niryuu/sni-each-converted huggingface dataset:
warning : contains what the matrix is .
rated r for sci - fi violence .
starring : keanu reeves , laurence fishburne , joe panteliano some may be disappointed with the matrix .
i 'll tell you i was .
i sat there and sat there and sat there waiting for something to happen .
now wait
wait
, i know most of you loved it , and i 'm not saying i did n't like it .
what i 'm saying is
the first half was extremely slow .
now seeing the trailer it makes you think the whole entire movie is one big special effects show .
do n't be fooled , this movie has a big story .
and big chunks of talky moments .
but i will admit the special effects and the acting were above par , deserving the rating above .
ok now to the story .
well this may take a while .
ok first of all , our world we live in now , is not the real world , actually we live inside a computer generated world known as the matrix .
a man played by keanu reeves is about to find that out , when is kidnapped and almost coaxed to go into the real world .
he does so , and finds out that he can do anything , be anything he wants to be .
but he has to fight a ' matrix skipping ' bad guy , who wants to send him back to his own world or destroy him .
laurence fishburne , his guide of sorts plays his character well as does keanu reeves .
but i sat in the theatre for over and hour wondering where all the special effects were .
yeah
there were some in the first half but not enough .
the trailer for this movie was really decieving making people think that this was a special effects laden movie .
now for the second half , it is explosive , and saves the movie .
some of the special effects and fighting were breathtaking .
the sound , the music , and all the effects were effective , and the last hour kept us entertained .
but with a running time of 2 hours and 20 minutes , this movie is at least 40 minutes too long .
one would have wished for a better ' matrix ' , but i do have to say ,
i did like it
and i was entertained .
Output: P
national lampoon 's animal house , made in 1978 and set in 1962 , remains one of the -- no , fuck that noise --
* the * funniest movie ever made .
and this is n't just my opinion , either ; everybody knows this , and that 's why about a gazillion inferior rip - offs have been made , trying to duplicate its success .
( pcu anyone ?
and the first person to bring up glory daze gets decked . )
animal house takes place at the fictional faber college , circa 1962 , where the omega frat calls the shots .
these guys are wholesome , clean - cut , model - citizens .
. .
i .
e .
a bunch of assholes .
greg , their leader , is going out with mandy pepperidge , but since the silly bastard does n't believe in pre - marital sex , their relationship never goes further than a quick jack - off under the stars .
neidermeyer is the supreme - bozo of the bunch , walking around with his dick out kicking freshman ass and trying to impress the muff . also hanging around these losers is babs , future universal studios employee and serious bitch .
now let 's just take a peak next door , at the delta house .
over here , anything goes : you wanna throw shit out the window ?
okay .
you wanna crush a bunch of beer cans on your forehead and pour honey - mustard all over your chest ?
go right ahead .
the frat 's leaders are otter and boon ( tim matheson and peter riegert ) .
otter is the ladies ' man , going out with another girl every night , and boon is the comedian .
he 's got a steady - date , katy ( karen allen ) , but she 's sick of playing second - fiddle to a bottle of j .
d .
then there are the others : pinto , a wimp ; flounder , a blimp ; d .
day , a biker ; stork , who may or may not have brain - damage ; and last but not least . . .
bluto !
bluto , played by the late ,
great john belushi , is the man .
he 's the kind of guy who slugs back entire fifths of whiskey then proclaim , " i needed that .
"
the kind of guy who puts a cream - filled snowball into his mouth , puffs up his cheeks and spits it out , and then says " i 'm a zit -- get it ?
" the story is as follows : the omegas are getting the deltas kicked off campus .
the deltas , knowing that fighting the omegas is stupid , decide to go out with style , throwing a wild toga party and ruining the homecoming parade .
this is the fucnniest movie int he history of the world
. do yourself a favor and go see it .
Output: P
synopsis : leonard shelby ( pearce ) is a former insurance investigator on the trail of the man who killed his wife .
leonard has only a few clues to the murderer 's identity ; to make matters worse , he suffers from a condition which inhibits the creation of short - term memories , meaning that leonard is always forgetting what happened just minutes earlier .
because of this , leonard is forced to rely on notes he leaves for himself .
" memento " traces the investigation back in time from its apparent culmination .
review :
" memento " is the sort of movie i wish i 'd written ; i can think of no higher praise than that .
i am envious that nolan has concocted such a brilliant , involved , original movie as this .
an instant film noir classic , " memento " is virtually flawless .
the script is unlike any i have ever seen -- a notable achievement in these days of recycled hollywood homogeneity .
although the idea of starting at the " conclusion " of the plotline and then moving backward in time to the " start " is not entirely new , never before have i witnessed it executed with such flair and coherence .
