Change Your Image
MrVanilla
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Going Postal (2010)
Much better than I expected
People talk about the phenomenon of binge TV watching. I've been binge reading all of the Discworld books, all of which are on my shelf. That makes the second or third (or at least one fourth) time through. I had only seen the terrible "Color of Magic" and the worse "Hogfather" before, so had low expectations for this.
Going Postal is true to the "look and feel" of the book. Of course, it doesn't stick to the plot, word for word. Of course, many of the characters are two dimensional. But then, the movie is made from pictures and the books are made from words. And words have power.
It was a joy to watch. My wife didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I did, but that was probably because I kept telling her the difference between the book and the movie. And pointing out the similarity ("Honey, did you notice the vampire photographer? That's great, he really didn't add to the movie story line, but in the Discworld series...." And we're still married.
Spoiler: Viewers should be aware that the movie pays homage to old time movies in a couple of ways. One controversial way is to make the banshee into a replica of Nosferatu. I think this was a misstep, but a minor and intriguing one.
Signs (2002)
Just not that impressed
This was a decent movie. There was a feeling about the movie, though, that there is probably some technical term for. Frequently during the movie there was a pause,or pose, as if everybody was saying "make sure you see how well this is photographed", or "make sure you see the symbolism here". There was a zombie-ish slow motion quality to the acting that I could just never get.
What was that with guys watching TV with their hands on their knees?
I'm generally impressed with child actors. Not this time. Gibson & Phoenix both seemed to be handicapped by direction that must have included a lot of "slow down, do less". In fact, the best performance in the movie was probably turned in by Shyamalan himself. Maybe he should back off on directing, and stick to acting.
I'll get over it. I was so looking forward to this, and I was so disappointed.
Road to Perdition (2002)
A Great but predictable movie
There are a couple of recent movies (Bourne Identity, for instance) that like Road to Perdition seem a throw back to earlier movies of the genre.
I do get a kick, however, about reviews worrying about spoilers. As you watch this movie, make guesses about what will happen next or what will happen eventually.
I bet you are right more often than not.
Changing Lanes (2002)
More than the trailer
There have been whole articles on how much of this movie the trailers give away. Don't worry about it. The trailers don't begin to approach the psychological twists. A very good movie, with a lot more depth than you'd think from the trailers alone.
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)
French Language (Subtitled) superb story and eye candy
This is not a fantasy, but there is a surreal aspect to it that is aided by the foreign language. I sure don't speak French, but never felt lost. The film delightfully plays with the audience, and is some kind of upbeat cross between Moulin Rouge, Ghost World, and Run Lola Run.
Ghost World (2001)
Not pablum, not hollywood, literature for the eyes.
A wonderful story, and only mildly depressing. Just enough twists to keep it interesting, and some of the twists are far enough from the catalyst that you forgot it was coming.
Half the audience had read reviews that said to wait through all of the credits. It was worth the wait.