polsci/sentiment-polarity-dataset-v2.0 huggingface dataset:
it's a fact that a good thriller or action movie doesn't need violence to be good or worth watching . 
all it takes is potential violence to make the audience bite their nails . 
and what kind of violence could be more efficient than a global thermo-nuclear war ? 
and potential violence is the premiss wargames is built upon . 
a computer whiz-kid , david , is usually contended with hacking into the school computer to change his grades . 
but after having read an advertisment for an upcoming computer game , he wants to be the first to play it . 
instead of getting into the computer at protovision software he accidentally comes to the frontgate of norad . 
with the help of jennifer , a girl in his biology class , he starts to play a nice game of nuclear war with wopr , war operation plan response ( a top-notch computer at the time , but now hardly faster than my own computer ) 
i remember being 12 and watching this at the cinema . 
it was very efficent at giving you a scare in those days and that hasn't changed . 
of course , a nuclear war seemed to be much more of something that could actually happen back in 1983 . 
i wouldn't be surprised if this gave people nightmares . 
i hope it still does since you still hear about school kids hacking into the computers at pentagon . 
broderick and sheedy are just fine as the young teenagers ( although her interest in david remains a mystery ) . 
but the rest of the actors are , by no fault of their own , restricted by the script to play one-dimensional grownups . 
david's parents are the same kind of parents that populate all these college comedies from the 1980s , movies like secret admirer , porky's or zapped and the norad general beringer is straight out of dr . strangelove . 
if for no other reason , you should see this movie to enjoy how far the computer technology has gone since those days . 
david uses the same telephone for calling friends as calling other computers . 
the modem is some kind of device that he puts the headset on . 
far from any 56k modem my guess is that it's some kind of 2400 bps modem , the kind of technology you now find at your local technical museum . 
the big computer at norad has a lot of flashing lights ( just like those you see on star trek or any old sf-movie ) but it's hardly impressing compared with what you can get today . 
what are the lessons we can learn from wargames ? 
1 . 
make sure there are no secret backdoors into military computers . 
2 . thank you , whoever it was , for giving us a graphical user interface when we use our computers !
there exists a litany of differences between a successful action movie and a successful suspense movie . 
action movies are typically devoid of plot other than a simple byline which can string together several explosive sequences , while suspense movies hinge on plot and subtlety and the ability to bring everything full-circle . 
for fans of both genres , however , realism is key . 
action fans want to know that the weapons and methods their heroes are using are authentic , and suspense fans want everything to fall into an explainable framework by the movie's end . 
on this advice , director john frankenheimer ( the island of dr . 
moreau ) strives for realism in an interestingly dynamic balance of suspense and action for his latest thriller , ronin . 
the depth of intrigue in ronin is quite amazing , considering the fare that's fallen into the same category over the last few years . 
the script , written by j . d . zeik in his big-screen debut , approaches levels of complexity that had people spinning away from mission : impossible two years ago . 
a certain number of people will be lost by this , but afficianados will appreciate it all the more and return multiple times . 
frankenheimer masters the script with poise , and tells us a dark but stoically realistic tale of a group of post-cold war mercenaries working to earn their paycheck . 
his ability to convey feeling and character while promoting explosiveness and tense atmosphere works well here , and ronin becomes a better movie because of it . 
robert de niro headlines this cast of noteworthies in a performance that is the most outstanding of his in quite some time . 
he takes command and offers much gravity as the ex-spy sam , a man who's called to france to help a shady operations controller named dierdre ( natascha mcelhone ) recover a package . 
the package becomes the central motivator for the entire cast , especially once the requisite double-crossing begins , and its role is skillfully penned by zeik . 
at times , however , zeik's tale becomes almost too reminiscent of mission : impossible - de niro might easily become tom cruise , the package might become cruise's computer disk . 
fortunately , the focus here is almost entirely on the package , whereas in mission the script was more concerned with the double-cross and why it happened . 
the action content is impressive , and it lives up to the hints given in previews . 
the only fans who will be disappointed are those who expect full-blown combat scenes and instead are forced to suffer through moments of slowness . 
ronin does take a degree of intelligence to follow all of the nuance from start to finish , but even the uninitiated will be able to keep a grasp on most characters mand subplots . 
the suspense tapers off considerably by the end , a bit of a drawback because of its height at the movie's open . 
considering these factors it's good to see that ronin was a project that turned out well , and it's another good bet this month . 
since quality is usually sparse during the early fall months , it's definitely worth the visit .
damn those trailers . 
had it not been for the advertising of this film , which reveals far too much about its contents , i would have been glued to `under the sand' . 
as it is , the film retains some value , thanks to an excellent performance by charlotte rampling , and a more mature francois ozon in the director's chair . 
marie ( charlotte rampling ) and her husband jean ( bruno cremer ) lounge on the beach . 
she takes a nap while he goes for a swim . 
when marie wakes up , jean is nowhere to be found . 
