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Reviews
Ying xiong (2002)
A nice, long shampoo ad
At times, I thought I was watching: 1. A shampoo ad, 2. A fabrics ad, 3. A perfume ad, or a 4. A Dove soap ad.
The 'sublime visual beauty' of this film that so many are gushing about made me want to throw up-but maybe I'm crazy. The slow-mo sequences on the water and the leaves whirlpool thingie were especially cheesy. God, I hate 'artistic' stuff.
Sorry, a mediocre story with post-card like pictures does not a great movie make.
21 Grams (2003)
Melodrama
Fatal car accidents, terminally ill characters, dead 'little girls', sinners tortured by their crimes and finding Jesus, inconsolable widows, etc, etc. (but hey, they forgot to include a molested child this time, so thats something!). This is a facile recipe for 'powerful' movies--throw in as many melodramatic elements and situations and scenes as possible, some decent actors, rip Dostoyevsky off for bonus points, and, voila, you have a 'powerful drama', of the Hollywood kind. Sean Penn is decent for once. DelTorro is pretty good as the Dostoyevskian criminal tortured by his sins. I've always liked Naomi Watts, and it was very nice to see her semi-naked.
So: OK movie, but too blatantly and cheaply manipulative of the viewer's emotions to be really good.
Mystic River (2003)
Pretentious melodrama
The movie follows faithfully a mediocre thriller/melodrama
by Dennis Lehane.
I can't believe Eastwood found a beach read to be worthy of putting on
the screen!
Performances are OK (especially Robbins), but not remarkable. Incredible that Sean Penn got the Oscar for his very ordinary effort! He's the same old Sean Penn we've seen in so many other movies.
By the way, there is nothing 'dark' or 'dramatic' or 'powerful'
about this movie; just a bunch of contrived, ridiculously melodramatic plot gimmicks trying to makes us feel we watching some sort of modern version of Greek tragedies (or something).
All in all, a faithful rendition of Lehane's thriller. Masterpiece it aint, sorry.
Spartan (2004)
Eye-rabs lusting for blonde American girls!
I don't know what is more pathetic about this movie--the idiotic clichés (swarthy Arabs stealing our blondes, Rambo-like Secret Service/Marine/Ranger types, the officer giving her life for the mission and asking with her last breath if the mission succeeded, the evil politicians, the shallow American press, the magical tracking device that serves as Deus ex machina), or Macy prostituting himself in a pitiful secondary role (Macy playing second string to Val Kilmer?!). All the above could be forgiven if at least the movie had decent action or suspense...alas, it does not.
The Smashing Machine (2002)
Shocking
Outstanding, you'll keep seeing sequences from this in your mind for a long time.
Once again HBO demonstrates they are the best thing in TV today.
The UFC fighters, not the boxers, are the best modern-day approximation to the ancient gladiators, and this is no cliche. Especially considering the slave wages they are risking their lives for.