Willem-Dafoe Movie Reviews

The English Patient ranks among the finest pieces of cinematography in modern-day film. The scenery is breathtaking and captures the haunting isolation of desert terrain. The music is as captivating as the storyline because it reaches deep within the viewer's soul recreating the sense of joy, bliss, and anguish that the characters experience within the viewer's heart as well. This is a story of love which exemplifies quite a few of the many forms it can take. The relationship between the nurse and her english patient is touching and the romantic love between the Count and Katherine is passionate, blistering and real. This movie experienced much adversity during its production by an independent film company and it was a welcome surprise to see its recognition as Best Picture at the Oscars two years ago where it is very unusual for an independent film to take the top prize.

Personally, I have seen this film over 5 times and will watch again in the future. It is definitely worth owning on DVD in order to experience the optimal conditions for viewing its gorgeous cinematography that is so very rare in movies today.

I'm not really sure why this movie's being panned as severely as it is. Maybe the dense plot put off those looking for an action epic. Maybe the passionate but ultimately destructive relationship put off those looking for a formulaic happy-ending fluff romance. Maybe these people just don't like thinking during movies, because this movie doesn't lay everything out for you and you have to work to figure out character motivations, plot, symbolism, etc. But to me, all those things that this movie isn't only adds to its richness and beauty.

The story is told half in flashbacks, half in present tense, with the beginning a sort of bridge between the two: Story A, Juliette Binoche's nurse caring for the mysterious English Patient, begins at the end of Story B, where Ralph Fiennes (on an expedition in the desert) falls madly in love with a married woman (Thomas). Later, Story C also interweaves with A and B, telling of Willem Dafoe's bitter thief and his connection with the English Patient. This storytelling device is probably what makes the movie brilliant (although the acting, romance and cinematography are hardly to be treated lightly).

Despite technical brilliance, it is The English Patient's examination of emotions that gives it its heart; the sheer passion of the movie makes me cry every time I see it. And the characters are fascinating, much like Anthony Minghella's later work, The Talented Mr Ripley. No one here can be called a caricature, with the possible exception of Katherine; while you may not understand everything they do, part of the fun is piecing together their actions into complex individuals.

You should be warned that you do see a bit more of both Thomas and Binoche than you perhaps would like to, and Almasy and Katherine DO engage in adultery, but if you can overcome any objections to either of those issues and keep your mind open, you may be as moved as I was. The English Patient is a heart-breaking, passionate, powerful, dense, confusing, mesmerizing, extraordinary, and simply beautiful movie.

One of the movies that I'll keep remembering and watching again.

The cinematography, the exotic desert landscape, the portrait of the European/ African Muslim cultural harmony, the beautifully haunting music, the intricately layered story (takes more than one viewing to fully understand), the way the two lovers have to part and the way he chooses to end his life and have his nurse read to him his lover's last writing as he passes away...

All these just gel so well into a sad and beautiful art work, to be savoured again and again.

The English Patient ranks among the finest pieces of cinematography in modern-day film. The scenery is breathtaking and captures the haunting isolation of desert terrain. The music is as captivating as the storyline because it reaches deep within the viewer's soul recreating the sense of joy, bliss, and anguish that the characters experience within the viewer's heart as well. This is a story of love which exemplifies quite a few of the many forms it can take. The relationship between the nurse and her english patient is touching and the romantic love between the Count and Katherine is passionate, blistering and real. This movie experienced much adversity during its production by an independent film company and it was a welcome surprise to see its recognition as Best Picture at the Oscars two years ago where it is very unusual for an independent film to take the top prize.

Personally, I have seen this film over 5 times and will watch again in the future. It is definitely worth owning on DVD in order to experience the optimal conditions for viewing its gorgeous cinematography that is so very rare in movies today.

