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MATCHSTICK MEN review
MATCHSTICK MEN is one of the most frustrating film experiences I’ve had in quite some time. You see… I absolutely love a great deal of this movie. Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman were perfect. The story was fantastic. The end was perfect and I was dazzled. THEN… Then after making a really great movie, Ridley Scott does something… so mind-numbingly daft that I wanted to start screaming at the screen.
It’s a little unnecessary epilogue. Something that belongs on the DVD as a bad idea we left out of our movie. It begins with the title card… ONE YEAR LATER… My suggestion for you is to take a little minidisk player or Ipod or whatever your personal portable music device of choice is… time out a 10 minute section of music that you enjoy… When you see ONE YEAR LATER appear on screen, put on the headphones… press play and SHUT YOUR EYES. When the 10 minutes are up open them, you’ll be seeing the end credits playing and you will have had a damn good time at the movies without many, if any, problems. You’ll be amused by all the people around you that look pissed, aggravated and perturbed.
You may even be curious as to what happened in those 10 minutes, but that’s ok… I’ve got ya covered. I’ll go into spoiler mode a bit later in this review – since I really have NO PROBLEMS with this movie at all, until it decides to kill itself in the epilogue.
To give you an idea of what this film is… essentially it is a story about a phobic con artist and his partner (protégé) pulling cons on unsuspecting fools. The phobic one is living a bare life, filled with paralytic psychological issues which keep him from being able to function well in the world, so he has isolated himself completely. He ends up seeing a psychiatrist, who brings out issues in his life he needs to deal with, mainly the question about his daughter/son… Long story short, Nicolas Cage is reunited with his daughter, falls in love with being a Dad – begins to feel better about himself, invites her into his lifestyle and suddenly… the world becomes dangerous, because for the first time, he really has something to lose.
Cage’s Roy is exactly the sort of character that on a great day you want to see Nicolas playing. He’s a mason jar of neurotic quirks. A neat freak at a level of absurdity. It is funny, till it is sad. His character is racked with pathos. He’s likable, but he cheats people, thus being loathsome. He feels and manifests guilt upon himself, giving himself mental lashings that he isn’t even aware of doing. Watching how Nicolas is with his little girl, Angela… you can’t help, but love his character all the more. It is… fantastic.
Alison Lohman is a wonder. She was really good in WHITE OLEANDER, but I never really cared that much for her in that film, cuz she was so “messed up” as was necessary in that film, that in many ways, I had trouble associating with her character. Here… In MATCHSTICK MEN – she’s playing the child of divorce meeting the father she always dreamt of having and she is so… damn… lovable, precious, cute and awesome that she brings out the absolute best in Nicolas Cage. The looks on her face as she is happy… she glows, she’s absolutely neon, in terms of the vitality that she expresses in the film. Just, the absolute dream of the “lost daughter” you may have out there somewhere. Absolutely the best 14-15 year old actress I had seen in forever… then I went to IMDB and discovered she was 24 years old and I was left in shock… cuz she looks SOOOOO MUCH younger than that in this film. This is an actress to keep an eye on, and seeing that she is in Tim Burton’s upcoming BIG FISH… well it delighted me all the more. She rules.
Then there is Sam Rockwell… He is such a fantastic physical performer. Sam is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors. He has this aspect of him that reminds me of Frederic Forrest from THE GRAVY TRAIN. This primed lunacy ready to explode. He lives so completely within a scene. I believe he occupies the reality that is being presented. You never for a second don’t believe that he’s just that crazy cool person that ya never knew what he was going to do next… type of guy. Playing opposite of Nicolas Cage was a master stroke of casting genius. They play wonderful together.
As for Ridley Scott’s direction… In many ways, I don’t know if he’s ever made a film with characters more alive. More filled with energy and vitality. His choice in music to back this film… well, Hans Zimmer does the score – but the mixture between him and the “soundtrack choices” haven’t been this good since Zimmer danced with the soundtrack to TRUE ROMANCE. Ridley’s choices in this movie are absolutely impeccable, until he completely drops the ball and shatters it beyond repair. The “ONE YEAR LATER” sequence was so unnecessary, so insanely just flat out asinine that I had to fight screaming out, “WHAT A LOAD OF FUCKING SHIT!” However – controlling myself… reasoning out that Ridley had made such a great film, with such a minor, albeit ludicrously stupid, mistake… that I couldn’t NOT recommend the movie for you folks, cuz… with the exception of the epilogue… this film is great. Ridley did fantastic work that deserves to be recommended… you just need to be warned, that it comes to a crashing end… so don’t forget your personal portable music device… 10 minutes of music – if I may, I suggest taking Cab Calloway’s MINNIE THE MOOCHER and ST JAMES INFIRMARY – then open your eyes.
NOW FOR THE SPOILERS
--- Don’t read this ---
Go check out the film – close your eyes after the ONE YEAR LATER bit --- then come back and read the following.
The stuff I’m going to discuss below WOULD ruin the film for you, so PLEASE…
Just go away, come back after you’ve seen the movie.
MASSIVE SPOILERS!
Ok…
so you’ve seen the movie.
You know now that essentially MATCHSTICK MEN is a film noir.
That there is a brilliant twist on the femme fatale angle, that Nicolas Cage is playing a wonderful Burt Lancaster type character that is going to be fucked hard by the betrayal of everyone around him.
