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Romeo And Juliet [1996]

starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Pete Postlethwaite
directed by: Baz Luhrmann

March 04, 2002
I usually enjoy Shakespeare "done modern" but this was awful! It was Shakespeare meets Westside story, Moulin Rouge and greasy was the word that came to mind. The film kept to the traditional language of Shakespeare but it does not suit American accents. The words grated, uttered thoughtlessly for the most part from the mouths of Hawaiian shirted American gang youth. Even Peter Postlethwaite seemed preoccupied with maintaining his American accent over what he was saying.
Dicaprio and Clare Danes however do make a charming couple and you cannot help wishing that their love would survive the maelstrom of brutish hate that the two families have for each other. The film gets its reputation for being "good" from this simple alchemy and possibly ... Read More:

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Moulin Rouge [2001]

starring: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh
directed by: Baz Luhrmann

October 13, 2003
The subject is banal : Paris, 1900, the famous Moulin Rouge music-hall and their never-ending shows that are titillating and mysterious, fascinating and prodigious. Love above everything else, romantic love with its passion, the little thing deep down inside, dramatic love of course, melodramatic even. The actress of such a show is supposed to finance the show, and the work of everyone else, by providing the patrons, the generous financiers with some carnal pleasure, illusionary or real according to the desires and potencies of these rich even if rather aging males. The melodrama is reached when the actress is dying of consumption. The red of blood is mixing with the green of absinthe. But that is without taking into account Nicole Kidman who transforms that ... Read More:

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Carlito's Way [1994]

starring: Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Leguizamo, Ingrid Rogers
directed by: Brian De Palma

March 29, 2004
This is great stuff, hugely good fun and absorbing from the get go. The script and performances are great (check out Edwin Torres' books Carlito's Way and After Hours - both the basis for this and stunning reading) and the film delivers in every way. Some fine action and pretty much iconic scenes and you have a real winner.

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Titan A.E. [2000]

starring: Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo
directed by: Art Vitello, Don Bluth, Gary Goldman

April 09, 2001
Animated sci-fi adventure set in the 31st century in which evil alien forces known as the Drej destroy the earth, wiping out most of mankind (hence the `A.E.' in the film's title, which stands for `After Earth'). Fifteen years after the earth's destruction a handful of the dwindling human survivors from that awful day seek out the fabled Titan, a spaceship that represents mankind's last hope. But they must find the ship before the Drej do. This was a very enjoyable animated adventure, with Matt Damon providing the voice of the hero of the film Cale who leads the search for the spaceship Titan and Drew Barrymore the voice of his main female companion Akima. The beginning and end of the film are magnificent, both in terms of storytelling and animation. In this film we get ... Read More:

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To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar [1995]

starring: Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo, Stockard Channing, Blythe Danner
directed by: Beeban Kidron

August 01, 2005
I bought this DVD on the strength of previous reviews. It is humourless, ponderous and without wit. Drag queens who never get out of drag are not funny; neither is the plot.

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Super Mario Bros - The Original Motion Picture [1993]

starring: Bob Hoskins; Dennis Hopper; John Leguizamo; and Samantha Mathis

September 04, 2007
What can I say? It's not a great movie and not a bad movie, but has a special place in my collection. It's one of those movies that makes you feel like a kid again, which is rare.
See Ya
Asim AKA '007'

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Carlito's Way [HD DVD] [1993]

starring: Al Pacino, Richard Foronjy, Frank Minucci, Jorge Porcel, Ingrid Rogers
directed by: Brian De Palma

December 10, 2007
Fortunately the rest of the film is good enough to make up for it. The opening shows Carlito Brigante, former criminal, being hauled away in a stretcher, covered in blood after being shot. Well, now I know how the film ends. The suspense of the film's climax is ruined if we immediately know his fate. Duh!

Pacino (surely more deserving of an Academy Award here than he was for his overrated performance in Scent of a Woman) narrates us through the last week or so of Carlito Brigante's life as he is let out of jail after five years out of thirty for mitigates circumstances coming to light. Determined to go straight, Carlito shrugs off all advances from crooks old and new but is eventually drawn back into a quagmire of trouble by his cokehead lawyer (Sean Penn dressed up ... Read More:

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The Steven Seagal DVD Legacy (8 Disc Box Set) [1988]

starring: Steven Seagal, Jerry Orbach, Kurt Russell, Harry Dean Stanton, Sharon Stone

December 09, 2002
This is a great set of really enjoyable movies. If you buy this, you will be vastly entertained. That simple.

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Moulin Rouge (Special Edition) [2001]

starring: Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman, Jim Broadbent, John Leguizamo, Richard Roxburgh
directed by: Baz Luhrmann

March 06, 2006
A great film let down by the first 2 minutes. The narration at the start tells you what is going to happen.
However, a great entertaining film all the same. Making use of modern music to tell the story in what is really a modern Opera, this film has some wonderfull bits. The use of Queen's The show must go On is outstanding. Worth buying

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Romeo And Juliet [1997]

starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Harold Perrineau, Pete Postlethwaite
directed by: Baz Luhrmann

February 07, 2000
The opening sequence of this film includes arial shots of an American city in which a church spire is dominated by two much taller skyscrapers belonging to the chief businesses there. Visually, this sums up one of the important themes of the play, how material values in Verona have become more important than spiritual ones. There are many more ways in which this film intelligently translates Shakespeare's words into pictures. Particularly enjoyable is the way in which, at the Capulet's party, all the major characters play a symbol of themselves: Tybalt is a devil, Lady Capulet is Cleopatra, Mercutio is a transvestite, Juliet is an angel, and though Romeo begins as an astronaut, he ends up looking far more like a knight in shinning armour. The text is very much shorter than we might expect ... Read More: