Things obviously haven't gone to plan, but here are a few more reviews.
Nightmare on Elm Street 4 (1988)
I actually saw this movie in the theater when it came out; the third one as well. My dad is a big horror film fan and took me to see stuff like this all the time. This is one of my favorite Freddy movies. It uses an interesting conceit - a high school girl has a tendency to experience vivid daydreams, and soon realizes she has a connection to Krueger (Hmm. I wonder why?). She ends up beating him by using the "special dream powers" of all the other kids he has killed in the movie. Silly, yes, but its execution is very amusing. This is the only early film in the series that doesn't even try to be serious. Yes, it's a bad movie, most in the series are, but as a fan of horror films, I think this is funny and scary enough to be enjoyable.
Stripes (1981)
Directed by Ivan Reitman
Starring:
Bill Murray
Harold Ramis
John Candy
John Larroquette
Sean Young
Judge Reinhold
Made a year after the slightly better Private Benjamin, this military comedy still holds up pretty well. The story is slightly similar to the aforementioned Goldie Hawn movie. Two guys in their thirties, played by Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, have depressing lives. One guy decides that the Army is just the thing they both need, so he talks his friend into enlisting with him. Zaniness ensues.
This is probably one of the most uneven films Reitman has ever made. It starts off really well, managing to be very entertaining, until the guys make it out of boot camp half way through and are assigned their mission: guarding a top secret military vehicle/weapon - built like an RV - in Germany. Murray gets the great idea to steal it on the weekend with his friend for kicks and take a vacation in the country. While this is going on, their commander and the rest of the soldiers hunt them down, accidentally winding up in Soviet territory - enemy country back then. Murray and Ramis find out and end up saving the day, thanks to the help of the RV and their former drill sergeant. Overall, it's not as funny as the first half.
The other problem I have is that the love interest part of the story isn't that interesting. Bill Murray and a young Sean Young really don't have much chemistry.
This movie is more than worth watching, though. The first half is filled with classic, hilarious scenes. The graduation parade is my personal favorite. More than anything, this movie is a foreshadow of the next, much better Reitman/Ramis/Murray collaboration - Ghostbusters.
Star Trek (2009)
Directed by J.J. Abrams
Starring:
Chris Pine as James T. Kirk
Zachary Quinto as Spock
Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime
Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Eric Bana as Nero
Simon Pegg as Montgomery Scott
Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson (Spock's mother)
Ben Cross as Sarak (Spock's father)
Tyler Perry as some admiral (wtf?)
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as the voice of the Starfleet computer
I bought this movie Tuesday and decided to watch it immediately. As was made obvious back in September, I am a huge Star Trek fan. Watching this series re-boot was exhilarating back in May. However, as much as I enjoyed it, there was something about it that I didn't particularly like. It became quite clear watching it for the second time Tuesday night.
Making the decision to cast new actors for such iconic characters was a huge risk, but it definitely paid off. The actors that played Kirk, Spock and McCoy nailed their parts. Most of the rest were good as well. The only actor I didn't really care for, surprisingly, was Simon Pegg as Scotty. There was just something off about the way he decided to play the engineer.
The main problem with this film is that the first ten minutes are absolutely breathtaking in intensity and emotion. It's all downhill from there. The only thing that saves the first half is that the movie does a great job of introducing all the characters, focusing on Spock and Kirk. The execution of this is extremely entertaining. This is aided in no small part by the fact that all of the actors seem to be have had a great time playing larger than life characters, especially Pine and Quinto. The acting is the best part of this movie.
However, there is a point in this movie, a point which completely changes the time line from the original Star Trek universe, that stands as a definitive marker for when the movie starts to sour. I am not going to say what it is because it absolutely shocked me, and should not be ruined. From the beginning, it's clear that this movie was created as a new, parallel Star Trek universe. However, I did not anticipate one of the changes.
