Rating: 
Summary: Quirky movie with a first rate cast in a muddled story
Review: This is a quirky movie with a first rate cast and a muddled story. This story like many of Wim Wenders tails is about the character interactions with each other in unusual circumstances. You could not ask for a better selection of odd balls to be in one movie, all of which were acted to perfection. It's the story that holds the characters together that required more development.The lead character, Tom Tom (Jeremy Davies) was an innocent child-like person with no interactive social skills but being someone who gives away everything he has until there is nothing left. He is in love with Eloise (Milla Jovovich) but it is the love of a small child that is only looking for recognition and has only a slight sexual element. The story takes place in a hotel that is filled with mental outpatients and society misfits who all have some delusion they are living under which takes up most of their lives. A stiffed back FBI man, played to the hilt by Mel Gibson, comes in to investigate the possible murder of one of the tenants and upsets the delicate balance of this on-the-edge environment. Every part of this ensemble cast is played to perfection by a group of artists (Jimmy Smits, Peter Storemare, Amanda Plummer, Gloria Stuart, Bud Cort and Julian Sands) that is the strong point of the movie. Anybody studying acting should make this a highlight picture to go onto a greatest hit list. Every role is a little gem. The problem here is that the total was less than the sum of its parts. The story holding all of these off-the-edge players has major flaws like broadcasting a confession tape over public TV before an arrest or the FBI breaking all the rules in public plus many more. One major point is the fact that all of these completely crazy people can have organized meetings to discuss strategy and arrive at some semblance of a result. I wish some of the corporate meetings I have to attend were so clear-cut. These obvious flaws serve to damage this very complex plot. You are introduced to the characters through the process of an investigation one by one and they are played against each other by the FBI man but taken all together the resulting outcome losses its cohesion. The people were very complex yet the complex plot became fragmented. The story and soundtrack written by Bono of U2 is a much better soundtrack than story. A good movie for acting students and a look into a story line where this microcosm society is taking advantage of innocent but not a movie I would like to watch again.
Rating: 
Summary: A great film...if you're Euro trash!
Review: "Sometimes the line between art & garbage is thin!" A movie like this should NOT have used a line like that! It's a shame that a quallity name such as Mel Gibson would allow himself to be associated with this mess. Gibson is a disabled dictective investagating a murder (or suicide) in a hotel of "artists". "Artist" has always been a polite word for LOOSER and the characters in this hotel prove that! The viewer is not always sure what's going on but after a while doesn't care! However, Euro trash loved this movie and it won an award at some Micky-Mouse film festival in Germany! Even die-hard Gibson with pleasant memories of "Brave Heart", "Road Warrior" and "Die Hard 2" will want to miss this one.
Rating: 
Summary: If you didn't like it, you didn't get it!
Review: This film not only got bad reviews by critics, but Mel Gibson spoke poorly of it also after it's release. But for them and everyone else who didn't like it, they just didn't get it. Given, it's sometimes slow and dark, but in a beautiful way. For people like myself who love and understand Bono's music, you will love this movie. If you sympathize with being an outsider or misunderstood, you will love this movie.
Rating:
Summary: love or hate it
Review: This is another love it or hate it movie. I think I would have loved it if it weren't for all the awful songs by Bono including a horrible rendition of "Satellite of Love". However the wackiness of it otherwise is a lot of fun much of it is over the top and too long but the characters are zany in an appealing way. The lead guy from Saving P Ryan whose name escapes me is a riot especially when he is pretending to read a book but doesn't even have his eyes on it. Mel Gibson is good too, helped with a back brace. Peter Stormare makes a great nut who thinks he was in the Beatles. Some people hate discombobulated quirky flicks like this but I would take this any day over something like Gladiator or Titanic. This would be a great film to have in a collection as many of the scenes can be watched numorous times.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably disappointing
Review: I expected a great deal from this movie. I was overwhelmingly disappointed. It gets one star because I HAVE to give it at least one star, there's no option for '0 star'. I am a huge U2 fan, but the music was downright dull. It all sounded like the same song over and over again, and as the person I was watching the movie with stated, it was filled with Bono's masturbatory musical moments (ie. unnecessary musical vignettes during a scene, lyrics that were dour, dull and pretty much unrelated to the action, etc.) I am a HUGE Mel Gibson fan, and love Jimmy Smits, but both of their performances were mediocre, at best. It surely had more to do with an uninspired (and uninspiring) script than any shortcomings of theirs. I won't give away the big mystery behind Mel's neck brace, but it was the most ridiculous plot twist (if you could call it that?!?) I've ever been subjected to. What a waste of time and money this was. It's a stinker.
