Reviews

I must have been in a cave when this movie came out. Actually, I was; Kuwait City, Kuwait, right after the second Iraq War. The movie had great actors (Duvall, Kostner, Bening and more), a tight plot, outstanding photography and superb story line. Westerns have gone out of favor recently. Mostly doomed to be specials on TV. Too bad. Ten years ago, this might have been the a very highly touted movie. There were areas in the movie that kind of dragged (when are they going to kick some ass, anyway) but that being said, it was a great movie. I haven't seen too many movies that caught my attention as well as this. When I saw this on AMC, I was ready to go outside to my patio and smoke my pipe and drink my scotch, but from the beginning of the movie to the end, I couldn't leave! Believe me; my pipe and scotch are part of my daily routine, but it played second fiddle (I recall the sheriff in this flick was playing his fiddle just before he was put into his on jail cell). Well done!

Finally got to see one of my favorite BBC series of the 70s, Anne of Avonlea, with Kim Braden! I did find it to be not quite as I remembered it, but, it was still a good watch. For most of the movie, it had the feeling of being filmed in a studio. There were some outdoor scenes just to add some atmosphere, but overall the staging effect didn't take away from the series. Some of the actors were a little rough around the edges (i.e. Anne's fiancé and the young "American" kid with the horrible British accent). Kim Braden and her best buddy, Jan Francis were great together! Both were really fun to watch. I think Kim Braden added a believable level of naiveness to her role. I remember falling in love with her back in 1978, when I saw it as a rerun on BBC. I now can see why. The series was maybe not as well produced (spell that well funded) as the Megan Follows version, but it held its own if you watch it for what it is; an overall well directed and well acted little period piece. I'm glad they finally came out with the DVD on this BBC classic. I can't understand why Kim Braden and Jan Francis never became brighter international stars. They did go on to do several projects after that but nothing really memorable. Time well spent. Thanks Kim.

When I was in the Air Force, I was stationed in Germany, the U.K. and France. Why is it that we seem to be the only country that produces these type of mindless, shock-flicks? Seems like we (forget the Spangdahlem address, I'm American) are a nation that thrives on this type of brutal violence. I've lived in the aforementioned countries for over 5 years, and I can't recall seeing anything like this produced by the host country in their theaters or television networks. Maybe it is a funding issue, but maybe the mindless zombies that all countries seem to possess can wait until the go old U.S. movie studios will punch several out. This is an indication that we are really a very violent nation, even though we are a "Christian Nation". Hmmmmm....I get tired of hearing how righteous we are as a nation. Why do we keep putting this type of crap out?

Over the last 40 years, I've seen a lot of movies. All types. Some great, some good and some mostly inedible; most left my breath with a sour smell. Westerns, sci-fi, comedies, dramas, etc. After seeing Kill Bill Vol I, I assumed that any sequel would pale to its predecessor. I, of course, was premature in my prediction. The movie was, by all means, a classic. I feel Taratino was really trying to make a great movie versus making money for his producers. To build his tasty sandwich, he took the lessons he learned from life as a movie maker and cleverly managed to meld some slices of meat from Sergio Leone (subtly), Akira Kurosawa (very subtly) and, I'm stretching it here, Ridley Scott, to create a great sequel to an excellent first movie. He used some great, almost forgotten actors (Daryl Hannah, Micheal Parks, and David Carradine to create a memorable meal. It was only a sandwich, but what morsel it was. I was full and wanting more. Very rare to find this type of film in our corporate world. He must wield some real power in the movie world. I don't know of anyone who has saw this movie who hasn't given it great feedback. And I know all types of viewers. My wife, who really doesn't like anything that is not overly melancholy or dripping with sentimentality, actually liked the whole movie. That in itself is an endorsement. Well done. Mr. Tarantino, you will be hard placed to match this gem.

