niryuu/sni-each-converted huggingface dataset:
i do n't know what movie the critics saw , but it was n't this one .
the popular consensus among newspaper critics was that this movie is unfunny and dreadfully boring .
in my personal opinion , they could n't be more wrong . if you were expecting airplane !
-like laughs and agatha christie - intense mystery , then yes , this movie would be a disappointment .
however , if you 're just looking for an enjoyable movie and a good time , this is one to see
.
honest , it is .
this story is about a 4th network , wbn , taking to america 's airwaves in 1939 .
penny henderson ( mary stuart masterson ) , the station owner 's secretary , must deal with her overbearing boss , an unimpressed sponsor and writers ready to quite on a moment 's notice , partly due to the fact that they have n't been paid in weeks .
among the mayhem , she must also deal with her soon - to - be ex - husband , roger ( brian benben ) who desperately wants her back .
unfortunately , her problems only get worse as the night goes on and the body count rises without explanation .
while trying to woo penny back , roger must deal with the police and try to find the killer that lurks at wbn .
mary stuart masterson
does well in her role as penny ( i 'm trying to be unbiased so i wo n't tell you how amazing she looked ) , although brian benben gets most of the screen time .
along with the two leads , are several recognizable faces , including corbin bernsen ( l . a . law ) , michael mckean ( laverne & shirley ) and bobcat goldthwait .
the special effects are amazing , and fooled me ( which some may argue is n't very difficult to do ) in many scenes .
although the movie sometimes goes overboard with the physical comedy , it more than makes up for those mistakes throughout the movie .
overall , i gave it , or an , depending on what system you use .
some comments collected from friends :
Output: P
with stars like sigourney weaver ( " alien " trilogy ) and academy award winner holly hunter ( the piano , raising arizona , etc . ) together in a single hollywood production , one would immediately identify the film as a potential academy award hot shot .
sadly for copycat , though tightly scripted and nicely plot , is still at heart , a typical hollywood thriller .
helen ( weaver ) , after a traumatic near death encounter with a serial killer , darryl ( harry connick jr . ) , has developed a phobia for being outdoors , so to speak .
incidentally , helen is also an expert on the subject of serial killers , which make her a juicy target for serial killer wannabes .
a year has passed and strange deaths begin to terrorise the city of san francisco .
detective monahan ( hunter ) and getz ( mulroney ) , baffled by the unorthodox methods of killing used by the killer , seeks the professional help of helen , who , as expected was reluctant at first .
copycat " borrows " a lot from silence of the lambs and in most cases ,
it did work .
but copycat tries to be a little bit more by immersing the audience into the lives of its main characters to give them more believability , this was rather unnecessary as the scenes seem to disrupt the mood of the entire film and also . . .
much of the time wasted could 've been used to build up the suspense and injected with drama .
even so , weaver and hunter act very well in their own departments .
. .
weaver being the vulnerable yet strong - within character ( as in aliens ) and hunter being the short , tough , texan speaking cop ( as in raising arizona ) .
harry connick jr .
, a very good jazz singer , shines as the imprisoned serial killer a la hannibal lecter .
which comes to the moment of judgement ( drum roll please . . . ) .
copycat is a good thriller .
although the plot is highly predictable and one can actually predict the rest of the movie after about 45 minutes into the show , copycat survives from the moments of anticipation where the audience are held on to their seats , in anticipation of the killers next immediate move .
this worked pretty well and will offer audiences a couple of unexpected jolts .
nice movie to bring your girlfriend to . . . .
Output: P
capsule : earthy , experimental , difficult , shockingly frank ( even for 1997 ! ) , and ultimately refreshing story of a black man on the run from the cops .
the first few minutes of sweet sweetback 's baad asssss song ( yes , i checked --
that 's the correct number of ss )
are without dialogue , just eerie montages of sounds .
a young boy , obviously malnourished , is taken in and fed up by several loving mother - surrogate figures .
then one of them takes the boy to bed for a sexual initation ( underneath the title credits ) that 's far more confrontatory and shocking than any ten basic instincts -- probably because it has the directness and clumsiness of real life , something we 're not used to seeing on screen .
this is one tough movie to swallow , no matter who you are , but that probably reflects more on how pallid and unchallenging movies have gotten lately .
