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rjmco
Reviews
The Good Shepherd (2006)
Standard fare, poorly done
Standard anti-CIA fare from Hollywood. The throwing in of a few moments with Joe Pesci to make the point that the CIA is racist, anti-Semitic, etc, etc, was particularly pathetic.
Matt Damon's character never aged over the years, but he did change glasses now and then so we could tell what decade we were in. Terrible film-making, almost laughable.
Spoiler: This fiasco gets a score above one only because the "throw the bride from the plane" scene was right out of a Steven Segal flick and nifty - if you like that sort of action-adventure. And btw, the director was sympathetic to this duplicitous woman whose spying caused the death of many - reminded me of "Syriana" where the only good guy was the suicide-bomber terrorist.
Objectively this was a poorly made movie on many levels. I have to wonder just how much film makers and critics hate America in order to see such badly done fare as high-quality.
La guerre est finie (1966)
Just awful
I am thrilled that a DVD version of this nightmare has been released. After 36 long years I am able to show my friends what I have so often argued is the most horrible example of film making in all human history. I recently viewed it for the second time, the first being in 1966. Perhaps I was too young then to appreciate the subtleties or nuances of the film, its textures and complexities. Gimme a break, this thing plays worse now than it did then.
The reason I firmly believe that this is the worst flick I've ever seen is that it actually takes itself seriously: It has a respected director (Resnais), stars the greatest French actor ever (Montand), and introduces the beautiful and talented Genevieve Bujold (oh those eyes). Throw in Ingrid Thulin (Bergman freaks know this talented woman) and the movie shouldn't miss. It does, it is just bad.
There's a story in there somewhere wrapped around a few steamy (for the times) sex scenes and a delightful bit of on-camera puking (always fun). Mostly the movie tries to insult your sensibilities while engaging in a pointless and confusing character study of a frustrated middle-aged anti-Franco Marxist. The problem is the guy is shallow, there is no character to study. The rest of the people are very '60s Euro-lefties, very chic, and very uninteresting to all but themselves (and Resnais) in 1966 - I can't begin to imagine how boring they must be to modern audiences. If you want to be entertained while battling against old right-wing Spanish dictators grab yourself some Hemingway. Now there's a guy who could study character.
When we left that theater in 1966 my date turned to me laughingly and said that if I lived a good life God would never make me see a movie that bad again. Apparently I've lived a good life.
Listen, I've sat through Ed Wood productions and Anne-Margaret's "Kitten With a Whip" but "La Guerre Est Finie" remains the worst flick I've ever seen.