Movie Reviews Net

Jennifer Aniston: A Biography

Administrator — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:46:13 +0000

Jennifer Aniston is one of America’s most talked about actresses. Born on February 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, California, her parents are the actors Nancy Dow and John Aniston (originally Yannis Anastasakis, he is probably best know for his role on the soap opera Days of Our Lives as Victor Kiriakis).

When she was nine, Jennifer’s parents split up and she was raised by her mother. Jennifer spent a bit of her childhood living in her father’s native country of Greece, but she was raised mostly in New York, and then in Los Angeles. Jennifer is of Italian, Greek, Scottish and English descent.

Jennifer first began acting when she was just 11 years old, joining the Rudolf Steiner School’s drama club. She started training professionally at the prestigious High School of the Performing Arts in New York. After she graduated the school in 1987, Jennifer appeared in some off-broadway productions, such as “Dancing on Checker’s Grave” and “For Dear Life”. She landed her first role on TV in 1989 as a regular on the series Molloy. She also had roles in “Leprechaun”, “The Edge”, “Herman’s Head”, “Sunday Funnies”, “Camp Cucamonga” and the “Ferris Bueller” television series.

While she could get some roles, it wasn’t enough to live on, so in between roles she worked as a telemarketer and a waitress (which is ironic, considering that many of her characters are waitresses). It was hard, but she got by. In 1994 she auditioned for a pilot called “Friends like These” and the rest is history. Simplified to Friends, the show was an instant success that launched her career and left her in the public’s psyche forever as the beautiful waitress Rachel Green.

Movie Review - The Matador

Administrator — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:37:47 +0000

The Matador is a hilarious spoof. Nevertheless, it manages to convey some thought-provoking emotions.

The Matador introduces us to the lives of a hitman and a salesman, who meet at a bar in Mexico City. Pierce Brosnan throws off his smooth James Bond image, and gives a fantastic performance as Julian, the crude and rough-around-the-edges hitman. Greg Kinnear plays Danny, the average American businessman.

Although Julian and Danny are complete opposites, they end up sharing a bond. Julian is struggling to cope with his chosen career as a “facilitator of fatalities.” Danny is dealing with the pressures of trying to succeed as a businessman. The unlikely duo strike up a friendship, which leads to a bond between them.

So why is the movie called the Matador? One very strong point in the movie is when Julian and a top bullfighter (the Matador) both demonstrate how they must possess clever skills, and devise certain maneuvers to achieve their respective “missions.”

The movie’s other interesting character is Danny’s wife, played by Hope Davis. Davis gives a good performance as the dutiful wife.

The Matador has neither a complex nor a challenging plot (but does have an interesting twist at the end). Despite the lack of complexity, The Matador is worth seeing for the humor and fine performance by Brosnan.

Let me know if you enjoyed this movie as much as I did by adding your comments below.

Answers to Movie Trivia

Administrator — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 01:52:55 +0000

I recently posted a number of questions about movies. Here are the answers.

1.) Allison Janney

2.) Daniel Craig

3.) Ellis Boyd Redding

4.) 12 year’s old. Taxi Driver was shot in the summer of 1975, making Jodie (born November 19, 1962) 12 at the time.

5.) Ethan Hawke

6.) 1939

7.) Gus Van Sant

8.) Gloria Swanson

9.) Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

10.) True: He won Best Supporting Actor for the 1996 film “Jerry Maguire”

11.) “Citizen Kane”

12.) “Titanic”

13.) True: the film is in pre-production

14.) Paul Haggis

15.) “Crash”

Movie Review - In The Mix

Administrator — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 01:40:06 +0000

I am not very fond of Usher’s music, but I definitely think that he is a talented vocalist. And he is also a pretty decent actor too, when he allows himself be. His performance in Light It Up was rather good, as was his stint in The Faculty. But In The Mix really shows that the singer just doesn’t have what it takes to be a lead actor yet.

Maybe it just happens to be the bad plot and dialogue, but Usher just is not with the program in this flick. He is trying hard to look cool, but he isn’t doing much on the acting front, just looking buff and living up to that Will Smithian “street wise yet nice and hip black guy” archetype. Honestly, there would be nothing wrong with that if it was pulled off right. I actually like Will Smith’s acting. But in this scenario, with Usher doing it, it’s just plain awful.

As said before, Usher is actually able to be a competent actor, and that is why this movie is so annoying. The whole time I was in the the theater absorbing the silly boy meets girl plot I kept thinking “Wow. What happened to this guy?” Usher does actually have talent, but none of it is displayed in this film.

