and snot stains intact. The producers seem to have had that belatedly icky feeling of "oh sh-t!" "It is really barely 15 minutes of a sketch about stupidity: and a first draft, at that: the audience is going to need to be in *precisely* the same mood as we were last night and how likely is that?" If not, they'll probably hate it (and us) as much as we do today."
"What to do?" Well,let's see: We can add in mawkish sentiment so folks will feel a bit guilty about not seeing we meant well and how kept it clean. Oh- Oh! Listen to this idea: we can pad it with plenty of loud goofy music! That'll set a mood -like a party! Loud!! Canned laughter even! Wait, no: just music and ethnic sensitivity.... ummm, retard sensitivity... handicap accessibility... Stuff that'll establish safe villains - bankers! Stuff that will cue the audience where to feel happy and funny.. just like they do for kids in Saturday morning cartoons!" Like Jerry does for the French....
The movie earns one star for its omission of camera shake, Jerry Lewis wearing a loose bow-tie, clowns, and jokes about gay dwarfs.
The Reaping (2007)
No Arguing Tastes
"No Arguing Tastes" I thought that was a pretty intense insight. 20 years later I read "Chacun a Son Gout" and I thought "gosh the French have just realized that 'taste thing' too! 20 years layer I learned the Romans had observed "De Gustibus Non Disputandem Est" during their own empire years... and I finally got the point: that novelty and the pleasure which its artful application may sometimes offer us is a fact of life which has been long been known to be ingredients which can coexist to please the audience.
This cliché-riddled film was a waste of time that annoyed and insulted the intelligence of this 56 yo man. Can you imagine Jack Nicholson sitting through this without repeatedly rolling his eyes? No way! There isn't a single feature or moment here which is as laughingly familiar as the vision of "Golden Arches" adjacent to a burger stand... *if* you're an American with a high school education who has been watching TV and movie and reading for at least 30 years.
However, to those who have never seen Psycho or a vinyl copy of the White Album it may possibly be fun to spend an hour listening to familiar lines for the 30th time, hearing the screech of violins, biblical references and the substitutions of startle reflexes with fear.
If you're a toddler, a popcorn-flavored lollipop will seem way more creative and ingenious fun than this film. If you're 50 you'll find more fun looking at the wind rustle the leaves of a tree (and so reasonably priced!) but for grades 5-12 there possibly be enough novelty and entertainment here to keep you from feeling more pleased than annoyed and insulted.
Smokin' Aces (2006)
could have been a Great... but someone betrayed
if guy ritchie... or whoever it was who made Lock Stock 2 Smoking Barrels.. could take the original dailies into an editing suite for a few days to clean up act 3, and rearrange some scene sequence errors so that it was a consistent vision, a work of that same genre... this would have been the adored cult king of monster roller coaster thrill genre.
but... it got lost half way through- such a sad lost opportunity...it didn't have to be a mediocrity....tragic: almost as if its genius suddenly, deliberately, perversely abandoned the path to greatness which it seemed to promise in the 1st half. how sad a loss.
Someone ruined it.
perhaps the same person who casted Andrew Garcia and persuaded him to try a southern accent, no less. Sophia Coppola has been avenged for his having shown her to be a vain tourist in G3.
Memron (2004)
a very good film of its genre
This is a comedy, it hopes to entertain us in the form of "Mockumentary" and it impressed and pleased me to a score of 7. and it is an interesting odd behavior, or so the social scientists would describe it to be, for I am to perform this task as a gesture of support to the creators of this film who might have an emotional investment in the various numerical descriptions here which aspire to rate this project and perhaps influence the choice of browsing visitors to this site, looking for numbers to help them predict whether they will choose to watch the film and be content they were right in that choice to trust the candor of assessments provided by visitors willing to help IMDb to provide their guests credible advice on their intent to buy .... goodness one can run on and on!
I thought it was odd that a film of this quality carries an unflattering numerical rating. Perhaps I want to make thee wold a better place by seeing to it that IMDb provide a more enthusiastic prediction to a client seeking pleasure more likely not to be disappointed if they watch this film, I am pleased that I am expending my valuable efforts in order to help IMDb please their clients with accurate predictions of quality work.
Mutual Appreciation (2005)
Insomnia? Color Blind? Manic? CURE ALL HERE !
Bring a pillow, a receptacle for excrement so you needn't stir, sign your will, and take your nemesis on a dream date.
Under acted, entirely improvised on the fly dialog. and mise-en-scene that leaves the camera unattended explores the boring spontaneous utterances of undergrads trying to make a really deep art film by saying a lot of "Like" and "So I go..." or "So I''m like..." . If they'd been black the most common utterance would've been repetitive "y'know what I'm saying ?"
Oh... and it's poorly filmed ...B&W.