" memento " is endlessly exciting and inventive , a rare story which keeps the viewers guessing during the film itself , and mulling over its connotations long after leaving the theatre .
and it is not merely an exercise in cerebrality ; there is plenty of action and an unexpected dose of humour to keep the proceedings lively .
nolan 's direction is equally effective , never losing its crispness and clarity despite " memento " 's challenging gimmick .
and to top everything off
, all the performances rise to the occasion .
pierce is terrific
as the troubled leonard ; moss shows great range as enigmatic natalie ; and pantoliano 's teddy achieves a splendidly affable yet sinister quality .
" memento " may be the year 's best screenplay , and is certainly amongst the top theatrical attractions of 2001 .
Output: P
up until about a year ago , john travolta 's career consisted of those " look who 's talking " movies ( notice how they never called them look who 's talented ) and the 1991 bomb shout ( which was bad enough to make most people scream ) .
but somewhere along the line , travolta got the starring role in the tarantino masterpiece pulp fiction and his career soared once again .
weird how someone whose career was on par with the bee gees back in 1978 would experience fame and fortune once again , while barry , robin and maurice gibb could do no better than a 1993 straight - to - the - cutout - bin album aptly named " size
is n't everything " ( and of course , they learned that sales are everything ) .
but now travolta 's back on the hollywood scene once again , and i think we all know why .
four words : contract with the devil .
and this has nothing to do with newt gingrich 's " contract with america .
"
no , satan is much more humane .
anyway , yes , travolta has sold his soul to the hairy host of the netherworld .
how do i know ?
i own the document in question .
amazing what you can buy at those collector 's shops for a few hundred dollars , is n't it ?
get shorty continues in the vein of pulp fiction , with travolta as crime minion chili palmer .
he goes to collect some of the mafia 's money from a b - grade director ( gene hackman ) and suddenly finds out he wants out of the mob game and into the movie game .
sure , a ruthless criminal like him is far too honest to make it in hollywood , but i guess that 's beside the point .
palmer is determined to get hackman 's next project made , so he sets out to convince big star martin weir ( danny devito ) to star in the movie , bringing along down - and - out horror actress karen flores ( rene russo ) , who has already had affairs with hackman and devito .
it does n't take a las vegas odds - maker to predict that she and travolta will soon be hitting the sheets as well , after the customary sexual tension and denial , which has been used in every comedy from " who 's the boss ? " to speechless .
it works in this case , unlike " who 's the boss ? " although it 's interesting to note that tony danza has signed a contract with the devil also .
complicating matters somewhat are the mobsters who have backed hackman 's other films and want in on this one too , along with travolta 's mob boss trying to track him down for defecting .
get shorty is by no means on the same level as pulp fiction , despite the obvious similarities .
this movie does n't have near the amount of originality or depth as pulp fiction
but it is definitely one of the most entertaining movies i 've seen this year
( yes , even better than halloween vi ) .
get shorty is my kind of movie , one that mixes intelligent humor with action and violence .
i 'm definitely going to have to check out the novel it was based on .
are you getting this
, shorty ?
Output: P
the disney studios has its formula for annual , full - length animated features down so pat that it 's hard to remember which one you 're watching at any given moment .
" mulan , " their 36th animated adventure , is the latest case in point .
once again we have a tale focused around a strong central character ( female as usual ; disney is one of the few studios whose heroines -- ariel , belle , pocahontas , and now mulan -- get equal screen time with their heroes in recent years ) .
add the requisite love interest and a wise - cracking sidekick or two ,
pep up the soundtrack with a handful of strategically placed show tunes ( an introspective number by a pool or looking in a mirror , a rousing anthem , a cutesy , montage - backed crowd pleaser ) , pose a few threats to our engaging lead , and tie things all up neatly by the closing credits .
bob 's your uncle !
better make that walt 's your uncle . . .
kids will no doubt go ga - ga over " mulan " ( or at least the fast food tie - ins ) , but familiarity can , after a while , leave grown - ups -- this reviewer included -- wishing for a little more .
maybe an animated feature without -- shock !
horror !
--the songs , for example ? or maybe a film in which a cheeky chihuahua called pepe longs to become a matador from trinidad ? ?
how about simply ditching the sidekicks altogether ?
it is n't gon na happen .
like disney 's previous entries , " mulan " is slow to make its mark .
the animation tends to suffer from some slackness in the early going and the humorous element , a madcap dragon wannabe ( in the guise of a loquacious lizard with a case of dry mouth , courtesy eddie murphy 's animated vocal talents ) , plays like an inappropriate if necessary
( formula - wise ) afterthought .
however , after about an hour everything comes together and the formula , like it or not , clicks .
highlights include a spectacular cavalry charge on a snow - covered pass ( which , due to the sophistication of today 's computer - generated imagery , is hard to tell from the real thing ) , a memorable , show - stopping musical interlude
( " i 'll make a man out of you , " penned by matthew wilder and david zippel ) , and last but not least , mulan herself .
voiced by ming - na wen , mulan is disney 's strongest female character to date .
when hordes of huns pour over china 's great wall and threaten to overthrow the imperial palace , the emperor decrees that every family in the land dispatch one man to serve in the imperial army .
since mulan 's father is infirm , but proud , the high - spirited mulan steals her father 's armor and , incognito , signs up to face the mongolian menace .
attracted to , but not distracted by , her commanding officer shang ( b .
d .
wong )
, mulan outmatches her fellow combatants in smarts , wit , and physical ability .
she 's a woman of the ' 90s
a couple of millennia ahead of her time .
