Last Night (2010, U.S.)

I have to say that I was very disappointed in this movie. The cast was pretty awesome (though I've never cared much for Eva Mendes), but they gave less than stellar performances. Keira Knightley, for example, is one of the most talented actresses working now, in my opinion. Sam Worthington has a great reputation. However, did I believe they were married for a single second? No. They had absolutely no chemistry. Worthington didn't seem to have much chemistry with the woman he had an affair with either, however. Guillaume Canet (who I was thrilled to see in an American movie, incidentally), seemed to have more chemistry with Knightley, plus he was adorable and charming like he always is. Of all the characters I liked him the best, because he was the most true to his idea of love. The others were all too easily tempted into unfaithfulness, and I saw few, if any, redeeming qualities in them.

My dislike for the characters just made it too hard to like the movie, even if it was stylistically and narratively well-done. I think the absolute best part (besides Guillaume Canet) was the score, which was very heavy on piano, interesting and lovely. It's unusual for me to buy a score if I didn't like a movie (and often the score can make the movie), but I would get this score though I would never watch the movie again. This is the second Clint Mansell score I've heard, and the first was just as impressive (Black Swan). I will definitely keep an ear out for him.

Rating: 1.5

Luftslottet som sprängdes (2009, Sweden)

Larsson's novels were very complex and involved a lot of detail about Swedish politics. The films, especially this third film, was much more simple, but still a passable adaptation. The first was definitely the best. This was an interesting look at the Swedish legal system. Apparently the judges/jury, prosecution, defense, and witnesses just sit in a big circle and talk it out! It makes it difficult to believe that the corruption that's the basis for these stories could possibly occur in such a country.

My biggest complaint about this installment was the abrupt ending. It just felt way too sudden. Otherwise, my comment would all be repetitive from the two other films. I will repeat, I think for the second time, that Noomi Rapace is a stellar actress. I look forward to seeing her in more movies.

Rating: 3.5

The Yellow Handkerchief (2008, U.S.)

This is a film about an unlikely trio of three very lonely people. Martine is a beautiful teenager who feels trapped in her backwater Louisiana town. When Gordy, an awkward itinerant, stops in town, she somehow ends up in his convertible, heading across the river. Then they pick up Brett, a quiet man who was just released from prison. When a storm (Hurricane Katrina) hits, they take shelter in a hotel together. As they continue their journey through the destruction of Louisiana after the hurricane, they begin to piece together solutions to each other's loneliness. Martine senses Brett's loneliness, and Brett senses Gordy's. They help each other find the answers that they can't find for themselves.

The beauty of this film is in its simplicity and in the quiet brilliance of the actors. I don't know if I've ever seen William Hurt in action, but this role seemed tailored for him. Kristen Stewart, who I always say is an under-appreciated actor, was solid in this role (although it seemed almost like it didn't offer he much of a challenge). And Eddie Redmayne has yet to cease amazing me. I can't think of a single person who plays the socially awkward, sweetly well-meaning, intelligent young man as well as he does. Breathtaking. Add to that the slow, almost languid pace and the authentic Louisiana scenery, and you've got a winner.

I liked this film. I think the main thing that would have made me like it more was if the focus was spread more evenly across the ensemble. Although there are arguably three main characters, the focus is obviously on Brett. More balance would have improved an already wonderful film.

Rating: 4.0

The Last Song (2010, U.S.)

Much better than Nights in Rodanthe, didn't hold a candle to The Notebook or Message in a Bottle. Then again, this wasn't my favorite Sparks book either.

A very troubled teenage girl and her brother get shipped off to her dad's for the summer. There she finds her first love and reestablishes her relationship with her father.

The casting was pretty good on this one. Miley Cyrus wasn't that bad, Greg Kinnear was good, the boyfriend was sexy, and the kid who played the younger brother was awesome. I've seen some great child actors recently, it seems.

I think this was very true to the novel, because it too tried to take on too much at once. The combination of the dying father-troubled daughter story and the first love story was just too much. I think the movie did a pretty good, maybe better, job of showing how the girl falling in love helped her open her heart to her father more too.

It was sweet and I was sobbing at the end. Nicholas Sparks, what more can I say?

Rating: 3.5

Remember Me (2010, U.S.)

I was absolutely stunned to discover that most professional critics ripped this film apart. It was absolutely astounding.