she contacts authorities , but they can't find him either . 
did he disappear to start a new life ? 
was he killed by accident ? 
did he commit suicide ? 
marie still asks herself these questions a year later , and in order to move on with her life , she must find some answers . 
it's a fine premise , and this little movie uses it to the limit . 
the film moves at a leisurely pace , a bit slow , but relaxing . 
it's a very visual story , and you can pretty much just sit back without reading the subtitles . 
this is mostly thanks to the excellent camera work by antoine heberle and jeanne lapoirie , who shot the film in a dreamy haze , and the lead performance by rampling . 
rampling is so expressive in her portrayal of marie , you connect with her character instantly , despite that she's delusional . 
the scenes where she interacts with her husband , who she still believes is alive , are heartbreaking . 
she can't quite get over him . 
they've been married for twenty-five years . 
the other actors , particularly jacques nolot , are excellent too . 
the sex in the film is rather unneeded , but compared to ozon's `criminal lovers' , it's the disney channel . 
likely to cause some discussion afterwards , `under the sand' is a fine movie going experience . 
while it's hard to recommend as entertainment , it's a fine adult alternative about how we deal with loss . 
ozon seems to ask what you would do , and that's certainly a hard question to answer .
bob the happy bastard's quickie review : 
rush hour 
so what's the problem with 48 hours clones these days ? 
they always try for the same thing that eddie murphy and nick nolte had . 
that was the problem that plagued these clones , not to mention the actual sequel : another 48 hours , a complete waste of film . 
but , at last , someone has a different take on the matter , and it's director brett rainer . 
rush hour features jackie chan in his first u . s . action movie , playing a chinese detective who's being flown to the us to investigate the kidnapping of the chinese consulate's daughter . 
of course , the fbi is upset that he'll be interfering in their investigation , and stick him with an lapd office with a big mouth- of course , that's chris tucker . 
what makes rush hour work so damn well is the chemistry between the energetic chan and the absolutely hilarious tucker . 
tucker mouths off to chan at every given opportunity ( " i'm michael jackson , you tito . " ) , and chan delivers a few zingers of his own , as well as some terrific fight scenes . 
the story's pretty much your average fare , but with a decent twist involving the main villain , a highly clouded figure named jun tao . 
at least it's entertaining , and the concept is excellently realized . 
a particular fight scene in a chinese office , where chan and tucker duke it out with the bad guys , is funny and energetic at the same time . 
and the finale's a real treat as well . . . chan 
delivers yet another fantastic stunt for the fans with a 10-story drop . 
rush hour is just the sort of film you'll get a kick out of on any night of the week . 
just make sure you don't look for anything culturally different and you'll be fine- drunken master ii this ain't .
a common complaint amongst film critics is " why aren't there more literate scripts available ? " 
quiz show gives signs of hope that the art of writing isn't dead in hollywood and that we need not only look to independent films for thoughtful content . 
paul attanasio's script takes what could have been a tepid thriller ( the quiz show scandals of the late 50s ) and delivers a telling parable about the emptiness of the post war american dream and the golden bubble that surrounds and protects tv networks and their sponsors . 
the film is riddled with telling symbols ( e . g . 
a '58 chrysler , a radio announcement of sputnik ) but is never heavy handed . 
deft direction by robert redford and keen performances by ralph fiennes , john turturro and rob morrow dovetail perfectly with the carefully honed script . 
redford departs from the usually overlight , " cable tv quality " sets and camera work so common in recent 20th century period pieces . 
quiz show perfectly captures the colors and textures of the eisenhower years . 
although i was only 4 years old when the " twenty one " scandal broke , enough of the 50s icons survived throughout my childhood for me to recognize the authenticity of redford's almost tangible palette . 
from plastic covered furniture to carefully coifed contestants , the images ring true from that era of rampant consumerism , of a generation that had gone through 15 years of depression and world war without " disposable income , " before the manifestation of its american dream . 
the film deftly weaves several themes together , from assimilation and exclusion of jews from " the good life , " to the lengths that a scion of a literary family will go to to match his father's fame . 
though the 50s audience that is " rocked " by this scandal may initially seem naive to us , they should appear all too familiar , with our current national passion for the rise and fall of icons like michael jackson or tonya harding . 
charles van doren and herbie stemple were the overnight mega celebrities of their day . 
the tv audience is almost a fourth main character , always at the center of the decisions being made on their behalf . 
at the film's end , the credits roll past slow motion footage of that same 50s tv audience , mindlessly laughing at some piece of fluff . 
like the distorted mirror that captured a blurred swastika at the end of cabaret , this " mirror " may reflect an image we're not all that comfortable with .
being that it is a foreign language film with no known names with a select number theaters showing it , " shall we dance " won't be seen by that many people . 
and that's a shame - this is a funny , enchanting , and goofy movie full of laughs , surprises , and wonderful dance sequences . 
the surprising thing about " shall we dance " is the universal appeal of the story . 
