This movie didn't quite flow. I love Jolie, but in this one something just doesn't quite work...perhaps it is the distraction I could not ignore caused by her horrid hair. The message of the movie is good though, and that was it's saving grace. I did identify with her realization that her fiance was an insensitive, airheaded flake.
Reviews
8 Reviews
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
(2001)
I was entertained.
10 June 2003
"Tomb Raider" is a harmless diversion that should please its core audience. I loved the performance of Angelina Jolie, who brings the computer game heroine Lara Croft to life. I watched an interview with Jolie in which she said that she really "became Lara Croft".
With her mock British accent, Jolie is a lot of fun as the adventurer-archaeologist who is equal parts Bruce Wayne and Indiana Jones, but with a much better body.
Taking its cue from the video game, the film's screenplay is more of a puzzle than a plot. The script is a patchwork of ideas that plays like a Greatest Hits collection of other films. It deals with end of the world stuff, but it never feels apocalyptic. It's controlled chaos, utterly lacking in surprise. The script jumps from one expected moment to the next, never apologizing for its lack of originality.
At least Jolie understands the limitations of the script. There's enough conviction in her performance to make you want to believe in Lara Croft, the spunky heiress is who is equally at home in her spacious mansion or within the catacombs of a lost tomb. She's guided by the spirit (both literally and figuratively) of her late adventurer father, Lord Croft (Jon Voight), and assisted by an archaeologist Alex West (Daniel Craig) and cyber-geek creator Bryce (Noah Taylor).
The film opens like "Raiders of the Lost Ark," with Lara Croft deep inside one of those musty, dusty tombs. Instead of outrunning a giant boulder, Croft squares off against a mechanical monster, a robotic menace that seems to come out of nowhere. It doesn't. We learn that it's a creation of Bryce, used to keep Croft on her toes.
Angelina Jolie made the perfect Lara Croft; her facial expressions and sly smirks added a personality to the flick that I can only imagine the video game is missing. She seemed smart, brave, and composed as well as full of emotion. Okay, maybe the parts with her father (real-life papa Jon Voight) were a little over the top, but since the whole movie is just eye-candy anyway they seemed to fit.
The fight scenes among ruins got me. How can you not love Lara Croft jumping onto a swinging obelisk to smash a glass eye that holds the key to time, or sledding thru an ice cave being pulled by dogs? Or the scene where the villains jump through her castle windows as she rappels around the walls, smashing chandeliers and pistol-whipping bad guys? What's a girl to do but hop on her motorbike, take a guy out sideways, and race off at 100 miles an hour? Excellent.
With her mock British accent, Jolie is a lot of fun as the adventurer-archaeologist who is equal parts Bruce Wayne and Indiana Jones, but with a much better body.
Taking its cue from the video game, the film's screenplay is more of a puzzle than a plot. The script is a patchwork of ideas that plays like a Greatest Hits collection of other films. It deals with end of the world stuff, but it never feels apocalyptic. It's controlled chaos, utterly lacking in surprise. The script jumps from one expected moment to the next, never apologizing for its lack of originality.
At least Jolie understands the limitations of the script. There's enough conviction in her performance to make you want to believe in Lara Croft, the spunky heiress is who is equally at home in her spacious mansion or within the catacombs of a lost tomb. She's guided by the spirit (both literally and figuratively) of her late adventurer father, Lord Croft (Jon Voight), and assisted by an archaeologist Alex West (Daniel Craig) and cyber-geek creator Bryce (Noah Taylor).
The film opens like "Raiders of the Lost Ark," with Lara Croft deep inside one of those musty, dusty tombs. Instead of outrunning a giant boulder, Croft squares off against a mechanical monster, a robotic menace that seems to come out of nowhere. It doesn't. We learn that it's a creation of Bryce, used to keep Croft on her toes.
Angelina Jolie made the perfect Lara Croft; her facial expressions and sly smirks added a personality to the flick that I can only imagine the video game is missing. She seemed smart, brave, and composed as well as full of emotion. Okay, maybe the parts with her father (real-life papa Jon Voight) were a little over the top, but since the whole movie is just eye-candy anyway they seemed to fit.
