Reviews by Prelude

Take a classic 1940s film noir murder mystery and throw it into modern times, make it revolve around drugs and high school kids, add some awesome handheld camera cinematography, and you have 'Brick'. I thought the acting was completely stellar from everyone involved, although the teens seemed a lot more mature and intelligent than real teens found in today's high schools. I think it would've been a 10/10 film if it was set on college grounds instead of high school environment. That's only part that felt a bit unrealistic.

This film needs multiple viewing, almost like Memento or 21 Grams. The dialogue is overwhelming, lots of clues are around, and there's a lot of characters and motives flying around that it could be too much to fully absorb in one viewing. I watched it late at night, and had to shut it off half way, and re-watch at earlier time next day, as I felt I was missing too much of the plot (and I did miss a lot from the first night).

Overall, a solid 8/10, but I'll see how I feel after one or two more viewings (movie is such a thinking movie that it makes me want to see it again). But it will always be kept away from the 10/10 rating in my books because of the 'high school' aspect of it.

I also loved the subtle humor in some spots, such as the mother of the drug king pin giving everyone fresh juice while all his gang members are waiting at his house. It's funny coz it's true. Most drug dealers I knew acted like thugs but still lived in their mother's basement. :)

This is one beautiful powerful emotional (and funny) film, and it rightfully deserved the Oscar for best Foreign Language film it received in 1997.

And its base, it may seem like another 'been done before' type of film; a womanizing bachelor is forced to become a father-figure to a cute little kid. But there is so much more depth to this film, and unfortunately, a lot of it is lost in translation. Unless you speak Czech, you won't fully understand the play on words done between the Czech-speaking Louka and the Russian-speaking Kolja, where certain words sound similar, but have completely different and ironic meanings. And unless you grew up in a communist regime, the subtle emotions and feelings the actors showed may not be so obvious.

And I'll admit this is one of the few movies than has been able to bring a tear out of me. When little Kolja is crying in the bathtub, 'I want my grandma!' shortly after she passed away, the lump in your throat will really sting you.

Czech cinema hit its peak during the 'Prague Spring' of the 1960s, before the Soviets clamped down hard on all the newfound free speech, but a film like Kolya shows the world that Czech film industry is still alive and well, even after being suppressed for so many years.

Seriously, what was the POINT of this film? There is a guy who is a stay at home dad, but not by choice, more because he's totally unambitious about finish his bar exam to be a lawyer. He has a gorgeous wife that is always nagging him about getting back on track and about passing his bar exam (and rightfully so). They have an adorable son, perfectly behaved, never talks back, always polite. that's one major clue this is a complete fantasy film, created in a world of make-believe.

Then you have Kate Winslet, she's a frumpy housewife in a loveless marriage. She has a cute little girl about same age as the guy's son.

They meet in a park and sparks fly, and it eventually leads to a wild adulterous affair. And between this main storyline, there is also the story of a strange and pathetic man who moves in with his mother after being released from jail. Being a pedophile, the neighborhood gets notified of this, and a few citizens lead a crusade to terrorize him and to warn everyone about him. This also has the audience on edge (probably only reason I kept watching), wondering how the story will cross paths near the end, seeing two cute perfect little kids, and a pedophile living in the area.

Well without giving away what happens, after 2+ hrs (WAY WAY too long, for this type of film), the conclusion felt rushed, pointless, ridiculous, unbelievable. What a bloody waste of my time.

The only reason I'm giving this overdrawn episode of 'Desperate Housewives' a generous 6/10 is because the acting from Winslet as well as the guy who played the pedophile were truly amazing. Good for one-time watch just for their performances, but drink lots of coffee to stay awake and don't expect much from the storylines.

This is my favorite british comedy, even more so than the Monty Python classics. But I'm saddened that it's getting dissed here at listal. 6.8 average? come on, are people simply voting based on the silly title, or have they actually sat down and enjoyed this comedy-robbery-blackmail-double-crossing laugh-til-it-hurts fest?

so many memorable lines...

'Oh no! It's K-k-k-k-KEN coming to K-k-k-k-KILL ME!!'

I honestly can't decide who was the funniest; Cleese, Kline or Palin. All were brilliant. Curtis didn't really have a comic role or memorable lines, but she had total chemistry with the rest of the cast, which made this ensemble that much more enjoyable.

Best part was where Otto (Kline) beats up Archie (Cleese) by putting a bag on his head and beating him, but when he takes bag off and finds out it wasn't a robber, he starts apologizing, 'Sorry, I didn't know it was you... i mean after all, WHO ROBS THEIR OWN HOUSE?' and then resumes beating him. only to apologize again. oh man, what a gem!

