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Film
Prophet's Movie Reviews Page 2
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Starring George Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson, John Turturro, Holly Hunter,
John Goodman, Chris Thomas King
Film Prophet's Review...
Digging and beetles nightly sounds open the film where convicts are in
chains singing in a group melody, the only side of relief to escape
their rough work. Three men do in fact escape however and are considered
as drifters. Based upon Homer's Odyssey and the Coen brothers written
screenplay, they turn out to be adventurers at various opportunities on
a hunt for an unidentified treasure while they meet several interesting
people who include of a crazy, hysterical bank robber, a black banjo
player, and a bible salesman. Clooney has done a great job at acting
carrying the movie, but it is the supporting cast who should be
congratulated as well for making this movie triumph in unique aspects.
Tim Blake Nelson and Jon Turturro act well off each other and the rest
of the cast is magnificently portrayed. The picture is not too colorful,
where the Coens used selected colors per shot such as a blend of brown
through the movie. The Coens maintain a marvelous satisfying story
through the Depression clichés, Baptists, Ku Klux Klan, and music lovers
with a radio station. The dialogue uses somewhat of a witty speech, but
not that often at all. There are somewhat humorous scenes too. "We're in
a tight spot." Wonderful examined setting of the 1930s on a ranch-like
environment and the screenplay of surviving and freedom from being
someone's slave. The theme is brought out by religious superstitions
such as washing away sins and baptism. Clooney's character doesn't
believe in this, but is redeemed towards the end of the film. The real
commotion is when the three convicts with the banjo hitchhiker record a
song in front of a blind man who pays them money to sing and become a
sensation in their town as they don't even know about it after recording
one song because they are out in the forests. There are evil, mean men
who don't mind the law resorting to abusive crime and violence that
examines forms of guilt against the convicts and it is ironic where two
convicts are washed of sins and now face other people who carry terrible
burdens against them because they are less superior. They story goes
along while they still do not know that they are the performers of
Mississippi's hit song. Clooney's character has a wife, Hunter, with
many daughters and she is embarrassed for him as Clooney attempts to
bring her back to him. Perhaps the best scene is when they are in
disguise singing on a stage in front of many people, including clips of
Hunter during the performance like she is shocked and happy for Clooney,
when the crowd stands up wild and claps for them, finally discovering
the artists of the song. The song's lyrics are so moving and it's a
reason why the soundtrack won best album that year for a Grammy. The
scene was so powerful and emotional escalating everything and since
music is their only entertainment and aspiration at the time of
Depression. The people love them now even if a person proclaims them as
fugitives, showcasing that they are forgiven as sinners.
Final Grade: B+/B
Goodfellas (1990)
Starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul
Sorvino
Film Prophet's Review...
An aggressive, daring team of characters as gangsters called The
Goodfellas in over three decades between the 1950s-'80s New York puts
the movie on a ride of crime contrary to the malevolence cops to the
mob. The declining life of being a gangster is shown where they had it
all and must rebuild. The story opens with the turning point of a murder
and shooting of a guy in a back of their trunk, which is later revealed
what that was about in the middle of the film. A lovely working
screenplay of a tale of a man, Liotta, through crime growing up with an
abusive father and manly friends almost raising him as if he will become
a gangster like them. He observes their daily life at a young age and
wants to become one of them, which he does. Liotta's serene narration
points his view of life where people feared Jimmy, De Niro, as cops,
judges, and security all accept cash bribes in the '50s and '60s. They
got their cash by robbing the airport for money and later dealt cocaine.
They got this money not to buy expensive gifts to attract government
officials and the media, but just to make a living and put food on the
table to make their way around. Director Martin Scorsese's exposition is
detailed much so as his Casino movie and it's nevertheless engaging. If
the director isn't De Palma, Scorsese, or Coppola for a mob feature,
then it's an imitating gangster movie after this year which were
basically all awful and that's why this movie is considered most
appreciated. It's a complement to Coppola's The Godfather and Scorsese
sticks to his recipes of making a true great work of art. The camera
says a lot where the movie excelled at framework of a coherent notion of
the eye. All the women and wives of The Goodfellas were categorized to
dress the same with their hair up, pearl necklaces, high heels, too much
cheap makeup, big earrings, and narrow dresses. They were special to the
guys and were served and treated to fancy restaurants impressing the
woman. Noting where Henry, Liotta's character, marries his woman,
Bracco, the view from the wife's look with her mother shows as he is
living in two families. She begins to take up his attitudes and manners,
but will seek no more without him. There's a scene where Henry stands up
for his girl violently after being harassed and beats a guy down in the
face with his handgun in his driveway. Excellently directed by the
acclaimed Martin Scorsese, where the classic gentleman beat downs on the ground
created an iconic brutal approach. De Niro and Scorsese have a
practiced, captivating director and actor relation that it is great to
see. The Goodfellas make a big idea out of the littlest things,
especially Pesci's character, who doesn't take any remark from nobody
and reveals pure Italian anger. The life as a gangster goes through
Henry and takes a journey in another track of nervous wreck. The viewer
never knows how close someone is to be getting killed because of greed,
paranoid, money, or anything, in this though out deep story. "Today
everything is different. There's no action. I have to wait around like
everyone else." By and large, it's a true story of how gangsters
controlled an entire community. Scorsese is sheltered in the Italian
tradition of storytelling where it develops time after time not
centering around one plot in particular, but continuing a journey of
their lives through decades of being a gangster through pinnacles.
Final Grade: A/A-
Eurotrip (2004)
Starring Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts, Travis Wester, Michelle
Trachtenberg, Jessica Bohrs
Film Prophet's Review...
Recent high school graduate Scotty, Mechlowicz, is everyone's average,
innocent friend. His girlfriend, Kristin Kreuk, dumped him right during
the graduation ceremony where he finds out later that night at a party
that she's been dating a rock singer, Matt Damon. At home, when Scotty's
German online buddy suggests they meet, he initially freaks out as he
sends a rejection e-mail to the buddy because he thought the buddy was a
guy due to a German name of Mike he didn't understand, pronounced Meeka.
She turns out to be beautiful from a photo so he goes to Europe with
three friends to find a girl who wanted to come to America to meet him.
Conversely, he is going all the way to Berlin to see her as they travel
across Europe and have dozens of comical misadventures, where they end
up humiliated in every chance they have high hopes for. Some breasts,
beer, and internet mishaps so we have a movie right... no. That's not
how it's done to earn a tremendous grade in Film Prophet's book, unless
someone is gratuitous and unwise to praise these films. Apparently,
there are some ridiculous moments, yet watch able. Though, there's way
too many drunken scenes and explicit sexuality than any movie ever and
it's not a solemn funny comedy. A perfect teenage this year with a great
story is The Girl Next Door as it excelled at everything within the
genre and then some, even if it is somewhat similar to Risky Business.
This movie has little hilarious one-liners or some visual humor and
concentrates more on the flow of the story so it can go somewhere, but
it just consists of hot women who reveal themselves and beer rather
putting the viewer in a strip club show front view than a movie theater.
It serves no purpose with all the forms of stupidity acts, and of
course, there is going to be the occasional underage alcoholic party
with a bunch of teenagers from no where. I guess the robot movement
fighting scene and the nude beach were two of the few entertaining
spots. "There's no nude girls here. There's just guys like us looking
for nude girls." The American exchange rate dream scene was pretty cool,
"Oh a nickel, you see this, I quit." The movie captured the whole
European setting well on a tourist standpoint and on a comical view too.
It was also directed fine as a side-splitting movie where it improved
all around Europe as the story flew while being carried away at time and
went as far as scorning the pope. The low-brow humor and the lead
character of Scotty was too mediocre for Film Prophet. Another teen
movie resulting in another happy ending.
Final Grade: C/C+
Jackie Brown (1997)
Starring Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Robert De Niro,
Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by Quentin Tarantino, Jackie Brown, Grier, is a flight
attendant who gets involved in a Los Angeles money deal tied up between
two sides of the police and the main dealer, Jackson. Millions of cash
becomes tempting to take during the money exchanges and this troubles
Jackson, who plays a violent abusive character obsessive over his money
deals, to agonize about friendships and trust, which Jackie Brown
changes sides and goes undercover to redeem herself. Surrounded by a
retro dance beat from the '80s funk pop class, Film Prophet from the
start of the movie was pretty impressed by the writing, acting, and
camera angles. Quentin's screen writes are endlessly terrific while he
adds in some daily life ordeals that many people face with comical
substances as it's not even a comedy and it's still funny sometimes.
Surprising casting... Sam Jackson acts as a weapon dealer, who is always
amazing at his roles. De Niro is a bum bank robber, who has the best
face reactions while acting. Put the two of them together and it makes a
clever duo for diminutive time they are on screen together. Fonda had an
enticing, alluring role as a druggie who answers Jackson's door and
phone calls at home while she just lays on a couch in a skimpy outfit.
She also smokes dope with the bum in Jackson's place all day. Chris
Tucker also has a minor act for no more than ten minutes in this movie.
Tarantino put his luggage on Pam Crier to carry the entire movie though,
her biggest role of her career, who really didn't do an excellent job. I
was afraid of this because her filmography isn't familiar to anyone and
because of this, I was not attached to her character which didn't give
much of any personal effects to concern over whatsoever. Her character
really had nothing to do with being a flight attendant as the movie lost
some plot attachment. It would have been cool to see something happen in
the first hour other than random conversations by various appearing
characters. The first few were neat, but then they went no where real
fast as the move stepped down to a boring level past the thirty minute
mark about some drug business and Jackie Brown going to jail. Reasons
for this is to expand the movie since there were more than three primary
characters at different times and the fact it was way over two hours
long of conversations. The resolution was just there... nothing
spectacular. Definitely not among Quentin's most notorious work.
Final Grade: B-/C+
Army of Darkness (1993)
Starring Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Richard Grove,
Ian Abercrombie
Film Prophet's Review...
Bruce Campbell stars as Ash and for over an hour and a half, he has a
kicking machine attitude. What an awesome character Ash is... the movie
starts out as a slave retelling his story how his life disappeared for
the first few minutes of the movie. Ash was awkwardly sent back in time
to some nasty medieval period and he can care less about their standards
and morals and just wants to get back home. Ash arrives as a prisoner
and he was treated miserable... even some kids teased him and was stoned
while he was dragged in chains for the wrong person. He finds himself as
a slave and forced to battle hideous zombie creatures in a pit. He kills
a bunch of zombies with his own feet and chainsaw, climbs out of the pit
alive, and kills a bunch more of zombies later on. The villagers are all
shocked and realize he must be inimitable with a shotgun and a chainsaw.
He talks about his shotgun and how to, "Shop Smart, shop S-Mart,"
offends their liberality, scares some people away, and ends up making
out with their hottest woman. In the middle of the movie, he counters
with his evil twin and throws him in a grave after hellish painful traps
by little cloned demons and throws dirt on his face. The movie ends with
Campbell killing more zombies all over the place. It's a nightmare story
for anyone to imagine. Ash wants to go back home and doesn't mind
anything else in his way to retrieve a book called the Necronomicon, but
not if an army of fierce skeletons can get it back from him. The Army of
Darkness is released out and Ash is their only hope now to these selfish
people who once stoned him as he helps train them and builds weapons for
a kicking machine battle. In the zombie hell slasher, Sam Raimi worked
well on the violent content and special effects to expose screaming,
stupidity acts, and horror. The choreography at the final war sequence
was pretty entertaining as well. The movie isn't brilliant, but it is
certainly fun to watch.