Rating:
Summary: Boring!
Review: The film has Skinner (Mel Gibson) as a FBI agent sent to a low life hotel to investigate the death of an artist named Izzy (Tim Roth.) Everyone thinks that it was just suicied. But old Skinner knows better and through some searching comes up with his own idea. The film also has Tom-Tom (Jeremy Davies)who's best friend was Izzy as the main suspect. But the film goes and does nothing but burn up two hours. You can even see Mel yawning on screen.It is the one Mel Gibson film we should like to forget. Grade:D-
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Worst EVER!!!
Review: I rented this movie because a friend of mine made the statement, "Mel Gibson has never been a BAD film". Boy was he wrong. Mel must have owed somebody a HUGE favor for him to take the role of Agent Skinner (X-Files anyone?). This film had NO basis in reality. The story was weak, boring, and had NO point whatsoever. The Acting was HORRIBLE. I have NEVER seen a group of actors looking like they COULDN'T WAIT for the filming to end. Mel Gibson was absolutely TERRIBLE. I was truly AMAZED that there were actual Human Beings that ENJOYED this film. I read the previously printed reviews and was in utter unbelief. I mean I've enjoyed my share of BAD movies (like HOUSE and HOUSE 2), but at least those Movies had a little fun on their way to the Movie Trash Bin. I really don't understand WHY this film was made OR how it even survived the DVD Transfer (it should've melted as it recorded). I have to say this is probably THE worst Movie I have EVER seen in my life. I thought it was a Movie called SPIDERS (you can read my Review of that one right here at Amazon.com), but, to my disbelief (and dismay) Hollywood has actually produced another Raspberry Award Nominee. My only regret about this review is that I HAD to give it at least ONE STAR. Please forgive me; it deserves ZERO!!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent acting, weak story
Review: It is tempting to pick up this film, as I did, because it stars Mel Gibson. If that is your motivation, think very carefully. Mel gives one of his less memorable performances and is more of an ensemble cast member than a lead actor in this film. Director Wim Wenders is considered by many to be one of Europe's best directors. This film offers numerous examples of that, but while it is an interesting character study of some very disturbed people, the story is so flimsy that the excellent acting and directing still can't prop it up. The story brings us a slice of the lives of some very mentally challenged people who live in a run down hotel. It is narrated by one of the characters as he plunges toward the ground after having leapt from the roof. FBI Detective Skinner (Mel Gibson) is investigating the death of Izzy Goldkiss, an artist (Tim Roth) who lived in the hotel. Izzy also plummetted to his death from the roof of the hotel. Everyone but Skinner thinks it was a suicide. Along the way we are subjected to the bizarre behavior of the residents of a loony bin without bars. It is like watching "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" without the storyline. We are treated to flamboyantly odd people, but we lack a reason for watching them and the novelty wears off quickly. The dominant theme is the love story between Eloise (Milla Jovovich) and Tom Tom (Jeremy Davies), who is our plunging narrator. This relationship is heartrending, but it is not enough to save the film. Though all the characters are colorfully portrayed, the uneven presentation does little more than make a case for the institutionalization of the mentally impaired. The acting by the ensemble cast is terrific. Milla Jovovich took this part fresh from her role as Joan of Arc in "The Messenger". Her portrayal of Joan was controversial because she played her as a borderline lunatic (and did so brilliantly). That experience served her well in this film, and it establishes Jovovich as one of the better depicters of the mentally bereft. Unfortunately, there are not enough such parts to warrant abandoning her modeling career. Jeremy Davies is the brightest spot in the cast with a wonderfully quirky performance. Jimmy Smits takes a delightful plunge into murky waters with an over the top portrayal of Geronimo, an Hispanic "Indian". Smits