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Reviews
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
As grim as grim gets
Requiem For a Dream is a downward spiral from beginning to end. I've never in my life experienced a movie that actually drained me, and took away a lot of my spirituality. This really isn't the type of movie to make a comment about, but just to experience the richness this movie drives at, only it isn't rich, it is poor, everything in it is poor, and it's done so beautifully that you can't turn away. It's a roller coaster that starts up hill and then goes down with all the excitement of really being on a roller coaster. It literally took my breath away and I cant compare any movie to it, it's in a field of its own...it's immaculate and not worth commenting I personally think, but then again, I didn't give too much away....
Con Air (1997)
Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy, but worth watching
OK I'll admit I've seen all this before, and John Malkovich I loved your character I do admit, but you cross trend with about every single villain from 1937 to 1997. It was great acting from one of the most well accomplished actors Hollywood has given us.
I loved this movie for one reason....it enthralled me and it kept me watching without fumbling for the remote checking out other movies for a easy attempt to save me from this film. Nothing was on unfortunately so I kept watching as I figured it was just going to be a Rambo movie on a plane and it was predictable....it's Jerry Bruckheimer of course, how much predictable can predictable get you ask yourself? Pretty predictable! The one liners bothered me and it seemed every time Nicolas Cage did something in this movie, John Cusack was there for support and relying on him to save the whole movie and film for us, the audience. I know this movie has been played out, I know that they will keep dishing out more movies like this later in the future....this is just Hollywood driving us batty with all the familiar formula plots and reminding of us of a movie somewhere in the 1970's that carried the same theme. I did however enjoy the end of the movie where Cage is reconnected to the daughter that was just in the womb when the movie started and beginning a new life, with all the cons and criminals and crashed planes scattered and interspersed all throughout Vegas behind.....he's just the typical Eastwood and Wayne riding out into the sunset without the redemption and with a winning touch that soothes us, the audience...once again!!!
A Night in Heaven (1983)
I can think of worse strippers!
I know that in no means I'm trashing eighties movies. I grew up on eighty movies, and I have seen a lot of trash and a lot of superb films. When I think of A Night In Heaven, I think of Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, even that flunky movie Johnny Depp did with Morrow....Private Resort or something like that! I would depict this movie and dissect it with criticism, but I can't because I actually enjoyed this movie. What separates this movie from others that were in the eighties junkyard is that this actually had a convincing plot. Yes, I think Lesley Anne Warren is sexy, no I don't think Christopher Atkins is a heartthrob and I don't see what the big deal about him was, considering he is just that star that appeared with Brooke Shields in The Blue Lagoon.
What I like about this movie is that it doesn't play out as your ordinary dumb film like most eighties movies. You don't see anyone you think is from Revenge Of The Nerds or Just One Of The Guys(which I must confess I liked also), there's not much stupidity, no brain cells should be damaged in the process of watching this and one of my favorite scenes is actually in the beginning with Logan on the funky bike while Bryan Adams sings the theme song...after that I figured I was in for a 80 minute treat that I consider a very underrated, tarnished, bashed movie that didn't make the grade for reasons I believe just had that quality of being toooooo eighties!!! I recommend A Night In Heaven for it's chemistry between Lesley and Christopher and for something that's not monotonous and filled with low humor and bad acting, I recommend it also for how poignant love is between this teacher and her student and by the way who said she passed him just because she made love to him?
Oh and by the way you will love the ending which is another ingredient to the mix of this very, very underrated movie!!!
The Terminal (2004)
Post 9/11 too much for me
I felt convoluted somehow watching this picture. I also believe Spielberg is draining away his abilities to do movies and of course he is going to come back like a quick flash of lightning with War Of The Worlds (maybe). What I figured from the start after they were talking about Hanks character being a terrorist that I figured this movie would be post 9/11 and even though it wasn't towards the end I still thought it had a lot of elements containing 9/11 that wasn't very necessary. I don't know when they will ever do a movie about the events of 9/11 but I can assure you by watching movies like this and Strip Search with Glenn Close...hmmmm I just know a movie about 9/11 is coming but my thought is why? Why not make the film here in a couple of years and get it out of directors minds. I figured they have more stories out there now that as Hollywood stands right now in sequelpalooza as some people are saying. Why remake and not create originality when there is a lot left. Why isn't Spike Lee doing more movies that reflect and mean something(which I do have to say 25th Hour was pure Lee genius). Why is Oliver Stone doing crappy movies like Alexander when he can be doing Stone movies like JFK and Platoon....I would personally love to see Stone do a movie about Marilyn Monroe's death or O.J. Simpson..you know Stone breaks down walls or is it just the fact like right now in the case of Spielberg that our directors that have been entertaining us for years is just simply getting old and expired? Clint Eastwood is still rocking it and he has a movie right now in pre-production that I'm dying to see so I'm just discombobulated and I will be til' I start seeing movies get on the right track!
