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Reviews
Samantha: An American Girl Holiday (2004)
Sweet, if a little awkward.
All in all, I was pretty pleased with this adaptation of the six Samantha books. It was not 100% true to the details of the story, but seemed to capture the spirit. The actors were all decent, if a little dramatic, but they were certainly suited to the parts. Uncle Gard and Cornelia, in particular, were exactly how I'd pictured them.
There were a few anachronisms that made the movie seem less well researched than the books -- for example, two of the characters return from Europe in 1904 excited about the "brand new" Impressionist art movement and a fellow called Monet who had some water lilies. That's nice and all, but a couple of decades too late. These things didn't detract from the story, though; I wasn't watching it for historical accuracy, I watched too see if they could effectively capture the magic and personality of the books, and in that, they succeeded. It's a lovely story and will be enjoyed by girls of Samantha's age and readers of the books.
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
Fine, but unsatisfying conclusion
If the first Matrix movie was something entirely original, and the second was all about philosophy, this one was purely an action movie. Plot-wise, I felt like several of the questions posed in Reloaded went unanswered, and that generally it wasn't a satisfying end to the series. I wanted to hear more about what happened to Zion, more about The One, more about the Architect, and so on. This film focused primarily on the machine world, which was so neglected in Reloaded that it felt confusing and surprising in this one on a good day, and contrived on a bad. However, the action sequences were well-done, it was reasonably suspenseful, and if it had been released as a stand-alone action movie, would have been pretty good.
Stone Reader (2002)
a movie for people who love books
I saw The Stone Reader at an advanced screening and thought it was wonderful. Finally, a movie made by someone who understands the magic of books. Moskowitz (sp?) talks a lot about the indication of a good book being that you feel like the author is just sitting there talking to you. It's so true, and what Moskowitz may not realize is that he accomplishes the same thing through his film. It drags in places and the camera work is a bit jumpy, but the content more than makes up for it. Thoroughly enjoyable, I'd recommend it to anyone who's ever loved a book.
Pay It Forward (2000)
Good, but predictable.
For the first twenty minutes, I truly enjoyed 'Pay it Forward'. I love Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt and am learning to like Haley Joel Osment. However, as creative as Kevin Spacey is, 'Pay it Forward' is a chick flick for women who don't like chick flicks. I cried, yes, but was mad at myself for doing it. As soon as the three major characters had been introduced I knew that Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey's characters would have to get together and it ruined the rest of the film for me. It's not *terribly* romanc-y, which saves it from the misfortune of being labelled a chick flick, but the only quality is in the characterization. 'Pay it Forward' gets some credit for continuing to focus on Trevor (Haley Joel Osment) even after it is obvious what is going to happen, and I liked the multiple plot lines. Kevin Spacey is lucky that he was a saving point instead of being dragged down in the plot; he gets lots of gold stars from me on his ability to a) act magnificently and b) portray an enormous variety of characters, including an excellent Mr Simonet; so I apologize to him in saying that the film was a flop.