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Reviews
Henry VIII (2003)
Very Very Good
Ray Winstone is the greatest actor I have discovered in a long time! Helena Bonham- Carter and Sean Bean are terrific! The film has an excellent score. The costumes are good. Henry VIII as a character both chilling and uplifting which is very rare in any character. Henry VIII was rather pigish in terms of looks and behavior. He seemed to really care for half of his wives and his son in spite of it all. We don't really see the relationship between Henry and Anne of Cleeves or Catherine Paar. His relationship with Anne Boleyn was a very big part. From Henry and all his wives and children only Elizabeth made it to age 60 which is quite sad. Henry did a very good deed by converting the monarchy to Protestant because divorce needs to be legal. I would be interested to see Shakespeare portrayal of Henry VIII
Gangs of New York (2002)
A good adventure, but not deep enough
I gotta say I enjoyed the adventure of the film. The fight scenes are good. I think the movie should have won the Oscar for Best Costume Design and Best Original Song. But the problem is that the characters are all punks. And I suppose they all were at that time but I think most people have humanity, compassion, and mercy in them. Even toward their enemies and certainly toward each other. Yes there was a little between the good guys. But they feel such pride in fighting and if you feel that much pride and that little compassion after war then there is something wrong with you. This is supposed to be a movie about horrific things happening to good people and these people weren't good even though not all of them were bad. In fact the only two characters that were nothing but evil were Boss Tweed and Bill the Butcher. How can you feel sorry for them if they are not good? You could say the same thing about most Arnold Schwarzenegger movies but this movie is supposed to be showing how horrible this really was and it doesn't. But like I said it's a good adventure, but it is a bad drama. So some people get excited by this film. It has three great actors in it, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Jim Broadbent. And many more who are popular. So I wouldn't say don't ever see this movie. I'd watch it if I was just flipping through.
Wuthering Heights (2003)
A terrible adaptation of this classic story!
This movie sets the story in modern times and in America. Like in other modern adaptations such as "O" and "Scotland, PA" they have changed the character's names to modern names close to the original names. Heath(Heathcliff) gradually becomes a rock star. (SPOILERS) Like several versions of this story it ends with Cathy having the baby and then dying, only this time before she dies she tells Heath the child is his. And then we see that Heath is happily raising the child. It is also a more shallow love story. Wuthering Heights is a great story. The only version worth owning is the 1992 version the outstanding actor Ralph Fiennes made his real performance debut. If you want to see good modernized old story rent "O" (Othello) or Leonardo DiCaprio's "Romeo and Juliet".
The Hours (2002)
A Great Movie!
This movie takes place in one day of writer Virginia Woolf's life who Nicole
Kidman won the Oscar for playing. This one day is the day she started writing her famous book "Mrs. Dalloway". The film also takes place in 1923. It also takes place in one day of two other women's lives. Laura Brown(Julianne Moore) lives in 1951 and is reading "Mrs. Dalloway". Clarissa Vaughn(Meryl Streep) lives in 2001, her life is very similar to the life of "Mrs. Dalloway". She has a friend named Richard who is played by Ed Harris, who makes the movie! Anyway,
Richard notices that her life is like Mrs. Dalloway's so that's what he calls her. I would imagine that writer of the book, Michael Cunningham got the idea to write something based on Virginia Woolf's life with a connection to two other women out of nowhere. That makes it original despite that Laura Brown is the only one of the three women who's life is completely original. Nicole Kidman won the
Oscar, but Meryl Streep was not even nominated, which sucks because I think
she should have won. Julianne Moore was nominated for Supporting Actress,
probably because she was nominated for Leading Actress for "Far From
Heaven". But after all Steven Soderbergh was nominated in 2001 for directing two films. Meryl Streep was the best leading lady but the very best performance is Ed Harris. He had only two scenes but he deserved the Oscar. He was
nominated but he did not win. You really ought to see this movie. There are
other good performances too by known stars and one by an unknown child.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Spectacular!
This movie is great! Johnny Depp is so funny as pirate Captain Jack Sparrow. Orlando Bloom is very romantic as Will Turner the blacksmith. Geoffrey is so evil as the skeleton Captain Barbosa. Keira Knightley is gorgeous and she does
well in the movie as Elizabeth Swann, daughter of Governor Swann(Jonathan
Pryce who is always good). You've got to see it. Don't let the fact that the
distributor is Walt Disney stop you. This movie is rated PG-13. As a matter of fact this is the first PG-13 movie that was released by Disney rather than Touchstone which is connected to Disney and has always released the high budget adult
films that Disney produces.
