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Reviews
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Why this movie is just average
While many people on here think this movie is 'brilliant', 'stunning' or even 'the best movie of the year', I think it's not only depressing and incoherent, but also cheap and evil in a bad way. The acting of the main characters is said to be good, but never explained. One thing is annoying, though: the actors seem to be more worried about their looks than about their acting. Well okay, perhaps the adults din't act so bad, but the kids terribly overacted and performed rather poor, stereotyped jobs. But that's not the worst, obviously.
First of all, the plot and the idea of this movie is very old and not original at all. It's a normal time-travel story in the same manner as 'The Time Machine' and 'Back to the Future' - but not that fascinating because the aspect of time traveling seems completely natural and not weird at all to all the persons in the movie. This way, the fun of 'discovering' time-traveling by the main characters is not enjoyed in this movie.
Second, the in itself always interesting idea that it's possible to change the past, is not worked-out correctly in this movie. There is always a paradox in time-traveling, and nothing can ever be completely solved, but in this movie, everything fits in the end. That's misleading and an insult to the viewer. It's also a very cheap way of making this movie 'happy ending' after all - probably for the kids watching this.
Thirdly, the movie is very depressing. Sometimes, depressing movies can unsettle you, teach you something or make you think about the sad state of the world - or at least entertain you because they're well made. But this movie actually is just a sequence of scenes that make you feel bad, that depress you and that ultimately have no other point than to make you feel bad. Sure, it's all solved in the end, but the main characters don't seem to have used the bad images to turn into better persons, so why was it necessary to show all this in the first place?
Finally, the title is badly chosen. Supposedly, the 'butterfly effect' is the effect that when a butterfly flaps its wings, it can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. However, in this movie, when something is changed in the past, only the lives of the main characters change. That's very un-butterfly-effectish, which basically says: change one thing in the past, and *everything* changes, not only the lives of the main characters. Therefore, this whole movie seems based on a wrong conception of the very theory it's trying to work out. Sloppy, to say the least.
These are some of the reasons why this movie is in my opinion at most average and can't possible receive such jubilant reviews on here. People who like this movie perhaps like it because they haven't seen any other time-travel movies, or because they like the main actors, or because they just like easy teenage-thrillers that you instantly forget after you've seen them. It's a choice, but this movie is ultimately just disappointing and leaves a pointless bad taste in your mouth.
Memento (2000)
A solid ride, but not the brilliant stuff I expected
This movie is actually just a regular thriller: you expect to be thrilled, to have a suspenseful movie, full of twists and plots, and you get it. It's nothing more and nothing less. Yes, the plot and the way it's told (backwards) is clever, but hey, so was 'the butler did it' once. Face it: ALL plots in thrillers are clever in some way or another. That's no reason to call the movie brilliant. It takes more than that. A brilliant movie is a movie that tells you something about the world, about people, about yourself. This movie just tells you a nice story. It's well-made, well-acted, and well-thought-out. Although some stuff is really too hard to believe. But it doesn't matter as long as you're just expecting a solid ride, not a life-changing experience. By the way, there have been many movies and books which are told backwards. This movie is nothing new in this respect.
OT: For example, read the book 'Time's Arrow' by Martin Amis. It's a story about WWII told backwards. The good thing there is that it gives you new insights about history of events and of how people thought during the war.
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Brilliant parody
This movie is so absurd you've gotta love it. It makes fun of almost all movie genres and conventions, it laughs in the face of suspense and plot, and yet the individual performances are excellent (especially Jack Nicholson and Natalie Portman), the script is hilarious and the graphics are wonderful-if-clumsy-on-purpose. The whole movie is so postmodern that it makes post modernism look silly. Of course, some people will hate this movie exactly because it makes fun of you and the fact that you like to see a movie that makes sense. I guess it's a matter of taste in the end, but if you like to see absurd situations, reminding one of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', and you love to see your own expectations being ridiculed, you should see this movie!
