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mrstafty
Reviews
Sex and the City (2008)
A Lot of Hostility
There seems to be a lot of hostility toward Sex and the City. As a fan of the series, I'm a little baffled by it. It was designed for those of us who enjoyed the TV show so I guess I can understand why people who weren't fans didn't like the movie.
I do have a confession to make. It was inspired by some comments my husband made. I didn't expect him to enjoy the movie any more than he had enjoyed the series, but I've got to admit that his comments gave me something to think about. He indicated that the movie was like one long commercial. THere are plugs for designers, there clothing, and lots of companies who probably footed the bill for this big screen adaptation.
He definitely had a poinnt. A good one. Now that I've watched the movie a second time, I've come to realize just how accurate this offhand remark was. I still like the movie though. It's fast and fun and colorful, even though the advertising plugs tend to taint things.
Serendipity (2001)
Wonderful memories
I fondly remember seeing Serendipity when it first came out in 2001 and being charmed by it. I loved the pairing of John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. I loved the script, which provided an almost otherwordly reason for the main characters to get together rather than some contrived nonsense. I loved the locations and near misses in their relationship. I loved the supporting characters like Jeremy Piven and Eugene Levy. This was a movie where everything seemed to come together perfectly.
Imagine my surprise when I saw it last night on television and some of my favorite memories turned out to be so contrived. How silly could I have been to have found this so romantic? Or had I just forgotten the magic of romance? Had I forgotten how wonderful it was to see Mr. Right and know the moment our eyes locked that there could be no one else? It occurred to me this morning that I had. It was my mistake. I still love this film. It's a movie for anyone who believes in true love.
Definitely, Maybe (2008)
By the numbers good time
I wasn't sure what to expect when I sat down with this. I'd been recently disappointed by a bunch of films that claimed to be romantic comedies and as this one unspooled it seemed to do so in a heap. It's the kind of film where you know that the main characters are going to end up together in the few minutes. You know their misunderstandings will get worked out. You even cheer for them because let's face it, we've all been there.
Definitely, Maybe was a well done movie. The acting was top notch, it was a pleasure to look at and I had a good time from top to bottom. I don't say this about every film here, especially the romantic comedies.
Having said all this good stuff, it would be deceptive of me to claim that Definitely, Maybe was without its problems. For starters the comedy was almost nonexistent. The dialog was also a bit ridiculous. Ever since Juno and Little Miss Sunshine, every child has started to speak like a college professor, with clever adult insights that don't occur to the emotionally stunted adults in these films. The movie was also very long for this kind of thing. They could have easily taken out several relationships and made the film better.
If you're looking for an enjoyable date movie, this will do nicely.
88 Minutes (2007)
Bad stuff
This is a movie I had a hard time wrapping my mind around. The description sounded wonderful. It sounded like a murder mystery with Al Pacino leading a pack of devoted police officers to find a serial killer. As a huge fan of Pacino, I thought this would give him a chance to stretch and create a character.
Glancing through the reviews, I see that I'm not the only one that found this a disaster. It was bad in so many ways that I found myself amazed. How could an actor of Al Pacino's stature have gotten himself into such a mess? I have no answer at all but can agree with nearly everyone who posted that he should have known better. The day the script was handed to him, he should have realized that it was beneath someone of his abiliity.
This was a pointless exercise in sadism, with so many suspicious incidental characters that it became laughable. The supporting acting was bad and the dialog they were forced to speak worse. The 88 minutes gimmick made no sense, because the film was not shot in real time. At one point Al pays a cabbie $100 so he can drive his taxi, then takes the opportunity to drive around explaining the plot instead of racing to the next location. He's a college professor to, but he seems to only use this as an excuse to sleep with as many students as possible. I'm still trying to get my mind around why his hair was piled so high he looked like Elvis. Sorry, Al. THis might be your worst film.
The Kite Runner (2007)
Wonderful Version
As a fan of the book, I was ready for this film to fail. How could it measure up?
The answer is by being true to the spirit of the story. The Kite Runner takes us places that few films dare to go and it does it, like the book, without resorting to sensationalism or crudity. The story of a childhood friendship torn apart by abuse, it's that rare film that makes us believe in the power of good acts in a crazy world. Its upsetting, touching and inspirational at the same time.
I can't recommend this film highly enough. In an time when something like Epic Movie can get released, it's a pleasure to see a film like The Kite Runner come to life onn the screen.
Margot at the Wedding (2007)
This is funny?
I wish I would have read some of these reviews before I was suckered into renting this from Netflix. How could I go wrongg? Written and directed by an Oscar nominee. A pairing of two wonderful actresses, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nicole Kidman. Costarring Jack Black, whose work I mostly love. A comedy, according to the press blurbs.
