Dave's Movie Reviews

You've Reached The Old Site

2009-01-13T21:01:00.002-05:00

This is the old site for Dave's Movie Reviews. Please visit the new site at www.DavesMovieReviews.com

Yes Man (2008)

2009-01-03T11:21:00.003-05:00

Director: Peyton Reed
Writer: Nicholas Stoller and Jarrad Paul
Genre: Comedy

Story

The story is fairly well known with this one, but many compare it to Liar Liar and I think there is only two reasons to make that comparison. It has Jim Carrey and it is about a man who seemingly does not have a choice in situations were he has two options. That is really where the similarities stop since in Yes Man Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) decides to say yes to everything after going to some crazy self help seminar. It is not anything that has to be wished by anyone and he absolutely has the choice the whole time to stop what he is doing. Since his wife left him he has been on a downward spiral not paying attention to even his best friends and suddenly one of his old buddies finds him and says he should go to the seminar because it would help him live his life to the fullest. He tries it out and starts saying yes to everything and it seems that everything is working out for the better, but then he has to find out what the real purpose of the Yes Man is and learn to live his life with balance.

Everything Else

The directing and writing are both solid in this one. There is nothing that really makes Yes Man stand out from the crowd of comedies out there other than they did not really miss step in any area. Usually a movie has some area where they really made an error or give the audience something to just accept, but there was not much in this film that needed to be simply accepted (like that a kid made a wish and now someone can no longer say a lie). Most of the things that happen in Yes Man are feasible and overall the message ended up being a good one.

I almost forgot Luis Guzman was in this; everybody loves Luis Guzman

The story flowed well with high and low points and ultimately to a reasonable closure; which is often what people are looking for. This movie also has some good acting talent in it. Jim Carrey is back to his regular antics, but possibly not completely on his "A" game. Still it was good to see him do something more true to his older films. I love his serious acting in movies like the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind though. Anyway, the other actors and actresses did well in Yes Man as well. Notably, Zooey Deschanel does well as the crazy and quirky love interest and Bradley Cooper does well as the good friend that will hang in there even though his friend is ignoring him and mistreating him at every turn.

Peyton Reed is actually a director who I have come to like in more of his recent films (Down With Love and The Break-Up). It is odd that he directed The Weird Al Shows on TV though. I guess you have to start somewhere though.

The Real Deal

I liked Yes Man because it was good clean fun. There was nothing out of the ordinary, but it was surprisingly well written and directed. Even Jim Carrey came back to his normal self. I hear that he has been getting a bad rap in Hollywood for being someone who is very difficult to deal with. Hopefully that changes and he starts mixing serious roles and comedic roles in his future films. Although at first I found that the message seemed a little off in Yes Man it really came out ok in the end. Don't expect anything really spectacular with message, but at least I can say it was good rather than bad. When you really boil it down, you have to like Jim Carrey to like this film since he is the comedic force in it.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 710,034
Sharon Movie? Yes

New Hosting

2009-01-02T00:01:00.000-05:00

As you can see I have started switching over to Wordpress instead of Blogger. I think Wordpress will give me a little more freedom to post on the go and therefore it was a necessary switch. Since this transition will likely be a bit rocky please bare with me as the I get everythign moved over to Wordpress. There are two web addresses you can go to in the mean time: davesmoviereviews.blogger.com and www.davesmoviereviews.com. Both should have similar items on them, but for now I will not have working links for all of the review lists. This will take a little more time to get it all updated. Thanks for your patience during this change to Dave's Movie Reviews.

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2006)

2009-01-01T19:10:00.001-05:00

Director: Jeff Garlin
Writer: Jeff Garlin
Genre: Comedy

Story

James Aaron (Jeff Garlin) is a starving actor who can't seem to get a girlfriend and still lives with his mom. As he begins to lose jobs he starts to get a little more depressed especially because he would like to lose weight and find a girlfriend and is unsuccessful. It seemed like every agent was turning him down for parts and therefore he would have no work at all yet he decided to move out of his mom's place and find his own apartment. Apparently he had a lot of money stashed away. Apparently the point is he wants someone to settle down with, but he is having a hard time with that for good reason.

I think the look on Jeff Garlin's face here really defines how I felt about the movie

Everything Else

Jeff Garlin proves that he has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to writing and directing. His own comedic style is ok, but the film itself was atrocious. There seemed to be little to no point of the entire film and the story along the way failed to interest me. The other problem was the quirky and disconnected flow of the film. Sometimes this could be a unique thing if pulled off correctly, but in the case of Cheese that is no so. The writing also left a lot to be desired.

Aside from the poor writing and directing we are left with sub par acting. Jeff Garlin himself who wrote directed and stared in the film did a decent acting job, but the others around him did not even seem to be trying. Unfortunately it seems Jeff Garlin is a person who I am not interested in seeing more films of anytime soon.

The Real Deal

Not a lot to say except I really did not like this one. There was not any focus and the jokes were not as funny as I would have hoped. Some of the film was just plain embarrassing. Maybe Jeff Garlin should stick with the cartoon voices and smaller roles in other movies. I thought he was fairly funny and certainly has a good enough voice for Wall - E, but the directing and writing are not up to par with his acting.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 514,009
Sharon Movie? No

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T11:19:00.002-05:00

I hope every had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I know it was great for me being able to see so much of my family. It has been really busy at work and really crazy with all of the family around, but it has been a lot of fun. The hardest part now is going to be losing all of the weight I gained since Thanksgiving.

Happy New Year!

Four Christmases (2008)

2008-12-23T06:00:00.002-05:00

Director: Seth Gordon

Writer: Matt Allen and Caleb Wilson

Genre: Comedy

Story

Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) are a couple that does not believe in getting married or spending time with their dysfunctional families. When there plans of going to Fiji for Christmas get postponed because of fog at the airport, they are suddenly forced to go see each of their families for Christmas. Brad's parents are divorced and each have significant others and the same with Kate's parents. Now Brad and Kate have to face their fears and discover where the other came from. The question is whether they will make it out the other side as a couple.

