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Reviews
Arlington Road (1999)
A very unpredictable thriller
This review might contain SPOILERS, read at your own risk.
In 'Arlington Road' Michael Faraday, a professor teaching terrorism begins to suspect that his neighbor, Oliver Lang, might be a terrorist.
First of all, anyone who claims that the ending was predictable is lying. If you could predict the ending of this movie, I'm afraid no movie will ever surprise you (except ones with impossible endings). I also don't understand, if a movie has a conventional ending, why does everyone complain about how it's typical Hollywood and that they never make anything original, and when a movie with an unconventional ending comes around, people are complaining (again) that they want happy endings and such... Isn't a happy ending more predictable?
Secondly, as some reviewers wrote earlier, there are many coincidences in the movie: usually it's one person looking for information on another person, who just happens to show up. For example, why did Oliver go to Michael's office, when he (Michael) was looking at those newspaper articles ? I've also seen many movies with the main character conducting a private investigation, it has been an overused concept. Speaking of overused concepts, why doesn't the police EVER show up during chase scenes?
Someone brought up a good point in an earlier review, asking what kind of backup plan did the terrorists have in case Michael doesn't make it to the building? I thought most car chases do end in crashes...
'Arlington Road' definitely has an uncomfortable feel to it; that was the intention of the makers of the movie. It's also very unpredictable, keeping the viewers glued to their seats (unless they have a very short attention span). The acting was good in my opinion, especially the tense dialogues between the two families in the first half of the movie.
GOOD: The movie has a very unpredictable storyline, the acting is mostly good. The whole movie is very complex and everything neatly falls into place at the end.
BAD: Everything goes as planned for the terrorists, too many coincidences and occasional stupidity from the main (good) characters.
RATING: 7/10
Le Cinquième Élément (1997)
A interesting sci-fi/comedy with stunning visuals
This review might contain SPOILERS, read at your own risk.
Before I review a movie, I always read some reviews in case there's something I missed that will help me understand the movie better. Unfortunately, what I usually find is: "This is the worst movie ever! The acting sucked, there was no plot and the whole thing was a disaster."
So for those of you that missed it; there IS a plot.
There is a great evil threatening the world. To stop this evil from eradicating life, four stones have to be arranged and opened with the fifth element (a supreme being) in the middle. The race against time begins for both good and evil to gain possession of these stones. That's a short version of the plot.
So while the plot is no masterpiece, I think it's fairly interesting with some really good ideas. I also applaud the makers of 'The Fifth Element' for not totally copying another movie (which is a very common practise these days). The acting was decent; nothing great, but it's good enough not to affect the viewer in a negative way. Special effects were pretty good, so was the scenery and the soundtrack. Sometimes it's hard to understand the dialogue because of the loud music playing at the same time.
Oh, some of you might not have noticed it, but this movie is a COMEDY. That means you need to have a sense of humour to enjoy it and that not everything in the movie should be taken seriously. We all know that evil is not an object, so quit whining about the fact that it was represented as a flaming ball. Milla Jovovich might not be the perfect actress to play a supreme being, but then who is? I can't imagine anyone being put in that role without being criticized. Maybe the costumes were a little bit over the top, but come on! What do you expect from a movie where the bad guy is called Zorg? Chris Tucker's character was meant to be annoying, but I think he was funny (and annoying).
So 'The Fifth Element' is a great sci-fi/comedy that is fun to watch. Multiple viewings help in understanding the movie better (I've seen it about 5 times).
GOOD: A unique movie with action, great visual effects, interesting characters and light atmosphere.
BAD: Sometimes the dialogue is hard to understand, due to the loud background music and the acting is not as good as it could have been.
RATING: 8/10
The In Crowd (2000)
A fairly good, but not too complicated thriller
This review might contain SPOILERS, read at your own risk.
'The In Crowd' is about Adrien, who is released from a mental institution to work at a beach camp, where rich college students hang out during the summer. She is then befriended by Brittany, one of the popular girls. When Matt (Brittany's love interest) becomes interested in Adrien, Brittany begins to reveal her other side.
That's the plot. It's pretty simple and straight-forward, but it's there, so don't believe the people who say that there's no plot. It does lack the suspense you would normally find in this teen thriller genre, and some of the lines are cheesy, but all of that seems trivial. The acting was good, in my opinion, especially by Susan Ward. I also think that the characters were somewhat less one dimensional than in other movies of this genre. 'The In Crowd' also has a very nice erotic undertone, which definitely makes it more fun to watch.
Some reviewers were questioning the PG-13 rating; there is some nudity in the movie. I don't know what those ratings have to do with reviewing, so I'm not getting into that.
Many reviewers compared 'The in Crowd' to 'Wild Things'. I liked this movie more, because the sexual content wasn't as forced and the story was more down to Earth (as close to Earth as these kinds of movies get anyways...).
GOOD: A sexy and fairly interesting movie with an attractive cast, who did a good job making the characters look 'realistic'.
BAD: The movie had some cheesy lines and scenes, and a not too complicated (but engaging) plot, which is at times a bit too predictable for a thriller.
RATING: 7/10
Wild Things (1998)
Overcomplicated storyline makes it less enjoyable
This review might contain SPOILERS, read at your own risk.
In 'Wild Things', Sam Lombardo, an established high school guidance counsellor is accused of rape by one of his students; Kelly. However there's a lack of evidence, until Suzie, another student of Sam's, also claims that she was raped by him. After that the story gets really confusing as to who did what and why.
The thing that ruined this movie was the seemingly neverending twists in the plot. It can happen only so many times in a movie before you feel that it's not the characters in the movie who are fooling you, but the producers. Lots of spoilers ahead...
Due to the innumerous plot twists, there are many holes in the story. As we find out at the end of the movie, Suzie was blackmailing Sam all along. Why didn't he kill her when she was drunk? We also find out that Ray (Kevin Bacon, the detective), was also involved in the scheme and that he didn't know that Suzie was behind it all (which would have given him reason to be suspicious). Why did he encourage the police to continue the investigation jeopardizing the very plot he is involved in? Thses are just some examples.
Other than those holes in the plot, it was decent movie. The acting was mostly good, I don't like Neve Campbell, but she was good in this movie. Aside from the occasional scenes when a viewer can tell they're acted, the acting is believable and the story is also great in the beginning, but it gets a little overcomplicated at the end. The sexuality was a bit forced, because it didn't fit into the storyline as much as it did in 'The In Crowd'.
GOOD: A well acted movie with an interesting plot and many (too many for my taste) surprises.
BAD: It has an unrealistic ending due to the holes in the complicated plot. Some little bit cheesy/forced scenes.
RATING: 5/10