No Irish, I didn't feel that way when I was watching. If I think about it, the title is based on his character i suppose?? In any case, what is the movie about? The motives of the psycho guy and the main guy are not clear to me. Probably the only character who is well understood is that of Tommy Lee? I think I liked Fargo better in terms of acting and character development and No Country for its cinematography. Overall I would rate Fargo higher in terms of satisfaction

ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA III
(First Viewing)

Sadly, this film didn't end the trilogy as I was expecting. There was still an important element left out for Jet Li's character. Also, the final battle with the lion dance did absolutely nothing for me.

Ashes of Time ****
Karwai Wong creates a beautiful image with themes of love, guilt and regret by letting his characters reflect on their memories through time. Each event leads to a memory of another coupled with the realization that essentially the past has its impact over all events, in present and in future. Whether one can decouple the memory is a key theme of the movie. Beautiful music, colors and prominent use of persistence-of-vision sword fights. I need to watch this movie again to absorb all the themes explored by the director. Highly recommended.

THE LEGEND
(Second Viewing)

A sillier tale than the ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA trilogy. Also, Jet Li's kung fu/martial arts wasn't as crisp and polished as the other series either.

The Dead Zone (1983) (based on the novel by Stephen King)

Directed by: David Cronenberg
Starring: Christopher Walken, with Martin Sheen

A teacher (Walken), on his way home with a coworker he's in love with, gets into a traffic accident and winds up in, and then awakes from, a long coma. He's now gifted (?) with the power to see -- and change -- the future simply by touching someone. This came in handy a few times, especially once he shook hands with a cheesy politician.

Speaking of cheesy, this was made in the 80s. Performances were overly performed as a result. I like the idea of the story, but plan to see the 2002 version first (starring Anthony Michael Hall, which then became an of-course TV series) ...before I give a final comparison rating... but so far it's a **1/2 or *** of 5...

THE LEGEND 2 1/2
(Second Viewing)

The directing of this was very amateur at best. The camera angels were awkward for such a lengthy duration of the film (too many close-ups and such). I am very disappointed with these last two films again.

You mean that fucking TV show where the same goddamn cops don't believe the hero despite week after week using his psychic gift to unravel cases that otherwise nobody could have solved?

THE DEAD ZONE is a pretty good movie. Cronenberg crafts an emotional tale about a gift that understandably crushes Walken's soul because of what he sees, UNTIL he realizes that he can actually do something about them...

Plus, the ending and wrap-up with the nutjob Martin Sheen character, is just great. "You're Finished!"

THE DEAD ZONE (1983) - ***1/2

I saw Dead Zone years ago mostly because it was based on a Stephen King book. It was ok, but I must admit, I like the tv series better (even though I don't see it every week.)

I didn't know that there was first a Dead Zone remake with Anthony Michael Hall. I just know of the series. What year was the movie released?


TIS

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) **** (First Viewing This Year)


What's to say? The original feel-good movie. Jimmy Stewart and a 26 year old Donna Reed (she was gorgeous!).

Sappy ending? Sure but what's not to love about it.

Click Here

V FOR VENDETTA (2006) - ***

Hugo Weaving might very well be one of the more underrated actors in Hollywood today. He's as damn good as a Johnny Depp or a Christian Bale, yet the man doesn't get any acclaim. Hell, he was the best thing in the chaos that are the MATRIX sequels.

The testament to his greatness is when he's given the clunky philosophical lecture cram sessions that is Wachowski dialogue and actually make them both fluid and poetic. That and conveying intelligence and emotionalism behind a static Guy Fawkes mask. Weaving gives us one of the more compelling performances yet seen in a Hollywood comic book adaptation.

If only V FOR VENDETTA was as good as Weaving.

I don't blame Alan Moore at all for his problems with the movie. In his excellent 1980s graphic novel, he created a protagonist that was a proud violent anarchist, forcing audiences to support such a blatant terrorist in his war against the totaltarian UK of the future.

Writers/producers the Wachowski brothers took Moore's literary hate of Thatcherism and turned it into a cinema hate letter at the American neo-cons. Its still set in Britain a few years from now, but their V on page is an undisputed freedom fighter that isn't as challenging nor as interesting. Thank God for Hugo.