Personally – I felt the last shot should’ve been him.. his ass hanging out of his hospital gown looking out over Los Angeles realizing that he’d been screwed. At that moment – he knows he’s been fucked. It’s done. Rich stuff gone… Life over. I didn’t need to see him going to his P.O. Box… didn’t need him checking the doggie or going to his ‘daughters’ alleged home. In the classic days – they didn’t feel the need to dot all the “I’s” or cross all the “t’s”. The reason was because they allowed those details to be filled in by an audience. That those shots are there… it didn’t bother me too much, but it was the first sign of a misstep over the course of the whole film, so it was a bit off putting.
Then there is that god damned “ONE YEAR LATER” bit.
Can you imagine if at the End of CASABLANCA they had had the “One Year Later” bit. You see the celebration of the end of the war. Sam, Rick and Louis all back in Paris celebrating… The joy of having ended the great war, when Ilsa walks in… She walks up to Bogie – falls into his arms… Tells him that Victor had a heart attack and died, and Rick kisses and assures her that for Today and all of the tomorrows, that they’ll always have Paris. AH… there we go… the happy ending. Rick gets the girl… Paris is safe… and we don’t have to wonder what happened next.
The reason you don’t make those decisions for the audience is that ambiguity… it can be great. The story of MATCHSTICK MEN ends with the con artist being conned. That’s it. That’s the story. He gets the sting, the feel of what it is like. Who he becomes after that… what happens next… that is the beautiful mystery of life. That thing that you and your friends…. You and your loved ones can discuss.
Sure – you have the option to do the fucking retarded ending they chose… or you can imagine that upon feeling the sting of the con – he realizes that his entire life has been spent doing exactly what has been done to him, and he takes the swan dive off the top of that building he’s on. OR – he becomes a revenge obsessed man, spending the rest of his days tracking his ex-partner and the alleged daughter down, till they cough it all up. Or you believe he is able to just let it all go and move on with his life… The point being… That is information that is COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY.
Like on the T2 dvds – where James Cameron has the Old Sarah Connor and Senator John Connor in an idyllic Washington D.C… Ya see, James Cameron understood… the uncertain road… that’s how to end that story.
If you want to explore what happens next, that’s the sequel… not a useless turd of an epilogue. Filming a great film noir, then shooting a ten minute epilogue which basically is there to say… “Awwww, no hard feelings” SUCKS ASS! I take it all back? That’s how you want this great story of a criminal getting his comeuppance?
Fuck that epilogue in the squeaky clean left ear! How a director as great as Ridley Scott, having made a film as wonderful as MATCHSTICK MEN could allow the film to be COMPLETELY SHAFTED by such a stupid turn… was it a test screening add on? Was it a studio note? Or was it Ridley Scott just having a momentary lapse? Whatever the case, I wish I erase the memory of watching that horrible fucking last 10 minutes. It is so rare to watch a film as satisfying as this… to have it then suck ass like this… well, it makes me want to just watch PAPER MOON and ignore this film altogether… and that’s a shame!
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Ridley Scott is generally on top of things. I stayed away from the spoilers, so I can't claim to know what I'm talking about, though. I'll have to check it out for meself.
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Sep 05, 2003 9:07:33 AM CDT
Hey Harry, cool review ... reminds me of the problems I had with
by silver_joo
They made the movie's 'punchline', so to speak, visual. We got left with a messy last third that sells out and almost mirrors the dross that Donald was composing before his (unnecessary) death. That final third really upset me, it ruined characters that you were beginning to empathise with wholeheartedly, and even admire. It proved that Jonze is not yet mature enough to make the masterpiece he should be threatening, and just like Kaufman his ideas are grander than the sum of their parts. Quite shocked that Ridley Scott managed to do it too. I heard good things about this movie aswell .. damn, Hollywood bites.
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Bronze medal for me.
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The whole point that the last third of the film became all action is because thats the part that "Donald" wrote.
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As i was saying, the elements of this film: a long lost 'daughter', an experienced conman and his partner/protege equals a twist ending that can be seen for miles around.
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Harry, You just want to wreak movies in general for us all, any movie site with any integrity
would not post SPOILERS like you do, like the end of "Matchstick Men" you are the problem!
why not just say,I had an issue with the end,but see it for self
and we could be the judge?
Instead of "your the only one who's opinion counts" mindset.
so let me spoil this movie for you all. -
I liked Adaptation and loved Being John Malkovich for their originality, despite any perceived flaws. A Spike Jonze misfire is 10X more interesting than the formulaic crap churned out by Hollywood today.
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Sep 05, 2003 9:50:35 AM CDT
Call me a plant, if you like...but I thought the ending didn't r
by k0ny
Without giving anything away: I found no problem at all with having a "happy ending" one year later. I do not think the film suffers because of it. If anything, I walked out feeling that some of the stuff in the final few shots of the film had the greatest emotional impact on me. The story of Match Stick Men is one of internal conflict expressed through external forces. Without a resolution to the internal conflicts, the story is not complete. If the directer had left the end up to our collective imaginations, it would be like Romeo & Juliette without the ending death scene. You're way off on this one Harry. However, I'm not surprised that you found something to gripe about with a WB film. No vampires or werewolves in this one either, huh?