The problem is that the second half of the movie is an action-oriented movie, unlike the first half, which is much more character-oriented. Now, Star Trek is well known for its action. Unfortunately, JJ Abrams and the two screenwriters apparently did not understand what made Star Trek so popular amongst its fans: the characters. In all the Star Trek movies, and in most of the shows, all of the major fight scenes featured sarcastic dialogue and some humorous actions and facial expressions. The second half of this film features absolutely none. Zero. I am at a loss to explain why this is. The action scenes in the first half all did to great effect. To be blunt, the second half of the movie is deadly dull, which is unforgivable because it is mostly non-stop action. This is made even worse by the fact that the villain, Nero, has a number of scenes in the second half. Eric Bana did what he could with the role, but there just wasn't much to him, making his character a bit boring.
The second half of the movie also features ridiculously sloppy writing. Terrible, terrible explanations were given to explain why things were happening or needed to happen. Terrible explanations.
Overall, despite my harsh critique of the second half, I highly recommend this movie. The first ten minutes alone make it worth it. I cried both times. And if that weren't enough, the acting, with the exception of Pegg, is a pure delight. These two things are more than enough to make up for the second half.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Guess Who's Back
This has been a very busy month. Between school, getting sick, getting sick again, and a few other things, I haven't had time to post here. Luckily, I have been keeping up with my movie schedule. I decided tonight to try and post my thoughts on a movie or two a night for the rest of the month. They probably won't be as detailed or even as interesting as I would like, but I suppose I should take what I can get.
Poltergeist (1982)
This was one of my favorite movies growing up. Watching it as an adult, I have an even greater appreciation of how well-written this movie is. Spielberg really knew how to write a good movie back then. I had originally saved this movie for the last day of the month, but after spending several days fighting the flu, I wanted something fun to watch. So, I watched sooner than anticipated.
Here's some general notes I made while watching:
I can't believe JoBeth Williams got top billing above Craig T. Nelson. Even though she was the bigger start at the time, that is such a rare thing.
I cannot believe I forgot about the broadcast signoff.
This has one of the coolest opening scenes of all time. It's weird how much I forgot. And it was so similar to my childhood. My dad always watched television at night, and inevitably when the broadcast signoff would come on, he would be asleep on the couch or recliner.
Holy crap! The parents are smoking pot! I sometimes forget how cool Steven Spielberg used to be.
Oh, the station wagon. I so don't miss you.
There is an awful, awful edit cut at about the 34 minute mark. I looked it up and apparently a bit was cut out because Craig T. Nelson said "I Hate Pizza Hut" in the scene and Pizza Hut took issue.
That small woman is so awesome.
I still believe to this day that that clown is far scarier than the creepy tree.
"This house is clean." How wrong you were, lady.
This movie rocks. It's scary, funny and generally quirky. Everything a Spielberg film used to be.
Ed Wood (1994)
Johnny Depp as Ed Wood
Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi
This was a very strange movie. As a big movie fan, I've know who Ed Wood was for a while, mainly through the notoriety of his Plan 9 From Outer Space, often given the dubious award of worst movie of all time. I suppose I should have known that a guy that would make a movie that bad would be pretty quirky.
I had no idea that Bela Lugosi and Ed Wood had such a close relationship. I am glad, if only because it led to one of the most interesting relationships I've ever seen in a movie. I always though Martin Landau won the Oscar for playing Lugosi as a charity award for much a long career. After seeing the movie, I can say that he more than deserved it. I had to kept reminding myself it was Landau, because the man on the screen looked nothing like him. This is the only time I've ever seen an actor overshadow Johnny Depp.
Landau's performance really saves this movie. I can't imagine it being good without him. The movie is a bit charming, and even sweet, but without Landau the movie would be far too lightweight.
A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All (2008)
Starring:
Stephen Colbert as himself
Elvis Costello as himself
Jon Stewart as himself
John Legend as himself
Willie Nelson as himself
Toby Keith as himself
Leslie Feist as herself
George Wendt as the Godless Killing Machine
Stephen Colbert rocks! So it stands to reason that his Christmas special does as well.
