polsci/sentiment-polarity-dataset-v2.0 huggingface dataset:
lean , mean , escapist thrillers are a tough product to come by . 
most are unnecessarily complicated , and others have no sense of expediency -- the thrill-ride effect gets lost in the cumbersome plot . 
perhaps the ultimate escapist thriller was the fugitive , which featured none of the flash-bang effects of today's market but rather a bread-and-butter , textbook example of what a clever script and good direction is all about . 
the latest tony scott movie , enemy of the state , doesn't make it to that level . 
it's a true nineties product that runs like greased lightning through a maze of cell phones and laptop computers , without looking back . 
although director scott has made missteps in the past , such as the lame thriller the fan , he's generated a good deal of energy in pictures like crimson tide and top gun . 
that vibrant spirit is present here , shown in well-timed and carefully planned chase scenes that give the movie an aura of sheer speed . 
enemy of the state also features an unprecedented use of amazing cinematography -- director of photography daniel mindel throws a staggering amount of different views , angles , lenses , and film stocks at the audience that goes a long way toward involving the audience in the movie . 
enemy is truly a visual experience , and that's only one of the reasons it's such a fun watch . 
the movie lights up with an aging senator visited by nsa deputy chief thomas reynolds ( jon voight ) . 
reynolds wants a new communications act passed to allow the government free reign in the use of surveilance equipment , but the senator plans to bury the bill in committee . 
reynolds has the senator offed , but not before the murder is caught on a naturalist's camera . 
by an extremist chain of events , the tape ends up in labor lawyer robert dean ( will smith ) 's posession , and it's not long before he's running from reynolds' cronies . 
it's only with the help of an ex-spook named brill ( gene hackman ) that dean is able to get to the bottom of things . 
the acting is top notch , and the three principles - smith , hackman , and voight - are generally more mature and excellent all around . 
smith puts aside the wisecracking act and becomes a normal human being ; voight tones down the amount of sneer he puts into his character for greater ominpotence ; and hackman is simply over the top in the mysterioso role . 
smith's regular joe comes off particularly well , as he runs from authorties for reasons that he knows not . 
the supports are also in fine form , lending credibility to the main roles and advancing the plot in key areas . 
this is , for the holiday crowd , the hot ticket ; as well as anyone looking for a serving of genuine action in a market that is otherwise lacking .
expectation rating : a bit worse than expected ( mainly because i found the middle part to be a bit dull ) . 
roger ebert gave it a four star review , and while he is a critic that uses the full scale , and i often agree -- such as dark city being the best film of 1998 , he must have seen a better film . 
i read the book about five years ago and hugely enjoyed it . 
the opening of a simple plan reminded me a bit of the sweet hereafter . 
the landscape is snowy and cold , and is filmed what i feel is in a rather crisp manner ( which also reminds me of fargo ( which i loathed ) ) . 
one can almost sense the cold . 
but the movie far from the eye popping delights of the quick and the dead , instead raimi has made a more constrained film -- which probably is for the better . 
this is probably not a movie that would have been improved by lots of odd shots . 
the movie also reminded me of affliction , as the lead characters all seem to be hoping for and seeing a possibility to lead a better life than their father , and they see a chance for such a dream to come true . 
this chance is uncovered in a snow covered field , where an airplane has crash landed . 
in the plane three men find ? the american dream . . . 
in a gym bag . ? 
affliction too was set in a snowy landscape . 
it really seems very simple . 
just hold on to the money until spring , and if no one claims it , they'll be safe to spend it and their hope of experiencing the american dream can come true . 
but the snow melts , and so might several of the character's hopes . 
as in ? return to paradise ? , some of the characters are presented with a chance to do the right thing . 
but doing the right thing might not result in a better result than something more selfish . 
the movie's biggest strength is that it fact makes sense . 
i have seen many movies based on books that just seem like selected scenes from the book visualized , eschewing anything remotely resembling a coherent story -- for example clear and present danger . 
the biggest problem seems to over-familiarization with the story . 
the writer perhaps feels that he doesn't have to present scenes that are clear to him , but the lack of which only baffles an audience which has not read the book . 
this is definitely not the problem with a simple plan , even though the screenplay is by the book's author . 
the movie is always clear on where it's going , and always makes sense . 
i'm sue a lot was cut , but really i can't remember what . 
even a minor scene involving a man complaining that he has paid for too much grains is included . 
the man only comes in on mondays , but he claims that he has been charged for one purchase too many . 
turns out . . . 
well , see the movie . 
one should be warned against seeing the trailer . 
it reveals several scenes from the ending moments ( which yes , like in the book , it is a downer ) , several plot developments , and much of the beginning . 
but much of this is not spelled directly out during the trailer , so if you're lucky , you'll have forgotten about all of this when you see the movie .
the jekyll and hyde story told from his maid's point of view is , in a word , " dark " . 
you wouldn't expect something bright and cheery based on robert louis stevenson's novel , but the film is surprisingly dreary and dismal . 
jekyll/hyde ( john malkovich ) is terminally depressed and desperate . 
mary reilly ( julia roberts ) is a victim of monstrous child abuse and the anti-woman sentiment of the times . 
director stephen fears' version of the london slums makes us marvel that anyone survived them . 
the lighting level is exceedingly low throughout the movie : it almost appears to be filmed in black and white . 
the direction and cinematography are brilliant and liquid . 
scenes flow into the next scene like honey oozing off a strawberry . 
