Reviews

Most of John Cusack's films I enjoy. He is very good in comedies, drama, and action films.

I find him an incredibly funny actor. His ability to wear a deadpan expression after delivering an incredibly funny line is amazing. He comes across as very sincere. It makes it easy to empathize with his characters.

My whole problem was with the plot.

The premise of the movie was just too weird for me to get into. To say it was surrealistic is to put it mildly.

I realize that the idea of the movie was to take a a sort of absurdly improbably "what if" and fully explore that idea.

In that respect, I think it does a good job.

It explores the implications of this possibility with admirable depth and detail. The actors play their characters believably - even if the plot itself is pretty unbelievable.

I enjoy science fiction, horror, and fantasy films. I realize, honestly, that most of these films plots are completely or at least mostly implausible as well. However, in watching them, I feel a sense of "suspension of disbelief" that I just did not experience with this movie.

I realize this film enjoys cult film status. It is just not the cult for me, I am afraid.

I watched this film at home, when I was by myself. Maybe that was part of the problem.

I do sort of imagine this film could be more enjoyable if you watch it with a group of friends - especially at home, not in a theater. Then you could exclaim about one bizarre scene or speculate about what will happen in the next.

A group of close friends, in a very relaxed, informal, rowdy atmosphere - who enjoy a taste for peculiar movies - could probably get pretty into it.

The age old story. Boy meets dragon. Boy runs away. Dragon follows boy home and eats boy's parents. Boy has issues. Psychologist tries to help boy, by taking him back to island where trauma that killed his parents which he has repressed can be remembered again, thus healing boy. Psychologist made big mistake.

This movie was not very memorable for me.

There were some good action scenes with humans versus lizards so if you like that sort of thing you will probably want to see this film once. Not twice.

No big flaws with the film, except dragons did not quite seem "like they were really there". Their images were sharp, clear, and very detailed but somehow they seemed matted in or CGI'ed. Acting was good but characters were kind of flat and plot was not as exciting as many suspenseful films in its genre. Pretty nice photography.

I just finished watching this movie and I think it is one of the best I have seen in a long time. It manages to combine a ghost story, a love story or two, a teenage rivalry, a suspense-thriller, a get-even story, and a "I'm-not-telling" (grin) ending.

Children and adults can both enjoy this film. It manages to avoid any gorey scenes and yet includes plenty of rising suspense and timely comic relief.

The two youthful stars, Ricky and Elisha, are truly great actors and will no doubt have very long, very successful careers. I look forward to seeing them play in more movies soon because they certainly can act. The pair put quite a lot of "punch" into the story, making all aspects of it real and involving.

I really recommend you see this film. I think you will enjoy it no matter what age you are.

Never see this movie.

It tries to be a spoof on scifi/thriller films of the 1950s and 1960s but all it succedes at is making you wish really badly that you were watching one of them and not it.

It is very lame. A spoof has to have some aspect which has some above par quality to it. This movie does not have any such aspect.

Save yourself. It's too late for me but... just don't watch it.

The movie starts off with Muffy and two girls she is friends with deciding to investigate the "haunted" house nearby. They do and encounter several men - and women - who try to change their lives.

At some points it is ambiguous as to whether the vamps in the mansion are really vampires or not.

The movie is intentionally camp and never tries to build a serious feeling of suspense. The girls are cute, and the "valley girl" accents passable.

The end of the film is a bit of a surprise but also a more-than-familiar cliche.

This is a great movie if you like suspenseful crime dramas. Instead of being told in terms of black and white "good guys, bad guys" the film shows the perspective of what is going on from one of the women, an ex-con. The ex-con is played by Gina Gershon and she plays it well, very well.

Her character has a sort of uncut diamond quality. She is beautiful, reserved, vulnerable, confident, and competent, all at once. You wind up liking her for all those reasons.

The other woman, the moll, is what keeps the movie viewer of balance. She too is pretty. However, you are never quite sure where she stands or ultimately will protect in the end. She seems neither weak, nor defiant.

Gina Gershon's character on the other hand is very strong. You get the idea she is very bright, very determinted, very charismatic without actually being charming, and cool. Very cool.

When the two women hook up it is a bit of a surprise. It is also a bit tantalizing. You are not quite sure until the end how it will all work out.

The gangster is not a very lovable guy. He is human but that is about his only endearing quality.

The film has some great action and home handy-man scenes. If you were a fan of the old Mission Impossible series or liked the movie The Mechanic you will find this film pretty likeable too.

The writing and the acting are very good.

This is one of my favorite films of all times.

An android is assembled from the instructions left behind by its designer. The team assembling it is made up of his assistant and a group of other cybernetics experts. The technology is highly advanced and no one is greatly surprised when the android fails to "activate" - just disappointed.

Later on in the film more comes out about the origins of the android and its "purpose" as defined by its creator. The conflict of the film is between man and machine, and man versus man. Perhaps the standard motivations apply. There is a very large-scale allegory as a backdrop to the main story that is eventually revealed. The android and its creator are not all that they seem. They are more than they appear to be.

The assistant is loyal, dutiful, and moral. Almost all the other people are not.

There is plenty of action as the assistant and his eventual partner struggle to do the right thing, and just survive.

There is nothing camp about the film and it is in no way a spoof of anything. It does have a lot of futuristic technology, at least in the lab. Pretty much what we would expect of the 21st century. Except maybe for magnetic "computer tapes": too old-fashioned today! They are already becoming an anachronism.

If you liked any of these films you will probably also like this one: Westworld, Futureworld, The Stepford Wives, or The Terminator - then you will probably like this one.