John Q

[Jedi Master Carr]

I just saw it tonight and I thought it was pretty good movie, pretty moving and it does make you think about insurance in this country and how stupid HMO's are. Also there were great performances by Denzel Washington and Robert Duval. Eddie Griffin was funny, I guess they had him in there for comic relief. Still I though it was a very good movie.

[Admiral Lebron]

Yeah. I saw it back when it came out, it's relly a good film.

[JMK]

I wanted to see it in theaters, but never got around to it. I hate the wait from theaters to DVD. It's too long. :(

[JonathanLB]

So first you said it was pretty good, then very good? I don't get it.

I agreed with your first assessment: pretty good. Not a good movie, though. Just above average, pretty good.

Way too sappy for me, predictable, too many problems, not that well paced really either.

I agree with the other critics. 2.5 stars, nothing more. Not a very strong effort for Denzel. He is very good in it, but that movie didn't turn out very well.

[JMK]

"Not a very strong effort for Denzel. He is very good in it,"

I don't get it. How is not a very strong performance "very good"?

Joking. I get it. He's ok in it, just not Training Day good, right?

[Jedi Master Carr]

to me pretty good is the same as very good but that is just syntax so its not a big deal. It was a little sappy but not too much IMO, I thought Washington was great in it but hey he is great in just about every movie he has been in.

[JMK]

Even Virtuosity? ;)

[JonathanLB]

How do you figure pretty good is anything like very good?!

If you say you thought a movie is pretty good, I guarantee you people are going to think you were not really a big fan of it. Like if someone says, "What did you think of AOTC?" and you say, "It was pretty good," they are going to think you didn't much like it. Trust me here, I am a writer, it is literally my job to know words and usage and whatnot.

The rating system I adopted, which is not my own, it's one used by most major critics who use the 4-star scale, is:

4 -- excellent
3.5 -- very good
3 -- good
2.5 -- pretty good (or above average)
2 -- decent/average
etc.

There is a major difference between a movie that is VERY good and PRETTY good, lol.

"He's ok in it, just not Training Day good, right?"

Well, yeah, hehe, well put. No what I meant was that Denzel's performance is quite strong, but that it wasn't a good film for him. I just think he should have chosen a different movie or not done that one at all. lol.

[JMK]

Maybe Denzel and Eddie Griffin should have swapped roles?

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well I have never really heard that honestly, I use the words interchangeably so I guess it depends on the person. I still liked it and thought it was a good movie. As far as Virtuosity, well JMK it was an okay movie but it wasn't one of his better roles, honestly though the script stunk so there wasn't much he could do to change that. It is interesting to watch it now with him fighting Russell Crowe especially around the Oscars kind of liked the idea of Denzel beating the crap out of Russell :p

[JonathanLB]

I'd love to take a poll, then, lol.

I guarantee that everyone else alive thinks very good is better than pretty good, I absolutely guarantee 99.9% of everyone would agree with me there.

Just find some random people on Yahoo! Chat or on AIM (which I just did) and ask them. I doubt anyone else would agree with you that "PRETTY good" is the same as "VERY good."

Show of hands. Anyone?! lol.

Anyway, I get your meaning though. That's cool. :)

[ReaperFett]

Virtuosity was a fun film :)

[CMJ]

I Kind of agree with Jonathan, although I think I enjoyed the film a bit less than even him. It was "okay" IMHO, but certainly not bad.

Washington gave a pretty mving performance, but I found overall the film to be rather lacking. He has a gift for often giving better perfomances than films he's in deserve. ;)

[JonathanLB]

I agree, CMJ. I was unimpressed with the film, though I didn't think it was a waste of my time. I thought it was a bit better than an average movie, and yes, largely thanks to Denzel. Without him, man, I'd have given that movie 2 stars for sure, maybe less, but probably about two.