Change Your Image
janbi36
Reviews
Holocaust (1978)
No one telling of the Holocaust can be complete...
...but I thought the series did a good job of portraying it from a personal perspective in a number of ways. In particular, the way the portrayed victims did/could not believe what was happening until it was too late was convincing and heartbreaking. I would have liked to see the 1943-May 1945 period handled more in detail. It felt like the producers all of a sudden had to squeeze a four-part series into three.
I don't know if Dorf was based on a real person, but the evolution of the character was fascinating and scary. The viewer was left somewhat to his/her own conclusions on Dorf's state of mind and beliefs by the time he was interviewed by occupation forces. Maybe that's just as well - can any satisfactory conclusions be drawn about such people?
Red Planet (2000)
Geez, what a bunch of whiny know-it-alls...
I guess a lot of people feel strongly about science fiction movies, enough to spend hours dissecting it and putting the results of their lab exercise out on a public web site. Whew! what a smell...
I enjoyed this movie. It had a good cast, some interesting character development, excellent special effects. OK, holes in the story you could drive a truck through. But it certainly was not bad enough to warrant the heated multi-paragraph bashing sessions that appear under Comments on IMDB.
8 Million Ways to Die (1986)
REALLY BAD - believe the hype
Let's forget for a moment that the producers took a perfectly good book and changed almost everything about the main characters, setting, and other miscellaneous details. Why DO they have to do that...?
The acting is terrible, the extended filming sequences where nothing is going on or being revealed, ugh! Don't waste your time.
Three Kings (1999)
Enjoyable cast, filming and special effects but ...
... holes in the story you could drive a Humvee through. Fine for a rental.
It would be interesting to know if something happened at the end of the Gulf War which provided the background for the story. Not very believable on its own.
The Next Best Thing (2000)
Engaging story line, good comedic moments
This movie had all of the elements I like: interesting, realistic story, some funny dialogue, and a few excellent yuks. Other user comments for this film show that there is a wide array of opinion on the acting abilities of the central players. I didn't have any big problems with the acting and, while the accent thing was noticeable it wasn't distracting. But just where was the elocution coach?
Rupert Everett - he's funny, good-looking, and intelligent. Who needs more?
Wonder Boys (2000)
Don't listen to the spoilers...
Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm watching a movie, not reading a book. You just can't get the kind of character development in a two-hour feature length movie that you can in a book. When watching a movie, sometimes you have to fill in the blanks yourself. Which can be more or less difficult & fun depending on where you are coming from.
So I didn't have any trouble identifying with the characters in this movie (perhaps they found echoes in characters from my own life?) and I really enjoyed it, especially the dead dog. I liked Michael Douglas' portrayal of a stuck, marijuana-toking writer, Robert Downey Jr. was beautifully funny, and, no, I didn't understand Tobey Maguire's character completely either. The higher education political antics rang true and are always good for the humor mill, and there was enough background for me to understand Grady's emotional difficulties with women and himself.
It may not be your kind of movie/story, but if it is SEE IT!
Dogma (1999)
Some unfortunately LOUSY dialogue...
...made this movie unenjoyable to me. The overuse of the "F" word shows a serious lack of imagination in screenplay writing, not to mention that it makes the characters look (even more) stupid.
I didn't hate it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone either. The whole deal with "God" being a woman played by Alanis Morissette came off downright silly.
Playing by Heart (1998)
Don't understand the complaints about this movie
I was surprised to find so many negative reviews right at the beginning of IMDb's User Comments section. Obviously a movie that rates a 7.8 out of 10 in the user rating system can't be THAT bad. I liked this movie a lot. It was funny, sensitive, had something to say about people. What's not to like?
Those of you who didn't: maybe you just don't get it? Better stick with those action and "Ernest goes to..." flicks.
The Matrix (1999)
Ditto Other Comments: Good but not that good
This is a film that is visually stunning and has a reasonably good plot. This is enough to please most of us who hunger for good sci-fi movies, of which there are - alas - too few. However, I agree that it doesn't measure up to the standard of Alien, Aliens, Terminator and others mentioned.
The buildup of Neo as "The One" is unconvincing, the schmalzy "love conquers all" solution to Neo's death is silly and remarkably lacking in background, and in general there just wasn't enough time - between the dazzling special effects - to develop the characters or story line. I liked it, I'd recommend it, but I think the film's visual impact has many viewers blinded.
Evidence of Blood (1998)
Well-Executed Low-Key Whodunit
This is one of my favorite types of movie: thoughtful, shy writer pieces together events from fifty years ago, exonerates an innocent man and discovers something important about himself in the process. The movie doesn't try to do too much, gives you enough information about the primary characters without leaving you wondering if there was more background in the book.
I've always liked David Straithairn and he gives an easy portrayal of the main character. Mary McDonnell is good as the unjustly convicted murderer's daughter though I could have done without the halting, "don't really care about anything" accent/tone. Definitely worth seeing if you're into the story-type movie.