milleraj-2 Reviews

Runaway Jury (2003)

Enjoyable flick, but irritatingly jingoistic propaganda throughout

[3/10 · 19 October 2003]

It was a fun movie throughout, very enjoyable. Everyone ate their

popcorn and drank their drinks and cheered for the good guys and

booed the bad guys. I would've enjoyed it except for a few things: 1. The bad guys were TOO BAD. From Hackman as the villain

(how appropo), who will stoop to anything and has no values at all,

to the Dr. EEEEVIL Gun Company Executives who's only concern

about values is when they are concerned that they are not getting

value for their money. They are too stupid to know any argument for

their case except, "Ah Staynd on the Second Amendment". 2. The good guys are TOO GOOD. I can't tell much about this

without giving away the plot, but if Hoffman had been wearing a

White Hat (tm) it wouldn't have been any more obvious. Even if he

has no social skills, everyone on his side is quietly virtuous. 3. The arguments are shallow, and solely emotional. This is a

deep topic with solid arguments on both sides of the issue. The

Good Guys (tm), the gun controllers, used nothing but emotional

appeals and straw man arguments. Of course part of that related

to the plot, but no good lawyer would make the mistake that he

does here. The Bad Guys (tm), the Gun Nuts (tm) cannot even

pretend to defend themselves, which is why they bring in the big

guns (Hackman). But then again, this is a movie about THE JURY,

so if they hadn't spent every spare moment that wasn't movie the

plot in preaching, they would've actually had to fill out the story

about the jury. Which segues into... 4. The jury is barely one-dimensional. I've served on a jury. I know

people who've served on a jury. While they're usually not the most

wonderful best friends you could ever have, they're not the

cardboard cutouts that these ones are. Every character is as

fleshed out as they're going to get the first moment you see them.

There is one brief moment, essential to the plot, where they fill

them in a little, but no more than is necessary for the plot. 5. Gun makers as the villains. Puleeze. Just because they're the

official Hollywood "Villain of the Month", courtesy of the

embarrassing psuedo-documentary/puff piece by Michael Moore.

Just left a sour taste in my mouth. It's like switching the villains to

Neo-Nazis from South Africa. Easy Hollywood target, no thinking

required, no truth required. I'm sorry, but if the film makers had spent less time preaching, and

more time either telling the story or presenting both sides, like a

REAL courtroom drama, I could recommend it. I actually enjoyed

about 30 minutes of the movie. Sad. Oh, and if they hadn't spent all the previews hiding what the case

was about, I wouldn't have been QUITE so annoyed.

My Six Loves (1963)

Delightful, light, frothy comedy

[8/10 · 1 April 2001]

Wonderful little flick, with family values, warm fuzzies galore, pleasant moments, and real meaning. Funny and touching, with an outstanding performance by the ever cute Debbie Reynolds. Would never be produced today.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Maybe we missed something...

[3/10 · 3 March 2001]

But the whole theater was LAUGHING at the special effects, the

cheesy "romance", the 60's "find yourself" depth, the corny

story-line. There was NOTHING in this movie that would make me

recommend it for Best Movie?? Hah! The new Star Wars was

much better, and a better legend to boot, and I didn't even like it!! Maybe our whole theater missed something, but I recommend

against seeing this silly tripe, unless you realize you're going to

see a poor imitation of the Matrix / Star Wars / Shakespearean

tragedy. Pretty scenery though, a really lovely travelogue of Beijing.

Head Over Heels (2001)

Funny, Silly, Slapstick, with some offensive elements

[7/10 · 18 February 2001]

Classic slapstick comedy, hysterical, had me rolling in the aisles, while having a delightful romantic touch that had all our dates sighing. HOWEVER, they had the default gay character, who is, of course, the font of all kindness and wisdom, and the implication of another, as well as everyone in the movie pretty much sleeping with everyone, both of which are offensive to me with a PG-13 rating. Most of the "attempted" comedy (that didn't work in our audience) was sexual, but most of the comedy that had everyone rolling in the aisles was the slapstick or relational humor. So, once again, a good story, and a high quality script that was spoiled by Hollywood's desire to make everything about illicit sex.

***SPOILER AHEAD*** The grand finale scene at the fashion show, and the recurring theme of the leaping dog, and her dodge at the end, are some of my favorite scenes of over-the-top slapstick humor ever. ***End possible spoiler

All in all, an enjoyable movie, with apparently teenaged script-writers from the 80s.

Center Stage (2000)

Cute, teen tripe - Slight spoilers within

[5/10 · 16 February 2001]

It tries to be deep several times in the movie, but it ends up being your standard coming-of-age movie. No surprises. Without spoiling the story, if you predict the ending based on the first 10 minutes, you've got it right. Great dance scenes, if you enjoy ballet. Outstanding salsa scenes, if you can wait that long. The "grand finale" dance number was, in my opinion, very disappointing, with numerous pointless sexual overtones and moments that appeared to be nothing other than titillation. If you want to see another cute Teen Coming-Of-Age Thru Dance movie, this is exactly that. It has romantic moments that fizzle, and comedy that teens would enjoy, and the usual domineering parents who ***SPOILER*** get theirs in the end. It also has your standard gay character being the font of all wisdom and niceness. If you really want to see a TCOATDM, I'd pick Footloose.

