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smithco

Member since 8/10/2006, last signed in awhile ago.

"Trust me, I'm a doctor"

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Unforgiven

Star-Power Still Makes for Grea ...
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"Appaloosa is a really great western. The plot was a bit predictable, the direction was not particularly creative, and the music was a bit pedantic, but the actors filled the scenes with a gripping presence. Much like other westerns such as Unforgiven (1992) and The Magnificent Seven (1960), the greatness comes from the actors. The whole film is filled with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen being as big as the set would hold, with the quiet, cool manner of all the great western heroic actors. And Jeremy Irons, despite his inability to do an American accent, was a well-played foil to the heroes. " [More]

Appaloosa

The Buccaneer

Very Good, But Very American
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"I really liked this film, though there was a problem with it that got in the way of really enjoying it. That problem is the very slanted, very revisionist and very American view of the 1812 war seen in this film. I don't really blame the writer or director for it, it's only natural that Americans try to spin their history. But, I'm not American. When I watch a movie about the 1812 war, I want to see the British-Canadian side win. The 1812 war was essentially a stale-mate. The Americans nearly lost everything, only to be saved by Napoleon. Yet, every American movie about that war depicts the British as evil and the Americans always victorious. It would be really nice to have a movie that portrays something closer to the actual history with actors of similar calibur to Yul Brenner and Charlton Heston. I don't really expect Hollywood to ever make that movie, but it would be nice. " [More]

Be Cool

Much Funnier Than I Expected
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"Be Cool is not a great movie by any stretch, but it is far more entertaining than the reviews suggested. To be clear, my expectations were low; I only watched it because it came up as a 99¢ rental on iTunes. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised. My first surprise is that John Travolta turned in a decent performance. Normally, I find his acting horrid. I usually have the impression that his screen time is about advertising that he's John Travolta and not about his character. Yet, this time around, I was able to believe that he was Chili Palmer and not the usual giant Travoltan ego. I did find the doconstructuve humour quite funny. Though it's not particularly original, it is well executed. However, it does require a good attention span. I think one has to realize that the entire film is the punchline for the premise set in the first scene to find the humour. In the end, not a great film; but I thought it was 99¢ and two-hours well spent. " [More]

Lions for Lambs

Pitiful Propoganda Piece
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"Lions for Lambs starts out moderately interesting. By the end, I really wish I had turned it off after the first fifteen minutes. In the end, this was a lesson on why I should have read reviews of the film before watching it. There are some severe flaws in this movie. Firstly, the relentless left-wing grand-standing is makes it hard to stomach. The air of superiority over the Republicans completely distracts any sense of character or story telling. The film makers forgot that a movie needs to be compelling; they can't just be soap boxes. Secondly, the different plot lines have very little to do with each other. Thus, the conclusion is ultimately unsatisfying. A full movie about the journalist against the politician would have been good, a full movie about the student and the professor would have been good, or a full movie about the soldiers would have been good. But, all three unrelated plots are compressed into vignettes so shallow that I was left wondering why I should ca ... " [More]

The Magnificent Seven

Almost as Good as The Magnifice ...
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"I finally saw Seven Samurai. It is undoubtably a great film. Though by the intermission came around, I was thinking that it is not as good as The Magnificent Seven (1960) A lot of people may want to fit my neck for a rope for stating that, but that's what I was thinking. For me, comparing the two is an excercise in comparing great works. I hope that my opinion here is not constued as a dislike for Kuosawa's masterpiece. It seemed to me that The Magnificent Seven surpassed Seven Samurai in four areas. First is the pacing. I doubt anyone would notice if forty minutes were cut from Seven Samurai. There's a lot of scenes of people staring at each other, scenes that repeated exposition of the story, and a lot of extraneous battle preperation scenes. Generally, the pacing of The Magnificent Seven is a lot tighter: the same story is told just as effectively in much less time. Second is the dialogue. The snappy banter of the characters in The Magnificent Seven is very entertaining ... " [More]

Seven Samurai

Eastern Promises

Eastern Promises Could Have Bee ...
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"Increasingly, I find myself losing patience with movies that fill themselves with violence and gore.Eastern Promises could have been a great movie. The directing is fine, the setting visually appealing and the acting is extrememly good. I stopped watching it after about twenty minutes. Every few minutes, there is a scene filled with gore and the gore prevented me from enjoying what should have been an otherwise great film.I think this sort of film begs the question, "Who is the sort of person who wants blood over a good story?" Is it some jevenile mindset? Or is it a severe desensitisation to what we should find horrifying? " [More]

D.O.A.

