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rkalla
Reviews
Irresistible (2006)
A muddled mess
It's one of those movies where it ends and you look at your spouse and say, "huh?" There's all this owl imagery and an implied dark secret. But by the time we get to it, after what seems like hours of moody music and implied threat, you don't really care. And then it turns out the secret you thought you revealed hasn't truly been revealed. Sam Neil is all whiny and nondescript. Susan Sarandon is annoyingly fidgety, which I suppose is meant to be acting, after all it's always worked for Meryl Streep. The movie is also padded with numerous scenes that make no sense; you think they're leading to something and they're not. There is a reason this movie went straight to video.
Happy Endings (2005)
Could have been better
When a movie resorts to sidebars to explain the plot, especially as much as this one does, it implies that the writer has gotten lazy with his story development. A well-written movie could tie things together without the self-consciously cute little blurbs. I mean, the blurbs even tell the viewer right up front that this is a comedy -- in case you were wondering??? The saving grace is the acting. Tom Arnold, Lisa Kudrow and Maggie Gyllenhaal give great performances and really make their characters three dimensional. And each story unto itself is pretty interesting. The gay couple story was a bit trite and clichéd as far as the depiction of homosexual couples, but was still serviceable and interesting. I guess if I were to fix the story I would have strengthened the bonds between plot lines or I would have separated them completely. The tie-in between Otis and Mamie's stories was tenuous and tacked on. It's as though the writer were cheating a bit. Here we have some great stories and duologue. The acting is very good. But the writer didn't spend the extra time it would have taken to really craft the story into a cohesive whole, rather than resorting to the whole "indie" flick dodge of incomplete, fragmented storytelling passing as "art."
Flightplan (2005)
Oh c'mon! What a waste of time
***********SPOILERS: SPOILERS ************* The plot of this movie is so unbelievable as to be laughable. Sadly, when the beans are spilled, viewers are left wondering, Say what? When my husband first suggested watching this I said I didn't want to see "Panic Room in the Sky." Jodie Foster plays plucky heroine -- again. This was worse. The entire ending was drivel and made absolutely no sense. And the more you think about it, the more you realize how ridiculous this whole movie is. Some of the points at the end: When the marshalls' girlfriend leaves the plane, where the hell are authorities? They would be all over her like stink on ****. Although the captain probably mentioned that Jodie Foster wasn't in on the deal, the FBI would have immediately grabbed her and taken her in for questioning. No walking across the tarmac, child clutched to her chest so the rest of the passengers can see she wasn't crazy. Yeah Jodie Foster has the whole plucky thing down well, but shouldn't she at least have apologized to the Arab dudes she accuses of being in on the plot to get her kid? And Jodie Foster isn't a good enough actress to carry this intense crap off all the time. Jodie looking fiercely, clenching her jaw, marching with determination .. it gets old. And how did the guys who killed her husband know she would A. Fly the coffin home? B. Go on the same flight as the coffin? C. Book that particular flight on that particular plane? And another premise was that because Jodie knew the airplane she would be a credible hijacker, but her knowledge led her to posing a threat for the real hijacker, so that didn't really make sense. I could go on, but that's enough for now. Actresses need to break from the comfortable. JLo doesn't need to do another Maid in Manhattan: Stepmonster: Wedding planner where the down-to-Earth girl from the wrong side of the tracks wins the heart of the hero. Ashley Judd needs to stay away from her women in distress roles. And Jodie needs to move to meatier roles that provide a greater challenge to an actress who seems to have considerable talent.