But I have to give any adaptation a fair chance, so I threw the book away and I was surprised to find this to be initially a really good picture. Its the best work yet based off a Moore book, and there are fine performances in the film. From Stephen Fry to Stephen Rhea, to John Hurt as the dictator, and even Natalie Portman brings home the bacon. Where was this good acting of hers in the STAR WARS prequels?

While its damn heavy handed in its list of complaints against Bush America, I still think there is a relevancy to it all. The President of Iran, who recently claimed that there are no homosexuals in his country, would probably feel right at home in Hurt's England.

A shame democracy in place, the moral police state making sure the streets are clean of the undesireables and outsiders, and the media mere puppetry for the government. There can't be any gays around if they're executed or persecuted into seclusion, right?

Yeah, I was really liking V FOR VENDETTA, until the 3rd act. Its like the movie realized it was running out of time, and decided to resolve the plot using clips, montages, and other nonsense this side of David Lynch's DUNE. Then the several logical problems I had with the conclusion.

If this tyrantical police state had surveillance up the ass, wouldn't they notice the manufacturing, buying, and distribution of hundreds of thousands of masks and capes? I mean, people take snap shots of old trains out in West Virginia, and Homeland Security detain their asses. But this meaner and more ruthless limey gestapo doesn't note it?

Better yet, how about the hero demanding the people rise up and overthrow the cabal, yet he does all the dirty work. Those poor folks dress up like dorks at Comic-Con, and all they do is watch a fireworks show. More of a coup de tat than a true revolution, isn't it?

'I understand what the Wachowskis and their pawn director James McTeigue tried to do. The masses united under a banner, one wholly provided and instigated by V himself, but couldn't they have pulled this off without screwing the pooch? It turns a damn good movie into a decent one with some smarts mixed with sillyness.

Better yet, they disregarded what I considered to be my favorite part of the graphic novel's ending where the protagonist, much like the namesake of his face, becomes a symbol that will live on with poignancy for eons to come.

Its a more deserving finale for Weaving's stunning tour de force.

Another classic i still havn't seen.

Over the holidays my brother-in-law and I took our kids to see Mr. Magorium's Emporium. I don't make it to the movies too often. I went to this movie expecting little, and I got much less.

The story line was a big cliche and poorly developed. The characters evoked very little interest as Dustin Hoffman played the most embarrassing role, in which I've ever seen him. When the movie ended (fortunately it was an abrupt ending), I thought that at least some of the younger kids might have enjoyed it. I was wrong. They were bored.

I only tend to go to the pictures when i know the film im seeing has had above average rating/reviews,i never go and see random film just for the sake of it.

My g/f cant understand this and we fall out when i refuse to go to the pictures and watch a film that not will be remembered and won't have impact on my life.

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Director: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra; with Ernest Borgnine

I finally saw it!!

Synopsis: Preceding the events of Pearl Harbor, a previously-higher-ranking army soldier (Cliff) takes a demotion to private in a transfer to another outfit after severely hurting a comrade in a boxing match. Standing up for himself and his values, he refuses to box despite his new Captain (Philip Ober) making sure he pays for his decision because he wants to win the boxing championship. Cliff's Sargent (Lancaster) eventually takes a liking to the ostensibly opposite renegade private as they both have similar issues -- with their lovers.

Review: I find it much more difficult reviewing and rating classic films than modern films. A classic film seems to ooze "GREATNESS" simply because it's old and won a bunch of awards in its day. Don't get me wrong -- I enjoy classic films, and enjoyed this one as much as any. But there's obviously different criteria here versus a more modern film. Times and production values were different, and I think many (many, not all!) films pre-70's might not stand up the test of time if they were released today. It seems like I'm obligated to start with 4 stars just because of its notoriety.

I'm not saying I need violence, language, action, and sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll by any means. I LOVE classics - including the old (well, pre-80s) Charlton Heston films, and actually could see him in Lancaster's role. But, they all did well enough.

Except for that GLARING editing gaffe when Donna Reed is speaking with Lancaster at the beach, her lips moving w/o any sound.

What I wasn't expecting was -- this isn't a war film at all: it's a love story (well, two concurrent love stories).

Johnny Fontane never gets that movie! It's perfect for him -- it'd make him a big star!

Yes, this is the film that Frank Sinatra renewed his career with, after winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. And he was fine, indeed. I didn't review the other contenders for the award, but this almost seemed like Sinatra's SCENT OF A WOMAN or something. He did great, but, Oscar-winning? I don't feel his role was big enough, truthfully. But I'm fine with it.

