Reviews

This movie was great!! It showed the American spirit for what it actually is. Create a mess, and lie and cover it up with everything that you have. This is the real nitty gritty American persona, especially that of the government and the wealthy in this country! We see it everyday, and people still say "no, they wouldn't do that". But, YES, they would, and they're doing it daily to the average man in the street, us. I especially loved the part when the Mom tries to tell her little boy there are no monsters in the closet, and the parasite is already eating him on his bed, because, in most movies, even horror movies, they never want to kill children, yet, children die everyday, and in horrible ways, example WARS. Governments lie, heads of companies lie. People who make profit from other peoples deaths lie, and lots of times they make you pay for them killing you. This had to do with trying to make beef better, bigger, and therefore more profitable, but instead they got a killer parasite out of it, (hint, mad cow disease? From feeding livestock it's own dead, diseased not excluded), why attack a movie who's whole point is just trying to show the reality of these practices? Boy, do some people miss the point of some movies. Disregard the acting, and listen to what is being said. Of course, nothing is ever done, in real life, against corporations who gouge, and kill it's consumers, so why should an ignorant person who watches a movie that tells him/her they're taking it up the a-- even stop to think about what they're seeing??

Here I am in 2007 replying to a post from the past, but whoever posted that first post was off! This movie was so true to life, it was scary to me, a Black-American, that it gave me chills. A friend has this movie in his "Black-Only" collection, along with other obscure movies I had never even heard of (such as "Up against the Wall" with Smokey Jackson)?? I ended up crying, wondering why any person of mixed heritage would go to such lengths to be accepted by another culture, especially one that is usually so adverse to the mixing of their blood with so called "inferiors", such as they called Black and other minority races! Love must surely be able to overcome many obstacles to flourish, but this is even too much heartache to have to live through, even for love! A very interesting and true to life story. The acting was wonderful, even if Julie London was only a singer, she seemed to convey the fact that she, as the character, loved above all else and John D. is just as good. His mother, played by Agnes Moorehead was a proper witch, and I wished someone would have looked into her background before we got to far into the movie, because of the saying "I think the lady doth protest too much". She may have had a touch of African blood in her lineage as well. I give this movie high marks for entertainment, and content.

I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! I have seen this movie three times, and that was on the opening week-end of the movie in my city. My son drove down from where he lives just so that he could take his sister and me (and two of their cousins who are Joss Whedon fans as well), to the movies so that we could enjoy the film together. We're not children, we're all in our late twenties to late fifties!! We've thought that Joss Whedon was a genius forever. Now we KNOW that he is one. I wouldn't dare talk about the movie "Serenity". All must make up their own minds, I am only here to say that it has changed my way of thinking about SciFi and Outer Space movies. They can be beautiful and wonderful, and engaging, and exciting without alien creatures in them. Of course, some of the characters in "Serenity" were a bit "strange", but not one alien creature.

Once was just not enough. Neither was three times!! I am sure that all three of my adult children and I, will see this movie over and over again. Then we'll buy the DVD when it is available. My daughter has the "Firefly" DVDs, and the "Serenity" script book, (also all of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" DVDs). The comics, all of it.

We don't play when it comes to Joss Whedon!! These cast members, the "Firefly" regulars are so perfect as the stars of this movie, we waited on pins and needles until the movie opened, we're "Browncoats", we're "Fillionaires", but most of all we're "Whedonites"!! We hope that everybody in their right mind goes to see this movie. There just has to be a second and a third movie to thrill and chill us. Don't think that I am addle pated or anything, I enjoyed lots of other movies, and I really have enjoyed these actors in other things.

Including Gina Torres in Alias, Cleopatra 2525, Xena, and Matrix, (and even in Angel)!! I loved Ron Glass in Barney Miller!! Adam Baldwin has always been one of my favorites, and I always knew he wasn't one of "the brothers" too. Nathan Fillion first caught my eye in "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place", but I forgave him for that, now. (Smile).

We've even watched some movies that were out earlier that we probably never would have watched, just to get other views of Alan Tudyk!! And Alan, you ARE Wash, dude. We want to see so much more of you!! In anything, but especially in space. Please Mr. Whedon, fight, fight fight for more "Serenity" movies. People go and see why we're so passionate about this movie, these people, that ship, and the t.v. show too, (Still).

