Change Your Image
marcfleury
Reviews
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
It's nasty, it's hilarious. An over-the-top social satire.
Early in the movie, there's a song that goes a little like this: "Shut your flickin' face, uncle flicker! / You're a clock-suckin' bass-lickin' uncle flicker! / You're an uncle-flicker, yes it's true / Nobody flicks uncles quite like you!"
And so on. It's one of the most uproarious sequences in the film, but it's certainly not for all audiences.
Kids, sneak into this one. Don't bring your parents.
Unfortunately, the pace can't be kept up for the entire film, but the first half is certainly worth the ticket price.
Rush Hour (1998)
8/10
If you're a fan of Jackie Chan, go see this movie. If you're a fan of Chris Tucker, go see this movie. If you're neither, don't bother.
I'm rating this 8/10 but you have to keep in mind that this is rated against other movies of the genre: action-comedies. Or, mismatched buddy-cop movies. Whichever. Whatever you call the genre, this is a relatively strong entry. The dialogue is funny as hell in parts, and the action is swift. (In fact, I found the action sequences better than in most Chan films, because they were played at what I believe is real-time, as opposed to the slightly sped-up action bits in most Chan films.)
I wasn't expecting much out of this film. Jackie Chan is a light-minded pleasure of mine. In any case, the movie turned out to be a bit more fun than I had expected.
Prefontaine (1997)
7/10
While this is an interesting film, well-made and thoughtfully constructed, the deviations that it takes from standard storytelling cause it to fall a little flat.
Namely, what feels like it would be the climax in another movie (Prefontaine's race in the Munich Olympics) falls about half-way into this film. (Not to mention the fact that a standard climax is prevented due to the actual events surrounding those Olympic games.)
The second half of the film concentrates on Prefontaine's frustrations and difficulties following the games (stemming both from the events that occurred there, and also the treatment of amateur athletes in general around that time). Because of this, the second half of the movie, to me, feels drawn out and longish, even though the movie itself comes in well under two hours.
While the interesting format of the film (it is told as though it is a documentary, featuring interviews with now-older friends and relatives of Prefontaine [well, not the real people -- they're all just actors playing the parts]) lets it stand apart from the standard Rocky-type sports film, that uniqueness can't quite make up for the weakness of the structure.
(One note -- I was particularly impressed at the way that the characters were aged for their older appearances. It's rare that this is done well, and it is surprisingly well done here.)