Ah, this isn't a review, it's a free-association! lol In any event, I enjoyed it - just don't necessarily think it stands the test of time.

IMDb: 7.8/10
Netflix: 7.4/10
JGeoff: 7/10

That movie has two things going for it (IMO). Its storyline and its excellent cast. "From Here to Eternity" was born from a best-selling novel (and a wonderful story). Its cast is peerless - where else can you see Burt Lancaster at his best, Montgomery Clift, Sinatra, Donna Reed (a personal favorite of mine) and Ernest Borgnine in a great role?

The tv miniseries was decent, too. Joe Pantoliano in the Sinatra role was awesome and Natalie Wood in Deborah Kerr's spot was wonderful (and a real eye-candy pleaser).

I'd love to see that 1979 miniseries to compare -- too bad it hasn't been released on DVD...

No, Geoff. it's not. But you can get it on VHS.

What's that?

Thats what you transfer onto DVD.

Thank you, SC.

Some computer geek he is?

No wonder he has to sell posters.

But thats not all. You should see him on a street corner sometime.

IDIOCRACY (2006) - **1/2

I'm actually surprised that none of the corporations mocked in Mike Judge's IDIOCRACY didn't sue the hell out of him and 20th Century Fox over many of the future gags. From FuddRuckers turned into ButtF-----s to Starbucks going from serving coffee to serving blowjobs, its kinda fun that Judge either got away with it. Nah, FOX probably paid good money to shut up said parties.

Years ago, when I was still a reviewer for "Test Pattern" at the now-defunct COMING ATTRATIONS BY CORONA website, the script for IDIOCRACY, then known as 3001, passed around the staff and I read it. I laughed and I wanted to see this movie.

That was six years ago. IDIOCRACY was shot in 2004 and released last year....if you want to call it a "release." It was more like FOX throwing a baby into a dumpster at the Prom. Though after seeing IDIOCRACY, I don't blame FOX for not wanting to lose money on this picture in theatres.

Who knows why Judge wanted to make IDIOCRACY. Maybe some idiot cut him off at traffic. Maybe it was the Intelligent Design folks. Either way, the whole premise of the movie is that Luke Wilson was a mediocre soldier in terms of intelligence and capacity so he's recruited for a hibernation experiment to last one year.

He's accidently forgotten and he wakes up 500 years later to a future where everyone is absolutely stupid, the #1 movie in theatres is an ass farting for 90 minutes, and worst of all, Wilson is the smartest man on Earth.

Quite a few reviews kept making the cliche that IDIOCRACY was "Judge making his own FUTURAMA" episode, and they're wrong. IDIOCRACY doesn't have the wit or smart pop culture gags of Matt Groening's program. Instead, I would say that its more like BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD set in the future. Its that sort of (stupid) humor that made Judge's career, and he's good at it.

Personally my favorite joke in IDIOCRACY is an image of the Reflecting Pool in Washington D.C., with a rundown Washington Monument in the distance, and rednecks boating and water-skiing on the sacred waters.

It's probably the best joke in the picture, and maybe that's the problem with IDIOCRACY. The same joke is repeated over and over again, with variations.

You have the Pro Wrestler-turned-President. There is the joke that its now "faggy & pompous" to use corret English, that these people are so stupid they use Gatorade instead of water on crops, you name it. Most of them though either feel flat or createed a "heh" instead of "Ha Ha" from me.

Then there is Maya Rudolph. I never liked her on SNL, and either its her fault, her character or both, she's damn annoying in IDIOCRACY.

That said, I enjoyed IDIOCRACY in a passing, video rental sense. Maybe not enough to recommend it, but surely beats the crap out of a few studio comedies that do get wide theatrical releases like the latest Dane Cook movie.

Besides, how can anyone hate a movie where Charlie Chaplin was a Nazi?

LIVE WIRE (1992) - **

Back in the mid 1980s when Roger Moore quit James Bond, Pierce Brosnan was booked to be the new 007. But he got screwed because of his REMINGTON STEELE contract, and Timothy Dalton got the gig instead.

For the next few years, Brosnan did quite a few action pictures, almost as if he was trying to prove to EON Films that he could cut the martini. Some were good (THE FOURTH PROTOCOL) and some were like LIVE WIRE...they went hay wire.