a us version is in the works , and it's no wonder - it's not really all that culture specific . 
although there is a narrated set-up that adds some extra resonance to the proceedings ( about the view the japanese culture has about ballroom dancing ) , the movie is so rich in character and appeal that this added layer isn't at all necessary to understand or enjoy the film . 
the only important unexplained japanese-specific reference that may leave some a bit puzzled is that 1000 yen is roughly $10 ( when you see the film - and you should see this film - you'll know why ) . 
a middle aged company man realizes that achieving all the goals he set for himself in life ( a house , a child , and good marriage ) still doesn't translate into a fulfilled life . 
after glimpsing a melancholy beauty looking out from a dance studio window while on the train home from work , sugiyana ( koji yakusho ) decides after some trepidation to take up ballroom dance lessons in order to meet the woman who has stirred something in himself . 
after finding the weekly fees for private lessons from the elegant and beautiful mai ( tamiyo kusakari ) too rich for his blood , sugiyama opts for groups lessons simply to be near her . 
we then meet the players in this gem of a movie , who all have their own reasons for joining the class . 
later on , we meet aoki at the dance studio ( naoto takenaka ) , a co-worker and all out weirdo and one of the laugh riot highlights of the film . 
the story , laughs , and touching scenes evolve as the movie goes along . 
it's a pleasure to watch such a wonderful film that is propelled almost solely by the characters and performances . 
it's difficult to explain the charms of the film without revealing too much - the movie abounds with little revelations that subtly shape the characters , and in the end , each one is that much fuller and more understood by the time you leave the theater . 
it's one of those movies that only the french seem to make anymore - no big plot , no special effects , no gunplay , no tragic consequences , no forced examinations of the nature of love , and no insights into the nature of evil . 
just a warm , funny , endearing film that will charm the pants off of you . 
when was the last time you left a theater feeling all warm and fuzzy inside ? 
 " shall we dance " will do that to you without any treacly aftertaste .
susan granger's review of " osmosis jones " ( warner bros . ) 
if the farrelly brothers taught anatomy & physiology in school , no one would cut ever class . 
this hip , live action/animation story begins as a monkey snatches a hard-boiled egg from frank , a zookeeper ( bill murray ) , who grabs it back , drops it , then gobbles up the contaminated morsel , explaining , " if it hits and ground and you pick it up within 10 seconds , you can eat it . " 
like " fantastic voyage " ( 1966 ) , the pseudo-science animation then takes over when his body's immune system contacts traffic control as an ingested virus hits the digestive system : " be on the alert for illegal organisms ! " 
eager to right " a stomach evacuation mistake " he once made , a cocky , clever , courageous white blood cell ( chris rock ) declares , " this is a crime scene ! " 
and teams up with a conscientious " phi beta capsule " 12-hour cold remedy called drixenol ( david hyde pierce ) to chase down and destroy the deadly " red death " virus ( laurence fishburne ) that's determined to take frank down in 48 hours , beating ebola and e . coli to a medical record . 
watch out for mucus mudslides , chaos in cerebellum hall and the detritus from booger dam ( runny nose ) , along with comic turns from molly shannon and chris elliot , plus the voices of william shatner and brandy norwood . 
peter and bobby farrelly , along with writer mark hyman and animation directors piet kroon and tom sito , have turned their penchant for gross-out comedy , encompassing flatulence , festering sores and " popping a pimple without a permit , " into a funny , farrelly-funny family film . 
on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , " osmosis jones " is a wildly imaginative , original , explosive 7 . 
and perhaps , as they're laughing , kids will learn where to find their uvula , along with nuggets about nutrition and hygiene .
i must say from the outset that i have never been much of a kurt russell fan . 
i've seen some of his films ( silkwood , backdraft , unlawful entry ) and while he gave adequate performances , i have never been impressed with his work . 
breakdown , then , is something of a surprise . 
russell gives a fine performance , as do most of the cast , one that is not upstaged by the action orchestrated in the second half of the film . 
to say that he holds the film together would not be completely true , but he does it no harm . 
russell plays jeff , one half of a married couple travelling with his wife amy ( kathleen quinlan ) cross country to san diego to start a new job and a new life . 
while journeying through the desert their car breaks down and , left helpless and stranded , jeff waves down a passing truck driver ( j . t . 
walsh ) who offers to take them to a nearby diner to call for a tow truck . 
because of a nasty incident earlier with a couple of ruffians , jeff decides to stay with the car while amy gets help . 
that , it seems , is the last time jeff ( or anyone else ) sees her . 
breakdown has been compared to several movies : george sluizer's the vanishing ( the original , hopefully , not his appalling hollywood remake ) , steven spielberg's duel and any number of hitchcock films . 
as with these , breakdown does not , for the most part , stray down the conventional path of the american action-thriller . 
jeff does not become a gun-toting vigilante on the hunt for his wife , but instead becomes a scared , confused everyman who has no idea what the hell is going on . 
