s-oconnell Reviews

Trust the Man (2005)

Lots of fun and who knew David Duchovny could actually act?

[9/10 · 13 September 2005]

I saw this film at the Toronto film festival, I wasn't too sure what to expect but was drawn in by a synopsis that included the word 'hilarious' (I was trying to balance out the effect of some darker movies I saw that day) and thought the cast looked interesting.

The movie was well written, quirky and a lot of fun. The biggest surprise of the movie for me was that David Duchovny not only turned in a good performance but managed to be quite humorous along the way. (Spoiler) His visit to a self help group after feeling guilt from a brief affair was particularly memorable (while almost straying into "dear red shoes..." territory).

Billy Crudup's energetic relationship phobic performance is a nice counterpoint to David Duchovny's measured approach and the pair of them play off each other nicely. Julianne Moore and Maggie Gyllenhaal also turn in great performances in their respective long suffering wife / partner roles.

I really enjoyed the movie and had a few belly laughs along the way.

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

So much fun !!

[16 September 2004]

I saw this movie at the Toronto filmfest and I have to say I loved it, I really didn't know what to expect as I didn't know the director and had only really seen some pretty bad kung fu many years before. There are many pop culture references in there like reservoir dogs and the matrix.. all done very tongue in cheek.

The fight sequences are very well done and keep the movie moving at a frenetic pace, the jokes tend to be visual in nature and as such side step the normal translation problems.

All in all I thought this was a great movie and suspect this will be a huge hit !

Ginostra (2002)

Its that old story of Evil nuns, Erupting Volcanoes and Mafia hit men hiding from the FBI

[1/10 · 14 June 2004]

I saw this movie at the Toronto Filmfest and had such high hopes... soon to be dashed. The plot is both confused and boring, leaving the audience incapable of identifying with the characters. The backdrop of an erupting volcano tries to give the film tension but merely confuses the storyline. Harvey Keitel manages to make some of the movie at least watchable but this movie rated high on the numb-bum-omiter... for a movie pegged at 135 mins it felt like 4 hours.

The whole audience was left in stunned silence at the end of the movie. When the Q and A started the director was asked "what were the evil nuns about? " he didn't seem to know what they were there for either... I'd like to think it was a nod to Monty Python ;-)

The Fifth Element (1997)

dull dull dull

[11 April 2004]

Well I'm stuck in this evening and have a choice of the Patriot or the Fifth Element... I find myself stuck between a rock and a hard place. I picked the Fifth Element and was reminded of why I was so disappointed with this movie, I love Luc Besson's previous work but this is terrible. Gary Oldman's bad accent, leaden script, the crappy special effects... lets hope the French don't set the design agenda for the future (re: see through plastic skull caps). In the headlong rush to create a rich world full of novel concepts the plot is totally forgotten... a sorry case of content being sacrificed for style.

Something's Gotta Give (2003)

One of the worst films ever made

[28 January 2004]

An incredibly bad movie... I don't think I've looked at my watch so many times in a movie ever. I felt like I was watching a poorly scripted, overly long episode of Frasier... I think that this movie really is a farce in every sense of the word.

A good cast wasted...