*Oh, and buy the "Serenity" comics, too, all three of them!! They are great reading, and they bridge the t.v. show with the Movie. (p.s. I love those Vampire Slayer "Fray" comics so very much! All of Joss' comics are visual masterpieces!! Just please allow yourself to find out how terrific Joss Whedon's mind is)!

Some people should remember that the world is geared to the individual, and so it is, "to each his own". I thought that Exit in Red was a thrilling and exciting movie. I loved the way they started in the middle, and went back and forth in the movie telling different parts until at last, we saw the whole stinking mess as it began and ended. The plot was believable, those two lovers had led a life of conning, why was it so incredible that she would be able to manipulate men as she wanted, that was the way she had grown up. Why couldn't a psychiatrist get bamboozled? They're just people!! Intelligence doesn't stop people from being stupid when it comes to predators. All types of people, from wealthy and rich, to wealthy and lonely have fallen for this scenario, jeez!! Don't you watch any of the shows on A and E, like Forensic Files. or Cold case files? It happens over and over. Smart seeming people getting hoodwinked by con artists. Ed was just lucky enough to have gotten out of it, with a bit of help from his lawyer. And don't fool yourself that cops are any less vindictive than Vollers was towards Ed. Some cops are sons of bitches, and I'm talking real life. How many stories have we heard of people serving years and years in prison, then being found innocent due to new technologies? Oh, it happens, buddy!! You are just closed minded, I, being an African-American, have heard of stories that make "Exit in Red" sound like real life, to me. Except that in the reals, the lawyer killed the two cops that were coming to get her client, and they ran away to Mexico, and didn't get caught until 6 or 7 years later. He was acquitted, and she went to prison. Sounded like drell, but it was true, and she was white and he was Latino!! Man, you must live in some fantasy world if that movie sounded boring to you. You just don't like one or the other of the actors, and that's hella okay. Yet, I am 58 years old, and let me tell you, if they made some movies out of the stories that I know to be true, you would turn the channel before they got to the "kicker" that made the story worth telling! I know that this is a "free-for-all", we all have the right to express our opinion, and I'm totally all for that, have at it. That's why I take this time to say, "I loved this movie", it's like that old T.V. show I used to watch when I was a much younger TV addict, "there are over a million stories in the Naked City, and this has been one of them". Well there are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of movies out there, and honey, this was only one of them! So, you didn't like it. So what? Lots of us did.

I totally agree with other commentators. This is acting at it's best. Gary Oldman has always been one of the finest actors that ever graced the cinematic screen, and as Dracul/Prince Vlad he has no peers. Vlad is so sensuous he could make female viewers swoon, this female viewer in any case. This was like looking into another's most precious memories, frame for frame, Gary dominated the view, regardless of who was there with him. I found it hard to take my eyes off of him. Winona was delicate it is true, but the scope of her acting was enhanced by her foil, Gary. She truly seemed to be a woman in thrall of her deepest emotions, unable to escape. Mina honestly made it seem as if the princess' spirit had been re-born in herself, and that the love she felt for her prince had not, and could not ever die. Prince Vlad, soon re-awakened in Mina the spirit of Elisabeta that had been dead for centuries, and recaptured her affections, those that had once belonged only to Johnathan. The interaction made it seem natural, and their love, a natural consequence of their meeting. Even with some events that were so horrible, such as the prince giving the baby to his hags to feed upon, had no effect on diminishing his appeal. As the ancient and wizened Count, there shown out a captivating radiance that was mesmerizing in itself. This happened to be the third or fourth time I watched this film, and yet, it was as if I were watching it for the first time. This film had some of the best characterizations by the actors I have ever seen. Cary Ewels was perfect as Holmwood, the proper English Gentleman. Bill Campbell was very masculine and handsome as the American cowboy, Quincey Morris, loyal friend, and brave combatant to the end. Richard E. Grant was wonderful as the obsessed doctor Seward, trying to help his insane patients with all his might, his gauntness lending a touch of reality to his dedication to his work. Tom Waits, perfectly insane, and thoroughly devoted to his master, as Renfield, 'til he looks Beauty in the face. What a backstabber! Sadie Frost, exactly what you'd expect from the rich débutante aristocratic, Lucy. Prim and proper outwardly, inwardly a wanton slut, aching to be set free. Then there was the maniacal way that Anthony Hopkins portrayed the world famous vampire hunter, Van Helsing!! That was worth the price of the ticket, right there. Driven mad by his quest to destroy the evil Dracula, led him to using such terminology as "The devil's bitch", when he was speaking of Lucy to her husband to be, and Morris. Such scenes were hilarious, and well placed. Brilliantly acted out also, by the incomparable Mr. Hopkins. I say, if this was the world Bram Stoker envisioned, or even more, actually lived in, I'd have to say that they must have had one grand Ole lusty time at that!

