esh04676 Reviews

The Astronaut's Wife (1999)

where was the Hound of the Baskervilles?

[3/10 · 30 September 2005]

The performances of Theron Depp, and Morton are fine, and they deserve top credit for their valiant work in this mish-mash. Ravich seems to be the one most responsible, writing and directing. What ever did he think he was doing? The IMDb page on goofs says a lot, commenting on such carelessness as the trip to Washington Square that starts at night and ends in broad daylight. Who was in charge here anyway? The pace of this would-be sci-fi thriller is so s-l-o-w. And finally, what about all those strange sets, particularly the huge and dark apartment where the astronaut and his wife live. astronaut A Manhattan apartment that large costs a lot, more than this ex-astronaut could afford. And then there were all those long corridors looking more significant than they were. Just like the movie itself!

Like It Is (1998)

gay boxer finds love

[5/10 · 26 September 2005]

Somewhat disjointed in continuity, Like It Is nevertheless did hold my interest. Steve Bell, who plays the young boxer Craig, is effective as the bare-knuckle fighter trying to make his way in the world with his bare fists. At the same time he is troubled by the nature of his sexuality as gay impulses begin stirring when he meets Matt, played by Ian Rose. Their first attempt at a physical relationship is a disaster, but later on they consummate their love in a scene that must have been challenging for the two young actors. The film was obviously shot on low budget but the DVD has a couple of "extras," a sign for me that the producers are aiming to capture a larger audience. Unfortunately a big obstacle is the lack of captions. Much of the film was shot in Blackpool in northern England where the regional dialect is difficult for Americans to understand. It is a "foreign language," and the viewers need a break with some interpretation.

L.I.E. (2001)

massive teenage problems

[8/10 · 8 August 2005]

Removing the periods from the title gives the word "lie," maybe too obvious a metaphor for this film about kids growing up in well-heeled suburbia. Behind the outer trapping of beautiful homes set amid spacious green lawns there is lots of trouble for the people living there. Howie (Paul Franklin Dano), grieving over the death of his mother, lives with his father who is preoccupied with new women in his life. He is a hard-fisted operator of a construction business looking only for money and cutting corners on building contracts. Howie and his best friend, Gary (Billy Kay), are somewhat involved with a local teenage gang who break into homes and steal just for the excitement of it. Eventually Howie is befriended by an older man, Big John (Brian Cox) an ex-Marine and a pederast,who at first sees troubled Howie as a desirable target for his affections but later develops real bonds of sympathy for the boy as his troubles at home and school become more and more overwhelming. The performances of Dano and Cox are fine and make L.I.E. a compelling film to watch. (Note to the makeup supervisor: why did the black eye Howie got from his father move from left to right in various scenes?) H

The Adventures of Felix (2000)

French road movie plus search for the father

[1 July 2005]

Felix, fresh out of a job, decides to leave his home and lover in northern France for a bit and travel to Marseilles and find the father he has never known. He makes his progress by any means available, from walking and hitchhiking to stealing (temporarily) an automobile. He is unwitting witness to a street crime and gets beaten up himself; he helps an art student do a drawing; and he helps an elderly lady with her bags of groceries. Both the art student and the lady provide Felix with temporary shelter before he moves on to other encounters, each such meeting being labeled as "grandmother" or "brother," and so on. Thus Felix acquires in essence the family he never had. An attractive young man of Arabian descent He charms everyone,

including a man who works for the railroad system. They fly a kite together and then have a merry sexual encounter in the bushes, for Felix is gay and HIV positive. But the viewer is reminded that this is safe sex when there is a brief disagreement over how to dispose of a used condom, a situation gracefully dealt with by the French creators of this really charming film, which moreover provides beautiful shots of different regions of France, from the shores of Dieppe in the north to the Mediterranean coast in the south, with mountains and flower-filled meadows in between. This film was a continual and delightful surprise to me, and I'd recommend it to anyone who is not offended by the gay theme underlying all.

