Reviews
The Thin Red Line (1998)
crushed under its own melodramatic weight
An incredibly promising first 40 minutes of the film is ruined
as film collapses under its own weight. Too many secondary
characters..too many cameos by too many stars..and too many war
cliches. If I see another scene where guy gets killed in
battle, sound is drained out, and melodramatic classical music
is piped in, I think I'll vomit. Strong performances by Penn,
Brody, Koteas, and especially Nolte. Wish they had developed
the Penn Brody relationship a bit further as the most interesting thing about film, is the fact that it remains
unclear where one character begins and another one ends.
Travolta becomes Nolte who becomes Penn who becomes Harrelson in
gradual permutations. All men are good and evil and nature
reigns supreme. A little bit annoying how they have to hammer
this concept over and over through the voiceover. Beautiful
Ci
La vita è bella (1997)
the maddeningly large ego of Roberto Benigni...
At first, I was highly skeptical of the slapstick silliness
which takes place during the first half of the film...flowerpots
dropped on heads, egg in the face, hat switching shinanigans,
etc. but the film does grow on you even in spite of the cliche
concentration camp depictions, and the maddening humungously
enormous ego of Benigni. A feel good movie with enough clever
moments and imaginative wonder to make this holocaust fairy tale
ring true. With a few more multi-dimensional characters and a
little more imaginative and less stereotyped ideas, this could
have been a really fantastic film. In spite of everything, film
made with a lot
You've Got Mail (1998)
E-mail actually works as a cinematic device.
Not a bad film. Ephron's Dialogue is snappy and e-mail as a
cinematic device enables an extra layer of zingy dialogue to
improve what would otherwise be an ordinary sappy romance.
Strong acting although Hanks looks a little overweight and it
could definitely use a little tightening at the end but a strong
film nonethless. Great opening credits as metaphor for the
electronic relationship becoming a personal one. Hanks' family
overplayed..didn't quite work...and flick provides kind of a
hypocritical take on the encroachment of capitalism. Worth
Return with Honor (1998)
Absolutely riveting documentary about Vietnam POWs
An incredible doc interweaving interviews with P.O.W.s with amazing footage from the Vietnam war. Interviews include Arizona Senator John McCain & Ross Perot's Veep James Stackpole.
Really charasmatic storytellers and first rate production really make this movie an entirely riveting experience. How the hell did they get this footage? Very American (and patriatic film).
Would have liked to heard some of the Vietnamese's perspective but after all...it is the P.O.W.'s story. Very very engaging docu