reviewId int64 363k 588k | userId int64 33.9k 15.9M | itemId int64 1 1.42M | rating float64 1 10 | title stringlengths 1 10.9k ⌀ | content stringlengths 81 11.6k ⌀ |
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513,579 | 3,223,254 | 283,742 | 2 | Nice scenery but . . . | ' Inspiración ' isn't . For those who have the patience to sit through this Mexican extended novella , discovering that other countries are capable of producing the kind of summer chick flick messes that Hollywood cranks out ad infinitum will be the surprising reward . Written and directed by Angel Mario Huerta and sta... |
513,250 | 3,223,254 | 301,771 | 2 | Rent a Husband Italian Style | ' Mariti in affitto ' ( ' Our Italian Husband ' ) is sort of a mess of a movie . Ilaria Borrelli wrote and directed this bilingual film and apparently lost track of her story during the making of it . The Italian language portions are supplemented by English subtitles , but the English , when spoken , is so distorted b... |
512,751 | 3,223,254 | 470,765 | 2 | An Acquired Taste | Christopher Guest is a creative spirit who has been able to make some very funny films like ' Best In Show ' where his technique of avoiding a script by giving his cast of actors an outline as matrix for a scene , letting them ad lib the idea a couple of times , then accepting the second or third take as the final prod... |
512,906 | 3,223,254 | 419,946 | 2 | If meant to be a spoof , it is passable : " Come on baby light my fire " | For the first half hour of this movie the viewer may get the idea that the script Michelle Gallagher and Alan B . McElroy is just awful ( with good perception ! ) , but as the film's story evolves the idea that this may just be a National Lampoon parody of action flicks - and if that is the case , it is truly a funny b... |
513,000 | 3,223,254 | 252,266 | 2 | A Used Story , Used Production Techniques : A Tired Movie | BEEPER is the product of those films that deal with kidnapping of a child with the only connection with the perpetrators being by cell phone or other mechanical devices supposedly to enhance the tension of identifying the bad guy . By now the story is so used and tired that it takes a spectacular gimmick to make it fly... |
512,830 | 3,223,254 | 884,328 | 2 | A Movie with Many Problems | THE MIST has the full panorama of responses , from those who find it ' the best of the Stephen King story adaptations ' to those who find it a feeble attempt to wed science fiction with biblical predictions . Frank Darabont has successfully brought King's popular horror stories to the screen with great success . For th... |
512,982 | 3,223,254 | 322,700 | 2 | Ennui would be a kind descriptor | Clocking in at just under two hours , I LOVE YOUR WORK leaves the viewer feeling as though from the opening sequence that stones have been tied to your feet and your body thrown into the very deep and dank water to slowly settle into the mud at the bottom . Sound dreary ? Then avoid this little mess of a film . It is h... |
513,175 | 3,223,254 | 386,588 | 2 | Where oh Where was the Script Doctor for the Date Doctor ? | Now and then movies with big name stars and expensive production budgets and PR hype that convince audiences that the Rapture is at hand hit the mat with a thud - and this HITCH is floored in the first half hour ( of an overly long two hour movie ! ) . Using a script that uses every cliché from the myriad other films t... |
512,702 | 3,223,254 | 402,022 | 2 | Running out of Comic Book Characters ? Try MTV Anime ! | AEON FLUX is an embarrassment . With the number of gifted writers creating meaningful dramas begging for cinematic adaptation burgeoning , why Hollywood continues to make these bloated sci-fi / fantasy driven , flat stories that were only created as static eye candy games in the first place , into movies just begs an a... |
512,976 | 3,223,254 | 285,175 | 2 | Havoc it is | If there is some justice to misjudging investments in movies , then the fact that this film went directly to DVD despite the presence of a crew that includes some impressive names is notable . Writer Stephen Gaghan ( ' Traffic ' , ' Rules of Engagement ' , ' Syriana ' , etc ) has composed a contrived script about rich ... |
512,805 | 3,223,254 | 320,159 | 2 | Perhaps this was made as an Aussie Vendetta . . . . ? | ALL THE WAY ( aka THE NIGHT WE CALLED IT A DAY ) is a docudrama of sorts : it is based on a true incident that happened in Australia in 1974 and still is grumbled about today . Why this flimsy film was made in the first place seems only due to lasting resentments on the part of the Australians at the arrogant and crude... |
512,833 | 3,223,254 | 484,740 | 2 | Gabriel García Márquez ' novel ' El amor en los tiempos del cólera ' without the Magical Realism | For devotees of Gabriel García Márquez this unprofessional adaptation of his sweepingly romantic novel ' El amor en los tiempos del cólera ' will sadly disappoint . Ronald Harwood's screenplay is a patchwork quilt that attempts to tell the story of longing for love in the manner of a novella / travelogue and despite th... |
