My best friend's wedding, 1997

My best friend's wedding, 1997
Director: P.J. Hogan
Cast: Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz





Stage: Home TV selection


My best friend's wedding in short: A woman who, by a promise made years earlier, is supposed to marry her best friend in three weeks, even though she doesn't want to. When she finds out that he's marrying someone else, she becomes jealous and tries to break off the wedding.


Preps: I have seen this piece several times. A nice romantic comedy, something to end up a good weekend with. 


Reality: This isn't one of the greatest achievements for Julia Roberts or Cameron Diaz. However, both share mutual affection (or attraction) to the genre (romantic comedy). It is without a doubt that you can never claim this one isn't cute or wittily put together. On the other hand, it isn't more than an average comedy. The story flow is charming, but not breathtaking. A girl finds out a guy of her dreams was waltzing around her the whole life and when she is to lose him, she realizes she wants him more than anything in the world.

It is a bit lame, the storyflow, as the big secret to learn is that we need to cherish things when we have them in our palms, not when they are about to go or already away. Ok, we got it. It is something you learn at a certain point of time. The tools Julia uses in bringing attention of once her best friend are merely worth any special attention. The scenario lacks a few good dialogues and you won't fell off your feet seeing bad things she does to distract her friend from his fiance.

Now, the music is cute. I even have a soundtrack and the songs go into your ears easily. You easily like Julia and Cameron, so it's hard to decide, who do you really  want to get this guy of their dreams. The setting is bound to make humour, things around wedding tend to get funny. But the director could have taken this chance to bring up an extraordinary character or two. He does some work with gay friend Julia has (Rupert Everett) and he quickly grows into your heart. He is the light in the dark you are surrounded with at some points. And he ends the piece with pure humour you cannot resist.


My personal rating: 6,0 (funny, witty dialogues, solid romantic comedy. Never fall in love with your best friend ;) after he's already engaged).


My best friend's wedding on IMDB

Wag the dog

Wag the Dog, 1997
Director: Barry Levinson
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson

Stage: Home theatre, lovely Saturday evening



Wag in short: After being caught in a scandalous situation days before the election, the president does not seem to have much of a chance of being re-elected. One of his advisers contacts a top Hollywood producer in order to manufacture a war in Albania that the president can heroically end, all through mass media.

Preps: It is a recommendation from a side I really appreciate. I have never seen a bad movie with such recommendation. Plus, a claim that every person that works in mkt should see this. Hence.. am anxious with expectation.


Reality: Well, it's always good to see and hear what the president team has in their sleeve. In this case, I am just bursting with laughter. First, do you get caught with a scout days before the election? (you don't). Still, this is the case here and the team needs to wrap it up before the years of preps go rotten.
In any case, I seriously doubt now (after seeing this) in every war, every little thing the media produces, every announcement ever made by government. I see in this movie, how rotten it might be, behind the scenes, on a place we don't see or hear about. Even the closest to the president in this case don't know bits of scenario that is driven to the masses.
For a person living in the balcan region, it's highly amusing, how other countries (us in perticular) abuse the names of foreign yugoslaw republics and use it as a "terrorist" country. May it be Bosnia or Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia or in this case, even a southern country, Albania. What did Albania do to us, the chieftain asks.. What it didn't do to us, is the real question, De Niro answers. And creates a stunt war, made in studio. Was the Gulf War really directed in studio? Maybe not, but it made me question every bit of information I received about the event.
The power of marketing, if driven with intelligence and style, is amazing. The movie depicts real drama you can setup with mere imagination. At the end, how convenient, the director gets shot/killed for trying to speak up. How american!
This piece is one of the brightest I have seen lately. Even though it doesn't have the scenes, the photography, the music, or anything really obvious, it has a strong story and a direction. How convenient it is to have Hoffman in the role of the producer, fighting for his rights :) I could just burst in laughter again. His imagination inside the piece and intercapturing the role he's playing is spectacular. President wants a white kitten? We will give him the white kitten.
Last, but not least. Bringing in the fallen hero (making a mistake and afterwards, having him killed and watch the whole US cheering for his fallen return, with a super dog behind, wagging his tail).. it reminds me of some scenes I really admire in Monty Phython. If you are a fan, you will love this piece. If you are more average, romantic comedy type of movie fan, you won't really get all the fun parts there are here. Because some of them are just beneath the average skin.


