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Seabiscuit (2003)
Did you realize?
Seabiscuit was nominated for 7 Academy Awards - with winning none of them. So was Shawshank Redemption, the other great film about hope I would like to compare Seabiscuit to. I remember when I left the theater from just watching Shawshank, I was so impressed, I uttered: Just cover these movie with awards! Well, we all know it came the other way. Every time I look up IMDb, I'm satisfied to see Shawshank on top, but where's Seabiscuit? Maybe it's due to his horse theme that this movie is not ranking comparably high.
I don't know the reasons why the Academy members decided in this way, but I do like the pace of both films, the bunch of characters, the narrator, the epic angle of the plot, the story and yes - the diligence the two movies are made with. Hope to see soon another story that will be nominated for a couple of Oscars and is meant to stay why others will vanish. Congratulations to the cast and the director!
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
A Woody Strode makes no epic movie
I think someone tried to write the next "Once upon a time in the west" according to some references "The quick and the dead" obviously take to the story: A heroine that is driven by her past what comes clear in some flashbacks, a villain that is ruthless and doesn't count on anybodies lives, subplots from the past for different characters, close-ups from gunslingers and so on. But one Woody Strode - he has a short appearance at the beginning making some coffins and is one of the gunfighters in the famous opening scene of "Once upon a time in the west" - does not make an epic movie. The plot, the score, the dialog, it is all some kind of exerted and does not make up "The quick and the dead" for a movie you will remember or you want to see again. I like the actors, the camera and the setting and "The quick and the dead" is quite nice entertainment. If you are not too experienced in western, go and watch "The quick and the dead", you may like it. If you have seen Leone, Eastwood and others, there is a good comparison.
Unstoppable (2010)
A well crafted movie
I read the "hated it" reviews on IMDb as well as the "loved it" before going into theater and was prepared to find either one of them to be true. I would subscribe to the "loved it"-party. There's cliché, of course, and the characters bound together in the script are the usual suspects - maybe despite of Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawn), the tough colored inspector. It's interesting to see the rookie Colson (Chris Pine), though a blue collar worker, be much less accepted by the roughnecks in the yard. We never hear anyone complaining about Connie as a colored woman in that position as one would expect. And as shown in one review in detail either, every incident in the movie took place so or likewise in the real disaster the movie depends on. And lets be real: Haven't we seen dozens of catastrophes that man said were absolutely impossible to happen? The last, I think, took place in Mexican Gulf. So just lay back and enjoy the movie which is well crafted by actors and direction as well. I'm not into heavy metal at all, but "unstoppable" was good entertainment.
Iron Man (2008)
Fire and forget
An 8.0 for this movie? Please, lets stay serious! I'm so tired of this superhero-stuff. We've seen this all before (Batman begins) and we seen it better, so where's something worth mentioning to rate this movie higher than very average? There was no sophisticated storytelling, no extraordinary action, even no acting that was more than schematic. It's so black and white. No one seemed to invest more than an evening in the plot to make it half-way intelligent. Jeff Bridges - hum, he should have stayed at the grand piano, Gwyneth Paltrow - she acts like ever, namely she doesn't act at all, only Robert Downey jr. gives at least a face and he sometimes acts like Tony Stark might feel. And the special effects? Just Bang-Boom-Bang, to name it with another movie title. With this film one should deal like with the weapons of Stark Industries: Fire and forget, in other words: Watch it and forget it.
Simpatico (1999)
Unfortunately no recommendation
Was it done with "silly money"? Or is the script one of these peaces of paper that goes round in Hollywood for 20 years until someone says "Ok, lets do it?" I really have no idea. But this movie is so uninspired, so long-winded, so much missing a plot thats worth its name, it is just impossible to find what this movie is about. There are two rare moments when characters dare to say the truth and put some fine acting to the story with doing the unexpected. But unfortunately this is not enough. And what is most, this is definitely no "Seabiscuit", a movie that is set in a similar way and subject and is sharing even one of the actors (Jeff Bridges). If you have the chance to see the latter, grab it. If you have to see Simpatico, leave it!
America's Sweethearts (2001)
Yet another mediocre movie
Yet another movie where the script is unfortunately not able to carry the spectators interest for the whole period. Or, in other words, an idea is not enough and the result is disappointing. Having Americas hottest couple breaking up, putting the question "Will they get together again?" and enrich this plot with some characters that should appear quite overdone but in reality are likely to be even more strange is funny for the first 20 minutes. After that: "Blah, blah, blah" and you have to wait literally until another 50 minutes are gone before there's another gag worth mentioning. The end is screwed up with an idea of a film in the film that is even worse. Sorry, it just doesn't work. Unfortunately there are also not the actors best performances to see so why go and watch this film? Take my advice: Spend your time on some other activity.