Reviews

I've long wanted to see this film again and it is as magnificent as I remembered it to be. The story itself is pretty simple. Two young soldiers need to get an urgent message on foot while running through enemy war lines. While this film is a supremely suspenseful drama, the extraordinary thing about this film is the way it is filmed. Similar in style to Birdman (filmed to look like it all takes place in one continuous shot), the difference here is that Birdman was in a confined setting and this is a sprawling epic and the results are mesmerizing with some of the most outstanding cinematography I've ever seen. With my apologies to the excellent Parasite, this was the best made film in 2019. The two young soldiers are played by George MacKay & Dean-Charles Chapman and while they are both excellent, MacKay has the larger role (the camera barely leaves him from start to finish) and this is quite a triumph for this exciting young actor who has a long resume already beginning when he was 11 years old. There are a ton of other actors, some famous, in a film this large in scope and all ring true. I didn't know who Andrew Scott was when I first saw this in 2019, but his talent is very evident here and his future has turned out to be large. While everything about this film is excellent in every aspect, the majority of the praise must go to the director, Sam Mendes. Mendes has made a number of outstanding films including the Oscar winning American Beauty, but as of 2024 this is his ultimate masterpiece. You will discover yourself to be holding your breath at certain points in this film.

Silly at times and overall pretty nonsensical, this nevertheless has plenty of spooky atmosphere, quite a bit of tension here and there, some fascinating visual effects and a lot of creepy scenes. It also has Radha Mitchell, an actress I've always liked, but despite a long and successful career, after her initial critical acclaim in High Art she has never really hit the so-called big time, but she's been in a number of films that I have liked. As usual, she does well here. The only brief setup for this story is a little girl who keeps waking up at night screaming Silent Hill, which is a shut down ghost town. Within no time at all, she decides the way to cure her daughter of this problem is to take her there in the middle of the night alone. Doesn't seem the sharpest way to treat this problem. She then needs to crash through a gate to keep people out of Silent Hill since she is being relentlessly pursued by a very over reactive cop. They all crash in one way or another and they spend their time in this very creepy place the entire night. And they have to as the roads that got them there are suddenly gone. The whole thing is nonsense, but again, it's creepy. It's also too long for something so slight. Laurie Holden plays the cop and she's pretty good, but Jodelle Ferland as the daughter is not. The first hour is the best part.

I've seen this so many times beginning with a snowy opening day in a long line in December at the wonderful Ziegfeld Theater in NYC in 1977. I saw this a dew days ago for the first in a long time and it still gets to me. I don't dislike it, but I'm not the biggest fan of the additional footage added on some years later. It didn't really serve a purpose and it was so clear that Richard Dreyfuss was quite a bit older and larger. That aside, there is just about no other criticism I have of this film, which I consider one of the most spectacular and intelligent alien visitation films I've ever seen and I've seen a lot. There is way too much in this that I could go gaga over, but I'll stick to some basics. Steven Spielberg's direction is flawless and the performances of the three principles, Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon and Teri Garr are all perfect in their roles and little Cary Guffey is simply an enchantment here. The music is awesome as are the special effects and cinematography. Long before it opened I was waiting for it only for it to be a bit overshadowed in the summer by a little thing called Star Wars. That too is excellent, but I then resented the greater attention it got. But that was then and this is now and it no longer really matters. They are very different as one is a space opera and the other is an attempt at a realistic depiction of an actual modern day alien encounter. I love this film from beginning to end. It is an absolute must for any young sci-fi buff. Spielberg has probably made some better films than this, but this is my favorite. It is a classic.

This short film is very sad, though one with a sweet uplifting ending with one really fine performance by Sally Hawkins which will be no surprise to those familiar with her work. She plays a shy young woman who works at a crisis call center and receives a call from an elderly man who has overdosed as he seemingly cannot get over the death of his wife two years earlier. She talks to him with such care and delicacy you cannot help but be affected. The really sad part is that he doesn't really want help to stop what he has done, but he just doesn't want to do it alone. We never see the person she is speaking with, but he voiced by the excellent Jim Broadbent. A small slice of life's ups and downs.