The fight scenes among ruins got me. How can you not love Lara Croft jumping onto a swinging obelisk to smash a glass eye that holds the key to time, or sledding thru an ice cave being pulled by dogs? Or the scene where the villains jump through her castle windows as she rappels around the walls, smashing chandeliers and pistol-whipping bad guys? What's a girl to do but hop on her motorbike, take a guy out sideways, and race off at 100 miles an hour? Excellent.
Career Opportunities
(1991)
silly...but very cute.
16 April 2003
Ok, yes it was silly...but very cute. Who wouldn't watch Jennifer Connelly?! And Dermot Mulrooney as the robber was HYSTERICAL. The scene on the skates with the veil, and the scene where Jennifer Connelly is riding on the kids horsey ride and Dermot tries to get on the back. Those will stick in my head forever!
Coyote Ugly
(2000)
The worst!
15 April 2003
Coyote Ugly was made for boys between the ages of 13 and 16. One of the worst movies of the year. Not impressed with this one by producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Gone in 60 Seconds," "Armageddon," "Con Air," etc)
Piper Perabo ("The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle") -- a wide-eyed beauty from central casting -- is the movie's generic ingenue, a girl named Violet from small town New Jersey who moves to New York to pursue her dreams of being a songwriter. Of course, even though she grew up just down the turnpike from Manhattan, she's as naive as a farmer's daughter and learns the hard way that peddling your demo tape to snide receptionists at record label offices isn't going to get you anywhere in the Big City.
So instead of becoming an instant music biz success, Violet finds herself working at the meat packing district's wildest road house, Coyote Ugly.
Staffed by 102-lb. sexpots who habitually shake their stuff atop the bar in size two leather pants and tank tops, the joint is packed wall-to-wall every night with hooting, drooling patrons that the girls tease like pole-dancers to coax drinks into them and money out of them.
Written in Screenwriting 101 style, packed with every New York City cliché in the book (her dank, dingy flat is broken into her first week in town), and overflowing with young girls in wonderbras while dancing, the first half of "Coyote Ugly" plays like it was penned by a 13-year-old boy who just discovered masturbation. For the second half, the script must have been handed off to a 13-year-old girl who thinks Britney Spears is the greatest musical talent the world has ever known, because the rest of the movie is launched by a "Face it dad, I'm not your little girl anymore" speech and built around Violet overcoming stage fright and chasing her dream of selling bubble-gum pop songs - aided, of course, by the charming encouragement of a handsome boy (Australian actor Adam Garcia) who just knows she can do it!
And yes, Violet sings. A lot. It's an endless source of unintentional comedy because when she's slinking across the bar at Coyote Ugly, singing along to the jukebox (each Coyote girl has a gimmick, that's hers), Perabo warbles in her own, weak and gritty voice. But when belting out one of the acoustic Lilith Faire-lite ditties she hopes to sell some day, suddenly she's a honey-voiced songbird, courtesy of audio looping by jailbait country music star LeAnn Rimes (who has a cameo in the finale).
Another hearty laugh stems from the fact that "Coyote Ugly" takes place in a picturesquely gritty, fantasy version of NYC in which a 21-year-old cutie pie bartender can walk down an alley at 4 a.m. in a 15-inch skirt and knee-highs, counting her tips without a care in the world.
On the respectability front, the picture's one saving grace is John Goodman, who is blue collar perfection as Violet's modest, toll-collector pop.
But even though "Coyote Ugly" is tedious, obvious and badly staged, it does have an infectious spirit. That's hardly enough to save this one aimed at the can't-wait-to-be-21 crowd.
Piper Perabo ("The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle") -- a wide-eyed beauty from central casting -- is the movie's generic ingenue, a girl named Violet from small town New Jersey who moves to New York to pursue her dreams of being a songwriter. Of course, even though she grew up just down the turnpike from Manhattan, she's as naive as a farmer's daughter and learns the hard way that peddling your demo tape to snide receptionists at record label offices isn't going to get you anywhere in the Big City.
So instead of becoming an instant music biz success, Violet finds herself working at the meat packing district's wildest road house, Coyote Ugly.
Staffed by 102-lb. sexpots who habitually shake their stuff atop the bar in size two leather pants and tank tops, the joint is packed wall-to-wall every night with hooting, drooling patrons that the girls tease like pole-dancers to coax drinks into them and money out of them.
