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Reviews
The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
This movie sucks the big one!
I haven't walked out of a movie since the 1980's. But yesterday I did. I decided to take in a movie and chose this one. I came in with no preconceived ideas about what I might expect. Well, actually I did expect a plot, coherent story and engaging characters. (Things normally found in movies.) After an hour and 15 minutes I thought a plot should have already developed but it hadn't. The storyline made no sense at all, the dialogue was shallow and the acting was mediocre at best. I kept thinking that any minute now, something is going to happen to make this an interesting movie. Never did. Thankfully I had the good sense to leave when I did.
Waking the Dead (2000)
Incoherent But Watchable
I have never seen any other movies directed by Keith Gordon so I can't comment on how this one compares to those. Also, I am not familiar with his style of directing so that may be a reason for my opinion of this movie. I loved the acting by Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connally. I also liked the use of the story telling by going back and forth through time. What I didn't care for was the dialogue between the main characters and how, for me, it did not appear to resolve any issues that Billy Crudup's character was having. At times I felt that each of them were having a conversation about two different and unrelated subjects. I didn't experience any type of closure at the end of the movie. Luckily, for me, when I decided to watch this movie I had no expectations as to what it might be like. If I had, I probably would have been even more disappointed.
Ali (2001)
This movie met most of my expectations.
When I first heard that Will Smith, a mediocre actor at best, was chosen to portray Ali, my first thought was "What are they going to have to do to his ears so Ali doesn't look like Dumbo?". I could not imagine how Smith would ever be able to give a convincing performance as Ali. And, as far as I am concerned, he didn't. One of the first scenes of him walking down the corridor to the arena made me laugh as I saw a scrawny legged Will Smith trying to imitate Ali.
While the movie only dealt with 10 years of Ali's career, I think the attempt to include as much detail as it could caused the movie to seem disjointed. Sometimes I felt that I was fortunate to have lived through all of those events because it helped me to keep the story line straight. It was a turbulent time and I think the "spirit" of the time was captured well in the movie. Not being a big fan of Mohammad Ali, I didn't see him as someone who did much to further the cause of the civil rights movement. (Unless of course it was to benefit him in some way) I think his egotistical, self-serving three ring circus behavior was an embarrassment to professional boxing. His manipulating the media spotlight by being in cahoots with Howard Cosell is another example of his being more of a showman than an athlete. One thing I did admire about Ali was his refusal to enter the U. S. military. The movie portrayed the consequences of such a decision in a realistic way. I feel the strongest aspect of the movie was how it showed Ali as a human. A real person faced with may of the same obstacles and frustrations that most of us experience. Sure most of us don't experience things on the same scale as he did but the basic predicaments are the same. Loneliness, uncertainty, joy, love, excitement, success and failure are things all of us can relate to. My expectations of this movie were pretty low to begin with and it pretty much lived up to those expectations.
Love Dream (1988)
Boring! Boring! Boring!!!
I usually don't categorize a moving as boring. I am not big on action flicks and my senses do not need to be stimulated during a movie. In fact I enjoy a good rational logical dialogue and story line. Unfortunately, this movie has none of those characteristics. Diane Lane is the only saving grace in this movie and even her beauty cannot save it. Terrible overbearing music equals the moronic dialogue and acting. None of the actors actually connect with each other and as a result the movie does not connect with the audience. I guess the scenes where the townspeople are marching somewhere were suppose to add to the story but it seems that they were inserted just to fill space. The scenes appeared choppy and incoherent. There were some nice shots of the ocean and the beach which were beautiful.