Movie-12
Joined Jun 2000
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Reviews370
Movie-12's rating
SORORITY BOYS / (2002) 1/2* (out of four)
Believe it or not, I was actually looking forward to Sorority Boys. I hoped it would be different from the recent explosion of aimless sex comedies considering the ample comic opportunities.
Unfortunately, five minutes into the movie, when a Jell-O dildo crashed threw a window, I realized my expectations were incorrect. At this point, I knew this would be 94 minutes of pure, aimless sex comedy. Sex can be funny, sometimes, but not as often as Hollywood likes to think. Am I the only person getting sick and tired of these pathetic attempts at humor?
The surprising thing about Sorority Boys is how much potential the story actually has. Harland Williams, Michael Rosenbaum, and Barry Watson play three members of Kappa Omicron Kappa fraternity who find themselves evicted from the KOK for stealing party funds.
Somebody has a video tape of the incident, but very few people know it exists, and their ex-fraternity pals will not allow them back inside to retrieve it. After learning that the Delta Omicron Gamma house needs new members, they disguise themselves in drag in order to stay somewhere and concoct a plan to prove their innocence.
Even with potentially funny situations directly under its brow, the movie's humor resorts to characters tumbling down staircases and silly lipstick jokes. The script, by Joe Jarvis and Greg Coolidge, desperately lacks imagination. The plot is so handicapped of ideas, it becomes wound up in a love story so out of place, even the actors involved look as if they think it belongs in a different movie altogether.
Although we've seen guys in drag before (in much better movies), this film is not without unique humorous intentions. In one scene, two characters sword fight with large dildos; in another, the men in drag lead the DOG members against the KOK's in a game of football-they are the first three to hit the bench due to injuries.
Again, these are funny concepts, but director Wallace Wolodarsky doesn't find a punch line. The idea of two guys fighting with dildos is funny, but watching them actually fight for five minutes is not. There is no moment when the audience identifies with the humor and laughs. The visualization of the jokes are so utterly stupid; the audience couldn't laugh at these sight gags if they wanted to.
Sorority Boys simply expects us to laugh at the utter stupidity of the characters. But that doesn't work when the movie is equally as stupid.
Believe it or not, I was actually looking forward to Sorority Boys. I hoped it would be different from the recent explosion of aimless sex comedies considering the ample comic opportunities.
Unfortunately, five minutes into the movie, when a Jell-O dildo crashed threw a window, I realized my expectations were incorrect. At this point, I knew this would be 94 minutes of pure, aimless sex comedy. Sex can be funny, sometimes, but not as often as Hollywood likes to think. Am I the only person getting sick and tired of these pathetic attempts at humor?
The surprising thing about Sorority Boys is how much potential the story actually has. Harland Williams, Michael Rosenbaum, and Barry Watson play three members of Kappa Omicron Kappa fraternity who find themselves evicted from the KOK for stealing party funds.
Somebody has a video tape of the incident, but very few people know it exists, and their ex-fraternity pals will not allow them back inside to retrieve it. After learning that the Delta Omicron Gamma house needs new members, they disguise themselves in drag in order to stay somewhere and concoct a plan to prove their innocence.
Even with potentially funny situations directly under its brow, the movie's humor resorts to characters tumbling down staircases and silly lipstick jokes. The script, by Joe Jarvis and Greg Coolidge, desperately lacks imagination. The plot is so handicapped of ideas, it becomes wound up in a love story so out of place, even the actors involved look as if they think it belongs in a different movie altogether.
Although we've seen guys in drag before (in much better movies), this film is not without unique humorous intentions. In one scene, two characters sword fight with large dildos; in another, the men in drag lead the DOG members against the KOK's in a game of football-they are the first three to hit the bench due to injuries.
Again, these are funny concepts, but director Wallace Wolodarsky doesn't find a punch line. The idea of two guys fighting with dildos is funny, but watching them actually fight for five minutes is not. There is no moment when the audience identifies with the humor and laughs. The visualization of the jokes are so utterly stupid; the audience couldn't laugh at these sight gags if they wanted to.
Sorority Boys simply expects us to laugh at the utter stupidity of the characters. But that doesn't work when the movie is equally as stupid.
BANDITS / (2001) ***1/2 (out of four)
Barry Levinson's clever romantic comedy Bandits makes stealing money look fun and simple. I can see it now: young, influential criminals holding up entire banks with magic markers. Certain things in this movie make such perfect sense, we wonder why nobody's thought of them before.
Even the casting makes perfect sense. Who better to play a handsome, spontaneous ladies man than Bruce Willis? And who could portray an intelligent, hypochondriac better than Billy Bob Thornton? Together, these two characters make the perfect man. Of course, it's only a matter of time before a woman becomes involved and finds herself split between the two.