Final Grade: B/B-
Caddyshack (1980)
Starring Michael O'Keefe, Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray,
Ted Knight
Film Prophet's Review...
Danny, O'Keefe, is a young caddy who starts to raise money to go to
college by being a caddy. He examines the life as a golfer and at the
same time, he is deciding what to be when he gets older and weather to
take up college. By being a caddy, he can earn the prized scholarship.
On the other side of the caddy and golfer relationship, there are a
bunch of comical golfers who do goofy things to get attention. These
golfers are not professional, but they continue through harsh weather
conditions because they have love for the sport. At a halt, the movie is
over-rated in many ways. Director Harold Ramis creates average character
development and direction as the movie was not really all exciting. The
writing consists of a bunch of clowning gags mixed together with cunning
jokes, which aren't funny. Bill Murray is splendid as a mental defective
who has his mind on capturing a sneaky groundhog under the golf course.
Chevy Chase has his occasions, but the rest aren't that very funny at
all. Although, Dangerfield is the highlight of the film and personally I
think he was the best and his voice is always alluring. The movie needed
to speed up the plot because it was too slow. It created not just one
strong, single plot, more willingly, a bunch of subplots. The writing
was at a low since it was lacking a story. There were no antagonists,
rivals, matches, not enough Bill Murray, no stipulations or
circumstances, no revealing competition, rather, a leisure activity, but
it should not be classified among the best sports movie ever made.
Comedies during the '80s had a tone of laughter and a sense of humor
that people wouldn't laugh at today. The movie wasn't outrageous as
comedies are today, more of just nomadic silliness that attempted at
comical situations. Those situations were not as appealing or fun as I
expected. Film Prophet was disappointed and fluffed... not one laugh by
Film Prophet. In spite of everything, the movie was inventive starting
the gathering of many more sport comedies down the road.
Final Grade: C
Sanjuro (1962)
Starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Takashi Shimura, Kamatari
Fujiwara, Yunosuke Ito
Film Prophet's Review...
Film Prophet is back again with Akira Kurosawa's directed movies where
this one is a sequel to Yojimbo. Toshiro Mifune returns to star in his
film, who always brings a sharp fascinating, strong presence. Years
after the Japanese emperor disbanded the samurais, one, Mifune,
befriends a group of homesteaders and helps rescue a girl and an old
woman. A man and his fellow kinfolk, with help of the samurai, also save
and search for his uncle, who has been arrested and framed by a corrupt
superintendent lord. The samurai is comfortable and the respectable
clansmen find themselves aided and outclassed by him as a wise drifting
outsider. The observation of Kurosawa's samurai movies are influenced by
American Western views and tend to marginalize the objective and
performance. Kurosawa is always plausible when he is respectful of
Japanese customs. The motion and momentum of his films he generates is
immense. Akira's editing always uses those wipes to show scene
transition as well. In recent Akira movies Film Prophet has watched,
they have been lacking in samurai combat, but not this one. There is not
too much to make it overly violent, but it did need more entertainment
since it relies heavily on its dialogue. It's also confusing sometimes
that the characters all look too similar, except Mifune, and especially
when the viewer has to read English subtitles. They always yell at each
other too, except Mifune. The story shows an elderly generation of
clansmen with ritual shaved off hair on the top of their heads.
Naturally, Mifune is the best because his character always rocks. People
offer him for his protection and gets free food and kills some Japanese
men in the meantime with honor. His character always remains calmer than
the others and he always thinks to himself that they are dumb, which is
funny. Kurosawa and Mifune have an excellent chemistry together from a
direction to leading actor stance. While the movie makes a point on
trust and traitors, it's yet another satisfying theme of unspoken
samurai code of honor which is what being a samurai is addressed about.
Final Grade: B
The Great Dictator (1940)
Starring Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald
Gardiner, Carter DeHaven
Film Prophet's Review...
A satire story by Charles Chaplin between the two World Wars where
Chaplin acts as two characters. He is Adenoid Hynkel, the dictator of
Tomania, and a Jewish barber, displaying a rags and riches view on both
sides. In Chaplin's first full talkie, the barber recovers from amnesia
to find out Hynkel is persecuting all Jews in his country. They both
look very similar as the barber is mistaken for the dictator at the end
of the film. The movie does a super job exploring the first world war's
battlefields. Technically, it's stunning at the time the movie was
developed. The story starts off with a clumsy soldier who makes his way
up with stand up speeches to become an insanity political leader in a
comical aspect. His life is documented. but it doesn't really specify
any nation in general, which is why the movie gave the country name of
Tomania instead of Germany, who is on the part of the losing side from
World War I to many years of depression. It's a component of an allusion
with the Nazis and Jews as well. Times have changed for Chaplin and it
was strange first off hearing fast pitched voices in a Chaplin movie and
it's different without seeing context frames. The movie has more
dialogue than the usual visual comedy and it's not too often that anyone
will remember Chaplin speaking. The casting was terrific... I love the
addition of Paulette Goddard in the film. She brings a delightful
commitment and involvement to her character. Her performance is probably
among the best female captivating acts in a movie from Film Prophet's
standpoint. I was overwhelmed when she showed up on screen every time...
wonderful. Her character is a Jewish woman who lives next door in the
ghetto to the barber shop. The barber, who is the other Chaplin, gives
her hope to fight back against the Tomania troopers not alone. There is
a scene where the cops are assaulting Chaplin as the barber owner for
trying to remove a painted word of Jew on his window, which shows just
how corrupt the law enforcement is. The first time the movie has a
glitch of the two characters is when the person in charge of that is the
person who the dictator saved during World War I, not the barber, as he
is mistaken for his identity. Thus the movie shows two views of life...
the working class and the political class. The dictator is an important
role figure for many as he is asked for everything and is a very busy
man. He has to decide when to invade countries, call a declaration of
war, and when to sign treaties with other countries. Alternatively, it
captures a bit of the hiding period of isolation of Jews and the fear of
discovery by the storm-troopers to take them to prison camp, but the
troopers are given orders that they can't harm them though. The Jewish
plan was to overthrow the tyrant government somehow, but instead, it's
done by a blunder. As relevant, the highlight of the movie is when the
barber stands up and delivers a final speech in front of many people,
who the people think it is the dictator, at the end about conquering,
helping, freedom, hate, and greed, which is near likely the most
powerful speech ever delivered in a movie.
Final Grade: A-/A
Alien Vs. Predator (2004)
Starring Sanaa Lathan, Lance Henriksen, Raoul Bova, Colin Salmon, Tommy
Flanagan, Ewen Bremner
Film Prophet's Review...
Hoping to entice a Predator clan deep down two-thousand feet below ice
in Antarctica using Alien eggs, an assembled team of scientists and
archaeologists are caught in an intergalactic war between two
tremendously violent species, the Aliens and the Predators. As the war
begins, the human expedition team is cut in numbers as they struggle to
survive the horrific measures of battle within their territory. It's a
sci-fi creature action movie surrounded by Aztec designed sets and
Egyptian carvings, which explained the story and the reasons to the
viewer and to the human cast. The movie opens with a brief look at a
spaceship as in the Alien movie and it introduces the human team. A way
to make the central character of a woman look fit: Climb a tall icy
mountain. Sanaa Lathan did pretty well actually as the leading actress
in charge. The group of humans are rounded up across the globe,
consisting of a bio-med engineer and the original Bishop. There is more
dialogue in this than the original Alien with less paused staring
moments too. The cast has unrecognizable performers, but that's alright
since they basically lose anyways during the movie. The movie makes the
viewer wait for some encounters and it does happen at a reasonable time
and not too late at all. It's not over technical, dull, or violent...
more of an ideal mesh of it all. The Predators have scientific vision,
invisible thrown long blades, which are creatively cool, and an ability
to appear and re-appear, which the effect makes the Predator characters
look more sweet than the one in the original with Arnold. However, Alien
will always be the creepiest, coolest science fiction villain. Aliens
lay eggs in humans as prey and for the predators, they hunt. Both are
far more advanced than the humans who are unprepared as they are in
their way when all the humans can do is run. Remarkable horror sounds
and terrific various combats between the two as it crafts up
entertaining with some humorous parts as well. This movie is the second
best horror film of the year so far behind Dawn of the Dead.
Final Grade: B-
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Starring Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries, Tina Majorino, Aaron
Ruell, Haylie Duff
Film Prophet's Review...
"Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills." In a small town in
Idaho, Napoleon Dynamite, Heder, turns out to be a hero to some in his
moon boots. He lives with his grandmother and his older, unemployed
brother, Ruell, who chats with his mystery online girlfriend from
Detroit. When the grandmother leaves, his uncle, Gries, comes to
supervise them. Napoleon also meets a new student at school Pedro,
Ramirez, and a secluded girl named Deb, Majorino, whose hobby is a
glamour photographer, as he becomes friends with them. Although, they
are losers in the eyes of the jocks and the stuck-up pretty girls, one
in particular named Summer, Duff, who runs for Student Body President
and at the same time, Pedro tries to run too. It's a high school comedy
without the usual booze, nudity, drugs, sex, rock music, or anything
disgusting in that matter, and it is still top-notch laugh out loud
comedy. Stylistically, the movie is exquisite. The direction puts the
technical work aside and focuses all its attention on one individual's
life. Napoleon is the odd one left out of the picture in the beginning
who talks awkwardly, but intellectually. He is tender and when he
speaks, his eyes are almost closed. He is bullied around, people ignore
him, speaks his mind, gets mad too quickly, and tries a Tae Kwon Do
program with his brother, but decides later down the road to practice at
dancing instead. Well-done acting... bravo to the writer. The supporting
cast filled in nicely time from time, especially the talent of Tina
Majorino. Jon Heder made his character so likeable during the bad, inane
times going through high school... it's very effective. The movie has no
soundtrack, specifically, but I got used to the directional stride.
During the movie, Napoleon hooks up with a new male, Mexican student who
owns a sweet bike. Pedro has remarkable ways to pick up a date for an
upcoming dance. He shares similar speech, attitudes, and behavior with
Napoleon. The movie also contains so many funny lines. When Napoleon
goes up to Deb on her table during lunch, he says, "I see you're
drinking 1%, is that because you think you're fat? Well, you could be
drinking whole if you wanted to." The way he says his lines are so
unique... a funny, geeky written movie. When his uncle just shows a
video of him throwing some footballs over the camera which is placed on
a tripod, Napoleon says, "This is pretty much the worst video ever
made," and his uncle wishes he could go back in time and make state. In
another conversation, Napoleon's brother articulates, "My girlfriend and
I chat online about two hours a day... so I guess it's getting pretty
serious. Although, I am angry because she hasn't sent me a full body
shot." Napoleon's uncle is one of the reasons why Napoleon's life isn't
going too swift. His uncle is a perv in a way making money off some
product that has to do with breast enhancements, as Napoleon wants him
to get off his property because he is ruining his adolescent life. With
difficulties thrown at his life, Napoleon and Pedro put their skills
together with a surprising triumph at the end. It's so hilarious with a
different look at the world, but there are many people like this. Every
character Napoleon has in touch with has a goal of searching for
happiness and a soul-mate. It is a cult classic movie as of now due to
the less attention it is getting nationally, so spread Film Prophet's
word: Funniest movie this year to date. A super movie for what its
premise has.
