Topic: Riches Random Reviews

[richierich]

JUNO



Meet Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) - a confidently frank teenage girl who calls the shots with a nonchalant cool and an effortless attitude as she journeys through an emotional nine-month adventure into adulthood. Quick witted and distinctively unique, Juno walks Dancing Elk High''s halls to her own tune - preferably anything by The Stooges - but underneath her tough no nonsense exterior is just a teenage girl trying to figure it all out. While most girls at Dancing Elk are updating their MySpace page or shopping at the mall, Juno is a whip-smart Minnesota teen living by her own rules. A typically boring afternoon becomes anything but when Juno decides to have sex with the charmingly unassuming Bleeker (Michael Cera). Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, she and best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) hatch a plan to find Juno''s unborn baby the perfect set of parents courtesy of the local Penny Saver. They set their sights on Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), an affluent suburban couple who are longing to adopt their first child. Luckily, Juno has the support of her dad and stepmother (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney). After the initial shock that their daughter has been sexually active with the unlikely "virile" Bleeker, the family bands together to help Juno. Dad Mac accompanies Juno to size up the prospective adoptive parents to make sure they are not a couple of "wing nuts" while stepmother Bren provides emotional support as Juno fights the prejudices of underage pregnancy. While fall becomes winter and winter turns to spring, Juno moves closer and closer to her due date. Juno''s physical changes mirror her personal growth while the veneer of Mark and Vanessa''s idyllic life starts to show signs of cracking. With a fearless intellect far removed from the usual teen angst, Juno conquers her problems head-on, displaying a youthful exuberance both smart and unexpected.

Quirky flick showing it's Indie roots, at times a little too strongly for my personal taste with sharp dialogue and hip unknown music. But it's offbeat humour and absolutely brilliant acting win-out to produce a memorable film portraying a teenage pregnancy and potentially difficult surrogate mother subject with a lighter look. Ellen Page is great, special mention for JK Simmons who impresses. Not quite a chick-flick, but close! 

[richierich]

Good Night, and Good Luck



George Clooney's Oscar-nominated docudrama pits TV newsman Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) against Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his single-minded crusade to quell the red threat at home. Despite corporate pressure to back off, Murrow and his CBS staff are determined to examine the lies and fear tactics perpetrated by McCarthy during his Communist witch-hunts. The impressive cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson and Jeff Daniels.

I came to this film totally blind regarding Ed Murrow, and generally uninformed about the whole McCarthy witchhunt period of US history. I come away from the film knowing more, but wondering if there are better and more dramatic stories out there from this period that could be told?
A good looking film, you get an excellent period feel with the B&W portrayal, convincing wardrobes and props etc. The direction was good, and the film was easy to watch with time flying by.
Perhaps of much greater interest to a viewer who lived through these times, it is still a good purchase and I am pleased to have watched it.
 

[Najemikon]

Fascinating period of time and the effect it had on films and filmmakers was incredible. I caught the end of a documentary on TV the other night about RKO and about how their people handled it. It incorporated the "Hollywood 10" who were jailed.

I'm sure I remember from elsewhere that Spartacus was one of the first films to finally break the blacklist as Douglas insisted on only using those whose careers had stalled because they were suspected members of the communist party.

[richierich]

Where the truth lies



Acclaimed director Atom Egoyan adapts Rupert Holmes's novel about a celebrity journalist who attempts to reveal some old Hollywood skeletons.

Average fare and probably a film that will be remade in 20 years time. The storyline is OK but for some reason the characters aren't convincing and the 'mystery' is fairly transparent, or so I thought, from early in the movie. Lack of depth or atmosphere and the 2 leads just don't quite work, although it is interesting to see Firth playing a more nasty role.
As a bargain bin purchase this is ok, but don't bust your nuts to get it.
 

[Dragonfire]

Where the truth lies



Acclaimed director Atom Egoyan adapts Rupert Holmes's novel about a celebrity journalist who attempts to reveal some old Hollywood skeletons.

Average fare and probably a film that will be remade in 20 years time. The storyline is OK but for some reason the characters aren't convincing and the 'mystery' is fairly transparent, or so I thought, from early in the movie. Lack of depth or atmosphere and the 2 leads just don't quite work, although it is interesting to see Firth playing a more nasty role.
As a bargain bin purchase this is ok, but don't bust your nuts to get it.
 

I saw this..rented it a few years ago.  It had a different cover them.  Anyway, I didn't care for it at all.  It just wasn't interesting for me and I didn't care how everything worked out.

