Reviews

9 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1996–2002)
Couch Potato Central
22 November 2000
Not that there are many other daytime talk shows worth watching, but the Rosie O'Donnell Show is definitely one to avoid. Arguably the highlight of Rosie's entertainment value (over that of any person off the street) is her ability to sing the theme song of nearly all of the TV series that have ever been broadcast.

The best that she can do in the way of entertainment is show off a skill that one can only gain through rigorous, almost religious TV viewing over an entire lifetime. Do we really need to spend our time watching someone's TV show, who is so entrenched in a television centered world view? It seems like a dangerous reinforcement of the repulsive contention that it is acceptable for people to sit in front of the TV as their sole pastime.

No one should subject themselves to any demonstration of such a deeply ingrained acceptance of the idea that a normal lifetime is one that's spent largely parked in front of a box that displays moving pictures on its screen, as the Rosie O'Donnell Show seems to openly advocate.

In engaging in such trivialization of a seriously mentally and physically debilitating lifestyle for Americans, the Show subtly glorifies a lifestyle that does not merit glorification.

From a TV producer's standpoint, it makes perfect sense for the host of a show to openly advocate such television worship.

Other shows, such as the Oprah Winfrey Show are more justifiable, as they advocate things such as reading books, exercising, and other concerns that are not so directly connected with television and the entertainment industry. True, there is marketing that's mixed in with the advocacy of almost anything, but almost anything is preferable to what amounts to advocacy of Couch Potatohood. Other daytime talk shows more actively advocate activities other than watching television.
14 out of 33 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Scary Movie (2000)
6/10
Pretty much what I feared
10 October 2000
I was hoping that this movie would be just outrageously funny, but fearful that it would be mostly flat, with a few good jokes, and that's it. Well, without discussing the jokes, there were only a couple of them that really got me good. Far too few to justify even a suggestion that you watch it. I enjoyed my time at the theater when I went to go see the movie, but the people I was sitting around were cracking better comments than the movie itself, and without them, I know I would have been bored.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Predictable
10 October 2000
At some point, not far enough into the movie, it was pretty clear to me what the outcome would be. Maybe it was just me, but after the ending was clear to me, the movie just seemed to drone on, and dramatize on. It seemed determined to take the long way around to the ending.

Maybe I'm just unfortunate in having my idea of how it would end up be exactly what happened. To me, it seemed like a lot of attempts to dramatize a thin plot, and put touches on it to make it seem profound. Apparently, it worked for many people, unfortunately not for me.
3 out of 9 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A classic B movie
10 October 2000
This is THE top of the line, in B movies. If you've ever liked a "bad" movie, this one has it all. The terrible dialog is stunning. My favorite line, not to give anything away, is "Spin it, spin it!" The movie makes little sense, the tactics are non-existent in the battle scenes, the gun is just pipes glued together... it's marvelous. There are characters that are dressed in what look like Confederate soldier uniforms, and there are also characters that are wearing ski masks. Now, incidentally, there are some stunt scenes where people get set on fire... I wonder if there might be a connection between the wardrobe department and the stunt department... no, couldn't be! Seriously, if you get a kick out of B, C, D or maybe just F movies, (I'm talking bottom of the line, here) this one is the top of the line.
7 out of 17 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
unique, but that's about it
9 October 2000
This movie had a lot of hype to live up to. Worse than not living up to it's hype, however, is the fact that the movie doesn't live up to its own suspense level that it builds up as it goes. There's nothing worse than a let down ending for a horror movie.

There were moments in the movie where I thought it was going to go somewhere really terrifying; but in the end, it turns up that it's more like a haunted house, a little startling and scary while your experiencing it, but nothing to think about after it's over.

The movie has a certain edge to it that is brought on by the manner of filming, and the looseness with the scripting, but those same points were also points of weakness at times. It's interesting, up to a certain point, but there's a reason why most movies are not filmed and scripted so loosely.

Bad dialog and shaky cameras can get pretty annoying.
0 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
Lacking, with a few moments of decency
9 October 2000
I'd say that overall, this movie was terrible. There were a couple of small parts in it that really made me lose my composure, quite pleasantly, but there were also long stretches where I found myself looking around the theater. That's never a good sign. Most decent movies I see, I don't even realize I'm IN a movie theater, from the beginning credits to the end of the movie. I rate this one as a mediocre video rental. Luckily, I saw it at the dollar theater.

This movie did not allow itself to be held back or impeded by politically correct studio people who were afraid of the audience's possible reaction, which is always laudable; but I did not find most of the shock gags to be that great. It was a case of some shock humor attempts that just weren't that funny. Maybe I'm just not easily shocked.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
U-571 (2000)
5/10
Historically inaccurate "based on a true story"
9 October 2000
This is an OK movie, as far as entertainment value goes, but it has no relation to reality. It does a nice job of making you feel like you're watching something that took place in the past, so I'd have to rate it highly on the clothing and props.

There is a fair amount of psychological drama, in the moments where you know it's going to end up one way or the other... a fair amount of suspense. But considering that it IS a movie about submarines, it would be hard to make a movie that you can sit through that contains submarines and no suspense.

I'd say that overall, I'm just disgusted by movies that make Americans look like we all think that it's OK to say that a movie is based on reality, when it compiles different events into one story, and compiles different nation's soldiers (British, Australian, and US) into American soldiers. It makes us look uneducated and overly self-worshiping.
1 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Either you get it, or you don't.
9 October 2000
There was a certain angle to Andy Kaufman's humor, just like any other comedian that stands out from the crowd. The audience that likes that type of humor is not "hip" to it, or "in on the joke", we just happen to find that kind of thing funny.

Much of the movie is devoted to getting into Kaufman's sense of humor, and its ties to his individuality and refusal to compromise. He apparently really was one of the few entertainers who performed what he wanted to perform, and wasn't going to be a puppet to his popularity.

If you ever laugh all by yourself, then you may "get" his sense of humor. If you do, you will "get" this movie, and find it hilarious in the sections where those who did not "get it" found it uncomfortable and uneven. >

Of course, if you liked Andy Kaufman, you are likely to like this film. I'd say that the converse is true, too. If you don't "get it", try watching something without laugh tracks, and see if you know when to laugh. Jim Carey does a good job of demonstrating that he can actually play a role other than roles that just rehash his old In Living Color comedy bits.

If you don't like stories that vary from the regular Hollywood plot lines, leave this one alone. If you're curious, don't mind bypassing some social conventions, and have a healthy respect for the selective use of tact, check out Man on the Moon, there are some nice philosophical angles to it, not unlike American Beauty. They share a common thread of not being palatable to the people that they make light of.

One of the deeper messages of Man on the Moon is that we should all be able to make fun of ourselves, and have a good time in life. Of course, to take that message out of the film, you have to agree with that message already.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Dark City (1998)
7/10
Beautiful visuals, plot fell a little short.
9 October 2000
The cinematography is beautiful in this film. It has a dark visual edge to it, and every scene has a vividness to it that reminds me of Technicolor. The plot line runs a little thin, as it amounts, in the end, to be little more than a Twilight Zone episode; but you know that from the start, and with the suspense building all along, it's hard not to get sucked into the plot, shallow though it is.

There's a lot of very cool imagery in the film, both visually, and symbolically. The psychological implications are great, for those of us that are philosophically/psychologically inclined. With a little bit more of a creative twist to the plot, or maybe even just a little darker edge to the ending, I would have rated this one a classic. As it is, I still highly recommend it.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed