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Film
Prophet's Movie Reviews Page 7
The New World (2005)
Starring Colin Farrell, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer,
Christian Bale
Film Prophet's Review...
During the seventeenth century America in Jamestown, European explorers
collide with the Native American culture. The primary storyline is the
relationship between explorer John Smith and young Indian princess
Pocahontas. Smith and Pocahontas quickly form an intimate bond from
smiling at each other, soon to be tested when Smith is not always there.
John Smith was just part of a small number of ships that set sail from
England. The film is very sensitive to historic content and there are
not many relevant scenes of it. Instead of opening up details, it stays
with the philosophical theme of man and nature, an uncommon theme in the
majority of American films, not so for director Terrence Malick. Malick
is an expert at showing the disparity between Earth's most natural
possessions, such as grass, wind, water, trees, to the people who are
determined to subsist with them. His visual skill keeps the viewers
looking at the beauty and poetic features, but only for sometime. There
is this one scene with the camera staring ahead onto the river moving on
from a boat where the river is free and clear; only nature noises are
heard. Then entering the forest, it begins to bring on a clatter, but
not a big one as expected. As patient as a viewer can be, there is
little lead into an interesting story to wait for. There is plenty of
mindless wandering around forest and fields. There were too many scenes
of conditional portrayals and not enough effects or prime character
conflicts. Majority of the film is spent presenting people wrestling
through tall weeds and swamps while the audience has no idea where
anyone is going and heading. The other times are from a voiceover asking
hypothetical questions stretching over the plot with this that begins
more than once. The story is always secondary to the artistic discovery
of two cultures. The Natives are shown rejoicing and dancing with their
innocence and easiness. The Europeans are mostly advanced in weapons
with guns during the journey of exploration. Timid by guns, the Natives
try to equal their aggression, bar from the nameless, futile battles.
They can't communicate to each other through language. However, the
scenes where the English talk to each other ends up similar to the
boring conversations and judgments to The Alamo and King Arthur. The
history aspect is low with no substance or any great sort of growth such
in How the West was Won. That also had culture, adjusting to new
territories, and length in the picture, but it also elevated the story's
pivotal moments, something that's few in this film.
Final Grade: C+/C
Junebug (2005)
Starring Embeth Davidtz, Amy Adams, Benjamin McKenzie, Alessandro Nivola
Film Prophet's Review...
The wife of a newlywed travels with her husband from Chicago to North
Carolina to meet her new family in-laws, who her status is somewhat
diverse from this middle class Southern fragile family. Her husband has
tried to separate himself from the family and culture, and he barely
spoke with them for three years and then he comes home. The movie
represents Southern roots tying in religion, unhappiness, tides, and
bondings. The movie is also reminiscent of the way the movie In America
portrays a family through love, eccentricity, birth, anticipation, and
sadness. Life is a sequence of happenings, introductions, and conflicts,
and the viewer's observation on these people are from the first
impressions. The film opens with an annoying clip of two men yodeling,
which just isn't the most significant part of this culture. So that
first impression there was bad, and then it was followed by random
talking at an art auction that is very much ignored. The father is quite
humble and works in the basement with wood that makes a tedious sound to
listen to, almost as the sound of kissing on each side of the cheek. The
simplicity aimed to be the strength of the story. Though, there were
excessive shots of an empty and quiet surrounding, there is nothing
charming about monotonous stereotypes. No one had the charm until Amy
Adams arrives. They were uninteresting individuals in a cultural and
societal jabber lacking in a complex thought. If it weren't for the
mixing of Adams, there would be zero empathy almost. There is one huge
heartbreaking moment though in the film, where Adams delivers a
resentful quote, 'it was just all for nothing.' Adams, as a poignant
pregnant country girl, had a funny delivery of some of her lines that
weren't even comical if read plain, such as, 'you were not.' When
questioned to any adult, 'do you have children,' it's almost a prized
possession to have them just for conversation purposes between women.
She's talkative, open, and optimistic, so diverse from her father and
her husband who are limited in speech, an opposite representation of
her, which is awesome because they're men. McKenzie a s the inarticulate
high school dropout husband is not engrossed by the arrival of the
newlyweds. When he was once asked, 'how was your day,' he yells, 'when's
dinner.' Only conversations with Adams in it, about her, or with her
presence around them, is where the movie excelled. However, this is only
true in parts of the first half. During the middle, it appeared she is
ready to expect the baby, but she is lost in the film, and reminded that
her role is supporting like everyone else's. The film was overwhelmed
with happiness then cheerless afterwards.
Final Grade: B-/C+
Match Point (2005)
Starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Emily Mortimer, Scarlett Johansson,
Matthew Goode, Brian Cox
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by Woody Allen, a former tennis pro, Chris, Rhys-Meyers, is
hired as a tennis instructor in London to teach a young man named Tom,
Goode, whom Chris finds much in common with. From there, Chris begins
dating Tom's sister Chloe, Mortimer, while developing an attraction
affair towards Tom's fiancée, Nola, Johansson, a temptation in which
Chris can't have. In a brilliant late career resurgence from Allen that
doesn't have the slightest comedy, but the romance and indecision of
characters is something he's came across in his usual modest themes of
marriages and affairs... relationship topics with unintended delicate
invidious. The tennis ball goes over the net back and forth and when it
doesn't go over and drops, one loses, but there's someone that'll win.
However, to who wins and gets lucky is yet to be determined until the
final moment. Tom often offers Chris invites to his country home,
dinner, films, or operas, as opera is the music in the background during
the movie sometimes. Johansson as this seductive unstable love interest
is remarkable looking nice in her white outfits. Her and Rhys-Meyers
secretly find time to have clever and flirting conversations, exploring
sexual motives. They complement on one another's appearance over
socializing with guilty questions and alcoholic drinks during the first
half of the film. Much of reviewing this film would be discussing
excellent points in the story that's relevantly fundamental that follow
a set of characters. What may seem like simple characters in the start
are really everything in all its complexity. Allen directs it so
leisurely handling situation developments of people who are unhappy
inside of lust. He's a master in creating believable characters and
situations. Particularly when Nola becomes anxious to see Chris time
from time while he's away on business or family trips. Allen's great
camera work would make almost any viewer think of someone initially
during a scene of hearing instant words and then revealing it seconds
later it isn't. The direction outthinks the audience. Chris' interesting
excuses and improvising lines to cover mysterious phone calls is in a
very stirring second half that was better than expected that could have
sled to a bore, but there weren't any of those minutes. How Chris
handles the unresolved situation is compelling, done smartly, by the
direction, acting, pretty much everything involved. The film evokes
nervous tension here for Chris and the screenplay is essential in all
areas. The audience gets to watch Chris try to juggle it all safely and
private, yet nothing is planned. It finishes with a very eccentric,
surprising resolution that recalls suspenseful forties films with
homicide. In fact there is even a twist in irony of a wedding band
element related to the tennis ball representation. "She picked the wrong
time to come up, some people just don't have any luck."
