Reviews

‘Traffic' is an incredible movie – the story itself is provoking and highly involved whilst the cast members superbly portray their respective parts (especially Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas, and Don Cheadle). Camerawork also is a major (and unique) part of this film, and it helps greatly as a story-telling device.

I don't just want to mention tidbits of the components (like the numerous perspectives that one sees the world of drugs from) of this overwhelming film, so I'll just say that ‘Traffic' is one of the best movies I've seen, and that everyone involved in the making of the movie should be very proud of themselves.

Go and see it!

[10/10]

Bruce Willis is brilliant as a psychologist, and Scott Bakula does a great job too in his role. Actually, the main reason I rented this movie was to see these two and what they did with their characters. The other actors, mainly Lance Henriksen, do some decent work and keep the story interesting, and even intriguing to a point.

Okay, so this movie has some skin in it - and I did get the directors cut - it's the only way to go...

:)

Jane March is alright to look at, but as someone already pointed out, her teeth stand out a bit. She doesn't get that much screen time however, and the story basically revolves around Willis and his trying to find Bakula's killer.

The ending of the film (the last ten minutes or so) let the film down It almost borders on ridiculous; not due to the realization that is reached, but the action that takes place.

Despite this, it's definitely worth seeing for the great acting by Willis and the truly 'whodunnit' type feel.

[7/10]

Let me begin by saying that this movie is almost worth seeing just for Hugh Jackman's performance of Wolverine...he did an excellent job (well, I'm not a reader of comic books anymore, but I've seen the animated series..) - or at least, he did an entertaining job...

Patrick Stewart did a great job also - as did every cast member basically...

The story has some good action, a pretty interesting plot, great humor, and also compelling love-interest (I won't say between whom); making for a well-balanced movie...

The characters seemed real - as did the movie overall - despite this however, I can only give the movie a 'better-than-average not excellent' rating - I guess because it's hard to take a movie based on a comic book VERY seriously...

Still, I think there's little they could have done to make this movie better...(except maybe make it longer)...

'X-Men' is definately worth seeing - it presents itself in a very realistic manner with the right touch of seriousness and humor to make for probably one of the better movies of this year...(yup, the movie has a great message)...

[7/10]

I'm glad to see that a few users did find this movie completely overrated...

'The Sixth Sense' was uninteresting, and though with reasonable character development, there were some basic flaws that I could not shake while watching this movie (and some later flaws that were pointed out to me that made me realize that this film was the most overrated film of 1999)...

Firstly - about a year had past since the time Willis was killed, and yet, had he never attempted to talk to his wife? What logic was being used when the audience is led to believe that Willis lived with his wife for a year without talking to her? Not only this, but the fact that most likely the first night that Willis, after being killed and him returning to his house, would have realized something was wrong...this fact ruined the movie...

On top of that, other major flaws were made apparent to me (by others) after watching the film - firstly that the dead people were only seen in the areas in which they were killed, raising the question of 'How did Willis manage to walk around town?'...

The second major flaw is that surrounding the fact that the church was a safe-haven for Osment's character - i.e., dead people couldn't enter the church; yet Willis does it on more than one occasion...

I respect Bruce Willis as an actor, but I feel obliged (as I sometimes do) to point out certain aspects of films when they receives unduly recognition - in this case, the film was cast as truly thought-provoking and intelligent...

The ending was indeed different - but that in itself, in my mind at least, was not nearly enough to compensate for the stagnation that was the rest of the film (which was neither thought-provoking as a whole, intelligent, or entertaining)...

I would have given this film [2/10], but since Bruce Willis was in it and did the best he could, I honor his talent...

[3/10]

'Mercury Rising', from the look of the trailer, looked like an adequate drama with a reasonable amount of action - I also like Bruce Willis and so didn't think I could go too wrong - the fact that the film also starred Alec Baldwin was a big plus...

The only hesitation on my part was that I had never heard of the movie, and as I found, at least 90% of the time means the movie, for whatever reason, is bad...

In this case, the film represented part of that 90% - poor character development, a very poorly constructed story, and the fact that the story itself was so unoriginal and unentertaining - one felt that the two lead actors did not enjoy one minute of making this movie...

The trailer made it seem that this film would be one heck of a ride - but the film's tense scenes (if they can be called that) were so dispersed in snipits throughout the movie's frequent non-required dialogue, it made the disappointment that much greater...

[2/10]

Yes, this film has action...

