bostonlatin

Watch this movie for one reason only. Julie Newmar.

Plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon. For example - bad guy Omar Sharif keeps the white woman around for no reason, she takes up desert water and a good horse. Gregory Peck saves white woman innumerable times but ignores beautiful apache woman who of course is killed by useless white female who can't do anything but look pretty.

The supporting cast of awesome actors is completely wasted with idiotic dialog and roles that do nothing to help the movie. The editing is horrible.

Omar Sharif is actually pretty as the over the top but somewhat likable bad guy.

Yet he forgets in the end that Peck actually took the vaunted gold.

Adults - Beware - this movie is strictly for men ages 8 - 22 who either love the Video game based movie or think Gemma has great pouty lips. (She does). Also for the teenage girls who love Jake and his body.

This is a typical Bruckheimer mish mash of CGI, action, a plot that makes no sense whatsoever. Visual scenes that are mostly fake.

The last 15 minutes is actually pretty good even if it doesn't make sense. Al Molina does some fine comic relief.

Basically the movie has a world wide built in audience of video game players.

Who knew? Disney cashes in on Bruckheimer, they needed him.

Pride and Prejudice - GREAT movie.

Atonement - Critics love you but your editing skills denigrate to some really, long drawn out scenes.

The Soloist - OMG, you pick a story that the progressives will love you for, you throw in never ending scenes and characters you could give a ratz arse for.

What happened to your editor, did you fire him, are they afraid to speak up? This movie will be a media critic mainstream darling. Newspaper writer befriends schizo, homeless, musical genius, uneasy ending with no clear solution, PLUS playing up homelessness and mental illness. How could you go wrong.

But you did. This movie is a snooze fest. Period. The End.

I did not hate this movie. There are some wonderful, individual scenes. But it is so bloody long, I had to fast forward through many of the scenes. As usual IMDb voters went initially crazy in their ratings but the truth slowly sinks in and the vote meter is slowly going down.

So this is another case of hype and celebrity overcoming editing, directing, and plot.

Why does their need to be 10 lines.

Why does their need to be 10 lines

Why does their need to be 10 lines and I am sick of Bruno already. Talk about hype.

For the first time in 10 years, Robert DeNiro proved that he can still act and he is not just a caricature from the Godfather and Good Fellas.

Clearly, The Player still ranks as the best Hollywood insider flick. This film does do a decent job of summarizing Hollywood business. Nobody comes across as evil.

There are brief, infrequent funny moments.

The movie itself is a bit slow, with totally wasted cameos from Bruce Willis and John Turturro (who is becoming rapidly annoying). Both parts should have been deleted and were a total waste. Stereotypes abound with wealthy Israeli financiers, drugged out artist directors mean spirited but bright female studio bosses, writers with crazy ideas.

Very nice cameos from Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn and Kristen Stewart.

If you like Hollywood insider movies, I think you will find the movie somewhat enjoyable. Not great but not bad.

To be redundant to the other positive comments - This movie combines mostly intelligent humor, wit, pays homage to the old series in the right way, romance, action, and nice location scenery. Rather than repeating the original campy 60's show that I loved they made it an original. Even turning the "missed it by that much" and "sorry about that chief" into a different meaning.

A have a few quibbles with the unnecessary Bush bashing and kissing scenes. The movie easily could have been PG not PG-13 but oh well. And the previews showed too much. Completely wasted cameo from a superstar.

They succeeded where this easily could be failure.

Steve Carell - in each movie you either love him or hate him. This one he did it for me. He does need to expand on his acting.

On a periodic basis, the mainstream movie critics suck me in with their lemming like behaviour. Most of them seem to take the same track, they either fall in love with the Director of the Moment or the Progressive Cause of the moment.

Knocked Up is a case of this lemming mentality. I can only presume that white males under 30 loved this movie. 30 something slacker, Jewish, has sex with incredibly hot WASP, Blonde with a great job. Pregnant gnashing, more sex and doctor gnashing with a lot of unnecessary obscenity results in box office success.

I can only guess, with me being from the old folks home, doesn't get all the immense humor.

I laughed on occasion and found much sympathy for Paul Rudd dealing with the wife bitch from hell.

Just 20 something - 30 something year old men living out their fantasy. So Apatow's and Rogen's fantasies have come true. So there is hope for all of us is the moral, I guess.

The first question is why the heck did they make this movie? Just to bring all the off screen buddies back together again? I practically fell asleep watching this disjointed mess. The dialog was non existent, the direction jerky, I felt like the actors were going to break out laughing. "Didn't we do all this stuff in the last 2 movies?" I am not a gambler and Las Vegas stuff really doesn't interest me. Maybe the gamblers of the world thought all this stuff was fantastic and interesting. This has got to be the last one.

I've run out of things to say.

Don't waste your money.

We all know it, John Cusack has fallen on hard acting times recently. Maybe like DeNiro and Nicholson he is now a caricature of himself. You can't see him without seeing him. He's not the emotional power of 5/10 years but he does give it good try in Martian Child. But that's enough about John and I still like him for all his work.

To sum up;

Yes, we've seen it all before in Martian Child, and done better. Yes you wind up hoping that the kid actually is from Mars with secret M&M tasting and traffic light powers.

Given that, the movie is sweet and cute. The message is beautiful and hopeful. There is no reason why it is hated by the media critics. The kid, Dennis, is pretty adorable. Joan Cusack tries hard in another limited role. Amanda Peet is wasted but I still like her history of acting. Oliver Platt is good in a minor role.

Either you will like Cusack and the Kid or you will hate Cusack and the kid. I liked them. Just try to forget that you've seen it all a million times before.

Give it a shot, you might enjoy it. Just let if flow.

Yup, Paris does nothing for me; the food, the sights, the snobbery. Yes, the message is true, we all can be creative, spiritual, yada yada. However, beware, when all the movie critics fall in love with a movie, there must be some intellectual elitism going on.

Pixar and Brad Bird strike out on this one. My 2 kids said: it was OK and it was good. I almost fell asleep.

It took forever to get to the moral of the story. Movie was draggy, repetitive, etc. Animation was excellent but that can't carry a movie any more.

Lastly, I hate it when everybody tells me that I should love a movie because it's made by them (be it Pixar, Bird, Disney, etc).

PS - Damn, people really don't like this review. I'm getting smoked!

Nora Ephron, between Bewitched and this movie should be mandated by law from making any more movies. Unrealistic, a complete lack of empathy with every day human being reality with the working or middle class. People just don't talk or act this way. Get out of Hollywoo and Beverly Hills.

The one major exception - TIM ROTH, funny, bright, somewhat believable.

Please don't waste your money on this movie or rental.

I don't understand how Ms. Ephron has become this iconoclastic, Hollywood, revered individual. Give me a hint, please!

Have I reached 10 lines yet?

The Break Up tries and fails at being a depressing drama, comedy, and romantic all in the same picture. It's not quite sure what it wants to be. It also a wee bit overwrought, whiny, and too long. And it's not fair to Jen as Vince Vaughn makes himself the more lovable character (from the male perspective anyhow). The mainstream critics hated the movie but enjoyed the supporting actors. I actually felt that Vince and Jennifer did a pretty good job although it's hard to see what attracted them to each other in the first place and that they could stay together for 2 years before the big fight.

However, and this is big however there are certain scenes that really hit relationships right on the money. Real dialog by real people. Plus the lousy, contradictory, and conflicting advice that they each receive from their best friends is poignant, realistic, and painful.

People have commented that it's "The Break Up" it wasn't meant to be funny but the closing scene wimps out on what typically happens in the rocky road to breaking up.

Vincent D. is great in a minor supporting role.

I recommend it, if you're not expecting a comedy, and recognize that the screenwriters/director were trying to do the impossible.

Once again Mick LaSalle, movie critic for the San Francisco Chronicle hits it on the head. Mick is one of the few, non follow the leader, mainstream movie reviewers.

To me, the movie crossed the line into Hogan's Heroes territory. I felt the movie trivialized the Holocaust. The "hero" makes the great self sacrifice at the end but life was too easy in this movie.

I didn't find the humor to be uplifting or awe inspiring ie: Chaplin and/or Keaton.

And, of course, the world media went ga ga again. Roger Ebert stating that if you didn't like the movie then you were probably a right wing fanatic.

Oh well, it's now 10 years later, is this picture still a classic?

LMS is a cute, little film. Is it Oscar worthy?; Gawd it's like the great train rolling down the hill and can't be stopped. (See "Crash")

Hasn't anybody seen these type of movies before? What was original about this movie? I know it's a satire and a drama. Maybe because I've seen too many movies in my aged lifetime and it seems original to the young'ms.

I can see that this flick has won the hearts of zillions of people. Tried watching it a second time to see if I missed something and I just couldn't make it.

