Rating: 
Summary: AMONG THE ANGELS
Review: Upon walking out of the theater after watching NORTHFORK the man in front of me turned around and exclaimed, "I think this movie falls into the category of 'Huh???'" I couldn't help agreeing with him as I was also perplexed by the events depicted in this film. NORTHFORK has a definite creepy and dark feeling reminiscent of the Polish Brothers' earlier film TWIN FALLS, IDAHO. It follows three two-men teams clad in identical black suits and black cars who are hired by the state of Montana in 1955 to make sure that all residents of the town of Northfork are evacuated before the construction of a hydropower dam which will submerged the entire town. Among one of the few residents who refuse to leave is Nick Nolte who plays a devoted priest who is taking care of very ill boy in an abandoned hospital. But this isn't any normal boy. He is an angel whose family has been in Northfork since the founding of the town by European settlers in the 18th century. In another dimension a team of three human-like individuals are searching for the unknown angel. NORTHFORK is a film that appears to be ahead of its time. It is filled with much biblical symbolism and dark humor. Regardless of my initial perplexity I am now intrigued by the work of the Polish brothers and their unconventional filmmaking.
Rating:
Summary: Indescribably beautiful, albeit a bit confusing.
Review: Northfork (Michael Polish, 2003)Michael and Mark Polish, the same writing team behind the delightfully twisted Twin Falls, Idaho, now unveils Northfork. I'm not sure there are enough good things I can say about this movie, and yet I feel I lost a lot in translation from the big screen. The basic structure around which all the stories revolve is the moving of the (real) town of Northfork, Montana, to higher ground in 1955. Various subplots involve three teams of related men hired to move the locals who refuse to leave their homes; the priest who runs the local orphans' home, which is left with a sole orphan to place; and four individuals impossible to describe who are searching for a relative. The acting in this film is simply superb, which is to be expected given its high-powered cast. James Woods, Nick Nolte, Kyle McLachlan, Claire Forlani, Daryl Hannah, Peter Coyote, Michele Hicks, Ben Foster, and Anthony Edwards, among many others, all make appearances (one wonders only why the Polish brothers didn't case their favorite actor, underrated comic genius Garrett Morris, in this one). The sound transfer to the DVD is one of the worst I've ever heard, however; the voices are mixed so painfully softly compared to the ambient sound that subtitles are a necessity in some parts of the film unless you want the cops citing you for noise violations. Use the subtitles. You want to catch what's going on. Despite the darkness of the locations and cinematography (which lends the film a claustrophobic, ominous air throughout), the main feeling of the work is a sense of pure whimsy. Angels in Montana in 1955? Well, that would seem to be the case, along with a conspiracy to hunt them down and amputate their wings. James Woods actually says the words "Whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis?" and pulls it off. The eviction agents find themselves in increasingly absurd situations as they travel from house to house, and the orphan, who is terminally ill, orchestrates wilder and wilder delusions in his head. (Possibly. It gets hard to tell what's real and what's going on in the boy's head.) I'd be hard-pressed to call Northfork a comedy, but it contains moments of sheer comic genius. Brilliant. ****
Rating: 
Summary: An Absurdist Study on Life and Death, perhaps?
Review: I loved this movie. It seemed to me to be a study, a meditation, an exploration on life and death, on the absurdity of it, on fate, on existential truths, on transience,on permanence, black humor, silly humor, utter, profound sadness, religion and being human, human spirit, soul, the love of God, detachment/attachment,loss, family, - the whole big ball o'wax - and MORE!! It seemed an amalgam of Buddhism, Christianity, nihilism - and MORE!!
Plus, it contained what I believe to be the key to it all: you may be an orphan, but you're a child of God. I loved this movie and would put it on my favorites list.
Rating: 
Summary: I DEMAND A $3.75 REFUND FOR MY VIDEO RENTAL FEE!
Review: Where do I write to get my money back for wasting it on this.....worthless.....thing?
Rating:
Summary: Offbeat but beautiful meditation on change and acceptance
Review: In 1955, the town of Northfork, Montana was flooded when the gates of a completed dam were closed. Against this backdrop, two related stories are told. In one, three teams of men, motivated by rewards of lakefront property, attempt to get local die-hards to move on before their homes are flooded. This story is filled with humor - visual gags, offbeat characters, and a 100% off-the-wall scene at the local diner. But there are human touches, too, as one father-and-son team argue over whether to save their wife/mother's coffin from the rising flood.