I'm seriously worried about people who consider this type of material funny. This is a movie about dysfunction. A family gets together for the wedding of Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black. Leigh's estranged sister, Margot (Nicole Kidman) drops by with her odd son. Their interactions border on child abuse, but it's the viewer that is abused repeatedly by this film's attempts at humor.
If I wanted to see family dysfunction, I would have invited mine over for dinner. I can honestly tell you that I have no interest in paying to witness other people's.
WALL·E (2008)
The most lovable robot since R2D2
Only Pixar could create a robot this lovable. Wall-e is not only the most endearing robot since R2D2, he's the most enchanting animated creation in years. He's an actual character. This might sound obvious, but when you sonsider that Wall-e only speaks a couple words during the entire film, you really begin to appreciate the genius of it.
Wall-e is a robot created to compress the trash that has rendered the Earth uninhabitable. He spends his days recycling material he deems interesting but mostly just crushing refuse into little cubes. One day an alien space craft arrives and the Wall-e discovers a playmate/playdate in the form of Eve, a more advanced flying robot. But this is only the beginning of this wonderful film. It shortly becomes apparent that Pixar has bigger things on its mind.
Don't come with preconceptions. This is one of those wonderful films that will captivate you even if you aren't an animation fan.
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006)
Really stupid
I'm amazed by some of the reviews I read for this movie. The idea that this collection of heavy metal injokes amounts to a great film is laughable. It's more laughable than the movie.
I am a fan of Jack Black. I really enjoyed him in King Kong and a number of other pictures, but he's allowed his persona to go to his head. The plot revolves around the title's Pick of Destiny, which is supposed to have come from the tooth of Satan himself and will bestow him with magical rock powers. Funny idea, but they do nothing with it.
Instead, this becomes a bad buddy picture. And the songs that Black has built it around try so hard to "rock" that they come across as juvenile. They use the f word constantly, as if this is a badge of rock honor and let's not get into all the stupid sex jokes. A ten year old might find these hilarious, but I demand a little more of a comedy.
Epic Movie (2007)
Incredibly bad
This is another film my husband promised me was going to be fun. He's got this perverse idea that badly made movies = fun. I can tell you from experience, it's agony.
This time, he didn't have a leg to stand on. This film was bad from start to finish. It appeared to have been made for preteen boys by preteen boys. Strip a few girls down to a bikini and have them parade around. Throw in some vomit jokes. Add some fart jokes. I can't believe a major studio thought this was a great idea.
I can honestly say that I didn't laugh once during the whole movie, but neither did my husband. That was funny enough for one star.
Sea of Dust (2008)
Insane bloodbath
My husband and I had big disagreements about this film. He felt it was like the second coming and I felt it was kind of offensive.
Like a number of other movies at the Rhode Island Festival it looked like an older movie. Instead of being a black and white silent movie like THE CALL OF CTHULU, it looked like a horror movie from the 1960s. It wass very colorful and as much as I hate to admit it, it was really beautiful to look at. The music also added to the feel. You don't hear stuff like that anymore.
There were some problems with it though. In case my headline didn't tell you, it is terribly bloody. A girl's head blows off before you're a minute into the movie and that's just the start. The hero gets stuck in the throat with a hook, people have their skulls stabbed with knives and pitchforks, and I won't get into some of the other stuff that goes on. My jaw was hanging open for most of the time.
The biggest source of our disagreement was that I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. I couldn't tell if the hero was imagining everything including the people around him or if he was giving in to the evil forces. This was another time when my husband said, "That's the whole point." I still think it was kind of insane.
I might have given this movie a lower score, but the cast were so nice during the question and answer session that followed that I couldn't help but like them. They also helped explain some of the religious symbolism that was really bothering me.
To be honest, I'm not even sure this was a horror movie. There were a couple of moments when I laughed out loud, a lott where I shrank down in my seat because of all the blood, and a few others where I shook my head and said, "Where did that come from?"
The Call of Cthulhu (2005)
A silent movie?
Revenge is sweet. My husband's new hobby is posting reviews of movies I've picked on IMDb. I will say that they even I thought my picks weren't so good, but it's the idea of beating him to this that I like.
Last week he drug me to the Rhode Island Festival to see a bunch of horror movies. THE CALL OF CTHULU was one of the first we took in and it didn't exactly make me all warm and fuzzy. I got the idea okay. The movie was supposed to look like a silent film. It had the same makeup and dialog cards. Even the monster at the end of the film looked like it stepped out of an old movie.
That was fun for about five minutes. Then I started to lose patience with it. I said to him, "Is this movie out of focus?" We were sitting at an angle to the screen and I thought it might be my eyes. "It's supposed to look like that," he told me. That's when it started to get on my nerves.
I'm not suere why they couldn't have made it in color and with sound. It might have been more fun for people like me who don't love horror movies. It's like a joke for a club you don't belong to.