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herbandpatti
Reviews
White Oleander (2002)
Worth it
I just rented White Oleander (2002 PG-13) and watched it for the first time. It stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Renee Zellweger, Patrick Fugit, and Alison Lohman as the teen Astrid Magnussan. Astrid goes to a series of foster homes and a juvenile facility when her mother is arrested for murder. I love to compare books and their movies, and I think that the film did a good job of putting faces on the people in the book. One particularly nasty foster home was omitted, and I seem to remember that Astrid perjured herself in her mother's defense in the book, as opposed to the outcome in the movie, but I'm not sure because it has been a long time since I read it. The whole thing is about a daughter finding her own identity, apart from all the people lived with. My husband sat through the entire 109 minutes, but felt it was really depressing and said he would not watch it a second time. My teenager said it was very good. I felt it was quite good, but it did not make my "Movies Better Than the Book" list. The deleted scenes on the DVD were worth watching. The only thing that was really irritating with this film is that the credits are listed in alphabetical order, which made it frustrating to match the roles with the actors. If I was trying to do that in a theater I would have been screaming, and all the employees would know it was me because I am one of the few people (a credidiot) who watch the credits all the way to the end.
The Village (2004)
Diet deficiency?
People either love or hate movies by M. Night Shymalan. Herb and I loved The Village. I had read two Associated Press reviews, in the local paper and in the St. Louis paper. One hated it and the other gave it four stars out of four. Gene Shalit and Roger Ebert hated it. Richard Roper loved it. It seems there is no middle ground.
It is difficult to try to explain The Village without giving away the famous "Shymalan Twist" at the end. A tiny community of people lives serenely in a secluded valley, far away from the violence of "the towns." Creatures known only as "those we don't speak of" exist in the forbidden woods nearby. Villagers placate the creatures with ritual offerings of meat, and keep watch just in case of attack.
Joaquin Phoenix has a leading role as Lucius Hunt, but Bryce Dallas Howard is the real star of this movie. It is hard to believe that her role as blind Ivy Walker is a debut performance. Oscar winner Adrien Brody has a pivotal role, and Sigourney Weaver and William Hurt also star. Of course, Night has a speaking role in the movie, as always, but you won't see him until near the end, and then really only the back of his head.
The lack of "the bad color" in the daily life of the villagers lends almost a sepia-tone feel to the film, although they use plenty of golds, light blues and greens. I wondered on the ride home if the illnesses that killed a child and caused Ivy's blindness could be due to a dietary deficiency. After all, they have no tomatoes, cherries, strawberries, or any other red foods.
I feel that the film raised issues about the lengths to which people will go for protection. Who hasn't daydreamed about a peaceful existence in lush countryside, far away from the noise, dirt and violence of the cities we really live in? On the other hand, Sherlock Holmes pointed out that secluded places have higher levels of dark, secret deeds. That is also true of The Village. To find out more, go see the film. You'll either love it or hate it.
I, Robot (2004)
Dr. Asimov would have enjoyed it
Let me start off by saying that I walked into the theater fully expecting to hate I, Robot. I started reading Asimov in junior high school, and the thought of a movie "suggested" by his collection of short stories seemed almost a sacrilege. To prepare, I watched all the previews and the talk-show interviews on The Tonight Show, Ellen, and any other show that had Will Smith and Bridget Moynahan on as guests, I saw every clip available, and I had my mind made up that this movie was going to suck for anyone other than action-movie aficionados. Well, I was wrong. And my changed mind had absolutely nothing to do with seeing Will Smith naked. (Although that part was a nice bonus.) Before I saw the film, I was troubled by the thought of beautiful, young Bridget Moynahan playing Susan Calvin. I really believed the only person to play the eminent Dr. Calvin should be Anne Haney, the child welfare worker from Mrs. Doubtfire (which is another film on my short list of Movies Better than the Books). But Ms. Moynahan portrayed the rigid robopsychiatrist to a T. Still, in later years, Anne Haney will be the perfect actor to play an older Dr. Calvin.
The movie was good. Really good. There was plenty of action, but better than that, a plausible back story for why Det. Del Spooner hated robots the way he did, fine acting all the way through, and an excellent storyline. In this instance, adding material didn't hurt a thing. Del's grandma was perfect. The special effects were incredible. The one-liners were pithy and rapier-sharp. I even liked the cat.
The tiny details added a great deal to my enjoyment of the film. For instance, the spectacles that Dr. Alfred Lanning's holographic image wore. When you see this movie, and I hope you do, take a good look at them. Also, from the posted prices, items in 2035 are going to cost just about ten times what they do now. Now, there's something for me to look forward to when I am in my eighties! The special Audi deserves a review completely its own. What a car! I loved the Swiss exercise ball wheels. And it looks like parking garages are going to have marvelous improvements over their present-day counterparts.
