matory's Reviews

The Princess & the Marine (2001 TV Movie)

8/10

A love story so incredible, it has to be true...

5 September 2001

This is one of those love stories that is so fantastic, that you really can't believe it's true -- but you're happy that it is. US Marine Jason Johnson falls for a beautiful Muslim princess, and they risk their honor, careers, and even their lives to be together.

And the best part? Meriam's final hearing passed, and she's here to stay. The real Jason and Meriam are still together, still married, and (I hope!) still in love.

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Attila (2001)

9/10

Sumptuous historical epic

31 January 2001

I once heard someone refer to this two-part, four-hour mini-series as 'sumptuous', and that word does truly seem to sum up this effort. "Attila" takes the true story of the 5th century King of the Huns and recreates it with astonishing vigor and visual opulence.

Scottish actor Gerard Butler is appropriately wild, dangerous, ambitious, and more than a little insane as the title character. The wonderfully grizzled Steven Berkoff is his uncle King Rua, who takes in young Attila and his elder brother, Bleda, after their father is killed in a raid. Pauline Lynch as Galen adds a quirky charm, and Simmone Jade Mackinnon as Attila's first wife N'Kara radiates a surprising strength and beauty.

The Huns sometime enemy, sometime ally is a rapidly decaying Roman Empire, manned by Emperor Valentinian III and his slinky, utterly amoral mother, Placidia (Alice Krige, the Borg Queen from Star Trek: First Contact). Kirsty Mitchell plays Valentinian's sister, Honoria, who inadvertantly sparks a war between the Huns and her brother's Empire.

The real standout is Powers Boothe as Flavius Actius, a hold-over from a long passed Roman age of glory. Intelligent, fierce, and ruthless, Actius and Attila share a complicated bond of respect and rivalry. Boothe owns this role, imbuing Actius with a measured sense of duty and vengefulness; make no mistake, Actius is not to be trifled with.

All in all, a very well done portrait of a man often too shrouded in mystery and half-remembered legend to be properly depicted. From the resplendent majesty of a Rome becoming everything it once detested, to the brutal portrayal of the man who in his own lifetime was known as the "Scourge of God", this is a sumptuous work of art.

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Switch (1991)

Cute

15 October 2000

I remember watching this as a kid and loving it; maybe childhood nostalgia colors my opinion, but it's still a guilty pleasure favorite. Ellen Barkin pulls in a funny, realistic performance as a man out of his element, JoBeth Williams is deliciously trashy, but the film's greatest saving grace is Jimmy Smits as the one sweet, mature, sensitive guy.

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The Guilty (2000)

Dark, stylish thriller with solid acting

11 October 2000

I wasn't expecting much of this film when it first came on HBO, but I was suitably impressed; so much so, I now wonder why they never had a theater release!

Devon Sawa stars as the unlikely hero, a ne'er-do-well named Nathan who heads to the big city to find the father (Bill Pullman) he never knew. Unfortunately, his father is a slimy, calculating lawyer named Callum Crane, who is being blackmailed by the young woman whom he assaulted. Looking for a way out, Callum tries to recruit Nathan to help him out of this mess. Nathan soon finds himself wrapped up in a web of murder, blackmail, and double-crossing in which he doesn't know who to trust. The actors do a tremendous job of allowing the characters to *breathe* -- they all elicit sympathy or at least interest, they all have dreams, nightmares, secrets, failings, and passions. This movie brings out the best and worst in human nature and every person in this film, and I was enthralled as I watched it unfold. This is just my kind of movie -- dark, stylishly shot, with a steady plot and characters who shock you with their vindictiveness yet captivate you with their surprising humanity. Truly, don't miss it.

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Oz (1997–2003)

It's no place like home

13 August 2000

Warning: Spoilers

"OZ" is one of the most brutal and complex televisions shows ever, with amazing realism and textured characters. "OZ", created and written by Tom Fontana, follows a diverse cast of characters incarcerated within a maximum security prison; our narrator is an inmate named Augustus Hill, a paraplegic who lets us glimpse the lives of these often dangerously unhinged people.

Be forewarned: "OZ" is definitely *not* for kids; there are no clean-cut, misunderstood rebels, or falsely imprisoned heroes. All these men are in a maximum security prison for a reason, be it mild-mannered lawyer Beecher for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, or deadly murderer Adebisi for decapitation of a police officer. Kudoos to Mr.Fontana for allowing each character to have his good side and bad side; the various inmates will chill you with their brutality, while alternately pull at your heart. You'll find yourself becoming attached to these terrifying members of humanity, but you are never given a cloying, too easily pegged 'good guy' to cheer for. In "OZ", even the meekest inmate is capable of cold-blooded murder. If real prison is anything like "OZ", I wouldn't want to end up there.

This show will hook you from one episode -- you'll be horrified, but unable to look away. From the eerie Aryan white supremacist rapist Vern Schillinger, to the shifty, clever Irish thug Ryan O'Rielly, to child-killing Death Row inmate Shirley Bellinger, to bed-hopping Corrections Officer McManus, to devoted Muslim Kareem Said, each character has a rich and fully developed personality, and no two are alike. Tobias Beecher is probably the most easily relatable character in the show; a married lawyer with a family (and a functioning alcoholic) he is preyed upon by prison sodomist Schillinger, who burns a swastika onto his -- ahem -- backside. After being forced to dress in drag and being reduced to a sex slave (and the angel dust didn't help), he finally breaks free of Schillinger's control, only to fall in love with his new cellmate, former Aryan and seductive convicted murderer Chris Keller, who stomps on his heart by breaking his arms and legs. Ouch, that had to hurt!

Watch "OZ", but be prepared -- it's not an easy show to watch or look away from. With it's raw power, incredible acting, shocking surprises, homoerotic subtext, developed characters, and more full frontal male nudity than you can shake a stick at, "OZ" is a true gem that's just getting started.

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