Dysfunctional family comes together at end and re connects. Haven't we seen this many times before. Society worships the wrong values. Haven't we seen this before? Angst, sullen, good looking teenager. Haven't we seen this before? Never ending mini van humor. Easy targets such as kid beauty pageant and over the top dad.

Ensemble cast that ranges from very good to mediocre.

Honestly, I just don't get this at all.

Oliver Stone thankfully eliminates conspiracy theories in this drawn out story. He did get me crying in the last ten minutes but it took so darn long to get there.

The dialog was stifling and the fast forward button was constantly in use. It was hard to empathize with the wives and family because there was nothing to empathize with. Of course, the Marine hero comes across as more than wee bit psychotic. I guess the other message is that heroes and goodness just comes from every day people and not super heroes.

Oliver has taken a great 80's career right down the tubes into the beyond.

The average rating is 6.9 which shocks my sense and sensibility. Why was this movie made, rumor has it there is a book series. I felt like I was watching an updated version of Mary Poppins. OK, I love Mary Poppins, one of my all time favorites. I love English movies. I love Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, and Derek Jacobi. What went wrong here? This a by the numbers story with little warmth. Were we supposed to love this movie unconditionally.

This movie was humorless, a mess, a hodgepodge, an unoriginal.

I now have to fill in the rest to meet the 10 line minimum requirement.

One more line, that should do it.

Quick, fire the director. An hour and thirty minutes of Lord of the Rings Lite, very lite.

The kid loves the book so guess who get's dragged to the movie. Editing is terrible, one moment it's day time the next it's dark. Cheesy costumes, horrible dialogue. Young man in clean tight leather pants was that for the girls or was it homo erotic.

Good Parts - the final battle scene was well done. I really liked the dragon but not the voice (sorry Rachel Weisz). The evil leaders were OK and hammy.

Skip the movie and tell the kids to read the books again.

The fact that I could be entertained by another one of these animated talking animal movies is a miracle. Is this number 1000 over the past 2 years? I just love English sarcasm, wit, dryness that strikes a chord in these old bones. The great news, nobody was in drag.

During the movie, there are inside English jokes that Americans may not understand such as "England loses on penalty kicks" which is a modern football tradition in the UK and the English love of knick knacks. The singing slugs don't do it for me but the kids liked them.

I highly recommend this movie even if you are sick of computer animated talking animals.

Just saw it on DVD, this is a funny and touching movie. Matt Damon, I apologize, you can act. I'll count Syriana as one bad apple for you. Greg Kinnear excellent job again. What can I say, my wife; who would normally hate a Farrelly Brothers movie found it funny, warm hearted, nice change of pace buddy comedy.

Unusual for me to tell other people to lighten up but lighten up. That's all, I wish I caught it at the movie theaters.

So now I need to add a couple of more lines so IMDb will publish this brilliant review.

Haven't quite made it yet. Did it.

OK; just like the Pink Panther I liked this movie against my better judgment. Robin Williams has lost me since Aladdin #1; the funny crazy shtick doesn't work anymore, however, like my idol Mick LaSalle says his dramatic does work more often than not. The movie clicks right into American family dysfunction with the overworked, insecure hip/unhip Dad, unruly daughter, body obsessed son, and disconnected wife.

The weirdest part is you can't tell if the Director is emphatetic to the Jeff Daniels family or making fun of them. Because truly the Daniel's Family is more friendly, likable, and intelligent than the Williams Family.

If you're not expecting a lot but just a light family/comedy movie it's worth a bite.

Positive -

Well crafted and thought out film with interweaving story lines places this movie way above Crash, American Dreamz, etc. I'll put V for Vendetta as the best of the Hate Bush movies and this comes in second. Sorry the Constant Gardener was not great.

Excellent portrayal of the various Middle Eastern ethnic populations - Pakistani, Iranian, Arab, religious and non religious, rich and poor.

Negative -

Hollywood stop being holier than thou, blame yourselves for turning gas guzzling, global warming: Ferraris, Mercedes, Humvees, Big Hog SUVs and Pick up trucks as metaphors for the American Dream. Big Oil is only giving us what we want - cheap oil even at 3 bucks a gallon. How many Hollywood big wigs bike or walk to work or take public transportation. Gimme a break.

A USA government that is non existent except for the CIA whom in this movie work for Big Oil.

The CIA as this super efficient assassination machine - gimme a break

George Clooney - Best Supporting Actor - What's up with that? Consolation prize for making 2 liberal movies in one year?