Everything Else

Seth Gordon does a good job with Four Christmases while being fresh off his King of Kong film. Thankfully this one was not as fact based so he did not have to take as many liberties. Although there were certainly a fair share of unbelievables and over the tops. When it really comes down to it Vince Vaughn is the glue holding this one together. Reese Witherspoon does not ruin it, but she was not the strongest addition to the film from a comedy aspect (sorry Witherspoon fans). Her and Vaughn make a good team though. There are also a few gems throughout; Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Jon Favreau, Tim McGraw?, and a cameo from the awesome Steve Wiebe. Pay no attention if you don't know who Steve Wiebe is, I thought it was awesome he was in it and the first scene with him is a joke in itself.

The writing was decent from a dialog aspect, but Vaughn obviously had a hand in it or the script was just well written for Vaughn to play it. The actual story seemed a bit bland, but I couldn't help but feel like it was very familiar. My parents and my wife's parents are still together, but we have had five Christmases on Christmas day before and that was early on in our relationship. The things that happen between the two in the couple seem very realistic so I would say I connected well with the idea (this is probably the reason for the seemingly high score as compared to the average reviews it has gotten).

No doubt there are three things that I absolutely loved about this film; Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, and Steve Wiebe. Vince Vaughn was born for this role. If you are not a fan I would avoid this film at all costs because he is the star. His amazing talent of delivering fast paced dry humor is exhibited thoroughly throughout this film. I always love to see Jon Favreau and Vaughn in films together; it makes me really want to watch Swingers again. They were both in a few movies before Swingers (together in Rudy even), but I still feel like Swingers is when they were truly discovered. Favreau showed off his duel talent as writer and actor and they displayed a great combination of face paced catchy lines. Steve Wiebe was just someone I had not expected to see in the film. I should have seen it coming with Seth Gordon directing it, but I had forgotten who Seth Gordon was so it didn't ring a bell until the credits.

The Real Deal

This movie will not be for everyone. Like I said earlier; if you do not like Vaughn then you need to avoid this one. Vaughn and Witherspoon do well together, but from beginning to end it seems the film's jokes have been based on a lack of morals. The only shred of inspiring advice seems to come from Jon Voight's very late in the film speech about what he thinks life is about. I would say he missed the mark, but compared to the rest of the film he was dead on. There are a few gross humor jokes and a few uncalled for ones, but they really tamed it down to appeal to the masses I believe. It was PG-13 and never got too embarrassing; it is amazing how easy that would be for more directors to do yet I find it quite a rare treat these days. If you are looking for a quick entertaining comedy that doesn't require a brain to enjoy, this is your movie.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 722,990

Sharon Movie? Yes

Lower Learning (2008)

2008-12-21T10:29:00.003-05:00

Director: Mark Lafferty
Writer: Shahin Chandrasoma and Mark Lafferty
Genre: Lame ... I mean Comedy

Story

Aside from having a truly boring plot line, the way things played out just could not entertain the viewer what so ever. The story follows Jason Biggs character (I don't really care what the character's name was) as he tries to keep the school he is the assistant principal at from going under. The principal wants it to be closed to cover up all the money he has been getting from the parents as brides to give the kids good grades. In theory the plot seems decent, but as the happen the movie makes it less and less apparent what the motivations of the characters is. Of course that is in addition to every stereotype in a bad school to be grossly or exagerrated.

Everything Else

The acting was just plain bad. Poor Jason Biggs can't seem to get into a decent role. Hopefuly some day he will prove himself as at least a decent actor, but I have yet to see it. As for the rest of the second rate actors and actresses in this movie, they should be ashamed of themselves. It is almost like every actor plain forgot that they were suposed to act and it ended up a jarbled up mess. The directing did not help in the least though.

The Director/writer is one I believe I will need to avoid from now on. His humor is childish and gross without being funny. Some parts were funny, but then immediately following would be something so lame you wanted to cry at how bad it was. The actual dialog made me cringe on multiple occations and the flow of the film was what I would call sub optimal. Each scene was hanging by the thread of the scene before and after it like a someone was trying to make a story out of it, but forgot the purpose about a quarter of the way into the script.

I think there are some other things to complain about, but for now we will just leave it at that.

The Real Deal

I am glad to say that I did not pick this one out. It was terrible from beginning to end. There was very little that was funny, a lot that was gross, and even more that was childishly offensive. I can't recommend this to even the most immature adults I know. Of course it is not suitable for anyone under the age of 17 because of the bad language and gross themes yet I can only imagine younger teenagers laughing at most of the jokes. It makes no sense; avoid it.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 308,942
Sharon Movie? No

Beware

2008-12-09T21:21:00.004-05:00

I just watched a movie that could be in the running for worst score of DMR history. 80 Minutes, not to be confused with 88 Minutes, turned out to be a terrible movie. This movie had it all; bad story, bad writing, bad directing, bad acting, and I am sure I am forgetting a few things that were just plain horrible about this film. You better believe I will review this one, but it might take me a while to stomach it. It has been a rough week with three really bad movies; I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, 80 Minutes, and Lower Learning. I have included the DVD covers/Movie Posters below so you can easily avoid these in the video store.

28 Weeks After 28 Days Later

2008-12-07T10:40:00.003-05:00

Quite a while back I watched 28 Days Later for the first time. It quickly became one of my favorite zombie movies with its fast moving zombies and vast uninhabited cityscape. I love seeing a city that is normally all hustle and bustle look completely empty and silent. This is the main reason I liked I Am Legend (although the poor ending ruined it). I thought I had reviewed 28 Days Later, but I cannot find that post if I did and so I guess I will have to review it. More recently I watched it on Blu-ray thinking that it would look a lot better, but I forgot that it was shot with a lot of hand held cameras that must not have even been HD. Either that or the did not make any effort to upgrade the picture quality when they made the Blu-ray disc. Anyway, if you are going to see 28 Days Later I would suggest DVD since it is easier to find and play and the picture quality is the same on a Blu-ray (don't worry, that is not usually the case).