Final Grade: A/A-
Brokeback
Mountain (2005)
Starring Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne
Hathaway, Randy Quaid, Linda Cardellini
Film Prophet's Review...
Director Ang Lee creates a moving movie experience with excellent
performances from a very gifted young cast especially from Heath Ledger
and Jake Gyllenhaal on their bravery in taking on challenging material
and making their characters unavoidable between each other. Besides the
beautiful blends of the sky and landscape together, the movie's most
compelling art is the interesting depth to the storyline with the
characters' early choices to young lives. About a half hour, Ennis,
Ledger, and Jack, Gyllenhaal, get acquainted by their lonesome out on a
summer ranch job by means of sheep cattle, roasting some beans, and
whiskey drinking. The gripping film follows through Annie Proulx's short
story of a couple, simple men after their one intimate summer eventually
creating an immediate sense of closeness and discomfort that is compelled
by their own misery and fears of sexual honesty. The earnest
storytelling sympathizes despite any viewer's own sexual preferences.
During the years after the one summer, both of them get married to
women, probably just to meet society's expectations and to hide the
truth. Ang Lee's direction towards these emotional circumstances exists
in the foretell that love lasts a lifetime and it comes back, carrying a
memorable quote, "I wish I knew how to quit you." The sad finish has big
effect unconditionally, and keep note on a missing shirt. Lee directed
all of it very well, and the terrific connections of the strings in the
musical score went right like everything else to this attaching motion
picture. The arrival of every character had some remark, including the
older parent roles. Parts of the film were played with subtle humor,
such as the thanksgiving dinner sequence with the television. However,
the scene with the biggest impact was when two drunken men got in the
way of Ennis and his wife during a fireworks display where Ennis
confronts them. The force from this scene accompanied by the sound of
the fireworks exploding was enormous. Two other great scenes was when
Alma, Williams, as Ennis' wife, looks on from a screen door, and when
Ennis recalls a story to Jack about a similar relationship with a tire
iron ending. The audience will retrace the story's heavy scenarios that
lead to one remarkable ending. Anna Faris' cameo role was quite exciting
as the typical and delightful talkative Texan woman. All four from the
starring cast bare it all. Michelle Williams' anxious wife character is
just waiting for the truth, and the findings of a fishing pole was
astonishing. She is vulnerable to the situation, and Michelle is super
in her supporting role. There was no false movement from Ledger, and he
was impressive. Jake was warm and he included an outstanding performance
in a scene in the later half of the film towards Ledger. Their
characters' adversity affects not only them, but the people closest to
them, such as children and wives, and even the viewer's sobering eyes
and caring intensity inside. The movie begins quiet much like Ennis. He
is the main character and he is not the first one to talk or greet. True
that men just don't talk that much, it's a sign of indecision by Ennis.
He is later caught up with kids, a job, and a wife, so finding time with
Jack Twist was hard to come by. The themes have separate interpretations
on homosexuality being far from a criminal, and if one wants a change to
his or her life, that person will have to take that risk. The story in
this movie gives Ennis and Jack little consolation because they cannot
truly accept their nature anywhere but at Brokeback because they fear at
the time and place that they could be murdered if found. The Brokeback
Mountain title means the world of their own out on the ranch. No females
and no society pressures exist because it's the two of them by
themselves with nothing wrong. As Emmylou Harris sings, 'Who cares where
we go on this rutted old road in a world that may say that we're wrong.'
Final Grade: A
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Starring Alec Guinness, Dennis Price, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood
Film Prophet's Review...
Young British actor Alec Guinness plays multiple roles and showcases his
versatility in an alleged comedy. Before his death sentence, Louis
Mazzini, Guinness, decides to write his story in his cell to last after
he is gone. During his story, when his mother died, her only wish was to
be buried in the family plot, which was denied, making Louis mad. Louis
decides to murder each member of the D'Ascoyne family one by one in
order to obtain revenge and inheritance to become the Duke. Each of them
are also played by Guinness. Eight different members of the clan are
presented in different wardrobes with the same careless unconscious mind
of Louis and his intentions. The speculation of the movie is its
humorous take on murder planning and results. However, it relies on
bleak satire and dry social wit. It's not a comedy that will have one
laughing out loud, or laughing at all. Humor is quite rare because the
film is sometimes uninteresting to acknowledge. The story was constantly
expressed word by word in Guinness' voiceover narrative in a very slow
paced film. It's the same thing all the time; unsurprising. There's no
presence of stirring material and it's in a rather tiresome, old voice
narration. The victim heirs don't get much attention until they're
written off, but not really because no death is really memorable. The
sound quality's reception is the weak part, as it hurts the film. The
static chat is quick, but slow, with no sight of hilarity. The sound
didn't come out too clear so the viewer would need really sharp ears to
comprehend the story. It remains only heard through Guinness' narrative
flashback in very long voiceovers to the next scene as a thought process
of perspectives. The romance areas with women had very little
significance and had no activity that stayed in the same setting
mostly. There are scenes with Guinness just courting one of the two
ladies with nothing humorous going on, as they settle for a fireplace
talk. As one woman says that she married the dullest man in London,
well, she's got something right.
Final Grade: C/C-
Run Lola Run (1998)
Starring Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri,
Armin Rohde
Film Prophet's Review...
