Reviews

Sometimes a nice, mediocre movie is just what you need to pass a couple of hours relaxing. This Canadian movie, along with its Canadian accent, takes place in the plains of the US.

The plot is nothing special, the acting is pretty amateurish (but better than I could do), and the climax and resolution are lackluster. The "science" is what you'd expect for a disaster movie (still better than The Core).

The charm of this movie is part "so good it's bad" and part "I don't have to pay very close attention". If that's your thing, this movie's for you.

This is not a good movie in the traditional sense. Production quality is comparable to a group of high schoolers doing a class project. The actors appear to have been randomly selected from the families and friends of the people involved in the project. Special effects consist of implying someone is about to be killed, then cutting to blood being splashed on a wall. But where it lacks in quality, it makes up for in campy goodness, intentional or not. If that's your thing, you'll like this movie. Or you won't. Hard to say.

Where to begin? Dramatic skill? Check! Clear and non-meandering story? Check! Memorable moments? Check! Music score with beautifully equalized background sound? Check, nay, double check! Anyone can plunk down $10/person to see trash like Wonder Woman, Avengers, and Fight Club. But a movie with all the accoutrements of a movie worth of the highest of accolades? Seek no more, this is what you've been waiting for. Thank you, Amazon Prime, thank you very much!

read a book.

The CGI was arcade-like, the acting laughable, the storyline like sipping mud, and the punchlines poorly conceived. There were times I thought I might vomit, it was so bad.

Some say life passes faster and faster. It's like a train that won't stop or a river that flows into the sea. This movie is the cure. Watch this and time will stand still. When you push 'play', you will be tempted to push 'stop'. Don't. Let it keep going. Keep watching. Then you will realize that death isn't so bad and you will never complain about time going by too quickly again.

Maybe it's just that I am not a fan of anime. I'm not saying I don't like it; I just haven't seen enough of it to make any comparisons. What follows is based on that background.

I have seen a few small anime bits in the past. The Matrix short they were doing in the theaters before movies, and the little bit in Kill Bill come to mind. Those two were incredible to me. Maybe they aren't true anime, I don't know, but they were good. The scenes were smooth, the characters were clearly done, and, while short, everything seemed to fit together well.

'Spirited Away' doesn't seem like that, to me. The drawings are good and, at times, excellent, but the rest seemed sloppy. Unique plot points and characters often seemed stretched and arbitrary, there are scenes about 'love' that don't make a heck of a lot sense, and the characters were often schizophrenic, even those that weren't supposed to be.

In short, I'm not sure why this made it to feature-length. I'm not sure why fans of anime find it so intriguing. I wouldn't watch it again unless I had to. I'm not saying that it was incredibly stinky; rather, it just isn't enough to claim the title of 'great' or even 'good'.

If you are an anime fan, check out other user comments--they might make more sense to you.

I went into this movie thinking is would be as dumb as a hammock of nails. Considering this predisposition, I came out moderately relieved. Strangely, most of the comments I have read have been fairly positive. Many who have seen the original enjoyed the remake. I have not seen the original, and I thought this movie was mediocre, but better than expected.

The premise that a man who feels no control in his life would control rats to gain some control is kind of stupid, in my opinion. Watching the movie shows you that there is more than meets the eye. However, that bit more than what is expected still doesn't bump this movie into the 'good' category. The acting was silly, the relationship between Willard and his admirer was flat, his boss was badly written, and the unfolding of the movie was sloppy.

This is one of those movies that had the potential to be good, but somewhere someone dropped the ball.

If you're not doing anything else and you've seen all the movies you have on your list to see, check this one out. But don't expect to be blown away.

I have read some of the previous comments concerning people's expectations for this movie. It seems like the majority, at least of the ones I read, felt this movie was a let-down. The following are the main points I read, and some rebuttals, when appropriate.

1. I was expecting more from Tarantino after having waited so long for a new film.

Given a few generations, a good man becomes a god. The same goes for expectations for movies. You see a movie you really like, you live a few years, and then the same writer/director comes out with a new movie and you are disappointed. I haven't seen a movie this well done in a long time. When I comapare it to most of the films of today, I am relieved to see such smart work.

