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drterylene
Reviews
Bring It On (2000)
Sells us out
This review contains a semi-spoiler. You have been warned.
Disguised as a fast moving, interesting look at competition Cheerleading, Bring It On turns out only to be a build up to a big fat sell-out. Any viewer that pays attention to the direction society is heading, particularly in the entertainment genre can guess how this movie will turn out ten minutes into the picture.
I did stay tuned until the finale, hoping they wouldn't take the "safe" route, but unfortunately, the movie goes against all logic and takes the route that will not "offend". It does this at the expense of the picture.
What was semi-entertaining fare for about an hour and fifteen minutes, turns into just an ordinary Hollywood style guilt trip forced upon the audience. Please Hollywood, could someone there just make a damn movie and forget about teaching everyone a lesson? It's a tired, old cliche.
Summer of Sam (1999)
Caricatures of caricatures
This long winded film turns out to be less about Berkowitz and his effect on NYC, but more about painting caricatures of a certain group of Italian-Americans, known locally as "Guidos." The problem is that "Guidos" are uninteresting, no matter what kind of story or setting they are immersed in. They are already living caricatures, so Lee only amplifies them, rather than simply portraying them.
When someone has a caricature done of themselves, they don't go home and say, "Hey, let's make the ears and nose even bigger!" That's what Lee has done in this film. The most interesting characters in the film are the two (Adrian Brody and Jennifer Esposito) who wish to escape the "Guido" lifestyle. Top it off with an uninteresting storyline for the characters, particularly John Leguizamo's, and you get a nice film to fall asleep by. Especially considering it's lengthy run time.
One more strike against it: For someone proclaiming to be a Yankees fan, and has grown up in New York, Spike Lee should know how to spell Phil Rizzuto, which is spelled incorrectly in the closing credits.
Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
Word of advice
If you do not enjoy R+B music or mindless car chases, stay away...there's nothing for you to see here. The musical numbers fit into the flow of the first film. Here they pop up out of nowhere, and are far less entertaining than in the original.