Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

aubade1-358-120850 I think the strength of this movie was Harry's (Tim Robbins) attempt to come to grips with his father's death through non-violence. It was so interesting to see how Martin Luther King Jr. inspired him, and his journey to make meaning of his life in the turbulent 1960's era by helping others. The ending dramatizes the limitations of non-violence, that very small percentage of people who are so clinically insane they will throw their own mother out of a window. Yet, we all know that non-violence was very helpful for the civil rights movement, so I think what this movie is really exploring is not whether non-violence is valuable, but how much complexity it makes for someone who is able to experience their full humanity and feel compassion for others. It is, in a way, so much easier to be Linda's (Jodie Foster) boyfriend Jamie (Todd Graff), who sees things in black and white - "He isn't a rival - he's a phenomenon, hahaha!!" For Harry it isn't so easy. Harry knows he can kill Heinz (John Tuturro) but he doesn't want to. He can't feel any righteous vengeance when Heinz dies. He just feels sadness for the fragility of human life.Also, in the reviews here I see a lot of comments about the seemingly unrelated subplot with the two glue-huffing girls. I'm not 100% sure, but it seems to me in the end their presence becomes clear - the two boys they spend the night with are the Indians. We see two of them in the shadows after the last arrow is shot - one taller and maybe blond, one shorter and dark. Especially considering the short brown-haired guy said, "I have the day off because my teacher died", it suggests he was the one who shot the arrow because the teacher failed him. Apparently they were also around the neighborhood that night, and shot the arrow to kill Heinz.I will agree with other reviewers though - the fact that Linda goes to see Heinz by herself in the middle of the night is pretty stupid. I found this movie on Netflix under the the heading 'comedies featuring a strong female lead," but I don't think it was very much of a comedy, and I certainly wouldn't describe Linda as a strong female.That said, I'm really glad I saw this movie. Definitely a worthwhile 2 hours spent on a sick day.

funkyfry I have a bit of a nostalgic spot for this movie -- my friends and I used to watch it in high school. A guy who I knew then was obsessed with Jodie Foster and the Beatles -- I don't know which came first, or if that was why he watched the movie or if the movie was why he was a fan of Jodie Foster and the Beatles. But those two things seemed to dominate his life and they came together in this movie, and as his close friends we all shared in the enjoyment of this fine film.The main story of "Five Corners" is about John Turturro's character Heinz, a disturbed young man who has just been released from prison for attacking Jodie Foster's character Linda. In between Linda and Heinz are two other concerned young men: her on-again off-again boyfriend Jamie (Todd Graff), who was crippled by Heinz in the fight, and the boy who actually stopped the rape by smashing a pitcher over Heinz' head, Harry (Tim Robbins), who has become a pacifist in the mean-time under the influence of Martin Luther King Jr. Heinz' reappearance puts Harrys' non-violence to the test and strains Linda and Jamie's relationship. There's also a side plot involving a pair of young women who get ditched by their protector and spend a night and an afternoon carousing and adventuring with a couple of strange boys. The continual cross-cutting between the different plots makes the film feel a bit like "American Graffiti" or "Dazed and Confused", coming-of-age films of that genre. But this film has quite a bit more violence and perversity to it, and you don't notice the music nearly as much.All the young actors acquit themselves well in this film. Jodie Foster, although perhaps sadly typed at this point in her career (or forever?) as a rape victim, sheds all layers of "movie star" with this very believable humble girl who's more intelligent than she's been taught to reveal. Robbins gets some wonderful scenes with Kathleen Chalfant who plays his mother, and a really excellent first scene with Turturro. Of course it's Turturro who does the heavy lifting, coming off brilliantly in a very difficult role. It's a bit like watching a young DeNiro, seeing him in this movie. He's clearly got his "psycho act" down but he never fails to interact with all the other cast members in a believable way. His big pre-climactic confrontation with his mother could stand up under any comparison. In fact that was the main effect for me of seeing this movie; I kept my eyes out for Turturro after that, and have not been disappointed on the whole.The film's fabric is a bit shaky; screenwriter John Patrick Shanley was still a bit of an excited novice and it shows. There's a lot of talent here, a lot of good lines, but the structure of the thing doesn't really support the kind of dextrous switching between comedy and drama that his dialog demands. And the director Tony Bill, while bringing the film a pleasing intimacy and warmth, can't do anything to stylize the film and make it really propel itself along. We're always sort of waiting for what Turturro is going to do next, instead of just being carried along with the feeling of the whole piece. That makes the scenes in the largely unrelated sub-plot feel even more like filler or padding.On the whole however, this is a very good film and I highly recommend it. I was surprised when I came here on IMDb that there were so few comments and votes. I thought it was a pretty famous movie, but apparently my friends and I were part of a "cult" and we didn't even know it! Why not join up?

vincenthetreed I was persuaded to watch this film on late-night TV by the cast: Tim Robbins, Jodie Foster and John Turturro, and lots of familiar faces who you're glad to see, even if you don't know their names. Turturro is better in this than in most of his later work. Psycho? or just a stupid, unhappy bully, whose violence seems almost normal in the tough, white, working class neighbourhood which gives the film its title. He is genuinely threatening, mean, short fuse, unpredictable, but a believable rounded character who excites our pity as well as our disgust. Foster and Robbins fit their roles like fingers fit gloves, the period setting - 1964 - is nicely realised, and the script sets up and resolves a series of classic conflicts with some originality and some appealing off-the-wall subplots. Of course, the good end happily and the bad unhappily, but that is fiction, my dear, and that is why I call it a melodrama. If it comes up on the late-night schedules, or you see it in your local video-store, watch it.

carol-goodson Wish I could see this film, but I'm on my 3rd DVD from NetFlix, and the sound is no good on ANY of them. Very frustrating, because they say there is nothing they can do: all the DVDs are purchased directly from Westlake. Long history of customer complaints about the discs being unplayable because of the sound. Darn it!I am tempted to trying buying a copy somewhere, but how will I know that the one I buy isn't bad too? Other people have obviously seen it and not had the problems I have experienced. I checked the Westlake Entertainment website, but they don't even have this film listed. All suggestions will be gratefully received!