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Reviews
Happy Death Day (2017)
Comedy Horror
Very enjoyable lead cast members. Tree's character development very convincing. I did not guess where it was going but it is quite a ride. If you want the dark side of this plot watch "Salvage". Also with a compelling, if little known lead actress.
Extract (2009)
Funny stuff
The actor playing Brad (Milligan) has to be channeling a young Bruce Dern. The rest of it is pretty standard stuff but funny.
88 Minutes (2007)
Comment I hate to make
Since I am sure there is at least one generation of people who are actors because of Al Pacino, it is sad for me to say that this movie is a waste of his time and ours. As he has aged his roles have had a tendency to reflect only one dimension of his acting (the over-acting part). This plot has been done better on TV and might have been a bit better with a more laid-back performer in the lead or Al emphasizing intensity without the yelling. He is more than great when he wants to be. Watch Heat and see how his style changes after the first 20 minutes or so when either he realized or someone told him to dial it down because he was looking like a clown compared to DeNiro with all the arm-waving and yelling. This comment is made by a man who would watch Dog Day Afternoon anytime and believes that the scene in the Godfather where Michael is explaining how he will kill Soluzzo is one of the greatest scenes in any movie. Pacino owes more to his craft that these paychecks.
The Departed (2006)
Not as bad or as good as advertised
I have not seen Infernal Affairs, so can make no comparisons. The Departed is far from Scorsese's best work. The actors are uniformly good, including the minor characters. Ultimately, I could really see no point to the movie. It is much too long, padded by scenes which are unnecessary to the story-line and are just distracting. I was attracted to the plot. A cop undercover in the mob is old news and a cop who is on the take is also, but both in the same story is good stuff. Unfortunately, there is no character who is sufficiently in focus. The scene where Costigan is trailing Sullivan does not show anyone else dressed the way they are and so when Sullivan kills the wrong guy (dressed in ball cap and hooded sweat) it is not only a cliché but no surprise. The only criticism I have of the acting is the constant and annoying way the actors' accents vary, frequently within the same scene. I have never been in Boston (but really like Dennis Lehane's books) but do fancy high-rise apartments really have rats running across the balconies? Saying this movie is great because it won the Oscar is not meaningful: in my opinion this is not the best movie of 2006, or any other year.
A History of Violence (2005)
I guess I am really in the minority
I really like all of the actors in this movie and looked forward to seeing it. Watching the opening credits gave me pause. "Based on the graphic novel" for me is right after "based on the popular video game" as a warning. This movie did nothing to alter that perception. From the point Tom becomes a media celebrity the plot goes downhill fast. Almost everything that goes on after that is just plain silly. If all Richie Cusack wanted was his brother dead then all of Fogarty's cruising around, acting sinister, was a waste of time: mostly my time. The best scenes in the movie, besides the café, involve Tom's son dealing with a bully - good job by young actors. By dealing with the café robbers, Tom became not only a celebrity but someone who the townsfolk would see in an entirely different way. How Tom was going to deal with this new perception would have been a much more interesting story to watch. But, after all, it is based on a graphic novel. I cannot give this a rating of more than 3.
The Stand (1994)
Watching this is punishment
Let me preface my remarks by saying, unequivocally, I am a Stephen King fan, but not an uncritical one. This is worse than Rose Red and that is saying something, in my opinion. I have not and will not, read this book, ever. Even granting that King has a tendency to write a 600-page book to tell what could be a good short story, a book this long on this subject is , well...forget it. The mini-series fails to explain why all the survivors in the East are pretty good guys and in the West are mostly outlaws. As far as the ultimate battle between good and evil are there no survivors in any other countries? I guess a plague of this proportion is not enough trouble for the characters, so the Devil has to show up. I must add that I am second to none in my admiration of Gary Sinise, but I wish he would not waste his time with this kind of work. I also think Rob Lowe did a solid job in this. Most of the rest of the cast got lost in thankless roles with many contradictions in their characters behavior. If a story of confrontation between cosmic good and cosmic evil is well done, the viewer does not have to bring personal religious beliefs along to appreciate it. This is a failure on all counts.
