Reviews

Benny & Joon is a sweet story about a brother who has been caring for his sister since their parents' deaths in a car accident. The car accident, parents' deaths and noise that accompanied the accident has callused Joon (Masterson) to be mentally ill. Joon causes housekeepers to quit because of her sometimes bizarre behavior. Benny (Quinn) plays cards with a group of friends (Hedaya, Platt and Grifasi) and they play "for keeps". Benny is late one evening so Joon plays and wins "Sam" (Johnny Depp) who has been staying with Grifasi and driving him crazy. Joon and Sam soon discover that they belong together. This is a wonderful movie with a wonderful story, well worth watching for that alone. But beyond the story is Johnny Depp's magnificently entertaining performance of tender touches, wonderful facial expressions and brilliant Buster Keaton-like skits that put this movie into the category of one you want to own.

This is a story about childhood and growing up to fast. This is a story about love, falling out of and falling into love. This is a poignant story about playing pretend and wanting to believe hard enough and long enough to make it come true! Johnny Depp is amazing! In 1991 I watched "Edward Scissorshands" with my children (8 & 9). At the time I thought the actor that played Edward (Johnny Depp) was a great character actor. I had never seen Johnny Depp in anything before that. Shortly after that publicity about Johnny Depp caused me to "write him off", I decided I did not want to support his behavior by paying to watch his work. In May of this year (2005) I went to Blockbuster to pick up a movie. I chose "Finding Neverland" based solely on the case picture. After the movie had ended and I had stopped sobbing I wondered, "Who is that actor?" When I read "Johnny Depp" I said out loud to no one in particular - NO WAY! I'm drawn to find other Johnny Depp movies - see what he has done in his career.

Had the appearance and feel of an animated film, except the characters were real people. I don't believe anything else in the movie was real - in other words the cars, airplanes and buildings appear to have been computer generated. I paid very little attention to the actual story, it was the filming method that held my attention. The story is a comic book story and as such might hold the attention of younger viewers or comic book collectors and those that grew up reading comic books. Growing up in rural America, I never read comic books - no time, no money for comic books. The film is certainly appropriate for kids in the 10 yrs and up group. Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow play their parts well - no real exciting emotions or interactions, but maybe that is how comic book characters would act.

I half-watched this movie a long time ago, probably when it was first shown on TV -I thought it was just another silly show and so I really didn't sit down with my kids and pay attention to it. This time, I watched it by myself and found that it was a fun movie, was funny and had a good message hidden in the funny stuff. Matthew Broderick was so cute! and fresh. He did a great job of acting innocent for his not-to-bright parents. Jennifer Grey (Dirty Dancing's "Baby Houseman) was great as Ferris' younger sister who was determined to prove that Ferris was up to no-good. Jeffry Jones as Mr. Rooney the principal and Edie McClug as Grace, Mr. Rooney's secretary, were hilarious and actually made the show with their characters. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is nice light entertainment with a message that life moves very fast and every once in a while we should all stop and "smell the roses" or take a Day Off like Ferris'!

FBI Agent Johnny Utah (Keanue Reeves) is transferred to California and partnered with FBI Agent Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey). The California department have been trying to break the case of a string of bank robberies committed by four people who wear rubber masks of four ex-presidents.

Agenct Pappas has this theory that the robbers are surfers because the bank robberies only take place during surfing season. The rest of the FBI office makes fun of his theory, but Utah decides that it wouldn't hurt to learn to surf "on his own time".

Utah (meets Tyler Ann Endicott and she teaches him to surf. Utah makes friends with a group of surfers that Patrick Swayze (Bodhi) is part of. Bodhi keeps encouraging Utah to go for a bigger wave and to do other exciting things. Utah gets beat up by some tough-guy surfers on a different beach and Bodhi comes to his rescue.

Utah tells Pappas about this bad-ass group of surfers. Then Johnny Utah is busy trying to surf and keep track of this bad group of surfers. Good movie.

Keanu Reaves portrays the handsome, driven and hot-headed ad-exec Nelson Moss very well. His performance falls apart in how he changes from this workaholic so quickly. Perhaps that has something to do with how time is portrayed in this film but the only problem he seemed to have is using his cell phone and looking at his watch, this seemed totally unbelievable to me. I would have expected to see a lot more resistance to the change and/or anger about Sara wanting to change him. Charlize Theron as Sara Deever is an unconventional young woman who has set out to change peoples' lives one-person one-month at a time. Theron is excellent is this movie. The movie is also slightly unbelievable in that these two very different young people got "together" so quickly in the first place. Not a classic to be watched over-and-over but it is a nice movie.