Cabin Fever (2002)
Reminiscent Junk
Being a avid film nut, I kinda saw a little hope in this film and towards the end it got rampant and just continued to dazzle me with its gory, gory, gory premise....so what if it was a stolen film, not much horror anymore is being thought out with original input by any original creators......to me if anyone or director had a brain they would of made a horror movie in the early nineties or late nineties that would start a new chain of horror films coming from original inputs and scenario's. That's not really the case with this film though, the case with this film was that it did bother me not explaining enough about the contagious virus that was being spread, it irritated me a little with all the homages that we knew was being spoofed , but we didn't need to keep being reminded because it was getting pretty monotonous when you keep flashing it around like that as if I have my head stuck up my ass and I don't know a spoof horror film when I see one! And maybe that was the intentional joke among all this, maybe the director kept flashing it around to keep us saying this is a spoof, this has been done before, there is no originality in this film at all, look I'm taking more elements out as I go......isn't this pretty spontaneous?
Some people in the world though do not respond to this movie as it being a spoof but it being stolen or unoriginal even though that is what it is, it is unoriginal on purpose and a spoof on purpose that had a pretty clever ending! Evil Dead, Night Of The Living Dead, etc. , its all here if you want a nostalgia trip back then when horror was original and equipped with wooden acting, camp cheese and galore the size of Roseanne Bars buffet in her kitchen.
I loved the fact movies like this are still being made and still getting the rating it deserves here on IMDb and that is five out of ten.....typical since most people do not accept the movie as a spoof and anything that isn't original should be discarded quickly....it seems you cant do anything to pay homage or use elements from what the directors we have high admiration for in movies today without someone saying it is unoriginal.....I feel sometimes its necessary to pass a law today for people to use incorrect words be fined or put in jail! Maybe someday in a world nonetheless idiotic that manifestation will take place! I give Cabin Fever in the sense of Ebert a thumbs up and a thumbs down, yes I didn't like it that much either but I wont ridicule the movie for its effortless attempt at it being original like some of the other posts, but I didn't like how they made the ending so similar to Night Of The Living Dead that it is just too fruity to be accepted! If you want old school, check this out.
Scent of a Woman (1992)
The scent of a actor
May contain Spoilers: A blind man could even enjoy a Al Pacino movie by just the sound of his voice, and I dont think I'm exeggerating that notion. I think Al Pacino could play a performance without saying one word or just lay in a bed(as Denzel did in the Bone Collector) , I mean you can place him in the opposite and make it difficult but he will just squabble his way through somehow, breaking out and shining. He is defined as a masterpiece by almost every moviegoer and I couldnt agree more and this movie just exemplifies how much authenticity Al Pacino embarks on and continues even today and tomorrow.... I watched this movie once when I was around 12 and loved it and just watched it tonight for the second time and loved it even more. A beautiful film with a beautiful performer to make it sail and there isnt really much I can say when I'm talking about Pacino. He is always worth watching no matter what movie he is in(Revolution). He is always method acting into each character, giving the character raw energy and dynamic portraits that are like paintings in a gallery, his magic is so rare that when you try to wonder where it comes from or how it was created it is gone and into another character in a blink of a eye and thats how swift Pacino is, he can really fool you with his characters and even though he is older now and not as enlightening with roles compared today to yesterday he is still fun to watch and only time will tell when you get to see him explode into another role because there are so many and I'm sure he will give us many more great explorations into his character odyssey's before his time on earth is complete. The most beautiful thing you can experience in this movie is Pacino's brute attitude and negative charge in the beginning proceed into New York where he is going through with his 'plan'! The school part as people thought was unecessary to the film actually contributed well for the films final scene and I think Pacino's womanizing ways in many scenes were brilliantly done and showed you why that year he easily won the oscar. It's hard tip toeing through this without giving much input as I wont because this is definitely one you have to venture out on your own so I wont get as deep but for Pacino there is only one word to sum up this exquisite, sublime actor......Hoorah!
