Change Your Image
jul_g
Reviews
Law & Order: Charm City (1996)
Great Crossover Episode
I loved seeing the beloved characters from Homicide: Life on the Street. And seeing the differences in approach between NY and Baltimore. Amazing how in NY the brilliant Pembleton technique was not at all appreciated or wanted. Great acting and plot. 10 stars for sure.
Law & Order: Aftershock (1996)
10 Stars - Excellent Episode
"Aftershock" is a perfect name for a brilliant episode. Shock after shock throughout, I'm not sure what was the most shocking: Lenny taking a drink, Ray cheating on his beloved wife, the opening scene, Claire's death at the end. I loved the intimate talk between Claire and Van Buren. And am wondering what, if anything, was going on between Claire and Jack McCoy.
The only thing wrong with this episode is that there was no real follow up to all these cataclysmic issues in subsequent episodes. Lenny the alcoholic seemed to immediately bounce back from taking that drink, we don't know how Ray handled his infidelity, and there were no scenes of mourning Claire.
Law & Order: Family Business (1996)
Very Boring Episode
Subpar plot and acting. (Also, in general in this season there are far too many references to Jamie Lowell's looks and body. In 2022 this would have #metoo all over it.) Recommend giving this episode a miss.
Nabbeun namja (2001)
Obsessive love, fate...and violence
This film is a penetrating look into the underworld of prostitution and crime in Korea, but it is much more than that. It is an examination of the psychology of obsessive love, and also fate, or at least, of fateful decisions.
A beautiful college girl is set up by criminals after she "rejects" the bizarre and violent sexual advance/attack on her by a deviant pimp. Later on, a trick to frame her might have as easily not worked if she hadn't been so impulsive, but on the other hand these criminals may have an uncanny sense of people which develops as a survival instinct.
I won't say more in order not to spoil the film for those who'd like to go see it, but I recommend it very much. By the way, there is a lot of violence, so it's not for the squeamish by any means.
Une hirondelle a fait le printemps (2001)
I object to the wanton cruelty to animals in this film!
Despite the fact that this was mostly a lovely film, visually, in the acting, and script, there are some serious flaws.
There is a horrible scene in which a pig is butchered by by having its brains blown out with a gun, and we must witness the poor animal's suffering from up close. In addition, there is a dream sequence showing cattle being stunned on their way to slaughter, and in addition to all this, there is a close-up of a butchered rabbit which we have seen five seconds earlier in its cute furry bunny form.
This puts a terrible damper on an otherwise sensitive and beautiful film. Why do animals have to die for this?
Wasabi (2001)
Don't Waste Your Time
Don't see this one if you appreciate good cinema. This is a boring and predictable film. Only if you're looking for a mindless action movie with cardboard characters should you bother with this one. And the possible Japanese interest was a letdown as well...the movie could have been filmed anywhere for all it showed of life in Japan.
Punchline (1988)
[*spoiler* ensues]! A Feminist Viewpoint
*spoiler* *spoiler* *spoiler* The ending of this film is mentioned here!
This film was great! Tom Hanks' acting was simply superb in realizing this very unusual character. The "singing in the rain" scene is unforgettable in its poignance and wonderful madness with Hanks dancing, slipping, and sliding out there in the rain. Absolutely wonderful!
And the story line was great, and real. Sally Fields very powerfully belts out a great performance in her portrayal of the housewife trying to make it as a standup comic. The scene where she is telling her daughters what she wishes for them is truly touching. Her character, Lyla, is giving her kids the best quality time despite the fact that she has become an absentee mother.
My complaint about this very promising movie is the ending. After all the buildup throughout the film of Lyla's development into a successful comic, the only ending that would have made sense would have had her take the prize and go for it! What lesson are we supposed to be learning here? That a truly successful woman will give up her dream in order to stay home with the kids? Or that she'll quit when she is ahead because actually a man needs to win more than she does for whatever reason? That ending haunts me. Why, why can't a filmmaker just follow through and show us another way? Is there no creative possibility for this character to pursue her career AND be a good Mommy and wife? Must that always be the choice? The time has come for films and other media to be offering us choices, alternatives, and even a vision for the future.
There is nothing noble about another talented woman postponing her own development for the sake of the kids. The real lesson she is teaching her daughters is not necessarily that she's there for them, but that they too will someday have to choose their husbands and family over whatever their dreams are. And that is tragic.
Eat (2001)
*yawn* more misogyny...
I might have liked this short animation but for the part with the chattering woman. It is a stereotypical representation and reinforces outdated, misogynist conceptions of male-female attributes. Aside from that, the film is colorful and amusing.
The Boy Who Saw the Iceberg (2000)
Brilliant!
This animation was stunningly presented with a split-screen effect. I won't give any details so as not to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it. Kind of film noir - there were many times when my laughter just caught in my throat...The ending was very powerful. Definitely worth seeing.
Brother (2000)
Gratuitous Violence
If you don't like the sight of blood, or cringe if a knife comes within 6 yards of a live human body, don't see it.
At the end of this excessively violent film you are left with nothing. You will not feel uplifted, or that you have learned anything new about life. I like movies to have a point. If the point is that violence is to be eschewed, well, I guess we've already heard that one a few times.
