cinemaniac's Timeline

Commented on own review

Manhunter and Man-eater
Red Dragon Movie

Thank you very much rupakq. I find it interesting that you're a film studies teacher because in the only film studies class I've taken thus far I recieved a C grade. Perhaps, I had a bad professor, I was a bad student, or maybe it's geographical. But much appreciated. Although I think my position on... Red Dragon has changed since I wrote this piece. -RandallRead More

Reviewed Kill Bill Vol 2 Movie

To Kill is to Love

Where Kill Bill: Volume 1 ended with a dizzying bang, a clandestine revelation and an uncertain future, Quentin Tarantino?s Kill Bill: Volume 2 finalizes on a disparate note, obviously more conclusive, and initially alarming but warming and appropriate all the same. Similarly divergent in ton...Read more

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Commented on own review

The Little Engine that Couldn't
Seabiscuit Movie

You could argue I took a cynical approach to reviewing the film but I went into it unbiased (or so I remember). I didn't hate the film but I think the fact that a lot of people around me liked it for what I feel are the wrong reasons gave me an even more caustic attitude for it. Thanks for the comme...nt. -RandallRead More

Followed stuhancock

stuhancock

Commented on stuhancock's review

The Ending is True to the Book
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Movie

Great review. I also compared The Matrix and LOTR in my review in the sense that both were large, anticipated fantasy epics of 2003. And I definitely agree the former ended in a pale whimper and rather ignoble disappointment. I, however, felt the LOTR films were slightly better than the books as I r...eally enjoyed the emotion Jackson employed, which seemed missing from the books. Great job. -RandallRead More

Commented on own review

The Travels of Schmidt
About Schmidt Movie

Wow, thanks stuhancock! I really appreciate the compliment but I doubt mainstream journalism is the place for me. -Randall

Commented on own review

The Ring and a ghost in the machine
The Ring Movie

Thanks for the comment. But I didn't intend to say that it copied Seven so much as this adaptation shared similarities stylistically and in its seven day countdown. I'm not sure when Kôji Suzuki's original novel came out but the Japanese original (Ringu) was released in 1998 and Seven was in 19...95, so I'm not so sure your point works there. But primarily I meant Verbinski's visual style was rather similar to Fincher's in Seven. Also, I have seen a fair share of Asian horror movies (including Ringu), so I'm sure why would assume such a thing. But thanks. -RandallRead More

Reviewed Kill Bill Movie

The Reinvention of Chopsloitation

As quintessentially Tarantino as Quentin Tarantino can get, Kill Bill Vol.1 is also the film the most dissimilar to the manic director’s past work (the genre-referencing and genre-defining crime trilogy that is Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, which since their induction have g...Read more

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Reviewed Once Upon a Time in Mexico Movie

Sloppy Thirds

With only its wonderfully caricatural final act and denouement as its principle virtues, one wonders if Robert Rodriguez is channeling only Sergio Leone's weave of showdowns and battles from his finales--and if by channeling we mean rendering homage yet again (in this third of his lone musician-...Read more

Like 10

Comments 1

Commented on own review

The shivering of timbers
Pirates of the Caribbean Movie

Well, I'm not really a professional writer career-wise but you couldn't have paid me a higher compliment. Thanks, man. -Randall

Reviewed Seabiscuit Movie

The Little Engine that Couldn't

Nearing its first act’s end, at long last, with the inevitable congregation of its main character trio (after an elongated intro mired by two marriages, a child’s death, a rag’s-to-riches montage, the loss of innocence, isolation, depression, etc.), Gary Ross’s Seabiscuit takes i...Read more

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Comments 5

Commented on own review

The shivering of timbers
Pirates of the Caribbean Movie

Thanks for the comments, glad to see you enjoyed the review despite the 'useful' rating. -Randall

Commented on own review

Psychology and Smashing Things 101
The Hulk Movie

I'm glad to see we're in agreement, thanks for the compliments. -Randall

Commented on own review

God has an anomalous sense of humor
Bruce Almighty Movie

Thanks for the comments, this movie was quite the disappointment. -Randall

Commented on own review

Uninspired flamboyance as insouciant blah
The Recruit Movie

Thanks for the read and the kind comment. Much appreciated. -Randall

Reviewed Pirates of the Caribbean Movie

The shivering of timbers

Eloquently verbose, chillingly extraordinary and distinctly more authentic in eliciting that innate pirate spirit than any contemporary swashbuckling picture this side of Harlin’s Cutthroat Island and Spielberg’s Hook (to an extent), Gore Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Cur...Read more

Like 19

Comments 4

Reviewed The Hulk Movie

Psychology and Smashing Things 101

One of the more or less highly anticipated comic book adaptations in recent memory, Ang Lee’s Hulk is also one of the more visibly deceitful and accordingly disappointing. A great sociological experiment, Hulk reveals volumes about the film-going populace in relation to itself, bad word-of-m...Read more

Like 10

Comments 2

Reviewed Bruce Almighty Movie

God has an anomalous sense of humor

Manning its moral lighthouses with a creepy homeless man, mannequin-esque and complete with doomsday signs in hand (who later turns out to be something else, ironically, in the way of a Deus ex Machina, and just Deus), there’s little discovery of man’s possibilities with god-like pow...Read more

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Reviewed The Recruit Movie

Uninspired flamboyance as insouciant blah

Roger Donaldson’s The Recruit is a voluptuous Venus Flytrap of an espionage caper, complete with a monochromatic and appealing exterior of deceptive attractiveness, harboring more shards of twists than is perhaps warranted, wanted or needed, as most contemporary genre pictures sense is an ob...Read more

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Reviewed Igby Goes Down Movie

The (unofficial) fourth in Wes Anderson's oeuvre

Burr ''Flock of Seagulls'' Steers’ Igby Goes Down is a quirky, ambitious and corybantic little thing to behold, retooling the Wes Anderson structure past the summits of inventive wit and into inventive cynicism. While kind of disowning Anderson’s sagacity for French New Wave (though ...Read more

Like 6

Comments 2