cmlind Reviews

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Huh?

[2/10 · 5 September 2000]

I watched this movie, and I agreed with many of the reviews people posted. It was lever, unique, new, and at least a little funny. It did have its moments, but I'm sorry to say that all these things do not always make for good watching. I mean, just cause it is original doesn't make it good. I laughed some, but I just found the whole mess really weird, and had trouble liking any of the characters. It was alright, but I wouldn't watch it again. 3 out of 10.

Living in Captivity (1998– )

Too Bad It Was Canceled

[28 August 2000]

I must say, its been a while since i've seen this show. It was canceled after only a few episodes. However, I had never laughed so hard at a sitcom before in my life. While it was filled with a lot of cheap one line jokes, they were about the funniest I'd ever heard. Some of the premises of the shows were truly funny to. On one, a wife in the neighborhood its set in starts taking anti depressants, and she starts feeling so good that everyone else starts, and pretty soon all the women are so high and happy that their husbands have to find some way to stop the madness. Anyway, its a shame that this laugh out loud show was canceled.

The Perfect Storm (2000)

Just too Much

[3/10 · 15 August 2000]

I was reasonably interested in seeing what I guess is the action movie of the summer, and came in with high expectations. I'm a lover of action movies, but this one had so much, that I just got bored. For about a halfhour of this movie there is a continuous action sequence that goes something like this. Ship goes up big wave, ship goes down big wave, ships hits next waves breaks lines, men try and fix lines, man gets knocked off, man gets picked up, go up and down more big waves, people get wet, and then the ending. I paid attention for a little while, but soon all the stuff going on the ship just looked the same to me. The other thing about this movie is the lack of character development, they spend so little time showing you what each character is about, that you could care less what happens to them in the middle of the ocean. 3 out of 10 stars.

Amityville Dollhouse (1996 Video)

Funnier than Most Comedies

[15 August 2000]

This is the eighth of the amityville horror films. Some of the others were pretty bad, and some were almost bearable, but this one is so bad it can make you laugh. The acting is horrible, the plot like something written by a mental patient, and the special effects are like something off of the mighty morphin power rangers. Of course as in most crappy horror movies, they had to show some girl topless, and at least one sex scene. Both of which were extremely unnecessary. This movie is fun to have a running dilaugue on in a group, like on MST3000. This movie was bad enough and then at the end they decided to rent some of the bad guys from mighty morphin power rangers or something. And what was with the flies?!

Ben-Hur (1959)

Just Cause Its an Epic Doesn't Make It Good

[15 August 2000]

I decided one night that I had four hours of time, and so rented what was supposed to be the greatest epic ever. I hoped that it would be a very fine and entertaining film. At the beginning the character development was good, and from then on I felt like I was being tortured. How can people like this film!? Throughout most of the movie each scene is long drawn out and boring with dialogue that I would be able to understand if it weren't for the fact that its so long and dull that I stopped listening after awhile. One thing that annoyed me was some points where they just skipped steps to aid to the story. The one thing that really got me was when they decided that Charlton Hestons character had become a great chariot driver and horse trainer. One minute we haven't seen him near a horse and then the general is bragging about him racing. Where did that come from. After the chariot race, which was pretty good seeing the two childhood friends dueling it out, I figured the end of the movie was upon us. Nooooooo, they decided that now it was a good time to show the crusifiction of christ, who had only been in the movie one time before. Its ok to show this and they did a very good job, but what did this have to do with the rest of the story with betrayal, battles, revenge, and forgiveness? Nothing.

Magnolia (1999)

Not Sure Just Why I Loved It

[10/10 · 13 August 2000]

I rented this movie not knowing that much about or hearing many reviews about it. I'd never talked to anyone who'd seen it, and all I new was that it was about people with connected lives, and that it was supposed to be great. I put it in and began watching, and soon after the mood tone and style of dialague began, I simply dismissed it as an artsy fartsy piece of crap. I watched it to the end though, and afterwards simply felt it a waste of time. I waited a day, and began thinking that it couldn't have been as bad as I thought. I figured it must have something more to it than what I got(which was nothing). So I decide to watch it agian even though I felt I might be wasting my three and a half hours all over again, I began watching, and I decided to pay close atention to evereything and everyone and every word they said.As I watched, I realized just what I had done wrong the first time I watched. To understand this movie, you must first pay strict atention to figure out what is going on, and try and understand why characters are saying and reacting just the way they are. Every line a character speaks, you must understand what they're going through, or what has happened to them in the past that would make them the way they are. Many reasons people might quite understand this movie are things like William H Macy's character the former whiz kid who wants braces like a bartender he sees, and goes on and on about love(what love is, what it feels like, and how he has it to give). People may see him saying in the movie that he has love to give and say to themselves " What the heck does that mean." Now I won't say just what it means, cause someone who hated this film may read this, but if you don't understand, watch this movie again. Try and understand what things mean, what emotions the actors are tyring to convey. Just what each character has had happen to them, and if you begin to do that, you will love this film. Actually thats what I had the most fun doing during this movie was puting it together in my mind piece by piece. After doing this, I began to notice other things about the film. Just how wonderful each actors performance is in this film. While Tom Cruise was nominated for best supporting actor, I really felt many of the other actors equaled his performence. Not to say that his was bad, its just that everyones job was so wonderfully performed that simply the emotions of everyone were so real almost to the point of bringing tears to my eyes. I also noticed how wonderful the soundtrack was. Aimee Mann did a fabulous job at creating a haunting and beautiful mood to the movie that was emphasized at the key parts and incorporated into the film.*Spoiler*(I think)For those of you who have seen the movie, a quick word about the frogs. After watching it the first time and already looking down on the movie, the frogs added to the confusion. But after the second time, I understood that the frogs were no there for any particular purpose because they were frogs, but to show how such a random and mysterious happening can bring some together, and make others get a hold of their situations, and understand just what there problems are.