Sound guys did workmanlike work. I hate this pretentious crap and was pleased I could turn it off. If at a cinema I would've assaulted a crippled ticket kiosk on my way out after 30'.
Kicking & Screaming (2005)
All over the map and still loses every bet
How sad to see Duvall reprise his Great Santini role in this frantic, perverse and over-acted trainwreck-of-a-movie. How did they pitch this mess? The story is absurd yet tries for moral tone and the maudlin redemption of children's love, just as the old Jerry Lewis films all had to reassure us he was not really out-of-control: because he was kind to crippled kids or somesuch (choking on my vomitus here). But *this* dog really barks! Even Jerry Lewis didn't have to be sweet and vulnerable and funny and loving ...while having a twisted and abusive father who is obsessed with humiliating his son to punish him for being younger than Dad. That's heavy Freudian stuff: a problem way worse than the coke addiction here satirized with coffee. Duvall gets a pass on his cruel humiliation of his vulnerable jerk-of-a-son and that foul stench makes the whole film sink, an Onanistic abortion if ever there were such a thing.
Also- I didn't like it.
Schultze Gets the Blues (2003)
A Pearl for those who yearn to love their fellow man, but don't
Well that was a pretty hifalutin' subject line but I'm dead earnest. I can't remember the last time a film convinced me of its utter sincerity in depicting entire classes of people in an appreciative, affectionate light with both intelligence and candor. You can be quite certain that - given the current zeitgeist of anti-US sentiment and also given the persistence of anti-Teutonic bias owing to the lingering stigma of 2 world wars, there are no films which have ever chosen the Germans and Yanks as races with charm, soul, funk, dignity, and great commonality.
Being an American with southern German ancestry makes me sensitive to depictions of both nations and I was quite touched and thoroughly pleased by the real affection, the mature appreciation so evident here for the cultural connection between modern day Germans (the salt mine town depicted is surely a salute to Bex in Switzerland) and rural Americans (Cajuns). By presenting such a far-fetched connection so as to ring true, the film is informed by a greater truth and persuades even my cynical side: perhaps one can find art and truth through our common humanity. Perhaps Western man is become one race, with the shared values most evident in its most down-to-earth citizens.
This is a beautifully filmed movie... the production values are top notch and cinematography is breath-taking on HDTV. As with so much European art, this film was lovingly made without compromises to the marketplace or sellout to a date-going demographic. Rather, this is a film for thoughtful sensitive adults... lovingly rendered to entertain, educate, and uplift. I am not easily impressed but this one scored all 3 bulls-eyes and joins my short list of the very finest of its craft.
Serenity (2005)
Lightweight popcorn for teens
Gees, gimme a break. A commercial venture clearly directed at the filmgoing demographic of teen daters and starving trekkers. At heart, the TV pathos is clear: Teen-Age Wish Fulfillment Entertainment. Wow, how very unique. At least there was no forensic "science" in the hour I tolerated. But this is not a place to enjoy stimulation, or new ideas unless you are a teen or someone still pondering the stuff that was tired to high school grads in 1950: "God-Dog...like wow, I'm deep". There are better ways to spend 2 hours, starting with sleep. Can they not even improve on the Millennium Falcon? Pretend that the crew would take it seriously when a they are at seriously peril of being spam-in-a-can heading for a catastrophic re-entry crash absent heat shields? How can you not be insulted that you are expected to except they'd all brashly joke about this en route? But the one dignified omnipotent wise and self-possessed character, a girl who "nobody understands, (sob!), just...like...You!) Gimme a break, Teeny-bopper fare. Not Neal Stephenson, Assimov. Think: Danielle Steele's Space Poseurs.
Mad Dog and Glory (1993)
A Pearl, a Gem, a Gift!
Year after year, when I ask myself to cite a film that was superb- accessible (not too much a commercial discard only directed to please the "insider"), enjoyable yet sadly unknown and unappreciated...it's this. The title must be the sadly unimportant error -but such a trivial gaffe to keep this a secret from humanity. Yet what other fault can I claim? Not a one: just the title, silly enough to drop the ball before a viewer decides whether to view it. The ugly girl who never gets action at a mixer, her first date leaves the beau astonished in his fortune, irreversibly smitten.
Yeah, I adore this film: all the contributions were *just right* . I'd never heard Louis Prima!
Uma: this (and Hysterical Blindness) is why I love you; this is why you could retire today with pride!
Starr, Caruso, Murray, de Niro: thank you for this gift from Scorcese & Price...wow! Please please listen to your therapist and go to her ENT doctor: I won't wet myself or anything: I'm really good at what I do too. Let me do something nice for you to show my appreciation. Elmer: you too. How moved and fulfilled it makes me. Each time. It is a human voice. Thank you all, even in 2006.
This Girl's Life (2003)
Has no one in Hollywood a vehicle for James Wood?
