guitarcarl

A cast of very real ordinary people do much to overcome an underdeveloped and poorly written script. Even though the cast tries hard to make lemonade out of lemons the story ultimately sours. Several of the characters show tremendous potential and there were relationships that could have been developed to success, why the writer and director went the way they did is hard to understand. A few better plot choices possibly could have allowed us to see into a realistic view of rural America. A really interesting scene between a boy and his mother had me on the edge of my seat, but it was never really resolved. The scene built powerfully and then ended with a startling grab in a dark field. The story did that several times, start moving with some intensity and then crash into a cheap thrill. The climax wonders aimlessly through poorly arranged gore vignettes. By showing to much to fast and the lack of budget for decent visual effects what little credibility the cast had built up was wasted. I was reminded of "The Blair Witch Project" in which the director relied on talented actors to build suspense and mystery. It remains one of the scarcest and successful independent horror films ever made and not a dime was spent on fake blood and rubber masks. I still wonder if the actors could have done much better if the director and writer had gotten out of the way here. In the end the movie make no effort to resolve at all. The plot resolves no more in the end than it is explained by a corny narration in the first moments of the movie. If you are really looking for a good independent horror film let me suggest "Salvage" instead. Performances by Chris Ferry and Lauren Currie Lewis will knock your socks off.

This movie tries to say something profound; I'm just not sure what it was. Too much is left unresolved in the end for me to figure out the main point. A couple scenes really have me wondering what was left on the cutting room floor. I don't think the wall was very well developed I never got what was actually going on there. When the mother finally unveils it I just couldn't make any connection to the boy's silence. What was the point of the boy not talking? Was he just delusional or did he acquire some sort of power. What was the scene with the burnt girl all about? Another power the boy has or what? I don't understand how that developed any character or moved the plot. I got the bully bit but what happened to the dog? Did the dog come back or did mom get rid of Fido for good somehow?

There were several additional plot elements that were more clutter than use. Like the radio talk show in the background discussing the Iraq War. I think that was supposed to create some sort of comparison to the grief and insecurity the mother and Addison were experiencing but for me it was distracting and strained. I didn't buy the link very much. I also found the teacher getting on Addison about not saying "here" for roll call a bit much. The mom seeing the doctor was pointless, how did it serve the plot? Was that to show how desperate the mother was getting, or was it something about the medicine that I didn't get? Was that the dad coming back in the last scene, or just some guy? So did writing on the wall work? What happened to the Dog?

I guess I would have understood this more if I had known the movie actually had almost nothing to do with the real Black Dahlia murder. It's a completely fictional story that makes no attempt what so ever to answer any of the many questions surrounding the actual Black Dahlia murder.

There has to be literally hundreds of factual stories surrounding this murder that would have made for a vastly better story line. It was so complicated I had trouble remembering who was supposed to have done what. The connections between characters were unnatural. The chemistry was stretched and strained. The movie does not work on so many levels that it would be difficult to comment about them all.

There are some really terrific movies that cover true crime in a dramatic way, for example "In Cold Blood." The difference is that in the case of movies like "In Cold Blood" the fictional aspects of the script are in place to build pace and to condense complex events so that viewers can draw conclusions accurately with out making the movie last forever. However, "The Black Dahlia" does just the opposite. The silly love triangles and complex character associations lead you further and further away from the facts of the murder until it has to take tremendous leaps in story development in the last half hour to sum up a climax that makes almost no sense.

Another thing that bothered me quite a bit about the story was the defamation of Elizabeth Short's character and reputation. She was never known to be in any lesbian relationships in real life. Nor was she in any porn films. There is little evidence that she was nearly so sexually promiscuous. In this way I felt like this poor young woman who was so horribly murdered was simply victimized again by a novel and script writer that were lazy and or untalented. They just danced on her grave to make a buck. Difficult for me to understand that with a case that is loaded with good story possibilities without making the victim into a slut.