One of the best parts of this special is how closely it nails the old 70s and 80s specials. My personal favorite is the fake audience applause played after Colbert introduces each celebrity. I always thought the clapping was funny when I was a kid.
All of the singing parts are great. I love Jon Stewart's ode to Hanukkah, and Willie Nelson's voice is just as good as it has always been. But my absolute favorite is the call center angel.
The best part of watching this, though, is finding out it was better the second time around. The first time, though I did enjoy it, I found it a bit underwhelming. I suppose that going in this time with no expectations allowed me to just sit back and enjoy it for what it is.
The DVD has some great extras, too. It offers a few alternate endings, a couple of them even better the one they went with. There is also a DVD advent calendar, which was fun to go through.
Over all, this was well worth the money.
Poltergeist (1982)
This was one of my favorite movies growing up. Watching it as an adult, I have an even greater appreciation of how well-written this movie is. Spielberg really knew how to write a good movie back then. I had originally saved this movie for the last day of the month, but after spending several days fighting the flu, I wanted something fun to watch. So, I watched sooner than anticipated.
Here's some general notes I made while watching:
I can't believe JoBeth Williams got top billing above Craig T. Nelson. Even though she was the bigger start at the time, that is such a rare thing.
I cannot believe I forgot about the broadcast signoff.
This has one of the coolest opening scenes of all time. It's weird how much I forgot. And it was so similar to my childhood. My dad always watched television at night, and inevitably when the broadcast signoff would come on, he would be asleep on the couch or recliner.
Holy crap! The parents are smoking pot! I sometimes forget how cool Steven Spielberg used to be.
Oh, the station wagon. I so don't miss you.
There is an awful, awful edit cut at about the 34 minute mark. I looked it up and apparently a bit was cut out because Craig T. Nelson said "I Hate Pizza Hut" in the scene and Pizza Hut took issue.
That small woman is so awesome.
I still believe to this day that that clown is far scarier than the creepy tree.
"This house is clean." How wrong you were, lady.
This movie rocks. It's scary, funny and generally quirky. Everything a Spielberg film used to be.
Ed Wood (1994)
Johnny Depp as Ed Wood
Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi
This was a very strange movie. As a big movie fan, I've know who Ed Wood was for a while, mainly through the notoriety of his Plan 9 From Outer Space, often given the dubious award of worst movie of all time. I suppose I should have known that a guy that would make a movie that bad would be pretty quirky.
I had no idea that Bela Lugosi and Ed Wood had such a close relationship. I am glad, if only because it led to one of the most interesting relationships I've ever seen in a movie. I always though Martin Landau won the Oscar for playing Lugosi as a charity award for much a long career. After seeing the movie, I can say that he more than deserved it. I had to kept reminding myself it was Landau, because the man on the screen looked nothing like him. This is the only time I've ever seen an actor overshadow Johnny Depp.
Landau's performance really saves this movie. I can't imagine it being good without him. The movie is a bit charming, and even sweet, but without Landau the movie would be far too lightweight.
A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All (2008)
Starring:
Stephen Colbert as himself
Elvis Costello as himself
Jon Stewart as himself
John Legend as himself
Willie Nelson as himself
Toby Keith as himself
Leslie Feist as herself
George Wendt as the Godless Killing Machine
Stephen Colbert rocks! So it stands to reason that his Christmas special does as well.
One of the best parts of this special is how closely it nails the old 70s and 80s specials. My personal favorite is the fake audience applause played after Colbert introduces each celebrity. I always thought the clapping was funny when I was a kid.
All of the singing parts are great. I love Jon Stewart's ode to Hanukkah, and Willie Nelson's voice is just as good as it has always been. But my absolute favorite is the call center angel.
The best part of watching this, though, is finding out it was better the second time around. The first time, though I did enjoy it, I found it a bit underwhelming. I suppose that going in this time with no expectations allowed me to just sit back and enjoy it for what it is.
The DVD has some great extras, too. It offers a few alternate endings, a couple of them even better the one they went with. There is also a DVD advent calendar, which was fun to go through.
