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yisraelharris
Reviews
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
What A Stinker!
The book "Bonfire of The Vanities" is one of my favorite all-time novels. Of course, it is almost a given that a movie will rarely live up to the novel, but I think I would have rated this a stinker even had I not read the book.
There is a frantic, hyper emery running throughout the movie, that just doesn't work. I think the scene where McCoy and the girlfriend are stopped and she yells out: "It's a dead tire?" stands out in cinematic history as a scene where a joke falls so completely flat, that it's embarrassing. And the movie's one attempt to be sincere, right near the end, comes off as trite.
The movie's cartoonish characters and outlandish turns of events (shooting at one's ceiling to get rid of one's dinner guests) all contribute to an unwatchable mess.
To return to the book: the book was brilliant in that it portrayed people and events realistically, and cleverly brought out the ridiculous aspects of everyday life. The film captured not one iota of this spirit. Just horrible. Really not worth your time, on any level.
I hope that someone will redo this once as a miniseries, because it really could be excellent.
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
Highly Unlikely
SPOILER WARNING.
I'm no poker buff, but consider the following: Say a typical hand takes 20 minutes, and say an avid player plays 25 hours a week, for 40 weeks a year, for 40 years.
This would make 3 * 25 * 40 * 40 hands in a lifetime, which makes 120,000 hands in a lifetime.
The odds of getting a straight flush are one in 80,000.
So McQueen got beat by a guy who got a once in a lifetime hand, and the guy says "As long as I'm around, you're second best?" Ridiculous.
No less ridiculous is IMDb's telling me that the above review is not long enough. I hope it is now.
Seinfeld (1989)
Brilliant. Just Brilliant.
I had watched only an occasional episode of Seinfeld over the years. About a month ago, I found a website which has many TV show episodes. I started watching one Seinfeld a day. But over the past 4 days, I went through about 40 episodes.
This show is brilliant. One of the most brilliant things about it is the blend of realism and surrealism: the characters take mundane situations and transform them into the utterly bizarre, so that they find themselves in preposterously unlikely situations -- but incredibly, you find yourself somehow believing it.
First and foremost, the writing itself is just brilliant. People talk about how low-level the humor on this show is, but I disagree. It seems odd to say, but I actually feel intelligent when I laugh at the jokes on this show.
And of course, the acting is brilliant as well. Both the regulars and the guests give every fiber of their being in their performances.
One other thing I like very much about the humor is that it is not pessimistic and insulting. I've always preferred the bizarre genre of humor, as in Monty Python and Ferris Beuller, as opposed to the mean-spirited sort, as in Married with Children or Liar, Liar.
I am a VERY hard person to make laugh, but I have had many hearty guffaws from this show.
Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant.
John Mayer: Any Given Thursday (2003)
Good but...
There's definitely something very catchy about this film. John is multi-talented: great songwriter, great musician, humorist, philosopher. Extremely entertaining.
However, there's a huge minus that ruins this for me: his voice. No, he's not off-key, but his voice is so scratchy, that it's impossible for me to enjoy it. He sounds like he has laryngitis. He can barely sing with his voice in this condition. I would not pay to hear someone perform with their voice in this condition, and I think it's a big chutzpah for him to charge people admission.
Understand: I enjoy singers like Robert Plant, Jon Anderson, Steve Tyler. Their voices may be scratchy -- but they still have some body. John's thin voice is painful for me to listen to.
Field of Dreams (1989)
Beautiful Film
It is truly a rare movie indeed to which I would give a 10. But this is one of my all-time favorites.
This is a movie about themes like reconciliation, destiny, redemption, idealism, disappointment, the difficulty of relationships, especially that of the father-son relationship.
In this movie, the baseball field is where all such issues achieve resolution.
This is such a gentle movie, full of such sincerity, and moving emotions. Although it is by no means an upbeat movie, it is nevertheless ultimately a very optimistic and positive movie.
As some reviewers have noticed, some suspension of disbelief is required.
A movie with no guns, violence, gangsters, no gratuitous sex, just down-to-earth good people, and a good message. What a gem.
P.S. Interestingly, there really was a Moonlight Graham. See his baseball career stats here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/grahamo01.shtml. Some of the details of his life are altered in the movie; cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_Graham.
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Excellent Movie
This movie seems to have all of the necessary ingredients for a blockbuster. No wonder it was so well liked.
1. The basic setting itself, that of sports agency, is exciting -- a cross-section of high-stakes business and professional sports.
2. The basic plot is compelling: a David-Goliah story, with the sincere David (Jerry McGuire) going up against the Goliaths of the sports agency industry. So many Hollywood films have scored using this formula.
3. Lots of fun, clever, snappy dialogue, with the highlights: "Show me the Money", "The Kwan", "You had me at hello..." 4. There are so many well-written scenes, such as the frantic telephone chase, or the bathroom confrontation between Jerry and Rod. And there are so many "big scenes" throughout.
5. Character development: so many of the characters, such as Jerry, Rod, and Dorothy, have real characters. But the minor characters, such as the Nanny, are also very engaging.
6. The acting: all of the actors really sink their teeth into their roles, and come up with highly watchable performances.
All combine to make this a very, very entertaining movie.
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Boring
Artistically, this movie is good. But the main thing I remember about it, when I saw it in the theater in 1987 when it came out, was how damn boring it was (to both my parents and to me).
I recall this scene of the boy who eats liquor-filled chocolates because there is no food, and then starts riding a bike inside his house. Boring.
I remember the John Malkovitch character, the Oriental boy on the other side, various other elements. But even as I write this review, the main feeling that floods me is that memory of how slow and boring this movie was. How did this get a 7.5 star rating?
The Wave (1981)
Strength through Discipline!!
A friend told me about "The Wave" in 1984, and he described it so vividly that I sought it out for years. I looked in Leonard Maltin's movie guide, but to my great surprise couldn't find it there.
I forget where, but I finally did see it once.
I found it again in, of all places, the Jewish Museum in NYC, in 1996. Quite an interesting experience, going to a museum, and then ending up sitting down for close to an hour and watching TV...
Again, about 3 years ago, I found it through (where else?) the Internet. You can actually download the program from a fascinating website called something like xenu, which fights against Scientology.
Anyway, I downloaded it about 3 weeks ago. Since I don't have a TV and don't go to movies, I have basically been listening to this program round-the-clock for the past three weeks. I can now recite entire scenes from memory. Maybe at some point I'll have the whole show memorized. Then, at parties, instead of having normal conversations, I'll just recite passages from the show. ("It's ... building a barn with your neighbors.")
One thing to think about from this program: Robert, the outcast who 'finds himself' through the wave. Think about this poor guy. His whole life, he's been a total failure, socially, intellectually, it seems in every way possible. He sits down for lunch and people actually stand up and move away. Teachers ridicule him in class.
Finally, he finds something which motivates, interests and inspires him. He finds people looking up to him for the first time in his life. People seek out his advice. He has self-confidence and self-esteem he never considered possible. For two weeks, he is in control. He runs the show. People do what he says.
This character probably thinks to himself: Wow! My whole life has been a miserable failure! I'm finally alive now! Life is fun and enjoyable! People finally like and admire me! I actually have friends now! I thought my whole life was going to be one horrible nightmare but now it looks like everything is going to be okay! This guy was probably on cloud nine for those two weeks.
And then, suddenly, his teacher tells them all: You fools! You've been acting like Nazis for the past two weeks! That must have been a bitter pill for all of them to swallow, but for this poor guy Robert, it must have sent him over the edge. Imagine finally succeeding at something for the fist time in your life and being told that you've been playing the role of a Nazi. ("Yes you would have all made good Nazis.") This Robert is now thinking to himself: The only thing I'm good at is being a Nazi?! This poor young man is FRIED, TOTALLY AND ABSOLUTELY FRIED for life.
That teacher is totally irresponsible for putting those students, and especially Robert, through that exercise to teach them a lesson like that. If I had that teacher, I would never believe another word that came out of his mouth. Ever. Talk about betrayal.
Now for some critiquing of the program. Obviously, on the whole, I consider "The Wave" to have merit; otherwise, I would not devote so much attention and energy to it. That said, here are some criticisms:
1. Although little of the acting is truly bad, much of it is merely competent or even slightly below that. Lori stands out though. This comment applies mainly to the youngsters. The adults' performances are quite good. Bruce Davidson is an especially liked actor.
2. I did not think that the show did a proper job convincing me that the students would be so taken by the wave. I have never seen such docile students in my life. What is so compelling about halving the time it takes to get to your seat?
3. Another, related, major flaw of the film is that it did not really show how the wave was bringing out the worst in people, how it was turning them into brutal, mindless robots. They show a fistfight here, some hateful graffiti there, but not too much more than that. Of course, given 44 minutes, they were limited. If it could have been a 2-hour program, then they could have developed it much more fully, and then it could have been a riveting, first-rate program.