Essentially, two young people who have suffered terrible losses find each other and fall in love. Ally saw her mother murdered when she was 10 years old, and Tyler (whose 22nd birthday is approaching) had an older brother who committed suicide on his 22nd birthday. Ally's father has become overly protective while Tyler's parents divorced and his father especially emotionally distanced himself from his surviving children. Tyler is close to his young sister, a shy brainy girl whose classmates torture her.

The characters were so incredibly real. I've always said that Robert Pattinson is a seriously underrated actor (inevitable, due to his roles as Cedric Diggory and especially Edward Cullen). (See The Haunted Airman for further evidence.) He was Tyler in this film—frustrated, lost, alone, a good brother, a bit of a mess, imperfect but still a basically good person. Emilie de Ravin wasn't overwhelming by any means when contrasted with Pattinson, but she is still a fairly strong actress and convincingly portrayed a fragile girl trying to find herself and redefine her identity without hurting her father too much. The rest of the cast was also great, though what else would you expect from the likes of Pierce Brosnan and Lena Olin? The real stunner was the young actress who played Tyler's younger sister. Her performance just defies description; you have to see it to believe it.

Ally had a thing about eating her dessert before her meal, because anything could happen and she might not make it to the main course. The filmmakers seemed to make such a big deal of it that I kept running over it in my mind and found the heart of the story. This is a film about loss and living life as if each day will be your last. About learning from grief and embracing each day and appreciating each person that comes into your life. It's hard to say more without giving away the ending, but a lot of critics said that this film was just a series of tragic things happening to beautiful people. That sounds like the kind of opinion I would be prone to have, and yet I didn't. Even with an ending that was incredibly cliche and, in retrospect, totally obvious, I still thought it worked well.

Aside from fantastic acting, the subtle score, gritty New York scenery, touches of humor, and good writing really made this a stunning film. So take that, Roger Ebert.

Rating: 5.0

Intermission (2003, Ireland)

This film begs comparison to Crash in that it follows the lives of a group of Irish men and women whose lives intersect in the most unlikely and also likely ways.

It was seamlessly pieced together, almost like a dance. Parts were laugh-out-loud funny, parts were touching, parts were hard to watch. The writing was very strong, as was the performance of a great ensemble. I would recommend this one.

Rating: 3.5

Carolina (2003, U.S.)

This was a very sweet, funny, clever movie about family and finding your own identity. Of course, that identity is partially influenced by your family, but partly you.

It's also about finding (and more importantly recognizing) the things that are good for you. What you think you want isn't always what you really want or even need.

Aside from all the sweetness, it was really very funny. The writing was fantastic, truly. A girl who works on a dating show with a best friend who's a straight Jewish man working as a romance writer... brilliant! And anything with Shirley MacLaine is bound to be a winner. I have never known anyone like that woman for a laugh.

Rating: 3.5

Silk (2007, ?)

Look, I just didn't like it. I don't know what else to say. Keira Knightly was beautiful and perfect in her role, which was a minor one. Michael Pitt I can always live without. And I think anyone can live without an in depth look at the Belgian silk trade and an unattractive man who cheats on his beautiful wife with a beautiful Japanese woman who he can't even speak to. Where's the appeal here?

Something tells me that the novel was a lot more about the wife, but the script sure didn't show it. It was long and slow and underwhelming. While these can be good qualities, they weren't in this case.

I can safely say that the cinematography was beautiful. But a good DP can only take a film so far.

Rating: 2.0

Legends of the Fall (1994, U.S.)

There just aren't enough movies made about World War I. It's a good thing that the ones that are made are quite good. Legends of the Fall is a bit melodramatic, but it is still a wonderful story. It mixes pieces of war movies, classic westerns, family sagas, and romances. If it comes off a bit melodramatic and times, that's okay. After all, it is a very ambitious film.

They used several very interesting narrative devices. To begin with, I liked that the narrator was a character who was only on the margins of the plot, rather than one of the primary players. To supplement this narration, they also used letters written to and from various characters, which was quite effective. They also used something I would call a flashback, for lack of a better term. To give an example, Tristan gets noticeably upset and frustrated when he tries to free a cow trapped in barb wire. Even though they never show the scene again, it is clearly meant to remind the viewer of the scene where his brother is trapped in barbed wire during the war. These scenes are very well done.