Output: P
i had been expecting more of this movie than the less than thrilling twister .
twister was good but had no real plot and no one to simpithize with .
but twister had amazing effects
and i was hoping so would volcano volcano starts with tommy lee jones at emo .
he worrys about a small earthquake enough to leave his daughter at home with a baby sitter .
there is one small quake
then another quake .
then a geologist points out to tommy that its takes a geologic event to heat millions of gallons of water in 12 hours .
a few hours later large amount of ash start to fall .
then . . . . it starts .
the volcanic eruption . . . .
i liked this movie . . .
but it was not as great as i hoped .
i was still good none the less .
it had excellent special effects .
the best view .
. .
the helecopters flying over the streets of volcanos .
also . . . there were interesting side stories that made the plot more interesting .
so . . .
it was good ! !
Output: P
disney 's 35th animated feature-- a retooling of the olympian legend crossed with , well , the superman story-- is surprisingly soft at the center .
great wit , great art , and a great villain
( james woods as hades , lord of the underworld and local lounge act ) ca n't quite stifle the yawns induced by a bland hero , his colorfully monotonous sidekick ( danny devito as the satyrical trainer phil ) , and a largely unremarkable soundtrack .
( none of the alan menken / david zippel tunes are
particular- ly noteworthy .
some lack lyrical snap .
others need more memorable melodies .
boring ballads we expect , but boring production numbers , too ? )
so , hercules is a bit of a long sit , but you wo n't stay bored .
the highlights include a nifty round of animated action ( herc battling a cgi hydra ) , a steady stream of anachronisms
( " somebody call ix - i - i " ) and pop references ( " let 's get ready to rumble !
" ) a la aladdin , and several long - overdue jabs at the mouse 's marketing and merchandising depart- ments .
while not as rock - solid as hunchback , it 's a still a new world of improvement over pocohontas .
directed by ron clements and john musker , with voice credits including tate donovan , susan egan , bob goldthwait , matt frewer , samantha eggar , paul shaffer , and , as lighting bolt zeus , rip torn , who 's having a very good summer , also appearing in trial and error and men in black .
Output: P
susan granger 's review of " the closet " ( miramax films ) in this hilarious french farce , a shy , boring accountant ( daniel auteil ) named francois pignon discovers
he 's going to be fired from his job at a condom factory .
lonely and distraught , he contemplates suicide .
but then he runs into belone ( michel aumont ) , an elderly homosexual neighbor , who suggests a " sex discrimination " lawsuit to intimidate management .
as evidence , belone concocts provocative photographs of pignon locked in a leather - clad embrace with another man and mails them anonymously to pignon 's boss .
when the racy snapshots start circulating around the factory , not only does pignon get his job back
but he suddenly finds himself the focus of attention as an openly gay man .
his lusty supervisor ( michele laroque ) is so intrigued that she wonders if , perhaps , she could change his sexual preferences .
even his ex - wife ( alexandra vandernoot ) and indifferent teenage son ( stanislas crevillen ) drop their disdain .
but not everyone is enchanted .
a mucho macho co - worker felix ( gerard depardieu ) , a self - righteous homophobe , is stunned and repulsed when he 's forced by the pr director ( thierry lhermite ) to grovel and court pignon 's friendship or risk losing his own job .
writer / director francis verber artfully milks the farcical comedy as he dissects the hypocrisy of political correctness , veering off - track only occasionally into pedophilia .
daniel auteuil (
" the widow of saint - pierre " ) is delightful - particularly with a blown - up condom perched on his head , riding on a float in a gay pride parade - and gerard depardieu delivers one of his most restrained , and effective , performances .
on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , " the closet " is a frankly sexual , adult 8 .
it 's so clever
, in fact , that hollywood is already planning to re - make it in english , like " la cage aux folles .
"
Output: P
ingredients : starving artist lusting after a beautiful woman from his childhood synopsis : great expectations ( 1998 ) is a modernized version of a charles dickens novel .
in the original charles dickens classic
an orphan boy named pip learns about life through his friendship with an escaped convict , his relationship with a bitter old lady named miss havisham , and his hopeless lifetime infatuation with havisham 's snobbish adopted daughter , estella .
the gist of the story is that an anonymous benefactor sends pip to london for pip to become an upper class " gentleman .
