Reviews

I had high expectations for this movie but was so disappointed with the "Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". I expected a movie more in the vein of "And The Band Played On" (HBO 1993).

Henrietta Lacks deserved a much stronger depiction of her story. The injustices she received were wrong. Period. Instead, the movie focused more on her descendant family while only fleetingly brushing the injustices she received into the movie.

The folks who wrote and directed the movie should be embarrassed. They had a great opportunity but failed to deliver.

"Day Night Day Night" was awful. The first 80 minutes of "Day Night Day Night" contained "maybe" a combined total of 5 minutes of dialog and I don't think it had that. The rest of the 95 minute "Day Night Day Night" was filled with tiresome white noise, background noise, showering, sleeping, eating, a self manicure and self pedicure and so many more monotonous activities. It was pure insidious humdrum monotony.

The only positive was that "Day Night Day Night" did capture the pure monotonous (notice a theme in the use of the word) repetitiveness of a suicide bomber as she waits, prepares, waits and waits even more in what surely had to be complete and total boredom. During all this, the arduous and even torturously tedious monotony is transferred onto the viewer over and over and over again.

It was extremely disappointing not to have used some of the 90 plus minute film to explain why or how she became a suicide bomber. Was she unhappy? Was she "brainwashed" or coerced? It didn't require 90 plus minutes of monotonous viewing to convey the tedium as she prepared herself.

Ondine was so disappointing primarily because I couldn't understand 90% of what was said due to the excessively strong accents. The strong accents may have been accurate, but most of the English speaking population aren't familiar with such strong accents.

There were several great actors in Ondine, so I was really looking forward to watching it. Unfortunately, not being familiar with the "strongest" of Irish accents (and I'm part Irish) I just couldn't understand what many and especially Colin Farrell were saying. It sounded like mumbling.

Today movies can easily be made for the general population and incorporate mechanisms to help facilitate the audience easily understanding the message. The subtitling in Avatar is a great example. They did everything possible to make the subtitling easy and quick to read. Many movies "don't care" if you can read the subtitles or see in the dark scene or understand what was said or not.

My point is that it's LAZINESS on the part of the movie maker if they don't put any effort in broadening the appeal to the audience. In the case of Ondine, you can have a "strong" accent but still have it understandable by the general populous.

Why was this alleged "film" made? "Enemies Among Us" was filmed like you were watching a documentary (no disrespect meant to any documentaries). But there was no feel or emotion or decent flow to the film. The writing was horrid and forced. It was like the script was the first lame script someone ever wrote. And the escape scene was preposterous And the directing was missing in action.

Billy Zane, Robin Givens and Eric Robins are decent actors and should have been given the key roles. I don't understand why one of them didn't get the part of the governor. Instead they gave that part to a no name and part suffered for it.

I don't know what the budget for this was, but this had that low budget feel written all over every minute of this.

And I found that the best acting was when no one was talking. What does that tell you about the poor script? There was even an annoying buzz or whine during one of the non-torture prison scenes which didn't belong there. I assume it was either some feedback or really bad sound work.

My best advice is to read a book or watch something else.

The sickeningly sad lack of the west coming to the defense of the Darfur region of Sudan is an immensely important story that must to be told in as many EFFECTIVE ways as possible. But "Attack On Darfur" was a poor implementation of such an effort. It gets the point across (which is important), but sadly, in a pathetic way that's all it does and it does it so poorly. It could have been a vehicle with a much bigger and much more important and "indelibly imprinted on your mind" message. But for that simple but important goal, Attack On Darfur failed miserably. How many times have we seen a movie which left an indelible imprint on our minds? "Attack On Darfur" completely missed a chance to, without a lot of effort, create an incredibly POWERFUL message which is what the Darfur story needs. The west has never really come to the rescue of Darfur and the UN has been embarrassingly absent.

Good actors like Billy Zane, Matt Frewer and Kristanna Loken did their parts and did them well. The brutality and genocide of Darfur are displayed repeatedly. But this movie isn't seamlessly put together in a moving story that people unfamiliar with Darfur would never forget. It really wasn't well thought out. The creators figured to capitalize by creating a bunch of easy to create and shocking scenes but never considered making a final product for which the world would finally pay attention and notice. While many scenes of what happened are portrayed and they help get across the image of the severe brutality and extremely severe inhumane actions that occurred while the world sat back and looked the other way. The movie doesn't even try to leave a lasting impact on the viewer. Not in the way that it should and easily could have.

