Tomsriv-1 Reviews

21 Grams (2003)

The movies stereotype believers again

[23 February 2004]

I thought this was an ok movie, but some things in it disturb me. One of the main things is the way it treats Christians. It seems that most screen writers do not have the depth or understanding of Christianity to understand the most basic of philosophical problems that we deal with regularly. The problem of evil is prominent in Benico Del Toro's character. He turns his life around and something horrible happens to him. He thinks that Jesus stabbed him in the back. It seems strange that in the beginning of the movie he was acting as if he studied the bible a lot, yet he must have never read the book of Job in the Old Testament. This book talks about why bad things happen to good people. What upsets me is that Christians are stereotyped as having blind faith and being hypocrites in many movies. The pastor should have told BDT's character about Job when he was in the jail cell. He was right however that he was being prideful. He should have had faith to see where God would take him. Towards the end he cuts the cross on his arm. I don't know if he was trying to take it off, or if he wanted to feel the pain that he bears on his cross. He forgets that Jesus already bore the cross for our sins so all we need to do is believe and ask forgiveness (sincerely) and we will be forgiven of our sins. Forgiveness from Naomi's character, and the legal system would have been nice, but the most important forgiveness is from God.

As far as the movie itself I think I would have been better if it played straight through. When Quentin Tarantino directed Pulp Fiction in an out of order style it was new (at least to most of us) and fun. Now I think it is getting old. The MTV style quick cut scenes in this movie get annoying after a while. I have the patience to sit through a movie that builds suspense slowly if the characters are interesting. I think I would have preferred it if we watched each of the characters for 10 minutes at a time instead of two. The acting was good enough that they didn't need to rely on editing tricks to keep me interested.

Just a Kiss (2002)

People with no morals nor integrity make boring subject matter.

[2/10 · 13 April 2003]

I rented this movie for my girlfriend because I don't mind a chick flick if it has a good story. However, this movie is predictable and boring. None of the characters have redeeming qualities. Its like Seinfeld without the comedy. All they care about is themselves so it is pretty easy to figure out the choices they will make. Why can't we have movies where people have more depth of character? This movie was vulgar, tragic, and lacked romance. The cover shows two people about to kiss, yet all the love in this movie is tragic. Don't expect to be in the mood for romance after this movie. Its like an American version of a bad French movie.

If you want a Romantic Comedy that will make you laugh and set the mood get Amelie, its the best of its type.

His Girl Friday (1940)

One of the most annoying movies I have ever seen.

[1/10 · 27 November 2001]

I thought that people who loved good cinema would all have similar tastes, boy was I wrong. I had to sit through this P.O.S. in my film class. If I hadn't been in class I would have turned it off after the first 20 minutes (and a movie has to be REALLY bad to make me do that). I kept waiting for the characters to go somewhere or do something. I can watch David Lynch movies about nothing and enjoy them, but this was just aweful. After about an hour I realized that the whole movie was going to be the same. After the movie was over I realized that I had lost 2 hours of my life that I can never get back. As far as comedies go I put it right up there with Caddyshack 2... aweful. No good music, no good cinematography, no characters that I like or care about(mean characters that put an innocent man in jail), and not a single funny moment.

To each their own!

Rebel Highway: Roadracers (1994) Season 1, Episode 1

Can we be a little more original?

[4/10 · 10 July 2001]

The beginning of this movie rocked. It had good music and a fun tone. But it was ruined by the violent end. Rodriguez doesn't know how to make a movie without violence. It is to easy to end a movie with one character pulling out a gun and shooting everyone. I wanted to like this movie, but it just fell apart.

Pearl Harbor (2001)

An entertaining historical drama

[9/10 · 27 May 2001]

If you know your history it is pretty easy to seperate the fact from the fiction in this movie. It seems that most of the reviewers that hate this movie seem to think that it is supposed to be Tora! Tora! Tora! 2001. The producers of Pearl Harbor added a love story to this movie in order to make the characters more real. If there was no love story then we would have a dry historical account of the war with no characters to root for. Taken for what it is, Pearl Harbor is an excellent movie. It has developed characters, history, love, and action. If all you want is action go see The Mummy II. If you want history rent Tora! Tora! Tora! I personally thought both of those movies were boring. Pearl Harbor, on the other hand, is a well balanced movie. I felt even more proud to be an American after viewing this movie. We have the best country in the world and we know how to make the best summer blockbusters in the world.

Chocolat (2000)

Who's closed-minded?

[5 March 2001]

Juliette Binoche is the hero of this movie because she is open-minded. Why is it that the so-called open-minded people in movies are always the ones that don't want to try anything new? In one of the first scenes the mayor asks her if she would like to come to church, and she flat-out refuses. That alone pretty much blew the movie for me. She was the one that was narrow minded, yet she was portrayed as some kind role-model. I don't think raising a kid out of wedlock and sleeping with men you barely know (Johnny Depp) are qualities that should be exaulted.

I'm not saying that the townspeople were any better, but the "Hollywood" view of the church is very bigoted. The movie also referred to the church as christian instead of Catholic, there is a big difference. Another example of movies where the heroes are narrow-minded are movies like "Remember the Titans". The white kids embraced soul music, but when the white kids played country music it was considered "cruel and unusual punishment" by the black kids. I'm tired of these double standards and I hope the Academy overlooks this movie.