513,532 | 3,223,254 | 443,453 | 2 | Comedy ceases to be funny when it is demeaning | Curiosity drove this viewer to see BORAT : CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF America FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN . Especially when the Golden Globe nominations pegged both the film and the star as candidates for potential honors ! ! ! ! And though many very fine reviewers find this film worthy of praise , the re... |
513,560 | 3,223,254 | 473,188 | 2 | A Dreary Rehash of the Too Familiar Drugs / Gangster / Bad Cop Story | How this story of freeing a deadly criminal from prison to act as a stand-in for an at large criminal ( Bobby Z ) to bring revenge and closure to corruption on every level of the playing field can continue to be reproduced ad infinitum will remain a puzzle . This tired , poorly acted , hyper kinetic desert film wastes ... |
512,836 | 3,223,254 | 211,933 | 2 | Silly | AWAKE would be better named ' audience wake up ' as the minimal novel idea of the story loses credibility so quickly that the development of the subplots become increasingly tedious and silly . Joby Harold both wrote and directed this film and despite the presence of some fine actors , the film remains grounded . Clay ... |
513,025 | 3,223,254 | 460,887 | 2 | Pass on this Takeoff on Horror Films | Jason Paul Collum both wrote and directed this little film that resembles a gay ' Fatal Attraction ' without the benefit of a tight script , good actors , suspense , or sophisticated effects and camera work . Sadly it boils down to a fifteen-minute story spread out over an almost interminable 2 hours . The story involv... |
512,747 | 3,223,254 | 318,081 | 2 | An Amazing Mess ! | Ray Bradbury , run and hide ! This tacky film version of his short story from the 1950s about time travel and the effect it might have on de-evolution is not well known from the theatrical run ( did it have one ? ) and exists now as a DVD on the shelves released during a slow week . What looks to be a fancy sci-fi thri... |
513,044 | 3,223,254 | 418,819 | 2 | Obviously there is an audience for this product . . . . | George A . Romero enters with yet another installment in his banal and grossly visual zombie flicks and hopefully this will be the last of them . Obviously there is an appreciative audience who enjoys watching partially decomposed bodies stomp around and grunt and eat body parts of the living because a lot of people wr... |
512,652 | 3,223,254 | 465,142 | 2 | Perhaps if you like American Idol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | American DREAMZ is a pitiful mess of a movie , a film that seems as though it wants to be a satire on the Bush administration , on talk show hosts , and on our current state of mindless entertainment that seems to keep high ratings and low IQs neck and neck . The story , what little there is , involves a bored talent s... |
513,072 | 3,223,254 | 955,298 | 2 | ' In Camera " | THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER in the form of a novel by Kim Edwards was a highly successful bestseller and probably was featured in more reading groups than any other novel during its circulation . So what happened when the novel became a made-for-television movie ? Perhaps it is the below mediocre screenplay ( oops ! ,... |
512,699 | 3,223,254 | 249,082 | 2 | Even Diane Keaton and Paul Sorvino Can't Save this Mess ! | PLAN B has the appearance of a quickly made , unedited , sloppy script for a movie with the attempt for an outing for the actors involved - an outing that should have been nixed from the start . It is just another Mafia-based ' comedy ' that has nothing new and lowers the standard for those participating . Joe Maloni (... |
512,788 | 3,223,254 | 273,689 | 2 | I'm going to tell you about the last seven days of my life | When a film begins with a statement like this from the main character , it usually means that a biopic about a terminally ill patient is coming or that the director wants to make it clear that you're in for a downer . In IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE it is clearly the second alternative . One has the feeling that Thomas Vinterbe... |
513,265 | 3,223,254 | 808,279 | 3 | ' Funny ' as in ' Strange ' , NOT as in ' Ha-Ha ' | FUNNY GAMES is Michael Haneke's English language remake of his own German success from 1997 by the same name . While is takes some interesting twist and turns as far as technique of film-making goes , the story lies somewhere between repulsive and prolonged boring , and is not a film this viewer would watch again . We ... |
512,827 | 3,223,254 | 460,435 | 3 | Unsuccessful Attempt to Update Henry James ' Classic Novella | Hollywood is fond of updating classic tales : Shakespeare is the author most often reconfigured , at times with great success , at times not . The intellectually stimulating works of Henry James have been brought to the screen and making visual the inherently cerebral stories come to life . Such , sadly , is not the ca... |
