niryuu/sni-each-converted huggingface dataset:
i have nothing against unabashedly romantic films .
when done right , with at least slightly evident restraint , they can be engaging , sweeping , appealing .
but it 's a hell of a shame when someone botches it as badly as nora ephron botched sleepless in seattle ,
a hollow , boring romance that should appeal only to the most gullible of viewers ; the ones willing to buy into ephron 's whiny views of life and romance .
tom hanks and meg ryan , two of hollywood 's most likeable stars play sam baldwin and annie reed , repectively .
baldwin 's wife recently died and he moved to seattle with his son , jonah , seeking to get away from the familiar surroundings which remind him of his late spouse .
jonah senses tension and calls a talk radio show to tell the world about their problems .
sam seems ready to strangle his son for calling the show , but when he gets on the phone he begins pouring his heart out .
ephron has him do this so that annie reed ( meg ryan ) can hear it .
annie is a happy woman .
she is engaged to walter , an allergy - prone working man and seems to be perfectly content .
but after hearing sam the widower on the radio show , she becomes convinced that he is her destiny and is willing to risk her engagement for it .
five years after this movie hit theaters , hanks , ryan and ephron would team up again in the far better , although still sub - par romantic comedy you 've got mail , which is about people who hate each other in real life falling in love on the internet .
at least that movie had a sense of spontaneity .
here it seems that the first one hundred minutes exist solely to set up for the last five .
the fact that sam and annie will finally meet is so excruciatingly obvious that everything else is perfunctory .
sleepless in seattle is full of wonderful performers ; from its two leads to supporting stars like bill pullman and rosie o'donnell . but none of them can save the film from being a bore .
its characters are dull and empty , its script is n't funny or particularly charming .
the script has a fundamental problem : annie gives up , for little reason , her life with walter to pursue " sleepless in seattle , " whom she has never even seen .
it 's the kind of life decision that real people do n't make , and its a major , unforgivable plausibility sacrifice .
in essence , this movie 's purpose is to head towards a goal that should n't even exist .
it 's a ten minute short film with ninety - five minutes of filler .
if you were to show me sleepless in seattle and i did n't have to review it , you could just call me " asleep in philadelphia . " ?
1999 eugene novikov&#137 ;
Output: N
if you 've seen the trailers or commercials , it 's rather difficult to really figure out what this movie has in store .
well , it 's hard to tell after watching the movie as well .
bruce willis is a resident of the future , and it is a rather bleak future .
the world 's population had disintigrated into a mere 200 , 000 and is no longer ruled by humans but animals .
the reason ? in 1995 , an organization called the army of the 12 monkeys contaminated the world with a pure virus , thus wiping out practically the world 's population in a mere month .
bruce willis ' character is one of the surviving few , but is enslaved by scientists , as are most of last living humans .
they barter his freedom by sending him on an assignment and having him do the ultimate task : go into the past , find the leader of the army of the 12 monkeys , and kill him .
well , this explanation did n't come easy .
although the movie is very thought provoking of us as a people , our future and the evilo in the world , as a story it is very confusing .
and dragging .
i know a movie isn''t keeping my interest when i fidget in my seat or feel the need to look at my watch only to find that it 's only been an hour passed .
terry gilliam has a certain style that i realize many appreciate , and i have n't watched his previous work brazil , but this movie felt like it took too long to tell and yet when one realizes the end is near because it is very easy to figure out , you wish it were more complex , and not to mention that the movie is depressing is the only reason why it did invoke emotion from me .
Output: N
in 1990 , the surprise success an unheralded little movie called ghost instantly rescued the moribund careers of its trio of above - the - title stars , patrick swayze , demi moore , and whoopi goldberg .
eight years later , moore and goldberg 's careers are n't exactly thriving , but they have had their share of screen successes since ; the same ca n't be said of swayze , who has just added yet another turkey to his resume with the aptly named black dog .
forget the mortal kombat movies -- this trucksploitation flick is the closest the movies has come to video games .
good truck driver jack crews ( swayze ) must drive a cargo of illegal firearms from atlanta to new jersey .
along the way , jack and his crew of three run into a number of obstacles -- such as a highway weigh station , evil truckers , and deadly uzi - firing motorcyclists .
every so often , like at the end of a video game " level " or " stage , " the main baddie pops up : red ( meat loaf , fresh from the triumph of spice world ) , who wants to steal the cache of guns .
just in
case you forget his name or have trouble keeping track of who 's driving what , all of red 's vehicles , be it a pickup or a big rig , are painted -- you guessed it --
red .
i could go into more of the plot specifics ( such as jack 's dream of having a nice home with his family , the past trauma that sent him to prison and cost him his trucking license , the fbi / atf crew tracking the cargo ) , but they are of little importance .
all that matters to director kevin hooks and writers william mickelberry and dan vining are the obstacles jack confronts in his drive from point a to point b .
but they fail at even this modest goal , for none of the highway chaos , as credibly staged as it is , is terribly interesting , let alone exciting .
once you 've seen a couple of trucks bang against each other or a big rig explode the first time
, you 've seen it every time .
as dreary as black dog is as an entertainment ,
the saddest part about the film has nothing to do with what shows up onscreen ; it 's that swayze has to reduce himself to such work .
while far from the best of actors , he is certainly not horrible , and he is a charismatic presence .
i do n't know if it 's his judgment or the dearth of quality job offers that leads him to involve himself with bombs such as black dog .
regardless , if he continues on this career track , could a tv series be far behind ?
