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Red Dragon (2002)
A terrible big-budget remake
A remake that could have been great, and fails miserably. The original 1986 Michael Mann "Manhunter", made from the book "Red Dragon" is the one to see. "Red Dragon" is a better book than "Silence of the Lambs", and "Manhunter" is a better movie than "Silence of the Lambs".
I don't believe for a second that Ed Norton's Will Graham in this "Red Dragon" had the guts or the chops to identify and catch Lector, yet we're told that he did. I might come back and flesh out this review, but for now just watch "Manhunter" and "Red Dragon" (in no particular order) and see if you don't agree.
Bedazzled (2000)
A misbegotten complete failure. See the original instead.
Remaking the Peter Cook/Dudley Moore original is a dangerous proposal at best and this one fails in so many ways. First, all the philosophical and wickedly delicious satire that grounds the Peter Cook/Dudley Moore original are ruthlessly thrown out like yesterday's bathwater. There are no conversations, much less witty or intelligent conversations, about the nature of God, the Devil, and man. Either the writers were too dim to *get it*, didn't think the audience would put up with an intellectual dimension or most likely just couldn't top the original script.
Second, I can't believe anyone would be stupid enough to cast a woman as the Devil, much less a beautiful one. The whole point of Fraser's character's bargain with the Devil was to win a girl he was too shy to approach. If you don't see the incongruity of conspiring with a woman who looks like Elizabeth Hurley to win some other woman, I can't explain it to you. Sure enough, even the writers of this dreck woke up one morning and realized, "Hey, Elliot's quite likely to notice that the Devil is more attractive than any other option on his plate!", necessitating a scene where Hurley changes into a HUGE DEVIL, complete with warts, yellow eyes, and the full range of big-budget Special Effects, to squelch THAT idea.
Finally, as another reviewer has noted, Elliot's wishes are just scattershot semi-random stabs at getting himself into a situation he can live with. There's no successive refinement of the wishes to take into account what happened earlier, thus no true matching of wits (the traditional essence of Faust tales) between the Devil and Elliot.
The sets are opulent and the costumes exquisite. Big production values all around. Unfortunately for this empty shell of an imitation, Cook and Moore's original proves yet again that money isn't necessary to make a good movie, but brains are.
Enemy at the Gates (2001)
Flawless
This is on my list of "perfect" movies...movies that succeed completely at what they set out to do. "Enemy" sets its standards high and meets them all. A heroic tale with admirable, principled characters, all willing to risk their lives for what they think is right. The opening sequence is possibly the best I've ever seen for bringing the horror and terror of combat right into your heart and the movie lives up to that level of intensity, while beautifully narrowing the focus to the conflict between one expert soldier from each side. I could go on but let me just say rent it now, you can thank the producers later.
V.I. Warshawski (1991)
A dreadful movie
I saw this movie ONCE, in 1991 when it was released, and it stunk so bad that 9 years later I STILL remember it and am returning to have my revenge. Particularly cringeworthy are the opening shots where Turner is talking to some butcher about various problems with males, or her boyfriend, or whatever, while the background is literally a curtain of hanging sausages. Not a little too blatant on the symbolism there. Then after listening to V I complain about being ogled while jogging, the camera rests lovingly on her bare, pumping legs while she is, um well, out jogging -- allowing the audience to condemn lowbrow sexuality one moment and indulge in it the next. Finally, the director found it necessary to show all the disgusting closeup details of V I's elderly refrigerator contents, after Turner's carefully filmed gasp of repulsion upon opening the door, not even trusting the audience enough to let them imagine it for themselves.
All in all, an irritating waste of Kathleen Turner's talents and my time. I haven't given this the full and eloquent blasting it deserves and has received from other IMDb commenters, but it WAS 9 years ago and time blessedly blunts the details.
As an addendum, let me say that while reviewer Marinelle K. Szenasy (see below) may have liked the film, she's totally off base in attributing its critical panning to men's "fear" of VI's character. I get very tired of crappily-constructed female characters being excused on the basis of offending male biases. It is possible for tough female characters to be both well written and appealing-- see e.g. Pulp Fiction -- and I applaud those whenever they appear. Sorry, Ms. Szenasy, you'll have to come up with a better excuse than that for this dreck.
A 2 on the star-o-meter.
Dream for an Insomniac (1996)
An inept waste of my time
Someone obviously bought Tiffanie DeBartolo a film of her very own to play with. A search of IMDb shows only one credit (as an intern on Four Rooms) before jumping in WAY over her head as both writer and director of Dream...
The dialogue is by turns ham-handed, pretentious, precious (in the worst sense of the word) and sophomoric. I can practically see Ms. DeBartolo sifting through her copy of Bartlett's Quotations (or old Harper's Bazaar magazines) for quotes to put in the mouth of her allegedly well-read heroine...no one who has actually read all the books Frankie's supposed to have would be such an airhead -- nor do I believe Ms. DeBartolo carries all those quotes around in HER head. Foreshadowing and writer's-workshop tricks hang heavy in the air and hit the audience over the head with all the subtlety of an inflated pig's bladder. The heroine's name is FRANKIE, and she idolizes FRANK SINATRA nudge-nudge; get it?? There might as well be herald trumpets sounding when MacKenzie Astin as the love interest appears outside the café window in his Frank Sinatra suit-and-hat outfit. The trick of switching from B&W to color is effective, but unoriginal -- anyone remember The Wizard of Oz (1939)? Rob's revelation of his homosexuality to his father could have been a movie in itself, but instead fizzles to a feelgood easy resolution not worthy of all the buildup it's given. In general, too much is attempted and not enough accomplished.
Acting: Ione Skye uses one all-purpose possum-like grin when she's around Mr. Astin...it's actually kind of frightening. Mr. Astin is endearing, and Jennifer Aniston is a bright point, but they can't save the film from the god-awful script.
Trying to excuse Dream... on the ground that it's not realistic is no excuse at all. If you want to see romantic non-realistic films done right, go see The Princess Bride.
Dream... looks like nothing so much as a student project that should never have seen the light of day. My guess is that it was funded by a close relative or other source who didn't care about making their money back. Is it a clue that Ms. DeBartolo uses a picture of her real-life parents as Frankie's bedside picture of HER parents (R.I.P.)? Speaking of money, I'm trying to remember who recommended this to me so I can go ask them for my $3 rental fee back. Yech.