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All reviews by user Date  Helpful Rating 0 out of 0 users found this helpful  The Exorcism of Emily RosePosted: 3/12/2007A review of The Exorcism of Emily Rose by G_Weir 1973s The Exorcist gets better with every crappy demonic possession movie that follows it. Seriously, demonic possession is up there with shark attacks for the thing that has been done so well that only genius or a fool would try to top what has gone before, and Hollywood, we know, is a place where geniuses are few and far between.
The Exorcism of Emily rose is particularly miserable because it is based upon a true story, and after you click over to Wikipedia and learn a little about the basis for this horrible film, you will be sickened even further by how the screenwriters have distorted the events.
At the very core, this film is about irrational suffering. Undeniably, Emily Rose has issues. Some suspect the devil, others less dramatic causes, such as epilepsy, and when she dies, the issue becomes what could have been done do save her? There is genuine conflict and horror here, because the idea of a defenseless teenage girl being locked in her bedroom in an isolated farm house and subjected to medieval rituals to alleviate her medical condition is scary and disturbing, and thats what actually happened to the real-life Emily Rose, but the filmmakers chose instead to construct a bizarre, lopsided, clumsy fiction that fails to frighten, inform or even entertain.
And its not scary. All that twisting, exaggeration, CGI and bullshit, and the movies not even scary. Its disturbing at times, certainly, but you dont need to base something on a true story to go for the gross-out, and just because a movie has a gross-out doesnt mean it cant also be entertaining. Look at the original Exorcist to see how. Was this review helpful? Sign In 1 out of 1 users found this helpful  The Ice Storm, 1997Posted: 11/27/2006A review of The Ice Storm by G_Weir Like most of Lees films, The Ice Storm isnt going to cheer you up. The story follows a group of upper-middle class Connecticut families as their lives intersect along lines of sex, drugs, and reckless emotions. This is a complex film with several storylines that unfold each at their own pace then collide at unexpected and awkward moments. I havent read the Rick Moody novel the screenplay was based on, so I cant say what characterizations or details might have been left out, but as always with Lees work I was impressed with how complete the characters seem to beand this isnt a talky film. The believability, the solidity of each characterand there are many characters to keep track of in this film is strong enough to stave of any confusion.
The actors of course deserve some credit for this, and The Ice Storm has a outstanding Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Christa Ricci, Joan Allen, Elijah Wood, Toby Maguireall turning in top notch performances.
Summing this film up is beyond my abilities. Its filled with people behaving badly, or at least failing to behave graciously towards each other. There is more than enough selfishness, myopia and rampant egoism to go around. But its hard to judge people who seem so real or who suffer so much for their lapseseven if the cause of their suffering is accidental, and not, as some might suggest, a kind of reckoning. I guess the moral might be that leading better lives leaves us stronger for when tragedy does come, but then this isnt the kind of movie that needs a moral. Its the kind that asks more questions than it answers. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful  Dead and Breakfast, 2004Posted: 11/22/2006A review of Dead & Breakfast by G_Weir When you choose to watch a straight-to-video, indie horror film starring David Carradines granddaughter and named called Dead and Breakfast with the tag line Its like a bad horror movie only worse that promises cameos by Carradine and, for some reason, Portia de Rossi, you have certain expectations. At least I did.
And Im happy to say, Dead and Breakfast fulfilled nearly all of them. Cast of young actors who arent very good but are trying hard? Check. Swirling black-and-white comic book illustrations between major scenes? Check. Zombies? Check. Alt-country-rock Greek chorus- narrator who is also a character in the film who becomes a zombie and leads the undead minions in a Thriller-inspired two-step hip-hop interlude? Check. And of course, plot, jokes, settings, characters, and chainsaw-fu all borrowed from Rami, Tarrentino, Scorcese, Landis, Rodriguez and more? Double-check.
Look, I wont lie to you Dead and Breakfast isnt very good. It falls far short of the maniacal low-budget wonder of say, the original Evil Dead. The over-the-top horror-comedy-gorefest model has been recycled so many times that theres precious little originality left and this film falls short of even making the best use of the new ideas it does bring to the table.
