mfsor Reviews

Bobby (I) (2006)

Cheap

[3/10 · 8 December 2006]

Yes, Cheap is the word because the filmmaker just stuck all these movie stars in the hotel and then tried to make it all relevant with the death of Bobby Kennedy. But they weren't related at all, there was no story, no climax, and the use of images of Kennedy speaking about all his human rights concerns were totally out of place. The film ended up being a mish-mash about stupid stories of non-people. Sure, the world if full of ordinary people doing ordinary things, but that does not make for compelling drama just to get them on the screen like it was the most natural thing to do. Hopkins sounded completely out of character. Wasting so much time on lsd images?

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Logically moving

[8/10 · 11 November 2006]

It was a great premise and a great exit. I mean the ending depends on the narrator realizing something about a character which changes the narrator's view, personal attitude towards, the character. Once the fated character accepts his fate because it is good, the character becomes more than a fictional character and cannot be destroyed. This is the way gods view humans, as beings which can be saved if they have certain good characteristics. Using the writer as a god is an excellent tool to bring this idea across. Thus, the whole logic of the film is moving for the audience, i.e., the audience realizes at the end that the altruistic character cannot simply suffer at the hands of a god. Which is logically clever because it allows the narrator to change the original fate of the character.

The Departed (2006)

Excellent fantasy

[7/10 · 6 October 2006]

Of course fantasy. You don't kill off that many state cops. If you did, the FBI would take over the whole state, or at least the whole state police operation. Even just the first one could get you that. DiCaprio was much better than Matt Damon, had a much greater range of emotion. He's clearly an actor with much greater depth. Jack Nicholson was his usual terrific scene, and in one of 'em, screwed up his face to talk about a rat and got half the audience laughing because Nicholson reinstated disbelief when he got too vintage Nicholsonian. And the text messaging all over the place? You got to be kidding. And that old standby was there: the video camera didn't work. Several other things that add up to fantasy, not a crime story.

The Illusionist (2006)

Excellent Mood

[10/10 · 18 August 2006]

People sat in the theater afterward, staying in the mood, and of course trying to keep in mind all the things that the ex-inspector had just stated about how the Illusionist got away with the love of his life. It has been a long, long time since we had to be in a line for a movie, but this one had the mood, the photography, the serious story line to keep your attention as it played itself out. Of course the magic wasn't real, i.e., it was too good for anyone to have done it in reality, but we went along with it because we believed in the love story. And the love story was seriously done, and was the heart of the movie from beginning to end. And not just some sex thrown in.

L'Avventura (1960)

What? A great movie?

[5/10 · 15 August 2006]

That he cried at the end was a total and absolute script invention. The first half hour was interesting, but as soon as they went away from the island the movie went downhill. Sure, the images were great, that's why there's a vote of 5: 10 for the images, 0 for the story and acting. Just to show that Vitti was completely dependent on that slob? Really. They might as well just have had a magic lantern show of the images of the people and the backgrounds, and forget the motion. I bet there were tons of Renascence images, Vitti in front of the window looking like any 16th century painting. The sea and the deserted island were great. The massive rock cliffs. The people? Niente.

World Trade Center (2006)

Heroic

[10/10 · 12 August 2006]

This movie could have been so many other things, about terror, about construction, about a city. But it was about people who offered up their lives because they loved other human beings. It was a perfect movie for Nicholas Cage, who can be so serious in his dedication. It showed what we have expected about New York public servants, who went in to try and save others no matter what the cost to themselves. the most moving part of the film was just before the collapse, when they met all the firemen going into the towers to their deaths. Equally impressive was the way the rescuers were portrayed. It was great that they didn't show anything the terrorists did, all you got was what New Yorkers saw after the fact.

