polsci/sentiment-polarity-dataset-v2.0 huggingface dataset:
field of dreams almost defies description . 
although it's about baseball , it's not a baseball movie . 
although the film is extremely spiritual , it's not about religion . 
and although field of dreams is melodramatic , it's not a tearjerker . 
to really understand what field of dreams is all about , you have to see it . 
in the film , kevin costner plays ray kinsella , a baseball fan , '60s berkeley graduate , and iowa farmer . 
one day as he is standing in the middle of his expansive corn fields , ray hears a voice ; it tells him : " if you build it , he will come . " 
then ray has a vision and somehow concludes that if he builds a baseball field in the middle of his corn , shoeless joe jackson will arise from the dead to play ball once again . 
and even though it depletes his family's savings and his neighbors think he's crazy , ray clears away the corn and builds a baseball field , complete with bleachers and flood lights . 
 " if you build it , he will come . " 
and lo and behold , shoeless joe does come--bringing with him several of his dead teammates . 
and then ray hears the voice again ; it tells him to " ease his pain . " 
ray thinks this means that he must travel to boston to meet terence mann , an influential and radical novelist from the '60s who has since stopped writing and dropped out of society . 
with great aplomb , james earl jones plays the disillusioned author who joins forces with ray and embarks with him on a magical and spiritual journey . 
the cast in field of dreams is excellent , especially kevin costner in the lead role . 
costner gives a quiet , subtle , and moving performance as a man who before building the baseball field had done nothing crazy or spontaneous in his entire life . 
costner gives ray just the right mix of enthusiasm and idealism to make us believe in his mystic visions and swallow this wondrous fairy tale . 
amy madigan gives a fine supporting performance as ray's feisty and loving wife , who against her better judgement supports her husband's crazy ideas . 
in her most impressive scene , madigan vehemently argues against book burning at a p . t . a . 
meeting , displaying the sincere passion of a '60s berkeley radical . 
ray liotta is appropriately eerie and awe-inspiring as the ghost of shoeless joe , the legendary batter who was suspended from baseball for his involvement in the 1919 chicago " black sox " scandal . 
and finally , burt lancaster is memorable in a small , but important , role as a small town doctor whose professional baseball career was limited to only one inning . 
field of dreams is a touching fairy tale full of life , wonder , mystery , spirit , and humor . 
it , for the most part , succeeds in capturing our emotions and suspending our disbelief . 
ray kinsella's spiritual quest in pursuit of his dreams proves to be moving and miraculous . 
but while field of dreams generally avoids excessive melodrama , it unfortunately does at times go overboard , and by the end it gets down-right sappy . 
in general , however , field of dreams is an emotionally satisfying fantasy--one i can recommend to everyone but unromantic cynics .
another 'independent film' , this comedy , which was brought by miramax for $5 million , is good fun . 
favreau and vaughn ( the lost world : jurassic park , 1997 ) play mike and trent , two everyday 20somethings on the lookout for women . 
the film just basically follows their plight on the lookout for lurve , and along the way we get to meet some of their friends , see their attempts at chatting up girls , and just basically get a insight into their lives . 
and all of this is great fun . 
swingers doesn't rely on huge special effects , or big name stars to provide entertainment . 
no , it just has a great script and superb little known actors . 
the script , by favreau , is great . 
mike is always missing is girlfriend , who hasn't called him for six months , and every time he meets a girl , he always end up telling her about the ex . 
the audience feels for this pathetic little man , thanks to the great script . 
vaughn is 'the money' ( swingers speak for 'the best' ) as the womanizing trent , always on the lookout for a new girl . 
some of his chat-up lines are awful , but he always seems to get the girl thanks to his 'hard man' nature . 
vaughns character also gets the best laugh in the film , towards the end in a diner . 
the conversations that go on between mike and trent are great , but it never quite reaches tarantino standards ( which i suspect the film was trying to reach . ) 
there are some excellent , laugh out loud jokes in the film , and some superbly funny set pieces ( such as favreau cringe-worhy battle with a answer machine that always cut him off before he finishes his sentence . 
embarrassing to him , hilarious to the audience . ) 
mike & trents friends are also good , although there characters seem a bit underwritten , and we never really learn as much as we would like about them . 
although this is primarily mike and trents film , it would of been nice to learn a bit more about their friends . 
they just seem to wander aimlessly in the background . 
but again , the lines they say are usually pretty good , and they do have some funny parts . 
it's just a shame that they didn't have more meatier roles . 
the acting is superb . 
as said above , vaughn is superb as trent , he's definitely the best thing in the film . 
favreau is also good , acting as 'the little man' very well , and the way he always feels sorry for himself is very funny . 
graham ( boogie nights , 1997 ) has a small but good role as lorraine , a girl mike finally falls in love with . 
she hardly features in the film at all , but she still manages to make an impact on the audience . 
swingers , then , is funny , but it does have some flaws . 
firstly , the running time is a bit too short . 
