keefep_email Reviews

Grizzly Man (2005)

Grizzly Man Is Unintentional Comedy

[2/10 · 21 February 2006]

I'm baffled as to why this joke of a movie has received such acclaim. The hero, Timothy Treadwell, is obviously mentally disturbed and an annoying screen presence. He comes across as a psycho child who never grew up. I don't think he really gives a hoot about the bears he professes to love. I think he is only interested in being on camera and "acting out." At one point he says, "Is my hair all right?" When Treadwell's parents are interviewed, I thought I was watching a skit from Saturday Night Live. Although they are indoors, the father wears clip-on sunglasses, flipped up, and the mother sits next to him stroking a Teddy bear.

Treadwell's demise is completely believable and probably was inevitable. In my opinion, this movie is a waste of time.

The Constant Gardener (2005)

Third-world director trashes drug companies

[1/10 · 6 September 2005]

This movie is a leftist crock of garbage. Big bad drug companies. How many people have lived long lives due to drugs? I'm tired of this black-and-white view of the world perpetrated by third-world idiots. Do drug companies have ethical problems? Yes, I'm sure they do. But let's not paint with such a broad brush.

The acting is atrocious. Fiennes is supposed to be a career diplomat; yet, for the first half of the movie, he acts like an moron who can only deal with plants: goofy grins, mugging, etc. Weisz is the most annoying actress on the planet, next to Sandra Bullock. All she does here is laugh and act like the Great White Mother while in Africa.

The director's prior movie "City of God" was an admirable achievement. This movie is the worst.

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987)

Brilliant look at a tragic life

[6 May 2004]

Maggie Smith is enormously affecting as Irish piano teacher Judith Hearne, whose life is plagued by Catholic guilt; painful memories of her early life with a difficult, wealthy aunt; and the less-than-genteel situation in which she now finds herself. At the shabby boarding house where she lives, Hearne meets the brother of her landlady. As they become friendlier, she seizes on the chance that this man will save her from a dismal life as a poor spinster.

The uniformly fine cast includes Bob Hoskins and Prunella Scales. I cannot recommend this movie highly enough to anyone who enjoys character-driven stories.