Reviews

So the first five minutes looked great... Butch Cassidy and Sundance are riding into the Hole in the Wall... and then Ethan Hawke interjects himself... sort of like he interrupts my suspension of disbelief in every role I have ever seen him in... and introduces all his 'friends' who are going to take on the voices of Paul and Joanne and others... and I try, I really try, to watch what I thought would be a documentary of two beloved movie icons. I truly appreciate the talent doing the voices, but if Hawke hadn't put himself and his Zoom meetings into those first few minutes, it would have been SO much better.

He should take a lesson from Ken Burns and just tell us which voice did what character at the end credits.

Maybe I am too sensitive to what a true documentary is... just so upset at Hawke's ruining what should have been a wonderful experience.

What the heck was that? Shoulda stopped when Pattinson landed on the beach with Butterscotch... about 10 minutes in... but I watched to the end for a message that was never delivered. The beautiful scenery and cinematography brought the number of stars up from the minus territory.

Just watched the last episode of this season and was really hoping I hadn't wasted 10+ hours of time (though I always watch the previous night's DVR running on the treadmill... so I get useful exercise). I won't give any spoilers away...

I really wanted to like this show and liked the first episode a lot. And I gave it the full 10-episode chance. But I don't think the story really went anywhere after those 10 episodes. The mystery of the 'true lodge' gets a teaser, and Cheech Marin enters to complicate Ernie's life... and I won't give anything away on Dud and his sister... but to what end? None, really.

Quirky has its charm, but that only goes so far... not 10 hours.

Of course, the Duke delivers, albeit as a caricature of, himself, but the rest of the cast, except Jack Elam and David Huddleston, is a pain to watch. I believe the piece of trivia that said Wayne felt Elam was a scene-stealer. He chewed up the scenery and spit it out. Jennifer O'Neill got a lot better between this film and 'Summer of '42.' I think Howard Hawks was wise to write her out of the last part of this film.

As a 60+year-old fan of the Western genre, I give this film accolades for its gritty realism. It is very violent, and, has been mentioned in other user reviews, should not be shown to the younger folks. In recent years, there have been a number of straight-to-video or straight-to-streaming Westerns that have scored highly in dirt-in-the-craw realism but have been sorely lacking in character development. This movie scores in both departments, I feel. Richard Jenkins, in particular, unrecognizable in his role (I had to look up the character here on IMDb to see who the actor was... and was surprised to find it was he), gives us a character worth remembering. Lili Simmons brings to mind Diane Lane in 'Lonesome Dove.' Of course, Kurt Russell delivers as the no-nonsense sheriff who gets more than he bargained for. Worth watching but not for the squeamish.

Lush photography and an enthusiastic performance from Opie's daughter can't save this turkey.

Went because I fell victim to the trailer. That, and my daughter is an M.Night fan. The movie does not deliver what the trailers seem to advertise. A letdown big time.

An astute observer will predict the ending within the first 15 minutes. I predict that box office will fall off drastically next weekend, once word gets around to friends of this weekend's audience.

Almost as bad as 'Unbreakable.' 'Signs' was only slightly better. The 'twist' from 'Sixth Sense' was from a Goosebumps story line. Maybe M.Night should be hiring writers.

My wife and I both remembered this film being a lot better than it is. When we rented it last weekend, we wondered if we were watching the same movie we had seen 22 years or so ago. We both agreed that we were probably remembering the TV series, which, in its one-hour segments, was compelled to actually wrap up plot lines. This movie leaves many loose threads, as has been mentioned by others here... basically every main character's story line is left unresolved.

Gotta like the title song, though.

I read the reviews, waited past the first two weekends, and sat down to what I expected would be ho-hum special effects and a so-so story. I was pleasantly surprised. The story was fairly faithful to the Marvel version, and I thought Maguire gave more dimension to his superhero than any of his cloaked and masked predecessors. Granted, he's onscreen about 95% of the time, but that didn't seem like overexposure in this case. Contrary to most reviews I read, Dafoe makes a great Green Goblin, troubled and insane and evil. He didn't steal the movie as Nicholson's Riddler did in Burton's 'Batman,' but I consider that a plus.