when we do find out what has happened to amy , it does come as a slight disappointment , if only because it's too early in the film ; i for one could have done with an extra twenty minutes or so of mystery and bewilderment , but this affects the film little . 
russell , as mentioned earlier , is very good in his role , and kathleen quinlan is nowhere near as annoying as she was in apollo 13 . 
j . t . 
walsh , as the possibly evil truck driver , is terrific ; he is one of the best of the fine batch of character actors hollywood doesn't seem to know what to do with , but director jonathan mostow is on the right track here . 
the reason he makes such a great villain is that he actually looks like a real person , one anyone would be able to trust , which makes the plot that much more believable . 
breakdown is what hollywood doesn't make enough of , a great thriller with believable characters and scenes that do , indeed , have viewers on the edge of their seats . 
one of the most genuinely exciting films i've seen in a long time .
ingredients : neophyte lawyer , legal situations , corrupt insurance company , 
synopsis : rudy baylor ( matt damon ) is an ethical kid fresh out of law school who must juggle three legal situations at the same time . 
rudy's girlfriend is attacked by her violent husband ; rudy's elderly landlady wants to arrange her will so that her children are excluded , and ; the family of rudy's friend with leukemia is suing the corrupt insurance company that wouldn't pay for a bone marrow transplant . 
rudy is new to being a lawyer and is thoroughly outgunned , but luckily he is aided by a sleazy ambulance chaser ( danny devito ) who has failed the bar exam six times as well as by the kindly presiding judge ( danny glover ) . 
jon voight plays leo f . drummond , the intimidating and arrogant leader of the all-powerful insurance company's team of lawyers who will do anything to oppose justice . 
will rudy defeat leo ? 
will he enjoy being a lawyer ? 
opinion : the good news is that this movie has a happy ending , and it features a guy trying to do the right thing . 
director francis ford coppola does this film a little differently than the stereotypical law movie . 
in the typical lawyer movie there's one big case and the movie focuses on solving it , and somewhere along the line surprise witnesses and motives turn up before the good guy wins ( after lots of gripping courtroom drama ) . 
however , coppola's movie is deliberately more low key . 
'the rainmaker' plays out like a personality sketch of young rudy as he gets emotionally involved with and tries to save various little quirky side characters . 
in the background rudy's voice narrates his feelings and makes half-cynical jokes about the legal profession in general . 
two factors combine to make this movie less heavy than it can be . 
first , rudy's time is split juggling three cases , rather than concentrating on a single high-stakes case . 
also , rudy's use of voice narration in place of acting makes the film lose some of its dramatic edge . 
the end result is an entertaining low key law movie where the good guys win , and rudy narrates his way into coming of age .
in one of my many videos i have attained from the local library , casablanca was my third classic in some weeks . 
the others being citizen kane and vertigo ( yes , i am trying to see as many of afi's greatest movies ever made as i can ) . 
but , casablanca stood out from the rest for me : it was actually watchable . 
what most hail as the greatest american film ever , casablanca isn't so much a love story as a political frenzy with a love triangle thrown in . 
it seems that star humphry bogart spend about 85 percent of the movie with various leaders of the nation instead of with ingred bergman . 
that annoyed me , as did the ending . 
why didn't the plan turn around ? ! ? 
surprisingly , i enjoyed the film . 
i liked bogart's character and his acting ( not over the top as most actors in his era ) . 
i once read about if you had a choice to be in a movie , which one would it be , and a women said casablanca . 
at first i was thinking to myself " why ? " 
then , as i watched the film again , i understood why . 
the movie is very well done and the script top-notch , although i doubt i understood more than half of the political mumbo jumbo . 
casablanca is , in my mind , no classic ( like solaris ) , but it is a good film and stylishly shot . 
hey , hollywood , how about this : a remake with harrison ford and anne heche ? 
now that would be a classic .
capsule : suprisingly more of a comedy than a straight action flick , which isn't necessarily a bad thing . 
not exactly oscar caliber , but one helluva bullet-riddled good time . 
extended review : you know , i remember when hitmen were evil , murderous scum . 
alas , the times are a-changin' . 
in a recent string of movies , hitmen are suddenly wise- cracking , fun-loving killers-with-hearts . 
this brings us to hong kong director kirk wong's first american feature , the big hit . 
oddly enough , about the same time last year a similar film , grosse point blank , was released . 
advertised as a quirky comedy with hints of action , it turned out to have a suprising dosage of it . 
the big hit is quite the opposite . 
it was hyped as " the new film from producer john woo " , so one would it expect lots of stylized killing and action . 
however , there's a sore lack of it , which is about the only thing wrong with the big hit . 
the film starts out with mel smiley and his cohorts doing a job on a white slaver . 
mel , played by mark wahlberg in a dopey , milquetoast role , is a killing machine ; he flips , spins , even breakdances whilst popping caps . 
sadly , he doesn't get a chance to do much of it . 
except for the beginning set piece and the last 20 twenty minutes or so , the film is in comedy mode . 
