dominikagirl Reviews

Up (2009)

Magical, Reverent, Inspiring -share with everyone

[10/10 · 26 November 2009]

It SOUNDS difficult: an septo or octogenerian, an overweight kid and the plight of nostalgia in an ever-changing world... and yet, from the moment the tears dry after the montage of how the main character loses his wife, this film is nothing short of a revelation. It speaks with so many messages I agree with.. and in such a non message-driven way: this is like hearing a story a true hero, while yourself finding more than one way to connect with their plight. There is a message to feel good sharing with your parents; adventure NEVER ever stops, and loving someone (your chosen beloved for life) is about wishing that their adventure is never ending... There are things we miss out on automating our lives... and reaching too hard for the future or clinging to needily to the past - both things can prevent us from living the moment. Our environment is precious... never forget that. Dogs are awesome.. oh wait, I already knew that:o)

I felt like this movie would speak to all generations - an encouragement to reach beyond daily roles, tasks, expectations and allow oneself to seek out and aspire for life-altering moments. We live on an amazing planet surrounded by amazing organisms (human and other) and the joy, the essence and the beauty of life is to remember the discovery of these marvels is open to any age, race, species:O) and time in history.

I cannot recommend this movie enough.. touching, ingenious and most of all, it makes you get off the seat you watched it on and start googling the nearest adventures to you to take up for the next weekend.

Doomsday (I) (2008)

Um.. was this the director's idea of a "cram all genres into loose plot" of a demo reel car commercial?

[1/10 · 23 May 2008]

So the director wanted to make an extended demo reel.. threw in some semblace of his favorite 5 movies into a makeshift plot and voila... the Gimp from Pulp Fiction, someone from Lord of the Rings and the extras from Thunderdone .... and the the Bentley... all regurgitated into one blob.... and I'm sure cut into separate chunks, one might be be impressed by the director's rapid fire range of neat-o shots for 5 different genres (fetish, sci fi, period, action, adventure.. am I missing one?) But this is painful to watch for so many reasons to list that I will only focus on the one which interests me.. the "captain of the ship" aka lead actress. Being a personal fan of ensemble cast (but with actual attention to defining personalities... a la Italian job), I am always skeptical when one person is supposed to carry a multi-person story (which this IS)

If you're going to make it a "one woman show", that woman had better be damn hot AND charismatic.. having a great hair cut and skinny arms will NOT carry the kind of energy that this film required.. dead eyes, unbelievable energy and with all the wack job editing aroudn the fight sequence, I'm pretty sure she didn't learn ANY decent amount of choreography to be able to pull off any of those stunts. Intelligence of an individual permeates into the role when it's a one-person show so I can't believe there were no debates about the validity and appeal of this "eyeball camera"... kinda wacky but intriguing the first time around but after all, it IS 2035 - surely a camera would be more logical? If they shoot the camera, fine but if they shoot your prostehtic eyeball you're kind of screwed... Mostly, if your lead girl can't even be called a low-rent Angelina or wanna-be Milla, PLEASE PLEASE can you give the surrounding characters more than random cheesy throw away lines? Seriously... and I happen to like girls with foreign accent but the energy should be that of a dynamo... not a pessimistic vacuum cleaner. This is perfect proof that just having nice features and a lean physique does not an action heroine make..

The Kingdom (2007)

Loved it

[8/10 · 4 December 2007]

Taking Syriana and crossing it with another element.. this is definitely not perfect but raises some very pertinent questions about he roles of PMCs, the preservation of culture VS global ethics and the complexity of those issues that bind a global community. I watched it after reading some skeptical reviews and I was more than pleasantly surprised. It did not oversimply the differences in culture, to the best of its ability within this context. Like Blood Diamond, I'm sure they struggled between choosing a more essay-like presentation vs entertainment. It's sometimes easier to get a message across with characters that don't come off as preachy - there were some great moments in this film.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

The best unexpected romance since True Romance... awesome and funny

[10/10 · 2 September 2007]

I normally don't like things that are too ingrained in a specific culture to have international/universal relevance... being new to L.A., some of the things (specific to her start in acting) horrified and disgusted me.. but not because the film maker got it wrong. This writer and the director are amazingly apt and talented at capturing the humor and wit in the most grim situations.... unlike the crap that is Knocked up, both these characters are show as 2 clear personalities with distinctive drives and motivations (even their wounds and broken aspects are not hidden or concealed)... their interactions among each other (when the 2 main characters re-meet each other) are filled with depth and resonate with something any romantic and cynic can relate to: the nostalgia of your "first love" or crush or best girl/guy pal when you were a kid. That special place you always have for the kids that were part of your magic show, your secret ninja club etc... is tapped perfectly to create a sense of dreams had and altered by the reality that is L.A.