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It's just too fucking frustrating, HOW CAN SHE NOT BE 14???!! She's so short and adorable. She should just lie to us. Women do it all the time.
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Sep 05, 2003 10:22:08 AM CDT
Am I The Only One Who Got The Punchline That Is The Third Act Of
by nickedimes
Charlie Kauffman didn't want the "adaptation" of The Orchid Thief to become hollywood formula, thats why the 3rd act was so funnny and ironic, of course none of that happened in real life, thats why it was funny.
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Sep 05, 2003 10:41:02 AM CDT
shouldn't this be called "As Good As The Paper Moon Gets"??? It
by renata
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Uh, unless you are retarded or have never before watched a film, how can anyone possibly not "get" the joke of Adaptation's third act? Jeez, it's not like it is particularly subtle. Next you'll be telling us that the big surprise of Episode 3 will be that Sidious is Palpatine. Whoa.
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How can you go on and bash him for giving away the movie when he clearly said spoilers were coming, if you dont like spoilers dont read on and yet you do and then blame him for giving away spoilers. Dumbass.
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Um yeah, some spoiler.
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Sep 05, 2003 11:34:51 AM CDT
At least it didn't have a "3000 Years Later" epilogue ...
by godoffireinhell
... like Spielberg's A.I. Or was it 10 000 Years Later? I can't remember. It was ridiculous! People were throwing stuff at the screen ... Nothing worse than a perfectly good film that turns to shit at the end.
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Sep 05, 2003 12:12:21 PM CDT
Hey guys, thanks for the input. Always a pleasure to have a cons
by silver_joo
I like the ideas in Adaptation, but what I am trying to get across is that I saw a different movie in my mind and so did not respond to the slap in the face that was the final third. The whole film was building up such interesting relationships and problems, it touched me. Then we get Donald's script interrupting, it just jarred with me. I got it, just call me old fashioned because I felt like MTV was pissing on me, whilst I was trying to nap in my little arthouse nook.
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Sounds like how the Morgan Freeman-walking-down-the-beach bit at the tail end of Shawshank Redemption made me feel.
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Am I the only person who found the third act of Adaptation incredibly amusing? While I loved the writing in the first 2/3rds of Adaptation, and found myself asking "what the hell?" in the last 1/3rd... after the initial shock of the total plot twist, i just laughed my ass off at how ridiculous and melodramatic everything became. And aside from "getting" that the end was Donald's contribution to the script, the last 1/3rd just fit because the film is about Charlie Kaufman's struggle with adapting a screenplay from a novel... how often have we gone to see an adaptation of a novel in the theaters and been sorely disappointed because suddenly, hollywood has inserted its action sequence/super happy ending?
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Here's a spoiler - You Will Die Alone.
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Are you fucking kidding me? He's probably the best actor of his generation. When people start slamming Cage for his brilliant work in Adaptation I give up.
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'Cause that song kicks ass, especially the Camper Van Beethoven version. sk
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Sep 05, 2003 2:16:46 PM CDT
Is it too late for the filmmakers to remove the last ten minutes
by el duderino
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... he'll travell across America, hunt down every theatrical print and personally remove the last 10 minutes. There's only one person they should ever test-screen a film for and that is Harry! Harry owns! Harry rules! Hell, in a few years Harry will be God and then he'll be able to make every scene that annoys him evaporate into thin air! I now have to take my medication.
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oh, and the "you will die alone" spoiler, oh man that's good. to my point: adaptation's third act wasn't for everybody. i got the joke he was going for, i liked the movie, and i think it's funny that it's dedicated to his dead fictional brother. matchstick men looks good, although i could do without the whole daughter/father rehashed bullshit. i didn't read the crap about the ending, but i have a general idea of what happens. i guarantee they put that on after they showed it to a bunch of test audiences and they complained about not having a happier ending. it's just sad, that's all.
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Sounds like our boy Harry sets everbody straight this time.
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I have not seen "Matchstick Men" yet but I agree with Harry's rant about unnecessary, painfully tacked on epilogues. "Panic Room" featured such an ending. The film should have ended with the close-up of Jodie Foster after the cops have apprehended Forest Whitaker's character. But instead there is a fade to black and then we see Foster's character and her daughter in the park during autumn and we are assured that order has been restored. Terrible.
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Sep 05, 2003 5:37:53 PM CDT
LA CONFIDENTIAL is still the king of shitty, tacked-on Hollywood
by cash bailey
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Nuff said.
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Scott made GI JANE, which is watchable if laughable and already dated. He also made THELMA AND LOUISE, which I have never seen but one that usually gets good marks from viewers. Otherwise, he rests on his laurels: ALIEN (a film I personally abhor) and BLADE RUNNER (a film so far ahead of its time I went from detesting it to considering it a masterpiece, much like THE THING). Scott also made LEGEND, which I consider among the weakest of the fantasy epics of that period. He himself had said he has problems with that film. But the fact is some people adore it. Go figure. What I think they like about it, especially my wife's sister, is those big phallic horns on Tim Curry's head.
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Man oh man was I pissed after I saw that one.
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Remember the epilogue from Unbreakable? What was up with that?