I'm kind of surprised that a film this obscure has at least 1000 reviews on this site. I saw this a long time ago, but had completely forgotten about it. I suppose that one could describe this most accurately as intellectual science fiction. It all takes place in one location in mostly in one room, this tale of a man who is suddenly picking up and leaving a successful career and friends behind after 10 years. He has apparently done this before and for reasons not terribly well explained he decides to tell these people why he is leaving and just how he has done this repeatedly throughout an extraordinarily long life. The man from Earth is a man who has lived since man first existed or so he says. This film is about him and a group of fellow teachers and psychologists who came to say goodbye but instead sit around discussing whether or not he is telling the truth or if he is some sort of madman. The production is extremely low budget and the cast is a mixed bag with no real standouts though the lead, David Lee Smith, is not bad and the most well known name in this film, Tony Todd, also does pretty well. It's a curiosity for sure, but it's an interesting one. It is science fiction, I think, but if you're looking for action or outer space you are out of luck.

Not terribly true in some ways, this highly entertaining and moving film about British gays and lesbians in the early 80's coming to the assistance of striking miners at a time when AIDS is starting to hit home, is pure enjoyment from start to finish. Despite the mention of AIDS, this is not a sad film, though some of the information supplied at the end about the outcomes of some of the true life characters is indeed sad. This has an absolutely wonderful cast with established actors like Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Paddy Considine and Dominic West plus a couple of newbies, in 2014, who would go on to terrific careers, George MacKay and Andrew Scott plus an actor named Ben Schnetzer who I am totally unfamiliar with and one who gives a fine performance in a prominent role. "Baby Reindeer" sensation Jessica Gunning also makes her film debut here. It's fun while offering a glimpse of the times, it's well done in every way and while not a great film, it is a very enjoyable one.

Based on a Tony nominated play, this obscure film version is crude, tough stuff about life in the NY Tombs, as the Manhattan Detention Center was known then. And it is an appropriate name for a terrible, seemingly corrupt institution. Despite the acclaim, the play only ran for 80 performances, so it wasn't a hit and surely this grainy little seen film wasn't either, but it's well worth watching if you're up for it. It has a slim storyline of a young white pedophile entering for the first time a facility of mostly hardened Hispanic and Black prisoners and how they do or don't accept him. I say slim storyline as most of the film is simply showing us life in this prison, the inmates and their relationships with each other. It ain't pretty. Most of the people in this all male cast have multiple acting credits, which surprised me as they all seem like the real deal. There is not a performance that doesn't ring true. Miguel Pinero was a prisoner at one time, and I suspect so were most of the cast, and while there he wrote this play though his life was short. He also appears in this film and like the rest, is very authentic. I don't know if this film really has a message other than stay the hell out of jail!

Always entertaining, but somewhat clunky 80's film. Hollywood 80's films were so odd in that they seemed to ignore all the revolutionary 70's films to keep on truckin' with unrealistic commercial stuff particularly in the action/sci-fi realm. Of course, that is all in retrospect. While some of them have become forgotten junk by now, many of them were a lot of fun then and that would include this one, one of John Carpenter's better crafted films. Actually, it doesn't even seem like a Carpenter film. The U. S. sent out Voyagers 1 & 2 with a gold record with a lot of information about us and where we could be located should anyone or anything ever find them. Within this clever premise, one has and comes to visit. Of course, humans being human many in authority was to kill and examine it. The gold records are real and so is human nature so I'm not sure if I hope these are ever really found! Jeff Bridges, as the alien, or what the alien turns into in a need to assimilate once arriving, gives a very creative, clever and fun performance. Half the success of this film, or more, is due to him. Karen Allen is also rather delightful as the first person he comes across and takes into captivity to get him to where he needs to go. It's old-fashioned sci-fi yet one with a rather original premise, two topnotch performances and it's quite enjoyable.

Someone I don't know online provided a print of this short film that I had somehow either never heard of or completely forgot about. I was crazy about Apocalypse Now and have seen it many times and know it well as I'm sure most on here have do as well, and this was a cute, clever, low, low, low budget parody of the greatest film about the Vietnam War made so far. This is always amusing and sometimes laugh out loud funny. Of course, the presence of Billy Gray who I watched in the original broadcasts of Father Knows Best was a surprise and he is in the spirit of things here. I hadn't thought about him in years. Outside of the sitcom pablum, a big hit in its day, he showed flashes of real talent, but he just quit the biz after this. You don't see that often. Anyway, a crudely made fun little parody of a great film.

