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M
made
director: jon favreau
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| Very funny movie about two awful boxers who become bagmen for the mob with disastrous results. While the story is really nothing new the best part of this film is the relationship between the two boxers, who play characters somewhat similar to those they played in “Swingers”. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
July 2001 [link] |
recommend
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magnolia
director: paul thomas anderson
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| I was immediately pulled in by this epic which covers the lives of several people in the Valley during one odd, tumultuous day. While Magnolia doesn't always work (at 3 hours 15 min, I think I can forgive a few scenes which don't pan out) overall it is a beautifully filmed, written, and acted story of isolation, pain, and ultimately hope….it's one of the best things I've seen in a while. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
July 2000 [link] |
recommend
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malibu's most wanted
director: john whitesell
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| My neighborhood theatre projected the first few minutes of MMW without sound, which was irritating enough, but once they finally corrected the problem, the movie got much, much, much, much, much, much worse. Stephen Hawking would walk out of this movie. |
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reviewed by: matthewS |
April 2003 [link] |
recommend
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man on the moon
director: milos forman
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| Jim Carrey delivers a two hour imitation of late comedian Andy Kaufman in a film which doesn't have a lot to say. It feels like you're watching a series of loosely related skits strung together leading up to a whole lot of nothing. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
July 2000 [link] |
recommend
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man on the train
director: patrice leconte
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| In this smart, meditative, odd and charming film; an ancient, eccentric and lonesome professor befriends an aging, laconic, and tired bankrobber. They have many adventures together, including eating baguettes and drinking wine, gunfire, and the transmigration of souls. |
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reviewed by: john ball |
May 2003 [link] |
recommend
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man who wasn't there, the
director: joel coen
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| Any film that has opening credits casting a shadow on the barbershop in the background is okay in my book. Just how Billy Bob Thornton manages to dangle that cigarette from his lower lip for nearly two hours is just the tip of the iceberg in this beautiful piece of work. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
November 2001 [link] |
recommend
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manchurian candidate
director: jonathan demme
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Sure, the mood is entirely different from the Frankenheimer classic (sinister replaces satirical and Corporation replaces Communist) but this engrossing remake offers up plenty of new twists and turns to keep fans of the original guessing. For my second sentence I just wanna say that A) musician Robyn Hitchcock is a most interesting casting pick, and B) the score is creepy as hell, with (caution: music dork terms ahead) a simple yet effective two-note motif and cello glissandos that give you (or at least ME) the willies...
...and they STILL come up with a way to make Shaw get in the cold water! |
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reviewed by: eric w |
August 2004 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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master and commander: the far side of the world
director: peter weir
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| This is a fun movie- the Brits take on Napoleon's forces at sea, kind of "A Perfect Storm" meets "HMS Pinafore" meets "The Patriot" (just for the grisly close range fighting). The HMS Surprise is a magnificent display of sails, ropes, and pulleys, with spacious rooms for on-board tea time and plaintive violin-playing; Russell Crowe was the able commander of the cast of craggly mates, loutish deck hands, loser aristocrats, and cute young boy aristocrat commanders-in-training; and you'll end up rooting for the Brits to beat those bloody French. |
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reviewed by: robin |
November 2003 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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matrix revolutions
director: the wachowski brothers
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| The review could easily be one sentence – and that one sentence would be: this was much better than Matrix 2. The final (?!) installment of the Matrix series, while not a great film was less sappy, no rave montages, plenty of cool fight scenes with lots shooting and jumping around, and the digital effects were good without being over the top. |
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reviewed by: rich |
November 2003 [link] |
recommend
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matrix: reloaded
director: the wachowski brothers
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How the mighty have fallen! If V.I. Warshawski's brothers are going to keep making video games from the spare parts of great movies, I'd like to play Lawrence of Arabia: Reloaded next.