Meet the Fockers (2004)

box office gross is high for this gross film

[1/10 · 28 May 2005]

I am not a prude. I enjoy raunchiness, but some skill, a light touch, is required. If you are amused by a sex therapist talking shop, watching a weird little dog hump everything in sight, the reactions at the dinner table when a foreskin lands in a plate of soup. or seeing a baby in a high chair mouth expletives then this is the show for you. An evidently for millions of movie goers who have made Meet the Fockers one of 2004's top moneymakers. Too bad, it will encourage all the people involved in making this appalling movie. I would expect the spectacularly untalented Ben Stiller to willingly participate in this project, but would like to know how such top[ veterans as Streisand. De Niro, Hoffman, and Danner got involved.

Bad Education (2004)

triumph of film making

[18 May 2005]

Someone has said Bad Education is Almodovar's best movie in twenty years. I have not seen all his films, so cannot say whether I agree with this appraisal. However I do think it is a triumph of cinema art, a very great film indeed. This is what movies are all about, giving the viewer layers and layers of meaning beautifully enveloped in brilliant boxes, like those Russian dolls that come apart to reveal a similar doll inside, an analogy that Almodovar uses in discussing his film. The rich textures of this story about childhood sexual abuse and its effect on the lives of the people involved is presented in a way that could not be conveyed in other mediums--the printed word, the stage. I was so enthralled by this movie and the towering performance by Gael Garcia Bernal that I played the DVD twice in one viewing. I would highly recommend it to all movie lovers.

Boys Don't Cry (2000)

a Slavic comedy (?)

[2 May 2005]

I read other viewers' comments in hopes of learning a little more about what I had seen when I ran this film on my DVD player. It helped a little, but my own lack of any knowledge of the Polish language is a nearly insuperable barrier. I think some of those viewers have more knowledge of Polish and maybe a little less of English. This would apply as well to the writers of the captions, which are often rather unidiomatic. I say this in great respect, always admiring Europeans who have such skill with English. Anyway I found the movie confusing, jumping from one situation to another rather abruptly.Two very innocent young men hire prostitutes, are unable to pay the fee, and get mixed up with a group of thugs. Everything follows from there, including even some Keystone cops types and a mad car chase. Those classic movie elements are universally understood but are not quite enough to have made this a good evening's entertainment for me and my friends.

Starsky & Hutch (2004)

dumbing down of a great TV show

[3/10 · 27 April 2005]

Snoop Dogg is nearly the best thing in this slow moving action (!) buddy picture/action comedy. I got weary of Stiller's constant mugging. It's not funny, even though Stiller may have thought he was signaling the viewer that it is. Owen Wilson plays it straighter, and the end result is more satisfying. Both these actors are decent looking,and it would be great to see how they might perform with a better script and in the hands of a more imaginative director. For me the only laughs were the jailhouse scene with Will Ferrell as the prisoner being interviewed by Starsky and Hutch who tries to make a deal by getting Hutch to expose his navel. The other good moment was Snoop Dogg in his fur coat made of many colors.

Golden Balls (1993)

a Bardem show

[16 April 2005]

Lots of rather drrunken partying and explicit sexual activity do not disguise the fact that Golden Balls tells a sad story. Bardem, as Benito the young construction worker consumed with ambitions, aspiration, and sexual desire, is very fine. I would give him most of the credit for making this an interesting film, but Bigas Luna, the director, shows great skill in his handling of Benito's tangled relationships with three women and his slick maneuvering to gain financing for his consuming desire to build the tallest skyscraper in the city. Benito scores success in business and with his women, but in the end meets his downfall, losing money and prestige as his shoddy building practices are exposed. Even worse, it is made clear to him that he is not as good in bed as his gardener, Bob, played by Benicio del Toro in what is little more than a cameo but very convincing.

