Harry-57 Reviews

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Amen

[25 February 2004]

Minor spoilers ahead.

"The Passion of the Christ" is getting a lot of criticism. It is very violent, and is certainly not for young children (unless they are very devoutly Christian). It is kind of a Braveheart Meets Reservoir Dogs.

But is is also very well executed. Sure, this movie may leave some people hanging. The surprise ending was particularly perplexing. A lot of people who are unfamiliar with the Jesus story probably won't get it. But these are minor quibbles. On the hole, I thought that Mel really nailed it. I hope he makes a sequel.

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

A Major Disappointment

[6/10 · 6 November 2003]

I think the Brothers Wachowski knew they had a dog on their hands with this one and figured that all would be forgiven if they simply threw $40 million at the Zion vs. Machines battle scene. Well, they were wrong. Yes, that scene was spectacular, but by the time it rolled around, I didn't really care what happened to anyone or anything in this movie.

How did things go so terribly wrong? I think the failure of "Revolutions" can be blamed on lack of follow-through. The first two films promised many things. For example, when Neo told the Architect near the end of Reloaded that "you better hope we don't meet again," and the Architect responds, "don't worry, we won't," I took that to mean that Neo and the Architect would have some type of showdown in the third film. Unfortunately, it turns out that the Architect was right. And at the end of the first film, when Neo told the machines that he was going to show a few things to the people trapped in the Matrix, I assumed that maybe we would get to see some scenes in future movies of Neo doing just that (i.e., flying up to people and freaking them out with all the super-human things he could do, or perhaps even making an appearance at a Superbowl half-time show). Well, nothing like that happened in the final film. Indeed, some very outrageous things involving Agent Smith had to be going on within the Matrix at the same time Zion was under seige, but we didn't get to see any of it.

Perhaps the most disappointing part of "Revolutions" is the failure of the Wachowskis to do anything interesting with the fact that Neo, at the end of "Reloaded," had "The One"-type powers outside of the Matrix -- he could actually stop the Sentinals with his mind. This suggested that perhaps Neo and the rest of the folks at Zion were still trapped within some type of Matrix, and I thought the third movie would begin by exploring this intriguing idea. Well, I won't go into too much detail, but the explanation as to why he was able to do such things outside of the Matrix was unsatisfying, to say the least.

This film simply did not work. I don't think the Wachowskis really had any clue regarding how to finish this story, and their lack of any good ideas in that regard pretty much doomed this final movie.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Good, But First Film Better

[15 May 2003]

I thought Matrix Reloaded" was a pretty good movie, but not as good as the original. Unlike the first film, this movie had several clunky parts to it, like that extended Zion dance scene near the beginning of the film that went on a lot longer than it should have, and all that stuff about "keymaker" and the like (kind of reminded me of "Ghostbusters" a bit). Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I thought that some of the exposition was virtually incomprehensible -- the movie was definitely more "talky" than the first one (or maybe the exposition in the first one was just executed better, I don't know). Reloaded, at times, reminded me of some made for TV sci-fi show.

At first, I was a bit unhappy with how Morpheus had really turned into this religious-type leader, but that turned out to be a pretty good aspect of the film, particularly when you consider the plot twist at the end that I won't go into. For the most part, the effects were pretty good, as were the fighting scenes. I'm looking forward to seeing the conclusion of this movie in November.

Ekipazh (1980)

Better Than I Thought It Would Be

[4 January 2003]

I rented the DVD for this movie because I remembered reading about it when I was a kid. With this film, the Soviet Union attempted to "cash in" on the success of western disaster films like "Earthquake" and "The Towering Inferno." I rented the movie because I thought it might be interesting from an historical standpoint.

The film was about 20 minutes longer than it needed to be, and it suffers from too much set-up -- nothing disasterous happens until over an hour into the picture. But the carnage does eventually start, and those scenes are pretty good, especially the ones set at the airport located in a canyon. The effects crew did a remarkable job with what appeared to be meager resources.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Wonderful Film

[10/10 · 29 December 2002]

"Two Towers" was very different from the first LotR film, which surprised me given that all three movies were shot simultaneously. I enjoyed it very much.