Never Say Never Again (1983)
Not Bond
I never saw all of this movie, but it does not open like James Bond, it doesn't have the music we all know. It's much more light hearted than all the others and it is silly in a different way. It is a spoof. James Bond has gray hair in this. And Sean Connery went bald very young so that's not his hair. I have seen all the other James Bond movies with Sean Connery and this is a stupid one mainly
because it has no chemistry with all the others. Sean Connery was in his fifties by this time but then again Roger Moore was for four of his Bond movies, and
Pierce Brosnan will be when he does his final Bond movie. If you are a fan of James Bond you will hate this movie.
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
An Awesome Classic!
This movie is great! Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine lead an extraordinary
cast. Among them are the bitchie but funny Stella Stevens, the gorgeous Carol Lynely, Red Buttons who was nominated for an Oscar for this, the heroic Shelley Winters, the heart-stealing Jack Albertson, the shy Roddy McDowall, and the
two children Pamela Sue Martin and Eric Shea. The film is also features the
small roles of Arthur O'Connell and Leslie Nielsen. See this movie! It is one of my faves!
Les Misérables (1998)
Fine, other than where it ends
This movie is overall good. Liam Neeson is decent, Geoffrey Rush is GREAT,
Uma Thurman, Claire Danes, and Hans Matheson are good. I have seen some
other versions of this. Therefore, I know that it ends at an early point. There is something in the ending that is unlike any other version. The ending always
happens but there is more afterward that this movie does not show. (spoilers) I guess they did it because one would rather not see the main character's death.
Ghost (1990)
Extremely Good!
This is a must see movie. The movie fits with practically every Genre. It's sad, funny, romantic, and violent. It takes place in some of the roughest places in New York, that is clear when you see the buildings in the inside of a house. The lead characters are Sam(Patrick Swayze) and Molly(Demi Moore). They are
very much in love but when Sam is killed right before Molly's eyes by Willie(Rick Avilles), who turns out to the hitman and Sam's best friend Carl(Tony Goldwyn), Sam's ghost knows he has work to do before he goes to Heaven. He discovers
Oda Mae Brown(Whoopi Goldberg), who is the only person who can hear his
voice. And he manages to annoy her into trying to convince Molly to believe that Sam is telling her to watch out for the murderers. Molly struggles with whether or not to believe her because Oda Mae mentions private things between her and
Sam. Patrick Swayze is very charmingly romantic, Whoopi Goldberg is very
funny, and Tony Goldwyn is an awesome bad guy.
O (2001)
The most dark and disturbing movie I ever watched! But still really really good!
This a great adaptation of 'Othello'. My mother read me the play when I was 8 and I enjoyed it.
They are good with modernizing the names: Othello is Odin nicknamed "O";
Iago is Hugo; Desdemona is Desi; Emilia is Emily; Cassio is Casio but he is
referred to as Michael which is his first name, Michael is actually his first name in 'Othello', but it is only mentioned a few times; Roderigo is Roger, he has the last name Rodriguez; Bianca is Brandy; Then there is the duke of Cyprus who's name is Duke but they call him Coach because that's what he is, but he has a
second role in the story for the Duke of Cyprus is a small role
The movie features the very talented lead performances of Mekhi Phifer, who
plays Odin the black high school basketball player, and Josh Hartnett who plays Hugo the wicked deceiver. But there is a real difference between Hugo's and
Iago's wickedness. Hugo's is more realistic, more like a typical teenager who has been severely neglected and misguided by his father, the Coach(Martin
Sheen[A Great Performance]) Julia Stilles plays Desi, Andrew Keegan plays
Michael Casio, Rain Phoenix plays Emily, she is the sister of Joaquin Phoenix and the deceased River Phoenix. Elden Hensen plays Roger Rodriguez, he is
good and he was great as opposite Kieran Culkin in 'The Mighty',
This movie may be hard to watch! The idea that teenagers would do such things to each other is pretty awful! It was held back two years due to the event in Colorado with these teens killing each other with machine guns! Hugo puts
Odin on drugs, which is not in 'Othello' and there is a scene where Odin gets rough with Desi while they are having sex. Odin becomes very disturbed and
you really got to feel sorry for him. The violence is in a rather low tone which kind of makes it even more rough going. But despite all that this is a very good movie.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
A Masterpiece!
You are not likely to find a movie this excellent. I am in the middle of reading the books. I already know that there are many cut out characters and events in the movie, from the books. But a lot of it they had to remove. It's more true to the books than the Harry Potter movies and also required a lot more work. All the actors are great, among the best are Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Sean Bean,
Sean Astin, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, and Hugo Weaving. I was so upset
when this movie lost the award for Best Picture. You must see this movie.