This is an excellent film. Filmed in a classic "Film Noir" style, it is both dark and engaging. The script is well written and expertly crafted. The pace is fluid and the characters are well developed.

The score is appropriate and effective. It helps create tension and mood without becoming oppressive as many scores do.

The cinematography is absolutely terrific and creates a dark and intimate view.

All these elements combine to create an excellent environment for what is a truly inspiring cast. It would be difficult to overstate the quality performances of the entire cast. John Travolta was completely convincing as he always is but I think he may have surprised even his most supportive fans. He nailed the part hands down. In one scene he suspects a dead body is possibly hidden in a box and the mood he creates as he approaches and investigates the box is riveting.

But the true star of this movie was without doubt Salma Hayek. She was mesmerizing as Martha Beck, a true masterpiece. She played evil so well it was spooky. Most people who watch this movie are going to really enjoy how carefully she seduces the viewer into her despotic plans. This is certainly one of her finest portrayals and shows she has considerable acting depth. A nasty "femme fatale" may not be a huge stretch for her but she really did a terrific job.

"Lonely Hearts" is not a family movie. There is plenty of blood, boobs and bad language. The movie deals with very heavy themes like suicide and child murder. And to make matters worse for young ones the story is true. Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez were real monsters and the movie shows more than enough to make that clear to anyone including kids.

I am a big fan of true crime and this film is really great. For me at least, it was one of the best I've seen in a long time. If you are an adult I recommend this film. Dramatized True Crime at it finest!

I recently watched this film for a second time. I forgot how good it really was. This is an adult movie loaded with sexual situations and adult language that also achieves so much more. The Language and sexual content purposed the greatest problems at the same time being almost essential to character and plot development. There is little new about the storyline really, a degraded selfish loser crosses path with a child and a women that over the Christmas holidays show him the error of his ways. Billy Bob Thornton is masterful in his portrayal of Willie, the loser. He leads an excellent cast that features a remarkable child actor, Brett Kelly, who plays "the kid." These two performances make the whole movie. Sadly, the language and sex cause this movie fall far short of its potential. "Bad Santa" could have easily become a Holiday Family Classic if it would have found a way to illustrate Willie's depraved state without resorting to such harsh elements. I'm not criticizing the language and sex of the film so much as commenting on how it placed its self so far out of the reach of what should have been its primary audience. Nobody, watches holiday movies like families do. So why make this movie like this? These actors were good enough to make any movie fantastic. I really enjoyed this one but so would have my wife and kids. There's little chance my wife would stay through it and no chance I, or her, would let the kids watch it. Hollywood took a left turn when they should have gone right and lost a lot of holiday box office and DVD sales for years to come. This could have been another "Christmas Story" but instead it's just for adults who don't mind movie with a lot of bad language and sex. If you're OK with that, I recommend it.

He pulled the guys guts out his butt! That's a spoof right?! No one really writes that it just happens like improv gone horribly wrong. I think any way. This movie must be a spoof because who would say they wrote that script otherwise. Can anyone imagine the entire cast sitting around as the director and writers go over the storyboard.

Director says, "next our inbreed villain uses his 24 inch machete to disembowel our token creepy neighbor. Get this, he is going to pull the guts out his bunghole"

"Brilliant!" the entire cast proclaims.

No way can that happen, nobody writes that stupid! Gotta be a spoof.

I loved the part where the skinny introspective gal beats the inbreed freak to death with the cast iron skillet she finds on the floor of the cave. I wasn't sure the inbreed cannibal types bothered to cook much. Maybe that explains why the skillet was lying on the floor in the dark at just the right time to kill the malformed hulk. Seems ironic that after the freaky guy had bested martial arts expert porn queens and a couple out doors type jocks he falls so easily to the frying pan of a skinny defenseless girl next door.

What the heck is that Richard Greco guy doing in this? Did he fire his agent or something?

Can anyone explain the ending to me please because I didn't get it either? I can't quite figure why the nice hero girl wanted to kill the funny lady who was making her some tea. Never mind I don't want to know.