( i suspect the sex scenes in movies like el topo and salo would probably melt the synapses of most modern audiences . )
the plot is simple but not simpleminded .
sweetback , hassled by two white cops who are apparently just looking for an excuse to beat up on a black man , breaks his bonds and runs like hell .
along the way he moves through a good many of the kinds of environments that we are only just now being seen in a more serious light in the movies -- or at all , for that matter : the slums , the missions , the ghetto .
in other , lesser , movies , sweetback would be machine - gunning everything in sight and the end credits would roll over a pile of bodies ; in this one , we get taken on a kind of a tour of the depressing and anarchic world that sweetback takes for granted .
ssbas first appeared in 1971 and was promptly rated x ( " by an all - white jury " , as director melvin van peebles crowed in his legendary ad campaigns ) , and it 's hardly surprising why .
there 's a good deal of sex in the movie , but it 's handled in a way that 's unsettlingly frank -- a frankness that spills over into the rest of the movie .
in one scene , sweetback visits a friend 's house in the hope of getting sanctuary there , and the other man chats him up while on the toilet .
we 're not used to coming this close to people in real life , let alone in the movies -- especially not people who are not made out to be glamorous .
the movie is also full of experimental stylistics that are relatively unused today , but probably because of that seem curiously fresh and new in van peebles ' hands .
one scene , in which a man is interrogated by the cops , is loaded full of menacing energy as they fire off a gun inches from his ears , and suggest his deafness through a cleverly edited soundtrack .
another note : ssbas is not so much anti - white ( that would be too easy ) as anti - authority , and as the movie goes on to demonstrate , authority exists in many forms -- governments , churches , and even the paranoid inside of one 's own mind .
ssbas is ultimately about thirsting for freedom -- and it looks like we could use a little more of that in our movie diet , god knows .
Output: P
a fully loaded entertainment review - website coming in july !
i did n't really expect very much when i rented stuart saves his family .
the movie bombed at the box office , and i had never really liked the saturday night live sketch on which the movie was based .
my real concern , though , was the general reputation of snl - related movies translating to the big screen with less - than - stellar results ( half - baked , anyone ? )
i was surprised to discover a truly entertaining , often hilarious yet also touching little film .
it is an al franken production through - and - through , who not only created the title character but also wrote and starred in the picture .
for those of you who do n't know , al franken plays a guy named stuart smalley , who has a really annoying show on a public - access station about increasing your self - esteem , etc .
although not a licensed therapist , stuart smalley is , as the program proudly boasts , " a graduate of several 12-step programs .
" stuart is doing well enough with his tv show , but he keeps getting distracted by family troubles .
stuart 's relatives are a mess : his dad and brother ( harris yulin and vincent d'onofrio , respectively ) are alcoholics , his sister is overweight and getting over another divorce , and his mom is in constant self - denial and solves all perceived problems by baking .
then , disaster strikes .
stuart accidentally insults the manager of the station and gets his show revoked .
he is forced to move back in with his family after he can no longer support himself , and there the comedy truly picks up .
franken wrote all of the characters not just as cliches or stereotypes , but as sharply - drawn , real people .
although smalley 's dad has always imbibed too much , stuart can still recall times when his father seemed like an okay guy .
also , after an accident towards the end of the movie , both stuart and the audience learn that there is more to his mother than previously thought .
although filled with small , very funny scenes , stuart saves his family also has its share of dramatic moments , especially towards the conclusion .
for a lightweight comedy , it handles these scenes especially well , often better than
many so - called " serious dramas " of today . all the more amazing is that such a movie comes from a saturday night live sketch that is essentially a one - joke bit . if you feel like renting a comedy , and you have n't seen this film
, i definitely recommend you try this one out .
you 'll laugh . . .
you 'll cry . . . .
it 's all there .
Output: P
no filmmaker deconstructs a story as well as atom egoyan .
i 'm referring , specifically , to the narrative form .
in the sweet hereafter , egoyan tells his story in a similar framework to his exotica or the adjuster .
said story , of a fatal school bus accident in the small town of sam dent , british columbia , that shatters the morale of the locals , is told in a most unstraightforward manner .
when the film opens , the accident has already happened , and stephens ( the wonderful holm ) , a polite ambulance - chaser , has arrived with the promise of a lawsuit that will eek out the truth of what really occurred that fateful morning .
throughout , we get to meet the parents of the dead , broken souls who follow stephens like " the pied piper " ( passages of which are read during the film ) .
but there is one living passenger , the paralyzed nicole ( polley ) , whose dark secrets of a life before the accident may affect her decision to testify .
we finally do see the accident , about three quarters into the film , which is a stunning visual effect .
a horrific long take that shows the bus sliding , then stopping , then collapsing into a frozen lake , is the best digital trickery in any movie this year
and , perhaps , ever , in a motion picture .
the fractured narrative also intercuts a preoccupied stephens on an airplane , traveling to meet his hiv - positive runaway daughter , as well as glimpses of the artificially happy lives these people led pre - accident .
i have a problem not with the story or story structure , but with egoyan 's heavy- handedness behind the camera .
for the first hour or so , i can quite honestly say i was on the verge of tears ; these are miserable , miserable people .
but that 's just the problem : so anguished are these folk that sympathy wanes after a while , when a lot of sadness becomes too much .
also , a subplot involving incest rings untrue .
perhaps it would n't feel so contrived if it were n't shot in such a tasteful manner .
there are two characters who are father and daughter ; when they first appeared i thought they were lovers .
i was half - right .
nevertheless it 's worth - seeing .
the delightful critic geoff pevere recently wrote that " american films are about action , canadian films are about consequences , " hence a recent wave of films about the effects of shock and death from toronto directors , including crash and kissed .
the sweet hereafter is much better
than either of these two films , simply because it 's not boring
or , in the case of kissed , afraid of its own material ( necrophilia ) .
egoyan is a fine , fine , postmodern storyteller , whose work is entertaining , edgy and smart , if a bit too intellectual at times .
though i harped on the weightiness of the material ,
i was always absorbed , engrossed , and surprised by the sweet hereafter .