Final Grade: A-/B+
Hell's Angels (1930)
Starring Ben Lyon, Jean Harlow, James Hall, Roy Wilson
Film Prophet's Review...
In a distinct story of two brothers, Roy, Hall, and Monte, Lyon, leave
Oxford and join a British Flying Corps during World War I. During a
nightly party, Roy introduces his girl, Harlow, to Monte as soon Monte
falls in love with her. She admires Monte and shows more attention to
him over Roy, who she says she doesn't really love him. Before there was
Marilyn Monroe, there was Jean Harlow. In her first big flick, she is
the platinum bombshell during the WWI story about two pilots in love
with her, but they are both brothers. She represents the world on the
ground to them whereas the war represents the world in the sky. Director
Howard Hughes became famous for his expensive budget film of special
effects and aerial stunts. It was the first blockbuster talkie picture,
still it's more of a silent feature. There are frequent dissolves and
fades into new scenes. Hughes also added some colored scenes, in which
it's Technicolor tinted. The movie does not have long conversations,
rather short quick scenes, except for the long aerial attacks at the end
and the German blimp raiding over London. Remember Snoopy from the
Charlie Brown cartoons imagining himself flying his doghouse as a
dramatic war pilot during the Great Pumpkin special... well, that's
where it came from. Snoopy imitates this movie of the plane shooting
scenes up in the clouds. The two brothers in this story are young and
innocent, tricked by enlisting to get a kiss. The war in England changes
them. "Never love a woman, just make love to her." It's a basic, bland
story finalizing at the last half of the movie in the sky. A shocking
finish to the two brothers.
Final Grade: B/B-
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Dan
Hedaya
Film Prophet's Review...
Two stories interact between the lives of a director, Theroux, and a
woman, Watts, who moves to Hollywood to fulfill her big dream of
becoming a glamorous actress. Although, things turn out not what they
are expected to be. Another woman, Harring, escapes alive from a car
accident, but suffers from memory loss. During the night, she sneaks
into a mansion and stays the night. The next day, the actress arrives
and meets the manager of the apartment complex, Miller. She arrives all
happy with a joyful gut feeling over-smiling and getting so excited, but
what she finds out is the city of dreams is just an illusion. Her aunt
lets her stay there to study for some parts, the same place where Harring's character hid out during the night and is troubled by amnesia
who doesn't know anything about herself. She is unsure of where she came
from and builds a mystery of identity. The two women become friends and
try to figure out who she is. The above plot isn't all there really is
by the way... it's gets knotty. Within the aspects of the movie, it uses
clipped off frames and fades with very unique camera direction where the
camera takes still shots on one spot at a time that is silent with no
music in the background. Incredible use of no sound as the movie is
built for tangible acting. Film Prophet can point out one scene where an
argument between the director and old managers, and producers in one
room around a long business table discussing what actress they want in
their high-profiled role as they try to impress the studio owner with
some coffee. The movie shows subversive problems in Hollywood,
especially the time where the movie takes to show how depressing it is
on bad days, but the majority of the heart in Hollywood is about
studying lines, studio sets, and casting parts. Regardless of Hollywood,
David Lynch is a strange director might I add. From Blue Velvet, his
movies can't get anymore creepier and bizarre in a charged erotica
story. Within the last quarter of the film, there is a nightmarish turn
of plot of unexpected weird twists of the story. An incomprehensible
look at odd character fixations and the feeling that this dream that the
actress has takes part in the majority of the film. The movie is
basically a dream of the actress showing the evil side of Hollywood and
remaking the characters as if they were opposite in real life losing
their careers. This movie is deep and concentrated, and confused. In the
plot, Lynch goes deceptive with this movie and ignores the rules of
making art and shows reality beneath its surface. Tremendous
performances all around... everyone should know that Watts is Film
Prophet's favorite actress. She reminds me of Nicole Kidman at her
career start and I am attached to her every move. The movie is a
haunting rendition of Film Prophet's top favorite Sunset Blvd, but this
screen write is like no other. I love those dramatic-comical screen
writes, where there is a funny moment during some drama. This film is
such as under-rated cult classic and should be up there with other
breakthrough movies like The Boondock Saints. The thing about this movie
is that the viewer might not be able to figure out what part of the
movie is a dream and hallucinations of the consciousness actress
dreaming of demons. Well, basically she goes to Hollywood to make it
big, but resorts to prostitution to earn money. Other actresses get her
spots because they allure the director. Her guilt results in suicide and
the movie's end is a tragedy, but it's all over this enthralling movie.
Final Grade: B+
Collateral (2004)
Starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter
Berg
Film Prophet's Review...
A hit-man named Vincent, Cruise, and his kidnapped cabbie Max, Foxx, in
Los Angeles county spend one long night collectively. Vincent takes a
ride with Max to get him to his destinations during the night to
eliminate five Los Angeles witnesses and attorneys involved in a drug
case. Max is a twelve-year L.A. taxi driver who reluctantly drives
Vincent to all his hit locations. Cruise displays a charismatic rugged
look with a grayish hair color and a suit representing a certain
attribute of self-assurance. Vincent will give Max a hundred dollars per
stop and another hundred in tips if he agrees until the job is done,
totaling to six-hundred dollars. Going against company policy, he
resentfully accepts as when Vincent leaves the cab for a murder, Max
stays puts and ponders his thoughts of what's happening. Cruise makes up
for his last performance in The Last Samurai. I started liking the
villain Vincent more than the well-off living Max. Max just carries out
his part-time job of being a cab driver as a regular guy having small
talks with his travelers before his day almost ends. Nothing really
eye-popping happens in the movie. There are no explained descriptions of
any sort until Vincent meets Max in his cab. Michael Mann's direction
and screen write in Heat was more like this movie. It wasn't all that
captivating really. There was way too much futile dialogue, though some
entertaining moments such as how much cell phones can drive a person a
hard time through a necessary situation, but the rest of the movie is
just middling. Cruise lifts the picture with all he can into a hyping
standpoint. If a viewer is expecting an action movie, the viewer should
find another movie to watch. Terrible supporting cast where I didn't
heed for when they were on screen, which the majority of the time they
were shot by Cruise, which was cool. The homicide detective role was as
pointless as using a flashlight on a sunny beach. Take his role out and
it will be a more attentive movie. The movie goes flat after the half
and I tuned out past a certain mark. Michael Mann just can't make a
movie entertaining anymore. He tries to make a crime-thriller, scored by
a soft piano theme, to look swift, but it instantaneously dulls out
until the final sequence, but even that's pretty much a lackluster.
Final Grade: C+/C
Easy Rider (1969)
Starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Luke Askew
Film Prophet's Review...
Two hippie communes, Fonda and Hopper, ride from Los Angeles to New
Orleans on their hip motorcycles in a deserted setting, With random
stops on the country side, they meet a drunken lawyer, Nicholson, in
jail, who helps them get out and decides to join their company. They are
nonconformists ignoring any pressures and just riding out, showcasing
between individuals and the system. In this exploitation biker movie,
the bikers were not typically bad guys. They accepted freedom where ever
they are, and in Nicholson's case, he says people are free to kill to
prove they do have freedom. Spectacular sequence, and most memorable in
some minds, in the beginning scored by the song of Born to be Wild,
where the two are riding their bikes on a road with no one by and
capturing near them is beautiful scenery. A great picture matching to
its precise soundtrack... I loved the music. A very young Dennis Hopper
directed this movie and also took a big acting part in the film too.
Hopper used flash frame cuts; haunting editing flashing of the upcoming
scene at the current scene's end. There are also hallucinatory scenes
and anamorphic images throughout the film. A movie that concentrates on
creating noteworthy dialogue where it is needed. Drugs, violence, and
sex provided what this countercultural spectacle is about. The bikers
become LSD drug dealers on their ride centering an anti-establishment
premise through adolescence. The cinematography and acting were above
superb. Fonda did a great job acting realistically stoned, as they were
free-wheeling potheads introducing drug inhaling and content leading to
new experiences and topics raised at the time like outer space
intelligence. The movie examines customs and values of a group of people
noticing their cultural differences from the path the bikers take. They
are on a search for the American dream, when Fonda's character spends a
bit time with a New Mexico family. They should be proud of what a
person's assets are, but the bikers dream proved out to be a failure...
a shocking, instant ending. An insightful portrayal of its chaotic
times.
Final Grade: B+/B
The Village (2004)
Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien
Brody, Sigourney Weaver
Film Prophet's Review...
From director M. Night Shyamalan, residents of a small, remote town have
an agitated and unstable peace with creatures that just lure outside of
the town's borders. One bewildering man, Phoenix, wants to go beyond the
boundaries that his people have become accustomed to, while the head of
the town, Hurt, warns him of the catastrophe that could effect them all
if he does. A fictional, murky mystifying environment appears to be set
in a nineteenth century village. Film Prophet would think several
performers from this spectacular cast would turn down such a screen
write, which was lousy, uncoordinated, and wearisome. On that note,
welcome back to Adrien Brody as a creepy, psycho character, from his
return of Oscar winning The Pianist, almost two full years ago, but not
a descent one at all. The village displays society standards such as
eating as a whole and getting chores done together. A simple, innocent
group of young people are haunted by something that they aren't sure
about. There is a division of the youth in the school house and the
older generation of priests and teachers, where the future of the
village lies on the young. Their elders tell them that the creatures
outside don't come in their territory as they won't trespass in theirs.
After they notice that the creatures are leaving the flesh of helpless
animals out, the elders give excuses that wild animals did this, but red
marks appear on several front doors on houses in the village. There is a
notion of creatures who murder, which creates panic among the residents.
There is also a strong impact by this on the town on what lies behind
the woods. The young is curious, but afraid to do anything about it.
Shyamalan doesn't reveal the looks of the haunting antagonists, similar
to the aliens in Signs, simply because it keeps the viewer's mind in
alert to when and how this creature will appear, and especially what it
will look like, as it is more of an additional suspense technique. The
music is to some extent still as it is not the typical horror growing
sound. The movie isn't thrilling, it's not gory and it's not scary. The
camera angles were seriously becoming bothersome too where it would
picture a person's face and the shot would show partially a back of
another person's head and the camera would just stay put as if the movie
loves to put Bryce Dallas Howard on screen all the time. How meaningless
can a beginning be... it doesn't give anything further towards the movie
and continues to talk about the same couple subjects. There is no
accomplishment and there is really no on-screen activity and quite
frankly, I can care less about what the people are talking, actually
almost whispering, about. When Ivy Walker, Howard, speaks about fear and
love, its just upsetting... worst dialogue in a movie from Shyamalan. It
brings no significant attainment to the film and it hurts me to give
this movie such a terrible grade since it was a huge let down from being
on Film Prophet's Most Wanted Movies of 2004 list. The movie is more
like a poor version of an episode from the old Twilight Zone television
series. Film Prophet can't stand the cheap thrills and it will most
likely go down as one of the worst, and disappointing, films of 2004,
and the worst of Shyamalan's work.
