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Reviews
Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004)
Not As Clever As Buffy
Okay, the lead actresses are cute, but this film has way too many problems with the details (Nineteenth century women speaking 21st century slang? The
prophecy is overturned, making it not a prophecy? Sometimes you become a
werewolf slowly, other times you can kill the attacker and not become one?).
Overall, this film is rather goofy. If you want funny, intelligent horror, watch the Buffy TV show. The problem with Ginger Snaps Back, is that vampires are
MUCH sexier and more complex than werewolves... at least when talking about
THESE werewolves! For a more complex, more cohesive, more thought-out
view of werewolves and vamps, see the movie "Underworld".
Lost in Translation (2003)
Zen Poem
This film is like a zen poem: simple on the surface, with meaning found within, depending on one's own perception.
If you cannot answer a zen koan, then this film will seem "simple" to you,
perhaps incomprehensible.
But for those who "get it", this is a delightful, beautiful little film.
Bill Murray is excellent.
I loved Charlotte.
I, too, have been in a strange place... not always a foreign country, but strange, nonetheless (grow-up in Los Angeles, and if you are self-aware, you will
understand what I am saying).
This film is 10 out of 10... very nice, like the sound of rain upon the grass.
Blast from the Past (1999)
A Young Carey Grant
Okay, maybe Brenden Frasier ISN'T as suave or as amazing as Carey Grant
(who is?), but he is a close second.
This movie is a "chick flick", with lots of romantic cliches (Perry Como!), but oh wow, the two leads have great chemistry... not a complex movie, just a
wonderful, romantic comedy, with enough twists and turns to be fun. Yes, it's predictable (the boy HAS to get the girl, after all), but this is a sweet movie.
Rent this film, sit down with your girlfriend (or boyfriend), and you'll have a fun evening together.
Deeply (2000)
Movie Dumb, Kirsten Beautiful
Kirsten Dunst is a beautiful, talented actress. But even SHE could not save this dumb, plodding movie. Once again, Canadians prove conclusively that they can
NOT make good films. But Kirsten? My GOD, she looks sexy, even when she is
sweeping a porch!!! But, if you want to see her really do her thing, watch the movie Spiderman. The kissing scene in that movie is incredibly erotic.
Hey, I really like romantic movies. See "Ten Things I Hate About You" or "French Kiss" for romance. This movie? "Deeply" should have been buried, deeply, very deeply. It is pure dreck, except, of course, for the total Dunst fan, who will enjoy watching her beautiful features and amazing grace.
Big Fish (2003)
Wonderful!!!
Tim Burton has created another, wonderful, modern fairy tale, in the spirit of Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow.
This film will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you dream.
Is Burton the only director with an imagination?
And how does he create his amazing characters?
I HAVE met these people before. Maybe in my sleeping hours. Or perhaps, in
another life. But they all seem familiar. It seems as though Burton has read
Lewis Carroll and Carl Jung, as these individuals reach deep into the
universal unconcious being.
Excellent! ==============================
Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
Goofy
First, I was laughing so hard, upon reading autumnshowers' comments, that I
fell off my chair!!!
Okay, this movie is goofy... but my wife LOVES all the Smokey and the Bandit
films, so I am forced to watch them, once a year. And hey, Buford T. Justice
reminds me of our town's former Chief of Police... and "good old boys"? They
are EVERYWHERE, here in Lassen County!!!
So, yeah, the movie is pure corn, but Jerry Reed is strange, funny, and weird, and Burt Reynolds and Sally Fields?... Okay, maybe they're not Romeo and
Juliet, but they DO represent a certain slice of America. =============================
Ladyhawke (1985)
Goofy Movie and Terribly Dated
This is the goofiest movie I have ever seen. The music is 80's disco-- quite
jarring, especially when playing in the background of the medieval action
scenes! Rutger Hauer is wooden and unconvincing; Matthew Broderick was
great in Ferris Bueller, but seems rather silly with his fake English accent. Michelle Pfeiffer is not my favorite actress, and while she is pretty, she is unconvincing as princess cum magical being. The plot, overall, is rather silly, and drags-on into infinity... not good. My suggestion: Avoid this movie at all costs! A better "knight fantasy" would be Dragonheart or of course, the newly released Lord of the Rings trilogy. Even in 1985, this movie was a stinker... and it STILL is!!!
Almost Famous (2000)
Fun Movie
This is a fun movie, and perhaps, for some of us, brings to life the
fantasy of "what would it be like?" to be in a rock and roll band. Oh,
and for those of us who actually LIVED during the late-sixties/early
seventies, the film really catches the spirit of the era... great music,
hilarious characters and a plot that moves easily and unpredictably.....................
Chocolat (2000)
Romantic Fantasy With A Message
This is a lovingly crafted romantic fantasy. Johnny Depp again plays the outsider who reflects everyone's inherent separateness, from society and from ourselves. And Juliette Binoche--- whoa! Beautiful, elegant, mystical, sweet, and yet acted as a real person, one who changes and grows.
Okay, so this film is an "art film", and mostly women will drag their boyfriends to the "chick flick" subject matter. But it is IS one sweet film, beautifully photographed, with a message, done lovingly like a impressionist portrait. Nice.
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Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
Dumb Movie with Handsome Actors
Sorry, but this movie was really stupid. The plot is unbelievable, the characters are shallow (or should I say "characatures"?) and the "action" is dumb.
However, if you are a big Harrison Ford fan, then see this movie...Hey, he is still a dashing, handsome fellow! Imagine Indiana Jones meets World War 2, and you get the idea.
But the movie is a stinker.
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Thunderheart (1992)
Dumb Whites, Clever Injuns
If you want to see a GOOD "Indian Movie", watch "Little Big Man" or "Dances With Wolves". Thunderheart is so full of stereotypes (the "Noble Savages" who are spiritual and smart, versus the evil, ignorant, Redneck White Men), that it literally sinks beneath its cliches.
Of course, there is also the typical FBI-conspiracy theme, the "good-cop bad-cop" dichotomy, and the deeply insightful Indian chief, who knows-all, sees-all reveals all.
In summary, a good movie for teenagers and other naive persons, who enjoy simplistic themes, and shoot-em-up action films. But for those of us who have actually worked (and lived) with native Americans, the movie is a rather silly, overly preachy, heavy-handed treatment of White-Indian relations.