Reviews by Prelude

Having a 2.5 year old daughter suffering from a rare blood disorder and needed monthly medical treatment (it's getting better; it used to be a weekly ordeal), Michael Moore's 'Sicko' documentary really hits very close to home. I am very very thankful that I live in Canada were we believe that health care is a RIGHT, not a PRIVILEGE. Sure, our system is not perfect, and there's always ways to improve it. But reading on ITP forums (what my child is diagnosed with) and hearing about similar cases from the States where each 'treatment' costs the family $5,000 in fees, and being forced to just rely on the grace of God for their child to survive, because some of the treatments are not covered by their insurance, that's just not right.

Let's just say we've had so far 10 treatments with our child, and tried 4 different types of treatments before one finally responded well with her. And other then parking costs and time off work, everything was paid for. So to hear the stories in Sicko about people, WITH INSURANCE, that get denied certain coverage, resulting in their death, made me sick to my stomach. As Moore says at the beginning, 'this film isn't about the 50 million people WITHOUT insurance. It's about the 250 million WITH insurance.' and to hear how insurance companies advance and promote doctors that 'deny' the most cases left me shell shocked. A top doctor is one who DENIES the most people, or finds the most LOOPHOLES? what kind of a sick society is this?

This is one powerful documentary, and even exposes hypocrisy among the democrats, not just the republicans. How Hillary Clinton used to pitch universal health care program, until she was bribed to shut up and drop that goal by none other than the health insurance lobbyists in Washington.

I'm sure this film will flood the internet chat boards and talking heads news shows with the typical rebuttal that 'Michael Moore is a communist, Michael Moore is an American-hating fat pig, etc...', that is until they discover cancer or other major illness to a close loved one. Until they have to go thru it, most American think they have 'the greatest Health care system in the world' - top doctors, top equipment. Until you get the dreaded 'denied coverage' letter. then your whole life crumbles.

A quick warning though. Some of the stories in Sicko will leave you shocked, disgusted, and a couple will even bring you to tears (what kind of a sick f**k doctor would say they can only insure to correct hearing from ONE ear of a 3 year old girl, not both ears????), but it's a film that needs to be seen.

I'm puzzled. There's a few people on my 'Friends' list that give this epic masterpiece a 1/10 or 2/10. What gives?? Same with IMDB. It's one of the lowest rated films that is on the 300 Greatest Films list, as well as an Oscar winner. 7.0 on IMDB is poor for a film of this caliber, and Listal's 6.9 average is just as pathetic.

So it makes me wonder; are all the people giving this masterpiece a low score doing so only because of overexposure to the film and to its massive popularity? Do you simply rate a film low because of mass appeal, just so you can appear to be different? Or do you truly believe that the film itself, the acting, the special f/x, the story, deserves a 1 or 2 out of 10, basically saying its on par with crap like 'From Justin to Kelly'?

Anyways, those comments aside, this film is truly fantastic, every part of it, and it thoroughly deserves the BILLION plus dollars it raked in from ticket sales alone.

this is what happens if you have Entertainment Weekly, Jerry Springer, and Big Brother, and put them thru a blender.

Pure 100% TV crap. This show is a key factor when I decided to cancel my Cable TV and go and live a TV-free life.

nothing but a bunch of washed-up has beens, stupid fake drama-queens (come on, their ACTORS, you think the 'stories' of love, forgiveness, etc, are REAL? shake your f*'n head if you do), mixed in with a overly generous helping of the marketing ploy 'Sex Sells!'

How could they have released this film? I honestly don't remember what the plot was or what the jokes were like, all I could do when I watched it many years ago and feel pain and sadness knowing this is the film in which actor John Candy died while filming. For the director/producer to finish up the rest of the film using stand-ins and rewrite the story to exclude Candy from the rest of the story was a huge mistake. Greed prevailed over respect for the great comic's death.

John Candy, R.I.P. - you'll forever be missed.

And I'll be sure to remember you by your true classics; Planes Trains Automobiles, Uncle Buck, SpaceBalls, Canadian Bacon, and Great Outdoors.

I've already a borrowed it 3 times in a row from the local library, I think it's perhaps time to buy this book for my daughters' upcoming 3rd birthday. She absolutely loves this book, with its repetitive phrases, rhymes, hilarious illustrations and such great execution. Basically Sam I Am is trying to force some mean old grinch to eat green eggs and ham, and for every scenario, in a tree, in a house, with a fox, with a mouse, he says no no no! my kid is absolutely mesmerized by this book, giggling her pretty head off thru all of it. Nowadays, the quality of the new childrens books is appalling. Nobody can come close to the absolute charm of Dr. Seuss books, and 'Green Eggs and Ham' is our favourite, even more than the adorable 'Cat in the Hat' and 'Cat in the Hat Returns'.

If you have a young toddler, I urge you to look for this classic. I'll guarantee your kid will love it, more so than those ridiculous 'Dora' or 'Barbie' or 'My Little Pony' marketing books the stores try to push down on our kids.

When I think of the term 'plothole', I immediately think of this movie. This by far has got to be the most asinine script ever turned into a multi-million dollar budget blockbuster.