Over all, this was well worth the money.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
DVD Extras
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Angela Lansbury - Miss Price; not a rich witch
David Tomlinson - forever the dad from Mary Poppins
When I was growing up, my parents had two Disney movies on VHS tape that my sister and I used to watch over and over again: Pete's Dragon and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Not surprisingly, though they are two of the lesser known Disney films, they are my favorites. When I made my schedule for October, Bedknobs and Broomsticks was one of the movies I was most excited to watch. This is why I am so very disappointed to admit that I did not enjoy watching the movie.
And this leads me to a bit of a tangential comment. I am not that big of a fan of Ridley Scott. I have a couple of his movies, but I think he peaked with Alien. This is primarily because of his more recent style. I blame him for ushering in the era of shots that don't last for more than 3 or 4 seconds (I'm looking at you, Gladiator). I can't stand that. However, a couple of years ago, I began to respect Scott's artistic integrity. When DVDs finally replaced VHS, special features became a big deal. Movie studios realized that if they put in a ton of special features, they could put out a special edition and charge a higher price, something for which many were willing to pay. This led to the "extended edition" DVD. For some reason that I will never understand, Ridley Scott was asked to give an intro to the extended edition DVDs of Gladiator and Alien. The reason I don't understand is because he was quite explicit in stating that the extended editions were not in any way the way he envisioned his movies. He stated that the deleted scenes were cut for a reason: they hurt the movie. Ever since I saw that, my opinion of Ridley Scott has improved a great deal.
And this leads me back to Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I did not know when I bought it that the only edition of Bedknobs and Broomsticks available is the so-called uncut version. This is why the movie is such a disappointment. The newly-added music scenes are terrible, which is probably why they were cut. Did you know that the professor's introductory scene was actually supposed to be a song? Ugh. I can see that they may have been put back in because it made the story more coherent, especially the relationship between Miss Price and the Professor, but the songs themselves were bloody awful. They completely destroyed the experience of watching a movie I have adored for more than 25 years. The most insulting aspect is that, unlike most films, Disney did not even offer the choice of watching the original version.
Angela Lansbury - Miss Price; not a rich witch
David Tomlinson - forever the dad from Mary Poppins
When I was growing up, my parents had two Disney movies on VHS tape that my sister and I used to watch over and over again: Pete's Dragon and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Not surprisingly, though they are two of the lesser known Disney films, they are my favorites. When I made my schedule for October, Bedknobs and Broomsticks was one of the movies I was most excited to watch. This is why I am so very disappointed to admit that I did not enjoy watching the movie.
And this leads me to a bit of a tangential comment. I am not that big of a fan of Ridley Scott. I have a couple of his movies, but I think he peaked with Alien. This is primarily because of his more recent style. I blame him for ushering in the era of shots that don't last for more than 3 or 4 seconds (I'm looking at you, Gladiator). I can't stand that. However, a couple of years ago, I began to respect Scott's artistic integrity. When DVDs finally replaced VHS, special features became a big deal. Movie studios realized that if they put in a ton of special features, they could put out a special edition and charge a higher price, something for which many were willing to pay. This led to the "extended edition" DVD. For some reason that I will never understand, Ridley Scott was asked to give an intro to the extended edition DVDs of Gladiator and Alien. The reason I don't understand is because he was quite explicit in stating that the extended editions were not in any way the way he envisioned his movies. He stated that the deleted scenes were cut for a reason: they hurt the movie. Ever since I saw that, my opinion of Ridley Scott has improved a great deal.
And this leads me back to Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I did not know when I bought it that the only edition of Bedknobs and Broomsticks available is the so-called uncut version. This is why the movie is such a disappointment. The newly-added music scenes are terrible, which is probably why they were cut. Did you know that the professor's introductory scene was actually supposed to be a song? Ugh. I can see that they may have been put back in because it made the story more coherent, especially the relationship between Miss Price and the Professor, but the songs themselves were bloody awful. They completely destroyed the experience of watching a movie I have adored for more than 25 years. The most insulting aspect is that, unlike most films, Disney did not even offer the choice of watching the original version.