Output: N
these days , we are witnessing the deluge of films based on old , cult tv shows .
most of the times , the fans of these shows shudder thinking what could hollywood hacks of the present do with the memories of their past .
but , some five or six years ago , there were n't that many movies and the trend did n't look that depressing .
so , the people who , like the author of this review , grew up watching flintstones , popular 1960s animated series about " modern stone age " family , were n't particularly worried when the word came about live action remake .
after all , the producer behind the project was steven spielberg and , if anything else , at least the special effects would be good .
the plot revolves about flintstones , family set in fictious stone age " town " of bedrock , whose members enjoy the lifestyle of 1950s middle class america .
fred flinstone ( john goodman ) works in the quarry , and one day he helps his best friend and neighbour barney rubble ( rick moranis ) and his wife betty ( rosie o'donnell ) to adopt a baby .
to return the favour , barney switches his results of aptitude test with fred , and , based on that , fred gets well - paid job in management .
but , of course , this is just a sham - corrupt official cliff vandercave ( kyle maclachlan ) and his sultry secretary sharon stone ( halle berry ) need a scapegoat for their embezzlement scheme .
in the meantime , fred 's wife wilma ( elizabeth perkins ) must face her mother ( elizabeth taylor ) who ca n't stand fred .
on the superficial level , the flintstones did the excellent job in bringing the animated series to life .
computer effects are flawless , and the costumes , settings and other details are authentic for all the fans of the show .
unfortunately , problems with this film start with inadequate casting - rick moranis is too thin for the role of barney , while the cartoon betty used to be much skinnier than rosie o'donnell .
but the greatest problem of all is plot , or to be precise , the lack of plot .
some thirty six screenwriters made sure that the plot of the film is lame , original characters one - dimensional , and many elements of the story , like embezzlement and inter - office politics , totally incomprehensible for the little children , the main targeted audience of this film .
result is almost unwatchable mess , occasionally saved mostly by excellent acting ( elizabeth perkins was right on mark as wilma ) and one of the classic example of mortal hollywood disease known as " high concept " .
after great hype , movie quickly sank into oblivion and the fans of the show returned to the animated version .
all in all , film is n't that bad , but only the hard core fans and nostalgics can find more than guilty pleasure in it .
Output: N
i think of i know what you did last summer as the movie that scream and scream 2 could have been .
mind you , though ,
i mean this in the worst possible way .
i know what you did last summer is a typical slasher flic without the smarts of the scream 's .
as a result , it 's even worse than some of your better campy horror pictures ( see nightmare on elm street ) because it thinks it 's about thirty times smarter than it is .
based on a teen book of the same name and , disappointingly ,
adapted by scream scribe kevin williamson , i know what you did last summer begins with appropriately angsty modern rock music combined with some startling cinematography of a cliff along the ocean and an angsty sort sitting at the top .
the appropriate mood being set ( this is angst - horror for the 90 's ) , we cut over to the july 4th parade in a small north carolina town .
from there , we see the blond , female protagonist , helen shivers ( woodenly played by sarah michelle geller ) , getting crowned croaker queen as the blond male " hero , " barry cox ( woodenly played by ryan phillipe ) , and matched brunette pair of protagonists , julie james and ray bronson ( woodenly played by party of five 's jennifer love hewitt and freddie prinze jr . , respectively ) cheer her on .
after getting drunk at a party , going to a beach to wittily discuss urban legend and indulge in some foreshadowing , and having some meaningful sex ( if you believe what the characters say ) , the four run down some guy crossing the windy cliff road at night .
his face is mangled so they ca n't tell who it is , and they come to the decision to dump him in the ocean so as to not ruin any of their future chances for success in the world .
cut to one year later .
the lives of our protagonists have gone from annoying to bad .
main brunette female , the bright one of the bunch , has been plagued with guilt and almost failed out of college .
blond female has forfeited her dreams of starring on guiding light , and now works at the family store in town .
brunette male is a fisherman , living off the land .
blond male has become a complete jerk and quarterback on some college football team .
then , predictably , their past comes back to haunt them .
it all begins with an irrational murder , followed by some taunting of protagonists by the mysterious killer ,
bad acting by a good actress ( anne heche )
, an improbable plot , bad acting by the main bad actors , some more killing , concluding in a climactic scene , mostly climactic in the relief at the end of the movie .
all the while , the actors and actresses spout off bad lines , and main brunette male
does his best keanu reeves imitation .
not that the movie was without pleasure .
count the illogical plot twists and bad lines for some fun .
mostly , though , note the costumes of main females and how trendily unattractive they make the otherwise eye - catching pair look .
