Traffic

Rating:
Summary: Great movie
Review: This movie was totally amazing and should be viewed by everyone. I don't understand why so many people believed that this movie has no plot and was boring. THese people just don't understand how important a movie like this is. Even though it plays like a documentary in some parts (especially the mexican american border scenes) it is an even better way of showing what a problem drugs have given the world. This movie also had great camera work (I'm a sucker for that)that definetly gave a gritty feel to mexico. So don't listen to the one and two star reviews. This is a great movie and should have beaten the ... movie gladiator for best picture. SEE IT!

Rating:
Summary: Two-Thirds of a Great Movie
Review: Had Traffic stuck to the storylines about Mexico and the Ayala arrest/trial, it would have been a modern classic. Benicio Del Toro is nothing short of spectacular, and was well-deserving of his Oscar, and the interplay between the Feds monitoring Ayala's wife is very funny and believable. Unfortunately, the filmmakers decided to go "big picture", too, so we get the very weak Michael Douglas drug czar subplot. Although it too has its moments (the scene where the boy o.d.s is very believable, particularly the profuse sweeting and feeling hot that proceeded it, and the tear in the eye of Douglas's daughter when she first freebases is a nice touch), the overall tone of this part of the film is a bit preachy. The Douglas subplot also contains the two biggest flaws in the movie - the speed with which Douglas's daughter turns into a drug-crazed prostitute, and the totally unbelievable scene where Douglas resigns right in the middle of his first press conference (although I like the line, "...I don't know how you wage war on your family.") Still, this is a good, not great movie, and the DVD is pretty much along the same lines - some nice special features, but nothing that blows you away. Recommended, but there are other DVDs you should own first.

Rating:
Summary: Five star film but a three star DVD
Review: This was an excellent movie, probably better than the one that one the Oscar (Gladiator). Great performances, direction and a great script. Unfortunately, the DVD was bare-bones, with only a very short feature. They may come out with a special ("untimate," "transcendent" or whatever they will be calling them that month) edition one day, so I would wait awhile before buying. I'd definitely rent it though, because it is a very entertaining film.

Rating:
Summary: traffic
Review: My husband and I love Michael's movie. But this one is the worst of the worst movie that he had even made. His wife look so old and ugly, we can hardly believe ourselves that it's her in the movie. not worth the effort to watch it at all..trust me..

Rating:
Summary: let's counter the positive reviews
Review: Anytime a movie gathers so many positive reviews, I feel obliged to listen to them and see what the movie is about - after all, the critics are likely to credit those movies that pay attention to character development and credibility and pay less attention to plot developments. Unfortunately, I still have hard time determining just what this particular movie has achieved, what original characters it has generated and passed on to directors and screen writers of the future, for them to admire. I can safely say that more than 100s of movies about drugs (good and bad) have been made in the past and that "Traffic" recycles ideas from them all; as hard as I searched, I could not find any original ones. With the exception of Benicio Del Toro, none of the characters were sufficient to redeem the movie - rich kids for whom we are supposed to feel sorry and who blame their parents for not listening to them, politicians and the nouveau riche drug dealers (even the various American anti-drug organizations are represented) fill the rest of the plot (I understand that all these people have been integrated to compare various aspects of the war on drugs, but anyone who has read a book by Clancy or seen various FOX series of the 80th will be privy to little new; so I wonder what new angle this movie has presented and why we have to pay attention for 2 1/2 hours) and we are supposed to feel/know their pain. I am not even sure I find the character development believable or reasonable. E.g., Catherine Zeta-Jones' character undergoes amazing transformations into a opportunistic killer - and we are expected to understand her pain or blame the drug world or suffer the harsh reality of her actions and just understand how cruel the world may become - but I must ask why is such a character even interesting and whether some individual sacrifice (like walking away on her husband) would not be more realistic and worth some admiration. In any case, I am most disappointed by the critics when it comes to this movie. It seems that they have all jumped on the "PC" bandwagon so to speak (I know I am going a bit too far with this observation but oh well), just to make sure that they have not written wrong reviews that would be inconsistent with their colleagues. Having seen the movie, I have found nothing rewarding in the experience. I am still a little baffled why the movie won Oscar for best editing.