the film comes to an abrupt halt , and i actually wanted the film to carry on longer . 
it never really comes to a satisfying conclusion , which is a shame , as most films are too long ! 
also , this type of film has been done too many times , such as sleep with me ( 1994 ) . 
but these small flaws don't really spoil what is a funny , entertaining comedy .
the characters in " palmetto " collectively sweat enough to fill lake erie , and it's just the right way to capture the film's ripe atmosphere of sensuality , tension and even farce . 
this humid florida-set thriller nurtures a modestly absurd edginess that often winks at itself , which is very much a good thing since the actors and director are in on the joke . 
as far as set-up is concerned , the movie is nothing we haven't seen before , but be patient -- " palmetto " spins some pretty wicked story twists that we really don't see coming . 
it's not a classic by any means , but it sure is quite an engaging surprise . 
harry barber ( woody harrelson ) is fresh out of prison , where he's served a couple of years for a crime he didn't commit . 
even though he harbors animosity towards the obtuse local officials , harry's first order of business is to return to his home town of palmetto to be with his sculptor girlfriend nina ( gina gershon ) . 
while searching for work , he catches the eye of rhea malroux ( elisabeth shue ) , the mysterious sexbomb wife of a palmetto millionaire . 
rhea proposes a scheme that'll get harry $50 , 000 easy -- to play a small part in the staged kidnaping of her jailbait stepdaughter odette ( chloe sevigny ) . 
 " you do like risks , don't you , mr . barber ? " 
rhea alluringly coos . 
boys , form a line behind me . 
part of " palmetto " 's success can be attributed to the performance of elisabeth shue , who demonstrates here that her oscar-nominated turn in " leaving las vegas " might merely be foreshadowing great things to come . 
shue's a seductive , campy delight , and pulls off a barbara stanwyck-gloria swanson combo with admirable relish . 
the other actors form a solid ensemble around her , including sevigny ( " kids " ) , tantalizingly slutty as a teen tease , as well as the ever-likeable gershon , cast a far cry from her extreme roles in " bound " and " showgirls . " 
harrelson is still doing fine follow-up work to " the people vs . larry flynt . " 
 " palmetto " does have its share of grievances . 
harrelson's narration is needless , i suppose , and gershon's nina cries to be meatier than she ultimately is . 
one of the plot's unexpected angles -- that harry is asked by the police to become the press liaison for the very crime in which he's involved -- could have been played a little better . 
there are moments when you question the tone , but it's never so unstable that it deserves the reproach it's been receiving from most other critics . 
if " palmetto " didn't want to be laughed at , would it really have tacked on a climax that plays like a live-action " who framed roger rabbit " ? 
although a few elements can be questioned , the movie works well on its own terms . 
thanks to a juicy cast -- especially shue -- and the nifty material approach from director volker schlondorff ( you remember him from last summer's suddenly re-popular " the tin drum , " right ? ) , 
everything runs smoothly . 
and for fans of revelation-heavy endings , this film's got a few shocks in store that i won't even dream of revealing . 
 " palmetto " is a generous amount of fun to watch , and that's all you need to know .
" you've got mail " is the very definition of a " cute " movie . 
it's got cute stars , a cute story-line , and even cute pets . 
despite this over-whelming cuteness ( or maybe because of it ) , i loved " you've got mail " . 
i know , i know . 
i'm supposed to be a film critic . 
i'm not supposed to love transparent and formula pictures like this . 
but darn it , somewhere along the way , " you've got mail " reeled me in , hook , line , and sinker . 
the movie stars tom hanks and meg ryan as two somewhat unhappy new yorkers who meet in an aol online chat room and quickly become close friends , without ever knowing each others identity . 
as the movie progresses , though , they begin to discover that they have a lot in common with each other . 
meanwhile , in " real-life " , they are bitter competitors . 
she owns a quaint little children's bookstore , he owns one of those gigantic super-bookstores that offer impersonal service and discount prices . 
while his store threatens to run her store out of business , their online relationship grows stronger . 
 " you've got mail " is as artificial as movies come . 
everything is nice and happy and by the end , all the characters have gotten exactly what they wanted out of life . 
there are no real conflicts , no major disappointments , no unresolved issues . 
nevertheless , i quite enjoyed it . 
in fact , i can't remember the last time i had such a good time at the movies . 
i think sometimes you have to be able to watch a movie and just get drawn into it . 
the fact that stars hank and ryan are at the top of their game does not hurt either . 
in particular , hanks is at his best here , turning his " charm-meter " up to 11 . 
everytime he was on screen , he had my full attention . 
and despite the fact that he was driving little bookstores out of business , i was rooting for him . 
it was good to see hanks back doing what he does best : playing the affable everyman . 
