An American romance directed by Rob Reiner, starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton.
A mean, old real estate salesman is forced to take care of his granddaughter and a stray dog. This initiates a wave of kindness in which he falls in love with his neighbor.
This was more like a failed sequel to As Good as It Gets (1997) than it was anything else. The same asshole neighbor is forced to care for something besides himself and it opens his heart. The plot has obviously already been done, rendering it stale and lifeless. The characters played the exact same roles as Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. My favorite characters were the two little boys that ran around shouting "Too much noise!". The video was decent, but relatively straight forward and obvious. There was good use of seamless editing because it all flowed together naturally. The audio was pretty standard. I could hear most of the dialogue and the music was almost at a good mix level. I would have raised the vocals and lowered the music. Overall, pretty standard and stale. When I can point to another movie that is almost identical, the filmmakers have not done their job correctly. I rate this poor. You really should not watch it.
An American propaganda film directed by Rob Reiner, starring Michael Douglas, Martin Sheen, David Paymer and Michael J. Fox.
The president has a romantic relationship with an environmental lobbyist while trying to pass a bill about guns or crime.
This was so unrealistic that I almost called it a fantasy film. Although technically well-made, the plot and characters were absurd to the point of comedy. Happy and innocent-looking Michael J. Fox cast as a heartless reptilian Rothschild? HAHAHAHAHA! All of the people working at the White House acted like voting mattered and nothing was predetermined. The president made decisions about his speeches. NO TELEPROMPTERS! That one blew me away! Everything was an example of what the American people have been duped into believing was the case in politics. I just read Wikipedia and found out why this film is the way it is. Aaron Sorkin, the writer, was high on crack. So much for the war on drugs! Overall, this gave me something to write about and is funny if you know what's actually going on in the world. I rate it o.k. because I would never watch it again.
An American drama thriller directed by Barry Levinson, starring Michael Douglas, Demi Moore and Donald Sutherland with music by Ennio Morricone.
A businessman at a technology company finds that an old girlfriend has been hired as his new boss. They have a meeting that is half sex and half violence and deal with the aftermath of it.
I just started a screenwriting course in school and the professor gave a quick outline of the plot of "every film ever made". I was following along with this and Disclosure did not deviate from it. Here is that outline:
Ordinary World: Heroes at home
Inciting Incident: Something different happens
Big Debate: Should the character act?
New Journey: Action is taken
Fun and Games: Character Development
Bad Guys Close In: Enemies approach the heroes
Big Reversal/Midpoint: plot twist, new story direction
False Victory/Defeat: Seems that the heroes are winning, but not really
Loss of Hope: Things look grim, more problems
New Path to Success: Victory, winning, happy ending
So I was not surprised by anything in the plot. The characters played their roles in it and were acted well. There were a few artsy camera shots thrown in here and there. Of course, being the '90s, we had the mandatory virtual reality sequence. I think that I've said enough to explain a good many things about film, cinema, movies and video here. I'll just rate this o.k. and be done with it.
An American thriller by Michael Crichton, starring Genevieve Bujold, Michael Douglas, Richard Widmark and Rip Torn.
A female nurse is having relationship troubles with her doctor boyfriend when her best friend goes into a coma and dies after routine surgery. This sets her on alert for the next death under the same circumstances. She gets in trouble with the administration for looking into the problem, but continues to pursue it anyway.
This was really good. I liked how the plot deepened as it went and the characters were acted convincingly. The main character's growing fear is also reflected in external events. The rising action at the climax got really intense. The style was very much of the time, but that is a good style if you ask me. Camera-work and editing made sense for all of the scenes and they even got in some appropriate extremely wide and extremely close shots. Overall, this seems to be nothing special, just another hospital suspense flick from the late '70s. That is what makes it so cool when the epic plot develops into a crescendo by the end. It goes above and beyond expectations and standards. I will now stop singing it's praises and rate it awesome. Watch this!
An adventure directed by Bernard McEveely, produced by the Walt Disney corporation, starring Michael Douglas and Jodie Foster.
A boy and his grandfather adopt an old lion. The grandfather dies and the boy runs away with his friend, Samantha.
I thought this was cool. The plot and characters were good. The style and production value were classic '70s. It was a little bit too simple and childish for my tastes, but otherwise I thought it was good. I'm rating this good for entertainment value.