"
pip leaves for london with " great expectations " to be groomed into a gentleman so that he can one day be classy enough to marry estella .
but life has a way of complicating things .
pip becomes an arrogant s .
o .
b .
until he learns just who his secret benefactor is .
in this new 1998 version of great expectations a poor florida lad named finn ( ethan hawke ) with a talent for drawing has an early memory of helping an escaped convict ( robert de niro ) .
but soon the focus of finn 's life becomes romance , as he develops a lifelong infatuation with estella ( gwyneth paltrow ) , an upper crust girl with some psychological and emotional issues due to being raised in a dysfunctional environment .
estella was raised in wealth by ms .
dinsmoor ( anne bancroft ) , an eccentric , aged and embittered , man - hating single aunt whose groom left her abandoned at the altar on the day of her marriage .
this causes estella to ' fear the daylight ' of relationships , but finn thinks it 's just a case of snobbery .
when finn becomes a young man , an anonymous benefactor sets finn up in new york with the connections and publicity to be groomed into a famous artist .
finn leaves florida with " great expectations " to be a successful artist so that some day he might become classy enough to marry the snobbish estella .
what will happen to all of finn 's " great expectations ?
" opinion : if you 're looking for a romance with a happy ending ,
look no further
; you 've found one here .
ethan hawke is romantic lead .
( he romanced winona ryder in reality bites .
he romanced julie delpy in before sunrise .
he romanced uma thurman in gattaca .
now in great expectations he gets to chase gwyneth paltrow , a rail - thin blonde . )
hawke plays a lovestruck , earnest and unchanged finn throughout the film .
meanwhile paltrow portrays estella as alternating between infuriating tease and ice princess ; estella 's whole purpose is to get men to fall in love and then hurt them rather than become intimate .
anne bancroft goes a little overboard as the deranged and pessimistic ms .
dinsmoor , while robert de niro carries off the convict part suitably .
the difference between the classic dickens novel and this 1998 adaptation is that the dickens novel is ripe with deep and timeless themes about class struggle and love , whereas great expectations ( 1998 ) is more artsy , less complicated story about a 1990s artist dealing with a lifetime tease .
Output: P
the long kiss goodnight ( r ) meryl streep tried it and failed .
even pamela anderson lee made an attempt but fell flat on her well - bared assets .
however , geena davis could very well become the first bankable american female action star
with the long kiss goodnight ,
a preposterous but incredibly fun action thriller directed by her husband , renny harlin .
davis plays samantha caine , a mousy suburban school teacher and mother whose memories only go back eight years .
with the help of ethically questionable private detective mitch hennessey ( samuel l . jackson ) , she slowly remembers -- and reclaims -- her past as charly baltimore , tough - as - nails cia operative .
needless to say , with the reappearance of samantha / charly comes the appearance of an assortment of no - goodniks out to erase more than her memory .
shane black netted a cool $ 4 mil for his script ; i 'm not so sure if his prose is truly deserving of such a hefty price tag , but for what it 's worth ,
it delivers the goods .
like black 's previous work , such as lethal weapon and the last boy scout ,
the script juggles some impressive action scenes with funny , quirky dialogue .
the humor especially works well in this case , for the story is so preposterous that the laughs help to keep things from taking things too seriously .
but there 's no argument that the more unbelievable sequences are original and entertaining as hell : who can resist the sight of davis tossing her daughter from a hole in her house into the nearby treehouse or chasing after a car .
. .
while ice skating ? jackson and davis make a good team
.
jackson is funny as ever as ever
; in fact , his spirited line deliveries , especially when he first appears , are more than reminiscent of his work as jules in pulp fiction .
as good as he is , the one who should benefit the most from this project is davis , who shows much promise as an action heroine .
what makes her so effective and why she should succeed where streep and lee failed is that she does n't take herself too seriously .
she is obviously in on the joke , slyly taking jabs at herself and at the situation .
this is not to say that she does n't need work -- sometimes she lays on the " toughness " a bit too thick and comes off too much as a caricature .
but should the public embrace the film and , in turn , the notion of a kick - ass female , davis could have found her special niche .
it seems as if davis and harlin 's first collaboration , the middling pirate epic cutthroat island , was just a dress rehearsal ( albeit a very costly one ) for long kiss , in which the wife - husband team hit their action stride .
anyone simply looking for a fun , escapist entertainment that requires little - to - no thinking will find this film to be a more - than - welcome kiss .
Output: P
well , i know that stallone is 50 years old now , but in daylight he does n't look it !
daylight is a great disaster movie . if you 've seen cliffhanger , you 'll know stallone 's character already .
a guy with a bad past , but is in the right place at the wrong time .
a tunnel connecting new york and new jersey has both sides collapses when a group of robbers collide with a truck carrying * very * flammable toxic waste .
a dozen or so people survive the collapses and the incinerating fireball ( and what a fire ball it was ! )
stallone , a former emergency medical service man , is chauffeuring a rich couple around , when they reach the outside of the tunnel , before the explosion .
then , 30 minutes into the movie , boom !
>
from here on , the plot takes a back seat , and we are treated to some of the best camera work and action staged .
most all the action is plausible and will hold you at the edge of your seat .
there are a few melodramatic parts here , but , they tend to work out well .
there is no general antagonist in this film , but the action and suspense makes you forget all about that .
daylight is a great film
, i saw a non - matinee showing of it , and i thought it was worth every penny .
the characterizations are mostly flat , one dimesional , but they have enough in them to get you to care for some of the characters .
rob cohen ( dragonheart )
does a great job with this film .
Output: P
no film in recent has left me with such conflicted feelings as neil jordan 's harrowing , humorous , horrifying adaptation of patrick mccabe 's novel about young lad francie brady 's ( eamonn owens ) descent into madness in 1960s ireland .
on one hand , it was difficult for me to become invested in francie 's story because he is such an unsavory character , unjustifyably venting his rage at his nosy but otherwise harmless neighbor mrs .
nugent ( fiona shaw ) .
on another hand , i found it difficult to laugh at some of francie 's darkly comic shenanigans because he obviously is such a sick , needy child , having been raised by a drunken father ( stephen rea ) and a suicidal mother ( aisling o'sullivan ) .
on yet another hand , i also found it difficult to completely sympathize with francie during his more emotional scenes because some of his , for lack of a better word , " bad " deeds are so incredibly shocking in their brutality and the malicious glee in which he performs them .
however , the butcher boy 's power is undeniable , and the film as a whole is unforgettable -- perhaps because it is so disturbing .
what makes it so unsettling is the francie 's overall wink - wink yet matter - of - fact attitude about everything , expressed in a cheeky voiceover narration delivered by the adult francie ( rea again ) .
think heavenly creatures played largely for laughs , and you 'll sort of understand .
anchoring the whole film is the astonishing debut performance of owens ; love francie or hate him , you can not take your eyes off of owens .
the butcher boy truly is a twisted , unusual film that is bound to make just about anyone uncomfortable .
in the lobby after the screening , i overheard one man raving about how great yet disturbing it was ; i also heard one particularly offended woman say with disgust , " that movie was so unfunny ! "
" i did n't know what to expect .
it 's like something you chase for so long , but then you do n't know how to react when you get it .
i still do n't know how to react .
"
--michael
jordan , on winning his first nba championship in 1991 . . .
or , my thoughts after meeting him on november 21 , 1997
Output: P
just how inseparable is the team of sgt .
martin riggs ( mel gibson ) and sgt .
roger murtaugh ( danny glover ) ?
let 's just say that when one partner asks the other partner to strip to his boxer shorts and then further asks him to run out into the middle of the road , flapping his arms while feverishly cackling like a chicken just to create a distraction , his partner actually does it !
the familiar lethal weapon family is back , including rene russo , who is now the expectant mother of riggs ' child and joe pesci as the soprana - like , foul - mouthed former accountant who has decided to become a private eye .
new to the team is chris rock , also a fast - talking , up and coming detective .
trouble seems to follow the two veteran detectives where ever they go , and in this film , that is no exception .
even when they are just taking a leisurely boat ride , they somehow manage to collide with a freighter ship .
we here some ominous music , which clues us that a confrontation is about to happen .
gunfire ensues , and when it 's all over , the detectives want to learn more about this freighter by questioning a chinatown crime lord .
although they do n't know what they 're looking for , their inquisitiveness causes the bad guys to take some action .
and there 's plenty of action here for two movies .
led by fighting sensation jet li , whose martial arts skill is nothing less than impressive , he does what he can to make sure that no one finds out what they are up to .
li is ruthless in his approach , will kill anyone just to make a point , and develops enormous disdain for the two detectives .
there are terrific car chases , explosions and gunshot galore .
it 's a summer action recipe followed to the letter , and the result is nothing less than pure , unadulterated summer fun .
but even too many explosions can get boring .
to counter that , we are treated to several amazingly choreographed fight sequences with jet li .
luckily , he 'd rather fight hand - to - hand instead of firing off guns .
meanwhile , when the detectives are n't reloading their guns or running from fireballs , they 're engaged in sophomoric banter and silly conversations that provide a nice diversion from the hail of bullets .
everybody gets in on the shtick .
russo screams during her delivery , the crime lord has a few funny bits when he 's being interrogated while being given laughing gas , and pesci and rock are very funny as they go at it discussing the drawbacks of having cellular phones .
gibson and glover are always in sync and the film moves at a brisk pace to get to the final and terrific mano a mano .
score one for the old guard .
