Jonny-Lee-Miller Movie Reviews
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mindhunters

TRAINSPOTTING SHOWS SOME OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF DRUG ABUSE."Trainspotting" tells the story of Renton and his buddies Spud, Sick Boy and Tommy; all these guys are junkies and they are stuck in a constant debate between choose a "normal life" (what is normal, anyway?) and the life style of a drug addict. So as the story unfolds, we see how they promise to quit drugs and almost immediately fall again in the addiction. Also, they hang around with the local psychotic drunk Begbie; he is not a junkie, but he loves to drink and to provoke fights with the slightest opportunity.
The movie shows some of the main consequences that the drug abuse brings: how you lose the perspective of the things that happen around you, how you affect your family and your closest friends, how you become a drug slave, how your body deteriorates, how you can become a threat to all the people, and how pathetic you can be once you become a junkie.
And yet, in "Trainspotting" we see that everybody has always choices: "Choose life or choose not to choose life". However this movie is not a preach...the only purpose of "Trainspotting" is to show you what can happen to you...after all, the choice is yours.
Definitely Not HollywoodThe movie follows the fortunes of likable, suede-head junkie Mark Renton (McGregor), and his dodgy gang of sidekicks: girl magnet Sick Boy, nerd Spud, and psycho Begsbie (Robert Carlyle). Exploring the oblivion and depredation of drugs, the film treats us to delights of acute diarrhea, 'toilet diving' in the filthiest toilet in Scotland, crime, unemployment, AIDS, copious vomiting, as well as some football. One of the more direct statements made in the movie is that being Scottish sucks. What is more apparent, however, is that being a f**ked up junkie sucks.
The fact that such unpromising material makes for compelling viewing is due to the sheer talent at work in the film. The center of the movie is Renton's cynical, world-weary view: "One day their won't be men or women, just wankers".
The soundtrack, mixing the cool of Lou Reed with techno and Britpop, is not a grubby attempt to cash in, but helps the atmosphere and the pacing of the movie.
McGregor's acting is assured. His sullen, hypnotic presence is the film's heart, but he is ably assisted by the other actors, particularly Robert Carlyle's Begsbie. Irving Welsh also makes an appearance as local dealer Mother Superior so called because of the length of his habit!
Certainly this is a dark and dirty, violent and sordid movie, but it is also strangely uplifting with a hint of optimism at the end. Hamstrung by its need to constantly make deals and cover all the bases, this is the kind of movie, Hollywood is no longer able to make.
Best ever
Among Rivers's patients is a mute, amnesiac officer named Billy Prior (Jonny Lee Miller), as well as the emotionally depleted poet Wilfred Owen (Stuart Bunce) and another poet and war hero, Siegfried Sassoon (James Wilby). Unlike the others, Sassoon is not, in fact, suffering from any disorder but is being quietly punished for writing a pamphlet denouncing the war. The army hopes Rivers can find some basis for mental incompetency in Sassoon, but the thoughtful doctor instead attempts to persuade him to add legitimacy to his criticisms of the war by returning to active duty.
Pryce brilliantly captures the cumulative effects of Rivers's responsibility--of fixing men and sending them back to their possible deaths--on the good doctor's nerves. Wilby is also fine as Sassoon, but the film belongs just as much to actors Miller and Bunce, whose characters are different kinds of men struggling to find their balance, one through a revived sense of duty and the other through his writing. Scottish filmmaker Gillies Mackinnon (The Playboys) is at the top of his form, telling a unique story about the invisible wounds of war while shedding light on the meeting of two visionary poets and one visionary physician. --Tom Keogh