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To me, he's like any director - he has his good days and his bad days. I loathed 1492 but I thoroughly enjoyed Black Rain, Alien, etc. They've been re-running Black Hawk Down on cable quite a bit and I've watched it several times- it seems to me Scott pulled off a movie that must have been difficult to film for a lot of reasons and made it suspenseful and entertaining. I give him credit for taking on a smaller budget movie and spending alot more times with the characters then he has in many of his movies.
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Sep 05, 2003 8:21:41 PM CDT
Proof that 3rd act of Adaptation was toungue in cheek
by silver shamrock
Earlier in the film, Robert Mckee said, "don't you ever, ever use a deus ex machina ending!!" And Cooper gets eaten by the croc at just the right moment. I guess it flew over the heads of illiterates who don't know what "deus ex machina" means. Mad props to Spike for playing to a crowd with an IQ and pulse!
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We're sitting here arguing over whether Scott's pedigree is good or not. In case you weren't paying attention, Harry loved the movie, he just detested its epilogue. Yet at the slightest whiff of a loaded topic, those among us who are terminally lacking in a healthy form of self-esteem are off to the races. "Ridley Scott is a piece of shit hack," blah, blah, blah. Why do some of you even get the impulse to belittle the man? I'm sure his crimes against humanity for unleashing 'Gladiator' upon the world are far less than those of an angry nerd with an inferiority complex.
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Wait for it to come out on DVD. Make friends with someone who has access to a disc-burner. Stop right at the epilogue. BAM! Classic in a can.
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Am I the only one who noticed the UNCANNY resemblance of Matchstick Men and the internationally praised Argentinian film "Nueve Reinas" (A much superior film by the way) I heard George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh bought the rights to make an american remake of the Argentine original... Isn't their project threatened by Scott's film? Armaggeddon-Deep Impact all over again?
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Sep 05, 2003 10:57:51 PM CDT
was harry at the cockpit iin leeds, uk, on the fri the 5th of se
by jimdin2001
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Sep 05, 2003 11:01:12 PM CDT
nice job not telling us what the fuck happened in those last 10
by lelon
i've loved Sam Rockwell since he was in NINJA TURTLES
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Sep 05, 2003 11:16:30 PM CDT
I can imagine the TV adds: "WHAT A LOAD OF FUCKING SHIT"- Harry
by drompter
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Sep 06, 2003 12:26:49 AM CDT
MATCHSTICK MEN is the worst movie this year. MATCHSTICK MEN make
by heywood jablomie
If this movie comes out and does okay, I'll hang myself. I saw a test screening of this in February and it was one of the godawfullest studio movies I have seen in years and years. Like, unreleasably bad. To think that the likes of Harry are giving it a so-so pass is fucking insane. Ridley Scott doing comedy makes about as much as sense as Kubrick suiting up for DEUCE BIGALOW MALE GIGOLO.
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Sep 06, 2003 12:28:29 AM CDT
I have you beat, Cash, it was that shitty "A.I." that takes the
by uncapie
Fucking "Pinnochio" wanna be "Giggolo Joe", William Hurt "Gepetto-looking" "Blue Fairy" muther fucker with robo-aliens!
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AI, to watch instead of the epilogue. I actually liked that ending, no kidding.* * *
What I didn't like was that "le twist ending" on Swimming Pool. Enough with le frigging twist ending. Frigging le twist! Oh wait, this is AICN. Fucking le twist! I hate le twist!* * *Stay tuned for Harrys big review next month, of a movie he loved until the closing credits ruined it for him. -
Granted, I only read the script and have yet to see the finished print of the film, but I think you missed the point Harry. If it ended the way you suggested, then it would be a nice little film that had an interesting (if not obvious) twist and that's it. It would be out of your head in a day. Instead, we get a much richer ending. Sure, Nic's character was burned for millions, but he gained something much richer because of his experiences with his faux daughter. He learned that the world does not revolve around him or money. That being rich means connecting and interacting with people. That success is finding love. Sam Rockwell's character is going to go off and spend his cash and get laid, but so what. He is still going to end up alone and unhappy. Because he is still disconnected from the world. But not Nic's character. He has a life. And in the end, it's finally one worth living.
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Sep 06, 2003 2:03:37 AM CDT
I BET NOT A SINGLE PERSON IN TALKBACK HERE WORKS IN SHOWBUSINESS
by nekko
None of you guys know what you're talking about. You all sound like a bunch of poor movie geeks. Heads full of dreams on how movies ought to be. Get fucking real! This is a business. And even if you're a big famous movie director, the film's backers and the studio's stockholders are still telling you what to do. I saw Martin Scorsese on the set of GANGS OF NEW YORK being told that he couldn't have a shot he wanted by some putz in a suit. Martin fucking Scorsese! You guys want too much from movies. You want them all your way. What filmmaker could ever set out to please all of you? Ridley Scott is one of the finest film directors of our time. DUELLISTS, ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER, LEGEND (go piss to the writer, the film is fucking gorgeous), BLACK RAIN, THELMA, 1492 (do you have any idea what it takes to shoot something like that ... no you don't, because you're just a bunch of fucking geeks) SQUALL, JANE, GLADIATOR (who didn't like fucking Gladiator, what did you expect in the Colosseum, Jules & Jim) HANNIBAL (pure character and less bullshit horror) BLACK HAWK (three battle scenes going on simultaneously almost throughout the entire film, I'd like to see any one of you trying to direct something like that and keep track of all that) and now MATCHSTICK, a great fucking movie. You guys gotta chill out. Eat some popcorn, drink a Coke, and just be entertained. God, they're just movies. In case you didn't know they're supposed to be fun. And Ridley's one of our best. So relax. Go see it.