 ( except there's no red , of course . ) 
the look is so moody and melodramatic that you'll be shocked when you leave the theater . 
i saw it at a matinee and took quite a while to adjust to the sunny skies afterward . 
often the jekyll and hyde archetypes are viewed as splitting a whole person into components of good and evil or perhaps cerebral and emotional parts . 
here the doctor is intellectual and perhaps good , but certainly powerless . 
his alter ego is forceful and totally without conscience . 
two parts that make up a whole . 
neither are capable of functioning without the other and once separated , disaster is inevitable . 
the differences between the two characters would be more effective if it were accomplished by demeanor and attitude . 
when we finally see the transformation , the special effects thrust the story into the realm of science fiction , not the psychological horror that the tale demands . 
roberts and malkovich are skillful in their roles . 
both are suitably melancholy , fitting in with the rest of the film . 
the only flash of life and color comes from glenn close ( and her lips ) as the madam of a whorehouse where hyde lives , and surprisingly , jekyll apparently frequents . 
life and color maybe , but this is not close's best role . 
she seems little more than a cardboard cutout character . 
a beautiful film in its own dreary way . 
you'll appreciate the filmmaking craft , but don't expect to leave in an upbeat mood .
the dream team is a thoroughly entertaining comedy featuring four loveable characters who just happen to be slightly insane . 
billy , played by michael keaton , is an extremely temperamental mental ward patient whose short fuse and violent tantrums tend to get him in trouble . 
christopher lloyd portrays henry , an obsessive-compulsive who requires that everything be neat , orderly , on schedule , and by the books . 
he thinks he's a doctor so he walks around wearing a suit and carrying a clipboard on which he constantly scribbles notes and files reports . 
jack , played by peter boyle , thinks he's jesus . 
and finally , there's stephen furst as albert , a chubby catatonic who speaks only in baseball and television phrases . 
the dream team follows the misadventures that beset the four-some when their psychiatrist , dr . weitzman , takes them out of the hospital for a field trip to yankee stadium . 
during a pit stop , they get separated from weitzman and are left to fend for themselves in manhattan . 
the movie's charm derives mostly from the camaraderie and chemistry between its delightful cast . 
the four leads in the film play off each other quite effectively ; they never miss an opportunity to argue , bicker , or insult one another . 
henry and jack , for example , fight over who's going to get to ride in the front passenger seat on the way to the game . 
the actors in the dream team have a lot of fun with their characters and with each other . 
michael keaton is well cast as billy ; he gives his cynical character considerable complexity . 
as the divinely jack , peter boyle succeeds in keeping his one-dimensional character funny and fresh . 
although stephen furst's catatonic character is cliched , the actor makes him sympathetic and endearing . 
while keaton , boyle , and furst are good , it's christopher lloyd who really makes the movie special . 
lloyd gives yet another outstanding comic performance . 
his body language ( for example , the way he walks ) and his facial expressions are perfectly suited to his compulsive character . 
lloyd's brilliant performance yields a pathetic , moving , and memorable character . 
the dream team is a solid comedy with more depth and drama than you might expect from its simple premise . 
the characters are so appealing that you can excuse the film for its often outlandish and unbelievable plot .
synopsis : shrek ( myers ) is an ogre living in contented solitude deep in the heart of a forest , until his home is invaded by fairy tale creatures fleeing the rule of the evil lord farquaad ( john lithgow ) . 
farquaad agrees to relocate the pests , on the condition that shrek rescues princess fiona ( diaz ) -- whom farquaad desires to wed -- from a far-off castle . 
grudgingly , shrek sets out , joined in his quest by an unwanted companion , donkey ( murphy ) . 
review : one memorable aspect of disney's " aladdin " was that it finally gave robin williams a character -- the genie -- to best take advantage of his comic talents . 
 " shrek " does the same for eddie murphy ; ironically , though , murphy's ideal vessel turns out to be an ass . 
all the same , " shrek " does represent murphy's best comic outing in years , and as donkey he steals all the best lines . 
for instance , after getting belted with pixie dust while trying to conceal his nature as a magical creature , donkey soars into the air and scoffs , " now i'm a flying talking donkey ! " 
and despite its many contributors , the script for " shrek " is full of such comic gems . 
myers is delightful in more of a straight man role , and lithgow also gets some great moments ( watch for a hilarious repartee with the gingerbread man ) . 