A great film adaptationAs stated by a previous reviewer, the original title of this film is Regeneration *not* Behind the Lines. I have no idea why the title was changed when it was released in the United States because the current title doesn't make any sense. Another complaint is that there is a lack of any special features on this DVD. It would have been marvelous to watch a director commentary or behind the scenes footage. It's unfortunate that this is a bare bones DVD. Regardless of these two negative aspects, BEHIND THE LINES is a wonderful and deeply moving film of British soldiers suffering from shell shock during the Great War.
Read Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy and watch this film. Both are highly recommended.
Far, Far Away the Thudding Guns [Regeneration]The film did manage to get across the awful (British) Imperial jingoism without ramming it down our throats more or less exclusively. The experiences that caused such acute suffering as displayed by the inmates of Craiglockhard were presented well, as was the personal humiliation of succumbing to mental illness or "shell-shock". Less successful however, was the treatment of the worst thing a soldier can do: failing to act with stoicism and diffidence. (Sassoon for example, developed an intense hatred for civilians as a result of this fairytale "let's all pretend we're having a lovely time in Flanders because that's what they want to hear at home, and we can't go upsetting the ladies, now can we, lads?", that at least outlasted the war.)
This was a well-scripted, well-acted,thoughtful and thought-provoking film. This is not a standard "tear-jerker" but if it does not make you shed a tear of sorrow and rage then you must have been multi-tasking.
This film actually rekindled a schoolgirl interest in the history of the First World War and in the extraordinary change in and range of poetry resulting from the experience of those in the foul trenches of France and Flanders.
a beautiful adaptation of the great novel...

Unrealistic, but in Hollywood, isn't everything?
Just plain fun!That being said, this is a true "cult classic": campy fun that you'll either love or hate. Many go out of their way to criticize the "unrealistic" portrayal of hacking and other technical "glossing over" done in this movie... PUH-LEEZE! Who wants to watch somebody sitting typing code or doing research by the hour? It's called dramatization, people!
The strength of this movie is the chemistry between the younger stars Jolie, Miller, Lillard, etc. Lorraine Bracco is forgettable, as always (except for the accent) and the FBI heavies are flattish; but Fisher Stevens is worth watching, being so cheesy as the bad guy he's actually fun, and so is Penn of Penn& Teller as his character foil and straight man.
What no one addresses is the soundtrack for this movie: it introduced me to some of legends of techno music like Underworld and Prodigy, back in the early '90's when techno was still pretty much the exclusive property of the underground club scene, and still sounds edgy today...
If you're a compulsive nitpicker, avoid this movie... but for the well-adjusted majority, you can't go wrong!
Hackers Some How Hacks Into ur Heart

Unrealistic, but in Hollywood, isn't everything?
Just plain fun!That being said, this is a true "cult classic": campy fun that you'll either love or hate. Many go out of their way to criticize the "unrealistic" portrayal of hacking and other technical "glossing over" done in this movie... PUH-LEEZE! Who wants to watch somebody sitting typing code or doing research by the hour? It's called dramatization, people!
The strength of this movie is the chemistry between the younger stars Jolie, Miller, Lillard, etc. Lorraine Bracco is forgettable, as always (except for the accent) and the FBI heavies are flattish; but Fisher Stevens is worth watching, being so cheesy as the bad guy he's actually fun, and so is Penn of Penn& Teller as his character foil and straight man.
What no one addresses is the soundtrack for this movie: it introduced me to some of legends of techno music like Underworld and Prodigy, back in the early '90's when techno was still pretty much the exclusive property of the underground club scene, and still sounds edgy today...
If you're a compulsive nitpicker, avoid this movie... but for the well-adjusted majority, you can't go wrong!
Hackers Some How Hacks Into ur Heart

