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theseanman
Reviews
Giuliani Time (2005)
Interesting but ultimately self-defeating, of interest only if your mind is already made up.
This is essentially a "Hit-Piece" on Giuliani from the Michael Moore school of documentary film-making. It is so virulent and one sided that the viewer can only be led to think that the creators of this movie hold a serious grudge against the former Mayor. At the end of the day, one need only look to see that he left New York a better city than the one he inherited from his predecessor. Granted, some hard choices were made and if you want to single those things out for examples of his failures then you must also admit to his victories otherwise your message will be obscured by its obvious bias. Merely assembling a collection of sound bites, news clips and assembling them creatively in the editing room does not fool anyone, only those moronic enough to take this drivel at face value. Rudy did a good job. Not a great job, as I'm sure even he will agree. It's suggested here that 9/11 and it's aftermath saved Giuliani - I disagree. He would have been counted among New York's finest Mayors even if 9/11 never happened. But how he reacted to that dreadful event showed the world what "Courage under fire" really means.
Youthanasia (2005)
Wanted to like this movie but...
I wanted to like this movie, I like independent movies in general, and to find one filmed in my adopted hometown of Modesto, CA and directed by locals as well...what's not to like?? Well, right off the bat, the opening credits seemed like a gee-whiz exercise, names on a rolling basketball, stop action style. It was approximately 30 seconds into the movie that I realized that whatever they did with the transfer and format change had really mucked up the picture and sound quality, detracting from what might otherwise have been a more positive experience. The story is good, the acting is decent, but as a previous reviewer mentioned, the story is told in a non-linear fashion that really isn't necessary and in fact it is a distraction.
But kudos to everyone involved, hopefully they will keep at it and improve with experience. By the way at the opening of the film's run at the State Theatre in Modesto, the entire cast and crew were in attendance and seemed to be very cool, likable people. It was kinda surreal to walk into the lobby and see the familiar faces from the movie..
*****UPDATE 11-21-07*****
So, I got a copy of the DVD for this film, hoping it would have some behind the scenes stuff of the making of the movie. It didn't. But, watching it on DVD pretty much allowed me to concentrate on the film without the distractions I noted earlier due to a poor screening. I really enjoyed the movie this time, enough to bump it up to a seven star rating. It makes such a difference when you're able to see the movie the way the director intended.