Change Your Image
Dirk-41
Reviews
The Shield (2002)
Consistently thought-provoking and gripping television
The Shield's perfectly good hand-held camera-work seems to have provoked a slew of suspiciously similar comments on this board by people who wouldn't know a tracking shot from a still frame. Maybe their real beef is that this show doesn't see police work through rose tinted eyeglasses - it takes an unsentimental view of the compromises that society demands of its law officers - not excluding taking the law into their own hands. Sure, Vic Mackey is a monster but the tease is that he's the kind of monster you'd want on your side when the chips were down. None of us wants to believe parts of the world are as ugly as Shawn Ryan's creation shows them to be, or want to acknowledge that a Vic Mackey is the kind of cop we want manning its ramparts, but to depict all that grit and darkness and yet somehow keep alive a vein of humanity and humor through the gritty realism is the true ingenuity of this show and down to the talents of its terrific cast and writers.
Enigma (2001)
Read the book
... it is a faithful and gripping account of the activities of Alan Turing and the Bletchley Park codebreakers. The film is a soggy, anachronistic, fictionalised mess. The truth is far stranger and more compelling. A waste of an opportunity to redress the imbalance created by "U-5
Ice Age (2002)
Great movie
The website just ate the carefully argued five paragraph user comment I
wrote (and was trying to correct) for this movie so I'll just say GO AND
SEE IT. It equals Shrek, shows up Monsters Inc for the formulaic
merchandise vehicle it was and easily stands up against the Toy Storys.
Brilliant comedy timing throughout by the animators too. You'll laugh A
LOT. Maybe more than your
Diplomatic Siege (1999)
Beyond A Joke
Dreadful wannabe action movie attempts every cliché hurdle and falls
every time. Only partially relieved by several unintentionally hilarious
set pieces... the toilet elevator kidnap, the (completely unerotic) sex
scene featuring Peter Weller's socks, the wet-towel-on-head ploy and the
HUGE amount of noise made by our heroes as they attempt to sneak through
the air ducts. Oh I forgot the laser beam/pocket mirror scene!
Oh, and the Pentagon Chiefs of Staff/NSA - the least believable casting
ever. Check out the guy with the suit three sizes too big...
Poor Tom Berenger. They can't have shown him the complete sc
Alegría (1999)
Neither Allegory nor Alegria
The breathtaking imagery and vibrant characters of Alegria the live show are abandoned by its director, Franco Dragone, who misguidedly reinvents it from the ground up for this movie. The result is NOT Alegria (only tantalizing, tiny glimpses of the live experience are seen). Instead a clumsy "story" is grafted on to its delicate artistry, set in an unconvincing "real" world which blurs rather than expands the boundaries of Cirque Du Soleil. By introducing new characters far less compelling than the original stage stars (what must they have made of this betrayal?), Dragone seems to have decided to "explain" Alegria's purpose. This is like explaining a joke - the result falls flat, its poetry and clarity of purpose are muddied - or worse, articulated by characters not so much conversing as making speeches to each other. Thus the skills of a mime of genius like Rene Bazinet are fatally compromised. One of the strengths of the show Alegria was that its language was that of athletic and balletic grace, exquisite mime and haunting music. There was no dialogue, which freed it from political boundaries. This is why the show was a huge international hit and this movie was not. Here the engaging grotesques are firmly separated from ourselves, the audience. The twilight magical world we thought they occupied is revealed to be the cheap side of town. They speak dialogue with little wit or poetry. There is a half hearted attempt to design a skewed reality outside the Big Top but the magic is overwhelmed by a welter of bad ideas and sugary emotion and lovers of Alegria the show are underwhelmed as a result. Truly this should not have been released
The Siege (1998)
Confusion Reigns
Alfred Hitchcock is supposed to have said that movies are like life but with the boring bits cut out. This is the movie which proves the exception. The script is confusing, the characters' motivation clouded, the holes in the plot swiftly passed over. Somewhere in there is a thoughtful movie with a social conscience, but it is paralysed by too much plot and no suspense. A great cast left high and dry is the result.
Executive Decision (1996)
Puts Con-Air and Air Force One in the shade
One of the more intelligent militaristic movies of recent years - a great ensemble cast pitched just this side of believable, good special effects and enough tension to keep you wondering how things will play out right till the final reel. If your taste runs to macho posturing, gunplay and bloodletting this is not the film for you. For those who can appreciate it, there's subtle intelligence in the hero (Russell) and the villain (Suchet at his most enigmatic). Although the premise may be a little dated and the climactic episode stretches one's credulity, an absorbing thriller which avoids the excesses of so many 1990s body count specials.
Parenthood (1989)
A life-enhancing movie
After you've watched Parenthood the first time you can be forgiven for thinking that you've just experienced a "formula" Hollywood movie. The script checks off the major permutations of family relationships quite mechanically - And Yet... And Yet... The overwhelming feeling is one of affirmation. We all experience parenthood - either as parents or as children - and the clever and witty script somehow manages to convey every nuance of the experience in a positive way. The ending is a little sentimental but if you can't indulge in sentiment occasionally, maybe Parenthood (the movie or the experience) isn't for you. You can recognise people who have seen this movie - when their five-year old puts a bucket on his head and starts ramming into walls, they turn to their partners and solemnly observe, "You must be very proud..."!