Time is running out for Lola who has twenty minutes to come up with one
hundred thousand within twenty minutes. Her boyfriend, who works for a
local criminal, calls her in panic from a phone booth. He tells her the
story of how he lost the payment bag on the subway, so she leaves her
apartment on nearly an impossible mission. The ninety minute German
suspense and action film is very original. By initial instincts on her
feet, Lola is on the run because there is no time for cars... stop
lights or signs would be in her way and she'd be speeding of course. On
this continuous street adventure that begins the story, there's no inner
thought process during her run, but the people and things she passes by
makes a subtle difference to the plot later on. The best interaction
between Lola and her boyfriend come during a flashback when they lay on
bed before a red filter screen questioning and asking each other the
existential questions to test love and recovery. During her run in
present time, the camera is the main tool for a while. Her jogging is
equivalent to the pace of the music, camera panning, and unexhausted
tilt zooms. The camera does the stunt work with slow motion aerial
shots, speedy camera pans, quick transitions and cuts, crane shots,
animated segments, and split screens of urban Berlin with beating techno
music like a fast rhythm video game... when one goes down in defeat, one
has the option to reset. The script uses many hectic stipulations to
proceed the adrenaline this film has. The storyline has stunning
conclusions at the end of each cycle in the plot, along with interesting
altercations. Through the consequences under time and pressure, there is
a father affair, car crashes, gambling, robbing, high pitched screaming,
and gun standpoints, all in different scenarios. The dazzling technical
film is about how life consists of the decision one makes. There's a
vast importance of time; a one second delay can push the wrong or right
button. Everything placed in the story, vehicles, problems, person...
anything, appears again, all the way down to the amount of time she has
to get the money as a significant number executed for a special
forthcoming. To recall the past and future, the film operates at flash
photography of rapid pictures in sequential order of events in life.
This proves how every little thing from beginning to end ultimately
shapes one's future, and it's amazing to witness. Words, bumps, or
surprises, the turning point is a reiterating multiple chance of
accident that finishes with acutely the best outcome of fate and
fortune.
Final Grade: B+/A-
American Pie: Band Camp (2005)
Starring Tad Hilgenbrink, Arielle Kebbel, Eugene Levy, Jason Earles,
Tara Killian
Film Prophet's Review...
To learn to be considerate, Matt Stifler is forced to join band camp the
summer before graduating high school as punishment to an incident. Matt
Stifler, from the first minute, already tries to be obnoxious Steve
Stifler, his older brother, way too hard... his brother must have been
his role model. He acquires his humorous slang language, last name
reputation, and crude attitude towards everything in life. He imitates
his usual facial reactions, funny profanity one-liners, and immature
behavior in public. This makes up the majority of the film's supreme
effort for laughs. He's almost in every scene revolving around him. He
fits in the primary character as the defiant one, opposed to Jim in the
previous three as the sensual, casual one. Some original characters get
slight mentions as to what they're occupied with... Jim's dad turns up
in the movie. The story contains Matt constantly getting into trouble
and playing tricks on each other. More people now than ever tolerate and
discipline a Stifler because they know what's probable in a Stifler's
behavior. There are some other interesting things to keep attention to,
such as video spying, competitive rival school band, roommate, and
former girlfriend as the band leader. It's somewhat useless storyline
doesn't use the central characters in the previous three, so it's more
of a new generation of a new young cast in a movie that's really just
using the title of a trilogy of films to transpire sales. The
traditional rock alternative music is present, but there's rarely any
nudity, least amount in any American Pie title. The most attractive
females don't receive any expansion... Tara Killian was underused. Those
female camp counselors after a nice celebrated introduction don't ever
do anything. In the first American Pie, at least four females had
notable roles. There's more nudity from Stifler than anyone else. The
acting for this teenage comedy was punctual and funny for the first
quarter than anticipated until when Matt turns in reflection to actually
join in with the band... the film turns to no comedy and just a plain
little story of turmoil and forgiveness where nothing memorable happens
except that instrumental tune the band plays for the last composition.
Final Grade: C/C-
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
Starring Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, Gong Li, Ken Watanabe
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by Rob Marshall, the technical achievements are marvelous, the
chief feature of the film. Make-up, costume designs, art direction, and
cinematography are noticed and envisioned by a lot of work and effort
into it. A young girl, Ziyi, is removed from a remote fishing village
whose life changes when she is sold away and separated from her maternal
sister to learn the ways of the geisha, as more challenges await for
her. From a conflict with her new jealous older sister who is a geisha
and like an evil step-sister, Ziyi is taken as an understudy. Her
transformation shows a young girl's rise from poverty to life in a
society she didn't expect, which eventually takes a turn. A geisha is a
woman schooled in the art of dance to be in conversation and companion
for wealthy men. She is taught social mannerism, and remains shy and
grounded. There's beautiful details in the background behind three
talented Chinese Stars, Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, and Gong Li, who
speak English in a film taking place in Japan, though Watanabe is
Japanese. There is not one poor moment of acting, even the thirty minute
childhood sequence was proficient. Gong Li's portrayal as the
step-sister is alluring and striking, while Ziyi continues to be fervent
and absolute. The dialogue and acting certainly proceeded the story.
Besides Watanabe's character, whose character's name is heard and spoken
like The German when it's The Chairman, all the other male characters
have perplexing intentions with Ziyi's character. Her new mother like
character almost seems to have setup an arrangement to her story in the
film that is bounded and restricted to outside matters, such when the
war happens, there is little reference to the Japanese military. Though
the empathy in every character is not always there, the motion picture
was entertaining to watch and expresses it's beauty through outstanding
acting and well-designed plot and scenery. It's pleasing to the eyes and
ears. "To judge a geisha is a moving work of art."
Final Grade: B/B+
The Producers (2005)
Starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell,
Roger Bart, Gary Beach, Jon Lovitz
Film Prophet's Review...
"Keep it gay, keep it gay, keep it gay..." Those lyrics were correct in
that one song because the film truly kept this play 'gay' on screen. The
dazzling fast-paced, subtle giddy manic zest of a movie is based on a
Broadway play, also based on one itself. Two-time Tony Award winners
Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick return to their celebrated roles as
Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, a theatrical producer on Broadway and a
public accountant with a desire to be a producer. Leo becomes Max's new
accountant and looks at his books and notices something, as Max sees it
as a scheme, an accounting scam to make more money in a flop than a hit.
