Change Your Image
servo24601-2
Reviews
Léon (1994)
could not buy it
I tried, I really tried to watch this based on a friend's recommendation and the fact that it was the same director that did "La Femme Nikita". Unfortunately it was also the same director who did the "Fifth Element" which goes to show that "Nikita" was a creative fluke.
I am sorry, I just could not buy the premise. When you cannot buy the story from the first 15 minutes, then the whole movie is lost.
One more thing, can we nominate Gary Oldman for the "Overacting Hall of Fame". Between this and "Fifth Element" he shows just how much a waste of talent he really is. I think he could be great but he takes these nonsense roles and then overplays them.
Skammen (1968)
Bergman charts new territory
Being a huge fan of Bergman I had to search literally years to find this movie (at a price less than $60 I mean) and finally bought it a few weeks ago. The basic premise of Bergmans films are the relationships between the characters and how they deal with trying situations. This film therefore is the same yet it is different because the setting is far different than most of the Bergman films the I have seen.
It is set in wartime and the heros are caught in the middle.
It is riveting from start to finish and it once again proves that Liv Ullman is one of the best actresses of the 20th century. A must see.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
This should not be part of your Star Wars collection
Just because you have the first 3 Star Wars movies does not mean that you need to purchase this piece of trash. Lucas has lost his direction- he has no idea what made the first 3 films great. He needs to understand that the script is 1000% more important than all the special effects in the world.
If you re-watch "Star Wars" or "Empire" after wathing "Phantom Menace" you see that the first 2 had CHARACTERS. The interaction between the characters, especially Han and Leah or Han and anyone is the reason why the movie worked. All the interaction is gone in this film because everyone and everything is a special effect.
And regarding Darth Maul, has there ever been a less effective character in a major picture? Unlike Darth Vader, we never know who this Darth Maul is or why he is trying to kill the heroes, thus we don't care about him. And Lucas should know that when you don't care about the character, the scenes become useless.
This movie is an embarrassment!
Stir of Echoes (1999)
missed opportunity
This film started off intriguing and then took a left turn into typical Hollywood garbageland.
Although it might not be fair, it is impossible to not compare it to "The Sixth Sense" since it was released around the same time and it seems to be based on the same idea (obviously someone talking too much at some Hollywood party), although with not near the results.
If the film ended at the 2/3 point it would have been great, but unfortunatly it continued to its ridiculous conclusion.
Cliff
Dark City (1998)
Dark City is what Phantom Menace will never be
****
"Dark City" is what the "Phantom Menace" will never be; a movie that took time to write a story to go along with the special effects. It is a visual stunning film but the movies real asset is its terrific plot. It stays deliberately vague at the beginning and it forces you pay attention and focus on the plot- not the special effects. This film is a modern day masterpiece. George Lucas lost his vision in making the "Phantom Menace", he should view this film and it may put his priorities back in line; plot first, then special effects.
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
a huge missed opportunity
This film is perhaps one of the biggest missed opportunities in modern movie-making. It starts off with an interesting and funny premise and the character of Austin Powers is very amusing...until they introduce the character of Dr. Evil. If they would have pitted Austin Powers against a real character it would have been tremendous. Instead they have 2 bumbling characters fighting for comic relief time. It ends up being less than satisfying and makes you think "how could someone miss such a slam dunk?" Where are the writers in Hollywood?
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
I really liked this movie
I really liked this film. It was well done and was not a big budget "rockem-sockem" shoot out film. It was small budget and was well acted and suspenseful. I highly recommend this film. There is a sequence with a little girl that took me by surprise.
I can't help but think of what John Carpenter might have accomplished had he concentrated on films like this and "Starman" instead of wasting his time on stupid horror films. >
Lost in Space (1998)
missed opportunity
This movie was okay. The first half was full of imagination and hope of things to come in a potentially good sci fi movie. It was well done and entertaining. The problem came when they were in space. The thing missing that was featured in the original series was there were no cool aliens they had to beat. There were aliens but they contained no personality. The second half of the movie seemed to collapse under its own weight. It seemed they wanted to do so many things they had to combine them and it seemed sort of a mess. All in all, worth seeing only if you were a fan of the original, but they missed an opportunity to make a really good sci fi movie.
Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
needs to be shortened
This movie featured a terrific cast, great acting, beautiful scenery and was an entertaining movie....but they needed to hire an editor. It could have been an hour shorter and had the exact same effect.