512,680 | 3,223,254 | 294,870 | 3 | A Committed Cast Salvages Rent | Having seen RENT on the stage with the eardrum assaulting , miked sound from each performer's head mike coupled with the small but deadly ' pit band ' this viewer rented this film with trepidation . And after paying close attention to the transfer of the play to the screen little has change in feelings about this work ... |
513,248 | 3,223,254 | 407,269 | 3 | Low Expectations , Better Results | Watching TRUTH ABOUT LOVE ( is this a double entendre about the star ? ) is like plugging in white noise or manufactured water sounds to help you sleep - you put it in the DVD slot because there is nothing else left on the store shelves and you are in need of distraction after a hectic day . And it works for that for t... |
513,187 | 3,223,254 | 409,182 | 3 | The Poseidon Sinks Under Its Own Over-Produced Weight | Summer pickings for movies this year is amazingly slim , explaining why perhaps more people are being drawn to the DVD release of Wolfgang Peterson's clunker POSEIDON that the quality of the product deserves . Probably the temptation of the state of the art CGI effects positioned Peterson into ' recreating ' the 1972 t... |
512,640 | 3,223,254 | 363,048 | 3 | Thin Thread of a Story for what appears to be Brazilian Travelogue | ' Saudade - Sehnsucht ' ( THE LONGING ) is a film by writer / director Jürgen Brüning who seems to have taken a vacation from Germany to Brazil with some friends and decided to make a movie as a means of entertainment . This film is less about characters and story development than it is about Brazilian beaches , snorke... |
513,518 | 3,223,254 | 489,664 | 3 | A Suspenseless Suspense Movie | SHATTERED ( also known as BUTTERFLY ON A WHEEL ) is one of those films that starts out with a solid cast of highly respected actors to pull audiences in and then proceeds to squander talent in a script that should be still on the reject shelf . The film has all the markings and big budget of a major Hollywood money mak... |
513,514 | 3,223,254 | 499,556 | 3 | For Lovers of Violence Only | WAR sets up the viewer with promises ( Jason Statham , Jet Li in his first movie as a straight actor i . e . post-martial arts ) , but for the most part those promises are not delivered . What is put on the screen for what seems like an endless evening is more killing with guns , knives , fire , explosions , and every ... |
512,912 | 3,223,254 | 810,077 | 3 | An Idea That Never Takes Flight | THE UNTOUCHABLE requires patience on the part of the viewer - patience to stay with this sullen , dark and clunky film to the end only to discover the wait was not worth the patience ! Writer / director Benoît Jacquot had a good idea : trace the search for a biological father to a country foreign to the seeker . What r... |
513,723 | 3,223,254 | 365,480 | 3 | My Dinner with Ennui | Wallace Shawn wrote the very fine ' My Dinner with Andre ' , a talky but sensitive film that created a niche for conversational stories without plot . Sadly the qualities of that play to film result did not make it with his MARIE AND BRUCE . On paper it looks as though this strenuously boring film should be worth watch... |
512,726 | 3,223,254 | 858,479 | 3 | Smart Actors , Dull Movie | SMART PEOPLE seems an inappropriate title for this film about chronic losers . Though Mark Poirier's script makes a point ( just because someone is intelligent doesn't make them ' smart ' ) , the concept quickly grows thin as the one-note song plays out without closure or redemption . It makes one wonder how a cadre of... |
513,312 | 3,223,254 | 407,031 | 3 | A Documentary with Embellishments the Wears Out its Welcome | For the first fifteen minutes the story of NAKED FAME is interesting : two late thirties male porn stars in a seemingly healthy relationship decide to leave the Porn industry and try for the world of singing and acting . The two very buff and preening men are Colton Ford and Blake Harper . With the aid of Kevin Aviance... |
513,128 | 3,223,254 | 427,968 | 3 | Formulaic Survey of Loopy Relationships | TRUST THE MAN is a director and a scriptwriter ( Bart Freundlich ) looking for a reason to justify this shallow , ill conceived , and ultimately boring movie . Supposedly we are to examine role reversal in modern marriages and the rise of the feminist to the head of the household . This is about stay at home dads , suc... |
512,848 | 3,223,254 | 816,160 | 3 | Parody and what it is not | Joe Castro wrote and directed THE YOUNG , THE GAY AND THE RESTLESS with an obvious attempt to make us giggle at just how preposterous the daytime TV soaps are . In many ways he manages to show us that madness : quick scenes between characters that flash on and off the screen in seconds with only a few lines delivered t... |
513,115 | 3,223,254 | 427,650 | 3 | Starts Nowhere and Continues on that Path | Irving Schwartz , lighten up ! As writer and director of this strange little movie he seems to have a weird perception of the world himself . There is a limit to the punishingly sad story lines that can make it to film and this one clearly falls into that category . Jen ( Piper Perabo ) is a funky , grossly outfitted b... |
