Li'l Duce's Reviews Palace

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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) The first half is very good, 8-9 for this kind of action movie, the girl playing  the robot is sexy and bitchy as she should be. And Schwarzenegger is as funny as at his best. The second half it drags, though it has action scenes. So it is 6-7/10 

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Deep Impact (1998) Another variation on the meteor destroying NYC and the East Coast. The destruction scenes are excellent and the space mission is well done, with a different colour palette usual in these kinda movies. But the melodramatic stories built around them make you puke. 4/10 

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Training Day (2001) Rogue cop vs. Rookie cop. Piece of crap, a good tense scene with Hawke in the latinos home but solved without much imagination. And the finale is interminable. 4-5/10

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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013) This is about exaggerated magical tricks, a kind of plot is built around it and is moderately amusing thanx to the screenplay and Carrey. But Carel is another of those guys one  wonders how they got  into the business. I reviewed him here for the Get Smart revival and just comparing him to Don Adams make you understand what I'm talking about. 6-7/10

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Training Day (2001) Rogue cop vs. Rookie cop. Piece of crap, a good tense scene with Hawke in the latinos home but solved without much imagination. And the finale is interminable. 4-5/10

I have not seen it in about 20 years but liked it a lot back then.

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I have not seen it in about 20 years but liked it a lot back then.

Oh, absolutely. If you accept to suspend your disbelief and believe that: 1) a rookie cop on his first day in the narcotics division accept to smoke dope at his colleague's intimation; to let his colleague steal  $40000 from a criminal entering in his home with a fake warrant;  to see him kill in cold blood a dope peddler after having stolen his money and still following in the latinos home which is a trap to have him killed but he's saved by the fact that in the morning he had rescued the cousin of one of the latinos from rape without any help from his colleague. 2) That the rogue cop has managed to stay in service such a long time without nobody apparently being  aware of his not very clean MO. So he planned the trap for the rookie for weeks, trusting the fact that the rookie would accept his misbehaviour, without suspecting he might be one planted to uncover his misdeeds and report. Now, I have little trust in any police department, especially in the USA's big cities. But this goes beyond any credibility.

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If you accept to suspend your disbelief and believe that: 1) a rookie cop on his first day ......Now, I have little trust in any police department, especially in the USA's big cities. But this goes beyond any credibility.

I play softball with a retired police officer, 20 years for city of Phoenix, AZ.  We talked a bit about TV/film cops, and he said that in 20 years he NEVER had reason to even take his gun out of its holster.

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I play softball with a retired police officer, 20 years for city of Phoenix, AZ.  We talked a bit about TV/film cops, and he said that in 20 years he NEVER had reason to even take his gun out of its holster.

My point was more about police corruption than about police violent behaviour. About the last, on youtube there are tons of videos showing Fearless Fossdick attitude by U.S. cops toward even minor infranctions: inevitable in a country where firearms are easily available. The movie in question is annoying for the absolute violence exerted on characters, making one an absolute dupe and the other one a confirmed criminal.

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The Bourne Identity (2002) This is good until it's time to explain what it was all about. Even a great movie like Three Days of Condor suffered from the same defect. Better leave explanations aside. especially when they are ridiculous like here. 6-7/10

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New Jack City (1991) I can't remember how this ended up in my watchlist, but I forced myself to watch it for a half-hour. Usual plot, amateurish acting and preaching. 1/10 because the initial aerial shot ending on the bridge scene was promising.

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David Copperfield (1935) The only memory I have of David Copperfield at all is of the miniseries made over here in 1966 starring Giannini in the main role. This one is notable only for the actors, the older ones. Having not read the novel I can't say anything about the reduction of the plot which plays like heavy melodrama. Mia Farrow's mother looks like Theresa Wright's twin sister. Elizabeth Allan is beautiful, I wonder why she wasn't more in top movies. But Fields, Oliver and Pawle (Benny Hill's clear inspiration) are the ones who dominate the scenes they're in. Unfortunately Rathbone has got little screen time, though he looks quite ludicrous in the role.   

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Now You See Me (2013) A good time-waster with no attempt to tell a rational story but entertaining most of the time. 7/10

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Now You See Me 2 (2016) Same as previous one.

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Shade (2003) A kinda Cincinnati Kid / The Sting cocktail, not very inventive. 5/10

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Swordfish  (2001)  Mediocre thriller, it has got a not completely bad finale with the bus in the air. But it is hard to get there. 4-5/10