Bulgarian Lovers (2003)

a Slav in gay Madrid

[8/10 · 5 April 2005]

Overall this film gives the viewer a good picture of the gay night world in contemporary Spain, but the focus is on the relationship between stolid, bull-like Kyril and emotional passive Daniel. Daniel is the successful and well--to-do middle-aged business consultant who spends much of his free time cruising for sex in night spots. He hooks up with much younger (supposedly age 23, but Biba looks older) Kyril, a Bulgarian immigrant, missing his fiancée who is in Berlin. (Why these two young lovers are separated is not clear.) But Kyril is ready to meet Daniel's needs for friendship and more. The nature of the developing relationship is made clear at the outset with Kyril making love to Daniel in an overpowering and explicit manner. Daniel is much in love with Kyril, but Kyril sees Daniel only as a convenience, a source of money, shelter, and help with his working papers in Spain and with a project that evidently deals with international atomic fuel smuggling. In connection wit the last, Daniel often finds himself involved in skirting the law. The performances by Dritan Biba and Guillen-Cuervo as the older man are excellent and make this movie fun to watch. Both actors should get special awards for their sensitive portrayals of men having a sexual relationship.

Latter Days (2003)

love resolves everything

[7/10 · 28 March 2005]

Overall, Latter Days puts heavy emphasis on the extremes: the clean-cut Mormon missionaries vs the pretty hedonistic gays. It is quite an intriguing setup for a film, which wastes little time in getting into the problems of the story. And the struggle that then ensues as gay and Mormon fall in love is quite engrossing: will the very neat, straight-seeming Aaron succumb to the wiles of Christian, the stereotypical gay man. anxious to prove to his friends and also to himself that he is sexy enough to turn Aaron from his missionary activity to more worldly pursuits? Then true love comes into the story, disguised first as pure lust and then becoming sincere and deep affection. Sandvoss is quite fine in his role as Aaron. The challenge of his role is considerable as he must show us the young man fighting against all his early conditioning as a deeply religious young man devoted to his church and trying to resist all his deeply buried gay impulses.

No News from God (2001)

everybody wants the boxer, but why?

[9 March 2005]

As far as this reviewer is concerned Don't Tempt Me is a lot of confusing claptrap. Heaven and Hell in the persons of Cruz and Abrant (two lovely and fine actresses, wasted here) are fighting to gain the soul of a dying prizefighter (Demian Bichir). Just why he is such a tempting target never becomes clear. Several scenes shot in such places as a supermarket and a men's room (note the urinals), and they have a bit of humor when thought of as rooms in Hell. But at two hours particularly I felt the director was rubbing it in--or rather rubbing the viewers' faces in a mess of something. How did these good performers get involved? I should mention Gael Garcia Bernal as Davenport, just barely more than a walk-on role, but he manages to make something out of it, largely because of his own special talent, not that of the director.

Johns (1996)

Johns is a dog

[4 March 2005]

I suffered through this film, and I have read a lot of the comments by other viewers at this site--and I strongly second all the negative things anyone has said. In the first place, Arquette and Haas, the two lead actors, both look so scruffy and "unbuff" it is hard to believe that they would expect to sell themselves to any prospective customers. But maybe that is what the customers want! The film has a worn-out dirty look, the camera work is unimaginative, the direction--what am I saying?--there appears not to be any direction at all. Something in the way of good social commentary combined with a story that grabs the viewer might be done with this subject matter. After all, there have been some good movies about female prostitutes. So give the guys a chance! How about a remake of the old chestnut, Sadie Thompson, done once as Rain with Joan Crawford and later as Miss Sadie Thompson with Rita Hayworth? A good vehicle for such young actors as Gael Garcia Bernal!