Output: P
a big surprise to me .
the good trailer had hinted that they pulled the impossible off , but making a blues brothers movie without jake blues ( john belushi ) is such a dumb idea i really had no hope .
they replaced him just fine .
not with john goodman , he did n't do much of anything , but with the brilliant actor joe morton , who can really sing .
the fourth blues brother is j evan bonifant , who 's ten .
this was another of my fears for the film , but he 's a really good dancer , and plays a mean harmonica
( although he may have been dubbed ) .
things that intellectually had bothered me before , like no mission from god , everyone being richer , it not being filmed in chicago -- gave me no problems at all .
i 'm quite pleased that there were less car pile - ups , because they meant less music , and john landis seems to have lost interest in the whole thing .
there 's a few early crashes , and then one huge pile - up , but after that it all stops .
it 's just the music .
one of my problems with the first is that cab calloway 's song is so good the actually blues brothers look dull after him , but there 's no problems with this .
the music is all as good as ever , tons of great musicians showing up -- with the exception of johnny lang , who ca n't sing ,
all the musicians do a great job .
the only real problems i had was the special effects .
these were superfluous and a waste of money .
since the film is n't doing very well , they could mean we have no possibility of another sequel , which i want to see .
the bluegrass version of riders in the sky is even better than rawhide .
-- http : //www .
geocities .
com / hollywood / academy/8034/ remove no spam to reply .
" drive carefully but recklessly " , mama , child 's toy
" the only excercise i take is walking behind the coffins of friends who took exercise .
"
peter o'toole
Output: P
robert benton has assembled a stellar , mature cast for his latest feature , twilight , a film noir mystery set amid the fading stars of hollywood .
paul newman stars as retired detective harry ross .
harry has spent the last couple of years doing odd jobs for jack and catherine ames ( gene hackman and susan sarandon ) , a pair of married actors who have fallen from the limelight .
when jack sends him on a routine delivery job , however , the old instincts kick in .
soon , harry is wading through a mystery where friendships and lives are on the line , and he no longer knows who to trust .
there are plenty of familiar faces throughout twilight , in addition to newman , hackman and sarandon .
james garner plays raymond hope , a former cop and one of harry 's best friends .
stockard channing plays verna , harry 's former partner , and possibly a former love interest .
reese witherspoon is mel , the distrustful daughter of the ames ' , and liev schrieber is her scuzzy boyfriend .
giancarlo esposito appears as harry 's bumbling detective protigi , and john spencer is a suspicious police captain .
with a cast like that , it 's almost worth watching twilight just to stargaze .
luckily , there 's more to the film than some sort of actor 's recognition ceremony .
twilight has a solid film noir - ish plot .
it may not have as many twists and turns as some of the classics , but it has much more than a lot of what passes for film these days .
the major cast members all deliver strong performances , as can be expected of their caliber .
however , none of them have that little extra oomph which would make them memorable .
the supporting cast is enjoyable , if a little underdrawn .
stockard channing 's character , in particular , is a cipher .
there 's more to her character than the film takes the time to describe .
it 's a minor , but irritating , flaw .
with a solid cast , and a good plot
, there 's a lot to recommend about twilight .
it 's biggest flaw is actually its short running time .
at a slim 94 minutes , there 's a lot of stuff that 's packed into an awfully small package .
still , the chance to see newman , sarandon and hackman working together is worth a cramp or two .
Output: P
warning : anyone offended by blatant , leering machismo had better avoid this film . or lots of blood & guts , men against men and mano - et - mano stuff .
in other words , it 's a walter hill film !
with a john milius script !
i always picture these guys getting together and producing a movie between arm - wrestling matches .
these films always contain male characters i have a very hard time identifying with ,
probably due to the likelihood that any meeting between them and me would result in my arm being ripped off
and then my subsequent death by beating with said limb .
and we got tough guys galore , here ; drug - running banditos by the dozens , all dirty and sweaty and pretty ill - tempered , overall ; a secret task force of army commandos who are in the area to cover - up ( supposedly )
any connection between the government and the drug runners ; and lots of shit - kicking texas dirt farmers who 'd as soon shoot you between the eyes as look at you .
in particular , we got nick nolte as one hard - ass texas ranger , powers boothe as the drug kingpin , michael ironsides as the leader of the secret army , and rip torn as the local sheriff .
torn is the sympathetic figure of the group ; he smiles before shooting anyone .
as to women .
. .
well , i 've never seen jane fonda or meryl streep in a walter hill film , and at this rate , i doubt i ever will .
women exist here to look good , comfort the man , and get argued over .
gosh !
just like the old days . . . frankly , this is a pretty good movie , if you can accept the premise and can take the macho stuff .
the cinematography is excellent ,
the cast of characters is broad and has texture , the script is quite good , and the film lets you keep up with what 's happening yourself , without spelling it out to you .
i appreciate a film that makes me have to think to keep up .
finally , there 's lots of sam
peckinpah slow - motion shoot - ups .
