Rating: 
Summary: This movie will become a cult classic.
Review: This is one of those movies that grabs you from the beginning and keeps you entertained the whole time. Billy Bob Thornton plays an amazing role as the unmotivated brother of Bill Paxon. The chain of events in this movie really prove that money makes people do strange things. I loved this movie so much that I read the book afterward (first time I've done that). This is a must purchase for DVD collectors.
Rating:
Summary: this DVD is the best movie of 1999
Review: A Simple Plan is one of the best movies of all time in my opinion because it shows the auidence why you always do the right thing and not lie. Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thorton deliever one of their best performances ever. Even though this film is rated R, I strongly recomend you show this DVD to the whole famliy because of the story. Afterward, I would sit down with your kids and discuss the lesson you learned.
Rating:
Summary: Best drama/thriller so far this year
Review: I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about this movie since I had already read the book. Once I got around to seeing it, however, I was extremely glad I did. Reading the book did not hurt at all, in fact I believe it made my experience with the movie better. The ending was one of the most affecting I have ever seen. I only wish they would include more on this DVD, I want to hear Sam Raimi, Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, and Bridget Fonda (nice to have a woman for a change) doing a running commentary, as well as a 'making of' featurette.
Rating:
Summary: What a tangled web we weave...
Review: A Simple Plan is an amazing picture of how small moral choices lead to bigger ones with greater and greater consequenses, as the characters struggle to define morality - is it a crime if no one gets hurt? what about if you don't get caught? The character of normal, upstanding small-town citizen Hank portrays a troubling reality that all of us are capable of the most horrid crimes and sins. Images of foxes and crows raise the subject of natural behavior versus human rationale and ability to make moral choices. When you watch it, be sure you have at least an hour after the movie to discuss it with someone!! (the R rating is for the violence - it's not excessive or out of place with the movie, but expect to see some blood)
Rating:
Summary: Not such a simple plot
Review: Brilliantly acted by Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton in particular, this is a gut wrenching film about greed in its saddest presentation.The moral center of the story is Bill Paxton's character, Hank Mitchell. When he, his out-of-luck brother, Jacob, played by Thornton and his brother's loser of a friend, Lou, stumble onto $4.4 million dollars, his first instinct is to call the police and turn the money in. Who knows where the money is from? But the serpent of Eden is in this story and sinks its fangs into every character, and even a man wit a good heart like Bill Paxton eventually bites from the proverbial apple. He agrees to hold on to the money, just until the thaw, until the plane is found, and then see if anyone comes looking for the money. All swear to secrecy, to not even tell their wives. When Hank arrives home, he asks his wife what she would do if she found a large sum of money. Her response is similar to his - call the police. Regardless of where the money came from, to keep it is tantamount to stealing. But when he dumps the money on the table, showing her that his questioning isn't hypothetical, the moviegoer can see the change in her eyes; can see the proverbial serpent crawling up her leg as clearly as if it actually were. She moves easily and comfortably from a person of strong moral character, like her husband, to a person eventually consumed with avarice. Simple in its presentation, it's really a complex story. We learn that Lou is more of a brother to Jacob than Hank is, and we can certainly see that in the character's physical presentation. Paxton looks too clean cut for this small town - certainly too proper to be working in a feed mill. Jacob, in stark contrast, is right where he belongs. He has greasy hair, no job prospects, no girlfriend, no wife - not even a decent pair of glasses (he could have used a visit from Hermione to mend the broken center). Lou is the town drunk and proud of it, and although he has a wife, it is a relationship with very little substance. Not one of love, but of comfort. In a telling scene of distance, although it is a scene of remarkable and surprising subtlety, Jacob pokes fun at the way his brother drinks his whiskey. It's not the way that other men in this small town would drink their whiskey. In truth, Hank's mannerisms in this respect are somewhat effete. With every moral dilemma presented to them, they all sink deeper and deeper into the serpent's grip. To say more would be to give away one of the more tragic endings since Romeo and Juliet (don't laugh, I'm serious), and not an ending that you see coming from a mile away.
Rating:
Summary: Fargo's companion piece
Review: It is always puzzling at some level to see a morality tale in a mechanical cosmos. What was the director thinking? Have the actors read ancient Greek tragedy? Well, I'm accused of overanalyzing films, so I'll give a brief review: What happens when a civilized man happens across an unexplained bag containing some four million dollars in the company of two knuckledraggers in the middle of nowhere? Rationalization and self-deception, followed soon by a growing stack of corpses. Except for some horrific scenes, the film is understated, high key and beautifully photographed. Reminiscent of "Fargo," this gem is stunning and unforgetable.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent script; so-so stars
Review: Bill Paxton stars as Hank, a small-town accountant with a not-so-bright brother (Billy Bob Thornton) and a pregnant wife, Sarah (Bridget Fonda). The two brothers and a friend (Brent Briscoe) find $4M in a crashed airplane. Ignoring his instinct to turn the money in, Hank agrees to split it with the others, but each new day brings a shocking obstacle to their simple plan: First, someone sees them and must be eliminated, and that is just the start of a horrifying sequence of events. And now the person who owned the money is coming to get it back....
