We've Got Movie Sign

Scott Hardie | June 10, 2002
I saw three movies in the past three days, and here are some brief comments about them.

"Big Trouble" - Funny, but short. The big action climax started at about the halfway point. I had trouble figuring out who the lead character was - Tim Allen? Jason Lee? Stanley Tucci? Tom Sizemore? They all seem to have about equal screen time and equal plot importance. Whatever. I recommend this movie, but don't expect greatness. Just expect to have a good 85 minutes.

"A Beautiful Mind" - I saw this for the second time and appreciated it more. I already knew what Ron Howard did wrong, so instead I paid attention to what he did right, and I was impressed. The way the tension slowly rises, the way the mystery is established, the way the tone and setting are established with second unit photography. I still feel the opposite of Matt (Connelly was great and Harris was mediocre), but I was much more into the movie the second time. I wish I could see it with someone who didn't know what Nash's disease was.

"The Sum of All Fears" - The was a good movie, and well-crafted, but not quite as good or well-crafted as many movies in this genre. You can make a thriller that's airtight and has ten layers of tension, and this one was airtight with about three layers of tension. I would think the verge of nuclear war would be a little more tense. Good acting from the supporting players, less so from the leads. My biggest complaint is that it was missing stuff - the last act of the movie seemed to be missing connecting scenes that helped us piece the plot together. [Major spoiler: I also complain about the execution of the three villains at the end of the movie. Why were they not brought to justice instead?]