Watching this on HBO, I noticed how this picture was shot after the Cold War ended and before the numerous terrorist attacks on America leading up to 9/11. Sounds almost notalgic probably for some of us.

Anyway, the two remarkable things in LIVE WIRE is that Brosnan does have the charm, the charisma, and the physical credibility to succede in action cinema. Second, the movie has a good kill-gimmick, I must say. A microscopic liquid explosive poured into water, which the person then consumes and their stomach acids "activate" the bomb. I'm surprised actually that Hollywood hasn't reused this idea yet.

Just too bad the movie just bombs flat. You have the whole psychobabble of Brosnan's kid drowning in a pool, and destroying his marriage. Quite frankly, I laughed at the sequence when the (stupid) girl just simply falls and sinks. The baddies are way too generic for my taste and when Brosnan goes all Commando, I wonder how a pretty D.C. bomb expert would know how to kick so much ass. There's an awkward KY Jelly gag to boot.

Then you have the sub-plot of her banging a corrupt Senator, which himself is a target of the arms-dealing mercenary bad guys. Funny enough, Ron Silver would end up playing another douchebag Senator in the much better TIMECOP a few years later. Would you be really surprised that she's back to screwing James Bond by the end?

I guess the only scene in LIVE WIRE I can immediately remember is a joke early on about Brosnan disarming a bomb underneath a rich pretty blonde's car, and remarking that she should wear some underwear. Such sexual chemistry and good humor in a scene, its obvious that Brosnan could be a better 007 than Dalton could ever be.

I've gone back to using stars for rating films. For my system, click here.

Eastern Promises
David Cronenberg | 2007 | UK/Canada/USA
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A midwife follows up on the diary of a prostitute who died giving birth, and crosses paths with the Russian Mafia.
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Cronenberg needs to start writing his own material again - perhaps then his films will be as succinct but not as contrived as this. Knight's script, on the one hand, provides an ample basis for the thematic grounding which interests the director (primarily, sexuality as the means by which identity is constructed and maintained), but it's far too short and story-driven to be of any lasting impact. There's not a scene wasted, and it's very riveting at times thanks to a weighty central performance from Mortensen (Mueller-Stahl is good too, though Watts disappoints), but as a whole it seems economic to a fault; perhaps it's a sign of the director moving further into foreign territory (for him and us both), into a more subtle style of filmmaking, one wherein thematic fabrics are presented in more structurally accessible frameworks, which is fair enough, but for me it might take a few viewings to adapt (A History of Violence worked for me because I took it to be about the medium itself, and its silly finale was effective and convincing). The representation of violence is unusually problematic, too: never one to shy away from disturbing imagery, the violence here takes on an almost parodic tone; the opening scene brought gasps from the (full capacity) screening I attended, which does well in portraying the danger and indifference of the culture portrayed (a reason why the Turkish bath scene is so tense when it finally happens), but as for the throat-slashing scene in the graveyard, its persistence to shock - the victim makes sure to pull down his scarf and bare all - seems forced and unnecessary. As for the Turkish bath scene itself, though, it's Cronenberg's most memorable sequence in years, and one of the best action scenes in general, too: visceral, fleshy and genuinely thrilling.

Stars or No Stars?

LEPRECHAUN 3 1/2
(First Vieiwng)

The most I've enjoyed watching a LEPRECHAUN film yet. The setting of Las Vegas really fits the theme of the character and story plus this had the most humor of any of the three films thus far.

LEPRECHAUN 4: IN SPACE 1/2
(First Viewing)

I was really looking forward to this because I thought it could have had the same comedic qualites as JASON X. However, even though it was silly and stupid, it wasn't in a humerous way (it was just done really badly). The CGI was horrid and the leprechaun wasn't even searching for his gold but for some princess. The worst of the series thus far.

And in other news, Warrick Davis needs someone to feed him.

Care to help Irish?

LEPRECHAUN IN THE HOOD 1/2
(First Viewing)

The first half of the film barely had the leprechaun in it. It mostly dealt with Anthony Montgomery, Rashaan Nall, Red Grant, and Ice-T. Also the body count was rather low at 4 or 5 bodies and the storyline didn't add up in some places. However, I will give it credit for having zombie fly girls

You must be close to suicide after watching those films..