My personal rating: 9,0 (absolutely brilliant. I loved it and laughed long afterwards)


Wag the Dog on IMDB

As good as it gets, 1997

As good as it gets, 1997
Director: James L. Brooks
Cast: Helen Hunt, Jack Nicholson


Stage: Home theatre, a lovely Tuesday night


As good as it gets in short: New York City. Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive writer, finds his life turned upside down when neighboring gay artist Simon is hospitalized and his dog is entrusted to Melvin. In addition, Carol, the only waitress who will tolerate him, must leave work to care for her sick son, making it impossible for Melvin to eat breakfast.


Preps: I have seen the piece. One of the most spectacular shows Nicholson has ever done. And I am in the mood for this.


Reality: Is this as good as it gets? Are we supposed to enjoy what we are living through in present tense? Melvin is irony itself. He handles all the people in his life in a pure black sarcastic way. As well as everything revolving around him. Melvin is a weirdo. You need to see it to know what I am talking about. Jack Nicholson made one of his lifetime performances in this piece. I cannot imagine this part being done by anyone else in the movie world. It's so unique it fits Nicholson's skin perfectly.
All the situations are well chosen. Scenario carefully written. The words selected with precise sense of touchy themes and way to address them. I am deeply impressed with the word game Melvin is playing all the time. Open honesty, hidden in ironic debates, ironic quotes, ironic sayings. It throws me off my feet to see something like this. On the other hand, Helen Hunt is the waitress that is quite the opposite of the snob Melvin is playing. Carol's role is to get his head out of clouds and bring him to reality. A true situation with her son and what some money can do, brings the dark perspective of health insurance program in US. Once again I am thankful to be living in Europe.

The gay neighbour is even more grateful to my burning ironic cells. The way Melvin interacts with him is simply hard to handle and to understand, yet, it reflects all the tragic prejudice our society pours on gay people. Without any sense. In this sense, Melvin is the voice of the nation and in the process, he grows fond for his neighbour Simon, more or less through his dog and affection, he suddenly grows towards Simon's pet.

The piece is simply irresistible. You need to love it, and you need to embrace it. I take it as one of the peaks of Nicholson's cast and even deepens my admiration for him. All the things you shouldn't say, are said in the piece. All the things you shouldn't do, are done. And a progress of one single human is shown in the most remarkable way. I want the romance to last, when I finally see it pulled through. Adore the energy and love that Hunt brings out of Nicholson.


Some of the great quotes from the movie, first two done by Melvin to Carol, the third one needed to be a dialogue to make sense. I adore the selection of the words Melvin uses.

You make me want to be a better person.

I am the only person in the world that knows how amazing you are in everything that you do.

Carol Connelly: Is it a secret what you're doing here?
Melvin Udall: I had to see you.
Carol Connelly: Because?
Melvin Udall: It relaxes me. I'd feel better sitting ouside your apartment on the curb than any other place I can think of or imagine.

My personal rating: 9,0 (an amazing movie. Will rock your stones all the way. Plus, it will adjust your view or perspective of someone that despises gay people. Refreshing, new, never aging. Superb. A must see).


As good as it gets on IMDB

Nothing to lose, 1997

Nothing to lose, 1997
Director: Steve Oederkerk
Cast: Martin Lawrence, Tim Robbins





Nothing to lose in short: Nick Beam's life couldn't get any worse. He discovers he has been living a lie and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. So when T. Paul, a carjacker, attempts to rob him, it is the last straw for Nick. With everything to gain and nothing to lose, he kidnaps T. Paul and attempts to put his life back together.


Stage: home TV selection, Saturday night


Preps: None in perticular. But I have nothing more interesting to do, hence..


