Reviews
Limbo (1999)
How Could Anyone Be Bored?
I was surprised at some of the comments here stating that people were bored during this film. I think the Star Wars movies are boring. And Forest Gump! I thought Passion Fish was boring. But I happen to like films that offer a panoramic view of all of life--in this case, all of life in an Alaskan town--from a variety of characters, their work, and the scenery, and how these people's lives are intertwined with the changing economy. Wexler is a brilliant cinematographer. Sayles sees life in all its complexity. However, I am still mulling over the ending, and many of the reviewers here have given me insight into it. I think Sayles wanted the audience to write its own ending, like Noelle did with the diary she found. I personally went with an unhappy ending, but as someone said, the three main characters had found a real connection with one another, and that is actually a happy ending, no matter how literal one wants to get.
The Ice Storm (1997)
Angst is boring
This movie reminded me of European 60s art films where everyone has lots of sex and are bored and miserable. Most people I know would be very happy to be rich, attractive and having a lot of great sex. I kept thinking when I watched the actors moan and groan, not in ecstasy, but in misery, "Get a life, you rich, spoiled people! One of your kids could be autistic, you could have a terminal illness or be unemployed. Get over it and volunteer at a homeless shelter. You'll feel much better."
Bulworth (1998)
Great themes, but something's missing
In a year of nostalgia and backward thinking, this movie takes real risks. It questions where our politics have led us, it takes on race as a central motivating factor in American life, and yet it fails. I think the main reason is its central character. Bulworth is a man suffering a nervous breakdown. He has sold his soul, his politcal ideals, and for what? A bogus life insurance policy. This should make me really sympathize with him, but frankly, I could have cared less. In fact, the only characters in the film that I identified with were the two fly girls who become campaign groupies. Bulworth needed more of that kind of soul, and then I would have bought its ideas, which are articulated very well. Because it was a gutsy movie, I rated it a "7."
One True Thing (1998)
One Fake Movie
What really amazed me about this film was that it ringed so false. First of all, who in the late 80's (when the film takes place)lived like this family? A college professor wouldn't make enough money to support the lifestyle I saw on the film. Hence, he and his stay home wife would be plagued by financial woes, especially when she gets cancer. Second, Streep is my age, and most women, particularly in her class (educated, white, well off) experienced the feminist movement. Yet this woman seems oblivious to her anachronistic behavior. I actually felt that she was a very controlling woman who kept her husband an emotional child by taking care of his every need.
The fact that so many people were moved by the film is amazing. I have admired Carl Franklin's films in the past, and I actually like Meryl Streep, but gad, what a manipulative and lying film this is.
El espíritu de la colmena (1973)
A Masterpiece!
This movie is both an unusual, non-sentimental comment on childhood and a moving, yet subtle, indictment of Franco-style fascism. Full of surprises, one of the most rewarding is that I re-examined my opinion of the movie "Frankenstein" after seeing "Spirit of the Beehives!" Quiet and, to modern filmgoers, perhaps slow, but frankly, I thought Star Wars was boring and predictable. So--if you want to think and not be told how to think, rent this movie or see it at a repertory theater. It is more than worth the money and time. It is art, not merely entertainment.
Wild Things (1998)
Real cool trash!
This is a fun and funny film about the triumph of trailer trash. For those of us from a certain class and domicile who have endured a lifetime of insults, it's real redemption to see Neve Campbell's Suzie fool 'em all. You go girl, all the way to the bank!
The Thin Red Line (1998)
My favorite movie of 1998
This film is a poem. It is a medication on war's destruction of the human spirit. Nonlinear, imagistic, subjective--ultimately it is a Buddhist tone poem. War destroys both man and nature, and man is but one part of nature. The soldier's narratives are moving. So what if soldiers don't really think like this? This film makes Private Ryan's soldiers' vernacular look fake, as if the script writers of that movie saw too many World War II movies.
What I particularly appreciated was the portrayal of the enemy. The Japanese are seen as frightened, half starved human beings. In Private Ryan the Germans were superhuman killing machines, but in Thin Red Line a soldier looks down at a Japanese face buried in the dirt and imagines his thoughts, his wishes, his dreams. The face becomes a flower. It is so moving, so beautiful.
I wish to thank Malick and the actors for creating a war film that is almost as great as the best war film ever made--Russia's Come and See.
Gone with the Wind (1939)
A rating of 1 is too high!
This is a romanticized version of the South during the slavery period and restoration. I saw it when I was 16 and hated it then, and have not changed my mind. It is utter nonsense and insulting to my intelligence and sense of history. I do not like love stories; I do not like soapy melodramas; I do not like Scarlet; I do not like distortions of history. Rhett Butler is some school girl's wet dream. Okay? I guess I've said enough.
The Ice Storm (1997)
Angst is boring
This movie reminded me of European 60s art films where everyone has lots of sex and are bored and miserable. Most people I know would be very happy to be rich, attractive and having a lot of great sex. I kept thinking when I watched the actors moan and groan, not in ecstasy, but in misery, "Get a life, you rich, spoiled people! One of your kids could be autistic, you could have a terminal illness or be unemployed. Get over it and volunteer at a homeless shelter. You'll feel much better."
Sister My Sister (1994)
Beautiful and Twisted Sisters
This is a great film for oppressed workers. We who toil daily can't help but identify with the two sisters, trapped, terrified of being fired, with only one another to turn to. Their revenge is terrible, but also, in a twisted sort of way,understandable. Besides being a beautifully acted film with a sustained mood of wonder mixed with dread, Sister My Sister explores taboo subjects: incest, lesbianism, and worker revenge. I have frequently recommended this movie to friends, and everyone of them has loved it!