513,594 | 3,223,254 | 468,965 | 3 | Disintegration of lives loosely connected | The original title of this bleak film - WHEN A MAN FALLS IN THE FOREST - was inexplicably shortened to the nebulous WHEN A MAN FALLS for the release of the DVD : had the original title been retained , the audience may have been given a clue as to the intended message of the story . This is the second film for 26-year o... |
513,716 | 3,223,254 | 1,034,306 | 3 | Tired and Trite Story only partially saved by Carice van Houten | There are two reasons to rent this DVD : Carice van Houten who is becoming one of the finest actresses on the screen today and the scenery of Ireland . Otherwise this tedious and silly ' thriller ' is a tired unimaginative rehash of all of the previous movies about multiple personality disorders such as The Three Faces... |
512,870 | 3,223,254 | 278,487 | 3 | Only If You Love Venice . . . | Mike Figgis makes a supersized attempt to be artsy in this meandering film . The problem is that the story is so flat because there is no one about whom we can care . After the first confusing messy thirty minutes ( John Malkovich sitting behind prison bars at a dinner table for no apparent reason other than to offer i... |
512,654 | 3,223,254 | 293,660 | 3 | And the Glitzy Martial Arts Mimics Just Go On and On | ' Tian mai chuan qi ' ( AKA ' Touch ' ) follows in the well paid path of the really gorgeous films that came out of Hong Kong and China ( Crouching Tiger , Hidden Dragon , etc ) but it raises the question ' Just how many of these small story visual epics are palatable in repetition ? Michelle Yeoh recognizes successful... |
512,656 | 3,223,254 | 452,594 | 3 | Enough Already ! | THE BREAK UP is one of those tiresome ' comedies ' that Hollywood grinds out on the basis of star power . In this case the star power begins with a story written by Vince Vaughn ( along with Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender ) , suffused with the same Vince Vaughn that is the ' character ' for all his films , and the DV... |
513,214 | 3,223,254 | 349,155 | 3 | And for those interested in campy parodies . . . . | then here is a little VERY low budget film that barely reaches the tolerable level for most , but for those who delight in over-the-top spoofs , it may just appeal . One wonders just how these ' Bollywood ' spoofs escape criticism from the fine film makers that come out of India ( Deepa Mehta's trilogy , for example ) ... |
512,653 | 3,223,254 | 102,343 | 3 | A Silly Tale Used Countless Times Before , but HERE'S Sandra Bullock ! | The title of this flimsy little outing of a film from 1992 - LOVE POTION # 9 - should give you an idea of where you're headed if you rent this movie : hackneyed story about two science geeks ( Sandra Bullock and Tate Donovan ) whose experimentation with a ' love potion ' obtained from a gypsy ( Anne Bancroft playing An... |
513,221 | 3,223,254 | 383,648 | 3 | The Impossible Dream Meets Over the Rainbow | When film credits don't include the writer / s names , problems can be expected . This little candy-coated attempt to explore how ' dreams really do come true ' is more a music video than a full fledged film , a project where obviously the money was spent on the graphics of the opening credits and the staged musical nu... |
512,863 | 3,223,254 | 304,678 | 3 | A Wordy , Meandering and Tiresome Diatribe That is Anything BUT a Comedy | As one who loves films that appeal to intellectual sorties as well as those that simply tell stories , this film should have been appealing . But as written and directed by Catherine Breillat who seems to be playing out her own conundrums in film-making experiences , this tedious and talky film fails to arouse interest... |
513,584 | 3,223,254 | 395,699 | 3 | Whew ! Pack away your brain and watch this one for the kids | There are legions of fans of Vin Diesel who would buy a ticket for everything he decided to make - and for good reason : the guy has charisma and screen appeal . But THE PACIFIER is one for only the most devoted Dieselers , those who also have a very high tolerance for the sugarcoated , happy-wappy , Disney flicks that... |
513,499 | 3,223,254 | 387,214 | 3 | Hidden Subtexts Offered in a Minimalist Film from Beijing | Zi'en Cui is a young cinematic artist producing provocative films in China , and though this venture is not wholly successful , it does show promise of a young filmmaker of cautious bravery . FEEDING BOYS , AYAYA may not be the film the DVD jacket cover suggests , but is a work that informs us of many of the current ch... |
512,749 | 3,223,254 | 798,717 | 3 | ' And save the best for FIRST ' | AVAILABLE MEN is a very mixed bad of short films about gay subjects that very from excellent to weak . Fortunately for the film's success the series opens with the very finest of the shorts , the AVAILABLE MEN of the title . As written and directed by David Dean Bottrell is a takeoff on the standard confused identity s... |
512,887 | 3,223,254 | 413,268 | 3 | Examining a First Attempt | Steven Vasquez directed and co-wrote with James Townsend , the star , this strange little drama cum horror flick with evidently very good ideas and intentions : make a gay film that takes a different storyline than the usual fare and make a drama that wants to be judged on its merits as a thriller . So why doesn't it w... |
