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Reviews
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The third movie as well as the third best
I'd rank the movies as best to worst, in the order they came out (Felowship, Two Towers, Return of the king)
Return starts well enough but then it becomes kind of mired. This might be due more to Tolkien than the current filmmakers. After watching, while being somewhat disappointed, I flipped through the book when I came home. I had not read the trilogy in quite a few years, partially on purpose since I wanted it to be somewhat fresh for the films. Unpon skimming the third book again, I found that the book itself is pretty long winded and boring in parts. Pages after pages of hanging out in bogs trying to get to mount doom are just not that exciting, translating it to film doesn't really improve it either.
So I think it was maybe mostly due to the book, but the pacing just seemed horribly off. Besides the book problems, having to edit out a lot of the book did not really help either. The movie would have been redeemed for me by seeing things like the scouring of the shire and the houses of the healing, but I guess they figured that would be even more falling action than they already had.
Houses of the Healing was kind of important because it is where Eowyn hooks up with Faramir, since both are there being nursed back to health. My guess is such things were left out, while I'm certain that the female writers would have wanted them put in(the Faramir/Eowyn romantic conclusion, that is), because the film already seemed to have like 3 endings as it was. Instead all we get is a glance and a smile between Eowyn and Faramir, which makes no sense unless you know they hook up. Otherwise you'd be wondering why Eowyn is not more upset about her obsession Aragorn getting the elf chick.
In spite of those complaints, which I'm sure others have also voiced, I tried to watch this one as I did the other films - independent of the books but rather a work of its own. As a work of its own something is still off and there still is just not enough "meat" to it. Its overly long in the boring parts and the parts that I enjoyed, such as getting the undead army, seemed overly short.
I enjoyed this movie more the second time, in a DVD watching in order after viewing the first two extended ones (yeah, that is a whole day right there basically ;) ) My guess is that I'll enjoy it even more come december with the extended edition. I'm hoping to heck that the extended edition includes a lot of the scenes I want in the film, rather than making Sam and Frodo's trek even LONGER. Two Towers also did not do that much for me in the theater initially, apart from gollum being so cool and impressive. He was already in the second film so much, though, that by the third one he was old hat. He seemed just like another actor by then, which I suppose is a testament to the technology ;)
I don't know why the first film seemed like the best to me, it may have been because the life of the hobbits was such a good starting point as well as the back story/introduction of the ring. The extended version extra hobbit scenes were especially wonderful. The first film just seemed to really pace itself better and hold my interest more. My one regret with that one was the missing Tom Bombadaii stuff (SP?) and the wight mound, which explains where they got their swords as WELL as someone who is basically God-like who can't even protect the ring. I thought this was important, Frodo mentions that they should give it to him while Gandalf wisely counsels that it would mean nothing to him and he'd leave it on a stump or something (this is all from the book, where tom took it and put it on and it had no effect on him since he is much older than it even.)
But I digress. I gave the third one a 7 though I'm likely to rate the extended DVD higher. The first one I'd give a solid 10, with towers taking around an 8.
Pride and Prejudice (1995)
Must See BBC
This is a mini-series that seems more like a well made big budget motion picture.
I've never read a Jane Austin book, but just as a movie on its own this is fantastic. Colin Firth is casting perfection and watching this BEFORE you see "Bridget Jones' Diary" is a must. I originally saw this on a friend's DVD, without interruption, and that is the way I'd recommend viewing it. With commercials it is simply too long; I later watched it as a repeat on A&E or whatever and it was painful.
Having never read the novel, I can't make comparisons. However, I find that its always best to judge such works separately. I've read Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy billions of times, yet I still enjoyed the movies(which took great liberties) on their own merit. You can pick the movies apart, or simply enjoy them as though you'd never read the books.
Pride and Prejudice (2003)
Wonderful for DVD
I picked this up after a 20 minute round-about in the new releases section of the video store; it is sad but I've seen nearly every film in existence. What was a last minute grab turned out to be a diamond in the rough.
Of several Pride & Prejudice take offs, this is one of the better ones. I'd rank this after "Bridget Jones' Diary" and of course after the BBC production of "Pride & Prejudice" with Colin Firth (used in the modern retelling in "Bridget Jones", a stroke of genius.)
This one is moderately original, portraying the lead female as an aspiring novelist. Darcy is an apparently uppity Englishman within her circle of friends (to say more would spoil parts of the story.) I'd rank this above "Clueless", which I only thought was clever at the time I saw it due to never having seen/read "Pride & Prejudice."
I've never seen Kam Heskin or Orlando Seale in a movie, both are wonderful. Lucila Sola' is also fantastic as Elizabeth's best friend(painfully beautiful as well, in both voice and features.)
This is definitely worth watching, I gave it a 9.
Japanese Story (2003)
OK in building the story, then it cheats.
This is one of those films that I really wanted to like. It seemed really good in building the story of these two people who don't seem to like each other, but then find out more about each other and then things happen.
What I don't like is how then suddenly something happens which cheats, in order to wrap things up. I've seen other films like this which do the same thing and I find it off putting. Saying more would be a spoiler.