Mommie Dearest (1981)
To Harry 76
Harry's thats a interesting point to look at but I saw this movie and I thought like you did some of it might of been contradicting itself because there was no allegory to Christina's experiences with dear ol' mom, but I also believe that while Joan was still kicking around in her last tank of gas Christine was in the midst of writing the book, I also believe maybe that is the deadly negative result to her will at the end as 'for reasons they know'. So I think it's really a toss up, maybe Christine exeggerated a little here and there after mom's death or bitter about the will and plot a nice little cozy revenge. I wouldnt know who really would believe the book in a hundred percent state of mind of pure non fiction, you have to take everything you read with a little bit of grain and salt , especially biographies and memoirs such as this. But as I feel towards it I think Joan was a pretty ruthless creature towards her kids and gave them a lot of self discipline, including the coat hangar scene which was always so ridicolous to think about , but it might of happened, I believe in it, just not a hundred percent and I expect a few flaws lingering around maybe, but Joan Crawford in my book was another Hollywood actress of a tyrant!!!
Wild at Heart (1990)
Whimsical
May contain Spoilers: In a strange sense in an even more strange artificial world, this movie really identified to me how intriguing dark characters can be portrayed and how intriguing dark movies are played out like this one! I loved this movie, it had a decent plot, but it wasnt the plot that took the cake, it was the characters, Nicolas Cage(even though I don't like much of his work and consider this one of his best) and Laura Dern shine in this movie and what makes them shine or their aurora's shine in David Lynch's dark atmospheric world is their creepy existence's. I would figure maybe there would not be one person like this in the world or a world so vigorously abnormal but I would think maybe there is or maybe there could be. Lynch is a unique director, he is different and alternative and thats what seperates him from most directors such as Scorsese and Spielberg is that his vision is more open minded really to a more kaleidiscope world where he use's his filmmaking as an art(which he does also in his spare time and uses it for inspiration). I like Lynch's world because its not only groundbreaking on film but it's a pleasure to watch something not like anything normal sometimes we watch on screen. People in their reviews had made references to this as being a wizard of oz tale and it had all the intangible characters portraying the fairy tale ode, you had Diane Ladd as the wicked witch, Laura Dern as Dorothy and well Nicolas Cage as.....Elvis! Throw Elvis in a land of David Lynch's appraised film or homage to the wizard of oz and it's one radical looking film or update to the masterpiece. Cage is beautiful in this movie and so is Dern as reckless young lovers on a journey to be rebellious against Dern's mother to be together , as she is trying to hire someone to end Sailors life. But another thing about this movie both on a good note and a sad note simultaneously is Diane Ladd's perfect portrait of a mother on the edge as you see her in every scene break down and erupt, she is in the middle of becoming a volcano or a snowball headed to hell, and in every scene she is magnificent and beautiful to watch. Watching Diane Ladd it was almost the same feeling of watching Ellyn Burstyn in Requiem for a dream , both characters in a sense give you this deep burden to carry with them as they struggle through the film with their depression and it becomes your depression to as you watch their characters fatigue slowly. What's sad is in both cases of actress's they do not get the credit they so righteously deserve , but then again your dealing with Hollywood and the only way to be a good actor or actress is to be a underappreciated, overlooked and underestimated one in my book!!!
I would definately recommend this movie only to the strong minded , and to people who like a movie that culminate to their highest expectations of something of a different pace in a movie, something your not expecting or a old cliche that has been run into the same ground over and over and over with no different root or growth that will appear. David Lynch is a fantastic director with a heart of gold , instead of black or a detiorating red heart as some like to sum him up as. Just because he has a different, unique imagination than most directors in Hollywood is no reason to degrade, ridicule or bash the poor guy, he is just someone that has his own artistic style and taste with a flourishing appeal that I find suitable and necessary in his oddyseys of film....and for the most part without David Lynch and other unique's like him, film wouldn't reach and break the multitude of milestones that has been broken. 9/10
BTW: I forgot to add how much I enjoyed the part towards the end with the good witch , Sheryl Lee who is another gifted actress was pleasing also!