Ice Age (2002)
Terrible!!!!!
This movie is terrible! I hated it so much! The music is terrible! The story is terrible! The script is terrible! The characters are terrible! The animation is terrible! The voice acting is terrible! DO NOT see this movie unless you have very very very little kids.
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Matt Damon is no action guy
This movie rates a 2 because it at least has a plot. But Matt Damon just makes the movie really bad! He can't do an action flick. He is too cute, he is not
muscular, he is the kind of actor that girls fall for because he's soft, rather than James Bond because he's hard. The other problem is that Matt's character,
Jason Bourne is a mix of good and evil, and that works for a Drama like for
instance the ten performances I have seen as William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet',
but not for an action flick like this.
The Patriot (2000)
A Brilliant War Epic!
Unless you are sensitive to too much brutal and bloody violence you've got to see this movie. Mel Gibson does a good job as Col. Benjamin Martin, a malicia leader. Heath Ledger does even better as Martin's son Gabriel. Chris Cooper
gives a very good performance as Col. Harry Burwell, an old friend of Martin's. And on the English side Tom Wilkinson plays the real life General Lord
Cornwalis, Jason Isaacs gives one of the best wicked, evil performances I've
seen as Col. William Tavington, who kills two of Martin's sons and is his enemy to the end. I couldn't compare it to the event on which it is based because I only study American history at school because I have to and I don't know too much
about it. But whether it is true to it or not, you will probably enjoy it!
Maid in Manhattan (2002)
I saw this because I love Ralph Fiennes
I am a huge fan of Ralph Fiennes. I think he is probably the greatest actor of his generation. I saw him in his first big screen debut as Heathcliff in 'Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights' and in two of his known performances. ('Quiz Show' and
'Oscar and Lucinda') He was great in all these movies. He gave a voice
performance in 'The Prince of Egypt' which was a famous animated movie but
Ralph Fiennes did not get very much. But he was great, his character was
probably the most complex cartoon character I have ever seen. In this film he is opposite Jennifer Lopez, which is hard to imagine but that probably makes you want to see it because there is suspense due to not knowing how those two
would mix. Jennifer Lopez is just basically herself in this movie. Ralph Fiennes is elegant and classy, sort of like he is in 'Quiz Show'. But he does not do good with the American accent. His character is still very English, like it always is and it works out well because he's playing English. He is very attractive mannered in this movie. I think that if they had made his character English, his performance. Although this performance required very little compared to his other
performances. He usually plays very stern but vulnerable characters who go
through real struggles. These characters are all similar in that way but in all other ways different. But this is a romantic comedy. Movies like this never
contain Oscar-worthy performances. Aside from Ralph, the movie is quite funny in places. Natasha Richardson is good, especially in her scenes with Ralph
Fiennes. But overall this is a movie worth seeing if you love Ralph Fiennes like I do, but definitely not worth owning.
John Q (2002)
A Great Movie!
This film is a great demonstration about how the health care system in
this country sucks and people have to fight for it!
Denzel Washington does what he does best as John Q. Archibald, only this time his fight is not with racism. John is poor but he is happily married to Denise(Kimberly Elise) and has raised a good son, Mike(very well played by ten-year-old Daniel E. Smith). But when it turns out Mike needs a heart
transplant within a few days or else he will die, John holds several hostages captive and says that he'll let them go when hospital director Rebecca Payne(Anne Heche), puts Mike on the list for a transplant. While also he must face Police Lieutenant Frank Grimes(Robert Duvall).
I think James Woods gives the Best performance in the film, as cardiologist, Raymond Turner, who is one of John's hostages. Some people might not be so moved by it because the love between a father and a son that is shown in the film is a very common thing. But what is extremely moving about the film is John's courage. At one point John almost sacrafices his life.
