Really? I wouldn't have figured it for a chick flick. Not a chick flick in the romantic comedy sense, but a chick flick in that women more than men want to see it

I stayed the heck away from that film when it came out because as you said, the story had been done before. No offense against Swank, I dig her work, but I'm getting tired of this inner city feel good stories like these. Just not my genre I guess

How about upstate New York feel good stories?

Speaking of which, that kid from the Bills is gonna walk again.

Remarkable! Hopefully this is a breakthrough for science

I like this movie. Clift, Taylor, and Winters were excellent. But, I don't think this movie is a film noir even with the loosest application of the term. Interesting idea, though. Why do you say it is one?

MOBSTERS 1/2
(First Viewing)

The story of a group of friends in turn of the century New York, from their early days as street hoods to their rise in the world of organized crime. As their crime empire expands, they have to deal with many problems, including their own differing opinions on how to run their business, the local Godfather, and the psychotic Mad Dog Coll.

An unusual cast of characters whom I wouldn't have pegged as making good mob figures, but I've been known to be wrong on more than one occassion. My biggest surprise was Christian Slater, who towards the beginning of the film, thought wouldn't pull off a good Italian/Mafioso. When I heard him talking with adding an 'a' to every word, I thought it might have been a long ride. However, once we got out of the neighborhood and youth scenes he was fine. Patrick Dempsey was also a surprise, however he was playing a Jewish character not an Italian and I think he did as good if not a better job than Slater.

My biggest beef with the film was the casting of Michael Gambon as Don Salvatore Faranzano. His English accent stuck out like a sore thumb whenever he spoke. Anthony Quinn was great Don Giuseppe 'Joe the Boss' Masseria. It's a pity I haven't seen more of his work and they should have casted someone else to play his rival to help balance his workload out (he carried both Don roles pretty much). As for the story, I thought it was a very interesting look at independent gangsters who don't belong to anyone family. It was interesting because they only had ties to themselves and could fool the families into fighting over them and to fight each other.

The movie was grossly inaccurate.... that took away any excitement over of it for me.

I thought it was a fun, if largely innacurate movie.

Funny though, I didn't really care for Quinn's preformance, I found it to be "over the top." He was much better as Neil Dellacroce in HBO's GOTTI.

I'll agree with the **1/2 rating.

Which parts. I was curious myself how much of the film was true

GO KILL AND COME BACK 1/2
(First Viewing)

A bounty hunter tracking a dangerous killer knows that he must either successfully murder his prey or have no hope of returning alive.

I found this movie to be pretty similar to THE MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. The main character was called the stranger and like Eastwood, is an admirable gunfighter. Although this was more of a tongue-and-cheek film when the fight scenes transpired, still the story was captivating. Probably one of the best grindhouse films I've seen and one of, if not the best film from this grindhouse film set I've seen thus far.

SNAKE EYES
(Second Viewing)

Ricky Santoro is a flamboyant and corrupt Atlantic City cop with a dream: become so well connected that he can become mayor. In lieu of that, he'll settle for keeping his comfortable lifestyle. On the night of the heavyweight boxing championship, Rick becomes mixed up in the assassination of the Secretary of Defense, an assassination involving his best friend. Becoming the investigating officer in the case, Rick soon uncovers a conspiracy to kill the Secretary and a mysterious woman in white. The conspiracy was shocking, but not half as shocking as the identity of its mastermind.

Nicholas Cage was terrific in this film. He was most definitely flamboyant and looney like his character in FACE/OFF. I miss this Nicholas Cage. De Palma's opening shot of the arena was fantastic. A nice long shot with Cage and Sinise canvassing the arena. Not much of a surprise in the line of story and the plot or shock was released too early in the film I thought.

I saw this movie I12, when it was first released. I really forgot about it til you just posted.

Anyway, I have mixed feelings on Nicholas Cage for some reason. He is a good actor but many of his characters are so off the wall. Granted, he's good a playing off the wall characters. Maybe that's it, he's characters are all off. I don't know. I liked Peggy Sue Got Married (his first movie??) He was great in Leaving Las Vegas, although that was a one time viewing for me (too much of a downer). I always wanted to see 8MM but I know that was a flop.

Probably my favorite Cage movie was Con Air. Did you see that?

TIS

Shame on you, TIS. Did you forget "Moonstruck"??

Oh yes. I think Cage gets sh*t on unnecessarily the majority of the time. My favorite Cage movies, in no order:

-HONEYMOON IN VEGAS (probably my first Cage film I liked)
-LEAVING LAS VEGAS
-THE ROCK
-CON AIR
-FACE/OFF (my favorite Cage role)
-GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS
-LORD OF WAR
-THE WEATHER MAN
-WORLD TRADE CENTER
-GHOST RIDER

It is by coppola right? Can you review that movie please?

Nobody liked Cage in Raising Arizona?? That's my favorite of his.

A friend of mine recommended I watch RAISING ARIZONA and I'm not afraid to say it. I didn't like it. He couldn't believe it but it just wasn't for me I guess. I remember Holly Hunter being very good with her accent but don't remember Cage too much.

