Carlo Cavagna Movie Reviews & Previews

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Carlo Cavagna

Agrees with the Tomatometer 75% of the time.

Biography:: A few years ago, frustrated by the daily grind of working as a surly government troglodyte, Carlo began pestering his friends with unsolicited e-mailed critiques of movies he had seen. With a surfeit of reviews clogging his hard drive and no Web experience whatsoever, Carlo eventually decided that the only thing to do was to create a film criticism site. With the assistance of Dreamweaver, a book on how to use Dreamweaver, and a couple reluctant friends, AboutFilm.com was born in March 1999. AboutCultFilm.com, administered by Marc Slanger, followed in 2000. AboutFilmBoards.com, the AboutFilm community site, was launched in 2002. At present, Carlo aspires to recognition as a great hegemon of cinematic critique, but has instead found his niche as a shifty-eyed site administrator. Composing diatribes in his ratty paper-lined lair, Carlo expends great energy quixotically scheming to topple the bloated ranks of the Hollywood hierarchy. Not possessed of a lengthy attention span, however, Carlo can instead often be found consuming unhealthy quantities of cheese. Carlo has been a member of the Online Film Critics Society since June 2000.
Publications:: AboutFilm.com
Critics' Group:: Online Film Critics Society

Total Reviews:: 384
Total QuickRatings:: 40

Location:: Marina del Rey, CA

Quick Ratings

Showing 1 - 40 of 40

Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
A+	100%	Stolen Children (Il Ladro di bambini) (1992)	" A sublime movie in the neorealist tradition, in which man helps two damaged children discover, for a few days, the childhood that has been denied them." — AboutFilm.com Posted Sep 8, 2004
A-	——	La Famiglia (The Family) (1987)	" An excellent intergenerational family drama that traces 80 years of Italian history through the life of one man, without leaving the walls of his Roman apartment." — AboutFilm.com Posted Sep 8, 2004
F	79%	Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant (The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant) (1972)	" Irresistibly soporific." — AboutFilm.com Posted Jul 23, 2004
C	93%	The Marriage of Maria Braun (Die Ehe der Maria Braun) (1979)	" This is what happens when theme is emphasized over story--a series of inorganic plot developments constructed to suit Fassbinder's indictment of postwar Germany." — AboutFilm.com Posted Feb 17, 2004
C-	77%	Bad Santa (2003)	" When will people tire of these one-note comedies? If you've seen the poster, there's really no need to actually sit through the movie." — AboutFilm.com Posted Jan 12, 2004
D+	57%	How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)	" The difference between Withnail and I and this film is that here, Robinson is trying to deliver a message instead of focusing on his characters. Mistake." — AboutFilm.com Posted Dec 20, 2003
D-	0%	Highlander II: The Quickening (Highlander 2) (1991)	" The director's cut elevates this misconceived sequel from one of the worst stinkers ever to merely dreadful." — AboutFilm.com Posted Nov 26, 2003
C-	50%	Point of No Return (The Assassin) (1993)	" Totally unnecessary, sterile remake of LA FEMME NIKITA." — AboutFilm.com Posted Nov 26, 2003
A-	77%	Two for the Road (1967)	" One of the best movies about relationships ever. Outstanding performances." — AboutFilm.com Posted Nov 26, 2003
C+	50%	Fever Pitch (2000)	" With soccer substituting for rock music, novelist/screenwriter Nick Hornby's FEVER PITCH plays like a rough draft of HIGH FIDELITY...a very rough draft." — AboutFilm.com Posted Nov 26, 2003
C+	76%	The Cooler (2003)	" Straight-to-video, B-movie material that benefits from A-level performances, particularly from Maria Bello." — AboutFilm.com Posted Nov 25, 2003
F	67%	Kurt & Courtney (1998)	" A sloppy, irresponsible, self-promoting p.o.s. that documents little more than people with an axe to grind. Broomfield would be better off writing for the Enquirer." — AboutFilm.com Posted Nov 1, 2003
F	19%	City Slickers 2 - The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994)	" As broad as a barn." — AboutFilm.com Posted Oct 20, 2003
F	2%	Speed 2 - Cruise Control (1997)	" When some people talk about how much they loathed 1997's Big Boat Movie, I think they must mean this one." — AboutFilm.com Posted Oct 20, 2003
D-	11%	Striptease (1996)	" Funniest moment: Demi Moore rips open her top with a snarl, revealing the decidedly unattractive and wholly unnatural results of her cosmetic surgery." — AboutFilm.com Posted Oct 20, 2003
D	88%	The Animatrix (2003)	" Far from fleshing out the universe of THE MATRIX, this cynical, self-indulgent marketing tie-in renders it less coherent. Boasts only a few memorable visual moments, and suffers from a paucity of narrative." — AboutFilm.com Posted Oct 20, 2003
B+	82%	Better Off Dead (1985)	" Forget Citizen Kane. As a matter of history, this seminal film is unquestionably the finest work of cinema ever made. Required viewing for all students and fans of the art form." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 12, 2003
D	12%	Sphere (1998)	" Let's face facts: Michael Crichton is a hack. He comes up with innovative concepts, but his characters are cardboard cutouts. Given the psychological foundations of the story, that's an egregious flaw, and the ending is absurdly dissatisfying." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 12, 2003
D+	60%	Hurlyburly (1998)	" This black alleged comedy wouldn't be funny at all if it weren't for Kevin Spacey's droll wit and silly bleach do. Sean Penn's self-indulgent performance and the unfocused script make sitting through Hurlyburly a chore." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