513,230 | 3,223,254 | 405,861 | 3 | Intrigue Deal over $6 / gallon Gas - We're Already Over Halfway There | THE DEAL was made when the idea of paying $6 per gallon of gas would spark international intrigue : now that we're well over $3 . 35 per gallon that price seems less than shocking ! The concept of showing how big business and the government cover up the absurd under the table Deals such as the one that is the focus of ... |
513,655 | 3,223,254 | 396,269 | 3 | Guess you have to be in the mood for this one . . . | Comedies based on ideas and lines that play for laughs at the expense of other people's dignity have been increasingly flooding the cinema market in the past years . They usually tend to be summer blockbusters and because they make a lot of money and attract record crowds there must be need for them . Go figure . Vince... |
513,474 | 3,223,254 | 489,070 | 3 | A Hollywood Version of an Independent Creative Film : Ding ! | Mario Van Peebles has done some good work in his past but this bizarre , confusing , silly dud is not one of them . The script feels like someone gave a party for wannabe writers , told them each to submit a plot for a far out film , then mixed them all together and came up with a hash that in the end is merely a re-do... |
512,781 | 3,223,254 | 367,188 | 4 | Witnessing the Bohemian Life of Paris , 1919 : Artists Awry | MODIGLIANI is a difficult movie to review . It has some very strong features such as the cinematography that captures the artsy feeling of Paris 1919 and , despite excesses , manages to create some visuals of hallucinations and the wild madness of painters painting canvasses ; a rather complex peak into the lives of se... |
513,517 | 3,223,254 | 1,085,496 | 4 | Nice Sea Oats , Clover , Ocean Rocks , but . . . | ROCK HAVEN seems to have its heart in the right place , showing the conflict between the religious right and human sexuality that occurs between two young teenagers , but the script is minimal , uncomfortable in saying what it really wants to say , and in the end the resulting film is a long drawn out series of a few s... |
513,599 | 3,223,254 | 457,513 | 4 | A Woody Allen Relapse | Woody Allen seems to have two personas : one writes and directs works such sensitive works as Matchpoint and Interiors , the other writes and directs himself in silly slapstick movies that only a Woody Allen fan tireless of his old used jokes and self promotion can tolerate , such as Scoop . This flimsy film seems to h... |
513,392 | 3,223,254 | 398,375 | 4 | Pretty Banal Storyline but with some Good Moments Courtesy of the Cast | Rumor has it that this is a pretty banal movie . The rumor is true . Ted Griffin , the screenwriter from Pasadena , and a writer with some pretty fine screenplays under his belt ( Matchstick Men , Ocean's Eleven ) , somehow felt the need to cash in on the re-release of the classic film THE GRADUATE about his hometown i... |
513,633 | 3,223,254 | 171,356 | 4 | Slapstick Mixed with Psychology | GUN SHY is a peculiar movie , one that purports to have a significant storyline but one that splinters ideas all over the place , leaving the viewer wondering what all the fuss is about . ' Charlie ' Mayeaux ( Liam Neeson ) is a bummed out DEA agent fresh from a bungled case yet given an important assignment to break a... |
513,249 | 3,223,254 | 449,000 | 4 | Being True to Yourself | For those expecting the cover art and story outline to indicate another entertaining Bollywood Indian production , beware : no musical dance numbers or songs of production value exist to brighten the mood in this rather tired story of arranged marriages in the British Indian culture - with a few variations thrown in . ... |
513,048 | 3,223,254 | 348,150 | 4 | A Sweet Little Illustrated Fairytale | SUPERMAN RETURNS is actually closer to the original intention of comic books for kids than most of the other incarnations . Kids bought comic books for the color , the action , the hero who represents the guy who can set a ditsy world straight , and a bunch of feel good sidebars that pay homage to mothers , other kids ... |
512,709 | 3,223,254 | 427,229 | 4 | Another ' Oh , well . . . ' movie | FAILURE TO LAUNCH certainly is . The formula of placing eye candy stars in roles that require little more than one walk through rehearsal before filming seems to be a trend to satisfy the public , who unfortunately keep supporting these 20-minute sitcom ideas stretched beyond the limits of elasticity into a movie lengt... |
512,945 | 3,223,254 | 399,146 | 4 | A Good Idea Flawed by a Thunderously Bad Script | David Cronenberg has a style with his films that is unmistakable : he is unafraid to address the darker aspects that lie within us all . That he pushes this idea over the limits of viewable film is reflected in some of his popular films such as ' Dead Ringers ' , ' The Fly ' , ' Spider ' , ' eXistenZ ' , ' Naked Lunch ... |
