Let me know what you think of the new Apes movie and then I'll send
you out my opinions. Have you not seen Final Fantasy yet? I think
it's by far the best of any action movies to come out in the last two
years, and one of the top three films I've seen this summer. Still
haven't seen the Others yet, but will probably do so next weekend.
We did go see American Pie 2 and thought it was very fun - as much as
the first one even, though there wasn't much character development
this time.
Paul and Karen,
Jenn and I got to see The Others yesterday. I agree with your (Paul)
review that it was one of the best films of this summer. Thoroughly
enjoyable, and even more so as I hadn't seen any trailers or read any
reviews that would have given away the fact that their was a surprise
twist ending.
After seeing it and going back to read the reviews and even see the
print ads in the paper, I was appalled to find that they even
trumpeted the fact that it had a surprise ending and compared it to
The Sixth Sense! I was glad that I hadn't known going in about the
twist.
Never-the-less, I must admit that the idea that we were watching a
reverse ghost haunting story did cross my mind about half way through
the movie. I was trying to make sense of all that was happening, and
when Nichole tried to leave the house and was swallowed up by the
fog, I thought, gee, wouldn't this be neat if everyone that we're
seeing are ghosts and the people they think are ghosts are really
alive and in some other dimension? But I quickly dismissed that
because I didn't think the film would be that smart or clever.
Needless-to-say, I was delighted to see that it WAS that clever, and
not just some stylish, moody, typical haunting story.
I figured that the servants were dead, as was the husband, but didn't
think that it really was this cool reverse ghost story until they
revealed it all at the end. It really made the movie for me, and
Jenn as well. A kind of Beetlejuice meets the Sixth Sense.
Thank you for telling us to avoid all reviews and trailers - it made
the experience much more enjoyable.
Still would like to see Osmosis Jones and Ghost World. Did you see
Ghost World? My friend Randy in NYC really loved it and I heard
great things about it so I think we'll try to see it sometime this
weekend too.
Tooch.
OK, first off, 2&half stars to Jur. 3 is being wa-ay too generous. Reminded
me more of Jaws 3. As I tell people, it was such a cliche', even the black
guy is the first one we see get killed. And since you haven't seen Tomb
Raider - DON'T! Rent the game instead - on second thought, rent Quake. Those
third person shooter games are confusing. I never know what the hell I'm
shooting at. This movie was this year's Battlefield Earth and if you wasted
you're money on that crapfest and wanted someone to warn you, well, there
you go. You're welcome.
Speaking of crap, The Planet of the Apes has to be Burton's worst
movie. That guy's high. Look at his hair for Christ's sake. I'm not bitter
because they didn't use me in the film. I'm now rather glad. I wanted to be
an ape and throw my poop at the screen. If you haven't seen the movie - skip
this next section - better yet, skip the movie. It'll run on HBO for months.
If you have seen the movie - will you PLEASE explain to me what that
stupid ending was all about? Did he go back in time, forward, alternate, Tim
took too long of a bong hit and just said, let's screw with their
heads-It doesn't have to make sense. And is Mark Wahlburg (sp?) supposed to
be in the Japanese Air Force. The monkey makes a three point landing (so
corny by the way that he shows up JUST at the right time) and this OFFICER
can't manage to make one decent landing. And why would an ape be able to
read aspirin let alone know what it is. Which brings me back to my gripe
about the original,which is why apes after thousands of years of evolution
speak english at all, with mixed dialects. British or American - make up
your mind people. Since when are apes afraid of water? This movie makes
about as much sense as Carrot Top's career. Some more advice - if you crash
on a hostile planet, take the med kit and gun with you the first time. Don't
wait to be captured and then remember what you left in the pod. Did they
even write a script for this movie or did they put the hundred monkeys in a
room with typewriters ('It was the best of times, it was the blurst of
times.' Damn monkeys can't write! - The Simpsons). They can't make good
movies either.
OK, you can look now. Like I could have ruined anything for you anyway.
As for the Kirsten Dunst jab, I'll admit she's made some stinkers but you
should see THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. And I can't believe Keanu managed to pull
another good movie out of his ass. The Gift was excellent. But I always say,
a great director can make anybody look good. Except Segal - he just always
sucks.
What else can I say? I liked AI and I liked Moulin Rouge. I would've at
least given them higher ratings than J3. I was disappointed in both Shrek
and Osmosis Jones for the same reasons. They were trying too hard. When you
make comedy, don't let 'em see you sweat. And I knew Cats & Dogs was gonna
suck. Didn't you see the commercials?
The only thing I'm looking forward to right now is Windtalkers ( and
the Hannibal DVD) but judging by the rest of this year, I'm not expecting
much.
Dono
Thanks for the reviews! Here are my thoughts:
- The only movie this summer I out and out loved was
"Shrek". It had brains and heart; it made me laugh and
cry. Even if there was a bit of potty humor and Eddie
Murphy recycled his performance from "Mulan", I was SO
grateful for something smart and original.
- Hank Azaria did NOT "kill" in "America's
Sweethearts!" Talk about recycled performances: didn't
we see that stuff before in "The Birdcage?" I found
him amusing at best, but I did love the line about the
press "hunket."
- I can only hope you didn't mention "Swordfish"
because it was quite possibly the worst movie ever
made. I wanted to take a hostage, I swear.
- I really enjoyed "Moulin Rouge" simply because it
was daring and original. Of course it had it's flaws,
but if every movie I saw was so flawed, we wouldn't be
so bad off!
Gotta go for now.
Love ya!