Review Blitz #14

2008-12-06T17:13:00.004-05:00

It has been a while since I did a good blitz, but since my list of movies to review seems to be getting larger and larger every day it seems all too appropriate.

August (2008)

August was a pick that seemed good, but it actually turned out to be less exciting than I had hoped. Don't get me wrong, obviously by the high score I still thought it was good. It is interesting how the film takes place right before 9/11 with a struggling business. The acting was decent to good, but Josh Hartnet was playing one of his more annoying roles. He played the part well, but his character is too easy to hate and too hard to feel connected with. I felt more connected with his brother whose part seemed underdeveloped. There were a lot of things that could have been done better if the film had given them time to really come to fruition, but alas you cannot have it all. I liked it for being a little bit different from the norm.

Raw Score: 710,992
Sharon Movie? No

Eagle Eye (2008)

This is one we saw in theaters a while back (obviously since it has not been in theaters for quite a while). It was really good actually, but it does not give you anything to really get excited about. It is just a solid action packed movie that keeps the excitement level up throughout. It is fairly clean so I would recommend it to a wide range of people, but it does have some intense moments so don't think it is for little ones.

Raw Score: 793,091
Sharon Movie? Yes

Eragon (2006)

Eragon was viewed on Blu-ray on a big screen so I would say that it looked quite good. The acting was not so good however. None of it was terrible, but the main character failed to provide an inspiring performance. The action and adventure of the film is what delivered though. It seems little like Chronicles of Narnia at times with the almost kiddish feel, but the fighting and death bring a little bit more mature feel back in. All in all I liked it and it is a good movie for pretty much the whole family. I don't see any reason for them not to continue making more movies from the series of book, but they don't seem to be doing that. From what I hear though, Eragon has not followed the plot of the book very closely so a sequel would either have to be very different from the book or very different from the movie.

Raw Score: 697,092
Sharon Movie? Yes

Made of Honor (2008)

Oddly it looks like Michelle Monaghan has gotten less attention on this poster, but she did seem to be a very strong supporting actress. The acting was not that great, but mainly it comes down to this overused and annoying writing. It seems there is little originality left in the romantic Comedy department, but I am sure a good one comes along from time to time. This one seems dull and at times distasteful. I am just not feeling it with this one. I guess it was entertaining enough.

Raw Score: 553,007
Sharon Movie? Yes

Ringu (1998)

We are talking about the original Japanese version of The Ring here. I liked this film, but after seeing the American remake I actually did not think it was as good. Something about the timing of things and the more dramatic acting made the American version a little more frightening and a little more interesting. It has the shock value and it is good to see that the remake took what was good about the original and added a little to it. I alwasy like to see where movies came from and this one was a good example of a movie that wasn't the best, but was able to be improved upon. That is actually pretty rare in the remake area I would say.

Raw Score: 652,983
Sharon Movie? No

Altered States (1980)

2008-12-04T11:30:00.000-05:00

Director: Ken Russell
Writer: Paddy Chayefsky
Genre: Drama/Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Story

A Harvard scientist, Eddie Jessup (William Hurt), is researching hallucinatory drugs in combination with isolation chambers. As the experiments get more and more intense, Eddie's marriage starts to unravel. Once Eddie goes into the isolation chamber and becomes convince that he has gone through a genetic regression there is no one that can stop him from going further. He wants to truly discover all there is to discover about his "primal" ancestry (it must be rough to think you descended from apes).

Everything Else

The directing is nothing out of the ordinary at first, but later the film starts to take a definite turn. It becomes more and more erratic and wild to go along with the experiments which also start to become less predictable each time. The most interesting thing about the film is the progression that the experiments take. I had no idea what to expect and that probably was part of what made me like the film so much. The shock value was fully intact in my case. The acting was interesting and worth mentioning.

William Hurt did well as the lead even though obvious at times his character was off the wall. The supporting role with Bob Balaban was the most interesting outside of Hurt's performance. I wouldn't say the wife was at all interesting, but she became a larger part of the conflict and therefore was necessary.

Overall, the wild hallucination sequences are what will likely turn average viewers away. It does get a little odd especially towards the end where you are not supposed to really know what is going on because the characters do not either.

The Real Deal

I liked Altered States for its originality and definite out of the ordinary story. The true factor that most effected this viewing however was most likely the fact that I did not know what to expect. This is always how I like to see movies as it gives you a fresh experience with no expectations. I had passed the film in the video store many times and thought about getting it, but it just never beckoned me until just recently. I am glad I finally got to see it and I recommend it for those willing to see something out of the ordinary and can give the movie a little bit more leeway in the creativity department.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 773,987
Sharon Movie? No

December

2008-12-03T22:57:00.003-05:00

If you hadn't noticed, it is December. A lot is going on in the month of December and especially with the final group of Christmas movies or movies release on or around Christmas. One of which was a topic of discussion between my wife and I; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Upon the first preview for this film I thought it looked very interesting and being made by David Fincher it seemed even more intriguing. He has had a rough time hitting it big after Fight Club, but besides that this movie seems quite different than his other films which include Se7en, The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room, and Zodiac. Most of those were great; only Panic Room was a disappointment. The reason The Curious Case of Benjamin Button came up though was because of the longer preview that they are showing now and on the beginning of seemingly every movie there is. I liked it the first time and even second and third. The longer one seems to give much more of the film away which makes it less intriguing and every time I see the preview I am less excited about seeing the film. I wanted to see it quite a while ago, but now I have little desire. It was quite the opposite with Cloverfield which had the very intriguing teaser trailer and then only had the larger trailers right before the film came out. This allowed for a lot of excitement to build on its own. Even though I would not say this new Fincher film is not something I want to see at all, I would say that I have no desire to see it right when it comes out.