I'm not really sure why this movie's being panned as severely as it is. Maybe the dense plot put off those looking for an action epic. Maybe the passionate but ultimately destructive relationship put off those looking for a formulaic happy-ending fluff romance. Maybe these people just don't like thinking during movies, because this movie doesn't lay everything out for you and you have to work to figure out character motivations, plot, symbolism, etc. But to me, all those things that this movie isn't only adds to its richness and beauty.

The story is told half in flashbacks, half in present tense, with the beginning a sort of bridge between the two: Story A, Juliette Binoche's nurse caring for the mysterious English Patient, begins at the end of Story B, where Ralph Fiennes (on an expedition in the desert) falls madly in love with a married woman (Thomas). Later, Story C also interweaves with A and B, telling of Willem Dafoe's bitter thief and his connection with the English Patient. This storytelling device is probably what makes the movie brilliant (although the acting, romance and cinematography are hardly to be treated lightly).

Despite technical brilliance, it is The English Patient's examination of emotions that gives it its heart; the sheer passion of the movie makes me cry every time I see it. And the characters are fascinating, much like Anthony Minghella's later work, The Talented Mr Ripley. No one here can be called a caricature, with the possible exception of Katherine; while you may not understand everything they do, part of the fun is piecing together their actions into complex individuals.

You should be warned that you do see a bit more of both Thomas and Binoche than you perhaps would like to, and Almasy and Katherine DO engage in adultery, but if you can overcome any objections to either of those issues and keep your mind open, you may be as moved as I was. The English Patient is a heart-breaking, passionate, powerful, dense, confusing, mesmerizing, extraordinary, and simply beautiful movie.

One of the movies that I'll keep remembering and watching again.

The cinematography, the exotic desert landscape, the portrait of the European/ African Muslim cultural harmony, the beautifully haunting music, the intricately layered story (takes more than one viewing to fully understand), the way the two lovers have to part and the way he chooses to end his life and have his nurse read to him his lover's last writing as he passes away...

All these just gel so well into a sad and beautiful art work, to be savoured again and again.

The English Patient ranks among the finest pieces of cinematography in modern-day film. The scenery is breathtaking and captures the haunting isolation of desert terrain. The music is as captivating as the storyline because it reaches deep within the viewer's soul recreating the sense of joy, bliss, and anguish that the characters experience within the viewer's heart as well. This is a story of love which exemplifies quite a few of the many forms it can take. The relationship between the nurse and her english patient is touching and the romantic love between the Count and Katherine is passionate, blistering and real. This movie experienced much adversity during its production by an independent film company and it was a welcome surprise to see its recognition as Best Picture at the Oscars two years ago where it is very unusual for an independent film to take the top prize.

Personally, I have seen this film over 5 times and will watch again in the future. It is definitely worth owning on DVD in order to experience the optimal conditions for viewing its gorgeous cinematography that is so very rare in movies today.

I'm not really sure why this movie's being panned as severely as it is. Maybe the dense plot put off those looking for an action epic. Maybe the passionate but ultimately destructive relationship put off those looking for a formulaic happy-ending fluff romance. Maybe these people just don't like thinking during movies, because this movie doesn't lay everything out for you and you have to work to figure out character motivations, plot, symbolism, etc. But to me, all those things that this movie isn't only adds to its richness and beauty.

The story is told half in flashbacks, half in present tense, with the beginning a sort of bridge between the two: Story A, Juliette Binoche's nurse caring for the mysterious English Patient, begins at the end of Story B, where Ralph Fiennes (on an expedition in the desert) falls madly in love with a married woman (Thomas). Later, Story C also interweaves with A and B, telling of Willem Dafoe's bitter thief and his connection with the English Patient. This storytelling device is probably what makes the movie brilliant (although the acting, romance and cinematography are hardly to be treated lightly).

Despite technical brilliance, it is The English Patient's examination of emotions that gives it its heart; the sheer passion of the movie makes me cry every time I see it. And the characters are fascinating, much like Anthony Minghella's later work, The Talented Mr Ripley. No one here can be called a caricature, with the possible exception of Katherine; while you may not understand everything they do, part of the fun is piecing together their actions into complex individuals.