Brillant and lousy all at the s ...
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"D.O.A. is an interesting film. On one side, Maté prioneered some brillant shots and the premise is absolutly genious. But, at the same time, it is a B-movie, and there are plot holes (since when did he carry a gun?) and the acting is overly melodaramatic. " [More]

Sin City

A film with style and substance
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"A really enjoyed Sin City. It falls just short of a perfect score for me, but only a sliver short. The only flaw is the overuse of gratuitous gore. Had a few of the splatter scenes been done off camera, the film would be on my all time favourites list. I suppose directors all too often forget Hitchcock's lesson on how effective chocolate syrup can be. I have a hunch that this is all the result of including Tarentino as a "guest director". I never liked Tarentino's films, precisely because the guy has no understanding of how to convey violence with any subtlety.Aside from heavy use of blood and dismemberment, everything else in the film works fantastically. The style is original and unique. The recreation of the black and white with splashes of colours was risky. And, as we learned from films like A Scanner Darkly, it isn't enough to be different; a film that explores a new style has to pull it off amazingly well. Miller and Rogriguez recreated the comic's feel brilliantly ... " [More]

A Scanner Darkly

Not Nearly as Good as it Could ...
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"I found A Scanner Darkly to be a bit of a disappointment. It should have been a really great movie, but at the end, it wasn't anywhere near what it should have been. Before I continue, I should note that I saw this one on an airplane -- not the best viewing conditions. So take this critique with a grain of salt for that reason.I found that the story and the acting was very good. This is one of those rare instances where the presence of Keanu Reeves does not ruin the film. Heck, I was surprised to see that he actually turned in a decent performance, almost as good as the one from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. And the other actors were quite good too, all far better than usual. Though, it does speak to the quality of the casts' talents that they play stoners better than other roles.However, it wasn't long into the movie that I started to get distracted by two things. Firstly, it seemed that the sound engineering was botched. The actors were often speaking in low, conve ... " [More]

The Illusionist

Is the ending worth it?
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"I really loved watching The Illusionist. Despite a somewhat predictable romance, it has great characters performed by some great actos.However, I was watching this one on the plane, and the plane landed just before the ending of the film! I got cut off just as the police chief was about to make his confrontation with the prince at the end of the movie. So, while I've almost all of the movie, I still haven't seen that last little bit.Is it worth renting this one just to catch the ending scene? Any non-spoiler reviews of the very end from those who have seen this one would be very much appreciated. P.S., I finally did catch the ending when it was cable the other day. As pointed out, the ending is predictable, but I did enjoy the way it was directed. I'm glad I finally saw the full film. " [More]

Touch of Evil

A Touch of Moustache
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"About 10 minutes in to watching Touch of Evil, a thought occurred to me: Charlton Heston doesn't look particularly Mexican. Most of the "Mexicans" are white actors with a little darkening make up and a silly sliver of a dark moustache. Quite frankly, the moustaches look ridiculous.Touch of Evil is a great movie, but the fake Mexican moustaches are distracting. " [More]

Casino Royale

1967 - Year of the Definitive J ...
By smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema
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"Hopefully the recent release of the new Casino Royale will prompt some to watch the 1967 version. Considering that so many Bond "fans" try to cover up the existence of this old classic, it may be that it stays buried. What a tragedy.You see, the 1967 production of Casino Royale is actually an art film. But it's an art film that is under no circumstances to be taken seriously. Every step of the way, the film is a strange combination of comedy, surreality, and just plain confusion, all built upon the improbability of the James Bond mythos. But, that's actually the point of the film. The whole thing is an exercise in craziness. The goal was to take the user from the comfortable convention of the English gentleman spy into a world that completely fails to hold any coherency. It does so slowly, at a walking pace. The layers of incomprehension are slowly added and woven in, all using the suspension of disbelief needed to enter into Bond's world in the first place.All too often C ... " [More]