Output: P
i know what i would do with $ 4 . 4 million if i found it in a previously undiscovered airplane crash site , especially if i were with jacob and lou .
( huh ? )
well , in any event , that is the situation hank ( paxton )
finds himself in .
he and his dim - witted brother jacob ( thorton ) and tubby friend lou ( brent briscoe ) come upon a large bag of cash inside a plane wreck .
against his better judgement , hank decides to go along with the idea of keeping it rather than going to the authorities .
the rest of the film is a question of who is going to die to keep this a secret , and is it worth it ?
a simple wish lies along the lines of very bad things , clay pigeons and even fargo , and is kind of wrapped all into one little dark bundle .
oh ,
and its much better than any of those .
sam raimi took a departure from his normal freak - show horror - monkey films and made this stylish and intriguing picture .
he really lets the audience sit back and watch the events unfold rather than force them down our throats as many directors prefer to do .
i think raimi knew he had a winner on his hands and decided to direct the picture on a natural flowing course .
one of the film 's components can be linked to a recurring theme in terrence malick 's the thin red line .
in malick 's three hour bore - a - thon , he makes an interesting attempt to link mother earth to his war story .
it seemed nothing more than an occasional pretty cut to a field of flowing grass , a small bird , or a flowing body of water .
sure , there were obvious metaphorical connections , but there was no subtlty to his efforts .
raimi does a fine job of tying in a fox in a chicken coop and birds of prey to signify the future of the characters .
i think most viewers may miss the comparison , but it is a very intriguing ingredient in the film .
and then there 's billy bob thorton , who is proof that the independent film industry is vital to the life blood of hollywood .
if it can continute to produce people like thorton , hollywood will be ok .
he gives a fantastic and devastatingly deep performance here .
it is not as engrossing as his carl childers character in slingblade , but is is just as complex , if not more so .
jacob is slow and simple , and yet we so often see him deep in thought .
i wondered if he was thinking about things that he would never say ( or did n't know how to say )
or if he was just taking a long time to think about the thing he just said . here he really proves his worth as one of the best character actors in the industry .
though the plot is somewhat unoriginal ,
it has a very appealing new twist in its characters .
paxton gives one of the better performances of his career as the straight and serious leader of the group ( a far cry from chet in wierd science ) .
perhaps bridget fonda is miscast as his advice - giving wife , but she certainly does n't do anything ruin the picture .
a simple plan can be included in the group of recent small hollywood films that is just dark and pretty un - redeeming .
but at least this one has an important message , unlike so many of its counterparts .
Output: P
i tried hard not like this movie without succeeding .
it contains parts of bringing up baby , any hepburn / tracy film , part of the plot of war games , cary grant and rosalind russell in his girl friday , elevator shaft action , train action , and murder .
it is cute , funny , suspenseful
( a little bit ) , sexy ( a little bit ) .
one of the bad guys was a surprise .
the pace is fast enough , there are some " action " scenes .
i think that this is a reasonable family summer movie for families with older kids who have already seen maverick .
julia roberts and nick nolte are fine separately and together .
i really identified with the julia roberts character ( wishful thinking , i know ! ) , but i do have better hair !
her hair , a very dull dark brown , has no color .
she could use some highlights .
they both do fine with their roles : he 's a bored columnist with the chicago chronicle and she 's a hotshot " cub " reporter with the chicago globe .
they have great fun trying to out scoop each other to solve one case throughout this movie .
i like the one story focus
.
other actors include charles martin smith as roberts ' boss , olympia dukakis as nolte 's coworker , nora dunn also with the chronicle , and marsha mason as a congresswoman .
basically this movie is reasonably fun .
there is a serious mystery to solve , and
i enjoyed following a fun couple solving the mystery .
it is a pleasant change of pace from movies that take themselves seriously .
i do give successful comedy high marks .