 " shrek " takes great pleasure in lampooning fairy tales and nursery rhymes of all sorts , and reserves a few delightful knocks at disney in the bargain . 
things do go somewhat astray during the film's middle segment , which concentrates too much on the main characters at the expense of some of the terrific fairy tale satire which is the movie's greatest strength . 
but even then , one can always sit back and enjoy the beautiful computer animation , whose remarkable use here represents yet another dazzling leap forward for the technology .
the rocky horror picture show 'special edition' ( 1975 ) 
starring : tim curry and susan sarandon 
cult films are never mainstream . 
the casual viewer of a cult film will look at it and be repulsed and confused , yelling out 'what the hell is that ? ' . 
fans of these sorts of movies will be laughing at every other second at all the 'hidden jokes' they missed the first time around while normal movie watchers will look at them like they're insane . 
the rocky horror picture show , recently re-released in a 'special edition' to video , is the mother of all cult films . 
period . 
like some other cult films , most notably little shop of horrors , the rocky horror picture show is a musical with a twisted edge to it . 
this movie begins out innocently enough- a couple get engaged at a friend's wedding and get a flat tire in the middle of the night while it's raining . 
they go to a castle to try to use the phone . 
little do they know that the castle is owned by dr . frank n . furter , a mad transexual transvestite scientist who has recently created a creature he will use for personal reasons . 
the acting is pretty good overall . 
tim curry ( home alone 2 , legend ) is over-the-top as frank n . furter . 
it's interesting to see that this movie was one of future oscar winner susan sarandon's ( dead man walking ) first film- she plays janet , the girlfriend of brad majors . 
even the singer meatloaf is in it ! ! 
the songs are all very good yet twisted in their own way . 
a sampling of titles range from damn it , janet to touch-a touch-a touch-a touch me . 
all the actors sing their songs with no dubbing from other actors- kind of a bad thing . 
barry bostwick ( brad majors ) tries to sing as does susan sarandon , but tim curry is clearly the most professional having extensive stage experience . 
meatloaf sings like meatloaf . 
the new special edition contains two original movie trailers of the film as well as two songs deleted from the original version . 
sadly , the songs are tacked after the credits- kind of defeats the purpose . 
if you want to see a different film , watch this one ! !
if he doesn=92t watch out , mel gibson is in danger of being known as someone other than mad max . 
of course there are still a few big guns in this film , but there=92s some accomplished acting too . 
although gibson continues to shed his rough and gritty anti-hero skin as his career progresses , here he explores a new genre : the businessman as action hero . 
in ron howard=92s latest film , gibson plays tom mullen , a gazillionaire airline owner whose son is snatched from the junior science fair by kidnappers . 
mullen at first agrees to pay the ransom , but when things fall apart he rethinks the situation . 
a veteran of numerous hard-nosed business negotiations , the tycoon realizes that in order to get his son back alive , he has to play his hand differently . 
the casting is what puts this film over the top . 
the trio of gibson , the kidnappers' mastermind ( gary sinise ) and fbi team leader ( delroy lindo ) play off of each other wonderfully . 
sinise is perfect as the driven scheming sleezebag is right on the mark . 
his speech to mullen over a walkie talkie about h . g . wells=92 morlocks and eloi reveal his vision of= 
society . mullen and the other glitteratti frolic up on high while sinise and the other lowlifes dwell below , feeding off the unsuspecting . 
gibson=92s character is an all-american hero with a few flaws . 
his cowboy= 
tactics tend to work , but they are also what got him into this situation to begin with . 
in a round about way , if he weren=92t known as a man who i= s willing to buy his way out of trouble , his son wouldn=92t have been kidnapped . 
as sinise says " you=92re a payer . 
you did it once and now you=92re going to do it again . " 
one of the nicest elements of this film is that most of the characters actually have personalities . 
lindo calls home to talk to his kids , obviously shaken at working this case . 
even the kidnappers are real people , arguing about the ultimate fate of sean mullen and feeding him candy bars . 
gibson=92s break-down on the balcony of their penthouse apartment is especially effective . 
it=92s one of the best filmed representations of a man=92s world falling apart that i=92ve seen . 
it=92s not all perfect . 
the shoot 'em upending , while emotionally satisfying seems tacked on to be just that rather than to provide a powerful resolution . 
as well crafted as the scene is , we=92ve seen it before . 
mullen=92s wife ( rene russo ) has several good moments , but occasionally just seems to be there . 
while adequate , brawley nolte ( sean ) doesn=92t provide much to the film other than occupying space to build the story around . 
but you=92ll ignore these problems as each minute of the movie builds on the previous one . 
forget about the large coke , you won=92t want to leave for that five minute break an hour later .
the full monty is a whole lot of fun , its wacky , witty , and original . 
it's written and directed by relatively unknowns , simon beaufoy and peter cattaneo , who both turned up oscar nominations . 
how did this movie with a budget under 10 million gross over 175 million worldwide ? 
its been rumored that this film may be the second most profitable movie of the year ! 
and to think its about male exotic dancers , and not sinking ships . 