Output: P
accepting his oscar as producer of this year 's best picture winner , saul zaentz remarked that his cup runneth over .
one could almost say the same about his much - prized film .
rarely is the screen
so overflowing with potent imagery , symbolism , ideas and metaphors , complex and literate storytelling ,
all possessed of an intelligence that invites -- even demands -- constant scrutiny , an acuity of perception and observation
that must somehow yield the truth .
in short , the antithesis of all things hollywood .
yet this surfeit of signals is made to serve a rather pale and thinly realized love story whose emotional impact is as dry as a desert wind .
ralph fiennes is the title character , an amnesiac burn victim whose gradual return to memory , and particularly the memory of love , is the ostensible focus of the film .
but despite the use of numerous flashbacks to help put the pieces of this personal puzzle together , we never learn enough about the man to feel much empathy for him .
his emotional life before the story begins is an essential clue that remains withheld .
the same can easily be said for every other character in the film , of which there are too many .
juliette binoche 's nurse comes as close as this film gets to an emotional heart .
at least we learn early on that she is scarred by the deaths of those close to her , and so we understand why she is eager to escape the company of her comrades in order to seek refuge in the convalescence of a mysterious , disfigured , dying stranger .
even this information is imparted so quickly and in such cursory fashion , however , that it verges on the comical .
with so many characters enjoying so little screen time , the film 's 160 minutes can be taxing . yet there is something so captivating about the sensibility behind the camera that i could n't help but
feel that greatness was in the air .
hints of it were everywhere -- in a man who hates ownership but wants desperately to possess his lover ; in ancient cave paintings of swimmers copied casually by a modern - day swimmer in the sahara ; in the way the shifting sands of time obliterate everything more completely than a world war .
there is enough latent meaning to supply college film students with paper topics for years .
but ultimately the emotional truths writer - director anthony minghella was grasping for were never revealed .
in the end , i was left with the impression that i had witnessed quite an oxymoron : a haunting bore .
bore is perhaps too strong a word .
but after drinking in the rich production values , the cup remains only slightly over half - full .
Output: P
" footloose " has only one goal in mind : to reel in an audience with cheesy sentiment and feel - good antics .
and i hate to admit it ; i fell for it .
the movie is about a teenager ( bacon ) who moves to a small town from the big city , and discovers that dancing has been banned by the local reverend ( lithgow ) .
he ends up falling for the preacher 's daughter ( singer ) and showing the whole town what the magic of dance can do .
as mentioned at the beginning of this review , " footloose " is an extremely hokey and predictable teen drama .
there are virtually no surprises , and the writing is second - rate .
so
why did i enjoy it so much ? for one thing ,
the cast is great .
kevin bacon oozes charisma in an early role .
we 're rooting for him right from the start , and , unlike most films of this genre , bacon does n't play him as the " rebel without a clue " sort .
yes , he does rebel , but he 's also polite when he needs to be .
and he never broods .
the rest of the cast is equally impressive .
john lithgow , seen here playing a normal guy for a change , is playing a man who would normally be a flat out villian .
but lithgow plays him as a concerned father who is trying to do what he feels is best for his daughter .
by the end of the film , we feel a genuine sense of love and understanding between him and the lori singer character .
another nice touch is the music .
we see the parents of the kids complaining that the music they listen to is filled with " sexual innuendos " , but that 's not true at all .
the title track , performed by kenny loggins , is upbeat and fun .
during the final sequence , i was overcome with the urge to get off the couch and start dancing
.
of course , i soon realized that would be a little pathetic .
anyway , " footloose " is a charming little surprise .
do n't let the premise prevent you from watching it .
it sucked me in , and it 'll do the same to you .
Output: P
meet joe black ( reviewed on nov .
27/98 )
starring brad pitt , anthony hopkins , claire forlani in " meet joe black " , brad pitt plays death .
that 's all that really needs to be said , but nevertheless , i will provide the three of you that have seemingly been living in a cave with a plot description .
death decides to take a holiday , what with all the rigors of soul - collecting and all , and forces anthony hopkins into showing him what it 's like to be human .
death assumes the body of brad pitt , and from there , much trouble ensues .
for one thing , death - as - pitt falls in love with hopkins daughter , played by claire forlani .
obviously this enrages hopkins , because really , what can death offer ?
besides eternal damnation , of course .
there is also a sub - plot about forlani 's ex - boyfriend ( she dumps him for pitt ) trying to take over hopkins company .
" meet joe black " runs just under three hours .
i 've always thought that such obscene running times should be limited to historical epics .
" meet joe black " is neither historical nor is it an epic , though i get the feeling martin brest ( the director )
desperately wants it to be .
every single scene in the movie goes on about 3 - 4 minutes too long .
and the ending takes about 20 minutes longer than it really should .
a severe editing job could have made this movie excellent , instead of just good , which is what it is .
pitt , an actor i normally loathe , is actually quite engaging as death .
i believed his performance , and i could see why forlani 's character would fall in love with him .
i have to agree with roger ebert , though , who found it hard to believe that an entity that 's been around for all time would n't know what peanut butter was .
that has nothing to do with pitt 's performance , of course , but it is a little distracting .
hopkins gives his usual excellent performance .
he 's able to portray the angst of a man who knows he has very little time left , without making him an obnoxious whiner .
and in her first major studio role , claire forlani is surprisingly good .
she has a sweet tenderness that allows the audience to instantly root for her .
so , " meet joe black " is
a good movie hampered by it 's ridiculous running time .
had the film been cut by an hour or so , i have no doubt that i would be calling it one of the best movies of the year in this review .