You should be warned that you do see a bit more of both Thomas and Binoche than you perhaps would like to, and Almasy and Katherine DO engage in adultery, but if you can overcome any objections to either of those issues and keep your mind open, you may be as moved as I was. The English Patient is a heart-breaking, passionate, powerful, dense, confusing, mesmerizing, extraordinary, and simply beautiful movie.

One of the movies that I'll keep remembering and watching again.

The cinematography, the exotic desert landscape, the portrait of the European/ African Muslim cultural harmony, the beautifully haunting music, the intricately layered story (takes more than one viewing to fully understand), the way the two lovers have to part and the way he chooses to end his life and have his nurse read to him his lover's last writing as he passes away...

All these just gel so well into a sad and beautiful art work, to be savoured again and again.

This film is a little gem. It is slow, sad, uncompromising and contains exceptional acting! Nick Nolte is such a powerful actor. His and James Coburn's performances are the heart of the movie. Coburn won the Oscar, but Nolte's part of an abused child who's now a loser of an adult is sooo good that I can't see how HE didn't get the gold instead of Our Man Flint! The final scenes with the final confrontation of father and son are extremely powerful and some may find sort ofhard to take but they are worth waiting for! Willem DaFoe gives a good uncharacteristic gentle performance too. It's good to see Paul Schrader behind the camera in top form.

Paul Schrader wrote and directed this engrossing drama of one man's self-destruction. Nick Nolte plays Wade Whitehouse, the small-town sheriff who is simultaneously the employee of the town's leading contractor. Whitehouse is basically an ignorant man, proud and tough on the outside, but still hurting from the abuse he suffered as a child from his father (James Coburn in a superbly vicious performance that won him an Oscar). The film covers the events that occur to Whitehouse during a couple of weeks in late October and November, when his life collapses around him. Nolte gives an excellent performance as the self-destructive man, persuasively playing his need to express himself and the consequences of his inability to do so. When the film centers around his relationships with his ex-wife, daughter, father, and girl-friend (Sissy Spacek, in a nice understated performance), the film scores a bulls-eye; Nolte's inability to communicate and his mounting frustration and anger are almost palpable. When it drifts into a story about the possible murder of a wealthy, mob-connected hunter and Nolte's investigation, the film becomes increasingly incoherent. It's also not helped by the dour presence and voice-over of Willem Dafoe as Nolte's brother, another victim of the family's cycle of violence. The key scene in which Dafoe--supposedly the smart one of the family--spurs on Nolte's paranoia with suggestions that the dead hunter was murdered by Nolte's friend and co-worker is a particular mess, and the final voice-over in which Dafoe laments the cost of the generations of violence needlessly spells out what we've already learned. There's another unfortunate scene in which Nolte's born-again sister attends a family funeral: why is it that so many religious characters on screen have to be such fools? Can't some religious people just connect with those around them, be supportive, caring, and intelligible? The film's technical credits are strong, particularly the cinematography and art direction which re-create the bleak yet stunning winter countryside of New Hampshire (thanks to Canada).

"Affliction" is a rare peephole into the abyss of our weaknesses - then a downward spiral into desolation and fear, or, as one character puts it: "Man's seduction into revenge."

Paul Schrader, who wrote "Raging Bull" "Taxi Driver" and "The Mosquito Coast," works here from Russell Banks' novel. Wade Whitehouse (Nick Nolte) is a second-rate sheriff in wintry, upstate New Hampshire who doubles as a worker for a landscaping contractor (Holmes Osborne) to make ends meet. He lives in a trailer. He wears flannel sweatshirts and raggedy coats. He smokes marijuana, drinks incessantly. Wade's pushed by almost everyone, his mind is half-clogged by his ex-wife (Mary Beth Hurt), a distant, cold woman who took Wade's equally distant, cold daughter with her when they divorced.