Ignition (2001)

Watchable

[4/10 · 1 August 2006]

That's the word, watchable, when it's not very good, full of flaws, stretches the suspension of disbelief by making you consciously do it rather than forgetting that you're doing it. The usual running a whole block faster than a speeding car, escaping the exhaust gases from a huge rocket, and a judge who would be kicked off the bench for doing half the things she does in the movie and wouldn't do them anyway. She acts more like a rebellious teenager than a person who is at the level of a federal appeals court deciding cases of great national interest. Bill Pullman is just too self-destructive to be interesting. His kid is great, and that tries to make up for it. How come I'm not a helicopter pilot? Everybody else is. Oh, well. I don't like it when they cheat on the fights, showing so little that a baby could out do a whole ninja battalion. I keep writing in the hope that I'll find something other than the daughter. I guess not. See, the basic flaw is that he wouldn't be as self-destructive as he is if he were as heroic as he is.

Scoop (2006)

Funny

[10/10 · 29 July 2006]

I was going to give it an 8, but since you people made 6.5 out of a lot better votes, I had to up my contribution. The river Styx was pure genius. Sure, Woody was his perennial stuff, but at least his role was appropriate. The first half hour was really hilarious, and then the rest of the movie was easy to watch. The dialog was clever enough, and Woody's card tricks at the parties, along with the reaction from the upper crust, were fun to watch. This was much better than the newspaper critics made it sound out to be. And a plus, a little Sorcerer's Apprentice to go along with it. And of course, did you notice that Johansen is getting a bit frumpy? Charles Dance is always entertaining, as was Hugh Jackman.

A Good Woman (2004)

Very, very romantic

[8/10 · 23 July 2006]

This film kept down in the depths with Oscar Wilde. The dialog was superb, the scenery gorgeous, the women beautiful, the settings idyllic. Real people with real attitudes, a great cast of characters. They made the most out of a play. Sure, they could have done more in the way of getting around and showing more scenery by getting on boats or even planes (remember the beautiful flight in Out of Africa?) and maybe driving around the Adriatic coast. But it was Tom Wilkinson and Helen Hunt who gave the real dramatic heft to this story, and presented a dream of personal relationships that had the weight of individual history behind them. That's what held the whole thing together.

Five Times Two (2004)

Serious, too much sex

[8/10 · 23 July 2006]

Justso you think I care about how much sex. There are 5 episodes, and basically each of them is about sex. But the deteriorating relationship between the two people amounts to growing frustration by the wife. It is hard to understand why the husband would not show up at the birth of his child (or at the hospital later), but it is at least easier to understand that she was frustrated on her wedding night. The story is just an epiphany for the viewer about how much she put up with, from the very beginning. It is the reverse depiction of the deterioration of the relationship. But really it was bad from the beginning, it just took her so long to come to the feeling that he was who he was and was not going to change and he was totally self-controlled. But, this is the story. The cinematography was well done, the dialog very sophisticated.

Lady in the Water (2006)

silly, careless

[2/10 · 22 July 2006]

Well, you see, the whole thing is supposed to be about the universe and its just about some silly girl who is lost and is sought by wolves who are themselves sought by monkeys. Really. All those people just take it so natural that this girl from the pool is a great prophetess? Ha ha! I'm not even sure that this movie ever had any potential. I know, I know, this shyalamship himself is the great one of the movie. She came out of the pool to tell him his book is going to be a worldwide phenomenon. Wowee! The dude at the end who scares off the wolf looks just like Jerry Lewis. And the eagle, that was...what...exactly? silly, and careless about the reactions of readers. the author can't tell the difference between children and adults.

Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)

Too long

[5/10 · 20 July 2006]

I don't rate movies high, as a general rule. Sure, this is from 1965, but it's from Preminger and has Olivier, Lynly, Dullea. The problem is with the script. At the end, it just goes on too long with Dullea being his childlike stuff. Lynley never gets serious, never looked like she was a mother who had lost her baby. The people in the school all acted like someone had just spilt the milk instead of stealing a student. Olivier never even looked like he had a cup of coffee, he was so laid back. And there was often this nutty jazzlike music going on. Which means this was Preminger's movie, and he was concentrating on himself and his movie-making and ignoring the viewers and their interest in a story.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

Good graphics, often exciting, often boring

[6/10 · 11 July 2006]

Okay, I'll go up to six because of the terrific graphics. But it ended up as a big octopus pummeling boats, and that's not good film-making. Sure, Depp was great, the natives-eat-the-chief sequence was funny, and Bill Nighy as Davy was fabulous. But too often, nothing really was happening, and it certainly was hard to get into Bloom's relationship with Barnacle Bill (although that was a good character). Long periods went on without anything really interesting happening, and that's what kept it from being a really good movie (despite the grand numbers of people who went to see it). The bad English lord, or whatever he was, conflicted with the master of the briny deep, and that kept it confusing. The attention to detail everywhere was outstanding, I will admit to that. Up to 7. Not, because there was still too much boredom for long stretches.

