Reviews

I can't believe that this is the same director whose early career gave us the wonderfully human "My Life as a Dog", "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", "Once Around" and "Something to Talk About".

It was sad enough that Lasse Hallstrom's subsequent Miramax years ("The Cider House Rules", "Chocolat", "The Shipping News", "An Unfinished Life") had turned him into an increasingly grating supplier of glossy, soul-less Oscar-bait.

But nothing could have prepared me for the thoroughly hollow, painfully over-the-top cartoon that is "Casanova".

One of the film's central images - a hot air balloon - could not be a more appropriate metaphor.

Dreadful.

Lasse... Come Home!

Happened upon this pile of dung accidentally. Phoniest load of "reality" TV since "The Casino."

Dear producers - although you obviously think we're all morons, most of us really can tell the difference between written/prompted/acted "reality" and the real thing. Kind of like plastic barf versus actual barf.

Someone here wrote that this show's like a train wreck you can't look away from.

Actually, I could look away, and rather easily.

I'd say "nice try," but clearly that wasn't the case.

If only M. Night Shyamalan were half the genius he thinks he is, we might have a decent film-geek movie-maker on our hands (ala Spielberg or Tarantino). With each of his films since "The Sixth Sense" getting progressively more insipid, however, it appears that we merely have another hubris-driven windbag with a camera and a PR team. I'm sorry, but any filmmaker who interrupts the climax of his own film for a long and pointless cameo is clearly working from ego rather than artistic integrity. (Don't even get me started on the totally self-serving "Buried Secret of M. Night" TV debacle.) Boo, indeed.

4 out of 10 for a good William Hurt performance.

This short film, a salute to the diverse cultures that played a part in the history of California, always brings me to tears. The imagery is absolutely breathtaking, and the storytelling surprisingly dramatic considering the brief length of the film. No wonder, then, to finally look up the production info here (there are no credits in the film) and discover that this is the work of the wonderful Polish director Agnieszka Holland (Angry Harvest, Europa Europa, The Secret Garden). Bravo!

Like other pretenders to the throne of Charles Chaplin (Maurizio Nichetti, Jim Jarmusch, Roberto Benigni), Aki Kaurismäki has won over critics and audiences alike with his own attempts at minimalistic, romanticized pathos. The difference, of course, is that Charles Chaplin was a genius. For this viewer, the only thing "The Man Without a Past" exhibits is another filmmaker deeply in love with his own cuteness, creating a film about nothing other than winking at an audience who desperately want to feel in on the joke - even if it's on them. Count me out.

Unlike other reviewers below, I was completely captivated by this bittersweet little road movie (and I'm apparently not alone - check out the awards link for this film). With absolutely no contrivance or sentimentality, director Diego Lerman takes you into the small moments of a handful of lost souls as they gradually, almost accidentally, come to discover hope, redemption and love. I won't soon forget the images, performances and emotions of this small gem. Bravo!

Screenwriter Steve Knight takes the framework of "Casablanca," adds a lurid subplot (black-market human organ sales) and a gallery of '30s-era stock characters (hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold, evil immigration agents), and then attempts to pass it off as social commentary on the plight of illegal immigrants in modern London -- and everyone goes gaga. I had every expectation of loving this film, but I was too busy rolling my eyes at the bad acting, gigantic plot holes, ridiculous situations and phony accents (I swear Audrey T's Turk sounds just like Natalie Wood's Puerto Rican in "West Side Story") to become involved in any of it. A quick, anonymous phone call to the police five minutes into the film would stop this "thriller" dead, but the two main characters are too moronic to do anything but get themselves into more and more dangerous (and absurd) situations. A perfect couple, I suppose.

P.S. - When was the last time at your job that all the employees got to work at exactly the same moment in a single-file line? The mind boggles.

This has long been director William Wyler's hardest-to-find classic, a truly nutty, thoroughly charming romantic comedy written by the incomparable Preston Sturges (and very loosely based on a Ferenc Molnar play). All the Sturges touches that would later be his hallmarks as a director are here - the jaded wit, the almost dance-like physical comedy, the hilarious supporting cast of characters (the priceless Eric Blore, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Beulah Bondi and Alan Hale, among others)... "The Good Fairy" is as much his as Wyler's. Margaret Sullavan is captivating as always as the pure-of-heart (and slightly loopy) heroine - a characterization she would come to perfect in later roles. As for Wyler, this was the first in what would be a string of classics in an astonishing number of genres. But here they are - Preston Sturges, Margaret Sullavan and William Wyler - near the beginning of their careers, already in classic form. Don't miss!

I can understand that after the first Harry Potter film became an international cash cow, the rush was on to capitalize financially with a sequel. But clearly there was just too little time for the artistic crew to come up with anything as quaint as a plot or character development. Instead, pointless action scene after pointless action scene is thrown on the screen in random order, leaving the entire cast of fine actors with nothing to do but stand wide-eyed, pretending to react to mediocre computer effects. (And don't even get me started on "Dobby", who actually made me wish for Jar-Jar Binks) Absolutely devoid of the charm, emotion and magic that makes for a great fantasy film. It will rake in millions upon millions of dollars, but what a shame.

I've seen this film twice now, and had the same reaction both times, so it's not out of gut reaction that I label "The Sweet Hereafer" an odious piece of simple-minded garbage.

The central idea (a school bus crash) has such intrinsic emotional repercussions that I can see how most viewers are washed away in grief enough to not notice the emptiness of the conceit built around it.