If they raise more money than they need for a sure flop on Broadway,
they would make two million. Somewhat confusing, they go search for the
worst combination of all aspects to getting a play together: writer,
director, and performers. Like Max convincing Leo into joining him, the
viewers have to wait along knowing there's a talented cast ahead. Lane
was terrific, as the Broadway story runs threw his character, as the two
act as neurotic guys. Actually, all the characters are hysterical with
plenty of frailties, such as Bloom and his little blue blanket or
Ferrell's German character making sure everything has to honor right to
his Fuhrer. Uma as the new Swedish secretary was somewhat rousing in her
opening song, though she entered the play a little too late and didn't
get a lot to speak. Ferrell's loud character as the writer talks to
pigeons on a roof, as both the two got limited singing time... most of
it was Broderick. There's a few gawky funny parts, but most of it is
cheap humor. It's a cute and silly type of film musical... the grannies
dance of elderly rich widows' humor was in all sorts of places. The
strange voices and peculiar facial expressions by everyone earned the
most laughter, which means a couple small giggles. The homosexual satire
is a little too much for an average audience to handle those odd
gestures and hoaxes. The same second-rate material uses the same lyrics,
such as, you can do it, to motivate a person in the story when a
difficulty suddenly occurs. Some songs could be shortened down and not
many musical numbers were that bad... except for the first one that
opened it which saw an over-joyed audience coming out of a theater
happy and singing, where some of their mouths didn't match up with the
song and melody. It's very noticeable since they strain these smiles
that any viewer would look at and see they aren't persuading with the
song. The ending in this film contains so much in a short amount of time
that it really was a big finale.
Final Grade: C+
Munich (2005)
Starring Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush, Ciaran Hinds, Mathieu
Amalric, Michael Lonsdale
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by Steven Spielberg, a Mossad agent, Bana, leads a secret
Israeli squad assigned to assassinate eleven Palestinians believed in
the killings of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics. It is the
government's alleged response to operate the pursuit of terrorists in
revenge, as Vengeance was the film's initial title. The movie opens
straight to the kidnapping and hostility, soon to be carnage behind,
while the world watches it on television. Bana as Avner, who has mighty
cooking skills and a hero for a father, is quickly hired to be the
leader of a diverse group of four other men, who are inexperienced at
assassinating finely, but qualified to their certain areas, as they
become unguided men. Receiving vast sums of money, they go along with
the given eleven targets all across Europe, while a French outfit sells
them their information. The story is away from politics because the men
are on their own. They have no associations. There's lots of humor with
Bana and Rush's character about not obeying orders because Avner doesn't
exist. The outstanding screenplay grips the audience's concern for Bana,
by his anxious looks and sympathetic, burdened character. The scene
where he speaks to his baby child on the telephone was truly the film's
most priceless moment. Terrorism leads to murders that means violence.
The film is among the most crafted works with violence, and probably the
best with nonchalant aggression. In almost every scene of violence comes
with astonishing scenery and that chilling musical score. Through the
entire film, the safety for the men is low at all times, especially in
scenes of high moments of intensity after the next, not knowing what to
expect. Also, there's some inventive ways of eliminating people a la The
Godfather. The dark cinematography of a rainy nightmare is absolutely
gorgeous to look at, but daunting at its surroundings within that
happens, The one highlighting scene that pushed its buttons was in the
middle of the film with the colossal bomb blast in the upper balcony,
neighboring Avner's room and a couple's bedroom. It's a dazzling
remaining set piece with realized effects when the camera brings the
audience in. It is difficult to elude the narrative with a redemptive
nature of storytelling, superb editing, and exceptional acting.
Sometimes Spielberg tricks the audience into what's about to happen,
manipulative like Marie-Josse Croze's character. Stating a moral
argument towards negotiating as a message from an important piece of
cinema, the film is more effective and absorbing than the typical
hostile action film. The themes are written inside the script by quote,
such as, Everybody works for someone, You are what we prayed for, and
Home means everything.
Final Grade: A/A-
The Great Escape (1963)
Starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles
Bronson, James Coburn
Film Prophet's Review...
Directed by John Sturges, the movie tells a true story on a POW prison
break of Allied servicemen during the second World War at a German camp.
The officers main duty is to be aware of tunnels and prevent any escapes
and if any happen, the men must be captured. There's a vast variety of
characters ranging from forgers, carpenters, tailors, and from all
origins. They dig the escape tunnel leading to countless, unmemorable
attempts at escape for the last hour by everyone to different areas.
First, this is not a war movie. There is not one battle or strategy war
design. Second, it was devoid of the slightest humor. There's some silly
stunts they pull on the guards, as it's a stunt fest than a real epic
tale. The Germans speak rather unclear about nothing, using the
unappealing dialogue they are middling though. It begins with an arrival
of a hundred or so prisoners at a tidy camp, but no one is unforgettable
from the start because the faces all look alike despite their different
clothing. They wore their own unique clothes, like leather jackets, but
they still get lost in the dozens of other men who have the same
attrition and state of mind, unlike in Cool Hand Luke with a central
character and exciting activity. There's little action for two hours,
then the other hour of the escapes are unremarkable, basically ignoring
it. The movie is noted for having human courage under extreme
conditions. That is false. The guards spend the movie staring into space
while the prisoners with sweaty faces look around at each other to see
if they can actually do something interesting for once. The guards
aren't even mean as one may think, but the guys want to escape as they
don't explain reasons what for. There is no female or family longings,
and the female absence is costly to this story. The camp itself in the
forests of Germany looked too neat. The guys were managing to survive
easily and they weren't in trouble or agonized by the guards. The movies
Holes and The Longest Yard was tougher on its residents. The German
guards in the prison are shown to be very lenient. The guys could have
just stayed in until the war was over too. The storytelling was worse
than expected because it didn't really portray the horrors of battle,
unlike the Judgment at Nuremberg did through words, and the struggle for
survival since they weren't in horrific conditions to begin with. There
is nothing great about this escape; there are no main group of
characters to remember. They go nameless, escape, get shot, or be
brought back to the cooler. It spent it's time trying to build up
McQueen's brave character, but the film is not taken serious because of
that music score from Hogan's Heroes. The escapes were invisible because
they didn't happen for a couple hours. The story needed to follow
certain people better for some emotional attachment. There is not much
difference with this movie with Mash or The Grand Illusion; they are all
unfunny, uninteresting, and not moving to care, as it's a massive
unsatisfying disappointment.
Final Grade: C-/C
You Can't Take It with You (1938)
Starring Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold, James Stewart, Jean Arthur
Film Prophet's Review...
An impending marriage between Tony Kirby, Stewart, and Alice Sycamore,
Arthur, mingle with her huge eccentric family and his rich normal family
before complications arise due to her very irregular family, headed by
her kind grandfather. Her family falls in love with him, but the
relation breaks up during a dinner at her home. The film stars the
future group of other Frank Capra directed works and this is the first
one that Capra worked with James Stewart on. Stewart doesn't get a whole
lot to act with, but he remains star quality for the first time he
appears on scene. The first scene he is in he is left out of a
conversation while it looks he isn't quite listening in to the older
male colleagues of his father. This is how the audience experiences the
movie most of the time; the viewer is left out when Stewart isn't in.