But Bandits is anything but your average run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. Willis and Thornton play Joe Blake and Terry Collins, two criminals in a high security prison. As the movie opens, they escape from prison in such a way that probably makes the other prisoners hit themselves on the head and ask "Why didn't I think of that?"
Just as soon as they switch getaway cars, Joe and Terry rob a bank to finance their upcoming adventures. After hooking up with an old friend of Joe's, a wannabe stuntman played by Troy Garity, the criminals devise a foolproof plan to rob banks: they take the bank manager hostage the night before a heist, sleep over at his house, then go into the bank with him the next morning before business hours. No unexpected holdups. No complications. Just take the money and leave before the first customer arrives.
The Joe and Terry dream of escaping to a tropical location and opening a margarita bar. Their success as bank robbers eventually puts them at the top of the FBI's most wanted list. Things become even more complicated when Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett) runs into one of the crooks and wants to become a part of their lifestyle. When she falls in love with both men, the situation really starts to heat up.
Oscar-winner Barry Levinsion gives Bandits a humble sense of reality. He doesn't place Joe and Terry on a pedestal and treat them like superheroes; he actually opens the film revealing their presumed demise. Although in interviews he explains that he was initially unsure how to handle the material, his uncertainty does not show in the final production. He has found the perfect blend of romance, action, and comedy to satisfy all tastes and styles.
Bandits opens with a bookend revealing parts of the film's finale. This doesn't really work. Normally, this technique is used when a movie is more about a journey than what actually happens at the end. Although Bandits is indeed more about a journey, the movie's structure does not support such an opening. It doesn't provide us with enough information to work effectively, and, after a final twist at the very end, this technique seems pointless since it doesn't reveal the actual ending, anyway.
Nonetheless, Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett deliver fine performances, forming a charismatic, unlikely love triangle. Troy Garity, gleeful and eccentric, steals all of his scenes in memorable supporting role. Despite the various structural flaws, the cast alone is enough to redeem Bandits as an above average comic adventure. It's one of the year's most fun surprises.
Barry Levinson's clever romantic comedy Bandits makes stealing money look fun and simple. I can see it now: young, influential criminals holding up entire banks with magic markers. Certain things in this movie make such perfect sense, we wonder why nobody's thought of them before.
Even the casting makes perfect sense. Who better to play a handsome, spontaneous ladies man than Bruce Willis? And who could portray an intelligent, hypochondriac better than Billy Bob Thornton? Together, these two characters make the perfect man. Of course, it's only a matter of time before a woman becomes involved and finds herself split between the two.
But Bandits is anything but your average run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. Willis and Thornton play Joe Blake and Terry Collins, two criminals in a high security prison. As the movie opens, they escape from prison in such a way that probably makes the other prisoners hit themselves on the head and ask "Why didn't I think of that?"
Just as soon as they switch getaway cars, Joe and Terry rob a bank to finance their upcoming adventures. After hooking up with an old friend of Joe's, a wannabe stuntman played by Troy Garity, the criminals devise a foolproof plan to rob banks: they take the bank manager hostage the night before a heist, sleep over at his house, then go into the bank with him the next morning before business hours. No unexpected holdups. No complications. Just take the money and leave before the first customer arrives.
The Joe and Terry dream of escaping to a tropical location and opening a margarita bar. Their success as bank robbers eventually puts them at the top of the FBI's most wanted list. Things become even more complicated when Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett) runs into one of the crooks and wants to become a part of their lifestyle. When she falls in love with both men, the situation really starts to heat up.
Oscar-winner Barry Levinsion gives Bandits a humble sense of reality. He doesn't place Joe and Terry on a pedestal and treat them like superheroes; he actually opens the film revealing their presumed demise. Although in interviews he explains that he was initially unsure how to handle the material, his uncertainty does not show in the final production. He has found the perfect blend of romance, action, and comedy to satisfy all tastes and styles.
Bandits opens with a bookend revealing parts of the film's finale. This doesn't really work. Normally, this technique is used when a movie is more about a journey than what actually happens at the end. Although Bandits is indeed more about a journey, the movie's structure does not support such an opening. It doesn't provide us with enough information to work effectively, and, after a final twist at the very end, this technique seems pointless since it doesn't reveal the actual ending, anyway.
Nonetheless, Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett deliver fine performances, forming a charismatic, unlikely love triangle. Troy Garity, gleeful and eccentric, steals all of his scenes in memorable supporting role. Despite the various structural flaws, the cast alone is enough to redeem Bandits as an above average comic adventure. It's one of the year's most fun surprises.