 " you've got mail " certainly won't be winning any awards , but as an exercise in pure entertainment , it's as good as it gets .
mary norton's children's book series , the borrowers , has been made into several below-average television movies . 
so , i wasn't too enthused as i entered the theater for the big-screen debut of the minute clan . 
but i was in for a shock , the borrowers is actually a thoroughly delightful movie with plenty of good laughs and even some decent special effects . 
the lender family is being thrown out of their longtime home . 
their aunt , who owned the property , never left a will . 
now , an unscrupulous lawyer , ocious potter ( john goodman ) plans to demolish the house and replace it with an ultra-modern housing development . 
but the lenders are not alone in their house . 
living under the floorboards is a family of borrowers , 4 inch tall people who make their living as scavengers from the human " beans " above . 
the clock family of borrowers is as distressed as the lenders , especially once they discover the evil potter actually has a copy of the will which leaves the home to the lenders . 
so it is up to the clocks ( pod ( jim broadbent ) and homily ( celia imrie ) , along with their kids , arrietty ( flora newbigin ) and peagreen ( tom felton ) ) to recover the will and save the household . 
but when potter learns of the tiny people , he enlists the skills of exterminator jeff ( mark williams ) to kill off the clan . 
there's plenty of attention to detail in the borrowers , especially in the furnishings of the clock family house , made out of lost board game parts and credit cards . 
the background details are nearly as rich as the entertaining story . 
the various predicaments of the clock family are clever and thrilling . 
based on an original story , the screenwriters did a good job at imagining all the potential and unusual perils that could exist for a 4-inch tall person . 
as the villain , john goodman's performance veers on the edge of being over-the-top . 
but his performance suits the role well , and he does very well in the film's many slapstick moments . 
with a nearly seamless mix of oversized sets , bluescreen shots and cgi , the special effects in the borrowers are very well done . 
there are a few times when you can spot the effects at work , but none of them are so jarring that you lose the suspension of disbelief . 
hopefully the borrowers will surpass the curse of being labeled a children-only movie , for it is surprisingly entertaining and fun to watch .
in present day hanoi , three sisters reflect on their parents' relationship while trying to define their own in writer/director tran anh hung's ( " the scent of green papaya " ) " the vertical ray of the sun . " 
youngest sister lien ( tran nu yen-khe ) greets the day with hai ( ngo quanq hai ) , the only brother whom she rooms and relentlessly flirts with . 
their morning ritual of tai chi and lou reed precedes crossing the street to eldest sister suong's ( nguyen nhu quynh ) cafe , where lien works , for breakfast . 
the three sisters lovingly prepare their mother's memorial banquet of traditional delicacies , prepared as much for look as taste , while giggling over the differences between the sexes . 
after the family breaks from the banquet , we learn that suong's young son 'little monkey' is doted upon , but there's a distance developing with her husband quoc ( chu ngoc hung ) , who's leaving for one of his habitual botanical photography trips . 
middle sister khanh ( tran manh cuong ) tells her writer husband she's pregnant before he leaves on a trip to saigon to research tuan , a mysterious man in his mother-in-law's past . 
lien keeps crawling into hai's bed at night , causing him to fall out of it . 
the initial serenity we witnessed starts turning into a soap opera before coming to full circle one month later , as the three women prepare their father's memorial banquet . 
 " the vertical ray of the sun " is a contemplative piece where strong passions exist underneath calm exteriors . 
sly humor , self deceit and harsh truths all exist in the cyclic screenplay . 
tran anh hung and his cinematographer mark lee ping-bin ( " flowers of shanghai " ) linger over and repeat the small gestures of everyday life - a wife washes her husbands hands , a woman makes water dance in a bowl , a man pulls his lover to face him before they part . 
small spaces such as rooms , alleys and courtyards create intimacy . 
the color green , symbolizing life and tranquility , is used heavily in the film's visual styling , lapsing into yellowish hues and blues . 
writer/director tran anh hung's film recalls ang lee's " eat drink man woman , " another tale of three sisters of varying modernity coming together traditionally for a parent . 
but while lee's more traditionally story-driven film resulted in radical changes for all concerned , " the vertical ray of the sun's " characters strive for peaceful harmony . 
watching it is like trailing your fingertips in a stream on a cool spring day .
bob the happy bastard's quickie review : 
i must admit , no doubt's single " new " is quite catchy . 
it was bouncy and energetic enough to get me to go see this new film from director doug limon , the man who had brought us the humorous swingers a little while back . 
the result ? 
a movie that's just as good as that song , really . 
it follows the lives of several individuals over the course of one weekend . 
first we hear about a grocery bagger ( sara polley ) who runs into a monetary situation problem and ends up selling bogus drugs at a rave ( with bad results , as a drug dealer feels he's been swindled by her ) ; then comes the story of an english grocery store worker ( same store ) who heads to vegas for the weekend with friends , where sex , gunplay , and stolen car trouble come into play ; then we see the story of two gay movie actors ( played by scott wolf and jay mohr ) who deal with a cop's strange insurance presentation and hitting a girl ( sara ) with their car ; and , finally , we come to another grocery worker ( katie holmes ) who has a strange fascination with said drug dealer ( the one mentioned earlier ) . 
really , it's all confusing to keep track of in review format , your best bet is to just , well , go . 