In the other story, Father Harlan (played with heart-breaking tenderness by Nick Nolte) takes care of Irwin, a young orphan who is dying. As Irwin drifts in and out of consciousness, his fevered mind creates visions of angelic beings and reunion out of the landscape and his pitifully few belongings - a model airplane, a comic book, bird feathers he's collected.
This film is very carefully crafted. The two, interleaved stories are visually unified by the "big sky" landscape and a color palette of muted blues, grays, and tans (everything - land, water, buildings, machinery, people - is color-coordinated). The transitions between the two stories deliberately link the fantasy-like character of Irwin's angelic visions with the absurd elements in the evacuation story, and at one point suggest that Irwin's dreams may not be that far off the mark. And finally, Nolte's monologue, inspired by his own experience, goes straight to the heart of the matter.
The result, for me, was a gentle and moving meditation on the inevitability of change and loss, and the grace we find through humor and acceptance. This is visual poetry, a movie to watch again and again.
Rating:
Summary: The worst movie I have ever seen
Review: This is truly the worst movie I have ever seen. It transitions in and out of some bizarre dream state and offers nothing to engage the viewer (except for some interesting cinematography). I typically trust film critics' tastes, however they were severely off the mark with this film. It upsets me to think that I have wasted my time and money. View at your own risk!
Rating: 
Summary: Put down the typewriter and step away
Review: The Polish brothers got a little too cute with this story. The movie was just a collection of images that were thrown together. Save your money on this one, folks.
Rating:
Summary: NOT SO FAST YOUNG MAN (NOT A HOLLYWOOD CLONE)
Review: YOU'LL EITHER LIKE THIS MOVIE OR HATE IT. PROBABLY YOU'LL HATE IT IF YOU HAVE NO IMAGINATION. PROBABLY YOU'LL LIKE IT IF YOU DON'T NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE MOVIE PLOT AND CAN TAKE IT A STEP FURTHER ON YOUR OWN. THIS ONE IS VERY VISUALLY BEAUTIFUL STARK AND VERY QUIRKY. THE MUSIC IS VERY PLEASING AND KIND OF SPOOKY AT THE SAME TIME. NOT LIKE THOSE STOCK HOLYWOOD MOVIES WITH A STANDARD PLOT. IT'S VERY THOUGHT PROVOKING ON A SPIRITUAL LEVEL AND OUTLINES WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE DEATH OF A TOWN (NORTHFORK), THE DEATH OF A BOY (NOT SO FAST YOUNG MAN), THE DEATH OF ONE'S PAST LIFE (ALL ABOUT MOVING ON AND WHERE WE ARE GOING). THE QUALITY OF LIVING AND DYING IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT IN THE END COMPARED TO WHAT WE HOLD ON TO IN THIS LIFE. SO CHECK THIS ONE OUT IF YOU'RE A THOUGHTFUL SORT. AVOID IT IF YOU DON'T LIKE TO THINK TOO MUCH!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: SOMEBODY CALL GHOSTBUSTERS!
Review: I feel like I've been strapped to a chair and forced to watch an entire season of TV's "Touched By An Angel". What fluffy goody-good nonsense this film is. Bumbling eccentric angels have to be one of the thinnest fictional devices ever revealed in the movies and this group make Casper the Friendly Ghost look like a Dicken's spirit. I sat there waiting for this film to click into gear for quite some time until it became apparent this movie is a watershed of indifference concerning the afterlife in a small dying American town soon to be turned into a lake. As if the dumb angels weren't enough, we have worldly government agents in black trenchcoats and a Christ-like child looking for his wings which is much less compelling than Peter Pan looking for his shadow. Writer, director, and star, The Polish Brothers ought to row, row, row their boat in any other direction.
Rating:
Summary: Awful - not even a fun bad movie - this SUCKED
Review: I like a lot of bad movies. I like a lot of quirky movies which are rejected by the mainstream. I love alegories, symbolism and the like. BUT THIS MOVIE SUCKED - it was so so so so bad. How was this movie made. Are they all on drugs? - That was two hours of my life which I will never get back; furthermore I feel like the $4.00 spent to rent the movie was stolen from me... man did this movie suck!
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