Written in Screenwriting 101 style, packed with every New York City cliché in the book (her dank, dingy flat is broken into her first week in town), and overflowing with young girls in wonderbras while dancing, the first half of "Coyote Ugly" plays like it was penned by a 13-year-old boy who just discovered masturbation. For the second half, the script must have been handed off to a 13-year-old girl who thinks Britney Spears is the greatest musical talent the world has ever known, because the rest of the movie is launched by a "Face it dad, I'm not your little girl anymore" speech and built around Violet overcoming stage fright and chasing her dream of selling bubble-gum pop songs - aided, of course, by the charming encouragement of a handsome boy (Australian actor Adam Garcia) who just knows she can do it!
And yes, Violet sings. A lot. It's an endless source of unintentional comedy because when she's slinking across the bar at Coyote Ugly, singing along to the jukebox (each Coyote girl has a gimmick, that's hers), Perabo warbles in her own, weak and gritty voice. But when belting out one of the acoustic Lilith Faire-lite ditties she hopes to sell some day, suddenly she's a honey-voiced songbird, courtesy of audio looping by jailbait country music star LeAnn Rimes (who has a cameo in the finale).
Another hearty laugh stems from the fact that "Coyote Ugly" takes place in a picturesquely gritty, fantasy version of NYC in which a 21-year-old cutie pie bartender can walk down an alley at 4 a.m. in a 15-inch skirt and knee-highs, counting her tips without a care in the world.
On the respectability front, the picture's one saving grace is John Goodman, who is blue collar perfection as Violet's modest, toll-collector pop.
But even though "Coyote Ugly" is tedious, obvious and badly staged, it does have an infectious spirit. That's hardly enough to save this one aimed at the can't-wait-to-be-21 crowd.
A Civil Action
(1998)
Not as good as the book, but not bad.
15 April 2003
A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr, tells the complex story of a civil case in Woburn, Massachusetts. The events of the Woburn case touch on many problems in the tort law system. The author really brings the reader into the story....you feel that you are there experiencing everything. And my personal favorite aspect is that it is a true story!
I read the book long before the movie came out, but I have seen the movie as well. The book was much more intriguing and sentimental than the movie. The lawyers and families put their lives on hold and sacrifice everything to fight for this case in hopes of proving that two companies caused the pollution in question.
The case in Woburn, Massachusetts began with one woman's suspicions. Anne Anderson discovered her son, Jimmy, had leukemia in the summer of 1966. During the time Jimmy was being treated for leukemia, Anne began to talk to people in her neighborhood. She soon heard of two other cases of childhood leukemia only a street away from her. Anne began talking with one of the mothers, Joan Zona, because her son had leukemia as well and the two women became friends. They discussed the incidences of leukemia in their neighborhood and both agreed that it was a strange coincidence, but Anne became obsessed with the idea. She discovered several other cases of leukemia and began to analyze why this was happening. Anne started worrying about the water in Woburn, which had not tasted good since two wells, called G and H, were drilled and began pumping water into eastern Woburn in 1965. Complaints began pouring in to the city of Woburn regarding the quality of the water and the rusting of pipes, thus causing wells G and H to be shut down several times. However, the wells were not shut down for good until much later. Anne expressed her worries to her family doctor, her church minister, and her husband. Anne's husband and doctor listened to her suspicions, but did not believe they had any validity.
The situation began to heat up in 1979, when an inspector tested the water and reported the results to the environmental department in Woburn. Can of worms!
Schlichtmann was a young, enthusiastic lawyer who had only recently begun practicing. Jan was determined, stubborn, and self-destructive. He enjoyed living lavishly, and he loved the law. When he was given the Woburn case, he did not begin working on it right away because his partner, Conway, among others were trying to convince him not to take the case. The Woburn case was referred to as "a black hole" because it appeared to be a very complicated case to win, but Jan decided to pursue it anyway. He met the families, and then began to investigate W. R. Grace's land and Beatrice's land for contaminants.
Trichloroethylene, or TCE, was found on the land, and the case set into motion. Harr's A Civil Action tells the story of one particular case, and by doing so he shows the reader every step behind the process of a civil trial; from deposition to trial. Harr describes the judicial proceedings of the Woburn trial in exquisite detail while making the legal terms and actions clear to the average reader. Although A Civil Action is a true story, it also serves as a legal learning tool for many. Harr enlightens the reader by showing that a case is not always as it appears to the public eye.