It wasn't perfect: Characters like Galdalf, Saruman, Merry, and

Pippen didn't get much screen time (the extended DVD will certainly

fix that problem to some extent); Samwise got a little talky near the end (in a way that Tolkien would have liked, though); and the Battle of Helm's Deep and Frodo's adventure unfolded in much different ways from the book, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I thought the Helms' Deep battle could have benefitted from some type of wrap-up.

But, like the first movie, Two Towers' flaws did not work to hurt

the overall film all that much. It is an incredibly entertaining

movie. The visual effects range from very good to over-the-top great.

Oftentimes, a truly great effects shot was placed amongst shots that

were not as good, but still enjoyable. The Helms' Deep battle,

though, was extremely well-done (it reportedly took four months to

film). Some have criticized the movie because it kept breaking away from that battle to show Merry and Pippen with the Ents, but the battle was pretty intense and probably needed a couple breaks, and I thought that breaking from a ferocious battle where everything was on the line to the slow-moving Ents who couldn't make up their minds added tension to the close of the film.

Gollum was amazing -- Serkis and the effects team should win some type of special Oscar for that character. I was worried about whether the effects people could pull off the Ents, but I thought they did a great job with them, and the final scenes with the Ents contain some truly inspired special effects.

Anyway, I think it's a major accomplishment. I did get the feeling at times that I was watching a sneek preview for the special extended DVD that is sure to be superior to the theatrical release. But what do you do? For some reason, a three-and-a-half hour movie is out of the question these days for the studios, so I guess we just have to live with the fact that we are not yet seeing the final product.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Looking Forward to DVD

[8/10 · 26 December 2002]

Never underestimate the power of low expectations.

About 2/3 of the way through the movie, I turned to my friend and asked, "I wonder when this movie is going to start to suck?" I asked that question because most of the reviews I had read stated that it was a weak effort. It was right about then that the film's big battle started, and it was a good one -- far better than the joke of a battle that took place in "Insurrection."

"Insurrection" was flawed because it conveyed the feeling that nothing was ever at risk -- it felt more like a TV movie than a theatrical release. I never got that feeling from this latest film. "Nemesis" definitely had a big movie feel to it, with great effects, some surprises, and good acting, especially from Patrick Stewart.

My main criticism of the story is that it felt rushed to me. Maybe that feeling was pre-ordained because I had heard they'd cut over 45 minutes from it in order to bring it in under two hours. I'd really be enjoying a particular sequence, and then it would be over. I know you should always "leave them wanting more," but maybe the DVD will expand some of the scenes.

Although films like "Wrath of Kahn" and "First Contact" were better (the pacing in both those movies were perfect, in my opinion), I would say that Nemesis maintained the even-odd/good-bad history of Trek films. I know I'm probably in the minority on this, but there it is.

Signs (2002)

Pretty Good Movie

[8/10 · 4 August 2002]

I enjoyed "Signs" for the most part. It reminded me of what "The Blair Witch Project" tried to do, except this movie did a better job at reaching that goal. I don't think "Signs" was all that expensive to make -- the story did not require any special effects or major sets -- so it is a great example of a fairly inexpensive movie that succeeds due to good writing, acting, camera work, and direction. I liked how it told a story of an event that involved billions of people, yet did so by focusing only on a few people and showing how a major world event affected them personally.

It is not a film that needs to be seen on the big screen, though. It would play just as well as a rental, and it might even work better as a film you watch with one or two others in a dark house as opposed to watching it with one or two hundred others in a theatre. The "twist" at the end was ok, but it wasn't anywhere near as great as the one in "The Sixth Sense," another of M. Night Shyamalan's films.

Also, I wished that more was told about what was going on around the world. Events from around the globe were shown via television broadcasts that Mel Gibson and company watched as things progressed, and this technique worked very well. The lack of information on that subject was, of course, intentional, since it added to the tension, but I still wanted to learn more about the extraordinary events that had to have been occurring off-screen. Maybe the DVD will add a few more scenes in that regard.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Episode II Delivers

[8/10 · 16 May 2002]

Forget all the reviews that say Star Wars II completely sucks. Sure, the love story is about the most ineptly written and performed love story in screen history, and Natalie Portman's acting was shockingly weak (or perhaps she was simply mis-casted from the start -- probably a combination of both), but all the great stuff in this film more than makes up for these problems. This movie is far better than Phantom Menace -- interesting things actually happen; and except for the love story sequences, most of it didn't make me cringe.

