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Reviews
Skyline (2010)
Disappointing
I'm giving this movie a 3 because it has pretty decent CGI. Other than that it pretty much stinks. I knew there was trouble right at first when it used the tired technique of a teaser scene, then reverted to a "15 hours earlier" point in time. For some reason every show on television is doing that, and it is getting quite annoying.
The action centers around a group of people in an L.A. high rise who witness an alien invasion. The aliens are laying waste to the city (and presumably cities all over the world) for the express purpose of ... wait for it ... stealing brains. I think the writers of this turkey could have used some brains themselves.
The aliens have huge hovering spacecraft, flying things, walking things, and climbing things of various sizes that are seemingly indestructible.
The quantity of main characters is steadily whittled down until only two are left. They are sucked up into the mother ship where the man's brain is removed and inserted into a hulking alien body. The woman is spared, apparently because she's pregnant (?). The man/alien then defends her against some other creatures mucking about in the spacecraft's disgusting innards. Then the credits start to roll.
This is like "Independence Day" where there's little back story, lousy acting, and the bad guys win. The best part about the movie is I watched it on PPV, and thus saved a lot of money.
I kept waiting for some mechanism that would allow the Earth people to win, but it didn't happen. I think that would have saved the movie, but I guess the writers ran out of budget and ideas at the same time, leaving the rest of us hanging.
Don't watch this unless you're prepared for a letdown.
Harry's Law (2011)
Oh good...more Limbaugh bashing
I found the show to be fairly good, mindless entertainment until Kathy Bates' character started into a rant which (among other things) bashed Rush Limbaugh as well as right-wingers in general. It's not beyond belief that a storefront lawyer who is representing lost-cause minorities would have leftist, liberal leanings, but do we need to have our noses rubbed in it? I can overlook the high-end shoe store-in-a-ghetto setting. I can overlook the fact that a guy who took his third fall for drug possession will get off with a wink and a nod. I can overlook the fact that a couple of patent lawyers can seamlessly start a criminal legal practice. I can even overlook the thug with a heart of gold who came to extort and left with a man-crush on one of the lawyers.
But the liberal preaching got to me. It was almost as gratuitous as the famous rant from Dixie Carter against Dan Quayle. Can't we leave politics in the dressing room?
Shadowheart (2009)
What happened to the bounty hunter?
Possible spoilers ahead.
Years after James left town he became a bounty hunter with the reputation of bringing his quarry back more dead than alive. He looked and acted like an hombre who could take care of himself and stay alive in his chosen profession.
So what happened to all that experience when he handed over Will Tunney to the ancient sheriff and his slow-witted deputy? Didn't anybody notice Spider and Tunney's two other minions leave town in a hurry? Did they all think Tunney would roll over and let himself be taken? Apparently so, since the whole town just went to a wedding, after which the newly-married couple were sitting out in the open with a flashing neon sign over their heads that said "KILL US".
Geez.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
Great, mindless fun
I had a really good friend who died a number of years back. He and I both loved to see these action flicks that didn't require a lot of thought to enjoy. We just enjoyed the explosions, gunfire, improbable acrobatics, and all that. I thought about him all during this movie, and it brought a big smile to my face.
Growing up, I was a little too old for the G.I. Joe action figures, so I guess I missed a lot of the inside baseball in this movie. It was still fun.
Too much analyzing of these types of movies will just drive a person crazy.
Bones: Double Trouble in the Panhandle (2009)
Cute, but why?
This episode gets a 6 only because Emily Deschanel looked pretty darn good in her knife-thrower target outfit. Otherwise, it was a bit of fluff and seems to only be useful for setting up the increasing relationship between Bones and Booth. The end of the episode is a bit uncertain because I can't decide whether the circus will get in trouble for the death of the twins. The carnies left in the middle of the night, but it's not like they have dropped off the radar. How hard will it be for the cops to find them? I'm not real satisfied with Angela's lesbian relationship after her hot near-marriage with Hodgins, and the never-ending succession of interns is getting tiresome.
That all being said, it's still one of our favorite shows and we hope it stays on the air.
The Company (2007)
Well done show, but is it biased?
At the time of this writing, I have seen 2 of the 3 episodes in this miniseries. I am enjoying it because of the historical value and the possible insight into events that occurred during my childhood. However, I am wondering if the show's creators aren't concentrating on debacles involving the CIA instead of their successes. For example, we are treated to long episodes concerning the Hungarian revolution and the Bay of Pigs, two blots on the Unites States in that we promised help to freedom fighters and then left them hanging out to dry. We also didn't comport ourselves too well in Berlin, but I don't know if those events actually happened or not. I did appreciate Alfred Molina threatening his Russian counterpart with death if they didn't tell the Hungarians to release the captured CIA agent.
