pinstripe's reviews

American Boyfriends is a film that is easily forgotten, which is a sad but true aspect of a lot of films that viewers entail. The problem here is that there is just nothing to keep the viewer into the film, and make them stay completely raptured.

The story consists of a young Canadian girl named Sandy (Margaret Langrick) from Penticton who moves to the Coast to pursue her studies at Simon Fraser University. She soon meets her new "best friend" Lizzie (Delia Breit), and the two hit it off quite quickly. Soon enough, Sandy's friends from home come to visit, also making stops to search for wedding dresses for one of the girls. Before you know it, all four of the girls are off to Portland to visit Sandy's cousin Butch's wedding. The rest is just pure spontaneity, and seems a bit far fetched of what two fresh university students would do, but the preposterousness was probably intended by the director.

Don't get me wrong: American Boyfriends is not a bad film, it's just not great. The acting is decent, the storyline is a bit lacking, but in general, it's just one of those films you probably won't remember you watched until you begin to watch it again.

I walked into this film with an open mind, knowing t hat I had disliked the original, but doing my best to try to receive this film with some sort of praise, or at least a neutral attitude.

That was all hard to do, once the film opened to the dumbing visuals of screeching tires, and hoochie girls. I think that's what bothered me so much about this film: the fact that my mind not only wasn't being challenged, but that I was watching a cheap showcase of "hot bods" and pretty cars, all played over the backdrop of nice scenery, all the while trying to distract the viewer that there is no plot!

I must admit that the step up from the original was that there wasn't so much blatant product placement, which was certainly a sigh of relief. But the fact that a movie is less corporate than another film is hardly enough to call it good, or even tolerable.

It's hard to count how many times I let out a cringe or a sigh of idiocy during my time with 2 Fast 2 Furious. I think the whole scenario can be summed up with Tyrese's brilliant line, "that's some artistic sh*t!" Well, said, for a man who rips off his shirt to show his rippling biceps, and punches a window out of a car, before testing the door handle.

For old time's sake: ugh.

i spoil this horrible movie:

A Jim Carrey movie seems to follow the same plot, in four cases out of five [much like an Adam Sandler film.] However, I thought I would give Mr. Carrey a chance in Bruce Almighty, and see if the situation had changed at all.

No. This film is just as redundant and drought-out as many Carrey films before it. Clearly, his best work is in The Cable Guy or The Mask, and anything beyond those are just a number in the mass volume collection of which is the Jim Carrey Nightmare Series.

The plot basically consists of something I could have dreamed up for a grade two work of fiction. Bruce Nolan [Carrey] is having a rough time with life, and starts cursing God over and over, until he receives a magical invitation from the big man himself, to attend a visit. When Nolan goes to meet God [played by Morgan Freeman, and probably the only tolerable part of the film], he is given all the Heavenly and magical powers and told to do a "better job" than God himself.

As for the rest of the movie, it's a no brainer. From Carrey's un-charismatic relationship with his wife [Jennifer Aniston] to adventures with his work environment, the entire plot just follows cue to Carrey's other movies. The only difference is that this time he is playing God, opposed to a pet detective or a constant liar. But the staple of this [and all other Carrey movies] seems to be the never-ending quota of corny gags, boring jokes, and childlike funny faces, all of which had me begging the real god for that hour and a half of my life back.

The Matrix is another one of those big name movies that caused a stir in the social scene, and it's only with good reason.

I'm not sure that I fully understand what went on in The Matrix, but I will do my best to decipher my thoughts on this insanely complicated film. Keanu Reeves plays Neo, a middle-aged man living a "double life" of an office worker, and a secret agent, or... something.

Eventually, Reeves goes through a brief inititation and joins a team of many who work on "The Matrix," which is an interesting sort of sub-world where the human mind plays and lives on a variety of thought-generated backgrounds.

The actual concept of the movie was far more interesting than the characters or the scenarios presented. It was lucky that the movie had such a great soundtrack, though, which I feel saved the film.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Jingle All the Way is a pure, solid chance to explore the raw stupidity of a cheesy Holiday picture. Arnold plays Howie Langston, but it doesn't really matter anyway because he's just "Arnold," like all of his other films. In either case, he plays the father of Jamie (Jake Lloyd), a young boy who feels disconnected with his dad. To further complicate things, neighbour Ted (the fabulous Phil Hartman) is pushing his way in to get cozy with the wife, Liz (Rita Wilson.) With things amock at home, Arnold does his best to master his son's needs in the best way possible: buying him a materialistic possession! Of course, the tricky part is that it's Christmas Eve, and Arnold is yet to pick up the Turbo Man action figure that Liz advised him to do weeks ago.

So off he goes, into the wonderful world of last-minute Christmas shopping, and predictably finds himself in store for a series of crazy gags, laughs, and scenarios. All the while, Liz is at home being swooned by Ted, who, recently-divorced has bought his son the Turbo Man on time, of course.

Insert villian here: Everyone's second-favourite [next to Carrot Top] semi-washed up 90's comedian, Sinbad! Sinbad plays the role of a disgruntled, confused postman who also wants to snag himself one of these sought after toys to buy his own son's love. Sinbad goes back and forth with befriending/helping Arnold, and then turning his back on him when an opportunity [or faulty opportunity] to snag a Turbo Man comes along.