A major disappointment from Kitano, the director of Kikujiro and Kids' Return, both of which were entertaining, profound, and visually delightful.
Ahot Zara (2000)
Almost a feminist film
There was so much promise in the first part of the film. That is, it seemed that in presenting the typically harried life of a working mother that we were going to get a big feminist statement, or better yet, a solution for this very widespread problem. But no, it turns out that the plight of illegal foreign workers is actually the main subject here and that part, the second half, is nicely done.
And it's really a shame that this opportunity to make a point for feminism was missed. I found it shocking that this mother, who is both loved and abused by her family, actually has a very high-ranking job in a bank. She is abused by her loving family in that she must wake up at 5:00 am, start the laundry, clean up the kitchen, run to the grocery store for breakfast food, and all while the husband and children are still sleeping. Then of course it's her job to see that they all wake up and get to where they need to go to on time. I won't go into all the details, but this goes on and gets worse as problems develop with her mother-in-law, and she is forced to hire an illegal foreign worker to help clean. I suppose using the word "abuse" here may seem harsh, but this "loving" family was unrelenting and selfish in their demands on this woman. I found their decision to send her on a weekend holiday in a hotel just as uncaring, and more to assuage their guilt than to address the real problem.
I was hoping that there would be a new way presented for women to break out of these roles of caretaker and cleaning woman and "good little wife", but nothing was ever done with this. The whole rest of the film revolves around the mother's new relationship with this foreign worker. It would have been better to make a documentary film about that very difficult human situation, and this film could have been a brilliant statement on the universal plight of women, if only we could have been offered a vision, a new way.
The directing was wonderful, sensitive, and unblinking when presenting poverty and injustice in the lives of these illegal workers. But I can't help but wonder why the larger, feminist issue wasn't fully addressed. Probably because the director is a man....
Topsy-Turvy (1999)
Not for everyone
Only go see this one if you know the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, or would like to.
I went with two people who didn't, and although I really know G&S and could sing along with some of the numbers, they sat there completely bored.
The second half of the movie is really wonderful if you know the Mikado.
Pretty Woman (1990)
Not all it's cracked up to be
I liked it, didn't love it. I'm wondering what we women are supposed to be learning here, that only materialism, money, and good looks are important? Oops, oh right, silly me I forgot. Also storybook romances with knights in shining armor blah blah blah...
And the message for the men is clearly stated by the hotel manager near the end, "What a pity to let something so beautiful go" or something in that vein.
Even way back in 1990 I would have thought that we had progressed a bit more than that. To me this wasn't a "feel good" movie, it was another "sigh, oh well another silly Hollywood romance."
If that's what turns you on, you'll love it, and the acting too.
La vita è bella (1997)
Life wasn't really beautiful...
This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Not only is it appallingly badly directed and boring; not only is the humor and so-called acting amateurish at best; this film is trying to make some points about the Holocaust that are utter lies!
Anyone with even a minimal understanding of the Holocaust would have to first of all discount ANY movie which purports to make the subject into a comedy, of all things. I hated the Chaplin movie, "The Great Dictator," for the same reason.
But that's not the only problem here. The distortion of reality presented in this movie is abominable. Concentration camps were not sleepaway camps where you could just hide your kids in safety if you were clever enough. I really don't want to go into the horrific details of what concentration camps were really like; I don't think that is appropriate in this forum.
Even if it were possible to keep your child hidden away in a camp, I question the legitimacy of making an obviously murderous regime into a silly game of "points" to win a tank, just to shield your child from the cruel truth. I am sure that any child in a concentration camp (who would have survived, which was virtually impossible) would have been all too aware of what was really happening. I see the hero's attempt at shielding his child as lying, plain and simple.
The thinly-veiled insult contained in this movie is: if only all those poor victims of the Holocaust had only had a sense of humor! Then of course many wouldn't have died, and there would have been so much less suffering. I really hope that anyone reading these lines gets my sarcasm here.
But the worst thing about this atrocious movie is the way it has rewritten history. The only other people who are doing that on the subject of World War II are neo-Nazis, I'm afraid.
La fille sur le pont (1999)
I was checking my watch
This film had great direction (remniscent of Godard) and wonderful photography, but the point it was making was somehow not too earthshaking. What are we supposed to learn here: Don't trust knife-throwers whom you meet on bridges? Luck can change? If you are beautiful and photogenic nothing else matters?
After three-quarters of an hour I found myself checking my watch at frequent intervals. I need a lot more than close-ups of a cute face and stunning scenery to keep my interest. I would have loved to see the character of Adele develop and change; however she seemed not to have learned anything from her experiences.
Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)
A product of its time
This film made me very uncomfortable as a woman of the new millenium. Anabel Sims is trying so hard to get married to Dr. Madison Brown that it seems incredibly pathetic that she has no self of her own, only an exaggerated desire to catch the good doctor. He certainly puts her in her place all throughout the film, but she keeps trying all kinds of silly tricks, until the inevitable happy ending of course.
The one scene that I really liked, however, was the one where she appears at Dr. Brown's lecture on pediatrics to mothers, making an impassioned speech about women needing to have the right to pursue a man out in the open if they so desire. I almost cheered but then she asks the females in the audience to stand up if they have ever used female wiles and subterfuge to catch a man, and they ALL STAND UP!
Those were the bad old days...