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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
Seriously? Will this ever end?
GREAT computer generated graphics. Tons of ape shots in huge groups. That's about it. For two hours, we cover enough story to fill about 25 minutes. And the subtitles are silly...I'm not an expert in ASL, but the full sentences that the apes tell each other with one hand movement? NOT.
It's a good thing this DVD was totally free to me or I would feel cheated. Of course, that is two hours I can't get back, but at least I am not out a couple of bucks to boot.
There are a half-dozen actual actors involved and the rest are extras and apes. Story holes big enough to drive a tank through...which happens with about a half-hour left. Even when we try to blow stuff up it is only partially successful because that would end the simplistic hero-villain story line.
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
A Disappointing Bunch of Balderdash for This Fan
As a life-long fan of the original and most of the sequels, this prequel was a disappointment. There were too many convenient plot twists that were poorly tied to the original series. If you're going to try to attract the original viewers, you'd jolly well better not {SPOILERS} claim that Tribbles were a known commodity before having Trouble with the Quadratiticalie; nor should you give Khan far more strength and recuperative power than he will have twenty years hence. Your killing of Captain Pike when he, in this generation, should be paralyzed and in a wheelchair is a problem, as is Spock's uncharacteristic tear and Scotty's uncharacteristic alien assistant. Action scenes that involve hurtling through space like a missile to hit the needle in a haystack, or fights aboard multiple flying vessels, are just stupid. Hey, JJ: Star Trek has action, but it is also cerebral (City on the Edge of Tomorrow?) and is not, thank God, a Bruce Willis/Rambo exercise in the ridiculous. That said, solid performances throughout by a fine list of actors.
Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)
Bean Fans Will Not be Disappointed!
Mr. Bean's Holiday is a great family movie. While one cannot expect the same type of laughs you would get from The Simpsons, Animal House, or Police Academy, it is creative and watchable, albeit predictable.
Bean is a singular character: he rarely has positive interactions with the various people around him. As such, his range of experiences is limited: he cannot really establish a situational humor based on a relationship. Instead, his gags must, by definition, be based on the LACK of said relationship. Because of this, many people will pan Bean because it is "predictable" or it "has been done to death." Both of this comments have merit, but if those familiar with the character suspend these issues, the movie is truly enjoyable.
Bean's escapades have been summarized in other posts, so I won't go into detail here. I will say that it took me until the film was almost over to notice the recurring appearances of characters, which is quite funny in itself. Keep your eyes open on those passing faces, for they often appear again later, as the same character, as if they are all following Bean on his journey.
I'd say the biggest problem in the film is the sentimentality that emerges between the attractive female lead and Bean. Let's be realistic: no one who looks as good as she does is going to be so quick to adopt a person as quirky as Bean...and I'm not just focused on his appearance.
Rowan Atkison has done a great job with this character, and if this is truly Bean's last harrah, it is a good way to say "adios".
Duck and Cover (1952)
Humorous, telling, and chilling all at once
Such an excellent film! While today, without the Cold War hanging over our heads, it is a bit less biting, this film does a great job of illustrating how ludicrous our leaders were in preparing us to win The Big One.
Throughout the 1980's, as the Reagan administration returned to this type of "civil defense", the movie was particularly hilarious. Today, it gives you a chance to see film footage that you won't see in many other places, and it still brings a chuckle.
While others remember "Bert the Turtle", my favorite line was from the training film explaining how to stock your Bomb shelter with tranquilizers: "Be sure to include tranquilizers to ease the strain and monotony of life in a fallout shelter. A bottle of 100 should be sufficient for a family of four. Tranquilizers are not a narcotic, and are not habit-forming". This advise was interspersed with an announcement that Vice President Richard Nixon was ringing in National Mental Health Week...you get the idea!
American Experience: Radio Bikini (1988)
One of the best documentaries on any topic
This is a powerful and disturbing film using archival footage from the Bikini Bomb Tests in 1946. This is not about the use of the Bomb on Japan; instead, it is a study of the immediate post-war test, designed not only for scientific study but also domestic and international relations and to prepare our military for the eventual use of these weapons. Operation Crossroads changed the lives of those people who used to live on Bikini, as well as tens of thousands of our own sailors. There is no narration, only some interviews and the film footage strung together with audio and voiceovers. The film definitely takes the point of view that these tests had unintended consequences; we were playing with new toys that we did not understand...and most of us still do not understand. I cannot give this film a higher rating.