Output: P
synopsis : it 's 1977 in a small italian american neighborhood in new york .
disco music is popular , and the sexual revolution is on , but the people of new york are not happy .
in fact , they 're terrified .
as in spike lee 's do the right thing a heat wave has the city in its grip , and peoples ' tempers are flaring .
the cool of night offers no respite : the neighborhood is being terrorized by a nocturnal psychotic killer who calls himself the son of sam .
no one knows who the son of sam is , and no one is safe .
all around new york people are different .
aside from cultural groupings and ethnic neighborhoods there are differences between individuals .
in the italian american section of town a philandering husband named vinny ( john leguizamo ) tries to hide his trysts and sexual behavior from his long suffering newlywed wife dionna ( mira sorvino ) .
vinny 's friend ritchie ( adrien brody ) hates disco , works at a gay strip club and does n't want any of the neighborhood folks to know .
ritchie 's girl ruby ( jennifer esposito ) is trying to escape a reputation as a slut .
everyone 's different , but nobody in the film wants to be framed as " alien " to the community .
unfortunately , the killings help create a climate of suspicion pits neighbor against neighbor .
opinion : director spike lee 's summer of sam is not about a psycho killer .
nor is it about cops trying to apprehend him .
it 's about differences and how , given the right conditions , even close neighbors can fan the hostile flames of irrational suspicion .
one thing i found interesting in summer of sam was the use of sex .
in other movies sex is glamorized .
for example , james bond gets a sexual reward for winning .
or boring made - for - video " suspense " movies are spiked with gratuitous lingerie scenes just to keep the audience awake .
and every movie or soap opera character in these flicks seems to have expert sexual prowess .
not so with summer of sam .
in a very gutsy move
director spike lee shows sex without fantasy .
sex is there , but it is n't gratuitous or titillating .
in fact , some of the main characters are downright lousy in bed .
sex is in the film because ( sexual ) deviance is part of the film 's major theme of " difference " breeding hostility .
in my opinion this kind of movie sex is cutting edge for 1999 , as rare and thought - provoking in american cinema as showing a spanking .
Output: P
i must admit i 'm going to be a bit biased in my review of the new romantic comedy serendipity , because that also defines how i met my current girlfriend .
the magic and mystery of our fated encounter is also embodied in the quirkiness and freshness of the very funny and very romantic serendipity .
i am not a big fan of the romantic comedy genre , but something drew me to this film .
maybe it was the casting of the underrated jeremy piven in a supporting role , and the hilarious eugene levy .
maybe it was my hope that john cusack would get the redemption
he justly deserves after such crap as high fidelity , con air , and pushing tin .
but maybe it was because i feel as giddy as a school kid right now with this whole romantic thing currently in my life .
the story of serendipity is simple .
two people , john trager ( john cusack ) and sara thomas ( kate beckinsale , looking ever so hot ) , have a chance encounter over a pair of gloves -- with buck henry smack dab in the middle .
charmed beyond repair , these two knuckleheads grab a sundae together at a caf ?
called serendipity , talk about that irresponsible thing called fate and the avenues it leads people down , and spend a few hours at the local ice skating rink .
but with each of them already involved with other parties , sara has john write his name and number on a $ 5 bill
and she writes her name and number on a copy of love in the time of cholera .
sara declares that if this " thing " -- let 's just call it love -- is destined to happen , fate will bring them together in the future .
years later and on opposite coasts of america , john and sara -- both engaged but still unsure whether they have found their soul mates -- decide to seek each other out to rest their doubts .
what happens then is an enjoyable and often hilarious cat - and - mouse game with the fates - involving such items as mistaken identity , a graduate homage , john corbett as a freaky new age musician , and eugene levy as an irate and crazed salesman -- to find out if that " thing " was right after all .
fortunately , first - time screenwriter marc klein has sketched strong , well - rounded , characters to propel a predictable and corny narrative .
coupled with deft directing by michael chelsom
( director of the very unfunny town and country and the very funny funny bones ) and the use of time - lapse camera work to illustrate the passage of years -- the film comes off with genuine believability and sincerity .
both piven and molly shannon make nice sidekick characters on the flipside , films such as you 've got mail , made in heaven , and even high fidelity are the quiet inspirations for the film 's main journey at hand .
but it 's what happens to the unexpecting characters left behind in the romantic wake after john and sara find happiness
this is the most unsettling part of the picture .
Output: P
in some regards , making a movie is like trying to stretch a rubber band as far as you can without breaking it .
try too hard , and it snaps ; but too much reservation means someone else will come along and pull it farther .
in simon birch , director mark steven johnson shows us just how to master the technique
: he takes advantage of caution and poise , but also risks his movie with a few bold steps .
in the end , he 's not only holding an unbroken band , but
he makes the audience appreciate the lengths he went to direct such a fine feature .
there 's no doubt about it : the film that johnson has crafted is rich .
he chooses for his setting the quaint town of gravestown , maine - leaves turn bright orange in the fall , the grass is a lush green , pure white snow falls in the winter , and the sky goes on forever .
the characters continue that turn : our two leads are simon birch ( ian michael smith ) and joe wenteworth ( joseph mazzello ) .
simon is the smallest baby ever born within the records of the local hospital , and by age twelve he 's only two feet tall .
joe is the bastard son of rebecca ( ashley judd ) , and by age twelve he 's ready to know who is father
is .
