This is the movie reviews item-- have you seen a cool movie lately?
Whether you rented it, saw it in the theater, ordered it on ppv .etc
Give us your opinions/reviews so if its good we'll go see it, and if
its bad we wont waste our money.

229 responses total.

I saw the Shawshank Redemption recently for the first time-- really
good movie about two guys who become friends in prison.  Tim Robbins
(the innocent white guy protaganist you see in all prison movies) and
Morgan Freeman as the longtime inmate who befriends him.  The underlying
theme of the movie (well its actually stated at the end), is that
redemption comes from within-- and you see that Robbins spends his time
in prison attempting to redeem himself by helping the other prisoners,
building a library and doing the tax returns for all the prison guards.
But ultimately his redemption is an inner, spiritual thing.  It is a
lesson he teaches Morgan Freeman, who has to learn how to deal with his
own fears.  I particularly liked the ending of the movie which shows
their friendship survived.  (SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION-- **** four stars

  Gone with the Wind 

  It was recently on cable, presented uncut complete with intermissions and
an overture and it was completely awesome. I don't think I need relate the
plot or storylines, but the most magnificent thing about it was seeing Vivian
Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia DeHavilland, Hattie Mc Daniel, Leslie Howard and
Butterfly McQueen give stellar performances. The print was recently restored
and was clearer and brighter than ever before.
  I have never seen this movie presented in this fashion before, and I think
it is an affront to all that is holy to present this treasure of a movie in
any other form than this. 4 stars all around.

I just saw "Man On The Moon". 
 
I wanted to like it a lot more than I actually did.
 
On the plus side, Jim Carrey and Paul Giamatti don't so much play Andy Kaufman
and Bob Zmuda as they inhabit them. And that's especially fitting given that
one of the film's central issues is the role of The Self. (Yes, my minor was
Film/Vid Studies. Why do you ask?)
 
But I was irked by the fact that it played so fast and loose with chronology.
Off the top of my head (and I'm sure there's a lot more...)
 
* Andy is shown playing Ms. Pac Man while debating whether to accept the role
on "Taxi". That's a handy feat, given that "Taxi" debuted four years before
the Yellow Disc Lady did.
 
* The present-day sets of "Saturday Night Live" and "The Late Show" can be
clearly seen in scenes which are set in 1975 and 1982, respectively.
 
* While Lorne Michaels donned a dark wig for his early appearance, precisely
no effort was put forth to make David Letterman or Paul Shaffer look any less
like their current selves. In fact, Anton Fig was shown playing in the band
that he wouldn't join until 1986.
 
* Lorne Michaels is shown presiding over "Saturday Night Live" in 1982.
Friends, in 1982, *I* made exactly as many executive decisions about "Saturday
Night Live" as Lorne did... and I was a 12 year old boy who had barely ever
left Michigan.
 
Those are fairly minor in comparison to this next one...
 
* Andy is shown fulfilling his lifelong dream of playing Carnegie Hall as his
great swan song, after he had learned he was ill--possibly terminally. You
might have heard of this performance. It was a giant event that culminated
with Andy sending the audience away in rented buses for milk and cookies. It's
a poignant moment. The only problem is that it happened several years before
he became sick.
 
Now, yes, I know. It's a flick, and flicks is fake. Michael J. Fox didn't ride
any Deloreans into 1955. Tom Everett Scott did not hit the top of the charts
by drumming on "That Thing You Do". Buzz Lightyear did not really battle his
nemesis in an elevator shaft. Buzz Lightyear is just an actor. But when such
significant errors are made as I've detailed, that makes an audience member
step back and take notice, derailing the act of storytelling. And that's why
they're doing a movie in the first place.
 
On the other hand, Milos Forman is no hack. Perhaps this "mistakes" were
deliberate. They could have been willfully put in, just like the intentional
flaws in a Persian rug. Maybe the intent was to highlight the fact that, as
a film, it is not reality, but rather a constructed approximation of it.
 
I don't know. Andy Kaufman on stage was frustrating to many people because
not once did he wink to the audience to say, "Yes, I know that I'm doing
something funny for you." Perhaps it's just as fitting that his biopic does
the same thing.

