Belated Movie Reviews
It seems that I missed a lot of movies in the past decade and watched quite a few of them this past weekend. I thought I might give a review of them:
Windtalkers
**
It was a decent action flic with more of a story than John Woo usually lets you have. Nicolas Cage gives the usual mailed-in Johnny Fontane performance that you would expect from Hollywood Silver Spoon trying to play the part of a war hero.
The Navajos are decent actors except their characters are one dimensional and you feel nothing but sympathy for them. It isn't clear whether the actors are actually Navajos or not, nor whether the language you hear is really Navajo. One would have to do some research to find out the answer to those questions.
Unfortunately, I watched this movie the night after I watched When We Were Soldiers, so the fake battle scenes done on what was surely a Hollywood set seemed very contrived if not reminiscent of the A-team. It was tiring to watch the correct person run while poorly trained Japanese soldiers shot at the dirt around their feet (go for the chest!).
It's worth watching if you like fake action movies that try to have a serious message and plot.
When We Were Soldiers
****
I avoided this movie for a long time because the previews had that line, "We will ride into battle...and this will be our horse." The rhythm with which Mel Gibson said those lines really bothered me. I wish I could recreate it for you, but I can't, you'll just have to remember how he said it. In any event, I did myself a disservice by not watching this movie sooner. Because of movies like Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, and TV shows like Tour of Duty, battle in Vietnam felt very stifling, lacking in strategy, and not very technological. When We Were Soldiers gives the strategy on both sides a lot of play and take a realistic approach to showing a true story without embellishing much. Soon to be canonized, Mel Gibson gives another great performance.
G.I. Jane
***
Good story, thought provoking, erotic. See it, not sure if you should believe it.
The Recruit
***
An on-the-edge-of-your-seat-thriller if you missed the previews and ignore Pacino playing the same bad guy that he's played since the Devil's Advocate. C'mon Scarface, do some coke and get all crazy in a movie.
Windtalkers
**
It was a decent action flic with more of a story than John Woo usually lets you have. Nicolas Cage gives the usual mailed-in Johnny Fontane performance that you would expect from Hollywood Silver Spoon trying to play the part of a war hero.
The Navajos are decent actors except their characters are one dimensional and you feel nothing but sympathy for them. It isn't clear whether the actors are actually Navajos or not, nor whether the language you hear is really Navajo. One would have to do some research to find out the answer to those questions.
Unfortunately, I watched this movie the night after I watched When We Were Soldiers, so the fake battle scenes done on what was surely a Hollywood set seemed very contrived if not reminiscent of the A-team. It was tiring to watch the correct person run while poorly trained Japanese soldiers shot at the dirt around their feet (go for the chest!).
It's worth watching if you like fake action movies that try to have a serious message and plot.
When We Were Soldiers
****
I avoided this movie for a long time because the previews had that line, "We will ride into battle...and this will be our horse." The rhythm with which Mel Gibson said those lines really bothered me. I wish I could recreate it for you, but I can't, you'll just have to remember how he said it. In any event, I did myself a disservice by not watching this movie sooner. Because of movies like Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, and TV shows like Tour of Duty, battle in Vietnam felt very stifling, lacking in strategy, and not very technological. When We Were Soldiers gives the strategy on both sides a lot of play and take a realistic approach to showing a true story without embellishing much. Soon to be canonized, Mel Gibson gives another great performance.
G.I. Jane
***
Good story, thought provoking, erotic. See it, not sure if you should believe it.
The Recruit
***
An on-the-edge-of-your-seat-thriller if you missed the previews and ignore Pacino playing the same bad guy that he's played since the Devil's Advocate. C'mon Scarface, do some coke and get all crazy in a movie.
posted by Dude at 8:25 PM
1 Comments:
I love weekends when you can just watch movies and share time with a loved one. Down time, but quality time.
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