gypsybells Reviews

Suicide Kings (1997)

Brilliant

[3 July 2000]

Great movie. Keeping this short, Walken and Leary play their parts around each other like two dancers performing a perfect waltz. (I hope they team up for another flick...)

What makes this a good movie is when guessing the ending is difficult, and that is exactly what transpired here. It is more along the lines of black humor (being somewhat sadistic,) working alongside drama only a tense, heartpounding movie can do. The characters are beautifully cast, from Walken's mobster lord role, to Leary's sarcastic sidekick to Henry Thomas's spoiled rich kid (yes, that's the kid from E.T.! Look closely to see the remains of the little boy in the now grown up twentysomething,) and a plot worth renting. A must see

Wired (1989)

Absolutely tasteless...

[1/10 · 3 July 2000]

After seeing the DVD release of the Blues Brothers, and their mention of "Wired" on Belushi's bio, my boyfriend and I were hungry for more information on John Belushi. I had heard of "Wired" but didn't know too much about it and found it way in the back of the local rental store. I understand that Dan Akroyd was really p***ed over this movie and I thought it was because it didn't portray them in a good light. But that had nothing to do with it.

The movie starts out okay, until they wheel in John's body to the morgue. When he wakes up on the autopsy table, and decides to run for it, then begins the utter tastelessness of this movie. John is subjected to viewing his life and all of the turmoil he created with "Angel," a Puerto Rican cab driver with a wicked sense of humor -- subjecting him to criticism and attempting to try to get him to cross over.

The two actors who portray John and Dan look nothing even remotely close to the real actors, (let alone anyone else related for that matter, i.e., Lorne Michaels,) making it difficult to really try to concentrate on them and how they were in real life... but that is the tip of the iceberg.

I believe this was supposed to be an "artsy" film -- John constantly being tormented by drugs (i.e., the powdered soap in the bathroom being cocaine,) in such a way that was also difficult to follow. The flashbacks are choppy, also making it difficult to understand.

Probably the most tasteless scene was when John is (literally,) forced to undergo his autopsy and is in pain while they remove his heart to weigh it, saying that it was abnormally large due to drug use, obesity, yeah, we get the point without the grotesque portrayal.

There are very few other actors we know of in the movie, (where's Carrie Fisher for instance? They were incredibly close. And Jim Belushi would have been a great person to show,) it looks VERY cheaply made, (we felt it looked as if the graphics were from the early 80s or late 70s,) it felt as if it was filmed in about a week and all in all, didn't show the side to John at all. I felt I knew a little bit more about him from watching episodes of Saturday Night Live.

On one last note, Bob Woodward comes across narcissistic by placing himself in the movie, arguing with John about writing his life story. For someone who was supposed to be very highbrow, concerning the bust on Nixon, his calibur of person could match any writer in the National Enquirer, and therefore losing my interest in any of his work from this point forward.

SKIP THIS MOVIE. If you want to see more on John, watch his movies, see clips of Dan Akroyd talking about him or hope someone has the taste to make another movie on John that goes along the lines of "Man on the Moon," which is ultimately what we were expecting. I guess this was a "moral" kind of movie -- you know, don't do drugs, but I guess the creators of this film didn't understand that his death made a number of people (like Carrie Fisher,) stop doing drugs altogether for that reason.

Evita (1996)

Lovely movie

[1 June 2000]

Absolutely lovely movie. Funny, sad, horrifying and breathtaking. This, of course, was based on the musical of Eva Peron's life by Andrew Lloyd Webber, not necessarily on the life of Eva Peron (I recommend searching for biographies if you want accuracy.) But facts aside, this was very entertaining.

Madonna's performance was wonderful. The joke according to the critics was: "She can't say the lines, so let her sing them," which I have to admit was partially true. It's possible she received the Golden Globe due to the fact that she will never again get this type of role. It was obvious she took this role very seriously by taking singing lessons (already late in her musical career,) and did a fabulous singing performance in her role. I can't say that she didn't deserve to get a Golden Globe, because she did. She busted her butt in this movie and it was obvious. She stated that she had quite a bit in common with Eva Peron and was able to bring forth emotions that were obviously real (the death of her own mother from uterine cancer for one,) and integrate them into her performance. Eva's deathbed scene is rarely viewed by myself or friends without shedding a tear. Probably the best scene of all her movie performances -- ever.

Antonio Bandaras, of course, was absolutely perfect as Che. He and Madonna "competed" in their roles in the movie for the spotlight, singing back and forth with criticism, to climax in a showdown duet in a waltz. Antonio gave an incredible performance and in my opinion, pushed himself up to a higher level of caliber as an actor.

First note: Madonna was pregnant throughout the movie and upon close viewing you can kind of tell which scenes were filmed at which time. In some scenes, her abdomen is flat as a board and in earlier scenes, her belly is obviously swelling from pregnancy, including the balcony scenes where it was reported she was in her third trimester and the back of her dress had to be cut in order for her to fit in the dress and not appear as if she were pregnant.