Runaway Jury (2003)
Only see it for one reason
With all due respect to Rachel Weisz, the only reason to see this movie is that Gene Hackman is always worth watching - even when it is in a film that rings false on every note it tries to hit. He is supposed to be the king of jury consultants, but lets an unknown wild-card on the jury. The defendant has hired the dumbest attorney and its CEO is the dumbest CEO ever. The plaintiff's attorney (Dustin Hoffman) is portrayed as an idealist, but the plaintiff's bar is filled with greedy money-grubbers. Idealistic attorneys defend criminal cases for little or no money. The talk about "justice" in the this film puts lines in Dustin's mouth that I give him credit for being able to deliver with a straight face. There is no one to really root for in this movie: Cusack and Weisz are just participants in a perversion of the law, not heroes. The film does make a lame attempt to explain how "Easter" got in the jury pool, which the book really doesn't, but it is not a very good explanation. By the way, plaintiff's attorneys in civil cases also use jury consultants just like the defendant's attorneys and for the same reasons. Jury consultants are probably not as sleazy as they are portrayed in this film, but to pretend that plaintiff's attorneys in civil cases are saints in three-piece suits is like saying movie executives are. There is some action to spice up the film but even it is unconvincing. See it for the reason I mentioned but don't believe for a moment that this is a serious film. If you have read the book, do not even start with comparisons.
Saw (2004)
Not as good as most think it is
This is not a "don't bother to see" movie, but it seems to me vastly over-rated by most commenter's. I did not think of Seven while watching this because it is not in the same class. From many years of watching horror/slasher movies, I don't expect logic from them and you do not get it here. Even given that it is hard to predict how one would react in the situation Lawrence and Adam find themselves, it strains credulity that, handed a hack saw you would start trying to saw through those very thick chains (in spite of their thickness they don't seem to be very heavy) when the shackle around their ankles or the rusty pipes to which the chains are attached look more vulnerable. Poor Danny Glover is stuck with playing one of the dumbest characters in the genre. The scene where he and his partner track the killer to his lair is laughable and seems to have been staged by the killer on the assumption that they would come and not bring any backup. And when he comes in in that ridiculous hooded cape I could not stop laughing. Movies which feature "killers" with infinite technology at their disposal (is Shawnee's "gag" available on the Internet?) are a cop-out. If Zep was told he had a slow-acting poison in his system (that would take at least 8 hours to work) wouldn't you go to the hospital? It is next to impossible to sort out the time frame: when was the picture of Zep looking out the Doctor's bedroom window, which was in Adam's bag with the saws, taken and by who? I will give them that the situations created by the killer are disturbing but have the filmmakers ever been in a bathroom in a factory? I have and I have never seen one that size with just one toilet and no urinals, not to mention a bathtub. And why would it be placed in such an inaccessible location? Maybe the killer built it himself, he seems to be able to do as he pleases. Out of room.
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
Just plain bad
This is one Wells book I have not had the pleasure of reading. Like the 1977 version this one does a woefully inadequate job of explaining what Dr Moreau thinks he is doing. Surgically changing animals into humans certainly needs some explaining. Why a Nobel Prize winner would waste his talent on such hare-brained nonsense needs explaining. This is the kind of sad thing Brando was doing towards the end of his career. This is well-mounted and the surgically offended "animals" truly and foolishly abused. Val Kilmer is very good in spite of having to perform the silly scene which ends in his death. Wells would, no doubt, find it amusing that after a life pretty much devoted to Fabian Socialist thought, he would be characterized as fascist. He did indeed think humans were, if not perfectible, they were at least improvable. I guess I should read the book and get his take on th Doctor's motivation. I would like to thank the makers of this film for having the nerve to be clear what the Doctor's daughter was: not human.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
No context - no glory
Never mind comparing this with the original. For those of us old enough to have seen the original in its first release, in a theatre, the experience cannot be relived. This is a very bad movie, without an original thought to place it in any kind of meaningful context. It is not black comedy and not really a political thriller. If you think corporations control politics, then what makes you think they need to go to all this trouble to have their own president? Just write a check. The performances are ones that the prinicipal players will learn to live down. Washington, Streep and Schreiber are all wasted, as though they know this material is far beneath them but they are working hard anyway. Any discussion of "how it compares to the original" are, in my opinion, a complete waste of time. As a remake it is not even close, so I look at it on its own merits: on this scale it is an utter flop. Watch it if you must but watch it as a movie independent of anything with the same name.
