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Reviews
Deep Rising (1998)
Why CGI must die...
Or at least get a lot better. The ironic thing about special effects these days is that back in the days of stop motion animation nobody was supposed to believe it was real, and yet they all did. Meanwhile, everyone is supposed to believe CGI and nobody does. Especially in movies like this. The squid is ridiculous.
Really, though, it's not a bad way to spend a couple hours-won't kill you or anything. But I just wish more CGI people would realize that they're not fooling anybody.
The Waterboy (1998)
It didn't kill me.
But that's about all I can say. I chuckled a few times, but overall, I was basically bored. I know everyone rips on Adam Sandler movies, but I love them because they make me laugh like crazy. This one didn't.
The Waterboy (1998)
It didn't kill me.
But that's about all I can say. I chuckled a few times, but overall, I was basically bored. I know everyone rips on Adam Sandler movies, but I love them because they make me laugh like crazy. This one didn't.
Utomlennye solntsem (1994)
Ochin Horosho.
Just saw this film as the closing class in my first term Russian language class. It's one of the ten best films I've ever seen. Our professor grew up in the Soviet Union and at the end (no spoilers, I promise) she had to leave because it was too familiar. I wasn't informed until afterwards that it was based on a true story, but it didn't matter. As I watched it I actually forgot that it was subtitled, and my memory of it now is as though it was in English. My point by saying that is that it was so real, so powerfully directed and acted, that the language barrier didn't matter one bit. Stunning film.
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Huh?
Are positive reviewers studio plants, or do they just watch different movies than I did? DiCaprio sucked, the lines were ludicrous, the ending was not true to the book nor history, and the action scenes (especially at the end with Leo running around with that mask on) were filmed so badly it made me laugh. Watching the masked man ready to fight in the final battle reminded me of bad robot effects in 1950's scifi flicks.
As Good as It Gets (1997)
I tried.
I tried to like this as much as everyone told me I had to. I came into the film thinking that not liking this movie condemned me to be lumped into the group of people who only watch Adam Sandler movies. I left it thinking that it's the people who watch Adam Sandler movies who looked at this and saw a work of art.
First of all, let me say this: it's not that bad. It's a fairly well made movie. But it shouldn't be an Oscar-worthy film, it shouldn't be the 55th best movie of all time (according to IMDB voters) and it's not worth all the hype. Helen Hunt's and Nicholson's performances are overrated-in fact, if anyone deserved an Oscar for this film, in my mind it's Greg Kinnear.
Let me defend my statement that Nicholson's performance is overrated. I have the feeling, and this was confirmed by others who told me about the movie, was that the idea of Melvin Udall was that as you gained insight on his condition, you were supposed to feel sorry for him, or at least root for him to get the girl. Nicholson supposedly opened the mind of someone inflicted with OCD so we could understand. Well, as much as I love Nicholson, I hated Melvin Udall. The longer the movie went on, the more I rooted for Helen Hunt's character to just move away and not leave a forwarding address. My read of Nicholson's character was not, first and foremost, a sick man: it was a total b******.
Now, I know the idea of his character was an anti-hero who finds redemption. But I couldn't root for him, so he wasn't an anti-hero; what's more, at the end he wasn't redeemed-in fact he was rewarded for bad behavior. (I'm sorry, but OCD patients are not required to be offensive. Some of the behavior, such as locking the door and bringing one's own silverware, are true to OCD people. But finding any offensive remark to make about another person has nothing to do with OCD and everything to do with just being a caustic person.) He was still the same jerk, he just found someone willing to put up with it. Hooray for him.
What I'm basically trying to say is that the movie didn't work for me-I feel that it fell short of its goal.
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Language
To those who say that removing the language wouldn't have made it any less real:
bullsh....wait, sorry. Seriously, though, the language in this movie is as close to 100% accurate as any movie I've seen in a while. I'll admit that I grew up in a white-collar household, but I have had many friends over the years from blue-collar backgrounds. Both groups swear a lot. I mean a LOT. Young people, when among themselves and with people who won't be offended, tend to relax their speech. Now, is this perhaps an indictment of those young people? Depends on who you ask. But don't attack a film for a fairly realistic account of dialogue between South Boston twenty-somethings. The fault I would find on the dialogue is the snappiness of delivery, but that's the movies. Cleaning up rough dialogue just wouldn't ring as true in my opinion.
Strait-Jacket (1964)
Bar none, the scariest movie I've ever seen.
It may have been the situation (dark Halloween night) or it may have been that at the time I was a little young for it, but this movie still stands out in my mind as the most harrowing, get-in-your-head-scary movie I've ever seen. Joan Crawford makes you believe.
The Thin Man (1934)
Wow.
I hate to gush but this is an incredibly good film. I don't know if I've ever laughed harder at a non-slapstick movie. The characters are intensely believable and yet funnier than anyone I've ever met. The pacing is very modern, the plot is complicated yet very clear, and I felt like only half an hour had gone by when it ended. Other films I've seen from the thirties have felt like curiosities, but besides the decor and a couple of silent film gestures, I felt like I was watching a contemporary film that just happened to be in black and white. Nick and Nora are people you would want to know, although maybe not attend their parties at the risk of your liver. What a show! I'm definitely planning to watch the other five films as soon as possible.
Lost in Space (1998)
What a waste...
The effects in this film were pretty spectacular all around, except for the Blawp (Blarp?) which was simply horrible, no better than Roger Rabbit. The problem with this film was the screenplay. Now, I'm not going to sit here and whine that all movies should be works of art, with great character development and scripts that are literary works of art. I LIKE blockbuster movies. But what I do demand in any film is that it have some kind of cohesive quality. This one didn't.
The plot was ridiculous. Okay, I could live with that, but not only was it ridiculous, it was inherently flawed, confusing, contradictory (the mortal sin) and worst of all, it didn't actually end! When the closing credits came on I had to check my DVD player to make sure it hadn't skipped a track. I understand the idea that it's episodic, but I felt absolutely cheated of the previous two hours because I was given no feeling of closure.
Having said that, the effects were good and the acting was passable (except for LeBlanc, who I thought improved as the film went on but couldn't make up for his sleepwalking through the first few scenes). But that freaking Blawrp!
Lost in Space (1998)
What a waste...
The effects in this film were pretty spectacular all around, except for the Blawp (Blarp?) which was simply horrible, no better than Roger Rabbit. The problem with this film was the screenplay. Now, I'm not going to sit here and whine that all movies should be works of art, with great character development and scripts that are literary works of art. I LIKE blockbuster movies. But what I do demand in any film is that it have some kind of cohesive quality. This one didn't.
The plot was ridiculous. Okay, I could live with that, but not only was it ridiculous, it was inherently flawed, confusing, contradictory (the mortal sin) and worst of all, it didn't actually end! When the closing credits came on I had to check my DVD player to make sure it hadn't skipped a track. I understand the idea that it's episodic, but I felt absolutely cheated of the previous two hours because I was given no feeling of closure.
Having said that, the effects were good and the acting was passable (except for LeBlanc, who I thought improved as the film went on but couldn't make up for his sleepwalking through the first few scenes). But that freaking Blawrp!