six steel workers who have been recently been laid off and are all looking for jobs . 
inspired by the success of a chippendale's production , gaz ( robert carlyle ) decides they should all put on a strip show to make some money quickly . 
as the six team up to put on the show of their lives , they run into a few problems . 
for instance , dave ( mark addy ) is worried about his weight , horse ( paul barber ) thinks he may be inadequate , and gerald ( tom wilkinson ) is worried about his reputation and timing . 
so when the night of the show comes , will the men be able to do the " full monty " ? 
as i said before this is a fun movie , and not just that its really artistically good . 
the writing and direction are great . 
the acting is appealing , all the performances have a human quality to them , so you can relate to at least one of the characters . 
the full monty received four oscar nominations including best picture . 
which left me wondering one thing , why didn't trainspotting get a best picture nomination last year ? 
while the full monty is a great lighthearted comedy , it doesn't carry the social impact of the brilliant trainspotting . 
still , the full monty is a great film , a must see !
now , lets first look into the history of shark films . 
there was the unforgettable jaws . 
the exciting jaws 2 . the rather flaky jaws 3d and sometime in the late 90s another film of the same genre that i can't seem to recall ( about the son of jaws returning to wreak revenge or something like that ) . 
now , with the magic of cgi , one shark is simply not enough ; in deep blue sea , there are 3 big , mean and really smart ones ! 
russell frankiln ( jackson ) visits aquatica ( a sea-bound research center ) , where a research is being conducted on the extraction of a hormone substance found uniquely within the shark brain that can cure and reverse the effects of alzheimer's disease . 
the substance is small in quantity and because of this , lead researcher dr . susan macalaester genetically alters the shark dna and grows them twice the size with brains as big as humans , naturally producing more of the much treasured hormones . 
as sure as the sun sets in the west , a shark breaks lose and wreaks havoc within the facility during a hormone extraction procedure . 
with the flexibility offered by cgi , the sharks get more full-length screen time as their predecessors did in those remote-controlled rubber suit days . 
gone are the days of people getting pulled under the water with the water turning red right after . 
this time , we get to see the entire gobbling action , with floating limbs and all . 
so-so acting , expected in most of your average action film . 
jackson ( fresh from his jedi master role in the phantom menace ) , takes on the dark-side force of a different kind and fits well with his wise-cracking lines . 
ll cool j's cook role as preacher , does for this film what steven seagal's cook could only dream to achieve in his two under siege films . 
deep blue sea does not offer any of the psychological thrills that jaws has to offer . 
it does however , prove to be a refreshing follow-up within the genre , full of visual thrills , suspense and believe it or not  humour ! 
its like jurassic park under water . 
nothing too stressful , pure entertainment . 
renny harlin , you are forgiven ( for making cutthroat island ) .
this is the best british gangster film since the long good friday . 
jon bennet ( played by andrew howard ) is an extremely good assassin . 
as such he is probably an evil man but it does not worry him . 
he has become an unquestioning weapon . 
he is in the employ of a kingpin ( david calder ) far more evil than he is . 
but even assassins have innocent pasts . 
he runs into an old from school days and he is married to a mutual girl friend from school . 
complicating matters is that they live near where he had a recent job and their young daughter may have seen him at the crime . 
a big piece of what makes this film work is the depiction of the kingpin . 
calder is a familiar actor in britain , though not frequently seen in the us . 
he was seen in the world is not enough . 
here he creates one of the best screen villains in recent years . 
he is at once seductive and repellent like a beautiful venomous snake . 
his lair is underground , apparently in a sewer , where he lives like the king of sewer rats . 
it is the kingpin who pulls the strings that will control bennet's life . 
paul sarossy who directs spent most of his career as a cinematographer and like the kingpin's lair , he has molded images of class and style out of the darkness . 
by using semi-darkness and letting the colors of deep blue and black dominate every scene he makes the film visually as ominous as anything in this nether world . 
this is a world that is cold and unfriendly . 
sorossy creates a world of violence much more by what we hear than what we see . 
this is a film with a great deal of physical violence occurring just out of reach . 
we see very little but we hear a great deal more and we imagine more than that . 
the screenplay is by peter waddington based on the novel by neil cross , but it is sarossy's film all the way . 
it creates indelible images of evil . 
i rate it an 8 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +3 on the -4 to +4 scale . 
