iswampsouljal

I see that so many of the comments here are based on such ancient films as Friday the 13th, Last House on the Left, and Nighmare on Elm Street. You people could never hack it as critics. You were to busy looking for what you considered "horror" ( i.e. blood and guts, gore and cheap shock scares ) to give The Ring its due credit. This film was not the horror you grew up with. It isn't Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or Night of the Living Dead. It is a movie such as where Alien broke ground as a new Sci-Fi based Thriller. This one being though, a Paranormal based Thriller. You all ask "Well how did they do this?" or "How could it do that?" ... well, I truly hope none of you watch any "One-Man army" movies and think they are great. I don't know how those guys get anything besides being killed accomplished.

Original, and filled with new ideas, the Ring was indeed a movie which carried an involved story line from start to finish. Well, maybe drifting away a bit at the ending, but still keeping you wanting to see what happens. I'm sure not one of you can say that you turned the movie off. A chilling scene indeed when you get to finally see this alleged death tape, espescially if the phone rings suspisciously afterwards .. which I am expecting the director may have anticipated to happen in a small percentage of watchers houses when it came to DVD. I didn't have any sort of anticipations when I watched this movie. I thought it would be another run-of-the-mill modern day teenage angst horror flick. Instead I got a great story, an interesting charcter back, and brooding, rainy Seattle.

A cute tale of terror. Not horror.

8/10

I think most of you aren't looking at this film from a wide enough perspective. It's basicaly a coming of age story, given a little horror twist. A young girl growing up in a cruel environment, admonished for being different. You people are taking this Two Sadokos thing way to seriously. The Evil and Good half i believe was there to represent the good and evil within us all, and the events which lead up to us letting in to our dark sides. It was the same tale with Luke Skywalker, the same tale in the movie May. Even the name of her first play, The Mask, hinted at this.

A tragic tale of a girl who is bitter at a world who just won't accept her. A girl who becomes so enraged at being "locked away" for her differences, that she has nothing better to do but slowly die, and kill those who would never accept her kind.

A good movie, and excellent prequel.

8/10

Igby Goes Down was an excellent delving into the mind of teenage boys. Culkin does an excellent job of drawing a viewer in to find out just what it is that's making him tick. Why he does the things he does. It is also an excellent representation of what the rich do best. Parlor games and head trips. Gritty in all the right places, you find yourself feeling the characters at every turn of their life. A great show of how true love ( Sookie and Igby ), can be devoured by modern day social standards. A boy stuck at the line of eighteen, afraid of taking his journey alone, yet left to fend for himself by a poisonous brother, and a confused young woman.

A great scene in this movie is when his mother finally died, and Igby broke down. He did love his mother, and you could see this, despite all his talks of hatred. Even his witty comment about the eulogy was enough to put a sad smile on any viewers face.

Though I'd love to rain praise on this movie, it did lack in some story elements. I feel Russel may have been underportrayed, and DH, though an important role, sometimes fell behind the story. Until bam, there he is with his pants around the ankles. Amanda Peet was lovely, as always, and I do believe young Culkin did a wonderful job of portraying Igby. I think the movie could have gotten more into the reason Oliver felt so resentful of Igby, but all together I gave it a 7/10.

J-Go

This film was saved from the toilet by the ever present net we call Lewis. A Scorcese favorite. Out of all the characters, I found Bill to be of the most intrigue. I wanted to know his life, his hardships. Lewis did an excellent job in portraying a man who worked from the foundation up. A man with honor, and morals amongst men. Sure he may have flown off the handles at a few points, but look at some of the other sides of it. I mean, the Irish finally have their candidate for Sheriff, and yes Bill does do the foolhardy thing by calling on him to fight. So Monk goes on out there and instead of just asking him to come up and talk, makes this huge appeal to the entire city. This scene was vomitorium material, and instead of feeling for he plight, it made me think of what an a$$ he looked like up there. No wonder Bill snuffed him. I didn't feel any amount of pity for DiCraprio at all. To me, Amsterdam was some kid that'd been away for so many years to come back to a world he barely knew. A fight he had never experienced. Cameron Diaz ... well, I didn't much notice her in the film. I didn't know her story much, and I just thought she was lucky Bill was puttin up with her blonde headed ways. Liam Neeson, in his brief moment, was as always, a master at his craft. He is always a man to carry a tall, respectable presence in a film.

To boil it all down, this film carried Lewis to new levels, meanwhile leaving all the other actors/actress' behind in the annoying cloud of flamboyance which made this movie reminscent of old Broadway. Gay Broadway. Nothing against either, but they remain on the stage. This was a set oriented piece which was more interested in drawing a viewer into the "slang" and the material objects, then the actual story. Story first, costuming second in my belief. Summing it up, I give Gangs of New York a 6/10. Interesting enough to keep me watching, much to annoying to see again. Let's hope Martin scores big next summer. I'd certainly love to see a Goodfellas for our generation.

-J-Go