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Reviews
King of the Hill (1997)
One of the most intelligent shows on TV
I just love this show! It took me a while to figure it out, but now I'm addicted to it.
The characters are brilliant and a lot of the jokes are unexpectedly hilarious. This is one of the few shows that can take me by surprise with it's genius humor. Most of the characters are funny, but Peggy cracks me up with almost everything she says. She has an unshakable self-confidence and she'll sacrifice anybody (including her son) to win her silly little battles.
My favorite episode is the one in which the Hills go to Japan. Classic!
I hope "King of the Hill" sticks around for a long time.
Grey's Anatomy (2005)
So far, so good
So far, I'm enjoying this show. I consider it a more serious "Scrubs".
To be honest, I started watching it because of the beautiful vistas of Seattle that they show at the beginning of the first episode. I love this city and most of the city views they showed so far would be very hard (or impossible) for me to get otherwise. Seattle is breathtaking on a sunny day.
But this was just what caught my attention initially. I fell in love with the cast and up to this point I enjoyed every minute of "Grey's Anatomy". Some people think it's not realistic and I agree with them, but what TV show is? And if it WAS realistic, I don't think I would watch it. Have you ever been to a hospital? Was it interesting? I didn't think so.
I hope the show stays interesting and funny and if you're looking for reality, don't watch TV.
La vita è bella (1997)
Life IS beautiful, but I prefer to take the "Train of Life"
When I rented this movie, about 2 years ago, I thought I was going to love it. It already had an Oscar and the ratings on IMDb were very high, so could it not be great? It was a BIG disappointment! I thought `Life Is Beautiful' lacked consistency most of all. It this movie was a Holocaust fairy tale (!?) for everyone to enjoy, it should have ended with the nazis and prisoners dancing and kissing each other, because `love conquers all'. If it was a comedy, I should have laughed more than twice. And if it was realistic, it would have ended sooner and tragically. Fortunately, my family didn't experience the Holocaust, but I have read enough about it and seen enough pictures, that I can never understand how you cannot be offended by this movie. I think a lot of people don't realize how wrong it is to trivialize the Holocaust, because it doesn't seem real to them. Can anybody even imagine a comedy about 9/11? I didn't think so. Maybe 50 years from now, when it doesn't seem so real and tragic.
Last week, I watched `Train Of Life', an European co-production about the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe who organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine. The subject seems as unrealistic as LIB's, but the very surprising ending makes the movie brilliant! I absolutely loved `Train Of Life', the story, the acting, the music, the humor, everything about it!
I wanted to learn more about Radu Mihaileanu, the Romanian director (a Jew himself) and found an article from "Le Nouveau Cinema" (feb.1999), entitled "Inferno Train". According to "Le Nouveau Cinema", director Radu Mihaileanu, who also wrote the script for "Train Of Life" wanted Roberto Benigni for the role of Shlomo, "the village foul". He sent the script to Benigni in 1996, but was refused politely. Strangely enough, less than a year later, Benigni was directing his own Holocaust comedy movie! Having trouble with finding financing for his movie in France (because of the delicate subject), Mihaileanu started filming a year later. This delay was more than enough for Benigni and his `La Vita E Bella'. His movie was out in theaters in Italy, during Christmas, while `Train Of Life' was still in editing. Because of the scandal surrounding the 2 movies, Gilles Jacob, the person in charge with the selections for Cannes, refused both. After Miramax bought the rights for `Life Is Beautiful' for 7 million dollars, the movie was finally selected for Cannes! In spite of everything, `Train Of Life' was nominated and won awards (about 9) all over the world. It even won the Audience Award at `Sundance' (tie with `Run Lola Run'). I recommend `Train Of Life' to everybody!
Malèna (2000)
MASOCHISTIC
This is a movie about hate!
I enjoyed the first half of it, even if the scenes where the boy kisses the 27 year old woman were a little hard to watch.
The beating scene was too graphic and it seemed like someone really took pleasure in showing Malena being tortured by the jealous women.
Until I saw this movie, I thought the "rock throwing" scene in "Zorba, The Greek" was violent and hard to watch, but now it seems very mild. I don't understand why the director treated this scene as if "Malena" was a documentary. I can imagine it was his masochistic pleasure.
I would have never expected "Malena" to be more violent than "Amores Perros"! I give it a 5.
Balanta (1992)
POWERFUL
This is the opposite of a Hollywood movie. This is a piece of reality and there is nothing glamorous about it. That's what makes "The Oak" a great movie, an experience to remember.
I am Romanian and I avoided this movie when I was in Romania, because of its subject. Last weekend, I found it in a video store in Seattle and I had to rent it. I am very glad I did and recommend it to all the European film lovers. It will give you an idea (in case you didn't experience it yourself) of what living under the communism meant, with all the pain, frustration and the happier moments.
Watching Ellie (2002)
Oh, please!
I just finished "watching Ellie". It's the second episode and I am so disappointed! How is the on screen clock supposed to make the show interesting? It only makes me think "damn, the show is almost over and I haven't laughed yet"! I am already tired of everybody's running and panic. For a show where nothing happens (nothing interesting or funny, at least), they run way too much, don't you think? It should be a fitness show! Because I am a "Seinfeld" fan and I like Julia, I will sacrifice 30 more minutes of my free time next week. Who knows? Anything is possible, right?
Scrubs (2001)
I love it!!!
This show is a nice surprise; it's the only new show I like enough to record, when I'm not around! Last night I recorded Scrubs and Watching Ellie (the second one because it's new). It was even more obvious that Scrubs is an original and very funny show after watching 22 min. of Julia's new, different, sexy, but boring one. My personal opinion is that sexy outfits and a couple of funny accents don't make a show great.
I like everybody in Scrubs, they're all doing a great job! It is a nice change of the way doctors are portrayed on TV shows. Everybody knows that real doctors are more like the ones in Scrubs than the super heros in ER. Doctors make mistakes and the higher they get, the more difficult it is for them to admit they're not Gods. I hope Scrubs will be "on" for a long time, because it's a fun ride!
Greenfingers (2000)
SWEET
It's a touching, funny movie with a good cast. Although I don't consider it "the greatest movie ever" (I hate when people say that), it made a big impression on me. I didn't expect that from a light comedy, but it happend. Just watch it and enjoy it!
Last Night (1998)
Very enjoyable
I bought the movie, after reading the reviews on IMDb and I loved it! This is "my kind" of movie. The actors don't look like movie stars, they just look like real people and you can't tell that they're acting, everything seems so natural. Although it's a sad story, it didn't depress me. As many people said before me, this movie is thought provoking. The point of the movie is to make us appreciate life and focus on the things that are the most import to each of us. It was enjoyable and inspiring. I recommend it to all the romantics "out there" and to everybody else, unless they're looking for "action" and special effects. This is no "Independence Day"!