MONSTER'S BALL / (2001) **** (out of four)
When I finish reading a great book, I don't close it right away. Treasuring the story's emotional grasp, I just sit there and hold it for a minute, enthralled, sensing the character's lives are continuing even as I put the book away.
"Monster's Ball" is a similar experience. The film contains so much truth, vigor, and so many harrowing moments, I just stared at the screen through the ending credits. Even after a second viewing the conviction did not diminish. It really says something about a movie when you know what happens and you're equally as mesmerized every time you watch it.
Most movies about depravity are really about entertainment, but director Marc Forster avoids preachy speeches, big sappy moments, and melodramatic music. Even during the movie's most important scenes, Forster does not overplay the material. He knows that careful, quiet dialogue, and long, silent pauses speak louder than lengthy emotional summaries.
Consider a scene where a character checks his father into an old folk's home. It does not feature long good-byes or conclusive hugs. Instead, it projects unflinching, raw emotion. "You must love him very much," reassures an attendant to the character who replies, "No I don't, but he is my father "
The character, Hank, is played by Billy Bob Thornton, who makes his Academy Award-winning performance in "Sling Blade" look like SNL material. Hank, bitter and racist, lives in a Southern country house with his son, Sonny (Heath Ledger), and father (Peter Boyle).
Hank and Sonny work as prison guards on death row. Sonny desperately wants out of the family business, especially after an unpleasant emotional reaction to the latest execution. When Hank explodes at him for his mistake, Sonny teaches his father a lesson he will never forget.
The film eventually becomes a story about the relationship between Hank and the widow of the man he has just executed. She's played by Halle Barry, who was paid an extra one-million dollars for doing an extended sex scene completely nude. This is a gradual, yet sudden relationship that is not based on physical attraction or love, but emotional need and depravity.
Forster makes interesting editing choices. During certain scenes, he cuts back and forth between separate occurrences while the central action fills the soundtrack. Especially unique is how he handles a sex scene. While two characters engage in some of the most graphic stimulated sex of last year, Forster flashes images of a caged bird before us. A metaphor of shattered innocence or repressed emotion, perhaps?
Actually, Forster fills "Monster's Ball" with metaphors, including the title itself. He even includes a moving soundtrack of timid rhythms and sudden beats, symbolizing the characters complex states of mind. Forster's haunting, daring feature reminds us why we all love the movies.
When I finish reading a great book, I don't close it right away. Treasuring the story's emotional grasp, I just sit there and hold it for a minute, enthralled, sensing the character's lives are continuing even as I put the book away.
"Monster's Ball" is a similar experience. The film contains so much truth, vigor, and so many harrowing moments, I just stared at the screen through the ending credits. Even after a second viewing the conviction did not diminish. It really says something about a movie when you know what happens and you're equally as mesmerized every time you watch it.
Most movies about depravity are really about entertainment, but director Marc Forster avoids preachy speeches, big sappy moments, and melodramatic music. Even during the movie's most important scenes, Forster does not overplay the material. He knows that careful, quiet dialogue, and long, silent pauses speak louder than lengthy emotional summaries.
Consider a scene where a character checks his father into an old folk's home. It does not feature long good-byes or conclusive hugs. Instead, it projects unflinching, raw emotion. "You must love him very much," reassures an attendant to the character who replies, "No I don't, but he is my father "
The character, Hank, is played by Billy Bob Thornton, who makes his Academy Award-winning performance in "Sling Blade" look like SNL material. Hank, bitter and racist, lives in a Southern country house with his son, Sonny (Heath Ledger), and father (Peter Boyle).
Hank and Sonny work as prison guards on death row. Sonny desperately wants out of the family business, especially after an unpleasant emotional reaction to the latest execution. When Hank explodes at him for his mistake, Sonny teaches his father a lesson he will never forget.
The film eventually becomes a story about the relationship between Hank and the widow of the man he has just executed. She's played by Halle Barry, who was paid an extra one-million dollars for doing an extended sex scene completely nude. This is a gradual, yet sudden relationship that is not based on physical attraction or love, but emotional need and depravity.
Forster makes interesting editing choices. During certain scenes, he cuts back and forth between separate occurrences while the central action fills the soundtrack. Especially unique is how he handles a sex scene. While two characters engage in some of the most graphic stimulated sex of last year, Forster flashes images of a caged bird before us. A metaphor of shattered innocence or repressed emotion, perhaps?
Actually, Forster fills "Monster's Ball" with metaphors, including the title itself. He even includes a moving soundtrack of timid rhythms and sudden beats, symbolizing the characters complex states of mind. Forster's haunting, daring feature reminds us why we all love the movies.