Lima

It’s not bad to flush your brain every now and again with a silly infantile thing like this. Pure entertainment that doesn't pretend to be anything else, it's colourful to the point of being overwrought with a cool Haunted Island and Rowan Atkinson in an uncharacteristic role on top. If only they had avoided the typical fashion statement of these days, a fart and burp scene. Other than that, it’s OK.

Hackford doesn't weigh too heavily on sentiment and the plot moves forward at a decent pace. The South American realities were spot on, as was the convincing David Morse as the captive. What this film has been faulted for in reviews is that the chemistry between Crowe and Meg Ryan was unconvincing. To be honest, it’s true and I don’t care. Crowe's charisma makes the whole story tight, it's his movie and Meg Ryan is almost redundant.

Considering the stuff Seagal was doing at the time time, it's an above-average action flick. Seagal should kiss Joel Silver's feet for taking him into his good graces and temporarily pulling him out of the shitty waters of subpar direct-to-video stuff. This film was supposed to be his return to the limelight, but unfortunately (fortunately?) it didn't happen, as evidenced by his latest creations.

I really don’t know what to think about this. De Palma is still a playful director, but this time he attempted a screenplay, and I wonder if he wasn’t permanently high when he wrote it. The plot is very convoluted, but the whole film is nothing compared to the final ten minutes, when everything twists and turns while connecting in a bizarre plot twist. I feel that De Palma just took the piss out of the viewers. We can only shake our heads at the result and admit that such a farce is definitely worth watching. And in case you don’t agree with me, there’s also Rebecca and her legs longer than the week before payday and the director doesn’t spare her boobs.

It’s not as solid as Dead Man, but it’s more approachable for a wider audience. Jarmusch manages to cram a lot of ideas and interesting life insights into what is essentially a simple revenge story of a professional killer who follows the samurai code, thus elevating this film above the ordinary stuff. What I also appreciate is the choice of soundtrack. In Dead Man it was Neil Young's great mimimalism, here it was RZA's hip-hop sounds, which fits the mood of the film perfectly.

A very unsuccessful attempt at a black version of Cool Hand Luke. Two blokes accidentally get into trouble and are sentenced to life in prison. The script is very schizophrenic, at times it looks like a fateful drama, at times like a comedy. The two together don't work and the filmmakers deserve to be kicked for some sloppy passages. But if you want to see what Eddie Murphy will look like at 90, check it out, that make up is perfect.

The fates of several young people divided in three short stories. Thanks to the interconnectedness of the stories and their titles on a black background, Go felt like some sort of teenage Pulp Fiction. At times harsh, at times funny, and most importantly, briskly filmed, it has pace. Also worth mentioning is the great soundtrack, especially in the first story.

The only good thing about this film is its depressing ending. Otherwise, it’s cheap slog with terrible visual effects and shot without a shred of inventiveness. A lot more could have been squeezed out of a source material as interesting as Dick’s. Gary Sinise hasn't made anything good in years, and Impostor, which he even produced, is further proof of his decline. The only positive is that Madeleine Stowe is still beautiful. For her and for the satisfactory ending, I’m giving two stars.

Nice, yeah, but what is it really about? The whole film passes uneventfully, slowly, probably like the life of a lonely, withdrawn old man, which wouldn't have been a bad thing in principle, but I kept waiting in vain for the plot to move, for a twist or a memorable situation, some emotion. There was nothing nothing of the sort, except for a few good moments (but they were few!). About Schmidt is really about nothing. It only reassured me that Nicholson is a great actor and can play anything, but we all know that by now. If you want anything from Alexander Payne, I definitely recommend his brilliant Sideways, released two years later.

There are a couple of funny moments, but I was bored for most of the 100 minutes of the film. I didn't mind the hackneyed "the bad guys stole our plane and we, the US government, want it back" scheme, but rather that many scenes want to be terribly funny, but aren't, and many times miss the point. Eddie Murphy has once again squandered his rare comedic talent and I'm afraid this film will not be his return to the limelight.