An American drama directed by Lasse Hallstrom, starring Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen and John C. Reilly.
A young man tries to take care of his family after his father died. His mother is morbidly obese and his younger brother is mentally disabled. A young woman arrives in the area and forms a relationship with the main character.
Very good and very much of the time. There are 2 points I want to make clear: 1. Leonardo DiCaprio is actually only slightly retarded. 2. The mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates) is not in acting, but was recruited because of her weight, to fit the role. There were some plot points to discuss as well. I liked Gilbert sneaking a repair man in to reinforce the floor under his mother's couch and sneaking to the chain store to buy a cake, but being caught by his boss of the local grocery store. I did not like the solution to the ending conflict and would have handled the problem differently, but it did lead the main characters to a life of vagrancy, which I approve of. It has been said that DiCaprio's performance can be difficult to watch and I agree. He seems to play the role too well and we all know he went on to star in Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Titanic (1997). We need to differentiate intelligence and greed. Using your "pretty boy" appearance to star in major Hollywood films that make lots of money is greed. I rate this adequate because it's a great film, but can be disturbing to watch.
A French Mexican British acid western directed by Jan Kounen, based on a comic by Jean Giraud A.K.A. Moebius, starring Vincent Cassel, Juliette Lewis and Michael Madsen.
Treasure hunters have founs a map to the Native American sacred mountain. The sheriff recognizes one of them as an old enemy and tries to stop him. Luckily, the sheriff is friends with the local shaman, who helps him.
This was like a western, but more. The cowboys were rougher and tougher and there was Indian magic. The plot held my attention very well because there was always something going on. The characters were pretty good, but I would have cast a more extroverted hero. Michael Madsen played a good villain, but should have had more dialogue. Video was high quality and very creative. There was a wide range of shot lengths and camera placements. There were also some CG dream sequences which were very convincing. It was alright that it didn't look photorealistic because it was only used for dream material and worked well like that. Audio was good. I could hear the dialogue, there was appropriate music and I found subtitles which included English as well as all of the foreign language parts. I rate this best, mostly for plot and video. Watch it!
An American crime film directed by Oliver Stone, story by Quentin Tarantino, starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones and Tom Sizemore.
A couple travel the country on a killing spree, are caught by cops and jailed and then escape.
Sensory overload. Within the first few minutes I could tell that Quentin Tarantino was involved in some way. It just looked and sounded so much like his other work. There was violence and 50s/60s soul music. What more clue do you need? The plot was relatively lame, but I don't think that was the main focus of the film. Some of the characters were developed well while others were extremely shallow. The framing and composition of shots was good, but I would have liked more wide shots. I did not like the editing because it was so fast, but I think that was intentional. Overall, a decent movie. I rate it adequate. Again, other people think it's amazing. If I was only looking for Tarantino-esque shock value, I would agree. Fortunately for me, my tastes have matured some.