Nolte, in the best work of his long career, has a chewed-up face, bad haircut, slouchy demeanor. But his presence looms larger in "Affliction" than it ever has before. His outbursts of anger are matched solely by his father, Glen (James Coburn). Through flashbacks Glen's character is fleshed out as less a man than a force of hatred, tainting all those around him.

Rarely has been a performance so wickedly effective. Coburn, who won the Academy Award for this role, snarls, growls, cackles; he's a derivative of evil, a man who's been allowed to rule by fear and intimidation, a man who, when his wife dies, is still taken in by the son who truly hates him.

Their toxic kinship is surrounded by a curious murder investigation that serves as a catalyst to Wade's descent. It seems a town bigshot (Sean McCann) accidentally shot himself with a rifle in a hunting accident. Wade thinks otherwise. Possibly it was a murder. There is some evidence to support it, though "Affliction is no whodunit. Wade perceives the murder as a chance to finally best his detractors; we know it will only sink him further.

By the end, all of Wade's problems sink into one, and they all lead to one place: dad's house.

I was prepared to enjoy this film, because the premise and range of actors is promising. Overall, I think it was a good idea that was not that well executed. What specifically turned me off was the preoccupation with the director, and production problems, and the whole filmmaking process. To me, it's in poor taste to constantly reference the industry while trying to make a damn movie. Nevertheless, there are some truly funny moments, and anyone that has seen or cared about Nosferatu will want to see this. Best of all is Werner Herzog's remake of the original, with Klaus Kinski playing the Count. Now that is some fine filmmaking.

I wasn't sure what to make of "Shadow of the Vampire" after my first viewing. I bought it on a whim on Halloween night, to scare my girlfriend with a "Nosferatu" double-feature. When the World Series game ran long, we ended up watching neither. I finally got to "Shadow" two weeks later and came away unsettled. This is more a movie about scary notions -- about shadows -- than a scary movie itself. Why did the film begin and end with 5-minute-long title sequences? Why was the ending so suddenly downbeat?

However, I was still fascinated, so came back to watch a second time and was quite impressed. Now I wasn't expecting Technicolor gore (most of the deaths are alluded to, not shown), and got to enjoy more fully the electric dialogue between stars Malkovich and Dafoe. I wanted to cheer when Cary Elwes swashbuckled onto the screen late in the picture. I enjoyed Eddie Izzard's portrayal of Z-grade silent film star Von Wangenheim -- Izzard's manic gesticulations reminded me of Jay Leno in his more bizarre character bits. But it all comes down to John Malkovich in the mad-scientist goggles and Willem Dafoe munching on a bat. These are expert actors and we should all clearly be more like them in our daily lives. I want those goggles.

The DVD extras are worth your time. The video interviews with Merhige, star Willem Dafoe, and producer Nicolas Cage (who's very *freaky*, bug-eyed and fidgety) are short, and do more than just mimic the director commentary. Izzard has a great line on the making-of featurette. Watch for two hidden trailers in the "Recommendations" section.

Merhige's commentary track is mostly a winner. It's weighty stuff, be warned; Merhige is in full-on film school professor mode, discussing abstract notions, technical details, and Goethe. The commentary for "The Last Temptation of Toxie" this isn't. He does occasionally go overboard, talking his way through the endless opening titles, going orgasmic while comparing his "Nosferatu" recreations to the original, and rambling a sort of Oscar acceptance speech at the end. On the whole it's a good commentary track and if you choose to watch the movie more than once, this is a good use of 85 minutes.

