Snapvine's Talk

Because I Said So

i saw this in america, and now realise why trash like this gets made, all the couples came out oviously well off married couples, and they laughed silly at the situations diane keaton and annoying daughters got up to, shes so irratating here, the same keaton from classic woody allen films and the godfather, theres no good roles for older women, yea heres why, all the usual bre romantic comedy tricks come out here, diecting and writing by numbers, then theres the dauighter seeing two guys at same time, and when shes caught...oh poor her. oh and when she gets up with daughters and start dancing and singing in front of crowd(a tradition aparently) i wanted to throw up on married couple in front who were clapping and laughing uncontrollebly, please, life isnt like this is it, dont avoid i want you to see how crap this really is, put this there with love actually

Jersey Girl

smith does something diferent, looses jay and silent bob, goes all serious, and grown up, and i like it, a lot of peoople dont, mostly jay and silent bob fans, who are there for them only, but this proves to me smith can be serious, and even thugh mallrats smith pops up now and again, it certainly works, afleck holds his own, and enifer lopez in early scenes, this did come out after gigly, which was a disaster, so maybe smiths dislike for this stems from that, and the kid in film is really good as well, also unlike other smith films this film looks great, smith never fincher or spielberg when it came to cinematography, but here he at leasts trys, so a good effort, and something i want smith to try more often

Mallrats

smith gets courted by big studio universal for follow up to clerks, although smith has problems with it, its another great piece from him, a great look at mall culture, all smiths wit is here, and a revelation from jason lee, a star was discovered here, hes superb, and continuing with chasing amy where he again shows gret potential, jay and silent bob get there own plot going here, something that smith oviously likes to see, and that may be wesakest link here, or the whole love dating show at end, but other than that pretty good, as usual its smiths observations and references which win out, and of course shannon doherty, getting a role as well

Dogma

smith goes religious, and what a fuss it caused, im not religious, so dident get it all, but as a film, its certainly entertaining, damon and afleck are fallen angels, seeking havoc on earth, and its up to linda fiortino, and friends to stop them includind salma hayak, chris rock and of course jay and silent bob, a very funny look at religion, which has some great moments, which really rattle the cage, but is also so stupid, no one can really take it seriously, as many did, theres a pooop monsterb trying to kill people, so come on, matt and efleck com,e out well adding weight to project, wile jay and bob keep it light, as ever smiths wit is intact, and some great things going on, especially for smith fans, non smith fans may turn there nose up, and possibly get ofended, but go with it, its certainly the best smith after chasing amy and clerks

Clerks

kevin smith debut, and a low budget film making class for all film makers, shot at conveniance store where he was working at time, and in gainy black and white, we see the life of 2 slackers in 24 hours, smith with his script perfectly captures a friendship with the two guys, in a witty and honest looki, this film is hilarious, from small observations of annoying customers to sexuall references, its spot on, its budget ads to setting, and great pacing cramming in running time with all manner of things, the best being any starwars references, which would become a smith trademark, and of course jay and silent bob were born, love them or hate them they were here to stay. this was a very promising start to a great career for smith, following up with exelent and possibly better chasing amy, and of course clerks sequel clerks 2, although not classic, certainly a good sequel, so check out clerks, it may not look great, smith is no david fincher, but a great script makes this a winner

Auf der Anderen Seite (The Edge of Heaven) (On the Other Side)

Everythin that Babel, Crash and Amores Perros wanted to do and more! Precise and completely serious - very few films can maintain such interest. More existential than political, this movie warns against alienation in globalisation through the human need for emotional closure. It's exaggerated, it's clever and absolutely (put in pretentious film critic adjective here)!

The Man Who Knew Too Little

a underated little seen classic. murrey is a american in london to meet his brother, but his brother needs to get rid of him, for the night and aranges plans, while hes mistaken for a american assassin, andvarious people try to kill him, while he trys to solve mystery, as he thinks his brohter has signed him up for role play game, now heres the genius, while he thinks hes in a game, the atempts on life and crime are very real, and its great, to watch murrey do his thing, joking around as clues are found, and sighing loudly at lazyness of it all, great when he meets real criminals, and of course hes thinking there actors, think inspector gadget meets inspector clousau. of course crime plot is not much, but like groundhog day, its the murrey show, arguably hes never been better, true ghostbusters and groundhog day are clasics, but for a murrey perfrmance its there, also check out another..what about bob.