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Sep 06, 2003 2:29:12 AM CDT
Alison Lohman is the cutest not-underage tomboy beanpole on the
by jules windex
And you know this, man!
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LA CONFIDENTIAL was pure cinematic bliss for every second, until we see Bud White sitting in that car with a fucking bandage on his face. A.I., on the other hand, could not be saved by any ending.
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Sep 06, 2003 4:46:57 AM CDT
Nekko, you bleat the loudest here. But isn't this site for us mo
by silver_joo
No seriously, you want to shoot us down for discussing films, if we did not discuss them, what would be the point of them existing? What are you anyway, a runner? 'There's no booger, sir, just great coffee' that kind of thing?
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Sep 06, 2003 11:15:31 AM CDT
Taxi Driver, minus its last 10 minutes, is better than Taxi Driv
by the tao of joe
When I was in high school, I rented the VHS of taxi driver, so that I could watch what is one of the greatest movies ever made for the first time. Well, My vhs went totally fubar right after Bickle points his bloody finger to his temple, and mimics suicide. You see the cops watching in dead horror, and then SCRAMBLE! SCRAMBLE! Nothing from that point on. It seemed like the ending reasonably enough, and I mean basically, to me, travis bickle was dead, or soon to live the rest of his life in pain, jail, or both. This was a great fucking ending. It was beautiful. Well, a year ago, I got the dvd, and watched it, and god damn if they didn't ruin it with the biggest puss-out ending ever shot on film. You see Travis, perfectly healthy, not in jail. No scars, the use of his hands and arms is unaltered in any way, and he has a pointless run in with that one chick who dumped him at the porno theater. OH OK, so everything is ok? I thought. It was just not as cool as the unknown, but audiences these days dont want the unknown, they dont want mystery. How many of you people have ever sit through a movie with some jerk-off who asks you what is about to happen? I watched the two towers dvd at my parents house yesturday, and we got to the scene where it looks like pippin's head got crushed in by a giant horse. My mom is like "IS PIPPIN DEAD?" "DID HE DIE? I DONT WANT ANYTHING SAD TO HAPPEN!" Though I knew he didnt, and that he serves a much larger role in the continuing story, I rufused to answer her. LET THE MOVIE TELL ITSELF! Let there be suspense, things unknown, and use your own ideas or imaginations to clear them up. I think that is one of the biggest problems alot of typical movie viewers had with the blair witch project. They just don't know how to handle the unknown. Here is a list of movies that all could have been a whole star rating better had it not been for some epilogue that they didnt need. A.I. (Should have left that bastard kid in the ice to stare at the blue fairy), Perfect Storm (Moriarty said they should have left as the camera pulled away from a drowning mark walberg. I agree), Minority Report (yet another speilberg movie that could have been much better had they left its hero on ice as it were), The Hulk (following up the magnificent attack on san francisco with that foolishness involving hulk and Lightning Man was non-sense. Should have saved it for the sequel), Pirates of the Carribean (After they defeated the pirates, end the movie, didnt need to know that bloom was going to marry kiera's character, or that jack could escape once again from the colonial army). These are all I can think of for now, but I am sure you guys have more. This subject was kind of touched upon in "Stand By Me," where Gordy tells his Lardass Hogan story to the gang, and Virgil wants to know if he went and had some hamburgers after the story ended. Virgil couldn't settle in the knowledge that Hogan got his revenge, that people lost their lunch after he did what he did. People want pitch perfect endings to be prolongued until they loose their effects and meanings. Its just bullshit. ToJ out.
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oh man, that shit was painfull
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I can tell that, despite being a grown man with a wife and child, I need to emotionally mature if things like "Silver Joo"'s post ripping on Adaptation can make me throw things. Let me try to calm down...SILVER JOO YOU STUPID FUCK YOU JUST DON'T GET IT YOU COULDN'T RECOGNIZE GENIUS EVEN IF STEPHEN HAWKINGS SMACKED YOUR BALLS!!!! ARRRGHHH. Whew. I feel better now. No hard feelings, Joo.
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I am with the up side for matchstick men. I don't expect it to be big like gladiator or black hawk down, but with such a talented cast, master-class director, and based on a famous book written by Eric Garcia, I am going there to check it out. Scam movies are always fun to watch. Ocean 11 and Italian Job are so great.
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Another movie that should've ended a few minutes early: "KISSING JESSICA STEIN". I really enjoyed this cute quirky little indie -- until the epilogue! Man, I wanted to fling the DVD I rented into the ether like a Frisbee. It's a romantic comedy, the two charming/neurotic leads wind up together...and then, we get the tacked-on post-ending ending. Most frustrating. And I'll chime in re "ADAPTATION" -- whoever the pretentious fuckwit was who said "gee, it's so much funnier if you get what a 'deus ex machina' is", well you're wrong. I have studied Greek drama in college, I know what the device is. And I understood what Kaufman was doing with the Donald-esque ending taking over -- I didn't find it amusing either. I found it silly and annoying after really liking this film for so long. It just kinda sat there and took the film down. But I will give the guy credit for taking a big artistic gamble - I just don't think it worked. I don't know what a better ending woulda been as he kinda wrote himself into a corner -- but I too was miffed by the resolution...for what it's worth. But damn if Ron Livingston doesn't perfectly sum up the movie business as the smarmy agent. I toil in the biz as a struggling writer with asshole agents, and he was just spot-on perfect!