Say and call Shadow of the Vampire what you will, but I for one love this movie for everything it is and isn't. At first I wasn't sure what to make of the film, but after repeated viewings Shadow of the Vampire has become quite possibly my all time favorite film. Those expecting a normal vampire film will get a surprise, this is a different kind of vampire movie. A tribute of sorts to the original crew of the legendary German film Nosferatu, John Malkovich stars as director F.W. Murnau, and Willem Dafoe is "character actor" Max Shreck. As the film unfolds we learn Shreck is an actual vampire, and his personality comes out the more he is around the film crew. I will say that Dafoe gives a knockout performance, and he earned his Best Supporting Actor nomination, his makeup (which was also nominated for an Academy Award) was excellent as well. But what made Dafoe's performace so great was one scene in particular where he is talking outside to the film makers about why reading Bram Stoker's Dracula made him sad (you have to watch it, this is what acting is all about). Malkovich was haunting as the obsessive director, willing to go to any extreme to complete his masterpiece, and the question as to who the real monster is, Murnau or Shreck, will be something you'll be asking yourself. The special features are worth noting, Nicolas Cage produced the film and offers an interview, as does Dafoe, both of which are great and interesting to those who cannot get enough of the film. All in all, Shadow of the Vampire is an underrated hauntingly funny masterpiece that vampire movie fans will mostly enjoy.

I was prepared to enjoy this film, because the premise and range of actors is promising. Overall, I think it was a good idea that was not that well executed. What specifically turned me off was the preoccupation with the director, and production problems, and the whole filmmaking process. To me, it's in poor taste to constantly reference the industry while trying to make a damn movie. Nevertheless, there are some truly funny moments, and anyone that has seen or cared about Nosferatu will want to see this. Best of all is Werner Herzog's remake of the original, with Klaus Kinski playing the Count. Now that is some fine filmmaking.

This is the second best vampire movie after the original Nosferatu. They are great to have together as a set.

This film was a total joy, not in only in the cast of fine actors but the theme of the movie. Much like "Return of the living dead" was to "Night of the living dead", so is SOV to Nosferatu. A ficitonal dramatization to show the true story behind the, eehh, fiction!

The settings gave me the same creeps as the original and what I liked doing was playing a couple of scenes from the silent feature and then continuing with SOV to compare the details.

All in All great fun and at times disturbing, if you liked the original Nosferatu. Well done Mr Cage, thank you for this film

Entertaining look at the seamy side of a well known star--if you were a fan of the series or interested in stars generally and how they really live, then check it out.

Greg Kinnear gives one of his better performances as late Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane, a man who lost everything from his starpower, to both his marriages, and finally his life because of his sexual addiction. At the center of his addiction is John Carpenter (no, not the director) played by the always excellent Willem Dafoe who provided Crane the technology to film their deeds while Crane provided the women. Director Paul Schrader (writer of Taxi Driver and director of American Gigolo) gives a flawed but hauntingly amusing look at Crane's life; whether or not it's all fact can be left up to the viewer, but Auto Focus is carried by the solid performances of Kinnear and Dafoe. The DVD itself has a number of solid extras, including a documentary on Crane's murder and commentaries including one with Kinnear and Dafoe.

"You tell them Bob Crane is normal. Tell them sex is normal." -- Bob Crane in "Auto Focus"

Sex addictions typically invite a smile, and maybe envy. "Auto Focus," which chronicles the traveling sexual misadventures of the television star Crane, is a very funny movie, but, to its credit, inspires none of the latter emotion. If Bob Crane's life was perfectly normal, as Crane seemed to believed for a time, than "normal" is one hell of a raw, tiring deal.

In a year of virtuoso male performances, Greg Kinnear was overlooked for his portrayal of the "Hogan's Heroes" star, but Kinnear delivers the performance of his still young career. He has Crane's look, his bemusement, his bewilderment, his shallowness and his greed.

But at the outset of "Auto Focus," Crane is still a LA radio disc jockey and a bit of a goof -- a "cut up" as he calls it -- and still a reasonably devoted-if-vacant family man.

And then Crane lands the "Hogan's" gig. He meets the 1960s version of a tekkie in John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), who hangs around stars and peddles new gadgets, like the Sony Video Tape Recorder. Crane, it turns out, is a gadget man himself. Together, they use the VTR to record one another having sex with women.