[richierich]

Benchwarmers



For anyone who's ever been picked on, put down or pushed around, your heroes are here! Rob Schneider, david Spade and Jon Heder star as three older guys who know what it's like to be bullied. After catching some nasty neighbourhood kids picking on a friend's son they strike back by forming a three-man baseball team to challenge the state's best Little Leaguers. Now, cheered on by every nerd, geek and misfit inn town, these underdogs are about to have a field day in this slapstick hit comedy.

Film choice dictated by the company I was in, as normally I wouldn't have viewed this. However I must admit there were quite a good few laughs to be had, farting beef stew into anothers face and projectile vomit jokes are always better when viewing with a crowd and some alcohol intake 
it won't test your brain cells or be a pleasure from a cinematography or storyline basis, but just for a few adolescent guffaws it is good value 

[richierich]

Zoolander



Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) isn't smart, but he looks "really, really good." An empty-headed yet kindhearted male model, the self-absorbed Derek becomes an unwitting pawn in a international assassination plot masterminded by oddball fashion dictator Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell). Meanwhile, the clueless cover guy must also contend with a new rival, a blonde hipster named Hansel (Owen Wilson). Only adding to his troubles is Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor), an inquisitive and sensitive journalist.
Stiller's charming and silly comedy liberally skewers the fashion industry while showcasing the actor-director-screenwriter's quirky humour. He casts his real-life family in the film: wife Christine Taylor, sister Amy Stiller, father Jerry Stiller, and mother Anne Meara. As a director, Stiller invokes entertaining performances from Wilson and Ferrell. He also adds cameos by a multitude of celebrities including David Bowie, Natalie Portman, and Lenny Kravitz.

This is the 2nd time I've tried to enjoy this movie, but I'm afraid it does nothing for me and find it dull. It is childish and stupid, perhaps the only thing that got me through it was star spotting the celebrities. Ben Stiller is totally overated and is fortunate to be acting at a period when there is few genuinely funny competition. The best part of the film was a good soundtrack, which bumps up my marks.
This has received great reviews, perhaps I didn't get it, but I will never understand the attention this movie has had.
 

[richierich]

The day the earth stopped



C. Thomas Howell and Judd Nelson star in this sci-fi thriller that finds the citizens of planet Earth forced to prove their worth or else suffer complete and total annihilation. As hundreds of enormous intergalactic robots appear in major cities throughout the world, the future of our civilization hinges on our ability to convince the invaders that our sole purpose in life isn't to spread suffering and misery while laying waste to the planet that has nurtured our species. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This was bought for me at xmas, mistakenly by some kind relative thinking it was the Keanu Reeves film.
It is cringeworthingly awful, dreadful in every sense of the word and can only have been made and released to dupe people into viewing it on the back of the aforementioned epic. It doesn't even have the crass appeal of a B movie, the effects are ridiculous, storyline paltry and acting shocking. Will they ever learn that flashing womens boobs and butts will not save a film this awful, it should have been scrapped before the first line was ever recorded.
The only 'highlight' in such a meagre effort is the appearance of Sinead McCafferty, now she really is hot despite not being able to act for toffee!
 

[richierich]

The Confessor



Everyone Has A Secret To Confess.

Christian Slater (True Romance, Interview With A Vampire) stars in this tense psychological thriller about a priest caught in the middle of a dangerous murder case. While making his name as a loyal public relations representative for the Catholic Church, Daniel Clemens (Slater) has lost his true calling. But when a fellow priest is accused of a brutal slaying, Clemens defies church orders and continues investigating the case to prove the priest's innocence. With the aid of local reporter (Molly Parker, Nine Lives, TV's Deadwood) and a church lawyer (Stephen Rea, The Crying Game, The End Of The Affair), Daniel soon discovers the deadly truth which will test his faith to the limit.

With a made for TV feel about this movie, it really does not grab the attention, is short on suspense or mystery, and is the type of fare I would only recommend for a wet Sunday afternoon if you were really bored.
Poor old Slater really has filled his career with some average films, I always thought he warranted better roles.
 

[Najemikon]

This is the 2nd time I've tried to enjoy this movie, but I'm afraid it does nothing for me and find it dull. It is childish and stupid, perhaps the only thing that got me through it was star spotting the celebrities. Ben Stiller is totally overated and is fortunate to be acting at a period when there is few genuinely funny competition. The best part of the film was a good soundtrack, which bumps up my marks.
This has received great reviews, perhaps I didn't get it, but I will never understand the attention this movie has had.