What films are the masses excited out for this Christmas I wonder?

Australia (2008)

2008-12-01T11:21:00.000-05:00

Director: Baz Luhrmann
Writer: Baz Luhrmann and Stuart Beattie
Genre: Adventure/War/Drama

Story

With many subplots and a huge epic story, summarizing is sure to leave out a lot, but here it goes. Around the beginning of WWII Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) tries to pick up where her husband left off at a cattle ranch in Australia. When she arrives via an interesting ride with Drover (Hugh Jackman) she finds that her husband has been killed suspected to be by the hand of an aboriginal. Later she finds from a young aboriginal boy that one of the workers of the ranch is stealing cattle from them. When she fires the traitor it only sparks a long journey for her and the few workers left on the ranch to herd the cattle to the army before the competitor to save the ranch. During the process she falls for Drover and they both begin to feel responsible for the young aboriginal boy, Nullah (Brandon Walters). As the story progresses it becomes more and more about the relationship between the three and how poorly aboriginals were treated in Australia at the time.

Everything Else

The directing and music seemed to almost conflict with the story and dialog. This is the main complaint, but it proves very detrimental in the middle of the film. The beginning starts you off on a weird journey which begins to show the conflicting ideas and visions that the makers had. The film almost seems childish, but then has a few moments which seemed undoubtedly adult themed. The dialog almost screamed serious, but yet the directing and some of the acting was quite the opposite. All of this leads up to a story with many subplots and other stories that are started, but then in the middle the stories are simply whisked away and most of them are told very quickly through newspaper clippings. This creates an odd feeling in the middle of the film and suddenly I got the feeling like it was never going to end. I love long movies, but this one was like Bicentennial Man where every time the music comes up you think it is over and then it is definitely not. The music especially queued the feeling of closure far too many times during the film.

Aside from being very long winded and yet feeling cut short, the film had some good acting and very beautiful scenery. I will say that it looked like they used more blue screening than the last Indiana Jones film (not a compliment), but the beautiful scenery made up for it. That worked in 300, but it was a little bit of a distraction here. Nicole Kidman would be the one person whose acting seemed quite questionable and just downright awful at times, but the others did very well. Especially Hugh Jackman and the first time performance of Brandon Walters. The bad guys were uninspiring, but possibly some of that is because the film was obviously tamed down in the cutting room to make for a more family friendly film when it hit theaters for Thanksgiving weekend.

The Real Deal

All in all the movie seemed to be pulled in too many directions to hold a distinguishable vision. This causes you not to care for the characters as much and the film to not be as emotional even though many parts could have been great tuggers on the heart. I would liked to have seen this film as a 3 and 1/2 hour film with all of the middle stories completed and more of the rough edges added back in. This would of course have made the film longer than most people would be willing to sit through and probably warrant an R rating, but it surely would have made for a better film. But it Hollywood it is all too often about the money and not the quality of film; sad really.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 705,983
Sharon Movie? Yes

Sydney Lumet Theme Conclusion

2008-11-30T12:00:00.002-05:00

The Sydney Lumet theme must finally come to an end. I have really drawn it out for a long time, but it has been a lot of fun. It is unfortunate that the 80s and 90s were not nearly as good as his earlier work since I reviewed the movies in chronological order, but at least the latest movies ended it on a good note. There is plenty to say about Sydney Lumet and all of his great movies; however, I really have said about all I can in the reviews. He is a great filmmaker. His directing has proven itself time and time again. Just as the critics say, he is not as consistent as Kubrick, but he also made a lot more films. A filmmaker is sure to find himself in a lull at some point. I was very glad to learn more about Lumet and his films though. I hope all of you have had fun learning more about this great filmmaker as well. Below is a full list of his movies and some comments on the movies that I actually got a chace to see as well as the link to those reviews:

1. Getting Out (2009) (in production)

2. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) - The reason I started the whole Lumet theme still proves to be one of my favorites. Certainly I found some of his earlier works in the 50s, 60s, and 70s to be amazing, but this film was the first that I saw that I connected Lumet with and then found that he had also made Serpico (which I loved) and Fail-Safe (which had also been up there on my list). This a great crime drama thriller and has great casting and directing working together again.
3. Find Me Guilty (2006) - Thank you. Finally back to some great Lumet work. And with Before the Devil Knows You're Dead to follow I have confidence fully restored in Lumet at this point. Gloria definitely marked the low point of Lumet's career to date and this film was a great way to come back. I did not see the movie before it, but it looks like he took a well needed break before making it so that hopefully he could get his head straight after Gloria. Find Me Guilty has one very remarkable thing to offer in addition to being a great film; a truly great performance by Vin Diesel (yes, Vin Diesel).

4. Rachel, quand du seigneur (2004)

5. Gloria (1999) - Arrrgggghhhhh!!! Seriously, it made me mad!

6. Critical Care (1997)

7. Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) - Good; however it had the potential to be great and it again deals with the police corruption that has been run over by a Lumet steamroller.
8. Guilty as Sin (1993) - It had some flavor to it that I liked and some classic Lumet edginess, but something did not have me convinced. Lumet fell asleep on this one, but he is better on a bad day than most on there best days so I have to give him a pass.
9. A Stranger Among Us (1992) - A Stranger Among Us indeed. Where is the Lumet we once loved. It still feels like the lonely 80s in this early 90s flick.
10. Q & A (1990) - Q & A is another ploice corruption film; imagine that. Unfortunately the acting was less impressive than the earlier movies with the same theme and the film drearily moped along through to a decent spark at the end. Too little too late however.
11. Family Business (1989) - This one really could have been great with the casting, but the film fell flat on its face torwards the end. I liked it for about 45 minutes somewhere in the middle, but the beginning and end proved boring if anything.
12. Running on Empty (1988) - A good film, but it lost some of the edge that Lumet had had in the past. In addition there was some sloppy directing or editing in parts and the acting was suspect at times. I liked the idea though and it made for an interesting story.
13. The Morning After (1986) - This is the first movie Lumet made that truly made me mad. I wanted it to be good, but it was not.
14. Power (1986) - Power was a good movie; however it does seem to be a definitive turning point in the Lumet films. It marks the beginning of rough times for Lumet fans. Still Gere did a great job and it is always great to seem him acting rather than just making the ladies gawk (is that how you spell it?).

