Change Your Image
mrandall
Reviews
Haunted (2002)
what happened?
I was very pleased with this show. It was scary and character driven. The stories were interesting.The ghosts -- scary. The story lines were really getting interesting, with his ex wife starting to date another man, the reoccuring sicko ghost, and his relationship with his former partner from the police force, all of this was really coming together. But it seems to have vanished from the upn line up. What happened?
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
perfectly beautiful
First I have to say I was not in the mood for a "serious" movie. It was definitely the night for a romantic comedy, but that was not in the cards. Nothing prepared me for the simplicity and honesty of this film. I loved it. Very quickly forgot my pouty need for comedy as I enjoyed this film with all its intelligence and pain.
A Beautiful Mind is well, beautiful. Take a man who is a bit uncomfortable in society, a man who is devastating in his intelligence and sadly lacking in people skills and make him ill, make him have audio and visual hallucinations and you have a potent individual. Russell Crowe is for want of a better word, beautiful, in his portrayal of this outsider, who struggles in a society he doesn't understand nor does he want to. But then by now we expect only fantastic things from Mr. Crowe. The movie follows his life from Princeton all the way through until he wins the Nobel Prize for economics. I won't say more because it would give away plot points.
As for acting, there is not one person in this movie who is not impressive in their roles. Ed Harris never lets you down, as a tough talking shadowy government figure, Jennifer Connely is heartbreaking as the woman who loves Nash, but struggles to understand what is happening to him, the whole cast deserves an award for a great assemble.
This movie is great because it takes an honest look at schizophrenia; it allows us to empathize with John Nash, but not necessarily like him. He is rude, vain and incredibly intelligent, often not the best lead character, but the love story is strong, the acting is incredible and the directing fantastic. This movie deserves the accolades it has received.
Monster's Ball (2001)
dark side
Two things must be said right away. Do not see this movie if you are feeling "emotional" and do not see this movie without tissues. That said, this is a wonderful movie, filled with the flaws of human nature. And much like our human flaws this movie's flaws are in the vagueness and unpredictable nature of the characters. In essence a very good slice of a life I hope none of us ever have to experience. It begins with the odd and very strained relationship between father and son, Peter Boyle and Billy Bob Thornton. Then moves to the heartbreaking relationship between another father and son, Billy Bob and Heath Ledger. We follow one painful relationship after another, and when we meet Halle Berry, the pain begins all over again. Her husband is about to be executed (played very calmly and not too badly by Puff Daddy) and her overweight son compensates for his lack of a father and a mother constantly on the edge of poverty by binge eating on candy he keeps hidden in his room. Okay with out giving away actual plot points that sums up the basic characters of the story. As for performance, all four main characters were riveting. Peter Boyle is so very good at being nasty, Heath Ledger is painful in this very unglamorous role, but very very good. Billy Bob is amazing in his confusion over his son, and his love for a black woman when he has spent his life under his father's shadow, as a racist. And miss Halle Berry... wow, she made me cry at least three times, she was wonderful. She does not deserve the Oscar because she is the first black woman to be nominated for best actress, she deserves it because she earned it. Denzil Washington said it best, (paraphrasing) "well I hope we three (Will Smith, Halle Berry, and Washington) are nominated because we deserve it, not 'cause we're black" and as far as I can see, the media can press the black issue all they want, but all three deserved the nominations they received for their performances. so in a new rating system I will give it four out of a possible five stars, and this simple warning, yep the sex is explicit so if you are uncomfortable with that, wait for video and then "run to the bathroom" during that scene. It is very obvious when it is about to happen. But don't expect glamour, this scene is not about how beautiful Halle Berry is, this is not sex with hollywood style, it is about the pain and devastating loss of love and what we do to get a small amount of relief from a very painful reality. Very well done.
Queen of the Damned (2002)
Lestat's lament
I love Anne Rice and what's more important, I love The Vampire Lestat. Anne Rice created the perfect anti hero ... child like, living life (or death) to the fullest, sexy, seductive and of course evil.... but not always evil, just when he feels like it. "Interview with the Vampire" (the movie) had the mood of the first book, had the darkness and the sensuality and it had the pain of Louis. It also included a bit of the homoerotic theme that is so prevalent in Anne Rice's books. "Queen of the Damned" is lighter more full of fun, and that was perfect because Lestat had none of the pain and deep internal struggle of Louis from the first book/movie. Did it capture the mood of the book? Well, no. It was sexy and the actor who played Lestat was PERFECT!(Stuart Townsend) He was lithe and sexy and smoldering and devilish in short the brat prince himself.... Basically Tom Cruise's performance as Lestat is rendered lackluster after seeing this guy.... Now the rest of the movie: <sigh> Well, if you love the characters and the story of The Queen of the Damned (the book) then you will be disappointed, because this does not follow the story at all.... no Daniel, no Louis, Lestat is Marius's fledgling and they basically take Armand's story of becoming a vampire and turn it into Lestat's re- birth... Only one ancient red head instead of the twins of the book, and she is played by Lena Olin (who does not have red hair....) I'm not sure which one of the Vampire Coven was Armand.... but in the credits he is listed so apparently he was there... and finally Aaliya, she was not good and that breaks my heart since she is no longer with us, she was so beautiful, much like all the Anne Rice characters are supposed to be, sweet, pure and lovely.... Very disappointing performance as Akasha. So see the film for the sexiness, see it for the Stuart Townsend, the man who plays Lestat, or for the fun music ( sounds like Korn) but if you are a fan of the book, don't expect the story you loved, it is not there.
For horror fans it is great fun, violent but over the top violence, for anyone else I would give this a pass, I'm sure the story is even more confusing if you haven't read the book.
Romper Stomper (1992)
this is not American History X
What I like the most about this film, is that is makes no excuses for the violence of these people, it portrays them in simple clear cut terms. This is no Hollywood film, no one learns to love and accept people they have spent their lives hating, the simple theme is you live violently, you die violently. Russell Crowe is devastating as the leader of this pack of skin heads, but it is the group, the entire lot of them that make this film frightening. They should have won an award for assemble acting. Very well done, and violent beyond anything I've seen before or since.