Psycho (1960)
Considered Great Cinema for a Reason
$40,000 and poverty. Honesty and lies. Infidelity, trust, and honor. Light and Darkness. Black and white. Life and death. Freedom and traps. Sanity and psychosis. Male and female. Alfred Hitchcock studies each of these in Psycho. In fact, it is the study of these dichotomies, these human conditions that make this thriller timeless and allow it to be considered a true classic.
Each of us has human fallibilities. It is the struggle between the perfectibility of man and the imperfection of the human condition that creates the traps that Norman Bates speaks of. In the foretelling rendezvous in the office parlor, Marion and Norman focus on the human condition and how we each weave our own tangled webs. In this scene, Hitchcock clearly shows the fragile female, using sinister lighting and superior camera angles to make her appear vulnerable and susceptible. Hitchcock pits her against the male on the prowl who is conflicted with his own demons and trapped, seemingly, by a traveler's hotel that gets no travelers. Marion is uncomfortable, alone, and on the run straight into a trap of her own making; Norman is uncomfortable, alone, and trapped on what may as well be a dead-end road. Norman is more than a hotelier; he is clearly the nervous suitor, fetching homemade sandwiches to feed the lovely visitor. Marion is registered under a false name, believing that the police will catch her at any moment. If only she were so lucky.
When Norman reveals his sexual interest by peering through the hole in the wall, losing yet another struggle to be good, Marion is exposed at a time when each of us would be vulnerable: as we disrobe in an unknown environment, to prepare to rest from a long day. As the characters lose the struggles that they are fighting, Hitchcock reveals more about ourselves than he does about Norman.
Hitchcock's sense of pace throughout the movie, starting slowly and building to a climax, with various false summits along the way, are combined with the musical score to keep the audience attentive. We find ourselves rooting for the adulterous embezzler, even after her fall from grace, partly because of her decision to extricate herself from her trap while there was still time. Our desire to find out who done it, even after Marion is no longer a part of the story, is a credit to the skillful manipulation of the audience, and of the realization that any of us could find ourselves in a similar predicament, and we would want justice to be served.
Thus Hitchcock is not just spilling blood to scare audiences, but to get us to appreciate our own contradictions and our freedom to choose which road we will travel, which trap we will set.
The Haunted Mansion (2003)
Fun for Disney Fans; Shallow for others
To see the Haunted Mansion come to "life" on the big screen is a treat. Other than that, the story is very thin, yet the acting helps to carry it along.
Murphy and his family, trapped in the mansion for the night, makes for some typical haunted mansion-type encounters, carried out well with solid special effects. Murphy's trademark expression of shock/surprise is exchanged only with his trademark "genuine honesty" grin. Both expressions work well for a real estate agent scared out of his wits. They then spend the next hour running away from various ghosts and goblins in the mansion, many clearly taken from the venerable Disney ride. Some good humor accompanies the scares, as does some mildly un-Disney language.
I enjoy the ride, and I always go on it when I visit the park. I enjoyed the film...I will not, however, see it again.
One on One (1977)
Flat acting does not destroy a good story
While Robby Benson and his girlfriend depict simple, two- dimensional characters in this movie, the supporting cast is
actually quite convincing. The story is interesting and told pretty
well, so the movie keeps up a good pace. While the end of the
movie is rather predictable, it is hard to not root for David to again
slay Goliath; this time using a Red Hot Poker as his only weapon.
Keep in mind that this movie came out in 1977, long before the
current crop of athletic and recruiting scandals, including a team
mate being charged with homicide at a major college. This
fictional tale (One on One) does not vary much from the reality that
some of these kids go through when they leave home for the first
time and enter the Big Business of college athletics.
Anger Management (2003)
Not worth the 99 cent rental!
What a stinker! Although I didn't expect much from an Adam Sandler flick, I obviously needed to set my sights lower. Most of this movie drags, and what could be solid scenes (the airplane seat problem, for instance) fall flat. There are far too few laughs for this to hold up.
Sandler does a fine job as a repressed doormat, but there aren't many laughs there. Jack Nicholson is, at times, brilliant as the flamboyant, unconventional, angry anger coach. But usually, he is just going through the motions as well. Mostly, both of these men are stuck in a poorly written script with no help from the director.