15. Garbo Talks (1984)
16. Daniel (1983)

17. The Verdict (1982) - Although not as much about corruption, it does involve law and a washed up lawyer. Paul Newman was excellent in this one and Lumet still had great movies churning out at this point. The Verdict is no exception. I loved the ending.
18. Deathtrap (1982) - This one truly marks a most interesting change of pace for Lumet. This one felt so much more like a play than any other of the films that were based on plays and it has two very interesting performances in it. Caine and Reeve are tremendous together in this one.
19. Prince of the City (1981) - Another film about police corruption and someone trying to fight it. It has a little different angle, but there is not a lot of new ground to cover after Serpico. Still it is a good movie. Just try not to watch all of these movies about police corruption together; they tend to get old.

20. Just Tell Me What You Want (1980)
21. The Wiz (1978/I)

22. Equus (1977) - Maybe this was his peak. I loved Equus even if it is not for everyone. It reminded me much more of a Kubrick film than any of his other works and that is meant as a great compliment. Maybe it is unfortunate that Lumet has worked in the shadows of Kubrick for so many of his years, but he has proven his own style time and time again and has made many more films.
23. Network (1976) - Instant classic. I loved the beginning, middle, and especially the end. This may have marked the peak of Lumet's career if not the movie just before his peak.
24. Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Another great performance by Al Pacino who at this point had proven his great talent and continued to deliver. He may have gotten more lazy in his old age, but every time I see him in movies these days I still remember the great performances in The Godfather, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and Scarface (yes, I do notice the great performance in Scarface eventhough I am not a an of the movie).
25. Murder on the Orient Express (1974) - Although I am usually a big fan of Agatha Christi, I found Murder on the Orient Express less interesting than I was hoping. And Then There was None was always one of may favorite books, but this story did not end as interestingly. Still a great performance by Albert Finney that shouldn't be overlooked.

26. Lovin' Molly (1974)

27. Serpico (1973) - The classic film about police corruption and one man who really wants to fight it. Al Pacino was great in Serpico and the film was one that I have watched a few times and loved it everytime. Lumet had a dificult time recapturing the magic that he did in this film and so if you are tired of the police corruption films after this one, then you should look to avoid that in his later works as it is an often reoccuring theme.

28. Child's Play (1972)
29. The Offence (1972)
30. The Anderson Tapes (1971)
31. King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
32. Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)
33. The Appointment (1969)
34. The Sea Gull (1968)
35. Bye Bye Braverman (1968)
36. The Deadly Affair (1966)
37. The Group (1966)

38. The Hill (1965) - This film was a chance to see how Sean Connery worked with Lumet and it appears that they worked well together. The Hill was a great film that seemed a little different from a lot of Lumets later films.
39. Fail-Safe (1964) - Although it is often compared to Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, it is a great movie in itself. Even though it had the same subject matter, the angle was sompletely different. Fail-Safe is not nearly as much a comedy as Dr. Strangelove. Both movies are great and should definitely not be missed.
40. The Pawnbroker (1964) - This film was slow, but exemplified the Lumet style and set the pattern for many films to come. It had a great inconclusive ending which also came to be something I really loved about Lumet films.

41. Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
42. Vu du pont (1961)

43. The Fugitive Kind (1959) - it was interesting to see a film with a young Marlon Brando. Admittedly I have not seen many earlier Marlon Brando films and this one was certainly one that made me curious about his career. It is incredible all of the actors that Lumet has worked with over the years.

44. That Kind of Woman (1959)
45. Stage Struck (1958)

46. 12 Angry Men (1957) - this was a great film and proved that Lumet had a great talent even from the beginning. It is all about the dialog in this classic film based on the play

Sydney Lumet: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

2008-11-30T09:00:00.003-05:00

***Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was reviewed a while back and in fact sparked the Sydney Lumet movie review them, so it seems all too appropriate to revisit. This movie really proves that Lumet still has it even after over 50 years of filmmaking. He has another movie coming out in 2009 called Getting Out. imdb does not have a lot of information on it, but I hope that Lumet continues making great films like Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.***

Director: Sidney Lumet
Writer: Kelly Masterson
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller

Story

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is a harsh look at two brothers and how they plan to get free from the life they know. Andrew ‘Andy’ Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman) comes up with a plan to rob his parents' jewelry store to make out with plenty of cash to start a new life. He has his brother Henry ‘Hank’ Hanson (Ethan Hawke) actually commit the crime so that he does not have to get his hands dirty. When the burglary goes awry and the family starts to fall apart, the father Charles Hanson (Albert Finney) has to seek vengeance on the perpetrator even if it turns out to be his own sons.

Everything Else

Before the Devil runs in a nonlinear format for at least the first half of the movie and then slowing settles into a linear story. This seems to be a very popular form for psychological thrillers after such movies as Memento, but it works well and provides enough excitement to get you interested from the start. The story pans out and flows well even though it seems a little confusing at times with all of the cutting back and forth. Character interactions felt great and added to the natural and eerie real feel of the film.

