Reviews

Yipes! It was terrible... like Mystery Science Theater 3000 terrible. Needs to be riffed and parodied. Just don't try to think about it afterwards. It will hurt your brain. Did not even feel like a JP movie... (or a JW movie for that matter)... felt like a weird 1950's monster movie with James Bond-like undertones. Fun only if you are in the mood for something fun but terrible at the same time.

This is a bad movie. I honestly like it until the aliens show up and then it just turns into a "we all must band together to defeat the new enemy" routine. I would rather watch a movie about these characters WITHOUT the aliens and it ends in an epic gunfight or duel between Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig. The aliens themselves were weakly designed, were one-dimensional, and were overall not very interesting. The movie as a whole was a disappointment and the script was predictable and thoroughly uninteresting. Still, it's fun to watch Harrison Ford wear a cowboy hat and ride a horse. That's about all I can say for this movie.

Incredibles 2 is not a bad movie, per se, but it does not exactly take off the way the first one did. There was so much originality and genuine surprise in the first one and this one has little of that. The same great characters are there but the circumstances they have to face in this one are nowhere near as cool or interesting as in the first movie. There are a lot of nice moments here but they just don't add up to as compelling a narrative as we had in the first one. Which is too bad. They spend a lot of time and energy on the whole "should supers be illegal or legal" or not idea, and frankly I don't think the audience really cares too much about that. We've had X-Men movies and Watchmen traverse this exact same territory and the villain in this one is no Syndrome. So on the whole the film, especially if you are a fan of the first, is a bit of a letdown. There are some new supers here but they don't get much screen time. The most interesting "new" development is the discovery of jack jacks powers, which lead to the films most spontaneous moments. Which is too bad because Incredibles deserved better IMO.

From the shtetl to the suburbs, the forces that run our lives are a mystery to us. We think we understand some of these laws, and try to live our lives according to them, but we are just barking up the wrong tree. Because sometime at some point, as the "serious man "finds out, life is going to kick our ass. Religions don't understand anything anymore than our hero of the film does. We are all just guessing. That's what this movie is about. It's pretty brilliant, acerbic, and downright cynical. A dybbuk could appear at your door anyday of the week, or a car crash could end you, or you could get diagnosed with cancer, or a tornado could come and sweep you away. There are laws that determine these things, but they are beyond our comprehension. And the things we choose to worry about are inconsequential. Life is capricious and will end you when it feels like it. Don't even try to figure out and religions don't understand it anymore than anyone else.

I remember seeing this film when I was a kid called "Space Voyagers" or something like that. It was kind of a 'B' movie version of a Star Wars film. When I saw it, I knew what I was getting into: an enjoyably cruddy retelling of adventures I was already familiar with.

'Serenity' is not like 'Space Voyagers' at all. I didn't know what to expect from the vaguely nebulous poster. A girl mostly in shadow; a man's expressionless face, etc. The reason why I saw the movie was because of the previews: Cool! A space movie! I thought. Those are pretty good special effects. And is that witty dialogue I hear? But, no, it was unfortunately not. The most pervasive thought I had throughout the film was, "this is bad - why does it have an 8.0 on the IMDb?" --And it really is a terrible film. It plays out like a half-baked Sci-Fi Channel series long-since canceled. Bad Acting. Terrible Dialogue. Unbelievably cheesy situations. Ugh. I guess it makes sense, considering it's basically the final episode of a TV series I never saw (Firefly), but still- I expect better from a FEATURE FILM. This movie would have been so much better if they made it deliberately cheesy/funny/campy, but no...they made a self-important, boring mess instead. Oh Well. 5/10

After watching the "Clone Wars" cartoon series (not to mention the previous two prequels), I was prepared to be fairly blown away by this movie - and I wasn't - initially. I saw it on opening night and was so nervous that it was going to have that cheesy dialogue and pointless, unbelievable moments like the last ones, but I was wrong. Overall, it was a solid film - I thoroughly enjoyed it - but I still felt like I wanted more.

Anyway, I went back and saw it again today (about a week and a half later) and I have to say, that this time, I was ready to just sit back, relax, and enjoy it even more - and I DID.

From the opening crawl to the final moment, I was absolutely enthralled. What a sad, compelling, forceful, incredible film! I had my doubts going in, but I have to say that I think this movie will play for years to come. It's probably right behind EMPIRE as my favorite SW film.

There was only one weak moment in the film as far as I'm concerned, and that is the scene where Anakin pledges himself to Sidious. That was a little weak and it was a little unbelievable - his actions that came next. But by the end of the film (the final battle) I was so sold on him having turned that I didn't mind so much. It's a weak point, but it doesn't ruin the film.

All I can say is, thank you George Lucas! You delivered a satisfying, excellent film! Good Job!

10/10

This was NOT a good movie. The books are very funny, and the funniest parts of this movie were when the "narrator" would read snippets of text from the book with the animated sequences, which had nothing to do with the story- which SUCKED - it made almost no sense, Sam Rockwell was the most annoying character I've seen in a film in a long time; Dent got whiny after awhile, Ford was pointless - Mos Def mumbled the whole time - and once they got on Zaphod's ship, there was no reason, dramatically, for him to be there anymore.

Zooey Deschanel was terrible - you never once believed they were ACTUALLY traveling in space or that the EARTH had ACTUALLY been destroyed - this was done so credibly before - both in the book and in the original PBS miniseries - which is miles better than this soggy, sarcastic flop. Adams would NOT have been proud!