I am trying to see every movie ever made with Mickey Rourke playing a part in it, no matter how small. I watched this movie just two nights ago, and then came to IMDb to see who the other actors were. I believe this is a very good movie, just to see the workings behind a movie being made, the manipulations of the producers, and the fights that take place between the "stars", and the director were very interesting, and vicious(verbally)! I thought that Mickey played his part with complete believability, as to how a director would try to keep control of the way he envisions a character acting. As opposed to the way the actor playing the main character, see himself playing the part. This main actor seemed to portray somewhat, characteristics of Mickey Rourke, himself in early roles, and had the same personality conflicts that I have read about between Mickey and directors he was involved with while making his own career faux pas. I kept thinking, wow, is Mickey's character going to KILL this jerk-off? Then about the actor playing the producer, wow, is Mickey's character going to KILL this jerk-off? I don't know why, but I kept thinking that they were going to push the director over the edge. Mickey had made a statement that this was a huge opportunity for his character, to be directing this movie, so I thought that the character was going to snap! He didn't, and I breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't. The addition of the real mass murderer character, still alive and in prison, was an exciting insert, because now, his character could interact with the people making the movie of his crimes, and he could (and would) have some input, and also a lot of emotional display to the turns in the plot lines. Not only to his involvement with the way his part was being acted out, but to the way that the actor playing him, lived his own life, outside of the production!! I tell you, it was all very very well thought out and portrayed! By ALL the actors involved with this movie. I had no inkling that there were any "inside jokes". Nor anything about a favorite club, and how the whistled tune, or the radio show, alluded to it. Still this film caught my attention, and held it from first frame to last. I graded the actors thusly: Gene Bervoets:A. Jan Decleir: C+ (only because his part was so short). Mireille Leveque: B. Mickey Rourke: B+. Producer Guy: A-.

I am sorry that I don't remember who played the other parts, I mean what their names were, but I do remember the characters named Bob and Dylan. (How could I not, Bob Dylan is an American Icon)! They were funny and I laughed at that. I remember the actress that played Amy, but her part didn't really show if she could act or not. So, I didn't give her any grade. Over all, it was a good film, I would recommend it to anyone, who just likes good films, that have a very rooted plot, and a slick way with the script that is new and humorously done, to all jaded audiences.(Mainly us here in the good ole USofA).