Final Grade: D
Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (2000)
Starring Christopher Allport, Eileen Seely, David Allen Brooks, Ray
Cooney, Chip Heller, Marsha Clark
Film Prophet's Review...
By the looks of the fantastic movie title, don't mind the cast,
appearing to be chilling, the title delivered expectations that crumbled
in dissatisfaction. The makeup, cinematography, and character defining
are all below average. Of course, it's too far from being an Academy
work of art. Rather, it's a silly, fantasy-horror flick. The only really
scary thing is that this movie was a sequel. Even for a horror flick,
the acting and dialogue use are tedious, where the screen write was too
amateur with its senseless visual gore, as it should of just shown Jack
Frost in his various appearances for the entire ninety minutes. "Why are
you talking to your watch?" earned a rare Film Prophet laugh towards
this movie. Jack Frost is a serial killing mutant snowman, who was
stopped only by anti-freeze, returns from its grave. The snowman
character itself looks uncanny and inane at the same time. For the rest
of the cast, I could care less about the main characters. The cast
consists of young female models on a photo shoot, who die too soon, a
gay photographer, two newly wed couples on their honeymoon, and the
island's staff on a stay at a tropical paradise, how similar Club Dread
was to that. There were stupid, loud supporting characters that just
turn the comedy off, like the Captain, that just aggravate the main
characters. The snowman, even the talking, killing carrot at origin,
looked the coolest out of the bunch. I hated the picture quality of the
film and camera work and it took concentration away from me. A couple
noticeable things are when someone is alone, it's almost known that the
person will be murdered and the main couple, who was haunted last
Christmas by Jack, sleeps in separate beds on their honeymoon, which
make them look queerer than the gay photographer. No one believes that
Jack Frost is here except one man who knows him the best, even with
countless murders, they still deny the fact. The movie near the end
turned into a rendition of The Gremlins and Ghostbusters from those
little baby snowball Jack Frosts. Parts of the movie are entertaining
like using anti-freeze in a super-soaker water gun with a laser pointer
on top and the scene where Jack Frost massacres a bunch of people in a
snowball fight one by one, but not enough to seal an acceptable prevail
to the Film Prophet.
Final Grade: D/C-
Modern Times (1936)
Starring Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Stanley
Blystone, Tiny Sandford
Film Prophet's Review...
Charlie Chaplin bids his farewell to his treasure of silent comedies of
musical score defining the level of poignant engagement of a scene and
into the sound of voices. Film Prophet is personally a big fan of
Charlie Chaplin. There are brief spoken words in the movie, but all the
attention still centers around Chaplin's on-screen comical performance.
There's still a context frame expressing thoughts and captions into
visible words. In the early quarter of the movie, the president of a
factory sits in his office chair giving orders to speed things up, is
basically where the majority of the talking comes from, even though it's
not that clear. The president overworks his employees and later his old
workers unemployed break in a store, not to steal money, but to find
something to eat. Since factories were mostly ran by machines, the
workers would just screw nuts and bolts in an assembly-line.
Advancements such as a silly revolving plate that serves a person food,
which was something the president goofed around with, adds to the reason
during the era of factory workers in the union who would eventually
strike. It examines factory work can drive a person a bit out of hand
into a nervous breakdown. The movie is a satire look of the machine age
over the use of men working, conveying an anti-technology view. There
were serious circumstances of being unemployed, troubling families with
kids, and the story defines the depression era as well during the time.
Chaplin's character struggles to live in a modern industrial
environment, as when he tries to find a job, it ends in a union march
and strike or him being arrested. On the other side, a homeless young
woman, Goddard, can't earn a living in a men dominated industry. Both of
whom look for the pursuit of happiness and find each other. It captures
the young, the older sister of a parent-less group, and a mid-aged man
of Chaplin, in and out of jail and work. They fall for each other in a
romantic, lovable angle between Chaplin and a blameless young woman.
"Can you imagine us in a little home like that?" Chaplin's character
expresses those words in a caption to the woman in front of a house
showing a successful living married couple idealizing the American
dream. There is a scene of the two enjoying themselves in a closed
department store, representing freedom and conformity. Between the two
are transformation of change and the will of never stop trying. It
displays an innocence on Chaplin's character ending up in jail
wrongfully accused on several occasions and becomes a hero at the finish
in a scenario. Classic acts with Chaplin and a stranger or co-worker
where he just comes by is always energized and creative. Chaplin is such
an animator using every part of his body and makes the movie more and
more visually entertaining to watch.
Final Grade: A-/A
Deliverance (1972)
Starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Bill McKinney
Film Prophet's Review...
A gripping story of four men departing from their homes and into an
unfamiliar setting of the woods and river. Instead of going golfing,
they went to canoe for a weekend in a hillbilly country. Boy, was that
ever a wrong choice. From the start of their little voyage on the river,
it seems the movie was going on a focus all about these group of men
canoeing in an isolated place. First, it was a difficult path to get to.
There were odd people living in the woods warning them not go to the
river. The dialogue in the beginning from the four men is something said
similar in a home video, which was precise because these men were just
going on a friendly vacation trip. One of them kept playing his banjo
when he tries to liven the moment up, which was annoying like the
hillbilly laughter and the vernacular language. Anyways, when they get
on the river, it foreshadows somewhat that they are invading the forest.
The movie sets the tone of revealing nature sounds and animals, in
contrast from their own world to the natural world. They are deep in the
woods driven by the sense of remoteness, and when they arrive on a piece
of land, a turning point collides. Two of them are abused and
sexually assaulted by two violent mountain
men. On a rescue, one of them commits homicide and there is a big
argument on what to do with the dead body. Reynolds' character is the
macho man who killed him with an arrow and continuously knows what to
do. Another thing is that nature doesn't have is law, but when they do
return to home, they will most likely face charges unless they hide
evidence. However, when Reynolds' character is not there for Voight,
Voight has to control matters. I disliked the entire cast from the
beginning, but I'd say it's a rare feature where I can put up with
Voight. Maybe because he didn't play a villain, like he usually does
nowadays, when he was younger. His character battles the wild waters
while being terrorized. His fear of killing someone with the his weapon
of a bow and arrow haunts him, as its essential to be an independent
survivor as well. I do admire the chosen camera angles of scenery and
points of view, though. It' a tragic story of friends who must learn how
to cope with death and survival.
Final Grade: C+/C
Rashomon (1950)
Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Minoru Chiaki, Masayuki Mori,
Takashi Shimura
Film Prophet's Review...
Continuing Akira Kurosawa's collection, his first big hit tells a tale
of crime in ancient Japan from different perspectives. Three Japanese
men under a form of outdoor shelter discuss a story from the rain about
a recent murder of a man and rape of his wife by a bandit. its a
struggling conflict is between the bandit and himself, deciding what to
do next with the samurai man, his wife, and himself. Four completely
diverse versions are told independently of the incident, inquiring
knowledge and chancing truth of what happened. The three men, a priest,
a commoner, and a woodcutter, witness this trial with the woman, but it
only pictures a shot from the same angle of them on their knees and
nothing else, while it constructs the viewer to be perplexed about the
set just as much as the characters are to the story. Each story opens up
on a walk in the woods and a trail of belongings from the woman, who is
shown first in a vail, as the bandit strikes attraction to her. The film
contains a paranormal pitch of the music during the strange story. The
majority of the film is shown of the muggy environment in the woods.
This is to help the overall quality since Akira gaps the rain from the
start of the movie to the woods. The story aided filmmakers to set up
for their own films and these imitators have only made this film seem
about less original. It's still refreshing, but it lacks of a substance
of deepening the plot to draw in steady attention. I lost some
attachment to the story due to long elapsed similar scenes, long paused
facial expression shots, and tiresome lengthy scenes all in the woods.
Besides the woods, the characters who witnessed this had to testify
seeing a dead body during different times of arrival, and the woman
would always over-cry. The versions always jump around, where it was not
quite on the button from who is telling the story. The addressed
character's opinions would make the viewer judge each character in the
movie by the story. The tacit mood creates the movie to be inconceivable
about the dead man, a woman, and a psychopath bandit, where after the
unseen rape occurs, the bandit ponders his decision to commit suicide or
kill her husband. The movie is a bit disappointing since Film Prophet
really enjoyed The Seven Samurai and others, but I still have a few more
left in his collection. However, Film Prophet takes his hat off for
Akira who got a big push in the right direction from this movie
examining issues like philosophy of justice.
Final Grade: B-/B
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Starring Joe Pesci, Ralph Macchio, Marisa Tomei, Mitchell Whitfield,
Fred Gwynne, Lane Smith
Film Prophet's Review...
Two New York college students, Billy, Macchio, and Stan, Whitfield, with
their greasy hair-dos trek with their car through a small town in
Alabama. At a stop to pick up many items at a convenient market, a
beloved worker is shot dead and the two are suspected. They think it's
because of a stolen can of tuna for quite sometime and Stan is always
over-worried, which sets the comical tone of the story, where they are
mistakenly alleged by Alabama cops. Billy and Stan need to hire an
attorney and realize there is one in Billy's family. So, they turn the
job to his cousin Vinny, Pesci. Vinny is a picky man who takes things
too literally normally. He is a confound practiced lawyer taking on his
first murder case, whose wife, Tomei, likes taking pictures and tries to
support him when she has the chance. A simple plot can make a courtroom
comedy full of sarcastic jokes and thinking one thing while the other
isn't during a conversation is priceless. The atmosphere describes the
beginning of a country side in a small Alabama town where they do
awkward things. Vinny and his wife are from Brooklyn, New York, so the
adjustments and procedures are different in Alabama such as the clothes,
living style, food, manners, and getting up way too early by a noise.
Pesci delivers a proclivity to Vinny, where something hilariously goes
erroneous and Marisa Tomei is a fabulous actress, winning an Oscar for
this role. There is a judge that's out to correct his every move in the
courthouse. Vinny stumbles first, but then is given a chance again by
Billy to defend them successfully. A person can always use some help and
just being yourself are the life-learned lessons.
Final Grade: B
Double Indemnity (1944)
Starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter
Hall, Jean Heather
Film Prophet's Review...
First off, I love Billy Wilder's directing touch. He never lets me down
and I continue to admire his screen writes. The shots he works with turn
out to be masterpieces and the articulation of the lighting involving
dark shadows makes it suspicious from the tone of the music and
reluctant characters. A trendy insurance salesman Walter, MacMurray,
attempts to sell insurance to a woman Phyllis, Stanwyck. He makes twenty
percent of his commissions and the woman asks him for more business. By
selling an accident insurance protection, which is ironic, Walter is
smart enough to catch on to her scheme of murdering her husband to make
off it. At first, he read between the lines, but he is trapped and
twisted by a cold woman where this is only the beginning between him and
her. They plot to murder her husband for life insurance money, thus a
double indemnity clause for the both of them, but his death has to look
like an accident, which is a key. So many great quotes, including a Film
Prophet favorite said by Walter, "I killed him for the money and for a
woman. I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman." In this
classic film-noir, it is told in flashback from Walter's perspective,
where Walter and Phyllis are ruthless and determined to do this right.