naturally , the two outcasts become good friends and share many adventures together , from disrupting sunday school to doing community service to playing little league baseball .
in a wonderfully executed performance by ian michael smith , simon birch is convinced that he 's god 's instrument , and there must be a reason he 's so small .
joe does n't quite buy it , but he sticks by simon ; the two tough it out through the worst of times and are each other 's only true friends .
early on , the two meet up with ben goodrich ( oliver platt ) , rebecca 's new boyfriend , and although the bond is n't immediate , ben and the two boys develop a liking for each other . both platt and judd give solid performances that lend their characters a deep likeability
.
the audience cares about them as much as they do about joe and simon , a testament to the acting jobs of both .
finally , jim carrey gives a cameo as the adult joe in the present day , and his few minutes here are relatively more impressive than his entire performance in the truman show .
mark steven johnson 's sense of drama and writing is fantastic
.
the script is loosely based on john irving 's novel , a prayer for owen meany , but it 's so far off the source material that irving actually requested the credits be changed from ' based on ' to ' suggested by . ' along those same lines , it 's almost unfitting to compare the two ; johnson uses tension , humor , atmosphere , and suspense to create an original drama of forrest gumpian proportions .
by no means has he developed a project of similar popularity - gump made over 300 million dollars while birch ought to pass out of sight in a few weeks - but the winning idea remains the same .
simon birch is a different look at a different life , and one that will most likely be studied in film school classes in decades to come
.
in the present , however , it 's an enjoyable little picture that everyone ought to take a look at .
Output: P
on the basis of this film alone , i never would have predicted that , in two years , quentin tarantino would become the country 's biggest hotshot director .
reservoir dogs
has hints of the tarantino brilliance that emerged in pulp fiction , but is a much less substantive , more conventional crime story than the big pf .
here 's what the two movies do have in common . . .
--scenes of intelligent , amusing dialogue with no relevance to the plot --a story that jumps back and forth in time rather than going in a logical , chronological sequence --graphic yet necessary violence
--an engaging crime story --dialogue liberally spiced with swear words and racial / gender slurs --three of the same actors ( harvey keitel , tim roth and steve buscemi )
--a mexican standoff ending , although this one is considerably less optimistic than pf reservoir dogs is an entire hour shorter than pulp fiction because it 's only got one story to tell rather than three .
crime lord joe cabot ( veteran actor lawrence tierney ) has assembled five criminals who have never even met each other to pull a diamond store heist .
the five are instructed not to reveal their real names or personal details or anything the cops could use if one of them was captured and interrogated .
instead , they are all given code names off the color chart -- mr .
white ( keitel ) , mr .
pink ( buscemi ) , mr .
orange ( roth ) , mr .
blonde ( michael madsen ) , mr .
brown ( tarantino ) and mr .
peach ( tarantino 's chin ) .
most of the movie 's running time is spent with mr .
white and pink waiting at a warehouse for the others to arrive .
mr .
orange , meanwhile , is on the floor , dying from a gunshot wound .
the police had arrived at the scene of the crime way too soon , leading white to believe one of the five was an informant .
the story 's background unfolds through a series of flashbacks , of the crime itself and the meetings between joe and the criminals prior to the crime .
eventually , blonde arrives with a police officer hostage , and what follows is a truly brutal , uncomfortable torture scene .
let 's just say picasso would be inspired by what blonde does to the cop 's ear .
a lot of the time , reservoir dogs seems like your typical gangster heist - gone - wrong movie , but there are a few sequences that are uniquely tarantino .
the opening scene in the coffee shop starts the movie off on a high note the rest of it does n't live up to , as the criminals plus joe have a conversation on , among other things , tipping philosophies and their interpretations of madonna 's " like a virgin .
"
another scene involves roth 's lengthy manufactured story about running into a group of cops and a police dog in a bus station bathroom while carrying a giant bag of marijuana .
neither of these have much plot relevance but are given ample time to develop , like the captain koons gold watch speech in pulp fiction , only here these sequences are more enjoyable than the rest of the movie .
reservoir dogs is good
but it 's no pulp fiction .
Output: P
it 's a fact that a good thriller or action movie does n't need violence to be good or worth watching .
all it takes is potential violence to make the audience bite their nails .
and what kind of violence could be more efficient than a global thermo - nuclear war ? and potential violence is the premiss wargames is built upon .
a computer whiz - kid , david , is usually contended with hacking into the school computer to change his grades .
but after having read an advertisment for an upcoming computer game , he wants to be the first to play it .
instead of getting into the computer at protovision software he accidentally comes to the frontgate of norad .
with the help of jennifer , a girl in his biology class , he starts to play a nice game of nuclear war with wopr , war operation plan response ( a top - notch computer at the time , but now hardly faster than my own computer )
i remember being 12 and watching this at the cinema .
it was very efficent at giving you a scare in those days and that has n't changed .