The actors do a great job showing the frustration of the journalists with what they see and the fact that the UN and the rest of the world are moving too slowly (if at all) to help the Darfur victims. The journalists are torn between keeping journalistic impartiality and the possibility that they may be able to help prevent some insidious actions. There are many sad moments, but something didn't pull this movie together the way a movie with a good message should have. The story is disturbing and the extreme evils of the Janjaweed militia are exposed. But why didn't the civilized world do something? ANYTHING?? There are many terrific scenes which portray the horror and emotional sadness experienced, but "Attack On Darfur" wasn't as good or have the emotional investment that it could or should have been (so in that regard it was a pathetic flop). Don't get me wrong, there are moving moments and an important message is told. But it was horribly told. I've seen so many better portrayals of lesser important subjects. Why couldn't the director, writer, producer and whoever else have just spent a little time trying to think how to make this movie a success? I don't know if it was the direction, the writing or what. This just wasn't as good as it could and SHOULD have been. It came across as a flat, half hearted, cheap attempt to cash in on the image of a horrible genocide that occurred in Darfur.

This movie was such an important opportunity to help portray the disgraceful inaction of the UN, the west and even the African Union. And this movie simply became a cheap dysfunctional attempt at a serious topic. So I was very disappointed. The makers of this movie should be embarrassed at the way this was put together. They decided to go cheap and WASTED good acting and the chance to have an IMPORTANT say on an incredibly sad indictment of "modern civilization" in their lack of effort to come to the rescue of the needy in Darfur. As far as I'm concerned, the makers of this movie failed just as badly as the UN, African Union and the rest of the west.

"Just Wright" was "just bad". I'm sorry to say I gave up after watching over 1 hour 20 minutes of the film (there were about 20 minutes left). And I love basketball themed films.

Pam Grier (minimal screen time) is one of my favorite actresses and Queen Latifah is always excellent. But this was as lame as movies get. My guess is that between the poor writing (or was there no writing and the actors were allowed to improvise the whole script) and lack of any direction they couldn't pull off a save.

It was clear that Common has had zero acting classes and it sorely showed. He was un"Common"ly bad and should stick to the music that's making him money. His best acting was when he feigned an injury on the court and when he was flying a toy helicopter. Common should fire his manager for setting him up to crash and burn so badly.

I've always liked Phylicia Rashad as she always does a great job. Unfortunately she didn't have enough screen time to make a difference in this movie either. With Pam Grier and Phylicia Rashad having so little screen time, that left it all to Queen Latifah to carry the weight of the entire failing movie. And she did a truly admirable job of carrying the entire movie. But no one, no matter how good, could succeed when such a poorly written script and bad (or lack of) acting surrounded them, stacking the odds so badly against them.

Honestly, if Pam Grier, Queen Latifah and Phylicia Rashad were allowed to create their own improvised script (since there was no real script anyway) on anything they wanted and with no direction (and it also seemed like there was no direction anyway), I'm sure this movie would have come out better than it did.

If you recorded this, save yourself and hit the delete button. There was a nice concept, but no one wrote a script or gave any direction to this film.

The 2010 version of The Karate Kid is exactly why I hate remakes. Usually remakes don't work. And in this case The Karate Kid 2010 remake crashed and burned. It was very disappointing. To be honest, going into the move I did lower my expectations – expecting it wouldn't be as good as the original Karate Kid. I'm sorry to say that even those lowered expectations weren't met.

It was nice to see the film change it's setting to China. That made for an interesting adaptation and it fit well with the story. BUT there's a lot of fluff and irrelevant time (don't call it an attempt at character development because it failed), the characters didn't jell and little of the story was believable. The original Karate Kid was 2 hours and it flew by. This remake was only 16 minutes longer but it seemed like it was more than 3 hours. The ending was spectacular.

Jackie Chan is excellent as always, but Jaden Smith is not quite ready for prime time, I'm sorry to say. It's admirable that his dad, Will Smith, is trying to help his son out. And Jaden did have a few modest flashes of good quality acting, but for the majority of the movie I just didn't find his character believable – including for a majority of the fight scenes during the tournament.

Overall The Karate Kid 2010 remake is a major disappointment. I guess it's worth seeing, but don't expect much from it.

My Sister's Keeper is a very touching drama about a family and the daughter (Kate) who is dying of Leukemia. It is extremely well done and moves you to really feel for Kate and the family.

Cameron Diaz plays the mother Sara and is fantastic as the mother fighting to save her daughter Kate. Early on, after learning Kate had Leukemia, Mom decided to have a third child primarily to help save Kate. But what does a mother do when the third child doesn't want continue with the variety of procedures used to save Kate's life? This is the first I've seen Sofia Vassilieva and she was fantastic as Kate. What a difficult part that was playing a child with Leukemia. Fortunately for Abigail Breslin she has a nice smile because she really can't act. Couldn't her parents or manager recommend her taking some remedial acting classes or whatever beginning actors do? And Joan Cusack is perfectly cast and plays the part well as the judge who must get to the difficult truth. For the most part the casting was terrific.