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Sep 07, 2003 9:09:39 AM CDT
instead of bringing your portable entertainment device of choic
by windowlicker74
nuff said
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Actually, A Man Apart takes the cake for the worst tacked-on ending. No contest.
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The real trouble is that the big gigantic twist ending is painfully obvious for more than an hour. And during that time we are being seduced by the brilliance of the actors, and the elegance of Scott's direction. Con artist movie's are almost always based on the con man getting outfoxed, or scammers working each other and once the jig is up it easy to lose interest. Sure the "happy" ending may seem like studio meddling, but without it audiences have just invested tons of emotion rooting on a complete and total idiot, who learns nothing, and is not made better for the love he found in Anglea[lohman] only emptier than when we met him. I don't care how "cool" down endings are, when you work so hard to make a guy lovable, so worthy of redemption and then destroy everything he cares about you get a needlessly cruel and hollow story. Showing that people are stupid and needy and easily fooled by charlatans is not exactly a complicated message, or a particualrly worthwhile conclusion for such a well crafted film.
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The movie was so fantastic, so uplifting, even, and that absolute genius Alison Lohman shone, as she always does and as she will many more times in the future, I am sure. But the fucking ending! Why, why, why???? It was like an ass-raping, a kick in the groin, a fucking slap in the goddam dick. It ruined what could have been perfect.
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*SPOILERS*
Harry, how the heck could you sit through this film and think that it's just about a conman being stung by his protege? Someone before me put it brilliantly when they said that the film was about the internal conflicts in Cage's character, and the film never would have been complete without a resolution of that.
Personally, if it had ended with the sting, I would have walked out dissappointed, because we had too much emotion invested in the characters to leave the story there. But the "One Year Later" epilogue made it one of the best films of the year. Sorry it was too sappy for you, but I thought it was quite well done, not overdone and more subtle than most "happy endings". -
Revolutions commercial. Looks decent enough.
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Banging 2nd commercial for Revolutions.
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3rd commercial
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#4 These are incredible.
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#5 is here. Might be the last one, but they are all great.
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2 locations:
http://www.matrixology.com/revolutions/trailers/ & http://www.spectaculent.com/ -
I, too, liked the movie - the performances were awesome - despite the fact that the con was telegraphed halfway through the film. And, like Harry, I despised the epilogue with the "daughter," BUT the additional ending of Cage with his wife actually redeemed it for me.
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This wasn't just a "Con" movie like the Sting. It was supposed to be about the "Hero" learning and growing by being put through, essentially, the same hell that he'd put so many others through. He lost everything, just as he'd taken everything from others. If the movie had ended when Harry says, it would have just been a "Bad guy gets his" movie, and wouldn't be interesting at all. Especially because the twist ending is obvious from literally the first time Cage gets sent to the "shrink" by his partner. The ending was necessary, though, to enable the Hero to change and grow at the end. Without it, this would have just been a pretty mediocre (at best) con movie.
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I agree with everything Harry said in his review of this film, except the part in which he trashes the epilogue.
His argument reminded me very much the argument that William Friedkin and William Peter Bllatty had over the ending of "The Exorcist". Friedkin maintained that the audience didn't need to see the little scene between Inspector Kinderman and Karras' friend. Blatty felt the opposite. Strictly from a storytelling point of view, Friedkin was right. Does the film really need that little scene between the two men? NO, Do you want to have the scene there at the end? ABSOLUTELY.
The same applies to "Matchstick Men" One doesn't need to see the little epilogue at the end. But, by this time, we have spent 2 hours following the Nicolas Cage character. We, at least I, want to see him grow. The epilogue provides a great deal of comfort in that sense. Imagine how cold would the movie had been without it.
I loved Matchstick Men from beginning to end. To exclude the epilogue would have been to prevent the character from growing up. Movies begin and end with a good story, but good stories begiin and end with characters. The epilogue was just a way of finishing up what already had been started.
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Of course im not going to close my eyes or leave the theatre without seeing what this "1 year later" bs is. Anyway, YEA, worst shit of an ending ever. Next time ill try to listen cause possibly one of the better movies this year has just..BLAHH , pissed off here
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I don't see how anyone could say this was well written when the ending (and I saw it cold) was telegraphed in the first reel. The story was so sloppy, one simple logical phone call would have sunk the entire plot. And I lost track of how many stupid decisions Cage had to make to fit the contrived story line. The acting was excellent, but with Cage coming close to a parody of himself. And BTW, I hope the studio got their payoff for the incessant chainsmoking, because it was a definite distraction and hurt the film. If the con was all that the story was about, as Harry suggests, it would be a piss-poor story. But the story was about the Cage character's life metamorphasis. To not show how that played out, would have lost the whole (and only redeeming) point of the film. Occasionally, it is interesting to have a nebulous ending to consider, and the audience should be respected enough to not spell out every little detail or explain metaphors. But I don't routinely skip the last chapter of a novel or walk out of a movie with ten minutes left. This movie in particular needed the resolution. Maybe the "One Year Later" is a bit of a trite convenience, but better than adding another 45 minutes to the film's denouement.
