Don Movie Reviews

When Agent Stansfield comes looking for his dope and Mathilda's dad (Michael Badalucco) is missing some of it, things turn ugly. Mathilda just happens to be out of the house buying groceries, but when she returns, she makes a smart choice and walks right past her family's apartment and right up to Leon's door. Against his intuition, Leon lets her in. Thus begins a very complicated relationship.

Leon, a 'cleaner' as he calls it, can't be fettered by a 13 year-old girl (her exact age is never revealed). So he tries to tell her she can't stay, but she convinces him that if he makes her leave, he'll have killed her. She also finds out what he does then decides she also wants to become a 'cleaner' to exact her revenge. After extensive negotiations, Leon begins training her, even taking her on jobs to let her get experience. While all of this is happening, Mathilda also happens to fall in love with Leon, which definitely complicates things, but Leon doesn't give in to her enticements and remains a 'virtuous' hit-man.

Eventually, Mathilda decides she is ready to begin exacting her revenge, but fails in her first attempt (she goes straight to Stansfield, who catches her). Leon gets her out of it, but in the process kills a number of Stansfield's men. Stansfield, in turn, calls in, well, pretty much everyone and a veritable army attacks Leon at his apartment (after again capturing Mathilda). Leon puts up a good fight, frees Mathilda, and gets her safely to Tony's, but is ultimately caught by Stansfield. But Leon doesn't give up, even with a bullet in his back. Using the ring method (a grenade), he blows both himself and Stansfield up. The End.

My Comments:
This really should be a very disturbing movie. A 40 year-old professional hit man taking in a 13 year-old orphan girl and training her to become an assassin while fending off her sexual advances, think about it? But the way the movie turns out, it is absolutely hilarious. You can't help but love Leon - he is the most innocent, likable character since George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life, despite the fact that he's a professional assassin. After all, he absolutely refuses to kill women and children, and he drinks at least a glass of milk a day. What's not to like?

The acting in this movie is superb. Even the person you might think would be the worst, a very young Natalie Portman, was good (much better here than in Star Wars). Perhaps the worst character was Gary Oldman, whose over-acting started to get on my nerves. I mean, come on, if I saw a DEA agent that looked and acted like that on the street, I'd be the first person to either gun him down or turn him over to the police - he was a junkie in a bad, beige suit. But Jean Reno's stellar performance, as an incredibly innocent hit man, more than made up for Oldman's shortcomings. After that, I'm thinking Reno is a new favorite actor. He was brilliant!

The story is very entertaining, you just have to be willing to give it the necessary suspension of belief to accept that a kind-hearted hit-man would be willing to take in an orphaned girl. Other than that, it was so full of surprises it kept you wanting more. I don't think I can say anything bad about the story. It was great.

Overall, I found myself laughing at the sheer absurdity of this movie so much that it was almost more of a comedy than a drama. Yes, it is a drama and it sucks that Leon ends up dying, but when Leon comes out as John Wayne and Mathilda just can't figure out who he is, you can't help but laugh. And the fact that he uses Mathilda's innocence to bust into apartments then lets her practice shooting the men he is about to kill with paintballs, is so far over the top that you can't keep a straight face. Yes, you could see this as a very disturbing twist on morality, but I think it was intended to be something similar to Pulp Fiction - this would and could never happen. Thus, you have to laugh. If you think your values would be offended by something like this, well, you definitely don't want to see this movie. If you liked Pulp Fiction, I would highly recommend this film.

When Agent Stansfield comes looking for his dope and Mathilda's dad (Michael Badalucco) is missing some of it, things turn ugly. Mathilda just happens to be out of the house buying groceries, but when she returns, she makes a smart choice and walks right past her family's apartment and right up to Leon's door. Against his intuition, Leon lets her in. Thus begins a very complicated relationship.

Leon, a 'cleaner' as he calls it, can't be fettered by a 13 year-old girl (her exact age is never revealed). So he tries to tell her she can't stay, but she convinces him that if he makes her leave, he'll have killed her. She also finds out what he does then decides she also wants to become a 'cleaner' to exact her revenge. After extensive negotiations, Leon begins training her, even taking her on jobs to let her get experience. While all of this is happening, Mathilda also happens to fall in love with Leon, which definitely complicates things, but Leon doesn't give in to her enticements and remains a 'virtuous' hit-man.

