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Deathly Dull
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"Sure, a lot of pretty visuals, but really no better or worse than the average video game, which is what it mostly reminded me of. Way too much slow motion (I suppose so you can better appreciate the time and effort that went into the CGI visuals and to best appreciate Frank Millers static design sense), but frankly the story, characters and acting put me to sleep, and I ended up turning it off out of boredom before the 'epic battle' even took place. If you liked Sin City, you wil probably like this too. Frank Miller seems endlessly mired in a 14 year old mindset, dramatic shadows, sculpted muscles, tits and lots of blood seem to be the formula. If you are looking for something a little more grown up, try Spartacus, or Gladiator. " [More]
Cold Biopic
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"I was frequently reminded of my favorite 'Sports Movies' while watching this Canadian Film, and how the best of them can move or excite or thrill despite the viewer's complete ignorance of the particular sport. I'm thinking of 'Breaking Away' (bicycle racing), or 'Hoosiers' (basketball), or 'Eight Men Out', 'The Rookie', 'The Natural' (baseball), 'Slap Shot' (hockey), 'Remember the Titans' (football), 'Rocky', 'Cinderella Man' or 'Body and Soul' (boxing) or even the recent 'Dodgeball'. All manage to engage the viewer in the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat regardless of whether you are a sports fan or not. There are times in this film that the filmmakers got close to the net, and a couple moments where they scored a goal, but they couldn't quite put together a hat trick with this one. The hockey action scenes were well filmed and edited, and gave a sense of excitement ... " [More]
Re:Re: 13 Tzameti
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Spout Mavens
"My Review of 13 Tzameti http://www.spout.com/blogs/hai rylime/archive/2007/9/28/20198 .aspx " [More]
Alice in Slumberland
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"Well, I'd warn you to avoid the review if you are worried about spoilers, but to be honest, there isn't anything all that earth shattering to reveal. A young roofer overhears some "mysterious" conversations, and after his employer overdoses, decides to take his place on a 'money making opportunity'. He's in need of money, well, not desperately, but just needs some (it is kind of hard to tell what motivates anyone in this movie, all the characters are such blanks -- ha ha, shooting blanks, get it?). He ends up at a sort of 'russian roulette competition' with a bunch of rich guys betting on who makes it to the end. It takes a slow 45 minutes to get to the "big secret", and then once it has been revealed, you are stuck with round after pointless round with little or no suspense (I mean, we know who's going to win, the number in the movie title?). I suppose it is meant to be bleak and existential (one of the 'coaches' gives hi ... " [More]
Dog
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"Hmm. Saw this last night with the family unit at our local 'cheapie movie' theater, which plays a mixture of 2nd run blockbusters on their last legs mixed with a sprinkling of independant features (I think this one is already on DVD if I'm not mistaken). Not really what I was expecting, but that isn't always a bad thing. I admire all the actors, who all did a spectacular job, but the story was a bit uncomfortable to sit through. It is always a bit nerve wracking to watch a movie in which the main character gradually becomes unhinged, because you have a tendency to see things through their eyes, and on the one hand, you can see why their actions make sense based on their own inner logic, but on the other hand, you can't divorce your own personal feelings from that of the character you are watching, and you find yourself fighting the urge to scream at the screen "STOP IT - what the heck are you thinking?" I was reminded of such films as Scorcese's Ta ... " [More]
My Sister Eileen
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"Caught this one on TCM last night. Rather silly stage adaptation (you can even pick out where the curtains drop on act one and two). A lot of the jokes are rather dated, which is probably why this one doesn't show up on television all that often. Rosalind Russell plays her usual 'smart alec street smart dame' role that she did so well, and has to fend off numerous oddball characters interested in her naive pretty younger sister while trying to make it as a writer in New York. I lost interest in the third act, but my wife stuck with it and seemed to find the ending satisfactory (even with a cameo by the Three Stooges) and in her words 'very cute'. " [More]
Almost
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"Rented this one on the basis of a few interesting trailers and a couple conflicting reviews. The movie started out pretty good, and had some interesting camera work and special effects throughout, but it was too long, and meanders around aimlessly in the middle and then by the time the movie picks up steam at the end, it feels less like a satisfactory conclusion, and more like a video game hero who just beat the 'big boss' at the end of the level. Rather disappointing overall. " [More]
No Weddings and One Funeral
