February 25, 2000, note from Allison:
Here are a few (3) more 1999 movies that I had not reviewed. There will be a few more and then I will be sending out my Oscar predictions. I will start on 2000 movies with a new rating system that I feel will give you a better feel for the movie.
Allison's Oscar Predictions
Ok, here we go, my predictions for the oscars....
Best Picture
American Beauty
The Cider House Rules
The Green Mile
The Insider
The Sixth Sense
My choice: The Sixth Sense
Who will win: American Beauty
Best Actor
Russell Crow , The Insider
Richard Farnsworth, The Straight Story
Sean Penn, Sweet and Lowdown
Kevin Spacey, American Beauty
Denzel Washington, The Hurricane
My choice: Denzel Washington
Who will win: Kevin Spacey
Best Actress
Annette Bening, American Beauty
Janet McTeer, Tumbleweeds
Julianne Moore, The End of the Affair
Meryl Streep, Music of the Heart
Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry
My choice: Julianne Moore
Who will win: Hilary Swank
Best Supporting Actor
Michael Caine, The Cider House Rules
Tom Cruise, Magnolia
Michael Clarke Duncan, The Green Mile
Jude Law, The Talented Mr Ripley
Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense
My choice: Michael Clarke Duncan
Who will win: Tom Cruise
Best Supporting Actress
Toni Collette, The Sixth Sense
Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted
Catherine Keener, Being John Malkovich
Samantha Morton, Sweet and Lowdown
Chloe Sevigny, Boy Don't Cry
My choice and winner: Toni Collette
See you Sunday March 26, for the Oscars!!!
Allison :)
Analyze This - Rated PG-13 Thumbs Up
A very funny movie with an interesting mix of Billy Crystal and Robert DeNiro in the lead characters. The psychiatrist (Crystal) tries to help a mobster (DeNiro) overcome his anxiety and guilt of not being to kill people anymore. The mobster soon involves himself in the psychiatrist's life and wedding plans, that just don't seem to ever go off due to the needs of the mobster. This movie did not have much of a plot, but was a good evening of laughs. I give it a THUMBS UP!
Any Given Sunday - Rated R Thumbs Down
This movie was a waste of good talent. Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz and even Ann-Marageret could have found a better movie to star in then this. Now, I like football, but there was way too many football sequences and each lasted too long. The movie was about a coach and quarterback working on their last legs to make a football team a champion team. Through all the trial and tribulations of players getting hurt, yelling at each other, and everyone thinking they were better then the next person, I know there must have been movie there somewhere, but I got tired of looking for it and was happy when the lights came up in the theater. Definitely, a big THUMBS DOWN!!
Anna and the King - Rated PG-13 Thumbs Up
A wonderful movie, that is quite different from the previous versions you may have seen. The movie is based on the diaries of Anna and shows through her eyes, an English woman, her trial and tribulations as a foreigner in a country in turmoil. Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat do a wonderful job as the title characters, who we get to see their relationship develop more than we did in other movie versions. This was not only an enjoyable movie, but a history lesson for those that may not be familiar as to the background of how Siam became Thailand. A definite THUMBS UP!
Magnolia - Rated R Thumbs Down
One word would describe this movie... strange! I think the director was going for a "Pulp Fiction" scenario, but it was far away from it. It does have different groups of people in different scenes, whose lives somehow intertwine to affect one another, but it really made no sense at all. The weirdest thing was when it rained frogs in the movie, no one understood what that was to mean. Tom Cruise played a sex guru of sorts in the movie and was the only character that seemed to really stand out. I will have to give the movie and THUMBS DOWN!
The Cider House Rules - Rated PG-13 Thumbs Up
This movie was just named as one of the five nominated movies for Best Picture Oscar. I was not even going to go see this movie, it had gotten ok reviews when it first came out, but now I had to go see it. It was an enjoyable, but quiet movie about a boy, Toby Maguire, that grows up at an orphanage under the toolage of a doctor, Michael Caine, and some nurses. The movie revolves around the issue of the doctor teaching the boy what he knows as a doctor so that some day the boy, Homer, would take over for him. Homer though wants something else and decides to leave to try and find it. The movie is based in the early 1940's, a time when abortion was still illegal but some still went ahead and performed them. The movie shows different aspects to each side of the controversy to let the movie goer make their own opinion. The ending is predictable, but still an enjoyable movie. It may even be a surprise Oscar winner. THUMBS UP!