When famous Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sterling (Samuel L. Jackson) moves into a new home on a New England resort island, he is mistaken by his new neighbors Phil (Michael Lerner) and Judy Gillman (Margaret Colin) as a thief because they see him through his window with his stereo equipment in his hands! They call the police. The Chief of Police Cecil Talliver (Dabney Coleman) and his band of bungling deputies show-up and then the fun begins. When Talliver realizes that he and his deputies have shot at a famous man, he must engineer a cover-up by using a con-artist currently incarcerated in his jail, Amos Odell (Nicolas Cage). Dabney Colman is at his best playing this sort of incompetent pompous ass character! Samuel Jackson and Nicolas Cage are believable in their roles. The whole movie is a comedy of errors with several scenes that are laugh-out-loud funny. Entertaining!

This story of a young mother of two son's whose husband is missing and presumed dead in the Korean War touches your heart. Jeanne Holman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio)hits a drifter, Jack McCloud (Patrick Swayze)with her car on the way to a picnic. Later she finds him sleeping on a bench with his leg in a cast and insists that he stay at her house until his leg is better. The two boys; Tommy (Joseph Mozzello) and Gunny (Seth Mumy) gradually come to care for Jack and Jack cares for the family.

The lesson, "instead of wishing for things to make you happy; wish to be happy with what you have" is such an important truth in today's life but one that is difficult to remember when we all want what the neighbor has! The movie set - of brand new developments with thousands of houses exactly alike and looking very bare because trees have not had time to grow yet - is a nostalgic setting from that time in history.

Patrick Swayze as Jack McCloud, is good in this part of a drifter who has stumbled into the life of Jeanne Holman right when she needed friendship, support and understanding. It seems that a lot of Swayze's characters have an elusive quality of melancholy, of an acceptance that there is something special between two people that can't be defined or captured;looked at closely; or held and kept safe like a firefly in a quart jar. Jack McCloud is one of these characters along with Jed Eckart (Red Dawn), Johnny Castle (Dirty Dancing), Sam Wheat (Ghost), Ms. Vida Boheme (To Wong Foo...), Ben Clifton (Forever Lulu /Along for the Ride), Max Lowe (City of Joy) and even Allan Quatermain (King Solomon's Mines). Swayze's character Jack Charles of Father Hood was open, brash, funny and most importantly - hopeful who learned to love his children. Donnie Darko's Jim Cunningham (Swayze) was a snake-oil salesman who under it all was really slime with real no depth of any kind being developed in that character.

I watched this movie, probably about 9 or 10 years ago. At the time I remember being amazed at how absolutely feminine and lady-like Patrick Swayze was. I also remember that it was a "nice" story the wouldn't offend anyone.

I watched To Wong Foo....again and once again I watched while Patrick Swayze turned himself into Ms. Vida Boheme and then throughout the rest of the movie I kept studying this character in all of the different outfits - complete with matching hats, shoes and gloves - that she wore and kept asking myself, "How can that possibly be Patrick Swayze?" The three stars; Swayze, Wesley Snipes (Ms. Noxeema Jackson) and John Leguizamo (Chi-Chi Rodriquez) we just terrific as drag queens who head out for Hollywood and end up in a small town when their car breaks down. he town is old and appears almost as if it were shot in black and white until the "queens" find some old "60's" clothes in the dry goods store and then the town is transformed into a decorated masterpiece.

The movie is fun and has a do-good message that is up-lifting. There are a lot of other actors with little "important" roles that make the movie. Stockard Channing has an excellent role and Robin Williams has a cameo that was great.

Noxeema Jackson and Chi-Chi are really typical "RuPaul" drag queens in this movie but Swayze's character is such a "lady" that is difficult for me to even relate other movie images of Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing (Johnny), City of Joy (Max), Father Hood (Jack) and others) to this character. Perhaps if a Wesley Snipes fan or a John Leguizamo fan watched this movie they would have the same reaction to these actors' characters as I have had to Patrick Swayze's character - amazement and discomfort.