His sheer screen presence is required for the film's dialogue to
succeed, rather, the story carries on without a point. For the majority
of the film, not a bit was with Stewart and none were scenes of pivotal
moments or dramatic tension. The first fifteen minutes were somewhat dry
and useless when it didn't open up a single storyline after
introductions of too many family characters, with such lines as, this is
so and so, please to meet you. It is flat all the way through because
there is not one steady conflict. The adults often talk about this
Depression era, but it results in no sympathy when a hardship occurs,
such when the main storyline goes off topic to a courtroom and jail time
sequence. The movie is less effective than expected, as there is a large
extent of very soft interaction with a large amount of numerous
characters who come in and out of the play to say, how do you do. Even
the conversations between Stewart and Arthur aren't really engaging
because half the time the viewer is still overcoming the inane spinning
around dancing and playing music in the living room deal. The script was
chaotic... the fireworks in the basement usually went unexplained to a
new person who witnessed hearing them. A better movie of this kind made
in the same year is Bringing Up Baby. Many of the supporting characters
needed some momentous comedy, but it was the lightweight type that's
passed away like the movie is forgotten for a best picture winner.
Final Grade: C
Safety Last! (1923)
Starring Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young,
Westcott Clarke
Film Prophet's Review...
In the silent comedy, a young man goes to the big city to make his
fortune in America, and the concluding climax witnesses him climbing up
a skyscraper. The guy lies to his girl about how well he is doing at his
job, and the girl comes to the city to surprise him. Harold Lloyd has a
fitting role as a physical daring man in silly predicaments so that he
can impress his girl. The awe-amazement skyscraper sequence was shot
with fine camera compositions including views all around him. There
isn't a whole lot of context, but when it's around, it makes the mood
slightly better in the beginning. It starts with referring to a longing
and how time was spent away while the story accomplishes an introduction
with a simple storyline and a few small scenes in a relatively short
film leading up to one daredevil antic. The sight gags at the time the
film was made was inventive since there weren't practical special
effects. The first gag of the jammed trolley starts the madcap confusion
because people are in a hurry in the city, so goofs will happen for
humor. The first half was not fully exciting, as it continued with small
run-arounds instead of a story to keep one into it, but there's some
great photography of the city. The film goes through one character,
provided by the great Harold Lloyd, who doesn't get an involving
introduction though. He's in and out of locations fast and quick. His
girl isn't much impact for a while. She is in awe over gifts and letters
full of deception she receives through the mail. However, once she
arrives on scene to his working location for a surprise visit, the story
turns around and the both of them together on screen make a second half
worth seeing. That is the turning point of advancement, and the film
stays in position while it sets around one building location. When the
girl wants to see his general manager office that's not really his, it
is one example of him covering up the truth factor that is played
cleverly. The last forty or so minutes following a newspaper
announcement circles a crowd around Lloyd while he climbs up a building
for money after he learns the store wants a gimmick to attract more
people.
Final Grade: B-/B
Talk to Her (2002)
Starring Javier Camara, Dario Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Rosario
Flores
Film Prophet's Review...
During the tragic and lackluster Spanish film, two men meet at a private
clinic where one works as a nurse. The other one's girlfriend is a
bullfighter who is in a coma. The nurse is also looking for another
woman in a coma, who is a young ballet student. The relationships of men
with their women form from chances and accidents. Every scene dealing
with ballet dancing and bullfighting is boring. The subplot of
bullfighting is treated as the film's mere Spanish reference. The vision
of Spanish life from this motion picture is lousy and far from
sensitivity. The lives of four characters go in all sorts of directions,
dragging the film behind them. All of them go towards a destiny during
the tame plot development with characters who are extremely unlikable,
with pathetic acting and poor face expressions and uncharismatic
features. The film is subjected to the pointless lives of every single
character and how the camera captures them. The melodrama has too much
mediocre lines; they complain and get frustrated about each other... the
romance isn't even believable. 'I'm sleeping on a couch until I decide
to buy a new bed - No, it was my fault.' There's little continuity in
almost anything the story does and slacks interest in whatever the
characters will do, and they don't commit to doing much anyways. They
are all unattractive and boring individuals who are surreal. The male
nurse's job visualizes disgusting treatments on unclothed victims and
images a viewer won't expect to see in a movie. The male nurse is a sick
person who should never have been one. The nurses rub them with alcohol,
oil, or water for minutes and it's repellent to see... this is not
entertainment, drama, or beauty; the art values is on human and an
abundant amount on female nudity that's ugly and unnecessary, as it
focuses an overbearing attention to it. The camera work and panning
shots are pompous and too showy in the design. The scenery everywhere
uses a vacant almost eerie setting of emptiness, unsettling, and
grieving of woe, as that sums up the movie in general. Waiting for it to
end after viewing the first minutes, it never once had an attempt to
improve, and it persisted to be disturbing. The artistic conventions
were just horrible... it pictures helpless, dying people on a bed every
few minutes to remind the viewers of how dreadful and meaningless the
movie is. Most of the film is a bore and absurd to even follow along the
subtitles and look at the picture when it places a weird image there
leaving a sickening taste leftover.
Final Grade: F/D
King Kong (2005)
Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Kyle Chandler, Thomas
Kretschmann, Colin Hanks
Film Prophet's Review...
