tazcat39 Reviews

Dr. T & the Women (2000)

The turkey in the movie got away from Richard Gere. Wish I had. (Spoilers ahead)

[1/10 · 13 July 2003]

This should have been called Dr. T's Looney Life or How I Tried to Be All Things to Every Woman I Ever Met

I watched this movie after taping it off of television. Afterward, I wondered why I wasted nearly 2 hours. What was the point of it? I am not a big fan of Richard Gere anyway.

1. What happened to Laura Dern, the lush sister and her poor little girls???? That could be a whole other movie.

2. Helen Hunt rejects him. I really thought SHE was going to be lesbian or bi-sexual. She always looks like it in her films

3. His daughter DeeDee, Kate Hudson, got him to pay for huge wedding and then runs off with her lesbian lover Marilyn, Liv Tyler, who was her maid of honor.

4. Other daughter Connie, Tara Reid, had issues never resolved, but tried to tell him she would be o.k. I think she saw that he had so much on his plate he could not squander any of his hectic life on her problems.

5. Head nurse Shelly Long loved him, could not get him, so quits her job for a bakery??? OhhhhhhhhhKaaaaaaaaaaaay!

6. Wife Farrah Fawcett was TOO HAPPY with their life so she goes off the deep end. What an insult to mental illness.

And the END. A tornado carries him to where??? South Texas? Mexico? He delivers a baby there, which was his profession. What is he going to do now? Chuck his whole other life and spend his time helping the poor? Who knows? Who Cares?

This nutty film was a huge waste of time.

Invaders from Mars (1953)

It Scared me Silly with I first saw it in 1953

[17 March 2003]

This was in the days of all the UFO scares. I was the only one in my family who liked Sci Fi, so I went to see it by myself.

Possible spoilers:

It scared me that the people disappeared in the sand and then reappeard with that little whatever it was in the back of their necks. Ugh. I might still be checking myself for that periodically! And the poor kid. No one believed him. Why do we say, "Out of the mouth of Babes," and then don't believe what they say.

It is interesting that the actor who played the little boy in the 1953 version played the sheriff in the 1986 version.

Minority Report (2002)

A super entertaining movie

[10/10 · 2 February 2003]

I knew I would like this movie when I discovered that it is based on a short story by Philip A. Dick, who also wrote the story Bladerunner was based on, and Bladerunner is one of my all time favorites.

I gave this movie a ten. Tom Cruise was very good as the precrime cop who gets in the "system" himself for a supposedly future murder. Although I guessed some of the plot ahead of time (maybe I TOO am a precog!!), it did not take away from my enjoyment. I thought the special effects were fantastic. And I don't analyze the movies I like to death like some do; I just enjoy them. Although I waited to see it on video, I really wish I could have seen it in the theater.

Skinwalkers (2002 TV Movie)

Superb PBS Mystery program of book by Hillerman

[10/10 · 24 November 2002]

Having read several of Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee mysteries, I was excited to learn that one would be the first American series of PBS' Mystery.

Wes Studi portrayed the "uptight" Leaphorn very well. I first saw him as the scoundrel Magua in Last of the Mohicans, a part well suited to him. Adam Beach was also great as the more sensitive and perhaps a little naive Jim Chee. Although I guessed who the villain was in this story, it was close to the end when Leaphorn and Chee also discovered the truth.

I grew up seeing Native Americans or Indians always the enemy. It is good to see a story of Indians and their cultural ways in an everyday setting.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

This is the only martial arts movie I have ever liked

[10/10 · 3 August 2002]

Watching this lyrical movie was simply awesome to this senior citizen who usually cannot stand martial arts movies. The fight sequences, the "flying" over rooftops, the "walking" up walls and the treetop sequence were thrilling to me. It was beautifully shot and a good story, fairy tale or not. I was raised on fairy tales here in the USA. It was a tremendous experience to view one from another country.

I wish I knew the ages of some of the naysayers. To say this movie is "boring" or, in today's tacky vernacular, "sucked" makes me wonder what such people like in their films. This movie has special effects and action that far surpasses much of the pap that is churned out of Hollywood today.

Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) Stole my Heart!

[3 August 2002]

Never having read Austen before, I completely fell in love with this A&E mini series and, although I am a senior citizen, with Colin Firth who is wonderful as the Prideful Mr. Darcy. Jennifer Ehle is equally good as the charming but prejudiced Lizzy. I also enjoyed Benjamin Whitrow as the father of "the five silliest girls in England" and Alison Steadman's hilarious rendition of Mrs. Bennett. I immediately bought the tapes and have watched them over and over.

I recommend this mini series to everyone. It far exceeds the films made of Austen's works. Emma (and Gywnneth Paltrow) pales in comparison with this A&E mini series.

I, too, enjoyed Bridget Jones Diary all the more because of Colin Firth's Mark DARCY.

Grey Owl (1999)

Simply Superb is what I call Grey Owl

[10/10 · 22 June 2002]

I saw this movie on the Hallmark Channel and thought it was wonderful, especially since it was based on a true man. Pierce Brosnan was very good as the loner English man who took on the persona of the half breed Grey Owl. The photography was beautiful.

This movie made me do more research into this character Archie Belaney known simple as Grey Owl. I want to read as much as I can about him. At the time I did not know Richard Attenborough had directed it. But I am not surprised. I like all his movies whether he is acting or directing. I gave it the highest rating. However, I would have liked to have seen more in the movie about WHY he took on this persona as it only showed the two aunts who raised him and his room in their house.

You can't go wrong with this movie if you are like me and enjoy a beautiful story without hearing foul language and contrived special effects every few minutes.