Posted by Bryan on February 26, 1999 at 02:00:16:
Week of: Monday, 22 February 1999 posted by Bryan on February 25, 1999 at 17:58:44:
Ok. I've seen a few movies lately and some of them are even before they've been released. And some of them have been out for a long time but have only recently come into the public eye (i.e. been nominated for academy awards).
Shakespeare In Love:
This film was great. It's a fictional story about William Shakespeare meeting an out of reach woman who later becomes the inspiration for Juliet.
The story is very engaging and the acting is convincing. Also, if you have even the slightest interest in theatre (and the history of theatre), this movie is great, because it gives you a good idea of how things were back in the day. I especially liked the scene where all the actors went over to a tavern after a rehearsal and drank beer and just relaxed and were rowdy. I liked it because that exact thing is still going on today in bars all across america that are situated near theatres.
I also thought the EDITING was really great, and you'll see what I mean, especially if you have some knowledge of Shakespeare... even if all it is was you read Romeo and Juliet in high school, that would be enough.
It's entertaining, and it is one of those films that dances on that thin line of the "chick flick" without any chick flick cheeziness. Unless you are a total cultural numbnuts and never read Shakespeare before.
I'd give this film 4 stars out of 5.
Life Is Beautiful (La Vita è bella)
This film comes from Italy. It's in italian with english subtitles. It's set in WWII. It's about a funny guy who tries to shield his son from the grossness of anti-semitism. Yes, it is a holocaust movie. But it's much more than that. It's a comedy that deals with dark issues, but stays away from being a "dark comedy". It really touches you straight through the heart, but you don't really realize that it has until the end.
Through the beginning, it's just a totally light, happy movie about a man who falls in love. And it's about how that love endures through the toughest time and how love, and laughter conquer all.
It's really hard to describe this film since I've never seen anything like it. But I give it five stars.
200 Cigarettes
This movie is going to be released this friday. It was very entertaining, though it isn't a particularly "great" film. There's no real central plot, rather it follows about 4 or 5 groups of people who are all headed to the same new years eve party, and what they are doing through the night leading up to the party. They are all totally neurotic and well, i guess most of the movie is about them dealing with their lives.
This movie has got a bunch of people in it, Ben and Casey Affleck, Janeane Garofalo, Courtney Love, Christina Ricci, and a million others.
My favorite character in this movie was the taxi driver, played by Dave Chappelle. He's the pimp daddy, and more or less, the narrator of this film.
The whole "80's movie" thing seemed almost like an afterthought. As if they had made most of the movie already and then someone decided "hey, wouldn't it be cool to make it an 80's movie?" It just seemed like they threw in a bunch of 80's songs in the background and a couple of lines here and there but otherwise, it didn't really matter when this story was set.
Overall this movie was entertaining, but that's all it was good for. You're not going to learn any new lessons for life or anything. But the characters are fun, and the story is fun, so this movie ends up being fun, and I give it 3 stars. It's worth the money and your time.
Analyze This
This film is going to be released on March 5. It features Robert DeNiro as a big mob boss, and Billy Crystal as his shrink. Before I saw this film I thought it was going to end up being like "The Sopranos", that show on HBO, but it totally wasn't.
This film was totally hillarious, especially for anyone who has ever liked mob movies before, although this isn't really your regular mob movie. The interraction between Billy Crystal and Robert DeNiro is great, and it also great to see Robert DeNiro finally play a mob guy that has some vulnerability in him.
Plus there is the BEST dream sequence ever in this movie for anyone who is a true fan of the movie "The Godfather".
I enthusiastically give this film five stars for taking a story idea that could have been really cheezy and making it into something worthwhile.