Outbreak (1995)
A uncredited performance of a lifetime
I loved this movie and the depiction of the astrocities of the beginning of a worldwide deadly epidemic, but midway through this movie there was a performance that I have to give a salute to and that was of J.T. Walsh's chief of staff that literally knocked me down it was so utterly mind blowing and explosive. I think if J.T. Walsh was in this movie a hour longer he would've definately won a oscar for that performance. You can even see the other actors around the table , out of character look at the performance with a deep inspiring look. I just went by this movie and thought of that performance and would like to ask the makers of that movie why oh why couldnt you let J.T. in that movie long enough? He was fabolous!!! Dustin Hoffman, Cuba, Renee and even Dempsey in a small dinky role shines in this movie, I liked how Dempsey looked getting off the plain and motioning to the kid on the plane in that sick ailing manner. But to some point it makes me think of how no matter how much of a actor, poor or great you are, there is one role that any actor in the world, can perform and Dempsey who made a bunch of trash really displayed acting ability in this movie. J.T. Walsh played in a lot of crap but also a lot of spectacular movies but in that small little role, him and Dempsey were really my favorites and made Freeman, Hoffman and Gooding in their roles throughout the film just look average of what they usually display on screen! Anyways a salute to the late J.T. Walsh and Patrick Dempsey, I hope more achieving roles like this fall in your path!!! 8/10
The Shining (1980)
Book vs. Movie
In books you get the visual aspect that you make up and you create and identify, thats the magic with books is that every scene and every image is conducted by you and you navigate through your mind with people that the writer brings to you and in movies its the alternative where the director brings you the images, the characters and you see it through the movies eyes and I guess with The Shining everything just drops both ways.
May contain Spoilers: I think Stanley Kubrick arguably is the best director we have , he didnt spoil us every year with a movie, in fact he only directed two movies during the eighties, what I like about Kubrick is his artistic visual sense. His craft blends in with perfect chemistry of character and that character's surroundings (hence Barry Lyndon). This movie was nothing from the book , and it was changed drastically in almost every scene but I overlook it for the fact almost seventy or ok maybe sixty five percent of movies today from books are rearranged or dont add up to the book. That's how movies are different than books, it doesnt necessarily make it right and Kubrick really should of went by the book and he could of captivated the audience with his art the same way if it was a maze or if it wasnt. If the building blew up in the end or if it didnt, the same attraction we would have. But I also think that once the writer gives his works to movies then its out of his hands and Stephen King can regret and resent Kubrick all he wants but its been twenty three years now and this movie has skyrocketed to fame. It's got eight stars out of ten on the IMDb and it deserves it. My favorite part from this movie was the cam tracking of the kid and in the hallway he see's the beginning of doom by the twins. I have seen bits and pieces of this film when I was a kid and I wouldnt even go near it, I was always watching Freddy Krueger movies and that was more simpleminded. But as I grew up I watched it in its full length and was stunned , I didnt even read the book then and when I did I found out some horrendous errors but to me it didnt matter, cheat or not or however Kubrick had done it, was done and you cant take away the artistic view because he changed the storyline. You can nail him on that but taking away the possession of this masterpiece for what it really boils down to , you cant!
I dont know if I would say Kubrick is my favorite director, so much of my favoritism isnt really in movies or actors or screenplays, etc. There for me is too much and hard to make a final decision but I know Kubrick is at least on my top five list. I liked the fact he only directed sixteen movies in a span of nearly fifty years. And the thing was they were all beautiful, the atmosphere in each piece brought us into a world as if we stepped into the movie, like in the purple rose of cairo where the movie star steps into reality, well its vice versa for us in Kubricks movies, in most of his best movies like Space Odyssey and Barry Lyndon he shows us a world as if it was painted and after staring at it for ten minutes or so your drawn into that world , your moving along as it goes. Not many directors can do that and when they can that is the genius of which we can identify as a truly, gifted, honorable giant of a place for two or three hours we can get lost in and not worry about anything...for the record Kubrick is the master of that!!!