of course , a nuclear war seemed to be much more of something that could actually happen back in 1983 .
i would n't be surprised if this gave people nightmares .
i hope it still does since you still hear about school kids hacking into the computers at pentagon .
broderick and sheedy are just fine as the young teenagers ( although her interest in david remains a mystery ) .
but the rest of the actors are , by no fault of their own , restricted by the script to play one - dimensional grownups .
david 's parents are the same kind of parents that populate all these college comedies from the 1980s , movies like secret admirer , porky 's or zapped and the norad general beringer is straight out of dr .
strangelove .
if for no other reason , you should see this movie to enjoy how far the computer technology has gone since those days .
david uses the same telephone for calling friends as calling other computers .
the modem is some kind of device that he puts the headset on .
far from any 56k modem my guess is that it 's some kind of 2400 bps modem , the kind of technology you now find at your local technical museum .
the big computer at norad has a lot of flashing lights ( just like those you see on star trek or any old sf - movie ) but it 's hardly impressing compared with what you can get today .
what are the lessons we can learn from wargames ?
1 . make sure there are no secret backdoors into military computers .
2 .
thank you , whoever it was , for giving us a graphical user interface when we use our computers !
Output: P
there exists a litany of differences between a successful action movie and a successful suspense movie .
action movies are typically devoid of plot other than a simple byline which can string together several explosive sequences , while suspense movies hinge on plot and subtlety and the ability to bring everything full - circle .
for fans of both genres , however , realism is key .
action fans want to know that the weapons and methods their heroes are using are authentic , and suspense fans want everything to fall into an explainable framework by the movie 's end .
on this advice , director john frankenheimer ( the island of dr .
moreau ) strives for realism in an interestingly dynamic balance of suspense and action for his latest thriller , ronin .
the depth of intrigue in ronin is quite amazing , considering the fare that 's fallen into the same category over the last few years .
the script , written by j .
d .
zeik in his big - screen debut
, approaches levels of complexity
that had people spinning away from mission : impossible two years ago .
a certain number of people will be lost by this , but afficianados will appreciate it all the more and return multiple times .
frankenheimer masters the script with poise , and tells us a dark but stoically realistic tale of a group of post - cold war mercenaries working to earn their paycheck .
his ability to convey feeling and character while promoting explosiveness and tense atmosphere works well here , and ronin becomes a better movie because of it .
robert de niro headlines this cast of noteworthies in a performance that is the most outstanding of his in quite some time .
he takes command and offers much gravity as the ex - spy sam , a man who 's called to france to help a shady operations controller named dierdre ( natascha mcelhone ) recover a package .
the package becomes the central motivator for the entire cast , especially once the requisite double - crossing begins , and its role is skillfully penned by zeik .
at times , however , zeik 's tale becomes almost too reminiscent of mission : impossible - de niro might easily become tom cruise , the package might become cruise 's computer disk .
fortunately , the focus here is almost entirely on the package , whereas in mission the script was more concerned with the double - cross and why it happened .
the action content is impressive , and it lives up to the hints given in previews .
the only fans who will be disappointed are those who expect full - blown combat scenes and instead are forced to suffer through moments of slowness .
ronin does take a degree of intelligence to follow all of the nuance from start to finish , but even the uninitiated will be able to keep a grasp on most characters mand subplots .
the suspense tapers off considerably by the end , a bit of a drawback because of its height at the movie 's open .
considering these factors it 's good to see that ronin was a project that turned out well , and it 's another good bet this month .
since quality is usually sparse during the early fall months , it 's definitely worth the visit .
Output: P
damn those trailers .
had it not been for the advertising of this film , which reveals far too much about its contents , i would have been glued to ` under the sand ' . as it is , the film retains some value , thanks to an excellent performance by charlotte rampling , and a more mature francois ozon in the director 's chair .
marie ( charlotte rampling ) and her husband jean ( bruno cremer ) lounge on the beach .
she takes a nap while he goes for a swim .
when marie wakes up , jean is nowhere to be found .
she contacts authorities , but they ca n't find him either .
did he disappear to start a new life ?
was he killed by accident ?
did he commit suicide ?
marie still asks herself these questions a year later , and in order to move on with her life , she must find some answers .
it 's a fine premise , and this little movie uses it to the limit .
the film moves at a leisurely pace , a bit slow , but relaxing .
it 's a very visual story , and you can pretty much just sit back without reading the subtitles .
this is mostly thanks to the excellent camera work
by antoine heberle and jeanne lapoirie , who shot the film in a dreamy haze , and the lead performance by rampling .
rampling is so expressive in her portrayal of marie , you connect with her character instantly , despite that she 's delusional .
the scenes where she interacts with her husband , who she still believes is alive , are heartbreaking .
she ca n't quite get over him .
they 've been married for twenty - five years .
the other actors , particularly jacques nolot , are excellent too .
the sex in the film is rather unneeded , but compared to ozon 's ` criminal lovers ' , it 's the disney channel .
likely to cause some discussion afterwards , ` under the sand ' is a fine movie going experience .
while it 's hard to recommend as entertainment , it 's a fine adult alternative about how we deal with loss .
ozon seems to ask what you would do , and that 's certainly a hard question to answer .
