Epinions Recent Reviews for JackFoley

Perhaps the most boring Best Picture Nominee ever

Tue, 22 Jan 2002 22:54:35 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - Sidney Lumet's direction is never very flashy. In fact, I would sometimes call it downright boring. He uses extremely minimal to non-existent musical score, and for entire long sequences the camera stand stationary as the actors speak. Sometimes he even...

"When you're out there, it's about the man next to you. That's all it is."

Tue, 22 Jan 2002 21:12:51 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - As a fan of war movies and a supreme admirer of any and all who serve in the Armed Forces, I've long been frustrated by the rarity of quality product. Hollywood either wants to churn out flag-waving fantasies like "Pearl Harbor" and "Top Gun" or let its...

Pitt and Redford do the CIA proud

Sun, 25 Nov 2001 22:01:58 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - How many bad spy flicks have we has to endure. It seems there's not an action movie or thriller being made these days that doesn't manage to mention or involve the CIA, espionage, or covert action of some type.

And most of them suck.
...

Another gem from the genius of Peter Hyams

Mon, 10 Sep 2001 16:36:57 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - "The Musketeer" is the type of film that almost makes me regret that I love movies, that I read news and previews and anxiously anticipate those that interest me. For over a year I have been awaiting this movie, listening to raves from Harry Knowles at...

"Vastly superior to Silence of the Lambs"? Please.

Wed, 29 Aug 2001 17:44:18 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - In the years following the Oscar sweeping "Silence of the Lambs", there have those inevitable whispers and backlash against the film from some jaded film buffs. Was it really nothing more than a horror film not worthy of Best Picture? Was Hopkins way too...

"Women who glide need guys who make them thump."

Sat, 25 Aug 2001 19:17:52 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - In the post-1994 world of cinema, anything that involves crime, a large cast, and clever dialogue is labeled a "Tarantino ripoff". Though isn't that a pretty broad genre to credit all to one man who's made three films?

"Things To Do In Denver...

Overblown, pretentious, racist crap

Sat, 25 Aug 2001 14:42:05 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - As unheard of as it is for a modern day movie buff, I don't like Quentin Tarantino. As unforgivably uncool as that would make me in some movie circles, I have now been able to confirm it having seen all of his directorial efforts and even his miserably...

"Your sins are terrible, it is just that you suffer."

Tue, 21 Aug 2001 16:13:40 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - "The Godfather Trilogy" is possibly the greatest trilogy of films ever made. The sweeping themes of family, the American Dream, redemption, loyalty, and honor are wrapped up inside an amazingly compelling story of the Corleone crime family, highlighted...

Fascinating- disappointing. Spectacular- Lackluster.

Sun, 19 Aug 2001 17:08:36 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - "Planet of the Apes" was the last real blockbuster hope of the summer. Where the others had failed, perhaps this one would succeed. Tim Burton, for all his faults, seemed like the perfect choice for the strange ape/human conflict. The trailers had shown...

Completely inferior sequel=critical mercy?

Fri, 17 Aug 2001 19:22:33 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - Like most Americans who live in the 90s, I saw and liked "Jurassic Park". It was the last film, besides its sequel, that Steven Spielberg made simply to wow and amaze us. "The Lost World" was a much maligned follow-up that didn't have the element of...

"If I were to create the perfect outlaw gang, this would be it."

Fri, 17 Aug 2001 17:55:28 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - Summer of 2001 has been a complete bust. I hate to admit it just as much as everyone else, but it has. The films that have escaped with only minimal critical scars have done so only by monumentally lowered expectations. Every big movie that we were told...

"Remember Sammy Jankis"

Wed, 20 Jun 2001 16:52:30 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - Either out of boredom or something else, I took a long break from Epinions and reviewing films. But after seeing several good films, I wanted to discuss them again. The film that truly gave me that fire again, was "Memento".

Discussing the...

"Someday a real rain will come and wash them all away."

