somethinginteresting Reviews

Children of Men (2006)

The most overlooked movie of the year

[10/10 · 15 February 2007]

What can I say about "Children of Men" to make more people go see it? How about that it's one of the best films I have ever seen in the theater.

It's one of the greatest films I've ever SEEN.

This is one of the few films I would give a perfect 10 for. Alfonso Cuaron, from the first scene of the movie, crafts a beautiful and all too possible future world.

There are almost too many things to list that make up why this movie is so good, but I will try: The story is excellently told. The characters have unique and individual voices. From the very beginning of the film, I was completely absorbed in finding out about what was going in society of the world. The movie is cold, dark, and depressing and scarily realistic. The conflict between the native British and the so-called "fugees," or refugees mirrors the immigration rumbles in the US right now perfectly.

Maybe that is why I love "Children of Men" so much. It was in the future, and yet it was a film that, for me, challenged a lot of modern day politics.

It is also one the film that made me realize something my dad had always told me. My dad always told me that the greatest films were told by pictures or images, and this is a film that certainly does it.

"Children of Men" is a film that I know I will look back on 10, 20, 30, even 40 years from now as a truly great film.

To close, I think it's a crime that this movie was not nominated for either Best Picture or Best Director--and I don't think I'm alone. See this movie.

Heroes (II) (2006–2010)

Calling "Heroes" disappointing is an understatement

[3/10 · 31 January 2007]

As a huge comic book and TV nerd, I was extremely excited last summer when I heard about a new series that would be on NBC in the fall called "Heroes". The commercials were awesome, and I thought maybe there would finally be a decent live action superhero TV show.

Sadly, I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Sigh.

Frankly, I just can't understand why so many people like this show. While the concept of the show is intriguing, it is so poorly executed. I've seen 5 episodes or so of the show, and except for the first episode, I haven't seen any of the "heroes" do ANYTHING heroic (saving peoples lives, etc.). Instead, they all seem to just stand around and be confused all the time about their powers. The drama of them coming to terms with their powers (which I understand to be the focus of the show) is intriguing, but that's the entirety of the show and nothing else seems to happen. This might have worked if the plot and the acting on the show weren't, in my opinion, so contrived, fake, and poorly executed. For example, the cheerleader's brother finding the tape of her being invincible or whatever may have been interesting or intense, but the writer's didn't choose to build the two characters tension or anything. None of the characters seem original, but rather like talking heads in some crazy world where they have super powers and nothing happens. Because of this, none of the characters are believable, and while I understand I am supposed to sympathize with them, I just don't care about any of them.

I tried SO HARD to like this show multiple times, and it just ain't happening. So, dear reader, in my humble and ultimately useless opinion, I would advise you to stay far, far away from "Heroes" if you enjoy well thought out plots, characters, and/or writing. Sorry, "Heroes", but you seriously stink.

Crash (I) (2004)

Number 61 on the top 250 of all time? No way...

[8/10 · 3 December 2005]

I rented Crash last week because my girlfriend had to watch it for a project, but I had really been wanting to see it anyway with all the great things that I had heard about it.

Crash is a film that is wonderfully shot, directed, acted, produced, etc. The problem that comes with Crash is Paul Haggis's idea of stringing all the characters in the movie together. This is very effective at times, and really gets to Don Cheadles line at the beginning (which I will paraphrase poorly because I don't remember it clearly) when he says "maybe why we crash is to connect." But also it feels like sometimes that he was just trying to think about ways he could connect the stories to each other.

Haggis wrote a compelling and moving story about racial relations to an extent, but this is also taken too far sometimes. Literally every character in this movie, with the exception of Ryan Phillipe, is a racist or at the very least says a derogatory comment about another race. There are some truly powerful points in the film in which racism in LA is shown at it's grittiest, which are the best parts of the movie. But the fact that almost every single character in the movie says something racist felt very unrealistic to me and like Haggis was trying to over accomplish his goal.

A quick side note, music is used very very well throughout the film. Not just the song chosen, but also the score. It seemed to be more of a thriller score at that kept me and girlfriend both on our toes throughout the whole movie, just waiting for something terrible to happen.

In the end, Crash is all about how we change each others lives. In that regard it succeeds. But for the reasons above, it just seemed to be trying too hard and took me out of the movie. Crash is a good movie with solid writing, direction, and you really couldn't have asked for a better cast, but it is definitely not, in my mind, number sixty one on the two hundred and fifty greatest movies of all time.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)

One of the best TV shows of all time. Period.

[8 November 2004]

Buffy is series that was not only consistently good, but a series that grew better over time. The first season is good, but not fantastic. It was shorter because the WB was not sure if they would have a viewing base and only had 12 episodes. The second season developed the characters and you began to see the magic of the show. As the series progresses, I am astounded by the writing, directing, and acting. Joss Whedon is a genius of the camera and master of the pen, and anyone who argues with me is fooling themselves. The cast, as well as the characters, matures over time and become living, breathing people that you believe.

In short, if you are considering watching this show, I highly recommend you watch all of the first and second season before making any judgements. Frankly, this is my favorite story of all time. It transcends the TV, and beats out most books, movies, and other TV shows. This show is beautiful.

Coyote Ugly (2000)

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

[1/10 · 15 August 2004]

I saw this last night because my girlfriend and one of her friends enjoyed it and the rest of us there had not seen it. Mistake. I could not stab myself hard enough to remove the permanent pain this movie has caused me. Some shy small town girl moves to New York City and decides for some reason to join Coyote Ugly, a bar. But uh oh! Girls dance on the bar and pour drinks listening "You're Unbelievable". How intimidating! Eventually though, she sheds her dignity and decides to mix drinks and light the bar on fire like the best of us. Not even the semi-attractive cast could make this film with plot holes and terrible acting and dialouge more than very very rarely entertaining, if at all. I enjoy the occasional chick flick, but this was just too unbearable.