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Simple Men, a review by goodguy

Simple Men (1992)

Cover Blurb: What do you do if your father, a former all-star shortstop and mad bomber anarchist, breaks out of jail? You go after him, of course. Even if his trail leads straight into being caught. Two brothers trek through deepest, darkest Long Island, only to discover that sometimes even the oddest things really are just what they seem.

I love US indie movies. I especially love Hal Hartley's movies. And I absolutely love, love, love Simple Men. It is a suburban melodrama, but not quite. It is an outlaw movie in the tradition of Godard by the way it uses genre cliches to create something else. At the movie's turning point, there is a hommage to the dance scene in Bande a part, which is even more hilarious and "cool" than the original one.

Apropos cool. The characters in Simple Men are cool. But not the larger-than-life (and in the end rather conformistic) Tarantino-cool. They don't try to be cool, they are cool, because they try to be true to themselves. They speak in seemingly artificial rapid-fire dialogue, but if you listen a little closer, they use very short and simple sentences. It is all in the rhythm (think Mamet) and in the juxtaposition of scene and spoken word. And in the choreography, of course. There movements are highly gestural, stage-like, carefully framed. But they are still very real, just not pictured in a naturalistic way.

Simple Men is the last one of Hartley's Lindenhurst trilogy, the other two being The Unbelievable Truth (1989, R1-US 2001) and Trust (1990, only as R4-AU 2005). Trilogy in a themed way, you don't have to watch them all (although you should), or in a particular order.


(From May 2008 Man/Men Marathon - Discussion Thread on May 4th, 2008)

The Spirit, a review by Rich

The Spirit



Above shadowy, crime-infested streets a masked avenger watches. Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht) was once Central City's finest cop until a gangster's bullet ended his life. Now Fate has brought him back from the beyond as The Spirit, a street-hardened hero who faces off against seductive foes like the voluptuous Sand Saref (Eva Mendes) or the alluring Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson) in this graphic action-thriller.

Once you get past the wow factor of stunning cinematography, slick design, delightful backdrops and gorgeous cast, the storyline is very flat and hollow, and overall the film tails away into a forgetful mess.
This lacks the substance of Sin City and 300, and clearly Miller directing alone has cost the movie in lack of characterisation, acting direction, and sadly creates a feeling of blandness.
I'd seriously recommend not buying this disappointing dvd.
 

(From Riches Random Reviews on July 29th, 2009)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

The Vampire Diaries: Season Two (2010/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Warner Home Video (United Kingdom) Director: Writing: Length: 889 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

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Stars:


Plot:The Vampire Diaries return for a stunning 5-DISC 22-EPISODE SEASON TWOThe Vampire Diaries: unending suspense, undying romance.

Awards:
Won:

Teen Choice Awards (2010)

Choice TV Villain (Ian Somerhalder)

Extras:

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Outtakes

I started watching this season almost a year ago. But I got bored with it and stopped after the first disc. Now I got in the mood again and continued watching it. And I got sucked in again. I watched the other four discs now in three days. And it didn't bore me for a minute. Now I can't wait to watch the third season. Though I will wait for the price to drop a little more.

#	Episode	Rating
01	The Return
02	Brave New World
03	Bad Moon Rising
04	Memory Lane
05	Kill or Be Killed
06	Plan B
07	Masquerade
08	Rose
09	Katerina
10	The Sacrifice
11	By the Light of the Moon
12	The Descent
13	Daddy Issues
14	Crying Wolf
15	The Dinner Party
16	The House Guest
17	Know Thy Enemy
18	The Last Dance
19	Klaus
20	The Last Day
21	The Sun Also Rises
22	As I Lay Dying

(From Tom's Random Reviews on November 5th, 2012)