Output: N
one of the 90s ' most unwelcome thriller trends returns from the grave : it 's the " _ _ _ from hell " movie !
starting in the early nineties , we were subjected to nearly every conceivable combination of relationships - from - hell !
there were boyfriends from hell , friendly neighborhood cops from hell , nannies from hell , and even secretaries from hell .
but hush has found an old standby that somehow was forgotten in the rush : the mother - in - law from hell ! ! ! ! !
the mother - in - law in question is martha , played by jessica lange .
she has been single - handedly running the family horse farm , kilronan .
her son , jackson ( johnathon schaech ) and his girlfriend , helen ( gwyneth paltrow ) , live in new york , and have no intention to move back down south to the rural kilronan .
but those intentions are about to change .
you see , martha lives by manipulation .
she has used it in years past to breed many championship horses .
now , she believes she can use it to breed herself a grandson .
though at first , helen finds martha charming , soon she is caught in the domineering martha 's web of deception .
it 's hard to understand why nobody ever wises up to martha ' schemes .
as written , most of the characters in the film must be very slow witted .
but then , the film even treats the audience like idiots .
it tries to get away with things ( like leaving a critical piece of evidence in a rather unlikely place ) without even batting an eye .
then again an audience which accepts characters as shallow as these is n't one that 's likely to question details .
jessica lange 's martha is the only semi - developed character in the film , and she applies her talents to redeem it as much as she can .
a character that could have been simply awful is merely groan - worthy .
gwyneth paltrow does n't have much to build upon , as helen 's only character trait seems to be " daughter - in - law " .
still , she fares better than johnathon schaech , whose character is so nonexistent , he 's inexplicably missing for much of the film .
still , there have been much worse
" _ _ _
_ from hell " films .
even with its paper - thin characters and ludicrous setups , hush manages to create a few thrills in a color - by - numbers fashion .
you know what 's coming , but occasionally the film will deliver a shock or two .
the old formulas are around for a reason , but that does n't mean they taste fresh .
Output: N
mugshot ( director / writer / cinematographer / editor : matt mahurin
; cast : belinda becker ( stella ) , michael williams ( rumor ) , robert knepper ( joe / chris ) , robert walker ( random ) , willie lassic ( young brother of rumor ) , maxine joiner ( rumor 's mother ) ; runtime : 87 ; mortal films ; 1995 ) reviewed by dennis schwartz a bleak indie film about a stolen identity .
there 's not much more to this visually stylish film than what meets the eye , as it relies on shock to tell its story of a prolonged vicious mugging .
it falls into the category of being a pretentious art - house film , leaving a bitter taste in one 's mouth as it stereotypes its characters and unintentionally further inflames the racial issues .
it tries to make a heavy - handed point about disenfranchised black youths trapped by their environment , with their only way out being crime .
but the story is so filled with violence and its nyc setting looks like hell , that it 's hard to enjoy this film and to follow what the logic in the story is supposed to mean .
the relationship between the black mugger and his white victim is a cloudy one , which the film never determines what it wants to say about it .
matt mahurin is virtual one - man crew in putting this film together ( director / writer /cinematographer / editor ) , who is a still photographer in his day job .
the film works best as a visually challenging piece , as each shot looks like a photograph carefully telling the story unfolding .
a white photographer ( robert knepper ) is mugged by a black gang while he 's on a freelance assignment to take a photo shoot of harlem at night .
he becomes a victim of amnesia and his head is bloodied as he 's left in a deserted harlem building , as the gang leaves him for dead ; but , one of the muggers , rumor ( michael williams ) , comes back and pretends to help him .
he 's a would - be photographer , who keeps a scrapbook entitled mugshots in the project apartment he shares with his mother and younger brother .
keeping his victim in the dark about who he is by calling him joe and not telling him what 's happening , he becomes the photographer for a few days .
he enters the photographer 's stylish greenwich village apartment and steals his expensive camera , and decides to hold the mugging vic for ransom when he finds out he has a black girlfriend , stella ( belinda becker ) .
she 's the only one in the film who could act .
the film is stuck with a clumsy dialogue and an overuse of symbolism , as it ends with nothing more to tell after the shock and the violent situation it created except to beat it into the ground .
it could only be commended for how appealing the film looks , as if it 's a scrapbook of still photos put together to celebrate a mugging .