Unrealistic, but in Hollywood, isn't everything?
Just plain fun!That being said, this is a true "cult classic": campy fun that you'll either love or hate. Many go out of their way to criticize the "unrealistic" portrayal of hacking and other technical "glossing over" done in this movie... PUH-LEEZE! Who wants to watch somebody sitting typing code or doing research by the hour? It's called dramatization, people!
The strength of this movie is the chemistry between the younger stars Jolie, Miller, Lillard, etc. Lorraine Bracco is forgettable, as always (except for the accent) and the FBI heavies are flattish; but Fisher Stevens is worth watching, being so cheesy as the bad guy he's actually fun, and so is Penn of Penn& Teller as his character foil and straight man.
What no one addresses is the soundtrack for this movie: it introduced me to some of legends of techno music like Underworld and Prodigy, back in the early '90's when techno was still pretty much the exclusive property of the underground club scene, and still sounds edgy today...
If you're a compulsive nitpicker, avoid this movie... but for the well-adjusted majority, you can't go wrong!
Hackers Some How Hacks Into ur Heart
Your inclination may depend on whether you recall his dad Ridley's own directing debut, The Duellists (1977), and savor the correspondences. Dad took a Joseph Conrad tale of the Napoleonic Wars, cast it with the ultra-contemporary Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel, and filmed it with a swoopingly mobile camera. Son Jake has made a feisty period piece about a pair of thieves (Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller) in 1748 London and filled it with blatant anachronisms. A decadent aristo (Alan Cumming), asked whether he "still swings both ways," replies, "I swing every way!" A ballroom full of revelers dances the minuet (or is it the gavotte?) while our ears--if not theirs--are filled with a rock ballad. And so forth.
Is this sophomoric? Maybe. But it's also often fresh and inventive. Why shouldn't a filmmaker be allowed to speak directly to a contemporary consciousness, even flaunt it, as long as he also delivers startling imagery and convincing period detail? The solid cast includes Michael Gambon as a corrupt magistrate, Ken Stott as a very nasty enforcer named Mr. Chance (who favors a thumb through the eye socket and into the brain as a mode of execution), and Terence Rigby as a philosophical jailer; even Liv Tyler looks more interesting than usual. Plunkett & Macleane is in the end pretty frivolous, but it's a lively debut nonetheless. --Richard T. Jameson

Pretentious and PredictableThe self-concious humour ends up being incredibly pretentious, it even seems to revel in the fact that it is pretentious, and somehow that makes the movie selfaware and hip.
Some people might leap to this films defense and claim that the forgetable plot was part of the grand scheme to keep it fun and exciting. The problem is asides from the an uninvolving plot, this movie is extremely predictable, which further deminishes the already trite affair.
Predictable, Brainless FunThis is a modern day swashbuckler where the good guys are outlaws and the bad guy (Ken Stott) is just a truly manipulative, nasty person. There's nothing really original about this film, but it is fun to watch and shows promise for Jake Scott as a director. It doesn't aspire to greatness, so it's easy to grant a little leeway.
You probably won't find anybody saying that it's the best movie they've seen but they certainly won't say that it's awful.
The DVD is a bit weak on added features - the featurette does not include anything that you couldn't really get out of the movie on your own. It is, however, kind of interesting to see the difference between the UK and the US trailers for the film. Overall, a decent rental.
Stand and deliver tale comes to life
Your inclination may depend on whether you recall his dad Ridley's own directing debut, The Duellists (1977), and savor the correspondences. Dad took a Joseph Conrad tale of the Napoleonic Wars, cast it with the ultra-contemporary Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel, and filmed it with a swoopingly mobile camera. Son Jake has made a feisty period piece about a pair of thieves (Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller) in 1748 London and filled it with blatant anachronisms. A decadent aristo (Alan Cumming), asked whether he "still swings both ways," replies, "I swing every way!" A ballroom full of revelers dances the minuet (or is it the gavotte?) while our ears--if not theirs--are filled with a rock ballad. And so forth.
Is this sophomoric? Maybe. But it's also often fresh and inventive. Why shouldn't a filmmaker be allowed to speak directly to a contemporary consciousness, even flaunt it, as long as he also delivers startling imagery and convincing period detail? The solid cast includes Michael Gambon as a corrupt magistrate, Ken Stott as a very nasty enforcer named Mr. Chance (who favors a thumb through the eye socket and into the brain as a mode of execution), and Terence Rigby as a philosophical jailer; even Liv Tyler looks more interesting than usual. Plunkett & Macleane is in the end pretty frivolous, but it's a lively debut nonetheless. --Richard T. Jameson

