Reviews by Prelude

Grand Assault, I think perhaps you went in post-Casino Royale impression of Daniel Craig. I saw this film a year or so ago, way before Craig was even announced as the new Bond. When I seen it, he was a complete nobody, and maybe that's why I enjoyed the film so much.

In terms of cliches that are found in guns'n'drugs gangster movies, yeah, it's probably same as all others in the genre, but what makes gangster films stand out are 'memorable scenes' and killer soundtrack, which is why a so-so average film like Pulp Fiction did so well and is loved by so many. And IMO, Layer Cake has a ton of them as well. The beating-with-coffee-pot scene, the dance club scene, the sniper scene, the wicked ending, the cell phone call with Dragan the assassin, and I especially loved the whole scene where Craig negotiates the price of stolen shipment of ecstasy with the Duke. And the soundtrack, also IMHO, is one of the best in a while, with a sweet blend of memorable club hits as well as classic Rock tunes from 'The Cult'.

This world is a completely lost cause. Has everyone's brains turned to mush from too many 'American Idol' scream-fests and intellectual shows like that 'pick a number on a suitcase' crap or 'are you smarter than a 5th grader?'

The reasoning I'm ticked off is that recent crap like 'BARNYARD', 'OPEN SEASON' and even 'NORBIT' for Pete's sake killed Flushed Away at the box office. In terms of monetary stats, Flushed Away was a bomb, being made for $120 mil and only bringing in $65 mil. But in terms of entertainment, I think this is easily up there with Shrek series as one of the best looking CG animations, as well as it being filled with non-stop laughs aimed at both adults and kids in the audience.

Now perhaps the concept is what kept the audiences away, because honestly, when i saw the previews, I thought it was another CG cash-cow with poor story (pet rat gets flushed down to the sewers - doesnt exactly SEEM like a good story) but every part of this film is brilliant. The animation looks like Shrek and the humor and accents are British, and that works like magic for some reason.

Let's hope its a massive DVD sales hit, so the studios fire the company that was in charge of promoting it this past holiday season, and have incentive to create more gems like this in the future instead of complete lunacy like BARNYARD.

Overall, a very so-so 'forgetable' chick flick. There was enough of a decent story and good jokes throughout (thanks in large part to Jack Black). The acting was awesome as usual from Kate Winslet, but as I just mentioned, Jack Black was a surprise in this movie. He didnt play his trademark 'complete goofball' character, yet still managed to act and be genuinly funny. Jude Law, another strong performance as usual, and Cameron Diaz, well, she sucked as usual.

But what made me drop this from what appeared to be a 7 or 8 out of 10 to a 5 out of 10 is the ending. Without giving away the ending or the gist of the plot, let's just say the whole movie makes you wonder how the relationships will continue, and even characters are trying to figure out how to make it work, but the end was so cheezy and lame. It's one thing to leave a story open for interpretation like 'The Break-up' or 'The Last Kiss' did, but to just leave the central plot completely unresolved is just bad screenplay example. It's like someone started writing a good book and didnt know how to quite how to end it, so they left the last chapter completely blank.

Anyways, i recommend it, but with reservations because of the extremely bad ending.

just saw on TV a new game show where they pick idiots and see if they're smarter than a 5th grader, and if they are, they can win up to a million dollars.

I immediately thought of Idiocracy. Man that movie was so right; society is getting stupider, and being 'stupid' these days gets you on TV and heck, you may even win a million dollars.

Although the film took it to the extreme in order to highlight the changes, it's still a blast to see the spin that Mike Judge does about society's dumbing-down. See how every Windows version is dumbed down more and more (case in point: Vista). See how Jackass Number 2 was a box office smash, while brilliant but 'thinking' movies like Children of Men were box office bombs. See how every commercial and TV show are just getting stupider. Heck, saw the Oscars pre-show and the interviewers are asking useless things like 'What type of underwear are you wearing' to stars.

Anyways, about Idiocracy, brilliant and funny movie, with lots of memorable parts. Try not to analyze it for plot holes (there's tons of them) and forgive it for all the 'dumb' jokes throughout, just watch it for what it is; a great satire. I think with a 'proper' release, it may have had time & budget to polish up some of the film's rough spots, but blames falls squarely on FOX for cutting this movie off at the knees; perhaps FOX didn't want to alienate their key target demographics.

If you're a fan of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and the Colbert Report, don't let this comedy pass you by. Robin Williams is hilarious, the jokes throughout are priceless, yet this comedy also has very good messages that apply to present day political mess, about how politicians only listen to oil and big business interests, ignoring important issues like health care and environment, and how potentially dangerous an electronic voting system that puts all trust into computer software can be. Great film overall, and the good outweighs the bad (as mentioned by laura, sloppy editing, and a fairly annoying plotline).

The film is told in flashbacks, and by the end, when they show the scene with the bus, it's probably the most nerve-wrecking goose-bump emotional scene ever filmed. Unless you have no soul, you'll be be bawling your eyes out. I thought it was a beautiful film before, but now that I have two little daughters of my own, the film is oh so much harder to watch. I couldnt even imagine how I'd feel if I lost them in an instant.

This is one of the best performances ever by Kevin Spacey. He plays a vicious producer named Buddy who verbally mocks, belittles, insults and yells at all his assistants, with the vast majority of the mental torture aimed at his assistant, Guy, who only puts up with it so he can get ahead in the industry. But when Buddy steals Guy's idea for a blockbuster movie, Guy snaps and kidnaps his boss, and plans a night of torture and revenge on him.

Warning to the squirmy; this movie is loaded to the brink with swear words, and the torture scenes near the end are nearly at par with 'Misery', so be warned.

An interesting side note, this was Huang's directorial and writing debut, but the character of 'Buddy' was loosely based on his former boss, some big shot Hollywood producer, who was not impressed with this. It probably explains why this was Huang's one and only A-movie hit.

This is one of the best indie films I've ever seen, and rightfully deserved all the praise it got at the 2003 sundance film festival. The acting was top notch, but the plot is what blew me away. Just as one twist is exposed, another one is thrown at you, then another, then another. Man, what a rollercoaster ride of a movie. Loved every minute of it.

Grand Assault's review is spot on in this case. I too wanted this movie to be so much more, and was fascinated by the trippy animation, but overrall it was a dissapointment. This film had a great theme and animation, and the 'concept' of the plot was decent, but through most of the movie, the dialogue was just too distracting and off-topic that I just got lost and stopped caring about what happens to any of the characters.

And i think Keanu once again proves that he's just a hack of an actor. The only good performance in this film was from Downey Jr, as well as a few scenes from Harrelson.

It's easy to have missed this film, but if you're a fan of Indiana Jones, you owe it to yourself to check this movie out. Kathleen Turner has never looked sexier than she did in this film, and Michael Douglas was very well cast in this role as a rustic adventurer who teams up with an out-of-place city girl to search for a treasure deep in the jungles of Colombia. I must've watched this movie a few dozen times in my childhood and so many scenes are so enjoyable and the dialogue is very memorable. DeVito, Norman and Arau all have hilarious lines in the movie, with DeVito being an absolute riot, but even Douglas got quite a few funny one-liners that he delivers perfectly - "I told you, my life's sister depended on it ----" "Ah don't give me that shit, i thought you were donating a kidney or something!'

hehe.. i think i'll go watch it again, to rekindle awesome memories.

"And wether he calls himself Doctor Zolo, Ministry of Antiques,... or Colonel Zolo,... he's still .. just .. a BUTCHER! .... look at those snappers, will ya?"