 ( i do hope they do not use the tagline " don't mess with mr . in-between . " )
most movies seem to release a third movie just so it can be called a trilogy . 
rocky iii seems to kind of fit in that category , but manages to be slightly unique . 
the rocky formula of " rocky loses fight/rocky trains/rocky wins fight " is carried out to the letter . 
also the 'tradition' of showing the last five minutes or so from the past rocky film is used as well . 
this movie begins with a series of clips showing how famous rocky ( sylvester stallone ) has become . . . 
even showing a brief appearance on sesame street ! ! 
then it moves on with rocky being in a fixed fight with thunderlips ( hulk hogan ) . 
a mysterious bad-ass known as clubber lang ( mr . t ) trash-talks to rocky about his stupid decision to retire from boxing and that he " pities the fool " for not coming out and fighting him outright . 
rocky's trainer ( burgess meredith ) tells rocky not to fight , but the italian stallion doesn't listen . 
naturally , he gets his ass kicked . 
somewhere along the line after this several things happen . 
rocky's longtime trainer dies , causing rocky to train with his former opponent apollo creed . 
rocky's wife complains to her husband that he should fight . 
the final fight ensues between clubber and rocky . 
guess who wins ? 
the winner's name rhymes with 'smocky' . 
the movie is entertaning mainly because of clubber lang's over the top performance . 
the dramatic aspect has been toned down considerably since rocky ii and now action seems to be the strong point of the film . 
which is good if you like fighting scenes . 
the last match is quite decent actually . 
if you liked the previous films , rent this one . 
it's well worth seeing if you are a fan of the series . 
but if you can't stand rocky shouting " adrianne ! ! ! " 
one more time , see something else .
synopsis : retiring detective jerry black ( nicholson ) becomes involved in the case of a murdered girl , and promises her parents that he will find the killer . 
he purchases a gas station on a route he believes the killer takes , and there befriends lori ( wright penn ) and her young daughter . 
as jerry and lori fall in love , can he do what must be done to fulfill his pledge ? 
review : at first , " the pledge " appears to be just another standard , if well-executed , crime drama . 
it is anything but ; in its final hour , it turns the corner and becomes a riveting , terrifying study of its lead character , jerry black . 
penn pays attention to all the trappings of the serial killer genre , but they are just window dressing . 
his interest here , unequivocally , is jerry , a man so haunted by his pledge that it consumes the entirety of the his existence . 
at first , we see this only in small hints ; some of his habits change , for instance , and he suddenly takes up smoking in a big way . 
but then , when jerry buys the gas station and befriends lori , the true extent of his mania draws horrifyingly into focus . 
nicholson is fantastic , portraying black with rare subtlety and animus ; jerry's gradual descent into obsession is like a car wreck , a thing horrible to look at but impossible to turn away from . 
penn coaxes good supporting performances from much of the rest of his cast , too . 
only eckhart disappoints as jerry's replacement , stan ; he never seems entirely convincing , too much a tool of the plot . 
penn's direction is astounding , each frame looking as though it is parched -- of water , perhaps , or of sanity . 
it all builds up to a shattering , devastating climax which lingers uncomfortably in the mind long after the house lights have come up .
one never quite knows what one is going to get with a mamet film . 
his american buffalo is a set-bound piece that has very little plot . 
sometimes he will tell a story that really moves . 
heist is mamet doing his most entertaining work . 
unlike his the spanish prisoner , there are no lapses in credibility . 
heist is probably the best mamet thriller since house of games . 
it is the kind of plot with which you are never sure who will double-cross whom , and frequently it is mamet double-crossing the viewer . 
watching the film's team getting around security the viewer is frequently asking himself either " what the heck are they doing ? " 
or " why didn't anybody think of that before ? " 
appropriately enough heist opens with a very clever jewelry store job . 
it is so clever that one wonders if mamet really thinks up all these ideas himself or if he has help from professional magician and con expert ricky jay , now a regular actor in mamet films . 
this is a robbery that works like a well-oiled machine . 
there is just one problem and it is enough to get joe moore ( played by gene hackman ) filmed on a security camera . 
now joe has to get out of the business . 
it was coming time anyway . 
joe's team including bobby blane ( delroy lindo ) , fran moor ( rebecca pidgeon ) , and pinky pincus ( ricky jay ) is going to split up and go separate ways . 
but crime boss bergman ( danny devito ) is pulling the strings and he says that joe and his people have to manage one more robbery . 
and he has to take along a young kid , the short- fused jimmy silk ( sam rockwell ) . 
immediately it is obvious that there is more going on than meets the eye . 
much of what distinguishes heist is mamet's dialog . 
remarkably it serves a double purpose . 
the robbery team sounds at once very professional and at the same time it has mamet's special feel for dialog . 
hackman has lines like " everybody needs money . 
that's why they call it money . " 
mamet's timing is perfect in the direction but terrible in the production . 
the plot is coincidentally a lot like the plot of the recent the score , which is , in fact , a very similar story . 
both are good films , perhaps for some of the same reasons . 
but at least on a high level they are much the same story . 
the other problem with the timing of heist is that it involves airport security and clever ways to get around them . 
i saw the film at the toronto international film festival on september 12 , 2001 . 
that made the subject matter just a little too timely . 
my understanding is that the release will be delayed . 
my biggest problem with the film is that rebecca pidgeon's acting at times seems very poor . 
it is some kind of mamet trademark i do not understand to have women talk without inflection , as if they are just reading the words for the first time . 
it is an irritation and distracts us from what is otherwise a very good thriller . 