The performances in this are great, I just did not like the turn of the story which "solves" the oncoming problem.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
A Near Miss
This seemed to be a textbook case of the ability to do something new well, such as the fact that most of the film was seamless CGI, causing them to forget to make a good movie. It reminds me a lot of the Final Fantasy movie because it seemed more like a technical demonstration rather than a "movie."
Throughout the entire film I found myself wanting more. Nearly every scene falls flat, where you really saw a lot of potential. An example is Polly in the street with the giant robots, she is easily avoiding them and snapping away with her camera while things fall around her. For the most part she is totally alone and you just don't feel any sense of impending doom. Really the scene needed large crowds running and screaming. Most of the movie seems like a half hearted attempt like that, where they saved money due to how much the CGI cost them. Another example of that is the ending, where its kind of hinted at what happens but you don't actually see it happening. Instead it seems to end very abruptly on a somewhat funny note.
I think the actor's did about as well as they could in this movie. They were just not given enough to work with. It ended up seeming like a heartless/soulless Raiders of the Lost Ark, sort of in the same way the sequels to Raiders of the Lost Ark did. The first Raiders was unique at the time, perfectly capturing the entire serial/B picture genre in a way that I don't think will ever be topped.
I think a lot of the problem with this was too much screen time given to the effects and the principal players while we never really get any background on why things are happening until the end, when we find out the "surprise" (Which really isn't a surprise at all if you know one of the cardinal rules of bad guys in films, which I won't see here because it would be a spoiler.) So the film really fails to build any intrigue. You are somewhat puzzled but only because they don't get any clues at all. Really more than being puzzled you are bored.
So this is a near miss. It could have really caught you up in the action with a better story and more real arch villain. As it is it falls totally flat.
Sleepover (2004)
Pretty brainless tween flick
I saw this and it was moderately OK. I think if I was a 14 year old girl that it would have been my "fave!"
If you look at the poster, or preview, for this film you see pretty much exactly what it is. They set out to make a teen feature and they made one, complete with all of the typical teen movie elements.
Are you the unpopular girl? Then it must be your dream to be with the popular guy! Are you the dreamy guy? Then it must be your dream to get with that girl that you don't really know while saying things like "who is that girl?" Hmm I think I saw a plot device like that before, hmm where did I see that where, hmmm? Oh yeah, I saw it in 16 candles UPTEEN years ago.
Of course this would not be complete without the nerd guy sidekicks trying to help out the principal females, for some reason which is not really even explained in this film. A lot of the film is like that, its about as formula as you can get without really giving any background information for the typical formula moments. Why are these nerd guys hanging around so much? Its not really explained apart from the girls being females. Why does the popular girl just enter their house, after turning down their slumber party invite, then come up with some scavenger hunt for winning a place at the fountain when the popular girl would be eating at the fountain anyway? Why does the one girl not realize why she was invited to the slumber party, when she was hovering around when the other girl wasn't going? It was so obvious.
Sleepover is one of those films that is not a bad waste of two hours if you have nothing else to watch or do, unless you are a young girl who has sleepovers. Then it would probably be a fun film for you, making you think that someday that super cute guy will see you and like you for some reason or that some nearly popular girls will invite you to their sleepover even though you are the chubby outcast.
Paparazzi (2004)
Not so good
This film is kind of so mediocre that it was an enjoyable couple of hours.
It starts out OK, but then it gets pretty stupid. It got so bad and unrealistic in what the main acttion start guy does, that I assumed at the end we'd all find out it was a dream sequence or something. Instead it is just ridiculous.
Near the end we finally get to see something the detective figures out, which would have been the FIRST thing they checked in a real investigation of what happened. Having him "figure it out" makes it even more ridiculous.
They also make the mistake of having the lead actor play the part as a guy that you don't root for. Instead you start to hate to see his face and his goofy "crazy smile." I think its totally unintentional, judging by the ending, but it almost SEEMS like they are trying to make you not like him. For example in the first "accident" which happens to his tormentors, he does exactly the OPPOSITE of what he would have done to have become a sympathetic character. I really don't know if this was more bad acting on the part of the actor, or bad writing and directing.
It ended up being so goofy that I could not look away. I highly recommend this if you want to see a moderately mediocre, somewhat laughable film, especially if you see it for free. Basically it screamed direct to DVD rental.
Wicker Park (2004)
bring a female, oh my gosh
This movie is one of the most perfect ones I've seen in the last few years.
The setup is perfect, because you start to know what is happening but only see all of the information later on with scenes playing out with characters you never even noticed the first time around. So it is almost putting you into the point of view of the main character, Matt, who is basically oblivious.
The ending is one of the best in any film. I'm not normally a sensitive person, but I found myself tearing up. If you bring a female, good things will probably happen.
The previews and a quick clip made me think this was some kind of a thriller or something. Then I went and saw it and it was something totally different. I can't even really put it into a genre, except for maybe mystery-romance or something.
Simply amazing. This is one of the only must-see movies that I've seen in recent years.