cinefilegod Reviews

No News from God (2001)

Penelope Cruz is "Kung-Fu Fighting"!

[17 April 2004]

Entertaining. Unique in style. It's a story about an angel from Heaven and a fallen angel from Hell who both compete over the soul of a boxer.

Penelope's role in this film is more of a far cry than in her previous roles. Normally, she is cast as a beautiful object of desire, as in Vanilla Sky, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, All the Pretty Horses and Woman on Top. She has even been cast as a slightly less-than-attractive, but still desired woman, as in Blow and Gothika. For the first time, Penelope Cruz is actually shot in an almost undesirable way in this film - even letting herself get beat up a couple of times. She does pull it off, and the film succeeds as an off-kilter dark comedy with that Hollywood "Heaven vs. Hell" factor added in.

It is worth it, if for nothing else, to see Penelope dance around her room "Travolta style" to the song "Kung-Fu Fighting".

Pact with the Devil (2003)

A Portrait of Cheese

[17 April 2004]

A cheesy, modern take on The Portrait of Dorian Gray story. The most unsettling thing is, there are supposed to be flashbacks from 20 years earlier, but they aren't the least bit convincing - it almost feels like the moments occurred on a previous day. Malcolm McDowell's character is either immortal and unaging, or the makers of this film didn't feel it was important enough to put him in makeup to make him 20 years younger for these flashback moments. It was later on that I realized that this film may have been originally shot for television, due to the fading in and out that occurs whenever possible.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

"Talk to the Hand."

[5 July 2003]

The third installment of the Terminator saga, is awesome on it's own merit. Even though James Cameron wasn't on board for this one, it works well as the third film in the series. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as the Terminator sent back in time, Nick Stahl replaces Edward Furlong as the older John Connor, and new edition Claire Danes joins the ensemble. Kristanna Loken plays the T-X: a female terminator who, believe it or not, is far better than Robert Patrick's T-1000 from the previous film. Director Jonathan Mostow(U-571 and Breakdown) adds a slightly different feel to this installment, often poking fun at the franchise, and topping the previous film in special effects and action sequences. The benefit of this film is that it has been twelve years since T2 and the production technology has improved since then, so there was much more that could be done this time around. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines isn't just a summer money-maker, there are also a few valid plot lines that are now introduced, which hint the possibility of a fourth film. James Cameron may be the creator and Terminator god, but Mostow does a pretty good job of keeping the franchise alive.

Happy Campers (2001)

Not your usual camping flick!

[30 August 2002]

Daniel Waters, the writer of Heathers, takes a turn in writing and directing his latest feature: Happy Campers. If Meatballs could be remade with more, younger, and edgier camp counselors, than this would be the film. Some parallels can be made between this film and Heathers, showing that Waters knew which elements worked: both have an overweight child who is picked on, then is later highly respected; both have a song/jingle that is overplayed, which drive a main character crazy; and both try to invent new words and catch phrases. Happy Campers also looks to be inspired from various aspects of Shakespeare. Someone says, "...doth protest too much," straight out of Hamlet; The term "fairies" is thrown around and the head counselor's name is Oberon, who was king of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream; and they toy with the idea of death by poisoning, which is a common end to many Shakespearean tragedies. I greatly enjoyed this film - It took chances, and fought to stay out of the "cleaned-up summer camping movie" category. There's enough shock value here to leave a mark in your moral judgment!

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

A loving fairy tale told as a loving fairy tale.

[11 August 2002]

What a dark yet beautiful way for Steven Spielberg to preserve and breathe life into Stanley Kubrick's last (intended) cinematic venture! A.I. is a tale about social acceptance and the life-long search for motherly love. The fairy tale influences are apparent throughout the film, from the robot longing to become a real boy (Pinoccio), to the quest to find the Blue Fairy who can grant all of his wishes (The Wizard in the Wizard of Oz). The futuristic elements are astounding and gorgeous. The trip to Rouge City reminds me of the city sequences of Blade Runner (damp and dark with neon lighting). Spielberg relentlessly has hold of your heart-strings as you feel for young David, even though he is not a real boy. The blended styles of Kubrick and Spielberg flow well throughout the film until near the end, where it feels like Kubrick never has an end in mind and Speilberg has to suddenly write an ending on his own. The ending works, but feels and looks more like Speilberg's style than Kubrick's. Overall, A.I. is a beautiful and loving fairy tale, told as a beautiful and loving fairy tale.

xXx (2002)

A fun and relentless giftbox of "I don't think so!"

[9 August 2002]

So you've seen Rob Cohen's Fast and the Furious last year, and you thought, "Man, that Vin Diesel with that kinda action...I need more!" Well, you know what they say - Be careful what you wish for!! Here it is: Crude, Rude, Loud, Action-packed and (literally) Unbelievable. When watching this film, I was reminded of another little film I had seen a couple of years ago called Mission:Impossible 2. In both films there are plenty of opportunities for eye candy and you truly exercise that talent for suspension of disbelief - the stunts look great(you might even gasp!), but they CANNOT be done! All things considered, I enjoyed the film for what it was, not for what it could have been. This film definitely helps Vin with that breakout action role, which poses him shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Bruce Willis. And lastly, a big "Welcome to Hollywood" has to go to Asia Argento - we like you already!

She Spies (2002–2004)

Charlie's Angels meets Ally McBeal?!?

[20 July 2002]

Are you tired of the mid-summer reruns? Well here's a mid-summer debut which begs for your attention! She Spies stars Natasha Henstridge from the Species films as Cassie, Kristen Miller as D.D.,and Natashia Williams as Shane. The trio are ex-cons given an opportunity to serve their country as spies. You might think this one's been done before, but some different ingredients have been thrown into this stew! The show is a definite take on McG's Charlie's Angels (with Carlos Jacott playing Jack- a version of Bosley in Angels' lore) but the quirkiness and the fast-paced writing style seem to reflect early Ally McBeal. Sexist comments and "cartoon reactions" run rampant in this show, which might remind many of us of the early days of Ally. In an effort to stay alive on the network, it cracks jokes and makes fun of itself, which could either be a self-defense mechanism or a clever new technique. The way I see it, I believe the show is very entertaining and should be given a chance for permanent network residency, despite the mid-summer debut.