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"Saw this at the multiplex this weekend. Laugh out loud black comedy with a whole mess of Brit actors that look sort of familiar (we had to go home and imdb the whole bunch of them, everyone except Peter Dinklage that is). The set ups seemed a bit forced in the beginning, i.e.: hallucinagenic drugs in the wrong bottle, cranky old wheelchair bound uncle, dead dad with a secret, parson who really really has to be out of here by 3:00 - like you are able to see the puppeteers hands working the strings. But once you relax into it and get familiar with the characters a bit it works like a charm. But I wonder if years from now I'll return to it, like I did with 'A Fish Called Wanda', and wonder what it was I found so sidesplittingly funny. " [More]
Slow Road to Crimea
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"Starting to notice a trend in the four movies I've received as part of the 'Spout Maven's' group. Each of the movies has involved a young boy, set adrift, abandoned, neglected by adult foibles and shortcomings beyond his power to either influence or comprehend. In "Clean" it was drugs and show business, in "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things" it was a whole myriad of child neglect nightmare scenarios, in "Mother Mine" it was WWII and the foster parent program, and, now in "Roads to Koktebel" we have alcoholism and abject poverty. This movie is what you would call 'deliberately paced', which is an art film term for slow moving. This film was so slow in fact, that I was convinced at one point that it was moving backwards. We are introduced to a father and son travelling with little or no means of support from the big city of Moscow to a new life at a sister's house by the Black Sea. The father and son seem rathe ... " [More]
Zombies on Speed
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"Caught this one the other night on cable. Wasn't expecting much, but it was a fun zombie/apocalypse/survival flick with appealling leads and only a few shortcomings. I've never seen the original of this, but I've seen Night of the Living Dead numerous times, and now am kind of curious to see the original. Ving Rhames and Sarah Polley give good performances and the action is well paced and exciting. Some of the characters have "red shirt" written all over them from their first appearance, and a few of the sequences and one liners seem blatantly ripped off from other movies (one line that the 'annoying boat owner dude' uses is straight from Pulp Fiction, and the whole 'rescue the dog across the street' sequence is pure Rear Window, and the final 'escape from the mall' sequence quite closely resembles 'Road Warrior' in many ways). A fun zombie romp, and I may be checking out the original Dawn of the Dead, and perhaps Day of the Dea ... " [More]
Better Than Average
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"Another example of how a decent director can manage to get a good performance out of usually 'over the top' comedians by simply reigning them in. (Jack Black in Nacho Libre, Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine, Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love come to mind immediately). Not quite as good as most of the recent crop of esoteric independent films that have been crawling out of the woodwork in recent years (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine, I Heart Huckabees, etc etc) with oddball plotlines and a leap of faith and imagination by the audience required, - but overall, I think it works and is an enjoyable film on many levels. Maggie Gyllenhaal is appealing as the romantic lead, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman give workable but unmemorable performances, and Will Ferrell does a fine job as the bland everyman lead - the one character which seemed totally unnecessary (except as someone for Emma Thompson to converse with) was Queen Latifah who seemed totally out of her element here. " [More]
Joan!
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"I have a soft spot for old cheesy Joan Crawford movies. Poor Joan, always the long suffering martyr for love and family values, always over the top with the most laugh out loud dialog in all her movies, but you can't help but love her sincerity. In films like Mildred Pierce, or Sudden Fear she's had to deal with murderous ungrateful daughters and homicidal husbands, and in this one plays a lonely workaholic spinster who falls for an unbalanced young man (who of course doesn't show any signs of his mental condition until she's married him) and then a previous wife and concerned father who aren't what they seem to be pop out of the closet and things really come to a head. Fine scenery chewing performances from Joan, from Cliff Robertson as the unbalanced loony of a husband (who just needs 6 months of psychiatric care and a few shock treatments to put him right!), and supporting work from Lorne Greene and Vera Miles. I've always been fascinated with Joan, she&# ... " [More]
Joan!
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HairyLime
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"I have a soft spot for old cheesy Joan Crawford movies. Poor Joan, always the long suffering martyr for love and family values, always over the top with the most laugh out loud dialog in all her movies, but you can't help but love her sincerity. In films like Mildred Pierce, or Sudden Fear she's had to deal with murderous ungrateful daughters and homicidal husbands, and in this one plays a lonely workaholic spinster who falls for an unbalanced young man (who of course doesn't show any signs of his mental condition until she's married him) and then a previous wife and concerned father who aren't what they seem to be pop out of the closet and things really come to a head. Fine scenery chewing performances from Joan, from Cliff Robertson as the unbalanced loony of a husband (who just needs 6 months of psychiatric care and a few shock treatments to put him right!), and supporting work from Lorne Greene and Vera Miles. I've always been fascinated with Joan, she&# ... " [More]