the action , at least what there is of it , is prime cut stuff . 
wong , after numerous hong kong features , makes quite a nice u . s . debut . 
however , his pacing is a bit off , with the action sequences only bookending the movie and not lasting long enough . 
they start off electrifying and fresh , but just kinda stop . 
normally , this would hamper a movie to the point of being unenjoyable . 
luckily , we have ben ramsey's screenplay , a bitingly funny piece of work . 
the only problem is there might be too much humor , one joke makes you laugh so hard you miss the next few . 
some of best gags include an oriental film maker down on his luck and one of mel's hitmen pals that has just discovered onanism . 
the only problem is how some of the minor characters are handled , some being there only for a laugh , which sometimes works , sometimes doesn't . 
overall , the big hit may have it's flaws , but it makes up for them in a stylishly directed , gut-wrenchingly funny joyride . 
definately one of the better ways to spend two hours .
bruce barth's mellow piano plays in the background as conflict erupts in a little country town of florida . 
ulee's gold feels like another fonda creation- on golden pond : it has a soft , calm surface with a tempest brewing underneath , the cinematography creates a place of gold , yellow , and olive colors , the music is stirring and tranquil . 
both deal with the hardships of family life . 
peter fonda gives his undoubtedly best performance in victor nu ? ez's new film and patricia richardson ( home improvement star ) shows she is worthy of big screen attention . 
nu ? ez is probably independent film's greatest asset , along with john sayles , and he proves his talent with a slow pace and undulating , heavy tension . 
peter fonda's performance borrows from his father henry fonda's in on golden pond- there is a great vulnerability that he gives the character ulee jackson and just like his father , peter fonda is quiet , emotional , and weary in this exceptional role . 
ulee jackson , the film's protagonist , is struggling . 
pressure is mounting at the wrong time . 
he is a beekeeper and this is his " busy " season . 
he has to deal with his two granddaughters' needs and erupting hormones , he is forced to pick up his daughter-in-law in orlando who is strung out on drugs and take care of her , and he is faced with a challenging task : unsettled business his son , who is now in prison , has left behind . 
he finds his daughter-in-law , helen , with the two men his son robbed a bank with . 
she has apparently told these two men that the money that resulted from the robbery is with her husband . 
that is why he got caught- the police found him with the money . 
now the two men are demanding they get the cash , or they will come after ulee's two granddaughters . 
ulee promises he will bring it to them and takes a deranged helen back to his serene little home where her two children that she abandoned scrutinize her with contempt . 
ulee is a man who lost his pals in war- he was the only man in his platoon to survive . 
he refuses help from anybody and does not respond to affectionate gestures . 
he is a bitter , closed-off man whose only passion is his beekeeping , his granddaughters , and his dead wife . 
connie , his next door neighbor , finally gets through to him with friendly favors . 
she is a nurse and helps helen get through her turmoil with drugs . 
ulee's gold is the story of a man who believes he is fine as he is- until the truth is revealed painfully to him : he is cold and unfeeling . 
of course , in the end , ulee softens up , but his journey is absorbing and we have fallen in love with his tiredness and weariness . 
what is admirable about the movie is peter fonda's winning turn as ulee and the story that feels like nobody's fool but , in the end , ends up in a class of its own .
susan granger's review of " big eden " ( jour de fete ) 
it's utopia , this tiny town tucked away in the timberland of northwestern montana , where old codgers lounge on the porch of the general store to pass the time away and the local matchmakers ( nan martin , louise fletcher ) eagerly pair off the young people , regardless of sexual preference . 
there's nary a homophobe or bigot around , much to the surprise of henry hart ( arye gross ) , a successful but lonely manhattan artist who returns home to care for sam ( george coe ) , the ailing grandfather who raised him . 
and with the simultaneous re-appearance of his best-friend from high-school and object of his unrequited love ( tim dekay ) , now divorced with two young sons , the fact of his homosexuality must be faced . 
to complete the triangle , there's the tall , taciturn native american ( eric schweig ) who owns the general store and lovingly yet secretly prepares gourmet meals for henry and sam . 
this fable about home and family is a major debut for first-time film-maker thomas bezucha ( a former designer for coach and polo/ralph lauren ) who is meticulous about minding details , using ballads like " welcome to my world " and " achin' , breakin' heart " to set up the concept of our universal longing to find a place in which we can love and be loved . 
in the paradise of big eden , what you are doesn't matter as much as generosity of spirit , respect and kindness . 
sure , the plot's implausible but it's a good-natured fantasy so allowances should be made . 
and rob sweeney's photography of glacier national park is spectacular ! 
on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , " big eden " is a charming , quirky , off-beat 7 . 
it's a heart-warming romantic comedy about a gay man who doesn't die of aids or wind up alone at the end .
when you go to the movies as much as i do , you unfortunately end up seeing certain movie trailers one too many times . 
such was the case with frequency . 
