Four Eyed Monsters
Advertisement

movies
mavens
communities

JimBell

Member since 2/21/2007, last signed in awhile ago.
""For what it's worth""
Send a message
Invite to a group

Personal statement: Sometimes a movie review can speak for, and to, a general viewer. Then the review should support what it claims. At other times, a review is clearly an idiosyncratic reaction to a film. Then the review should attempt to explain the personal viewer response. And at still other times, a review might examine a movie in the context of larger social issues. Then the reviewer should explain the connection and have something informed to say on the issues.
[more]

JimBell's movie tags

Advertisement

Talk

51 Birch Street
51 Birch Street
Top Ten Movies I've Seen This Y ...
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
 "These are the top ten films I’ve seen at the mid-point of the year. I think it is a good idea to post a semi-annual list because instead of complaining about mundane theatre offerings the list confirms that there are enough excellent films out there to watch. In no particular order: Mother of Mine (2005; Finland/Sweden)—A young Finish boy is torn from his family by WWII and later in life comes to terms with both of his mothers and how they treated him. Gone Baby Gone (2007)-- Dennis Lehane, the author of the novel on which the movie is based, says that we as a society have not figured out how to protect our children. The search for a missing little girl dramatizes his concern. 51 Birch Street (2005; documentary)—Doug thought that in his parents’ marriage, his mother was the loving and approachable one and his father was remote and cold, but when Doug’s mother died and his father quickly married his former secretary, everything Doug thought he kno ... " [More]
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
 "Elizabeth I (2005/2006) transports you to London in the late 1500s and embroils you in Queen Elizabeth’s loves and politics. In the first half of this four-hour, two-part mini-series, the Virgin Queen (Helen Mirren) is enmeshed with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (Jeremy Irons). In the second half, hot and hot-headed Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex (Hugh Dancy), arouses the Queen, but winds up o’er stepping his bounds. Although I am not certain if the historical details are accurate, I know a reasonable amount about Essex and his attempted revolt, and the movie seemed to stick to what happened. The acting is excellent, the costumes and sets convincing, and the passions of so long ago very real. No wonder this film swept so many awards. " [More]
Sharkwater
Sharkwater
Sharkwater
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
 "Sharkwater (2006) is an excellent documentary. Ultimately, what I want from a documentary is to learn, in a reliable fashion, something important that I did not know before. Although I have seen white-tip reef sharks and bronze whalers while scuba diving, I learned that I actually know little about sharks and what humans were doing to kill one of the oldest and most magnificent creatures on earth. " [More]
8MM
8MM
8mm
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
 "8mm (1999) is a disgusting decent into the evil world of hard-core pornography and “snuff films.” It makes you wonder about the people who would revel working month after month on a film that makes you feel soiled just watching it. I watched it because I heard it was a classic neo-noir, and there is some justification for that description. But the film also makes you wonder if all the sordidness is developing some worthwhile theme. The theme is developed carefully and stated boldly: Some people are unbelievably evil because they like it. Whether that message is worthwhile learning by wading through two hours of degradation is very much a personal thing. I found it the theme simplistic and the film not worth recommending. " [More]
The Bucket List
The Bucket List
The Bucket List
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
 "The Bucket List (2007) may be predictable, but it is not a terrible movie. It’s predictable because two guys with maybe a year to live predictably decide to do a list of things before they kick the bucket—and the list includes predictable items like driving fast cars and seeing exotic places. Some big-name Hollywood talent is involved, with mixed results. Nice camera work: When the business tycoon, Edward (Jack Nicholson), receives his bad news, the camera slowly zooms in; when the erudite car mechanic, Carter (Morgan Freeman) receives his death sentence, the camera zooms in not identically, which would have seemed contrived, but a little less and a little quicker. Bad camera work: A shot of the two adventurers in Egypt where the pyramids look like a sound stage backdrop. The dialogue is well-crafted but sometimes stereotypical. When Edward first suggests they try to do all the things on their bucket list, Carter says, “Sky diving, huh!?” Edward takes t ... " [More]
Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
 "Get Smart (2008) is not a life-changing experience, but it is probably the funniest movie you’ll see this year. Instead of foolishly imitating the original 1960s Get Smart television series, this Get Smart keeps the wry flavour of the series and modernizes it. Instead of being a bumbling idiot who accidentally succeeds, this Maxwell Smart (Steve Carroll) actually has some abilities as an Agent but he is inexperienced and makes mistakes. Similarly, his sidekick, the alluring Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), now steps forward to become the agent with the experience and the vulnerability. Also, the action becomes more prominent, with serious fight scenes worthy of Jason Bourne in the lobby of that bank in The Bourne Identity, and chase-and-crash scenes far more professional that the cruiser pile up in The Blues Brothers. Unlike the original series, these action scenes are done seriously—usually with a punch line at the end. As director Peter Segal explained, instead of a fight sc ... " [More]
Tsotsi
Tsotsi
Tsotsi
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
 "Tsotsi (2005)Tsotsi (2006) is a good film, good enough, apparently, to win an Oscar for best foreign film. The acting is solid, the cinematography is solid, the sound track is effective and not overbearing, and a lot of scenes are refreshingly not predictable. The only major criticism people have had of this tale of a South African ghetto thug who accidentally steals a baby and turns his life around is that it is fakey, that the leader of a gang which has “progressed” to killing people would never go soft taking care of a baby. I wouldn’t know. Come to think of it, what would you have to know in order to declare this character change phoney? Well, you’d have to know a lot of young thugs, and know them over a long enough time to see what, if anything, changes their criminal behaviour. More specifically, you should know South African teenaged thugs and the culture they live in. I’m surprised that there are several professional movie critics in America wh ... " [More]
Atonement
Atonement
Atonement
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
 "Atonement (2007)Atonement (2007) is a strangely remote and unaffecting movie in spite of all the excellent acting. But, you may object, the film was hugely popular, with something like an 83% Fresh Tomato rating. Averages can be misleading. For example, if half the population is morbidly obese at 300 pounds and the other half of the population is starving to death at 100 pounds, it is not accurate to say that the citizens are hefty, healthy 200 pounders. Similarly, almost all reviews, no matter how favourable, have qualms about Atonement. The reviews have difficulty identifying why the film doesn’t quite work, so they resort to summaries such as “so boring,” or “so fussy . . . for women, and for a certain kind of woman,” or a good film “in spite of all the quibbles.” Atonement is remote because it is not primarily about the passionate romance between Cecelia and Robbie but about Briony, the girl and woman who has to atone for perjury a ... " [More]