513,105 | 3,223,254 | 417,976 | 4 | Visual Splendor Tattered Around the Edges | In WU JI ( ' THE PROMISE ' ) Kaige Chen has attempted to surpass the major Chinese epics of recent years with mixed results : there are moments of stunningly beautiful color and a story that is more human than the grand films by others , but the end product is too tampered with crude computer graphics and cheesy scenes... |
513,330 | 3,223,254 | 399,201 | 4 | A Good Idea in the Beginning Trickles off into Noisy Nothing | Had the writers and director of THE ISLAND been able to sustain the fascinating first half hour of this flimsy film , the result might have been an enlightening examination of the current discussion of cloning . But as soon as the movie captures our attention it fizzles and what is left is two and a half hours of noisy... |
512,750 | 3,223,254 | 473,024 | 4 | Streetball , Underground Money , Dreams , and Resolutions | CROSSOVER has style . Writer / director Preston A . Whitmore II makes up in visual technique and pacing what he lacks in a somewhat tired script , and simply sitting back and watching the movement for this viewer makes the movie worthwhile . The story details the mechanisms of the underground betting on streetball in D... |
512,688 | 3,223,254 | 119,896 | 4 | Hardly an Original Story , but Aniston is a Pleasure in her Metre | PICTURE PERFECT is truly a bit of fluff , a story that has been posed many times before in other successful date movies , a movie that would easily be dismissed were it not for the reminder that Jennifer Aniston has a finely honed sense of comic timing that keeps her in the top of the league for actresses in this metre... |
513,469 | 3,223,254 | 96,037 | 4 | Once in a While a Bit of Nostalgia Suits the Palate | SATISFACTION is not a great movie by any shakes , but taken for what it was meant to be - a slightly naive tale of a girls ' band that has a summer of adventure , love and opportunity for the big time nut opts instead to become just a group of life-long friends - it is a well done bit of pastiche . Thanks to the simple... |
512,645 | 3,223,254 | 417,907 | 4 | The Dynamics of Small Town Boredom : A Metaphor ? | Tom Zuber has great credentials in Law but seems to prefer to dabble in the territory of cinema . Having not seen his debut film LANSDOWN ( 2001 ) it is difficult to judge from LITTLE ATHENS ( 2005 ) if he is improving with age , but looking at LITTLE ATHENS on its own merits it seems a bit sparse in idea and in produc... |
513,167 | 3,223,254 | 410,162 | 4 | Even the Best of Intentions . . . | THE KING MAKER will doubtless be a success in Thailand where the similar ( but superior ) ' The Legend of Suriyothai ' set box office records . The film directed by Lek Kitaparaporn after a screenplay by Sean Casey based on historical fact in 1547 Siam has some amazingly beautiful visual elements but is disarmed by one... |
513,495 | 3,223,254 | 422,029 | 4 | Another Dysfunctional Family Ramifications Film | CRUTCH is a film you want to like : it feels honest , from the heart of the autobiography of writer / director / producer / actor Rob Moretti , and it aims to deliver a statement about the dangers of drug abuse and how to conquer it . The problems with this film are 1 ) it all has been said and shown before , 2 ) the c... |
513,260 | 3,223,254 | 379,976 | 4 | A Lost Dog Collar : Impact and Consequences | SAVING GRACE is screenwriter Howard A . Rodman's adaptation of Natalie Robins and Steven M . L . Aronson's brutally realistic book by the same name of a famous wealthy family's downfall . Director Tom Kalin has previously proved that he can successfully mix biopic with drama ( ' Swoon ' ) , but alas in this tedious fil... |
513,607 | 3,223,254 | 386,669 | 4 | A Huge Budget Period Piece from Canada : All Parade and No Circus | Much can usually be forgiven in period pieces that ask us to recall important historical events and spice them with enough love interest to keep the story going . BATTLE OF THE BRAVE tackles the 18th Century struggle for the control of Quebec ( an all of Canada ) between the British and the French with sidebars form th... |
512,651 | 3,223,254 | 327,153 | 4 | A Little Film Full of Fine Ideas , Some Under-realized | Writer / director Jorge Ameer may just be another edgy filmmaker waiting for larger budgets to set his ideas afire ( think Gus van Sant , Gregg Araki , etc ) . Reading all the comments and reactions to this film is fairly good evidence that he is a controversial filmmaker - and that will probably work in his favor . He... |
513,604 | 3,223,254 | 424,115 | 4 | An Intrigue with some Nice Twists , but Entirely Predictable | Edgardo Viereck is a Chilean writer / director with a lot of good ideas but with hefty need for a partner to help him create a film that holds to those thoughts . GENTE DECENTE ( ' Decent People ' ) as a title is a terrific start for telling a story about deceit and cheating and irresponsible friendships - a tasty non ... |
513,145 | 3,223,254 | 416,449 | 4 | HaRoo , HaRoo , HaRoo : Cinematic Overkill | Writing a review of a film such as ' 300 ' when not a fan of comic book style , superheroes , violent games carried on by children's hand held instruments , a film so overwhelmingly popular with the public that it promises to be the largest grossing film in history , and a film based on a 1999 ' graphic novel ' ( read ... |