Carpenter is the creep to end all creeps, but Crane is so locked into being affable that he bypasses the unseemliness for Carpenter's universal interests in naked women and booze. When he starts drumming late nights at a strip club, it's clear that his high school sweetheart-turned wife, Anne (Rita Wilson) won't be seeing him much any longer. There is one break when Crane discovers Carpenter is probably gay -- "It was a group grope!" Carpenter pleads -- but the rift is mended when Crane's home VTR player breaks, and only one man can fix it. It's a match made in porn from that moment forward.

I mentioned the movie is funny, and it is: Crane is likable but halfway hapless, and certainly dim-witted. Upon discovery of Carpenter's gay tendencies, Crane affects a deep hurt and betrayal he actually buys into. It's a sad joke, but humorous nonetheless, that Crane thinks he's operating with a full deck of cards: He knows charm like the back of hand, but not any other kind of deception -- he has pictures of naked women on his car seat for any passerby to see. He delves so deep into his addiction that he meticulously films and catalogues his escapades, only to watch every other aspect of his life crumble around him; he can't find work because his addiction is the murmur of the town, and the addiction puts him into a fog of bliss that neither his first wife, nor his second, Patti (Maria Bello) can ever bust through.

Carpenter can hang out, because he's the equipment guy, although at some point, Crane sees him as a drag, too. And then Crane sees the women as a drag, existing mainly to be filmed and viewed later, while Crane and Carpenter masturbate on the couch.

The movie's final act is a predictable, long ugly spiral toward Crane's mysterious murder in 1978. The world, aside from Carpenter and faceless women, has shut him out. A day without sex has become a day wasted, so much of the night is spent fulfilling the "mission."

Paul Schrader directs, and after his brilliant "Affliction, the cinematic equivalent of a icewrap around your head, "Auto Focus" is a film, though entirely different in source material, essentially in the same vein: Bob Crane is not without talents or virtues, but his delusions are stronger. Schrader's movies are a little cool to the touch, which has put off some critics (David Edelstein of Slate) but I like the approach -- "Auto Focus" is hardly your run-of-the-mill addiction movie. It's a little less hopped up and a lot more creepy.

Entertaining look at the seamy side of a well known star--if you were a fan of the series or interested in stars generally and how they really live, then check it out.

Greg Kinnear gives one of his better performances as late Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane, a man who lost everything from his starpower, to both his marriages, and finally his life because of his sexual addiction. At the center of his addiction is John Carpenter (no, not the director) played by the always excellent Willem Dafoe who provided Crane the technology to film their deeds while Crane provided the women. Director Paul Schrader (writer of Taxi Driver and director of American Gigolo) gives a flawed but hauntingly amusing look at Crane's life; whether or not it's all fact can be left up to the viewer, but Auto Focus is carried by the solid performances of Kinnear and Dafoe. The DVD itself has a number of solid extras, including a documentary on Crane's murder and commentaries including one with Kinnear and Dafoe.

"You tell them Bob Crane is normal. Tell them sex is normal." -- Bob Crane in "Auto Focus"

Sex addictions typically invite a smile, and maybe envy. "Auto Focus," which chronicles the traveling sexual misadventures of the television star Crane, is a very funny movie, but, to its credit, inspires none of the latter emotion. If Bob Crane's life was perfectly normal, as Crane seemed to believed for a time, than "normal" is one hell of a raw, tiring deal.

In a year of virtuoso male performances, Greg Kinnear was overlooked for his portrayal of the "Hogan's Heroes" star, but Kinnear delivers the performance of his still young career. He has Crane's look, his bemusement, his bewilderment, his shallowness and his greed.

But at the outset of "Auto Focus," Crane is still a LA radio disc jockey and a bit of a goof -- a "cut up" as he calls it -- and still a reasonably devoted-if-vacant family man.

And then Crane lands the "Hogan's" gig. He meets the 1960s version of a tekkie in John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), who hangs around stars and peddles new gadgets, like the Sony Video Tape Recorder. Crane, it turns out, is a gadget man himself. Together, they use the VTR to record one another having sex with women.

