Movie Reviews

RENT, starring Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs, & a bunch of Broadway people
If you don't like musicals, i wouldn't suggest this movie. If Moulin Rouge & Chicago were a stretch for you, Rent is not going to change your mind. It's the musicalist musical-turned-film i've seen yet. Thus, if you LIKE musicals, you'll love it. It's dichotomous like that.
i liked (but did not love) this movie. It was well acted & sung, probably because 6/8 of the main cast have been playing these roles for 10 years. It has some really good coreography (dance scene in a moving subway? you bet!) though 'The Tango Maureen' pales dramatically in comparison to the 200 person'Roxanne' tango in Moulin Rouge & Chicago's high energy 'Cell Block Tango.' The love story between Collins & Angel is the best, with Law & Order's Jesse Martin reprising his Broadway role & bringing a sense of appreciation to Angel's funeral scene, which could've easily become just a swamp of grief. Maureen's 'protest' was hilarious & absurd in the live version i saw in San Diego, but on film i think the director wanted people to take it seriously. Not possible & a big mistake. i would've liked more of Taye Diggs (and not just because he's really really ridiculously good looking), he was one of the better actors of the cast & he didn't get to sing enough. All in all it was a movie to appreciate, if not love, for the tremendous amount of talent that was misdirected at times, but nevertheless very present. i give it 3 out of 5 bad 80's costumes.

THE JACKET, starring Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, & Kris Kristofferson
i haven't even finished watching this movie & i'm already reviewing it. What does that tell you?
Whilst watching last night, i kept thinking that it seemed familiar to me, even tho i'd never seen it before. Then i realized i HAD seen it before, only it was called The Manchurian Candidate, Gothika, & The Butterfly Effect. Adrian Brody (who somehow manages to always be handsome despite that crazy nose) plays Gulf War vet Jack Starks tangled up in Gulf War Syndrome & at the mercy of evil Dr. Kris-kris in a mental ward. Dr. Kris experiments w/him & locks him up in a morgue drawer (pause: the movie should've been called The Drawer, not The Jacket) where Jack is violently confronted with clausterphobia, crazy flashing memories and....the ability to time travel?? Oh dear.
In his Marty McFlying, he meets up with Keira Knightley in the year 2007, who should NEVER attempt an American accent AGAIN. Her interpretation of 'American' is to make her voice unattractively deep, which, in addition to her annoying habit of talking through her teeth, is just a mess. (As one review said, "Maybe in the sequel Jack can go back in time & pick a better co-star.") She's a mean, low-voiced, teeth-talking drunk, and Jack falls in love w/her because she tells him how he dies? Whatever. Summary: Brody's ok, Kris-kris is cool to watch, Keira needs to be drowned by pirates. The giant plot leaps keep me from caring about what Jack's deal is. 2 out 5 crazy noses.