I would have gladly given this movie a solid 7 or 8 but I got sick of the constant f bombs! Every character used the f word repeatedly. Even the female doctor. The story was good, the cast was stellar the plot worked, but the excessive use of the f word made the movie sound and feel silly and childish. Reminded me of middle school kids smoking and cussing at the buss stop. They think it makes them look cool but really it does the opposite. It was over done and it distracted from the movie.

I'm not a prude by the way; I'm a contractor that works with construction guys all around Pearl Harbor! I'm around sailors often enough to know why they coined the phrase "cuss like a sailor" It doesn't bother me to hear the F word. However, I don't hear the f word as much in a month on the job site! If the writer and director talk like this in their professional and personal lives they need to get a little class.

If you don't mind a constant barrage of f bombs then you are going to like this movie. But be warned, if your kids are watching you may need to wash some mouths out with soap before all is said and done.

The criticisms of this movie may be a bit harsh. The plot is a little thin but it meanders along well enough for a "B" movie, which is exactly what this is, a "B" horror flick. Nothing fantastic happens here nothing horrible happens either. There are some good special effects, not great but fun anyway. I enjoyed the diving scenes and the underwater cinematography, which I'm sure was CGI, was kind of cool. The villain was pretty creepy, the Alistair Crowley connection was kind of fun. Here again nothing fantastic but kind of fun. Not for kids by the way. The movie displays the usual naked debauchery of your normal portal of hell stories. In other words plenty of bare breasts, I really found the gal smashing her breasts into the cake funny. You know your town is under the influence of satanic forces when that happens! I'm not exactly ready to recommend this movie but I have seen much worse.

This movie depicts what should happen to every serial killer. They should be condemned to relive the horrors they perpetrated on their victims. Perhaps that is hell.

The movie was well crafted even though it suffered from a low budget. The disconnected plot divulged its secrets in a very interesting way that made it all come together in the end. I was engaged and curious up until the last minute.

I'm not sure too much can be said about Lauren Currie Lewis' performance. She should have a fine future. She could excel in many rolls and has the kind of girl next door beauty that would lend creditability to many rolls the Hollywood glamor queens are just too much to pull off. Engaging and vulnerable, she brought just enough humanity to the scream queen role to convince me there was something more to the underlying story.

I was reminded of Bill Paxton in Frailty when ever Chris Ferry hit the screen. He did a very good job in this part. I hope to see him in more interesting roles where he gets the chance to develop his character more.

The ending turned like an M. Night Shyamalan film. I saw the foreshadowing, knew something was coming but was surprised at the way it resolved.

There were plot flaws and the low budget was obvious. The plot was confusing at times and some of the actors were stiff. Editors could have cut out a good 15 minutes, there were spots that dragged and the pace was wrong here and there. The music was good but seemed misplaced at times. The title seems wrong as well. I was most annoyed that Claire wore the same clothes the entire film. I realize it was the shirt and jeans she died in but it didn't work for me artistically. It seemed like low budget silliness and a wardrobe change could have given me a bit more of the illusion of a tormented relationship evolving over time. The movie had so much to redeem it and I believe a better budget could eliminate most of the minor problems.

Why does the plot take so long to develop?! It's a weak and silly plot that takes forever to come together!

On the bright side, Brandon Routh does a nice job, he was so much like Christopher Reeves it was eerie. Parker Posey is very good as usual really stole the show in many respects. The rest of the cast's performances ranged from adequate to bland. I felt nothing for or from Lois at all, and the romance between her and superman fizzled at best. There is just no chemistry between the two. Margot Kidder really had that part tight.

Honestly though, a good 45 minutes could be cut from the film and a little more superman action added. There were some spots that really just drug on and on. My 13 year old daughter and my 15 year old son both thought it was mostly boring.

