She works as a waitress, is married to a prick, is pregnant, and begins to have an affair with her doctor. Meanwhile, one of her co-workers meets a guy whom she thinks is too ugly but he is so insistent that she finally gives in; and another of her co-workers is having an affair with their boss.
A cliché movie, exclusively. Griffith's performance as the elderly customer is very good.
Rating: 33
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Auto Focus (2002)
Biopic on a TV actor highlighting his obsession with (self) voyeurism fueled by his friendship with a video expert.
A real downer, and none the less dull for it. Leibman's performance as the agent did impress me, though.
Rating: 44
A real downer, and none the less dull for it. Leibman's performance as the agent did impress me, though.
Rating: 44
Fido (2006)
Zombies can be controlled through a special collar which removes their desire for human flesh. They are used as servants. A family buys his first zombie and the son becomes attached to him.
Interesting comedic investigation of the social consequences of the zombie mythology as first laid out in Night of the Living Dead and subsequently explored in dozens of spin-offs.
Rating: 58
Interesting comedic investigation of the social consequences of the zombie mythology as first laid out in Night of the Living Dead and subsequently explored in dozens of spin-offs.
Rating: 58
Get Smart: Supersonic Boom (1967) (TV)
KAOS can send "sonic booms" over a distance. They threaten to destroy New York City unless they are paid a huge amount of money. Their hideout is at a car wash. The funniest sequence is when they simulate a plane trip with blindfolded Max and 99 so that the two will think the evil machine is being moved to Argentina.
Visitors (2003)
A woman making a solo trip around the world on a sailboat starts having visions.
Not really good (the 90 minute version I saw anyway, IMDb says there is a longer one); it throws in too many disparate elements (pirates, sea spiders, her dead relatives) without much justification. There are interesting elements in it, which aren't duly explored.
Rating: 38
Not really good (the 90 minute version I saw anyway, IMDb says there is a longer one); it throws in too many disparate elements (pirates, sea spiders, her dead relatives) without much justification. There are interesting elements in it, which aren't duly explored.
Rating: 38
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Blades of Glory (2007)
Two figure skaters, both male, are banned from competition for life. As the banishment is valid only within the singles category, they decide to team up as a pair.
The style of humor is blunt and unsophisticated, yet the general flow of the film is not unpleasant.
Rating: 41
The style of humor is blunt and unsophisticated, yet the general flow of the film is not unpleasant.
Rating: 41
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Spider-Man fights a villain who turns into sand and an evil rubber-like substance from space which gives power to those wearing it.
Entertaining at times, more so at its humorous moments.
Rating: 43
Entertaining at times, more so at its humorous moments.
Rating: 43
Ash Wednesday (2002)
A man saves his brother's life by killing his would-be assassins, and then is forced to skip town. Three years later he comes back, putting his own life and his brother's in jeopardy.
Weak in more than one respect.
Rating: 34
Weak in more than one respect.
Rating: 34
Planet Terror (2007)
A toxic gas leaks and turns people into flesh-eating zombies; their condition is highly contagious. A few uncontaminated people take refuge at a barbecue restaurant.
This is a kind of parody of exploitation films, yet not a standard parody because instead of looking down on the genres it mimics it enthusiastically embraces them and exacerbates its characteristics. It also metacinematically reproduces the personal viewing experience of those bygone days with all the imperfections of projection and celluloid (even a missing reel is simulated). Despite the jovial spirit and some interesting ideas, however, the film is just not that good, feeding as it does on hyper-overused situations, in a frequently tiresome and repetitive way.
Rating: 42
This is a kind of parody of exploitation films, yet not a standard parody because instead of looking down on the genres it mimics it enthusiastically embraces them and exacerbates its characteristics. It also metacinematically reproduces the personal viewing experience of those bygone days with all the imperfections of projection and celluloid (even a missing reel is simulated). Despite the jovial spirit and some interesting ideas, however, the film is just not that good, feeding as it does on hyper-overused situations, in a frequently tiresome and repetitive way.
Rating: 42
Death of a President (2006)
Account of the fictional assassination of the current U.S. president.
Apparently storytellers from all media are backing off from the novellistic paradigm for the narrative of fiction and, as of In Cold Blood, even non-fiction as well. Now even fiction must be told in a documentary form. I don't like this trend at all. As for this film's story, it doesn't hold its own; some wild assumptions are made which don't stick (military men from a long lineage of soldiers do not face death (and war) the way this film depicts; a president's schedule sheet doesn't simply leak to protesters like that) and are obviously contrivances to give the liberal-minded plot its thrust.
Rating: 39
Apparently storytellers from all media are backing off from the novellistic paradigm for the narrative of fiction and, as of In Cold Blood, even non-fiction as well. Now even fiction must be told in a documentary form. I don't like this trend at all. As for this film's story, it doesn't hold its own; some wild assumptions are made which don't stick (military men from a long lineage of soldiers do not face death (and war) the way this film depicts; a president's schedule sheet doesn't simply leak to protesters like that) and are obviously contrivances to give the liberal-minded plot its thrust.
