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Reviews
George Washington (2000)
George and his friends spend a some days
A complete masterpiece of American cinema. Easily one of the best films ever produced in this country. David Gordon Green doesn't announce his arrival as the next great filmmaker, he screams it at the top of his lungs. I have never been more moved by a film in my life. It's so heartbreakingly true. I wept for nearly the entire second half of the damn thing, it's that good.Every aspect of the film is phenomenal. From the destructively beautiful cinematography by Tim Orr to the unbelievably real performances Mr. Green gets out of his child and adult actors. The script and direction in general could not possibly be made any better.This film deserves every ounce of praise it has received and much more.Overall though it is disappointing how few people have seen it, and DG Green's other films as well. All the Real Girls and Undertow are also both exquisitely well made. Green is just as good a filmmaker as PT Anderson, Darren Aronofsky and Todd Solondz, and he's a much better filmmaker than just about everybody else near his age who gets more attention than him including QT, David Russell,Wes Anderson,and any other name one might think of.
Apocalypto (2006)
The film is about Jaguar Paw. His village is ransacked by the evil Mayan conquerors. He is captured to be sacrificed. Blah, blah, blah. The summary is not important at all.
If you go in expecting a history lesson, you will be gravely disappointed. However, if you go in expecting mindless entertainment you should be thoroughly satisfied.
This is definitely Mel Gibson's best film. I saw that someone was calling it a work of art. Not at all so. I repeat, if you want art look elsewhere. This film is an action/adventure that is certainly riveting, but there are definitely some laughable scenes (the little girl with the "laughing disease" is hysterically bad) but they only make the rest of the film easier to enjoy and easier to not take too seriously. Overall, I highly recommend it. Even for the pansies who usually get scared off by subtitles. It is not a dialogue driven narrative at all. In fact, the often humorously bad subtitle "translations" only make the movie more enjoyable. Great entertainment.
The Thing Called Love (1993)
Thing Called a Terrible Movie
This is one of the most surprisingly bad movies I've ever seen. To think that the same man that directed The Last Picture Show also did this makes one wonder. I just rented the Director's Cut and deeply regret the spent time and money. Interestingly enough Sandra Bullock and Dermot Mulroney are the only remotely positive aspects of the entire film. Way too much praise has been given to River Phoenix for this role. I'll be the first to say that River Phoenix was an incredibly terrific actor in some films, but this film does not qualify. The supposed chemistry between Mathis and Phoenix is shockingly forced and unrealistic. The film is generally boring and meanders pointlessly for an excruciating 2 hours. I should mention that I was born and raised in Nashville and while the film isn't necasarily offensive in it's idea of what the city is like, it is obscenely unrealistic and a bit stereotypical (to clarify; the line-dancing party the characters attend, I don't think they really exist.