Reality: This kind of movies should be prohibited. There should be a test under which a movie rates high enough to enter TV selection. Nothing really close to a comedy. The story is not believable, but this isn't the only sin this movie is making. All sorts of mistakes and misbeliefs, but nothing can settle the initial problem the movie has. The drive. What is this man, after he discovers he's being betrayed, after? What will he do and why? The viewer should have the answers, not make them up as we go through the movie.
Martin Lawrence, as the role of the chimp monkey that waltzes around Robbins all the time, trying to get his attention or prove his intelligence and misfortune that drove him to be a robber. Quite predictable, with stupid delivery and unpersuading cast. Things that happen to them while they are on a road, could buy (maybe) a child, and by that I don't mean to be offensive towards children or underestimate their intelligence. But this piece definitely underestimates our intelligence. Hence, delete and forget forever. I can't believe this was on the prime time of the local TV.



My personal rating: 0 (yuk. don't waste your time)

Nothing to lose on IMDB

Father's day, 1997

Father's day, 1997
Director: Ivan Reitman
Cast: Billy Cristal, Robin Williams, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss




Father's day in short: Jack Lawrence is a smart allec lawyer who is one day visited by an ex-girlfriend who tells him her kid was his. Enter Dale Putley, a depressed goofball who is also a writer, meets with the same ex-girlfriend who tells him her kid is his. One day Jack and Dale meet and discover what had happened: they've been told the same story and now there's a question of who the real father is. They learn their son is following a rock band called Sugar Ray around. So Jack and Dale hit the road to Sacremento and find their drunk, lovestruck son. Soon after they bring him back to their hotel room, their son escapes and Jack and Dale must use teamwork to find him again, bring him home, and find out which one of them is the real father.


Preps: Just at home, doing nothing and this is on TV. Let's check it out


Reality: Sometimes our televisions should carefully go through the programme they are making for the viewers. I mean, how stupid can the audience get, being submerged to sh... movies like that? My conscious wakens and yells in dispair.

Ok, starting with the cast. I have seen both protagonists, Williams and Crystal, in better shape and definitely better movies. Here they are a clown version of themselves. Not appettite luring.
Secondly, the storyline. I mean, really? Two persons, trying to find the son they don't want to have in the first place and falling in the arms of another lovely woman, filled with lies and betrayal. Seriously?
Now, what are we seeking in this piece? I think it belongs to the irony of the past actions. I the sense, that we really must think about what it is that we are doing with our time and what are the actions we might regret in the future. It's not normal to react the way these two men react. You can see it in some "Everybody loves Mary" sense, but still. I hate the resemblance. It is not true that a possible father will go and chase a possible son just for the sake of being with him or trying to get his attention.

The chase is a mixture of a roadtrip and some lame movies on the topic. This piece is trying to be what it's not and it's killing it. Where is the creativity? Why don't you make the best out of these two fine actors? Again, I cannot bare to watch it up to its end and I lose the grip at the second quarter. Lost, erased, gone. Forgot about it already.


My personal rate: 0 (argh. Another waste of time. unfortunately. Don't make it a waste of time for you :)


Father's day on IMDB

Contact, 1997

Contact, 1997
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConnaughey, Tom Skerrit


Stage: Home TV selection

Contact in short: Astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway has long been interested in contact to faraway lands, a love fostered in her childhood by her father, Ted Arroway, who passed away when she was nine years old leaving her then orphaned. Her current work in monitoring for extraterrestrial life is based on that love and is in part an homage to her father. Ever since funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) was pulled on her work, which is referred to some, including her NSF superior David Drumlin, as more science fiction than science, Ellie, with a few of her rogue scientist colleagues, have looked for funding from where ever they could get it to continue their work. When Ellie and her colleagues hear chatter originating from the vicinity of the star Vega, Ellie feels vindicated. But that vindication is short lived when others, including politicians, the military, religious leaders and other scientists such as Drumlin...

Preps: Nothing special, as I have already seen the piece and loved it.

Reality: Contact is one of Zemecki's greater works. The strong cast supports the ever lasting theme that is truly popular at any given moment. Now, 1997 was the time when those movies had some kind of romantic perspective and weren't made in a hard way, as we know them now. It is for a fact that ever since ET it has been hard to make an "ET"-like movie that would match Spielberg from a far distance. Well, this is one of the more successful attempts. Foster, playing a dedicated scientist, and McConnaughey, playing the political role inside this.