To get nit-picky, there was one scene that was supposed to take place in 1954, but there was a 50-state flag in the room. Huh? In another scene, they characters discussed attorney general Bobby Kennedy, but then the date was shown as November, 1960. JFK wasn't elected until November of 1960, and wasn't inaugurated until January of 1961. Therefore, Bobby Kennedy was not the attorney general at that point.
I look forward to the third and final episode to see if they once again portray the CIA in a bad light. Historical fiction is still fiction, but I feel it should be true to the events (I think this was), but it would be nice if it showed both sides of the story.
The Rockford Files: Backlash of the Hunter (1974)
I never saw this one before...
I have always been a huge Rockford fan, starting back in the day when the show was on the air. In those days, VCRs and TiVo didn't exist, so if you missed an episode when it was aired or re-ran, you were out of luck. So I missed this pilot until recently. It was a whole lot of fun, but had some plot holes you could drive a Firebird through, as well as some goofs! For example, Sara Butler's brother (played by Billy Mumy) provided a valuable clue to a conspiracy that ended with Sara's father getting murdered. It was never revealed just why a rich widow was putting the brother through medical school, but that fact had Rockford chasing down a bunch of bad guys.
I'm glad Noah Beery Jr. took over as Rocky...the guy who played him just wasn't as good, and it was jarring to see that old coot getting called "Rocky".
Another thing that I noticed was Jim's Firebird kept changing back and forth between a 1974 and 1975 model. According to IMDb, the air date of this episode was March of '74, so I am wondering how they got their hands on a big-window Firebird that didn't come out until the fall of '74. Was there some later editing going on? Another stretch was having the bad guys running away into the desert and getting into an airplane. They then made strafing runs on Rockford and Lindsay Wagner. Wouldn't it have been simpler just to stop their car and open up with their machine gun? Maybe it was just to give Jim a chance to disable a moving airplane with a snub-nose revolver. He somehow hit something that caused oil to gush out of bullet holes in the aircraft, which led to an emergency landing and the subsequent explosion that destroyed the airplane (or one similar to it). I guess all that was just for show.
Nevertheless, a fun episode and a definite must-see.
Babel (2006)
There's two and a half hours I'll never get back!
I gave this movie a 4 out of 10 because I enjoyed the insights into several cultures, especially modern frenetic (teenage) Tokyo. That having been said, I am not one for psychological movies, and I totally missed the deep significance of all the personal relationships that other reviewers have mentioned. My bad. I wasn't looking for a shoot-em-up, but if I wanted to see a movie where the time line was all screwed up, I'd watch "Pulp Fiction" again. I really had no idea what the point of the movie was, other than to show some miserable goings-on that were loosely related and really caused by no one.
I was a little skeptical about Moroccan authorities tracing the gun so fast, but then I realized the Tokyo scenes must have taken place well after the Moroccan ones, similarly to the Mexican scenes taking place prior to the events in Morocco. The time shifting was too subtle for me, and quite annoying.
I was happy that Cheiko didn't take a swan dive off her balcony, because I felt sure that was coming. And it seems pretty strange that a reasonably attractive girl would have such a hard time hooking up with someone, whether or not she was a deaf mute.
The Wicker Man (2006)
Did Nicholas Cage lose a bet?
Let me say up front that I really didn't see the end coming. I never saw the original movie, so didn't know what to expect. It did become clear that Cage's character was either going to rescue his wife and daughter and live happily ever after, or he was going to meet a bad end. We all know what happened. I like Nicholas Cage, and this movie was a complete waste of his talent.
Things I can't believe: Why would a guy who is allergic to bees (a rather heavy-handed plot point) ride a bicycle into a field full of bee hives? Why would a California highway cop who is hundreds of miles out of his jurisdiction act like such a storm trooper? What are the islanders going to do for supplies after they disposed of the pilot? How did his suit last as long as it did? Why did they need to break his legs? He was outnumbered about a hundred to one, and they nearly killed him with bees.
The only purpose of this movie is to get drunk with friends, watch it, and make fun of it.
Click (2006)
A bit disappointing
I was somewhat disappointed by this movie. After looking at the trailer I expected more of a Jim Carey-esquire romp, a'la "Bruce Almighty". Adam Sandler is given a "universal remote" that allows him to fast-forward his life, skip chapters, view past history...everything but REWIND. Using the device, he totally screws up his life, fast-forwarding through much of it. I found myself not liking his character too much.
After a series of fast-forwards, he realizes he is old, his kids are grown, his wife has divorced him, and his father is dead, but he is running his own architecture firm. Typical trade-off for work-minded people, I guess. How many movies have exercised THAT theme? At that point, he wants to fix things but for some reason, the remote doesn't allow him to go back and have a do-over. Good thing my TiVo remote can do that!
