Reviews

I rented this a while ago with very high expectations. After all, it is the highest grossing movie of all time (as of the time of this writing). I was left pretty disappointed. That's not saying the movie is without its perks. The special effects are breathtaking. You can tell that lots of time, money, effort, and care were put into creating them. The special effects are about all there is to the movie. The story really isn't too bad, but how many ways can you tell the same story? A rich girl meets a poor boy and fall in love. Her parents disapprove. Not really ground-breaking. The story has been told better many times before. The acting is pretty mediocre. Leonardo is definitely just there for his looks. If they had casted a good, but not as attractive an actor, would the movie have grossed as much as it did? I think not. I know about twenty girls who saw the movie fifty times each to see Leo's face. Kate Winslet isn't as bad, and the remaining actors do fairly well. It's just no surprise this didn't win any awards for acting. Length is also a problem. If the movie were half as long, I'd like it more. The boat sinks for over an hour! It looks good, but it could have easily been cut down. As Kevin Murphy might say, "It's like they have two servings of tension and they're stretching it out for seven people". It just strikes me kind of funny that the "Best film ever made" failed to win academy awards for best actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, OR screenplay. On the whole, there are worse ways to spend your time, but the best film of 1997 should have been won by "Good Will Hunting" or "As Good As it Gets" instead of this. I'll give it 5/10.

As I saw that, I was stunned. Leonard Maltin rates movies on a scale of one to four. I'll give it 2 1/2 stars out of ten, maybe. The plot is stupid and full of holes. Aliens fight on earth for some reason and kill this guy with green skin, who drops his laser gun. A loser that everyone picks on (for good reason) finds this gun and starts blasting everyone and everything that did him wrong. Especially hilarious are when he blows up a pinball machine (did it take his quarter?) and when he blows up a billboard that says simply "Star Wars" (Huh?). It's every bit as bad as it sounds. Roddy McDowell actually appeared in this movie - he must have been hurting bad for a movie role. Just remember, according to Leonard Maltin, this is better than "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (which only got two stars). Worth watching once on its own for camp, but recommended especially for MST3K. The episode doesn't run on TV anymore and can't be found on Rhino, though, so it's tough to find. Pretty bad. This movie marked the point I stopped trusting Leonard Maltin altogether.

I can't decide if I like this or "Blazing Saddles" better. I watch this one more, but it's close. Anyway, this is one of the best, funniest movies ever made. Mel Brooks gives you a history lesson as only he could tell it. There are several segments, detailing different parts of history. My favorite is the Roman Empire section. Rent this movie today and watch it.

Two episodes of a really bad 70's T.V. show crammed together. It's worth watching for laughs. Observe all the bell bottoms, cheap dialogue, and unquestionably the worst actor I ever saw (the guy who plays Dr. Hale). Expensive and hard to find, so stick to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, which appears on the Sci-Fi channel. "Riding With Death" occasionally runs.

I don't like this movie because it's good - in fact, it's a horrible movie. This is one of those movies that is pure camp, like "Plan 9 from Outer Space". I first saw this movie on Mystery Science Theater 3000, and now own both that version and the original. Basically, Mitchell is a fat, alcoholic cop with little or no morals. He sleeps with hookers and shoots civilians. And he's the protagonist! Several scenes are really laughable, too many to list. The beer filled love scenes, Mitchell throwing orange peels at people, and more! All fans of bad cinema should watch this. Also, if all you've seen is the MST3K version, try and track down the original. Several great scenes were cut, including Mitchell calling his boss a "cookie stealer".

This movie is hard to enjoy at all, even as camp. It's hard to figure out anything about the plot in this one. Seven kids with really, REALLY disturbing shorts on run around and yell things in AMAZINGLY deep voices for 10 year olds. It sounds like one 40 year old guy dubbed everybody.Also, apparently, the Japanese ran out of models to blow up and used ACTUAL FOOTAGE from World War II. This also results in the shot of a building blowing up with a HUGE picture of Hitler on it. The same footage is rolled over and over and over again. The hero of the movie, a guy named "Space Chief", never goes into space. Who he is, why he has super powers, why he's fighting, and where he comes from are all a mystery. The horrible music must also be noted. 4-note phrases are repeated in an endless loop, causing you to want to scream. This movie was directed by the same guy that did "Prince of Space". I used to think "Prince of Space" was terrible, but after seeing this, it looked like "Citizen Kane". The main question here is, "Why was this stupid movie translated into English?" If you can figure it out, you have a superhuman IQ and deserve a nobel prize. Avoid this movie like the plague. (NOTE: The Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of this makes it pretty funny. Watch that if it comes on TV soon. I just wonder how they managed to make this funny. I definitely feel for the writers as they repeatedly watched this movie.)