Robert Downey Jr. rocks the screen.. his performance literally lifts your spirits.. he is alive on so many levels - and Val Kilmer is hysterical, brilliant, sensitive. I had no idea who our lead girl was but she is so awesomely mischievous and self-aware in all the right ways for this role.. brilliant chemistry between everybody ( I hate to harp on "Knocked Up" but that movie just embarrassed me in how horribly miscast everybody was for everybody else.. the older of the 2 little girls is the only person that seems to belong in that failed attempt to capture a modern romance). Unlike "Knocked Up" bad caricature, Kiss Kiss is one delight after another, balls and cutting edge insights on the nasty parts (and amusing ironies) that are living in L.A.

love it... love it love... did I mention I love it?

Eragon (2006)

Actors stolen from a Tampon commercial/crappy script: dragon POOP

[1/10 · 16 July 2007]

Good grief... if there was an ounce of cool dragon myth in here, it just got totally wasted on a bad version of a side-kick Hobbit (did they get this guy from the "top 10 wanna be Heath Ledgers"?) and a some girl from a tampon ad? I mean, what's John M. doing in this stinky horrible movie - did he get lost? Same with Jeremy Irons who battles with some of the most cliché and obviously copycat dialog from every movie about "young warrior with coach"... it's like a bad comedy inter cut with some cute Discovery channel "if dragons were alive today" fantasy episode.

Truly Award Worthy Horrible Script... delivered by dudes who have spent way too much time doing Sears underwear catalog work... but strangely with actors you normally like.

I keep picturing Rachel Weisz in the sound studio.. wearing sweats and a headband, shaking her head at the script every second line.

I'm a HUGE fan of myth based films (Princess Bride, Reign of Fire, Legend) but this is probably one of those horrible Producers cast his son's best friend and so on... if you're going to have a campy script, nothing worse than hiring a guy who makes the Taco Bell look like it has range and that EPIC "gee, I just came from Bill and Teds excellent adventure" bad dye job side kick who plays the son of the baddie.

EW, double EW. totally disappointing. Watch a sloth moving for better action and performance!

Harsh Times (2005)

are these out takes from the worst acting ever

[1/10 · 31 March 2007]

Oh MY GOD...the first five minutes made Barney look like a subtle performance. Christian Bale is absolutely unbelievable in any way shape or form.. his violence LOOKS and reeks of contrived Catholic-school boy playing "badass" and having worked on a project that has introduced me to people like him AND mercenaries, this is by far the most painful imitation of hard ass I have ever seen. I literally cringed he is so awful. The supporting Mexican actors in this FEEL like real life and I'm drawn in by them... and then this overinflated caricature comes in and totally casts a false and pretentious undertone. There are some people who shouldn't PLAY bad ... and maybe what underlines how fake an unbelievable he is, all of the supporting cast are great.

LAME. The story probably merits worth far and beyond this embarrassing performance. He whispers his Spanish in the opening since it sounds so horrible and badly pronounces... like heavy breathing and brow furrowing can mask an actor OUT of his range... horrible horrible and if you want a GOOD performance that makes it, watch Mark Wahlberg in Shooter. Christian should play kid talk show hosts before this role.

