J Cairo

DePalma is dead on with shaded humor in the Black Dahlia, as he was in Phantom of the Paradise, which was also misunderstood. Film noir was loaded with overly ripe surrealism and beyond-the-top actors. Scarlett does a delightful Lana Turner (a fabulously hyper-wrought scenery chewer). And Swank's insanely alluring femme fatale is not to be missed! Mia Kirshner is both entrancing and sad in her little film within a film. Of course, she has been slapped for "being in a different movie than the other performers".... think about that for a second.... Some have gone to this film looking for a serious treatment of the real life black dahlia murder case. That's their problem, not DePalma's. The film is beautiful and sensuous, and a treat for anyone open to the experience. It is not for everyone, but then what film is?

A delightfully unpretentious send up of Romeo and Juliet. Approach with no expectations other than having a good time and you will enjoy this one. A talented group of comic actors let go and have a riot in this light-hearted performers' vehicle. Bad reviews were due to a snobbishness about treatments of Shakespeare. Some people feel that all film must be "important" ---If you share those views, don't bother. The credits read "introducing" Angelina Jolie, which is not even close to being true, but she is astoundingly beautiful as the Juliet character, and, as always, her acting is wonderful--- and, considering her age at the time, even her dialect is pretty good. Recreating this classic tale with feuding Italian families in the catering business in New York results in great fun. See it in the right frame of mind and you will laugh out loud.

An absurdly pseudo-intellectual attempt to rationalize a realm that should have been left to fantastic images-- the one element done well in this film. A great deal of time is spent bogged down in wrenching (wretched) dialogue vainly attempting to define the ethereal in concrete terms. Robin Williams' idea of portraying emotion is trying to break the world's record for facial distortions per second. Such a fine comedian/comic actor-- and such a bad dramatic actor. Cuba Gooding Jr. should stick to comedy as well. Other actors fare much better, noticeably Annabella Sciorra as the wife, Max von Sydow as the "Tracker" and Jessica Brooks Grant as the daughter. Turn off the sound on this one and enjoy the beautiful visuals-- it will be a far more entertaining experience.