Bicentennial Man (B) - Would have been better as "Sesquicentennial Man" --
it felt about fifty years too long. It is an interesting film, but too
often feels like a Star Trek, The Next Generation episode, and its attempts
at forced sentimentality seemed forced, and were not successful.

The Green Mile (B+) - Steven King's *other* prison movie. It doesn't
measure up to The Shawshank Redemption, and gets wrapped up in a pseudo-
religious eccentricities and strange special effects. (I think King may
have been partially inspired by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but he
lacks Ken Kesey's touch for Christian allusion.) As is the norm for a King
movie, there are clear "good" and "evil" characters without much shading,
with a standard "you will be punished for your sins" morality play story
line. Some good performances, with very good cinematography making it
rather convincing that Michael Clarke Duncan is in fact a 7-foot giant. 
Although I have not read the story that inspired the film, I sensed some
of King's literary excesses that had not been wrung out of the final work
-- at times, it seemed that the tenor of the film shifted a bit far to the
weird.

  At least the book was good. I'll still not forgive him for stretching out
over 6 months. That was wrong.

Give me a break, I was supposed to be on sabbatical at the time :)  

Actually, I found the experience of having to wait for the next chapter to
have been wonderful.  A throwback to slower times in this age of instant
gratification.  I'd like to see more of that sort of enforced "can't turn to
the last page early" mode of publication.  Some things are worth waiting for.

I too thought the serial release was a fun touch.

  None of you people were doing chemo, either.

agora 20 <-> cinema 36

Tonight I will continue a yearly christmas eve tradition and watch "IT'S A
WONDERFUL LIFE" on tv-- This movie is a celebration of the average,
normal, work-a-day life.  Its actually a fairly dark story of a man whose
dreams are crushehd, feels worthless, and is contemplating suicide.  And
who of course is rredeemed by the love of those around him, and the angel
who teaches him that one is never a failure so long as one has friends.

Ive seen this movie so many times the characters are like old friends--
Mr. Gower the druggist, Mr. Martini  the saloonkeeper, Bert the Cop, Ernie
the Cab driver, Nick the Bartender, the evil Mr. Potter, Uncle Charlie, Ma
Bailey, Mary Bailey, the Bailey kids including little Suzoo and her rose
petals, and of course George Bailey (ourhero) and Clarence the angel (who
always has his copy of Tom Sawyer handy)

Will Clarence get his wings? Will Harry Bailey make it through the
snowstorm to be with his brother?  Will George save Mr. Gower from kiling
himself?  Will George see what life would have been like if he'd never
been born and want to live again?

I get teary eyed every time at the end of it.  It's one of my alltime
favorite movies-- because it IS realy a wonderful life when ya think about
it!!  Merry christmas!

I took the kids to see Toy Story 2.  It was, like Toy Story, a kind of 
nice movie.  The kids liked it a lot, and I really did, too.

It has impressive graphics, but that doesn't have anything to do with 
why I liked it.  If you're marveling at the graphics, you aren't paying 
attention to the story, and if the story doesn't hold your attention, 
the movie is not going to be good.  I enjoyed the story.

Re. 12: Ya gotta be a 'puter geek to do both. 8-)

saw Any Given Sunday last night.

Overall, a decent movie.  Pretty good plot, although it took too long 
to develop. Decent acting.  I'm not sure if it needed to fill 3 hours, 
there were some parts that could have been cut out without hurting the 
story.  The camera work was, by far, the worst part of this movie.  The 
camera was never still for very long, usually pretty shaky. Maybe this 
was intended to make it feel more like the camera was right there in the 
game, but it didn't do much for me.  A lot of too-fast cuts along with 
the shaky camera made me think I was watching "Blair Witch Project

Overall: B-

The add showed a front flip, presumably by an athletic quarterback into 
the endzone.  This strikes me as a fairly unoriginal piece of 
choreography, since that action has occurred twice in college football 
in the past two years, most excitingly when Arizona's Ortege Jenkins 
somersaulted over two Washington defenders to win the game on the last 
play last year.  

All I can say is that Stone could have hired me to do art direction 
better than that out of the box.