Output: P
bob the happy bastard 's quickie review : rush hour
so what 's the problem with 48 hours clones these days ?
they always try for the same thing that eddie murphy and nick nolte had .
that was the problem that plagued these clones , not to mention the actual sequel : another 48 hours , a complete waste of film .
but , at last , someone has a different take on the matter ,
and it 's director brett rainer .
rush hour features jackie chan in his first u . s .
action movie , playing a chinese detective who 's being flown to the us to investigate the kidnapping of the chinese consulate 's daughter .
of course , the fbi is upset that he 'll be interfering in their investigation , and stick him with an lapd office with a big mouth- of course , that 's chris tucker .
what makes rush hour work so damn well is the chemistry between the energetic chan and the absolutely hilarious tucker .
tucker mouths off to chan at every given opportunity
( " i 'm michael jackson , you tito . " ) , and chan delivers a few zingers of his own , as well as some terrific fight scenes .
the story 's pretty much your average fare , but with a decent twist involving the main villain , a highly clouded figure named jun tao .
at least it 's entertaining , and the concept is excellently realized .
a particular fight scene in a chinese office , where chan and tucker duke it out with the bad guys , is funny and energetic at the same time .
and the finale 's a real treat
as well .
. .
chan delivers yet another fantastic stunt for the fans with a 10-story drop .
rush hour is just the sort of film you 'll get a kick out of on any night of the week .
just make sure you do n't look for anything culturally different and you 'll be fine- drunken master ii this ai n't .
Output: P
a common complaint amongst film critics is " why are n't there more literate scripts available ?
" quiz show gives signs of hope that the art of writing is n't dead in hollywood and that we need not only look to independent films for thoughtful content .
paul attanasio 's script takes what could have been a tepid thriller ( the quiz show scandals of the late 50s ) and delivers a telling parable about the emptiness of the post war american dream and the golden bubble that surrounds and protects tv networks and their sponsors .
the film is riddled with telling symbols
( e . g .
a ' 58 chrysler , a radio announcement of sputnik ) but is never heavy handed . deft direction by robert redford and keen performances by ralph fiennes , john turturro and rob morrow
dovetail perfectly with the carefully honed script .
redford departs from the usually overlight , " cable tv quality " sets and camera work so common in recent 20th century period pieces .
quiz show
perfectly captures the colors and textures of the eisenhower years .
although i was only 4 years old when the " twenty one " scandal broke , enough of the 50s icons survived throughout my childhood for me to recognize the authenticity of redford 's almost tangible palette .
from plastic covered furniture to carefully coifed contestants , the images ring true from that era of rampant consumerism , of a generation that had gone through 15 years of depression and world war without " disposable income , " before the manifestation of its american dream .
the film deftly weaves several themes together , from assimilation and exclusion of jews from " the good life , " to the lengths that a scion of a literary family will go to to match his father 's fame .
though the 50s audience that is " rocked " by this scandal may initially seem naive to us , they should appear all too familiar , with our current national passion for the rise and fall of icons like michael jackson or tonya harding .
charles van doren and herbie stemple were the overnight mega celebrities of their day .
the tv audience is almost a fourth main character , always at the center of the decisions being made on their behalf .
at the film 's end , the credits roll past slow motion footage of that same 50s tv audience , mindlessly laughing at some piece of fluff .
like the distorted mirror that captured a blurred swastika at the end of cabaret , this " mirror " may reflect an image we 're not all that comfortable with .
Output: P
being that it is a foreign language film with no known names with a select number theaters showing it , " shall we dance " wo n't be seen by that many people .
and that 's a shame
- this is a funny , enchanting , and goofy movie full of laughs , surprises , and wonderful dance sequences .
the surprising thing about " shall we dance " is the universal appeal of the story .
a us version is in the works , and it 's no wonder -
it 's not really all that culture specific .
although there is a narrated set - up that adds some extra resonance to the proceedings ( about the view the japanese culture has about ballroom dancing ) , the movie is so rich in character and appeal that this added layer is n't at all necessary to understand or enjoy the film .
the only important unexplained japanese - specific reference that may leave some a bit puzzled is that 1000 yen is roughly $ 10 ( when you see the film - and you should see this film - you 'll know why ) . a middle aged company man realizes that achieving all the goals he set for himself in life ( a house , a child , and good marriage ) still does n't translate into a fulfilled life .
after glimpsing a melancholy beauty looking out from a dance studio window while on the train home from work , sugiyana ( koji yakusho ) decides after some trepidation to take up ballroom dance lessons in order to meet the woman who has stirred something in himself .