The Andromeda Strain (1971)

Average

[5/10 · 9 July 2006]

Okay, it's thirty-five years old, and the computer stuff isn't exactly up to date, and everything happens kind of slowly, but it still has the stupid president and the stupid air force guys who think like ten-year-olds, but it has a kind of impelling force to it, the way the science unfolds, and that's what interesting about the film. There isn't any acting in it except standard television quality, just a few scenes of conflict and worry, which is why it all comes down to the science in this film. Kind of amazing, this facility they have out there, even at this late date kind of hard to go along with it, but Crighton's story of the science is what it's all about.

The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)

Middling

[5/10 · 9 July 2006]

Of course, we saw Fingers a year ago or so, the same film in its original American incarnation with Harvey Keitel. That was a much better film. Keitel had a better way with the piano, and his interaction with his father and gangsters was better portrayed. The musical part was much better and that made the story more interesting. The guy wasn't very believable as a potential concert pianist. The ending was better in this, though, the more positive outcome. And too much of this was in the dark, which took a lot of interest away from the film. It's hard to beat Keitel in acting. And his buddy staying away every night was a bit too much to take.

Lemming (2005)

A waste

[4/10 · 7 July 2006]

It's so easy, isn't it, to use the camera to do whatever you want, even if it is never more than anything else than a shaggy dog story. You can take an actress who's playing a person already dead, and stick her in front of the camera and use somebody else's voice. The bottom line is that the two major events of this film, 1) that Alain would accept Alice's overtures as far as he did, and 2) that they would not only stay in the house but leave the bloody stain on the wall, these two events ruin the film. Up to the first half hour it's great. I have clear ideas how to fix it up, but my ideas don't matter because I don't get to re-film it.

The Matador (2005)

Boring

[4/10 · 5 July 2006]

Yes, boring that's what it is. Brosnan slept (or drank) his way through the whole entire movie. And the other guy (can't even remember his name he was so bad playing his usual middle-class clueless nobody) was just as bad. Not that anything good should be said about the script. It ruins the movie because there's no seriousness about the threat, it's just like a cartoon. The bar scene was utterly ridiculous, the shark in the pool the same, the talk with the boy in the park just before the bomb blew the guy up in the car. And everything that followed. Which is why this didn't last too long on the big screen. But mostly it's Brosnan acting too, too cute that ruins this movie.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Average predictable

[6/10 · 1 July 2006]

Now, of course, Streep and Tucci, you can't do any better than that, but anyone of a dozen girls could have done Hathaway's part and the predictability level of this was just to obvious. The set of friends she had, is that a cliché or what? Couldn't they do anything different. Hathaway went too quickly into the couturier mode; she should have taken more time and there should have been many more outfits. After all, that is what all these women dragged their guys into. Even the six women in front of us with their bodies covered from head to toe were there for the fashion. There was too much sameness to all the incidences with Streep, who should have warmed sooner to Hathaway.

Hope and Glory (1987)

Too long

[6/10 · 28 June 2006]

Samantha Miles is always wonderful, and she carries this movie. but not enough really happens to keep it going, and despite all the bombing they don't really seem to be in danger, which I chalk up to the combination of the script and the directing. The father is always too silly, and so is the Canadian soldier. Almost all the incidents are just fun in wartime and there is no sense of dread, even when somebody is killed down the street. The children are all totally unaffected by the bombing, which is totally unbelievable. They saved a lot of money on the bombing scenes and the few aerial moments. And the whole family is too eccentric, the grandfather especially. It seems like they took all the total silly fun moments possible in a war and crammed them all into one hour, which doesn't really make for great art.