GALAXY QUEST (B+) -- A surprisingly gentle look at
a much-parodied corner of fandom, with a massive
surprise reward for some of the geekiest fans at 
the conclusion.  Alan Rickman is almost *too*
convincing as the frustrated Shakespearean, Tim
Allen is excellent, Sigourney Weaver plays a kind
of anti-Ripley.  Silly fun.

Mansfield Park:
A terribly lovely film. Apparently it was tweaked from the original, but I
don't remember the book enough to tell you if it was good or bad changes. Some
cute modern-y bits, only one character in strange costume, and the knowledge
that since it's Jane Austen, everyone will marry precisely who they should.

THE IRON GIANT--  Watched this christmas day with my nephew (he got it
from somebody for as a present)  This is a wonderful animated movie about
a boy who befriends a giant iron robot.   The robot is built to be a 
weapon, but learns from the boy that he can be who he wants to be, not
who others tell him he should be.  The movie also has a strong anti-
nuclear, anti-weapons message.  The animation is wonderful, and the
story is really moving.  This movie is on a lot of year-end ten best
films of the year lists.  

THE IRION GIANT (**** FOUR STARS)

i enjoyed iron giant, and as soon as it was over, i realized that IRON GIANT
is ET in different clothes.

  The Talented Mr. Ripley -- C+

  About an hour too long.  Not particularly faithful to the book. 
  Not mysterious enough to be a mystery.  Not suspenseful enough to
  be a thriller.  Too shallow to be a psychological drama.  About the
  only thing really worth watching here is the scenery of Italy..

  Lady and the Tramp-
    I know it's a little old, but no one should miss seeing it. Disney showed
the letterbox edition last night and it was superb. 4 stars.

One of the guiding principles of American economics is that better 
things cost more. 

The DVD of "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" retails for $30, while 
the VHS version of the same title is over $100.

  VHS tapes often cost that much when they're priced for sale to video
  stores and not ordinary consumers..  Probably there'll be a consumer-
  price (~$20) VHS release soon..

I accidentally acquired a video I'd never heard of called "The Zero
Effect" - the directorial debut of the 22-year-old son of Lawrence
Kasdan. It looked like yet another action flick, but I watched it. 
Possibly partly because I came to it with no expectations, I liked it a
lot.  You keep thinking it is about to turn into an action flick,
breaking out in gun fights and car chases, but it never does.  Instead
it's a mystery in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes (in fact, it is a
remake of Sherlock Holmes), never quite taking itself seriously, never
quite going over the edge into utter silliness.

  Despite the fact that Bill Pullman always annoys me, I enjoyed "Zero
  Effect" (perhaps because this time for a chance he's actually *supposed*
  to be annoying.)

  Ben Stiller's role, playing the much harried sidekick/assistant/foil to
  private investigator Darryl Zero (Pullman's character) must've been
  reasonably fun..

Another thumbs up for "The Zero Effect" from me.

It's been said that Pullman's and Stiller's roles should have been
switched, but I disagree.  Casting against type can work surprisingly
well.

Speaking of movies with "zero" in the title:  Check out "Apartment
Zero" sometime...

movies with "zero" in the title..."Less than Zero", pretty good 
movie version of Brett Easton Ellis novel about baby boomer angst--
Robert Downey Jr. plays a cocaine addict who dies in the movie
when he cant shake his addictions.  Downey apparently *really*
became addicted to coke on the set and has had serious drug problems
ever since and is currently in jail.

        "Ground Zero", a decent docudrama-style movie about the British tests
on Arboriginal land in the 1960s, and the fallout (literally) from them.

"Zero for Conduct", a classic 1930's French film about a rebellion
in a school for boys.

is it about spankings and stuff?

saw 'run lola run'
thought it was pretty good. had a bit of 'groundhog day' feel to it.

ON ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (D)  This movie was already described in #14, but
I take a far less charitable stand on the presumption of a plot and the
invention of the shakey-cam, the cliche for football mayhem on film.

I lpaid matinee prices and did not get my money's worth--even though I sat
for three hours.  I doubt that even the price of a rental would be a bargain.
I suggest waiting for a *broadcast* network to play it so that any dope with
some scissors can improve it by making random cuts for commercial space.