Carpenter is the creep to end all creeps, but Crane is so locked into being affable that he bypasses the unseemliness for Carpenter's universal interests in naked women and booze. When he starts drumming late nights at a strip club, it's clear that his high school sweetheart-turned wife, Anne (Rita Wilson) won't be seeing him much any longer. There is one break when Crane discovers Carpenter is probably gay -- "It was a group grope!" Carpenter pleads -- but the rift is mended when Crane's home VTR player breaks, and only one man can fix it. It's a match made in porn from that moment forward.

I mentioned the movie is funny, and it is: Crane is likable but halfway hapless, and certainly dim-witted. Upon discovery of Carpenter's gay tendencies, Crane affects a deep hurt and betrayal he actually buys into. It's a sad joke, but humorous nonetheless, that Crane thinks he's operating with a full deck of cards: He knows charm like the back of hand, but not any other kind of deception -- he has pictures of naked women on his car seat for any passerby to see. He delves so deep into his addiction that he meticulously films and catalogues his escapades, only to watch every other aspect of his life crumble around him; he can't find work because his addiction is the murmur of the town, and the addiction puts him into a fog of bliss that neither his first wife, nor his second, Patti (Maria Bello) can ever bust through.

Carpenter can hang out, because he's the equipment guy, although at some point, Crane sees him as a drag, too. And then Crane sees the women as a drag, existing mainly to be filmed and viewed later, while Crane and Carpenter masturbate on the couch.

The movie's final act is a predictable, long ugly spiral toward Crane's mysterious murder in 1978. The world, aside from Carpenter and faceless women, has shut him out. A day without sex has become a day wasted, so much of the night is spent fulfilling the "mission."

Paul Schrader directs, and after his brilliant "Affliction, the cinematic equivalent of a icewrap around your head, "Auto Focus" is a film, though entirely different in source material, essentially in the same vein: Bob Crane is not without talents or virtues, but his delusions are stronger. Schrader's movies are a little cool to the touch, which has put off some critics (David Edelstein of Slate) but I like the approach -- "Auto Focus" is hardly your run-of-the-mill addiction movie. It's a little less hopped up and a lot more creepy.

If pictorial beauty and one stunning performance were enough to make a movie great, Robert Rodriguez's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" would be a masterpiece. Rodriguez--to quote his little joke in the credits--"chopped, shot and scored" the movie, and some of the (rare) still scenes in this flick take our breath away with Rodriguez's spatial and color compositions. There's also the eccentrically brilliant performance of Johnny Depp as Sands, a rogue CIA agent who tries to play all the movie's warring factions against each other for his own fun and profit. Unfortunately, audiences demand more of a movie--such as characters they can root for and a story that, if not realistic, is at least coherent enough to allow them to suspend disbelief. In "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," it quickly becomes apparent that the only thing Rodriguez has on his mind is to devise as many hyperkinetically creative ways as possible to build up a higher body count than the Battle of the Bulge. While many of these scenes have an undeniable visceral excitement, few of them have much bearing on the story (such as it is) and therefore the audience never feels like it has much at stake in the outcome of those scenes. I realize that violence in real life is random, but a movie as stylized as this can't necessarily offer that excuse. It doesn't help that there's virtually no one to root for. Depp's character frankly deserves as bad as he gets, and worse; Antonio Banderas' El Mariachi, though basically a good and obviously a grievously wronged man, is a conceit rather than a character. Ruben Blades' retired FBI agent is pretty much a good guy, as is Pedro Armendariz's El Presidente (though he's too passive to engage the audience). Almost everybody else is either morally ambiguous or downright evil, and too much of a cipher in the bargain for anybody to care about. Rodriguez's original, Spanish-language "El Mariachi"--featuring a no-name cast and a budget that was roughly the price of a used Hyundai--was a far better, simpler, more engaging movie than this one.