As an intruding lawyer, Ian Holm is asked to give a performance of staggeringly self-conscious falseness in which his every word, movement and breath is meant to project "SOMETHING IMPORTANT". His episodic encounters with the people of the community in which the accident took place only reveals Egoyan's total condescension toward life's "little people", presenting them as simpletons who, gosh darn it, love their children and each other and turn their noses up at anything so disgusting as a dollar bill.

In a failed attempt to make at least one character two-dimensional, a subplot is slopped on about the lawyer losing touch with his own child, the most ridiculous drug-addicted banshee every put on film.

Toss in heavy-handed allegories, heart-tugging muzak and trite conclusions, and what have you got? An award-winning "masterpiece", to hear most people talk. More likely they woke up the next morning, remembered something about angelic children heading for their final bus ride, and forgot the manipulative banality of the rest.

View the first episode of Krzysztof Kieslowski's 1988 "Decalogue", which covers similar thematic ground and, in 50 short minutes, accomplishes worlds more.

3 out of 10 for nice work by actors Bruce Greenwood and Sarah Polley.

"The Way Home" ("Jibeuro") is an absolutely wonderful neorealistic fable about a spoiled city boy sent to live with his "old world" grandmother in her rustic mountain home. That's it. The premise couldn't be more simple, and the results couldn't be more charming, human and moving. Congratulations to writer/director Jeong-hyang Lee for a remarkable film that stands equal to such other classics of this type as "The Bicycle Thief", "Panther Panchali" and "The Color of Paradise". Bring kleenex.

For some reason there's no credit given here for the 1981 Italian film this musical is based on - Ruggero Maccari and Ettore Scola's "Passione d'amore" - which, in turn, was based on the novel "Fosca" by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti. All versions are well worth checking out! :)

What do you have when you copy the opening titles from "The Ice Storm", the background music from "American Beauty", and various plot elements from "Bound", "Swimming With Sharks", "Tape", "In the Company of Men", and "Glengarry Glen Ross"? You have "The Business of Strangers", a film completely devoid of original ideas from writer/director Patrick Stettner. If you've never seen the former films, you may be impressed by this ridiculous potboiler. If you've never seen the former films, you should, because they are all expert, original visions from top-level filmmakers. As Stettner pulls out each cliche from his grab bag, all you can do is roll your eyes - even a hackneyed shot like "office windows looking like prison bars" is given full commitment, as if it hadn't been seen dozens of times since the '60s. Perhaps Stettner has talent. Hopefully next time he'll write about something from within himself, and be a true artist. And maybe not.

Despite an excellent lead performance by Mariana Santángelo, the story told in this film deserved a more serious approach than it's given here. Such artificial cliches as the "doomed best friend" and the "handsome, understanding cop" seem out of place amid the elements of what should be an inherently dark and dramatic story.

Sin Vergüenza is a charming, light-hearted farce centered on a famous film director's visit to an acting school to look for new talent, and the eruption of emotional chaos this creates among the school's students and staff. Jealousies, insecurities and egotism come boiling to the surface as everything surrounding the director's visit goes fabulously wrong, and then fabulously right, all while both poking fun at and glorifying "the artistic soul". The entire cast is wonderful, with special mention to Rosa María Sardà's hilarious turn as a drugged-out aging diva, a performance that won her the Goya award (the Spanish Oscar) for best supporting actress. Also Goya-nominated for its rollicking script, Sin Vergüenza (No Shame) is a complete delight. :)

"The Others" succeeds so well because of its truly accomplished direction, writing and score - all by Alejandro Amenábar. "Tesis",

"Open Your Eyes" and "Butterfly" were no flukes. This guy knows how to make a movie.

I love ghost tales, but I wasn't prepared for the craftsmanship of "The Others". Nicole Kidman rocks. Art Direction and Cinematography are incomparable. Every detail is perfect.

See it. Relax. Enjoy.

[And if you're looking for more of the same, rent "The Innocents" (1961), "The Haunting" (1963), "The Changeling" (1980), and "Lady in White" (1988)].

Boo!

I'm truly astounded by most of the commentaries posted here on this marvelous little film. Most people don't seem to be able to let go of the concepts of central-character-as-hero and neatly tied-up resolutions. Enid is bright, witty, cute... and completely screwed up.

She is surrounded by sad little people whom she fills her time looking down on. But it's her loss. Over the course of the film all of these "secondary" characters work hard to be better people and find some sort of fulfilment. Meanwhile, Enid implodes. She can't accept that this is just a sad, crazy little world... and that she's part of it. And yet, somehow we still care about her fate at film's end. Because we're human.

A lovely little film.

"Amores Perros" is, without question, a marvelous achievement, a powerful work that stands alongside such other brutal/poetic world classics as "Forbidden Games", "The 400 Blows", "Winter Light", "Los Olvidados", "The Tin Drum", "L'Argent", "Das Boot", and "Underground". Most professional critics have been too simple-minded to compare this film to anything other than "Pulp Fiction", to which it has absolutely no thematic connection. I'm pleased to see that several reviewers on this page have noted the true influence at work here - the late, great director Krzysztof Kieslowski and his screenwriting partner Krzysztof Piesiewicz, to whose magnificent "Dekalog" and "Trois Couleurs: Bleu, Blanc, Rouge" "Amores Perros" is indebted. Which is an acknowledgement, not a criticism. "Amores Perros" tells a trio of interwoven tales questioning man, God, faith, family, and love through a stunning combination of expert direction, writing, editing, cinematography, scoring, sound, and acting, creating a truly classic work that needs no comparisons. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo Arriago have created a masterwork. Bravo! Not to be missed by the serious filmgoer.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated" - Mohandas Gandhi