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Reviews
Just My Luck (2006)
Almost unwatchable
There's something just not much fun about this movie. The music is good, probably the best part of this film. It runs like a bad episode of the first season of some TV comedy/romance from the 1980s. It's cut just like a TV show. Point, shoot and Cut. Point, shoot and Cut.
The schmaltzy music over the dialog, and lame set-ups that lead to predictable action are just a pain to watch.
Lindsay Lohan's Character attempts to wax the floor with a motorized waxer while wearing ridiculous high-heels. Seriously, if you're wearing a pair of $600 designer shoes, are you really going to risk getting wax on them, even if your brain can't foresee the future result of your ass hitting the ground while attempting to move the waxer across the floor while it is running? I found myself, on more than one occasion, declaring out loud "Oh my God, this is so freaking retarded." The cinematography doesn't make up for the terrible, lame script. There aren't any really beautiful shots to marvel. The editors didn't even include any shots that capture the wonder of New York.
The style of filming, as though it were a T.V. show pilot, is not forgivable, considering the budget.
It's a paint-by-numbers film. So awful. Artless. Souless. They made this film on auto-pilot. The writer, director, editor, actors -- all sleepwalking.
Killing Me Softly (2002)
Very much a 1990s period piece
This film tells the story of a love affair between Alice, a "pioneer" web and CD Rom designer and a celebrated mountain climber named Adam Talis.
This film is jam-packed with ideal cliché lifestyle details of the 1990s. The plot isn't really important. It's beautifully filmed, like a coffee table book about environmental goodness and green technology.
The character of Adam Talis doesn't say much at all. Joseph Fiennes just kind of stands in frame, acting mysterious and full of spirituality, and somehow this is compelling to Alice (Heather Graham)who promptly leaves her boring live-in boyfriend.
The plot bumps along like a lame romantic novel. There's an annoying red herring thrown in about a rape that didn't happen. Then, there's some unexciting twists and turns that lead to the lamest ending *death by flare-gun* that the audience was just waiting to happen.
The plot really allows a venue for the costumes. The clothes and the sets are the best part of this film. It looks like a blended catalog for Restoration Hardware and Anthropologie in live action. I have a feeling that Heather Graham's wardrobe had been Feng Shui-ed along with all the sets.
The only thing that's missing are the tech-nerds riding those office- scooters from door to door.
They throw in some scenes of bondage with a long piece of silk, showcasing Heather Graham's fantastic breasts. I'm not sure how this helps the plot, but the scene is beautifully lit and fun to watch.
The characters aren't really based in reality. The character of Adam Talis is supposed to be this great mountain climber...and he's smoking. How many professional climbers smoke? Not only does he climb mountains for a living, he saves people in the process.
But who cares about details when the character looks so good wearing an awesome orange sweater?
This is a good back-ground movie for when you're doing something else, like making dinner.
Tribute (2009)
Brittany Murphy makes this work
Without Brittany Murphy, this film would probably be saccharin schmaltz. The story is kind of pedantic:
Failed child star inherits a Virginia mansion from her grandmother, a two-time Oscar winner from the late 60s, early 70s, who died from an apparent suicide before Murphy's character was born.
The plot includes some intrigues about her grandmother's secret affair with a mysterious married man.
...and she has to deal with bad feelings the townies have toward her family...and there's a lot of creaking and sneaking and lame scare tactics.
All through this lame frame work of scenes...Brittany Murphy makes a silk purse out of a sows ear. She turns water into wine. She gives so much on screen with her realistic and edgy performance. I've watched this lame movie three times already, because Brittany Murphy is mesmerizing in this. She doesn't even have to say any lines, and you get what she's trying to communicate. Everything shows in her face and body language.
Even when the killer is revealed, and the plot unravels into lame predictability...she still makes it work. I keep watching because I'm amazed that she makes this script sound organic, as though they weren't lines from a Lifetime Original Movie. She delivers as though she's actually thinking and feeling what is written on the page. I'm totally blown away...by Brittany Murphy...not by the film its self.