Eventually, Mathilda decides she is ready to begin exacting her revenge, but fails in her first attempt (she goes straight to Stansfield, who catches her). Leon gets her out of it, but in the process kills a number of Stansfield's men. Stansfield, in turn, calls in, well, pretty much everyone and a veritable army attacks Leon at his apartment (after again capturing Mathilda). Leon puts up a good fight, frees Mathilda, and gets her safely to Tony's, but is ultimately caught by Stansfield. But Leon doesn't give up, even with a bullet in his back. Using the ring method (a grenade), he blows both himself and Stansfield up. The End.

My Comments:
This really should be a very disturbing movie. A 40 year-old professional hit man taking in a 13 year-old orphan girl and training her to become an assassin while fending off her sexual advances, think about it? But the way the movie turns out, it is absolutely hilarious. You can't help but love Leon - he is the most innocent, likable character since George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life, despite the fact that he's a professional assassin. After all, he absolutely refuses to kill women and children, and he drinks at least a glass of milk a day. What's not to like?

The acting in this movie is superb. Even the person you might think would be the worst, a very young Natalie Portman, was good (much better here than in Star Wars). Perhaps the worst character was Gary Oldman, whose over-acting started to get on my nerves. I mean, come on, if I saw a DEA agent that looked and acted like that on the street, I'd be the first person to either gun him down or turn him over to the police - he was a junkie in a bad, beige suit. But Jean Reno's stellar performance, as an incredibly innocent hit man, more than made up for Oldman's shortcomings. After that, I'm thinking Reno is a new favorite actor. He was brilliant!

The story is very entertaining, you just have to be willing to give it the necessary suspension of belief to accept that a kind-hearted hit-man would be willing to take in an orphaned girl. Other than that, it was so full of surprises it kept you wanting more. I don't think I can say anything bad about the story. It was great.

Overall, I found myself laughing at the sheer absurdity of this movie so much that it was almost more of a comedy than a drama. Yes, it is a drama and it sucks that Leon ends up dying, but when Leon comes out as John Wayne and Mathilda just can't figure out who he is, you can't help but laugh. And the fact that he uses Mathilda's innocence to bust into apartments then lets her practice shooting the men he is about to kill with paintballs, is so far over the top that you can't keep a straight face. Yes, you could see this as a very disturbing twist on morality, but I think it was intended to be something similar to Pulp Fiction - this would and could never happen. Thus, you have to laugh. If you think your values would be offended by something like this, well, you definitely don't want to see this movie. If you liked Pulp Fiction, I would highly recommend this film.

When Agent Stansfield comes looking for his dope and Mathilda's dad (Michael Badalucco) is missing some of it, things turn ugly. Mathilda just happens to be out of the house buying groceries, but when she returns, she makes a smart choice and walks right past her family's apartment and right up to Leon's door. Against his intuition, Leon lets her in. Thus begins a very complicated relationship.

Leon, a 'cleaner' as he calls it, can't be fettered by a 13 year-old girl (her exact age is never revealed). So he tries to tell her she can't stay, but she convinces him that if he makes her leave, he'll have killed her. She also finds out what he does then decides she also wants to become a 'cleaner' to exact her revenge. After extensive negotiations, Leon begins training her, even taking her on jobs to let her get experience. While all of this is happening, Mathilda also happens to fall in love with Leon, which definitely complicates things, but Leon doesn't give in to her enticements and remains a 'virtuous' hit-man.

Eventually, Mathilda decides she is ready to begin exacting her revenge, but fails in her first attempt (she goes straight to Stansfield, who catches her). Leon gets her out of it, but in the process kills a number of Stansfield's men. Stansfield, in turn, calls in, well, pretty much everyone and a veritable army attacks Leon at his apartment (after again capturing Mathilda). Leon puts up a good fight, frees Mathilda, and gets her safely to Tony's, but is ultimately caught by Stansfield. But Leon doesn't give up, even with a bullet in his back. Using the ring method (a grenade), he blows both himself and Stansfield up. The End.

