Jenfranbax Reviews

Garden State (2004)

I Love Natalie Portman, and liked this movie

[6/10 · 26 October 2005]

I love her expressive face. I think she is a good actress although she was terrible and flat in the star wars movies. This movie was good, there is no doubt. It is a bit high on the cliché scale though. When I heard someone tell me this speaks to a generation, I recoiled. Because this is a guy who has been numbed with psychotropics for years? Is that why? I know that in the past 15 years we have been numbing minds with antidepressants and ritalin, but other than that, this person's standing on the edge of the abyss of adulthood, dealing with his past, his friends who never grew up and a kooky free spirited love interest is not very original. The music, very cool, but I am sick to death already with the scoring of movies with pop songs to tell you what the script is lacking. Why not just have maroon 5 write your script and get it over with?? And the catch phrases...ugh. "Good luck exploring the infinite abyss" rain, scream, kiss, cut. And by golly we get our Hollywood ending too. If this is speaking to a generation, I am afraid it is saying something we have all heard before.

Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

I laughed I cried I pooped my pants......

[7/10 · 22 October 2005]

First, I think this is part of a new generation of movies , like "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and "Elephant" (Of course that one was no comedy) that are coming out of a whole new way of thinking about high school and the experiences of teenagers. Nothing like the John Hughes version of adolescence where the nerds were really just artsy and different and the rich kids spoiled, sexually active and seemingly without adult supervision. I was in high school in 1988 and I can tell you this is a more honest look at life at Bayside High in Queens than any John Hughes movie of the time. (Maybe everyone is just being more honest with themselves these days. That is why my kids are watching "Family Guy" while in the 80's we were watching "Smurfs.") This movie even looks ambiguous time-wise. Although the give away is the uncle who lives in 1982. Still, I can remember the guys who couldn't let go of the 70's and we snickered about their bell bottoms and velour shirts behind their backs. Same thing. Sooooo the guy who said people over 30 would not like this is deluded. Teenagers today have no idea how people my age relate to this stuff, we lived ND!! The movie is slow paced, yes. It is deliberate. You have to stop and watch a few times to get the jokes. I love that! It reminds me of the slow paced Mel Brooks movies that required more than one viewing to appreciate. Refreshing now that we are slowing down and examining things. This is part of the turning from the fast paced teen farce with quick edits and pervasive music that made it impossible to feel anything on your own. Music is used wisely here. The dance scene in the end is epic...and will make you want to run out and get Jameriqoi (spelling?) The love story underneath with the nerdy girl was very realistic. The popular girl Summer, marginally good looking, but blond and bitchy...realistic. The older brother who is of questionable sexuality and his girlfriend "Lawfunduh" who he meets in the chat rooms is really funny too. But this is really Jon Heder's movie. With the half open eyes and sarcastic delivery, he is like a kid with aspberger's. A geek with balls. He decides he is going to get his lethargic friend Pedro elected student body president. My favorite scene is when he asks the guy for one of summers (she is the most popular girl in school and also running for president) pins and then throws it down the hallway nearly hitting other students with it and then does that nerd exit (it's like an awkward dart out of every scene) Watch for the nerd exit after the climactic dance scene. *SPOILER* Make sure and stay after the credits for the wedding.

Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend (1981 TV Movie)

A Wonderful film

[7/10 · 27 September 2005]

This starts off with Tony as a lonely gentleman who has the same routine every single day. Getting some cold cuts and potato salad and eating alone in his little flat every single night. Never does it say anywhere that this is a homosexual individual. I never got that impression. In any case he meets a young lady and has her move in with him after he becomes very attached to her. She is quite young and full of energy and brings life into his household. I think....It has been awhile since this was on TV, that she becomes pregnant and he wants her to keep the baby and raise it in his place. In time she meets someone and has to say goodbye and his life goes back to the same old routine again. It was a very sad movie I thought. The spin off TV show dealt gingerly with his "homosexuality" in one episode. The show was cute although I wanted to hit the kid who sang the "We're friends forever!!" song....

Something to Talk About (1995)

Disappointing....

[4/10 · 23 January 2005]

First let me start off by saying that Julia Roberts is from Georgia...Her accent is real! This was a disappointing movie. Julia Roberts and Kyra Sedgwick have great chemistry as sisters and they LOOK like they could actually be related. Dennis Quaid-check, Robert Duvall-check, Gena Rowlands-check...Cast is awesome. Writing is sassy and on the money. The problem is the way the story turns on it's head. When Grace poisons her husband it is not at all funny..and takes the story in another direction. We think we are watching a movie about this lying cheating lout who does his woman wrong and her questioning her life and her choices afterward. We feel bad for HIM when he makes it sound like she drove him into another woman's arms because she didn't give him enough affection. She actually feels bad, but it is already too late, as she has already made him sick from the poison. He decides he doesn't want her back after all and goes ahead and gets a nasty lawyer.

Along the way her mom (Rowland)decides to take action on her husband (duvall) who has been fooling around for years. Not making much sense here. All this surrounds a equestrian competition that is supposed to bring these people together. Kind of stupid. I also want to bring attention to the fact that Julia Roberts was about 27 when she made this. Too young to have this older kid, and Dennis Quaid looks a good 10 years her senior, and they were in college together?? Kyra Sedgwick is going for over the top sassy here...We get the point after she knees Quaid in the jewels early on..yes yes she is a tough cookie. All that said, I will watch Julia Roberts in anything. I am her target demographic after all. Her most unwatchable movie is still watchable to me on a snowy Sunday afternoon such as today.