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jakegest
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Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Who knew?
I dreaded this movie like the plague. When it first came out I refused to see it in theaters and managed to convince groups of friends to rent something else so I could avoid watching it. I suppose I categorized this film with the Wes Anderson movie Rushmore which I hated. I was finally convinced to watch this with a friend who couldn't stop raving about it. I really have to admit this was possibly the biggest turn around I have experienced in my lifetime. I found this film to be brilliant. The acting was wonderful, the storyline and screen writing was not only well done but truthful. Finally I was watching a film about high school that was funny not because of endless jokes about sex and drinking, but simply because it displayed something believable that I could relate to and yet find hilarious. Jon Heder was extraordinary and Tina Majorino's performance was also spectacular.
Employee of the Month (2004)
An insult to Steve Zahn
I saw this movie having no expectations and really no idea of what to expect and was still highly disappointed by the end. The movie starts off strait forward enough and soon it is conveyed to the viewer that the intent of this movie is to shock people and make them think outside the box. The film kept reaching to what would have to be an enormous climax as problems began toppling over one another as the main characters life slowly begins to crumple at the waysides. In the end I got the feeling that nothing was really resolved but instead the film quickly ends itself in nearly six or seven unpredictable plot twists, many of them occurring in the credits rather than the actual movie. It was as though the writers intended to set out a groundbreaking movie and suddenly at the last moment threw in some random twists in hopes of distracting the audience from the sheer lack of a continuous plot line. Really the only redeemable part of this movie was performance of Steve Zahn which was quite good.
Ishtar (1987)
Unable to understand vast dislike
I am aware of much of the criticism this movie received. Basically that it was awful and not worth seeing. To all those who have said such words I just have to ask, what movie were you watching? In my opinion Ishtar was a wonderful movie. It's about two grown men, whose only dream is to become great musicians but are so horrible that no one will have them but the tourist industry in Morocco. All the songs that these two, Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, sing are written by Elaine May and I found them to be simply hysterical. Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman make a great team, with humor vaguely reminiscent of Woody Allen. This is one of the only movies in which you get to see Warren act in such a way. I would defiantly recommend it to anyone despite its poor reviews.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Worthwhile film!
I found Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow to have it fair share of redeeming qualities, that overcame most of its shortcomings. So first of all the cinematography was absolutely gorgeous. I enjoyed the comic book look of the film, using even lighting effects to pull this off. I was also very pleased with how closely they managed to uphold that image. The acting was also quite wonderfully, it was very suspenseful and the moments of comedy thorough the film were in very good taste and did not diminish the value of the film at all.
I did have some complaints about the film. My biggest one being the ending of the film, which I felt was simply to anti-climatic. I felt the villain's role was simply to small and left me as a viewer wondering what just occurred. In fact I believe that was my only major complaint. So all and all a great film, much worth the seven dollars I forked over to see it.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
A great representation of the Novel
I really enjoyed this film. Kubrick really captured the essence of the Burgess' Classic. I particularly enjoyed the opening scene, which really captures, in my opinion, the character of Alex and his friends. I did fin there to be some major details cut out of the movie, including the reason for the title itself. I also at times felt that some characters were portrait very differently than I had perceived them while reading the book. Still I think Kubrick really did a good job bring this piece of literature into a different medium. With the use of a peculiar soundtrack, Great imagery and especially his including original duologue, I believe he was able to bring this story to a much wider audience, and hopefully has compelled some individuals to read the novel itself.