Category Archives: DVD

The Matador (2005)

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The Matador

The Matador

A globetrotting hitman and a crestfallen businessman meet in a hotel bar in Mexico City in an encounter that draws them together in a way neither expected.

We thoroughly enjoyed this movie which casts Pierce Brosnan as the anti-Bond. Unsophisticated, completely lacking charm, on the questionable side of the law (he’s a hit man). Throw in Greg Kinnear as a slightly twerpy salesman grieving his dead son and you have a recipe for fun. No, seriously.

The Matador has some graphic bits that will keep me from recommending it to a couple of people. Most of my friends, though, should see it. Rent the DVD, make some Margaritas and settle in for some good fun.

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 76%; Audience 58%

Capturing The Friedmans (2003)

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Capturing The Friedmans

Capturing The Friedmans

I had heard a lot about this movie when it first came out and always meant to watch it. However, knowing the subject matter would be heavy and disturbing, I had never gotten around to it. When it came on satellite we tuned in – and climbed aboard a roller coaster.

The film propels you through the story without a firm foothold on the outcome – is he a monster? are they all? were they railroaded by the system? At various points you believe all those things and none of them. And at the end you are still left to wonder because this film does exactly what a documentary should do; it gives you all of the facts, but none of the answers. Those conclusions you must draw on your own.

I give it a rare 5 of 5.

From Amazon:

“Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, and with over $3 million at the box office to date, Capturing The Friedmans is nothing short of the most riveting, provocative, and hotly debated films of the year. Despite their predilection for hamming it up in front of home-movie cameras, the Friedmans were a normal middle-class family living in the affluent New York suburb of Great Neck. One Thanksgiving, as the family gathers at home for a quiet holiday dinner, their front door explodes, splintered by a police battering ram. Officers rush into the house, accusing Arnold Friedman and his youngest son Jesse of hundreds of shocking crimes. The film follows their story from the public’s perspective and through unique real footage of the family in crisis, shot inside the Friedman house. As the police investigate, and the community reacts, the fabric of the family begins to disintegrate, revealing provocative questions about justice, family, and -ultimately – truth.”

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 97%; Audience 86%

Burn The Floor (1999)

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Burn the Floor

Burn The Floor

This is exactly the kind of thing I should love; dancing, music, big production. Unfortunately, the dancing is mediocre, the music is tired, the productions are pointless.

The choreography was about on par with what you would find in a high school production, particularly one where they are intent on keeping all the students on stage the whole time.

The costuming was trying way too hard to be ‘hip’ – as if they figured making it edgy would make it artistic.

I can’t give this anything on the WOM Scale; my friends that like dancing and classical music would be turned of by the edginess, my friends who like edgy would not be interested in the dancing and music…..

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics N/A; Audience 78%

Derailed (2005)

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Derailed

Derailed

Yeah, yeah, yeah – I heard the bad reviews. I like Jennifer Aniston, though, and Clive Owen is usually good to watch (in more ways than one), so I gave it a try.

I tend to like my suspense movies to be, well, suspenseful. This one was so obvious I kept thinking I must be wrong; surely there must be a twist coming that I was not seeing, surely it couldn’t be as insipid as it seemed. Unfortunately, it was every bit as predictable as the alphabet, but not as nuanced.

It also suffers from Thelma & Louise syndrome – two people making bad decision after bad decision, spiraling down into a worsening situation, able to stop it at any point simply by going to the authorities, choosing to continue on their merry little doomed way. By the end you actually want them to get taken out of the gene pool (I was so glad to see Thelma & Louise die – they were just wasting oxygen and police resources).

However, it took my boyfriend to point out one of the big failings – I just couldn’t put my finger on it. He nailed it right away; you just don’t buy Clive Owen as such a wuss. 1 of 5 just because I know a couple of girls who will sit through it solely to look at him for an hour or so.