Output: N
preposterous religious action film ( produced by the trinity broadcasting network ) about a code hidden within the text of the bible that when deciphered will lead to the end of the world ( nice of those bible authors to put a doomsday code into the most read book ever eh ? ) .
michael york plays a millionaire diplomat who breaks the code and sets out to become god on earth and fulfill the doomsday prophecies , while casper van dien ( terribly miscast and giving an awful performance as a result ) plays the atheist motivational speaker who must stop him .
michael ironside ( great as always , despite the silly film surrounding him ) plays a fallen priest and right hand man to michael york 's character .
here 's some subtle character development you may have missed pertaining to ironside 's character .
now despite the fact that we see him murder a man in the opening scene , the filmmakers are n't quite sure if their audience will understand that he is evil .
how do they fix that ? make specific efforts to show that his character is the only one in the film who smokes !
there are lots of ominous shots of michael ironside smoking . . .
oooooo scary .
but even that was n't enough for the filmmakers apparently , as they later have to infer that ironside 's character is gay !
it comes out of nowhere and just makes no sense .
my main problem with this film is that , despite the silly story ( which could have been pulled off . . . anything can be made believable if executed correctly ) , the events of the film are n't shown with any sense of urgency or importance .
for example , at one point york 's character is declared chancellor of the world or something , and we see one brief , cheesy news report about it .
the movie keeps telling us that the apocalypse is coming , but it never seems that way .
there 's no " world reaction " to anything .
the omega code is available on dvd from goodtimes home video .
it contains the film in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1 . 85 : 1 , and includes the original theatrical trailer , a documentary on the making of the film , production notes , and cast and crew information .
the documentary runs about 25 minutes and is actually surprisingly good
( it looks as though it was made for broadcast on tbn ) , and it does a comprehensive job of interviewing practically everyone in the cast and crew ( with the exception of michael ironside , unfortunately ) .
the best thing about it is that whenever crew members are interviewed , they do an excellent job of explaining their profession and exactly what it is they do on a movie set .
most documentaries tend to overlook this .
doomsday expert hal lindsey is even interviewed ( you 'll remember his documentary from the 1970 's called the late great planet earth , where lindsey speculated that jimmy carter might actually be the antichrist ) .
however , at the very beginning of the documentary the producers of the film managed to get on my bad side .
when interviewed they actually have the nerve to say " ever see raiders of the lost ark ?
well , our film is like that !
"
no it is n't .
not by a long shot .
[ pg-13 ]
Output: N
synopsis : two con artists find the perfect patsy in harry ( woody harrelson ) - - an inept former journalist who trips and bumps his head into a post , tries to slap a girl and gets poked in the eye , has ill - timed fits of coughing , and fails at everything he does .
the story is told from harry 's point of view .
harry always carries around a shot of whiskey although he swears he does n't drink .
one day harry is approached by the con girl rhea ( elisabeth shue ) , who is similar to harry in that she carries around a cigarette but swears she does n't smoke .
seduced , harry agrees to participate in a money - making scheme involving faking the kidnapping of odette ( chloe sevigny ) , the teenage daughter of a rich man .
turns out , it 's all part of a needless , very puzzling , extremely elaborate and convoluted scheme
( it involves hiring special impersonators ) by two cons in order to fool harry , a hero who barely has the intellectual capacity of a wooden post .
when the ' kidnapped ' odette is found dead , the clues point to harry as the kidnapper / murderer , and the police are hot on harry 's trail .
harry suddenly realizes he has been framed while others have taken the ransom money .
can he get out of this mess ?
opinion : palmetto is a long , uninteresting film with all the wrong feel .
hero harry is an inept bungler who trips up often and consistently overestimates his own intelligence .
this farcical kind of character works best in an entertaining naked gun action comedy or dragnet spoof .
but palmetto is played like a dark , serious , detective noir drama , and watching harry 's bumbling confidence amounts to an irritating distraction .
there 's a lapse in concentration in the middle of the movie as the camera goes wild on breasts , buttocks , short skirts , colored painted nails , and women 's legs .
even when the focus is supposedly on harry and his dilema , you can always notice the side of elizabeth shue 's breast forming a prominent foreground .
towards the end , palmetto re - focuses on plot for the grand finale - - a confusing explanation involving impersonators , with woody harrelson handcuffed and suspended over a tub of acid as he hears the criminals ' confession . if you can imagine ' shemp ' from the three stooges playing the detective hero of an hbo ' lingerie suspense ' thriller , that 's how out of synch this movie feels .
Output: N
starring arnold schwarzenegger ; danny devito ; emma thompson & frank langella the only thing that you can say about junior is that it is a disappointment , and a big one at that .
junior brings together arnold schwarzenegger and danny devito with director ivan reitman .
these are the same men that brought us the very funny twins .
so foolish me , i was hoping for something that would at least come close to the level of quality of twins .
so much for hopes .
schwarzenegger and devito play two scientists ( doctors hesse and arbogast ) who are working on a new drug that will reduce the possibility of miscarriage in pregnancy .
unfortunately , due to circumstances beyond their control , they are denied permission to test this new drug on humans , and subsequently lose their funding .
still believing that their drug will work , they decide to test it anyway , on hesse .
so , dr .