the movie features some very good acting from all angles , and limon adds the same humorous energy he had with swingers to this particular product . 
the dialogue is pretty snappy and the resolution is pretty well realized , not going for the sappy happy ending nor the dreaded bad ending . 
think of it as a , well , ending . 
the intertwining of stories is a particularly good element to the movie , as it's never really confusing and tells different sides of the story , like sliding doors kinda did . 
however , it's better suited for the younger generation who want a little spice in their flicks , which sliding doors kinda isn't .
usually a movie is about something more than a soiled rug , but not the big lebowski . 
the new offering from the creators of 1996's critical hit fargo , is to say the least , wildly entertaining . 
originality has always been a strong trait in the coen brother's movies , and the big lebowski is insanely original . 
it begins oddly enough when jeff " the dude " lebowski ( jeff bridges ) is mistaken for a millionaire , jeff " the big " lebowski ( david huddleston ) , who's wife , bunny ( tara reid ) owes money all over town . 
two goons , out to collect on bunny's debt break into dude's house . 
they attempt to collect the money that bunny owes them and one of them urinates on his rug . 
the next day dude explains his situation to his bowling team ( steve buscemi & john goodman , respectively . ) 
he is advised to go to the big lebowski and get him to pay for the defiled rug . 
he does this , and shortly after gets tied up in a kidnapping caper . 
this is a extremely funny movie with lots of belly laugh moments . 
the coen brothers have assembled a great cast that play off each other perfectly . 
also several great supporting roles , john turturro as a child molesting bowler named jesus . 
the coen's script plays off perfectly and it all goes together to make it extremely entertaining . 
i doubt this movie will be nearly as popular as fargo , but its off the wall moments make it so far the best of 1998 . 
if you like anything else the coen brothers have done you will love this one , if not they give this one a try its a little different .
it's hard not to recommend " the others . " 
the supernatural thriller , written and directed by alejandro amen ? bar ( " open your eyes " ) , adroitly establishes and maintains a low-key atmosphere of menace . 
the cinematography , by javier aguirresarobe , is as good as i have ever seen and nicole kidman gives another in her growing body of fine performances . 
but the pacing of the story moves from deliberate to downright sluggish and the payoff of the tale left me less than satisfied . 
overall , the film plays like a very high quality version of any number of old " twilight zone " episodes where the characters spend a great deal of time wandering about looking afraid and disoriented , only to learn they are actually a child's toy , a military test subject or a department store dummy . 
watching those vintage shows and listening to the players chatter , i always wanted to shout , " get on with it ! " 
as much as i appreciated the atmosphere and acting in " the others , " my reaction was much the same . 
set at an island mansion off the coast of england during world war ii , the story focuses on grace ( kidman ) , who tends to her children anne ( alakina mann ) and nicholas ( james bentley ) and worries about her husband , charles ( christopher eccleston ) , a missing serviceman . 
anne and nicholas suffer from photosensitivity and grace patrols the estate with the keys to all 50 doors , protecting the little ones from excess light by making sure that only one door is open at a time . 
at the beginning of the film , three servants , mrs . mills ( fionnula flanagan ) , young , mute lydia ( elaine cassidy ) , and mr . tuttle ( eric sykes ) , an aging gardener , join the family . 
the two that speak seem agreeable enough at first , but it soon becomes apparent that they know something that grace does not . 
to make matters worse , the children are upset : nicholas is unusually jittery and anne claims to be seeing ghosts . 
grace attempts to blame the troubles on the new arrivals to her home , only to realize that whatever is happening is beyond them . 
that's essentially the whole story , with the tension growing until the pivotal moment when everything becomes clear . 
earlier , there is an outstanding scene where grace darts outside , only to be enveloped in fold after fold of shimmering fog . 
the visuals in the otherworldly sequence , courtesy of aguirresarobe , are simply astounding . 
i also enjoyed the presence of religion , a rarity in films dealing with the supernatural . 
grace is a christian and answers her children's questions about life and death with the assurance of a devout worshiper . 
when mother is away , though , the kids speculate whether her statements are fact or folklore , just as real children do . 
but those nice touches fail to enliven a film that is too slow or make up for a lackluster ending . 
 " the others " sets out to be a classic ghost story , but fails to grasp that special something that makes such films more than layers of mist .
" a private matter " is based on the true story of sherri finkbine and the events in her life during the 1960s . 
after becoming pregnant ( for the fifth time ) she learns that some tranquilizers she had taken have seriously deformed her unborn child . 
she and her husband decide , with the help of her doctor , to have an abortion . 
but this is the 1960s , and abortion is illegal . 
her doctor has made arrangements to have the procedure performed withing the law , by claiming that the child is endangering the mother's life . 
everything is about to work out just fine , until sherri has the uncontrollable urge to talk about her situation with a local reporter . 
this sets off a media frenzy and immediately sherri is the most hated woman in the world . 
she and her husband are fired from their jobs , reporters are surrounding their home at all times , and most importantly , no one in the country ( and eventually other countries ) will perform the abortion . 
this causes emotion problems for all involved . 