Bryan Singer would have done us a big favor if he would have fixed the mess they called X-Men 3 and waited for a better script to bring back Superman. As it is we got a lousy X-Men and a so-so Superman when just a little more effort, possibly in the editing, we could have enjoyed two really good films.

It is important to remember that this is not the superman we all knew and loved. The Superman that only drank milk, and married Lois before he fathered a child is officially dead. I suspect that his truth justice and American way ethics are in the Hollywood coma ward with little hope of revival as well. This Superman is sort of morally not so super as he used to be. Just so you parents hoping for a role model for the kiddies don't get your hopes up too much.

For some reason Hollywood seems hell bent on kicking Christ and Christians around when ever they get the chance. This film is no exception. Superman who is portrayed as a peeping tom that attempts to split a basically, happy family up, is taken through a mock passion episode. He subtly reenacts the points of the cross, is pierced through his side, is baptized nearly to his death and ascends to heaven. After he is rejuvenated by the Sun, he returns to carry an unbelievably huge chunk of earth, representing the sins of the world I guess and caste it into space. Several statements referring to Superman as the Savior of the world are made to help you connect the dots.

No one would consider portraying Superman as a modern representation of Buda, or Allah or even Mohammed. The rest of us are fair game though so that only leaves Jesus. However, on Superman's best day he is no Jesus Christ. The whole comparison was childish and because Superman has no moral or emotional triumph to propel him to this messianic height the savior thing falls flat. As a result an already weak plot struggles along even more strained.

I'm not sure why these people can't just make a fun summer movie without trying to make some silly social commentary. For all their efforts it's just another lousy film that could have been great if a few people's egos and agendas could have been put aside to make a quality movie. Too bad, but the results are clear in the box office returns.

The movie confuses religious ethics and ideals so much that it fails to create coherent argument against the death penalty on any level. By presenting the lawful execution of a convicted murder as the catalyst for the apocalyptic end of mankind the movie elevates a parent killer to the status of martyr for Christ. Somehow, according to the plot, god is outraged that society has chosen to rid it's self of a fanatic who killed his own parents by starting them on fire while they slept defenselessly in their beds. Yet this same god has no indignation for the acts of the killer. The lead character, an nonreligious pregnant suicidal woman, ultimately gives her own life in a defiant but implausible attempt to unsuccessfully save this convicted killer. In other threads of the underdeveloped plot Jesus comes back as a powerless and frustrated vagabond to symbolically unleash the wrath of God. The modern lackluster incarnation of Christ not just dehumanizes him but mocks the messianic ideal of all religions as well. He is unable to affect humanity for good and unemotionally skates the edges of life waiting for mankind to destroy it's self. Meanwhile, with little help from Jesus the mentally unstable pregnant woman finds herself with the ability to reincarnate herself into her newly born soulless child which somehow saves all of mankind from the wrath of the almighty. I also interpreted that as a statement in support of abortion on some levels. This movie which attempts to weave many religious themes into a thriller fails to make any religious point that I could clearly interpret except to mock people's beliefs. It raises many questions that it never even attempts to answer. It disregards the religious values of its audience while attempting to portray an asinine version of their fulfillment. Silly

I'm not sure why Pat Morita would agree to be in a movie like this. His performance was the only sort of acceptable part in the entire film and it was brief and insignificant. The script is terrible the acting is sorry and silly. The camera angles left me with a neck ache. The center of the movie was long boring and pointless. The action sequence at the end was both macabre and silly. The music was tedious and annoying. Every character was underdeveloped. The love story which was pivotal to the incredibly weak plot was insubstantial. Nothing! Not a single thing works in this movie. Only robots at the bottom of the screen would give this film a reason to exist.

