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rwlangbauer
Reviews
Dune (2000)
9-11 has changed the way I view this movie/book
I was surprised that no one mentioned 9-11 when reviewing this film. While the extras (& some of the "leads") are Czech in the book & the film the culture is obviously meant to be Arabic, w/ perhaps a bit less violence against women. Two additional themes that are topical are resistance to an occupying force & disproportionate warfare (terrorism).
It is interesting to contemplate how Arabic women could improve their lot in life through psychic powers/witchcraft. Of course, Herbert was not a feminist and his prime market was pimply faced adolescent boys, so only a boy/man could become a truly great wizard -- go figure.
Finally, Dune is not Sci-Fi but rather Fantasy. Sci-Fi is typically about a plausible future which has been altered by the evolution of science. Fantasy is about an implausible past, present or future, which has been altered by the assumption of things contrary to fact e.g. magic. Herberts "science" is so bad that Dune can really only be considered Fantasy, that and a cash cow -- which he and his family milked until it shriveled up and died. This is not meant to denigrate Fantasy. I love it, so long as it is internally consistent.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
New Zealand where men are MEN & sheep are nervous
A truly horrible realization of a terrible book.
When I was about 11 my father sat me down and had one of the best father/son talks ever. It was about LOTR. I was fixated on the work and in my third or forth rereading. My father was concerned. He had spent WWII fighting in the pacific, John Tolkien had spent WWII warm and cozy in Oxford writing drivel.
The book is sexist and RACIST & embodies an ethos and morality that are truly objectionable. Jackson has captured all of this and added an uniquely New Zealand stupidity.
RW Langbauer
PS(I assume that I am on the Blacklist. I have never written a spoiler or broken any of the other reasonable rules. I have pointed out that the IMDB is a sales tool of Amazon.com. Gee, is this a problem.)
Ararat (2002)
Incredibly poor timing
It would be an understatement to suggest that Americans are not currently open to a movie about "ragheads." It doesn't matter that Armenians are substantially Christian, or that the individual's responsible for the atrocity of the Armenian genocide are Muslim -- and the allies of the future Nazis. Iceberg, Goldberg what's the difference? The Armenian genocide is a very serious issue and should be presented when popular emotions are not running so high. While I'm @ it, I'll wish for movies on the mass murders in the Soviet Union (30million+), or China (40million+.)
As a movie this film falls far short of Egoyan's normally high standards. I have greatly enjoyed the complexity of Egoyan's past films. I think that Egoyan found this issue (Armenian genocide) so personally compelling, that he never realized that all the sub-plots, window dressing and frou-frou that he threw @ the film were just a distraction.
Once again Egoyan's wife (whose name I refuse to remember because she has absolutely no interest or value w/o him) wins the Barbara Bozzo (aka Bosson) award. People who remember Hill Street Blues need no explanation of this award. For everyone else -- the Barbara Bozzo award goes to actresses who turn in consistently terrible performances, but are always recast because their husbands are powerful in the industry, and let the little head think for the big head. Egoyan's wife is a black hole. She sucks the life out of any scene she is in. In many of his movies this is unimportant. In Exotica (which she could have missed completely because she was pregnant) she was on screen so rarely she could be ignored. She has a major role in Ararat. This alone kills the film. Add to this, Egoyan's utter contempt for acting as a profession and we end up w/ a supporting cast that I wouldn't go see in a summer stock version of The Mikado.
The Practice (1997)
First to Worst
This was once a very good program. What happened? I know that the money dried up, and caused all the good actors (who weighed below 250#) to leave. Did all the brain cells dry up at the same time? I have given the show a fair chance. I watched the season premier, but have not been able to get through more than half of any other episode. This is a true disapointment.
Election (1999)
An annoying movie about annoying people.
Laura Jeanne Witherspoon seems to have made a profitable carreer out of playing annoying characters. I don't get it. Why would anyone want to waste another 1 1/2 hours of their lives w/ such people. The world is full of annoying people -- you can normally get their attention completely for free.
The script is completely absurd. Normally a good thing for a satire -- but there needs to be something to the initial premise. There is nothing here. Laura Jeanne should just take her millions and go back to louisianna.
Enigma (2001)
Not a bad film, but completely inaccurate
Alan Turing is the man who broke the enigma code & in the words of Hunter S Thompson saved all of us from spending our Saturday nights @ Circus-Circus. Alan Turing was a "fag". He was so poorly treated by the English establishment that he killed himself. That would have been a very interesting story. The story that actually made it to the screen was useless. Oh, Alan Turing is also considered the founder of computer science -- but f*** that let's just make a piece of mindless spooge.
Les enfants du paradis (1945)
In my Top Ten
Made in 1945 in Nazi occupied France this film is simply amazing. A good date flic for when things get serious. You won't talk (in fact if you try the rest of the audience will kill you) but there is sure to be some physical contact. What surpises me is that by the numbers this film should be 46 or 47 in the IMDB's top 250, but it doesn't appear. Could this be because Amazon doesn't have it & can't make any money selling it to you? I have it and will give it to you for free (the copyright has expired as have all the people who made it). It's a great film you want to see it.