Output: P
based on the boris karloff 's classic by the same name , the mummy starts off with the high - priest of osiris , imhotep , who murders the pharoah for his mistress and is punished by being mummified in the most horrifying way possible -- bandaged up , having his tongue removed , and being covered in flesh - eating scarab beetles , then entombed . . .
all while still alive .
recap a few thousand years later , where a soldier named rick ( played by brandan fraser ) aids a young historian named evelyn ( played by rachel wiesz ) and her brother , jonathan ( played by john hannah ) in finding the book of amon ra , in the process inadvertently freeing the mummy .
problem is that the mummy wants to revive his mistress , using evelyn as a sacrifice . . . walking in with relatively low expectations , i thought this movie was actually pretty good .
the visuals and cgi are astounding , and obviously not cheaply done at all .
they pack a ton of detail into the images , especially during scenes involving mummies rendered completely by cgi .
the computer special effects makes for some brilliant scenes , such as unnerving moments involving flesh - eating scarab beetles and moments where the mummy goes after the people who freed him ( after all , those who took his artifacts are cursed ) .
unfortunately , the film attempts to be way too much in such a short span of time , becoming a tug of war for control between genres .
on one hand , it is a fast paced action film .
on the other , it 's a frightening horror film .
and on the side , it 's a hilarious comedy .
ideally , for it to be successful , the film would have to focus on one the more action oriented aspect , with one character serving as the comic relief ( that would be johnson ) .
the problem with this film is that it has at least three characters serving as comic relief , with rick occasionally delivering his witty one - liner . if they were trying to make a horror - action - comedy , it would have helped if it were established early on in the film , but unfortunately , with the backstory of imhotep 's entombment , that would be impossible .
and then there 's the slapstick fight scene between a sword - wielding rick and an army of mummies .
while really well done , it had the feel of slapstick comedy .
replace the sword with a chainsaw and you 'd effectively have ash fighting zombies in army of darkness .
while entertaining and funny , it feels really out of place .
but at least it 's a break from the naive heroes
that brendan fraser has been playing a lot of .
on the whole , the movie is pure popcorn fare from beginning to end , entertaining the audience .
but i must end my review with a plea to movie theatre owners . . .
turn the sound down !
while a lot of theatres have good sound systems , my ears were almost ringing as i walked out of the theatre ( the sound is particularly irritating and will make you crap your pants if you 're not careful ) .
when they were showing the trailer for the upcoming schwarzenegger film , " end of days " , it was so loud
i could n't make anything out .
Output: P
is evil dead ii a bad movie ?
it 's full of terrible acting , pointless violence , and plot holes
yet it remains a cult classic nearly fifteen years after its release .
explaining why this movie stands out from others with similar plots ( including the original evil dead ) is extremely difficult .
` well what 's it about ? '
` five people stranded in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere struggling to survive vicious attacks from a variety of ugly , hairy , wart covered monsters . '
` come on i saw a movie just like that on monster vision last week .
why should i see it again ? '
` no evil dead ii is different , it 's funny . '
` it 's funny to see people die ?
are you sick or something ? '
maybe i am and maybe director sam raimi is as well to create such an enigma of a movie .
his unique execution is as sarcastic as subtle , as disturbing as it is hilarious .
an example of raimi 's odd approach : a monster ( formerly protagonist ash 's girlfriend of all people ) is cut in half by a chainsaw and a tidal wave of blood comes from the open wound .
sure it 's over - the - top , but it is so over - the - top that it is laugh out loud funny ; just try watching ash with a straight face as he unexpectedly is showered with ten gallons of blood , staining his face and knocking him back a few feet .
the whole movie is like this , watch ash get beat up , watch ash defeat the monster , watch ash get beat up again by another even zanier monster .
the more repetitive and unrealistic the movie gets , the more amusing it becomes .
no matter how sick it may sound , it is funny to watch
bruce ampbell 's ash get his butt kicked every five minutes .
and raimi takes advantage , he has ash tormented by the head of his girlfriend , by the body of an old lady , even by his own right hand .
like the less superior idle hands , we watch ash uncontrollably hit himself over and over again until he is forced to cut off his own body part .
but it does n't end , ash now has to fight his severed hand which now moves with the same celerity as thing from the addams family .
all of these events , thrown at you from minute one with roller coaster- like camera movements , at first become shocking , then inexplicably funny .
raimi expects the audience to laugh and as the film progresses , he seems to be enjoying himself even more by borrowing the classic mirror scene from the marx brothers ' duck soup , then bringing more characters into the picture to comically kill them off .
with a running time of less than an hour and a half , raimi gets away with the impossible , making a horror film with more gore than plot and intentionally more laughs than scares . ending evil dead ii with an opening for the third film in the series , raimi obviously had a lot of fun making this movie and could n't wait to make it 's sequel .
Output: P