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Great sequel, an even more profound Godfather
Perhaps I liked this movie even better than the first part, although of course the originality was partly gone. That aside, I'm pretty sure this is one of the best sequels that were ever written. It's a movie in itself, and I feel it goes much deeper than Godfather part I. The movie explores the dark side of being involved in crime, it's clearly more melancholy, it's again very atmospheric, especially New York in the yearly years of the 20th century. De Niro and Pacino are, as always, fantastic. They portray profound characters, scary and touching at the same time. It's 3.5 hours of sheer delight.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Great views, few thoughts
Well, this movie is not for people who like subtlety. Not for people who like good dialogues. Not for people who like interesting characters. It is for people who love action, action, and nothing much else. For people who love pompous battles on big screens, hollow words, rhetorics of of the kind great dictators are so fond of, big words like 'today mankind will not fail'. Sure, I can see why people like this movie. They are just easily pleased. They see a big battle-scene and they're happy. They see orcs, orcs, and still more orcs, and they think, 'wow, these orcs must be metaphors for all the bad bad people that are out there on this evil evil planet. How deep! What geniuses are Tolkien and Peter Jackson!' They see a helicopter-view of a battlefield, great graphics of a fictional city, a realistic monster-spider, and they're happy. They see good triumph over evil and they think that's the way it should be, because... well,..., uhm... because it's different from real life I guess? It gives them... uhm ... hope? It must be nice to not see that cheap emotions, the flat characters, some of the most stereotyped dialogues ever written in the history of film.
It must be great to be able to love this movie!
The Matrix (1999)
Smart, but nothing really special
This movie is made very cleverly. It mixes a lot of long-known philosophical ideas into one movie filled with action and special effects. A guaranteed way to succes. However, such an ambitious theme also sets more expectations, and after all has been considered, the only conclusion can be that no new philosophical insights emerge and no deep thoughts have been provoked once the credits start rolling..
Lucía y el sexo (2001)
Fine movie
Lucia y el sexo is a fine movie. First of all, the movie is funny, smart, and daring. Some things in the script were a bit hard to understand (I think if you watch it a second time, things become clearer, and besides - what's the use of a movie that doesn't keep you guessing?) but because of the humor and speed of the narration, it didn't distract me at all from the general feeling of esthetical satisfaction I had while watching this movie. The locations are very nice and the actors are well-cast. Especially Lucia (Paz Vega) is defintely impressive (and not only in the nude-scenes!) People who watch movies for a 'correct' plot only, should not watch this movie, I guess. Stick to Agatha Christie murder-mysteries or so. For sure, they will not leave you pondering over life's mysteries.
This movie does. It makes you think while leaving you with a good feeling at that.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
More Bored of the Rings
There is not much to say about this sequel, as there is no plot line, no interesting characters to comment on, no interesting scenes. Only boring battle-scenes (which *are* impressively made, obviously, but .. well .. we're getting used to that compliment, aren't we?) and simplistic characterization. I must admit I wasn't too big a fan of the first part, but the second part really got me annoyed (the crucual battlescene lasts for almost a full hour). So, everybody wants the ring. Big deal. And can someone please remove that dwarf that's the only one who Jackson gave the right to be funny?
What can we expect in the last part? Battlescenes of 2 hours?
Donnie Darko (2001)
A funny and modern Faust .. and more
This movie is something else. It's very funny, it's deep, it's well acted, and everything fits some way or another. It is in no way forced, too obvious or, worse, too philosophical. Still, it is pure literature. The story is about a high school boy, Donnie, who suffers from hallucinations about a huge rabbit ('Frank') telling him how to act and what to do. Frank is also predicting the end of the world. There are so many layers in this movie that it's impossible to mention them all. The story follows, in one way, the classical tragedy of Faust, who wants to learn more than book-wisdom with the help of the Devil. (There are clear references to Goethe's Faust in the movie: Donnie's girlfriend is called Gretchen and the final episode takes place at Halloween, at midnight. You should find out all the allusions for yourself.) However, this movie is more than 'just' a search for the meaning of life. It is a search for the role of time in our lives, for the meaning of love, of human company, of society in our time. It also offers an interesting retrospective at the 80s. It is, most of all, a searching for, and finding of, Fate. Go see this very original and wonderful movie, you won't regret it.