The ending is predictable [like the rest of the movie], but for some reason, through all the horrible aspects of this movie, it was undoubtedly enjoyable. I laughed the whole way through, and I couldn't even decide if I was laughing with the characters, or at them. Either way, I would definately watch this film again, due to its pure insane humour and unstoppable comic perks.

Ten Things I Hate About You tracks down a very simplistic storyline and blends it with semi-cheap humour on the quest for, what all teen movies search for, love and lust. In an effort to date the girl of his dreams, a young school boy has to make a plan in which to be able to date her. First he begins learning French and starts tutoring her in a subject he's hardly great at himself.

The girl's older sister, an angst-ridden, femme-rock loving, bitter girl hasn't dated for years. The two girls' father tells the youngest that when her sister dates, she can begin doing it herself. Next thing you know, the almighty head-over-heels boy starts a scheme in which to hook the older sister up so that he can make his move.

The movie is entirely predictable and cliche, and, other than an appeareance at the high school prom by Save Ferris, is highly worth missing. So much of this movie is just filler, and it's just another reason why teen films are mocked in today's movie world.

Goodbye Lover is another run of the mill film about lust and betrayal. A man (Don Johnson) sleeps with his brother's wife (Patricia Arquette), and soon the brother (Dermot Mulroney) finds out about it. Soon enough, people are being murdered "accidentally" left right and centre. A detective (Ellen DeGeneres) finds herself enthralled in the case, and soon enough the whole movie falls apart after a could-be intriguing intro.

The movie is intensely artificial and beaten to a pulp. Just when you think the movie might end, another lame plot twist is thrown at you, but it's always something which has been done before.

I didn't despise this movie. The acting was decent, thought at times a bit corny and fraudulent. As for a fresh and innovative script, you'll have to search for somewhere else.

The early to mid 1990s produced countless films in relation to the romantic spectrum, and I was expecting The Daytrippers to be another one of them. Whereas I found the "comedy" portion of the movie to be misleading, I still found it to be a worthwhile and decent film. Not all movies need to be entirely deep or philisophical, and this one was a nice change to a lot of what I've seen lately.

Eliza Eliza D'Amico (Hope Davis) is walking through her bedroom one morning when she stumbles on a curious love note scribed to her husband. Wanting to get to the bottom of it, she brings the note to the attention of her parents, sister, and the sister's boyfriend Carl.

Collectively, they travel to New York for the day to investigate.

Along the way, Carl (Liev Schreiber) tells the family all about his "Dr. Seuss for adults" novel he's writing, and the mother (Anne Meara) eats her heart out as his intellectual merryment. Eventually, of course, all havoc breaks loose, as everyone's nerves are wrought by each other, and the trip turns into an explosive dramatic result.

The Daytrippers is an actually interesting movie in that it isn't 100% predictable, and leaves a little bit to the audience's guessing with the hanger ending. The weakest faults of the movie are that some of the scenes are entirely pointless, and the film is so short that it seems they tried to fill it with a bit of crap to lengthen it. Otherwise, the film has a lot of interesting little plotlines which could easily produce better spin-offs.

Kubrick's Clockwork Orange is a film that if you haven't seen, you've likely heard of in passing. It's a feat worthy of recognition, as Clockwork Orange is a true work of art in completion, and the process by which it has been made. Though the film is uncannily dark and sadistic, playing humour on the farces and violent assaults caused by a group of teen boys, Kubrick is able to show such situational acts and not come off as a pretentious, violent creep. The film's protagonist, Alex De Large (Malcolm McDowell) is a very simple creature, but comes off in a complex manner. He enjoys raping random women with his crew of cronies, but covers it up by listening to some Beethoven when arriving at his parents' home at the end of the day. The words "ultra violent" keep arising throughout the film, laying out Alex's pleasures to speech, showing he not only knows his actions are legally and morally wrong, but that he gets off on that fact. The film concentrates more on Alex than his other friends, and takes him on the route of a misguided spiritual journey, and back again. But all along, it's hard to wonder what his intentions and mindset. I didn't feel attached to him as a character, but felt more intrigued by the freak-gallery instinct taken on as a viewer, and voyeur. The entire film, though dark and suspicious, is pitted with the backdrop of intensely curious music, both classical and off-beat neo-synth. The soundtrack may be the ultimate strength of the film, highlighting Alex's traumas and dramas with a very emotional sensation which backs up a moderately well-made film.

If the British Columbia film industry has any doubts, I'd say that Last Wedding is a good reason to realize we're moving in the right direction. Director Bruce Sweeney brings his own script to life with a cast of fairly unknown actors [something I find refreshing from the blockbuster Hollywood-isms of today's movie scene.] The story details not only the lives of Noah and Zipporah, a new couple to be wed, but also gives the accounts of two related couples, and the suffering and activities which take them through the course of the film.

The actual depth explored isn't uncannily dynamic, but the topic matter, though tired and constantly overdone, is not forced here. The lives and events in Last Wedding are realistic, and not over-dramatized, but sometimes come off as a little awry. The main point, though, is that they are humourous, and that is all which seems to matter in this film.

Last Wedding ends rather abruptly, but it didn't really bother me. I had seen all I needed to, and if the film went on, it may have turned a little cliche. I think the BC Industry gets props here, and certainly proves point that you don't need big names for an interesting and fun film.