it is one i rate an 8 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale .
leonardo decaprio ( what's eating gilbert grape ) and claire danes ( tv's my so called life ) star in director baz luhrmann's modernized version of william shakespeare's classic , romeo & juliet . 
surrounded by a superb supporting cast , in-cluding paul sorvino ( goodfellas ) , brian dennehy ( tommy boy ) , pete poslethwaite ( the usual sus-pects ) and john leguizamo ( executive decision ) , decaprio and danes shine throughout the film . 
the story starts off at a gas station , where the " montague boys " meet the " capulet boys " and square off with one another . 
symbolizing the swords of shakespeare's day were their weapons , like the " rapier-9mm " or the " longsword- shotgun . " 
instead of killing each other right away , they shoot around , just like in sword fights of old . 
another great thing about the film was the performance of harold perrineau as romeo's best friend . 
mercutio , who in shakespeare's novel was quite a stud , was portrayed as an afri-can-american cross-dresser whose violent na-ture , was a definite plus . 
miriam margoyles , a virtually unknown actress was astounding as juliet's nurse , even though she was never given a name . 
she was the only one who could keep juliet out of her fantasy world . 
verona was the home of the rival families in shakespeare's version , only slightly changed in luhrmann's . 
now known as verona beach , the capulet's ( led by sorvino ) and montague's ( led by dennehy ) are now rival corporate dynasties . 
and their small family skirmishes were now huge gang wars . 
one slight problem with the film was the difficulty to comprehend the dialogue , since it was spoken in old english . 
sub-titles could have helped in the beginning of the movie , but toward the end , it became easier to understand . 
this excellent movie poses another prob-lem : what genre is it ? 
romeo & juliet contains so much drama , yet enough comedy and action to be placed in either of those categories . 
with the same award-winning formula that was used by quentin tarantino in reservoir dogs and pulp fiction , romeo & juliet is a sure fire modern masterpiece . 
 ,
voices . . . . . trey parker , matt stone , george clooney , minnie driver . 
 " south park : bigger , longer and uncut " is undoubtedly crude , offensive , mean-spirited movie , that comes off as a politcally correct movie too . 
if your canadian , a strong christian , fat , gay or anything else , you will be offended . 
but when you watch this movie , there is no doubt that you will laugh . 
based on the wildly popular comedy central tv show , south park stars cartman , an overweight , foul-mouthed kid , with attitude , and a sweet side . 
kenny , a poor kid who gets killed in every episode , and talks with his coat hood covering his head . 
stan a regular , sometimes boring kid who has problems with women . 
and kyle a lonely jew who talks to his poop . 
the movie opens with a funny , but messageable song , that all of the people of south park sing . 
cartman , stan , kenny and kyle are very excited to see the new terrance and phillip ( beavis and butthead types ) movie " asses of fire " . 
but when the kids get up to the movie to get the tickets , they learn the movie is rated r , which of course means that anyone under the age of 17 cannot get in without a parent or legal guardian . 
the kids do not understand this , and they pay a homeless man to buy their tickets . 
while in the movie , laughing at the movie , terrance and phillip cuss repeatedly entertaining the kids . 
they kids then go out and cuss themselves , getting in trouble and causing kyle's mom to go against the mpaa . 
while doing this kenny learns a thing or to , by proving to cartman he can light his fart on fire . 
kenny does so , dies , and goes to hell , to find out that satan and saddam huiessan ( homosexual lovers ) , are about to take over the world , if terrance and phillip die . 
>from here on , nothing more should be said to keep the rest a surprise . 
but believe me , this isn't your regular south park tv show , and should not be seen by anyone under 14 or more . 
this film contains extreme profanity ( over 130 " f " words and a collection of others ) . 
but beyond being bad in a tasteless type way , south park : bigger , longer and uncut has many messages that are embedded inside it . 
but i bet you will not leave the movie , for at least laughing one time or more . 
and enjoying yourself . 
take it from me , south park : b , l , and u , isn't as good as you'd hope , but it is good for some laughs .
" it's not good to know too much about someone , charlie , " charles warns his niece , charlie ( margaret welsh ) , with a devilish grin . 
charlie is infatuated with her namesake uncle , her " soul mate " as she calls him since her mother gave her his name . 
there's a lot to know about charles , not the least of which is that he strangled 3 widows back east . 
mark harmon , who looks like anything but a killer but specializes in playing them , plays charles , the merry widow murderer in the 1991 hallmark hall of fame remake of the 1943 hitchcock film , shadow of a doubt . 
and to avoid any questions about his guilt , we see charles in action in the opening scene with his last victim . 
the story takes place in the early 1950s in the small town of petaluma , california , where charles heads to avoid the police . 
john gay's script uses most of the original screenplay by sally benson , alma reville , and thornton wilder . 
karen arthur's direction is certainly no match for the great master , but on an absolute scale , the movie maintains a high level of suspense . 