hesse ( schwarzenegger ) artificially inseminates himself and begins taking the drug .
their theory is that if the drug can prevent a man from miscarrying , surely it will work on a woman .
does the thought of arnold schwarzenegger pregnant sound funny or humorous to you ?
well , it must have to the producers of junior .
admittedly , schwarzenegger has the comedic talent to pull it off .
perhaps if it had been done differently it might have actually been funny .
but it was n't , schwarzenegger pregnant is goofy at best .
the sight of schwarzenegger running around going through the hormone imbalances that come with pregnancy , and the accompanying emotional swings , is not funny .
schwarzenegger comes very close to embarrassing himself with these antics .
i kept thinking to myself , with the time arnold wasted making this turkey he could have been making an action picture .
better yet , with schwarzenegger , devito and reitman all in the same place at the same time , why did n't they make a sequel to twins ? anything would have been better than this mess .
danny devito is wasted in this movie .
his part could have been played by any joker they pulled in off the street .
( after seeing the movie , if i was devito , i probably would have wished they had pulled someone in off the street . )
emma thompson is wasted here as well .
while thompson is best known for her jane austin adaptations , she is also a fine comedian .
too bad
she did n't get to use any of that talent here .
am i being too hard on this film ?
i do n't think so .
schwarzenegger and devito are two of my favorite actors in film today , and ivan reitman is one of the more talented directors in hollywood .
with a supporting cast of emma thompson and frank langella , the filmmakers really have to be trying hard to make a bad film .
they certainly managed here .
maybe it was well intentioned , but
unfortunately this is a movie that never should have been made . if you are tempted to see this film , do yourself a favor and go rent twins , a film that truly takes advantage of arnold schwarzenegger and danny devito 's comedic talents .
Output: N
the rapid - fire formula that worked so well in airplane ! , the " police squad ! " television series , top secret ! , three naked gun films , and two hot shots !
movies has finally reached a desperate dead - end with spy hard .
even ezio gregio 's
the silence of the hams is arguably funnier than this over - extended spy- and action - movie spoof .
leslie nielsen stars as secret agent wd-40 , who returns from retirement to battle his old nemesis , general rancor ( a cackling andy griffith ) .
the jokes fly in every direction and with hardly a hint of restraint , timing , or tact .
most the movie is comprised of recycled airplane and naked gun gags , recreated movie sequences , and soggy star cameos
.
yeah ,
maybe we * do * need ray charles driving an l .
a . bus bound for a speed bump , but
did mr .
t , hulk hogan , and dr .
joyce brothers also have to appear in the same movie ?
leslie nielsen plays it straight with his usual dopey flair .
there is something oddly inspiring about the sight of nielsen wearing a nun 's habit , even the resulting sister act spoof is silly .
as are the bits directly lifted from home alone , pulp fiction , true lies , etc .
etc .
( adolescent males might enjoy this mess , tho .
the butt shots , breast peeks , penis pokes , flatulence gags , and related innuendo are right up beavis and butthead 's alley . )
beyond the hilarious title sequence with " weird " al yankovich performing the theme song , spy hard is barely the stock that it 's printed on .
my recommendation : duck in while you 're waiting for another movie to start .
stay long enough to see the camera dart inside of weird al 's nostril and then leave .
you wo n't miss a thing .
Output: N
the premise of this movie is , well , pretty far - fetched .
tom berenger plays shale , a mercenary who is temporarily out of work ( those fools at the cia have denied his existence just because he and his buddies botched a job in cuba ) .
fortunately , his girl friend ( diane venora ) , a teacher at christopher columbus high school in miami , gets her knee cap broken by a disgruntled student , creating a job opening for shale as a substitute teacher .
not telling his girl friend , who might object on pedagogical grounds , he creates a number of fake higher degrees for himself ( from yale , harvard , princeton , et al ) and begins his tenure as a high school teacher .
the students ( junkies , drug dealers , gang members , sleazy sluts , ice - pick wielders . . .
you get the picture ) do n't really take to him right away , so he hits one in the face with a can and breaks a few fingers .
this gets their attention to a certain extent , so he tells them the story of the vietnam war : " see , some homeboys from the north tried to muscle in on the turf of the homeboys from the south .
"
oh yeah , now they can dig it ; the problem is just that nobody ever explained it properly before .
but wait !
there are drugs being dealt in the school itself ! and behind the whole scheme , in cahoots with the head gang , the kod ( no , not " cod " , but " knights of destruction " . . .
really ! ) , is none other than .
