At first I was thrown for a loop. Was this the Gary Oldman I had grown to love watching "A State of Grace" or "Leon the Professional" NOPE! It was that other side, the side we rarely see of this gifted actor. Add to that Skeet Ulrich and the two make a good..yes...comedic team. It wasn't a "Dumb" as Dumber and Dumber" but it had some of that "dumbness" to it! The premise here has been seen before, a little baby cared for by hapless guys who have their hands full! But the twists we get with Oldman and Ulrich not to mention great characters portrayed by class actors and actresses here makes the film a sure thing. Now it took me the first 30 minutes to get a feel for this movie but it gets going. I just wasn't sure how to take the Oldman and Ulrich characters...but it finally flowed for me and was well worth the watch.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Spy Game
(2001)
The end is its means
22 November 2001
When this movie came out I thought that a Pitt/Redford deal was about the names. I was wrong because the way this panned out with the intrigue, suspense and end game provided what we the watching public enjoy. A thriller but a mental pause to what is really going on. Do we really know what happens is what happens here? Well I say if it were real life there's a lot more we do not and will not ever know. The movie portrays that fantasy some of us have and others fret. To be an operative for the CIA. The play between Redford and Pitt is as classic and fitting as that between any two actors in an adult and complex situation as anyone could ask. I will not under any circumstance divulge the ending because it is secret and I'd have to kill you if I told you. Go see the movie for yourself and find out how the players end it all.
K-PAX
(2001)
K-PAX = Cuckoo's Nest + Phenomenon + Awakenings and more!
3 November 2001
Only every now and again do I find myself "feeling" that feeling. I have slacked off in my worldly duties to review movies, present my thoughts to the electronic world and then hope I didn't steer anyone wrong. In this respect I say this is a good one if not a really great one!
I am a Kevin Spacey fan. I mean, if you saw the film "The Usual Suspects" that's all I have to say,, oh yes "American Beauty" was a good one too!
Kevin comes to us in this movie...out of nowhere, really! He appears from ??, in a NYC train station, witnessed by a homeless guy. He simply appears but is quickly arrested after an "incident". He is sent to a Psychiatric Ward in NYC.
Following this opening scene the movie continues to gather steam and gets its footing. Jeff Bridges "Starman" is the Dr. who tries to help this troubled guy. Kevin Spacey you see is from another planet called K-PAX....at least that is his belief. Trust me he, takes you down that road and he is VERY convincing. Dr. Powell (Bridges) is partly caught up in this delusional world but not enough to impair his professional judgment. This guy, from the planet K-PAX, in the constellation Lyra (sp), calls himself "PROTE". He makes you a believer...oh you want to believe,...trust me!
This may all sound silly or not believable but I tell you this, combine the story line with the cinematography, sound track and acting, then mix this into a linked and intertwined experience, you have one special movie!
There are times of wonder, confusion, sadness and joy. These effects come to you at various times in the film but not in any special order. I will not give one clue away.not that there are clues, just the fabric of this film is one to be enjoyed from beginning to end. NO language or nudity issues here my friends but it is a little "deep" for some younger kids?
You must let yourself go....at least for a time, to believe that the unbelievable is possible.
Scenes to remember: Earth's produce (yes fruits and veggies!), The Dog on the Fourth of July, The "Visit", Planetarium, The Bluebird of Happiness, Light Speed and Tachyons....these all have discrete meaning after you have seen what I have seen.
This film is extremely well done and emotions can carry the day if you have that propensity as I surely do.
Finally to give you a sense, take the setting of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (Spacey though is the Anti-Nickelson here) add the feelings of hope in "Awakenings" (Robin Williams, Robert Dinero) finally throw in the utter sense of, how is this possible?, with the John Travolta/Robert Duvall flick...."Phenomenon" now maybe you can sense where I'm coming from.
Movies like this are very strong to me emotionally because they say things beyond the script. We are all here in this world, it's the only one we've got folks! So.. lets not destroy what we have, let's see the future together, let us not throw the special things in life away; family, friends and hope.
That's what this movie does to you. You exit the theater, walk out that door and the Sun hits you smack in the face. You have returned to this world and you simply drive away to that life, to that future, to your existence on a small, blue, insignificant planet in a galaxy of millions, in a universe of trillions and trillions of stars.
I am a Kevin Spacey fan. I mean, if you saw the film "The Usual Suspects" that's all I have to say,, oh yes "American Beauty" was a good one too!
Kevin comes to us in this movie...out of nowhere, really! He appears from ??, in a NYC train station, witnessed by a homeless guy. He simply appears but is quickly arrested after an "incident". He is sent to a Psychiatric Ward in NYC.
Following this opening scene the movie continues to gather steam and gets its footing. Jeff Bridges "Starman" is the Dr. who tries to help this troubled guy. Kevin Spacey you see is from another planet called K-PAX....at least that is his belief. Trust me he, takes you down that road and he is VERY convincing. Dr. Powell (Bridges) is partly caught up in this delusional world but not enough to impair his professional judgment. This guy, from the planet K-PAX, in the constellation Lyra (sp), calls himself "PROTE". He makes you a believer...oh you want to believe,...trust me!
This may all sound silly or not believable but I tell you this, combine the story line with the cinematography, sound track and acting, then mix this into a linked and intertwined experience, you have one special movie!
There are times of wonder, confusion, sadness and joy. These effects come to you at various times in the film but not in any special order. I will not give one clue away.not that there are clues, just the fabric of this film is one to be enjoyed from beginning to end. NO language or nudity issues here my friends but it is a little "deep" for some younger kids?
You must let yourself go....at least for a time, to believe that the unbelievable is possible.
Scenes to remember: Earth's produce (yes fruits and veggies!), The Dog on the Fourth of July, The "Visit", Planetarium, The Bluebird of Happiness, Light Speed and Tachyons....these all have discrete meaning after you have seen what I have seen.
This film is extremely well done and emotions can carry the day if you have that propensity as I surely do.
Finally to give you a sense, take the setting of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (Spacey though is the Anti-Nickelson here) add the feelings of hope in "Awakenings" (Robin Williams, Robert Dinero) finally throw in the utter sense of, how is this possible?, with the John Travolta/Robert Duvall flick...."Phenomenon" now maybe you can sense where I'm coming from.
Movies like this are very strong to me emotionally because they say things beyond the script. We are all here in this world, it's the only one we've got folks! So.. lets not destroy what we have, let's see the future together, let us not throw the special things in life away; family, friends and hope.
That's what this movie does to you. You exit the theater, walk out that door and the Sun hits you smack in the face. You have returned to this world and you simply drive away to that life, to that future, to your existence on a small, blue, insignificant planet in a galaxy of millions, in a universe of trillions and trillions of stars.
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