The acting on all parts was quite good. We have come to expect great performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman these days, but he certainly does not disappoint with this one. He yet again provides an incredible performance in a dark and troubled character. Ethan Hawke is more of an on again off again sort of actor; although he usually does a good job, he does not make the stand out performances like Hoffman. He did quite well in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead though. Albert Finney, who has appeared in earlier Lumet films (most notably Murder on the Orient Express), plays the father who is faced with a terrible realization and is forced to make some tough decisions because of his sons' actions. Finney is a strong supporting actor in this. Marisa Tomei (Andy’s wife Gina Hanson) is the only star actress that does not seem to add a whole lot to the film ***actually in retrospect she did seem to add a lot to the motivation for Andy and hieghten the tenson between the brothers since she was sleeping around***. Although the conflict between her, her husband Andy, and brother in-law Hank is essential to heightening the tension in the film, Tomei does not get the screen time or provide the performance to really produce anything remarkable.***apparently I still talk the same and I still agree with this take. Tomei has a true talent that is often under used because she just sells her body. That appears all too true in this film sadly.***

The Real Deal

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead ended up being better than I thought it was going to be and made me notice the director (Sidney Lumet) a little more. In fact I was so impressed with the film that I decided almost immediately after looking up Sidney Lumet on imdb that it would be great to have a Sidney Lumet Movie Month (***in fact it turns out that it was a lot longer than a month***). Before the Devil is not for everyone I am sure (especially with its rough around the edges style), but the talent of all of those involved made this one standout as a great film that has not gotten the attention it deserves. It seems this is how a lot of Sidney Lumet’s films are, but we will find out in July how good they really are.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 807,923
Sharon Movie? No

Dave's Movie Reviews is the place to find movie

reviews and discuss your thoughts.
Join the community by
Subscribing!

RSS feed or Email

Sydney Lumet: Find Me Guilty (2006)

2008-11-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Director: Sydney Lumet

Find Me Guilty seems to go back finally to the Lumet that we remember. It is a true story about how Jack DiNorscio (Vin Diesel) defended himself in the longest running mafia trial in U.S. history. The most interesting part about the film is the lack of experience DiNorscio had in law and how well it ended up for him and his mafia family. Along with the surprising performance by Vin Diesel, there are a few other solid actors who provide strong supporting roles.

Lumet was able to capture the different sides of the trial and how it all went down quite well. In fact most of the dialog is straight from the actual trial. The most surprising thing to me though was Lumet's choice to cast Vin Diesel in the lead role as Jack DiNorscio. Diesel was spectacular! I never thought I would say that; in fact I had passed this movie quite a few times in the video store because of Diesel being on the cover. I thought it could not be good if it was a serious movie with him in it. Thankfully Lumet and Diesel have opened my eyes to his talent that I never knew existed. Now I am actually interested to see what Diesel does from now on. I know he is going to be in the new Fast and Furious, but hopefully he will begin to take on a few more serious roles like this one and prove to the masses that he actually is talented as an actor.

Other than Diesel's performance the movie actually had a lot of substance to offer. The story was interesting and even more so because it was a true one. True stories are almost always better than made up ones in situations like this. The supporting actors also did a great job making the true mafia look. The way each scene follows the next with an introduction of how many days the trial has been in session also adds a lot to the feel of the film.

I don't have a lot to say about the film itself as it is a true story so you could find out the whole story without even seeing the film, but it was definitely worth the watch. It brings back a lot of the Lumet quality that seemed to be missing through out the 80s and 90s and nicely setup what I have found to be one of my favorite Lumet films, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. To top off the great film there was the surprise performance by Diesel which in and of itself was worth watching the movie for. If you get a chance you should check this one out; don't let Diesel scare you away.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 732,091
Sharon Movie? No

Sydney Lumet: Gloria (1999)

2008-11-29T14:41:00.001-05:00

Director: Sydney Lumet

This is likely one of my least favorite Lumet films. Even if the acting had not been horrible and the story had had more substance, this film still would not have been that good. The film is about a women who gets out of jail after doing time for not ratting out her boyfriend, but when she gets back she does not get the thanks that she feels she deserves. To top that off she thinks she is owed money; when her boyfriend does not deliver she decides to leave, but then she sees a young boy who they are going to kill and decides to rescue him. The problem is that he has something they need so they have to find him and kill him.

The acting was like I said earlier; horrible. I wish that they had used other actors and certainly I found Sharon Stone to be the most obnoxious of them all. Her accent made me mad on more than one occasion. To top off the bad acting, the film seemed to have little to no purpose what so ever. In the beginning you think that there is going to be a purpose because they get the boy and are going to get the information he has and kill him. ****SPOILER ALERT**** If you care to see the film then you should not continue reading, but I suggest you do not see this film so the choice is yours. The problem with the ending is that they take that purpose of getting the kid to safety and not allowing the bad guys to get what they need and they throw it away. The bad guys do get what they want and the kid lives with Gloria. Ok, I admit that this is actually interesting that it was not a cliche ending and not everythign worked out, but it ended and I felt like I had wasted 2 hours of my life. There had to be somethign more; some reason for us to really care about the boy or the annoying woman; nope, there was no reason to care for either.

Bottom line, you should pass this one if you see it on the video store shelf and think "that looks good". Don't do it! Anyway, it was not as worthless as Year of the Dog (which still ranks the lowest on DMR), but this one sure made me mad.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 400,009
Sharon Movie? No

Sydney Lumet: Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)

2008-11-28T14:40:00.002-05:00

Director: Sydney Lumet

Night Falls on Manhattan is another Sydney Lumet film involving police corruption. In this case it is about Sean Casey (Andy Garcia) and how he became the district attorney after winning a big case and now he has to deal with the corruption in the police force that even involves his father. Another interesting look at corrupt policemen, but this time it has a little more depth to it. Sean not only is in a position that forces him to make a choice bewteen being honest and being corrupt, but he also has to decide if it is worth protecting his own father if it means being corupt.