Strawberry & Chocolate (1993)

straight and gay reach understanding

[10/10 · 26 February 2005]

I agree with all the positive things already so well put forth by other reviewers and say that I liked this film a lot. Jorge Perugorria is incredible as the slightly "queenie" gay man. I have seen him in other films where is so different, as a very macho truck driver, for instance. Here he is the art and book lover and appreciator of good food and drink, as well as attractive young men. His "education" of the stern young Cuban Communist (an excellent Vladimir Cruz), a very straight man with intense emotional animosity toward gays, becomes a study in the resolution of human relationships triumphing over social and political obstacles.The comradely embrace of the two men , symbolizing their understanding and acceptance of each other despite superficial differences, was a masterstroke at the end of this fine film.

A Very Natural Thing (1974)

gay life a generation ago

[6/10 · 26 February 2005]

Some very fine reviews already posted for this interesting movie, which I found very enjoyable as an intriguing look at gay life and also from a historical point of view. It often has the flavor of a documentary because of the interjection of real newsreel scenes of Stonewall. The cruising episodes on Fire Island and in steam baths have a cinema verite quality. The story involving the up-and-down efforts of ex-priest David to find a man he can settle down with hold the viewer's interested, but the bickering between the two men becomes a drag on the movie. One is relieved when David finally hooks up with the Bo White character, leading to a very beautiful closing episode shot amid the dunes at Truro on Cape Cod. The movie therefore ends on a note of affirmation and one hopes that all went well for all the men involved in this important glimpse at gay life a generation ago.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)

funny and heartwarming triumph of the underdog

[10/10 · 16 February 2005]

Fast-paced and filled with slapstick moments, Dodgeball is one of the more delightful films I have seen in a long time. Thurber, Vaughan, Stiller and all the rest of the outstanding team deserve lots of credit. The overall story is well presented, and the dialog sparkles. There are plenty of raunchy innuendos--and some not so innuendo! I viewed this movie also as a satire on big- money big-time sports in America and the do-or-die attitude of many of its stars who often play with injuries and in great pain in order to satisfy terms of their contracts with wealthy team owners.This all seems to be neatly summed up at the very end of the movie with Pete LeFleur's surprise--not to be revealed here.

Adored: Diary of a Porn Star (2003)

porn star's sad life

[1/10 · 9 February 2005]

This was evidently a labor of love (if you'll excuse the expression) for Filiberti who seems to have been involved in all phases of the planning and production. Too bad! It just doesn't come together very well, in large part because the star does not convey in his person or his acting much that is interesting about the life of a porn star. There is some amusement as we watch the reactions of his family when they learn how the son and brother they threw out of the ancestral home in France has earned his living. And it is pleasing to see how he is reconciled with his brother. I found the extras on the DVD more interesting than anything in the film, particularly how simulated sex is filmed to look real. But basically, I'd call this a boring show.

Nora (2000)

fine film about a great writer's beginnings

[10/10 · 4 February 2005]

I've read some of the comments pro and con already made on this movie and am glad some viewers liked it. I thought it very fine indeed, but agree that some prior knowledge of James Joyce, his life and work, is helpful. Joyce's writing is not a bore, as some of the comments suggest. The story "The Dead," from Joyce's collection "Dubliners," is one of the great short stories in English literature. It is referrd to several times in this film. (Incidentally, "The Dead" has been made into a film also.) The time of the film "Nora", when Joyce was trying to find a publisher for "Dubliners", was well before the writing of his great work, "Ulysses". It was a time when Joyce and Nora Barnacle had a stormy relationship, but nevertheless were deeply in love and had a lusty relationship with each other. This is well depicted in the movie, beginning with their first date, when Nora surprises and delights Joyce with her bold advances. Ewan McGregor and Susan Lynch play these scenes with high professional skill, helping us to really understand the delight these two people had in a physical relationship. Their love is an up and down affair but endures. McGregor is a fine actor who always give 100% in whatever his role may be and in "Nora" he does not disappoint. I was struck by the way he squinted occasionally, just as Joyce must have done with his terrible eyesight, which even in these early years had begun to deteriorate badly. Susan Lynch is new to me and very convincing as the servant girl from the Irish countryside who kept up to the challenges of life with a great intellectual. One objection: I viewed this film on DVD and was unhappy that there are no captions for the hard of hearing--or for those who have trouble with Irish brogues!! There were a couple of the Trieste scenes where Italian conversation did have English language captions. A great relief! But is it really too great an expense for DVD producers to routinely include the caption option?