But youll laugh. Youll be entertained. Not everyone who faces horror in this film is an idiot, which puts it far above many mainstream horror-survival films. And the filmmakers used ten million gallons of fake blood (well, 34 gallons, but still). Dead and Breakfast is best enjoyed if you are literate in horror but dont take it too seriously. And you might want to be drunk or maybe a little stoned. Dead and Breakfast wants to be scary and intense but succeeds best at being fun. Its a failure, but a gentle, and a sincere one. And honestly, to build a film around a redneck alt-country Greek chorus-troubadour takes the kind of courage that we just dont see in major studio releases these days. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful Cars, 2006First things first Cars isnt as good as The Incredibles. As Pixars follow-up to Brad Birds 2004 tour-de-force was doomed to comparison and doomed to suffer by it. We will never be fortunate enough to live in a world where every animated movie is as good as The Incredibles. But against other Pixar films, such as A Bugs Life or even Toy Story, Cars holds up well. It certainly surpasses Dreamworks best efforts, including the much-touted Shrek (Sorry, Im not a fan)
Cars once again demonstrates both Pixars incredible technical savvy as well as their knack for storytelling. To do this movie right, Pixar had to design a world where there are cars but no people. They had to make this world both natural and familiar. They also had to transpose emotions onto objects. They manage these challenges wonderfully, and viewers will quickly accept the reality the film offers. The casting is a big help in this. Paul Newman, Owen Wilson and Michael Keaton lend their distinctive voices to the main characters and that counts for a lot in an animated film.
The storyline is familiar enough, but thats forgivable in a movie that primarily meant for children, and the animation is more than stunning enough to make up for any predictability. My message is, dont go in expecting the depth, character or excitement of the Incredibles, but do go in expecting to be entertained and visually blown away. If I can help just on person skew their expectations right, Ill have done my job. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful Ring Around the Rosie, 2006Posted: 11/18/2006A review of Ring Around the Rosie by G_Weir You havent heard about this movie. Thats not so bad as I believe Tom Sizemore hasnt heard of this movie, even though hes in it. Thats how drunk I think he was.
Ring Around the Rosie isnt very good, and the reason for that is that it is terrible. That may seem like a simple witticism, but theres more to my summary than just wit. The film is badly written, poorly shot, weakly performed. Its nearly impossible to tell whats going on, and anything that might be even the slightest bit frightening is so buried in a rush of edits, jump cuts and the absolutely most ridiculously overproduced sound effects you have ever experienced, that no coherence escapes. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful  SyrianaSyriana is a compelling film that is as manipulative as it is powerful. Like director Stephen Gaghans previous project Traffic, Syriana takes an important, complicated issue in the case the human price of getting oil into your car-- and diligently presents the many, often-unsavory aspects of the process. However, as with Traffic, Gaghan has already made his mind up about the issue, and since he is working with fiction, all of the characters behave in ways that support Gaghans opinions. Its not a terrible thing, to make a film that hopes to raise awareness of the what oil dependency does on both the supply and demand sides of the equation, and Gaghins not nearly as shrill in his condemnations as others might be, but as with Traffic, he tends to go one toke over the line.
Flagrant manipulation aside, the film is exceedingly well made, capably written, and wonderfully performed. George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffery Wright and Chris Cooper are all at the top of their games and youll find yourself engaged by their characters motivations. Other actors fare less well, partly because their characters exist only to serve as archetypes. Amr Wakeds Muslim prince is a fine example his only job to show what the Middle East might be if well, lets just say if things were different.
In the end, Syriana is an engrossing examination of the nearly incomprehensible tangle that is the oil trade. It might have been a better film if Gaghan had back it off a notch. As it is, Syriana is like Platoon, if Oliver Stone had ended the film with the U.S. dropping a nuclear bomb on Hanoi not content to show a fictionalized account of whats really going on, Gaghan includes fictions that trivialize, rather than condemn, the attitudes of real life. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful Suicide KingsPosted: 10/19/2006A review of Suicide Kings by G_Weir Sometimes a person who is very good at what he does can make it look so easy that you might wonder why everyone isnt doing it. Then someone less gifted tries, and it becomes clear just how talented the original innovator really is.
This is the experience of watching Suicide Kings, director Peter OFallons 1997 stab at Pulp Fiction-style crime banter filmmaking. Rather than being an entertaining mix of tension, laughs and deep characterizations, Suicide Kings plays as a collection of Tarantino standards thrown together by an amateurish hand. Watching it, I was reminded of why most gangster kidnap thrillers dont include long sequences where a hitman talks about how hard it is to find good cowboy boots these days. Tarantino gracefully invented the hitman small-talk cliche in Pulp Fiction, but in Suicide Kings, even with Dennis Leary doing the talking, these inessential dialogues are boring, and worse, strike the viewer as unrealistic. Suicide Kings is filled with similar moments, where character we are not invested in wittily discuss things we dont care about.