 " a private matter " is a fascinating story and it's hard to believe that this only happened 30 years or so ago . 
it's only flaw is that not once is there ever a satisfactory confrontation with sherri and any of her opponents . 
one woman passing her on the street telss her to burn in hell , and when sherri appropriately yells back , " just tell me what i'm supposed to do , " the woman has no answer . 
no one apparently had an answer , they just wanted to control what should have been only the choice of sherri and her husband . 
this is an important film , telling an important story . 
it's not just about not wanting another child , it's about not wanting a child who will cause severe changes in their family , none of which could be beneficial . 
sydney pollack served as executive producer for this made for hbo movie .
director jan de bont certainly knows how to make top quality action films . 
you need look no further than die hard ( he was director of photography ) , speed and last years twister for examples of his hi- octane , edge of your seat thrill prowess . 
speed 2 is no exception . 
this time , the action takes place on a huge cruise liner , on which sandra bullock and jason patrick are trying to develop their relationship . 
yep , that's right , no keanu reeves this time , but fear not , jason patrick is more than up to the job . 
speaking of which , the job at hand is to stop completely bonkers terrorist , willem dafoe , from crashing the liner into a huge island , after stealing a diamond collection . 
the reason for this act of destruction is revenge . 
after years of working for the company that builds cruise liner computers , he contracts copper poisoning and is retired . 
naturally , what entails next is a lot of running/jumping about and general high quality action as jason patrick does his level best to save the day . 
thinking back on this film , you can't help , but admire it's structure . 
the way , willem dafoe initiates his plan and throws red herrings to the crew and passengers . 
the race against time to save the liner from crashing , and of course , the finale chase scence . 
 ( although this is ruined by an over the top , one too many stunt and explosion . ) 
simple in construction , effective in it's execution , and the result , a clear and concise , highly enjoyable action film . 
the acting is adequate , although it's darned obvious that sandra bullock is only in it to create a 'hot totty' appeal to the men ( and she does that perfectly ! ) , jason patrick fills the action hero role superbly and willem dafoe is just great as the crazed terrorist . 
overall , speed 2 is a most enjoyable thrill ride . 
not up to it's predecessor's high calibre but very good all the same . 
there is plenty going on , some of the thrills are quite tense and it also proves that you do not need blood and guts to make a good action movie .
sam ( matthew broderick ) is an astronomer in a small american town and engaged to teacher linda ( kelly preston ) . 
he is head over heels in love and lindas sudden departure to new york city to live with her new lover anton ( tch ? ky karyo ) comes as a complete surprise to him . 
but as we all know love is blind and so sam leaves for new york as well to win her back . 
he moves into an abandoned house across the street from anton's apartment and installs a camera obscura to watch them . 
suddenly anton's ex maggie shows up , but she does not want her former lover back . 
on the contrary , all she wants to do is vaporize him . 
she may say that she doesn't want to kill him , but the possibility doesn't bother her too much either . 
after all , people die every day . 
in spite of their different motives the two team up and fall for each other as things move on . 
the story sounds like something we all have seen a million times . 
but we haven't . 
griffin dunne brings us the most charming comedy since " while you where sleeping " . 
the camera obscura adds a " special something " to the movie and makes it an exceptional romantic comedy . 
everything about the movie is perfect , from set design to casting . 
the dialogues are inspired and the touches of black humor add a certain bite . 
meg ryan , known from " when harry met sally " or " sleepless in seattle " , surprises in a role that may finally help her get rid of her sweet little girl image . 
she impresses the viewer as a maneating biker girl . 
even more surprising is the fact that the viewer believes her , much more so than in last years " courage under fire " where she played a gulf war pilot . 
matthew broderick is the goodnatured and somewhat naive sam who has trouble accepting reality . 
the viewer can tell that he doesn't only watch the stars but also tries to reach out for them . 
he has trouble keeping in touch with reality . 
after all , who would leave everything behind to chase a lost love ? 
his naivet ? that we don't question for a minute throughout the movie clashes with maggies exaggerated wish for revenge . 
she would do anything to harm anton . 
she doesn't hesitate to use sam for her plan and makes him understand right from the beginning that nothing will happen between the two of them . 
that makes the scenes when they innocently share a bed , have potatoe chips and watch the action across the street like a saturday night show on tv even funnier . 
tch ? ky karyo is perfect as anton . 
he is , well , repulsive . 
that's all there is to say about him . 
you can't really manage to pity him , even after all his mishaps . 
he not only took sam's bride away from him , he is also a french chef . 
worlds collide , i . 
e . 
the usa and france . 
this can only go wrong . 
even if maggies revenge schemes are at times shocking , you just can't sympathize with a man who plays " je t'aime . . . moi 
non plus " on his tape deck . 
not everyone is captured by the french charme that linda and even maggie fell for . 
sam certainly isn't . 
too bad for anton . 
for him things take a turn to the worse . 
