Stage director who makes sometimes okay movies.
American Beauty (1999) -- I suppose it's about as good as everyone says it is. It's a practically perfect little movie. It threatens to go over the edge sometimes with the "beauty" discussions, but it never does too much. (In fact, the main problem I have with the movie is when Kevin Spacey says, at the end, "You probably don't know what I'm talking about, but you will," which of course is talking to the audience like they didn't have a clue as to what the movie was about anyway, which bothers me very very much.) Good stuff from everyone. B
The Road To Perdition (2002) -- Another pretty movie from Sam Mendez, better than I thought would be. Kinda sad. Again, they should get rid of the narration. B
Jarhead (2005) -- Another Sam Mendes movie with bad narration, but this time nothing else about the movie is good either. The main "character" has no personality, no story, nothing driving him, and ultimately no reason the movie should be about this guy at all (other than it was based on the book he wrote). Jake Gyllenhaal plays empty-headed characters no matter what, so here it's beyond redundant. I could give a scene by scene breakdown of the flaws of this movie, but it's not worth it. Just go watch Full Metal Jacket. D
Copyright (c) Jan 2002 - Apr 2006 by Rusty Likes Movies