Has no one in Hollywood a vehicle for James Wood? This is tragic, awful, self-conscious soft-porn. Heart of gold, med student, the whole painful project is an ordeal to watch...and I was unable to go beyond a half hour, I confess.
JW: my heart breaks to see what you have cast before salacious trotters. If I were a producer, I'd hire you in a hearbeat. I know you can still menace, can still show depth, can still out-act the handsome rockjaws and the grotesque Brody's every bit as well as Rush or F.Murray ....
No one will see your fine work here- and I'm sure you know that too. God bless, -A Fan
Miami Blues (1990)
Original despite its plot: that's sincerely affectionate too!
This is a film no one need be ashamed of having made. It'd be a "guilty pleasure" if it weren't so good: but it *is* good.
It's smart, fun, and honest. Baldwin and Leigh never did better IMO-
so I credit the director and screenwriter in particular.
Ward's character will be with me forever as this guy is
a genuine original and gives the feeling that the actor
himself created touches (such as the denture) which were quirky but not jarringly false. I really enjoyed it!
PS I hope this is 10 lines or else it'll be rejected
Funny Ha Ha (2002)
Baby-Boomers: this is your kids
It's fine to say that it is so familiar that it tells you nothing- I notice that is the comment I sense prevails. Well, if you are a friend of the cast, or in it- well then it is dreary & prosaic of course.
But the rest of the world will find the simpering, pathetically apologetic and insecure 2nd gen YUPPies to be a real revelation.
It feels very honest and guileless- no small feat with such an unflattering self-portrait. No phony self-congrats or complacency, the film itself does not apologize- but for mature adults it is quite an experience.
Again, I salute the honesty here, and trhe director was astonshingly good at getting spontaneity or its appearance in a consistent fashion.
Dragonfly (2002)
"Patch Adams" part 2
Yes, the Tom Shadyac who inflicted "Patch Adams" upon us has matured his image into an atrocity one might call "Post-911 Patch Adams"
A real risk-taking actor ...like Mr Costner (!!!) was a perfect cast in a role where his narcissistic self-righteous strengths can only remind of the twinkly-eyed Robin Williams, showing us that all the foolish nerds who suffer through medical training haven't the moral or intellectual endowments to compare to truly sensitive clown when the chips are down.
Tom Shadyac, what the hell is wrong with you?
This is another film which leaves you feeling insulted and soiled. Watching this, I recalled clearly the review written by Roger Ebert in which he wrote (in 1998) that he'd wanted to spray the screen with Lysol after the screening of Patch Adams.
Excellent idea... yet again!
Vomit, vomit, vomit!
Me Without You (2001)
Bloody good show!
I'm a middle-aged white man, not a teen chick, and yet I must confess to having felt that this was a fine bit of work from so many POVs- and an entertaining package for their efforts.
Yes, there were times when it was too clear that the actresses were improvising their lines for a scene- but I could forgive it! There were far more instances where the lines were so spontaneously delivered that their candor felt just right, honesty beyond reproach.
The young women were excellent in their craft and sincerity. The screenplay was very believable, intelligent and did not pander- even if it tried too hard to include too much turmoil. The dialogue was delicious.
The direction was tentative in its lack of assurance (some moments that the cast ought to have been reined in rather than indulged) but mostly, the direction shows solid instinct and craft.
Finally, the cinematography is very fine. The framing and tracking show the viewer a smoothly handsome progress of scene and plot - without any trendy or self-conscious technical digression. Thank you, my friend, for your refusal to drown us in camera-shake!
All in all, I feel this was a fine project lovingly rendered by a sincere and generously talented team. As for their slight lack of self-confidence, it leads me to expect greater pleasure from their next work. This lot will not be undone by complacent ennui!
Roger Dodger (2002)
Pretentious awful cinematography
The cinematographer ought to be forced to web surf for a month with a monitor attached to an irritable bowel. Yes, he should be forced to attempt to read his email even as the text jerks about in random direction, random amplitude, at a frequency of -oh, 3 jerks every 2 seconds.
Now, is *That* "realistic enough, boy-o? Is *that* the way it looks when someone films with a lowly consumer-grade camcorder? Not unless the poor sod has Parkinsons, it isn't. The oh-so self-conscious camera shake would be enough to account for the viewer's nausea, but there's more!
Flares, spectral lights, white balance ruined, shutter stopped down by bright light behind the subject. A whole new way to torment someone trying to enjoy a film. It felt like hazing a pledge to the fraternity of Art Movie. I'd take back the whole rant about self-consciously trendy and annoying technique- if I received proof that the male cinematographer doesn't wear at least one earring and some other tat or piercing. Yuk.
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Thanks for the effort, Michelle
What an astonishing mess. That this film could garner so much praise on these pages reveals much about the American public! But then, why was it not a commercial success?
This is a very manipulative film- substituting *startles* for scares- loud crashes and cell phone rings blaring in quiet moments, e.g.
