Movie Reviews & More
Birth (2004)
This was a weird one. I leave Sarah to her own devices, free movies from the library, and she comes home with some strange choices.
The basic premise, as the box will tell you, is that this woman believes this 10 year old boy is the reincarnation of her dead husband. Nicole Kidman does an awesome job of making this believable, but it doesn’t change the fact of how creepy this movie gets when she starts to fall in love with this little boy. So not only does it make me nervous from some weird perversion, I also have to put aside my problems with the ideas of reincarnation, which isn’t at all possible when it comes to the beliefs of Christianity.
The movie is filled with long, dramatic, pauuuusessss. Music sets the mood and reactions further the disbeliefs that all of the main characters have when this little boy starts to reveal facts that only the dead husband would know. But through the whole movie, you wait in anticipation of some sort of payoff, but it never comes. Things seem to be a little unresolved. Kidman falls for the little boy, she believes that it is really her husband, and you wonder how the movie is going to end.
Then, one character, his apparent lover, throws a wrench in the picture. He denies he is who he said he was, and Kidman marries another man, ending the movie in some crazy dramatic event where she seems to be on the verge of suicide. Does the boy lie, saying he isn’t the husband because of this alleged affair with another woman he was having, that this would cause problems later if he went through with everything? Does kidman go wacko because she knows deep down it is him and feels like she’s lost him again? Does she try to kill herself on the beach, where they met to be with him in another life? You see what I mean, I don’t really know, there is no resolution, and you sort of care during the course of the movie, but you sort of don’t.
I wouldn’t recommend this movie to many people. Only if you like things that are a weird and something you’ve never seen before would you want to check this out. Which as I find as I grow older, includes me at times. If I have to research the meaning of a movie after it is over, that may mean I sort of liked it.
Vanity Fair (2004)
Who’s in it
Reese Witherspoon, Gabriel Byrne
What was good
Reese Witherspoon was beautiful as usual, but didn’t do much on the acting front.
What sucked
The previews made this movie seem like it was about Reese Witherspoon seducing men until she got to the top. From what I remember she was actually more ordinary and didn’t rise all that much on the social ladder.
Who should go see this
I don’t think I would recommend this to anyone. It is cool to see most attractive women in this older dress with the bustier but that wasn’t enough to warrant anyone to see this. I would say pass to anyone who would ask.
Hitch (2005)
A truly funny and original movie. Will Smith and Kevin James are a more natural pair up then it would seem.
Will Smith plays “Hitch”, a dating doctor of sorts. He makes opportunities for his clients to be noticed by a woman that they are interested in. He then coaches them as how to treat them and keep them long term. Kevin James is an accountant who is in love with a celebrity socialite, and is one big clutz.
I haven’t ever seen Kevin James in a movie, but he does a nice job of toning down the over the top fat guy from his “Kind of Queens” to a believable and hilarious middle aged man without a clue. Eva Mendes (Smith’s interest) is an intelligent sexy girl who plays the guarded hurt girl that is unattainable. She does a great job, and this was one of her better roles, as “Stuck On You” was not. Oh, and she’s easy to look at.
As the movie nears the end, we find that Smith is not only trying to help guys with the opposite sex because of a scar he has from a past relationship, but that it also gives him the chance to be indirectly involved with a woman, without getting hurt. He is wary of letting women get to close, and although isn’t fake, has a certain persona that he holds during most of the movie.
Smith is the suave guy every man wishes he was, and Kevin James is the hope that any loser can get a great girl. A great movie, every person should see this one. The only reason that I didn’t give this one a full five is that the ends gets a little mopey and sloppy. It may have needed it, but the end seemed really cliche.
A Civil Action (1998)
This movie was just as good the second time I saw it as the first.
It is ironic though, that this movie really is about lawyers and the games they play and their hardships, than it really it about the case at hand.
John Travolta is partners in a firm with William H Macy, and well, two other guys. They have this case dropped on their desk that seems like a long shot. A case that involves contaminated water that has been killing children in a small town in significant numbers. Travolta is used to sure fire wins, easy settlements outside of court, and doesn’t see how he can win. But he is quickly blinded when he realizes that they parent company of the manufacturer they are going after has a ton of money.