The Hunger (1983)
Strange, but sensible
Catherine Deneuve, mercy , mercy, mercy, what a lot of us americans have missed with her being around in our films, but at least this classic is to stay with me for a very long time. This movie from both critics and even IMDb users is very underated but it's strange and kind of struggling to watch but I liked it, this is the kind of movie that had scared me to death and created a lot of nightmares when I was younger and when I watched even last night I was still petrified of it, a good movie will lock that suspense in your veins and keep it there and this is a film that reached my hundred all time greats.
May contain SPOILERS: When I first saw this film I think I was only five and didnt grab the concept of it, that and the Howling movies were always on when I was younger and I would always sneak up and watch films like that but only bits and pieces, the terrifying part in this movie was the screams and the slow echoes of it throughout the gruesome scene's, I like that best in a horror movie is when the screams echo like that and the direction sometimes is in slow-mo and drowsy. David Bowie was riveting in this movie as his performance of Miriam's lover, and also another actor which never got his good virtues matched up with horrible critics. When I first saw it I never thought I like it , because it kept having scene's splash everywhere and looked weird and strange and might be hard to follow but you do have to use a little knowledge in this movie to follow it but it's the beautiful, enchanting atmosphere of a vampire ode....in contemporary New York and the clothes was suitable, the music disturbing....it's a horror film but it felt like sometimes watching a delicate masterpiece of a fine art or Danielle Steele writing one of her nightmares. The lesbian scene was erotic and designed beautifully. The movie was shady and dark and mysterious, which I like also! But the sad thing about this movie is that watching Catherine Deneuve portray her character to a tee, her eye's are stunning and at forty years old she could easily pass as a thirty one year old woman, in which you didn't know the precise age since she was a immortal vampire....but her eroticism and delicate feauture's spellbounded you and turned you soft and in the climax you had felt sympathy of watching her character fatigue.
My bottom line is that it was underated and the performance of a actress that could of played in a lot more american movies throughout the eighties and nineties with applause and perfection. And for Tony Scott, I would say this is one of his best efforts of a darker side to his directing! 9/10
Sixteen Candles (1984)
A treasure
Beyond the shadow of a doubt this movie was kind of perfect......I mean there were very unfunny , very unhumerous parts in the plot, but it wasnt allllllllll supposed to be hilarious in every part, I do think though, this movie was inspiration to a lot of slapstick farce's like most of the farelly brothers movies and others...the thing though in this movie was it was a little far fetched and realistic about it. I mean long duck dong's character I believe is the best part of the movie....he was the essential character that had me in stitches and there are people out there like that, that's the part of the realism in the movie. It was eighties too and a lot of teen eighties movies back then was so horrible I think their in a special vault somewhere and moved to Egypt and they buried it 10,000 feet underground. I remember watching USA up all night with Rhonda Shears and Gilbert Godfrey and revisiting all those low budget slop, and to be honest I watched USA up all night nearly every friday and saturday night half for Gilbert, half for Rhonda and another , partial half for the movies....I mean I was only a kid in the eighties and in the early nineties of that show I was a teenager and just doing a little of my own navigating checking those movies out...they were drastically horrifying but it was a pleasant atmosphere....it's hard to explain, kinda like watching Saved By The Bell, even though it was cheesy it kept my eyes glued! Movie magic I suppose?
Bottom line I wont ever forget this movie, I'm not going to give anything out of this movie because its too good to give one scene away. You just have to watch it and if you dont think its funny your at least going to grasp other concepts of it like Molly Ringwald's character especially....her parents forgetting her birthday, sure, that happens everyday in america and every other country, if you live in a busy household and especially if your sister is getting married. So the plot didnt really have any holes which I could see but I know too there were parts in the movie that tried to get a laugh and didnt, I just thought of them too revoking to laugh at...or serious to laugh at. But only being six when this came out I do remember it vaguely and after seeing it for the first time complete I loved it and I love it now, it's a movie that wont end up in Egypt, that's for sure and it's a movie that will keep on inspiring and delighting!!! And for the most part this movie didnt define a new generation or anything because the generation was already in progress while the camera's were rolling but I do think in a humbled opinion lol, is that if the film was made in 1979 it would've defined a generation or it might of flopped even too....who knows? Who cares? The movie ya, 4/5!