The last half hour had me laughing aloud- the cliches were so fast, thick, and unabashed. How dead must H Ford be before he finally stops reviving? How dumb would a genius be to leave his stirring victim with her toe massaging her salvation? How evil would he be to transform from a loving spouse into a "reluctant" wife killer without so much as a hint of ambivalence (in the film he smirks and relishes his 2nd murder, clearly unable to take his role seriously).
Only Ms Pfeiffer deserves praise in this overlong nightmare of incompetence and irresponsible editing. Michelle, you are a peach.
Happiness (1998)
An adult film full of wit, truth, entertainment for bright viewer
This was a risk- a movie that lets us see someone that even political correctitude would permit us to hate. And still one feels that the choice is left to us: is the shrink a vicious predator or a tormented invalid. He is presented as WASP and even morally bourgeois: an invitation to the viewer to gloat while denouncing the Dr as a hypocrite. He is shown suffering, and intensely so. The punishment for our worst transgressions is not meted out my the State. There was never any doubt that the Dr would never forgive himself, never
feel deserving of trust. In this case, however, there is no gloating as a psychopath is said to do while enjoying his defeat of the (therefore) inferior cops. No- here we saw a man whose demons are all internal. He has no axe to grind, no need for a cheering audience. He is at the mercy of a compulsion and obsession which only his death- for so he believes- could stop. This is tragic, but honest and intelligent. Throughly entertaining. Happiness. writ by Maggot-6
Kôkaku kidôtai (1995)
Awful Dubbing, Julia Roberts?
The film was ruined by dreadful American actors, or awful direction for them. The WORST offense was the female lead, which was given all the authenticity of a high school play audition. That woman's voice had the same meter, pitch, and accent that I hear in Julia Robert's voice. ("Mimi Woods" doesn't exist!)
Ms Roberts is not my favorite actress. Throughout the film I was cursing her for ruining the flick. I *wonder* if it was her!
The Hurricane (1999)
More Nobility from Sir Denzel
I am so tired of seeing Certain actors always portray types who are So Noble in every way and Always Victims. Am I the only straight white male who is sick of being cast time and again as the most vicious and uncool creature alive?
For instance, Is it possible that this guy's criminal record *really* began when he was just protecting another gorgeous black child from a vicious white male predator? Are there as many violent pedophiles as there
are muggings by indigent minority criminals?
Did some guy *really* (and arbitrarily) choose the imprisonment of Carter to be his life's work (right out of Victor Hugo!) ??
The only actor more "noble" than Denzel is Costner. Take a risk, guys. Act for once.
Dirty (1998)
Dirty will Keep your Interest
This is a film that won't insult your intelligence: it does not pander, it does not wallow in self-conscious artistry, it does not beg to be loved . There is no handheld jiggle, but there is also no flinching-- some is hard to watch, because it is honest (though not narcissistic nor self-absorbed). It does not play to stereotype in that it doesn't portray all characters over 35, white, and straight, as being braindead or hopelessly clueless. Instead, everyone is human, and pathetically vulnerable in their humanity and loneliness. It touched me.
Frogs for Snakes (1998)
Self-conscious trash to insult your intelligence awaits within.
Barbara H: pretty sad, dear. Neither the youth nor the presence to carry your role. The film is painfully aware of its aspirations -never approached in quality, sadly - of successfully passing as a mere mediocrity. Dream on. The would-be female lead seems to have used all her resources, all the accrued influence available at the autumn of her career- not to entertain but rather to keep her "credit" from the leading titles, ...BH only admitting to having perpetrated "Eva" at the final moments of film.
Without a better performance (and any high school drama aspirant could readily cough up a more nuanced and convincing effort than did BH... the film is worse than bad.
Not all are to blame: Mike Starr (a standout in Mad Dog & Glory) never does less than fine work: an underrated actor who deserves better than this stillborn wet poop.
The screenplay is awful, the direction is amateurish, and the cinematography ... is actually quite good.
All in all, a painful and humiliating waste of time. It was much more fun to pan it than to watch it.
Try a little less lipstick, BH? (It gets farther and farther from her mouth.) -------------------------------------------
Tatie Danielle (1990)
superb
this is a very entertaining flick. even some old high school french would enhance the pleasure, but is not required. try it if you have a sense of humor beyond low brow, appreciate wit,
this is fun
Earthly Possessions (1999)
Insults the intelligence
I worry that foreigners see simple-minded tripe like this and think it is representative of the American psyche. He is holding a real gun against her ribs after robbing a bank- are we supposed to believe that this is an appropriate setting for plucky cutesy music and Susan musing how she's never left town before or that she is really concerned that he's playing with her Keep-On-Truckin' pin? Or that he'd really be amused that she is concerned about that pin??? Made me want to VOMIT!