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 20%; Audience 61%

Stay (2005)

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Stay

Stay

For this one I am going to give you word for word the review I found on Amazon:

“Striking images abound in the twisty, surreal thriller Stay: Walruses rubbing up against the glass in an aquarium; a corridor painted neon green; entire crowds composed of twins and triplets; a piano being lifted several stories in the air. The plot is impossible to encapsulate: A psychiatrist named Sam (Ewan McGregor, Trainspotting) takes on a colleague’s patient, Henry (Ryan Gosling, The Notebook), who announces his intention to kill himself. As Sam pursues Henry, hoping to save him, the world around them begins to fracture and distort–until the movie’s conclusion, which may induce viewers to argue loudly about whether or not it makes sense. But Stay’s weakness isn’t whether it coheres, but its terrible dialogue. David Lynch movies (a clear influence) work in part because the dialogue is usually simple, even banal, and doesn’t compete with the rich chaos of the visual images and narrative turns. Stay’s dialogue, full of portents, interferes with an intriguingly corrupt (in the sense that digital information corrupts) storyline and eerily dislocated visuals; try watching it with the sound off. Also featuring Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive), with brief appearances by Janeane Garofalo (The Minus Man), Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa), and other familiar faces.” —Bret Fetzer

Yep, that about sums it up ~ the movie was disjointed, the dialogue was dismal.

The twist ending was asburd. The plot may have been salvagable, with a different ending. The twist ending does present an interesting idea, however. Had it been explored by a more competent storyteller we may have been presented an intriguing film. This one just left me shaking my head at the time I wasted watching it.

But I give it 1 out of 5 anyway, because I have a couple of friends who like that sort of thing.

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 26%; Audience 66%

The Wedding Date (2005)

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The Wedding Date

The Wedding Date

Single-girl anxiety causes Kat Ellis (Messing) to hire a male escort (Mulroney) to pose as her boyfriend at her sister’s wedding. Her plan, an attempt to dupe her ex-fiancé, who dumped her a couple years prior, proves to be her undoing.

I am having a hermit sort of a weekend, which means chick flicks. On the suggestion of the clerks at Blockbuster, I picked up The Wedding Date.

Not bad, definitely good cinematherapy, I think my girlfriends would like it so it is higher on the Word of Mouth scale.

Some truly great lines from Dermot Mulroney’s character:

  • “The hardest thing is loving someone and then having the courage to let them love you back.”
  • “I think I’d miss you even if we’d never met”
  • “Here’s to the husbands who’ve won you, the losers who’ve lost you, and the lucky bastards who’ve yet to meet you”

Yeah, the flick was definitely written by a woman.

To be fair: Rotten Tomatoes liked this one even less than Bewitched, though there were some (slightly) positive reviews

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 10%; Audience 68%

“A bit like cheap champagne: It’s better if you revel in its bubbly fizz and don’t think about the finish.”

~ Sue Pierman

 

Boogeyman (2005)

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Boogeyman

I had some time to kill this evening (and kill it I did) since SG had other plans. I got Boogeyman from my Blockbuster Online account a couple days ago. Now, I don’t remember putting it in my queue, but I imagine I must have seen it in the “Coming Soon” section and just clicked it – I like creepy movies.

Anyway, I have a friend I haven’t seen for a while and she was up for it so after I ate dinner I went to her house and we watched it. All of it – which was no easy feat! To say this movie sucked would be an insult to all other things which have ever sucked. It wasn’t even in the realm of funny bad – just boring bad. She kept trying to get me to turn it off, suggesting other thing that might be on, rattling off the movies in her collection.

No way, I’m no quitter – and surely they had to put something interesting in there, right? Wrong…so, so wrong. So predictable all the way through, so snooze-worthy.

I have an excuse, I wasn’t warned. You, on the other hand, have been warned. Don’t come whining to me if you take it upon yourselves to try and sit through it. I did my part.

UPDATE: I originally forgot to include my Word of Mouth scale rating. I designed it to reflect how likely I am to recommend a movie to my family and friends. I will definitely tell any of them I think likely to be curious about this movie – advising them strongly to stay away. Unfortunately, I didn’t design it to allow negative numbers, so zero out of five will have to do….

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 13%; Audience 38%

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