I mean, honestly. It's set hundreds upon hundreds of years into future (evolution of humans into 'gill-men' would theoretically take a few millenia, but let's assume 200 years at the very least, in hypothetical terms. ok, then factor in what sea water does to metal. ok, now, can someone explain to my why motorized boats are in perfect working order? and just where the HELL are they getting cigarettes from? and anyone ever own a jetski? those things won't last 2 years, let along 200+.

so basically cigarettes are in unlimited supply from 'somewhere', the bad guys have a tanker with a near infinite supply of gas for their boats that seem to last forever, and its so far into future that people don't even know 'plants' exist, some humans evolved into fish-men, and 'dry land' is just a myth that few even believe in. and when they finally reach the last bit of dry land on earth, its filled with lush forests and wild horses. I guess when all ice caps melted, no human thought 'hey, why not head for the highest ground?', and instead, stocked up on gasoline and cigarettes so they can raid 'ocean outposts' for the next hundreds of years.

there's no way to sugar coat it. this movie sucks and if you're smarter than a 5th grader, you're brain will hurt from the plotholes.

This movie tries to be a 'dark comedy', starting off in a bachelor party, when this go horribly wrong, and each wrong turn brings another horrid event.

that's basically the entire movie.

if you think 'accidentally' cutting someone in half is funny, i guess you're in for a treat. but even though I've seen this film back when I was in my early 20s and my taste in movies was a lot more immature back then, even then, I found this movie to be stupid, made only for the 'shock' factor, and simply not funny in the least bit. I completely lost my respect for Slater after this role, and he proved himself just how bad of an actor he's become with his recent roles in Alone in the Dark and Mindhunters.

I believe this was the best action film of 2006, and it deserved a lot more attention than it got.

It has more bloody deaths than the overrated Oscar-winner, 'The Departed'. It has more frantic fast-paced action then that horrendous crapfest that was 'Crank'. The cinematography was on par with the Oscar-winner 'Pan's Labyrinth. The costume design should've won an Oscar rather than 'Marie-Antoinette'. But what really made me fall for this film is the storyline; about one man doing everything he possibly can to save his young son and pregnant wife. A pure action film that also manages to tug at your emotions is something quite rare.

I suspect that the hostility between the jewish Hollywood elite and Mel Gibson is why powers-that-be have somewhat successfully restrained its success. Only 65% positive reviews, and $50 million domestic take on a $40 million budget is quite poor (although it has done very well overseas).

But in the end, I think this film is a masterpiece. I recommend this to anyone one, male or female, as long as they don't get squirmy at sight of blood. But it's not at horror-level amount of gore, and fits rather well with the Mayan culture at the time, when sacrifices and gruesome deaths were done to appease gods.

FedEx™ and Wilson™ presents.... Cast Away

Man, i thought that AOL™ movie 'You've Got Mail'™ was the clear 'product placement in movies' champ, but Cast Away beat it by a mile!

I think it could've been a real gem of a film, even a 9 or a 10 in my books, if the friggin' product placement was turned down a down a notch, or two, or OFF completely. It's just so in-your-face that it feels like it bitch slaps you all the way throughout.

For starters, it feels like you're watching a FedEx™ employee pep-talk training video at the start, talking about how fast they ship, how important it is to be on time, and stories about how he tried so hard to get a package delivered, even when his truck broke down. And then you have the FedEx™ plan, the FedEx™ packages all floating in the ocean and washing up on the beach, and he keeps one important FedEx™ package that has Angel Wings on it, as it gives him hope on the desolate island. Really, i think it was put into the story was so can stare at the FedEx™ logo on the box for the entire film, all the way to its conclusion, where even though late, he finally hand delivers that FedEx™ package.

And let's not even mention Wilson™. yeah, it was cute that he started talking to an imaginary friend that was actually a volleyball, but yet its another clear product placement.

Overall, great film, if you can put up with the nausea from the commercial crap that floods it.

This is one of those movies you watch, you keep watching, your brain really starts to hurt as you TRY really hard to figure out what is going on. Half way thru you're really frustrated because NOTHING makes any sense yet you keep watching it coz it's beautiful to look at. You're jonesing for the plot, to figure out the meaning, to go 'Oh, I GET IT!', but nothing... so by now, you figure that might as well watch the whole film, because it is sure to have a bit revelation at the end that puts everything in focus. Instead, the ending takes your confusion and multiplies it even more.

grrr... I mean, yeah, the movie is visually stunning, has outstanding acting, and the theme is very intriguing, as it deals about life, death, love, eternal life, eternal love... but one shouldn't have to go to IMDB forum boards to try to get even a slight idea of what the film was about, and even there, you have like a dozen 'theories' of what it might've been about.

I think it could've been a real masterpiece, if only a bit more of the director's vision was explained. I consider myself a fairly smart fellow, and 'get' most films usually with ease, but this one is just way out there. The 'present' storyline made sense, and I understand that one, and even the past storyline somewhat made sense, although I still don't know if it was just a story that the wife started writing, or flashbacks to real past events. and then the 'future' story line, with the tree and the bubble and floating in space, that's what was completely lost on me. what that story meant, or better yet, how it related to the other two stories, is so cryptic that one can only offer theories.

Overall, I 'think' I liked the film, but I just wish it was a bit more coherent. I'm not looking for cookie-cutter-plot Hollywood film, but come on, director, throw us a friggin' bone, will ya?