The Story of Us - Rated R Thumbs Down
Going to this movie was a major disappointment to me. The movie had the big stars, Bruce Willis, Michelle Pfeiffer and was directed by Rob Reiner. The movie trailers showed a movie that was sad and funny at the same time, but most of these shots were only flash backs and not part of the actual story we got to see. The concept was good in showing what some married couples go through when life does not seem to be going the way they thought it would years later into a marriage. In the movie, each time the Jordans ( Willis and Pfeiffer ) had a fight or situation arise, the movie would refer back to a time in the marriage when things were good between them. The movie had just too much squabbling between the characters and some of the scenes seemed to go on for way too much time. I am sorry to say that I will be giving this movie a THUMBS DOWN!
Random Hearts - Rated R Thumbs Down
This movie had good intentions to be a romantic mystery, but the script forgot to include both the romance and the mystery. First, the mystery is solved at the beginning of the movie. Harrison Ford's wife is having an affair with Kristin Scott Thomas's husband, who both die in a plane crash sitting together. Both of the main characters could have left it at that, but they want to know when the affair got started so they can despair over how long they had been deceived. As the minutes ticked by very slowly ( I was looking at my watch ), Ford and Thomas start to fall for each other. I didn't see any real chemistry between them and Ford needs to do something with that spiky haircut he has been sporting lately. The movie was originally a book and it should have stayed there. This was another movie that I had high hopes for, but it disappointed me. THUMBS DOWN!
The Best Man - Rated R Thumbs Up
If you ever write a book about your friends, the truth may actually hurt those involved. Taye Diggs ( from "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" ) plays an author who has just written his first book based on his friends and their past, but states most of it is made up. The book has not been published yet, but one friend has gotten a copy and is passing it on for each friend to read. This brings us to the weekend get-together for one of the friends' wedding. The weekend is full of happiness, sadness, awakening and awareness of everyones lives. I liked this movie not just because of the wonderful black cast, but because of the insight and intimacy it showed between friends. We must sometimes have to learn to live with the good and bad of our friends lives, but in the end, they are still our friends. Also, this movie had a great soundtrack. THUMBS UP!
Double Jeopardy - Rated R Thumbs Up
Finally, a movie with a strong woman character that does not weep everytime she is in trouble. I've gotten tired of seeing in so many movies where the 'woman' is the weak link in a group or seems to always 'make the wrong turn' when being chased by the bad guy. "Double Jeopardy" starts out with a happy couple ( Ashley Judd and Bruce Greenwood ) and their son acting like the 'happy' family. The husband gets killed and fingers point to his wife and she goes to jail. The plot is simple, but gets better when the wife 'Libby' finds out her husband is not dead and she begins to search for him and her son after she gets paroled. She is willing to do anything to get her son back after 6 years in prison for something she didn't do. As a side character, Tommy Lee Jones plays her parole officer that at first thinks she is going to be trouble ( and she is ), but then softens to her situation as the movie progresses. The movie is predictable, but I enjoyed it enough to recommend it. I give it a THUMBS UP!
American Beauty - Rated R Thumbs Up
The title of this movie really doesn't express the mood of this movie until you've seen it. "American Beauty" is about your everyday miserable middle-age couple with a daughter. The couple, played by Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening, are just living day by day until they both begin to realize that they can do something to change it. Lester (Kevin Spacey) begins to fantasize about his daughter's girlfriend and realizes how unhappy he really is with his life. Carolyn (Annette Bening) is so uptight about her work, she forgets about herself. Thora Birch plays their teenage daughter that is in the middle of all this craziness. She is trying to discover 'who' she is with the help of the boy next door who likes to videotape "things of beauty". The story has a lot of irony in it about the life we live and how we really should live it if we didn't have blinders on sometimes. The ending was unusual and sudden, but it may surprise you. I give it a THUMBS UP!..due to its 'different' storyline then most movies that come out these days.
STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENANCE ( PG ) Thumbs Down
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