Yeah, there wasn't a whole lot of Dr. Asimov left intact, but it was okay. The skeleton was there. And although I hate to say it, the movie I, Robot was funnier than any Asimov book I have yet experienced. (He never did write great one-liners.) I think Isaac himself would have enjoyed it.
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Enjoyable
I enjoyed Intolerable Cruelty a lot, even with various people torturing Simon and Garfunkel songs throughout. Actually, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on bagpipes wasn't too bad. The alliterative names were distracting, Miles Massey, Sarah Sorkin, Donovan Donaly, etc. There are more. Don't bother watching the extra features on the DVD. They are not only sparse, but irritating as well. George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Geoffrey Rush turned in fine performances, and Paul Adelstein was delightful as Wrigley. Come to think of it, he was kind of wriggly
. I was surprised to see Rush in a supporting role, and more surprised to hear him sing. Oh, by the way, the subtitles/closed-captions made a mistake on the second line of "April Come She Will." Can't tell I'm a Simon and Garfunkel fan, can you? This was an enjoyable farce, and worth the time.
King Kong (2005)
New rating needed
Herb, my two youngest sons and I saw King Kong right after Christmas. It was superb! I can't praise it enough! Jack Black, Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody were great! I loved the nods to the classic 1933 production. (The less said about the cheesy 1976 version, the better.) I only have one teensy little complaint. Many of us out here in the real world, (outside of Hollywood) have problems, fears and phobias. I avoid movies that I know will make me uncomfortable, especially after a really bad theater experience with Sophie's Choice in 1982. Therefore, I think we need a new rating called BB. For Big Bugs. We saw this at an AMC theater; on a gift card my daughter had given us as a Christmas present. We had never been to one before. AMC theaters are cool, because they have flip-up armrests, and you can sit close to your date. Nice! Well, everything was great until the big bugs showed up. Now, these are really, really big bugs. I was immediately uneasy, but I was holding it together. The lady behind me, however, began to moan. And pray. I was clenching my teeth, toes, and the armrest between me and my eighteen-year-old son, and I was huddled pretty close to Herb. I felt I was doing fairly well. The little noises I was making in my throat weren't too audible, and I felt the scene couldn't last much longer, and everything would be okay. That's when my son tickled me and I wound up in Herb's lap. So I think a BB rating for Big Bugs would be a good thing, and the lady behind me and I could make more informed choices about the films we go to see.
A Sound of Thunder (2005)
Ended better than the short story did
My son, my husband and I were walking into our favorite theater to see a different movie, when a poster for A Sound of Thunder caught my eye. The poster was of an outstretched hand, with a butterfly in the palm. The title didn't do it, but as soon as I saw the butterfly I remembered the short Ray Bradbury story about disastrous time travel. So, we pooled all our cash and wound up seeing two movies, one after the other. There were only nine people in the showing, total, for A Sound of Thunder. It ended better than Bradbury's short story, and I thought it was pretty good. I'm easy to please on CG special effects, and I felt the saber-toothed baboon-a-saurs looked realistic. The long shot of the city (and they used the same shot every time) was out of plumb. The time paradox doesn't stand up well to deep discussion, but if you just want to escape the heat for a couple of hours, give this one a shot. I have seen absolutely no advertising for this film, except for the poster.Ben Kingsley was excellent in his role as the owner/director/manager of the time travel company.
The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Eeeeggghhhck!
I saw this with my spouse and teen-aged son. We had looked forward to seeing it for a long while, but I felt let-down. Heath Ledger and Matt Damon play the brothers, Jakob and Wilhelm, but they just go by Will and Jake. Most of the movie was enjoyable, but the scene where a sweet little kitten gets kicked into a torture device and chopped up was a little hard to take, especially when a character wipes a spot of the kitten's blood off his face and then licks it off his finger. And why must there be swarms of deadly insects in so many movies? Eeeeggghhhck! It was creepy, but not scary; amusing, but not hilarious; had a couple of interesting characters, but no one I really cared about. It deserves its PG-13 rating. Some of the young children there at the showing will probably have nightmares for a long while.
Spanglish (2004)
Too bad.
I rented Spanglish almost a month ago, and it has taken me this long to sort out my feelings about it. Firstly, it was really long at 131 minutes, but all the deleted scenes left out important bits that would have made it easier to understand. T'ea Leoni's character, Deborah Clasky, is so unlikable that it was nothing but a caricature. Adam Sandler's character, John Clasky, was just befuddled. I couldn't understand how any mom could have a wonderful, beautiful child like Bernice and just ignore her. Georgie was so glossed over that we had to watch the deleted scenes to find out why his mom was mad at him (for refusing to perform in front of company like a trained seal.) Paz Vega as Flor and the three kid actors were great. The sex scene between Deborah and John pointed out how totally self-occupied Deborah was, but it was really disturbing and I could have lived just fine without seeing it. I had looked forward to seeing this movie for a long time, and was really disappointed. Good editing could have made this movie really great. Too bad.