recent product reviews
Drunken Master (1978)
A pretty good story, better than I would have expected for an old kung fu movie. The kind of comedy they could get away with is amazing. Jackie’s pretty good, and the old man can really move. The sound effects are hilarious but typical: wind for fast punches, smacks for…
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Matchstick Men (2003)
Con man gets conned – a familiar formula. A bit slow, but a nice twist and a comfortable ending. I love the wink. Muted colors provide a nice effect. Good music.
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The Ladykillers (2004)
The Coen brothers are becoming a bit formulaic, with most of their recent movies being offbeat comedies about characters on the fringe playing dumb. Good acting all around, and great casting. Some funny moments, especially the IBS bit. Shit humor never gets old. Watching bodies fall into the garbage barge…
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Diner (1982)
A slice of life from the 50’s. Costume and set design is great, acting is genuine, dialogue is very natural. Levinson doing what he does best and with a nice cast. But it’s all a bit slow. Nothing too significant happens. Some focus-pulling and sound sync problems, common in other…
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Dreams (1990)
Very colorful, and the effects are OK (although outdone by higher-budget productions like What Dreams May Come). Excruciatingly slow. I guess a movie about dreams doesn’t have narrative responsibility.
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Eight Men Out (1988)
Sayles creates a very literary, scripted film with stock characters. A bit long, but the subject matter is well-storied and the movie covered everything that I suppose it needed to. Nice cast, but Strathairn would have made a better Shoeless Joe. Not everyone could play, so the baseball action was…
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28 Days Later… (2002)
A scary movie and interesting social comment. Just the right amount of humanity and hope to make it fulfilling. Boyle’s style keeps us engaged, setting the mood with music and scaring us with jarring, high-speed photography. Interesting shots and well-used effects throughout. The empty London shots are amazing. Murphy and…
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Old School (2003)
Another classic in the tradition of college frat movies like Animal House and PCU. Phillips’ timing is pretty good. Ferrell is funny, and Wilson is showing us that he’s a talented guy. Piven is miscast, I think. You’d expect a TV guy like Kilborn to be a decent actor, but…
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The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
Probably the most stylistic and witty animation since The Wall, but the story’s a bit long and silly, and the characters are mere caricatures, so it’s hard to take things seriously.
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I'm a photographer, web developer, travel enthusiast, and movie buff living in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.In the summer of 1993, I started writing reviews for every movie I saw and haven't looked back. I'm up to 2,387 reviews now. This makes me cool or a complete dork, depending on your perspective.
Some of these reviews contain spoilers, so if that bothers you, don't read!
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