Clerks II (2006)

Pathetic old primitive losers try to resuscitate a dead leech

[1/10 · 24 July 2006]

I'm with the critic who walked out after the donkey bit. I'm all for films about losers but not chronic ones - there WAS something daring (if not in part gross) and unconventional about the first clerks but it's kind of like a repeat flasher... the first time, the shock is genuine and since that flasher is young, there is a mysticism that can remain for "what will happen next?". In this case, knowing that what happened next is that mangy dude with the long hair is STILL high (and NOT even remotely attractive.. no, not even in that ugly vintage shirt way)... that the 2 clerks are now aging, balding, creeps (AS IF any teenage girl would even throw her toilet paper in your direction) who can no longer be saved by minimally insightful disses on popular film. For those of you who didn't see Kevin regurgitate this "brick laying of Froto" routine on his comedy tour.. it's just lame and pathetic that in the year since I saw him speak live, he's STILL chewing on the same old trick. If it's not bad enough we are forced watch the painful attempts at acting by his wife of a bad Botox ad ... dude has not only lost any credibility with people who once gave him a nod for the first Clerks but he's the laughing stock of the next generation who (in the ideal situation) are driven to rebel and take over anything run by people in Kevin & co.s age group. Totally embarrassing - totally boring lame old stale material and as with Shmalagan (director AND wanna be STAR), the poison of a bloated ego is much less forgivable than a bloated beer gut.

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

This movie gives you reason to cheer for the bad guys

[1/10 · 14 May 2006]

I've seen swiss cheese with less plot holes than this story. Um, can anyone tell me what happens between the moment that "Ethan" lands on the building that houses the rabbit's foot and then suddenly appears crashing through a window??? I'm pretty sure they had the budget - OK, no there is NO QUESTION they had the budget.. so why did we avoid this sequence which would have (in my eyes) been a very intriguing super-heroic example of why Ethan is a demigod (although at this point, if you're going to put Tom Cruise in it, you might as well put aliens in as well as part of the back up team).. and yet, no sequence, just some random phone conversation. This dull action non-action movie (and I'm a girl who loves 5th Element and the Transporter) was heavy on the emotional "choosing marriage" scenes - there were people laughing out loud during Tom's crocodile tears scene. I mean, it felt like a personal ad about why he's choosing to settle down in a rustic Scientologist family life (hah!). The best thing about this movie was cool chick from KISS KISS BANG BANG (who, other than Lawrence with his awesome scowl, was the best actor in this with a stupid role written by someone who obviously thinks that nurses are people who don't have access to the internet and wouldn't notice their husbands coming home scarred and messed up). The "big action sequence" was so horribly shot that (and nonsensical) that there was little scope of the bridge, no explanation why Tom was the only one able to run around and even less rationale in HOW they failed to notice and respond to the set up. Did action heroes need to be portrayed as stupid people, is that it? And if I wanted to see a not-so-cleverly disguised ad for why short actors who subscribe to cult theory are choosing to show off their pro-marital (with a way younger woman which is suspect to begin with), I'd go into a Dianetics center! Geez, what's next? Battlefield Earth part 2 by Tom?

V for Vendetta (2005)

See this film and become a part of history; hands down AWESOME

[10/10 · 2 April 2006]

They have cleansed themselves of "serial drivel that became Matrix" finally. This film is stupendous and phenomenal.. and being in the audience, you get that breath-taking feeling that someday in the future, the succeeding generations will say "V for Vendetta re-inspired the public faith in mass movement and demonstration" and this pro-activism ended a passive streak that has gone on for..... how long? I know my parents talk about demonstrating in the name of peace in the 70s etc.. but when is the last time there was a MASS global movement on account of anything? I feel like a thought-wave passed through the people around me in the audience and it was a really good feeling. In a time when it's obvious someone-whose-name-is-synonymous-with-shrubbery needs to step down from a leadership position and the situation in Iraq is conjuring way too many comparisons to Vietnam from the older (and wiser) people around us... I think this is one of the most powerful films of its time. Go see it.Take the message home with you.

Inside Man (2006)

Chaiya Chaiya the biggest event of this film

[5/10 · 2 April 2006]

OK, I LOVE the actors, like the director.. but there are HOLES in this story bigger than Mr. Ed's nostrils. As in, how did Clive Owen's character know about the bank founder being involved with the Nazis? The whole purpose (it seems) of Jodie Foster's character was to indicate how secretive this information was.. so how did Clive have access to it? How come the guy who played the mayor swore like a 5 year old child knowing he was going to get in trouble for it later? (horrible scene that one he calls her the C-word). I had "where's my fast forward button" on this more than 5 times which means the pacing was really off - Chaiya Chaiya got me all pumped but then for some reason because of the obvious ties to India, I kept expecting the security guard with the turban to have some pivotal brain child of the whole thing revelation? Nope. Just a killer song in the wrong movie. The rest of the score was like... I can't even remember it. If you ask me a week from now about this film, I'll start singing that awesome song but the plot was BLAH. I like a good humanitarian "go kick ass on the evil Nazi-dealing old guy" theme as much as anybody but really... how about a smart plot?