Pretentious and PredictableThe self-concious humour ends up being incredibly pretentious, it even seems to revel in the fact that it is pretentious, and somehow that makes the movie selfaware and hip.
Some people might leap to this films defense and claim that the forgetable plot was part of the grand scheme to keep it fun and exciting. The problem is asides from the an uninvolving plot, this movie is extremely predictable, which further deminishes the already trite affair.
Predictable, Brainless FunThis is a modern day swashbuckler where the good guys are outlaws and the bad guy (Ken Stott) is just a truly manipulative, nasty person. There's nothing really original about this film, but it is fun to watch and shows promise for Jake Scott as a director. It doesn't aspire to greatness, so it's easy to grant a little leeway.
You probably won't find anybody saying that it's the best movie they've seen but they certainly won't say that it's awful.
The DVD is a bit weak on added features - the featurette does not include anything that you couldn't really get out of the movie on your own. It is, however, kind of interesting to see the difference between the UK and the US trailers for the film. Overall, a decent rental.
Stand and deliver tale comes to life

DEFFINATELY BUY IT!!!
Wes Craven Presents A Pretty Good Movie
Wes Craven's MixThe back story created that connected Van Helsing, Mary, and Dracula was very interesting, and kept the movie together. You can tell by the commentary given to the movie by director Patrick Lussier and screenwriter Joel Soisson that research went into coming up with the story, and they wanted the film to be serious and have a story. I believe that's why some people didn't enjoy the movie. They didn't know whether to take the film seriously, or just let it be "eye candy". True, it does have the appeal of "eye candy", but when you understand the going on behind the film, you can begin to take it seriously. So I highly recommend giving the audio commentary on the DVD a listen.
Dracula 2000 managed to snag a talented cast full of up-and-coming stars (Sean Patrick Thomas, Jennifer Esposito) and veterans of acting (Christopher Plummer), and even a pop star (Colleen Fitzpatrick aka Vitamin C). Justine Waddell, who plays the main female lead, Mary, did very well at putting heart into her character, but her given dialogue is sometimes - to me - overacted, but in the end she does quiet well. Her voiceover in the end was effective. And I can't write a review without mentioning the person who played Dracula, Gerard Butler. Butler had the actions, the eyes, and the voice to play a perfect Dracula.
Watch Dracula 2000 the first time with an open-mind, and then watch it with the commentary. Both times, it will be like a different movie.


DEFFINATELY BUY IT!!!
Wes Craven Presents A Pretty Good Movie
Wes Craven's MixThe back story created that connected Van Helsing, Mary, and Dracula was very interesting, and kept the movie together. You can tell by the commentary given to the movie by director Patrick Lussier and screenwriter Joel Soisson that research went into coming up with the story, and they wanted the film to be serious and have a story. I believe that's why some people didn't enjoy the movie. They didn't know whether to take the film seriously, or just let it be "eye candy". True, it does have the appeal of "eye candy", but when you understand the going on behind the film, you can begin to take it seriously. So I highly recommend giving the audio commentary on the DVD a listen.
Dracula 2000 managed to snag a talented cast full of up-and-coming stars (Sean Patrick Thomas, Jennifer Esposito) and veterans of acting (Christopher Plummer), and even a pop star (Colleen Fitzpatrick aka Vitamin C). Justine Waddell, who plays the main female lead, Mary, did very well at putting heart into her character, but her given dialogue is sometimes - to me - overacted, but in the end she does quiet well. Her voiceover in the end was effective. And I can't write a review without mentioning the person who played Dracula, Gerard Butler. Butler had the actions, the eyes, and the voice to play a perfect Dracula.
Watch Dracula 2000 the first time with an open-mind, and then watch it with the commentary. Both times, it will be like a different movie.
A group of FBI wouldbe profilers sent to a remote island for a training exercise. Being killed off one by one. sounds a bit familiar? Not in the slightest!!!
This film isnt like anything you would be expecting, every little detail was thought out before production, the cast was to a T!wasnt too sure if LL Cool J would be able to pull off a role like this, as with my fellow Brit Johnny Lee Miller, but they were great. Slater back on form giving a fantastic performance as we all know he is capable of, Kilmer his usuall quirky greatness, and some fantastic performances from the lesser knowns.
Nothing in the movie is straight forward, you are kept on the edge of your seat from beginning to end trying to guess the outcome, keep trying but i dont think you will manage it as its twists keep going till the end!
BEWARE OF THE PUPPET MASTER!!!!!!!!!