My Sister's Keeper is very well written and was a true joy to watch. You'll be very happy you saw "My Sister's Keeper".

Miley Cyrus fans might hate me for saying this, but the makers of "The Last Song" should have hired a real actress for the lead role. Miley obviously doesn't have the talent or know how to act. I had nothing against her, but in this, the first role I've seen her act in, it seemed like she was just playing herself and not playing any part that was written for her.

That said, "The Last Song" is a bust. It's a set of tired old recycled and clichéd experiences and really isn't worth the 107 minutes it takes to watch it. For the most part the storyline is so tired and old. And after watching it I was also disappointed that Greg Kinnear had signed up for it. That I can remember, I've always liked his acting and the roles he chose. But in this case, the writing was so, so poor that even if the makers of "The Last Song" signed up the best actors in Hollywood it couldn't save this film. They'd have to find some writers who were at a minimum mediocre-ish in order to improve this story.

All I can say is save yourself and watch something else.

My wife and I loved "Lies & Alibis" it was a terrific, sophisticated, classy movie of the "Oceans Eleven" genre.

My wife and I both had the same, singular complaint. The sound mixing was horrible. There were several occasions where the "background" music was too loud and despite repeated replays, we couldn't figure out what the character was saying.

Despite the sound problems, the movie was FANTASTIC!!! It was a confluence of many disparate lives. It was a combination of the sophisticated "Oceans Eleven" and some of the sophistication of "The Thomas Crown Affair".

The cast (Steve Coogan, Rebecca Romijn, Sam Elliot and James Marsden) were terrific. The script was flawless. It's a complex story of a confidence man who juggles many different "jobs" and all the fallout which can and/or does happen.

If you liked the many faceted manipulations of strategy in Oceans Eleven and the sophistication of The Thomas Crown Affair, you'll love "Lies & Alibis".

The little things in life matter.

Amelie is a terrifically heart warming story about a young woman who leads a very ordinary life and of those ordinary people surrounding her. And Amelie has a nice romantic overtone to it as well.

As a young woman Amelie doesn't have a lot going on, other than a VERY ACTIVE imagination. Amelie is naive but very kind and giving as she tries to make others in her life happy. But don't treat badly anyone she cares about. If you do, you may have an unpleasant surprise or two in store for you.

I confess I was a little concerned when I saw that Amelie was 100% subtitled. So many times the people doing the subtitling fail to make it easy to read. In this case, Amelie's subtitling was very easy to read, which helped make the movie that much more enjoyable.

One lesson to take away from Amelie is there's a lot going on around us. Maybe it's time to smell the roses.

"Tiger, I had a great honeymoon".

Camille is a must see. It's a fantastic honeymoon story with some interesting twists (for the most part you wouldn't expect the different twists). The creators did terrific job of turning what might have been a typical "honeymoon in Niagara Falls" story into a moving drama/adventure with some comedic moments. And the acting, writing, directing is all excellent.

With a budget of around $6 million, Camille definitely flew under the radar. I'd never heard of Camille before seeing it listed in on the guide. That's a shame. I'm sure that it would have been a success at the box office if they'd advertised it a bit.

Camille (2007) is a must see. You'll really enjoy it!

Pirate Radio is a great comedy/drama and is fun to watch. If you like classic 60's rock you'll be sure to reminisce as you watch. Pirate Radio is a cool story about a floating "pirate" radio station off the coast of England (apparently ships like this existed back in the 60's) which is broadcasting to about half the British population. The authorities don't like it and plot to stop them from broadcasting. It has the cool DJ, played by Rhys Ifans, the young kid, played by Tom Sturridge and I have to say, the entire cast is fantastically cast. There's GREAT music from the 60's such as "My Generation", "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", "All Day And All Of The Night" and soooo many more excellent songs! And during the credits the album covers are worth watching. They're like watching a greatest hits of the past forty or so years and sample the entire spectrum. Those shown include U2, King Crimson, Santana, The Beatles, The Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, Paul Simon, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran, James Taylor, REM, Stevie Wonder, Nirvana, Meat Loaf, Inxs, the Kinks, Kraftwerk, Guns N Roses, Abba etc., etc., etc. There are so many more but you get the drift. You'll probably see some of the album covers and remember when.

Pirate Radio is a great story and will keep you in your "happy place" while watching it. You'll have fun watching it.