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I enjoyed the movie. I thought it was more than entertaining and I liked the characters. The ending was necessary in my eyes for what they were trying to achieve. True, Cage running around with his ass hanging out realizing he's been screwed would have been fun but that isn't what they were going for in my opinion.
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Sep 18, 2003 8:07:21 AM CDT
Harry, I think the Texas heat has finally fried your brain.
by fart_master_flex
The whole Epilogue is the closing of the emotional roller coaster that Cage's character goes through. We spend this whole movie being emotionally invested in him. We see his nervous tics, his vast neuroses and we see the pain in his life. This movie isn't about the con. It is about the growth of a person. The Epilogue shows how through all of that pain, he was able to move on. In the end, he could live a normal life. Why would you want it to end there with his ass hanging out? That would have been such a waste. Cage is in every damn scene in this film and you just want to take all of that time and investment in his character just to throw it away? He has to grow. That is the arc of the story. This film is different than most con stories because it isn't about the con, it is about the man.
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Guy below was right. The whole point to the film is the character growth in Cage we see in the final ten minutes. He is better off. He is free and has a future. What was poor and unnecessary was running into Lohman. We didn't need that. I don't buy that Cage wouldn't wring her neck. I mean he's grown from the experience and overcome some tics, but he's not a freakin monk. Just forget about Rockwell (who is the new and possibly improved Oldman)and the "kid". They are gone. But Cage lives on. And frees himself. That is the story. It's not about Cage planning revenge for five years in a hotel room somewhere. And Ridley wants us to know that.
Good movie, not great. Real good performances by the three.
Worth seeing. -
Without the ending this movie would have been nothing. And even with it, I still think it is just mediocre at best. But the main point is, without the ending this would have been cliche "film noir" (I hesitate to even call it that, just using Harry's term.) We have all seen this twist and "con the con-man" movie before, and if you guys didn't have this figured out from very early on something is seriously wrong with your ability to see foreshadowing. I mean come on...when he tells his "daughter to make sure she is not being conned while conning someone." The minute the psychologist was sitting at home in his dump playing chess, of all things, I knew what the twist was going to be. Therefore without that ending it would have just been too cliche and "I told you so." The ending makes an attempt to transcend the genre a little bit and show that there was a little more emotional framework that had been set up in the movie. This emotional framework is part of the reason you liked everyone's performance in the first place, Harry! Now that being said, the movie still didn't really do it for me, but at least I can recognize the attempt to do something different and a little more resonating than the typical "surprise twist" ending that i could see coming from a mile away. Again, I think you missed the point Harry, and your criticism falls a little flat when the movie with the ending you described would have just been very cliche and run of the mill...and possibly flat out suck.
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Sep 23, 2003 6:29:00 AM CDT
This is fun! I wish they never got their fucking medals at the e
by shogunpoker
Ridley Scott is a fuckin genius! He makes beautiful movies and this one was perfect.
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The second that Nic Cages partner told him he knew a doc to help him with his problems -- I knew how it would end -- am I more preceptive than the average but i found this movie very predictable and even down to the last moment of the movie with him going home and knowing who would be waiting for him and the condition of that person -- very predictable -- this wasn't a masterpiece it was OK and worth seeing but still very predictable -- although thats only my opinion
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you know what I happen to agree with everything about stupid tacky happy endings that's why I loved Jeepers Creepers (the first) it's been so long since I saw a horror movie like that even 28 days later disappointed me. but perhaps the most gratuitous happy ending of all time has got to be A.I i agree with everyone on this one I actually got yelled at by a three hundred pound lady because I couldn't stop laughing through the last hour i don't know that's how long the whole alien scene seemed to be. but also we need movies to leave you guessing. T3 ended with you not really guessing since you knew John Connor would lead humanity to fight the machines but it left you with this feeling of absolute hope as well as well what the hell does he do to get there. gives you something to talk about at least. hell even the matrix had a non chessy ending the machines weren't defeated there's that whole problem that neo did not wake up a single person not to mention the fact that humanity has no earth to take back in fact the more I think about the more I realize there is no point for the One everything is ruined the sky is destroyed is humanity going to live in a fucking shell under the planet where the hell will they get there food there are about a million things that they do not have to survive outside the matrix but maybe the brothers will have a fun ending that will piss all the i need a happy ending people off out there and have all the awakened people use those stuck in the matrix for resources and that kind of stuff if that's the direction the film goes in oh god i think revolutions will own simply for the fact that it will once again prove that hollywood does not mass produce shit. it's apperent they do though. anyway back to the point happy tacked on endings like matchstick men do not allow for conversation outside the film you know what happened so why bother discuss it the message is simple you screw others you better be careful you might be screwed next. and then there's the whole internal bullshit and what not I don't i didn't see the movie never will I hate stupid father daughter relationship movies especially one with an obvious twist which is actually disappointing because I was going to see it until every review said there was a twist oh well just goes to show you don't need plot twists to make a movie worth watching. if you did no one would see the matrix let's face plot is too fucking basic even in my standards and I like GTA. I was going to end with a quote but instead i'll tell you this and it comes from a good little movie known as waking life movies should try a capture a holy moment if they do then they are a success if they don't then they are not however only some of us will see a holy moment and other's of us might not. point is go out see matchstick men if you want if you don't than do what i'm more than likely end up doing seeing it because my girlfriend wants me to.
