Best movie of this year hands down!

Let's be realistic.

As Good As It Gets

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This was a great film for Kathleen Lloyd, who brought a spunky kind of freshness. I don't think Susan Sarandon would have done as well. Jack Nicholson could have carried this film without Brando. What Brandon brought was a touch of excentrisity that only he could do. I really like this film. The twists that Marlon Brando brings are very entertaining. The throwing weapon that he used, helping Randy Quaid swim, and his dressing up as a woman was entertaining. It's not the best western out there, but it is very entertaining.

I know that the television commercials were the prime reason I went to this movie. In the 1970's I had a job in a shopping mall which bordered a cineplex. So I went to all kinds of movies because I had time to kill before going to work in the late afternoon. I went to see films I'd never go to today. This is one that would be so out of character for me. I only remember that it is about as harsh as any film I've ever seen. It's about action and revenge and reaction and revenge. Brando is the baddest badass of all badasses. His employer is one of those subdued psychotics. The main character is played by Jack Nicholson who watches as his friends and associates are murdered one by one. Also, when he hooks up with a young woman (who is the daughter of the man who set all this killing in motion) and brings on the wrath of the psycho. It has such a violent conclusion. You like revenge flicks, this is your baby.

Missouri Breaks, The (1976) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Somewhat notorious Western about a group of horse thieves (led by Jack Nicholson) who are stalking a rich owner who grows tired of them so he hires a "regulator" (Marlon Brando) to track them down and kill them. THE MISSOURI BREAKS was released to some incredibly negative reviews and even today many people consider this one of the worst movies ever made. I certainly wouldn't go that far as there are many entertaining moments to be had here but when you consider Brando was coming off THE GODFATHER and LAST TANGO IN Paris and Nicholson was coming off ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, one can't help but wish that the film had been much better. At its core this is just another film with the message that the "bad" guys usually aren't nearly as cruel or evil as the so-called "good" guys that are paid to go after them. This film really is a complete mess because it's never quite clear what director Arthur Penn is wanting to go for. At times this seems just like a comedy. At other times it features some graphic violence and dark tones. It's never quite clear what to make of the character played by Brando because he's just so weird that it's hard to be scared of him and he's too campy to really take too serious. As for Brando, God love him because we get the type of over-the-top and outrageous performance that only a genius could deliver. I wouldn't dare say the performance was great but you really have to give the actor credit for delivery a "performance" unlike anything you've ever seen before. The "free" natured style that Brando brings to the character works fine but if you read anything about the film's production you will learn that the director pretty much gave up on the actor and just let him do whatever he wanted. This will account for the strange clothes, the strange weapons and other strange things that are constantly going on with the performance. It's so outrageous and strange that you can't help but be entertained by it but at the same time it's tone is certainly going against everything else in the film. Nicholson is pretty much by-the-numbers but he's at least entertaining and it's fun seeing the two actors working together even if it's obvious that many of their scenes together were shot at different times. Kathleen Lloyd makes for a good love interest and we get good performances by Frederic Forrest, Randy Quaid and Harry Dean Stanton. The "story" itself really isn't anything we haven't already seen countless times and one of the biggest problems is that the film simply goes on for way too long and it's clear at times that it doesn't seem to know where it wants to go. With that said, if you've heard that the film is among one of the worst ever made that's just simply not true. With Brando and Nicholson together you'd hope for a masterpiece but we didn't get that. Instead we just got a rather strange Western with a really strange and unique performance by Brando.

A group of outlaws, lead by "Tom Logan" (Jack Nicholson), settles into a Missouri ranch to hideout from the law. However, a powerful rancher hires a man (Marlon Brando) to run them out.The "regulator" (Brando) wipes out the entire band of outlaws, but "Tom," who decides to go straight in his pursuit of a local woman (Kathleen Lloyd).Now, the two are heading to a face-off that may be each other's last day on Earth.This is not the best movie I've seen. In fact, I noticed myself looking away from my computer screen (I watched it on Hulu) many times.I found the characters poorly written, although they were pretty well performed by the actors. They were all pretty one-dimensional, and they just didn't seem to connect with each other.The relationships between the characters just didn't work. I could not feel anything in the romantic subplot at all. In fact, I couldn't feel any chemistry between Nicholson and Lloyd at all.There was a little chemistry between Nicholson and Brando. But, because of the poor writing, they really had little to work with for their on-screen relationship.Surprisingly, the gunplay was minimal. Even when you expected a good amount of shooting, it wasn't there. There is some violence, though it's fairly mild. In the first minute of the movie, there is a fairly graphic hanging that was probably placed that early in the film for shock value.The scenery was used pretty well in this movie. It certainly wasn't overplayed. There were some scenes where the scenery was used quite well with camera angles and such.John Williams did, in my opinion, a poor job in writing the music for this film. To me, the music was more modern instrumental work, and just didn't work. In fact, despite being composed by a Hollywood legend like Williams, the soundtrack is completely forgettable.Wardrobe appeared to be authentic in this film, except the outfit Brando wore through much of the film. His outfit was a little over-the-top, but not too much to be distracting.I would have to say that if you find it online on sites like Hulu, check it out if you have nothing better to do. Other than that, don't waste your money.