They must be very careful how they talk to each other. He begins to be
all wrapped up in mistakes by other people's declarations by Phyllis'
daughter, a witness, and Keyes, his claims manager where tension builds
up. Phyllis successfully manipulates and uses him into helping her do
away with her husband, then all they can do is arrange meetings with
each other as they see each other less. Fast pacing spoken words between
conversations keep it amusing. The story is brilliantly written, where
the first encounter between the two concludes something like, "There's a
speed limit in this state. Forty-five milers per hour, " "How fast was I
going officer," "I'd say around ninety." This establishes their harmless
antagonism, while during their plan, the scenes are thrilling hoping
nothing goes wrong for them. The plot is fancy with no plot holes, as
the insurance front office ponders the death of the husband, if it was
suicide, no double indemnity. "Walter, why don't you settle down and get
married," "Why don't you for instance?" Lies, corruption, murder, money,
and love all conflict one another resulting into a first innovative
movie about murder never being perfect and the relationship of a man and
woman between it falling apart.
Final Grade: A-
Scarface (1983)
Starring Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, F. Murray Abraham,
Robert Loggia, Paul Shenar
Film Prophet's Review...
Tony Montana, Pacino, is a refugee from Cuba with undeclared criminal
records and lands in Florida. He is determined to start a cocaine empire
to make money in America with his best friend, Manny Ray, Bauer.
Director Brian De Palma is most known for his making of this film, using
stylish camera panning effects and unique angles during long scenes. I
enjoyed the '80s dance music and especially liked Tony's theme song. The
opening credits score was used in hip-hop beats such in 'It's Mine' by
Mobb Deep and Nas. In the motion picture, Tony received a scar on his
face as a kid, hence the name Scarface, and starts out woozy while
mumbling an English accent when he arrives in Florida. From his
immigrant status of a poor occupation, he is levied into dealing cocaine
and starts using gunnery. He learns the ropes and lessons in the new
business from an older, experienced man who teaches him the ropes and
whose very spoiled wife is Elvira, Pfeiffer, who is stoned most of the
time, who Tony is attracted to from first sight. Tony's first
interaction with her is dancing at a club that didn't come off too well
for him, where Tony later declares that power comes before women. His
mother is angry that he is a criminal and his sister is supportive at
times. The primary setting is on the coast of Miami beach featuring a
tropical paradise with hard times in an urban surrounding. There are
captivating moments of death between characters like the
chainsaw-bathtub scene. The off-beat conversations and plot are not too
complicated at all. Tony Montana is a similar character to Michael
Corleone in The Godfather, where he advances into amelioration to take
matters into his own hands and controls people he cares about too. He
begins to make deals without acknowledging the person who taught him the
cocaine business. I drew attachment to his supporting friends of Manny,
Elvira, and Gina, the sister. Money, drugs, trust, friendship, adultery,
violence, and organized crime all fall into the hands of Tony Montana
and he becomes obsessed over wealth and greed. He is carried away with
government against crime and cocaine and installs a security camera
system on which he is on a watch for Columbian assassins. Money is the
route to all evil and it shows on his behavioral changes from his new,
stronger identity. Pacino's top-notch exhilarating performance was
powerful. An outstanding ending that definitely boost this film for me.
Final Grade: A-/B+
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
Starring John Cho, Kal Penn, Paula Garces, Neil Patrick Harris,
Christopher Meloni, Eddie Kaye Thomas
Film Prophet's Review...
Two male stoner roommates during their post-college years are sick of
the same food and want something different so they see a commercial of
White Castle advertising their delicious, fast food hamburgers, thus
begins an expedition to find a White Castle restaurant with a variety of
stops along the way. They have one goal in mind of getting to White
Castle, even though they procrastinate through countless situations. The
script contains fantasies, sleazy characters, unpleasant exposures, and
silly drug usage that tries too outrageous occasionally to earn my
laughs, or any laughs really. It's almost an amateur movie that makes
the plot way too horny all the time using vulgar statements and shows
that maybe comedies like these need to quit. Cho and Penn are usually
found as supporting characters in teen-comedy films. The chemistry
between the two is what the movie brings its attention to. Karold, Cho,
is a Korean-American investment banker who periodically imagines
attempts of hooking up with this one girl in an elevator, but doesn't
come to act well then has to finish some investment work that's due the
next day. Kumar, Penn, is an Indian-American medical school applicant
who has pressure from his father and peers of being an Indian turned to
doctor. They are quite the opposite and shows at times where Kumar is
not afraid to stand up for himself during encounters and is hooked up on
weed. During one of his fantasies, there are clips of a giant bag of
weed that has arms and legs and after a while of both of them getting
along, the weed in an apron serves him coffee as Kumar spits it out and
says, "B*tch, learn how to make coffee you f*cking wh*re," resulting in
a couple laughs from the Film Prophet. Harold and Kumar also have two
friends in a room down the hall, one of them is Eddie Kaye Thomas from
American Pie, who are obsessed at looking at breasts in movies and go on
their own adventure to Hot Dog Heaven. All this occurs during the one
night with no sleep. The story is filled with awkward times that always
turns out for the worst for them such as immature moments and too many
gay men they meet who have a little something for them all the time.
There are random meetings with Neil Patrick Harris and a group of punk
wannabes who think they are extreme for everything and give people hard
times. It's an epic journey to satisfy their craving of burgers through
their wild road spree in the state of New Jersey. The movie is a
second-rate, explicit edition of Keenan and Kel in Good Burger and
nothing more. An awesome resolution to follow up a crazy adventure,
where friendship is the most important thing and it looks like the
filmmaking crew left the door open for another one.
Final Grade: C/C+
Super Size Me (2004)
Documentary by Morgan Spurlock
Film Prophet's Review...
An experiment by Morgan Spurlock at America's overweight problems and a
common target is the fast food places, more specifically, McDonald's. He
wonders what would happen if he ate nothing but McDonald's for thirty
days straight of three meals a day. Morgan gets advice from three
doctors, where they performed tests on him initially over time to his
conclusive ending and tracks his process by keeping a food chart of what
he eats. He also has some other significant people to guide during his
experiment. Morgan Spurlock is a man who quit smoking, quit drinking
alcohol, and stopped doing drugs, and is tested in perfect condition
before he starts. The camera loves his personality... he's a funny, but
serious guy too. "Every eight year olds dream that I am on right now."
McDonald's is everywhere any human can go... even hospitals. There are
more McDonald's in Manhattan than anywhere in the world, eighty-three
exactly, which is more proper since Film Prophet noticed it just a week
ago when he was there. People tend to eat out more, thus McDonald's
consumption goes up, because people more likely don't know how to cook
or have the time to. It's so easy and quick to spend money over cooking
inside the house, where cooking keeps money and that weight off. Some
are unaware that eating too much out relates to illness. The movie gives
superb enlightening information. Morgan sets an example for overweight
kids, who are happily obsessed with McDonald's and makes a strong point
against it. He is not too strongly worried about what he will do after
the thirty day mark is up, but his girlfriend is there for support.
Everything is big in America, even our waists. I learned from this film
of informative facts like originally McDonald's started with one set of
fries, which is the small size now, then expanded the sizes, including
the drinks. The movie is well-edited involving footages and clips, where
he asks for opinions on the street and superior knowledge of college
professors, and behind the scenes in a school's cafeteria during his
procedure. He even got Jared Fogle, the famous Subway spokesman on their
commercials who made the Subway diet known. "The problem is the world is
not going to change, you got to change." I found Morgan amusing and
entertaining almost every minute, that is until he gets exhausted after
day twenty-one. After he gets his first drive-thru super size meal of a
double quarter pounder, what shows is in his car while he eats is the
funniest documentary scene I've witnessed. ".. I got the McGas goin',"
then the camera guy says, "Are you sweating there?" and Morgan responds
with, "I got some McSweat here." This part elapses over periods of five
minutes during his indulgence of his meal and gets fatigued. He finished
by a gross 'McPuke.' There's also a clip where he pulls a long strand of
dark hair from his sundae and says, "Only the finest at MacDonald's."
The camera guy and Morgan relationship was fun to hear... "Look at this
fish fillet... oh god, that looks nasty." There is a sad scene where
kids recognize Ronald McDonald over a photo of Jesus and some overweight
women can say the Big Mac formula over the pledge of allegiance. Morgan
nails it on the button. America doesn't pay enough attention to
exercising, health resources, fruits & vegetables, and vitamins and is
heavily advertised by snack foods, soft drinks, and fast food
restaurants. The part about hidden nutrition fact sheets was interesting
to find out about. Of course, eating McDonald's all the time will result
in damage to liver, cholesterol, calorie count, and even sex production
was a bit obsolete. The fact that McDonald's offers super sizing adds to
America's problem, which is what Morgan is addressing to America. The
fear of eating McDonald's a little too often is a little too harmful in
many, many ways.
Final Grade: B+
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
Starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, Antonio
Banderas
Film Prophet's Review...
A precedent story of a vampire two-hundred years ago is expressed by
Louis, Pitt, as Slater's character interviews him and asks questions on
the present day. Under a different view of light, they aren't human, but
they once were. Vampires can be anyone of us. This is where Louis opens
the story of his life. Lestat, Cruise, is the blood sucking evil vampire
who bites Louis and turns him into a vampire. Lestat tries to make him
his partner in work so they can go on a rage together, while Louis goes
on a learning course as he gets developed by Lestat's lessons after a
mistake of attempting to be a vampire. Louis realizes he has become a
murder even though he hates being one. The make-up effects and strong
musical score were both effective. An excellent tone of grotesque
moments and supporting cast. Great casting because of course, the two
male vampires have to be handsome to draw in attractions quick from many
women, who will end up being their victims. Louis is obsessed over
biting animals like rats because he refuses to kill humans, whereas,
sucking blood can be translated to a sexual pleasure for them. However,
Lestat is irritated and begins to tease him to become what he really is,
while Louis is afraid of the truth. Later on, they turn a little girl,
Dunst, into a vampire and together they live for a long time. Dunst is
treated like their daughter and it is her best performance thus far,
while Cruise blew me away. The two newly vampires were young and
innocent, where the movie changes to Louis and Lestat to being a parent
for a while as betrayal strikes in however that leads to revenge,
adjusting the plot of a new era.
Final Grade: B/B-
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Starring Matthew Modline, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss
Howard, Dorian Harewood
Film Prophet's Review...
Film Prophet is a big fan of Stanley Kubrick's work. His movies always
has alarming images in his films and focuses a long time on that and
develops them to make it vital to the plot. Stanley is the best at this,
whereas the film opens straight up of young men getting their heads
shaved off, part one of entering the marines. Only a disappointing one
Oscar nomination for adapted screenplay, the hard drill instructor,
Ermey, gives harsh strict orders to a group of soldiers about to enter
the Vietnam war as they cultivate a different likelihood that they never
had before through their training. Kubrick's screen writes are always
brilliant and finds a technique to make it hilarious too at times during
the dramatic treatment of demoralizing struggles that they need to
perform during their training. Most scenes in this movie are proven
nowadays as classic imagery such as the marches and the "sir yes sir"
phrase. The soldiers must obey everything the drill instructor says to
do and they have to agree with anything or punishment will occur. The
message comes across as consequences, particularly, there is one odd
person left out from the bunch who is heavier than the others and is
treated in this movie with more attention from the drill instructor
because he is lagging behind and stands out from the rest. When he does
something wrong, the rest of the crew gets punished for his own action
and later, the crew starts to hate him for this. The camera work in the
movie makes the viewer interested in the story's next progress as well.