Matt Damon -

Can he act anymore? Is he only Jason Bourne?

Naivete in believing that if a good ruler could bring woman's rights, parliament, economic liberation, et al to a Middle Eastern country then things would be better. Like the preacher says there ain't no separation of Church and State in Islam.

Political Correctness reigns in Hollywood, billed in the previews as a romantic comedy, the Family Stone turns out to be a character study of a bunch of annoying liberals.

Diane Keaton playing the most smug, elitist mother on the planet. The kindly dad who still smokes pot with the old kids. The other 2 slightly less annoying daughters and two great looking sons. Casting was a bit strange with children aged 28 - 41 in real life playing people, I guess ages 20 - 32.

In the end, most people will feel more sympathetic to the unlikely Sarah Jessica Parker who had to put with this family from college town, East Coast ville.

Hollywood gives us: Crash (we are all racists), Lord of War (we are all evil gun runners), the Constant Gardener (we are all evil industrialists), Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck, and American Dreamz (fame suck up wannabes) I know I missed a few here from 2005/2006.

Oy vey, give me the kid's cartoons like Over the Hedge. At least it attacks materialism and suburban living and was funny.

Woody, Woody, Woody I admit it, I have not gone to a Woody Allen movie in 15 years. So, marketed in by the great critical reviews, I rented Match Point. Oy vey.

Woody keeps those themes going; love versus lust, aimlessness versus responsibility; empty souls versus warm hearts; crime versus punishment; purpose versus random acts; normality versus mayhem and what's the difference, bleakness and happiness. He was trying to emulate the Great Hitchcock and he did get some of it right.

These are excellent points in the film but somewhere he lost his way in the art of filmaking. I don't know, a removal from life's realities; too much time in a New York apartment building. The movie should have been 30 minutes shorter or maybe 45. It also had a connect the dots approach.

The actors superseded the material except for Scarlett Johanssen who of course is a lust to look at but the husky voice and constant cigarette smoking took away from the character.

Excellent work by everybody else and Woody must share in the credit for that aspect.

1. Clinton was president in 2000 not Bush, yet Bush get's bashed for 1990's excesses.

2. Materialism is bad, materialism is good.

3. Envy is good, envy is bad. Keeping up with the Jones is good/is bad.

4. Rich people are evil, rich people are to be envied.

5. Every middle class American has an illegal immigrant servant.

6. The working class are to be admired, the working class is to be laughed at.

7. Crime is fun, crime is a joke.

8. This movie is a comedy, this movie is a tragedy, this movie is a social commentary, this movie is who knows what. Reminded me of American Dreamz but this was much funnier.

There was a surreal scene at the end when Tea says to Jim - - "I didn't know you could act? And he says ya I played Biff in 10th Grade in Death of a Salesman." I think that was a personal Carrey slam at the Academy for not recognizing his dramatic abilities. He doesn't even get nominated.

Jim Carrey can ACT! The Eternal Sunshine and The Truman Show deserved actor nominations. Damn good acting in Bruce Almighty too.

Sitting through this movie, I'm thinking, what is the point the director and screenwriters were making. Was this movie supposed to be heavy or light political satire, SNL redux, a sitcom brought to life on the movie screen; incredible insights to the American love of fame, shopping, and status; does the director even know himself?

Anyhow, to sum up; we have the: 1) the sophomoric, sledgehammer critique on President Bush -- Bush is dumb, Bush is manipulated by Cheney, Bush sees everything in black/white, Bush is a good guy if not being manipulated, etc, etc. Is this still funny in 2006 after 5 years of Bush. 2) Then we move on to the White Trash humor: Why is this funny - - because clearly Hollywood screenwriters are much brighter and funnier than anybody living in Palookaville, USA. 3) The whole terrorism shtick with the nouveau rich Americanized Arab family just didn't fit in anywhere with the movie but had the most engaging actors. That's quite the paradox. 4) Hugh Grant and Seth Myers are very good for the short periods they are on the screen. The rest of the cast is wasted; there is no emotional interest or involvement with any of them.

On the plus side; there were some very funny scenes and sly humor but the movie just drags on and on and on without knowing why or where it is going.

Being an arrogant snob myself, I'm only watching English movies for now on. I agree with a previous blog concerning Director Paul Weitz, is this the case of starting great (About a Boy) and then heading slightly downhill (In Good Company)and now about drop off the cliff or this is just a single mistake?