The premise is funny enough, but the dialog is often mundane and the situations unexplored. Why do we go along on the first ride to work? The explosive situation in that scene ended up on the cutting room floor, but the rest of the scene was kept and reduced to a lame comment about running a red light.
And a fistfight in a monastery? Come on!
Fun cameos by various famous angry men provide some chuckles, but they are far too few to save a limp script. Trite, banal, and mostly a bore.
The Homefront (1985)
An Excellent Documentary
As a history teacher, I highly recommend this wonderful summary of the US homefront during WWII. Utilizing interviews from those left behind during the conflict, The Homefront makes the case that the war impacted the US in a multitude of ways...not all military. Personal, poignant moments are shared by soldiers called up, children too young to go, moms who lose sons, women who lose boyfriends (either to the war or to subsequent divorce), women and blacks who finally get their occupational opportunity, and others as they look back from the early 1980's and reflect on how that war changed their lives. Music from the period is interspersed with the reflections and contemporary footage, both motion and still, in ways both instructional and emotional; some of the tunes are remembered fondly by those interviewed (be sure to watch through all the credits!). 88 minutes is long for high schoolers, but when broken into two sessions it is very effective, especially when teamed with a question-and-answer review.
The Little Mermaid (1989)
One of Disney's Best
This is such a pleasant romp from "Under the Sea" to being a "Part of that World". While the end is certainly scary for those under 5, for those 5 and over the movie has much to offer. Parents will also be engaged with the quick pacing and catchy tunes. I like Disney, despite the tendency for sappy, whitewashed, masculine-based fantasy. This one clearly stands out above the rest.
Monster's Ball (2001)
A disappointing plot stretch leading to one great sex scene
While there is a lot more that happens in this movie, there are some possible spoilers discussed below.
Halle Berry is a beautiful woman, which becomes clear in the main sex scene. But how she got there in the first place is beyond belief.
The jumps in the story, the incredible coincidences, the unexplained anger toward family members: they are all too much to stomach. The movie was 112 minutes long, and would have to be 180 to cover the plot holes left. I was hoping that it might be saved by a "Crying Game" revelation that Peter Boyle was the grandfather of Halle Berry, but it unfortunately didn't materialize.
The movie starts slowly and seemingly disjointedly. These connections are quickly made, but others are then revealed. Why did Boyle's wife commit suicide? What happened to Thornton's wife? Why did Thornton hate his son so much? Why did Berry not smoke (any cigarettes) in the last 80 minutes? How did a black child in a racist town whose family was about to be evicted acquire dozens (or, by inference, thousands)of candy bars? Why did Berry go THAT balistic on her overweight son...after all, it's not like his weight suddenly quadrupled. And despite another review, *I* can't understand through her facial expressions why she would resignedly stay with Thornton after discovering that he was her (hated) husband's executioner. Besides, if she hated her husband, as introduced in the jail scene, why would she have been angry with Thornton as shown by her destruction of the drawings at the end of the movie?
And for this, Berry became the first black woman to win an Oscar? Well, it's a beautiful statue, and she IS a beautiful woman...
Prelude to War (1942)
An excellent example of propaganda
This is Frank Capra's classic first installment from the seven film series entitled, "Why We Fight." It is a masterpiece of US propaganda, shown first to soldiers, later to the US public, and eventually to our allies (including the Soviet Union). With dramatic narration and musical score, it drives home the point that "Our World, the free world" must fight "That other world." Capra's idea was to use the film archives of Japanese, German, and Italian propagandists against them with, of course, careful editing and translating.
If you are looking to buy a copy, CARE SHOULD BE EXERCISED due to the existence of a fraudulent film by the same title. The original is a classic, starting with a lively series of shots, often employing double exposures and fading edits, listing the fallen nations to the axis powers. One poorly done fraud, sold in a set of four with three of the original series titles, has a narrator reading a textbook or encyclopedia and turning the pages...
The Bed Sitting Room (1969)
It's still good after all these years
We found a VHS copy! Watched it recently, and still laughed out loud, even though nuclear annihilation is not much of a hot topic. I would still highly recommend it for anyone searching for dark humor, sort of Monty-Python style.