I've seen it a couple of times and while I'm not particularly offended by it, I can't understand it's huge appeal either. I've even seen some reviews and comments seriously suggesting it as one of the best comedies of recent years.

Rubbish. I find its silliness persuasive though and David Duchovny really lifts it for me, obviously taking the piss out of his X-Files persona and does it very well. I think you're being too harsh on Stiller though! A bit hit and miss, maybe, but I enjoy a lot of his stuff. The overrated one you're looking for is Adam Sandler...  

[Tom]

The overrated one you're looking for is Adam Sandler...  

Just when I was about to post a review of an Adam Sandler movie . He may not be a great actor, but I enjoy some of his movies.

[DJ Doena]

I like Adam Sandler. Especially because he makes two kind of comedies: the easy and funny ones like Big Daddy or Chuck & Larry and the more - I don't know if melancholic is the right word - melancholic ones like Spanglish or Click.

[richierich]

The Darjeeling Limited



Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other -- to become brothers again like they used to be. Their "spiritual quest", however, veers rapidly off-course (due to events involving over-the-counter pain killers, Indian cough syrup, and pepper spray), and they eventually find themselves stranded alone in the middle of the desert with eleven suitcases, a printer, and a laminating machine. At this moment, a new, unplanned journey suddenly begins.

What started as an original, quirky and interesting movie with plenty of promise sadly tailed off into a twee, dull and self-absorbed trial. It drags on slower than the train from the title, and you find your hand twitching over the fast forward button.
Visually it is a treat, very colourful, rich characters, the music excellent, original and fairly earnest. However this cannot compensate for the lack of any punch in a script that does not spark, I can imagine this is a great book, and should probably have stayed as just that.
Sadly, I am sure there will be pretentious fans of this film who will claim I didn't get it, but when I pop a dvd in I want to be entertained, moved or challenged. This film did not take any of these boxes for me.
 

[richierich]

Get Shorty



This slick adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1990 novel features John Travolta as Chili Palmer, a Miami loan shark who's been sent to L.A. to collect on a bad debt from trash movie producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), the maker of the stunning flops "Grotesque" and "Slime People." But this is Harry's lucky day, because Chili is also a film buff, and when he's done talking tough he starts pitching Harry a script idea. As everyone knows, the best background for the motion picture industry is the criminal underworld, and Chili is smoothly launched into the life of a producer: romancing a B-movie scream queen, schmoozing superstars, getting reservations in the hottest restaurants in town. However, Chili's not the only mobster wanting to turn producer. It seems that a thug named Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo), another of Harry's lenders, also wants a piece of the action. Add in a group of angry drug smugglers and there is an abundance of double- and triple-crosses, as well as plenty of wisecracks and Hollywood insider jokes. GET SHORTY crosses the line of life imitating art--and vice versa--many times, including the real Ernest "Chili" Palmer (on whom the character is based) playing a Mafia henchman. Barry Sonnenfeld's entertaining romp is a wild look at the celebrity life in Hollywood, featuring numerous cameos of stars playing themselves.

A great Hollywood satire, a character just made for Travolta, and plenty of laughs along the way.
Nice jigsaw plotline and great ending with Keitel cameo, all in all a good movie.
 

[Najemikon]

What started as an original, quirky and interesting movie with plenty of promise sadly tailed off into a twee, dull and self-absorbed trial. It drags on slower than the train from the title, and you find your hand twitching over the fast forward button.
Visually it is a treat, very colourful, rich characters, the music excellent, original and fairly earnest. However this cannot compensate for the lack of any punch in a script that does not spark, I can imagine this is a great book, and should probably have stayed as just that.
Sadly, I am sure there will be pretentious fans of this film who will claim I didn't get it, but when I pop a dvd in I want to be entertained, moved or challenged. This film did not take any of these boxes for me.
 

I loved it! "you" may find your hand twitching over the FF button, Mister, but I did not. You obviously didn't get it. 

Have you seen Anderson's other films? It isn't a case of not getting them, because they are Marmite films. I absolutely adore The Royal Tenenbaums, but struggled with The Life Aquatic and I can't see why his debut, Bottle Rocket, was so loved. Rushmore is brilliant though. Actually, if you ever have the chance, watch Rushmore. I would never in a million years recommend the others after you disliked Darjeeling so much, but Rushmore is different. A more focused story with plenty more characters make it busier with less time for his surreal moments; they're still there but he tends to cheat by making them plays staged by the main character.