Pet Sematary (1989)
No sense - no horror
I have not seen them all, but this is the worst King-based movie I have seen. It is sometimes gruesome, sometimes disgusting, but never scary and is precipitated by a totally illogical act. How are we to believe that Jud would encourage the cat to be buried when nothing that had come back was "right". This sets off an increasingly insupportable chain of events. The accident which kills Gage does not wash with this parent. After the opening sequence with Gage wandering into the road, are we supposed to believe a loving parent would let a child get so far away from them, in the direction of the road, and turn his back on him? No way. Children of that age can get away quicker than you would think. That is why you watch them. Once this sequence of events is set in motion, the action is very predictable. The acting is pedestrian, except for Fred Gwynne who delivers, as always. The resurrected Gage violates all of my own personal guidelines for horror films regarding the treatment of children. I am not easily offended and I like horror movies, even bad ones (which this is), but that whole sequence is way over the top (when it is not making me think of Chucky). This is a must miss.
The Time Machine (1960)
best time travel story
When my grandpa started to read me H.G.Wells THE TIME MACHINE we wanted to see the movie. The Morlocks I thought were well done! I loved the little grains of hair. But in the movie the time traveller found the the forest of fruit there was no insects! And without insects there will be no trees and without trees there will be no insects. But the Morlocks do look something like the HUMAN-ANIMALS in the movie The Island Of Doctor Moreau. And the time machine looked like a snow sleigh to me. I always liked Rod Taylor, who was also good at light comedy. This remains an enjoyable movie. When the time traveller encounters his friend's son and later the same man, now grown old, it is touching. I have not seen the current re-make, but my grandson would like to. He is seven and wrote the first paragraph of this. I think he did a good job.
The Wasp Woman (1995)
Who has the green light?
Other commentators are way to lenient with remakes of old, cheap, drive-in movie fare. Why do a remake that is even more cheesy than the original? Jennifer Rubin is not nearly good-looking enough (at any of the ages attempted in this film) for this role, not to mention that I confess that I spoke too soon in my comments on the remake of Not of This Earth regarding ridiculously skinny actresses. Like that movie the sets got worse as the movie progressed until some of the scenes looked like they were filmed inside a big packing box. The idea that drives this story is not very good to begin with and warranted no remake, unless as part of a general spoof of the 50's/60's cheap SF phenomenon. My advice is: if you see this movie on the rental shelf, keep walking. Roger Corman has had a long career and I presume he is very rich but he has pretty much been a synonym for fairly bad, low-budget movies. His real claim to fame is the number of careers he has launched for makers of better movies.
Not of This Earth (1995)
If you want to see a movie real bad.........
This lame remake does not compare to the atmospheric original. Never thought I would say this, but Michael York is no Paul Birch. His silly attempt to imitate Jeff Bridges effort in Starman is ludicrous. The inconsistency of his mental powers and the truly silly projection of fire balls from his eyes: Really!! The entire sequence with the "woman" from his home planet is really dumb. Why does he keep telling people/things to meet him at his house, expecting them to get there on their own, when he is going there and could take them along with him? Did they hold an audition for actresses with really skinny legs to play the nurse? Poor Mason Adams just seems at a loss as to how to act or maybe he just is not interested in this material. It also looks like they ran out of money one-third of the way through this, especially the doctor's office and "lab". This movie does not have a terrible idea behind it but it is worked out very badly and I cannot believe anyone thinks it is better than the 1957 original.
