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Reviews
Looking (2016)
A Gay Soap Opera
The show that never lived up to the promise of "The L Word" and "Queer as Folk" seemed done. It was all about looking for love conversations over Chinese food with very little ever happening. Then it ended with a haircut.
Now there's a movie for people who have already forgotten Patrick being ready for his haircut. He comes back from Denver for more conversations and a wedding. Mostly relationship shoulda coulda woulda talk but the men are good looking. A movie that just drones on and on but never ascends to the quality and drama of an "As The World Turns" or "One Life To Live."
Something does eventually happen and it is good to see that the gay community is now so accepted that gay men can seem totally boring. I think the best part of the movie is the closing shot, a San Francisco cityscape with the Castro at night is a reminder of so much important LGBT history. But for a decent gay story line, I'm still looking.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
Not for me
I'm a huge fan of the first three movies and actually wished they were longer but turning "The Hobbit" into three movies, researching other Tolkien works for filler, placing LotR characters in a story when they were never there before and just making up new characters so Jackson could stretch one story into three, for me it ruined the purity of a wonderful story.
Peter Jackson got to show off his special effect skills in super extension but it left me feeling like this was nothing more that a betrayal of J. R. R. Tolkien's story. I wish there was more to this movie than CGI on steroids.
It was nice seeing Evangeline Lilly on the big screen all the actors are wonderful in this brand new story but it's not "The Hobbit." I'm thinking that Jackson left the source behind in order to make more money out of the franchise. I hope someday they make one movie out of these three but I will definitely not be seeing the third.
Domino (2005)
"It's all the Tony Scott you could possibly want in a Tony Scott movie!"
An interesting story of a privileged young lady, who walked away from glamor for a continuous life threatening adrenaline rush.
Framed by a seductive interrogation by Lucy Liu and her prisoner Keira Knightley, the story of Domino Harvey unfolds. "My name is Domino Harvey. I am a bounty hunter. You're probably wondering how a girl like me arrived here. What I say will determine whether or not I spend the rest of my life in prison. Let's start at the beginning."
At first this seems like an old storyline. We've seen this all before but it was a male F.B.I. agent and a male suspect. While this fast paced quasi music video is not very different from the average action flick, it offers far too much to be written off as a bad movie.
Those diffrences from the normal formula are refreshing. Not just another escapist movie and not just another of the new breed of female action heroes. A movie that isn't about hero encounters villain, hero tries but fails to stop villain, villain takes revenge but hero survives and mourns his girlfriend who did not survive the attack, hero than takes out all of villains associates one by one, finding a new girlfriend in the processes and drops the bad guy off a building in the end.
This movie has gotten a bum rap. This movie has a tad of sociology going on. It may not have scored a ten but the story unfolds in a fashion that is interesting, just a little bit more than fun, guns and exploding buses. It may not hold any real redeeming social values or qualify as an "Art Action Film" but it makes for a nice blend between serious movies and a fun romp.
No it is not the best film but it has its moments. Maybe it's all about the eye candy. There are far better action movies and much more extreme adrenaline rushes than this movie. But it gets a lot of points for looking a little different from the rest. The camera work may seem tired to someone who watches too much MTV but compared to its genre, it is new a different. Those slamming takes from one odd camera angle to the next improve the pace.
Definitely, worth a trip to the multiplex! There is a great deal of crash, boom, bash and a different look at the seedy side of Southern California. There are fun performances from Mickey Rourke and Delroy Lindo. The stereotype of employees of the Department of Motor Vehicles was a humorous reminder of the real world.
It seems that Domino has become the movie that everyone loves to hate. A status that belonged to "Natural Born Killers" when it came out. Richard Kelly who also wrote "Donnie Darko" may have given us another cult classic.
"This is based on a true story ... sort of". The parts that are true are amazing enough. This is not a fresh new approach to biography. Jazzing up a script to sell more tickets is common. But the fact that she choose such a life is worthy of some plot enhancements for the sake of entertainment. That's may be all this movie is. A little bit of entertainment.
The Jerry Springer segment alone is worth the price of admission.