The premise is a bit X-men-like with characters having different powers. I’ve only seen one episode — yesterday’s. Not interesting enough to quite get me hooked though. It seems like there’s too many story lines and none quite that compelling. It needs more action I think.
It’s weird but this movie reminds me of high school a lot. [Well, not the almost pornographic scenes (surprised this movie didn't get NC-17).] Perhaps, it reminded me of the mostly ‘white’ suburbia where I grew up. Kids with the wealthy parents. The bad-boy surfer guys, and the minimally dressed girls — okay, well, no one in my high school lived quite as extreme as the teenagers in this movie, but the tone and feel is certainly there.
The one thing which bothered me about this film was the subtle, but 1980’s California realistic, homophobic undertone. And it’s yet another sickening portrayal of a violent homosexual who victimizes straight folks of both sexes. The straights end up gaining retribution through murder. Their justification for murder was (in this order): revenge, class jealousy (the gay guy has a rich dad? but they all seem to live rather well…), and a touch or more of homophobia. It’s not quite "He’s into queer stuff; let’s kill him", but it’s close.
Brad Renfro has grown up a lot from playing the little kid in"The Client" and is easy on the eyes here. His portrayal is rather inspired, although one might believe not a big stretch from his own personality.
It is supposedly based on the true story. I just wonder if the gay part of the Bully (victim) was actually made up in real life as a sort of precursor to the gay panic defense. The main perpetrator did get death penalty which was later reduced to life without parole. Still, I would be sad to hear if gay panic defense was successful in reducing any sentence or letting any of them go free. (Orig posted 3/06)
Kurosawa’s film about corruption and misuse of government funds is well done. In the storyline, there are parallels to Halmet, though I only noticed this after reading other analysis of the film online. Mifune again plays Kurosawa’s protagonist, but this time with a suit, tie and spectacles. Though otherwise entertaining, it does feels preachy at moments when dealing with the corruption which is being hidden through hierarchy and suicides of underlings.
I liked this film. It’s a very entertaining mystery film with quick, slightly affected, almost Shakespearean dialog spoken by young actors playing high school students behaving as incredibly surefooted adults. Brendan, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is attempting to figure out who killed his ex-girlfriend. It all starts with a note in a locker.
The girl playing Pocahontas, Q’Orianka Kilcher, does a fine job in this film about the Jamestown colony and John Smith. It’s a very pretty and artful film with little dialog. One thing I thought about the film was it’s score seemed a little too European. Even while in the Indian village the Mozart-like violins sing. The Indians’ should have their own music at least in their own place at that time, I was thinking. But perhaps Horner didn’t know what to do for that music for the Indians. But also perhaps it was an indication of the European domination of the new world, even as the colonists just landed stumblingly onto the shores of Virginia and nearly starved to death, and until today.
A western about a tough rancher played by John Wayne. After losing his fiancee to an Indian raid, the rancher, Duston, encounters a lone boy, Matt, and his cow. Duston informally adopts Matt and starts a ranch in Texas. Years later, lack of market for cattle in Texas means Dunston and Matt need to drive 9000 head of cattle hundreds of miles to Missouri and the railroad. On the way, Dunston kills some ranch hands who want to desert. Matt realizes Dunston is doing wrong and takes action.
Montgomery Clift plays Matt. It was Clift’s second feature film. I suppose John Wayne has always played a tough man’s man, but it’s hard to see women liking the guy (which I suppose is exactly the point, but), even in this film where he appears relatively young in the beginning, he’s almost revolting to look at. Probably it’s just my anti- chauvinist , anti- macho-man biases acting in some weird way. On the other hand, Clift’s character is much more sympathetic and interesting. Clift is young and pretty in this film. As I’ve noted in other posts, Clift was known among his friends as a homosexual, but I wonder if John Wayne was aware of this. It sort of puts an ironic real-life matchup on the story with Wayne’s Dunston pledging the ranch to gay Clift’s ’soft’/ good hearted Matt.
And how could I omit mention of the wonderful gun scene, where two young male hotties admire each other’s guns and shooting skills.