A painful movie, that doesn’t have a happy ending, Travolta risks it all and loses. You get a glimpse into how people can get to be when they are desperate for money and how that tears age old friendships apart. Travolta’s nemesis on the other hand is Robert Duvall, who is evil to the core, and by the end, you learn to hate him more for his character than those who are at fault for contaminating the drinking water.
A funny and poignant movie, it is hard to describe. In the footsteps of any smart lawyer movie, like The Rainmaker, this is involving to the end. I gave it four stars because I wouldn’t watch it over and over, but a great movie nonetheless.
The Pacifier (2005)
I’ll never watch this movie again. This was so damn dumb I was embarrassed for Vin Diesel, and felt bad for Brittany Snow in her first movie role off of “American Dreams”.
I like Vin Diesel. Great actor, no. But a fun action star with attitude. I thought this movie would be cute, big tough guy in the suburban setting like it was pitched in the previews. Hardly. Even the funny parts in the previews weren’t funny.
Heavy shouted dialogue was the norm for most of the cast in this movie, and the idea was so far fetched, that made the wait for some savior of a payoff even worse.
The basic idea, is that Diesel is undercover, trying to find this missile disabling technology. Everyone is out to get him, even the “Asian Spy” neighbors. Right.
Don’t see this, anyone. I was pissed that I spent two hours of my life on it, and glad I only paid $1 to watch.
Firefly : TV Series (2002)
I wouldn’t normally write about collected, debunk TV Series’, but everyone in my circle of friends is talking about this, so I took the time to gather some of my own thoughts.
A series written and created by Joss Whedon, who I knew through a comic he wrote called Fray, this is the story about 9 crew mates aboard the Serenity, a futuristic ship in a futuristic world set in space. Traders, thieves, and saviors, their pursuit of the almightily dollar to keep them alive puts them in all sorts of weird situations.
This series doesn’t star anyone you know. But is has been so popular in DVD sales, that there is going to be a movie released in September by the name of Serenity starring the exact same cast.
I enjoyed parts of this more than others, and overall I still feel a little lukewarm. I think that it was technically handled ok, but it does seem to focus on relationships and these relationships are always taking the back seat to the story. You never get close to any sort of climax with any of them, it is a cross between some WB drama and the backseat role characters take on a CSI show.
The movie, however, looks really cool. It focuses on two of the characters, refugees, a doctor and his sister. The doctor is a whitebread Harvard type who broke his sister out from government confinement where they were doing all sorts of weird experiments on her brain. I think the show can’t really get into how powerful she is, but we will see that in the movie as it focuses around them running away and trying to escape, and save her in the process.
If you are curious, I would say try them. I won’t guarantee anything. I probably wouldn’t watch but one or two episodes again, but like I said, I feel like I really know these characters now because of the great job Joss does of building them up, and I think that will add that much more to the movie.
The Notebook (2004)
A classic story of romance, this is a solid movie. Nothing outstandingly original, just a good American story steeped in classes and how we balance the wants of others when it comes to love.
The movie is revealed through a book, a book read by an older man to what seems like an irritable older lady. The man seems quite upbeat to be with what seems like this crazy lady, but quickly she is calmed down and interested in the story he has to tell. It is about a poor boy that brings all the excitement and dreams to a young socialite girl that she could ever want. It is a summer romance, but they fall in love. She goes back home, and he goes through a myriad of different things, including fighting in World War II.
Noah (Poor Boy) comes back from the war and rebuilds an old, dilapidated plantation house, one he had dreamed about with Allie (socialite girl). Meanwhile, Allie has moved on, her mother has interfered with her relationship with Noah, trying to protect her. Allie is engaged to James Marsden (Lon or Cyclops from X-Men) and seems to be happy. Then she sees and article about Noah and the house, and decides to go back to “settle” some things. All that results in is an amazingly passionate kiss on the dock in the rain and the two of them sleeping together. In the end she makes the right choice.
But, the focus of the movie draws back to the man and woman. It becomes apparent that this is Noah and Allie, but older. She has dementia, and everyday he reads this book to her, to help her remember. It is very touching.
In the mood for a romantic story, this is funny, and everything seems natural from the characters actions to what they say. Granted, there are some hokey parts with the older couple, especially the ending. But overall a great movie.