I've always found Aidan Quinn to be a competent but unremarkable actor, and most of the other actors fell into this same category as well. Then there's Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt. They steal the scene from anyone they ever work with. Hopkins is an imposing patriarch, and Pitt completely embodies the magnetic, troubled middle brother. Even if the film was awful (as it could have been if the rest was the same as the cheesy final scene), they'd redeem it. Wow.

Rating: 3.5

Prison Break: The Final Break (2009, U.S.)

Prison Break. I'm an addict. At least, I was. I thought the first season was incredible, and the second was just as good. The third was a bit iffy—how many different prisons can you break out of? And the fourth was downright confusing and off topic.

The last episode of the series skipped ahead 4 years, and while the ending was lovely, the missing years left something to be desire. Enter straight-to-DVD filler movie! (Also, they wanted to do a spin-off TV show about a women's prison, and it never happened. I think this made them happy.) I was hesitant about this one, but it was great.

Pregnant Sara is arrested for murder during her wedding reception. (She had killed someone who was about to kill Michael.) She's taken to a women's prison, where the General promptly has a hit put out on her. They think she'll be exonerated, but they also think she'll be killed first. So Michael decides to break her out.

The suspense is as good as it was in the early seasons. The character relationships are back. It's an interesting look at life for the other gender behind bars. For instance, Lori Petty (think Rae from Free Willy or Kit from A League of Their Own) plays "Daddy," the female equivalent of T-Bag. Creepy.

One thing that bothered me was how short it was. The boys spent an entire season (several months) breaking out of Fox River State Penitentiary, and 90 minutes (2 days) breaking Sara out of the Miami-Dade Women's Correctional Facility. They made it seem plausible, but even still... Too quick and easy. I would have loved to see more.

I would definitely recommend this to Prison Break fans, especially ones who have been disheartened by the last few seasons. Others may enjoy it, but they might not understand why characters behave the way they do without knowing back stories.

I was so relieved that this movie was so great, and now I can't wait to rewatch all 4 seasons + The Final Break again.

Rating: 4.5

Love & Rage (1998, Ireland)

I haven't seen many Irish films, but I've liked the ones I've seen. Of course, this one I watched because it stars Daniel Craig.

It's based on a true story. From what I can tell online, it's very, very loosely based. The long and short of it is that an aristocratic widow running her own estate took on an inexperienced, peasant estate agent. They fall in love, have an affair, he gets violent and things get tense. In the historical case, all I can find out says that he raped her, beat her, left her for dead. He fled Ireland, was hailed as a hero by Teddy Roosevelt (I think it was) for something unrelated, and wasn't tried in Ireland until years later.

So in other words, this story is screaming for a melodramatic interpretation. And the filmmakers did not disappoint in that regard. Personally, I thought it was just too over the top. And even the normally brilliant Daniel Craig laid it on too thick. I guess that's what they were going for. I don't think I'd recommend it at all.

Rating: 2.5

London (2005, U.S.)

This film had a good concept. A guy and girl with an on-again/off-again dysfunctional relationship are very off-again, but they show up at the same party. Through flashbacks and dialogue, the viewer learns of their past together.

Here's the thing. The execution was terrible. The acting was horrible. The characters were self-interested, shallow wastes of space. The flashbacks were good in theory, but too disjointed in practice. (Of course, that could have been the bad acting.)

That's all I've got. It was just kind of stupid.

Rating: 2.0

The Cake Eaters (2007, U.S.)

After Adventureland, I decided I needed to check out some more Kristen Stewart films to verify whether she was as good of an actress as I thought. Well, if this film is anything to go by, she is going to be the actress of her generation.

The Cake Eaters is a family drama about the intersecting lives of two families. The measured revelation of secrets and lies and hopes and desires is expertly done. The pace may be a bit slow, but it is definitely compelling.

Although the story is an ensemble drama about various members of the two families, Stewart stole the show as a terminally ill fifteen-year-old girl with Friedreich's ataxia, a disease that ravishes her nervous system, slurring her speech and making her movements jerky. Watching her performance, you would think that she was truly affilicted with this disease in reality if you didn't know better. Her performance is not a mockery of the condition—it is incredibly sympathetic. Her quest to live a full life in the very short time she has left is beautiful beyond words.

It's hard to describe how powerful this film is. Even if you're not from a poor, rural family, it would be hard to watch this without feeling it touch something in your heart.

Rating: 4.0

Now, Voyager (1942, U.S.)