513,618 | 3,223,254 | 454,987 | 4 | Revenge on the Rocks with a Twist of Comedy ! | There are ' chick flicks ' and there are ' guy flicks ' and LET'S GO TO PRISON definitely falls into the latter category . Adapted from a novel ' You Are Going to Prison ' by Jim Hogshire by screenwriters Ben Garant , Thomas Lennon and Michael Patrick Jann and directed by Bob Odenkirk , this light film seems to be a ' ... |
513,191 | 3,223,254 | 324,127 | 4 | A Film Saved on DVD Release by the Featurettes ! | Having been warned by friends and fellow Amazon reviewers that this was a film to avoid , I rented it to see why all the negativisms . There is a big difference between what the public saw on the big screen and what the DVD produces , and for once a film is better because of the added information on the DVD than when i... |
512,853 | 3,223,254 | 496,350 | 4 | Fright Flight | THE MARSH is yet another scary movie to satisfy the apparently inexhaustible demand for fright films of this genre . It is obviously a low budget film that suffers from a silly script resurrecting tired themes of communication with ghosts and the intervention of paranormal specialists . Successful children's book autho... |
513,646 | 3,223,254 | 368,555 | 4 | How to lose your interest . . . . | Jordan Hawley wrote and directed this dark ' comedy ' about the current state of love / hate relationships in Los Angeles ( or inability to create same ) with about as much panache as yesterday's onion rings . The storyline has been used so many times that the tread is off the tires . LA ghostwriter Owen ( Paul Schneid... |
513,040 | 3,223,254 | 430,357 | 4 | But the photography is good . . . . . . . | Miami VICE , a film surrounded by rumors and preconceptions and a lot of money , is pretty much a bore - if story is important to you . Michael Mann is a talented director and knows how to move action sequences and capture vistas and light versus darkness , and he can be reliable in creating character interplay . Can b... |
513,478 | 3,223,254 | 419,706 | 4 | For Lovers of Video Games | DOOM , believe it or not , is based on a video game ! With all the literature of the world , all the fine screenplays that are stacked on the shelves , all the creative stories that languish in the ' not for profit probably ' bins , it seems a raw commentary on today's movie audiences to spend millions of dollars on a ... |
512,997 | 3,223,254 | 781,435 | 4 | A Very Slow Evening | Honoré De Balzac's novel ' La Duchesse Du Langeais ' has been transformed by screenwriter Pascal Bonitzer for the screen as ' Ne Touchez Pas a la Hache ' and the result is a mixture of proscenium stage pictures , and scenes separated by written dialog that merely lets the viewer know such unnecessary details such as th... |
513,331 | 3,223,254 | 417,001 | 4 | Fluff yes , but played for all its worth by a fine cast | MUST LOVE DOGS is everything you'd expect it to be with a title like that : a silly rehash of internet dating , this time with older candidates all recently divorced , trying not to appear to ridiculous in this cyberworld of instant matchmaking . The script is weak , the story old hat , but with a cast like this , who ... |
513,206 | 3,223,254 | 482,572 | 4 | Enough Already ! | The current glut of good cop / bad cop movies has drained all the energy of future similar stories and PRIDE AND GLORY is as good example of this satiated appetite as they come . Despite some riveting performances by a group of some of our better actors - Edward Norton , Colin Farrell , Jon Voight , Noah Emmerich and J... |
513,100 | 3,223,254 | 387,877 | 4 | ' The Black Dahlia ' : A Misnomer of a Title | Brian de Palma made an odd decision in creating this apparently very expensive , very strange and confusing version of a film , a movie less about the grisly / twisted unsolved murder ( grossly illustrated ad infinitum here ) of a wannabe 1940s actress of the title and more about two boxer cops ( bland Josh Hartnett as... |
512,801 | 3,223,254 | 273,517 | 4 | Maybe we're just not supposed to understand the occult world | DARKNESS is a movie struggling under the burden of an impossibly puerile script . Had the writer Fernando de Felipe and director / writer Jaume Balagueró taken a bit more time to develop the underlying basis for this Gothic suspense excursion into night they may have had a stronger result . As it is the reasons for all... |
513,235 | 3,223,254 | 372,532 | 4 | A Little Lark | THE WEDDING DATE gives the viewer everything that could be expected from the title - vapid story , implausible situation , an array of clothes and pretty people , and a story that can be followed while reading the paper or browsing a magazine . But what makes this little film charming is the degree of commitment from s... |
512,672 | 3,223,254 | 1,084,950 | 4 | Can this really be a Jonathan Demme film ? | RACHEL GETTING MARRIED proved to be an entry card for Anne Hathaway's Oscar nomination , and while she turns in a strong performance , there is really very little else to recommend this film so unlike the work of Jonathan Demme . Written by Jenny Lumet , the story of a dysfunctional family on the weekend of the marriag... |