See this film. 10/10
Merlin (1998)
The BEST movie ever to feature King Arthur
I've seen and heard many versions of King Arthur and the Round Table such as "Camelot" and "Excalibur" which are films mostly about Arthur. "Camelot has a great soundtrack but my quibble with that is that it ends before the fatal battle between Arthur and Mordred. "Excalibur" features many good actors and is pretty good but not terriffic. Merlin is a major character in both these movies. There also two other films "Knight's of the Round Table" and "First Knight" which are movies mainly about Lancelot but Arthur is still a major character. Robert Taylor plays Lancelot in "Knights of the Round Table", Ava Gardner plays Guenevere, Mel Ferrer plays Arthur, and Stanley Baker plays Mordred, who is not even Arthur's son, but Morgan le Fay's husband. Merlin is not a wizard in this. This film is from the 1950s or '60s. In "First Knight" Sean Connery plays Arthur, Richard Gere plays Lancelot, and Julia Ormond plays Guenevere. There is no Mordred and no Merlin, but there is a villain named Prince Malagrant cleverly played by Ben Cross. This film is not very good. There is also another TV film called "The Mists of Avalon" which is sort of the same story but from Morgan le Fay's point of view, who is called Morgaine and isn't evil but good, played by Julianna Marguilles. The other lead stars are Viviane(Igrane's sister), very well played by Anjelica Huston, and Margawse, the evil other sister, also very well played by Joan Allen. Hans Matheson("Les Miserables") does a good job as Mordred, Edward Atterton("The Man in the Iron Mask"), does well as Arthur, so do Michael Vartan("The Next Best Thing") and Samantha Mathis("Broken Arrow") as Lancelot and Guenevere(spelled differently), and Michael Byrne("The Musketeer") as Merlin. This film is good but not outstanding. Then there's a book I read by Molly Perham all about King Arthur is only about 300 pages, but the pages are huge as the book is about one inch thick and a foot in a half tall. This is very good. Now I will get to "Merlin". This film goes from Merlin's birth to his very old age. Merlin is created by Queen Mab, brilliantly played by Miranda Richardson(who also plays the Lady of the Lake). Mab created Merlin to join her to fight a battle, but Merlin(Sam Neill) believes that Mab is bitter and will see too many innocent deaths in order to win, and is also distracted Nimue(played by Isabella Rosselini) the woman he falls in love with. Mab also has a sidekick named Frick(Martin Short), who is very funny and falls head-over-heals for Morgan le Fay, brilliantly played by Helena Bonham-Carter. There is also the very wicked King Vortigern, very brilliantly played by Rutger Hauer who usurped Arthur's grandfather King Constant. Arthur doesn't appear till half way through the film but Paul Curran does a good job as Arthur as does Jason Done as Mordred. This is a brilliant film better than all the movies I described earlier.
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
This should be on the list of the 100 best movies of the 20th Century
I saw this movie in the Theaters when I was nine. It took a while to understand the whole story, it's very complicated. But I loved it right away. It has not one, but five great performances, six if you call Leonardo DiCaprio's double for playing two roles. Leonardo is great as the spoiled, selfish, and wicked King Louis XIV, who doesn't take care of his people and plays a part in all the deaths in the film, and as Phillippe, the king's tender and sweet natured twin, who spent six years in prison in an Iron Mask and does not now why till he is rescued by Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, ("The Three Musketeers", brilliantly played by John Malkovich, Gerard Depardieu, and Jeremy Irons) and then must take his brothers place as king. Gabriel Byrne plays the noble D'Artangan, who was once one of "The Four Musketeers", and is a good man but is loyal to the evil king for a reason that we don't know until the end and I won't give away. Leonardo DiCaprio is amazing, John Malkovich is passionate all through the movie, Gerard Depardieu is touching, lovable, and funny, Jeremy Irons is noble and wise, Gabriel Byrne is so good. Other good performances by smaller roles are Anne Parillaud as the Queen Mother, Peter Sarsgaard as Athos's romantic son Raoul, who dies a tragic death towards the beginning, Judith Godreche as his fiance, Christine, who is horribly seduced by the king, not knowing he was responsible for Raoul's death, and Edward Atterton as D'Artangan's noble lieutenant. My guess is that the book is very different, same with "The Count of Monte Cristo" as a film. "The Man in the Iron Mask" was probably made to look more of an exciting epic than the book but the Drama is there. This is a must see film. If I could I would switch it's popularity, with DiCaprio's much more popular film "Titanic"
King of Texas (2002)
Pretty darn good!
I have down the story of 'King Lear' since I was ten years old and I think that 'King of Texas' is very much like it. Suzannah, the eldest daughter played by Marcia Gay-Harden, is very much like the character of Goneral in 'King Lear' who she is meant to be. Lauren Holly portrays the other evil daughter Rebecca somewhat differently from her original character Regan. The one good daughter Claudia (played by Julie Cox) is almost exactly like Cordelia, her original. But Instead of Kings, Earls, and Dukes, they are all landowners, who fight over land. Other than the story is very similar to the original except at the end there are a few things that happen to some of the characters (where they meet their end) that are very different. Matt Letscher, who plays Emmett one of the villains that is based on one of Shakespeare's most interesting villains named Edmund, gives an awesome performance. He also played a great villains in 'The Mask of Zorro', I don't know a whole lot about him, but I hope he becomes a big star. Patrick Stewart is so Lear, you can hardly tell the difference. This movie rates a 9/10.