Night Falls on Manhattan almost seems old hat for Lumet. He has really stuck to the corrupt police and lawyers, but at least there have been a lot of other movies he has done that don't involve that. The directing here seems solid, but the flow of the film starts a little odd. In the beginning it seems like the whole movie is going to be about this one trial, but instead it ends really quickly and actually gets better. The acting is solid by Andy Garcia and there really could not have been a much better man for the part. Ian Holm did well as his father, but one of the most interesting characters was the wild lawyer played by Richard Dreyfuss. At first he seems like the worst man around and then you start to see his angle.

Overall, it comes down to being a little bit dry; probably not because the film itself was not interesting, but because we have seem Lumet tackle this genre or story so many times before. If I had I chance I would have told Lumet to stop with Serpico which was better than all of the police corruption films that followed in Lumet's filmography. Even though this film wasn't the greatest, it was still worth the watch and provided enough original elements that it proved to be worthy of my attention.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 703,901
Sharon Movie? No

Sydney Lumet: Guilty As Sin (1993)

2008-11-27T14:40:00.002-05:00

Director: Sydney Lumet

It is Thanksgiving as I am writing this so this will definitely be a short review. Guilty As Sin is about a lawyer at the top of her game who takes on a case that no one else really wants to. The man has been accused of killing his wife by throwing her out of there high rise apartment window, and now he wants this lawyer to take the case. Since she is really full of herself fresh off a win, she decides to take the case with all of its challenges too. It turns out after a while that she finds herself compelled to make him lose the case because she thinks he must be guilty.

The directing was good in Guilty As Sin, but I have certainly seen better from Lumet. Guilty As Sin starts a little slow and then gets into a decent pace about a quarter of the way through. The story flows well and the way things are explained are actually fairly interesting when combined with the fact that the lawyer is actually afraid of her client. The acting overall was decent, but I would not go so far as to say good. Some was questionable and some was just bad.

Although the ending did not tie everything up that it should have and it seemed like there was actually a glaring error, there was one part that was worth seeing. That one part (which I will not give away) made up for any bad acting or quirky plot pieces. I liked Guilty As Sin overall, but it was not a movie that I really could get excited about like Lumet's older films.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 698,009
Sharon Movie? No

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T17:46:00.008-05:00

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. It sure feels good to have a few days off of work; that's definitely something to be thankful for. Since there are going to be a lot of relatives in town and people getting together I thought it might be nice to do a breakdown of the movies out right now and the ones coming out this weekend.

Here it goes:

Top 10 at the Box Office

I have actually only seen two of these films personally: Quantum of Solace and The Secret Life of Bees. Both of those I have reviewed with good marks. If I had to pick between the two I would definitely go with Quantum of Solace, but The Secret Life of Bees is more of a family movie that is said to live up to the book it is based on. I have also heard some mixed reviews on Twilight. My sister and one of my coworkers both liked the film, but critics are not as forgiving. Bolt and Madagascar 2 would be the family animated picks. I have nothing to say for the rest.

Here are the new movies today and this weekend:

November 26

Australia - I have heard good things about it, but we will have to see how it fairs.

Four Christmases - Sure to have some laughs and I have high hopes for the Director who also brought us The King of Kong: a Fistful of Quarters

Milk - This is the one I am most excited about since it is directed by Gus Van Sant, but it is limited release and Gus Van Sant does not always impress (he usually tries to be different so it is hard to tell what you are going to get)

The Secrets - Seems to be a foreign film which has received high marks from film festivals and critics as it has journeyed across the world to get here

Transporter 3 - This is the obvious lala movie pick. I liked the first two even though they weren't necessarily good movies. Neither was horrible, but it is just plain action and mindless entertainment

November 28

Special - Very limited release and I know nothing about the movie

That is the run down. I hope you all have a great Holiday and find the movie you are looking for.

Sydney Lumet: A Stranger Among Us (1992)

2008-11-26T14:39:00.001-05:00

Director: Sydney Lumet

A Stranger Among Us follows an agnostic police woman who gets an unlikely case within the Jewish community. Basically the film is about her trying to solve the murder and find the diamonds that were stolen, but it also delves deeply into the very different culture that this particular group lives and how she tries to blend into it. Although she doesn't understand it or even agree with most of it, sh does start to fall for one of the men. This creates conflict not only because she is not Jewish, but also because she is not the one that the man's father has chosen for the man to marry.

Sydney Lumet seems to mix the Jewish faith into his films often, but never more obviously than in this particular film. The way in which he presents the different extreme culture does not seem as interesting as it actually is however. The film flows almost like a Lifetime made for TV movie, but it does start to pick up towards the end. Unfortunately it does not pick up enough to redeem the very slow middle of the film.

The acting was decent and although dark, the directing and cinematography were decent as well. The main concern was how all of those parts tie together. With no truly great aspect in the film it is not able to connect with the audience. I needed something more substantial to make me interested in the film. A Stranger Among Us was not horrible, but failed to impress and made me even more disappointed in Lumet's films in the 90s.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 583,002
Sharon Movie? No

Sydney Lumet: Q & A (1990)

2008-11-25T14:38:00.001-05:00

Director: Sydney Lumet

You better make sure you do a good Q & A. In Q & A they really bring home the fact that the title of the movie and what is about is the Q & A. In fact they almost use Q & A in every scene. It gets a little old and normally I would say that it is dumb to repeat the title of the film in the dialogue, but in fact it didn't hurt the film that much. After watching this film a while back I am having a hard time really remembering it; I don't know if that is really good or bad. I seem to remember it being pretty good, but it could have been better.

