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sgilbert524
Reviews
The Human Stain (2003)
Problems
The challenge posed by Roth's book is its rawness. Benton is not up to it. The overheard conversation about Clinton's failure to deal with Lewinsky, for instance, lacks the rich, repetitive use of profanity that made it a terrific chapter opening in Roth's novel. The production design also lets us down, softening the edges of Faunia's existence with homey quilts and a carefully chosen wardrobe. Good as Kidman is, she does not really give us the nastiness of trailer trash--the subdued near-whisper she uses in a crucial scene is far too elegant.
Still, the ability of other actors, particularly those who belong to Silk's black period, succeeds in conveying the profound vileness of his decision to advance into whiteness.
End of Days (1999)
Laughably bad
This "Godfather" meets "Devil's Advocate" meets "Terminator" mess is one of the worst movies of recent memory. The sheer absurdity of the climactic battle, in which Jericho (Arnold) does terrific damage to Satan with bullets and far larger projectiles, left me breathless with laughter. Everything is clichéd, predictable, stupid. Nothing makes sense and while the action is quite fun it's preposterous in a movie about personal salvation.
To abandon this critical framework, as a piece of insane cheese, this is one of the greatest ever movies of the kind. Its prudish covering of body parts in sex scenes, indulgence in trashy visuals (tongue in a jar; eyelids stitched shut; and the early warning glimpse of a fetus in the credit sequence), ridiculous sentimentality, and utter unwillingness to make sense place it in a category few turkeys ever break into.
Worth it all: the crucifixion of Arnold
Siesta (1987)
Marvelously Odd
This is a wacky, extreme, insane movie. When she isn't stalking around in a black leather jacket emblazoned with a bald eagle, Barkin is running madly through Spanish streets in a flaming red dress. She wants to sleep with Gabriel Byrne (who doesn't?), who's married to Isabella Rosselini, who wields a knife, while Julian Sands lowers his trousers for Jodie Foster, who kisses Ellen Barkin on the lips. There isn't much sensuality, but there are countless tragically, monumentally bad lines. This is a masterpiece of bad taste, kitsch, bad accents, etc. And Barkin is often naked, putting it in five star territory.
Did Ellen Barkin kill someone? Was Jodie Foster cloned from Myrna Loy? Who is the most beautiful man alive, Byrne or Sands? These and ten more profound questions are posed over the course of Mary Lambert's "Siesta."