But to be fair, he is not the only reason this is a bad film. All the other actors do a poor job as well, and as mentioned, the plot and dialogue is pretty asinine too. Even the title - which oh so cleverly references the bi-racial love affair between the two characters - is dumb. Avoid this movie at all costs, unless of course you enjoy being bored and annoyed for 90 minutes.

25 Trivia Bits about Horror Films

Administrator — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 20:05:14 +0000

1. Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd starred in the 1973 horror film, Satan’s School for Girls before they worked together as Charlie’s Angels.

2. David Copperfield, the magician and ex-beau of supermodel Claudia Schiffer, appeared in Terror Train along with scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis.

3. Prana Films, the company that produced the 1922 silent film horror classic, Nosferatu, declared bankruptcy after the film’s release to avoid paying copyright infringement costs to Florence Stoker, the irate widow of deceased Dracula novelist, Bram Stoker.

4. Wes Craven, the director of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, says that Freddy Krueger was named after a kid who bullied him in school. His appearance was based on a hobo who scared the horror master when he was a child.

5. The original title of Hellraiser, horror writer Clive Barker’s directorial debut, was Sadomasochists from Beyond the Grave.

6. Daria Nicolodi was Dario Argento’s long-time partner. She collaborated with him on a number of his films including the classics Deep Red: The Hatchet Murders and Suspiria. She is also the mother of Asia Argento.

7. John Landis directed An American Werewolf in London. He wrote the screenplay for the film when he was only 19. He would go on to direct one of the most famous - and expensive - music videos of all time, Michael Jackson ’s Thriller.

8. The apartment on Prospect Avenue in Washington, D.C. where many of the scenes of The Exorcist were filmed, was once inhabited by William Peter Blatty, the author of the novel on which the film was based. He lived there while a student at Georgetown University.

9. Linda Hamilton was moonlighting during her stint as Vicki in Children of the Corn. She was working on The Terminator at the same time.

10. The fake blood used in the original Dawn of the Dead was created from a mixture of food coloring, peanut butter and cane sugar syrup.

11. The house used in Rob Zombie’s House of 1,000 Corpses was the same house used in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

12. Leatherface, the terrifying character from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, is based on a real-life serial killer, Ed Gein. Gein liked to dress up in the skin of his victims. This habit also inspired Thomas Harris, the writer of The Silence of the Lambs. His Buffalo Bill character did the same thing.

13. Cary Elwes, who starred as Larry, an unwitting player in the Jigsaw puzzle killer’s game from the 2004 film, Saw, has played a serial killer himself. He was Ted Bundy in The Green River Killer and the unlikely murderer in Kiss the Girls with Ashley Judd and .

14. Sigourney Weaver was nominated for an academy award as Best Actress - her first nomination - for her portrayal of Ellen Ripley in the 1986 sci-fi / horror classic, Aliens, the sequel of the 1979 original Alien.

15. Charles Lee Ray, the name given to the maniacal killer whose soul comes to inhabit a doll we all know better as Chucky, from the Child’s Play movies, is a combination of three horrifying - and real-life murderers. “Charles” comes from Charles Manson, “Lee” from Lee Harvey Oswald and “Ray” from James Earl Ray.

16. Stephen King supposedly wrote the part of Amanda in Cat’s Eye with Drew Barrymore in mind. She was a family friend of the King’s who loved cats. Drew once said that, ‘at night, Stephen would tell the best scary stories ever’.

17. Adrienne Barbeau was married to horror master, John Carpenter, from 1979-1984. She appeared in The Fog, Escape from New York, Someone’s Watching Me and Creepshow during that time.

18. Johnny Depp and Patricia Arquette both appeared in Nightmare on Elm Street films. Depp was Glen in the original Elm Street and Patricia, sister of Rosanna, David and Alexis, starred in the 3rd installment, which is also known as Dream Warriors.

19. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a silent film created in Germany during the tail end of World War I (1919). It is credited as the first modern-horror movie.

20. In the year 2000, the Library of Congress in the United States declared the 1928 horror film, Fall of the House of Usher, which is based on the Edgar Allen Poe story of the same name, as ‘culturally significant’. It was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

21. Mario Bava, the director of the 1960 horror classic, Black Sunday (La Maschera del Demonio) is the father of Lamberto Bava, who directed the Demons´ films. He also worked with Dario Argento on his 1980 film, Inferno.

22. Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t have to audition for her role as Kim Hammond in Prom Night (1980). She won the role based on her previous horror film work which included Halloween, Terror Train and The Fog.

