Change Your Image
Skachica
Reviews
Mission to Mars (2000)
"Oh man"
Thus spoke one of the characters as he heard one of his oldest, dearest friends had died, after a considerably long dumb look, and thus I broke up laughing. Now, I know I wasn't supposed to, but I couldn't help it. This is the way most of the film ran. It was very ineffective. It had lofty goals that would only work on a gamble, unfortunately, it was double or nothing and they lost everything. There was one scene, or even just monologue, that I do think captured what the whole movie was aiming for, unfortunately it was delivered in a video by a character who was already dead, and none of the other characters or the script or the score or anything else carried on her legacy. One of the problems with this movie was the total lack of emotion it evoked in many situations. Scenes that were supposed to keep one in suspense were annoying, scenes that were supposed to be sad made one laugh or, at times, be disgusted with the stupidity and inanity they were delivered with. The end was a bit interesting, and it had the potential to be very cool, but at that point you just didn't care. Specific problems:
1. The acting- Great actors=horrible acting? Someone made the comment to me that the "great cast couldn't save it." It didn't seem to me that they even tried. In fact, I really *hope* they didn't try because if that is what constituted effort, then perhaps they've all acquired brain damage since their last performances. Maybe they were just horribly miscast.
2. The score- This is perhaps what killed everything else. The music itself wasn't of an extremely poor quality, but it was put in all the wrong places. Example- they've just found the key to this huge, secret-of-the-movie puzzle, cue ominous music? No, I'm sorry, if you want us to be excited, don't try to scare us.
3. The script- It wasn't good but I don't think it was as bad as the other two items on the list. It got a few chuckles, and as I said before, the one little scene was good, but overall the dialogue was very poor.
I kept hoping there would discover a giant, stuffed, pink bunny named Senor Bob, and then I could laugh at a brilliant satire, but it wasn't to be. Oy.
The 10th Kingdom (2000)
A True Achievement
The filmmakers have achieved something that is very vital to fantasy movies-putting the "epic" into "epic fantasy." One of the biggest barriers between fantasy and the screen is that people aren't going to want to go and sit in the theater for hours on end. Putting The Tenth Kingdom into a miniseries was a perfect move because it gave them the opportunity to pace it. They also did well in keeping the film high quality throughout the many hours it would take. Sure, it certainly isn't lacking in cheese, but they managed to include some impressive visuals while improving old techniques that wouldn't cost them as much. They also managed to put together quite a good cast and the film was very enjoyable and great.
What Planet Are You From? (2000)
A Few Laughs, But Mostly Lacking
I'm not sure where this film went wrong. It had a great cast, there were a lot of jokes within it that should have been funny, but somehow, it just wasn't that funny. There were a few moments that had me laughing (mostly John Goodman toward the end, even he was disappointing in the beginning), but they were few and far between. I'm not sure what it was that was gone- perhaps something lacking in the atmosphere. It was almost there but just not quite.
Fight Club (1999)
Simply marvelous
A lot of people have claimed this is a guy's movie, but I think anyone with a mind can appreciate it. If many of the critics would look deeper into the movie, they would see how truly wonderful it was. On the surface it is quite stupendous. The acting both by Edward Norton (brilliant) and Brad Pitt (impressive) brings the characters to reality (or at least as far as each character should go into reality.) The visuals are beautiful. The screenplay is probably the greatest feature of them all (because it was based on a great book)- I can't think of any movie that is more quoteable than this. Deeper it carries important messages about materialism and the dangers of life growing too mundane. If people would stop complaining about the violence for one minute and actually watch, they'd see that it condemns the root of what they complain about.
Blink 182: The Urethra Chronicles (1999)
Awesome
This video has everything and anything you could possibly want to know about Blink182. It takes them all over the world and shows footage of all sorts of different situations. It, of course, has great background music and is a must for any fan.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
Just great
What else can I say, I loved it. It was just plain hilarious. Not only that, however, but I can't stop listening to the sound track and it had great messages. Most satires do have deeper messages about our society, and South Park is the perfect satire. I would go as far to say that its the Shakespeare of our day. They both took no prisoners and allowed us to laugh at ourselves. I have a comment for the age restrictions a lot of people are putting on the movie: It should be based on the maturity of the person. I'm 16 and I don't think its warped my "fragile little mind" nor that of my 14-year-old brother who saw it as well. PS: If you haven't seen it, watch for the Episode 1 reference, I was the only person in my group who caught it and its great!
The Birdcage (1996)
Very Funny
I absolutely love this movie. Robin Williams proves just how great an actor he is, showing that he can play the straight guy. He looks very much so next to Nathan's flamboyant performance, which also had me in stitches. Gene Hackman and Diane West were also great. While it was hilariously funny, it also managed to be heart warming with the tale of acceptance.
Love and Death on Long Island (1997)
First Movie I've Ever Walked Out Of
I went to see this movie with a group of friends, who had read a review saying it was the funniest movie Britain had produced since The Full Monty, and it was awful. It was dull, anything but funny, and *extremely* slow. I found myself wishing that it would just stop with the movie and show one of the "B-Movies" they had clips of, which starred the actor. After sitting through it for a long time, one of my friends leaned over and asked if we would like to go. Everyone agreed heartily and we left to eat Thai food and discuss how bad it was.
As Good as It Gets (1997)
Truly enjoyable, well made movie
I personally thought As Good as it Gets was the best movie of the year. All the actors involved gave sparkling performances and it had me laughing all the way through. Jill and Timer, the dogs who played Verdell, were well trained and painfully adorable. While I must admit it was slightly unbelievable, hey its a movie!