every time i went to a screening , there was the frequency preview . 
it looked awful . 
it looked cheesy , sappy and ridiculous . 
it looked like a flop . 
well , whoever put that trailer together should be fired , because in terms of pure entertainment , frequency is one of the best of the year thus far . 
frequency boasts a compelling story line . 
an occurrence of freakish solar activity allows police detective john sullivan ( james caviezel ) to speak to his fireman father frank sullivan ( dennis quaid ) through a ham radio , despite the fact that frank has been dead for 30 years . 
john is able to give his father information that prevents his death in a warehouse fire , but by doing so causes other changes . 
somehow , a serial killer's reign of terror , which in the original timeline had been stopped at three murders , extends to ten victims . . . 
including john's mother . 
this is director gregory hoblit's third film ( the other two being primal fear and fallen ) . 
with all three , he's managed to attach himself to great scripts ( this one by toby emmerich , whose only previous movie experience was as a music supervisor on numerous new line films ) and add equally great direction . 
also , he apparently likes to have his films wrap up with a kick-ass ending . 
frequency is no exception , the ending is unpredictable and incredibly satisfying . 
hoblit is three for three , and i hope he can keep it up . 
now everyone can argue logic this and logic that all you want with the sci-fi elements of frequency . 
but the fact of the matter is that time travel has never been achieved . 
who's to say how something works and how it doesn't when it's never happened ? 
is it because we've become accustomed to time travel " laws " from other places like " star trek " and the back to the future trilogy and " quantum leap " ? 
yes , if you sit down and think about it , certain plot elements in this film probably won't make any sense . 
most films are like that . 
don't let that dissuade you from seeing this fantastically entertaining film however . 
when frequency was over , it made me wish i had seen it with my father so i could have given him a hug ( okay okay , shut up ) . 
when you break it down past all its sci-fi elements and serial killer antics , frequency is simply a movie about a father and his son and the bond that they share . 
it's touching , it's sincere , and it's what ultimately makes this movie work . 
[pg-13]
it must be tough to be a mob boss . 
just ask paul vitti ( robert deniro ) , a man who finds his job as mafia head to be rather stress inducing . 
i can believe it , too - one can't even begin to fathom the turmoil he must go through when he's forced to choose between an ice pick , baseball bat or sledgehammer to torture victims with . 
suffering from reoccurring panic attacks , paul decides he needs to consult some professional help . 
and who better than billy crystal . 
after appearing in bottom-of-the-barrel flops , father's day and my giant , crystal finally finds a reliable costar and some very promising material here . 
playing vitti's private shrink , the two very different stars strike an unorthodox , but interesting relationship that carries this enjoyable comedy on a steady wave of laughs from start to finish . 
casting robert deniro as paul vitti is something of an in-joke , i think . 
placed in this mobster's shoes , deniro gets to spoof characters he himself played in films like the godfather , part ii and casino . 
it's obvious he's having a lot of fun doing so . 
the man behind the camera is harold ramis , whose credits include ghostbusters ( as writer and star ) , and his best directing effort , the bill murray vehicle , groundhog day . 
ramis has a knack for drawing laughs because he simply knows what's funny , and here he manages to accentuate the strengths of nearly all the actors . 
the only character who weakens the payoff is crystal's bride-to-be ( lisa kudrow ) . 
playing the same dumbed-down role as she does in friends , kudrow is amusing , but doesn't fit into this comedy mold as well as the director may have hoped . 
the supporting cast sparkles . 
joe viterelli is hilarious as jelly , vitti's pea brained right-hand man , and chazz palminteri is a show stopper playing a fellow mobster who's in desperate need of the definition of `closure' . 
the movie manages to maintain consistent chuckles throughout , putting the emphasis on 3 or 4 really big laughs that will have audiences grasping their sides . 
the situation is just too cute to resist . 
it's unfortunate that the language gets somewhat out of hand . 
but hey , if you're in the mafia , using obscenities probably comes naturally . 
and near the end , seeing billy crystal attempt to walk and talk like a mob boss is truly a special treat .
expand the final fifteen minutes of home alone into a feature-length film and you've got baby's day out--an agreeably amusing children's comedy about a bumbling band of kid kidnappers who are unwittingly outwitted by an innocent infant . 
the plot tracks a trio of crooks-posed-as-photographers ( mantegna , pantoliano , haley ) who steal nine-month-old bennington august cottwell iv , aka baby bink , from his old-money home . 
but the plan goes awry when baby crawls out an open window and into the streets of downtown chicago ! 
following the path of his favorite story , called " baby's day out , " baby rides a bus and visits the zoo and winds up at a skyscraper construction site . 
while baby stays unscathed , the crooks fare worse for the wear . 
the stooges get hit by boards and dropped from roofs and , of course , suffer multiple crotch injuries . 