23. In Psycho the 1960 film starring Jamie Lee Curtis’ mama, Janet Leigh, chocolate sauce was used to simulate the blood in the shower scene. Hitchcock stabbed a melon with a knife to create the slashing sounds.

24. Little Shop of Horrors (1960) is the fastest film ever shot. Roger B. Corman, a producer behind a multitude of B-movie classics, used the camera himself. Each scene was shot in one take. Filming was completed in two days and one night.

25. Poltergeist was directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), not Steven Spielberg. Spielberg was a producer of the film, however.

Natalie Portman Bio

Administrator — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:01:59 +0000

Natalie Portman is one of those pretty faces that is, well, more than a pretty face. Talented, civic-minded, undeniably intelligent, and sophisticated beyond her years, Portman has been dubbed the “new Audrey Hepburn.”

Portman was born in Jerusalem in 1981 to Avner and Shelley Hershlag. Her father, a fertility doctor, and her mother, an artist, moved from Israel when their daughter was three to Washington D.C., and then later, New York. At the age of 11, she was discovered by an agent at a pizza parlor. Initially, she was pushed into modeling. However, strong-willed and independent-minded even then, Portman decided to pursue acting.

Her debut performance came in the movie Leon in 1994. However, this role, which some felt was too “Lolita”-like in its tone, caused Portman to later refuse roles that were too sexually-oriented or that required nudity.

In 1997, she did in fact turn down a role in the movie Lolita because of her strong feelings against youth playing overtly sexual roles in films. Similarly, she turned down the role of “Juliet” in the famous 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet because of the age difference between herself and Leonardo DiCaprio. In Anywhere But Here, Portman turned down the role of Ann August because of a nude scene with Corbin Allred; Susan Sarandon vouched for the necessity of Portman as her co-star and the scene was rewritten.

A straight-“A” student all through high school, Portman now studies at Harvard. She likes math, due to its clear-cut system of solving problems. She speaks five languages fluently — Hebrew, English, French, German, and Japanese. Other talents include playing the piano and ballet. One of her favorite authors is Dave Eggers. She aspires to follow in her father’s footsteps and go into the medical field.

Interestingly, Portman has had several music-related tributes to her. She has had songs named after her by bands TeamSleep and Ozma. She also has CD recorded for charity bearing her name called Love: A Tribute to Natalie Portman.

Her most famous role was perhaps Queen Amidala in Star Wars Trilogy. While these movies perhaps portray Portman’s sense of fun and her diversity as an actress, movies such as Garden State are better suited to Portman’s arena.

Portman has the elegance of royalty, but her acting talent makes her suited to roles in which she plays characters with likeable flaws. It’s easy to see Portman as a woman without flaws, but more “human” roles bring her closer to earth and to fans’ hearts.

Funny Movie Quotes

Administrator — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 21:40:26 +0000

The best movies are those that make us laugh out loud. Check out these funny lines from classic movies:

GREASE [1978]

“If you can’t be an athlete, be an athletic supporter.” ~Principal McGee

AIRPLANE! [1980]

“Surely, you can’t be serious.” ~Striker

“I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley.” ~Dr. Rumack

SCARFACE [1983]

“Every day above ground is a good day.”

“I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.”

BEVERLY HILLS COP [1984]

“Disturbing the peace? I got thrown out a window! What’s the @#$%&*# charge for getting pushed out of a moving car? Jaywalking?” ~Axel Foley

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY [1989]

“I’ll have what she’s having.” ~Female restaurant patron (after Sally mimics lovemaking sounds).

SAY ANYTHING [1989]

“I just can’t have any social life right now.” ~Diane

“Don’t worry about it. We’re just having coffee. We’ll be anti-social.” ~Lloyd

STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER [1989]

“Please, Captain, not in front of the Klingons.” ~Spock

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT [1996]

“Assimilate this.” ~Commander Warf

AS GOOD AS IT GETS [1997]

“Sell crazy someplace else . . . we’re all stocked up here.” ~Melvin

OFFICE SPACE [1999]

“Looks like you’ve been missing a lot of work lately.” ~ Bob Porter

“I wouldn’t say I’ve been missing it, Bob!” ~ Peter Gibbons

What are the funniest movie quotes you can think of? Please add them in the comments below.

Movie Facts

Administrator — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 21:24:58 +0000

1. The role of Lester Burnham in “American Beauty” was originally offered to Chevy Chase and Tom Hanks. Kevin Spacey ended up taking the part.

2. Tom Cruise became the first actor in history to star in five consecutive films that grossed $100 million in domestic release; “A Few Good Men” (1992), “The Firm” (1993), “Interview With The Vampire” (1994), “Mission Impossible” (1996) and “Jerry Maguire” (1996).