Director Peter Jackson's precision does justice to the original story of
the gigantic gorilla captured on a tropical island and brought to
civilization, where he meets a tragic fate. Only certain remakes are
acceptable and only if it is handled in the right hands... Jackson puts
it on a larger scale. It's three hours, twice the length of the
original, containing ultimate staggering theatrical experience of
activity, holding the entertainment span. Jackson's respectful
dedication to his favorite film uses the same time period of depression
and need of money. The cars, clothing, and architecture with the visual
effects were tremendous and it's gripping with extensive action scenes
of survival, whereas the fourth Jurassic Park has already been beaten to
it. King Kong is not visible for the first third of the movie, which
holds the suspense of the title character's first appearance. An
analysis of the plot: A greedy film entrepreneur, Black, has no more
funding into his projects and a second-rate theater actress, Watts, sees
her play close down. He finds the girl, travels to Skull Island along
with a fuming ship crew, and they find wild strange habitants who live
there. A giant ape takes the blonde away from the habitants and the
filming and ship crew try to get her back as they get chased by
dinosaurs. The filmmakers face a decision to leave while they can or
return with something special. The actress knows that King can not leave
his home island, but Black's character takes him off to showcase him to
the world to get rich, but Kong breaks from his chains and goes wild, as
he finds himself in the same area of intimidation. Not even America can
offer Kong his liberty. What's peculiar is that the crew just took Kong
back to Times Square over any of the existing or dead dinosaurs. They
could have brought back a dead t-rex, but that would not have made a
fresh live show. The cast is very likable... Jack Black makes his
character so reprehensible and worthy of note, Adrian Brody was also
outstanding as the screenwriter who falls in love with Watts... and
Watts' perfect performance releases lung power and raw emotions as the
film goes through her and elicits back on Kong. Ann Darrow's bravery and
humor gives Kong real reason to care for her. The film goes into the
character depth to the crew that includes extreme momentum starting on
the ship voyage questioning a mysterious island. Vastly entertaining
sequences continue with the arrival on the island to encounter
disturbingly, freaky natives to the Brontosaurus stampede rush. The
crew's helpless attacks from creatures and big spiders have odds against
them and the film moves between protracted action scenes to Kong and
Darrow having fun together with adventures. Kong is hypnotized by
Darrow's beauty and saves her from a few Tyrannosauruses while she gets
tossed around and takes a beating like everyone else. Kong notices
Darrow's kind and genuine heroine and it turns into frustration and
repression of violent matters. Kong runs by and stomps, bites, and drops
people carelessly in order to sustain her as long as he can to seal the
moment of time. The monstrous ape action continuously finds new horror
sensibility and it serves the story well, as so does the dark sense of
humor, as the film is beautiful yet sad. The action dazzles and
surprises and this screenplay wrote a new page in the film textbook on
how to technically put a spectacular showcase together in one stunning
film.
Final Grade: A-
The Chronicles of
Narnia: The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)
Starring Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna
Popplewell, Tilda Swinton
Film Prophet's Review...
Based on the novel by CS Lewis, four London children are sent away to a
country home for protection during the second World War. Lucy, the
youngest of the four, goes through a magical wardrobe past coats that
leads to a snowy world of Narnia. Of course, no one believes her right
away. Narnia is ruled by an evil witch and to defeat her, they join
forces with Aslan, the lion God of Narnia. The storyline is simple for
some time in the beginning, and this is when the lousy acting from the
kids arrives through the first twenty minutes or so. Selfish Edmund acts
his role the best from them, and he is tricked by the white Witch into
some candy. As so, the entire movie was one big tease. The camera closes
up on the kids' big grins gawking while widening eyes when they see
something new for the first time. Nobody was really likable; the witch's
first appearance was engaging, however, due to predictability, evil will
lose... even her vicious wolves were quite cool. The special effects and
costume designs were okay, but didn't have much creativity as it can be
compared to other fantasy war films with non-human characters that go
towards clichés and facetious comments. Mainly, the film cheats when it
uses piercing and thunderous music during almost every scene. It's
accompanied by an overbearing musical score that grows every five
minutes from a poignant happening to uplift and deeply connect viewers.
Eliminate the music and the film is left with talking beasts and orc-looking
creatures. The defining character moments after deaths is where the
story bloats and becomes full of itself, especially where Peter thinks
he is all great with a sword he gets. The sword fights were terribly
shot in a few slow motion sequences where this untrained kid can defeat
so many of these orc creatures. Tilda Swinton as the white Witch
persisted an evil threat and she was the best element of the film. Her
mystical powers freeze victims to death was a jolt. Liam Neeson's voice
for the lion was astounding. The four kids without a clue run along two
beavers unprepared to endure consequences for their troubles that are
plunked on everyone around them. The depending on siblings anecdote
makes a weak parable addressed within the first few minutes and it
stretches out. There are some new biblical myths the audience is
unfamiliar with that restore hope suddenly placed at times evil is on
the brink of victory... it escapes mortality. It begins with a fictional
London setting to fantasy beyond boards to a crusade battle with
liberation to veracity.
Final Grade: C/C+
Syriana (2005)
Starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Christopher Plummer, Jeffrey
Wright, Chris Cooper, Amanda Peet
Film Prophet's Review...
The political film intrigues several storylines weaved to illuminate the
human consequences of the global oil industry. A CIA operative, Clooney,
drenches to uncover the truth about his work, an oil broker, Damon,
finds a new partnership with a Gulf prince, and a corporate lawyer,
Wright, faces a dilemma about the merger of two big American oil
companies. There's numerous failed policies in the Middle East floating
around in the film that centers around Arabic operations in the oil
industry. The times the story leans into the lives of the workers on the
fields who get laid off, it shifts into a connectionless viewer
involvement during their non-English dialogue. Peet's wife character to
Damon was just there to add at least one female association into the
story. Otherwise, it would be about a dozen of men across the world who
loathe each other over diplomatic conversations that result in fury. She
provides awkward family moments to show how concentrated Damon is into
his private counseling firm. However, the movie regards to the oil
industry and legal complications, not these small sub-stories. The
business written material acts smart and then the direction bares at how
it avoids emotions. Clooney was no where to be found or mentioned for a
long time near the middle of the movie. One character leaves the plot
that moves from various places around the globe where a viewer can truly
not keep up with as it continues for the full length of the film. All
characters are suspected without getting much sleep; they were too hard
on themselves. They come and go with little introductions to what they
do. There is no lead character because of this. Clooney's character
tries to assassinate the Prince but his motivates are confused by the
CIA's accusations, and this leads up to a final few minutes of an
unacceptable ending. Two is the number of occasions Clooney and Damon
were on screen together. Zero is the number of times they talked to each
other. Their two separate stories join together and tersely concludes.
Final Grade: C+
Walk the Line (2005)
Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert
Patrick
Film Prophet's Review...
