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Released: 28 April 2006 (USA)
This film, my guess, received its kudos from the same got-to-give-it-a-good-rating syndrome that marked Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain. Because of the content, and the tragedy associated with it, no one wants to labeled ‘insensitive’ by panning it. The movie recounts the flight of United 93 from its liftoff in New York to its crash in a Pennsylvanian farm field on September 11, 2001. Like you, I continue to be haunted by the events that day. That said; this is just a plain bad movie with laughable acting and more melodrama than an episode of Days of Our Lives. While it tries to be a testament to the brave individuals who, knowing what the hijackers had in mind stormed the cockpit and forced the plane’s ultimate demise, it is an embarrassment for all involved and a shameful example of Hollywood greed at its worse. Aside from showing us a worthwhile insight into the chaos running amuck among the various levels of government that day, its most telling sequence surfaces when director Paul Greengrass intersperses shots of the passengers saying the Lord’s Prayer as the plane tumbles downward with shots of the hijackers reciting lines from the Koran: prayers said, presumably, to the same God.
For this scene alone and its power to let us reflect I’ll give United 93 my rating of 1 out of 10.
Released: 23 February 2007 (USA)
One would think The Number 23, directed by Batman guru Joel Schumacher, would be excellent. Sadly it is not. In fact, it is such a disjointed miserable mess I’m actually loathe giving it a rating at all. It ‘stars’ a woefully miscast Jim Carey as Walter Sparrow, an Animal Control worker who begins seeing strange (read: dumb and silly) connections in things which lead to the number 23 after reading a book called, The Number 23 (cue; suitably scary music here). This is a train wreck of a movie with not a single redeeming factor. Avoid!
My rating: 0 out of 10.
Released: 10 August 2006 (Israel)
I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much. Butterfly Effect 2 film has two who-are-these-people? stars: Eric Lively and Erica Durance, and is a squeal to the original film, Butterfly Effect (which I’ve not yet seen). Surely, it didn’t bode well. However, Butterfly Effect 2, directed by John R. Leonetti, succeeds very well. The premise while a little muddled works. Our star Nick Larson (Lively) a young software executive, is the lone survivor of a traffic accident that takes the life of his childhood sweetheart Julie Miller (Durance) and his two closest friends Trevor and Amanda. But, through the magic of schizophrenia (and digital camera pictures) Nick is able to jump back in time and manages to rewrite history, saving himself and the threesome from the truck accident. Course, the problem with rewriting history is sometimes what you get is not exactly what you envisioned. And so it is with Nick, who finds himself jumping back several times, making more of a mess each time. This film delivers good bang for the buck and is well acted and directed with a storyline that keeps you interested (save the last 3 minutes which seem rushed as though the director ran out of money and was forced to end the story sooner than he hoped).
My rating 7 out of 10.
Released: 25 June 2004 (USA)
My friend, Annie, cautioned The Notebook was a ‘chick flick’. Undeterred, I watched it anyway, knowing it was directed by Nick Cassavetes, the son of one of the greatest directors of all time - the late John Cassavetes - back in 2004. Starring James Garner, Gena Rowlands (no film can go wrong with this under-rated star who is actually Nick's mother in it), Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, it tells the story of two young lovers Noah and Allie from just before World War II to the present. Cassavetes sits back and lets his stars act, which is so nice to see in these days of flash and special effects (they too often tend to star). This is a story of loss beautifully told; most centrally the loss of that we hold so precious: our memory. This is a film to see with someone you love, and is a great film to watch sitting alongside your parents (while they are still alive). The opening credits in this film are worth the price of admission alone; they are breathtakingly shot.
My rating 8 out of 10.