It is a struggle between squad leader and privates against the
instructor. There is none of that pointless dialogue that has nothing to
do with the plot or some dull bar drinking scenes that just extend the
movie longer. Everything said and done in this movie makes an impact on
how its told and it works so well. Kubrick displays the characters
excellently and describes them without historical background, rather,
attributes of emotions and strengths of a character who can perform.
There's a god-marines ratio in the film and gives a mention between the
division of the two. In the center of the movie, the seven-six-two
millimeter scene, which is the Full Metal Jacket where the movie gets
its title from, is the climatic turning point. The main character, the
squad leader, becomes a writer for Vietnam stories and is at first hand
on scene where he enters a platoon as the story shifts a view on the war
from the training with the soldiers expressing their opinions of
America's involvement in Vietnam. "We're suppose to be helping them and
they sh*t all over us." The platoon versus the sniper scene as the final
sequence was really exciting that had forceful tension on me. Building
men without fear and being alive while not being afraid are the themes
to this extraordinary film. A very competent war movie.
Final Grade: A-/A
Catwoman (2004)
Starring Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson, Alex
Borstein
Film Prophet's Review...
A timid artist, Patience Philips, Berry, is a woman who works as a
graphic designer for a beauty cosmetics corporation on the verge of
releasing an anti-aging product, blinding the rest of the city that it
really isn't. When Patience finds out about this during the night, she
tries to run away, but is flushed down a tunnel by water. After a moment
of death, she comes back to life in a new form with senses like a cat.
She now finds out her new qualities and seeks revenge and tries to help
people, but she is buried upon mistake who appears to be a murderer to
her city. By history of actresses of Catwoman in Batman films, the only
thing black about her is her costume, not her skin. I hate when casting
directors do this. They change a character that was originally portrayed
by a Caucasian to a non-Caucasian, and sometimes vice-versa, and seem
like it doesn't matter. Halle Berry, who might too glorified, gives
Berry fanatics something to watch for, but that's about it. Although,
she gives a fair performance portraying Catwoman, but I wouldn't
consider it the best. This movie is the first big example of a
supporting character from another film receiving its own titled starring
movie. The direction makes it look gothic and uncanny with its images,
setting, and music. In this story, somewhere where she wasn't suppose to
be, which she had over heard some discussion about the false cosmetic,
and thus she dies. Its lame how some unique Egyptian cat and others
rescue her and give her life back, but in a different form than before.
She now has the vision and abilities of a cat. Of course, a so-called
superhero always has an enigmatic attractive romantic angle. In this
case, her interest is a detective, Bratt, who later is on an assignment
on Catwoman's trail not knowing it is her. Opposite her superhero
quality, she is basically an average person like other comic book
heroes. Stone's character was basically the villain to her, Her
character didn't enhance over time until the last twenty minutes, other
than she is corrupt, jealous, and competitive for her beauty cosmetic
project. The movie felt like a video game design than anything else.
Final Grade: C-/C
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Starring Matt Damon, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Franka
Potente, Karl Urban
Film Prophet's Review...
Not knowing his true identity, Jason Bourne, Damon, is a smart and quick
man on a search while the CIA and assassins are after him. The sequel to
The Bourne Identity, it leaves a trace two years ago to the first murder
of two parents back in the original where Bourne has haunting memories
of it. He was framed by a CIA operation that didn't go as plan where he
is a trained assassin and now he must survive what's coming against him.
CIA deputy director, Allen, is on a cause to find Bourne while
complicating matters to Bourne of the actual killer, Urban, is on the
loose to kill Bourne. The agency brings in some ex-agents like Stiles
from the first movie to give them more information. It begins with the
memory of the murder and starts with Bourne waking up during a night
from it with his girlfriend by his side, where the first movie left off
with the two embracing. The directing had the same touch like the first
where the agency are scoundrel to Bourne. This agency is behind some
technical working monitors to make it look sophisticated on a few
working desks with a bunch of people puzzled and perplexed over what to
do next after an event of Bourne's sighting or violent action of failed
hitmen at their mission happens. Yet, the movie still seems to find a
way to be very entertaining and complex. Allegedly, the movie was
over-hyped. It's finer than the trailers and it's one of those types of
ordeals where the movie is better than the trailer like Big Fish. The
sounds were terrific and the entire movie was well-edited. The chase
scenes and moments of attempted scares resulted in chills from the
appealing dialogue too. There were some unbelievable stunts and
choreographed fights. The sequel is without Chris Cooper from the
original. Although, Cooper was referred to often in this movie as a
significant part of the story throughout the film. The audience will
remain bewildered like Bourne is from the missing puzzle pieces in the
story. Film Prophet is not really of a fan of the series, but Matt Damon
does an excellent job to display his talents to focus around what is the
principal to the movie... and that is Jason Bourne.
Final Grade: B/B-
Shane (1953)
Starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Brandon De Wilde, Jack Palance, Van
Heflin
Film Prophet's Review...
An ex-gunfighter named Shane, Ladd, comes into a town as an outsider and
sides with his Wyoming homesteaders against a ruthless cattle baron. The
young son of the homesteaders, De Wilde, turns his attention to Shane
and admires him the most. A western directed by George Stevens, the main
character Shane is shown from the eyes of others he comes across. He
appears to be lonesome man, but he knows more than what people take him
granted for. In a secluded surrounding, it's a simple story of a
stranger coming into town and impressing the harmless and threatens the
culpable. Westerns are all the same where they use textbook sluggish
movement of characters without a clear cut introduction that won't keep
the viewer fully interested until a climatic scene emerges with them.
This movie uses lightly shadowed musical scores, horses for
transportation, and dialogue that's most likely precise. A basic western
opening of a family's home in the west and the needed work they need to
perform while tension displays between two sides of the town. The cattle
baron are the hardnosed people of the town and spend most of their time
drunk in a bar and start fist fights, particularly Shane, which were
comical in a way, They dislike any newcomer into town and believe that
Shane, a former gunfighter, threatens their setting, but actually he
isn't. Shane helps the Starrett family where the family gets things done
by themselves since they live out west. The focal point of the movie is
the young son who gives a liking to Shane almost as a childhood idol.
Brandon De Wilde at age eleven was nominated for a supporting Oscar for
this role as Joey Starrett, the little boy who has an affectionate
feeling towards Shane. Probably the most memorable scene that made this
movie prominent is the final clip where Joey calls out Shane's name at
dusk while Shane rides away on his horse. "Come back, Shane" is as
legendary a quote can get.
Final Grade: B-
I, Robot (2004)
Starring Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Chi McBride, Shia LaBeouf, Bruce
Greenwood, James Cromwell
Film Prophet's Review...
Set in 2035 Chicago, the atmosphere contains robots where they are for
benefit towards the humans and do services for them as in human like
jobs. The robots don't sleep or eat and obey three laws, and soon there
will be one robot for every five humans. They are programmed by the
three laws of robotics upon creation, issued by Doctor Alfred Lanning,
Cromwell, where neither law conflicts with each other. They state as
following: 1. A robot may not injure a human being 2. A robot must obey
orders given by a human without conflict with the first law 3. A robot
must protect its own existence as long as it does not conflict with the
first or second law. Del Spooner, Smith, is the only one who seems to
stumble upon faults in this logic earlier on, but the rest of the police
detectives differ. Spooner is sent to investigate the death of Alfred
Lanning, who fell out of his office window, and was declared a suicide
death. Spooner does not believe he committed suicide since his dream was
to see massive wide operation of robots. So what happened? Spooner
without a rest tries to find out who did killed him and why, but in the
midst he is being hunted down unexpectedly. He ends up getting help from
a company psychologist, Moynahan, as they discover clues and answers
along their way. McBride is Spooner's boss, and when Spooner is in
trouble by committing an act towards a robot, he gets the third degree
not only from him, but from Greenwood's character, who is very puzzling
to say the least. Spooner believes that a robot named Sonny who was
hiding on the scene of crime when Spooner arrived there, ran away and
attacked him. If Sonny killed Lanning, this means the Law of Robotics
have been broken. Greenwood's characters defines murder as a human
killing another human. Robots don't kill humans. The movie opens up
after Spooner's dream of the past and wakes up to Stevie Wonder's
'Superstition,' which is an excellent song selection to begin this
particular movie. The story is partly based on some stories by Issac
Asimov, but of course, it is a movie so the screenwriters will add in
new trimmings. In this sci-fi thriller, it is authentically intellectual
rather than harshly analytical, like the Matrix sequels. The movie is
always lucid, along with fullness of visual intense flamboyance.
Finally, a movie with terrific use of sci-fi action sequences in 2004.
It indubitably triumphs over King Arthur, Van Helsing, and The Alamo. I,
Robot is like other movies invented before. It contains imagery of Blade
Runner, as in surviving of two primary races in the future where one man
has doubts, The Terminator, various action encounters where only a
couple people know what the heck is going on, and Men in Black, where
the Aliens are like the robots in this film. Also in relation to Men in
Black, the movie contains other images of the movie with a cat, a
scientific brainy woman who begins to help the main character and
develop cop expertise, Will Smith always liking pie and relying on
himself most of the time, a beginning one on one chase scene of a sense
of a robot committing a crime, and an exciting drawn out thrilling car
spectacle in a long tunnel. Will Smith is Film Prophet's all-time
favorite entertainer. Will Smith's character in Spooner is very retro,
who still wears 2004 converse sneakers, uses a motorcycle on gas, and
has a home stereo system, where all are in mint condition basically.
Alan Tudyk is the voice of Sonny, who was Steve the Pirate in Dodgeball.
I loved watching Chi McBride in this film, especially him accessing a
shotgun, which gave me an adrenaline rush. I had to refrain myself from
shouting out, "that was incredible," towards Will Smith's stunts,
robot's fighting abilities, and the dazzling special effects. Shia
LaBeouf is a goofy, sexually minded kid, who is friends with Spooner.
During the robot revolution later, he rounds up a posse on yet another
LOTR like combat, which was pretty engaging for how long that lasted. In
a nutshell, the movie is a complex mystery that unlocks new additions to
the interesting, complicated plot.
Final Grade: B+/A-
Yojimbo (1961)
Starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Eijiro Tono,
Seizaburo Kawazu
Film Prophet's Review...