D+	54%	What Dreams May Come (1998)	" This ambitious afterlife romance introduces provoking themes, but Williams eventually leads the way back to familiar hackneyed ground. The grandiose art direction provides moments of wonder, but the muddled script gives them no raison d'être." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
F	64%	The X-Files - Fight the Future (1998)	" I'm sure that fans of the show were satisfied, but others may find this movie uninvolving and its conspiracy theories juvenile. It's nothing more than a two-hour promotion for the television series that fails to resolve any of the conflicts it introduces." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
D+	67%	The Wedding Singer (1998)	" Fairly typical comedy, in that moments of genuine humor are spread out too thinly over a schmaltzy (sorry, "heartwarming") script. But how can you give a failing grade to a movie that spotlights silly early Eighties music?" — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
F	6%	Tarzan and the Lost City (1998)	" Occasionally getting drawn into movies like this is the downside of having HBO when you're stuck at home with nothing to do. Do whatever you have to--mow the lawn, clean the garage, re-grout the bathroom tiles--but stay away." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
D+	71%	Enemy of the State (1998)	" High production values and Gene Hackman are the only things that stand out in this run-of-the-mill Hollywood paranoia thriller. The unimaginative plot consists mostly of Will Smith being chased around by government agents." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
B	64%	Wild Things (1998)	" Good, trashy fun, with gratuitous sex and nudity, a ludicrous (in a so-bad-it's-funny way) performance by Denise Richards, and an implausible noir plot that keeps you in the dark until the final credits. The ultimate guilty pleasure." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
D+	27%	U.S. Marshals (1997)	" Tommy Lee Jones is the only reason to see this sequel to The Fugitive, and the strength of his character is probably the only reason it was made. The story just doesn't hold together." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
C+	34%	Suicide Kings (1997)	" This movie assembles all the indie-film-of-the-Nineties cliches: brainless criminals, a bad plan, lots of dialogue, and Christopher Walken." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
D-	44%	Stepmom (1998)	" A sloppily scripted, formulaic tear-jerker about spoiled rich people who whine a lot. I defy you to feel anything for these characters other than the desire to slap them--even Sarandon's obligatorily terminally-ill Mom." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
B+	88%	The Spanish Prisoner (1997)	" In David Mamet's world nothing is what it seems and nobody talks like a real person. The stylized dialogue is not a flaw--it's part of the entertainment. Mamet keeps you and star Campbell Scott guessing until the final moments." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
A	93%	Saving Private Ryan (1998)	" The first half hour alone forever redefines the war movie genre. Ryan has just one minor flaw: the plot is completely contrived. And if you can characterize a weak story as just a minor flaw... well, that's some damn fine filmmaking." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
D+	65%	Nil by Mouth (1998)	" Imagine a movie where every character is played by Gary Oldman, in the drunken overacting Oldman mode. Oldman's unfocused and self-indulgent directorial debut has moments of poignancy and insight, but not enough to make it endurable." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
B	80%	Life Is Beautiful (La Vita è bella) (1997)	" This cross between Schindler's List and Hogan's Heroes works better than it has any right to, but not as well as most people would have you believe." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
D+	38%	Great Expectations (1998)	" Charles Dickens' novel has been pared to the bone and set in the present day, and the result is a beautifully shot mess. The characters' motivations could not be any less clear." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
C	47%	Deep Impact (1998)	" Unlike Armageddon, this film possesses a plot. Granted, it is the insipid plot of a made-for-TV miniseries, but at least it is an actual, tangible plot." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
C+	83%	Clockwatchers (1998)	" Like the unrelenting Musack that fills the heroines's offices, Clockwatchers is a bit too sedate. If you don't watch carefully, you'll miss half the fun." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
C	58%	City of Angels (1998)	" Why would anyone remake Wim Wenders' masterpiece, Wings of Desire? Certainly not for artistic reasons." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
B	80%	The Big Lebowski (1998)	" The Coen Brothers try really hard to be outrageously funny, and they succeed more often than they fail." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
D-	39%	Armageddon (1998)	" Armabludgeon is like a roller coast--occasionally exciting, but in the end you've been taken for a long, nauseating ride." — AboutFilm.com Posted Aug 11, 2003
B	90%	Monty Python's And Now for Something Completely Different (1972)	" Monty Python's best known sketches reshot and compiled on film, with slight variations and occasional profanity. Great sketches, but a rather pointless exercise." — AboutFilm.com Posted Jun 2, 2003
D+	40%	Wrong Turn (2003)	" Evidently, the wrong turn I made was in the multiplex." — AboutFilm.com Posted Jun 2, 2003

Showing 1 - 40 of 40

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