The most redeeming feature in the film is Christopher Walken. Cast as a retired Mafioso who is kidnapped by a motley collection of college age would-be bad guys who are in way over their head, Walken effortlessly portrays the menace, candor and left-handed geniality the role requires. The overwritten, overacted twenty-something gang of kidnappers, by contrast, comes across as irritating mass of caricatures, and Its easy to imagine Walken treating his young castmates with the same mix of fatherly disdain that his master hood shows towards his captors. In the end, he is equally unable to prevent them from making lasting mistakes. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful The Gorilla - 1939Posted: 10/14/2006A review of The Gorilla by G_Weir The Gorilla is a pretty standard goofball comedy murder mystery- the Ritz Brothers could be replaced by Abbot Costello, the Three Stooges or even Crosby Hope and it wouldnt make much of a difference. The plot is predictable, the supporting actors are weak. The only small distinction this film affords is found in the improvisation, and that is where Harry Ritz shines. Harry is funny. Even if his brothers never quite distinguish themselves (and seeing them fail to do so only adds to the Marx Brothers acumen see Harpo once, and you never mistake him for anyone else ever again), Harry is the real deal. Mel Brooks knew it, and seeing Harry do his shtick for the first time after years of watching Brooks is like seeing Marylyn Monroe after growing up on Madonna- you finally understand what that performer was trying to achieve.
But as good as Harry is, he cant save the picture. Its a weak effort shot on a cheap set around a shabby script. As I said, its sometimes difficult to pick the other Ritz Brothers out of the crowd that rounds out the murder-in-a-giant mansion story, and the only other actor who really showed up to work that day (or perhaps even knew how) is Legosi, whose only job here is to be menacing, and Legosi could do that reading tax codes.
In the end, I can only recommend this picture as a curiosity, which is too bad. Harry and his brothers might have been something, if Groucho and his brothers had left any of the limelight for them to share. But as if is, well know The Ritz Brothers by the people they have influenced, and not by their own efforts. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful Dead Again 1991Posted: 9/20/2006A review of Dead Again by G_Weir While far from a prefect film, Dead Again is perfectly enjoyable. The agile screenplay provides a wonderfully broad canvass, jumping from the seedy office of a modern-day Los Angeles private eye to the grand mansions of 1940s high society with a delightful ease. Star and director Branagh put together a great cast-then-wife Emma Thompson, Andy Garcia, Robin Williams, and Derek Jacobi. Stars such as always dependable, always fun to watch Wayne Knight and Campbell Scott fill the smaller roles. Wayne Knights photographer talks with a whistle in his s, theres a running gag about what it means to be a smoker, some of the actors get to appear as very old versions of their characters, and it all ends with someone impaled on a garish sculpture that could only exist in a film just like this.
Some of it is corny but that is exactly the point-no different than the crazy house Welles finds himself trapped in at the end of Lady from Shanghai. This isnt real life, its a movie, and movies dont have to challenge, educate or improve us. They can just entertain us, and this one succeeds in that. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful Fastest IndianPosted: 8/4/2006A review of The World's Fastest Indian by G_Weir Director Roger Donaldson takes the brilliant true story of a 60 year-old new Zealander who brings his WW1 -era India motorcycle to the speed trials in Utah and sets a land-speed record of 200 mph and crams so many quirky characters and false sentimentality that the storys drama and Hopkinss wonderful performance get hopelessly lost amid the drag queens and cigar-chomping Texans.
In a way, its unforgivable that a film with such rich material to draw upon gets bogged down for so long with so many random encounters with characters we neither believe in nor care about. More than half of the running time is wacky-character filler detailing Munroes journey across America to the world land speed trials in the Utah salt flats! This is a true story where an interesting old man hopes to compete in one of the most exciting contests in the world, and they filmed more of the trip than the destination! This is like making Jurassic Park and spending 85 minutes on Dr. Grants adventures in passing customs. In fact, this movie does have a pointless customs scene! Munroe is detained! For no reason! And they film it!
So you dont need to see this movie, although Hopkins does a great job and the actual speed trials are well presented if staggeringly uninformative. Whats the old land-speed record? What category, specifically, is Burt competing for? Best check Wikipedia, because the film wont say. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful EulogyYou know what kind of movie Eulogy is going to be from the opening scene Zooey Deschanel is shown approaching the front door of a suburban house with something on her mind. A voice-over gives us a clue Ive had to deliver bad news to strangers twice before in my life. The first was to a cat owner during my drivers exam The entire movie is right there every joke will be carried one step too far. See, she didnt just run over a cat, she did it during her drivers exam. Every situation is handled just the same way, pushed to caricature and beyond, until the characters and situations are no longer even remotely identifiable as things that might have happened, and in a dark comedy thats counting on your sympathetic reaction to the story, this is a fatal mistake.
The plot is about a dysfunctional family gathered to see their father into the ground, and of course his will states (of course) that he should have a Viking funeral with the burning longboat and all that. Its as if there was a person working on this film whose sole job was to render every situation as unrealistic as possible while stopping just short of time travel, dinosaurs or vampires.