2. The plot is stupid.

It has been hypothesized that there are only about 7 plots in the world. You have to figure, if you are going to do a movie, you have to accept that much of what you will do has already been done. What Tarantino has done here is write a plot that works, and then worked in the ingenuity. Betrayal, revenge, murder, yeah, yeah, blah, blah. A summary of the movie simply doesn't do any justice. I will explain why later.

3. Tarantino took a bunch of stuff from a bunch of old Kungfu movies and threw it all together into one movie.

This is similar to #2. I think it's important to be aware here that this was his intent, and has always been his signature. Tarantino was probably raised on television, and his memory for what he saw is insane. He took his favorite elements of those movies and used them to make a collage. And it works.

Now, for my critique of the film. If I were to take any single element of this film and rate it without the context of the rest, I might find this movie typical. However, the combination of camera movement, retro nuances, score, framing, storyline, introduction and outcome, and overall organization of events, this film is top notch. The creativity displayed in each scene, the hidden references and allusions, everything is so well packed, if you keep your eyes open, you will be impressed. Just don't take the kids.

If you watch this movie while in a serious mood, you will most certainly not enjoy it. However, if you enjoy intentionally cheesy entertainment, witty dialogue, and some horrendously bad special effects, you have to see it.

The movie starts on the farm of a beautiful woman named Buttercup. We see her treat the farmhand, Westley, quite heartlessly. As time goes on, we see her fall in love with the handsome young farmhand who has loved her from the beginning.

Westley has to leave the farm to earn some money so that the two of them could be together. Later Buttercup catches word that Westley has been killed by the infamous Dread Pirate Roberts. It is after this that Buttercup is chosen by the Prince Humperdink to be his bride. She moves to the King's castle and one day, while riding her horse, she is kidnapped by a rogue band of misfits. It is here the adventure begins as a masked man begins tracking the misfits. What follows is a delightful sequence of adventure, action, and cheese.

This movie is a classic that will be around for decades to come. I give it a 10/10.

I want to respond to the majority of comments made so far concerning the quality of "The Green Mile". The following is a list of comments I have read and felt deemed a response. I am not a movie critic, and I'm not a writer which means the following comments will be simple.

1. This movie is too long. It is long. I did not feel it was too long. There have been movies that were excellently done and I have wondered why they cut it short. I didn't feel that way during this movie. It was just right.

2. Too many characters are developed. I'd like to hear from those who said this which characters didn't need to be developed. Everyone played a role, everyone had a purpose, and everyone did a good job.

3. It's too chaotic/Too many subplots. I'd like to hear from those who said this what they would have eliminated from the movie. We needed to see the old Tom Hanks in the beginning so he could tell his story. We needed all the steps in between to feel crushed when John Coffey is executed. We needed to see how the death of the girls unfolded. Nothing was out of place and nothing was extra. It's also worth mentioning that a complicated canvas of characters and events more closely resembles life. Perhaps it's time movies start doing this more often. If a Russian novelist can get awards for writing a painfully detailed story, why shouldn't a movie?

4. The acting was subpar. Come on. Right. I don't want to be the one to say that crying during a scene means it was well done; that is certainly not correct. You cry during the Green Mile because you are in the movie. When someone acts badly, it's hard to suspend your disbelief. The acting was not goofy.

5. The humor threw the rhythm of the movie off. 3 hours of serious is a lot of serious. Stephen King likes to throw humor into even his darkest of novels (and movies). It works in the horror stories, and it works here.

6. What's the deal with this supernatural stuff? Hey, it's a cool addition. Probably it could have been written without the flies and healing, but why? After all, it is Stephen King.

7. The Delecroix execution was too violent. And electrocution isn't? Hey, we live in a society where we kill people for being too bad. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the ethics of it, but if they author was trying to make a point, he did it well. And again, I say: It's Stephen King. He likes the violence, and this was a nice way to get it in there.

My final opinion, being the completely unqualified and inexperienced critic that I am, is: this movie is really good. The acting was precise, the unfolding of events was well orchestrated, the development of the plot was enjoyable, and most will not feel like it is too long. You will feel sick to you stomach, cry, laugh, get angry, and generally feel pleased that you spent your 3 hours watching this.

Enjoy.