 ( john wayne bobbitt should probably steer clear of this one . ) 
like he did in planes , trains , and automobiles , john hughes again demonstrates his mastery of the simple set-up and extended execution . 
here , he's aided and abetted by a director , patrick read johnson , whose choreography could rival a coen brother . 
best bit : baby crawling across a busy city street . 
baby's day out has only two emotions--awww and ouch--and the actors play them accordingly . 
forget the cartoon concern of lara flynn boyle or cynthia nixon , disposable as mom and nanny , respectively , the ones to watch are the ones who are wincing . 
joe mantegna is a great head stooge , barking lines like " that little doo-doo machine is my retirement money . " 
brian haley has a great scene with a gorilla , while joe pantolianto plays curly to mantegna's moe . 
 * he * is funny . 
needless to say , twins adam and jacob warton are adorable beyond belief .
if you want some hearty laughs , then rat race is the movie for you . 
this unpretentious little comedy , which sneaks into theaters today with very little hype , will have you bouncing in your theater seat . 
and while the film fits neatly into the low-brow , slapstick school of comedy , one refreshing aspect is its lack of mean-spiritedness . 
the plot follows a group of people chosen at random by an eccentric las vegas casino owner ( john cleese ) who must race from vegas to a bus station locker 700 miles away in silver city , n . m . 
inside the locker is a duffel bag containing $2 million . 
the first one to open the locker , gets the bag and the money . 
what the group of participants doesn't know is that cleese's donald sinclair ( " i can do anything i want - i'm eccentric ! " ) is staging the race as a betting game for a group of high rollers at the hotel . 
the participants include vera ( whoopi goldberg ) and merrill ( lanai chapman ) , a newly reunited mother and daughter ; disgraced pro football referee owen templeton ( cuba gooding jr . ) ; italian tourist mr . pollini ( rowan atkinson ) ; randy pear ( jon lovitz ) and his family ; the bumbling con men duane and blaine cody ( seth green and vince vieluf ) ; and cynical young lawyer nick shaffer ( breckin meyer ) . 
various amusing encounters and mishaps befall the participants en route to silver city . 
screenwriter andy breckman adds a nice touch by not having the racers try to sabotage one another . 
the most side-splitting situations involve vera and merrill's encounter with the squirrel lady , a nice nutsy cameo by kathy bates ; owen's commandeering a charter bus full of lucille ball look-alikes on their way to a lucy convention ; the cody brothers misadventures with a hot-air balloon , a flying cow and a monster truck ; and the pear family's stopover at a barbie museum , which turns out not to be what they think it is . 
the pear family situation is a fine example of the way breckman's script builds the laughs . 
without going into detail , this bit segues from the museum to hitler's touring car , to eva braun's dark lipstick , to lovitz burning his tongue , culminating at a ceremony honoring world war ii veterans . 
rat race's cast is first rate . 
cleese is wonderfully devilish and madcap ; lovitz is , at first , a bit whiny , but his character grows on you ; gooding is having a fine romp ; and dave thomas almost steals the show as cleese's deadpan assistant , a man " born without a personality . " 
the film is directed by jerry zucker , who knows something about comedy . 
along with his brother , david , and friend jim abrahams , he was responsible for such hits as airplane ! 
and ruthless people . 
a throwaway subplot , which is good for some laughs , features cleese and his buddies , betting on a series of outlandish situations , including one dealing with a hooker and pepto-bismol . 
this is a fun little feature . 
the only letdown comes at the finale , which is too touchy-feely and sweet , almost negating what came before it . 
rat race is a summer sleeper , but it will keep you awake , as will the laughter of those watching around you .
i had a chance to see a sneak preview of city slickers ii on campus last night . 
i went in with the expectation of a film with the similar flavor which made the original such a success : personal growth and insightful humor about life . 
i came away somewhat disappointed in this regard , getting some of the latter and not much of the former . 
the basic plot revolves around billy crystal , who plays mitch robbins , turning forty . 
he's now become the station manager of the radio station in which he worked in the original . 
he's given a job at the radio station to his best friend , played by daniel stern , out of sympathy while stern's character works through his divorce . 
his loser younger brother ( john lovitz ) comes to mitch's house to bum a money and place to live , all while mitch and his wife try to celebrate his birthday . 
during the celebration , mitch discovers what appears to be a treasure map in curly's ( the cattle drive leader in the original played by jack palance ) old hat . 
after a business trip to las vegas , crystal , stern , and lovitz stay a few extra days to go off in search of the treasure . 
on the way , they run into curly's twin brother , duke , played by ( you know who ) jack palance . 
first of all , the cinematography was beautifully done , especially the outdoor scenes in the desert . 
the scenes are such that i would like to see some of those sights filmed myself . 
there is some character development during the film . 
the actors remain true to their characters and play them well , without overplaying the jokes . 
the movie is a good basic adventure , with enough plot twists to provide for an ending that is difficult to predict . 
the movie is paced well , but with a couple slow spots in the middle and towards the end . 
humor-wise , the film has a good number of jokes which maintained my interest throughout the film . 