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Matchstick Men isn't an "energy fools the magician" movie -- it's a redemption movie.
We *need* to know how he's going to react to seeing the woman who fucked him over. Hell, we need to know whether or not she really fucked him over or whether his buddy held her fingers in a blowtorch until she told him the passcode for the safety deposit box.
It's an ending made for people who have had experience with the way that life fucks you over. And over. Which may or may not be a good thing. But it's ultimately about acceding to that fact with something like grace.
The whole movie comes together with the ending. Even the retro soundtrack makes more sense with that ending -- it's not just a stylistic quirk, it's an attitude.
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What was wrong with the movie were the cons. As in all the movies about con artists I've ever seen the clever-clever plot devices were full of gaping holes that maybe we overlooked when viewing, but which were glaringly obvious in retrospect. No need to point them out - I'm sure we all know what they were. But as a fable about a crook's redemption, "Matchstick Men" couldn't have been better.
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... was tagged on to "The Witches". It wasn't Nicholas Roeg's fault - he made the movie with Roald Dahl's bitter-sweet ending, but the producers made him change it. They thought it would make the kiddies unhappy. But millions of children had read Dahl's book, and loved it. Wonder if there'll ever be a director's cut of "The Witches" - it could be a great children's movie saved.
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SPIZOILERS!
Harry saw the movie as a film noir and, yeah, it was, but the dark, fucked up angle, in the vein of MEMENTO, was not the vibe MATCHSTICK MEN was shootin' for, way I reckon. To me, Ridley wanted to make a family noir (!?). I mean, what the fuck is a family noir?! Noir for a family? This thing was rated PG-13, to boot. If Scott wanted to go balls out, it'd have been rated R (y'know, them teenage girls like cussin', too), but it seemed like he wanted to make that father/daughter movie...well, sorta. And it sort of is. Y'know the way it ended? My friends and I have discussed what happens after. I'd like to think that Nick Cage and "Angela" ended up keeping a father/daughter relationship...that's how the movie's tone steered me, also. -
I disagree with Harry--this is not a noir. It's a redemption story, and the last 10 minutes are essential to bringing the story back around. The key interpretive fork here is what is contained in the pink pills that Nick Cage's character is popping early in the film. If the pink ones (that were supplied by some doctor, but it's never said how he met him) were really OCD medication, then Cage is walking around with untreated OCD and has become, in essence, a mark attempting through greed to function as a con-man (which is the general definition of a mark anyway). If the pink pills are not real, then we've got a problem, because we have to attribute "Frank" (the buddy) with pulling a really, really, long con which stretches outside the beginning of the movie and violates the basic premise of the genre (that everything that's important happens in front of your eyes and you are fooled in spite of it). So, the pink pills must be real or the film has bigger problems than a lame epilogue.
So, NC goes off his meds and is walking around with untreated OCD which is psychosomatic and flares up as a sort of external conscience. The interesting thing here is that the phony psychiatrist is actually giving him correct information--his conscience is causing the OCD. He tells his "daughter" that the way to clear her conscience is to give the money back. He comes up with answers pretty quickly when the "cops" are interrogating him. This is all in an effort to soothe his conscience. It's a win/win con--NC gets a fresh conscience and a new start, Frank gets the money at the expense of burdening his own.
Regarding Harry's point--could the film have ended with NC in a hospital gown, looking to the heavens because of his bad luck? Yes, and I think the ending would've been stronger, especially if he were laughing (at having nothing to lose, at having a fresh start, at having overcome his OCD, whatever). But that ending would've left most people behind, I think. I haven't been successfully misdirected by a con-man movie in years, but I was by this one. At the time NC is looking for a cab, I'm still figuring out what's happened and making sure the pieces fit. The epilogue works because it hammers the pieces home (although it is too long and doesn't even attempt subtlety) and gies the audience a couple of minutes to catch their breath. It's not a crime, and it doesn't ruin the film. -
I'm surprised no one mentioned this, no matter what you think about the necessity of the epilogue, Ridley still got it wrong:
When Angela digs into her bag to pay for the carpet (which is right next to Roy), she realizes that her wallet is in the car (huh?) and sends her boyfriend out to the car for it. He says, "Yeah.... be right back".
BUT - HE NEVER COMES BACK INTO THE STORE. Towards the end of the dialogue, we see him and and another store employee through the window hoisting a tacky leopard-patterned carpet on top of an SUV. She and Roy say goodbyes, she leaves, gets in the SUV with the new boyfriend and off they go. If you have the DVD, watch this scene again and you'll see. Continuity gone... What the EFF was THAT? -
Cage's character was finally able to persue a "normal" life because of the interactions he had with his fake daughter. In a way, it was a method of therapy much better than any shrink could have provided.
The hypothetical endings Harry mentioned seem to conflict greatly with the changes we see to Cage's personality throughout the movie. If it was left more open-ended, and people somehow thought Cage would kill himself or seek revenge, they'd be missing the point of the movie. The real ending was much more emotional and powerful than anything like that could have been. -
Buffalo soldiers is THE perfect example of a amazeing movie with a awful Epiloge.
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