Bill Paxton has the right Everyman-look, but is so bland we don't care about him. Fonda is likewise low-key and boring. Thornton and Briscoe are suitably slow and slovenly, but one-dimensional. I liked the film for its taut script, suspenseful score, and direction. The snow photography is impressively bleak and reminiscent of the movie "Fargo." The novel of "A Simple Plan" is so much more exciting and powerful than the film. Perhaps with other actors the film would have been better - think a young Jack Lemmon as Hank and a young Meryl Streep as Sarah. All things considered, read the book instead. It is worth 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: A Simple Plan isn't so simple
Review: Whomever said that money is the root of all evil was so right. A Simple Plan, Sam Raimi's (the Evil Dead trilogy, Spider-Man) critically acclaimed thriller, despite it's flaws, has a lot going for it, and for the most part fails to disappoint. When brothers Hank (Bill Paxton) and Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) and their friend Lou (Brent Briscoe) stumble across a crashed plane with a sack loaded with cash, they conceive a simple plan to hide it for a year and keep their mouths shut. But this simple plan goes awry after a series of events that tear everyone apart, and changes them all forever. Paxton, and especially Thornton, are superb. These two actors give powerhouse performances that must be seen to believed. Bridget Fonda's performance as Paxton's wife however doesn't come off as too believeable though. Her transition from voice of reason to cold hearted money monger just doesn't take well. Raimi's direction is surprising to say the least; mostly known for the Evil Dead films at the time, A Simple Plan relies on slow paced storytelling as opposed to visceral thrills. All in all, if your looking for a more than solid thriller, look no further.
Rating: 
Summary: A simple plan is simply terrible
Review: A Simple Plan starred one of my favorite, most underrated actors in Bill Paxton. Unfortunately, I had the poor fate of being forced to watch this terrible film in class. So allow me to warn all those who intend to buy this: don't purchase this film, it's not as great as you may think and you will not walk away from it satisfied because it is a highly disturbing picture that tried to create moral values by destroying others. I really enjoyed how this film began, three guys, two of whom are brothers, discover a downed plane and inside of it is a suit case full of cash, millions worth. Paxton's character is the only one out of the three of them who wants to turn the cash into the police, he's a stand up, moral guy who wants to do what's right. But he caves in to his brother and buddy and they decide to form a simple plan: if nobody puts an ad out to claim it they keep the money for themselves. That's the "simple plan." Gee, I guess the director thought all of us viewers were morons because I wonder what happens instead? Bridget Fonda's character is a flake: she starts off as this moral wife who attempts to be the conscience of her husband, which is Paxton, but almost instantly becomes this greedy female dog who hordes over the cash. A complete turn around in character. What's disturbing is this isn't the only character in this film that completely turns around and abandons all forms of a moral guidance. It's almost as if nobody in this film has any back bone, any moral fiber, that they are instead controlled by money. As much as greed is a serious flaw in people, making people who start out as moral good guys/girls and instantly transforming them into Scrooges is rather cliche for this movie and I think unreal. Fonda's sudden turn doesn't nearly bother me as the drastic, disturbing turn of Bill Paxton's character. As the movie progresses, Paxton's character is practically responsible for two deaths. The first death is the worst, where he MURDERS an old man. How can we possibly sympathize with a guy who committs cold blooded murder? I understand the objective of this film, but even films that play off the dark side of mankind need a character we can trust, enjoy, and sympathize because we know he's at least TRYING to do the right thing. Paxton starts out as trying to do the right thing, then he shifts to trying to do the wrong thing. This isn't character development, despite what most of you may think. This is called stepping out of character because Paxton's character just switches, it doesn't develop. There's a difference. In fact Paxton's character, the initial character dies in my mind because he isn't even a shade of the character Paxton finishes the film with. I also thought the violence in this film was totally unnecessary. It was totally out of control and very yahoo like. I mean, Paxton's best friend tries to kill him with a sawed off shot-gun? Then his buddy's wife reaches into a cookie jar and pulls out a revolver and also tries to kill Paxton? But Paxton blows her guts out in defense? Then Paxton's character, mercilessly, blows the brains out of the bad guy in the end? And the kicker, the absolute worst part of the film is when Paxton's brother gets all depressed in the end and he wants to die so he asks Paxton to shoot him. And he does! He shoots his own brother! What is this film?! What is up with Paxton's character? He goes around blowing people away, he began as a character with a moral back bone and yet he commits more murders and is responsible for more deaths than Ted Bundy! And people think his character is sympathetic? This is an awful film. I understand the moral point about greed, but while trying to teach us that point the film makes the characters totally unbelievable by making them switch into these dark, evil people who go around shooting their own family members! I mean this is insane, I can't believe people actually think this is a good movie. I give it two stars because at least it goes through with its lesson, unfortunately it costed itself three stars by giving us characters we can't possibly relate to or sympathize with because most of us wouldn't turn 180 degrees because we found some loot. We may horde over it, but would we be willing to kill and murder for it? Think about it, because according to this film you would.
|