Rating: 39
Hollywoodland (2006)
Based on a real event, the death of a minor actor in 1959 by gunshot, the film shows an investigation and some hypotheses.
Entertaining and informative about the film and TV world of the 50's, but way too long and unfocused -- why all the subplots about the fictional detective if he should be just a plot device to allow the film to show all the possibilities without committing to just one? Note: there is no evidence (and all the people involved denied the event) that any of Reeves' footage in From Here to Eternity was cut, as is depicted here.
Rating: 57
Entertaining and informative about the film and TV world of the 50's, but way too long and unfocused -- why all the subplots about the fictional detective if he should be just a plot device to allow the film to show all the possibilities without committing to just one? Note: there is no evidence (and all the people involved denied the event) that any of Reeves' footage in From Here to Eternity was cut, as is depicted here.
Rating: 57
Requiem (2006)
About the ordeal which befell a real German girl named Anneliese Michel who reportedly had a gamut of neurological/psychiatric disorders which she eventually came to believe were due to supernatural influences.
A correct film. The crux of the drama lies at the mother, a character so heinous that the suggestion of her being the cause of her daughter's psychological imbalance seems immediately reasonable. She is probably a speculative character (I haven't been able to find any account confirming that the real-life mother was in fact like this), but I think this is a better theory for what happened than anything that involves demons. There was another film based on the same incident, The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), which tried to be "fair" to both sides, but you can't be fair to murderers and charlatans unless you call them exactly that.
Rating: 67
A correct film. The crux of the drama lies at the mother, a character so heinous that the suggestion of her being the cause of her daughter's psychological imbalance seems immediately reasonable. She is probably a speculative character (I haven't been able to find any account confirming that the real-life mother was in fact like this), but I think this is a better theory for what happened than anything that involves demons. There was another film based on the same incident, The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), which tried to be "fair" to both sides, but you can't be fair to murderers and charlatans unless you call them exactly that.
Rating: 67
Footsteps (2003) (TV)
A woman novelist arrives home and finds someone broke in. A young man is inside who claims he is just a fan and the door was already open when he arrived. Subsequently another man appears claiming to be a cop.
It plays with the viewer's expectations in a mildly interesting way.
Rating: 36
It plays with the viewer's expectations in a mildly interesting way.
Rating: 36
The Goldbergs: Member of the Jury (1955) (TV)
Alternate episode title: The Jury.
Molly is summoned for jury duty.
Excellent episode. Having seen only two episodes of this show, I am already in love with it. Notice that this episode precedes 12 Angry Men by two years, and makes for an interesting comparison with that movie. A final note: there is one little detail about this show, however, which doesn't sit well with me: the children are so physically dissimilar from their parents that they seem to belong to a whole different family.
Molly is summoned for jury duty.
Excellent episode. Having seen only two episodes of this show, I am already in love with it. Notice that this episode precedes 12 Angry Men by two years, and makes for an interesting comparison with that movie. A final note: there is one little detail about this show, however, which doesn't sit well with me: the children are so physically dissimilar from their parents that they seem to belong to a whole different family.
Don't Come Knocking (2005)
A middle-aged movie star looks for his son, about whose existence he has just heard.
Characters don't seem to act in a realistic manner, perhaps because if they did there wouldn't be much conflict and that would deflate the movie.
Rating: 35
Characters don't seem to act in a realistic manner, perhaps because if they did there wouldn't be much conflict and that would deflate the movie.
Rating: 35
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) (TV)
The owner of the theater where the Muppets are about to perform their Christmas show threatens them with eviction.
Mostly consisting of spoofs of hyped film or TV productions. One or two funny bits, and that's all.
Saw it dubbed in Portuguese.
Rating: 32
Mostly consisting of spoofs of hyped film or TV productions. One or two funny bits, and that's all.
Saw it dubbed in Portuguese.
Rating: 32
Zodiac (2007/I)
A serial killer terrorizes the San Francisco area in the late 60's and early 70's.
Well made and engaging. The film bears a strong thematic resemblance to Salinui chueok (2003), aka Memories of Murder, but I for some reason found Zodiac more appealing.
Rating: 69
Well made and engaging. The film bears a strong thematic resemblance to Salinui chueok (2003), aka Memories of Murder, but I for some reason found Zodiac more appealing.
Rating: 69
Cord (2000)
Alternate title: Hide and Seek.
A sterile couple kidnaps a pregnant woman and fakes her death.
Basically one satirical character (done in a very over-the-top manner) surrounded by straightforward ones. Faintly interesting.
Rating: 31
A sterile couple kidnaps a pregnant woman and fakes her death.
Basically one satirical character (done in a very over-the-top manner) surrounded by straightforward ones. Faintly interesting.
Rating: 31
Lady in the Water (2006)
A creature comes out of a swimming pool.
The worst film ever. It bears some plot affinities with E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
Rating: 0
The worst film ever. It bears some plot affinities with E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
Rating: 0
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