Zerkalo (Mirror) 2nd time ****
One of or maybe the most beautiful movie(s) I have ever seen. The images, music, poetry and the theme are all just brilliant. The first time I saw it, I was preoccupied with plot confusions, now there is so much clarity.

How dare you!!! You suck!

Actually, it is an off-beat Cohen Bros. movie that most people don't quite understand so I don't blame you. Out of curiosity, do you enjoy any of their other movies?

I own both DVD's for FARGO and THE BIG LEBOWSKI (LEBOWSKI is probably my favorite comedy of all time along with SNATCH)

*Cough*

THE NINTH GATE 1/2
(Second Viewing)

The sleazy book dealer Corso (Depp) is hired by the obscure obsessive Balkan to find the only other two copies of his rare book in existence. The book is called 'The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows', and Balkan wants to authenticate his copy of this 17th century occult work, said to have been written by the devil.

One of Depp's easily forgetable movies. As much as I love the man and respect him as an actor, he didn't show me much with this film. His biggest reach in this role was trying to sound cool and calm throughout the picture. Frank Langella was very good as his employer, yet he wasn't used very much. As for the film itself, pretty lame with not very much excitement.

BOUNTY MAN
(First Viewing)

A man-hunter chases a young killer to an isolated valley town, who is in turn chased by a gang of cutthroats in this western filled with interesting complications.

Very surprising to see Margot Kidder in a grindhouse film. The lighting in this film wasn't very good, especially with those scenes filmed at night outside. However, this is a grindhouse film so I'm not that surprised. I think I'm more of a spaghetti western fan than American westerns. The story wasn't bad but the ending was very lame and I didn't find it very believable.

I classified it as such b/c--Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation--Cliff's character and the film's narrative center around his moral ambiguity and sexual motivation.

You're right though. The film does lack other key components of noir and I shouldn't have classified it as such. I certainly shouldn't have called it a staple.

THREE TOUGH GUYS
(First Viewing)

Ex-convict and priest Father Charlie teams up with framed ex-cop Lee Stevens to set the record straight about a dead friend. Joe Snake, responsible for framing Stevens and takes out prostitute Fay Collins in order to grab her secret $1,000,000 stash. Father Charlie and Stevens soon settle the score.

Another familiar face in a grindhouse film, Isaac Hayes. The main theme from this picture was familiar and used in KILL BILL: VOLUME 2 (when Pai Mai fights The Bride). A decent but as usual predictable outcome. The fighting priest played by Lino Ventura was a nice change. That man could kick some a$$ and wasn't your typical priest.

BROKEN ARROW 1/2
(First Viewing)

Major Deakins is a tough U.S. Air Force pilot who is assigned to a flight mission with 'nice-guy' Captain Hale. They are to fly the B3 Stealth Bomber on wargame maneuvers over Utah loaded with two live nuclear weapons. Deakins, having been continually passed over for promotion, sells out his country and arranges to use the thermonuclear warheads under his command to blackmail the U.S. government. The only thing standing in his way is his old buddy, Captain Hale.

Oh the days when it was actually cool and entertaining to see a John Travolta movie. Unfortunately for him, his following three films after this were crap until he again hooked up with director John Woo in 1997 for, the at times, underrated FACE/OFF. Slater turned in a decent performance as well but for some reason, I just had a hard time believing him as a "goody two-shoes" character. I also think this is one of the only John Woo films that didn't have doves in it. I was looking for them the entire film.

Broken Arrow has some of the worst music I've ever heard in a movie. I saw it recently on T.V.

I agree. There was one song (I can't remember the name of it) that was in SCREAM 2 and just didn't work for this film

MANDINGA 1/2
(First Viewing)

A story of forbidden passion in the Old South. A legacy of lust is passed from generation to generation when a plantation owner becomes obsessed with the sensual beauty of one of his slave girls.

Not to many slave movies that I can think of. I wonder why the subject isn't displayed more on screen (and no I've never seen ROOTS). Watching this felt like I was watching BLACK CANDLES all over again with the amount of sex scenes (almost every other scene). However, I will give this grindhouse film props for having a twist for an ending. At least some thought was put into it and even though it was laughable at times, this was probably one of the best grindhouse endings I've seen.

THE CHILDREN 1/2
(First Viewing)

A busload of children has disappeared from the quiet New England town of Ravensback, and Sheriff Billy Hart is on the case. A short while later, he manages to track down the kids, but unfortunately they seem to have been transformed into murderous zombies by a cloud of radioactive gas. How can he stop the killer tykes before they destroy the town?

Probably one of the cheesiest horror films I've ever seen. However, due to this fact it was also very enjoyable. When the kids came into contact with the radioactive gas, whenever they hugged someone, they would melt their entire body (yes, that's how they died). You couldn't help but laugh at it. I also believe this film shares the same music from the original FRIDAY THE 13TH. Blibble, svsg or other horror fans out there, check this out too if you like laughable horror films.