The Case Against Brooklyn is a terrific 1958 movie based upon a real New York police scandal. It's a very well crafted crime drama, typical of the era. A classic piece for the times. And there's plenty of great acting (keeping in mind this was filmed in the 1950's where action moves were exaggerated).

Darren McGavin is excellent as the chief undercover officer who tries to discover the highest levels of the corruption. If you're a fan of current day crime/dramas, movies like "The Case Against Brooklyn" are the movies upon which good quality crime/dramas have their foundation. That said, it was made in 1958. So it doesn't have the "gloss" of later films. None the less, it's fantastic to watch.

Gentlemen Broncos may have been made in 2009, but it does an outstanding job placing the story and imagery in the late 70's.

You'll enjoy Gentlemen Broncos more if you relax and keep in mind that in the 70's CGI probably wasn't even a glimmer in someone's mind. Thus the final movie "Yeast Lords" is a wonderfully creative, absurd and eccentric tour of what was possible at the time. And yes, they would have had fun making the movie.

Michael Angarano does his usual outstanding job, while Jennifer Coolidge is great and Mike White, who does a great job, reminds us of Michael McKean's long flowing hair in "This Is Spinal Tap".

Along with a fun and pleasant story, we are treated to many great songs by artists such as Zagar and Evans "In The Year 2525", Kansas "Carry On Wayward Son", Cher "Just Like Jesse James", Black Sabbath "Paranoid" and many more. The songs are a treat by themselves.

"Drag Me To Hell" is a very good horror/drama flick with a little bit of smart humor. Drag Me To Hell is fresh, exciting and frequently has you jumping or on the edge of your seat.

Quite frankly it's not hard for a good horror film to keep you on the edge of your seat. That said, yesterday I saw the 2009 remake of Halloween II (a complete disgrace compared to the original 1981 version) and it's sad how poorly that remake was executed (I would have expected at least a minimal effort from Rob Zombie).

The creative forces behind Drag Me To Hell did a great job of intertwining a new(?) couple's lives with a spell cast on her, with her efforts to defeat the evilly conjured beast, with a meeting of the folks and more. There's suspense, good acting and very good special effects in store.

If you like horror films, check out "Drag Me To Hell". And I guess you can say that you'll have to drag me to hell before I see the 2009 version of Halloween II again.

What a fantastic and heart warming story The Blind Side is! It's based on the true story of Michael Oher. Michael had no advantages as he grew up with his drug addicted mother. When the story begins he's homeless and is taken in by the very kind and giving Tuohy's. Michael has few skills and appeared to have a bleak future before meeting the Tuohys. The Tuohys support Michael in every way as Leigh Anne, played by Sandra Bullock, spends caring time with Michael and helps him grow and expresses his interests. They even hire a tutor for Michael.

I've always loved watching Sandra Bullock act and she didn't disappoint as she earned the Best Actress Oscar in this very convincing performance. She plays the incredibly charitable, nice and yet strong willed Leigh Anne. And in the movie Leigh Anne is definitely a handful. This was a standout performance you'll love to see.

Tim Burton's adaptation of "Alice In Wonderland" is wonderful! Knowing it's a Tim Burton, Johnny Depp movie, which gives you an idea of what to expect. The first 10 minutes are a warm up before we started to see Tim Burton's vision of "Alice In Wonderland". After that, the talents of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Anne Hathaway and the voices of Alan Rickman, Christopher Lee, Michael Sheen among others are unleashed. This was my introduction to Mia Wasikowska who played Alice and she did a great job. I look forward to seeing her in the future.

I have to say, it must be fun working for Tim Burton, imaginations must run wild! Tim Burton did a good job of keeping to the main points of this version of the Louis Caroll story. "Alice In Wonderland" was fun to watch, with great music and outstanding CGI. While there is some animated violence, I'd think this movie is safe for almost any age.

It's so sad. "Powder Blue" had the promise, but it failed. I love the concept of the intersection of non related lives. Who knows how often it happens in real life? "Babel" did an absolutely outstanding job of intersecting unrelated individuals, along with of course having a great story and acting. It's the only movie I've seen that was successful in that regard.

No other movie, including "Power Blue" has done a good job of intertwining disparate lives. It doesn't seem that complicated to write and direct a successful story along these lines.

If you're looking for a great movie which intertwines several disparate lives, see "Babel" with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. It's fantastic. Don't bother with "Powder Blue".

"If I'm going to die, I'm going to die comfortable." – Sergeant First Class William James.

The Hurt Locker was a great "suspense, action, war, drama". It does a very good job of showing us the "unsung" inside of an American bomb disposal squad in Iraq and the "craziness" of Sergeant James in particular, as they count down the number of days left in Bravo Company's rotation.