My Comments:
This really should be a very disturbing movie. A 40 year-old professional hit man taking in a 13 year-old orphan girl and training her to become an assassin while fending off her sexual advances, think about it? But the way the movie turns out, it is absolutely hilarious. You can't help but love Leon - he is the most innocent, likable character since George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life, despite the fact that he's a professional assassin. After all, he absolutely refuses to kill women and children, and he drinks at least a glass of milk a day. What's not to like?

The acting in this movie is superb. Even the person you might think would be the worst, a very young Natalie Portman, was good (much better here than in Star Wars). Perhaps the worst character was Gary Oldman, whose over-acting started to get on my nerves. I mean, come on, if I saw a DEA agent that looked and acted like that on the street, I'd be the first person to either gun him down or turn him over to the police - he was a junkie in a bad, beige suit. But Jean Reno's stellar performance, as an incredibly innocent hit man, more than made up for Oldman's shortcomings. After that, I'm thinking Reno is a new favorite actor. He was brilliant!

The story is very entertaining, you just have to be willing to give it the necessary suspension of belief to accept that a kind-hearted hit-man would be willing to take in an orphaned girl. Other than that, it was so full of surprises it kept you wanting more. I don't think I can say anything bad about the story. It was great.

Overall, I found myself laughing at the sheer absurdity of this movie so much that it was almost more of a comedy than a drama. Yes, it is a drama and it sucks that Leon ends up dying, but when Leon comes out as John Wayne and Mathilda just can't figure out who he is, you can't help but laugh. And the fact that he uses Mathilda's innocence to bust into apartments then lets her practice shooting the men he is about to kill with paintballs, is so far over the top that you can't keep a straight face. Yes, you could see this as a very disturbing twist on morality, but I think it was intended to be something similar to Pulp Fiction - this would and could never happen. Thus, you have to laugh. If you think your values would be offended by something like this, well, you definitely don't want to see this movie. If you liked Pulp Fiction, I would highly recommend this film.

I was expecting WAITING FOR GUFFMAN to be just as good. I was expecting Eugene Levy's performance to be just as flawless (it was good, but it didn't hold a candle to AMW); I was expecting Guffman (the title character, of course) to appear in the film; and I was expecting much better closure than we were left with.

I really wished the writers had had the characters take a closer look at their performances in the musical (after realizing that the Paul Benedict character was not Guffman) and said something to the effect of "Y'know what? We just did a heck of a show and there's no reason for us to feel depressed about Guffman not showing up. He was the one who missed out!" That would have been nice. That alone would have caused me to move my rating up to 3 stars.

One thing I was not disappointed with was the acting in general. It was superb -- a far cry from the majority of the cardboard performances that Hollywood usually puts out.

A riveting and disturbing psychological thriller that succeeds in most departments. It does not rely as much on blood and gore as it does on generally eerie dialogue. Jodie Foster's character does take a little while to get comfortable with, but her portrayal as a haunted woman is always compelling and unforgettable. It is Anthony Hopkins that delivers the most with his cannibalistic and thought-provoking persona. See it!

Overall rating: 4.8 stars (rounded to 5)

If you like this film, I would also recommend "Se7en".

Rated R for strong language and suggestive dialogue, violence, brief nudity, and mature themes.

Very highly recommended.

Famke Janssen plays a maniacal villainess who admires Bond in her own sick way, but the fascinating thing about this character is her slavish pleasure in destruction and killing. She actually takes a lurid GLEE shooting and blowing up people, actually giggling girlishly as she does it! Her other specialty is squeezing the life out of male lovers with her thighs. No wonder she's a single girl, eh?

Alan Cummings plays a self absorbed computer geek working in Russia in a satellite station monitoring the Goldeneye non-ballistic weapon. This is a weapon that instead of exploding with any nuclear or explosive force, shorts out electrical systems for miles around, ensuring no retaliation from the enemy. Onatopp and her "boss" spur the startup of this device, which Cumming's creepy Boris has allowed to happen through internal weakening of security at the base. One of his coworkers, a rather good looking young woman named Natalia, played by Izabella Scorupco, is caught in the station when Goldeneye targets IT first. Boris, of course, survives this blast, along with Natalia. Onatopp and her boss escape via helicopter.

