Rating: 
Summary: A story of rice forsaken....
Review: Sticky finds it hard to review this film in between bouts of crying, rage, and choking on mouthfuls of sticky rice. The Claim is the story of a down-on-his-luck prospecter who trades his last steamer of rice for the chance to mine a stranger's claim. Years later, and rich beyond belief, the pioneer is confronted with the sight of new Chinese immigrants spreading the gospel of rice as they push through wild America. Too late, our anti-hero devotes his riches and all his efforts to dragging San Francisco's finest yum cha establishments to the town of Kingdom Come by horse. Sadly, a cooktop steamer catches fire and the town is reduced to ash...Sticky hasn't felt this devastated since a yum cha trolley last collided into his shins.
Rating: 
Summary: An Epic Bore
Review: Sytle over substance in this bleak, dreary, cimino-lookalike. The characters faded into obscurity as the director attempts to make his film more than it is. He absolutely aims for EPIC when his screenplay and characters are not up to the task. I gave it two stars for wardrobe and cinematic audacity. There were great sweeping scenes of mountains, snow, barroom burlesque, fires, railroads, but little in the way of an engaging plot. Other reviewers have given the basics of the plot and setting, so I won't repeat that information here. Suffice it to say that as this film dragged on, I eagerly anticipated the ending, not because I was curious about the outcome, but because I was weary.
Rating:
Summary: Epic (n): 2+ hr. movie with no attention to characterization
Review: Thankfully, it's only 2 hours (as opposed to typical epic movie durations). When will Hollywood and movie critics realize that a movie isn't very satisfying if it has only one dimentional characters? No amount of scenery or historical reference will change that. I bought this video because of the positive reviews on the cover: "One of the top 10 films of the year"--Chicago Sun Times, "Two Thumbs Up"--Ebert and Roeper, and "One of the years best films!"--Jeffery Lyons. It's interesting to note that Hollywood has been in a decline since film historian/critics began to frequent the airwaves with their own shows (which, btw, are produced by the same corporations that make the movies). Oh well, I should've known better than to listen to the praise of predicable critics. Overall, I give the movie 2 stars (the scenery and the actresses were pretty), 0 stars for the reviews. Buyer beware!
Rating:
Summary: Michael Winterbottom hates me.
Review: That's the conclusion I came to while watching The Claim. I have not yet read The Mayor of Casterbridge, but Winterbottom's frigid Sierra adaptation left me cold, and not in the intended sense. What could easily have been a compelling film was thwarted by its own presentation. I lost count of the excruciating, wooden attempts at accompanied singing and poetry recitation I was forced to endure at full length, where just a sampling would have sufficed. The portrayals here tend to hold us at arms-length, as we watch the characters go through the fate-driven motions of their dreary Gold Rush existence. Hope (Sarah Polley) in particular is so flat and lifeless and underdeveloped that setting her up as a romantic interest lacked credibility. I welcome subtlety, but here plot comprehension is fatally hindered by technical problems. Seen in flashbacks, the younger versions of characters bear scant resemblance to their latter-day counterparts. More than once, the idiosyncratic camera blurring had me shouting "Focus!!!" in frustration (although the rest of the cinematography is beautiful). Important figures like Dillon have thick accents, and their intelligibility was not improved by the omnipresent background noise and obtrusive scoring with which the director gleefully assaults us. Whistling winds, squalling infants, noisy saloon ambiance, and horribly out-of-tune pianos all conspire to drown out dialogue, and when these are lacking, an emotionally overwrought score swells to take their place. I had to infer Dillon's lines because I couldn't understand a word he said. If I were Sheriff, the sort of frontier justice exemplified in this film would be summarily applied to studios who can't be bothered to include ENGLISH SUBTITLES on their dvd releases! There's just no excuse for this. Ultimately, all the above makes me wish I had just retired to the davenport with a cup of tea and Hardy's novel, and spared myself the myriad annoyances of this film.
Rating: 
Summary: barebone edition but well done.
Review: The Claim is Michael Winterbottom's - a versatile and productive english director - latest effort.
Winterbottom's style as a director is lean, and he knows how to give rhythm to the film narration.
Alwin Kuchler - the cinematographer - shows to be a master of chiaroscuro. The plot is epic and perfect the casting, you'll enjoy many great scenes: action and drama in a classic tale. OST by Michael Nyman.
This DVD edition is barebone, but the price is right. Both tracks - video and audio - are excellent. The kind of the cinematography presented in the movie is difficult to handle, but in my opinion at MGM they've done a good work. The DD audio track works well with dialogues, while the surround effects are powerful with the music.
Rating:
Summary: The "small" American Story
Review: The Claim Director Michael Winterbottom
Producer Andrew Eaton
Writer Frank Cottrell Boyce
Music Michael Nyman
Photography Alwyn H Kuchler
Starring Peter Mullen, Natassja Kinski, Milla Jovovitch, Wes Bentley, Sarah Polly, Sean McGinley The big American story is that in 1776 courageous American settlers fought for freedom and democracy against British monarchical tyranny. This story is reinforced again and again on the big screen. The story of The West is one that is used most often to illuminate the fight for these essentially admirable ideals. The small American story however, the one often hidden from historical view, is the one that injects a little reality into this interpretation of the American way of freedom and democracy by revealing what really inspired the revolution and made America the country it is. In cinematic terms, The Claim is one of those small stories that expresses much about the American economic mentality.