 " addicted to love " is one of this year's most pleasant surprises .
copyright 1996 graeme huggan carry on henry is all about henry viii and his eight wives ! 
sid james plays henry , who no sooner has the film started , is getting rid of his present queen and hopes to find another one soon . 
as part of his alliance with france , he requests the hand-in-marriage to the queen of normandy ( joan sims ) . 
she comes to england in the hope of marrying henry but when he finds out that she loves garlic and has a reeking garlic breath , he is totally averse to the idea of marriage . 
henry's court is very corrupt , with the cardinal ( terry scott ) trying to bribe cromwell ( kenneth williams ) and cromwell trying to bribe the king . 
there is a state of crisis when the king puts marie the queen ( sims ) in the tower of london ready for execution . 
the queen is pregnant but she has not liased with the king before , so fingers are pointed at sir roger de lodgerley played by charles hawtrey , who has a rather lecherous character to play this time . 
the cardinal and cromwell decide to get a signed confession from sir roger by using all kinds of torture devices ! 
owing to circumstances , sir roger is sometimes needed to sign that he is the father and sometimes that he isn't . 
this is because of renewed threats by the king of france ( peter gilmore ) to come over himself , which in the end he does . 
by then , henry has found himself a new queen , played by none other than barbara windsor ! 
it looks like he has some explaining to do ! 
there are stand-out performances by sid james as henry , joan sims as marie , and terry scott in an unusual role as the cardinal . 
also there are cameos from kenneth connor and peter butterworth , who plays barbara's father . 
the set and costume design is first class and the overall production of this film is good . 
there is even an early appearance from david prowse , who later became the green cross code man and darth vader . 
the film does have it's downsides though , as it is getting pretty routine for the carry-on team to stage historical films and the inventive streak of the script seems to run out pretty quickly . 
there is also the absence of hattie jacques and bernard bresslaw , who could have helped the film along . 
however , overall the film is funny and there are plenty of laughs and saucy jokes , so that is why i mainly recommend it to carry on fans only , but there is enough humour in the film to make it worth anyone's while to sit down and watch it .
this " dumb " cowboy blondie who thinks he is a `darn' good loverboy , decides to leave his dusty ol' town somewhere in texas and go to new york . 
he puts on his beloved cowboy attire and off he hops on the next new york coach . 
when he arrives to new york , he immediately sets out to play mr playboy thinking he is the best `darn' `stud' in the whol'o' new york city . 
obviously he fails . 
he meets the 'cripple' rico ( dustin hoffman , who is terrifically good ) in a bar . 
rico has a leg that is paralysed from the knee down , so he walks in a peculiar way . 
rico is a thief and wants to get some money off this 'rich' dumb cowboy . 
he cheats our cowboy out of $20 through a somewhat detailed routine and disappears . 
soon , our cowboy runs out of money : he gets kicked out of his hotel , and starts getting hungry . 
walking through the city , with " everybody's talkin' " playing in the background ( oh , and his prided techno transistor radio in hand ) , he spots rico in a cafe . 
rico , half-scared , pours out all the money in his pocket . 
60 filthy cents . 
our cowboy , hungry , is forgiving . 
he is glad he found someone he knows . 
rico offers to make it up for him . 
and he invites him to his place . 
and what a filthy , cold place it is . 
our cowboy falls asleep instantly in the ( junk ) bed . 
when he finally wakes ( jumps ? ) 
up , he finds rico looking at him . 
 " you wanna cup'a'coffee ? " 
rico asks in his friendly , sleazy , somewhat-childish manner while he smokes on a ciggy . 
 " what're you ? 
a goddamn faggot ? 
what do you want from me ? 
where are my shoes ? 
what did you do to them ? " 
but all his doubts turn out to be unfounded . 
rico really has a heart . 
together , they live in the junk apartment and almost freeze to death . 
rico is convinced that the best place to be is florida , where the sun shines beautifully and there are lots of coconut trees . 
but he falls sick and is convinced that his cure is to go to florida . 
 " we will soon be in miami " is the last sentence uttered in this film and what a shocking , moving end of a film it is . 
the classic theme music : " midnight cowboy " helps bring about the feeling of attachment that most viewers will experience towards the end of the film . 
whether the attachment is to the two main characters or to their dreams , is probably as debatable as whether it was the acting or the direction that makes this film so memorable .
modern audiences are more likely to be familiar with les misirables from the pop-broadway musical rather than victor hugo's original tome . 
adapted several times for the cinema , this latest effort does a superb job of translating the characters , story , and heart of the novel to the screen . 
liam neeson stars as jean valjean . 
as a young man , valjean stole some bread to satisfy his hunger . . . and he was sentenced to 19 years of hard labor for his crimes . 
prison hardened him , and on his release he seems doomed to a life of crime and squalor . 
however , an unexpected act of compassion changes his outlook on life , and he vows to become a better man . 
however , he runs up against one man who doesn't believe in reform . 