No one is spared from this notion that humor lives in situations turned way past ten. There is a twist at the end, of course. The dad, Rip Torn, had two other families. Thats why he was never homehe was off with his two other families! By this point, youre just glad Rip Torn is getting a check. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful The Caine MutinyPosted: 7/10/2006A review of The Caine Mutiny by G_Weir Bogart made a career out of playing unshakable characters Rick, Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe- but he could also break down like no one else, something we saw in Treasure of the Sierra Madre and again here in the Caine Mutiny. Bogarts over-extended U.S. navy captain is a complicated, richly-nuanced creation that we only get to see in certain lightsusually bad ones, which leads us, and the crew of his ship, to certain assumptions that may or may not be accurate. And right there to inflate the meaning of Bogarts every sliplarge and small--is Fred McMurrays equally well portrayed and equally complex first lieutenanta persuasive man who champions ideas that have little to do with his own convictions.
The third of the great performances in this film comes during the climactic court martial hearing, where naval attorney José Ferrer owns the courtroom (and the screen) performing a duty he would rather not have, but doing it to the utmost of his ability. It is interesting to watched this scene after Tom Cruise covered similar territory in a A Few Good Men. Unlike Cruises conflicted, in-over-his-head attorney, Ferrer never worries, never frets, and the film is made more real by the idea that am man in his position knows what he is doing, and is good at it.
To younger viewers Theres going to be some crappy special effects of a ship in a storm. Hey, it was 1954deal with it. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful AvengersPosted: 7/9/2006A review of Ultimate Avengers: The Movie by G_Weir The world is learning that direct-to-video doesnt have to be bad. The Ultimate Avengers is a sound example its a hoot, a blast, Im glad I watched it and if you have any love for Captain America, the Hulk or Thor, you should watch it as well.
But brace yourself, because this isnt your fathers Captain America Marvel has once again pressed the reset button on their universe, dumping the 50 years of history many of these characters bring, and have started from scratchwith big changes. The script is based on the Ultimates comic book from a few years ago, and while there are changes from the storyline, these changes are almost always for the better. There are far less celebrity cameos than in the comic (thats right, the comic had celebrity cameos) which makes the story more timeless, and the biggest change -- the introduction of an alien threat --gives the arc greater continuity and by giving the Avengers something to fight apart from each other, something the comic sorely lacked.
Despite these changes, the heart of the characters remain true to their earliest incarnations, and that should be enough for even the more old school fan to enjoy the film. When all is said and done, Ultimates one step up in quality from Cartoon Network favorites such as Justice League Unlimited and hundreds of levels below a real animated feature film like The Incredibles but it gets enough right to make this a solid, watchable adventure. For example Captain America is the least-superpowered of the group, but still the baddest guy in the room, and thats as it should be. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful Dickie RobertsPosted: 7/1/2006A review of Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star by G_Weir David Spade has had his moments, and he has a few more in Dickie Roberts. But they are few and far between, and the rest of the movie isnt worth the popcorn youll spill on the floor when you at last fall asleep from lack of amusement.
Its odd because the overall premise seems a strong oneformer child star burns out and grows into a terrible failure, both professionally and as a human being, and who better to oscillate between adult bitterness and childlike sentimentality than David Spade? Throw in John Lovitz as Spades long-suffering agent, add a handful of real former child stars (including Alyssa Milano from Teen Steam) for verisimilitude, get some jerks in there for Spade to play off of, and call it a day, right?
Well, they called it a day a bit too soon. The whole thing is like a easy-mix cake pulled out of the oven too early. Some of the situations, such as Spades solution for driving away his host-familys neighbor, are so anemic that you wouldnt buy it if you saw it on The Flintstones. And the movie is stuffed with jokes just that weak. It all seems very lazy. Was this review helpful? Sign In 0 out of 0 users found this helpful Good cast and good stuffPosted: 6/25/2006A review of Good Night, and Good Luck. by G_Weir Good Night and Good Luck wastes no time establishing the 1950s as an age distant from our own. The opening images of a salute to Ed Murrow convey a sense of weight that becomes central to the idea of the 50s everything we see, the people, the furniture, even the martini glasses, seem grounded, possessed of a solidity that speaks of a time where wood was wood, steel was steel, journalists were heroes, and everyone smoked.
I say everyone smoked, and you read it, but until you see the film, you wont understand it. Cigarettes blaze in every hand in nearly every shot. Everything that happens, every decision that is made, comes at us through a haze of cigarette smoke. This further sets the film apart from us, removes effectively it to the America of 50 years ago.
In the end, the film left me with no feeling of triumph or remorse. I appreciated the lessons the time had for our modern age, but these were no great revelation. In the end tis picture is a wonderfully crafted, beautifully shot, superbly acted time capsule. It is itself an opulent civics lesson. Everyone should see it, but while you will be engaged, you may not be entertained. While you may learn some facts, the film delivers little real understanding. That distant world is in the end too far removed from our own. Was this review helpful? Sign In |
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