One good thing to say about the film:  The sound of turf being torn from the
ground in the hands of the first-string quarterback after his injury.  That
was great, but it certainly didn't make a three-hour movie any good.

resp:24, resp:25 ::  We haven't gotten to ZERO EFFECT yet, but from the
 reviews I was led to understand that it was a reworking of Nero Wolfe,  not
Sherlock Holmes.   Nero Wolfe is the genius who stays home and thinks,  and
Archie is the assistant who gathers the evidence and tells the story.

GALAXY QUEST gets two thumbs up from this household, though perhaps you 
have to be a SF fan or a Trekkie to really enjoy it.  Tim Allen does 
a wonderful job playing a William Shatner-like character.

No, it's a reworking of Sherlock Holmes.  No question about it.  It's
even a specific Sherlock Holmes story.

Which story? (I haven't read Holmes lately...)

The plot may be Holmesian, but I agree with Ken that the two
main characters seem to be based on Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.

Roger Ebert says:

"Midway through the movie, I was being nudged by echoes of 
another story, and I realized that Zero Effect was probably 
inspired by the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and the 
faithful Watson -- Holmes, who could sit in his study and 
use pure deduction to solve a crime. When Zero described his 
methods, he sounds Holmesian: 'Objectivity ... and observation. 
The two ob's.'  If Zero is like Holmes, Gloria is certainly 
like Irene Adler, from 'A Scandal in Bohemia.' She was the one 
woman for Holmes, the one who got under his skin and into his 
mind."

New DVD recommendation-- THE LAST PICTURE SHOW- this is director Peter
Bogdonavich's wonderful version of Larry McMurtry's book of the same name
about a year in the life of a small, dying, Texas town.  Stars a number of
young actors in their first acting jobs (Cybill Sheppard, Jeff Bridges,
Randy Quaid, Timothy Bottoms).  "LAST PICTURE SHOW" is an american classic
about the death of small town america.  Bogdanovich filmed this in
beautiful black and white at the recommendation of Orson Welles.  The DVD
also includes a terrific "making-of" documentary and other features.  This
is one of the great films and well worth having on DVD.

LAST PICTURE SOHW (***** FIVE STARS)

As Delizia/Ebert say, "A Scandal in Bohemia".  Some points of similarity
(mild spoilers):

  - "He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine
    that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself
    in a false position."  Much is made in the first paragraph of Holmes'
    objectivity, and of the impression his nemisis in this story made on
    him.  "And yet, there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the
    late Irene Adler".

  - "I had seen little of Holmes lately.  My marriage had drifted us
    away from each other."  Like Steve Arlo, Dr Watson is being distracted
    from Holmes by love.  Holmes more or less drags him into the case.

  - Between cases, Holmes have been indulging in cocaine.  Zero drugs up.
    (Both also play string instruments (badly) though this is not mentioned
    in "A Scandal in Bohemia").

  - When Holmes sees Watson, he observes that he has taken up his practice
    again and has been recently caught in the rain.  The basis?  He smells
    of iodoform.  Zero identifies Gloria's profession based on her hair having
    been wet and her smell of iodine.

  - The King of Bohemia is being blackmailed by Irene Adler, with whom he
    had an affair.  She has a picture of them together, which she threatens
    to send to his future wife.  Obviously this had to be updated, since
    that could hardly be cause for much alarm in this day and age.  Irene
    has been split into two different women in "Zero Effect" and the
    embarrassingness of the relationship has been magnified.

  - Holmes, like Zero, uses many disguises in his work.

  - Holmes' client, like Zero's, attempts to keep secrets from the great
    detective.

  - A false fire alarm figures in both stories.

  - Holmes, like Zero, figures out the woman's secret, but fails to bring
    her to "justice", because she figures him out just as fast and flees
    the country.  She reveals that she has uncovered him by addressing him
    by name.

  - Though the lady is not captured, the blackmail threat is ended.

The "Zero Effect" plot is substanially more complex and suspenseful, but
this is a lot of similarities given that "A Scandal in Bohemia" is only about
20 pages long.  Zero's reclusiveness does seem similar to Nero Wolfe's, but
in fact Zero spends the whole movie out and about, not being reclusive.
I don't see many other Wolfe similarities, but I've only read a couple of
those books.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss