Reviews

BRRRRRRRRR itz a cold movie! What a nutty fun movie flaws and all...Holly Hunter is so good-such deadpan delivery of some of the best insults I've heard in a long time.

However, what I really liked (once I realized what it was) were the pipes located inside Tiffany and Ted's apartment.

Robin is as always the master of his craft and plays the suffering travel agent brother perfectly.

Still in all a movie that needs to be seen if only for the inside pipes.

locked in an endless DVD loop...

BGB

What darkness as this film begins.

I ached for Toni Collete as she struggled in search. As this film moved through the characters that are it's story I understood it's greatness quickly. I was trapped and glued to the screen. I was hungry as each segment fed me more lost souls connected to each other. A brief ray of light still wrapped in pain towards the end made me try to smile but after the end I just sat there.I was stunned...grieving...sad...feeling like there were several people missing from my life.

I watched a great film and one that mattered. just go see it...

G bush Columbus, Ohio

I enjoyed this film. I'm not sure what that may say about me but when it finally made it to the end it was surprisingly satisfying.Yes there were many flat moments and darkish comedy that didn't seem to work as well as it could have but still.............

Tcheky Karyo in a parody inept gangster role was just great.He really got it down- such a pro, such an overactor. His partner Dominique was just OUT THERE,high on death,crime,crazy to hurt and kill and loving his named family of guns- reminded me of Quentin Taratino in dusk to dawn. Just great/mean/born-to-die badness. Of course he makes no sense but his purpose is clear here.More guns that Smith and Wesson and I like it! Just don't let him treat your upset stomach!

Michel Muller as the poor victim of Myrtille Adoration (Was this Harold from Harold and Maude?) I am however,thankful that he becomes more of a presence as the story unfolds and I do share his adoration of Myrtille.He reveals the steel when he doubles the money! yeah!

Ahhhhh, Monica Bellucci.......... she is beautiful! Garbed in black and deadly to anyone in her way.And can she handle a fish! a well done scene. But what is she doing here in this film? Carrying the film perhaps? eye candy? whatever it worked for me.

I am not sure if I want to compare this to Dusk to Dawn or maybe Raising Arizona. Was it a comedy trying to be serious? just dark? or neither? I need to see it again to be sure.

By all means see it for yourself ....it deserves to be seen.

Bgbdesign

Ronin

This film is an action drama with a theme from ancient samurai warriors known as Ronin that more or less applies to this film. Three Days of the Condor carried some of the themes of this film with agents not knowing who to trust and being displaced from their usual positions of employment, although without the comparisons to ancient warriors. Ronin is an enjoyable; some say great, action, suspense, spy type drama that is tightly directed by John Frankenheimer. The premise being that an assemblage of operatives, former agents of various governments now in post cold-war adjustment, are hired to form a group to obtain by force an unknown item in a silver metal case. Their mission objective is clear until after the daylight effort to secure the case involving gunfire, and some amazing low angle car chase scenes through narrow Parisian streets. Just as it appears to be a success the plot begins to become more complex. There are betrayals, switchbacks and De Niro's character Sam looking for revenge and also to complete the `mission'. It's a convoluted tale that even has Russians involved, those former bad guys and now resident gangsters of modern Europe. Finally the twisted plot begins to simplify after nearly overwhelming what could have been a more straightforward story and we almost learn what the hard sought after item really is.

Early in film as the group plans and defines itself by the initial operations we learn more about each member, Robert De Niro as Sam, Vincent, played by Jean Reno are closely allied by a sense of shared professionalism, Sean Bean, as Spence the loose cannon and weapons specialist, shows us more of the intensity he had in patriot games Skipp Sudduth as the quiet, solid, skilled driver and apron wearing cook, and Stellan Skarsgård, the technical former East German agent make up the group of ronin. We also meet Natascha Mc Elhone who plays Deirdre, the mysterious liaison between the group and the unknown person who hired them. This is the only female interest we get in the film and she carries it off with quiet intensity and an understated obligatory romance scene with De Niro.

French Cinematographer Robert Fraisse, a former camera assistant in 1962 on Orson Wells'" The Trial", is excellent in his shots of brightly lit outdoor scenes or shadowed interiors. His experience in European films has helped make the beautiful settings even more inviting and the car chases are some of the best seen yet. There are some comparisons to be made with `Bullitt' and `The French Connection' car chase which was not nearly as good as this scene set in narrow European streets, but for years the French connection set the tone for car chases in film.

I enjoyed this film-much more in the first half but no worries-you still want to see it. While the film didn't exactly conjure up scenes of feudal samurai fighting to the death and committing seppuku if still alive, the over obvious collection of samurai figures was not lost either. This film seems to have lost its way somewhat, denigrating into a Bruce Willis action extravaganza but still wrapped up at the end with the samurai triumphant and yet their true nature and destination still shrouded to viewers. What was in that case anyway? Perhaps it was the original tight and less complicated script? Maybe.....

bgbdesign

I recently watched for the fist time this 1998 film by Sam Raimi, Wow!-how did I miss this film?

A seemingly uncomplicated story at first glance that rapidly entraps you deeper into it until you are finally released at the end wondering what you would do if you.....(sorry, no spoiler here!). Of course, the fox getting into the henhouse is pretty common in the country.especially during the winter season.

Set in pure white it includes some good and evil,wasted lives,the American dream and the good old small town hero who is gonna save the day and do what's right. Well, sort of..........Although what is right seems to change and change until it's not as clear what right is.

Bill Paxton is the older brother who knows everything, Billy Bob Thornton is the younger,dimmer,but deeper brother, Bridgette Fonda is .....well,just see it.....what she is......OK-she's a classic,wonderful small-town librarian wife with great small-town hair. There is also my favorite, Lou, Billy Bob's buddy, portrayed energetically by Brent Briscoe. Why is he my favorite? Well, he just is, Lou calls it the way he sees it and I like it!

After scenes of almost normal life and its residents,while in the snowy woods we hear a sharp sound after a snowball is thrown and we are on our way,moving slowly and driving fast,events pulling everyone rapidly to the center of the plot.I watched and listened as A Simple Plan unfolded,the director took me where he wanted me to be,and the camera showed me precisely what I was supposed to see.By now involved in the film, I tag along with each character as they interact with each other,showing me more and more of who they really are.

This film beckons us into it,hooks,then lures,shocks,and pulls us again into suspense followed by a turn towards mystery and the "bad guy" before finally setting us right back home as if we clicked our heels three times and woke up thinking it was all a dream. In fact look, things are just as they were!

In my opinion,this is a film that needs to be seen. I'm glad I watched it -twice.

bgbdesign

Quite a gritty orange tinted vacation I had in the slums of Rio. I could almost taste the dust and feel the heat in some of the scenes. A bit jarring to have a story told in an order known only to the director but I dutifully followed along as it tied together and everyone connected.I'm positioned by the camera too close to faces of people in the apartment and I don't like the smell of fear and sweat. While this repetitive tale was overkill on murder and machismo,I don't complain for some reason. Perhaps in my drive-through bank and sushi world this is what I needed to see in order to understand life doesn't change in the city of god,everyone dies and childhood ends when you can walk and hold a gun.A going away party and then you die....