Richard Gadd, who I had never heard of, proves himself to be a terrific actor and writer. Weronika Tofilska, who I had also never heard of, proves herself to be a terrific director. While Gadd is no doubt talented, this is a very unusual and, on paper, risky undertaking. He plays a character based upon himself who is followed by a dangerous, mentally unhinged female stalker that is supposedly all true. It is a fantastic tale in a number of ways. While he certainly brings out our sympathies for what he goes through with this mad woman, a rape that dramatically changes his life, sexual confusion/awakenings, the loss of his true love, his embarrassing failure as a stand up comic, his parental relationship and a lot of other things, there were also times while watching this that I wanted to shut it off not because it was so harsh, which it sometimes is, but because he and/or his character, does such stupid things so often I wanted to scream. Some of the problems he has with this woman are his own fault. Most of the stupidity is based upon empathy which I wasn't buying, but I must admit by the time it ended I bought into that and felt really bad for all involved. As said, Gadd is fantastic, but he's greatly helped by the brave performance of Jessica Gunning as the crazed woman, but everyone in it is excellent. So is the cinematography. A very original piece, to say the least, that ends in a touching, creative and amusing way.

This combination of a family drama, or more accurately, a broken family drama and a disaster movie only works in fits and starts and all of its assets are when in disaster mode. The tall tale of a town that is rapidly sinking due to mines underneath has some exciting, though sometimes preposterous, action scenes that constantly kept reminding me of The Poseidon Adventure even though there is not a boat in sight. It just had that same feel of people's personal dramas intertwined with various individuals escaping just in the nick of time. The broken family drama is a bore, though a few of the actors are not bad in particular Tuva Novotny & Kardo Razzazi. Decent production values help, but the weak ending doesn't.

First off, this was not the best picture of 2008. It is a good movie and more or less a dark fairy tale in many ways. It has a few sluggish spots, but the children who play the lead character, Jamal, are all so good that they help immensely and the last half hour is very entertaining. While well performed, the Bollywood dance number at the end lost me as it has not one thing to do with the movie, but that's the way they do it in India. It's a feel good movie, though it surprisingly has some very tough scenes to sit through. More than anything else, I really am surprised at the success this film experienced.

When I was a wee lad I saw a number of Godzilla movies from the 1950's, including the one with an embarrassed Raymond Burr (the first?!) on TV and while even then I showed signs of being into science fiction, I was never into this. It never scared me, it sometimes seemed just silly and I was never a fan. I did like to watch it wrecking things though. Now that I am older, they make much better, technically, Godzilla movies nowadays now that he has made a comeback for some reason. Every Godzilla movie made today looks better, but I still think they aren't all that good or interesting, but this is the best one yet to me. The acting is mostly mediocre and most of the film is story over effects, but sometimes less is more and this is the most exciting Godzilla movie I've ever seen. The special effects are good, especially considering the low budget, though some of the writing is ridiculous. How do they know how much this thing weighs?! Having said all of this, it's kind of silly to critique something that has always been silly, sometimes it seems purposely so. Looking at reviews here, it seems Godzilla has lots of fans. Enjoy. By the ending, there is more to come. Hopefully, it or they will continue to be better than the over bloated American ones.

An extremely hard and difficult film to view even though you don't see any of the atrocities involved. That, however, is why the film is as effective as it is. It simply depicts the homelife of a husband and a wife, their children and their nice home which is next door to one of the most horrific places in history, Auschwitz, and the time is the early 1940's and the husband happens to be Rudolf Höss, a man notoriously responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews. This won an Oscar for sound that was richly deserved as horrific as it is. What the film does not allow us to see, it does allow us to hear. It also has some stunning cinematography. There are many actors in this, but only two of consequence, Christian Friedel as Höss and Sandra Hüller as his wife in a role that is light years away from her recent superb performance in the fascinating Anatomy of a Fall. However, neither of these seem like performances as they are so incredibly lifelike. We are all mostly products of our place in time, our locations and our upbringings. These are horrible human beings just doing what life has turned them into and in this case it is as cold and inhumane as man has been at any time in modern history. The final depiction of Höss descending a staircase is a bit of a puzzle. It suggests that there is some sort of conscious in this man. I'm not sure why the creators of this would want to provide us with that impression if indeed that is what they were aiming for. Jonathan Glazer has only made four feature films in the past 23 years and all have been excellent in some fashion with no similarities, though unlike this, the other three offered entertainment value, an aspect he is not interested in here. He is a major talent. It's 2024 and considering the current state of the nation, the world, this is as timely a warning as a film could be. I so hope that changes.

