Category: Another Look
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Another Look: Heist (****) Is refined gold
Hackman’s natural style works perfectly with Mamet’s prose. His dialogue is direct, sometimes crude, but never frivolous.
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Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (***1/2) almost taps it
In all it does what you want good comedies to do by giving several re-watchable moments and leaves a pleasant smile on your face. Great comedy risks more, but these guys have friendships with most of the people they are skewering. That’s okay, though. It’s only a Friday stuck at home in Covid 19 season.
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Another Look: Can we all admit Saving Private Ryan (***1/2) is good sentimental B.S.?
The soldiers deserve the knowledge that we cannot or will not forget their sacrifice. Then we can work to earn the freedom they gave to us, like Captain Miller wanted Private Ryan to do.
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The Fifth Element (****) is worth Another Look
The name Korben Dallas just begs for a series of sequels. These never happened. Maybe it is for the best, but I could have enjoyed a few more ventures to other planets in the future.
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Another Look: Step-Brothers (Unrated) Why did Holmes & Watson fail?
There’s almost enough here to make a movie that’s not half bad.
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Another Look: Galaxy Quest (***1/2) still good, almost great
If only the scriptwriters could have done more to punch up the story to match the superior acting talent, this might be a classic.
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Criterion: Local Hero absorbs its surroundings
If we could keep it all within the confines of Ferness, life would be perfect. Even if the town is open to another deal.
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Another Look: Natural Born Killers (No Stars) still deserves the Golden Sombrero
The real conspiracy is, with the editing style and stupid storytelling, people just don’t like watching a bad film. Well, maybe some people. The Columbine killers code named their attack “NBK.”
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Another Look: True Romance Director’s Cut (***1/2) is Tony Scott overriding Tarantino
The result is a good, not great first script. There are two fantastic moments and many good ones to boot. It’s not much more than that, even as Tarantino’s legend rises beyond what anyone imagined.
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Another Look: Full Metal Jacket (***)
“In total, this film means the same thing to me that it did back in 1987. It’s schizophrenic and frustrating. In the effort to make mirror images of life before and after being honed into the “full metal jacket” they forgot to make the story a believable one. It might have been more effective if…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 