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tom_75252
Reviews
Mind of Mencia (2005)
Carlos Mencia
I used to like him until he started imitating retarded people. Then I realized he really isn't very funny. He's just obnoxious. He should be off the air soon enough, but the sooner the better. I can only assume the reason he chose to appeal to teenagers is because who knows why, but his Mind of Mencia show will hopefully be gone and forgotten soon enough. And his little "Dee Dee Dee"... real smart Carlos, make fun of retarded people. He is full of hate, and I hope he swallows his little half cup of pride when his show gets canceled. He is a sick dude.
Go away Carlos...
Go away Mind of Mencia.
Spanglish (2004)
this deserves way more than a 6.8
So I have to give this movie a 10. On the IMDb rating system where even the best movies get a max of 8, or 9 if it's the best, "Spanglish" is way underrated here. This movie should be around a 7.6 on the IMDb scale.
This is a great movie. Some of the reviews that rated this under a 7 were surprising, but they seemed to be from people that didn't understand it. And perhaps some of the low ratings are from people who feel this movie hits too close to home with the immigration laws and the "threats" that many people in the U.S. are worried about.
But this movie is about real life of a migrator.
It's a sweet movie, almost on the same level as "To Be and to Have".
Secretary (2002)
Not so good
From the beginning the credits roll like an amateur made-for-TV film.
The direction seems to have been a poor template of a David Lynch type.
James Spader acted reluctant to play the role he plays.
The premise is promising but weak.
From the beginning the credits roll like an amateur made-for-TV film.
The direction seems to have been a poor template of a David Lynch type.
James Spader acted reluctant to play the role he plays.
The premise is promising but weak.
From the beginning the credits roll like an amateur made-for-TV film.
The direction seems to have been a poor template of a David Lynch type.
James Spader acted reluctant to play the role he plays.
The premise is promising but weak.
The repition of the formulaic story-telling is not impressive.
Microcosmos: Le peuple de l'herbe (1996)
Bored at first.... but then...
I watched it for 20 minutes then pressed eject because I was bored... then I came back and watched the rest of it. The year is now 2006 and this documentary was made in 1996. But watching the DVD looks like it was shot in high-def with the most modern camera. It's crystal clear. I would recommend this even though it starts out boring. There is very little narration, which is kind of nice. I laughed so hard in one scene... a dung-beatle is pushing his find along and it gets stuck. He finally figures out how to get it unstuck. There are so many interesting scenes. Another one shows a spider building a large bubble under-water by going to get air several times and bring more air to make the under-water bubble larger. Lots of interesting things just like that. It kind of makes insects look cute.
The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (2000)
Quite boring as a documentary
If you don't understand the intention of the expedition nor the purpose of this documentary, then you may like both.
If you don't know what Shackleton's purpose is for the expedition, then you can use this documentary as a sedative to help you fall asleep. Only at the beginning does the narrator's comment stand out about the purpose: to go where many men have gone before, most needlessly.
The vast majority of the narration fails to clue you in why these men are risking their lives to travel thru a big chunks of ice to get to other big chunks of ice. Are they suicidal? Are they dumb? No. But you wont find out from this documentary.
This documentary should be free on your local PBS station. But if you have as much to lose as the unexplained reason this documentary gives for the expedition's men risking their life, then by all means, save your money.
If you want a good documentary about traveling over ice for no real purpose other than glory, try "Touching a Void". Until then, find the better version of Shackelton's Endurance expedition for free.
Raising Victor Vargas (2002)
very good
I'm surprised how many people give this move less than 7 stars.
But they just don't understand the movie.
The story is about growing up in a difficult situation.
There is a crazy grandmother who really wants the best for your grandchildren.
And there's good reason why so many critics like this movie.
And the reason is because they understand the movie.
I feel sorry for the low scores given by some people.
I wish I could just write a brief summary of a movie but IMDb requires you to write 10 lines.
I frankly don't have anything else to say.
Monster (2003)
Deserves much more than a 7.4 rating
I don't have much to add that hasn't already written, but in the discussion boards there are some concerns about why this movie only has a 7.4 rating. I agree, it should be in the top 250, but it's not. This movie should get around an 8.5 rating. A movie like "American Beauty" gets an 8.5 but it is not nearly as good as "Monster". The ratings on IMDb are fishy so I quit trusting them.
It makes me wonder how many voters are voting over and over and over just to make a point in what's really their private movie. Or perhaps this movie was too realistic and a bit depressing that it left viewers a little bit depressed themselves.
This movie Monster is a great dramatic movie. It's one of the few DVDs I keep in my collection. The acting is so good that the movie comes across as a pseudo-documentary.
