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R_Ethier
Reviews
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
This is boring, not controversial
Before I go any further, I have never seen a film as technically well made as this when it comes to makeup.
Now, there ARE spoilers in this review.
Jesus dies, gets resurrected, etc...
Now with that that out of the way, what kind of movie was this?
The violent, pointless kind. I personally don't care much about Jesus, there are people that have died much more horrible deaths then this guy allegedly did and in much more recent times as well. Maybe that allowed me to be more detached then most people, after the shock of violence wore off I basically tuned out. And being that the violence starts a whole 5 minutes into the film (maybe less) and doesn't let up a whole lot, I stopped caring pretty damn quick.
I knew the ending of the film, and the underlying plot is basically guy getting screwed over. There is no suspense, no nothing, just some guy getting beat to a bloody pulp and then nailed to a cross. Thats it, nothing else really happens. There is one period of blackness during the film which left me thinking "Credits, or resurrection?", and that about sums up the most suspenseful part of the whole film. The whipping scene even gets boring after a while, it just keeps going and going and going, it's almost a parody after a while. I can see Mel Brooks making a film called "Jesus: Back from the dead" where they (Romans) pull out machine guns and make Jesus dance or something.
"I said to punish him, not make him suicidal by forcing him to listen to Air Supply"
The movie never set out to be anything more then Jesus getting beat to a pulp and then nailed to a cross (the gospel or something, I guess), but that doesn't make it a good movie. Technically impressive yes, but otherwise a gory bore.
Now, if Jesus was black, obviously insane, and nevertheless inspired the people around him with delusions of a utopia and eventually got killed because of it. Well, that would be a good movie.
I guess one could interpret Jesus that way, even in the context of this film. But that didn't stop me from being bored out of my mind.
In this film, Jesus invents chairs (in a flashback) and..... Gets beat up..... A lot... Oh, and he eats some thin bread, and he falls down once when he is a kid, I think anyways, that part caught me off guard, I was kinda dozing and didn't know what was going on. Oh, did I mention he gets the living crap kicked out of him?
There are like, a lot of pages in the bible before the "Jesus gets killed" part, what happened to them? If they were in this film for more then a meaningless flashback, I might actually care about Jesus.
The most interesting part of the film was the conflicted head Roman guy, who's name I remember but can't spell at the moment. He was the deepest character in the whole film, and Judas was kinda cool as well. I guess the characters are cliche for a reason, considering the movies source material.
Whatever.... Should have seen Dawn of the dead instead,,,
The Arrival (1996)
A smart, well done Alien movie.
I had the pleasure of watching this film in the theater and to be quite honest that is the way it should be seen. Its a well done movie about aliens visiting earth, overall the story is nothing original (but it does have more then a few tricks up its sleeve) and is your typical Alien invader movie.
Watching this on television years later its hard to appreciate just how well this film was shot. One scene in particular involving a large dish and someone almost falling off the side of it almost caused me to make a mess in my pants when first watching the film on the big screen.
When I saw it the theater was mostly empty (not good for the movie, but it probably allowed us to enjoy it some more) and it was its first run (did it have a second?). Its sad the film didn't do as well as it should have, at the time it was the best alien related movie in theaters (I seem to remember independence day being out at the same time).
My one gripe is a somewhat weak ending (especially considering the strength of the rest of the movie). Overall it is an entertaining and somewhat thought provoking film that you won't regret watching unless you don't like movies that emphasize suspense instead of action. And there is a LOT of suspense in this film. It doesn't skimp on action either but it saves it for the end of the movie where it belongs and makes some sense.
Some people may not like its message either but I didn't have a problem with it and it certainly didn't get overly preachy. People voice their opinions on screen just as someone would do in real life, and I don't have a problem with that. The real focus of the movie is aliens, not the environment. If you fixate on the environmental message in the movie then you probably have some issues or just don't get this type of movie. Global warming is more of a subplot that leads Mr Sheen in a certain direction and nothing more.
The special effects are fairly spartan but effective and nicely creepy when they are used.
Some of the characters are kind of annoying but are necessary, and don't detract from the film overall.
A worthwhile rental, especially if you have a large TV to watch it on.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
A guy called the dude is forced from his daily routine to go on a hunt for a new rug.
I loved this movie, loved it.
Mind you, it doesn't seem many critics liked it that much. I can think of many reasons why, one is that I have bad taste, and the other is that they are so anal that they missed the entire point of the movie.
I've heard the plot sucks, well, i've watched this several times, and I have yet to even notice the plot. The plot isn't the point, this movies point is the dude.
Want me to sum up the plot?
-A guy called the dude is forced from his daily routine to go on a hunt for a new rug.
And thats about it, thats what drives the dude. When faced with the prospect of getting several thousand dollars, he remains concerned only with his rug. Getting serveral thousand dollars might force a change in his lifestyle after all, something he tries desperatly to get back throughout the course of this movie.
This movie is looked at mostly from the point of view of the dude, as such, you see the world through his eyes. A bunch of events stopping him from getting a new rug. Jeff Bridges plays the part perfectly, out of place and annoyed by everything around him taking up his bowling time.
I found the entire movie hilarious in a typical over done coen way, nothing anyone says is predictable, its very well acted, well paced, and well shot (of course).
Just sit back and relax, don't look to hard, and enjoy the situations the dude ends up in because everyone around him refuses to adopt his life style. Whats the moral message of the movie? I dunno, who cares?