And yes, this film has limited PG-13-rated bedroom action...

But no, this film does not have intelligence - as Bond films have continued, there seems to have been a gradual shift from the thought in storyline to one of general lack of thought...

On the forefront is the issue of gadgetry - all of Bond's gadgets seem to becoming more and more specialized to the point of absurdity - the gadgets that Bond is given seem to be of use in only one single, highly-unlikely to happen situation...the BMW with miniature (2-inch) chainsaw is the best example...(the scene itself has to be seen to be believed)...

The other main issue is the lack of freshness in storyline - granted, there are always bad-guys; and yes, there are always bad guys with massive funding in some form; but why does James Bond always get caught up in it?

One other thing that has struck me recently is the aging process of 007 - it's amazing - in about 30 years of service, James Bond really hasn't aged a day!

'Tomorrow Never Dies' was in fact the Bond-installment that led to my vow of never paying money again to see a new Bond film...

[3/10]

The concept surrounding this movie was/is unbelievable - that a bracelet of sorts could regenerate cells - ultimately bringing a dead person back to life...

This is all made possible by time-travel - a prisoner from the future manages to travel back in time with the aid of a scientist (Judge Reinhold)'s machine, looking for who he believes to be his soul-mate of sorts...

Unfortunately, Jennifer Rubin (who plays the soul-mate and wife to C. Thomas Howell) and her acting ability, coupled with the poor writing, in areas, really really destroyed the potential for this movie...

I have the utmost respect for C. Thomas Howell - I personally think he's one of the best actors around - and it's a shame to see him in a film that really could have been a success...

I feel that if a more talented director and more thoughtful screenwriters had entered this project, 'Last Lives' could have been brilliant...

[4/10]

'Hunter' was such a great show - even despite having several cast changes throughout the course of it's 7 year run, the chemistry between characters was inspiring - most definitely the relationship between Hunter and McCall, and the captain between the two themselves (Charles Hallahan was the best captain, in my opinion, of the 3 captains that starred throughout the course of the show)....

Direction, writing, acting, and the associated music (have I left anything out?) were the main components that undoubtedly led to the success of the show...

If you get a chance to watch 'Hunter,' watch it!

This film had a pretty good cast - unfortunately, it was poorly written...the reason I say this was the entire idea surrounding the drilling of the meteor - why drill so many miles into the surface when you can merely use one of the vast canyons that exist on the meteor that are much deeper than any holes they could possibly drill? (they clearly point out the existance of these canyons in at least one scene in the movie)...

The filmmakers make such a big scene of the apparent thinking that goes on by scientists etc; hence I feel obliged to go out of my way to express the incredible lack of thinking that actually goes on...

There is a great scene when they are interviewing the various crew members in training, but this, and the some reasonable acting and one-liners by the cast, are the only redeeming qualities of this highly overrated movie...

There are other unrealistic elements associated with this movie (the amazing maneuverability of the space shuttles for instance) but I don't want to appear totally negative...

[3/10]

'Timecop' probably represents Jean-Claude Van Damme at his very best - this movie demonstrates his ability...

The movie itself is slick and some thought has obviously gone into it - some time-travel movies do fail on grounds concerning plausibility, though 'Timecop' is intelligent as it is enjoyable...

The complexity of the film really finds the viewer respecting Van Damme a lot more, it simply isn't an action movie, though Van Damme shows that he still retains his amazing physical talents...

I recently saw this movie on NBC, and though not seeing it from the start, it brought back memories of the entire film, and what a great film it is - I had originally thought about giving this a [6/10], then thought maybe [7 or 8/10]...I opted for [8/10]...(maybe leaning more towards nine)...

:)

Yes, this film could be seen as the epitome of 80's action films - though Stallone's and Russell's chemistry and the mediocre (as opposed to usually poor) story-writing makes this film watchable - and somewhat enjoyable...

'Tango And Cash' has some great dialogue and some good action sequences - and it's reasonably realistic...another good point is the film's border-line 'grittyness'...

By no stretch of the imagination does this film push cinematic story-telling, though it shows an 80's action-comedy-drama, with some thought, can be at the very least mediocre...

'The Principal' is one of those films where Belushi could have been nominated for Best Actor, and Louis Gossett Jr. for Best Supporting Actor...

The film has some great scenes, a good story and character development, and a decent soundtrack...

The film is pretty hard-edged, though has elements of comedy...overall - an under-rated film (ones which I love to review) worth seeing...

[7/10]