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Reviews
American Beauty (1999)
#2 in the IMDB Top 250? C'mon!
It's not as though I can't see what others might like in this film, but I confess to not being able to see past the whiny self-pity that the characters clung to long enough to enjoy this movie as well as most of the other IMDB users apparently do.
EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER in this film is full of resentment and anger over the fact that their lives haven't turned out as they've hoped. Everyone is to blame but themselves. And I care, why?
The possible exception to the self-pity party: Wes Bentley. But his depth is just about negated (in my mind, at least) by his unexplained crush on Thora Barch (the sulkingest, eye-rollingest of all of them... quite possibly the most irritatingly self-pitying teen character since Juliette Lewis's turn in "Cape Fear").
Incidentally, is there anything novel about middle-class ennui? Is it a shock that people in nuclear families with beautiful appliances get depressed too?
Turn on a light, folks! Think about someone other than yourself for a couple freakin' seconds. Watch what happens.
The Iron Giant (1999)
My favorite film of '99
This movie is more than a great animated film. It's a great film, period. I'd put it in my own personal top 10 of all time. I've seen it 6 or 7 times now, and it never ceases to be affecting and genuine. I agree with the reviewer who said that there's not a single wasted line or scene in the thing.
When the final frame rolls, I dare you to not be moved in some way, shape or form. It's just a beautiful, beautiful flick.
I can't recommend it more highly.
Hoosiers (1986)
The Quintessential Redemption Movie
To me, this film ranks right up there with "Babe" as one of the greatest redemption movies of our generation. The early scene where Hackman defends his makeshift team at the pep rally against the students chanting for Jimmy Chitwood is classic, as is the previously-mentioned scene where-in Hackman gets himself kicked out of the game intentionally. A couple scenes could stand to be re-scored, but other than that, it still holds up remarkably well. This is a film that deserves to be re-discovered.
Land of the Free (1998)
A huge piece of crap
I got stuck watching this film on a bus from Chiapas to Mexico City, and I felt like apologizing to everyone on the bus (most were Mexicans, of course) on behalf of the entire American entertainment industry.
The logic errors in this movie just pile one on top of the other. Why would this candidate secretly stock his campaign staff with violent militia cronies... with the one law-abiding exception being the guy who just happens to be IN CHARGE of the staff? Why is a campaign manager also a karate expert? What does the opening assassination attempt have to do with the whole rest of the movie? Why would this secret militia kill one FBI guy at his home and think that that would somehow throw the law off their tails? Why is a guy who's trying to keep himself (and his family) incognito hop on a bus and drive it down the wrong lane of a freeway? These are all questions the movie does not bother to answer.
Another question I'd like answered, though, is why Arthur Hiller makes an appearance in this movie. Did he lose a bet, or something?
The saving grace of this movie lays in the sheer pleasure you'll feel at seeing that the guy who played Mac in _Night Court_ is still getting work. 'Cause weren't you beginning to worry about him? Me too.
Congo (1995)
The Worst Movie Ever Made
If you can make it through this flick without laughing out loud at the screen, you are a better filmgoer than I.
Count the logic lapses, common-sense leaps, and credibility stretches... betcha need more than two hands!
P.S.: If one more film uses a location that is clearly UCLA, and claims that it is a different university (in this movie's case: Berkeley), I'm going to lose it.
Bob Roberts (1992)
My favorite flick (honest!)
I have yet to find another person who is willing to say that about this movie. And that's ok. I understand. But--for the twin values to be found in this movie, in both entertainment AND timely social comment--it's just plain, hands-down my favorite goddamned film.
Every single moment is a comment on some social, political, or popular institution (SNL, soundbites, Bob-Dylan-reference-galore, GE, the fatigue of the old Left, etc.). I swear I caught at least one new thing the first 10 times I saw it. And that final sequence at the Jefferson Memorial STILL gives me chills.
I understand this movie may not be for everybody. But I love the thing.
Broadcast News (1987)
Starring: human beings (remember them?)
I've watched this film three times in the last day, and have become re-acquainted with how great this film is.
Each character's reaction at every single juncture is perfectly, sublimely, wonderfully human... and--at the same time--is a result of that respective character's traits and baggage. Each one has an insecurity. Each has a hang-up. Each has a dream.
James L. Brooks has much game, chilluns.
Pay special attention to the scene where Jane (Holly Hunter) admits to Aaron (Albert Brooks), that she's in love with Tom (William Hurt). By the time that scene ends, we've seen practically the very best, and the very worst, of each of those characters.
I pray to Jesus that I can write that well myself, someday.
Now if only this flick had a real _ending_...
But that's nit-picking, isn't it?
Harvey (1950)
Stewart makes this film (duh!)
Feel free to fast-forward through all the parts where-in Elwood's sister and niece are bitching (in quite the expositional and over-the-top way) about their concerns regarding Elwood... especially if you've already seen this film at least once before. Jimmy Stewart carries this picture, delivering all the best lines, and representing all the most human of feelings. Just watch the man.
How Veta Louise Simmons--and not Jimmy Stewart--won an Oscar for this film, I'll never know. But if you want an example of a character withdrawing from the world at the same time that he embraces and enfolds it, then study Elwood P. Dowd good and hard. Only Jimmy Stewart could have pulled this one off.