. .
the upright , ex - cop principal , played by the forgotten ghostbuster , ernie hudson !
so shale does what any good teacher would do .
he gets his buddies together , they gather together a bunch of bazookas and other major weapons , explosives , and cool stuff like that , and they have a big showdown against the drug dealers and kod at the high school .
ok , so
the premise is not just far - fetched , it 's downright dumb . if this were a hong kong action comedy , we might just accept it , but it takes itself far too seriously to be truly fun
.
oh , it has its moments ; how one can truly hate a movie in which huge ( really huge ) amounts of cocaine are delivered in school busses ?
and to be fair , it is almost never really boring , as the action is interrupted by only short sequences of actual story .
but over all , this is pretty much a made - for - tv movie with more ( and bigger ) explosions and more foul language .
in fact , it reminded me of " miami vice " without the production values , babes in skimpy bikinis , and pastels .
if you can sneak into the theater without paying , go for it .
otherwise , wait for video .
the flying inkpot rating system :
* wait for the tv2 broadcast .
*
* a little creaky , but still better than staying at home with gotcha !
*
* * pretty good , bring a friend .
*
*
* * amazing , potent stuff .
*
*
*
* * perfection . see it twice .
Output: N
" soldier " , by director paul anderson , is a film in which any presence of originality is fleeting .
the best moments of the film are in the opning scenes where kurt russel 's character todd is shown growing up under strict military supervision .
brutality through the eyes of the innocent and stripped of it every single day growing up is something that has a lot of emotional potential power behind it , and the opening scenes tap into it a little .
then it goes nowhere with that idea .
there is perhaps one rather fleeting scene afterwards that deals with the potential trauma of this dehumanization , and the rest of the film is just some of the biggest action movie cliches
i 've ever seen .
the whole idea of the inhuman , soldier - type character gaining some degree of humanity by defending a potential female love interest and family from his evil counterpart out to kill her is done , and it 's been done much better .
i was able to predict the plot of the _ whole _ story , which would n't be so bad if other aspect of the film somewhat interesting .
between the action sequences , it tries to deal with the aforementioned issues of humanity through the performance of mr .
russel in the film and the tiny little window to his soul that is his eyes , since
his dialog is extremely limited .
his performance in that way is n't all that bad , but certainly is not enough to carry this film .
other performances in this film are really not worth much mention at all , and they generally are about as weak as their characters .
but enough of this stuff about plot and character , right ? is n't the most important part of an action film , well , the action ?
even in this aspect the film is a disappointment .
in mortal kombat ( 1995 ) , director paul anderson proved that truly engaging use and choreography of action in a film can override problems with plot and produce something entertaining . however ,
he fails to repeat that in this film .
the combat scenes , particularly the big one at the end , is incredibly unimaginatve .
fighting and combat scenes are supposed to bring about thrills in this type of movie , a point which even an otherwise unimpressive film like starship troopers seemed to realize .
but instead of reaching for something truly interesting to end the film with , it goes for the old , shoot - em up , one guy vs .
an army type of cinema
that i thought died with the military action films of the 80s .
if the film went with some of the ideas it opened up with the introduction more seriously , it could have been a rather engaging science fiction film . however ,
it utterly failed to go in any new directions after that , making the film a big disappointment .
Output: N
cashing in on the success of white men ca n't jump and the failure of most of their solo vehicles ( including the cowboy way and drop zone ) , wesley snipes and woody harrelson have reteamed , hoping that they can strike up the same success .
sadly , if this dismal , cliche ridden and mind - numbingly boring action pic is anything to go by , they have n't got a chance in hell of even coming close .
this time out , the duo play foster brothers who are transit cops .
following several run - ins with their tyrannical boss ( robert blake ) , who is obsessed with the " money train " --a train which carries all the subway 's takings -- and will let nothing stop it
( now * there 's * an original plot device ) , harrelson 's character decides to try and take off with the cash .
along the way , both of them fall in love with the same woman -- another transit cop who also hates her boss .
this leads to the typical sibling rivalry crap that you usually find in a film of this standard ( ' you were always the better brother ' etc .
etc . etc . ) , and does n't help to add anything to the film .
given a better script , better performers in supporting roles and a shorter running time ( the film almost went for two hours -- or did it just feel like it ? )
, this film might ( and i mean * might * ) have turned out okay , but as it is ,
it is stocked with the worst action film cliches , whose only purpose appears to be to pad the film out to its painfully long running time .
robert blake , who plays the evil boss , has got to be the most pathetic bad guy in film history !
he sounds like wayne newton , and appears to think the best way to appear evil is to have your eyes bulging as though they are about to burst out of their sockets !
but this is only one of money train 's problems .
if you look at the script as if it was an action film , it lacks originality and suspense .
but if you try to look at it as if it were a heist film , it is even worse .
the final robbery sequence is almost trivialised and the characters definitely ai n't butch and sundance .
the film is n't all bad though .
snipes and harrelson , when they are n't using the dumb cliches that the script gives them , make an agreeable duo , and some of the stunt - work is indeed excellent .
but good stunt - work can not save a bottom - of - the - barrel action movie .
if you 're a really undemanding action freak , there 's a chance you 'll like this .
but if you 're looking for something original , or suspenseful , try somewhere else
-- i doubt you 'll find it here .
