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Reviews
The Puffy Chair (2005)
Solid Movie about Relationships
This is a great movie to watch on a rainy day, sitting in front of the tube with a six pack of beer and memories of a relationship gone sour. The movie follows Josh and Emily, who are struggling with their relationship, as they drive to surprise Josh's father for his birthday. On their way, Josh has purchased (via eBay) a puffy chair that resembles the one his father had long long ago. However, Rhett, Josh's listless brother, joins the duo and now the pair, while criticizing Rhett's bizarre romantic behavior, must take a look at their own relationship and decide whether it's worth saving. A touching look at relationships, people, and the simple decisions that haunt us for a lifetime.
The French Connection (1971)
Quite Perfect
For anyone who has forgotten what film is all about (or only remembered Gene Hackman from Hoosiers), this is what gritty film-making and hard-nosed acting is! This is Hackman's best work, excluding The Conversation.
Detective Popeye Doyle (Hackman) and Det. Cloudy Russo (Schneider) are NYPD detectives that stumble upon a major drug smuggling operation that reaches far beyond the borders of New York, let along the United States. The cops are gutsy, ego-maniacs reminiscent of Steve McQueen in Bullitt. They're tough, they're mean, and they're human.
As you know, French Connection contains one of the most spectacular guerrilla-style car chase scenes in the history of movie making ... even though it was in Chicago and not New York.
This is a film for true filmmakers and Hackman fans.
Go (1999)
Doug Does It Again
Liman puts together an energizing tale of music, drugs, and teens in LA in this entanglement of people in a "day-in-the-life" style reminiscent of Pulp Fiction's time warping yarn: Simon (Askew) and his troubles in Las Vegas, Ronna (Polley) and her troubles scoring E with Adam and Zack.
Simon and Marcus find themselves on a road trip to Vegas (including funny but tired joke involving a sexual act and a contact lens) where they find trouble in the form of a strip club gone bad. The lesson "don't touch the strippers" doesn't seem to be well received by this group of kids.
On the other side, Ronna finds herself the center of trouble as she tries to score E from Adam and Zack and get caught up in a narcotics sting, headed by Burke (played by a brilliant Fichtner, only eclipsed by his Black Hawk Down performance).
The pace and music are energizing. Liman does a fantastic job of exposing the characters and bringing the story lines together in a fashion that is still refreshing.
The soundtrack is killer.
Roger Dodger (2002)
P.S. - This One is Great
After a slew of film festival back-slapping (Tribeca, Spirit), writer/director Kidd had high expectations for P.S. Not to get ahead of myself, but after watching that disappointment I had to re-rent Rodger Doger and remember what I liked so much about his storytelling.
Roger Dodger follows a "day-in-the-life" of young Nick (Eisenberg), who craves becoming a MAN by losing his virginity and looking to his uncle Roger (Scott) for guidance in the ways of manhood, women, and the social habits of Manhattan's single men and women. Unfortunately for Roger, he's a player in the worst sense. Bitter because of a hard life, a crummy job, a boss and girlfriend who uses him more than he admits (played beautifully by Rossellini), the role of teacher-student changes as both Roger and Nick begin to discover more about their own hopes and realities after meeting two strangers (Beals and Berkeley) and a haunting scene in a New York brothel.
This is the Kidd that's brilliant.
Robots (2005)
A Game of Guess Who
Robots follows a typical storyline: Boy moves into big city to redeem himself to earn his parents' love. Not the most fanciful or original plot line, but then again this film wasn't made to be original but entertaining.
The movie manages to elicit a constant stream of laughs whether they are visual gags or references to pop culture, e.g. Ms. Britney Spears.
The most fun part of the movie is recognizing the parade of famous voices that inhabit these animated characters. What fun it would have been to be a fly on the sound room wall, listening to Ewan and Robin and Mel and Drew. That's pretty much where the movie starts and ends: all about the famous voices.
The art direction is fairly standard with a few visual gags on the robots buy beyond the fun it's nothing worth watching again.
Entertaining for youths and adults alike, but I don't imagine anyone finding repeat watchings like Toy Story or the Incredibles or Monsters, Inc.
Crash (2004)
Overwrought
I must have seen a cut of this movie no one else has because this was simply overwrought, clichéd, and underwhelming. While Million $ Baby wasn't the most genius of scripts I've seen in quite a while it at least brought up a hush-hush topic that has been ignored in recent years. Crash, on the other hand, tries to take racism and present it in an in-your-face view.
It would have been more powerful to see the racism moments presented by the director in more subtle, powerful ways than setting dozens of ticking time bombs and waiting for them to (literally) exploded and see who lies or dies or learns or hates or loves.
The performances are quite strong, props to Don Cheadle and Matt Dillion, but the stories told, a nod to the Tarantino / Go style of storytelling, are simply too simple for the average viewer.