Maybe it's because so much studio hype has come out about the 'maybe' romance between Maguire and Dunst (and I consider it just 'hype'), but there seemed to be some onscreen chemistry there.

Special effects were much better than Roger Ebert would have you believe.

This movie could have been named 'It Could've Been a Wonderful Life.' It starts out promising enough. Nicholas Cage seems energized at the start. Don Cheadle is superb. And Téa Leoni is a treat; as someone else has commented, she holds the picture together (as much as she can).

Somewhere after the first half-hour, the movie unravels. By the end, it just sort of limps along as so many loose threads. I didn't mind the 'what would life have been like if...' premise. And there are moments in the script that had me thinking of choices in my own life; times I wanted to take my kids up and hug them close.

I think the ultimate problem with the film, the thing that holds it back from being great, is the casting of Cage in the title role. I think he has more roles in him than the action hero, but this one isn't one of them. He is a little too edgy for this one.

Just got back from a matinee showing in a packed house... third row from the front and have a stiff neck. Perfect spot for being in the middle of the fight scene between the TRex and the Spinosaurus (was there actually ever such a beast?). The pterodactyl flying scenes were pretty good that close up, too. I went with the kids - maybe dragged by the kids - with low expectations. After the disappointing 'Lost World', I was expecting the series to end; put out of its misery. But I was surprised. I thought the 'human contingent' performed adequately for what is intended to be a cloned dinosaur action movie... I mean the computer graphics are really what this series is about. Let's not kid ourselves with high expectations in the character development dept. It was good to have Dr. Grant back, as well as Dr. Sattler (albeit briefly). I enjoyed William Macy's character. If folks were looking for some comic relief, he offered some; maybe no guffaws, but some warm-hearted moments. And okay, maybe the plotline was thin, but after the cloning aspect is played out in the first movie, what do you do? Get some people onto the island(s) and have them cavort with the dinosaurs, big and small, meat-eating and herbivores. There's not a lot you can do with the set-up to begin with. This movie did as well, indeed better, than expected.

It was a treat to see Brando, De Niro and Norton (not necessarily in order of rating of performance) in the same movie and in the same scene a couple of times. Contrary to other comments, I enjoyed Brando's work in this movie. Perhaps it wasn't much of a challenge for him, but he looked like he was enjoying the role, and he delivered his lines with the wisdom of the veteran actor he is. Have to agree that Norton had the best role and did the most with it. De Niro looked a little bored.

This movie was another case where a trailer can tell too much, as was observed by another commentor. What is up with these trailers that don't whet your appetite but, rather, force-feed you the Readers Digest condensed version of the whole movie, synopsis of plot and all? As a result of having seen this movie's trailer, there was no unexpected plot twist for me. Pretty much had the thing figured out before sitting down; went to see the three actors... and that was reward enough.

Expected a lot more out of this movie. Enjoyed 'Sixth Sense,' and was expecting to enjoy this one. At the end of the screening I attended, there was an audible, collective groan from the crowd. Comic book heroes walk the earth? O--kay. Samuel L. Jackson deserves better lines. Willis, who gave such a great performance in 'Sixth Sense,' walks around in a stupor in this one. Robin Wright is the one bright spot in the whole dismal affair.

Before my wife and I saw this movie, she read a review that mentioned a 'surprise ending.' She said, "I'll bet it's like the Goosebumps story I read to the kids." She gave me the plot line of that story, we watched the movie, and of course, as the plot was lifted from the story, the movie held no surprises for us. That's not to say it isn't a good movie. I really did enjoy it, and Bruce Willis does a terrific job. But without that surprise... Really, once you've seen the movie and know the ending, how likely are you to watch it again?