when supercilious and deceitful charles comes to pay a visit of indeterminate length with his sister and her family in petaluma , they don't know about his nefarious activities . 
he showers them with elaborate gifts to buy the love they had already given him anyway . 
two mysterious and exceedingly clean-cut writers for a magazine show up to take pictures of the family for a spread on the " average american family , " but their interest is focused on uncle charles , especially on taking his picture and learning about his background . 
charlie , who first welcomed her uncle's visit , begins to feel more and more uncomfortable with him and suspicious of the disingenuous magazine reporters . 
the picture advances with a delicate power using small details such as the newspaper article that the uncle tries secretly to remove and that charlie discovers . 
the beauty of the story is the pas de deux between uncle and niece as they try to out psych each other . 
she wants him to leave , and he doesn't want to go , what with a local , rich widow as a prospective victim . 
will charles kill charlie first , or will she get him out of town . 
harmon is wonderfully creepy and smug , and welsh is tough but trapped . 
with a deft touch the director sets up each scene , several with thunderstorms , and tom neuwirth's sepia-toned cinematography makes the movie feel as if it were filmed in the 50s . 
my only quibble is the director's awkward staging of the final scene on the train . 
is hitchcock's version better ? 
of course . 
is this one worth watching as well ? 
actually , yes . 
shadow of a doubt runs 1 : 40 . 
it is not rated but would be pg for adult themes and would be fine for kids around nine and up .
do you want to know the truth about cats and dogs ? 
do you ? 
well , as this movie shows us , they make good companions but pale in comparison to the joy and fulfillment romantic relationships can bring . 
unfortunately , there's a giant roadblock set up in our culture that only certain people can get through while the rest of us mill around outside , feeling sorry for ourselves . 
a checkpoint beautiful kind of thing , and janeane garafolo's character abby relates to it well . 
like a certain oversized teenage movie critic , she is intelligent and has a great sense of humor but strikes out with the opposite sex because she sees herself as physically unattractive , and the men seem to be backing her up on that . 
meanwhile , her gorgeous neighbor nora ( uma thurman . . . 
uma being the only woman's name worse than nora ) attracts men like flies . 
as abby tells her , " you burp and they think it's cute . 
you barf and they line up to hold your hair back . " 
but nora's down on herself for being too shallow and superficial . 
we all have our prwhen a man calls in to veterinarian abby's talk radio show wanting to know how to get the roller skates off his basset hound . 
 ( oh come on , any idiot knows how to handle that problem ! ) 
he likes her personality and professional demeanor and asks to meet her in person . 
abby , though , knows her body doesn't match her personality and that she probably won't have a chance with him once he sees her . 
so she gives him nora's body description and stands him up . 
nora happens to be in the studio the next day when the dog man comes by and abby asks her for a big favor . 
she goes along with the masquerade and the three of them head out for a night of fun , abby assuming the role of a goat cheese farmer named donna . 
the dog man finds out even though this girl is beautiful , she's not quite as intellectual or confident about herself in person , but he doesn't suspect anything , realizing he's not living in a " three's company " episode . 
the charade continues , with abby furthering the relationship over the phone ( including a decidedly unnecessary phone sex/masturbation sequence ) and nora furthering it in person , while eventually finding herself attracted to the dog man . 
like sleepless in seattle , this comedy/romance is predictable all the way through , but we care enough about the characters that we root them on and will the romance to blossom . 
the truth about cats and dogs isn't quite as entertaining as i was expecting it to be , but it handles well a theme i could identify with . 
the thing is , i find janeane garafolo rather attractive . 
she's no uma but i'm sure in real life she'd have no problems attracting men . 
i , on the other hand , couldn't attract a man to save my life . . . 
and am rather proud of that fact .
elmore leonard has quickly become one of hollywood's favorite authors . 
out of four film adaptations in as many years , the witty and inventive out of sight gives get shorty a run for its money as the best leonard adaptation around . 
george clooney stars as jack foley , a nice bank robber . . . you 
know the type , he uses his charm and his wits rather than a gun . 
but even charming guys end up unlucky , and jack ends up in jail . 
but not for long . 
he plots an escape with the help of his best friend , and fellow robber , buddy bragg ( ving rhames ) , and their slow-witted pothead associate , glenn michaels ( steve zahn ) . 
but jack didn't count on u . s . marshal karen sisco ( jennifer lopez ) . 
appearing at the right place at the wrong time , karen gets involved in foley's escape attempt and the subsequent manhunt to bring him in . 
however , karen develops a rapport with jack foley , and finds that she begrudgingly likes the guy . 
but , can love prosper on opposite sides of the law ? 
or can karen straighten out jack before he goes too far in pursuit of just one last crime . 
clooney , who has had a string of solid , but never stellar , film roles , delivers his best performance to date . 
he blends into his role here perfectly as the risk taking jack foley , who's willing to gamble everything on the chance that karen sisco might be his true love . 
jennifer lopez does an excellent job as well . 
