overcaffeined Reviews

The Matrix (1999)

Not a masterpiece. Interesting, but not a masterpiece.

[6/10 · 19 May 2003]

The Matrix is not a masterpiece, despite the huge number of people voting it 10/10. The concept is interesting, but the plot has too many teen-minded moments, resulting childish at times. This problem is usually bad for movies, because it makes them age bad with time.

The Matrix is a worth of mention sci-fi movie, but has no contributions enough to be deeply analyzed and commented through monographs in Philosophy Schools, Art Schools, Architecture Schools, etc...

The two things I liked most are:

-The F/X. They're quite good. The 3D deciphering scene, as well as the bullets slow-motion are perhaps the most interesting of all.

-The brief romantic subplot. It's too brief, too insufficient, but at least made the movie a little less Quake-minded and somewhat more adult.

I voted it 6/10.

I'd strongly recommend "The Thirteenth Floor" (1999, Josef Rusnak) for anybody who wishes to really feel delighted with a plot and concept similar to The Matrix, but far more elaborate, with more drama, more interesting cybernetic twists, more adult, and greater care in the details (click on my name for reading my review).

About a Boy (2002)

A very good drama/romance/comedy made in 2002

[9/10 · 17 May 2003]

A very complete movie. It has all the good things I always require of either a drama, a romance, or a comedy. It's very exciting to find that a movie like this has been done nowadays.

The only thing I disliked is that it could have been done suitable for all audiences if it didn't have some brief strong language. I always think that a perfect movie must be suitable for everybody (except in a very few exceptions), as the classic film makers showed us decades ago.

Regarding photography and art direction, it has some interior scenes which I found very beautiful and inspiring, specially those in restaurants.

By the way, if you have the DVD, don't miss the suppressed scenes. It has one which makes you understand the Ellie character (Nat Gastiain Tena) a lot better. Unfortunately they suppressed it from the movie because they considered it competed against the main characters relationships.

I voted it 9/10. I think it's a bit too high for my usual ratings, but the nowadays lack of this kind of movies makes me feel obligated to vote it 9/10. If we were in the 50s, I'd probably rate it a bit lower.

S1m0ne (2002)

The humor and romance are good, but...

[7/10 · 14 May 2003]

The best points of the movie are two:

First, how it portrays its particular sense of humor through Al Pacino's performance. This humor resembles a bit the style of some shots from The Truman Show, a humor based in the exaggeration of some situations that could happen in the entertainment industry. Al Pacino does a great job performing Viktor Taransky, the "self-sufficient" filmmaker.

Second, the romance part of the plot is good. It has some charm, and this is worth of mention, because I find a global lack of charm in all recent romantic comedies and romantic dramas. S1m0ne is not a romantic comedy, but it does the job better than other new movies which are supposed to be romantic.

Unfortunately, despite of these two good points, I didn't find S1m0ne as enjoyable as I expected. I'm not sure about the real reason, but there're several factors that I didn't like:

For example, we don't see how Viktor Taransky makes movies, nor any really funny/interesting scene about his first contact with computers... this is "hidden" through several ellipsis which hurt the result rather than enriching it.

Also, Hank Aleno (Elias Koteas) is neither a natural character nor a truly crazy scientist, which makes you lower your expectations just at the very beginning of the movie. He summarizes a too important and complex story in a minute, resulting in an non-credible performance.

I found the sets and film locations unpleasing and boring. It's not the type of locations I'd expect for telling this story.

And, about F/X, I didn't find a real emphasis in what the S1m0ne character represents. I got bored of the redundant animations in the monitor, and missed some more interesting computer graphics that could have helped to understand better what S1m0ne is.

In conclusion, the movie is not brilliant, but has good moments (some of them very good). As said above, the humor and the romance are the best points.

I voted it as 7/10

If you watch this movie, please stay until the end of the credits (yes, it has a very funny bonus, which is also available from the DVD extras menu).

The Truman Show (1998)

Great movie, but has inappropriate allegories.

[7/10 · 14 May 2003]

It's difficult to add new positive comments to The Truman Show. I fully agree with the people who feel it has a strong script, superb art direction, beautiful music, very interesting ideas in the plot, extreme care in the details,... and, yes, Jim Carrey does a great performance, as well as all the actors.

However, it suffers a sad weak point: I feel that the allegory of God through Christof (Ed Harris) -an allegory built not from the character name but from some events and scenes in the movie-, is very inappropriate. It's out of context, it happens just as a gag. It would be right if the movie portrayed Christof as someone who believes to be a god (which he does)... however, the movie does an effort going an step beyond, using some typical Christian-like imagery to establish the allegoric parallelism, looking like a God's caricature rather than Christof's.

The Truman Show is a great movie. One of the best made movies I've seen in the last decade, despite its inappropriate allegories.

I voted it 7/10.

Signs (2002)

Close to the magic of old b/w sci-fi movies

[8/10 · 12 May 2003]

This is a movie I enjoyed a lot. For a long time, we've missed the style of b/w sci-fi classic oldies, where claustrophobia, suspense, and thrilling sightings were basic ingredients. Signs recovers all this stuff. It's a new movie which recovers the classic magic of the oldies.