"Everything has a price" says the film publicity. That tagline defines not only the action of this story but a whole social context, where the driving force behind the society, the main preoccupation of its citizens, is self-interest, and society itself morally bankrupt.
Of course, the story could be set anywhere, its inspiration is credited to Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge set in the small, rural backwaters of 19th century England. However, excessive materialism in this setting is not to be equated with the general nature of society. The story of a man selling his wife and daughter to finance his own ambitions is such an outrage because it is related to a society with some moral credibility. But in the 1840s California, in an era of frenzied gold prospecting where "everything has a price" and economic success is everything, the moral effect of such a story is of a different nature. This is the setting for The Claim.
So, it is not surprising that The Claim is an essentially English enterprise. Setting the Hardy story amidst the relatively uncivilised landscape of the Sierra Nevada, in a thin society set up by invading hoards of the self interested, ruthless and ambitious representatives of unfettered capitalism, Michael Winterbottom, the film's young English director, and writer Frank Boyce have, with a measure of cynicism, advanced a new moral context for the original story.
Twenty years after the mad rush for gold Daniel Dillon ( Peter Mullen) is king of Kingdom Come, a town built on gold. Dillon owns everything of value, the bank, the mine, the hotel, the liquor store and his affectionate association with the exotic brothel owner Lucia (Milla Jovovich) affirms his control of every aspect of town life. However, his success was financed and made possible only by an apparent act of moral depravity many years before.
The arrival of three strangers disturbs his contentment and threatens his success. Two women, the young and beautiful Hope (Sarah Polley) and the ailing Elena (Natassja Kinski) possess the secret of his potential downfall. The other stranger, Mr Dalglish (Wes Bentley), a railway surveyor, represents a purely economic danger to Kingdom Come.
Yet, this "moral" tale has, ultimately, limited effect because here is a society where depravity is the norm. So, the film's weakness is based on an irony. The more accurate it is at depicting a morally uncharted land, a wilderness of brutality where a civilised social contract is barely recognisable - and here the film is excellent - , the less an immoral act is reprehensible.
.
Rating: 
Summary: Could be a lot better
Review: The story's okay, if not particularly engrossing, but the pacing is terrible. Scenes just drag on endlessly, usually starting off well, then climaxing around the middle of the scene, and then trailing on for a completely unnecessary five minutes. The flashbacks are badly handled and complicate an otherwise straightforward storyline. The acting is quite good however. I felt that Milla Jovovich turned in the best performance, maybe because I didn't expect much from her, but she was rivetting. And although she can't really sing, that worked too, because it added some realism to the gold rush setting (you think they had professionals up there in the snow?). Peter Mullan was also good, and it was nice to see Shirley Henderson crop up unexpectedly as a whore who falls in love. Sarah Polley I wasn't sure of initially, but she really pulled her performance together for a strong ending. Wes Bentley seemed a bit out of his depth, but didn't have a huge part. Overall, the movie is interesting and worthwhile if you have the patience, but a thrill ride it isn't.
Rating:
Summary: dickory dock, mouses and socks, lickety SMOCK!!
Review: The title doesn't really mean anything. But I did really enjoy this movie. THIS guy can direct a movie. He has the eye. Some things I liked: The way he would hold shots out of focus, all the flashbacks, and the scene where the house moves is great. Just beautiful visuals, interesting shot selection, and some fine performances. A very well made movie. Not a GREAT movie though. I thought the story was a little confusing as was the catalyst for things. It was explained to me later by my identical twin. He got it apparently.... And I really didn't feel that strongly for the characters. They seemed sort of detached to me, almost like the director wasn't as interested in them as he was in evoking this "mood." But well worth the watch I think. It really does have an interesting, engaging tone. And as someone who's constantly looking for a fresh feeling in film, I was very satisfied. Solid "B".
Rating: 
Summary: Awful
Review: This blew. I got suckered by the blurbs on the front of the box. I don't see how Siskel and Ebert gave this movie two thumbs up. The story is bleak and depressing. Not a single character is likeable. They're all antagonists. Anyhow, watching this movie is a major waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Far too many missed opportunities
Review: This film 'left me cold' in several ways. Character development was weak--with so very many opportunities to enrich their roles and relationships. Likewise, numerous storylines never fully developed, resulting in fragmented and disjointed scenes that were somewhere between boring and downright confusing. Some secondary characters were more developed than the apparent primary roles. The final scene(s) of the movie would have been better placed at the beginning of the film. I found the saloon scenes the most developed, where the characters were given rare opportunity to portray emotions, and character relationships were more evident. Brothel sex scenes came across as, "we'll insert sex scenes in here because it's a movie seller." Very, very disappointing overall...
|