Shadow Company (2006)

behind the scenes for balance

[10/10 · 16 March 2006]

Being a non-military globally conscientious girl (who oft would even name herself a pacifist), I would have to say that this documentary was one of the biggest eye openers for me in the last few years. All the stereotypes, even the limited ones I had, were explored, dissected and supported, contested and investigated in the way you expect an objective documentary to be. The voices, both supportive and opposing, both disturbing and considerate, historical and modern... all were incontestably honest and articulated in an engaging way. The format of the documentary is one the defies convention - I hesitated to use Terrentino's name because only the unexpected dynamics of the format can be compared to him: things are presented in a way that you don't expect and you are left with questions to ponder yourself rather than a bunch of answers that settle the issue for you. This is a documentary that empowers the audience and for some people this is an unexpected and thrilling OR scary concept.

I was asked to travel to Sierra Leone to do still photography for this project but other than that, I had no involvement of the story building process. I am amazed to see how each of the people they interviewed, and the facts they accumulated, have been presented in the final product in a way that is engaging and informative. No wonder Edward Zwyck was a fan of this doc - it's a rare example of what the documentary format can be used for.

Toys (1992)

Is there a conspiracy to hide this movie from kids?

[10/10 · 26 December 2005]

This is possibly one of the most important films made... I'm not 100 years old or anything but anyone who has a childhood memory of toys as things which made the world feel more magical and idealistic (rather than a tactical obstacle which must be reduced to non-sentient components in order to be conquered...), AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, for the kids that are just getting a sense of how our "play" determines the roles we play in reality, this film is so so so incredibly insightful, reverent and inspiring... perhaps even DANGEROUS. This is the film that dares to challenge how we play and begin our visualizations of what goals we should aim for, what "points" really represent and how the world's conflict resolution around us in the adult world is so often shaped by what we bring into it from our childhood.

In the Christmas of 2005, after wandering through toy stores where kids beg their parents for the latest versions of "Mortal Combat" (or some equally violent and detailed phantasmagoria of killing and brutality), I went to my local movie store and felt an urge to watch this film. My boyfriend just finished a documentary on mercenaries and in the last year, I travelled to W.Africa to meet some of the humans of this world who had killed (or felt a duty to kill) during some of the ugliest uprisings in history... (the ones that have left teenagers with stumps instead of hands who, despite the general feeling of "making peace" after the atrocity, will forever be changed)... I wanted him to see this film, wanted to remember what it was about it that moved me to reconsider those absorbing fascinations we have with technology and toys that reduce our personal/physical/mental exertions to near 0.

The film was not to be found for rent not only in one, but in the first FIVE stores I called. I'm not a conspiracy theorist (though I do have aspirations of becoming a secret agent) but I started wondering why this film would be removed from the shelves. This film was a brilliant and valiant effort (perhaps premature in a time when everyone considered war games kind of a machismo novelty and didn't think that hours and hours of mortal combat could desensitize a growing conscience)... a film makers bold call for humans (those of us in the kid position and those in the parenting position) to consider what we introduce and KEEP as valuable forms of play. A philosopher (sadly, I can't remember which one) pontificated that we learn to "be a skier" (for example) by pretending to know how to ski...that by going through the motions and doing our best to imitate and the movements of the act, we transform the pretense into the actual state of being. Play and games we play (and choose to keep when we're no longer kids) have SO much to do with how we evaluate situations, conflicts and resolutions... kind of makes you think about why there are suddenly so many guns in high schools. To be honest, I have to say that to a large degree this is about the parents; mine introduced the world of traveling to me as a way of showing me how to "adventure" and "explore" so that video games never entered my sphere of conscience until much later when I was able to look at them and consider not only how to WIN but what the points actually would mean in real life.

I applaud Barry for this movie which now, so much later after he made it, resonates with "visionary" more so than ever.

Hidalgo (2004)

finally, a movie with an Oscar performance by a hero horse...

