Reviews Written by Alex
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March 26, 2001
wow
This album rules.
V talented singer, player, and communicator. Great gutsy blues etc. -
February 11, 2001
brilliant--best of the year
0 of 1 Yahoo! Users found this review helpful Following in the proud footsteps of "South Park: Bigger etc.", "Cecil B." wins the coveted Alex Lewin Best of the Year award.
"This film freakin' roolz! Two thumbs up (ahem)" -- Alex Lewin
"Uh, he said thumbs up..." -- Beavis ... -
January 15, 2001
I couldn't make it past 20 minutes
Very poor production quality, completely disjointed. There are much better HK movies to watch. -
January 12, 2001
just see La Femme Nikita instead
The only reason I made it all the way through this movie was that Jade Leung was cute. If not for that, I would have given up after half an hour.
This film is a pale shadow of La Femme, which itself was only good, not great. Cat is so derivative that it probably wouldn't make much sense to anyone who hadn't seen La Femme. ... -
December 18, 2000
didn't know what to expect, wasn't disap
1 of 1 Yahoo! Users found this review helpful What compelled me to watch "Duel" was its cameo appearance--dubbed into Spanish--in my favorite film of all time, Pedro Almodovar's "Matador". I understand Almodovar's interest, inspiration, and possible homage; the themes of sex and death tie these films together unmistakably, particularly the peculiar situation of having to decide whether to embrace someone or kill him (or both).
"Duel" is a fine specimen. The film is beautiful to my modern eyes, as one hopes it would be for the five million 1946 dollars it cost to make--more than any that came before. (One blemish is the needlessly offensive depiction of race, although it's perhaps no worse than other movies of the era.)
Jennifer Jones, as the protagonist Pearl, plays beautifully, seductively, desperately, tragically. In fact, she spends the entire movie dancing, heaving, sweating, crying, and rolling around in the dirt. Some might call it overacting; whatever it is, I'm not complaining.
If you are looking for subtlety, look elsewhere. But if you are looking for passion, drama, and the quest for personal liberation, this movie is for you. ... -
December 2, 2000
very good, very cute
Great movie. I withhold the 5th star only because it didn't change my life. But it is very good, funny, entertaining.
If you liked this, you'll love "The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love (1995)".
http:// ...shopping.yahoo.com/ shop?d=v&id=1800243003 -
November 19, 2000
bold, indulgent, nervous, slow, numbing
My first comparison is to "Pi", Aronofsky's previous feature-length film, which I wasn't able to sit through. "Requiem" is a step forward from "Pi". I sat through "Requiem", and only once did it occur to me prematurely that it might be a good time to leave. (I wouldn't have left anyway since I was with a friend.)
So far, I have only damned Requiem with faint praise. Alas, that's the best I'll be able to do for it. Requiem sandblasted me with stimuli, many of which evoked nothing. Several techniques (split screen, shaky screen, intentional noise and jiggle) presumably intended to intensify the viewing experience merely distanced me.
I am a big fan of bleak movies. But I wasn't able to warm up to this one. Leaving aside "Pi", which I have already dispatched, I would observe that "Dancer in the Dark" was at least as bleak and much more to my taste, for instance, because its excursions were more artistic and less masturbatory. "Natural Born Killers", perhaps less bleak and more grim, used some of the same paints from the overstimulation palette as Requiem, but less relentlessly, and in a way that I found less numbing.
So: see Requiem if you're curious. But don't necessarily expect it to be the high point of the week (or even the night...).
Alex ... -
November 12, 2000
dancing. darkness.
There is dancing and there is darkness. You may have guessed that already. As for the rest, there's no way you'll guess it. It's quite unlike anything else I've ever seen. Bizarre, slightly surreal, also hyper-real. Yadda yadda.
If you're curious, I encourage you to go see it... ... -
Woodstock: Three Days of Peace & Music (The Director's Cut) (1970)
by Michael Wadleigh | VideoPrice: $9.78 to $21.89 Compare PricesOctober 10, 2000
wow
If you are at all interested in the 60's, hippies, rock and roll, or US history and culture, see this movie.
Don't be too intimidated by its 4 hour length...there are a bunch of music shots that can be skipped over (unless, of course, you're stoned). ...
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an hour and a half well spent
Vampire and blacksploitation fans should add this to their lists of "must see" movies.Good acting, non-obvious motives, complex intercharacter interaction...
An ending that is not entirely predictable...
And, most importantly, a sympathetic vampire character. ...