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jnrawdon
Reviews
From Hell (2001)
what a disappointment
We are both johnny depp fans and admire his willingness to take on quirky, but fascinating parts but this was a big letdown.
I have seen his accent etc compared to Dick van Dyke (in Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang), both here and elsewhere and I can only agree. Why do highly paid actors and directors turn in such poor performances. Out of principle, I feel that it is important to try to be realistic. For instance, we used to be shown westerns that had nice,neat towns, with friendly saloon girls. Hey, do you believe the 'wild' west was like that. Or were the towns muddy, filthy, smelled and were the saloon girls pox ridden whores?
So we come to the London of Jack the Ripper. Gin cost a penny a pint, what do you think the whores did? Did they have condoms and penicillin? Yes they bought and drank gin by the pint. So what do you think they looked like?
And Heather Graham, the beautiful whore with the heart of gold? Yeh, go to the Minneapolis St Paul arrests page and look at the street whores arrested today. Is it likely that they have improved? The girls in the Ripper's day would have been approaching the end of their days, literally, so lets have some realism, don't romanticise it, it makes for a much better, really moving movie.
And Abbeline, well he was a country boy, from the backwoods of England, was he an opium addict? he did not die in an opium den. He died of natural causes, in a village in Dorset, in retirement.
The Ripper - lots of theories, very romantic some of them, as shown in this movie, very speculative, no factual evidence has been produced to point to his (or her) identity and the mode of slaughter does not match masonic ritual - there are no female masons so the removal of the vagina etc cannot be defined as a masonic punishment.
The victims - this is the first intimation that I have seen that they knew one another and were a close group.
A rogue mason - interesting, but remember that the freemason vows to support the laws of the land, not to blindly support the monarch, so the blinded rogue as portrayed here would be quickly brought to justice..
The Hughes brothers and Johnny Depp, have let themselves down with this flawed production.
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Disappointing
We sat through three quarters of this movie waiting for it to begin. The MTV-meets-musical style of editing totally spoils the sumptuous sets and the abilities of the stars.
Are we right in assuming that all the money went into the stars and the sets? Because this is a musical, there is a great opportunity for the CD of the film. But the music is virtually all unoriginal. It's good, but it should be new.
And why, oh why, does a top notch star? such as Nicole, need glycerine to simulate tears. Olivier always asked the question - "can't you act yourself to cry?"
It wasn't until Roxanne that we began to enjoy the movie, the characters were just too slapstick.
We both loved Strictly Ballroom and Romeo and Juliet, but we walked away from Moulin Rouge disappointed.
From my own point of view, I would have been happy to walk out...
One Night at McCool's (2001)
absolutely first rate entertainment
We have just returned from viewing One Night, how enjoyable, I haven't laughed as much in years and my partner, who doesn't enjoy comedy, really enjoyed herself. Every character is a delight and there is so much subtle symbolism, like the use of the ketchup bottle as a sex indicator. The women I know all love the idea of Liv Tyler winding so many men round her little finger.
The ending is so sudden and unexpected, that I nearly choked with laughter.
Put this one on your must see list.
Almost Famous (2000)
Loved it
I just want to add a few comments about this excellent movie. Somewhere I read that Kate Hudson has the ability to light up a room when she walks in, I couldn't agree more, she is delicious.
Cosmo Landesmann in the Sunday Times thought that the film did not show the true characters of the real people portrayed in the film and I tend to agree with him. On the whole the film gives a very romantic view of the era and the rock music business.
The most remarkable part of the film from my point of view was the way that it portrayed the 'cool' and the rest of us. I remember going through the same process in my coming of age. Oh, how I wanted to be on of those cool people. It really hurt. But as I matured I realised just how empty their lives were and how unhappy they were. That happened in Almost Famous but it was not particularly well highlighted which I thought was an opportunity lost.