Hey there. I've read all of the current Harry Potter books, and being in my late 50s didn't spoil the fun for me one bit. In fact I have a huge crush on Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint). Oh, I love Harry too, Daniel is a real cutey but, I feel so much for the Weasleys, all of them, because of how the horribleMalfoys treat all. It was like when I was a little girl and watched "Peter Pan" on TV for the first time, it was a play, and Mary Martin played Peter. That didn't matter, it was the adventure of it all that got me into wanting to read everything and anything I could on those sorts of adventures. Anything that took you away from everyday reality and lead you into another world! I never thought that I would actually get hooked on the Harry Potter books, but a young boy that I was baby-sitting for had gotten the book I think it was "The Goblet of Fire", for a Christmas present, and left it over my house for me to read. After I was through, I was thoroughly hooked. I had a sad feeling that the production wouldn't, no, couldn't be as magical as the books were. I thank heaven that I was wrong! To me it is right up there with the thrilling "Matrix" series. Yes, I say honestly that I love the Harry Potter movies, and I have seen them all to date, just as much as I loved, "The Jungle Book", the "Star Trek" series and the movies, the "Star Wars" movies, "Blade Runner", The TV series, "Farscape", "The X-Files", "Star-Gate", the movie and the series! I could go on and on, 'cause I am a SciFi fanatic! I even loved "A Wrinkle in Time", and if you haven't read that book, I really think that you should!!! You wouldn't be sorry! I loved Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula, of course, but even more, I loved him in "The Fifth Element"!!! Zorg was a fantastic character for him to play, and he played him to the hilt! I watch any movie that he is in, when it comes on TV, (He is one of my favorite actors, next to Mickey Rourke, you know)? I also love Jason Isaacs in his part, Malfoy, he is so sleazy, and mean. So different than he was as Mr. Darling and so good as Captain Hook! Or in Resident Evil, which are the only other parts I remember him in! Oh my daughter, Cherokee just told me he was in Elektra!!! Another great movie. I loved Richard Harris as Dumbledore, I'll miss him. I do think that Michael Gambon is doing a wonderful job replacing him. Many people I talked to didn't know the difference, but then they aren't videophiles, like my three children and I am!!! Anyway, I just wanted to give "Kudos" to the entire cast of all of the Harry Potter movies!!! You've made me so happy to be able to "get away from it all" in your cinema world. Thanks J.K. Rowling for the books. True gifts at ten times the price!!!

Hey, you are not alone! This is one of the most interesting HBO series out there, and I have had my "addictions". Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Farscape, Oz, Gilmore Girls, Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, Angel, CSI (any of them). I could go on and on. When I first saw Carnivale, I thought. Okay, let's see where this is going. It looked dirty, grungy, gritty. I thought, why can't these people take a bath?, yes, I was that petty. Hey, I wasn't here in 1934! I had heard of the Dust storms of course, but not of the traveling carnivals. I knew some of the lingo, 'cause, being born in 1947, my parents still used some of the terms that they so freely used in this series. By the fourth or fifth episode, I was going "gosh, I can't wait 'til next week"!!! Now, we already have the DVDs of the first season! Soon as they came out, my daughter went and bought them, well she got them from Amazon. Wasn't watching the episodes back to back awesome? First we were saying, "what if Sophie and Ben are brother and sister"? Then, "what if Gabriel and Ben are brothers"? Everything that you could think of goes through your mind! We didn't see Dora Mae dying in "Babylon", that was sad, or John Hanna either, we thought that he had gotten off clean after the "carny trial"! No honor among thieves, I guess. Rita Sue is the picture of the type of woman you would expect to do the "hoochy-coochie" dance, in real life. Fleshy, and lush. Why would someone who looked like Carole Lombard, be in that element? Married to a guy like "Stumpy"! Wouldn't happen. Cynthia Ettinger is however perfect for this part, so pretty and just a bit trashy. Brother Justin is really coming into his demonic power, isn't he? Clancy Brown shocked me as the preacher in the beginning, I kept saying, "he is too good of a villain, he doesn't seem right as a man of the cloth"! I spoke too soon, though. Now, he is the actor that I knew and loved from the likes of "Bad Boys"! Anyway, now that this season is already deep into "gosh, what is going to happen next"? for us. I have to say, it doesn't matter what your friends say or think, if you like this show, and it sounds like you do, just enjoy it! My daughter and I couldn't care less who likes this show. We think that Carnivale is one of the best shows in the history of television, THANK YOU, Daniel Knauf, and all the people that made this show possible. p.s. (LOVE you Nick Stahl!!!!!!!!!!!).