For what it's worth - this is more a movie about the politics than the movie about ET's. Which could be a good point, since we all want to have an insight into the dirty games the government is playing and the happenings behind the scenes. Here you are dragged right into the snakes pit and bit by lions that are drulling around someone else's work. In this case, Jodie Foster plays the role of a scientist that got f.. with. And was supposed to be left behind. Because of the nature of the character she's playing, she makes sure she's not left behind and turns herself into the role of the spectator. Not being able to influence much, but being able to see the happening behind the scenes. Like a narrator of some kind, or a hidden spectator. Take it as you will.

Now, what is the signal she received - we cannot tell and for sure are having fun while the people in the Nasa, institutions that are dedicated to extraterrestrials, are trying to figure out. With some tips from an outsourced intelligence, Jodie Foster comes up with a key to the riddle and makes things even more complicated.

As said, the movie is more a political movie, making a point about the ways the government works and the games they are playing in the real life field. All the extra terrestrial is placed in our minds as something good and positive. Not to forget, we aren't aware of what we have as neighbours and sometimes, snakes pits should be left alone.

No real revelations in this movie. However, a true perspective of the problem most of the individually driven scientists are facing nowadays. And the lack of respect for their work. Like in parliaments, also the forces here are divided by cash and influence someone has in government.

My personal rate: 7,5 (a good and solid political piece, with a distinction towards optimistical view of the extra terrestrials).

Contact on IMDB

Little city, 1997

Little city, 1997
Director: Roberto Benabib
Cast: Jon Bon Jovi, Penelope Ann Miller, Annabella Sciora, Josh Charles




Little city in short: Adam is a painter who works as cab driver and blames his difficulties with women on his former girlfriend Kate who left him for lesbian Anne. As a result he doesn't pay much attention to his current girlfriend Nina, who leaves him for his best friend Kevin. New girl in town, Rebecca, who works in the same bar as Kevin, turns their lives into even bigger chaos.


Stage: Home TV selection

Preps: I see the cast and I am impressed - I haven't seen many good movies with good cast (if there are plenty of normal or upgraded actors). This should be one of them / the not good ones, at least to my humble opinion. I have a hunch. However, our local national TV tends to pick movies for Wednesdays very thoroughly -this means you usually end up with a good one afterall. Still - Jon Bon Jovi (he should stick to the guitar which he does best!)


Reality: Somehow it reminds me of Burn without reading or some other movies that deal with relationships, how to handle them, how to handle loss or a somehow corrupted theme (maybe ungrateful for the directors) - gay theme. Here the relationships revolve around lesbian women and their way of finding recognition, personal luck or happinness or something worth living in life.

The movie makes me think about the values we all cherish, about typical family and what it's worth, maybe another perspective. I hate the town they are in, it's not the little town, it's New York - the town I have always wanted to see once for real. However, in the movie it has the connotation of being little, of having single people in and that something is wrong with you if you cannot eat up the pace the town lives with.

Something about being OK, if you are undecisive, or maybe if you don't know exactly what to do with your life, asking yourself about the steps you took, well, it gives me shivers, but with anxiety and I am totally open to this perspective. I love the way the main cast builds up the relationships and I absolutely adore short scenes the main actors have among each other. How important is raising a child together? Is it ok, if you have feelings for women, if you are a woman yourself? How about cheating someone with his best friend? Some important life questions here, I love to think about similar topics. And this is precisely why the movie is cute and worth seeing.

By the way, I was right about the cast - too glamorous to make it work. I love all of above mentioned - Bon Jovi should stick to the guitar and definitely - Penelope Ann Miller is adoring in those kind of romantic screens :)

About the destinations we go to in one of the scenes:

Adam: People who are tragically ambitious and smart go to New York and people who are just tragically smart come here.
Rebecca: Oh. Well what about people who are just tragically ambitious?
Adam: They go to LA.

My personal rate: 6,5 (being a cute movie and make me think about the relationships, how it's supposed to work out and being open to gay themes)

Little City on IMDB