It is all about redistribution of wealth. We, as taxpayers provide an endless pot of money, taken from our wages and then injected into the government coffers. What do we do with this money? We use some of it to run the administrative parts of our government; we divvy some of it to social programs and other non-payback programs. Then, we have all of this loot leftover. Again, what to do? We distribute some it to state pork belly projects and the like. Then we have to toss some of it to our military. Let me define military; it is the process of acquisition of hardware and contracts first; then using some of the money to pay for some poor white, black or brown skinned kid to run and protect all of this hardware and contracting interests. What little these kids get in pay is made up with large doses patriotic rhetoric about God, flag and 911. It is much more profitable to pump money into hardware than to pump it into disposable people (not my feelings, but I'm sure there are some who feel that way). Everywhere a defense contractor has a facility, there are thousands of jobs created; the economy in those areas benefit. Remember the 80 or so billions of dollars that Bush needed to rebuild Iraq? He got it, after much, much back scratching with congress (GOPS and DEMS). Remember, before Iraq, he would have never got that amount of money for anything. But, now we had a legitimate reason to distribute our national wealth to contractors. But, unlike Vietnam, where we had to replace aircraft being shot down by SAAMS, we couldn't just give our hard-earned money to General Dynamics and friends. We decided to instead, funnel that money into Iraqs infrastructure rebuilding. Of course, there were contractors waiting in to assist us in spending it. I'm sure some of those guys were in line to fund the Bush (don't think they forgot Kerry either) campaign also. Do you ever wonder if the major Iraq war contractors (HALIBURTON, etc) wished that the Iraqi people would come together and peacefully coexist? Probably would cut short their cash flow from the region. But, those guys are good ole 'mercans that love God, mom and 911.

The movie wasn't a masterpiece. But it was worth the time spent watching it. Whether it was intentional or not, the movie's slightly off-kilter tempo and underdeveloped story line gave it an eerie, life-like feeling. The interactions between Karin and Alan reminded me of having an interesting conversation with someone you just met. You spend hours laughing, exploring the world's fascinations and revealing intimate details about yourself, but after the conversation ends, you really can't recall anything about the other person; you're left wanting for more. I suppose because I hadn't read the book I had no expectations about it. To me, the movie was about a man who simply marries uncertainty. Alan never really knew Karin completely. Similar to life, we never really know everything about Karin; where she was from or what was going on inside her head. We had vague glimpses, but nothing concrete. Do you really know your spouse? I mean, really? We are always off-guard; we could never quite grab hold of Karin. I admit the movie was hard to watch, but I had this desire to finish it out. After it was over, I wanted more; like the starving man who eats the meager portions on his plate. He doesn't really care who made his meal or what is in it, but he knows he'll need more of it. Also, about Meg Tilley's much maligned German accent. She didn't deliver the stereotypical Marlene Dietrich or Colonel Klink accent; she sounds like the some of the real Germans I know here in the west side of Germany.

This film was made up of several mini-plots. Kind of reminded me of "Lantana" in some aspects. Anyway, there seemed to be something for everyone in this little flick; the dying gay son, the jaded/disaffected party girl who meets Mr. Right, the seemingly happy/loving older couple, the cheating wife, etc. I used the power of my remote's fast forward button to get through the blase' parts. Occasionally I'd even catch some great acting that kept my interest(Jolie, Stewart, Connery, Anderson). Overall watchable, as long as you can fastforward to the little plots that you might like.

I saw this movie very recently and although I don't speak German or Russian, I still understood what was going on. I also found that this cute little movie entertained me on two levels. It had a great little plot that delivered a very good story about how a little cat can interact with its environment and survive. Although I have to admit I came into the movie about halfway, I really didn't feel it was totally about a little cat that became lost. The movie seemed to center on a Russian man, Fedin, who tries to survive in Moscow while still showing compassion for his cats. It then explored how his cats survived when he faced adversity. The movie also gave me a brief look at how some Russians live. They're not as sad and depressed as we are led to believe. Some of them even have money to buy Persian cats (Fedin sold his black Persian to make some money to feed his other cats). We average Americans really don't have a clue. The movie came off as an excellent Moscovian "Homeward Bound". Too bad it never made it to the masses. I'd love to find it on video!