Akira Kurosawa is certainly the greatest Japanese director ever. His
movies are the best film work from a Japan artist. This is my third
viewing of his samurai classics, the other two being The Hidden Fortress
and The Seven Samurai in the Criterion Collection. Well, it's more that
just a classic; it's an influential cinematic model. The Seven Samurai
is one of the greatest 150 films ever made, but Film Prophet only
accounts for U.S. movies as I have strongly stressed and explained on
that many times. Yojimbo means Bodyguard in English. The subtitles are
no problem really... it's a movie the viewer can get smart off of
anyways. Think American Western, but better, while it's without the
shootouts, but in the same image, with swords. In this terrific story,
the Tokugawa dynasty falls apart of money and gambling and ends, which
leaves a samurai with none other than his intellect and his sword
wandering off. He is a drifting samurai, Mifune, who is probably the
greatest Japanese star, with his sharp sword skills, as he comes in a
town divided in two factions on hire for a bodyguard where he is in the
middle and decides to plays both sides against each other. He is
overpowering, positive, and self-assured that he is better than all of
them. Akira makes this movie a true Japan film with its Japanese houses,
wanting for rice, chopsticks, hair style by the men, got to love the
music in this, no white people, and costumes. There's actually some
comical references as well in the crafted designed look. On the
critique, the movie did lack on more setting illustrations and a
consistent plot in the middle in the film. When a person gets slashed by
a sword, they fall down to their death rather slowly and looks tacky.
Other than that, the movie stands out from the wannabes and is highly
pioneered in cinematography, directing, human depth, and realism. I now
need to see Rashomon, Ran, Ikiru, and Sanjuro to complete the set.
Final Grade: B/B+
The Score (2001)
Starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Marlon Brando, Angela Bassett
Film Prophet's Review...
A master thief Nick Wells, De Niro, slightly begins to agree to work
with an infringe partner Jack Teller, Norton, enrolled by a man way past
his time, Brando, for one last score before Nick retires. It turns out
to steal a priceless scepter, it is more complicated than they thought
it was going to be than just a bunch of schematics. Nick Wells must team
with Jack Teller, as it will need both of them to get the job done,
though, it seems both don't trust each other. Nick Wells relies on his
wits and does not use a gun. The movie is similar like others when an
old, prominent character is on the brink of retirement and settles for
one last score with another mate. Brando and De Niro in this film appear
to be too old for pin-up performances in crime-drama. Yes, Brando is
obviously way out of shape as he was close to his eighties. In the
fifties, he was the king of looking muscular and fit and starring in a
huge, powerful role. Anyone can see that he is plump in this film. He
was fitting into his character of a much older man, than both De Niro
and Norton, since Norton plays the young guy. It's three age brackets of
robbers. Film Prophet enjoyed the very talented actor Ed Norton, but
didn't enjoy the technical rubbish the story displayed. The direction
could have been a lot better and I wasn't really involved by the
characters. There was no true protagonist character or hero, while it
was more of a cooperation and team work of two criminals struggling
against errors and each other. It drained in dialogue and presented no
real, clever drama to make it appealing as their conversations spoke too
quietly in the same pitch. The screen write was below average... it was
a very, very slow ordeal for Nick and Jack doing gratuitous work getting
by the guards and cameras. There is only one romance scenario in the
film. The movie doesn't show much of Angela Bassett's character, who
plays De Niro's girlfriend, where she has a small role and does not add
anything to the film except for the viewer to go on a bathroom break.
The entire angle was over the top and I didn't give a single thought
about the relationship. On a whole, it was unneeded and negating to the
scheme of the movie. The love affair wasn't strong enough to hold in any
grief towards the two. On a side note, there are some nice story
elements that are used correctly like the exchanging of pass codes in
the park with children around and a pretty exciting finish.
Final Grade: C+
Anchorman (2004)
Starring Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steven Carell,
David Koechner, Fred Willard
Film Prophet's Review...
Based on true events, Ron Burgundy, Ferrell, is the foundation of the
number one rated news broadcasting team in 1970s San Diego. The town
loves Burgundy and Burgundy loves his red blazers, his intelligent dog,
and his hair at most, while he is supported by three other characters of
his news team, each of who blend into Ron's personality. This was a time
when the news was in a man's world, but just being able to read off a
Teleprompter might not be enough. Veronica Corningstone, Applegate, is
an ambitious journalist who wants to become a network anchor. She is
hired by channel four siding Ron's team for more diversity. While the
rest of the guys are off swaggering, she has a feminist approach at
things and wants to come off tough. Still, she gets to cover some cat
show for her first assignment which she doesn't want while Ron is in
glory of a big story of a pregnant panda at San Diego's zoo. The men of
the team attempt at asking her out on a date in a comedic approach,
where each one is denied in a pathetic way, until Ron finally comes off
somewhat normal and she accepts go on a date with him as working
associates. The conversations in this movie are filled with smooth
dialogue and other times there were some outrageous cute laughter of the
child speaking Ron's name and Ron thinking the dog speaks Spanish. The
sports guy on Ron's team with a very low IQ is very comical with related
humor, including some on-screen comedy, that always works in benefit.
"Where the hell is the suit store? We've been walking for 45 minutes."
There is a cameo appearance of Jack Black in this film who punts Ron's
dog over a bridge. Besides the channel four news team, there are several
other news casts in San Diego, each consisting of four men, all behind
in ratings. Vince Vaughn, Tim Robbins, Luke Wilson, and Ben Stiller are
the main anchors of the other channels, where most of them are prime
comedy actors of this time. There is a scene where these casts collide
in a fight, which shows satire imagery of The Lord of the Rings and West
Side Story. Will Ferrell was outstanding in his performance at Ron
Burgundy. Film Prophet likes how the movie took a hit at the FOX network
of reality bologna too. A well-directed pace where near the end is
hilarious of a rescue finish with the funniest part of the movie with a
dog and a bear having a conversation in subtitles.
Final Grade: B/B+
Casino (1995)
Starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods, Don
Rickles, Frank Vincent
Film Prophet's Review...
A New York bookie Sam, De Niro, and his pal Nicky, Pesci, run a casino
as Nicky watches his back and makes sure the casino collects. They turn
a Las Vegas casino into an empire, then his money-driven wife, Stone,
the woman he loved, brings it all down. The first hour basically
explored how their casino runs in Las Vegas with the connections of
mobster friends they have and enemies and how they make a living and
profit. A pretty well drawn out exposition before exposing the plot of
destruction and betrayal that worked so powerfully. Martin Scorsese
directs this film, as De Niro-Scorsese is a Film Prophet favorite
actor-director combination. Also, De Niro-Pesci is an amusing and
entertaining pair like they always have been together in recent movies.
The wife is spoiled by her husband Sam, with the typical combed back
sprayed hair as a casino owner, by the house, jewelry, clothes, and
luxury, as she has it made. One thing he points out is that he needs her
trust, which later would fade away by greed, lust, and Nicky's mistakes.
Cool, silky drama, involving Pesci kicking a guy on the ground and
random beatings that were so alluring to watch. Hilarious lines and fine
performances at moments during the movie... brilliant acting... every
single one of them with extraordinary dialogue as Scorsese is like no
other. Stone was breathtaking and superb, and delivers her best
performance of her career. Later on, each of the three main characters
have complex problems. When Nicky gets in trouble and is banned from
casinos, all murdering questions link to him, but there's no witnesses
or proof. Sam is in a license lawsuit to run the casino and begins to go
on his own television show to talk about it. The wife is demoralized and
leaves with their daughter, as the majority of the day she is drunk. All
three of their relationships dissolve upside down, where there is a
constant voiceover narration by Sam and Nicky. "Hey, be f*cking nice."
It's such an under-rated classy film. The graphical violence used in the
film was a main point that was extreme and intense. "He was one of us...
he was an Italian."
Final Grade: B+
King Arthur (2004)
Starring Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Keira Knightley, Stellan Skarsgard
Film Prophet's Review...
During the Dark Ages, as the British Empire crumbles apart, the tale of
King Arthur, Owen, and his knights emerge to the top of conquering land.
The British and Roman isles are thrown into anarchy as his knights are
ready to go on a quest for years of territorial battle. As Film Prophet
knew before the film was going to be released, the movie was going to be
a bomb much like The Alamo back in April. The movie drained in
monotonous that wanted to be like The Patriot or Gladiator and it wasn't
on Film Prophet's Most Wanted list of this year. The movie opens with a
voiceover of some historical context leading into a quick childhood
glimpse of Lancelot, where his family says bye to him and his little
sister gives him a treasured amulet. As the family says bye to Lancelot,
he of course looks back at them one last time and says something
burdensome. After that, Lancelot, Gruffudd, is now an adult, as a
negating battle sequence in the beginning appears where it came from
nowhere without a build up or cause and the next big battle would occur
at the end of the movie. Between those two battles, there was not a
moment of attaching story elements in the film. Poor story telling with
its useless dialogue that didn't bring my attention in at all. It tried
too hard to make things significant, but those things were mellowed out.
Instead of battles, there were times were superior enforcers would just
randomly murder people one by one because they didn't like what they did
or said. Until the last twenty minutes, the movie was poorly moved. The
scenery was too dark looking as it needed some luminous lighting to
balance out all the green textures with manufactured fog shown on
screen. On to the characters, where not many people are all that
familiar with Clive Owen's filmography. I never felt King Arthur was a
higher, leading character like he is made out to be. The highlight of
the movie is Keira, who is made out to be like a warrior princess and
didn't appear till almost fifty minutes within the movie. The legend of
Arthur was disappointingly demonstrated. The movie needed a love angle
between Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot instead of just dragging scenes about
fulfilling duties that no one can care about. The supporting cast really
didn't have the type of charisma for their roles, while the rest of the
cast is pale and is typically hard to care about. The theme of the film
is that Arthur's men wanted to be free that gave a vivid imagery of
Braveheart. "There will always be fights for a world that never
exists... always will be a battlefield." Film Prophet won't watch this
one again.
Final Grade: C-
The Searchers (1956)
Starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie
Wood, Ken Curtis
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by John Ford, Ethan Edwards, Wayne, is a Confederate veteran
who visits his family in Texas on a Western ranch three years after the
Civil War. Later when he arrives before a night, his family is
massacred, but the film does not show this, and his niece, older later
on as Natalie Wood, is captured by a rebellious Indian tribe. Her
brother, part-Cherokee, Martin, Hunter, joined by Ethan and is loyal men
begin to search for the kidnapped girl. A stupendous journey where there
are only two left, Ethan and Martin, who continue on for five long
years. Back at another home, Martin's girl, Miles, is worried about him
as she reads a letter about his journey and she is joined by a fellow
guitarist, Curtis. The specialties of this movie are its directing,
cast, and being filmed in color. A fresh start to the film, where the
musical score is a big additional part to any film that keeps the viewer
tuned in and there is a sense of fear that something bad will happen and
when it does happen, the viewer is left in cynicism. John Wayne is the
star of this film, and his best role of his career, who is the greatest
Western actor ever. His voice and presence on screen is so powerful and
commanding. His character, Ethan, shows he has strong confidence and is
not scared of following the Indians and wants to go alone on the search,
but Martin begs him to go with him. Ethan's catch phrase of, "That will
be the day," is a classic cornerstone. Ethan never quits even through
the snow where they begin to lose their trail. He asks various people
around on the search for a hefty price. "Turning back means nothing." A
well-written original story including some amusing moments, especially
near the end, with great use of dialogue throughout the whole film and I
was amazed over the flawless directed action... a great, great ending.
The movie is a wonderful example of in-depth characters examinations.