I rather like Bette Davis, especially because I really don't think she's the most attractive woman in the world and yet she was still cast as the heroine repeatedly. (Also, she probably did the best portrayal of Elizabeth I of all time.) She was quite good in the film as an "old" maid who has a nervous breakdown, goes to a "mental institution" to recover (where she's treated by Louis from Casablanca) before emerging transformed into a beauty and going on a cruise to further her recovery (where she falls in love with Lazslo from Casablanca). This film is centered around the self-discovery and transformation of her character, and she plays it well. If anything, it's understated.

It's a little old-fashioned (obviously) in its portrayal of a woman needing a man to be complete, but then it takes a remarkable forward-thinking approach when she ends up being her own woman. (Although even then, her role becomes very maternal. Still, it's not bad for 1942!)

The music was very typical of Max Steiner, and although the sound editing at times made the music quite a bit too loud for the scene, it still fit pretty well.

A lot of this film reminded me of An Affair to Remember, which is one of my favorite oldies (and one of the first ones I watched, since it was my Grandma's favorite). So if you like that one, you may like this one. However, you should be warned that the ending of Now, Voyager isn't nearly as satisfying as the ending of An Affair to Remember.

Rating: 3.5

The Duchess (2008, UK)

I am almost embarrassed to say that I was not familiar with Georgiana Spencer's story before I saw this film, and I didn't realize it was going to be a huge depression-fest.

Still, it was absolutely wonderful. Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes are both brilliant actors, of course. Even if the rest of the film was horrible (which it wasn't), those two would make the entire thing worthwhile. Their portrayls of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire were incredible. The duke was vile, the duchess sympathetic. I really cannot say enough about them, so I won't say anything. Well, maybe one thing—both of them look amazing in wigs. Fiennes looked like he was born to his powdered wig, and Knightley is never better than when she's in a historic role, with gorgeous dresses and fancy hair.

The entire visual aspect of the film was beautiful. Costumes, scenery, everything. The 18th century is probably my favorite when it comes to aesthetics, and this film didn't disappoint. Rachel Portman's score was complementary and not overwhelming.

I enjoyed the historic drama, as I usually do. But in the last couple of years, I have become more interested in the Foxite era, although I haven't had much opportunity to get into it. So to have that background to this story was quite interesting.

And the plot was a really heartbreaking look at the life of one woman whose husband flaunted his mistress in front of her, who was denied her one true love, and who sacrificed everything for her children. It was beautiful and sad and wonderful. Definitely bittersweet. And the Duchess of Devonshire was an admirable, strong woman. A great character. A great film.

Rating: 4.0

W. (2008, U.S.)

Of course I thought I was going to like this one. And I was right. It was great. Oliver Stone is a wonderful director, and while he clearly isn't Bush's biggest fan, I think he did his best to make the film as unbiased as possible.

Blogger is silly and will only let me tag so many things per post, so let me list who portrayed all the major characters—Elizabeth Banks (Laura Bush), Ellen Burstyn (Barbara Bush), James Cromwell (George H.W. Bush), Richard Dreyfuss (Dick Cheney), Michael Gaston (General Tommy Franks), Scott Glenn (Donald Rumsfeld), Ioan Gruffudd (Tony Blair), Toby Jones (Karl Rove), Thandie Newton (Condaleeza Rice), and Jeffrey Wright (Colin Powell). If this doesn't sell this film to you, I don't know what would. All of these actors were so absolutely brilliant that I almost forgot that they were actors and not the actual people. And then there was Josh Brolin. Wow. To be able to play such an interesting character over a span of 40 years with such authenticity is sheer, undeniable brilliance. Stefanie (who I saw this film with) had the same reaction as me—by the end, we were convinced that we were watching Dubya and not Brolin. Amazing, amazing, amazing acting. I cannot say enough about the whole cast, and especially about Brolin.

Besides the great acting and the high level of realism, I also love the flashback method of storytelling (as I always do) and the clever, clever score. The flashbacks attempted to parallel his early life with how he behaved as president. He was (apparently) a wild, alcoholic, irresponsible boy who couldn't hold down a job and was an embarrassment to George Sr. He decided to get it together and go into the family business by running for the House of Representatives, but he was "out-Texased" by the democratic candidate. Then somehow he becomes governor of Texas, and then God calls him to run for president. (H.W. didn't want him to run for governor and overshadow his brother Jeb, who he seemed to be much prouder of.) You feel bad for poor W. But at the same time, you recognize that trying to prove oneself to one's father is a terrible motivation for becoming president and that this man was not qualified for the job. (Kind of like another politician whose primary experience is as a state governor...)