Paula
I haven't seen "The Others", nor do I really want to,
because there's a part at the end of the trailer where
Nicole Kidman asks "Where's my daughter", and this
THING under a black vail, DRESSED as her daughter,
says IN her daughter's VOICE, "I AM your daughter!"
And I think of that every night when I go to bed and
it scares me. So I'm going to see Sexy Beast instead.
Love, P
Paul,
Thanks for the reviews. My movie viewing has been slowed quite a bit, but I must agree on Rouge, but would have given it (* and .5) stars. Cool stuff, but story? NADA! The girls I went to it with enjoyed it. One of them fell asleep though.
Don't waste your time or $ on Planet of the Apes (*). It sucked. Even McPhail, a lover of all action movies, thought it sucked. Big fight scene between the two big apes last for .5 seconds (maybe 6 blows exchanged). Lame movie!
American Pie 2 was very good (***). I really enjoyed it. Many paralells to the original, but great stuff overall. Actually going to see it again with another group of friends. Was thinking it would suck, but was good. Go figure.
Leagely Blond was cute, but nothing great (** and .5). Resse does if for me, what can I say. Shiftler's mom was pretty good in it, too.
American Sweethearts was Crystal through and through, but his humor is getting predictable, (** and .5).
Looking forward to Jade Scorpion, but was pushed back a week to the 24th. Bumming about that. Need my Woody Fix.
I am a bit ashamed of the fact that I hadn't seen too many movies of late. Case in point, I finally saw Traffic this weekend, yep that far behind. But I am trying to get a start on the summer.
Pearl Harbor
Frankly, I could have done without the first hour and a half. The love story and the sap factor were on maximum overload and pushing my tolerance level. I do realize that this was Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer and I can usually look past some of the bullshit in favor of some great action sequences, but too much damn exposition. Once the invasion began the movie finally began to move. Ben Affleck was adequate, but as for Kate Beckinsale it appeared that Bruckheimer wanted to cast Liv Tyler but couldn't. Instead, he cast someone else tried to get her to be Liv Tyler. During the film I thought Aerosmith would break into a love ballad. I felt bad for Cuba Goading Jr., after a good turn in Men of Honor, he has a small and underutilized role. The special effects lived up to the hype, too bad the rest of the movie didn't.
Shrek
Funny shit and the best movie so far. Mike Myers with a subdued Fat Bastard dialect but it works. Cameron Diaz is even cute and perky as a voice and Eddie Murphy turns out to be a wonderful compliment. One of the things I particularly enjoyed were the jabs and Disney. A nice alternative to what has become a formulated vehicle for Disney. Though not exactly a kids movie, I think it's a big kids movie which is just fine.
Moulin Rouge
The film was visually stunning, as I knew it would be. The deep, saturated colors of the production design with Nicole Kidman's porcielin skin and her technicolor hair present a wonderful contrast. And, too my surprise, she can sing. Ewan McGregor keeps surprising me and he continually is making himself more sought after. Quite an eclectic collection of material to drawn upon for this musical. I was surpised and amused at some of the selections. Actually, one of the sequences reminded me of a Preston and Volpe skit from college, if you haven't seen it yet, I'm sure you'll understand where I'm coming from. Somewhat sureal and yet entertaining dip on pop culture. Overall I like it and I will probably see it again.
I am looking forward to seeing Momento and eagerly anticipating Planet of the Apes.
I'll talk to you later.
Michael Rivera
Jet Li kicked some of the harshest ass this side of Bruce Lee. Now, if only
he had kicked Bridget Fonda's lame faux-hooker ass out of Kiss of the Dragon
we would have had the best kung fu film since the time my father tried to
convince me that Bruce Lee died by doing a flying side kick out of a window
(well, maybe).
Jet Li is still living/working under Bruce Lee's shadow. Some of the moves
and scenes are right out of the master's catalog. However, since only
really geeky kids who practice kung fu on their cats will really know what
I'm talking about, and they (and their) cats already know, skip it.
The bad guy is really bad. He's so mean he don't need kung fu. You see,
he's a cop and he's French. What could be worse? Okay a Jerry Lewis cameo
could have been worse, but no such bad luck. Anyway, Jet Li is convincingly
pissed off by the end of this movie, so when he pulls a Terminator single
guy storming the Police HQ you can kinda believe that he is a Hong Kong
equivalent of our testosterone OD'd Terminator.
Okay, so the plot's weak. Who gives a flying side kick? This is Jet Li on
a rampage in Paris. He's the Godzilla of Hong Kong and he's stomping
France. End of story. There is something resembling a plot with cops
taking down a Chinese bad guy and then things go horribly awry. Of course
they do. Then Jet is on the lam. Of course he is. Then he teams up with a
Hooker (B. Fonda) from N. Dakota or some such rubbish and the plot goes
completely to hell. But Jet Li keeps the film from being absolute donkey
dung. And he does this by beating everybody up. Now, in real life, I'm a
mellow, non-violent guy (kinda) but when it comes to on screen violence, get
out of my way or I'm gonna disembowel you. And Captain Jet gets major kudos
for inspiring me to want to kill every French cop I can find. (And they say
that movie violence inspires kids to do bad things. Nonsense! It's the
adults they have to watch out for. Heh heh heh.)
Anyway, I saw this for a buck and a quarter. The joint was air conditioned
and my house wasn't. So, the way I figure it, I paid to sit in an air
conditioned room. It just so happened that there was this movie showing in
front of me. Must have been a freebie.
Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill the French!
(This moment of race hatred brought to you by the Big W.)
P. Brane