Although the first 100 minutes of this movie did manage to keep my interest, nothing really special happens -- a few good action scenes do take place (and one bad one -- there's one scene that reminded me of something out of Super-Mario Brothers). But the last 40 minutes or so were really great, and worth the long set-up. Unlike Phantom Menace, I thought the story line to this movie was good -- it's just that the actual dialogue could have used some more work. Why Lucas is now afraid to hire real screenwriters is a mystery -- he had accomplished screenwriters help him out in "The Empire Strikes Back."

Hayden Christensen did a good job with Anakin -- he had some very weak lines to deliver in parts, but those instances were balanced out with some very well acted pre-Vader-type scenes. McGregor also did a good job. It was fun to watch Yoda in action. The film does rely on CGI way more than I would like, but I felt they did a much better job with it this time around.

One other minor criticism -- we learn at the start of the film that Amadala is no longer the Queen of Naboo, and the reason is that Naboo elects its queens and her two terms were up. I thought that was kind of silly. I have no problem with the queen being an elected official, but who in their right minds would elect a 16-year old girl to be the queen of an entire planet? 16-year old monarchs have sprung up from time to time, but only because they were heirs to thrones and the people had no choice in the matter. I could be missing something here (perhaps it is a religious thing on Naboo that only young girls can rise to the level of the top executive), but the whole idea of electing a teenager with very little life experience as your supreme leader seems kind of stupid.

Maybe she ran unopposed?

Thirteen Days (2000)

Somewhat Disappointing

[16 January 2001]

I really wanted to like this movie, but I really did not. I thought the performances were pretty good (Costner should have bagged using the accent, but otherwise he was fine). My problem with the film was that I saw four microphones that inadvertently appeared at the top of the screen above the actors -- two of them were so obvious that pretty much everyone in the theater saw them and laughed. I could see something like this happening in a low budget film, but this movie reportedly cost $80-90 million. Maybe this is nitpicking, but seeing something like that really disrupts a film for me.

I also thought a few important scenes came off as a bit fake, particularly the scene where the President and Bobbie Kennedy were watching Stevenson address the UN. This film would probably make a good rental, but I cannot recommend that you pay theater prices to see it.

The Cell (2000)

Innovative

[9/10 · 26 August 2000]

Although I am a big sci-fi fan, I had no interest in seeing "The Cell" in a theater because all the initial reviews I had read were extremely negative (bad acting, bad script, etc). Then I came across of couple of reviews that rated this film as one of the year's best! Perplexed, I decided to see this movie.

I thought it was great. I think a lot of the negative reviews were due to the disturbing subject matter, and also because the director got his start in music videos (for some reason that's considered a bad thing by some folks). Anyway, the visuals in this film were simply jaw-dropping. I particularly enjoyed the opening sequence -- its combination of desert imagery and weird but effective music really set the tone for this film.

Most movies these days suffer from poor endings, but this one didn't. The well-crafted screenplay set up a multi-layered climax that wrapped up the film nicely. And I thought the acting was good throughout. This movie is not for everybody. It has some very disturbing elements. All I can tell you is that I enjoyed it very much.

Pitch Black (2000)

Good Film

[19 February 2000]

I enjoyed this movie. The monsters in this film looked like a combination of the monsters in "Aliens" and "Starship Troopers." Although the plot was not exactly original, the "look" of the movie was -- it had a lot of nice touches that sci-fi fans will appreciate. Vin Deisel's performance was great -- it could potentially make him a star. As far as negatives go, I thought the ending could have use a little more punch.

The Lathe of Heaven (1980 TV Movie)

Memorable Film

[10/10 · 9 January 1999]

I saw this movie on PBS many years ago when I was a teenager, and it impressed me. I think about this film every time I hear the song "With a Little Help From My Friends," which played an important part in the movie. It is a great example of a low budget science fiction film that succeeds on every level. I can't wait to see the film again as an adult.