This is neither historically accurate or even convincing of its time period given its sometimes modern, all too witty dialogue, atmosphere and attitude, but it is grand entertainment with two magnificent legendary performers of the cinema at the top of their game in sort of a 12th century "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" only with more serious consequences involved. It's hard, if not impossible, to rank where this sits among Katharine Hepburn's screen performances, but it's pretty high up there. While she may have been the oldest in the cast, somehow it is she who comes across as the most modern of the bunch in this power struggle between Eleanor of Aquitaine and her husband, King Henry II. While so much of this is fiction, it is true Henry locked Eleanor up for a period of 16 years until his death. The film doesn't touch upon it, but curiously they both eventually got what this film depicts them fighting over, but only she would know it. It's highly unlikely they had the joyous departure as depicted here, among many other questionable time period relationships and incidents, but again, it's grand entertainment and isn't that ultimately what movies were made for? Throw in the film debuts of both Anthony Hopkins (a little wooden) and Timothy Dalton (very seductive) and you have a film buff's delight.

A long, sometimes ponderous, not very realistic depiction of early Hollywood filmmaking that reeks of fakeness throughout, which is a shame as Robert Downey Jr in the title role is very good. Too bad he is stuck in this uninventive, unimaginative leaden movie, but then Richard Attenborough (Gandhi, A Chorus Line, etc.) was never exactly known for his creativity as a director. Still, it might be of some usefulness to the very young who are unfamiliar with his historic career, though it would be better if they were to see something more honest. This does have a pretty impressive supporting cast playing an assortment of long ago people in the early days of filmmaking.

Funny how some very popular and acclaimed movies can become less thought of as time goes by. "Show me the money", You had me at hello" and especially "You complete me" were all such effective lines upon its initial release and now they are mostly used in jokes. However, these were very effective lines at the time and its still a good, though a bit manipulative, movie with Cruise giving one of his better performances and looking great. This put Renee Zellweger on the map and she is indeed quite touching and very good in this and Cuba Gooding Jr is a fun presence and owes an Oscar win to those four words "Show me the money." When one looks at the nominees that year in his category and sees the astonishing presence of Edward Norton's film debut in Primal Fear it shows us yet another of Oscar's many questionable choices. Anyway, despite the nitpicking, this sports/love story movie is an entertaining and slickly made film. There are a lot of appealing supporting actors in this as well. Its hard not to like, even if you try.

Another found footage type of movie. Sort of. The tale of a night talk show host trying to hit it big and failing until one broadcast, when his show is on death's door, hits the bigtime with not only paranormal activity captured on film, but also shown on live TV back in the mid-70's. We get to see the tape of that telecast. It does have a somewhat strange finale, though I doubt it will be to every one's taste, but it is unusual and unpleasant. The host of this show is played by David Dastmalchian who is the only cast member who gives a somewhat realistic and/or quality performance. The rest all appear to be second rate type of actors unless their were directed to act like they were. Hard to tell with his. A lot of reviewers on here seem to think they have found some low budget gem, but I thought the first part a bore and the second simply an oddity with, again, a finale that is at least different.

I saw this 24 years ago, but had absolutely no memory of it whatsoever beyond being impressed by Blanchette. My how time can change opinions. Yes, she does a good job, but she has grown immensely as an actor since this film about a psychic was filmed. It's more than just about a psychic involved with a murder, it is also a tad supernatural though that's slightly misleading. This has a fabulous cast, mostly good, and while Blanchette is fine, it is Giovanni Ribisi who steals this film. It was odd to see Keanu Reeves in such a nasty role, but he is strong in it. The film itself is a mixed bag. Always interesting, sometimes too melodramatic for it's own good and, of course, one has to swallow the premise, one that is not all that original. There are far worse ways to spend two hours though.

Having lived through this period, this is a rather personal and emotional film to me. This film did not make a lot of money, which is a shame as this is a history of how gay men & women have progressed to where they are today. People like Harvey Milk are responsible for the evolution of civil rights and he deserves to be remembered for what he achieved during his short time. As a film, this is remarkably well written, though some things and characters are necessarily sketchy simply due to time constrictions. The archival footage is wonderful and harsh and to today's young LGBTQ people the footage of being dragged off to jail, being beaten, being crucified by the church must seem unbelievable, though the latter certainly is still going full steam, though ultimately it will be to no avail. If watching this film and then taking a look at where LGBTQ are people today does not show to the entire country how the advancement of these people's civil rights has been an ongoing growing achievement then they are both being seen through blind eyes. This is not a cinematic masterpiece, though Gus Van Sant's career is full of fascinating films, but it a very intelligent, extremely well made and mostly brilliantly acted film. I have never been a big fan of Sean Penn, but this is his ultimate triumph. He just simply morphs into this role and is a complete delight to behold. Josh Brolin is also excellent. He is never written or played as a villain, though he ultimately is. James Franco gives a warm, loving and sincere performance. This is an important as well as entertaining piece of civil rights history and while the most well known comment made by Milk has always been "My name is Harvey Milk and I am here to recruit you", the most important line in this movie is based on the Declaration of Independence. All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words.