Output: N
girl 6 is , in a word , a mess .
i was never able to determine what spike lee was trying to accomplish with this film .
there was no sense of where the film was going , or any kind of coherent narrative .
if there was a point to the film , i missed it .
girl 6 , by the way , is the way theresa randle 's character is addressed in the phone sex workplace ; all the girls are known by their numbers .
the plot , such as it is : theresa randle is a struggling n .
y . actress , and eventually takes a job as a phone - sex operator .
she begins to lose contact with reality , as her job consumes her .
also , she must deal with the advances of her ex - husband ( isiah washington ) .
he is an ex- con thief , and she tries to keep him away , while at the same time , it 's clear that she still harbors feelings for him .
her neighbor , jimmy ( spike lee ) functions as the observer ; mediating between the ex- husband and girl 6 .
he also functions as a point of stability , as he watches her become seduced by the lurid world of phone sex .
the soundtrack , consisting of songs by prince , was jarring .
it kept taking my attention from the film - not altogether a bad thing , i 'll grant you , as what was transpiring onscreen was n't that riveting .
for parts of the middle of the film , the music stayed blissfully in the background .
in the opening sequence and one scene later in the film , however , the music was particularly loud and distracting
.
of course , i 've never really cared for prince 's ( or tafkap if you like ) music .
prince fans might love the soundtrack , but it will probably be distracting , even to die - hard fans .
of the performances , the only one that stood out was spike lee 's buddy character , jimmy .
he was excellent as the always - broke neighbor of girl
6 .
he should have stuck to acting in this film .
there are several sequences that gave me the impression that he 'd like to be oliver stone when he grows up .
there are scenes shot with different types of film , which are purposely grainy , and reminiscent of some of the scenes in oliver stone 's natural born killers .
in that film , they worked to propel the narrative .
in this film , they just made me more confused .
there are some amusing moments , and a few insights into the lives of the women who use their voices to make the phone - sex industry the multi - billion dollar industry that it has become .
other than that , though , nothing much happens .
there are a few intense moments , as when one caller becomes frightening , but even that is rather lackluster .
i 'm not the biggest fan of spike lee , though i 'd agree that he has done some very good work in the past .
in girl 6 , though , he seems to be floundering .
he had an interesting idea , a fairly good setup , and seemed to wander aimlessly from there .
girl 6 earns a grade of d .
Output: N
back in 1980s , chuck norris used to be synonym for the action films .
he could n't , of course , top the success and fame of big action names like sylvester stallone or arnold schwarzenegger , but sheer quantity of his films guaranteed that he was household name among shoot'em up and beat'em up genre aficionados .
that quantity was mostly provided by cannon group , prolific production company that dominated the b - movie market in previous decade by flooding it with cheap , formulaic and , more often than not , unwatchable genre products .
the hitman , 1991 action thriller directed by chuck 's brother aaron , is one of the last among them .
chuck norris here plays seattle cop betrayed , shot and left for dead by his partner ( which should n't surprise anyone , considering the fact that the partner is being played by michael parks , specialised for roles of usually very mean characters ) .
surviving the shooting , cop is pronounced dead and hired as deep undercover agent .
he infiltrates the underworld circles in seattle and becomes their top hitman , using his abilities to start brutal war between three major crime organisations - italians , french canadians and iranians .
since it is rather absurd to expect great acting ability from chuck norris , at least not in this kind of movie , the biggest attraction of this film should have been action .
well , the action in this film falls flat - it is boring , repetitive and not at all exciting .
it is nothing more than monotonous series of scenes
that contains violence too brutal even for this type of films .
we know very little about norris ' character while , on the other hand , gangsters are portrayed with more human dimension .
in the end we almost feel sorry for them , since they are shown totally powerless against norris and his unstoppable and bloody crusade .
during the film , somebody obviously became aware of that problem , so the screenwriter introduced the subplot dealing with the black boy who gets adopted by norris .
that caused another problem - any questions about nature of that relationship had to be quashed with another subplot - this one dealing with lady lawyer who sleeps with the hero and gets killed after fulfilling that screenplay obligation .
the photography in this film is dark , setting is depressive and this forgettable piece of 1980s style cinema leaves viewers without any reason to justify the hour and half spent in watching it .
Output: N
we could paraphrase michelle pfieffer 's character in dangerous minds and say that beyond rangoon starts with an " a .