Young Adam (2003)

film noir genre still alive and great as ever

[9/10 · 2 January 2005]

This is a superb film about the loneliness of people, their isolation and their attempts to get closer to each other, most obviously represented by the frequent scenes of sexual relationships. Ewan McGregor's penis,briefly on display, may be viewed only as a symbol of his own efforts to make connection, which unfortunately is only achieved in a physical sense and this may be seen as the failure of all the other characters to connect.McGregor and Tilda Swinton give great performances. She is the owner of the barge on which the McGregor character works and it is immediately apparent that she looks for the same warmth of human and spiritual contact that McGregor wants, but she is far more aware of her needs than is McGregor who seems able to approach women only in a crude and obvious sexual way. I thought the photography was remarkable. My only negative comment is a question: When will makers of films set in Scotland, Ireland, parts of England and London give viewers a break and supply captions; regional pronunciations need as much interpretation as foreign languages.

Km. 0 (2000)

14 characters searching for love on a hot afternoon in Madrid

[10/10 · 20 December 2004]

This film is a delight and somewhat of a surprise for its frank treatment of all kinds of sexual relationships. Each character has his or her unique adventure seeking companionship,love, or excitement during one steamy afternoon and evening in Madrid, the unifying element being the meetings at the kilometer zero marker in one of the city's plazas, from which distances to other locations in Spain are measured. There are various mishaps ranging from mistaken identities to a minor auto accident. Everything has a delightfully light touch, and this viewer empathized easily with all the characters in their amorous adventures, ranging from the neglected middle-aged wife who hires a gigolo to the young backpacker who wants to help a prostitute gain more self-confidence. The use of a wallet photograph to establish a crucial identity reminds one of Restoration comedies in which a portrait in a locket is so important to the plot. In so many ways Km.0 is very traditional and in other ways, as in its frank depiction of a variety of sexual relationships, very modern. My one criticism of the film is the relegation of Tristan Ulloa to a role in which the talents he displayed in Sex and Lucia are not utilized.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

technical aspect good; story awful

[3/10 · 3 December 2004]

Rodriguez should let go of this mariachi story line now (maybe he has; I'm not familiar with his more recent output). The image of the wandering guitar player--the mariachi-- harking back to the days of the medieval troubadours has a certain amount of wistful charm. Too bad Rodriguez could not do something more imaginative with that image, but once again he depends entirely on violence and stunts. This viewer found it all achingly dull. Rodriguez's technical expertise can be appreciated by cinephiles, but the rest of the audience is looking for a coherent story and will get bored with all the shooting and blood. Antonio Banderas is a big impressive man and a capable actor, but he is ill-used in stuff like this. Johny Depp was better as the drag queen in Before Night Falls.

Bitter Moon (1992)

Boring Trash

[1/10 · 2 December 2004]

There's an old folk belief or superstition about the seventh year of a marriage being critical in the life of that marriage. Somebody even wrote a play about this--The Seven Year Itch--a comedy that had some success on the stage and later in the movies. Bitter Moon is about a couple successfully completing seven years in their marriage and celebrating with an ocean cruise to be followed with a plane trip to India. We get a couple of shots of their cruise ship, obviously a fake little toy bouncing around in a tank. The movie is fake too and so stunningly dull, despite all the attempts by Roman Polanski to mold his quartet of uninteresting lead actors into the cinematic equivalent of that well-known group in Rigoletto. However, in Bitter Moon there is no such feeling of ensemble performing.

