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Bringing Out the Dead
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman,
Ving Rhames Marc Anthony |
| MPAA Rated: |
R |
| Released By: |
Paramount Pictures,
Touchstone Pictures |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Don't even think about bringing them unless they
are an aspiring filmmaker. |
| Date Movie: |
She might get grossed out and hold your hand. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
There might have been, but I don't remember it. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Some graphic scenes. |
| Action: |
Mostly sped-up
film scenes. |
| Laughs: |
Lots of chuckles. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
While Frank treats an over-dose case, his
partner Marcus convinces the dude's friends that he
can be brought back from the dead if they all pray
while Frank treats him. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
While impaled on an iron fence, the drug dude
says "I'm trying to watch my weight and look what
happens. |
| Directed By: |
Martin Scorsese |
| Produced By: |
Scott Rudin, Barbara De Fina |
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Bringing Out the Dead
A Movie Review |
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I can understand why all of the
critics will be giving "Bringing Out the Dead" rave reviews
because in terms of filmmaking things, i.e. cinematography,
artsy looks, creative-like acting, and I suppose being
different in looks than a blockbuster, "Bringing Out the
Dead" scores high marks on all of those things if that's
what you're looking for in a movie. Maybe because I'm not a
film-school type person, or maybe because I've never studied
film, or maybe because I just want a film to entertain me
and can usually get around brilliant cinematography and even
some not-so-great acting, but in the end "Bringing Out the
Dead" didn't entertain me that much. I'm not saying it
wasn't great film work, because it was, and I did chuckle a
couple of times, but in the end I just walked out saying "I
guess it was okay," and "I hope if I need a paramedic that I
don't get any of those knuckleheads."
"Bringing Out the Dead" tells the story of a stressed-out
paramedic, Frank, played by Nicolas Cage, and takes us on a
few nights of his psychotic behavior. He is tormented by the
ghost of a girl whom he couldn't save and gets teamed up
with some even more psychotic paramedic buddies. In the
meantime he begins to fall for Mary (Patricia Arquette), the
daughter of a man who Frank brought, unwillingly supposedly
by the voices the body tells Frank, back to life (although
he's still basically brain-dead). Through the nearly two
hours we get Frank and his paramedic buddies responding to
various calls, with the druggie Noel (Marc Anthony) being
the main calls, treated to multiple visits of the hospital
emergency room, and begin to wonder if paramedics are really
like this (I hope mine aren't).
It's a twisted movie, especially Frank's paramedic
buddies. We get Larry (John Goodman) as one of them, we get
Marcus (Ving Rhames) as another (probably bringing the most
laughs as he works the dispatcher lady over the microphone
and plays a preacher while Frank revives an overdose call),
and Tom (Tom Sizemore) who seems to like his job mostly so
that he can fuck with people. And there is poor Frank,
trying desperately to hold it together but really hoping he
would just get fired.
Like I said, as a movie-making film "Bringing Out the
Dead" is up there with the best of them. The scenes flow,
the acting is top-notch, and there are a lot of visuals to
deal with. But, and maybe because of these things too, the
movie had many of those artsy slow spots that drop the
entertainment value down a notch or two. I don't know, I
know Martin Scorsese is a great filmmaker, but sometimes for
the boring movie-goer like me, well, I don't get into the
artsy stuff. I loved the scenes with Frank's buddy, Marcus,
especially at the rave party where he convinces the
overdose's friends that if they all pray together that their
buddy will come back from the dead, and the visits to the
emergency room were generally entertaining, but too many
times I looked at my watch and couldn't believe there was so
much time left in the movie.
Well, let's wrap this up. "Bringing Out the Dead" is a
filmmakers film. What I mean by that is that if you
appreciate a well made film, well you will probably
thoroughly enjoy it. But if you really don't care about all
of that stuff and just want to be entertained, well,
"Bringing Out the Dead" probably won't do it for you. With
that I'll split the rating to 2 ½ stars, but I'm going
to add one for the scene where the drug dealer guy is
impaled on a fence. So, it's 3 ½ stars out of 5 from me
for "Bringing Out the Dead."
That's it for this one, I'm The Dude on the Right!!
L8R!!! |