Transporter 2 (2005)
I wish I had one of those!
This movie had great action if you are willing to suspend disbelief for the duration. The real star of the movie is Frank Martin's Audi. This miraculous ride gets sprayed with bullets, crashes into other cars, flies through the air, and swerves all over streets, sidewalks, and the beach. And all without getting so much as a speck of dust on its glossy black finish! I need one of those to get me through rush hour traffic! While we're at it, can I have one of those magic Hollywood cell phones with batteries that allow 2,365 hours of talk time on one charge?
Frank himself displays choreographed Jackie Chan-like fight scenes, but without the whimsical humor.
I will say again that it's not a BAD movie, unless you're looking for a coherent plot and a marginal modicum of believability.
Birth (2004)
I want my 100 minutes back!
What an absolutely horrible movie! I suppose (from reading other viewers' comments) that it has some popularity, but I have never been a fan of long scenes where nothing at all is happening. This includes closeups of Nicole Kidman, the excruciating opening jogging scene, the symphony concert, and many more.
Apparently, once the premise of reincarnation was dealt with, they had to fill in the time. The kid was quite obviously on the up and up, based on his knowledge of events and people. He also decided to leave well enough alone (why?) and bow out, leaving Nicole's character Anna to come unhinged. There wasn't one likable character in the movie.
Now can I have my hour and a half back?
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Don't believe all you read in the reviews....
WARNING...POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD
A previous reviewer felt Ashton Kutcher was not ready for drama. I disagree. He's no Gregory Peck, but I thought he did a great job playing a 20-something college student, and playing him straight. His reactions in all the situations he was in were believable.
As for the movie, maybe one needs to have an open mind for alternate realities; the road not taken. How many times in somebody's life could they make a decision that takes them down a totally different path? Nobody can predict the events that would occur from those decisions, either. Ashton Kutcher's character Evan is somehow able to project his adult mind into himself at various points in his life in vain attempts to make things better in his present day. Every time he "fixes" something, another facet of his life is broken.
Countless time travel novels have been written about people who attempt to change the past, only to have the future become unrecognizable. This movie is original in that it poses time travel without the benefit of a machine. Evan's only mechanism is to read journal entries at critical points in his life.
In my opinion, it is a highly watchable movie.
Crusader Rabbit (1950)
Where's the DVD?
I have great memories of this show, and thought I was the only person who remembered it. I didn't know there was a color version made in 1957 (until the mid-sixties, ALL my shows were in B&W!).
So when is somebody going to come out with a collection of this cartoon classic?
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Good special effects...a nothing story line
Spoilers ahead...
I can't say I wasted two hours, but I was really starting to get tired of those fight sequences in which nobody ever got hurt. Jackie Chan does it better, even though he doesn't go into "bullet time".
It would have helped to have watched the first movie, because there was no effort to bring the viewer up to speed on the plot. It was a while before I figured it out...
Then the ending. "To be concluded..." Geez. So this movie was nothing but a teaser to get us to watch whatever is coming up in a couple of years. I think I will pass.
The Scorpion King (2002)
Where's Jackie Chan when you need him?
POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD
This is a Jackie Chan movie without Jackie. Also without all the mugging and witty reparte'. I did think the fight sequences (there are plenty) were done well. It's definitely not a thinking person's flick, but I still had fun watching it. I'm not much of a Rock fan, but Kelly Hu is certainly easy on the eyes, and it was a ball figuring out how she was going to keep strategic parts of her body covered.
The Scorpion King seemed to be a pretty decent guy in this movie, so I have no clue as to how he became a baddie for Mummy 2. There was very little tie-in to the Mummy movie as I remember it. Many viewers complained about the lack of a plot, but the reason is that they edited out a lot of dialog pertaining to the "legend" behind how someone gets to be the king during this time. Indeed, a lot of the plot for this movie got left on the cutting room floor, as is demonstrated in the "alternate scenes" section on the DVD.
I recommend this to anybody looking for a no-brainer movie with some fun scenes.
Reign of Fire (2002)
Rather disappointing
POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD
I was really looking forward to watching this movie, but instead of a satisfying story of mankind fighting dragons, I was left with a million questions as to just what the heck was going on.
The movie took a stab at explaining how ancient dragons awoke and began destroying the earth; breeding faster than mayflies. What I couldn't figure out is exactly what they ate. Sometimes they were shown scarfing down a human, but the dialog kept talking about them eating ashes resulting from the fires they started. Huh?
The other thing is that the humans were rather openly living, growing crops, and moving about. Why didn't the dragons put an end to that?
Sorry, but I wouldn't recommend this one.