unsolicitedmale
Joined Sep 2004
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unsolicitedmale's rating
Reviews7
unsolicitedmale's rating
Generally, I like this movie. Not a huge fan of Nick Cage most of the time and Matchstick Men is no exception. But he's likable enough once you get over the often-bad acting.
I won't labor the plot - 300+ other reviews do that very well. And I am one of those who actually liked the "big con" twist - and no, I didn't see it coming (I can be plot-dense sometimes LOL!). I retrospect, it's so obvious - but so was Sixth Sense and a lot of people bought that one too.
What really bugs me about this movie are two things:
1. Cage's character is supposedly massively OCD about cleanliness. And yet he is a horribly messy chain smoker. In countless scenes he's flicking ashes on the floor, in the house and car. His car ashtray is overflowing. And everyone comes in his house and comments on how it always smells "clean" from cleaning products.... has anyone ever visited a chain smoker's house? EVERYTHING would be coated with goo that would then be collecting massive dust. And you don't just wipe that away! As a long-ago heavy smoker I can attest to this. No OCD-Cleanliness person would smoke much less chain smoke.
2. I'd have to count, but I'd bet there are only a handful of scenes where someone isn't blatantly smoking. It's so annoying and so unnecessary to the plot. The little girl even is seen smoking, the shrink smokes a pipe, Frank smokes, the big con guy smokes, and they smoke everywhere - Cage even smokes while eating breakfast. The Tobacco industry must be proud of this - either that or Cage (who in fact is a chain smoker) demanded he be able to smoke in every scene or he wouldn't do it.
I'm no radical "anti-smoking" person (typing this from a Casino bar in Vegas in fact LOL!) - but it's such a laughable plot item and clearly not an accident.
But otherwise, I still like the movie
I won't labor the plot - 300+ other reviews do that very well. And I am one of those who actually liked the "big con" twist - and no, I didn't see it coming (I can be plot-dense sometimes LOL!). I retrospect, it's so obvious - but so was Sixth Sense and a lot of people bought that one too.
What really bugs me about this movie are two things:
1. Cage's character is supposedly massively OCD about cleanliness. And yet he is a horribly messy chain smoker. In countless scenes he's flicking ashes on the floor, in the house and car. His car ashtray is overflowing. And everyone comes in his house and comments on how it always smells "clean" from cleaning products.... has anyone ever visited a chain smoker's house? EVERYTHING would be coated with goo that would then be collecting massive dust. And you don't just wipe that away! As a long-ago heavy smoker I can attest to this. No OCD-Cleanliness person would smoke much less chain smoke.
2. I'd have to count, but I'd bet there are only a handful of scenes where someone isn't blatantly smoking. It's so annoying and so unnecessary to the plot. The little girl even is seen smoking, the shrink smokes a pipe, Frank smokes, the big con guy smokes, and they smoke everywhere - Cage even smokes while eating breakfast. The Tobacco industry must be proud of this - either that or Cage (who in fact is a chain smoker) demanded he be able to smoke in every scene or he wouldn't do it.
I'm no radical "anti-smoking" person (typing this from a Casino bar in Vegas in fact LOL!) - but it's such a laughable plot item and clearly not an accident.
But otherwise, I still like the movie
I'm surprised at such a low score for this movie! First, please know that I was born, baptized, and raised Catholic. I've since moved to another religion, but not for any "Catholic hate" reasons at all. So I have a STRONG knowledge of Catholicism. It seems MOST of the negative reviews claim it's "Christian/Catholic bashing"... I would wonder how many of those folks actually WATCHED it or just wrote a review based on a presupposed notion. There is NO Christian bashing at all IMO. Just portraying people such as I've known all my life the way they are, and the portrayal isn't bad in any way, as far as I'm concerned.
Overall it's very balanced - yeah there's a few potshots at Catholics ("I don't have to think... I'm Catholic") but overall, the portrayal is VERY accurate to my Catholic upbringing and those in the faith I know today. Sure, hardly ANY nuns still wear the habit - but it's just little things. By and large the portrayal I thought was fair on ALL SIDES, not only for the Catholics but all the other characters.
I'll be honest and say I FULLY EXPECTED a "Christians are stupid knuckle dragging Neanderthals" flick - I expected to shut it off half way through. Instead, I watched the whole thing and rather enjoyed it.
The movie itself actually plays quite well - Kathleen Turner takes a bit of getting used to because of her very deep, manly voice... but overall, it has a nicely done "indie" feel to it in every way.
No, it's NOT an award contender in any way - some of the acting is rather stiff and forced, the plot is predictable, and there are quite a few clichés and stereotypes. But it's VERY watchable, totally held my attention, was touching in places, and ENJOYABLE to watch right up to the end for me.
Give it a shot - don't let the negative reviews implying it's a "Christian bashing" flick deter you.
Overall it's very balanced - yeah there's a few potshots at Catholics ("I don't have to think... I'm Catholic") but overall, the portrayal is VERY accurate to my Catholic upbringing and those in the faith I know today. Sure, hardly ANY nuns still wear the habit - but it's just little things. By and large the portrayal I thought was fair on ALL SIDES, not only for the Catholics but all the other characters.
I'll be honest and say I FULLY EXPECTED a "Christians are stupid knuckle dragging Neanderthals" flick - I expected to shut it off half way through. Instead, I watched the whole thing and rather enjoyed it.
