Change Your Image
Caitlin-7
Reviews
Top Gear USA (2008)
What a let down
I love the original Top Gear because of the presenters, the cars, the Stig, the stunts, the incredible photography, and the enthusiasm in each episode. Top Gear US had cars, and photography, and stunts copied from the original show, but not once did I see or hear any thing remotely approaching enthusiasm. The presenters could have been discussing dog food instead of driving incredible supercars at 180 mph. When Jeremy is doing a power slide in a car that challenges him, the viewer knows it. I watched in dismay while the Viper was driven hard, wheels smoking, and the level of excitement from the driver was zero. Very bad choice of presenters - replace these guys immediately to save this show.
Babel (2006)
How does such mediocrity get 7 Academy Nominations?
There are so many things wrong with this movie that I find it hard to understand the number of positive reviews. This is mediocrity trying to pass as an enlightened film on how we are all connected and the global consequences of our actions. Every parent in this film was beyond irresponsible and should have had their children taken away from them.
I'm suppose to believe that a well-off American couple deserts their also grieving young children to go to Morocco for "alone time" to recover from the Sudden Infant Death of their youngest child (talk about the me generation)? That this couple would leave their kids alone for weeks with the nanny (an illegal immigrant, day care provider)? That's just one of the many far-fetched steps that are used to force this movie along.
The shooting of Cate Blanchet's character was messed up. Where was the continuity manager for the movie? She was sitting on the driver's side of the bus, yet she was shot by a bullet fired from the opposite side of the bus. However, it is shown as if the bullet comes in her side of the window (this is cartoon physics where the bullet magically goes around the object). From the angle that the kid's fired the rifle, the bullet would have gone in the front or the front right. Based on where the bullet came in the bus, the local police should have been looking at the area on the left side of the bus, but they still managed to find the shell casings high on a hill in a large landscape of desert, in just a short time. This can only happen in a movie. She was hurt so badly that her husband, Brad Pitt (in yet another one-two note acting job) that he tried to keep the bus in the small town rather than trying to reach a hospital. Yet she was well enough to talk and move around some before the helicopter finally showed up many hours after she could have been at the hospital. Also, was it because they were Americans that the shooting was tagged immediately as a terrorist event? Would that have been the case if the Australians or Germans on the bus had been shot? This whole setup reeked of "the ugly American".
If one believes the premise of this movie that all the characters are tied together by the rifle, then Chieko's mother, who committed suicide by shooting herself, probably did so with the ill-fated rifle because of incest between the father and daughter (implied in the final scenes of the movie). The father abandon's his daughter in her grief and goes to Morocco to shoot biggame (do they have any in Morocco) and leaves the rifle behind as a gift to his guide precipitating the events that bring all the families together. The guide sells the rifle to his friend for what seems like an extreme amount of money considering the circumstances in which they live.
Once the kids have the rifle, they use it for what are the only believable sections of the movie. They are told to shoot jackals to protect the family's most important possession, the goat herd. Instead, being kids, they start shooting at rocks etc and aim at the bus because they don't believe the bullets can go that far. Then they hide the gun and act like typical kids who have screwed up.
In the mean time, even with the mother having been shot and the father calling and telling the nanny (Amelia) to stay with the kids, she decides to take them to Mexico for her son's wedding in the car driven by her clearly irresponsible nephew. Instead of staying after the wedding for a reasonable time and letting the nephew sober up, they all get back in the car and end up in trouble at the border. Amelia then makes every imaginable mistake, putting herself and the kids in life threatening situations, only to end up deported and no longer able to see the kids she claims (strongly) to the border patrol, that she loves.
This movie was an endless stream of improbable and impossible events meant to garner sympathy from the audience. It failed. Gael Garcia Bernal and Cate Blanchett, both of whom are outstanding actors, were wasted; anyone could have played their parts.
If you want a movie that shows how actions have global consequences see "Syriana". If you want a movie that makes a statement, see "Thank You For Smoking". If you want an Indie film that will make you think, see anything by Charlie Kaufmann.
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
beautiful filmed, but no musical soul
While this film was beautifully filmed with gorgeous sets that really captured the play, the singing was just awful. Go back and listen to the original cast recording to see what I mean. When Michael Crawford sings there is pain, love and a threat. When Michael Crawford sang that Christine would "regret the day you did not do all that the Phantom asked of you" one could feel the threat in those words. When they were sung in this movie, the conviction was so lifeless that the feeling was more of "who cares, were you talking to me?".
I wish that had actually chosen people that could convey meaning along with the music, instead of just singing the songs by rote.
Syriana (2005)
Excellent movie that will leave you thinking
First let me say that I do not understand the critics who have complained about the "mental gymnastics" required to follow this movie. Yes, there are multiple story tracks, but they are not hard to follow at all. It is quite clear when each story line appears, and it is really obvious how they interconnect.
This movie provides insight to the consequences of our dependence on oil, and how that dependence is a spider web reaching everywhere with consequences. Your view point will be challenged no matter what your political persuasion. I think this movie gives a good picture of geopolitical issues, and how there are no simple answers. Even those who think they are doing the right thing, end up doing harm.
The movie made me very angry as there doesn't appear to be anything an individual can do to make a difference. The whole process is controlled by players at levels the general population never come into contact with.