This is desperados sequel if you even remember the 1995 film starring Banderas which was good with this one being gooder. los of gun flinging and crashing. Banderas has never been cooler and Hayek so tittilating but the real reason this movie is outstanding is because of the energetic Depp who is so good and is the scene stealer in his role as the CIA agent who wants Banderas. for a Mexican gunfighting movie this is one for the year

A film by Robert Rodriguez

This is the concluding chapter in Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi trilogy. The first two movies were El Mariachi and Desperado. In this movie we have somewhat of a convoluted plot that is also a fairly thin plot. Here's the premise: A CIA operative named Sands (Johnny Depp) manipulates everyone to get El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) to help overthrow the Mexican government but not allow the man overthrowing the government to actually take charge. Sands plays all sides of the game, trying to work everyone. El (as he is occasionally called) is dealing with the grief for the death of his wife, Carolina (Salma Hayek). We see their scenes together in flashback. El gets involved in Sands' deal (because he could not avoid it). The story is a little on the weak side, but everyone plays their characters so well that it doesn't really matter.

What matters is the action and the style and this movie has plenty of each. While this is a very violent movie, with lots of bloodshed and death, it is in no way a serious movie. It could almost be called comic (as in comic book, rather than humorous). Everything is over the top and exaggerated. It is a lot of fun to watch. The action is exciting (if silly at times) and always interesting. Everything is stylish, and a small highlight is watching Johnny Depp's ever changing wardrobe (in one scene he is walking around with a CIA t-shirt, which would seem to be a bad idea to draw attention to his job, but under the letters are the words "cleavage inspection agency").

There is nothing to really take seriously in this movie (well, a couple of scenes), but a lot to enjoy (even the exaggerated violence and a little gore). This is a movie for guys and it is fairly mindless....but unlike some mindless summer action movies, this one is pretty good. This is the type of movie I normally don't like, but I had a blast watching it.

Half the text should be cut out of this movie...it is poorly written, contains no suspense, and some scenes are far too long and drawn out with absolutely nothing interesting happening...the characters are mostly poorly developed with very little personality, the sexual tension is virtually non-existant, the major twists in the plot are not explained fully, which makes for disjointed viewing, and apart from the ending there is nothing particularly interesting or new about the movie from either a science fiction or a special effects perspective. Watching frog guts for half the movie just does not cut it in terms of interesting science fiction-in fact it seems totally unrealistic that the entire game system is made of flesh and guts...finally, the part that annoyed me the most was when "Pikul" asks why the "bioports" in the spinal column don't get infected because "they open straight into your body", and Jennifer Jason Leigh says "don't be ridiculous, listen to what you're saying" and then opens her mouth. The mouth is not "opening" straight into the human body as would a hole directly into flesh, organs, or the spine, in fact the entire digestive column can be considered as an entirely separate hollow tube inside of the body, with membranes to control what passes in and out of what is actually part of the human body. I found this movie was a waste of my time and just plain annoying.

I like David Cronenberg movies. But this one was quite disappointing. I didn't look at the year the movie was created and thought that it's some earlier Cronenberg' work so undeveloped the movie was. It turned out the movie was made in 1999. Although the spirit and environment of the movie is typical Cronenberg, the plot is hardly original, chaotic and not convincing (and it doesn't mean that I don't like complicatedly structured movies). The only bright spot is the acting (as always) of Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law.

I'm a devoted David Cronenberg fan and he has never put out a movie that was below his capabilities. His last film Crash was a disturbing look at the human fscination with sex and violence. Brilliantly done with style and mastery. Dead Ringers is another brilliant film about the slow and painful process of the debasement of the human mind and soul. This film reminds me of Cronenberg's earlier works such as Scanners and Videodrome. But this movie comes across more polished and with a bigger budget. I admire Cronenberg's ability to send moral lessons in his endless flowing creativity. Where Videodrome attacked the television, eXistenZ takes on videogames. His grim portrait of an empty and thoughtless society that relies on technology to passify their thirst for excitement and fill their everyday lives. Cronenberg's supreme direction along with great acting and a wonderfully twisted ending make this a treat for one's imagination and definitley ranks as one of Cronenberg's finest, along side of Videodrome and, the greatest film of all time, Naked Lunch.