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Reviews
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Lucas Lost It A Long Time Ago
OK, I get it. Spielberg directed it; Lucas writes and produces it. Hopefully, Spielberg will Never work with Lucas again... what a waist of precious talent.
I only enjoyed seeing Harrison Ford and Karen Allen reunited after more than 20 years.
The first two movies were beautiful, with no expense withheld to attain the right looks. I saw the Last Crusade when I was too young to understand why it sucked in comparison to its predecessors. Now it's blatant; Lucas is cheap. He believes his stories are just as good when he bypasses shooting at good locations, because it's expensive and he thinks it will be just as good with cheap sets and current CG, which is sub-standard.
George, your writing, producing and directing suck; sell your franchises and find something that inspires you again.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
There Will Be Salad Tossing
About 7 Stars
Daniel Day-Lewis DOES deserve a nomination. Though the flaws of the movie can't be dismissed. Dano's acting is utterly eclipsed by Day-Lewis,which works against the telling of the story. Also, over the 40 year course of the story there's zero age progression on DD-L or Dano, who always looks 14. Did Anderson think that was cute?
Little House On The Prairie meets A Clockwork Orange (but neutered to a virtual PG-13), with some vibes from the original Planet Of The Apes.
Cinematography, Tempo and Acting are fantastic. Ambition is the most critical element in this movie; and I give it to Anderson... that he makes the point that The Meek Are Blessed, even if terrorized by the ruthless.This movie though is a major criticism against Americans; you can't construct a universe where the greatest businessman and religious person are reckless without saying "Hey, This is how the world is."
It blurs the line between between ambition and corruption; like cheering for ignorance. I am not drawn into movies about nihilists. If you think christians and capitalists suck then this may be your movie. To be fair to Anderson, there are businessmen and christians in this flick that aren't nasty; they just have no ambition... so where's the socialist white knight, Anderson? Or should Americans just take a f-ing leap? This story works better as a story than it does as a movie: Movies are a visual medium; symmetry can't just break for the ending, then call it clever. For the better part of 2 and a half hours Anderson immerses us in sweeping vistas of the California wilderness... which leads to us spending the last 15 minutes in the main character's basement.(?) I don't understand how this made sense to Anderson while story-boarding.
When I think of PT I think of Magnolia, Boogie Nights and Hard Eight. When I think of Quenton Tarantino I think of Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. For me this flick might be for PT what Kill Bill is for Tarantino.
El laberinto del fauno (2006)
Disappointed
I think this director is fantastic and extremely skillful; I'm also happy that Spanish speaking people who don't know English can have their minds blown away with his movie; but the language of commerce is not Spanish. Foreign language dubbing is horrid, and should be the quota for people who don't speak the common language. Most people the all over the world who have struggled to learn English will not be able to fully experience this picture as it was intended. Although this is a great movie, it's not good enough to make anybody learn Spanish; I'm not sure why investors or a studio would fund something that will only appeal to a fraction of the Spanish speaking population. I guess they don't care to make the amount of money from a movie shot in English.
The Contender (2000)
I watched it so you don't have to
This movie is lame conservative bashing, thinly veiled. This movie is for Conservatives what 'Saved' is for Christians ... nothing but a cheap shot at people somebody disagrees with.
If you want to see a movie that recklessly demonizes conservatives, then look no further! This is your flick! Sadly, the cast is stellar and therefore this was the worst part of the production, the waste of such talent.
BTW, If you like this movie then you will Love "SAVED"
Sidebar Note: Gary Oldman was so ashamed of this production that he spoke out against the final cut, saying he had been lied to about the films leftist bias.
A Christmas Carol (1984)
The best ever production of A Christmas Carole
There are very few story productions that deserve 10/10 stars. A production will only be as good as it's weakest link. Even considering that it was produced for Television in 1984, I see no weak links. Great presentations of the: cast, direction, cinematography, soundtrack, sets, and most importantly a great story... all truly great! George C Scott's performance is as good as he EVER was. The producers succeed in guiding the audiences hearts in the wide ranges of love, anger, disgust, pity and even terror. One of the most important and most overlooked components of stories are endings. And as compelling as the rest of the story is, it's ending will have you contemplating the story days later. Please take the time to see this wonderful and often overlooked production. And by the way, your welcome. :)
King Kong (1976)
A great movie!
This movie deserves a 10. I have serious doubts that Peter Jackson will tell a Kong story as well as John Guillermin did. If a friend had never seen a Kong movie; I'd tell them to see this one. Why? Because once you've seen one Kong movie, then you'll know what's coming in the other ones. This movie has spirit in surplus. It's charming, action packed, beautiful, thought provoking, and heart poundingly scary at all the right moments. Logistically, it accomplishes many production benchmarks that most filmmakers only dream of; such as acting proficiency, cinematography, dramatic timing, locations, scoring, direction, script, story-telling and good budget. John Guillermin weaves all those elements together to produce a movie that will captivate you, if you let it. It's a movie so rife with differing symbolism, that you won't be able to keep it all straight. And though Guillermin did not invent the basic story, he successfully presents us with the complexity of it; which is the greatest aspiration of every movie. Complexity like:
1. The role reversal of man and pet, where the animal becomes the master. (Including where the master's relationship turns unhealthy)
2. The need that many creatures (including humans) have to be loved by people.
3. Ironically, it's the sexy Dwan who teaches us that instead of indulging one's lust, that sympathy, respect and a friend with a positive attitude is what people actually need.
4. The evil that results from humanity's inclination to exploit, and indulge our greed and self-centeredness.
5. How man ought to strive for a noble management of his life and his surroundings, like the environment-conscious Jack Prescott.
6. Kong and Jack share a resemblance. By the criteria of their own differing species, they are noble and innocent and both are victimized by the corruption of modern society.
Excellent performances from all cast members. I've never seen a better performance from Charles Grodin; he's perfect in this movie. Jeff Bridges is as good here as he ever is. Jessica Lange is also spot-on as the air headed beauty that this story needs (For it's plausible that someone naive as Dwan could genuinely care for such a terrifying beast). You'll sympathize with all the main characters. And you join each of them as they strive to and approach their dreams; and except for Jack, they all achieve. But the actual glory is not what they'd hoped for; it's tainted bitter by a price. And Jack, pure of heart yet impotent, gets nothing but the trauma of watching events turn from bad to worse.
Great film-making. The views, lighting, film grade, and overall production are top notch even by today's standards.
Why Me? (1990)
entertaining, if you don't have anything to do
I saw this movie while I was working at a Post Production studio in Hollywood, back in 1990. I was 19 and maybe somewhat more sympathetic back then.
Post Production can get boring at times, and a lot of very dull and incompetent programming gets produced and sent through Post Houses, like the one I worked at. But this movie, even being a solid "B" flick: starts, gets moving, does it's best with what it has, and wraps up decently (as far as stories go).
From what I remember, this movie doesn't pretend to be anything but entertaining; and while other movies do that better than this one, this is a movie that can entertain you if your bored and can watch a jewel thief movie without being critical about clichés. You can tell that the producers knew how much they could get from this budget and story and I don't think this crew could've done better. Chris Lambert, Chris Lloyd, and JT Walsh... good combo, and I think they pull it off as best it could be done.