It was great to see Luis Guzman do more than just get a punch to the face and Nick Nolte was superb. I have to hand it to Nick Nolte, he is really good a being the bad guy. It made him a good pick for The Hulk later, but he is also really good at play the good guy. I guess that makes him a versatile actor. As for Timothy Hutton, I am not sure what Lumet thought he could do with him in this one, but I think there could have been a lot of better actors for the role. He did ok, but his character just didn't have the edge and for the most part, I just wanted him to get hurt. Usually you are not supposed to want the good guy to lose (suddenly I remember the slogan for Payback: "get ready to root for the bad guy").

Other than the obvious slow tempo and somewhat dry supporting characters, Q&A delivered. It was interesting and provided a decent look at another aspect of police corruption. My biggest complaint was the odd relationship that the the good guy had with some girl that ended up being with a criminal. That whole subplot was frustrating to watch and only made me hate the main character and the girl even more. Give this movie a shot if you are looking for a good performance by Nick Nolte or you want to see a little more police currption from Lumet, but don't make this the first film you rush to the Blockbuster to get.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 713,829
Sharon Movie? No

Sydney Lumet: Family Business (1989)

2008-11-24T14:37:00.001-05:00

after loading this picture I realized that the 80s and 90s must have been bad decades for Sydney Lumet

Director: Sydney Lumet

Family Business is about an odd family (Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, and Sean Connery) who are long know for their criminal life. In fact Sean Connery (the grandfather) is in jail as the film begins and Matthew Broderick (his grandson) is working on a plan for a heist. Dustin Hoffman (the father) is trying to live a life in the clean, but his son and father are trying to convince him to join them in the heist. When the job goes sour though, they have to figure out how to keep the family together.

Not the best of films, but it was interesting to see Broderick, Hoffman, and Connery in lead roles together. Mainly the problem was the slow pace. Almost as if the older Lumet got the slower and lazier the films get, Family Business screeches to a halt. It doesn't do so until after it has given you a little bit of excitement with the heist though. It is hard to define whther the film was a comedy or a drama, or an action/thriller; it did not really live up to any of those.

I wonder how much they paid Luis Guzman to get punched by Dustin Hoffman

Needless to say, the true factor that held this one together was the cast which seemed almost too good for the film except Broderick has completely lost any pizaz he may of had in his earlier years. Connery is always top notch and Hoffman could sell his character without saying a word. With that said I have to recommend the avoidance of this film. Not too often to I have to say steer clear of a film that was not that bad, but this one just had so much potential that it did not tap into. Oh well, maybe next time Lumet will pull it out. Actually, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead had a family in crime and they had to deal with each other so in a way I would say that film completely makes up for this film's lack of delivery on promises made.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 681,288
Sharon Movie? No

Quantum of Solace

2008-11-24T08:19:00.000-05:00

Director: Marc Forster
Writer: Paul Haggis and Neal Purvis
Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller

It has been a while since I have been excited about a James Bond film, but Quantum of Solace did have me excited since it follows the quite impressive Casino Royale. Daniel Craig is a great James bond, but we will never see another Sean Connery so we might as well try to forget that. In spite of that problem, the James Bond franchise continues on with great strength. In fact there are so many that I have lost count and there is some arguments even as to whether one or two of them actually counted as Bond films at all.

The difference with these latest two films those is not just the change of Bond, but the completely different attitude they have taken with the franchise. They have made very strong points about the attitude by even letting Bond order a different drink or act somewhat different (almost rebellious), but then in the end you realize that it is all still very James Bond and you feel at home. As for Quantum of Solace, the only real large complaint I have is the villain. At least in Casino Royale the villain was a little interesting, but this film's villain seemed dry and weak. The film focuses more on Bond's desire for revenge and how one in his position can continue to do his job properly with that emotion running him.

This film is sure to please those that are looking for the non-stop James Bond action that the franchise has become known for. It must be difficult to pack so much action into a film and still carry a recognizable and solid plot. No, I would not say the story really took flight, but it worked well enough and did not come off as lame. The gadgets were toned down a bit in this film however. Bond did not seem to have many gadgets to use and although the computers that they used at British intelligence were quite impressive with the touch and voice manipulated screens, the gadgets I really want to see are the ones in weapons or in the cars and watches. Not so much of that in this film, but more of the brut man to man combat Craig is so good at. It looks great and flows nicely, so don't think I didn't like it, but the one thing that takes the most points of in my book is the villain. Give us a better villain next time.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 742,998
Sharon Movie? Yes

Sydney Lumet: Running on Empty (1988

2008-11-23T14:36:00.002-05:00

Director: Really, is it necessary anymore; ok fine, Sydney Lumet

This is going to be a much less formal review than others in the past. There are two reasons for it. I have very little time and we need to churn out these Lumet reviews fast. Hope the fast reviews to come do not offend.

Sydney Lumet brought back a little of his old school flavor with this one, but it is no Network or Fail-Safe. The story is about a family who is wanted because of terrorist bombings that the mother and father were involved in. Now the family is on the run and the kids have to cope just like the parents. As they start to adjust to a new town fresh out of another one where the feds were close on their tail, they begin to get increasingly worried about the chance of being caught. This strikes the family to make the run again, but the oldest son doesn't want to go. He is involved with a girl and truly wants to live a life rather than always be on the run.

The acting is good in Running on Empty, but there is not a lot to get excited about. What the film really comes down to is the unique storyline of a family on the run. It is interesting to delve into the lives of terrorists who have an organization backing them, but are really just a normal family aside from that fact. They have to live their lives just like everyone else now, but they are having a difficlut time becasue every time they get settled it seems they have to go away again.

The picture quality is not hte greatest and the action is sparse, but the odd hints of emotion that you feel for the family start to press on you as the film progresses. Although I would not call it a great film, I did like it a lot. Don't look for a lot of action or any real mystery, but for a decent drama it was worth the watch.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 700,200
Sharon Movie? No