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Reviews
Hulk (2003)
Don't bother
I was very disappointed by The Hulk because it can't decide what kind of movie it is.
Is it a love story? Well, it wants to be: Jennifer Connelly is cast as the beauty who calms the beast. But the first conversation between Bruce Banner and Betsy is about how their relationship had already ended before the movie started. And it doesn't evolve past the beauty-beast thing. Well short of King Kong or Spiderman.
Is it about Hulk The Hero? No. Hulk doesn't really do anything except dodge the military (which may be true to the comic book, but the comic book is a series published over time...not a 2 1/2 hour movie). There's some bizarre battle between him and his evil-villain super-power father toward the end, but I couldn't follow who won the fight and I'm not sure the father's dead.
Is it a psychological/sci-fi thriller? No. The psychology here is so obvious -- despite the movie waiting 2 hours to show you the secret -- that there's no suspense or thrill.
Is it a comic book come to life? It does have a lot of clever, comic-book-inspired visual tricks. But nothing more.
Is it a really long, drawn-out movie with way too many minutes of screen time spent on long CGI chase scenes (when will editors learn to cut some of this stuff out?)? Yes.
On the positive, it's got Jennifer Connelly and Nick Nolte sporting his DUI mugshot hair.
Three years from now, if I'm surfing cable and have to choose between the 70's TV show or the movie, I'm going with Ferigno!
Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story (2003)
Giuliani and NY deserved better
I'll start by saying I'm a fan of Mr. Giuliani and read his book, Leadership. So I was very disappointed by this movie for several reasons.
The script is extremely flat. Yes, it does show that Giuliani had a temper, liked opera and loved the law. But in a way that made me think the writer had a checklist to work from. And one that did not include Giuliani's lighter side. The script barely allows him to smile or laugh or enjoy the people around him. For example, it could have included his appearances on Saturday Night Live, his second Mayoral race and the image problem he had to overcome or his friendship with Joe Torre and the Yankees. Indeed, SHOWING his relationship to the team, rather than just SAYING he loved them, would have done wonders for showing him as the proudest New Yorker. And making an effort to portray has relationship with his children would have been nice, too.
The people around Giuliani rarely react to him. For example, on becoming the lead Federal Prosecutor in Manhattan, he tells a roomful of Federal Prosecutors that they have gotten fat and lazy and no one reacts in any way. He explains to a roomful of prosecutors how he will take down the Mafia on conspiracy to violate RICO laws (which he reminds them he wrote) and again, no one reacts. The most frequent reaction is silent bustling in response to the scripted tirades. He's often "right", but he's not even allowed to enjoy outsmarting the other guy (a la Jack McCoy of Law & Order).
I've seen the movie twice now (hoping it would be better) and still don't know why the 9/11 events are done in flashback throughout the movie. My only guess is they couldn't figure out how to end it otherwise.
Overall, I think that Rudy Giuliani deserved a much better biography. Hopefully someone will do it someday.