Hopefully this movie will get its proper place among the top 250 movies on IMDb.
About a Boy (2002)
Well done
Judging from the box cover from the DVD, and from the first 30 minutes of watching this movie, I knew it would be a lame movie.
How wrong I was. This is a very well-directed movie. I suspect the target audience who will appreciate this movie will either have children, or be at least 30 years old.
I would not have appreciated this movie when I was 25 years old.
This movie is surprisingly well-directed. The acting is very good, with characters coming into the story that can make you believe this story is an actual documentary. But it's not.
I won't give away any of the story, as it's well worth learning on your own.
But I am a bit surprised that this movie is rated PG-13. While it mostly fits into this category, it does have scenes which only an older audience who has experienced love and/or a man who is a late-in-life "Player" mentality. The topics of sex, which the main male character seemingly sugar-coats over the real cravings of an adult, will probably be lost on the younger crowd, if not deemed inappropriate for the younger crowd.
The discussion boards for this movie have proved this. But for the right audience, this movie is surprisingly well done, despite the cheezy box cover for the DVD and the first half hour.
Être et avoir (2002)
Want to see it again
10 stars may be a bit extreme, but I think it's better than some of the higher rating documentaries I've seen. I don't have kids of my own, so I can't relate totally, but this film gave me a new respect for teachers of youngsters. The teacher is incredibly patient and good to his pupils. I usually like action films or dramas, and I hesitated to watch a film like this. But even just the parts with kids just being themselves and saying some intriguing things makes me want to see it again. Even better than "America's Funniest Home Videos". This film captures kids and what they say at a very young age, during school. It perfectly balances the weight of seriousness versus hilariousness.
Le peuple migrateur (2001)
Only a step up from your Grandpa's vacation photos
4 stars for nice visuals, but there is no more content than just the visuals.
There are two scenes in the film: (1) Birds flying in the air, and (2) Birds being on the ground. Some of the scenes are cute, but you'd see the same stuff on a TV series like "America's Funniest Animals".
It does have some very beautiful scenes of the birds flying, but the filming technique got old for me after half an hour.
I don't even know why they included birds in this film. This film was basically about the remote-controlled miniature helicopter that captured all the beautiful shots of our planet.
The narrator says about 10 lines in this movie. And after this documentary was over, I asked myself, "Does this narrator even know anything about birds or did he just want to show off his nifty remote-controlled miniature helicopter???" I think he didn't know much about birds. He only says one sentence every ten minutes, and it's something like "This is the bald eagle, it flies from point A to point B." Thanks for the information, Mr. Boring Narrator. I would have scored this higher if it actually had some interesting information about the birds, but the narrator didn't seem to have any at all.
The only saving grace for this movie, in my opinion, would be if they handed over the filmwork to someone who knows about birds, and then have them narrate it. Then re-release it.
My dictionary has this definition for documentary: "A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration." This movie falls well short in the "informative" area.
The Awful Truth (1999)
Secondary Corruption
Yes, Micheal Moore was viewed as corrupt himself with his pseudo-documentary "Fahrenheit 911". So maybe he was having a bad year when he screwed up and fell into the same class of people who thought that the USA didn't really land on the moon.
But prior to that, in his second season of "The Awful Truth", Mr. Moore got his talent in a deserving spotlight. I especially enjoyed seeing his victims shy away from the camera, like in the episode where he exposed the Public Defenders Office in Nevada for sending 900 people to prison without a trial. Yep, without a trial. You gotta watch it to see the crap that a bureaucracy can pull on an unsuspecting person with regard to their rights.
I don't know why there was no season after his 2nd, but Moore did a good job at exposing corruption in his short-lived series "The Awful Truth".
And yes he did put his foot in his mouth with "911", but we can forgive him for that, because he has grown used to the idea of corruption.
Atanarjuat (2001)
over rated
After realizing the first hour was unnecessarily included in this film, I took a break from the utter boredom and read some reviews here in hopes of finding something that would convince me to watch the next hour. And I found plenty, but mostly from people who were intrigued by the Inuit culture. I had never heard of this culture but I figured what the heck. So I went ahead and watched the next hour, and while the one-at-a-time fight scenes were a bit intriguing, I remained pretty much bored. I understand the culture is a bit savage, but that still didn't hold my attention. It took a while before I found the energy to watch the final hour of this movie. It turned out interesting, but not super interesting.
This movie was not meant to be a documentary, but the camera work reminds me of one. I think it would have been better if it were done as a documentary. I see lots of interesting documentaries about strange cultures on the Discovery channel, but this pseudo-doc bored me to sleep several times. They could've used a good editor to prevent spontaneous audience narcolepsy. I've seen better one hour documentaries about a cheetah catching a whatever-it-wants-to-eat dinner.