3. According to Forbes Magazine, “King Kong,” which cost $207 million to make, is the sixth most expensive Hollywood film ever made. The most expensive ever was the 1963 film “Cleopatra,” which would cost $286.4 million to make today.

4. Actress Laura Linney, who has appeared in films such as “Kinsey” and “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” lives in Connecticut near actors Kevin Bacon and Michael J. Fox.

5. Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, and Dustin Hoffman were all offered the part of Michael Corleone in “The Godfather,” but all refused.

Overrated and Underrated Films

Administrator — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 21:11:34 +0000

Some fall into the category of underrated. Other films are totally overrated. And some are just so bad they are not even worth writing about (okay, but I will anyway). Let us look at a few movies.

Underrated Movies

“The King of Comedy”: Martin Scorsese’s forgotten dark comedy / drama about an aspiring comic, played by Robert DeNiro, who will go to great lengths to become successful in showbiz. DeNiro is hysterical in this film, in a creepy, dark and weird sort-of-way. This film, which came out in 1983, is masterfully directed by Scorsese, and also features some great performances by Jerry Lewis (as himself) and Sandra Bernhard.

“In Good Company”: Very good movie about a 51-year-old advertising executive played by Dennis Quaid, who has to work for a boss (played by Topher Grace) that is half his age. This 2004 film also features a very good performance by Scarlett Johansson.

Overrated Movies

“The Usual Suspects” : I have really never understood the appeal of this 1995 thriller. This whole movie relies on a twist, (I won’t spoil it for those who have not seen it) but when you really think about it, how shocking is the twist? I mean, really, don’t you see it coming? Kevin Spacey does turn in a memorable performance, though.

“Pulp Fiction” : This 1994 film is one of those flicks I seriously think some people say they like for fear of backlash. It’s almost like you are supposed to like this film. Why? I am not really sure. Quentin Tarantino writes a film that features rape, murder, drug use and 3, 232 uses of the F-word and it’s considered genius, yet if I did the same it would be considered total crap.

Terrible Movies

“Boat Trip”: Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., this 2002 flick is one of the most pathetic films I have ever seen. It’s about two straight men, Gooding Jr. and Horatio Sanz, who mistakenly end up on a gay cruise. Billed as a comedy, it’s just about the most unfunny, offensive, clichéd and stereotypical movie you have ever seen. Normally, I would tell you to avoid a film like this at all costs. But it’s so bad that you almost have to see it to believe it.

“Cold Creek Manor”: This one is really bad, another film I recommend seeing just because you can’t even believe someone actually decided this script was good enough to be a movie. Starring Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone, this 2003 drama/thriller takes just about every cliché out of the “101 Movie Clichés Handbook” and puts them into this film.

Let me know what movies you think are underrated or overrated by adding your comments below.

Movie Review - Pride & Prejudice

Administrator — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 20:54:18 +0000

Pride and Prejudice is a classic love story that takes place in the 19th century, and is based on a book by legendary novelist Jane Austin.

The story is about the Beet family and their heartfelt yet often humorous struggle to survive in Edwardian England. The family is poor, and the only way to secure the family’s future is for their eldest daughters to marry into a rich family. The story covers the various trials and tribulations that the girls face, especially focusing on Elizabeth, who is played by Keira Knightley in this film adaptation.

There have been other adaptations of the book, but this is the first time that Hollywood has tackled it in a big way. The result is a beautiful heartfelt drama that will stay in your mind for quite some time after you have left the theater.

If you have read the book or seen the 5 hour long miniseries made a decade ago then you are obviously going to compare this film to those versions of the story. The most obvious hindrance that the film has in comparison to the previous versions is the time restriction. While they do a good job of squeezing as much of the story into the film as they can, it just isn’t the type of story you can do in two hours, so they couldn’t be 100 percent faithful to the book in that sense. But that is really the only area where this film is weaker than it’s 1995 counterpart.

Overall I think that this condensed version is actually much more palpable to most people, and the acting this time around is better, as is the cinematography and overall feel in general. The other film simply didn’t have the budget to look this good, and the professionalism of this adaptation really makes the older version look somewhat primitive and made for TV, which it of course it essentially was.

Keira Knightley really shines in this picture as Elizabeth, and it is by far the best performance I’ve seen her give. You really care about her character, and there is real chemistry between her character and Mr Darcy (played by Matthew MacFadyen). If you love a good romantic movie then Pride & Prejudice will not disappoint. Highly recommended.

Let me know if you enjoyed this movie as much as I did by adding your comment below.