Then there was the music. There was an interesting arrangement of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" playing in the background when Bush and his cabinet are in a meeting to decide whether or not they're going into Baghdad. It gave me goosebumps—and not the good kind. Especially when the cabinet took part in their customary prayer at the end of the meeting. There were also several uses of a chirpy song about Robin Hood, primarily when Bush was wandering around his ranch followed by a troop of his not-so-merry men (and Condoleeza). It fit perfectly, with all its lyrics about feared by the evil and loved by the good, added to its goofy sound.

I liked George H.W. Bush in this film. I never thought much about him before since he was president when I was too young to care, but based on this he wasn't so bad. I liked how they had him tell W. that he had disgraced the Bush family name. However, in case this is less than accurate, he says this in a dream that W. has. That way, the idea was introduced but not implied as fact. I thought that was very subtly clever.

The last thing I will mention is the ongoing baseball field scenes, which culminated with the excellently done final scene. Apparently, center field is where Bush is able to think the most clearly. (His most successful job is as a baseball team owner, in fact.) Whenever he is trying to make a tough choice, they show him zoning out and imagining himself into center field. The last scene shows a fly ball coming towards him, and he keeps looking for it and looking for it, but he never sees it again. And that was a perfectly executed simile, right there. It was also a great way to end it. No hopeful messages, no preaching via end titles, no scrambling to choose a good final scene that really happened... It was wonderful.

I would give this film a 5, but I just wish there was more in it. Obviously, time is an issue and it can't go on forever, but I wanted it to. And since this is my blog, I can take half a point off for leaving me wanting more!

Go see this film. And don't "misunderestimate" it!

Rating: 4.5

Love, Honour, and Obey (2000, UK)

What a weird one from Natural Nylon. But then, I guess you couldn't expect anything else. A clash of London gangters. Violence, profanity, sex jokes, friendships, love, marriage... Jonny Lee Miller narrates the film in a clown costume. Scenes of all of the characters singing karaoke are spliced into the main storyline. Jude and Jonny's friendship is paralleled to Sadie and Ray's pending nuptials. (Hence the "love, honour, and obey.")

I read a review of this on imdb, and the reviewer said "It wasn't bad. It wasn't good." And that's about what I thought of it. Parts of it were really brilliant—the time structure, the random karaoke and clown-narration scenes, the relationship foil, the ongoing erectile dysfunction side plot (now there was a surprise). On the other hand, it seemed too violent, too vulgar, too unrealistic, too pointless. So not good, not bad. On the other hand, I am curious to see some other Natural Nylon productions now.

I don't really know what else to say about this one. It is definitely one of a kind, if nothing else.

Rating: 3.0

The Human Stain (2003, U.S.)

I saw this movie on TV a couple of years ago and had an overall good impression of it, but I didn't see the whole thing from the beginning. So I decided to watch it again. (Also, I needed a bit of a Wentworth fix before Prison Break stated back on Monday... but that's a post for another day.)

To begin with, The Human Stain has a stellar cast—Sir Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Wentworth Miller, Gary Sinise. Even Ed Harris, who I normally could live without, is quite good in this film. Add to that a wonderful score by Rachel Portman, who's one of my favorites. (Little surprise here—Portman has been nominated for two Oscars and has won a third... the first woman to do so.) So all in all, the film just couldn't be bad.

And the plot is also quite great. Coleman Silk, a seemingly white man born of black parents, living his life as a Jewish classics professor, is accused of making a racist remark, which costs him his wife and his career. Nobody knows about his heritage, but the viewer discovers it through flashbacks of his young adulthood. (Enter Wentworth Miller, who was great in this role. Interestingly, Miller's father is supposedly black, though you may not know it to look at him. I bet this role was strange for him.) At this point, other people start coming into Silk's life. A white-trash woman (Kidman) with an abusive ex-husband (Harris) and a closet full of skeletons. A novelist (Sinise) suffering from writer's block and hiding out from the world.