28 Days Later... (2002)
Is This the Movie He Wanted to Make
This film seems to fit the comments made on it only as another "flesh- eating zombie" movie, of which there are way more than enough. It is more stylish and less gory than the others but the director's commentary on the DVD I rented, together with the comments of "scientists" included therein, suggest a more serious, if not original, intent. The idea that animal rights activists might accidentally or intentionally release a pandemic is not implausible. Such an event could indeed be a disaster. The idea of a pandemic occurring on its own or as a result of a terrorist act is also not implausible. So why not make that movie? Not commercial? Instead this is just another rather dumb movie, rather than the cautionary tale it might have been. All the neat scenes of deserted cities cannot overcome that. Query: if the "disease" is so contagious and leaves it victims raging maniacs instead of dead, where did everyone go? If the infected can starve to death, why don't they attack each other? There are a lot of things to admire about the technique of this movie and the actors. If you like this kind of movie, don't watch the director's commentary.
Blood Dolls (1999)
booooooooooooooooooo you stink!!!
This movie was terribly made. Of course, it was a little too much like Puppet Master, though the characters, I mean the dolls as characters were too much like Demonic Toys. Oh, what the heck, they are mixed up. Like I said, this was a terrible movie. The clown faced and the small-headed dude were kind of silly characters, now I know why small-headed dude wore a mask, because his head is too small. This movie does not deserve a sequel, at all. These characters should be in the Demonic Toys series. And where do they get the "actors" to make these movies? Are there that many persons working at odd jobs around the movie business...? to say nothing of the director, who also wrote this mess.
Beware! The Blob (1972)
bad blob
This movie was a typically inferior sequel. But this one was worse than the original Blob and the idea of bringing home a sample was really lame. And it popping out of the thing and thawing more when out was also lame. But the guy was really dumb, leaving it on the counter knowing it would thaw, but the end was so bad. The guy who sat down watching The Blob was cool. The story line has no surprises, a problem for sequels. The characters are sorely lacking in the charm of McQueen-Corseaut and the cops are a copy of the original. Since the Blob can only be defeated in one way, there is not much chance of a good ending.
Alien³ (1992)
The Dog Alien - Alien 3
After Alien they started to make thousands of aliens in one movie but in this movie there is only one Dog Alien. But it became full-grown very quickly. Since this movie was not very popular, why was there yet another Alien film? Alien vs. Predator was a very interesting film and I always like to see Lance Henriksen at work, but Alien Resurrection was a little too much like Jason X. The Alien design was an interesting evolution, as always. I agree with other postings, that this movie is under-rated, but after the adrenaline rush of Aliens, slowing the pace back down to that of Alien was a bit of a letdown. I would always pay to see Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley - a truly terrific character. If you have only seen this movie once, give it another shot. Maybe two. It definitely needs more than one viewing, if only to catch all the dialog, as some of the accents are not easy to pick up.
Friday the 13th (1980)
A very good slasher movie
Friday the 13th is a very good slasher movie. Jason Voorhees drowns. His mother goes crazy and starts killing people to keep the camp closed. But why didn't Jason appear? Presumably because they were not thinking about sequels. There is no supernatural element in the movie although the sequels are full of it. This makes it a combination slasher/horror series even though they are not very scary. This is a well-paced film with a good mystery flavor, since we do not know who the killer is until the climax. The acting is mostly unconvincing (which is normal for this kind of movie)- not including Betsy Palmer. More old pros like her would make these movies better but almost all the characters have to be too young to be old pros. It doesn't help much in playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, either. Of all the movies in this series, this is the best, even without the presence of Jason.