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Fataqui
Reviews
The Champagne Gang (2006)
Good story line, but where is the story....
I sometimes wonder if a director even looks at what they are shooting, because if they looked they would see hold bad this really is. If you can't create a dialog that the characters can some how carry through the film you will end up with a movie that makes no sense at all.
The funniest parts about this movie are the locations that some of the sense are shot in, the key word here, (low budget funny). Other than the babe factor, if that's your thing, you will see a bunch of immature girls who have no reason for doing what they do, other than just doing it for the fun of it. You will not find anyone telling you they have learned something or felt even a bit of remorse for what they did, so what is the whole point of trying to instill in the viewer this is based on a true story.
Save your remote control batteries and don't press play!
The Nativity Story (2006)
Just another sugar coated story to make some money during the holiday season.
All of us in the world we live in must understand that we as people have a hard time accepting anything that in some way is not truer than are own life's situation. Hence, the art of story telling. Like anything written in the bible or other religious book or material, it is given to us, as maybe an age old belief, and by are own faith we can accept or deny that stories truthfulness.
So when we see someone else's perception of their own belief we tend to become even more rebellious, if what we are seeing is different than are own perception of that belief.
The Nativity Story, has it's own story line, one that that doesn't need a by-line. Oscar Isaac, as Joseph was refreshing, maybe because he still has not been overly tainted with trying to act. For this roll is pure reality, so it takes real heart that method acting can never capture. He did a wonderful job, showing us a person that the bible tells us very little about. Keisha Castle-Hughes is fine actress, but the scope of this roll was to much for her, even when she seemed to pull off a scene you could see her struggling. I just don't see how such a great gift is given to her and she couldn't capture who Mary really was. Maybe it's because I am being to critical, but Mary is going to be the Mother of the Son of God, so my teachings and perception show that Mary was far more religious than what the movie was portraying. The cinematography was playing to what we would like to see in this day and age, this to me is unacceptable because the surrounding should never out do the story, especially when your telling a story of this magnitude. The sound editing and musical score were done with great care, I rather enjoyed that.
For a movie it was OK, but for the story it was telling it failed miserably. We should never down play a real story, and this movie does this way to many times. I guess people in show business are like diplomat's, they rather be politically correct, than to tell the real story. As for Catherine Hardwicke, I think she needs to return to doing strictly production designing for she is really good at that (Tombstone, The Newton Boys), or maybe she should try directing fictional type stories...
Ellie Parker (2005)
Everyday life, LA style...
It's wonderful when a film can make use of everyday life, in that it can bring you into it's dialog making you feel like some parts of the story is about you. Ellie Parker truly could be you, me or anyone. Many people don't understand the depth that a actor must reach in order to act like they are not acting, this is always the most difficult kind of acting.
I myself am not a big fan of Naomi Watts, but I give her a perfect 10 for this movie, because letting people see your inner self is very hard to do, and she did it very well! Chevy Chase, in his small part commands great respect. It doesn't matter if he is funny or not, just his expressions, should make you remember that all of us owe him a personal wink, for making us laugh so many times before.
Rebecca Riggs also do a super job, she will definitely remind you of someone very close to you, I enjoyed her in this movie. In closing, I would say, call your best friend up when your going to watch this movie, so both of you can reminisce about days gone by...