68 Down
It's weird to realize that I can no longer say I have more than 300 unopened movies. As of yesterday, I've watched 68 movies, on top of 9 television shows/miniseries/volumes.
I did much better in October than November. The only movie I didn't watch was Boys Don't Cry, though it had nothing to do with time; I was done with everything else by yesterday morning. This has been a rough month, and I just couldn't bring myself to watch one more depressing movie this month. I've never actually seen it before, but I am well aware of what it contains. I didn't realize until halfway through that a bunch of movies were just depressing; even ones I really liked had, at best, bittersweet endings.
This month's list is more upbeat. Here we go:
Monday, November 2: Ed Wood
Tuesday, November 3: A Colbert Christmas
Wednesday, November 4: Sweeney Todd
Thursday, November 5: Mighty Joe Young (the original)
Friday, November 6: Armageddon
Saturday, November 7: Ship of Fools
Monday, November 9: Strangers on a Train
Tuesday, November 10: The American President
Wednesday, November 11: Fantasia
Thursday, November 12: Ravenous
Friday, November 13: The Right Stuff
Saturday, November 14: The Scarlet Pimpernel
Monday, November 16: Closer
Tuesday, November 17: Nightmare on Elm Street 4
Wednesday, November 18: I've Loved You So Long
Friday, November 20: Stripes
Saturday, November 21: A Face in the Crowd
Monday, November 23: Gone With the Wind
Tuesday, November 24: The Americanization of Emily
Wednesday, November 25: V for Vendetta
Thursday, November 26: Finding Neverland
Friday, November 27: Iron Man
Saturday, November 28: Imaginary Heroes:
Monday, November 30: Poltergeist
It's a fairly good list. I've got a lot more popcorn movies this month than last one. The only thing I'm not too happy about are the 3 TV DVDs I've got:
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1
Highlander Season 1
Olver's Travels
Individually, they aren't that bad, but combined, it's pretty boring fare. I've already started watching Star Trek. God, it's so cringe-worthy.
Here's hoping I can get through another month.
I did much better in October than November. The only movie I didn't watch was Boys Don't Cry, though it had nothing to do with time; I was done with everything else by yesterday morning. This has been a rough month, and I just couldn't bring myself to watch one more depressing movie this month. I've never actually seen it before, but I am well aware of what it contains. I didn't realize until halfway through that a bunch of movies were just depressing; even ones I really liked had, at best, bittersweet endings.
This month's list is more upbeat. Here we go:
Monday, November 2: Ed Wood
Tuesday, November 3: A Colbert Christmas
Wednesday, November 4: Sweeney Todd
Thursday, November 5: Mighty Joe Young (the original)
Friday, November 6: Armageddon
Saturday, November 7: Ship of Fools
Monday, November 9: Strangers on a Train
Tuesday, November 10: The American President
Wednesday, November 11: Fantasia
Thursday, November 12: Ravenous
Friday, November 13: The Right Stuff
Saturday, November 14: The Scarlet Pimpernel
Monday, November 16: Closer
Tuesday, November 17: Nightmare on Elm Street 4
Wednesday, November 18: I've Loved You So Long
Friday, November 20: Stripes
Saturday, November 21: A Face in the Crowd
Monday, November 23: Gone With the Wind
Tuesday, November 24: The Americanization of Emily
Wednesday, November 25: V for Vendetta
Thursday, November 26: Finding Neverland
Friday, November 27: Iron Man
Saturday, November 28: Imaginary Heroes:
Monday, November 30: Poltergeist
It's a fairly good list. I've got a lot more popcorn movies this month than last one. The only thing I'm not too happy about are the 3 TV DVDs I've got:
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1
Highlander Season 1
Olver's Travels
Individually, they aren't that bad, but combined, it's pretty boring fare. I've already started watching Star Trek. God, it's so cringe-worthy.
Here's hoping I can get through another month.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)