Change Your Image
cdsmith-2
Reviews
Saved! (2004)
More biased than I hoped for
I really hoped to see a movie that told a story in the context of a Christian school. I certainly expected to see portrayals of shallow Christians who don't live up to their image, and was interested in where the movie would go with that.
Instead, though, I was shown one bit of over the top anti-Christian hate propaganda after another. The script is never capable of putting a Christian character into a scene without mocking that person, and in the writer's world, apparently people are capable of compassion only after they've proclaimed that they reject Christianity or as they are questioning their faith. *All* non-Christians, of course, are caring and compassionate human beings -- unless they are being inanely cruel to the Christians, which we're expected to be okay with, since Christians deserve to be laughed at.
In a word, I'm very, very disappointed in the shallowness of the script. It rivals the shallowness of the characters, just in the opposite direction.
Pups (1999)
great acting
This movie contained the best child acting I have ever seen (by Mischa Barton). That alone makes it worth the watch. It's also a great debut for Cameron van Hoy, and make a very sharp point about our world, in a humorous way... something that's very hard to do but is done very well. I may be alone in this, but I think it's one of the best films I've seen.
Léon (1994)
Very well executed
This film was absolutely amazing. I have spent hours re-watching various scenes and noticing all the perfection with which they are acted and directed. It's not the violence or action sequences that make this movie so great (although they are well done...), but rather moments like where Mathilda knocks on Leon's door. It would be so easy to just film the door opening, but instead we see light illuminating Natalie Portman's face, symbolizing something angelic. And the moment has so much more meaning.
I know a lot of people who have seen this film because they are action fans. I'm not. But I'm glad I finally found it, because it's a wonderful film in so many other ways.