Tue, 24 Apr 2001 18:32:30 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinkley, and Mark David Chapman. These are three of the most notorious assassins and would-be assassins. All of them fit that mold of the so-called "lone nut". Each of them came out of obscurity to commit shocking national murders...

Hollywood's latest self-righteous justification of the 70s and drugs

Mon, 23 Apr 2001 20:52:11 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - Adults can be so hypocritical sometimes. As a teenager now I am bombarded constantly about how bad drugs are. It's everywhere! I hear about how bad kids are today and how drugs are evil beyond words. Then I see a movie like "Fear and Loathing in Las...

"Buildings burn, people die, but true love lasts forever."

Tue, 10 Apr 2001 20:05:16 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - On it's own, "The Crow" may stand as one of the greatest and truest adaptations of comic book material. It is a gritty action movie with cinematic flourishes by director Alex Proyas, and a poetic, insightful look at death and love. But factor in the...

A Democratic fantasy; manipulative and laughable

Sun, 1 Apr 2001 18:04:30 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - I'm not going to write a review that is ambiguous about my politics. I'm a Republican. But that doesn't mean I hate Democrats, believe in every party policy, or am of the fanatical right. But this is what Rod Lurie's film would have you assume.
...

And the definition of "guilty pleasure" is....

Mon, 26 Mar 2001 19:01:08 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - I can see the script for "The 6th Day" a few years ago being passed around at a few important desks in Hollywood. I'm not going on actual knowledge, so what I'm going to theorize may be wrong, but that's the fun right? The subject matter is cloning, and...

Early Pacino furry fizzles over time

Sun, 25 Mar 2001 13:12:16 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - In the filmography of films that Al Pacino has made in his long career there are a number of standouts. His Michael Corleone is one of the most meticulous and well-crafted performances ever put on film, and the excited fits of screaming and emotion that...

"It would have been nice to know him more than two weeks."

Tue, 13 Mar 2001 18:38:36 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - I resisted the pull of "Rain Man" successfully for many years. Dustin Hoffman has never been a favorite, though Tom Cruise is. But the story of an autistic savant and the inevitable emotional rollercoaster that we would embark on didn't sound like a...

"Forget the Alamo."

Sat, 10 Mar 2001 19:29:48 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - "Lone Star" is one of the most intelligent and realistic portraits of modern-day and yesterday's racism. If it was merely the twisty, intriguing mystery that it is it would still be excellent, but throwing in these themes makes it a great film.
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"Talking about love is like dancing about architecture."

Wed, 7 Mar 2001 23:29:44 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - Being a high school guy, this is certainly not the type of film I normally find myself gravitating to. But after school one day I was surfing through my temporarily free array of obscure movie channels and found, on EncoreLove, "Playing by Heart"...

Hitman with a heart of gold

Wed, 7 Mar 2001 18:14:14 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - "Ghost Dog" would seemingly fall into that genre of stylish, independent action/crime thriller. Sort of like "Desperado" or "The Limey". Yet unlike those films, "Ghost Dog" has a real message, a deeper substance to all the proceedings that makes it a...

"Bowels in or out? I'll choose for you, if you permit me."

Mon, 26 Feb 2001 21:08:37 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - What has made Hannibal Lecter such a fascinating character? A poll at the end of 1999 in Entertainment Weekly showed that a large percentage of voters believed him to be the greatest villain ever. We've seen more horrific and cruel murderers in movies...

"Are you a member of the Communist party!?"

Sat, 17 Feb 2001 14:13:07 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - The McCarthy Trials and the Un-American Activities Committee could quite possibly be a great movie. There's a lot of intrigue and drama there, as you can easily see from the allegorical "The Crucible" that did dramatize these events in a successful way...

"The boy is hardly a Mozart."

Sat, 17 Feb 2001 14:02:26 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author JackFoley - I think it's safe to say that Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is one of the greatest sounds produced from the human mind. I'm not a very hardcore student of classical music, but I do play the violin pretty well and thusly have an appreciation for it. Writing...