Wayne is an icon of the classic Western genre and no cast member of this
movie after this film was made stood the same way when they entered the
movie. Through the unwritten code of the West, there is stereotypical
conduct of the Indians portrayed as savages, where the kidnapped girl is
lost between two societies. Even Steven Spielberg has said it's his
favorite movie that motivated his career. Plus, it's a partial influence
of Star Wars created by George Lucas, which shows this movie's long
lasting value. Believe it or not, it wasn't even nominated for a single
Academy Award. If John Ford is in fact the greatest Western director,
then this movie is a definite top three best Western film ever made.
Final Grade: A-/B+
Pi (1998)
Starring Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Samia Shoaib, Ben Shenkman
Film Prophet's Review...
An apprehensive mathematics genius, Gullette, is obsessed with numbers
to go as far discovering the numbers in Pi. More specifically, he claims
that after he stared at the sun at age six, he has had a sense of some
psychosomatic evidence of patterns all around the world that people
aren't aware of. By finding the 216th number in Pi, he can understand
and solve the existence of universe patterns. He is a man who wants to
be left alone to do his work inside his little apartment with his
supercomputer that he creates. Gullette comes across an older Jewish
man, who has attempted to solve the theory before. Also, Gullette tries
experiments with formulas and equations and takes a look at the changing
results at the stock market that partially helps him out by
understanding universal patterns. He believes the universe is made up of
numbers from length, width, ratio, and anything infinite of an object.
From that problematical plot explanation, the movie is more of a lecture
than a show. It focuses on the math genius where he has no time for
anything else and doesn't want to get bothered with materials as in
money. He is trying to understand the world in numbers all in his
apartment. The film contains some unsettling images with a techno music
background and freaky noises with high pitched sounds that show the
affects on him when he uses drug like chemicals as he begins to notice
some sort of symbol on his head as a result. Whereas after the eerie
moments happen, the movie flashes to a white still picture for a few
seconds. There are some slow moving scenes, but on the bright side, it
was interesting and fairly innovative. An obvious low budget film with
its nameless cast and filtered in grayscale picture, where at times the
camera is quite disoriented. Too much thought, too repetitive with not
much output from the story where its based on him finding out the
answers himself. The movie gets weird near the end where people attempt
to seduce him and steal his final answer of Pi. The drugs are a main
stress point on him where he begins to shake and it shows the drugs have
taken over him. In finding Pi, it is changing and killing him to
understand Pi, where the Rabbi admits he is not ready to receive the
number and so on.
Final Grade: B-
Platoon (1986)
Starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, John C. McGinley,
Forest Whitaker, Johnny Depp
Film Prophet's Review...
A young man, Sheen, has just entered the Vietnam war into a platoon
where his allegiance is tested by two superior officers. Staff Sergeant
Bob Barnes, Berenger, is a macho, morose, solider who usually is high on
drugs and may have gone to a darker side. Sergeant Elias Grodin, Dafoe,
is more on the gentle side and looks out for his men. Sheen's character
discovers the horrors of the war and tries to find out what is expected
out of him, while the two leaders struggle amongst each other. War
movies aren't that easy to make, since there wasn't much entertainment
on land for the soldiers, the movie won't consist of much dazzling
spectacles other than the battles. The entire setting focused on the
Vietnam war territory itself when Sheen first arrived from the
helicopter in the opening scene. Oliver Stone captured his direction of
beautiful footage with nature sounds as the camera did a nice job
panning out the scenery. A mesmerizing musical score, one of the most
unforgettable scores in any film, that attaches the viewer in the lives
on the characters and story. The cast was splendid and appealing of
young stars. It's perhaps Sheen's best movie under the direction of
Stone. Film Prophet especially liked the notable performance Willem
Dafoe delivered. The movie did win Oscars of best picture and best
director as well. The message of the movie is about the Vietnam war
where Sheen goes over some views and beliefs about the war in voiceover
of what they carried, why they were there, and putting their lives on
the line by fighting. Sheen's character here is totally innocent because
he is not only pulled into a war as a new recruit, but it is placed on
him to make a decision to take a side of a leader when things don't go
accordingly. He finds out war has no happy endings and he is emotionally
drained out from the experiences he faces. The Williem Dafoe ending was
absolutely chilling and perhaps the most memorable recording of the
film. The final war sequence was engaging that makes me look down on the
Northern Vietnamese. The war rests on these young men lives in the
platoon. It gives the viewer a sense of how things may have felt through
examining the involvement of U.S. in Vietnam.
Final Grade: B+
Heat (1995)
Starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Tom
Sizemore, Jon Voight, Natalie Portman
Film Prophet's Review...
In this crime-drama directed by Michael Mann, Neil McCauley, De Niro, is
a clever and devious bank robber on the brink of retirement who begins
to leave inadequate suspicions for Detective Vincent Hanna, Pacino, from
Los Angeles. At the expense of their family relations, Neil's crew plan
to rob a bank as Vincent settles to hunt them down every moment he gets.
Each main character has a girlfriend dilemma due to the chase of a cat
and mouse game. They are terrified and frustrated, as they confront each
other showing each side of the relation where the story explores two
opposite private lives of Vincent and Neil. Strong acting performances
held through some lengthy moments. Kilmer was poised and stunning at his
role and it was cool to see De Niro and Pacino in the same movie. Even
though the movie had a great cast, the direction wasn't that appealing.
To some extent, it was intense, but not top notch since a longer movie
usually has a slower beginning and an exposition. The plot was pleasing,
though, it just took a while to shape up and get there. A movie that
actually tries to use dialogue to make it seem imperative, however, it
needed a better screen write so the viewer can get more involved
precisely. The drama offsets the action that turns into some cheap
melodramatic material that ends up looking like a manly soap opera.
Besides that, there was a great, entertaining back and forth shooting
sequence after the big bank robbery. Disloyalty comes into act for
Neil's crew as for the title, it's his saying in life where he can't
walk away from something if the Heat is on. A superb ending that had me
tuned in.
Final Grade: B-
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Warren Oates,
Edmond O'Brien
Film Prophet's Review...
Out to settle one last big score, a group of outlaws are on the run from
the Mexican Army and plan to rob the U.S. Army train. The head of the
group, Holden, has reminiscing memories in flashback. The men are
getting old and act as goofballs, where there are shots of kids
sometimes imitating them like they are role models. "We all dream of
being a child again." The opening twenty movies was perhaps the best
highlight. It used a freeze frame in its tarnish atmosphere to show the
beginning credits and the opening shooting sequence was somewhat stylish
and inventive. In the midst of the Mexican setting and music, I
personally think the movie is vastly over-rated. There was one scene
where I didn't want to see, well, many scenes. For example, the men were
in a sweaty spa barely clothed. The film didn't hold my attention
because there was no story in the middle of the movie at all when they
were so called entering Mexican territory. There was a lot of confusion
in the action in between the tons of gore and graphical violence that
was unclear at points as well. I learned that Mexicans are irritating,
hideous, and dense from the direction output. Fittingly, the movie's
significant point was the use of the editing instrument where it didn't
need a lot of talk and showed masses of gun action and killings.
Final Grade: C-
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Starring Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Tuesday Weld,
Treat Williams, Jennifer Connelly
Film Prophet's Review...
Childhood friends become gangsters in 1900s New York, where one of them
at a young age, Noodles goes to prison for a long time for stabbing a
kid, who gave him a beating before in an alley and just shot his friend,
as when the cops arrive, he stabs one of the two. Thirty years later,
Noodles, De Niro, is an adult in Brooklyn and begins to deal with his
regrets while reuniting with old friends and girls time after time. They
begin to become gangsters and rebel against their old rough childhood
enemies and then some more. Sergio Leone, the Italian based director of
this movie and from Once Upon a Time in the West, likes to use little
dialogue and plenty of shots of faces and scenery. The movie itself was
boring about shifting relationships among the main cast with nothing entertaining where scenes of just two men
talking about little significance was a common feature... a true opium
trance in the misty den. The first hour could have easily been twenty minutes, but
that's not how Sergio makes this film. He expands them to unlimited
length setting up the average drama starting from childhood to withered
females, while the direction was pretty
incoherent and the dismal lighting was quite atrocious. The musical
score was pretty, though, the scenes were just stretched out with long
camera pans. It's too bad the screenplay wasn't up to par because the
period of time of the 1920s and late 1960s operated in this movie was astonishing
exemplifying a section of New York City with guns, money, friendship, sex, and beer.
The acting helped the movie go along the sorrowfulness for almost four
hours and these actors did a splendid job. De Niro was in the majority
of the scenes as he was superb and Joe Pesci was in this for about ten
minutes. The look of the film was very violent, going sluggish and
showing blood after gun shots while the men wear fedora hats and trench
coast costumes. Though, the story and thematic elements were very
tender. It's a story about betrayal, friendship, and revenge that nails
it hard on some points with shocking emotional confessions that were
meant to be deep and saddening, but it's way too artsy for a poor,
valued too commended
gangster movie.
Final Grade: C+/C
Giant (1956)
Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Dennis Hopper, Jane
Withers, Carroll Baker
Film Prophet's Review...
While a Texan cattleman Bick Benedict, Hudson, visits Maryland to buy a
horse, he meets and falls in love with the owner's spoiled daughter,
Leslie, Taylor. As a newly wed young couple, they move to Bick's
isolated Texan mansion with a tough maid and tons of cattle. A loner,
nonentity oilman Jett Rink, Dean, starts out silent and settled in the
film and later becomes greedy and rich when he strikes oil as he becomes
a rival to Bick and tries to take over Texas while the Benedicts watch,
but want to get involved. The Benedicts begin to raise a family over the
course of time of two generations and in the meantime, Rink begins to
control Texas. It was prestige to own land and it was for rich people.
With all that food they used to make on the ranch for breakfast like
eggs, bacon, and such, they got dressed up just for breakfast and they
never show them eating it. Farmers loved their meat and eggs. The young
Elizabeth Taylor sure is pretty and charming, and shines over Hudson for
the first half of the film until they get older, but Hudson also
delivers a very notable performance. Taylor keeps the movie upbeat for
over three hours as a longer film means more slow-paced scenes, but that
was just in the beginning. The movie shifts a focus on the next
generation. Over a period of time, Bick and Leslie start to have many
kids, both girls and boys, that were too sensitive most of the time like
crying over everything such as coming off a horse ride. They later grew
up to young adults and started to make decisions their own way instead
of being a cattleman like their father, which upsets their father Bick.
The young Dennis Hopper in this movie is one of the sons who wants to go
to Harvard to be a doctor, as he marries a Mexican lady and most other
people are agitated over this fact, like Jett Rink. "You can't live
their lives for them." The story is an ambitious family epic about
sacrificing traditions that capture family values, holidays, and U.S.
events from the 1920s to 1950s. It fulfilled Film Prophet's enthusiasm
and then more. This movie should have won best picture over the mediocre
Around the World in 80 Days. At least George Stevens got the very
deserving best director that year for his stunning story development of
oil conquering over the cattle in Texas, while times and generations
change as they grow older. The final moments of the film brought a smile
on my face. It's safe to say that it's close to being the best movie
about a family epic and a generation adjustment.
Final Gra |