Donnie Darko is an absorbing movie that captures your attention and doesn't let go until the movie ends – in fact it holds on much longer than that! My vote of five (5) only indicates that I would not choose this movie for entertainment purposes – but the movie is probably an excellent movie for this genre. In fact, when the movie was over I was left with a feeling of not really knowing what was part of Donnie's visions and what was the reality of the movie. The movie was full of imagery that left me with a disturbing feeling and probably caused me to have the nightmare I had the night following watching the movie. Donnie Darko is played by Jake Gyllenhaal who does a good job of portraying a teenager who is searching for answers and is disturbed by what is happening to him. Beth Grant play Kitty Farmer an absolute disgustingly over-righteous teacher who has been drawn into a simplistic answer for life's problems being pushed by the infomercial type snake-oil salesman Jim Cunningham played pretty well by Patrick Swayze. Drew Barrymore plays Karen Pomeroy, a teacher that is trying to challenge her students to think about the meaning of things, methods which lead Kitty Farmer to call for the ban on some books.

This movie looks at a crime from two different viewpoints. The use of timing is important in this movie. Relationships (spoken about and illustrated in memories) are somehow key even though they have very little to do with the visible plot. While watching the movie, I felt "on edge", always wanting to know how the movie ended before it got to the end. I thought about the movie a lot for several days after watching it - thinking of details that I apparently hadn't noticed while watching the movie. Robert Redford plays his character with strength; every word of the dialogue between Redford and Willem Dafore is important - but you do not realize this until you have watched the movie and then thought about it for several days.

Bruse Willis as the hit man "Jimmy Tulips" and Matthew Perry as the hapless dentist "Oz" are funny in this movie. I was charmed by the dental assistant Jill, played by Amanda Peet and Jimmy's wife Sophie, played by Rosanna Arquette. Michael Clarke Duncan's character, "Frankie Figs" was powerful. This is an entertaining movie with some funny skits, but it isn't really for all audiences, primarily because most of the characters in the movie are "hit men" and trying to kill each other. The fact that a policeman actually was killed during the mêlée of hit men killing each other is something that I wish had not been in the story - but to be fair, I've watched the movie twice and the first time I watched it (probably in 2000), I didn't think anything about the policeman being killed.

I have been a fan of Pierce Brosnan since "Remington Steele" and I really liked Julianne Moore in "Forgotten" so I thought I would give this movie a try. "Laws of Attraction" is a conventional romantic comedy that doesn't challenge your intellect or imagination much - but it is lightly entertaining - and sometimes that is all you want from a movie. Francis Fisher who plays Julianne Moore's mother is a bit amusing about not wanting people to know her age and Parker Posey as the designer Serena and Michael Sheen as the rock start Thorne Jamison are brash and loud and perfect for their parts. It is a very nice romantic comedy movie, not one destined to be a classic like "You've Got Mail" or "Pretty Woman" but nice.

Matthew McConaughey and Patricia Arquette are the reasons I rented this movie. Matthew is a "regular" sized guy from a family of dwarfs. He has neglected to tell his girlfriend (Kate Beckingsale) about his family. Kate gets pregnant and then everything sort of goes crazy and unstable in the movie. I believe the true story line is about this couple getting to know each other's family and dealing with the possibility of having a baby that is a dwarf. The medical and societal problems faced by dwarfs are briefly addressed, problems that regular sized people would not think about except for this movie. But the really important stuff gets buried in a lot of bizarre behavior of a lot of drinking, foul language and sex - of which Patricia Arguette was added to the movie (for no apparent reason)to be involved in. This is not a comedy and it isn't even romantic, however the theme - if you can find it - is probably a very serious one for those involved or in love with dwarfs

I felt like an intruder on a very very long and very boring personal conversation. Neither Ethan Hawke (Jesse) nor Julie Delpy (Celine)were able to portray any real interest in their own conversation let alone bring the conversation alive and draw the viewer into their lives. These two young people who had met 6 years earlier in a "passonate" fleeting moment (The subject of an earlier film)seemed intent on destroying any pleasant memories that they had each carried of the other! This was the longest stupidest movie I believe I have ever watched! The use of brief "flash-backs" from the movie filmed in 1995 was unique and interesting because the characters had changed (matured in appearance) but not unrecognizably so. The Movie set was very nice (maybe it was really Paris?). But the streets of Paris and the "flash-back" technique could be put to much better use elsewhere! The Movie contained a lot of unnecessarily nasty language - maybe in an attempt to make the conversation provocative? Don't waste you time watching this movie!

