jake-150
Joined Jul 1999
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Reviews6
jake-150's rating
This is without a doubt one of the best films of 1999. If the Sixth Sense doesn't become a strong Academy Award contender, I'll organize my own protest.
You may go to this film expecting a standard "scare flick," but you'll be pleasantly surprised. This is a movie full of chills, horror, and believe it or not, warmth and hope.
Haley Joel Osmont is the best child actor to hit the screen in years. His heartfelt performance is riveting, and the chemistry he achieves with Toni Collette as his mother is achingly real. Bruce Willis finally hits his mark as a dramatic actor, wisely underplaying his role as the child psychologist with an all-consuming passion to rescue this young boy from his torment.
To say anything else would be unfair; this is a film that must be seen to be believed. The incredible M. Night Shyamalan has written and directed a movie that transcends the horror genre and works just as well as an emotional drama. Put this one on your must-see list!
You may go to this film expecting a standard "scare flick," but you'll be pleasantly surprised. This is a movie full of chills, horror, and believe it or not, warmth and hope.
Haley Joel Osmont is the best child actor to hit the screen in years. His heartfelt performance is riveting, and the chemistry he achieves with Toni Collette as his mother is achingly real. Bruce Willis finally hits his mark as a dramatic actor, wisely underplaying his role as the child psychologist with an all-consuming passion to rescue this young boy from his torment.
To say anything else would be unfair; this is a film that must be seen to be believed. The incredible M. Night Shyamalan has written and directed a movie that transcends the horror genre and works just as well as an emotional drama. Put this one on your must-see list!
This isn't an easy film to sit through...slow-moving, laborious, and downright frustrating at over 2 1/2 hours...but strangely enough, it's a film you can't help thinking about days afterward.
The plot and underlying theme of this movie are simple...nothing is what it appears to be. Tom and Nicole play a seemingly happily married couple with an extravagant life and a beautiful child; it all looks good on the surface. But a late-night argument with Nicole leads Tom to doubt the security of his marriage, sending him on an all-night mission to break his vow of monogamy.
As you watch the film, nothing much appears to happen. At times, things move excruciatingly slow. When it's all over, though, you realize what you've been watching is an illusion and that you the viewer have been through a tremendous emotional experience.
Nicole Kidman, one of today's most underrated actresses, is terrific as Alice Harford, a woman hiding her feelings behind a facade of matrimonial and matriarchal bliss. Tom Cruise, on the other hand, can't quite pull off the darkness of Bill Harford.
Stanley Kubrick uses the camera like a paintbrush, creating a beautiful visual and emotional landscape. Now if he had only realized that it's 1999 and the vast majority of the movie-going audience tires quickly of naked Playboy bunny bodies on display, this film would have more appeal. Instead, it seems as if Kubrick was obsessed with women's breasts and rear ends...to the point that he looked for any excuse to get them into frame.
The plot and underlying theme of this movie are simple...nothing is what it appears to be. Tom and Nicole play a seemingly happily married couple with an extravagant life and a beautiful child; it all looks good on the surface. But a late-night argument with Nicole leads Tom to doubt the security of his marriage, sending him on an all-night mission to break his vow of monogamy.
As you watch the film, nothing much appears to happen. At times, things move excruciatingly slow. When it's all over, though, you realize what you've been watching is an illusion and that you the viewer have been through a tremendous emotional experience.
Nicole Kidman, one of today's most underrated actresses, is terrific as Alice Harford, a woman hiding her feelings behind a facade of matrimonial and matriarchal bliss. Tom Cruise, on the other hand, can't quite pull off the darkness of Bill Harford.
Stanley Kubrick uses the camera like a paintbrush, creating a beautiful visual and emotional landscape. Now if he had only realized that it's 1999 and the vast majority of the movie-going audience tires quickly of naked Playboy bunny bodies on display, this film would have more appeal. Instead, it seems as if Kubrick was obsessed with women's breasts and rear ends...to the point that he looked for any excuse to get them into frame.
I must qualify this review before I go any further. I saw this film as a child, and was mesmerized by it. I wanted to climb the Himalayan mountains and find this magical place called Shangri-La. I bought the soundtrack to the film and played it until the record wore out. So tonight, I turned on the TV set, and to my incredible delight, Lost Horizon was on! I hadn't seen this film in over 20 years, and all I can say now is that I was one stupid kid!
What in the world was producer Ross Hunter thinking? Did he actually believe he could turn this classic tale into a musical?
This film must be watched, if for no other reason than to see Sally Kellerman and Olivia Hussey "dance" and "sing" in the local branch of the Shangri-La library to an insipid Burt Bacharach tune. And why is Liv Ullman in this film, playing the ingenue who steals the heart of Peter Finch? Watching her cavort with the youngsters (she's Shangri-La's only elementary school teacher, you know) in true Sound of Music style, you can actually see the humiliation on her face. It's as if she's saying, "This is for the paycheck and my ticket back to Europe to make a Bergman film."
But the highlight of this movie has to be the late Bobby Van doing a big, show-stopping tap number with the adorable children of Shangri-La. The dance inspires him so much, he decides to help out Liv and become a school teacher himself. Good thing, 'cause her work schedule was getting horrendous.
This film is the 1970's version of Showgirls. A laugh riot from beginning to end.
What in the world was producer Ross Hunter thinking? Did he actually believe he could turn this classic tale into a musical?
This film must be watched, if for no other reason than to see Sally Kellerman and Olivia Hussey "dance" and "sing" in the local branch of the Shangri-La library to an insipid Burt Bacharach tune. And why is Liv Ullman in this film, playing the ingenue who steals the heart of Peter Finch? Watching her cavort with the youngsters (she's Shangri-La's only elementary school teacher, you know) in true Sound of Music style, you can actually see the humiliation on her face. It's as if she's saying, "This is for the paycheck and my ticket back to Europe to make a Bergman film."
But the highlight of this movie has to be the late Bobby Van doing a big, show-stopping tap number with the adorable children of Shangri-La. The dance inspires him so much, he decides to help out Liv and become a school teacher himself. Good thing, 'cause her work schedule was getting horrendous.
This film is the 1970's version of Showgirls. A laugh riot from beginning to end.