Click (2006)

Boring

[4/10 · 25 June 2006]

There weren't enough click gags to keep this going, and the stupid sentimental stuff at the end seemed to drag on forever. Too bad, because the idea was quite good, and Sandler is good at what he does, although he's doing like the old Jerry Lewis comedies which always ended up towards the end moving into sentimental sloppy sorry stuff. Walkien was terrific, the family was cute, and it was nice to see a movie which sent the message that family life is what's best for us (to the extent we identify with Sandler, which isn't to many.) Anyway, we only watched it because the other movie possible we'd already seen, the Lake House, which also was on a love theme, that it's good to wait a couple of years for the one you love, but was also predictable, but in fact more believable than this one. Well, it's not about believability, but just about being able to show more creativity.

The Lake House (2006)

Believable against the odds

[10/10 · 23 June 2006]

See, there's paper-scissors-rock, a game whereby paper against all odds, beats rock by covering it. So too, in films there's love-belief-science, in which all three of these compete to account for what happens in a film. And in this one, love triumphs over belief (in time travel) and over science (explaining the time travel) and that's what makes this a great movie. Suspension of disbelief seems too complicated to me, but the love in this story, a great script, and the acting by Reeves and Bullock, who really seemed to believe in one another, the love won out. It's just like believing in life after death when there is no proof, but generations keep on doing it over the millennia no matter how much belief is demanding or how much science keeps fraying it at the edges. The whole movie was about the love the conquers us, the audience, and as paper covers rock, so love covers belief and science.

The Guilty (2000)

So so

[4/10 · 22 June 2006]

Bill Pullman is a good actor, and most of the other actors in the film did well, too. But it was to unbelievable, too full of coincidences, too full of unimaginative dialog ("Do you always attack people in garages" when Bill's life had probably just been saved by the guy). And Leo was not believable, nor were the three guys who killed Leo, they were just the dumbest sort of stereotypes. Even a basic anchor of the plot, the Bill would kill to be a judge and give up a million dollars a year for a couple hundred thousand, wasn't believable. I never suspended my disbelief and that's the problem with this film. Okay, one more line: the blonde roommate was just too stupid for words, and the way they both flirted with Bill's son was too cute for words.

Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Natalie is tops

[8/10 · 19 June 2006]

Natalie Wood was a better actress than I remember. She showed a lot of maturity, sensitivity in this film. Even Warren Beatty was believable, was was Pat Hingle. The kids were too old for high school. But the play itself was a true depiction of the human condition. The desires of young people can be volcanic even though there is no external eruption. This film was all about the effects of that desire and how it can affect the lives of people when they have nowhere to go and can't get good advice from their elders. The homes/parties were too Hollywood for southeast Kansas, but that's the producers. The basic story was great and the acting was great to go along with it.

Coming Through (1985 TV Movie)

Excellent but flawed

[5/10 · 16 June 2006]

I KNOW, I know I'm hedging, but the modern parts of the film were too silly, when they could have been more serious. Branagh and Mirren were outstanding, and that part of the movie was well written, but the film was ruined by the modern part. There was enough dialogue in the modern part to form the makings of a more serious parallel, but the guy was just too silly and the woman took him too serious, even after she saw him kissing another person, that it seemed like it was just thrown together for effect. Which it was anyway, so why not make it good? Remember the movie with Jennifer Ehle, now that had both a modern and an an earlier portion and they both were well done. Or, French Lieutenant's woman. This one doesn't make it.

We Were Soldiers (2002)

Breathtaking

[8/10 · 4 June 2006]

As a war movie, this was breathtaking, showing heroism on the part of soldiers, which is what war movies do. The ending where Kinnear shows up and zaps the North Vietnamese with Gatling guns. Where were these guns before? The artillery did a great job, and the ability to call in air strikes almost instantaneously was amazing. In the story arc, it was interesting to contrast the Mel Gibson plan, which he learned from the French who did it wrong by being passive, to take the battle to the enemy when they least expect it. If we had not given up politically, we could have won the war in Vietnam. Sam Elliott was his usual great gruff self. Mel was often melodramatic and the women back home were stereotypes and Madelaine Stowe had the worlds biggest lips.