When I watched the movie Johnny Handsome, over again. I saw it from a whole new perspective. Other commentators that I've read here, looked at the movie only as to, character development, and ongoing plot continuity. They never looked at the movie as a human interest story! A glimpse into a possible life, lived in just the way it was presented! The story of a such a person, who may have actually lived, and who may have had the experiences that the character of John had, deformed as he was, and so may have had to re-acted in exactly the way he did? It's all the figment of some writer's imagination, but stretch your own mind enough to envelope this concept of this one man's life yourself? Saying Mickey Rourke cannot act, is a very short-sighted, and erroneous statement to make, after exploring the complexities of this character's existence overall. Mickey Rourke had the depth, and the finely tuned sensitivity, to convey the hopelessness of spirit, and also the continual confusion, of a totally scarred and horribly deformed, and therefore ugly and repulsive, singular human entity. John started out being socially unassertive,bereft of other contemporaries, visibly embarrassed, and yet, at the same time, pseudo-aggressive, and drawn to the criminal element. Understandably so, due to his low self-esteem, which is a by-product of his off-putting facial deformities. Mickey wore that face as if he truly had been born with it in reality. John's motivation, (for getting revenge on the two miscreants that had plotted against him, and his friend, in the robbery, and then killed his friend and wounded him), was the fact that, although he was hideous to the world at large, that one man had treated him as a person, a confidant, (due in part to John's unique skills), and befriended him, not as a horribly deformed freak, but as a peer, albeit, a peer in criminal activities. Even though, after his operation, John became a, "new man", just like everybody else, acceptable to the general population. This to the point of even attracting a "normal" caring woman to his new self. That wasn't enough to have changed his already well developed, "antisocial, unreasonable, and skewered" psyche. That part of him that would always be "unacceptable", in a so called "normal" world. So when the chance to avenge his only "true" friend, one who had included John (in his former incarnation), into his own bleak life routinely, how could John, with his scarred sensibilities, turn from the possibility of making a re-payment, he felt he "owed" this to Mikey? That alone would have driven John, at any cost, to figure out a way, in which ever way he could, to destroy the two characters, played so viciously and perfectly, by the actors Hendrikson, and Barkin. He fought their fire with his fire. Really this was the only way John knew, and the only option that was opened to him. A new face wouldn't have changed that. How could a person watching this movie expect rationality? I didn't comment on the Freeman character, Drones, because he just did what you would expect a cop to do. See a criminal, and try to find him doing something wrong. Then take him in. Freeman did this very accurately.He did his job, as usual. Still, the old adage applies here, with Mickey's character, John: Walk a mile in another's shoes before you judge him. I feel so sorry for people who watch movies with their mind, and leave their heart, and humanity completely out of it. They miss so much.

When I first saw this movie I thought "what is Mickey Rourke doing making himself look slightly homosexual as a cowboy outlaw"!!? As I watched the movie though, it didn't matter how he looked, he was deadly. Probably the only criminal cowboy who could get away with that "dandy" look. I thought that the entire cast was great in their own parts, but once again, as with every movie he is in, Mickey Rourke stood out. It was back in the day, when I chanced upon watching "Rumble Fish", with Matt Dillon, Dennis Hopper, and (my then personal favorite), William Smith, that I noticed the Motorcycle Boy. He stole that movie, no problem. From then on out, it was because of Mickey Rourke that I watched any movie he was listed in. He is like the greatest American actor EVER.

Sometimes I wonder how many people who watch these movies, (gritty street, criminal activity types), know what they are seeing? Being black, and growing up in the 60s and 70s, this was everyday life. People did act like this. Don't you know how precisely Mickey Rourke portrayed an ex-con? Especially one that was tired of the life? Man, why don't you give the man the credit he is due as a great actor, I have seen every one of his films, and he is so wonderful in each and every one of them, it makes me cry. When I re-watch a movie like Diner, or Johnny Handsome? When I see him go from cocky private eye to hysterically sobbing scared human in AngelHeart, and know that he is neither of these people? Or Henry Chinowski in BarFly!! The effeminate sharpshooter in the Last Outlaw? Give me a break! He's fabulous!!!

I have watched this movie, with interest, at least 5 times. My daughter, also sends me images telepathically, and so I know this is possible. We have had subtle psychic powers among ourselves, since birth. So, I enjoyed this film tremendously. I would have been afraid if her abilities had of been as developed as the character in this film, but as it is (it continues to this day sporadically), it is merely amusing. Since, in the movie, no one was in fact injured by his telekinesis, it would have been infinitely more interesting if there had been more investigation into his abilities. As it was, the film seemed kind of bland, and not nearly as unique as it could have been, if only the writer/screenwriter, had of proceeded into that vein of inquiry! The doctors seemed only interested in his oddness, and not in the fantasticality, (my own word), of his telepathic abilities!!! I was amazed, (each time I watched), that they hadn't applied all the means necessary to make this a truly remarkable film. All in all, a pleasant and moderately "scary" movie.