In comparison to past films such as "Point Break", "Strange Days" and "K19: The Widowmaker", which were all excellent films, Kathryn Bigelow did her usual excellent job of bringing us to a point of view we hadn't experienced or maybe considered before. Can you imagine wearing one of those bomb disposal suits every day in what's probably over 100 degree heat? The sad part of watching The Hurt Locker was that it had been so built up, that by the time I viewed it, nothing could have met my expectations. Kind of like Avatar, which I didn't see for a couple of months. By the time I saw it, I loved it, but it couldn't meet expectations.

The Hurt Locker is a great film about an American bomb disposal unit in Iraq. It has all the features you'd expect in a movie focused on a singular aspect of a war (in this case bomb disposal). It has all the intensity, suspense, personal tragedy, stress, male bonding and personal conflicts you'd expect if you were in a tight unit who eats, sleeps and breaths each others "everything" for 365 days.

Kathryn Bigelow did a great job of showing us the inner workings of a bomb disposal unit in Iraq where every day is a new problem, but also the same old thing… Every time that they go out, it's a life or death struggle. Had any of us considered the concerns of a bomb disposal unit before? Basically, for them it's a loop, the same old same old. But if they make a mistake it means someones life.

All I can say is the writers, director and cast must have had a *LOT* of fun with Inception. Some of the creativity was really out there and just so much fun to enjoy.

Very few movies are worth a 10 or even an 8 or a 9 (in my book). But Inception was easily worth a 10, it was fantastic! So many movies waste time with filler stuff that has little or no bearing on the movie. Inception didn't waste a single minute, needing every one of it's carefully crafted 148 minutes.

Inception started off a little slower as it needed to build its back story. Basically a little better than an average movie to start, but not an overwhelming beginning. But as it went on the pace picked up and the movie slowly built to a fantastic and fast paced crescendo.

I'm not normally a DiCaprio fan, but he, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe and the others all helped make up a great all star cast.

I was lucky enough to see Inception in the theater and I'm so glad I did. I'd have hated to have had any "home" interruptions or distractions while I was watching it. A job well done to everyone involved!

What a senseless movie. What a joke. And boy is it SLOW.

Whoever wrote Nature's Grave had better not quit their day job. They'll never make it as a writer. There's no real effort at a story here. It's not about nature striking back. Nature's Grave is about a miserable arguing couple. After the first half hour, that's all there is. Arguing. Yeah, there's some attempted lame suspense or horror. But it's all contrived.

Nature's Grave is not as much a suspense or horror movie as it is a movie about an irresponsible and somewhat reckless couple, he's insensitive to her wants and needs. She's not happy with him and acts cool to him. Eventually the fighting starts. Was there ever a worse couple? Why would they go to the beach if she doesn't like any of the typical "going to the beach" type activities? Argue, argue, argue, that's all they do. But the acting was great. James Caviezel and Claudia Karvan came across great as a couple who were miserable with each other.

One nice thing to say, the movie was filmed in a beautiful location and is has a number of shots of beautiful scenery. But beyond that, save yourself and don't want Nature's Grave.

My wife picked out "Staten Island" (that was the movie's title and the title on the DVD. I'm not sure why IMDb has it listed as "Little New York") and we were both looking forward to it. Unfortunately, "Staten Island" was disappointing. Certainly there was a mix of humor, irony and some grim aspects. But after reading the description on the box, it failed to meet expectations.

That said, Seymour Cassel was outstanding as a deaf, mute butcher who occasionally did work for the mob. You really felt for him throughout the movie. Ethan Hawke had a convincing time portraying a stereotyped "less than bright" septic tank worker. I'm not partial to Vincent D'Onofrio's limited acting abilities and he didn't fail to disappoint. I don't understand how he lands movie roles. He has enough trouble with his TV roles.

If you're looking to rent a decent mob movie, I'd look elsewhere. While not horrible "Staten Island" left us wanting.

Made in 1991, "If Looks Could Kill" was a fun flick and a pleasant surprise. I'm not sure why it has such a low rating on IMDb. There was some high school level humor, but in general it's good, clever humor.

Basically "If Looks Could Kill" is a cute comedy/action spoof using some of the James Bond themes (M giving James Bond a tour of the secret weapons development lab) and a few other spy movies, but basically on James Bond movies.

Little did I know that a refreshingly young Gabrielle Anwar would be in it. I have a fondness for her, she's a great actress! Linda Hunt was terrific as always. Richard Grieco did a great job as the unsuspecting "kid" spy who is reluctantly mistaken to be a real spy.

The humor and action rolls smoothly and people renting this will enjoy this flick.