[10/10 · 7 October 2005]

In a time when many human actors fancy imitation as the sincerest form of self-expression, a horse rises out of the stable and presents an Oscar-winning performance without uttering a single neigh... hats off and a big round of applause to the director/writers of this film for presenting the western in a "people-aquarium" as observed by the sarcastic and strangely bemused face of Hidalgo horse. My favorite shot f this film, which in itself is fair Indiana Jones/adventure-love story material, all of which is elevated when said love interests are making "googly eyes" at one another and they cut away to the horse whose expression is one of "Oh god! Not another movie love scene where they make googly eyes at each other." And it's not an over the top performance (like Babe that stupid pig or Beethoven the dog, lovable but definitely NOT understated).. no, the horse doesn't flap his gums or do nun-chuck tricks with his tail.. his look says it all.... there's been westerns and epic historical fantasies (told from many perspectives.. though not all human) and now finally there is a visionary element which introduces an element of self-amusement with human history, behavior and story telling.

Art History (2003)

TECHNOLOGICAL SOUFFLE, CONCEPTUAL CREME DE MOUSSE

[9/10 · 3 March 2004]

Watch the opening frames of this and you won't be able to resist the innovative use of technology and the unconventional heist-plot construct that are melded together visually before you. These are the driving forces behind what makes this film cool: I also can't deny it's one of the main reasons that the actors have so much fun 'playing' with these elements in it... without question, it was my reason for choosing to play the part of Stella. Nick Bicanic comes from a pretty atypical background for a director (see his imdb page if you doubt this) and the experience of working with a crew of insanely motivated/creatively "posessed" humans - not just the other actors but on all fronts (the DP and team BUILT a two-camera mount from scratch so our basketball scene would look cooler!. There is apparently a feature-length script for Art History which I would LOVE to see made (and the website for the film is one of the most satisfying ones for any actor involved in something of this size).. I think the scope and vision of Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourque has not only created a devoted cast and crew but also continues to inspire an audience with all the bold strokes they chose to make in this format and in this genre.

Day of the Wacko (2002)

Polish wanna-be "HAPPINESS"???

[4 October 2003]

I left Poland as a seven year old girl in 1981.. no, hang on - first of all, Why is there a man defecating in this film? For all of the intellectual things I have loved about films from the 'homeland', nothing has ever sunk into the realm of BFR (bodily function reduction) without trying to be an educational film on the digestive tract. This screened at the Vancouver Film Festival three days ago and I made the voyage to the theatre feeling stoic and anticipating something momentous... after all, reverence and sentiment is something that runs amongst all of the Poles I know and no, wait - why is there a blisteringly heavy-handed metaphor that includes people playing tug-o-war with the Polish flag, it ripping and (I can't believe they stooped this cliche) BLOOD, yes blood spatters out from where it tears???? Help.. am I too young to appreciate an aging poet's neurotic excretions? I wondered the same thing when I started watching Bridges over Madison County.. will I be able to relate to a mature, ripe and slower-paced perspective on life? In the case of Bridges, I was lured by the universally binding theme of love, kinship and romance, however removed it was from mine. In WACKO, not only did I have a hard time believing the protagonist but all of the supporting characters were caricature cut-outs of things you see in 80s sitcoms in North America: the venomous (and nothing else) x-wife, the apathetic (and disinterested and nothing else) young son, the students who are defined by their flatulence and interest in bodily injuries of their professor. I have to claim philanthropy for every character, not just the women because they are so one-dimensional and the protagonist is simply... boring. None of the details which are supposed to be quaint (his measuring coffee JUST so) resonate because there is so much repetition that you just want to tear your hair out waiting for the director to get to the point. By mid-way through the film, I have to admit to my beloved boyfriend (Zagreb born, UK raised) that this film has none of the imagination nor raw honesty of films like JAK DALEKO Z TAD, JAK BLISKO nor INTERROGATION because it's attempting to do something it considers to be "NEW" (ie. Poles are not historically about going on about mastrubation, crapping, suicide) ... I felt the same as when I went to a theatre in SZCZECIN a couple of summers ago and they did "Natural Born Killers" the stage version. Totally disappointing and unimaginative... I hope that the next thing to hit the circuit does not go where this film dragged the audience through.