It also provides an "update" to the genre: The characters watch the TV-news 24hrs/day, just like all of us did when recent terrorist and/or war acts happened. In fact, one of the brightest moments in the movie is indeed a TV news flash showing a home video.

The plot has a strong structure. If you watch the movie several times, you'll realize all scenes come at the right time. Every scene is necessary (except for some too much scary moments, maybe).

On the other hand, Signs has three things I didn't like:

First of all, crop circles seem unnecessary in the movie. They're not really exploited in the plot (except for the title, maybe). I believe the movie would have been a lot better if it was based in, for example, mysterious UFO photographs rather than crop circles.

Second, I think it's too scary in some moments, more than needed. I really loved the many thrilling sightings, but... most of them come after very frightening scenes, and it seems there's no need to scare the audience so much. You can show the same things and at the same time be suitable for a broader audience. It's not incompatible.

Third, I believe the F/X art direction was not adequate. Technically it was very good, but the art/concept was not (ie: the things you see in the F/X lack the sci-fi atmosphere you'd expect, although they're technically very well done). This doesn't affect non-FX art direction: I believe art direction is satisfactory in non-FX scenes.

Despite these three things, I really loved the movie. It's a movie I can watch again and again without getting bored. Is so exciting to re-discover the classic sci-fi magic!!

I voted it as 8/10

The Powerpuff Girls (1998–2004)

Art class with humorist teacher.

[25 July 2002]

I think watching "The Powerpuff Girls" TV-series is like attending an art class where the teacher is an awesome humorist.

This TV series is not for the big masses. In order to be fully enjoyed, the spectator should have some art background. From the graphic design of the girls (which allows a huge catalog of expressions and poses, despite the seemingly simplicity of the drawings); to the buildings design (inspired in classic cartoons; it reminds me of old series from Hanna-Barbera); to infantile drawings gestures (like the girls shoes, which are always seen from a top view, just like a child would draw them, no matter the actual camera position); to innovative concepts (like scenes where old black and white films are projected, or the very interesting interpretation of Polaroid instant photos in some episodes, or the well done portrait of past years in the 20th century, when some travels in time are done, or the interpretation of the typical video-clip style in the "love, love, love" song...).

In few words, there's not an episode without interesting artistic gestures. Spectators with an art background will certainly need to do "wow" exclamations while watching this TV series.

If the graphic design and art direction is great, so is the plot concept (specially the narrated style, with every episode beginning with the narrator exclaiming "The city of Townsville..."), and the peculiar sense of humor (which makes you feel a lot of empathy for the characters and the narrator).

The different personality of each one of the three girls is also remarkable. It's balanced, and very credible (every spectator will easily remember old pals from the childhood, which would fit into the personality of each one of the girls). This differentiation also increases the credibility of some scenes where the girls have a quarrel.

As a side note, the opening scene (where you see how the girls are created from the ingredients), reminds me of the opening scene of the "Majinga Zetto (1972)" TV-series. I don't really now if there's a parody will on that, but I find a similar concept among them.

Chocolat (2000)

Bitter manifesto without spirituality.

[4/10 · 22 July 2002]

Chocolat is a movie built as an anti-Catholic manifesto. It has been conceived with a strong political/religious message that affects everything in the picture. There's some paradox, though: The non-Catholic people tend to find it more anti-Catholic than Catholic spectators themselves, because some acts the movie condemns are indeed condemnable (and not worthy of true practitioners), resulting in a somewhat constructive message (but be warned that it's very unlikely that this was the real will of the authors, given the lack of any idea of spirituality within the film).

Apart from that, the film shows a high quality level. Nice portrait of a little village, lovely atmosphere in the "chocolaterie", and it makes a good job at integrating a fairy tale scenario with an adult story.

Secret Admirer (1985)

15 years later

[5/10 · 21 July 2002]

I watched this film for the first time when it was released, back in the 80s. Now, more than 15 years later, I've watched it again. My curiosity was high, because I remember I enjoyed it when I was a teenager, and now I wished to check how this movie has been affected by time.

First of all, this film suffers the typical "teen style" which can also be seen in other titles from the 80s. This is perhaps the worst point in the movie, because the plot has interesting points, but the film style makes it seemingly look as yet another "Porky's"-like movie. In my opinion, this plot (based on a lost love letter) should have been more elaborate, and the movie should have been made with a higher quality style (for example, closer to "Never been kissed" rather than "Porky's").

Anyway, the movie is enjoyable if you can forgive this "teen style".

Moreover, it has valuable virtues: It exalts honesty and humbleness, and despite its seemingly "Porky's"-like sexual freedom, it exalts marriage and fidelity, and even chastity. It's quite refreshing to see all this in a film.

I voted it as a 5 in 1-10 scale, because I consider it as a "satisfactory movie", with a draw between the weak teen style and some good points (charming love letter plot and exaltation of virtues which are mostly forgotten by Hollywood nowadays).

Anyway, this film makes me feel a bit nostalgic (I've kind memories from the time when I first watched it), so my opinion is perhaps not as objective as it should be.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)

To be enjoyed by a huge audience.