Elephant

gus van sant, directs a story that seems not to add up to much, but i think tells a lot, a day in the life of high school before a school shooting, and various kids events of day, long takes minimul dialogue, in a way a companion piece to gerry, long takes of kids walking corridors, not doing much, but for me, and considering what day was leading up to, wuite a reasonable, way to look at day, and a realistic one, it will enrage many, peple want clear answers, and this doesent give them, just a glimpse at what happens, and who would go out and commmite a murder like this, inspired by the columbine schol shootings, one of many films to tackle subject , from films to tv movies to documenterys like michael moore, so what is the elephant, who knows, but im thinking

I Am Legend

this is good, it really captures sence of lonelyness, of smiths charactor, a great setting in newyork manhatten, and a sence of dread, smith and dog for most part, suit and are great to watch, theres even some great sequences throughout, but what takes a star away is c.g.i. charactors, again showing when there good there very good,m but here there bad, some scenes, it gets away with it, but mostly they fail, and they do end up being big part of film, so in end a good big budget winter blockbuster

Paranoid Park

a highschool skater boy, dreams of hanging out at paranoid park a skater park, where the good skaters go, cut to highschool and he is called in by a detective to go over his story of where he was on a certain night, we then see him writing and nnarrating his last few days and the events that leaded up to the meeting, a death, on railway tracks, which evidence suggests a skater may have did it, from here we flash back and fourth between events and what could have happend that night, another film from gus van sant, dealing with teen angst and death, and close to his films like gerry and elephant, but much more narrative, a realkly interesting lok at a highschool kid and his problems, in daniel liu, a suberb performance is discovered, he really captures a teen going through emotions, and just general teen problems, the direction is superb, vvery dreamlike, and showing many elements of elephant, some long takes with dreamlike music, certain music cues are classic, and remind me of looney tunes or a john waters film, great soundtrack, and some great performances all round, and check out voiceover, hes really captured a kid reading out his thoughts rather than a faultless read, which makes sence, as charactor is reading his own words, so overall a great indie effort

Jan Dara

If you thought Nicole Kidman with that kid in the tub back in Birth was bad, then you ought to see this film. I really do wonder about what they tell the kids when they shoot the scenes. As for the film - errr... watch it for Christy Chung's romps I guess.

Moliere (Moliere ou Le comedien malgre lui)

Don't know fuckall about the man but this movie turned out pretty interestin unlike how I usually find contemporary mainstream French comedies which are always rife with language-specific humour. Watch out for the "horseplay" scene - absolutely fabulous! And oh, Laura Morante is lookin more delicious than ever!

The Matador

kinneer and brosnan are great as double team. when kinneers business plans go to ruin, a chhance meeting with hitman brosman reverses fortunes, the few days they spend together, teaches him a lot, months later, brossnan who is loosing his edge, tracks down now sucessful business man kinneer to get help with a latest hit he has to do,kinneer gets into situation, and both go about there task, a great edgy indie comedy using talents of both men, doesent outstay welcome and is quite short considering, but well paced and some great comedy moments froom pair

Seraphim Falls

liam neeson chases pierce brosnan, across the west in this nice little effort for a western, his motives arnt known for most of the film, and as we follow the two lives, we wonder what could be the reason, various atempts are made to capture, and in some cases, they suceed, but brosnan eludes them, unlike 3,10 to yuma also this year, its a chase movie, where yuma was basically a prisoner being escorted, and the tension, is about right, some neat set pieces, and a cold harsh winter look turning into a great looking heat soaked setting, in 2nd half, both leads are good, brosnan standing out more, really getting away from bond, and neilson, reliable, so along with 3,10 and exellent assanation of jesse james by coward robert ford, a great year for the western

Bullets Over Broadway

cusack channels woody allen,in this tale of theatre writer played by cusack, who gets it coming from all corners, mob, theatre owners and a much oler actress, all n fine form, which is expected from woody allen, and as usual script is uperb, he knows this time period well, a stand out is chazz palamterri as mobster sent to baby sit actree in play, and ends up literally re writing cusacks script as e has a natural gift for it, superb situations jst like that one, entertain throughout nd yet again proves allens inportant role in film writin

Triangle (Tie saam gok)

Amazin - Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam & Johnny To takes turns to direct a movie with no right of ever existin and yet pullin it off. It's full with surprises and keeps you interested throughout! Good actin and strong storytellin never made a bad film. Simon Yam still got it!

The Fly

gory remake of 50s classic, and perfectly translanted to 80s america, with goldblum perfectly cast as odd scientist, on verge of scientific brakethrough, as he foolisly rushes forward, he doesent count on his transportation machine, not working in way he expects when a fly transports with him, and merges as one, from there he quickly transforms into a fly, taking on charactoristics , as weeks go by, and with love interest played by geena davis, pregnant, what is he to do, alng with other remake the thing, special efects are at cutting edge, no c.g.i, just great puppet work and make up, and with david cronenberg directing, it delves yet again in bodily functions, a theme of his, so a perfect choice, great 2nd half when hes transforming, great use of acting and make up and nicely paced, goldblum really captures a man tormented by his transformation, beware of sequel fly 2, concerning the unborn baby in this film, not that great

Police Academy

classic 80s comedy and certainly best of 7 films, displaying all the elements that made comedys of that period either great or really bad, a childhood fav here, and watching it all grown up its funny to see jokes i dident get, quite sexual. As any one can train to be a cop, all the oddballs turn out, and hijinx insue, guttenberg has never been better, well thats not saying much is it, as recruit trying anything to get thrown out, and some great charactors, tackleberry, the gun loving tough guy, jones, the amazing voice, and in commadant lassard a true classic charactor, think leslie nielson,, he could played this, and many others. great comedy moments, and still holds up today,