Peter Coyote, who tells Hugh Grant at excruciating length the story of his relationship with his wife/mistress played by Emanuelle Seigner gives ample evidence of why he is an unsuccessful author. Grant is trite and totally unconvincing as the unwilling listener who is gradually drawn away from thinking about the joys of his seven-year marriage and into the orbit of the Coyote and Seigner characters and their kinky sexual relationship. These guys are so dysfunctional. The women they are hooked up with are the same, as they graphically show us in the film's climax. My favorites were the gentleman from India and his little girl, but they were only in a couple of scenes.

Donnie Darko (2001)

An easily disliked film

[22 November 2004]

Extra material on DVD I rented included a number of scenes that were cut from the final release. I think a lot more could have been cut. Drew Barrymore does not add luster to the name of a distinguished American theatrical family by her association with this movie. Jake Gylenhaal performs very well, but he may have been distressed with the finished product. His film parents are overgrown juveniles, particularly his father who is first seen playfully threatening his wife with some sort of electric pruning instrument. This is the father of teenagers! Later on he is seen as unable to remember the name of the psychiatrist treating his son for rather severe mental health problems. A detached parent. And mother seems to be rather vaguely distracted as she wanders about with a half smile on her face and a drink in her hand. And then there are the people at Donnie's school, including an inept principal and an incredibly stupid teacher. No wonder Donnie takes refuge in his dark visions. The problems of a young man trying to cope with his own terrifying inner world of demons should have been handled with more sympathy and less reliance on special effects.This is an unlikable picture about unlikable people.

Before Night Falls (2000)

Harrowing view of life in Castro's Cuba

[8/10 · 12 November 2004]

This movie disappointed me mostly because it requires editing and cutting. The director just seems to have included all the film he shot and as a result the viewer is often bewildered. There are abrupt shifts from one scene to another, and links to what follows or precedes are unclear. The fact that English and Spanish are spoken--as well as appearing in captions is also puzzling. Fortunately the actors, led by the great Javier Bardem, are all fine. Bardem shows us a detached intellectual--and incidentally gay--author so involved with his writing and his circle of friends that he is caught unawares by the vicious homophobia and anti-intellectualism of the Castro dictatorship. Bardem brilliantly enacts the horror of what happened to Arenas at the hands of Castro police/thugs. The final chapter of his life as he succumbs to AIDS is truly sad. I wonder if he ever received any help from PEN. Although I am critical of the overall direction of this film there are small satisfying bits scattered here and there. When Arenas puts a bit of the dirt from the flowerpot into his mouth one remembers the first pictures of the infant Arenas playing in the yard of his grandmother's house. A "Rosebud" moment!

Kalifornia (1993)

Yuppies meet characters from the nether world

[7/10 · 3 November 2004]

Pitt and Lewis both give stunning performances in this movie. Pitt, playing Early Grayce, the hero/villain, is barely recognizable under dirty hair and beard, and Lewis as his incredibly trusting hillbilly girlfriend Adele is almost chilling in her portrayal. She seems to have subnormal intelligence. Lewis is so fine all the time. I particularly recall how she expresses doubt and panic, using only her eyes, when she thinks maybe she has revealed too much about her boyfriend's criminal behavior. This is great acting. The Duchovny character, Brian, a yuppie-type aspiring writer gets the whole story going when he decides to get extra riders to share expenses on the cross-country drive to California, stopping at various spots so his photographer girl friend can take the pictures he'll use in his book on serial killers. The girl friend, Carrie (Forbes), has negative feelings about the two riders right from the start, but is constantly overridden by Brian. The relationship between Brian and Carrie goes through subtle changes during the course of the trip. Viewers may wonder about the quality of the relationship anyway for various reasons, particularly after viewing Brian's violence when he makes love to Carrie. As a writer, Brian develops what might be considered a clinical interest in Early as a violent character and tries to be tolerant and also to reassure Carrie. He becomes attracted to Early and tries to be a buddy but everything ends in disaster. I agree with the reviewer who noted a change, a coolness, in the feelings between Carrie and Brian at the end. This movie was unpleasant but the mix of the four characters and the violence that engulfs them results in gripping entertainment.