M, played by Judy Dench, watches all this go down via war room maps at MI6, one blanking out completely after Goldeneye parboils the circuits at the Russian base. She sends Bond to look into it, and possibily save the day, but after berating him for being a "Cold War dinosaur", tells him to "come back alive".

What follows is a decent tale of excitement, intrigue, betrayal and edgy close calls. The movie doesn't end when you think it will! Everybody's acting in it is superb and the cinematography and stunt work make Moore's movies look positively amateurish by comparison...

The film is centered around the rise and fall of adult film star Dirk Diggler (played by Mark Wahlberg). Diggler starts out as a polite, bright-eyed kid but is slowly corrupted by life in the fast lane. Wahlberg gives a great performance as the dopey Diggler, whose words aren't necessarily meant to be funny yet often come off as hilarious.

The supporting cast also does an excellent job in this film. John C. Reilly plays Diggler pal and fellow adult film star Reed Rothchild to perfection. Reilly is funny throughout the movie, but stands out particularly in a scene where he is being interviewed about the impact of movie violence on viewers. Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, and Philip Seymour Hoffman also deliver very strong supporting performances.

It's hard to explain what makes Boogie Nights such an entertaining movie. The humor in the dialogue is often quite subtle, but is nevertheless very effective. The characters are colorful and really seem believable despite their sometimes odd behavior and personalities.

Director/writer Paul Thomas Anderson did a great job with this film. Viewers are sure to feel empathetic towards the characters as they struggle and yet will likely find themselves laughing at just how bad and weird things get at times.

The scene that best sums up Boogie Nights as a whole occurs when Diggler, Rothchild, and friend Todd Parker find themselves in the home of an oddball drug addict trying to sell him some bad dope. The use of music and camerawork in this scene really creates a feeling of tension, yet viewers will probably be tempted to laugh at some of the various events of the scene. I won't say exactly what happens, but the entire sequence shows how Boogie Nights is a dichotomy of the laughable and the tragic.

In short, Boogie Nights is a very entertaining and memorable film. Wahlberg's portrayal of Dirk Diggler is top notch and the other actors also do excellent work in the film. Boogie Nights seems to get better with each subsequent viewing and I highly recommend the movie to fans of subtle and slightly dark humor.

The film is centered around the rise and fall of adult film star Dirk Diggler (played by Mark Wahlberg). Diggler starts out as a polite, bright-eyed kid but is slowly corrupted by life in the fast lane. Wahlberg gives a great performance as the dopey Diggler, whose words aren't necessarily meant to be funny yet often come off as hilarious.

The supporting cast also does an excellent job in this film. John C. Reilly plays Diggler pal and fellow adult film star Reed Rothchild to perfection. Reilly is funny throughout the movie, but stands out particularly in a scene where he is being interviewed about the impact of movie violence on viewers. Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, and Philip Seymour Hoffman also deliver very strong supporting performances.

It's hard to explain what makes Boogie Nights such an entertaining movie. The humor in the dialogue is often quite subtle, but is nevertheless very effective. The characters are colorful and really seem believable despite their sometimes odd behavior and personalities.

Director/writer Paul Thomas Anderson did a great job with this film. Viewers are sure to feel empathetic towards the characters as they struggle and yet will likely find themselves laughing at just how bad and weird things get at times.

The scene that best sums up Boogie Nights as a whole occurs when Diggler, Rothchild, and friend Todd Parker find themselves in the home of an oddball drug addict trying to sell him some bad dope. The use of music and camerawork in this scene really creates a feeling of tension, yet viewers will probably be tempted to laugh at some of the various events of the scene. I won't say exactly what happens, but the entire sequence shows how Boogie Nights is a dichotomy of the laughable and the tragic.

In short, Boogie Nights is a very entertaining and memorable film. Wahlberg's portrayal of Dirk Diggler is top notch and the other actors also do excellent work in the film. Boogie Nights seems to get better with each subsequent viewing and I highly recommend the movie to fans of subtle and slightly dark humor.