It's quite amazing how this film, based on a short story by director Nolan's brother, has turned into such a blockbuster hit. The film feels low budget as its a purely character driven movie and its all filmed on 4 or 5 locations; a motel room, a girl's house, a bar, an abandoned house. But three things make this the ultimate murder-mystery:

1. Acting is completely stellar by everyone involved, most notably by Guy Pearce and Joe Pantoliano.

2. The story is very engaging and powerful, about Pearce trying to determine who killed his wife while battling with short-term memory loss.

but most importantly,

3. The Direction of the film and its reverse-order story mode. For the ones who haven't seen it, the film follows Guy Pearce starting from the end, then each morning he wakes up is actually the previous day, almost like a daily countdown back to the start, when the wife got killed. It may sound confusing (and in a way, it is) but it has the added benefit of leaving the audience completely in the dark, as everyone around him knows what's happening while he (and the audience) are trying to pick up on all the clues. And each new day (which is actually previous day) gives new clues to the audience, and it just keeps escalating until the shocking end (or is that the beginning?) :)

Anyways, if you haven't seen it, go see it now. It's truly a film that will become a legend for a long time to come.

And if you have seen it, go check out Nolan's previous indie film, 'Following', which is a similar film-noir where he experimented with a non-linear timeline as well.

One of the greatest musicals this world will ever see. The beginning is a bit dry and slow but once the twister arrives, it's non stop 100% entertainment all the way to the end. Most of the songs are cute and catchy, but a few are letdowns, mostly the ones from the Lion.

As a kid, I loved the Munchkins and the Scarecrow i thought was hilarious throughout, but I also got nightmares from the evil winged monkeys. lol

ah, the memories.

It's amazing how powerful the classic Disney films are. My daughter can't stand watching any of the new Disney stuff, such as Lion King or Pocahantas or Beauty and Beast. I'd turn those on and within 15 minutes, she's playing with her toys, bugging her baby sister, or wanting to read books. I think the over-long opera-sounding musicals in the recent Disney crop are just too damn annoying for toddlers. Yet I played Jungle Book for her and she was nearly glued the whole time, and wanted to see it again as soon as it ended. She just adored this film. And when the catchy tunes started, she actually jumped and danced around with a big grin on her face.

I think Disney has lost its 'magical' touch.

If you want to start up a DVD collection for your kids, just stick to the classics.

This anime is great, but can only be endured once. The animation is certainly sub-par and very dated, since this was made in early 80s, but it's the story of survival during and after the effects of the nuclear bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima that makes this a must-see film. The story is based on the experiences of an actual Hiroshima survivor. A warning though, even though its an animated film, it is certainly NOT for kids and many scenes of dead and dying people is hard to watch.

It compares best with [Link removed - login to see], but it's not as good as that one, both story point of view as well as animation.

I had to shut this one off about half way. I'm baffled how people can dare compare this to 'Usual Suspects' or 'Two Smoking Guns'. The only thing in common is violent deaths and gangster related plot. The acting (or lack thereof) of Hartnett hasn't been this bad since 'Pearl Harbor', and Lucy Liu, well she still can't act if her life depended on it.

If a movie blows two aspects, acting and plot, before the first half is over, I have to shut it off. If rest of movie finally got good, my apologies. I did hear the ending was absolutely amazing, but to me, a movie can't be good with just great start (it was) and great ending, if the 90% in between is complete crap.

The problem with Hartnett's acting was the complete idiocy of his lines. If you're being summoned to a gangster boss's mansion and he suspects you stole $96,000 of his money, why would you make 5th grade jokes towards him?

Boss: They call him the fairy.
Slevin: What do you mean?
Boss: Because he is a fairy.
Slevin: You mean with wings, flying around in the forest? (said with big smirk on his face)
Boss: No, because he's a homosexual.

How completely retarded.

And the plot??

Come on. A black boss feuding with a Rabbi? They each have apartment building right across street, and plan to kill each other? They each get an idiotic Hartnett to go kill the other guy? There may be huge twists and unexpected endings, but if you start with an asinine plot that is as loose as Paris Hilton, you can take and twist the plot any which way and still make it fit original plot. That's not clever writing; that's just setting plot expectations so low at the beginning that anything will shock you by the end.

A perfect example of how a film could've been a cute romantic flick, getting completely ruined by corporate greed.

The obvious product placement is how this film simply feels like a feature-length ad for AOL. And Tom Hanks seems to have this effect on several other films he's done, most notably that FedEx film 'Cast Away'. He's a great actor, but a complete sellout to the big businesses. I'm surprised he hasn't done a film yet where he has a new tatoo of a logo on his forehead every 20 minutes.

The other thing that killed this movie is not that obvious for everyone, so let me point it out. The whole MORALE of the story is just to learn to accept fate if you're a small business owner, and even though you'll get trampled by the big box stores that move into your area, at their root, they are really nice guys, and if you accept your fate, they may even give you your own 'corner' inside their massive store so you can do storytelling for the neighborhood kids just like you used to in your small shop. excuse me while i go barf. truth is you'll be unemployed, while the big box store will hire pimple-faced teens for $5/hr who won't have a clue how to help you if you're looking for any specific book.

but other than those two points, its a decent romantic comedy. teaming up the stars of 'sleepless in seattle' and adding 'internet dating' to the mix, how could it not be popular film?