Let me say right off if we are talking special effects this movie is a 9 star maybe even a 10 star production. But honestly, we are twenty years or more into the really cool special effects, we need a little more than that to hold us over and sadly X-Men 3 just does not do it. I really wanted to suspend my disbelief on this one but it was nearly impossible to do so. Some aspects of the plot were so silly I just couldn't take it anymore and it got worse as the movie progressed. To begin with the writers should have followed the advice of Jinni from Aladdin. Never bring people back from the dead! There is only one story where that comes out OK and it was written by God. No mere mortal writer is good enough to pull that off and it ruins this movie from the start! Jean Gray is a medium character of moderate import in the last two movies that suddenly jumps from being dead to a major pivotal role in the first ten minutes of the third. From regular part of the team to key role in a blink which was simply resolved by killing her again in the end. Horrible! Lucas at least got that right, Start with a wet behind the ears Luke in the first movie, toughen him up in the second and have him face the grave realities of good and evil in the third. I kept wondering how we were going to finally come to understand the mystery of wolverine. No such luck, they dropped that plot line I guess. The reactions of the lousy characters is always extreme either the mutant cure (which is a lousy plot idea that didn't work for me at all) was a wonderful blessing or a horrible curse. Does anybody really believe the cure is going to really work? This movie should of and could of pushed the plot to some reasonable conclusions but instead it left me with more questions than answers. It reminded me of being a kid and playing super heroes with the spoiled rich kid down the street. He always has a new power that we didn't know about that makes him more powerful than any body else in the group. When Magneto rips the Golden gate bridge off its foundation and moves it through the air perfectly placing it down so he and his army of mutants can walk to Alcatraz to kill one little boy, I had this sinking feeling come over me like my poor sick dog finally just rolled over and died. I actually felt embarrassed for the people in the movie. Could Ian Mckellen possibly have known they were going to ask him to act his way around that nonsense, I'm surprised he was willing to do it. If Magneto could do that why did he need anybody else to help him at all? How much trouble could a guy with power like that have killing a kid in a building full of metal? This movie was lousy. But hey, the special effects were cool!

Hopkins performance is outstanding. I forgot he was Anthony Hopkins almost immediately. Everything about the movie was predictable but the storytelling was so rich and emotional that I didn't mind a bit. We all hear about amazing people who over come tremendous obstacles to do amazing things, this story is about an eccentric but mostly ordinary person who does some pretty difficult things. Subtly he endears people to himself; they in turn help him accomplish his high but ultimately realistic goals. By drawing people kindly into his dreams he is able to do a lot with limited resources. And everyone involved feels invested in his accomplishments. In the end it is not Burt who is learning what Burt and his motorcycle can do but everyone around him who sees what they might be able to do. On the negative side Hopkins's performance is so good that at times the others around him seemed bland and shallow by comparison. The gratuitous sexual encounters seemed more or less pointless. No bountiful romance or highly impacting relationship here just little sexual romps to show his already obvious humanity. I like sex just as much as the next guy most of us know that there are lonely people out there. I also found the commentary on the war thrown into the movie to be laborious and contrived. There was no need to somehow find a way to squeeze a lot of social commentary in to this very good movie and the movie ultimately suffers for it. A little more work and this movie could have been a 9 or a 10. Still there is much to recommend it and I would suggest it without hesitation. It's not a chick flick or a guy flick but more a family feel good film. There is some minor language but the sex is not very racy at all. Hope you enjoy it.

Never did a movie have so much potential and look so good on the box, but turn out to be so completely lousy! Wait a minute, there is Star Wars Episode One! We can talk about that loser later though. Back to Death Tunnel this should be listed under horrible films not horror films. Let's start with the plot! No really give us a plot. Please oh please give us a plot. There is no blasted plot!! The title should have been The Amazing Breast with no Brains Tunnel"! I kept hopping they would hurry up and kill the stupid girls and start the real movie. This DVD proves the old adage, "great breast can never make up for terrible acting and no stinking plot!" That's what I always say anyway. I think I can say honestly that there is not one decent camera angle in the entire ordeal. It was just one silly camera trick after another. I didn't get the villain guy or whatever he or it was. Even the music was confusing with scary music at non scary times and vise versa. You might want to leave this one on the shelf. I would suggest poking yourself in the eye, it's less painful.