inspector javert ( geoffrey rush ) is an obsessive law abider . 
he has no tolerance for anyone who breaks the rules , even with benign intentions . 
he once served as a guard at the labor camp where valjean served , and after valjean breaks his parole , javert devotes himself to bringing him to justice . 
two women also get caught up in the struggle . 
fantine ( uma thurman ) is an unwed mother suffocating in an unforgiving society . 
her daughter , cosette ( mimi newman , and later , claire danes ) , is her life , yet she cannot afford to raise her . 
instead , cosette is sent to live with a cruel foster family which extorts money from fantine , and forces cosette into a life little better than a slave . 
director bille august manages to create a faithful adaptation of victor hugo's novel , which , though omitting some of the political undertones , remains true to the overall story and tone of the book . 
hopefully you won't , as some clueless members of the audience did , wonder where all the songs went . 
the movie manages to be completely engrossing without the andrew lloyd webber flourishes . 
the experience is bolstered by strong performances throughout , though neeson and rush deservedly take center stage with their core roles . 
neeson in particular deserves kudos for his portrayal of a man trying to do good , but continually haunted by his past . 
the supporting cast is also extraordinary . 
the only actor who dims in comparison is hans matheson , playing the revolutionary , marius . 
the film slightly loses its luster during his brief love affair , but it is transitory , and truly only distracting when contrasted with the rest of the film . 
the novel les misirables is , by any account , an epic , both in its scope and in its length . 
while it would be nearly impossible to cram everything from its pages into a two hour movie , this latest attempt does an admirable job at the translation . 
it , too , is an epic . . . and one worth seeing .
the party is one of those classic slapstick comedies that will leave you , at times , cracking up . 
the film takes place , for the most part , in real-time during an exclusive evening party that is attended only by the biggest names in hollywood . 
hrundi v . bakshi , played very well by peter sellers , is a struggling actor who just came to america from his homeland , india . 
hrundi tries out his acting talents , but it seems that he just isn't cut out for the job . 
on the set of his current film that he stars in , hrundi seems to make everything go for the worse . 
during the filming of this movie set in the 1800's , hrundi manages to annoy the director ( herbert ellis ) in any way he can . 
this includes a pitiful acting job in many scenes , wearing an underwater watch in one scene , and accidentally detonating a massive set . 
many of the hollywood producers and big names want hrundi out of the business forever . 
and when the director makes a personal phone call to mr . clutterbuck ( j . 
edward mckinley ) pleading for hrundi's ejection from hollywood , everything is pretty much over for hrundi . 
clutterbuck writes his name down on a piece of paper to insure that hrundi will never again work in hollywood . 
but when this piece of paper turns out to be the guest list for clutterbuck's exclusive party , hrundi is invited , and certain chaos is bound to occur . 
of course , as predicted , hrundi causes lots of trouble . 
each scene in which hrundi encounters a situation , usually one that he can't handle , is almost always very humorous . 
and each scene with hrundi and the drunken waiter , who is alone hilarious , adds to the comedy in a great way . 
the party can be compared to many other films of it's type , specifically the trio of naked gun movies and the airplane movies , but the party is a delightful movie that incorporates very well played out comedy into believable situations . 
it also includes a number of memorable scenes ( can anyone say " birdy num-num " ? ) . 
if you're in the mood for fun and enjoyable slapstick comedy , check out the party . 
it's not going to be one of your all-time favorites , but if you enjoy this type of humor , you'll enjoy the party .
edward zwick's " the siege " raises more questions than it can convincingly answer or even clearly articulate . 
its subject is the rising threat of terrorism in american cities . 
denzel washington is anthony " hub " hubbard , who runs the fbi's anti-terrorism task force in new york . 
his investigation into arab terrorist cells intensifies when suicide bombers take out a busload of people . 
hub focuses on a mysterious cia operative ( annette bening ) , whose goes by both " elise " and " sharon . " 
as the terrorist attacks continue and the body count rises , the question of martial law is raised . 
enter general devereaux ( bruce willis ) , who opposes martial law at first but who , as soon as the president decides to send in the army , begins herding arab immigrants into a prison camp and attacking every link that hub uncovers in the terrorist chain . 
hub listens as devereaux tortures and murders a suspect . 
the future zwick and screenwriter lawrence wright offer is all too possible . 
what would happen , they ask , if terrorism became as much a fact of daily life in new york as it is in cities like beirut and belfast ? 
what would happen to our civil liberties if soldiers patrol our streets with machine guns ? 
these questions " the siege " answers in realistic detail . 
it implies tougher ones , though : what can be done to combat terrorism without sacrificing justice and freedom ? 
if we encourage terrorism abroad ( from bening's character we discover that the cia trained the bombers ) , will it inevitably come back to us ? 