City of Joy is the story of an American Doctor (Patrick Swayze) who runs away from his life and unwittingly lands himself in an entirely different place. Through various actions he ends up helping a woman (Pauline Collins) who tries to help the very poor of Calcutta on a day-to-day basis. City of Joy also contains a story of a farmer (Om Puri) who has lost his farm to the "money lenders" and brings his family to Calcutta to find work so that he can support his family. How all these lives interact is interesting. The poverty and oppression is devastating to see - but worth watching. The story touches your heart and holds your interest throughout the movie.

Patrick Swayze is wonderful in this movie! He is expansive and portrays all of his emotions - anger, frustration, love of friends and joy poignantly! Dirty Dancing, Ghost and City of Joy should have mad Patrick Swayze a serious leading man in the category of Harrison Ford. In later movies you can see his emotions but it is as if the are locked inside his handsome clenched jaws. Nevertheless, Patrick Swayze is a handsome accomplished actor and this film is well worth the watch!

"The Notebook" is a story of love, specifically of the Love between Noah (played by Ryan Gosling and James Garner)and Allie (played by Rachel McAdams and Gina Rowlands).

This movies should touch everyone's heart that watches it. There is not a person that hasn't felt drawn back toward a first love, nor is there a person who doesn't wish for and look for a love that will last a lifetime - someone to be passionate with, to laugh with, to argue with, to be with when things are difficult and to grow old with.

This movie is a tribute to a love that surpasses all other loves. This is a beautiful movie and - even with some sexual scenes, is suitable for all audiences that are old enough to understand love between a man and a woman.

Proof of Life is a Drama Adventure. There is "Action" and gun fire at the end for those who need that, but the story is about a woman Alice Bowman (played by Meg Ryan) and the person, Terry Thorn (played by Russell Crowe) who comes to help her negotiate for the release of her husband (played by David Morse) In the beginning Crowe shows up as a representative of an insurance company who covers company's in case of kidnappings of their employees in countries where insurgents make money by kidnapping people. When Crowe finds out that the company has not paid the insurance premium for this group of employees, he is told to leave.

He returns on his own to help Ryan's character. The drama consists of interactions between the two main characters. There is another negotiator that has had a person kidnapped (David Caruso) and Crowe and Caruso join forces to go and free the kidnapped victims.

The movie is set in South America. Proof of Life is a good movie and it is worth the watch. This movie is not appropriate for small children.

This movie makes you believe that there are love affairs that last beyond death. Patrick Swayze's character, handsome, rugged, honorable is murdered in what seems like a random mugging. But it isn't and Patrick feels the need to stay around and find out what or who is behind his killing. When he starts to find out things, he has to tell Demi Moore's character and that is where Whoopi's character comes in - she is a medium and she hears Patrick. There is a sensual chemistry between the two main characters, and there loss of one another is very heart wrenching. Whoopi adds some lightness to an otherwise sad story It is a chick flick for sure, but its done well and it leaves you feeling sad and uplifted at the same time. It is worth a watch. Not really appropriate for small children.

King's Solomon's Mines brings us Patrick Swayze (playing Allan Quatermain)who has spent a lot of time in Africa, but decides it is time to return to England and be a father to his son. He finds that his wife's parents have taken custody of his son and that he has very little chance of getting custody of him with lots of money for a law suit. In comes Alison Deedy (playing Elizabeth) whose father is in Africa and being held by an African tribe for ransom of the map Elizabeth's father had sent her. Elizabeth seeks out Quatermain to take her back to Africa to find her father.

There is a good cast of supporting characters that go along with Quatermain and Elizabeth and of course there are some enemies (Russians) who want the map also.

The movie holds your attention until the end. Patrick once again plays a ruggedly handsome honorable man who comes to the rescue of the damsel in distress. Patrick is a great dramatic actor who can easily portray passion, loss and despair, the rugged silent good man, anger and strength; In King Solomon's Minds his character actually smiles a few times. I would really like to see Patrick Swayze in a relaxed live-loving story again, one in which he doesn't have to clench his jaws and be quite so strong. Maybe a little dancing would help. But this is a good movie for the entire family and worth the time to watch it.

Hidalgo is a a classic cowboy story about a man and his horse.

Frank R. Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) is a cavalry rider with a reputation of being the fastest and most daring cavalry rider in the United States.