Miss Congeniality (2000)

Wonderful, Hysterical, Action-filled AND romantic... What's not to like!

[9/10 · 15 February 2001]

Best movie out right now! It's funny and enjoyable from beginning to end. Action is enough for any reasonable male date, while the romance is enough for any reasonable female date. Gotta love it! Great date movie, great fun. Go see it.

Cast Away (2000)

Trite, cute, see the real movie, or read the book

[4/10 · 15 February 2001]

If you want to see an infinitely stronger, and deeper variant of this, pick the Disney Swiss Family Robinson, or go read Robinson Crusoe. Sad, but true. This was very well acted, weakly scripted garbage. I couldn't identify with his character at all, there is NO character development that you would expect in the times involved. Most confusing of all, in this level of despair, he seeks for meaning in... a VOLLEYBALL?!! Worship a tree, talk to God, but don't try so hard to avoid the REALITY of what people seek in these kinds of crisis that you look to a volleyball. He's done much better. He did this script as well as it could be done, but the script frankly sucked.

Airplane! (1980)

Classic 80s comedy

[10/10 · 15 February 2001]

Probably the silliest slapstick comedy from 1975 on. I highly recommend this movie to ANYONE who wants a great laugh, that lasts over an hour. Even as dated as the humor is, this is still one of the greatest.

Remember the Titans (2000)

One More Quick Thought Re: Racism topic of the movie

[9/10 · 7 November 2000]

THERE IS A SLIGHT SPOILER AT THE END OF THIS REVIEW Other thing that I was impressed with, given the usual pap coming out of Hollywood these days, was the reminder (quiet, but still there) that racists and non-racists were on BOTH sides. There was the "Usual Suspect" hatred-stirring white students, teachers, and parents, but there were also the hatred-stirring black "leader" who speaks to Denzel and pushes him to get what he could, and the racist black players. There were the "usual" wonderful, caring, loving black folks who just wanted to get along, but there were also the white folks who really, actively wants to get along (of course, this being modern Hollywood, esp. Disney, there has to be the possibility that one is gay so that he can be properly loving *wry grin*).

Meet the Parents (2000)

Three's Company meets Insensitive Parents(tm)

[3/10 · 5 November 2000]

I dunno, apparently I'm the only one out here who didn't like this movie. I left the movie feeling cheated and upset. It felt like a bad episode of Three's Company, with a big budget.

The humor was weak and thin, most of the funny moments were shown in the previews, and the especially sad part was, over and over there were WONDERFULLY funny situations and setups, that would just fall flat. Most of the humor was the kind of disparaging "how embarrassed can we make the poor little Jewish boy" junk that Three's Company and it's ilk made famous.

Apparently the rest of the world loves this movie, but I was embarrassed walking out of the theatre, and wouldn't recommend this movie to my worst enemy (well, maybe him, since he has no taste anyway).

Remember the Titans (2000)

Powerful, funny, a new classic

[9/10 · 5 November 2000]

One of the best movies of it's kind. The humor is enlightened and delightful. The drama is poignant and realistic. The characters are ... okay most of the racists are cardboard cutouts with no reasoning nor explanation for their behavior, but most of the characters are well rounded, and believable. The story is powerful, and meaningful. The only major downfall in the movie is that the 2 characters who showed any evidence of faith were not realistic portrayals of faithful people of that time, who were the primary (and in many cases ONLY) drivers of the movement towards equal rights and respect. Otherwise, a great movie.

The Cider House Rules (1999)

Lush beautiful imagery for a horrid message

[1/10 · 6 July 2000]

One of the most visually stunning movies in some time, however, it became nauseatingly apparent after a very short time that this was nothing more than a pro-abortion polemic. All the usual excuses were trotted out, no stops were left in, and very convincing depictions were used. The morality of the characters was sickening, but the determination of the film makers to get their message across was worse. I cannot recommend this movie less.

The Love Letter (1999)

Horrid, tedious, piece of junk

[1/10 · 18 January 2000]

Don't waste your time. The plot drags, the characters are wooden and uninteresting, the motivations of their actions are completely indecipherable. Kept waiting for the "romantic" or "comedy" to occur, and nothing happened. Worse yet, the love letter isn't even romantic, but sounds like it was written by someone desperate to make a deadline. Did I mention that the "plot twist" which we saw coming from 15 mins into the movie was "Hollywood clever", meaning it is intended to shock, but given the Hollywood mentality- does nothing of the sort, and instead is vaguely offensive.

It's not even worth the $2 to rent. Don't bother seeing it.