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jlbat
Reviews
Gods and Generals (2003)
Three hours and forty minutes too long
The people responsible for this interminable sludge should be tied to theater chairs and forced to watch their production over and over. It is a question yet to be answered about how these people could take a minor popular novel and turn it into one of the best sedatives yet concocted. The only bright spot was Robert Duvall portrayal of his ancestor, Robert E. Lee. Otherwise this collection of sleep-walking second-rate actors made the average high school senior play look like an Oscar-winning performance. Especially deserving of derision are the silly over-acted speeches, the most notable of which is Jeff Daniels's oration. How he avoided giggling while delivering those overwrought words is a wonder of the dramatic arts. The only redeeming quality of this dreadful film is that it eventually ends.
Fortress (1992)
Where are all the actors?
The only player who can act even marginally in this turkey is Kurtwood Smith but, of course, he had practice in the Robocop series. Loryn Locklin had no such experience, She wanders in a daze through the conventional plot, resembling a lost cocker spaniel. Christopher Lambert, on the other hand, never seems dazed, alternatively sullen or glowering. It seems clear that the producers spent all that money on special effects to divert attention from a cast that might be more usefully employed in a fast-food restaurant. If the producers really wanted to improve movies, they would send Locklin and Lambert to acting school. "Crimes does not pay"--neither do bad movies.