513,398 | 3,223,254 | 426,615 | 4 | Usher is a bright presence on the screen | IN THE MIX is a fairly routine Hollywood gig on mixing spinning with mob crime sidebars and interracial relationships . It isn't a great movie but it does give Usher a chance to strut his stuff in a remarkably subdued and charismatic fashion . Darrell ( Usher ) is a spinner in a club , a start at a dream of owning his ... |
512,683 | 3,223,254 | 244,684 | 4 | Nessun dorma . . . ZZZZZZZZZZZ | Jochen Hick wrote and directed this little thriller of a suspense film based on the concept that the AIDS virus was a sheep virus mutated by the government to rid the world of gays and was apparently tested on convicts in the years before the outbreak of the hideous disease . Were it not for the poignancy of the concep... |
512,965 | 3,223,254 | 353,273 | 4 | ' Made for TV ' Look and Substance - the Old Way | In a time when made for television films from HBO in particular and Showtime et al seem to be taking more chances with riskier topics than those flooding the theater screens , along comes CARRY ME HOME with a thud that hearkens back to the whiny tearjerkers of twenty years ago . While the premise of the story appears t... |
513,485 | 3,223,254 | 348,333 | 4 | A Summer Doldrums Filler of a Film | Reading reviews of this slight little ' comedy ' , it seems the positive accolades come primarily from people who have been waiters : that is a good thing because it means writer / director Rob McKittrick managed to duplicate the experiences ' behind the scenes ' of our eating establishments with authority . But a film... |
512,684 | 3,223,254 | 359,013 | 4 | Deliciously Silly Sequel : Laughter Returns to the Comic Books ! | BLADE-TRINITY is a fantastical ride of a movie that even those of us fatigued by the larger-than-life comic book hero flicks literally poured out weekly onto the hungry theater big screens can tolerate . The production values make the most of clever weird appliances and nasty structural situations that defy reason : th... |
513,110 | 3,223,254 | 376,994 | 4 | Interesting to See State of the Art Computer Generated Graphics | Never a fan of the comic book hero outings , this viewer watched X-MEN - THE LAST STAND with a bit of mental prejudice : action heroes capable of destroying everything in sight at the glance of a weird eye or the motion of a hand have just never seemed entertaining . But given that stance , watching this very colorful ... |
513,678 | 3,223,254 | 401,855 | 4 | Viktor's Wings as the Star of the Show | Some movies are created for special effects carnivals : a subservient storyline serves merely as the glue to hold together 106 minutes of action . Films such as UNDERWORLD - EVOLUTION is one of this genre and if the viewers take it for that they won't be disappointed . Writer ( with Danny McBride ) and Director Len Wis... |
512,706 | 3,223,254 | 398,029 | 4 | Lots of Story Threads and Variety of Actors Stumbling to Find a Plot | THE LAST DROP could have been a better WW II film had the writer and director decided on the focus . The directorial choices vary from very fine ( mixing black and white grainy shots from war footage with stagy though competent settings in color ) to questionable ( allowing a musical score including steel guitar music ... |
513,444 | 3,223,254 | 432,906 | 4 | The Question Arises : Why Was This Film Made ? | Maria Solrun wrote and directed this slim film that purports to be a coming of age film ( yes , yet another ! ) with too few variations from the ordinary to make it remarkable . Picture This ! productions can usually be counted on to bring us interesting conceptual films : this one simply doesn't belong . Jargo ( Const... |
513,714 | 3,223,254 | 386,504 | 5 | Chasing Stories in the Haven of Grand Cayman | Frank E . Flowers is a newcomer to the cinema scene and his early outing HAVEN shows both the flaws and strengths of early work . Seemingly under the influence of the current successful trend of movies with multiple stories that are shot in cross sequence to show enigmatic interrelationships ( BABEL , TRAFFIC , CRASH ,... |
512,969 | 3,223,254 | 382,615 | 5 | Not so Cool | This film COOL ! is the last film made by Theo van Gogh , a vociferous advocate for free speech and the great-great-grandson of Theo van Gogh , brother of the famous Vincent van Gogh , before he was murdered in 2004 by Muslim extremist following a television documentary on the mistreatment of women in the Islam sector ... |
513,642 | 3,223,254 | 433,363 | 5 | A Rather Routine Sci-Fi Thriller - with a Major Exception | Who can tell why this film was made ? FORCE OF IMPACT ( aka DEADLY SKIES ) was apparently made for TV though it seems highly unlikely that it was ever screened . Not that the story itself is a problem : giant asteroid is sailing toward the earth with the potential of destroying the planet unless someone is smart enough... |
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