Tells you something about how much this was appreciated at the time of its release when a movie that is basically nothing but non-stop special effects from beginning to end does not even get an Oscar nomination for it visual effects. The plot is completely preposterous, the acting is pretty weak by the vast majority of the cast and the whole thing is directed, well more like constructed than directed, by hatchet job master Roland Emmerich. Jake Gyllenhaal tries sincerely, but is too old for the role and the writing just overwhelms his attempts at this thankless role. Quaid is in his full ham mode and the rest, if not all, are just moving pieces. It's watchable as so much is going on, but the less you pay attention, the more you will like it.

Fun little comedy about a jewel heist and a mostly doofus group who can't tell who is screwing who with all kinds of backstabbing, double crossing and a femme fatale playing them all. Or at least most of them. Jamie Lee Curtis has seldom been this much fun in any movie and she had never looked better. Kevin Kline is quite good and won a questionable Oscar for this, but for my money, Michael Palin is the funniest in this. It's a wacky story and everyone gets their comeuppance by the time it's over, some in gloriously original fashion. I don't think it a great comedy, but I do think it a good one.

I saw this in 1985 and my memory of it was slim other than remembering being very surprised at the time by the Oscar nominations for the two lead scenery chewing actors. I'm still surprised though Voight's better than I had remembered as a mighty vicious criminal who has pretty much realized that he has lost all chance of having any kind of shot at having anything resembling a normal life though deep down, very deep, there is a slim glimpse of some humanity left in him. His sole goal as we see him is to do anything at all to stay out of prison from which he has escaped in the early part of this film. Not that he wants it, tagging along with him is a beyond dumb young fighter portrayed by Eric Roberts. The prison escape takes place in the Alaskan wilderness and is well done though one has to swallow the near cartoon like villain of a warden played by John P. Ryan who does all but twirl the ends of his moustache. These two escaped cons manage to get on a train and have some preposterous timing as the conductor immediately drops dead from an apparent heart attack leaving these two alone on a runaway train. The rest is all on this train with many attempts by the controllers to either stop it or keep it from causing even more damage with a crash. It holds up better than a lot of 80's action movies and it's pretty tense and action packed with a lot of moralizing speeches as we speed along. Rebecca DeMornay shows up eventually as the only other person on the train and she does okay with a limited role. The final scene is beautifully shot.

An original and very fast paced intelligent piece of science fiction. An alien spacecraft runs out of gas over Johannesburg, South Africa and sits there suspended for a few months before man breaks their way in. The rest is for you to find out if somehow you don't already know. The fact that this was relatively cheaply made makes it all the more impressive and its location is most unusual for this type of movie. On the surface, it may look like just another summer sci-fi alien extravaganza, but it is not. While it is quite exciting and fascinating much of the time, probably the most impressive thing about it is the lead performance of Sharlto Copley who carries much of this on his shoulders. It is rather unbelievable that this was his first feature film. He provides a very eye-catching debut and this is a fine thought provoking piece of entertainment made by Neill Blomkamp, though I can't say I've been very impressed by more recent endeavors. It ends leaving an important question left unanswered giving the impression that a sequel might be on the way, though that never occurred.

The title sounds like a sci-fi movie. The poster for the film looks like a sci-fi movie. The early part of the film sorta seems like a sci-fi movie. However, this is not a sci-fi movie. It is a movie whose premise makes absolutely no sense. If you can get past the early nonsensical setup of numerous fathers all just simply walking out on their wives and/or children in the same teeny town around the same time you might find yourself involved with the plight of those abandoned, particularly the children. They all learn to live their new lives and eventually the fathers return, though there is no indication as to how long they have been gone, only to find themselves shunned because of what they did. They all have reasons, but why they all just simply walked away around the same time is never explained. Perhaps it is just bad filmmaking that presents its setup incorrectly?! Beyond the structure being a mess, there are some touching scenes among these abandoned young people with the focal point well played by Jeff Wahlberg. Rashida Jones does pretty well too as a lonely wife. It has a gritty realistic look to it, but it is a film that is pretty much ruined by either poor writing, poor direction or poor editing or perhaps all three.