One person who rated this more than 7 stars said "The actors are astonishing, and it must have been so terribly cold up there, that you know this was a labor of love for the production team. The scenery is astonishing."
A few other people made similar comments.
But the truth is, the acting is border-line. Most of it is similar to cheesy Latino daytime soap operas. The scenery is hardly astonishing; it is mostly a blend of blue sky, snow, and boring small rocks. There is much better scenery in a documentary like "Touch a Void".
With some better editing, this film could be re-released, remove the boring stuff, and hit the nail on the head. Kinda like that scene where the two adjuncts hit each other on the head for a challenge.
The subtitles could also use a bit of work too. Most of the captions are yellow on a white background. Not very easy to read. And they often linger for a brief moment, not giving you enough time to read them. And there is too much dialogue that doesn't even include captions. This could have been a very good documovie with better editing. Where are the next two thumbs up going to land?
Cinderella Man (2005)
just an updated Rocky movie
There are many more better movies that deserve 8 stars than this movie. I give it 5 stars.
It was just a re-done Rocky movie.
For the younger crowd who didn't grow up when the Rocky movies were made, then this might be a gateway movie for you.
Go to your local video store, look at the back of the back of the container for this DVD or VHS tape, and the only quote you see is "One of the best movies ever!" This quote comes from Larry King.
No quotes from any one else. This movie is entirely over-rated.
The boxing scenes were not even very good. I never believed for a moment that the fight was a real fight. Just camera tricks, and not very good ones.
I feel as disappointed as when I saw the first Rocky movie.
Fargo (1996)
great movie
Just thought this movie was great. I have watched it approximately 38.28 billion times. Well maybe not that many but at least twice a year since the first time I saw it. I thought the acting was great too. The scene where car sales manager (William H. Macy, a great actor) is getting interviewed by an investigator about his book-keeping, the way he performs acting so scared because he knows he's guilty, while trying to not show his emotions to the investigator... that is incredible acting. I don't know if Macy won an award for his role, but his acting really stuck out in my mind. But actually, excellent acting all the way around. I just love the way he keeps trying to act innocent, you can't really tell if he is lying or not, even though the viewer knows the truth.
Hotel (2001)
Hotel's shouldn't be this bad
I've stayed in many hotels. The movie Hotel reminds me of the worst hotels. Someone suggested film students should see this film. And yes, they should. So they know what it takes to make a boring film. I think the majority of movie watchers like a film they can follow, even if it is a bit confusing. But Hotel goes way beyond confusing. There was some interesting film work but most of the story was void of meaning on first watch. And there was such a void of story that I would not watch it again. Too boring in so many ways to make me want to watch it again to figure out the meanings. On the DVD container it says Roger Ebert called it "Bold, funny, delightful!". I think he meant boldly boring, funny for one scene, and delightful to eject from the DVD player. But then again, I think we all know Ebert is a little unreliable with his thumb up.
Overnight (2003)
another unnecessary two thumbs up
I have to wonder why some critics give this film a high rating. It is a story about a bartender with an idea for a movie. And it is a true story. It is a story about a guy and his friends who want to make a movie and make music. The lead guy, who is the bartender, is a real piece of work. He can't say a sentence without using the F word. He is an alcoholic. Not that being an alcoholic is so bad. But he is portrayed in this documentary as a nerd with a hard shell. He is a lucky young man with nerves of plastic. If I want to see a loser be a jerk to people with power, I won't pay to see it. But I did accidentally rent this movie, so I did pay to see it, without knowing. Two thumbs down. I am glad this documentary exploits an abrasive dork with a hard shell, but I want my money back.
At least the joke is on him. I wonder how many people who watched this movie see him on the street and say "Hey, you're that a-hole from that dumb docudrama! Can you at least make a good martini?"
The Devil's Rejects (2005)
Maybe I'm getting old...
... but I'm just 32 years old. This movie made me yawn and my girlfriend fell asleep. I guess if I were a teenager then I would have been intrigued. But this was just a cheeze-fest to me, with bad acting and a silly story. But then again, maybe I'm just getting too old and require more of intelligence in a movie. Hmmmmm... but that wouldn't explain why Ebert & Roeper gave it two thumbs up, unless they are good at putting themselves in the shoes of a younger audience somehow. Some of the film work is very very impressive and the 70s look is very realistic. I bet if some better actors or actresses had been in this film then it might have been better. Charlize Theron and Clint Eastwood would have been cool I bet.