magnumpi82 Reviews

You Can Count on Me (2000)

great character piece

[30 March 2001]

wow, i just saw this film yesterday and i absolutely fell in love with it. first, the performances are specracular. just sitting back and watching the three main characters be themselves is just goddamn great. the character are just so damn unspectacular and just very real. damn. the script was just really really great. there really isn't much story here since this is a character driven movie. so many great exchanges in this film. i dunno, i just really wish people would see films like this rather than all that hollywood schlock. damn i love it. it's not perfect. people complain that its not very cinematic. so what. Ken Lonergan is a writer and it's his first time out of the box. nobody complains about david mamet's lack of camerawork. i dunno, im really rambling here, but the fact is this is a fine acheivement. its funny, its touching, its about families. i really don't know what to say, just see this please.

Two Girls and a Guy (1997)

"call me daddy, call me daddy"

[12 January 2001]

ok this is probably not a great film. the ending doesnt really work, the chemistry may not be perfect, the scripts is not the greatest but at least robert downey jr is great. he's just so perfect for this role. long improvised takes. spectacular. hes just such a b******t artist, such a liar, which is really what makes this film great. the fact is he just made me laugh and laugh. just brilliant. also ive been a huge heather graham fan since boogie nights, so i dug her as well. natasha gregson wagner was just really cute and funny and great. its not perfect but who cares. it was written in 4 days and shot in 12. thats really whats so great about this film, its a knock off script. its not well thought out, or well scripted so they're gave it to these great actors and they just kinda went with it. see it because robert downey jr is superbly funny and a really really great actor.

Trouble Man (1972)

good soundtrack...out of print?

[4 December 2000]

i found the soundtrack to this film in the bargain bin at my local record store. it is spectacular. all songs are by marvin gaye. if nothing else i want to see this film for its soundtrack. i am also a big blaxploitation fan (coffy and black caesar, esp.). from the looks of it, this film is out of print.

American Pimp (1999)

see this movie, or get pimp slapped, sucka

[6 October 2000]

if you are a fan of blaxploitation films, american pimp is a must. it's got all the style and pimp ass swagger of all of those films, and on top of that it's hilarious (think ike turner). to top it all off it has about as good a pimpin soundtrack as there is with james brown "the boss" one of my favorite songs. while i don't think this film if perfect or works on every level (the white pimp?), it surely did not deserve the lashing it received at the hands of many critics. this was the most entertaining hour and a half so far this year. preferable to all of the condescending bull**** that hollywood puts out each year about black people (can you say green mile? how bout remember the titans?) well thats a whole other story. please see this film, it will entertain and enlighten you to what it means to be a real pimp.

8/10

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

top 250 = a conspiracy of 13 year old boys

[6/10 · 6 October 2000]

granted this movie did have it's laughs even if they were all dick and fart jokes, it has no business being listed among the top 250 films of all time. hey, im as big fan of dick and fart jokes as the next guy, but this film being in the top 250 is like gving pauly shore a lifetime achievement award. (side note: there may be a conspiracy of 13 year old boys who have joined forces to put this film up there) this is just throwaway entertainment and i could name many many better movies (rushmore, fast times, jfk, dawn of the dead, out of sight, not including a slew of foreign films that dont get recognition among imdb users) that are not listed among the tops on the imdb list. please, someone at imdb must have some kind of veto to make sure this cant happen.

6/10, maybe if i was a 6th grader

The Godfather Part III (1990)

SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MADE

[2 October 2000]

SPOILER ALERT while i don't think that this movie deserves to be panned as much as it has been (critics and fans both) it fails to live up to the greatness of the first two. over the past week i have watch the entire trilogy. and you know the drill: part I, one of the greatest of all time; part II a notch below, but still a spectacular film; and part III the one everybody hates (including me).

the fact is part III should not have been made. it seems to me that coppola was struggling after being forced to make a lot of throwaway c**p in the 80s (peggy sue, tucker, blah...blah...) after apocalypse now disaster pretty much ruined him. he wanted to revive his career with the franchise that made him a legend of the cinema.

everything that worked in the first two (de niro, brando, du vall, even john cazale) is just not there in the third installment. tom hagen, one of the most important people the family, was just discarded (robert duvall knew part III was a bad idea). who do they replace him with? george hamilton? what the hell is george hamilton doing in a godfather film? for god sakes, he should be off woking on that tan. ridiculous. and casting his daughter sofia coppola as mary. she was god awful in the role. i mean she butchered every scene she was in. and mary's whole incestuous relationship with vinny. i could not understand her character at all. thats your cousin for god sakes. (also how did she get that huge nose? michael nor kay have a huge nose). i did enjoy andy garcia who plays hot headed heir very nicely. pacino is pacino, spectacular as always. but i could not understand they did not kill him in the end. its a gangser movie for god sakes, (damn you, coppola!), and in the end the gangster is supposed to die, not his nasty, big nosed daughter who we do not care about at all.

i really dont even consider this part of the franchise. it's showing daily down in sequel hell (say hi to speed 2 for me). i mean really. the fact is that this was really a bad movie by itself, and a disgrace if viewed as part of the franchise. im finished trashing this movie.

5/10, only for those who love pacino "i thought i was out, but THEY PULLED ME BACK IN!"

Road Trip (2000)

Good old-fashioned movie fun

[7/10 · 21 May 2000]

While Road Trip is nothing groundbreaking in the movie world, no one really expected it to be. You have to appreciate this movie for what it is: a mindless little comedy. Once you've thrown you're expectations out the window, what you'll get is an hour and half of solid laughs. When you boil it down to it, it's basically just a series of gags, strung together with a very weak plot structure. But who cares, for all its shortcomings, there are moments you will be laughing too hard to even notice. Stand out scenes include an uncomfortable encounter at an all-black fraternity and the unforgettable sperm bank hijinx (I am curious if that practice is endorsed by the medical world). Green is his expected eccentric self, although his screen time is very minimal. (His experimentation with certain rodents would make even Richard Gere proud.) And as for Sean William Scott, it seems as if he'll be typecast as Stiffler for the rest of his career, which is not all bad. All in all the movie delivers with laughs throughout making it a worthwhile experience. It is exactly what a movie of this nature should be. 3 out of 5 stars.

Shoot the Piano Player (1960)

this film has got style

[8/10 · 15 April 2000]

what i enjoyed most about this film was the creative camerawork and editing. My favorites were the triple take of the mans finger going to ring the doorbell and the insertion of the kidnappers mother dropping dead after he swears on his mother, very funny stuff. overall a good picture with outstanding use of cinemaography and editing.

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

a 50s sci-fi gem

[8/10 · 15 April 2000]

Wow. This was one of the most entertaining films that I have seen in a long time. I did not expect much, but this film delivered with good old fashioned entertainment. This is perhaps the best sci-fi picture to come out of the 50s. So many scenes that stick in your mind including near deadly confrontations with a cat, a shoe and a final showdown with a tarantula. But the great thing about it is that the story is actually well-written and developed. This movie is so inventive. I thought it was cool to see everyday objects like pencils and matchboxes taking on epic proportions. This film is totally enjoyable and very compact at 87 min. If you can find a copy of this movie, by all means rent it!

Why cant they make movies like this anymore? I would rather watch this than some of the awful science fiction movies that are put out today.