Rating:
Summary: Bored too
Review: I was shocked by the movie because it was so long and drawn out. There I was also amazed that it had won alot of awards. The movie went nowhere through out the beginning to the end. The characters weren't developed enough to understand them emotionally. The plot never thickened nor was there ever a climax(the part where you are on the edge of your seat) The only thing I was doing in my seat was dozing in and out of pure boredom!! I mean did the people giving out the awards actually watch the movie????? Or did they just see the list of stars?? I do not recommend this to anyone at all!!!

Rating:
Summary: Traffic
Review: Perhaps we are the only people in the country who were dramatically disappointed in the hype regarding Traffic and all of the awards it received, but to our family we found it to be boring, tedious and uneventful. There are much better movies out there.

Rating:
Summary: A nearly epic movie, and a cant miss.
Review: I pitty the poor un-intelectually advanced people who tryd to sit threw this movie. I unfortenetly have had to sit and read about 80 reviews of people with horrible grammer and spelling (I know, mine isnt the best either, but still...) who didnt seem to know what was going on. So, let me start off by giving you people the fly-bye. 3 storys. A Lovely wife pregnate with 1 child and has another. Two cops working to take a huge chunk out of the drug bussines. And one cop, torn between his beloved corupt homeland of mexico, and America, this one being in most peoples opinions, the best acting job of the movie, if not the most fascinating. With the basic plot, ill procceed to explain why it was such a Fantastic movie. 1st pitch, and its a homerun. The soundtrack is a brilliant match to the movies. Seldom, can you say a movie's soundtrack is like the roof, protecting it if anything caves in, and the soundtrack does just that. From the soothing cord music, to the heart thumping techno beats. This soundtrack is amazing, and should be owned even if you havent seen the movie, and when you put a awsome movie, with great background, thats instant victory over anybody who sees the movies heart. Then, for the walls, we have the beautifull camera and color techniques, that should be used in every movie. Our awsome director, had the brilliance to put colors, not just backgrounds, but colores in the backgrounds, sometimes maybye to strong, but still very good adition. He often uses these to show emotion, and n'sync with the soundtrack, wich makes it that much better. Example you ask? Sure, the scenes in mexico where everything has a tint of yellow? Haza, we have a dusty landscape that feels slightly corrupt. Heck, i doubt we need actors when colors can potray these. Well, i feel iv filled my space, so I hope youll go out and see/rent if not buy this spectaculare movie, sure to be the equial to movies such as..... Well, I cant think of any movies that you can think back to compare, this is a break through in music, cinamatography, and acting. Its a thing we only see a couple times a year if that.

Rating:
Summary: This is a decent effort to condense
Review: the original five hour BBC mini series into approximately 21/2 hours. Unfortunately this was accomplished at the expense of character development and lack of logic. The complete metamorphosis of the Zeta-Jones character from dependant housewife (albeit upperscale socially) to a ruthless, conniving, avenging "angel" was done too quickly without any time or subtlety allowed to lend at least a modicum of credence to the transformation. All in all, however, it was a very respectable film--well acted and produced. The source from which the plot was taken (BBC Series) was infinitely superior and was superbly acted. Bill Paterson (in the Douglas role) and Lindsay Duncan (Zeta-Jones) were especially effective. Duncan was positively chilling. The film, however, is definitely worth seeing and certainly a lot more adult and satisfying than most Hollywood action flicks. It's obvious that all concerned respected the source material and tried (and mostly succeeded) to present a quality film, esp considering it had to fit into a time frame that most film goers would accept. Another bonus - it had the great Albert Finney in it! Too bad he wasn't given more to do.

Rating:
Summary: Bored to death
Review: I enjoy almost all movie's, but this one was extremely hard to watch. What I was really thinking was what a waste of 3.00 to rent the movie. The movie had no plot and was boring, I watched half the movie and had to turn it off.