Through his interactions with these people and the accompanying flashbacks, Silk's history slowly unfolds. It's about racial idenity and living a lie and how it changes a person and his life. It was really well crafted, yet I found myself wanting more. I felt like I was having to make to many connections / analyze too much myself. It just could have had more... something. I feel like I need to read the book to get the whole story now. In fact, I think I will.

So I liked it, but I could have liked it more.

Rating: 3.5

Farewell My Concubine / Ba wang bie ji (1993, China)

This was either something recommended to me by one of my multicultural friends or by Blockbuster, I can't remember which. I watched it about a week ago over the span of several days. Sadly, I have been so incredibly busy that I haven't really had time to watch any movies, especially not in one sitting. I guess it wasn't really fair to this film to break it up like that, but I was tired, and it is kind of slow and sometimes confusing.

Overall, I did enjoy it. It was quite facinating—it spanned five decades of extreme change in China, incorporating the story of two lifelong friends and the Chinese opera Farewell My Concubine. I learned a lot, but there were parts where I wish I knew more about Chinese history, since the filmmakers assumed the audience would be familiar with it and didn't explain. (Their main audience was Chinese, after all.) I think this was the main reason I didn't give it a higher rating, whether that's fair or not.

But like I said, it was fascinating, and I would recommend it highly to anyone with an interest in China, foreign cultures, music, or history. I feel like I know so much more about the world and human nature after watching it. It was complex and dramatic—and facinating. Did I say that already?

Rating: 3.0

Meet Joe Black (1998, U.S.)

Clearly this is not the first time I've seen this movie, but I just watched it again, and I have to gush about it, on the record. I love this film. So much that it gets the highest rating. So much that I call it a "film" and not a "movie." So much that listening to the score makes my heart want to burst into a million pieces. It is a masterpiece. It's definitely one of two films that I am certain would be in my top five... If I could ever settle them all in. (The other, of course, is Amélie.)

The story is beautiful. It's about life and death, love and purpose. The score by Thomas Newman remains my favorite film score of all time. (He's composed tons of great ones... Look him up on imdb, and I'll guarantee you've seen at least one of the films he has composed for—I myself have seen about a dozen.) It is incredibly powerful in a very soft sort of way. If that makes any sense. Maybe it would be clearer to say it just reaches in, grabs you by the heart, and won't let go.

Anthony Hopkins is a great actor. He deserves that "Sir" in front of his name. And as for Brad Pitt, I would say this is one of the best, if not the best, performance of his career. He essentially plays two different characters, and he plays them so differently that you can tell they're different before he even speaks or moves his body much—a movement of the eyes is enough to do it. Now that is acting. His portrayal of "Young Man in Coffee Shop" is exactly the kind of guy a girl would want to fall in love with. His portrayal of Joe Black touches the exact right notes of that sublime power mixed with uncertainty and hesitance as he first experiences the human condition. His performance is nothing short of moving. And by the end, I can't help but loving life, feeling hopeful, and feeling emotional every time I see fireworks.

And yet Pitt is supposedly embarrassed by this film, or so he was quoted as saying in October 2007. You can find this on imdb: "Brad Pitt was so embarrassed by his performance in movies Cutting Class, Meet Joe Black, and Seven Years In Tibet, he's apologized to film critics. He admits some of his roles in the late 1980s and 1990s were not his strongest - and agrees with movie critics who claim his earlier work is not his best. But Pitt insists the experience has made him a much better actor. He says, 'I believe I'm quite capable and we, as people, can learn to do anything, and that's proof of it! And my education is on film, on record! Now I can take on anything that comes my way and find truth in it an do a pretty good job.'"

I find this unbelievable. I've never seen Cutting Class, but I'll admit it doesn't look so good. But Meet Joe Black and Seven Years in Tibet are both magnificent films. How can you go back and say that Seven Years in Tibet, a film that moved people (and offended the Chinese so much that it got Pitt banned from China), is an embarrassment? Obviously it was a big deal. And maybe Meet Joe Black was a huge financial flop in 1998, but people love it now. (And hey—my mom paid the $4.50 for me to see it in 1998!) So who cares if it made money? It's beautiful. Beautiful. And the acting was not bad. In fact, I can't think of one thing I've ever seen Pitt in, whether the movie was good or bad, in which his acting was bad. He's just brilliant, and that's all there is to it.

And this movie is brilliant as well. If you haven't seen it, you MUST. "Sooner or later, everyone does," as the tagline said....

Rating: 5.0