I read the book long before the movie came out, but I have seen the movie as well. The book was much more intriguing and sentimental than the movie. The lawyers and families put their lives on hold and sacrifice everything to fight for this case in hopes of proving that two companies caused the pollution in question.
The case in Woburn, Massachusetts began with one woman's suspicions. Anne Anderson discovered her son, Jimmy, had leukemia in the summer of 1966. During the time Jimmy was being treated for leukemia, Anne began to talk to people in her neighborhood. She soon heard of two other cases of childhood leukemia only a street away from her. Anne began talking with one of the mothers, Joan Zona, because her son had leukemia as well and the two women became friends. They discussed the incidences of leukemia in their neighborhood and both agreed that it was a strange coincidence, but Anne became obsessed with the idea. She discovered several other cases of leukemia and began to analyze why this was happening. Anne started worrying about the water in Woburn, which had not tasted good since two wells, called G and H, were drilled and began pumping water into eastern Woburn in 1965. Complaints began pouring in to the city of Woburn regarding the quality of the water and the rusting of pipes, thus causing wells G and H to be shut down several times. However, the wells were not shut down for good until much later. Anne expressed her worries to her family doctor, her church minister, and her husband. Anne's husband and doctor listened to her suspicions, but did not believe they had any validity.
The situation began to heat up in 1979, when an inspector tested the water and reported the results to the environmental department in Woburn. Can of worms!
Schlichtmann was a young, enthusiastic lawyer who had only recently begun practicing. Jan was determined, stubborn, and self-destructive. He enjoyed living lavishly, and he loved the law. When he was given the Woburn case, he did not begin working on it right away because his partner, Conway, among others were trying to convince him not to take the case. The Woburn case was referred to as "a black hole" because it appeared to be a very complicated case to win, but Jan decided to pursue it anyway. He met the families, and then began to investigate W. R. Grace's land and Beatrice's land for contaminants.
Trichloroethylene, or TCE, was found on the land, and the case set into motion. Harr's A Civil Action tells the story of one particular case, and by doing so he shows the reader every step behind the process of a civil trial; from deposition to trial. Harr describes the judicial proceedings of the Woburn trial in exquisite detail while making the legal terms and actions clear to the average reader. Although A Civil Action is a true story, it also serves as a legal learning tool for many. Harr enlightens the reader by showing that a case is not always as it appears to the public eye.
Dreamcatcher
(2003)
Holy Crap, this is the worst...
14 April 2003
This is the worst flick I've seen in a long time. The previews looked very good, but WOW, I think I fell asleep once and the rest of the time I was just wondering if it would ever end. I can't put my finger on what was so awful about it, but overall it was just BORING and cliche.
Coyote Ugly
(2000)
Coyote Ugly was made for boys between the ages of 13 and 16. One of the worst movies of the year.
8 October 2002
The Bottom Line Coyote Ugly was made for boys between the ages of 13 and 16. One of the worst movies of the year.
Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
Not impressed with this one by producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Gone in 60 Seconds," "Armageddon," "Con Air," etc)
Piper Perabo ("The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle") -- a wide-eyed beauty from central casting -- is the movie's generic ingenue, a girl named Violet from small town New Jersey who moves to New York to pursue her dreams of being a songwriter. Of course, even though she grew up just down the turnpike from Manhattan, she's as naive as a farmer's daughter and learns the hard way that peddling your demo tape to snide receptionists at record label offices isn't going to get you anywhere in the Big City.
So instead of becoming an instant music biz success, Violet finds herself working at the meat packing district's wildest road house, Coyote Ugly.
Staffed by 102-lb. sexpots who habitually shake their stuff atop the bar in size two leather pants and tank tops, the joint is packed wall-to-wall every night with hooting, drooling patrons that the girls tease like pole-dancers to coax drinks into them and money out of them.
Written in Screenwriting 101 style, packed with every New York City cliché in the book (her dank, dingy flat is broken into her first week in town), and overflowing with young girls in wonderbras while dancing, the first half of "Coyote Ugly" plays like it was penned by a 13-year-old boy who just discovered masturbation. For the second half, the script must have been handed off to a 13-year-old girl who thinks Britney Spears is the greatest musical talent the world has ever known, because the rest of the movie is launched by a "Face it dad, I'm not your little girl anymore" speech and built around Violet overcoming stage fright and chasing her dream of selling bubble-gum pop songs - aided, of course, by the charming encouragement of a handsome boy (Australian actor Adam Garcia) who just knows she can do it!