"
that 's fair enough .
all movies , like all school children , should be given the benefit of the doubt .
the chance to succeed .
after all , we like to think that the right combination of talent and effort can do wonders .
mountains can be moved , and good movies can be made .
yeah
right .
children fail , as do films .
as does director john boorman 's latest .
the success of beyond rangoon hinges on the believability of patricia arquette ( ed wood , true romance ) as the busty westerner - in - peril wandering about 1988 burma without a passport .
though we can stomach the mild plot contrivances
that get her there , it 's a tougher task to overlook the actress .
she 's a lightweight .
as the first scene ( with narration ! )
demonstrates , she does n't have * nearly * enough range for the emotions that her character -- a mother fleeing the memories of a murdered husband and son -- is supposed to show .
she may give a stronger performance than , say , keanu reeves in a walk in the clouds , by not by much .
beyond rangoon is a very physically appealing film , thanks to the practiced craftsmanship of john boorman ( deliverance , excalibur , hope and glory ) .
he keeps the narrative moving ,
no matter how muddy the story -- or the heroine -- gets .
why he chose arquette remains a mystery , though .
maybe he was thinking that the dramatic weight of the story would overcome any casting deficiencies .
but even after an hour of half - stated political statements and murky mass killings , we * still * do n't know enough of what 's happening in this country to feel distressed for the characters or their situations .
empty exoticism .
the technical credits in beyond rangoon are a curious mix , combining lush jungle photography with bad blue - screen work .
also odd is the obvious dubbing .
done to make some of the foreign characters sound less foreign ?
and , is it my mistake , or do the same extras keep reappearing as different soldiers ? ?
doo doo doo doo .
[ " twilight zone " theme , or opinion of movie .
you be the judge . ]
Output: N
long time buddies and neil diamond tribute band members wayne ( steve zahn , " happy , texas " ) and j .
d .
( jack black , " high fidelity " ) watch in horror as third mate darren silverman ( jason biggs , " american pie " ) disappears under the thumb of his new fiance judith , ( amanda peet , " the whole nine yards " )
a controlling psychiatrist .
they 're doubly troubled when the return of darren 's ' one and only love ' sandy perkins ( amanda detmer , " final destination " ) returns to their home town but does n't cause a ripple in darren 's devotion to judith .
there 's only one thing wayne and
j .
d .
can think of doing - they kidnap judith and fake her death in " saving silverman .
"
written by hank nelken and greg depaul after seeing a friend engaged to the wrong woman , " saving silverman " is directed by ' hit comedy director ' dennis dugan of such films as " big daddy , " " brain donors " and " problem child .
"
it 's a dismal , third - rate farrelly brothers rip off that attempts to milk humor from such inspired bits of whimsy as having darren 's love interest come from a family of circus freaks and be about to become a nun .
gross out gags include a visualization of darren getting butt cheek implants .
" saving silverman " is almost saved by stars zahn and black .
these two are so comically talented they can take bad material and still deliver the goods .
they 're in " animal house " mode while the rest of the film trawls along and comes up empty .
jason biggs can attribute his entire career to the luck of having been cast in the smash hit " american pie .
" peet shows some physical moves but no flair for comedy here while detmer slaps a brave , sweet smile onto her face and soldiers through .
r .
lee ermey ( " full metal jacket " ) is one note in an embarrassing performance as a psychopathic ex - football coach .
neil diamond appears at the film 's climax as himself and miraculously enlivens the proceedings by belting out some of his old standards .
Output: N
when a film is produced on a shoestring budget by a couple of hardworking filmmakers and when it tells the story of a genuine tragedy , the easy path for a reviewer who hated the movie is to give it a pass .
toss out your usual objectivity , ignore how many times you checked your watch while viewing it , forget how unbearable it was to sit through , and find some meaningless way to compliment it .
this , of course , will be of no service to your readers , but at least you 'll avoid the hate mail from the movie 's fans .
thus it is with a heavy heart that i review the movie paulina ( not to be confused with the recent movie paulie about a talking parrot ) .
directed by vicky funari as a labor of intense love - she spent the last one third of her life on film - the movie blends documentary footage with historic and fanciful recreations to relate the bitterly sad and true story of paulina cruz suarez .
paulina was a maid in vicky 's household when vicky was young .
i got to learn the film 's background when i attended a screening in which the two women who made it were present .
for those without such context , the reaction to the film may be that it is a parody of a bad indie film .
the acting is amateurish , the story is maudlin , and it has all the visual appeal of a bad home movie . grainy and overexposed , the movie
, shot on 16 mm film and videotape , has little to recommend it .
confusingly composed , the movie jumps about jarringly as it tells its story .
quite bloody at times , the story , full of horrific images , seems designed to shock and repulse us .
why else would you include a scene with a completely nude and bloody 8-year - old paulina ?
another scene has a teenage paulina being fondled on a bus by the man sitting next to her .
in retaliation , she bites off part of his finger .
this covers the both of them in a bucket of blood .
the passengers on the bus then view the girl in their minds as everything from saint to sinner .
one , for example , sees her as an aztec priestess holding out a large heart that she had just cut from a body .
the lugubrious tale has paulina being raped and beaten .
certainly she had to endure a miserable life .
but that does not guarantee that a movie about her will necessarily being good .
i felt trapped in the theater watching it .
only the opportunity to talk with the filmmakers afterwards made the movie bearable .
paulina runs 1 : 28 .
the film is in spanish with english subtitles .
it is not rated but would be an r for violence and nudity and would be acceptable for older teenagers .
Output: N