Death to Amazon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
NC17 ?
This is one of the few movies that I actually want my nephews and nieces to see. Some people see this as anti-drug propaganda. Sorry, I've been there and done that, this movie is very realist. Why young people can't access this info is beyond me. Oh! wait a minute John Ashcroft"s penis is less than 1". What a good reason for public policy.
Chicago (2002)
Will they never learn?
Musical theater has its place -- in the theater. This was a complete waste of celluloid. I've done enough musical theater in my life to know. The only good things about it are the boozed up couples from New Jersey willing to pay for it, & the chance of nailing a chorus girl. India makes more films a year than the rest of the world combined -- 90% of them are musicals. Watch one sometime! I'm sure you will find it hysterical, in all the wrong ways.
Natural Born Killers (1994)
NBK and the Bush White House
This is how Bush sees Amerika -- O.K. not his rich friends. I have already been massively critisized for my comments on the Amerikan south. The critics missed the point. It is not the south that I have trouble w/ it is the stereotype. The Bush White House believes this stereotype, but applies it to all of Amerika. To quote Dekker from "Blade Runner" there are real people "and then there are little people." Bush lives in the world of NBK. Anyone not worth $100 million might as well be Mickey or Mallory. No wonder he his helping his rich friends loot the country.
Trapped (2002)
After two minutes I knew the movie would be horrible
Easily one of the stupidest plot lines I have seen -- it could almost be an Amazon.com bestseller. SPOILER the mother has a gun pointed at one of the kidnappers, but ends up giving it to him. I would have suggested starting to blow away body parts instead. It's amazing how much pain you can cause with simple household items.
If this is what Courtney Love looks like "clean and sober" I hope to never see her when she is strung out,
PS(To the IMDB staff: For some reason there is no convenient way to contact you. I have known for some time that you are owned by Amazon.com. It is nauseatingly obvious that you are primarily pursuing the economic interests of your owners. I have largely been able to accept and disregard this bias. But after I wrote a review (which has not been published) in which I critised a book which has made Amazon.com a lot of money (Harry Potter), you seem to have decided not to post any of my comments. This is unacceptable. You do not know who you have f***ed w/. Most people already hate Amazon.com, I will only make the hatred go a little bit deeeper.)
Blade Runner (1982)
Great movie, bad book
Never try to read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" P. K. Dick was certifiably insane and his death was a mitzva. Admittedly J.K.Rawling has assumed the mantle of "sf" author not connected w/ reality, but Dick is a tuff act to follow.
The movie, however, is completely different. Scott picked out a few themes from the book that were worth exploring -- and explored them very well. Maybe we should start a program where graduate students in creative writing are assigned to mental health inmates (or under the current administration -- the homeless).
Easily one of the best movies ever. It explores issues that will only become more important as the 21st century developes.
Final Destination 2 (2003)
Failed Potential
I could almost have liked this movie. The premise was interesting -- no wonder it has been used in a hundreds of teen horror flics. The execution was horrible. (Q: What do you think of the director's execution? A: I'm in favor of it!)
Peter Weir's The Last Wave takes us to a similiar alternate reality, but despite a lower budget and much less technology, it does so w/ intelligence. The screenwriters and/or the special effects techs that did Final Destination 2 are simply clueless. I read alot of sci-fi and the trick is that while you can change any aspect of reality, everything else has to be brutally realistic.
I will not go into all absurdities that the makers of this film expect us to accept. They are many. I'm sure that it started w/ the screenwriter, continued w/ the special effects coordinator and finished w/ the editors. Sure Death can do anything, but making s**t flow up, repetitively, is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Out of the Cold (1999)
a charming little sleeper
I must admit, I would willing watch Mia Kirshner read the phone book. This movie is MUCH better than that. Sad, poignent it is a faithful retelling of some of the worst humanity has to offer. As I have told both my nieces -- Rent it! Sit down and watch with your boyfriend! If he doesn't start crying at the last scene, kick him in th nuts & leave!
Tadpole (2002)
reverse the genders! get disgusted!
I wish I had read the IMDB reviews first. They are surprizingly accurate sometimes. Bebe is as always wonderful!!! The plotline -- presented in an offhand style -- is chilling and disgusting. "Lolita" adressed the moral and legal issues of the issue, this movie doesn't. Child rape is child rape. By the end of this movie I was nauseated -- I hope this is the result the filmakers wanted -- if not I think criminal prosecution is advised.
Frailty (2001)
Do you think southerners are stupid?
I do. It is the only thing that makes this movie work. The first 90% of this movie is a depiction of child abuse that would not be tolerated in any community that I would be willing to live in. The last 10%, the payoff, illustrates the fact that Paxton is a southerner -- and stupid. Serial killers are evil. No matter their religious belief what they do is wrong. Paxton doesnt get this! A poor crossover from bad actor to even worse director.