is terrific at the straight macho roles he usually plays, but this is quite a departure. He does a fabulous job and it is so incongruous to see him in the role that it is fun to watch. I'm not sure why Mel Gibson took this role. He has played some offbeat characters, but this one is off the chart. It was more of a caricature than a character. After the film opened, in a gesture of actor's remorse he publicly badmouthed the film to anyone who would publish his remarks. That was not a class maneuver. He should have been a professional and refrained from comment. This is an interesting character study that is about thirty minutes more madness than the average viewer should be required to bear. I rated it a 6/10 despite the weak story because of the strength of the acting. It's worth a look for Wenders fans, but Gibson fans steer clear.
Rating:
Summary: Check into The Million Dollar Hotel
Review: A lot of the critics hated this movie. God, weren't they paying attention!!!! Granted, you really do need to pay attention to catch all the nuances, to understand the relationships, to *get* what Eloise has to do with Izzy falling/being pushed off of the roof in the first place. It's odd that such a hauntingly beautiful film can be so sad and so uplifting at the same time. This movie is full of quirky characters, it visually stunning and the music is great. Beyond that it's a great commentary on life and values, love and the way humans screw things up. I found myself thinking about this film for hours after I watched it. Then I couldn't wait to watch it again so that I could catch all the nuances I missed the first time through. This is one of those movies that makes you think about life, about living, about appreciating what we have and how our preceptions about what it is we think we have colors our experiences. It's also hilarious. There are few movies I ever bother to watch more than once. Even fewer that I care to own. This is one of the exceptions. I'm going to have to buy myself a copy, because like any good art, the full beauty of it can only be properly savored through repeated exposure.
Rating:
Summary: A more feral version of American Beauty...and more rewarding
Review: In some ways, Wim Wenders' Million Dollar Hotel plays like a more feral version of American Beauty - both films begin with narration from the other side, and invite the viewer to experience the last week of the narrator's lives. And both films are in the heightened "Magic Realism" style (the style that allowed flower petals to burst from a cheerleaders blouse in American Beauty, and which allows jump cuts and speed changes in Hotel). Wenders film is more challenging and ultimately more rewarding an experience than Beauty in that there is no outwardly tranquil world in this film for viewers to safely relate to; the interesting assortment of lives in the Hotel are fractured through and through, some of them painfully so, others (like a man who believes he did the studio recordings for the Beatles) amusingly so. These characters are too insane to be figured out intellectually, you must surrender to a more feral version of thought in order to enter their world. "Skinner tried to play dumb...but he was out of his league" is the narrator's description of a detective who arrives at the Hotel on a murder case, and the description is also a challenge to the audience. The detective's case serves as the audience's introduction to the Hotel and to the two lead characters who may or may not be destined for a Romeo and Juliet future. Davies and Jovovich are outstanding in these roles. This is a film that will encourage hours of discussion among couples. By the way, Mel Gibson, playing the detective (Wenders fans will recognize the character as reminiscent of the William Hurt role from Until the End of the World), reportedly got jitters about being in an "art film" and bad-mouthed the production - without cause, as he is completely locked into the character, admirably hiding the "Mel" persona. Two words of warning: If you watch the preview on the DVD, every plot point of the film will be ruined. Also, because this film made no money, they couldn't afford to get the DVD mastered very well. The sound is excellent but the picture shimmers now and then.
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