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reviewed by: matthewS |
May 2003 [link] |
recommend
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max
director: menno meyjes
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| John Cusack is Max Rothman, a Jewish art dealer who takes an interest in would-be painter (and fellow WWI veteran) Adolf Hitler. Meyjes's film is thoughtfully speculative until its final ten minutes, when it abandons its meditations on the personal and political fallout of the first World War in favor of a gimmick better suited to MARVEL COMICS' WHAT IF? title: six million would have been spared if Hitler hadn't missed that one appointment! |
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reviewed by: matthewS |
August 2003 [link] |
recommend
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me, myself & irene
director: bobby & peter farrelly
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| Fellow Rhode Islanders the brothers Farrelly deliver another entertaining slice of gross-out comedy, only problem is things seemed a little more forced this time around. Watching this movie I got the impression that it wasn't as funny as it should have been and that everyone involved was trying way too hard to be shocking…. however if you like your albino humor and poop humor in one film (and I know I do), then there is something here for you. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
July 2000 [link] |
recommend
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meet the parents
director: jay roach
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| An enjoyable little movie highlighting the comedic stylings of Ben Stiller and Bobby D. Hell, I'm hard pressed not to enjoy any movie where character tells another to shut their pie-hole. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
November 2000 [link] |
recommend
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memento
director: christopher nolan
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| This film rises above it's gimmicky device to be one of the best films I have seen in the past year. Suspense, plot twists, and unlikely humor abound in this terrific film noir about a man with short term memory searching for his wife's killer... I really loved this movie. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
March 2001 [link] |
recommend
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minority report
director: steven spielberg
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| Spielberg has embraced the darkside we've suspected was there all along. This is a great sci-fi film which proudly flaunts it's film noir influences; I still don't think traffic will be moving as freely in 50 years as this film would have us believe. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
June 2002 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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mission impossible 2
director: john woo
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| This is a sad case of been there-seen that and unfortunately it just isn't all that fun anymore. Tom Cruise primps his way (in slow motion no less, I swear this movie is only an hour long, but they run it at half speed so we can spend more time ogling Tom) through this weak-assed steaming pile of a movie which steals from "The Matrix", "Notorious", not to mention the original Mission Impossible movie (I mean he did the hanging in mid-air thing again), it's high time for John Woo to purchase another bag of tricks and go see what Chow Yun-Fat is up to. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
July 2000 [link] |
recommend
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monsoon wedding
director: mira nair
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| A delightful, fun, sweet, and visually intoxicating story involving the coming together of two families for a wedding in New Delhi, India. Wonderfully shot with amazing performances from an ensemble cast – go see it now. |
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reviewed by: rich |
April 2002 [link] |
recommend
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mr. deeds
director: steven brill
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| The new Adam Sandler movie is one of those ‘nothing you haven't seen before / nothing you can't figure out from the get-go’, and stars Sandler as the same almost child-like small town boy with a heart of gold that he has played before, except this time he punches people – but it’s good punching, not bad. It’s not a total waste - there are a few interesting characters with enough interesting quirks (as well as some flyin' cats) that makes this one at least worth a matinee or rental showing. |
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reviewed by: eric w |
June 2002 [link] |
recommend
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mulholland drive
director: david lynch
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| This is a great film, a masterpiece of nightmare logic; taking some ideas from Lost Highway, Eraserhead, and even Ronnie Rocket (only a script). This is definitely one of Lynch's finest efforts and just when you think you've got a handle on things it all goes screwy again. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
October 2001 [link] |
recommend
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my best fiend
director: werner herzog
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| This documentary, a love/hate letter from director Herzog to his leading man/nutcase Klaus Kinski, is a interesting if not especially pleasant film. The film chronicles their working relationship over the course of several films and it's plain to see that their talents meshed well together, unfortunately we don't learn all that much about the men behind the madness. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
July 2000 [link] |
recommend
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mystic river
director: clint eastwood
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| Clint Eastwood (aka "The Man", and not in an establishment, white-man old-boy's-club kinda way a-la Dick Cheney) directs a dream ensemble of actors in a film which presents a complex story in such a simple, objective way that you can't help but draw your own emotions and knowledge of relationships into it while coming to your own conclusions about what's important in life and what isn't. Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden (good lawd I want her to have my children) and especially Tim Robbins all deserve Best and/or Best Supporting Actor/Actress nominations (not to mention Senor Eastwood for his direction) for their work in this film, which will make you appreciate all that you have in life -- no matter how much or how little it may be -- and, after seeing it, will make you want to call all of your friends and say, "I'm so glad you're my friend and I'm so unbelieveably grateful that you're in my life". |
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reviewed by: chris |
October 2003 [link] |
recommend 2 thumbs up
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