Johnny Cash overcame doors shut in his face and much more to become a
singing legend while conflicting struggles of his downtrodden. He picked
cotton early on with his family, sold door to door, and served in the
Air Force. The story explores the early years of the music icon, an
artist who rose above musical boundaries to move people around the
country. Cash's life was rocked by the one woman who became the true
love of his life, June Carter. Cash sang about factual material,
received many fan letters and those prison ones were very touching,
drank in a cool way, and ripped out an entire sink at a hotel. Joaquin
Phoenix does a notch better than Jamie Foxx by actually singing the
tunes in the film and he electrifies each note. Foxx just imitated Ray
Charles' smiles and head bobs, and won an Oscar for it. Joaquin pulls
this off fluently with sentiment striking emotion. This movie is a
performers' film - it could have been awful in the wrong hands. This
film is not a musical, as musicals sing dialogue to express its story.
This is a biopic of real life portrayals of music artists and their
lives. It is character-driven. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon
each do first-rate work. They sing, they strum, and sizzle with
charismatic and witty lines to entertain. Both the performers, and their
true characters, formed an irresistible and charming bond. Their
emotional connection transcends the movie while each of them go through
transformations acquiring new altitudes. Being a huge fan of Reese and
her ability to amaze with her films, this marks her finest and most
sophisticated appeal from her performances. She is the backbone to the
story and to Johnny Cash. She captures the struggle of a woman who
alternately loves and fears for Johnny. The screen play, dialogue,
makeup, costumes, and setting fit together in the structure and mesh
with a steady surplus of comfortable, intense, funny, and drama scenes
acted proficiently in the story that will surprise a lot of people, such
as seeing Elvis, almost cloning the work of Cash, and touring with him
on the same label crew. Directed by James Mangold, the storytelling
moved really well, and so did the time continuum. It shows his troubling
relationship with his father and his long battle to win the respect from
him, and his first wife, Vivian, who was strict on house orders. The
fact that he lost his brother at a young age played a big part in his
life to come. The sound mixing was staggering to listen to. The music is
just as affecting as Cash's life story that strings all the right
chords. The singing was fantastic, the song, Ring of Fire, is etched in,
while the songs Johnny and June collaborated on were just as magical as
Joaquin and Reese, keeping the audience's attention generated during
their romance.
Final Grade: A-
A History of Violence (2005)
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Ashton
Holmes
Film Prophet's Review...
Based on the graphic novel, Viggo Mortensen portrays Tom Stall, a small
diner owner in an Indiana town and a family man whose secret past comes
back to haunt him. When two dangerous robbers come into the diner
prepared to wreak havoc, Stall turns hero. Later in the week, a
Philadelphia mobster, Harris, shows up at the diner claiming that Tom
knows him, but convincingly Tom denies. His wife, teenage son, and young
daughter are positioned into the danger of his memory lane. From the
trailer, I didn't really buy into the performances and the cast, and
thought it gave away a great amount of story. In the gritty modern
environment, director David Cronenberg explored violence to an extent in
which can be used in self-defense. Distinctively, he excels in most of
the standards of filmmaking. The lighting, sound effects, and music
score were the film's highlights, and the cinematography and screen play
prevails. The still camera shots in the opening scene and angles
following were fitting, and when there is no music, its authentic paced
story is quietly unnerving. He controls the audience, possibly with
strings, due to the tranquility and astonishes that blend with a moment
for the viewers to think before the film shatters its revelations. The
dialogue unifies the soaring events of violence and the film builds up
momentum to sudden actions. Tom's quick moves are the action pieces, and
when a character drops, it happens fast. The role of graphic violence
can be seen else where, but it can not be put into place, that's how
great he did this, like a Scorsese film. Everything is fasten, and it
makes aged formulas from parts of universal plots new once more. Bello
is the supportive, spicy wife and the feminine receptive to the
discovery of her husband while responding in places of anxiety.
Although, her coughing and vomit noises in the hospital visit were
laughable. Again, even in that scene, the lighting was excellent. It
goes into the context of a marriage, and there's a couple visual sex
scenes. The scenes where the son faces a reoccurring ignorant bully is
the tense area to the youth of the film. "In this family, we do not
solve our problems by hitting people - No, in this family, we shoot
them." Initially, the scene when the two robbers enter the bar was its
most chilling part, until before the end during the climatic final spree
is really special. William Hurt's small, but huge remarked role was
magnificent during his twenty or so minutes of screen time. His delivery
and execution is super enhancing the film. After saving people's lives,
Tom's family gradually finds the truth of his human character. He is a
friendly, subtle man in a simple story in a movie that runs around
ninety minutes... the kind that any director could make. Cronenberg
actively has nothing too original about the story and there is hardly
any complexity. There's fantastic imagery, and it makes Miller's
Crossing more terrible than it already is. Conventionally, his genius
shines over how basic the film could have been and it aggravates that he
did it so well.
Final Grade: B+/A-
Elizabethtown (2005)
Starring Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer,
Jessica Biel, Alec Baldwin
Film Prophet's Review...
Through the movie's music, Cameron Crowe's optimistic life flowing
script has a plot that is unripe, goes backwards, and narrows down to a
joyous disarray of scenes... it's an appetizer without the meal
platter. Crowe uses pieces of music most people haven't heard that
attempt to make the mediocre story better than it is. The voice of the
film is really Tom Petty, the singer. After a bad billion dollar shoe
product debut, industrial designer Drew Baylor, Bloom, learns about his
father's sudden death. As the only son, he travels to his small hometown
to attend his father's memorial. On the flight to Elizabethtown,
Kentucky, he meets Claire, Dunst, a stewardess who helps him navigate
the rough roads ahead. Drew, doesn't have a plan and talks more on a
voiceover than to anyone... or by his cell phone. He is given many
responsibilities as he handles work and family ordeals. Bloom, as a
weaponless character no worse than in Kingdom of Heaven, has an
agonizing expressionless face and gawks while Dunst is the happy radiant
counterpart to not only him, but everyone else in the story. No one in
this story is normal. Almost every character is worthless to the point
of total exasperation. For example, when the family gets together for
the first time in a long time following the father's death, it was very
tedious, unfunny, and listless. Dunst, who I was just waiting for her to
appear, came about cheery and over-delighted. She isn't given any
credible lines, like the rest of the characters, and her repeating exit
60B quote was probably the worst moment for her on screen. The movie
just doesn't work if there isn't some interesting or funny lines. The
scenes where the mother learns chores she didn't do before and tap
dances at the memorial are poor. Exhausting lackluster scenes where
Bloom doesn't speak drains any energy anyone had right before this film.