Second note: Do NOT see this movie with theater actors/actresses or any one who is a huge fan of the onstage musical Evita. I happened to see this onscreen with a few friends who were community theater performers and after coming out of the movie was bombarded with plenty of criticism that I felt was entirely unnecessary. Although the onstage performances (by various other actresses) were obviously different from Madonna's, I felt there was no need to compare the two as taking anything to the big screen is always going to cause differences. This movie holds water and if you don't cry during the deathbed scene, then you didn't cry when Old Yeller died.

Body of Evidence (1992)

Um... this was bad.

[1 June 2000]

This movie came across like an edited porno in order to maintain an "R" rating. This came out at the same time as Madonna's book "Sex" and album "Erotica." I feel that Madonna was kind of hitting each medium (movie, book, album,) in order to get across her erotica image at the time. Otherwise, I can't think of a reason why she would play this stupid role.

The movie is extremely weak in plot, character development and suspense. It tries to be "Basic Instinct" in many ways, but really doesn't hold water (even though Basic Instinct was primarily sex scenes put to a movie -- making it garbage as well.) Madonna's performance was REALLY bad in this one, delivering lines in a monotone voice, no facial expressions and literally looking like she has to "think" about the line before she delivers it.

This movie was put out to promote (in my opinion,) Madonna's other financial projects which is why it is so bad. It looks as if it was written quickly, it focuses on her sexual performances and that's about it. If you want to see Madonna assuming the "dominant position," then this movie is for you. If not, rent something else.

Who's That Girl (1987)

Oh, this was stupid

[1 June 2000]

I was so looking forward to this movie when it first came out and then was SO disappointed. I watched it again, years later, on a Sunday afternoon and was just as disappointed as before. This movie is basically slapstick (let's watch Griffin Dunn get beat up... let's watch Griffin Dunn get thrown around and his car destroyed... let's watch Madonna make Griffin Dunn look like an idiot... let's watch Madonna supposedly fall in love with him and he her after all this turmoil.) VERY unbelievable.

I'm not rating this movie in the Oscar-quality category, because I don't think anyone who made this movie expected it to go that far, but I do think that it was really stupid. Unless you're 5 years old, then maybe you'll like it.

Love and a .45 (1994)

Pretty good!

[7/10 · 28 May 2000]

I saw this movie late one night and was pleasantly surprised at how very good it was. Of course, it lacked in certain areas, and could have been better developed but I believe that if the budget was better, it would have succeeded.

This movie has a decent plot, really well-developed characters and very creative screen shots. I recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in Tarantino's style but by a different director. Definitely a cult classic.

The Prophecy II (1998 Video)

Not bad... not bad at all...

[23 May 2000]

I was a big fan of the first movie; intrigued by the twists in the plot and how much the writers stuck to the "facts" about angels. (For instance, when Gabriel (Walken) is passing around his "horn" and the kids take turns with it, resulting in blowing out the windows.) Little characteristics such as these made the movie that much more pleasant for me. Usually, doing research on a movie after the fact and finding out that characters are made up are usually a let down. This is not the case, which kind of adds a realistic quality to it.

What made Prophesy II so much more interesting is that the writers introduced the other arch-angels, and a surprising Michael played by Eric Roberts. The other angels depicted in the movie do exist according to references on angels, and the fact that the writers took this much time to make it "accurate" was so pleasing.

The movie is essentially well-cast, the plot and movie much darker than the original, but overall quite a show. I recommend this to anyone interested in metaphysics, Christopher Walken, and anyone who loves movies that make them "think."

The Frighteners (1996)

VERY underrated movie

[26 April 2000]

This movie was highly underrated and is what I would consider a rental must. Soaked in Zemekis' style, Michael J. Fox gives a very wonderful performance of a man who after losing his wife in a car accident, discovers he has a gift for seeing spirits. After befriending a couple, they decide to swindle people into thinking they have ghosts and then "clean" the houses free of poltergeists for a fee. Only until he realizes that a killer's ghost has come back and is killing off the townspeople does he change his mind about swindling and decides to help solve this mystery.

This is a wonderful movie that keeps the viewer guessing what will happen next with great special effects, and a sweet storyline that ends, appropriately, with "Don't Fear the Reaper."

A must for Zemekis fans, Fox fans and anyone who loves a good ghost story.

Jack of All Trades (2000)

Too low-brow for Bruce

[28 March 2000]

Oh man, was I disappointed. I'm a huge Bruce Campbell fan and was thoroughly looking forward to "Jack of All Trades" but was so upset after the first episode. What are Sam and Robert doing? Xena and Hercules were clever shows, they had adventure, drama and then subtle humor thrown in. The humor in each of them made the series wonderful. Unfortunately, it seems as if they're trying too hard to make "Jack" all humor and no drama, hence, has no substance. The humor is so childish, that I found myself bored. Besides that, most (90%) of Bruce's lines consist of cliches and one-liners that make him out to be a dim-witted horny-boy.

This is a very poor series with no substance, one plot (get Jack in bed with Emma) and very, VERY poor script writing for Bruce who is way too talented for this low-brow series. Bruce, you deserve better. Sam and Robert, you should be ashamed of yourselves for thinking up this junk.