Reviews

Surprisingly, I hadn't even heard of this film until I found it while stumbling around looking for something to watch. When I read the plot, along with its legendary cast, I was dumbfounded. Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins,Liam Neeson and Daniel Day-Lewis all in a film together has the makings of an epic... The story follows Lieutenant William Bligh --played by Anthony Hopkins -- who commands a British ship to the island of Tahiti, seeking to trade goods. Once grounded, the ship's men blissfully become corrupted by their lust for the islands exotic temptations, and its beautiful half naked women. Fletcher Christian --played by Mel Gibson -- is Lieutenant Bligh's mate and personal friend. He is the first to succumb to the islands temptations, falling in love with one of the "savage" girls. When Bligh catches sight of how his men are behaving, he casts down heavy punishments upon them. This in turn leads to inner grumblings amongst the lower deck sailors. Bligh begins the voyage back to Brittain, which infuriates Christian and the others who are forced to leave their lovers behind. Tension begins to boil furiously between Bligh and Christian all the way to the film's climax, when Christian leads the men to an act of mutiny, when they take over the ship...The Bounty leads an all star cast on an adventure across the sea, well worth witnessing. Daniel Day-Lewis -- the arrogant and aristocratic Mr. Friar -- and Liam Neeson -- the strong and stubborn Churchhill -- give performances worthy of mention. I give it a strong 7 and recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.

Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster team with director Spike Lee to create arguably the best heist film of all time. When Clive Owen and associates take over a New York bank, everything seems to scream bank robbery, but everything isn't always as it seems. Denzel Washington plays Detective Keith Frazier, who is currently under suspicion for police corruption, involving money theft. Frazier gets a chance to redeem his name when the proposed negotiator can't be found. He is sent in charge of the negotiations, and prepares to make this a quick and clean fix with no casualties. As the story unfolds the confusion surrounding this bank robbery surmounts, and Frazier begins to see the ingenious strategy by Dalton Russel (Clive Owen). Things take even a stranger turn when Christopher Plummer, who plays the bank owner en-lists Jodie Foster to retrieve documents from a safe box in the bank, which could be harmfully to his reputation. Deceit and corruption are rampant, and leave you guessing until the final conclusion. A great film by Spike Lee well worth watching!

When a corrupt, conservative, anti-gay, anti-free speech government wages war with a ruthless bitter terrorist attempting to wreak chaos and overthrow the parliament, who do you cheer for? This is a great film for anyone interested in politics (mixed with some great action), and will be a special treat for anyone who has ever read Orwell's 1984 or Huxley's Brave New World. An interesting look into the potential future, sure to inspire many thoughts of decentrilization. I only hope people will take this movie for its pro's -- love, conviction, morality and freedom -- and not its con's -- fighting coercion with coercion. An excellent film worth watching and sure to not disappoint.

I just watched this movie about a week ago -- 2 years after it was released -- because it was recommended to me from a friend. I was skeptical because of the weak cast i.e. Mandy Moore, but I was pleasantly surprised. The sarcastic portrayal of catholicism was hilarious and will be to anyone opposed to the catholic ideals. It's rare to find such a well documented movie about the hypocrisy of Catholicism. I give it a 7 for making me laugh, and kudos to Mandy Moore for playing such a hilarious overwhelming bitch. I've been reading up on director Brian Dannely's upcoming films and they don't sound very promising, but with the enjoyment of this film, I may be swayed to give him a chance. Job well done!

Jim Sheridan and Daniel Day Lewis have teamed together in the the past creating exceptional films such as "In The Name of Father" and "My Left Foot", but, "The Boxer" unfortunately will not be added to that list. Though a decent movie and well worth watching, it just doesn't captivate like I'd hoped for. Daniel Day Lewis succeeds in portraying Danny Flynn, a former prestiged boxer and IRA member recently released from prison after a 14 year sentence. Upon his release his politics have changed and he seeks peace through training kids boxing at a local gym, much to the dismay of his former IRA "friends". Emily Watson plays his long lost and bitter lover, en-raged with him for leaving her. Both do fine jobs of acting but it feels like the chemistry just isn't there, plus, their history is never quite explained and leaves you frustrated at times. My real problem with the film is that Danny Flynn's character never truly develops, and all you really find out in this film is that he was a boxer, associated with the IRA and loves Emily Watson. It briefly tells that he was imprisoned for his involvement with the IRA, but never specifies. It's obvious Sheridan wanted to touch upon the theme of Prostestant and Catholics struggle in Northern Ireland to live with each other in harmony, but personally I feel he failed at doing so.

Since bursting into the mainstream, Owen Wilson has created a saga (along with various other comedian/actors whom he frequently teams with) of cheap comedies targeting bored people not in the mood to think. I'm still of the mind that these type of films shouldn't be criticized so strongly, but just watched for what they are -- cheap laughs. With that said, there will be times during this movie you will laugh, but those moments occur less frequently as say, wedding crashers or old school. Owen Wilson puts together a decent comedic performance, but too much lame drama holds this back from being a overly humorous. Matt Dillon just isn't funny and tho his character really isn't suppose to be, why is he in this? Creating moral dilemmas in such a pointless movie is beyond me. My score is a 5. Kudos to Michael Douglas for a job well done though.