after finding the weekly fees for private lessons from the elegant and beautiful mai ( tamiyo kusakari ) too rich for his blood , sugiyama opts for groups lessons simply to be near her .
we then meet the players in this gem of a movie , who all have their own reasons for joining the class .
later on , we meet aoki at the dance studio ( naoto takenaka ) , a co - worker and all out weirdo and one of the laugh riot highlights of the film .
the story , laughs , and touching scenes evolve as the movie goes along .
it 's a pleasure to watch such a wonderful film that is propelled almost solely by the characters and performances .
it 's difficult to explain the charms of the film without revealing too much - the movie abounds with little revelations that subtly shape the characters , and in the end , each one is that much fuller and more understood by the time you leave the theater .
it 's one of those movies that only the french seem to make anymore - no big plot , no special effects , no gunplay , no tragic consequences , no forced examinations of the nature of love , and no insights into the nature of evil .
just a warm , funny , endearing film that will charm the pants off of you .
when was the last time you left a theater feeling all warm and fuzzy inside ?
" shall we dance " will do that to you without any treacly aftertaste .
Output: P
susan granger 's review of " osmosis jones " ( warner bros . ) if the farrelly brothers taught anatomy & physiology in school , no one would cut ever class .
this hip , live action / animation story begins as a monkey snatches a hard - boiled egg from frank , a zookeeper ( bill murray ) , who grabs it back , drops it , then gobbles up the contaminated morsel , explaining , " if it hits and ground and you pick it up within 10 seconds , you can eat it .
" like " fantastic voyage " ( 1966 ) , the pseudo - science animation then takes over when his body 's immune system contacts traffic control as an ingested virus hits the digestive system : " be on the alert for illegal organisms !
" eager to right " a stomach evacuation mistake " he once made , a cocky , clever , courageous white blood cell ( chris rock ) declares , " this is a crime scene ! " and teams up with a conscientious " phi beta capsule " 12-hour cold remedy called drixenol ( david hyde pierce ) to chase down and destroy the deadly " red death " virus ( laurence fishburne ) that 's determined to take frank down in 48 hours , beating ebola and e . coli to a medical record .
watch out for mucus mudslides ,
chaos in cerebellum hall and the detritus from booger dam ( runny nose ) , along with comic turns from molly shannon and chris elliot , plus the voices of william shatner and brandy norwood .
peter and bobby farrelly , along with writer mark hyman and animation directors piet kroon and tom sito , have turned their penchant for gross - out comedy , encompassing flatulence , festering sores and " popping a pimple without a permit , " into a funny , farrelly - funny family film . on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , " osmosis jones " is
a wildly imaginative , original , explosive 7 . and perhaps , as they 're laughing , kids will learn where to find their uvula , along with nuggets about nutrition and hygiene .
Output: P
i must say from the outset that i have never been much of a kurt russell fan .
i 've seen some of his films ( silkwood , backdraft , unlawful entry ) and while he gave adequate performances , i have never been impressed with his work .
breakdown , then , is something of a surprise .
russell gives a fine performance , as do most of the cast , one that is not upstaged by the action orchestrated in the second half of the film .
to say that he holds the film together would not be completely true , but he does it no harm .
russell plays jeff , one half of a married couple travelling with his wife amy ( kathleen quinlan ) cross country to san diego to start a new job and a new life .
while journeying through the desert their car breaks down and , left helpless and stranded , jeff waves down a passing truck driver ( j .
t .
walsh ) who offers to take them to a nearby diner to call for a tow truck .
because of a nasty incident earlier with a couple of ruffians , jeff decides to stay with the car while amy gets help .
that , it seems , is the last time jeff ( or anyone else ) sees her .
breakdown has been compared to several movies : george sluizer 's the vanishing ( the original , hopefully , not his appalling hollywood remake ) , steven spielberg 's duel and any number of hitchcock films .
as with these , breakdown does not , for the most part , stray down the conventional path of the american action - thriller .
jeff does not become a gun - toting vigilante on the hunt for his wife , but instead becomes a scared , confused everyman who has no idea what the hell is going on .
when we do find out what has happened to amy , it does come as a slight disappointment , if only because it 's too early in the film ; i for one could have done with an extra twenty minutes or so of mystery and bewilderment , but this affects the film little .
russell , as mentioned earlier , is very good in his role , and kathleen quinlan is nowhere near as annoying as she was in apollo 13 .
j .
t .
walsh , as the possibly evil truck driver , is terrific ; he is one of the best of the fine batch of character actors
hollywood does n't seem to know what to do with , but director jonathan mostow is on the right track here .
the reason
he makes such a great villain is that he actually looks like a real person , one anyone would be able to trust , which makes the plot that much more believable .
breakdown is what hollywood does n't make enough of , a great thriller with believable characters and scenes that do , indeed , have viewers on the edge of their seats .
one of the most genuinely exciting films i 've seen in a long time .
Output: P