Bicentennial Man

[5]

It is a very nice film and tells one of the great Sci-fi stories of all time. However, unlike Green Mile, it trys to shove the whole story into a digestable 90 minutes. Argh! Not good at all. It made a great story as digestable as white bread that has been sitting in warm watrer for five days. The only redmeaming aspect is the quality of the story, the acting, and the set decoration; music isn't bad either. If your going to tell the story of the life of a two hunred year old robot you better take some time!

Best Sci-fi / Futurism films:

1. Star Wars Episodes 4-5-6 - 'nough said.
2. 2001 - mind-blasting even today.
3. Metropolis & Things to Come - (the reigning glory of Deco-Nuvo Futurism, you gotta have both)
4. Blade Runner - (Syd Mead unbound, wholly crap man.)
5. Alien - really dated visual effects, mumbled lines, simple story, fucking scary even now!
6. Close Encounters - Best of the happy-aliens genre, better than ET
7. Forbidden Planet - Captain JJ Adam's finset moment.
8. Planet of the Apes - Charlton Heston inherits the NRA's future.
9. Contact - Should be higher than number 9 but look at its competition!?
10. Gattaca - Nice use of late-FL Wright's buildings housing an interesting story.
11. Lathe of Heaven - Very simple story but very well done.

The Green Mile

[9+]

The best 188 minute long movie I have seen in a long time. It takes a pretty good filmaker to fully utilize 188 minutes of movie to tell a story. I am having trouble marking this film in the 1-10 scale. Many aspects of it were in the 4-6 catagory.

What was the point of the film?

Why have the John Cauffy character super natural? etc.

Yet the whole of this movie is greater than the some of it's mundane parts. It was almost a throwback to a thirties meledrama. Where force of character and dialogue had to carry lame stories and non-existent effects. In this way the movie is amazing.

Even though the story was middle-of-the-road the characters were very well difined and superbely acted. Compared with American Beauty this film kicks ass. Both films are based on subject matter that has been done to death, no pun intended. But where as American Beauty had characters right out of angstfilled-central casting, Green Mile's gards and prisoners were much more interesting. Where American Beauty, in my opinion dehumanized people into unrealistic sterotypes, Green Mile humanized every thing, including the mouse. It was fantastic (Arthorian legend style )

I'd like to have this movie on DVD. I guess I'll give it a....roll on one......a.....roll on two! I'll give it a 9+. Not many movies get that...not from me anyway. I think I thought of giving Shawshank redemption a 9 too. Hmmm?

Best Prison Films I have seen:

1. Shawshank (1994) Redemption
2. Green Mile- (1999) tied with the above, sort of SR part II with more special effects
3. Midnight Express- (1978) ouch!
4. Coolhand Luke - (1968) What we got here is a great movie
5. Stalag 17- (1953) A Billy Wilder Best
6. Papillon - (1973) Oops I almost made this movie 5
7. Dead Man Walking - (1995) Susan Sarandon as a Nun? The world would weep.
8. Gideon's Trumpet -(1980) H Fonda
9. Each Dawn I Die - (1939) Really old Cagney film I saw on chanel 12 when I was a kid.