she actually has a trickier role than clooney , as a woman who has to balance her emotions with her sense of duty . 
she and clooney develop good chemistry together . 
the film boasts a superb ensemble . 
steve zahn gives a hilarious performance , and steals nearly every scene he's in . 
don cheadle is appropriately sinister as a violent ex-con who may or may not be teaming up with foley . 
albert brooks is enjoyable as a white collar criminal who talks too much for his own good . 
out of the cast , only dennis farina seems underused as karen's ex-lawman father . 
steven soderbergh gives the film sharp and stylistic direction . 
with an affectation for freeze frames , he delivers a unique take on the film's action and love scenes that places out of sight a notch above routine crime films . 
a recurring series of flashbacks makes the film seem more complex than it actually is . 
devoid of its bells and whistles , out of sight is actually a fairly straightforward crime story . 
however , there are only a few spots in the film that seem bare , and they pass quickly . 
with smart dialogue , good characters , and an excellent cast , out of sight easily smoothes over the rough spots in the plot and delivers on both the action and romantic fronts .
bob the happy bastard's quickie review : 
the matrix 
what's worse than y2k ? 
how about a fully digital future where nothing is real ? 
that's what computer programmer neo ( keanu reeves ) slowly learns as he enters the dangerous world that is the matrix , a movie directed by the wachowski brothers ( the guys behind the hip thriller bound ) . 
before you groan at the presence of reeves in the lead role , hold on . 
there's actually a story with depth here . 
it seems that a group of hackers is out to stop the system that is the matrix , led by the bald but brilliant laurence fishburne and assisted by carrie ann moss , who looks quite cool in leather , i must say . 
neo ( reeves ) is pretty much a key player in this fight , although he really doesn't look it at first . 
could this amateur be " the one " as fisburne thinks he is ? 
credit the wachowskis for putting together a great story that allows suspense to build , something that few special effects-laden films seem to do these days . 
there's plenty of effects to go around , of course , but at least there's a backbone to build them on as well . 
reeves is surprisingly good in his role as neo , particularly in a fight scene with fishburne that comes across as goofy , yet great . 
i wish the villains weren't quite so " generic " ( leftover g-men from looking for a sweet sci-fi actioner with plenty of stop-motion swooping camera angles and , of course , a motherlode of a helicopter explosion . 
now the wachowskis are headed into horror films with their next project . 
bring it on .
martin scorsese's kundun , which chronicles roughly the first twenty years of the life of the currently exiled dalai lama , has been criticized for its lack of narrative structure . 
personally , i don't think it needs one : it works perfectly well as a study of tibetan buddhist culture and how communist china . 
scorsese views the dalai lama the way many tibetans probably do , as a larger-than-life symbol of buddhist spirituality and political leadership : the only glimpses into his head come from several interesting yet oblique dream sequences , but his portrayal is appropriate for a film that concentrates on the political and spiritual rather than the personal . 
the set design and cinematography are outstanding , and while scorsese occasionally seems to get carried away with the spectacle , it helps to augment the cultural contrast when the dalai lama travels to china to meet chairman mao . 
political art sometimes succumbs to the temptation to start shouting slogans , kundun does not : it succeeds in delivering its message in an artistically interesting way and without being overly manipulative .
synopsis : upper middle class , suburban family man lester ( kevin spacey ) realizes that he is just going through the motions : he is unable to feel passion ; he is soulless , cynical , and no longer able to feel the edge between success and failure . 
everyone else around him has similar symptoms . 
lester's unassertive daughter jane ( thora birch ) is too lethargic to change her world , yet all too ready to whine and complain . 
his wife carolyn ( annette bening ) is reduced to keeping up appearances and reciting commercialist slogans . 
and these are people with a big house and a decent standard of living . 
the only person who seems able to appreciate beauty and freedom and life is the person most deprived of it : a dope-dealing teen from across the street who is practically imprisoned by a domineering , bullying father . 
when lester embarks on a mad scramble to feel the edge again , the fact that he has quit his job to feel what it's like - - and his newfound interest in exercise to impress a teenage girl - - ruffle a lot of feathers in the family . 
will lester regain his ability to appreciate life ? 
opinion : people say it all the time : you never appreciate good health until it's gone . 
likewise , people raised in fabulously pampered prosperity can become unhappy and spiteful over the dumbest , most inconsequential problems , simply because they have no clue how good they have it . 
sometimes it takes a near fall - - accidentally or through deliberate fasting - - to move out of apathy and reclaim your ability to challenge the world . 
the deprivation/appreciation cycle is a major theme of american beauty . 
american beauty is a non-formula , intelligent and articulate movie that offers fantastic performances by everyone in the cast , especially kevin spacey , who is simply gosh darn amazing this movie . 
the thing i like about american beauty is that there is no sentimental music , no hospital scene nor any overly dramatic hokum . 
the movie entertains and offers brilliant performances just as is . 
if you are in the mood for a thoughtful , non-formula flick , i highly recommend american beauty .