Reader Reviews ’06
Films only seen by Shadows readers...On this page: CLICK | END OF THE SPEAR | FLYBOYS | FREEDOMLAND
INVINCIBLE | MAN OF THE YEAR | THE MARINE | MATERIAL GIRLS
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last update 18.Oct.06
Most reader reviews appear on the films' regular review pages.
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Donna R Carter, Wisconsin: "I'm not an Adam Sandler fan, but he's improving. This was a serious movie hiding inside what had the potential for a good story. Parts of the story were quite good (the family - except for the dogs, which I thought degraded the movie more than added to it). The weirdness in the workplace (did you have to stoop so low, Mr Baywatch?) was a bit much. The story line was great. I think it could have been better written with a bit less fluff and ridiculousness, but the point was made well in the end, regardless." (21.Aug.06)
with Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken, David Hasselhoff, Henry Winkler, Julie Kavner, Sean Astin
06/US
release US 18.Aug.06,
UK tbc
End of the Spear
Donna R Carter, Wisconsin: "I thought I was going to cry through the whole thing, but I didn't. It was very well done, I thought. Although the whole thing was done in Panama, with actual Waodani, it was close enough to pass for authentic. Several people I grew up with made cameo appearances in the film. It was kind of strange sometimes when they mentioned things that I distinctly remembered personally being a part of. Some of the actors did not look at all like the real-life people, but I guess that doesn't really matter in the end. The enormous spiritual depth of the story was nowhere near as deep in the movie as it was in real life, but I suppose that would be difficult to put on the screen. I think, also, that the story being from Steve's perspective as a child, he may have missed a lot of the stuff that adults would not have missed: heavier, deeper things that he didn't see or comprehend at that age. It wasn't as 'glamorously perfect' as a Hollywood movie would be, but I was not disappointed. Stay through the credits, as Steve tells some really funny stories." (23.Jan.06)
scr Bill Ewing, Bart Gavigan, Jim Hanon
with Louie Leonardo, Chad Allen, Jack Guzman, Christina Souza, Chase Ellison, Sean McGowan, Cara Stoner, Beth Bailey
06/US
release US 20.Jan.06
Flyboys
Laurie T, Minneapolis: "This movie is based on a real squadron in WWI, and really made me think about the courage it would take to fly one of those skimpy airplanes - no parachute, literally no protection. If you get shot, you die, period. The aerial fight scenes were awesome and had me on the edge of my seat. And the comments made about planes were hilarious - wondering what we would do with planes when the war was over ('Gee, we did not have planes 2 years ago, wonder what will happen with flying in the future'). If these guys only knew. And the whole month of training - wow - don't know how much they get now, but I am certain a month won't cut it. An awesome movie - go see it on the big screen." (8.Oct.06)
with James Franco, Martin Henderson, Jean Reno, Tim Pigott-Smith, Keith McErlean, Jean-Philippe Écoffey, Karen Ford, Ruth Bradley 06/US
release US 22.Sep.06; UK tbc
Freedomland
Donna R Carter, Wisconsin: "I expected this to be more of a thriller. It didn't live up to my expectations. Maybe I just thought it was going to take a different route than it did based on the trailers and previews I'd seen. The main character was so conflicted and dysfunctional that it was difficult to relate to her - much less like her, so I never really felt connected or moved by her story. Even after I realized how things were turning out, and I understood the reasons behind the hanging questions, most of it still didn't make me feel much more sympathetic for the characters than I had felt in the beginning. I just wasn't pulled into the story in any way. The most moving part of the story, to me, was Samuel Jackson's character, as well as the believable racial conflict that grew out of a woefully-mishandled search for a missing boy." (19.Feb.06)
scr Richard Price
with Samuel L Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco, Ron Eldard, William Forsythe, Aunjanue Ellis, Anthony Mackie
06/US
release release US 17.Feb.06, UK 24.Mar.06
Invincible
Laurie T, Minneapolis: "With all the teams in training camps - it seemed an appropriate and timely movie to see. All I can say is I really enjoyed it. The actors played their parts well, and who could not win with friends like that backing them up? Mark Wahlberg played the part well - it was weird seeing all that '70s style hair again - sorta like a scary kind of nightmare. But that was then and how things looked. The underdog wins, and who doesn't like that?" (28.Aug.06)
with Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks, Kevin Conway, Michael Rispoli, Kirk Acevedo, Michael Kelly, Michael Nouri, Paige Turco
06/US
release US 25.Aug.06
Man of the Year
Donna R Carter, Wisconsin: "It wasn't actually at the top of my list to watch, but last minute I decided it would work with the schedule and I'm glad I saw it. Astute political observations, the lamentations of the lack of a substantial third party for those who are neither Republican nor Democrat, corruption, intrigue - I enjoyed it." (16.Oct.06)
with Robin Williams, Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Lewis Black, Jeff Goldblum, Faith Daniels, Tina Fey, James Carville
release US 13.Oct.06, UK tbc
The Marine
Donna R Carter, Wisconsin: "Wow! I don't think I've ever watched a more extraordinarily bad movie in my entire life. It was so bad, I was glued to my seat through the entire 110 minutes, with my mouth agape, and stifling gasps and howls of laughter at how very bad it was. It must have been written by a middle-to-high-school-age boy, and directed by a pyromaniac. Rife with clichés and extremely poor one-liners, full of leaps in logic and an hyperbole of incredibly and unrealistically large explosions (from which, of course, our hero the marine, barely escapes - though most of the time completely unscathed). This movie is nonstop car chases, knock-em-down-drag-em-out fisticuffs, gunfire (terribly bad aim), and flammable things to create enormous, fiery explosions that fill the screen with flames. The acting is poor even without the bad writing. The plot twist (if you want to call it that) has absolutely nothing leading up to it (and nothing after it, either). The characters are underdeveloped, and any attempts to develop them are so poorly written they only serve to make matters worse. The alliances are unlikely at best. At least one entire scene has nothing to do with the movie at all other than to make it still more incredibly, amazingly stupid (and allow for yet another fisticuff. And was there another explosion? I don't remember - there were so many). It was so unbelievably bad that I can't even give it a bad review, because I was hilariously entertained by its very awfulness and left the theater almost choking on laughter that something that bad could make it to the big screen at all." (16.Oct.06)
withJohn Cena, Robert Patrick, Kelly Carlson, Anthony Ray Parker, Abigail Bianca, Jerome Ehlers
release US 13.Oct.06, UK tbc
Material Girls
Donna R Carter, Wisconsin: "Cute story, cute girls, cute boys, cute plot (a very high cuteness factor), obvious bad guy/good guy from the very beginning, sprinkled with a little romance and sleuthing and tied up in a neat (cute) little package of 'it all turns out okay in the end'. Target audience: cute junior-high and high school girls." (21.Aug.06)
with Hilary Duff, Haylie Duff, Anjelica Huston, Maria Conchita Alonso, Brent Spiner, Lukas Haas, Colleen Camp, Judy Tenuta
06/US
release US 23.Jun.06,
UK 29.Sep.06
© 2006 by Rich Cline and the readers of Shadows on the Wall
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