Toshiro Reviews

The Animal (2001)

One of the worst of all time

[1/10 · 3 November 2001]

The past year has been very liberal with a lack of talent and bad ideas being made into films. The Animal, when compared with the likes of Dude Where's my Car? and Joe Dirt, may have some redeeming value because the lead character is, at least, a likeable loser, but the jokes in this movie are so bad and juvenile that it doesn't lift itself above the other trash of the year candidates. Even the special effects, if you want to call them that are amateurish. How ideas like this ever see the light of day makes me wonder about the sanity of the entire production crew. Didn't they see that this wasn't working while shooting the film? Can't they kill films like this during production? Everybody involved should be ashamed.

Nightfall (2000 Video)

Miss this one

[2/10 · 12 August 2000]

I picked this up as a DVD rental just because I liked the picture on the box and I am a science fiction fan. Well the best thing about this movie is the picture on the box. Do yourselves a favor and miss this one. It only gets an "R" rating because of poorly filmed graphic violence. The blood looks like red paint. The story is implausable and the acting is amateurish.

Drowning Mona (2000)

A dark comedy that falls flat

[6/10 · 12 August 2000]

This film had potential. There are many name actors who all appear to be having a good time. The premise of the whole town hating Mona Dearly could have worked if Bette Midler had played the part less "over the top" and more sinister. Casey Affleck is seriously miscast and has no chemistry with Neve Campbell who is the best thing in the movie. Danny DeVito (sorry Danny)is just unbelievable as the Sheriff. The whole film has the aura of a project gone bad.

Crazy in Alabama (1999)

Not a bad directorial debut

[8/10 · 31 March 2000]

I rented this without knowing anything about it and was pleasantly surprised. The performances were very touching. The film's message was a bit too obvious and the courtroom scene in the end was just a vehicle for a soliloquy by Melanie Griffith who was appropriate for the part. But overall the film was well done and there is some pretty good cinematography. It was entertaining all the way through. Antonio Bandaras did a competent job in his first film as a director but a little more subtlety would have helped. Rod Steiger's performance as a judge towards the end was over the top. There were some pretty big holes in the flow of the story and some scenes were left unexplained. The legal part was totally Hollywood; not a shred of reality. It still worked despite the flaws.