And yes, Violet sings. A lot. It's an endless source of unintentional comedy because when she's slinking across the bar at Coyote Ugly, singing along to the jukebox (each Coyote girl has a gimmick, that's hers), Perabo warbles in her own, weak and gritty voice. But when belting out one of the acoustic Lilith Faire-lite ditties she hopes to sell some day, suddenly she's a honey-voiced songbird, courtesy of audio looping by jailbait country music star LeAnn Rimes (who has a cameo in the finale).
Another hearty laugh stems from the fact that "Coyote Ugly" takes place in a picturesquely gritty, fantasy version of NYC in which a 21-year-old cutie pie bartender can walk down an alley at 4 a.m. in a 15-inch skirt and knee-highs, counting her tips without a care in the world.
On the respectability front, the picture's one saving grace is John Goodman, who is blue collar perfection as Violet's modest, toll-collector pop.
But even though "Coyote Ugly" is tedious, obvious and badly staged, it does have an infectious spirit. That's hardly enough to save this one aimed at the can't-wait-to-be-21 crowd.
Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
Not impressed with this one by producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Gone in 60 Seconds," "Armageddon," "Con Air," etc)
Piper Perabo ("The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle") -- a wide-eyed beauty from central casting -- is the movie's generic ingenue, a girl named Violet from small town New Jersey who moves to New York to pursue her dreams of being a songwriter. Of course, even though she grew up just down the turnpike from Manhattan, she's as naive as a farmer's daughter and learns the hard way that peddling your demo tape to snide receptionists at record label offices isn't going to get you anywhere in the Big City.
So instead of becoming an instant music biz success, Violet finds herself working at the meat packing district's wildest road house, Coyote Ugly.
Staffed by 102-lb. sexpots who habitually shake their stuff atop the bar in size two leather pants and tank tops, the joint is packed wall-to-wall every night with hooting, drooling patrons that the girls tease like pole-dancers to coax drinks into them and money out of them.
Written in Screenwriting 101 style, packed with every New York City cliché in the book (her dank, dingy flat is broken into her first week in town), and overflowing with young girls in wonderbras while dancing, the first half of "Coyote Ugly" plays like it was penned by a 13-year-old boy who just discovered masturbation. For the second half, the script must have been handed off to a 13-year-old girl who thinks Britney Spears is the greatest musical talent the world has ever known, because the rest of the movie is launched by a "Face it dad, I'm not your little girl anymore" speech and built around Violet overcoming stage fright and chasing her dream of selling bubble-gum pop songs - aided, of course, by the charming encouragement of a handsome boy (Australian actor Adam Garcia) who just knows she can do it!
And yes, Violet sings. A lot. It's an endless source of unintentional comedy because when she's slinking across the bar at Coyote Ugly, singing along to the jukebox (each Coyote girl has a gimmick, that's hers), Perabo warbles in her own, weak and gritty voice. But when belting out one of the acoustic Lilith Faire-lite ditties she hopes to sell some day, suddenly she's a honey-voiced songbird, courtesy of audio looping by jailbait country music star LeAnn Rimes (who has a cameo in the finale).
Another hearty laugh stems from the fact that "Coyote Ugly" takes place in a picturesquely gritty, fantasy version of NYC in which a 21-year-old cutie pie bartender can walk down an alley at 4 a.m. in a 15-inch skirt and knee-highs, counting her tips without a care in the world.
On the respectability front, the picture's one saving grace is John Goodman, who is blue collar perfection as Violet's modest, toll-collector pop.
But even though "Coyote Ugly" is tedious, obvious and badly staged, it does have an infectious spirit. That's hardly enough to save this one aimed at the can't-wait-to-be-21 crowd.
Swimfan
(2002)
Christensen a great bad girl
16 September 2002
I thought this flick wasn't half bad. I expected it to be a lot worse, but it was entertaining. I thought Erika Christensen did a GREAT job and really played the character perfectly. I thought the camera breaks in the scenes where bits were repeated were effective too.
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