 " siege " avoids the tougher questions by endowing its hero , hub , with a uncompromising sense of clear right and wrong . 
this comforting fantasy of sir galahad confronting the evils of the modern world is an escape from the thought-provoking issues the movie raises . 
still , zwick deserves credit for at least addressing the issue with as much realism as he does where so many movies ( willis' " die hard " series , for example ) offer only a comic-book view on terrorism .
a movie that's been as highly built up as the truman show , with reviews boasting , " the film of the decade ! " 
and " a breakthrough ! " 
can only be leading up to letdown . 
that's no doubt -- it seems any movie with critical acclaim makes you think you're going in for the ride of your life , that you'll end up changed on the other side , and you come out of the theater going , " eh . . . 
 * that's * what all the fuss was about ? " 
so , naturally , the truman show was building up to what was going to be a dissapointment . 
and i convinced myself , as i nestled into my uncomfortable movie theater chair , actually to try not to enjoy it . 
let me tell you , that is an impossibilty . 
the truman show is truly " the film of the decade " and " a breakthrough " and more . 
and you will come out changed on the other side . 
such a movie comes around only once in a lifetime , where you find yourself feeling everything that the character is feeling , and this , friends , is it . 
jim carrey shows that he doesn't need to talk out of his butt to entertain us ; that he can be as dramatic as any of hollywood's leading men . 
the film has a difficult premise to tackle , trying to set us up thirty years into the " truman show's " run , but tackle it it does , and perfectly . 
with flashbacks actually being flashbacks on the television show , you get the sense that you are viewing a * real * prime-time hit . 
and the way the camera constantly takes the forms it would in the " real " truman show is clever and well-done . 
people , rejoice ! 
this is the first oscar-worthy film of not only this year , but of the last five years . 
not since " schindler's list " has a movie captured human spirit and true despair so well . 
this is a classic in the making , and ( to borrow a line from esquire's review ) it stars jim carrey . 
nothing in his career to date and nothing he can do in the future will ever be able to top his role as truman burbank ; mark my word . 
for , as i said , this is the movie of a lifetime and the role is of the same calibre . 
forget special-effect ladden summer fodder . 
drop your romantic comedies in the trash . 
toss your thrillers and teen flicks on the pile . 
you need nothing more than " the truman show " to carry you through the summer , or for that matter , the year . 
oh ! and in case i don't see you , good afternoon , good evening , and goodnight .
go's is a gloriously slick hip machine . 
director liman ( who also photographed go ) and screenwriter august celebrate the drug/rave scene in l . a . , preferring to take ( comedic ) snapshots of troubled youth rather than critique them . 
after more than ninety minutes of pill-popping , tantric sex , car chases , and attempted murder , go even has a happy ending . 
this is the sort of film that gives members of the dove foundation splitting headaches ; as go wound down , i anticipated an anti-pill-popping-casual-tantric-sex-car-chase-attempted-murder sermon that ( blessedly ) didn't arrive . 
a la tarantino's pulp fiction , go is comprised of three separate but related stories . 
the basics are as follows : ronna ( polley ) is a bitter grocery store clerk facing eviction who turns to drug dealing for extra dough . 
her co-worker , simon ( the improbably named askew ) , is a clubber from britain ecstatic about his first trip to vegas . 
zack ( mohr ) and adam ( wolf ) are soap opera stars escaping a career-threatening conviction by assisting a peculiar cop ( fichtner ) in a drug bust . 
perhaps because the innovative structure of tarantino's non-linear masterwork is by now old hat , the id-fueled go delighted me but rarely surprised me ( with the exception of that mind-reading cat ! ) ; 
pulp fiction zigzagged down roads unforeseen , but we see go's wheels turning from its first flash frame to the last . 
torontonian polley ( of the sweet hereafter ) refused to do publicity for this picture on the basis that she was " not pleased with " her turn as the ill-fated cashier . 
in go , she delivers , hands-down , her best performance to date . 
here's an ( overrated ) actress who agreed to appear on the poster , but not support her team at the junket or in interviews ; this sort of arrogance is commonplace for ms . polley , as anyone who has read of her political agenda in the canadian press will tell you . 
if she doesn't want to be the ingenue of the moment , she should have said " no , " not go . 
but i digress . 
go is a fun film , so chipperly depraved one can't help but turn off his moral judgment for its duration and enjoy the ride . 
in that sense , it's a departure from liman's last film , swingers , which at least lectured against self-absorption in the form of vince vaughan's trent and his subtle comeuppance in the story's clever epilogue ( which has been aped by mcdonald's for their latest commercial ) . 
i wish i cared more about go's characters : like the techno music they listen to , the bands of anarchists on display here are at once absorbing and vacuous . 
when the lights came up and stung my eyes , it was difficult to recall what about it entertained me . 
yet entertain me it did . 
go is light and frothy , featuring compelling if not endearing work by polley , timothy olyphant ( scream 2 ) , and especially fichtner , whose homoerotic behavior is milked for effective laughs . 
fichtner is a character actor best known for playing backstabbers ( in heat , armageddon , and others ) ; his previously untapped comic abilities shine in go . 
unlike much of the film , fichtner is unpredictable .