there are memorable moments like when stern is bitten by a snake , but there are fewer jokes to laugh at in the sequel ( surprise , surprise for a sequel , right ? ) . 
however , the slight bitter aftertaste i have with this film has to do mainly with the film's manipulation of the audience . 
the film tries to pull your heart-strings too much regarding how close the characters are to each other , like when mitch had decided to suck the snake marrow out of his best friend's butt . 
this is done again when the gang meets up with some members of the cattle drive group from the original . 
there were also some parts which appeared unrealistic , like whether the stampede would start in the way it did or why they didn't worry more about water while tromping around the desert . 
some strenuous stretches of the imagination are required here . 
since the objective of the gang is to find gold and get rich ( unlike finding themselves in middle age like in the original ) , i also found it harder to empathize with the characters during their journey . 
overall , i'd say that the film is an entertaining and humorous adventure with some story-line deficiencies making it less worthy than the original . 
it may be worth the full price of admission , but a matinee would be a better bargain .
today , war became a reality to me after seeing a screening of saving priivate ryan . 
steve spielberg goes beyond reality with his latest production . 
the audience is tossed about the theatre witnessing the horror of war . 
please keep the kids home as the r rating is for reality . 
tom hanks is stunning as capt john miller , set out in france during ww ii to rescue and return home a soldier , private ryan ( matt damon ) who lost three brothers in the war . 
spielberg at time takes us inside the heads of these individuals as they face death during the horrific battle scenes . 
private ryan is not for everyone , but i felt the time was right for a movie like this to be made . 
the movie reminds us of the sacrifices made by our ww ii fighting men and women . 
we must not ever forget them as many gave the ultimate sacrifice , their lives so that we may live in freedom today . 
for this i thank them and for steve spielberg for making a movie that i will never forget . 
the academy will not forget tom hanks come april 1999 , as another well deserved oscar with be in tom's posession .
well , i'll admit when i first heard about this film ( which was before dante's peak ) i could just smell what 'twister' had started . 
so now it seems that we're in a full fledged return to the '70's disaster film era . 
with 'twister' , 'dante's peak' , 'volcano' and soon 'flood' and james cameron's extremly expensive 'titanic' 
i'll say first off i enjoyed 'volcano' much more than i did 'dantes peak' . 
part of that is just being biased as i usually enjoy anything that tommy lee jones appears in . 
i've been reading a lot about the movie being 'cheezy' or 'hokey' and really didn't see or think that once during the entire film . 
i get bored easily and this film didn't bore me for a minute . 
another thing , and boy am i bitching today ! , that bothers me is when critics and such go on about " well thats not really possible . " 
you know what ? 
i couldn't give a bloody damn if it's possible or not , really i couldn't . 
it's a freaking movie and i don't want reality thrown in my face . 
i want to be able to see the impossible , the all might " what if " to many reviewers have seen one to many movies ! 
the special effects are the second star to this feature . 
they are so amazing that i found it hard sometimes to believe they were indeed fx and la was was not burning to the ground . 
they did an incredible job and come oscar time ( if they remember ) some notice better be thrown there way .
near the end of frank capra's holiday classic , its a wonderful life , george bailey ( jimmy stewart ) is feeling down . 
he has devoted his life to others , and never fulfilled his dream of leaving his small supburb town , bedford falls . 
standing upon a bridge above stormy waters , he looks down , contemplating suicide . 
he has potential he hasn't fulfilled -- yet , he has done so much for others . 
as a young chap , his ambition was to leave his hometown of bedford falls . 
but times and ambitions change . 
things happen , and he's stuck . 
his guardian angel is there , and shows him that . . . it's 
a wonderful life . 
in a whirlwind tour of the town , george sees what life would be like without him . 
he learns the moral lesson , that to live is a gift . 
his earthly problems are solved . 
the climatic scene is a marvel . 
frank capra's film is a centenial classic -- watched and re-experienced by every generation . 
wonderful life is one of the few pictures of times gone by that seems as fresh , maybe fresher , then it did when it was first released . 
many films of the thirties through seventies have aged poorly . 
but this one is a near flawless example of how well a perfect script and timing can mesh with first-rate acting , wit and suspense , glorious music , and terrific set peices . 
the only even slightly dated scenes are those at the begining in which god has a long chat with clarence , george's guardian angel . 
they aren't all that bad , but they remain corny and a little out of place . 
nevertheless , this is one film that deserves its place in time , cinema history , and our hearts . 
it can be equally appreciated by anyone of any age . 
here is one genuine masterpeice , a classic that reaches heights and ambitions near perfection . 
this crackling good mixture results in a film which is at once funny , exciting , moving and uplifting . 
the film itself is almost a reversal of the life of george bailey -- there isn't too much to it , but capra and the gang ( various screenwriters , composers , actors ) plumet the material to its fullest potential . 
the result is a film -- though not at first intended to be pigeon-holed as a holiday film -- that will always be remembered , celebrated , and loved .