After the slaughter of the American Indians at Wounded Knee, Hopkins is sick of the cavalry. Hopkins ends up in the "Wild Bill Hickcock" traveling show. Hopkins has also been written about in the dime novels of the time. Sheikh Riyadh (Omar Sharif) is a great fan of these western novels.

Sheikh sends a representative to the U.S. to invite Hopkins to enter the most daring horse race - The Ocean of Fire - a 3000-mile race across the Arabian desert.

Hopkins enters the race. The movie is full of adventures that happen to Hopkins because the other racers feel that Hopkins and his Spanish Mustang horse, Hidalgo, are not worthy to be in the race.

The film is beautiful and rich in color and scenery. It is good to see Omar Sharif in a movie again. Viggo Mortensen does a good job in bringing Frank T. Hopkins to life. I will be waiting to see who Mortensen will be next in film. Very entertaining! Must see for western lovers!

Matthew Modine as Will Parker and Jennifer Grey as Kate Bass do a great job in this movie. Jennifer is tan, athletic, and a beautiful tomboy sailor. Matthew Modine appears to fit right in with the ivy-league "good old boys", but in the end chooses his teammates more wisely! "WIND" has some interesting characters and the interactions between characters is interesting. The movie holds the viewer's attention until the end. The scenery is beautiful, the ocean scenes breathtaking and the film quality and colors are rich. The wind catching the sails and hitting Will's and Kate's faces makes the viewer feel like he or she is right there beside them. "WIND" is a "feel good" movie, that makes the viewer feel like a winner when the credits run!

I have watched this movie at least 30 times, maybe more, and each time I watch it I am drawn into the movie and back to 1963! The Movie takes me on a nostalgic vacation every time I watch it.

I think the important thing to say here is I was 15 in 1963 and I can remember "before President Kennedy was shot and before the Beetles came." I can feel myself saying something like, "I carried a watermelon." and then realizing just how stupid that was! Jennifer Grey plays Frances "Baby" Houseman in Dirty Dancing. Baby is going to start college in the Fall. She goes to Kellerman's for vacation with her family (mom, Dad and sister Lisa).

One of the staff dancers, Penny (played by Cynthia Rhodes) gets pregnant by another staff person (one of the college boys played by Max Cantor) and has a chance to get an abortion but it is on a night that her and Johnny (Patrick Swayze) are scheduled to dance at a nearby hotel.

Thus, the need for a fill-in dancer for Penny. Johnny is persuaded by Penny and his cousin Billy (Neal Jones) that he can teach Baby to do the dance in time for the show. Baby learning the dance steps with Penny and Johnny are wonderful scenes!

Baby's father (Doctor Jake Houseman played by Jerry Orbach) comes to Penny's rescue when the abortion is done wrong. Dirty Dancing brought back to me this time in history when girls got pregnant and had abortions in back rooms by butchers. Around this time (1963) many girls actually died from this type of abortion - but there were not many choices for a girl then.

Lonnie Price plays a great conceited grandson (Neil Kellerman) to Jack Weston's Max Kellerman. Jane Brucker does a great job as Baby's annoying sister Lisa Houseman.

The music is great and the dancing is wonderful! The "dirty dancers" are absolutely wonderful and very sexy - I can feel Baby's astonishment when she first sees them dancing and says, "Where'd they learn to do that?".

Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze are just perfect together in their respective roles. Patrick's song, "She's Like The Wind" brings tears to my eyes each time I hear/watch it in this movie.

The movie ends on an up note, but leaves you wanting to know what happens next in Baby's and Johnny's lives. Dirty Dancing gives something new each time it is watched - It mesmerizes the watcher with nostalgia, a feeling of wanting it to be 1963 again.

Sandra Bullock play Lucy (a sweet girl) who has recently lost her father and never knew her mother. She works taking tokens at a commuter train station. She sees the same guy (Peter Gallagher who plays Peter) everyday and fantasizes that he will one day notice her and they will fall in love.....and happily ever after will happen.

One day she sees him pushed onto the tracks by a couple of hoods. He is knocked unconscious. Lucy jumps on the tracks and saves his life. From there he is transported - still unconscious -to the hospital and Lucy meets his family and they know she saved his life and they think she is Peter's girlfriend. The Gallagher family fall in love with Lucy and she loves the family.

Peter Boyle does a good job as the father and Jack Warden is also great as the family friend, Saul.

"While You Were Sleeping" is worth watching, it is just so sweet and light hearted, you can't help but love it.