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wickedwes
Reviews
The Shining (1980)
Stanley Kubrick Confession
Mr. Kubrick, I give you a 10+ for this movie because you've cleverly coded The Shining with the Apollo fiasco. I get it. 33% of Americans get it. Evidence which comes into question is overwhelming and to question them is scientific, not conspiracy ! Today's technology ought to be able to verify moon remnants but there is no real rush. Perhaps there is no flag or moon buggy to find. Also, our film cameras of yesteryear and the human body alike must have been Van Allen retardant. Oh how the list goes on. Anyhow, my favorite scene has got to be when Jonny gets up from the launch pad printed carpet and walks down the hall in his Apollo 11 sweater pass the Gemini twins to room 237. How brilliant was that !!! This is what made Kubrick the best at his craft. Attention to detail yet subtle.
Chalk this one right up there with JFK my friends.
"Do something today which terrifies you"
Wes Saldua, Seattle
The Exorcist (1973)
Overall view on one of the most electrifying horror flicks.
The first time I seen this movie was back in 1973. Some how I managed to get into this super super scary movie. At that time "R" rated flicks were very difficult to get in. "The Exorcists" seemed like it should have been deemed NC-17. At 7 years old the thrill of the fright was all I could be concerned with so the plot was way beyond me. Thirty one years later, "The Beginning (2004)" spiked my curiosity to revisit the re-released version of "The Exorcists", but this time I paid attention to the plot and ignored the scare, a very hard thing to do.
The movie started out with a scene of an archaeological dig located in northern IRAQ. Here, a priest/archaeologists (Father Lankester Merrin) discovers an idol which unleashes the evil wrath of pazuzu. Father Merrin duels with pazuzu and exorcises its evil, but has a premonition that he would have to meet up with this evil force in the future.
Pazuzu's evil force follows Father Merrin's return to the United States and manifests itself in a twelve year old girl (Reagan) played by Linda Blair. Reagan's mother (Chris), Father Damien Karras, and the church decides to pursue exorcism and calls upon Father Merrin since he is viewed by the Catholic church as the best qualified to perform an exorcists; and so, the duel between good and evil once again is revisited.
This movie is laced with many interesting subliminal motifs, which I found to be very creative. I can really appreciate this effort from director William Friedkin given the fact that early 70's film making had not yet been introduced to the technological advantages of special effects. In my opinion however, the power of suggestion will always out-weigh special effects in terms of a film putting "the scare" into its audiences. Case and point -"Blair Witch Project". Watch the director's notes to learn about these motifs and some other interesting tidbits about Mosul and U.S./Iraq relationships during the early 70's.
Wes Saldua
One Way Out (2002)
Good plot, bad choice of main character
This movie was a good movie to rent, but Jim Belushi was the wrong choice for this film cause he is type cast as a funny man. Jason Bateman played an excellent part. He should get better roles and should be doing bigger movie projects.
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Excellent script, acting, and cinemetography
In my opinion, this is the best movie ever put together. I was taken at how an "average joe's" war story could unzip war's most disgusting moments. It made me realized what our forefathers faught for, just so that I may live free and in peace -a lesson I think a lot of young people don't take seriously. For this, I think that the script was cleverly written. If you seen this movie you would agree at how well the cinemetography and script captured bullets whizzing by, body parts getting blown to pieces, and the soldiers emotions. Not that I am into gore, but I think to have capture the realism this way was truly amazing. Finally, what better choice than Tom Hanks to play the led role; A versital actor that deserves the oscar ten times over.