By JimBell in JimBell Blog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
 " " [More]
Into the Wild
Into the Wild
Into the Wild
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
 "Unfortunately, Into the Wild (2007) does a lot to distance you from the main character who is supposed to hold your attention for 2 and a half hours. Fortunately, however, if you can hang in there, the ending will probably move you. How does the film distance us from the Chris McCandless, the young college grad who rejects his parents, society, and most people and spends two years travelling to Alaska in search of peace alone with nature? Let us count the ways. First, the camera almost never shows Chris in a face-on close up until the final scene. Chris dodges and glances off us as he does everyone in the movie. Second, the movie is told in flashbacks. We know he makes it to Alaska, so this leaves each substantial flashback to justify itself. The flashbacks cannot do anything for the plot, but they do slowly develop Chris’s character. Third, while some of the flashbacks develop character, they don’t tell much of a story in themselves. For example, Chris is earni ... " [More]
Starting Out in the Evening
Starting Out in the Evening
Starting Out in the Evening
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
 "Starting Out in the Evening (2007) is excellent (certainly deserving of its 86% Fresh Tomatoes). It is the story of two odd couples—an old novelist and the engaging graduate student who is studying his work, and the novelist’s 40-year-old daughter and her love for the “wrong” man. It’s about the complexities of love. What makes this tried and true theme fresh is that in any given scene, you never know how things will turn out. Even though the swelling music suggests romance, it could be the start of a break up. When you think the author and grad student may have a May/December romance, it is not like that, and when you suspect she is manipulating him, she isn’t, she truly wants to figure out what makes her favourite writer tick, and she wants to advance her career in a cut-throat business—and who can blame her for that? While most of the acting kudos and nominations have gone to Frank Langella for his muted but powerful performance of the a ... " [More]

Lists

Films I've seen (441)
Films I've seen
Film Noir I"ve Seen (31)
Films I want to see (1)
Films I want to see
Neo-Noir Films I've Seen (15)
Films I want to buy (0)
Films I want to buy
The Best Movies I Saw in 2006 (0)
1. House of Mirth 2. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room 3. The Matador 4. An Inconvenient T ...
The Best Movies I Saw in 2005 (0)
1. The Two Family House 2. The Story of the Weeping Camel 3. Hotel Rwanda 4. The Aviator 5. ...
The Best Movies I Saw in 2004 (0)
1. Lost in Translation 2. Girl with the Pearl Earring 3. Matchstick Men 4. The Station Agent ...
The Best Movies I Saw in 2002 and 2003 (0)
1. Iris 2. The Bourne Identify 3. The Pledge 4. Memento 5. Spy Game 6. Liberty Heights 7. Posses ...
The Best Movies I Saw in 2007 (0)
1. The Painted Veil (2006) 2. Blood Diamond (2006) 3. The White Countess (2005) 4. Who Killed th ...