The movie itself actually plays quite well - Kathleen Turner takes a bit of getting used to because of her very deep, manly voice... but overall, it has a nicely done "indie" feel to it in every way.
No, it's NOT an award contender in any way - some of the acting is rather stiff and forced, the plot is predictable, and there are quite a few clichés and stereotypes. But it's VERY watchable, totally held my attention, was touching in places, and ENJOYABLE to watch right up to the end for me.
Give it a shot - don't let the negative reviews implying it's a "Christian bashing" flick deter you.
I should preface this review by stating that I'm a Ferrari aficionado and own a 1986 Ferrari 328. So I bought this for the same reason I own lots of other Ferrari memorabilia and such - I'm a big fan of all things Ferrari.
I really wanted to love this movie. But on balance, I felt it just falls short of what it could have been. The life of racing icon Enzo Ferrari is told through flashbacks, with an enigmatic journalist being the vehicle to pull the story from Ferrari's past. Visually the movie is quite stunning - cinematography you'd expect from a Spielberg or Cameron film, with many sweeping panoramas and unique camera angles.
But several serious flaws in the end waste much of the beauty of the movie. First is the dramatic soundtrack; it runs almost CONTINUOUSLY. Heavy dramatic violin passages should be reserved for those critical moments of high drama. But instead the strings sigh and cry and emote to such excess that when you finally get to a scene where such drama is warranted, it just sounds like the rest of the film. There are a few moments where the soundtrack ceases, and they actually caught my attention due to the LACK of music for a change.
Secondly is the acting. It's just simply sub-par. Some of the characters (young Dino for example) just make me cringe in embarrassment for the poor acting job. It's almost as if it was considered more important to have actors that LOOKED the part, rather than actors that might be off in historical-visual sense, but had greater skill.
Thirdly, it's just too bloody long! At 215 minutes, it feels more like double that. Many scenes are very slow and many could have simply been left on the cutting room floor to no detriment. (And just as a footnote, the DVD has a very odd menu structure - you will see the credits roll after chapter 12, and most likely do what I did and hit 'stop' and go looking for 'part 2'. Turns out it's just some sort of intermission where it LOOKS like the movie ends. Very strange and annoying - simply bump the chapter button and the movie continues at chapter 13, but none of this is explained - you just get a message saying 'end of Part One' with no explanation of where Part 2 might reside!).
Lastly, if you are wanting to see Ferrari the car, instead of Ferrari the man, this is NOT the movie for you. In the entire film there is probably less than a half hour of footage involving cars! This is very much a biopic trying to explain the inner feelings and turmoils of a famous man; it does not concern itself much with the cars that bear his name. There is still plenty of glimpses (1930s Alfas, Ferrari 125, and a few others - including a 400i and 3x8 near the end of the movie) to satisfy us car guys.
Summary: Beautiful cinematography marred by poor acting and 40 minutes of unneeded plodding story line, Enzo Ferrari is still worth the view if you are a fan of the marque. 3 Stars
I really wanted to love this movie. But on balance, I felt it just falls short of what it could have been. The life of racing icon Enzo Ferrari is told through flashbacks, with an enigmatic journalist being the vehicle to pull the story from Ferrari's past. Visually the movie is quite stunning - cinematography you'd expect from a Spielberg or Cameron film, with many sweeping panoramas and unique camera angles.
But several serious flaws in the end waste much of the beauty of the movie. First is the dramatic soundtrack; it runs almost CONTINUOUSLY. Heavy dramatic violin passages should be reserved for those critical moments of high drama. But instead the strings sigh and cry and emote to such excess that when you finally get to a scene where such drama is warranted, it just sounds like the rest of the film. There are a few moments where the soundtrack ceases, and they actually caught my attention due to the LACK of music for a change.
Secondly is the acting. It's just simply sub-par. Some of the characters (young Dino for example) just make me cringe in embarrassment for the poor acting job. It's almost as if it was considered more important to have actors that LOOKED the part, rather than actors that might be off in historical-visual sense, but had greater skill.
Thirdly, it's just too bloody long! At 215 minutes, it feels more like double that. Many scenes are very slow and many could have simply been left on the cutting room floor to no detriment. (And just as a footnote, the DVD has a very odd menu structure - you will see the credits roll after chapter 12, and most likely do what I did and hit 'stop' and go looking for 'part 2'. Turns out it's just some sort of intermission where it LOOKS like the movie ends. Very strange and annoying - simply bump the chapter button and the movie continues at chapter 13, but none of this is explained - you just get a message saying 'end of Part One' with no explanation of where Part 2 might reside!).
Lastly, if you are wanting to see Ferrari the car, instead of Ferrari the man, this is NOT the movie for you. In the entire film there is probably less than a half hour of footage involving cars! This is very much a biopic trying to explain the inner feelings and turmoils of a famous man; it does not concern itself much with the cars that bear his name. There is still plenty of glimpses (1930s Alfas, Ferrari 125, and a few others - including a 400i and 3x8 near the end of the movie) to satisfy us car guys.
Summary: Beautiful cinematography marred by poor acting and 40 minutes of unneeded plodding story line, Enzo Ferrari is still worth the view if you are a fan of the marque. 3 Stars