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francisco_garay
Reviews
Smokin' Aces (2006)
Don't Expect Too Much... Or Anything At All...
Someone previously commented that the guy who cut the trailer to this film must have been a genius. I strongly agree.
I was promised wit, suspense, stylish action, interesting characters. What I got was one of the most clichéd, unsuspenseful movies I've seen since Evita. The acting was flat, action boring, and suspense... There was none.
The movie was so lacking in fact, that the only laughing and cheering from the audience was from the previews! I'm very sorry to anyone that has already had the unfortune of watching Smokin' Aces but I also would like to apologize for Alicia Keyes, she promised to be the most interesting character, but for some reason the director stuck to an already dead script.
*SPOILER* The only good thing besides Ben Afleck getting capped so early was the trailer. The editor who cut the trailer should win an academy award. That doesn't mean the movie itself was well edited.
If you were to avoid just one movie this year... This is it.
Lost in Translation (2003)
Truly Lost...
I've seen this movie several times. I always try to give movies a second chance, especially when they are this big and widely popular and award wining at that!
The thing is, I didn't like it the first time I watched it or the second or third. It's funny at times and the cinematography is refreshing but as for the movie itself, I didn't quite "get it". I just wasn't interested in the film.
I talked to many people about this film and everyone seems to enjoy it, I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't like this movie. I think the story is refreshing as well, but I just felt it didn't really go anywhere. Am I the only one who felt the movie was lost in translation? (C-)
Straight Outta Hunters Point (2003)
Eye Opening
First of, this is not a film that gloryfies the thug life. What this film does is give you an inside look at a community that has been destroyed by poverty, racism and desperation.
It doesn't stand on a soap box and preach, what it does is more powerful than that. What it does is show you straight from the inside, what it's like to live in the prisons we call ghettos. Several times I've driven through Hunter's Point and been witness to the appocalytic scenario, boarded up homes, garbage littering the streets, and extreme poverty. What sickens me the most is how in the richest country in the world, in one of the richest cities, we could allow places like this to exist.
Kevin Epps, exposes this crime without ever saying a word about it being wrong. He just let's the camera roll, and the more it rolls, the more discontent you'll feel about the way this community is marginalized and mistreated.
Not only do we met the people living in this community close up, we learn about the increased cancer rates and PG+E's and the US Navy's unkept promise of cleaning and restoring the toxic conditions they've created. We learn about the police brutality which claims the lives of the people in this community and the desperation and hopelessness that has made it's young people look to crime and drug's for a way out. There is a message of hope, through the creative forces inside this community which is home to Gangsta Rap, some of the most successful have even found a way out through music.
To sum up we get an inside look at a place we would never ever see first hand. I give this 10/10, In my opinion this film was better than anything out of hollywood this last year, watch it if you can find a copy.