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Reviews
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
camera shake
The Bourne Ultimatum is truly a great film and deserves a 10! But I found the deliberate use of the camera shake technique in the filming of the movie was distracting my attention away from the story line and was making me dizzy. I just wanted to reach in and hold the movie camera steady myself so I can watch the movie.
This photographing technique does not work for me and I think it would also be disturbing to others. It is truly a shame, the acting is superlative and the story is so exciting.
For me, a marvelous film was ruined by constant camera shake, and I am forced to rate this remarkable movie a 2. Sad.
Training Day (2001)
Awful or Excellent?
I am not sure how to rate this movie, 1 of 10 awful, or 10 of 10 excellent.
If you like being frighten and appalled while watching a movie, and enjoy walking away feeling disgusted and dirty, wanting to burn your close and take a shower, and derive joy from having bad dreams at night, than THIS is the movie for you!
Training Day depicts the worse aspects of humanity, betrayal, treachery, greed, murder; and shows an unsuspecting trainee cop pitted against this onslaught while he searches to do the right thing; and photographs it all in a horrifying way. This is NOT a feel good movie. This is not a movie for the faint of heart, nor children, nor anyone under thirty who may well be scandalized. This movie is disgusting, vile and is a piece of trash.
On the other hand, Training Day is movie making at its Very Best! Denzel Washington is remarkably good with his performance of Detective Alonzo Harris; and Ethan Hawke, the trainee, seems to come out of no where to match Denzel's performance scene to scene with the excellence attributed only to the premium big name heavy weight actors in Hollywood today. And that's not easy to do! Denzel Washington is as good an actor as there ever was, and better then most. Hawke's performance is superlative.
Astonishing performances were also rendered by Tom Berenger, Harris Yulin, Raymond J. Barry, Cliff Curtis, Macy Gray, Scott Glenn , Nick Chinlund, Jaime Gomez, and on and on. How did they all get so good?!
This movie is an excellent film due in large part to Denzel Washington who makes everyone around him perform better at their work. Director Antoine Fuqua, and actress Macy Gray openly admitted this on the DVD's special feature segment.
The intensity of Training Day paralyzes the viewer and doesn't let go until the end. This movie is a ride into hell.
So, how does one rate this film, Awful or Excellent?
Solaris (2002)
Solaris is a disappointment for me
I feel Natascha McElhone (Rheya) just wasn't convincing in her
role. Natascha McElhone is a very, very fine actress, but I feel she
was miscast for the part. It doesn't make sense why George
Clooney's character, Kelvin, would feel the way he does about
Rheya. I certainly did not feel that way, and for the movie to work,
McElhone has to give the audience emotional reason for Kelvin to
feel the way he does. Well, McElhone did not do it, for me anyway.
Too bad, everything else the movie has is a 10! That is; the acting
of George Clooney, Viola Davis, and Jeremy Davies is superb, the
Steven Soderbergh direction is first rate . . it does not get any
better, the ethereal feel to the movie was right on with the story line
and it is wonderful, the script was the best, and so on, and so on.
I also did not care for the nudity in the film, I feel it takes away from
the movies' integrity.
Otherwise a 10 rating, I give it a 5. Too bad, I really wanted to like
this film.
Dogma (1999)
religiously offensive
God has a sense of humor, but it is not this. The director/ writer explains in the movie introduction that his intention is good and not to transgress however this movie oversteps in a manner were man is told not to venture.
Gideon (1998)
Absolutely Annoying
Christopher Lambert is annoying and disappointing in his portrayal as GIDEON. This movie could have been a classic had Lambert performed as well as Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, or Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt in RAIN MAN, or Sean Penn as Sam Dawson in I AM SAM.
Too bad because the story line is meaningful to us in life, the supporting performances by Charlton Heston, Carroll O'Connor, Shirley Jones, Mike Connors and Shelley Winters were excelent. 3 of 10.
Kalifornia (1993)
abhorrent to decency
Kalifornia is disturbing. I believe there is no reason for this story to be told. It is neither entertaining nor does it have social value. Technically, the movie is very well make, the performances are top rate and first class. The story develops in an intriguing way that holds interest. But at the end this movie sickens and is abhorrent to decency. I recommend Kalifornia to no one.