[9/10 · 19 July 2002]

The most remarkable aspect of this movie is the huge audience that can enjoy it. People of very different ages and cultural backgrounds will have a nice time watching it. Even people who usually dislike Woody Allen will enjoy too, because of the optimistic comedy style in which the film is based. Fun and optimistic.

Serendipity (2001)

Lack of charm.

[4/10 · 19 July 2002]

It was impossible for me to feel affection for the characters. They don't irradiate any charm, and so it's very hard to make a credible love story under such circumstances.

I think I didn't like it because it's not a real romantic comedy. It wants to be a romantic comedy, but without success.

The Pledge (I) (2001)

Weak points and pessimism

[4/10 · 19 July 2002]

This movie has a couple of weak points. Unfortunately, such points are so weak that eclipse all the talent in the movie.

First of all, the movie has two clearly differentiated parts that just don't mix well (making a *very* different portrait of detective Jerry Black on each part). Maybe there's some will of creating contrast by concatenation of hope and tragedy in the same movie but, if that was the real will, the movie fails: it gets absurdity rather than contrast.

Secondly, the story is built from a serious promise. The scene where the promise is made is very disappointing because of the weak arguments, circumstances, and acting, for such a serious promise.

Also, as an additional comment, I wish to add that this movie shows a pessimistic view of the experienced old people. If you love stories where young people learn from old people, you may prefer other kind of films rather than this one.

I watched the original version of this movie when I was a child ("Es geschah am hellichten Tag" -- 1958), and I remember it as a very nice experience. I think I enjoyed it a lot, although I don't remember why (I was too young).

I've been very disappointed by this Hollywood remake.

Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)

A movie based on a true story.

[6/10 · 19 July 2002]

Director Penny Marshall succeeds in telling a complex story, taking care of good acting. She also manages to introduce her personal comedy style, without conflicting with the dramatic story. There's also special interest in the neighborhood atmosphere.

I won't tell an opinion about the plot, because it's based on a true story, and the actual person who lived it was working in the movie in order to take care of the film accuracy. You may perhaps feel it's a depressing story (specially the son resentment at his mother), but the movie is about a real story, so you can't change that. Anyway, the film is very enjoyable.

The actors did a good job.

American Beauty (1999)

Putrid corpse dressed in beautiful velvet.

[3/10 · 19 July 2002]

A weak, egocentric, and immature character is put on a pedestal. His blameworthy wills and acts are presented as virtues. The beautiful style of the film is meant to be a sort of justification for such bad taste way of life.

A film where everything is beautiful except the putrid corpse inside it.

The Thirteenth Floor (1999)

Lovely, intriguing, romantic, and superb effects.

[9/10 · 19 July 2002]

This movie is about the dreams of software engineers made true. If you've ever experienced the satisfaction of programming with imagination, joy, and without imposed limits, you may enjoy this film twice than other spectators.

Some people say the romantic side of this movie is a commercial ingredient. I strongly disagree. This romance is *not* a sweetener, but a philosophical question in artificial intelligence.

Special effects are superb, because you don't notice them (well, you notice the laser beams of the computer room and the "eye tunnel" effect, but those are *not* the big special effects of the movie). The big effects are in the 30s scenarios: You need to get the DVD version, and take a look at a gallery where you can see the great work of compositing. Then, play the movie, and notice how cars and trams pass over a composited background, which you can see through the (moving) vehicles windows.

Without the DVD version, it's impossible to realize where the effects are in the movie.

The style of the movie remembered me of some sci-fi titles from the 80s. If you enjoyed to go to the cinema in the 80s for watching sci-fi movies, it's also very possible that you love this one.

Another interesting fact is that this movie is radically different from the pretentious trailer or confusing VHS/DVD covers. In fact, I was very afraid of not liking the film because of the trailer and cover, but, fortunately, the movie is very different from them.

Return to Me (2000)

Very nice.

[9/10 · 19 July 2002]

A film that you'll always remember. It's rich in characters (diversity and complexity), tells a charming story, and lets you spend a nice time from the beginning to the end. There's no place for boredom, pessimism, nor bad taste. Very nice.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Poetry. A tribute to the mothers.

[9/10 · 19 July 2002]

If you didn't watch the movie because you're afraid of watching horrifying scenes, you could try to reconsider your position. All of the blood scenes in this movie have poetry behind them, and they should be understood within their inherent duality: External horror, yet warm at heart. The figure of the mothers is referenced several times in the movie. I think this movie is (at least partially) meant as a tribute to the mothers of the soldiers.

This is not a typical war movie. It's not Platoon either. It's very different from what a war movies fan would expect. I guess many war movies fans will dislike this one, while people who usually don't like war movies will enjoy it.

Liar Liar (1997)

Joy and fun.

[7/10 · 19 July 2002]

When you make a wish in your birthday, you wish it comes true. In this movie you experience both this joy and the endless laughs from the superb acting by Mr Carrey.

But, this is not just a comedy. The film also has a delightful constructive message, that will increase your enjoyment.