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manicv
Reviews
Starting Out in the Evening (2007)
A little pompous at first, but very good overall
At the risk of sounding cliché', this movie is not for everyone. It moves a bit slowly in the beginning, and assumes a few things about its audience. But the overall feel of the movie, and the message that it communicates is very endearing.
Frank Langella is amazing as always, and perfectly captures what it's like to be a writer. His character is a true gentleman. He drinks tea, stands when a lady enters or leaves the room, and speaks honestly but with a polite tact when it's called for. It was really a nice thing to see.
Lili Taylor was hard to get a feel for. I just couldn't connect with her character. Probably because she was turning 40 and trying to have a kid. But her relationship with Adrian Lester was very genuine. They had a great chemistry that really played on the heart-strings.
Lauren Ambrose was a little quirky. The chemistry between her and Frank seemed too forced to me, and not because of the age difference. The only way I can describe it is by invoking the imagery of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.
But as I said, overall, the film is beautiful. The characters are richly developed, the music is beautiful, and the story really pulls you in as it unfolds. I wasn't quite sure how to feel about it, initially. But the more I watched, my love for the film gained momentum and really started to grow.
I would recommend this movie for readers, writers, and anyone who enjoys a good drama.
Constantine (2005)
Very good, could have been better
I thought this movie was very good. The constant close-up face shots of the characters often made me uneasy, but always kept me in suspense. The fleeting moments of humor couldn't have been timed more perfectly in a movie like this.
Though the film has heavy catholic undertones, you don't need to be a scholar of the religion to understand what is going on. The script does a good job of being a sort of "Cliff's Notes" on catholicism. But if you are catholic, or are at least familiar with the religion, you will probably have a better understanding of the film compared to those that aren't.
Keanu's acting was hard to digest at times. He simply does not play a good bad-ass. A smart-ass maybe, but not a bad-ass. This goes back to my mention of the humor. Keanu has a few quips in the film, and it was these times that I found his acting to be the most believable. It was cool to see Keanu with a quick-witted rudeness.
Rachel's acting was superb, as always. She is an excellent actress and really knows how to pull off a character. Though I found it hard to attach myself to her character. I wish they would have given more of a background on her earlier in the film. She's just sort of thrown into the story without any real explanation on who she is. This made it hard to feel scared for her when she was in danger.
Constantine is definitely worth seeing. It's a great film to see with a large group of friends, I wouldn't recommend it as a date movie.