There are hundreds of ideas that show up for a jiffy and went no where
with a slow pace. Not much was written to appreciate anything the movie
offered. The film is empty besides the bodies on screen, as one's mind
turns off. It was too light touch, using a tender relationship in quirky
little moments without logical explanations. The music never really
stopped and the performers didn't truly give valid efforts. They can not
even overcome goofy senseless lines and an improper ending.
Final Grade: C-
Proof (2005)
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hope Davis
Film Prophet's Review...
The Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway play has a devoted daughter, Paltrow,
dealing with the death of her father, Hopkins, a brilliant mathematician
whose genius was crippled by a mental insanity. Her father's former
student, Gyllenhaal, searches through her father's notebooks in order to
discover a bit of his old past. Her estranged sister, Davis, shows up to
help settle affairs. The quartet of a cast and long awaited release did
not arrive with a likely push. The female side breaks through the script
that begins lingering on a daughter-father conversation as if the father
doesn't know much of her. The story is explained through staged
conversations, and they were weak to attract. The screen play confuses
itself and the characters get more baffled about the objective of the
film. The stage production of this film is very theatrical, thus the
adaptation does not go beyond the play. The writing was very jagged.
Flashbacks to father scenes last for no more than ten seconds and the
film flashes back and forth over a period of a few years to depict her
father's decline and effects on her. At times, it isn't easy to
distinguish what is reality or a memory. The film serves to blur as its
limited narrative is stuck in the play's claustrophobic setting. It
doesn't explain the two main concepts of her father; his mental capacity
and his math proofs. The one time it does express a proof from his many
books was on months and temperatures to formulate in everyday life. The
madness and paranoia is really convoluted by Paltrow. She appears in
almost every scene and makes her character as whiney and troubling as
she can. She is full of remorse and largely confusion. The two sisters
argue about what should be done, Gyllenhaal may not be too convincing as
the studious type, same with Paltrow as a student on verge of graduating
college, and Davis' character becomes unlikable fast. Although, the best
acting part is when Paltrow goes up expectedly from pew to alter to talk
truth about her father. Director John Madden didn't go a fair amount
further than the blueprint of the stage play and so it drives
over-acting points in a story that is dreary wiping out most cinematic
qualities.
Final Grade: C/C+
Wrong Turn (2003)
Starring Desmond Harrington, Eliza Dushku, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Jeremy
Sisto, Lindy Booth
Film Prophet's Review...
Two vehicle accidents miles down the highway occurs for a carload of six
young adults and one guy who find themselves stuck in the woods of West
Virginia. Exclusive of knowing so, they are hunted down by cannibalistic
mountain men who disfigure their victims with barbed wire, and chopping
them to pieces. The worn out sub-genre, teen slasher, does not build its
own legend, just as Jeepers Creepers and Cabin Fever, but it is the
better of the three. All three seek to be different and tries to
frighten off of bad managed run through sequences. The pathetic special
effects are used to deliver it with performing shocks and gasps, as
usual, and it's just not hip any longer. All three females, Dushku, Chriqui, and Booth, were welcoming to watch in the mindless film. The
characters are gentle individuals trimly located in an area of neglect
and desertion. They are forced to react from shady attacks and remain
hush as the movie Deliverance did. The story that is tiny over the
length of the movie has little advancements. It runs dry for a while
until Dushku appears. The acting is lousy sometimes, though it is not
easy to perform in these types of situations of horror. In moments, the
script puts the characters in situations they don't know how to respond,
such as the early car crash... you crashed my parent's car, you're
paying for that, it was an accident. A couple smokes, then dies
instantly. Everyone's behavior is inevitable, the camera angle vision
off to the side obviously means the villain is preying, and no one has
any bona fide lines. Most of the time, they say hello or calling out
someone's first name when a person disappears. Apparently seven young
adults didn't bring cell phones with them on a trip; at least put in the
script that there's no reception in the forest. There's several aerial
shots of the forest setting from the woods with many tall green trees.
The watch tower was its most exciting feature and it was a really neat
addition that helped out. The movie did improve from there slightly. The
thin story is tolerable to watch, but with a small frown.
Final Grade: C-/C
Jarhead (2005)
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper,
Evan Jones
Film Prophet's Review...
Anthony Swofford, a Marine sniper from the first Gulf War, walks through
some aching issues reflected from a military enlistee standpoint.
Swofford's memories come from a third-generation family member whose
stint in boot camp turns to active duty in the Middle East. His staff
Sergeant stresses a strong dedication to rifles, and his fellow Marines
sustain themselves with sardonic humanity on blazing desert fields
against an enemy they can't witness for a cause they don't fully
comprehend. Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line examined nature with war
on grass and in the forest; Sam Mendes demonstrates the troubling
circumstances on an endless desert nixing much violence and keeping
resentment. The plot converges on the disadvantage of being a Marine on
ground while jets and planes above them get to work more effective and
faster, and they can also sleep in their own beds at night. The comedy
in the first half was really special. Several sexual references came at
suitable altitudes of amusement... it is the funniest war film and it
cripples M*A*S*H to pieces. They are never afraid to use profanity, that
appears in almost every line in the first thirty minutes. The men hardly
see combat, and in most war films, usually characters expand in war
conflicts. The enemy isn't thoroughly in conduct and portrayed. However,
Mendes uses them in other forms maintaining attention that aren't with a
raid and deals with football, letters from girlfriends, amusing
conversations, and treating water as beer. The movie in addition to its
characters had one exciting buildup to ultimately slighter tenacities...
the outstanding male cast uniformed expectations. Gyllenhaal, Sarsgaard,
and Foxx manage to make their characters very likable. Jake had tons of
remarkable scenes, Peter's ghostlike individual had many riveting
moments, and there was even a time in the beginning I forgot that Jamie
was a part of the movie. Everyone has an interesting story that is
covered at appropriate times in the story. The language and situations,
to the way they interact fixates the account of the life in the Marine
Corps during Desert Storm. The Gulf War cinematography is gratifying and
it begins with the funniest opening sequence to any war film. From
there, it is a frustrating wait for war action. The emotional level does
not reach the height of other great war films like Platoon, but it does
place the viewer to a firsthand experience in the story. Its modern war
time message is universal. Not every troop will see action... not every
Marine will kill a man. Swofford and his pals where about intervals of
clarity. They undergo a loss of purpose, then arrive with a war
attitude, and co-op with each other in preparations as American soldier
pawns. While it hints at excitement all the time, it tremendously leaves
one with an empty reaction intended to be.
Final Grade: B+/A-
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