The Hulk is like a bad dream that won't leave your mind. It's one of those dreams that makes you feel all yucky while you are in it, but then when you wake up you kind of like it. You keep coming back to it throughout the day saying, "Oh yeah, heh heh...that was weird!" You don't totally dislike it but you don't really know what to make of it either. It's like all this random stuff that seems meaningless together. Close ups of fungus on rocks....hmm....weird. I wonder what made me think of that? Monotonous dialogue and people that act like

mannequins...wherever did I come up with that? Oh, and what about those

weird dogs? Yeah, that was a weird dream. Huh.

Weird dreams are great, in and of themselves, but they don't really translate well to great storytelling. Go ahead, try to explain your weird dream to a friend and note their reaction. "Yeah man, there was this like, fungus, and then there were these poodles in the trees, and this weird music."

"Huh," notes friend, " so what are you up to this weekend [change of subject]?"

Weird dreams do not a film make. At least not this weird dream. This movie is like a dream you had of the film of the Hulk, not the actual film itself. Like you saw the trailer or heard that a new "Hulk" film was coming out and then had a dream about it. But it couldn't be the real film, could it? Unfortunately, it was. It is. And it is a bad one.

I just watched this Christmas-y movie with my wife and it was actually pretty enjoyable and not too bad at all. I liked the Hugh Grant character the best but I also liked the Colin Firth character. There were a few too many "cutesy" scenes in it - and the Liam Neeson story with the young boy was too similar to "About a Boy," which also had Hugh Grant - adding to that "seen it before" feeling.

There was a few nice surprises here though and it is a good date movie. Annoyingly, some of the plot threads go unresolved at the end - but overall an enjoyable flick. Curtis & Co. are perfecting this British romantic comedy thing, and I thought that the idea of making American president a bully was great -

ballsy too. I liked that a lot. Charming, fairly lightweight film about love and relationships - not as fluffy as it might be. 3 stars.

After reading some fairly negative reviews of this film, I have to say

I was pleasantly surprised when I finally did see it for myself. I

thought that the performances were entertaining and the green

giant looked fantastic. Everyone in the theatre seemed to be

laughing out loud when he came onto the screen - NOT LAUGHING AT HIM! We were all just so enthralled we could not

stifle our joy at seeing him throw, smash, jump, etc. for the very

first time. Less enthralling was the character of the bad-guy dad, played

by Nick Nolte. It was depressing to see Nolte acting so crazy after

that mugshot of his - it didn't really seem like he was even acting in

some parts, and there is one scene (at least) with him that is just

truly awful - embarassingly so. That said, the movie itself is well worth the price of a ticket. It

gets a little bogged down with its' protracted scenes of

psychobabble - Betty and her father, Betty and Bruce, Bruce and

his father, etc. etc. But when the not-so jolly green giant is on the

screen, watch out for some serious fun. I was thrilled completely

by him. Another thing about this film I liked at times was the split

screen stuff they did. It was overused a little bit, but they seemed to

find new ways of using it and the editing was unbelievable, as

were the special effects, and most of the acting. Overall an enjoyable experience, and one I would definitely

recommend. Watch out too for a great ending scene; it will leave

you with visions of superheroes and waiting for more...

Ha ha, just kidding. Of course it is, but this cliff-hanger ending certainly makes it feel like a soap opera/sci-fi/mini-series.

With regards to the film, I have to say that although it is not high art, it is entertaining. I had a great time and just tuned out when the sci-fi Star Trek talk got too laborious. I have to say though, I didn't love this film like I did the first one. I wasn't blown away. It really did seem like the TV series version of a really good movie. Now we have to wait until next season (Revolutions) to see what happens- which by the way I THINK I KNOW BUT I'M NOT TELLING!

Trinity is beyond hot- every man's dream. Warm, beautiful, caring, sexy, kicks ass- Neo is a lucky savior indeed. I have to say though, my favorite character was Link. He was the most human and has a great line- ("Where's my...) Nope, won't give that one away either.

Good story but not as universally appealing as the first one. Kind of like the new Star Wars movies or just Star Trek in general. Better than Attack of the Clones by far but nowhere near as good as Two Towers- (not much is).

Can't really judge this one until we see part two- (I mean three but part two of this "series"). See you in November. 7/10

Spielberg's "Minority Report" is a passable pot-boiler, wrapped up in the guise of a science fiction film. What keeps it from being great however, is an ending that produces more questions than answers.

There are at least three climaxes in this film, and the last one- (the "unmasking" of the "Real" villain is a let down.) The set-up with him killing Colin Ferrel's character recalls the scene from "L.A. Confidential" when the "boss"-type guy kills the Kevin Spacey character because he has gotten "too close".

There are a lot of other (intentioal and unintentional) film references in here, not the least of which is "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford. In that film, the "villain" ends up being Ford's "friend" as it is in this one and Ford publicly "exposes" him at a conference of sorts where he is to be awarded. The difference here is that there is no exciting "fight" scene between the two major players (the "laundry room" sequence in "Fugitive". Yet another reason why the end of this film stinks.

While certainly not a great movie overall, MR reaches some highs as it goes along. Chiefly among these is the jet-pack sequence and the fight in the car factory. Cruise is also good as the "cop on the whiff" Chief Anderton and a few stellar cameos create some memorable scenes, most notably Tim Blake Nelson's prison guard and Peter Stormare's "Eye" surgeon.

Not as memorable as "Blade Runner" or even "A.I" for that matter. 8/10

Hilarious film. Especially if you are a "theatre" or "drama" person

because no doubt you and everyone you know has seen it a

hundred times. Who could forget classic lines like:

"Just say a line, that's what I like to do. Even if it's from another

show."- The Fred Willard character.

Definite "cast party" material-

Hilarious!

WOW...There are almost no words to say about this film- it's that good. It takes what happened in the first film and multiplies EVERYTHING by ten. The stakes

are higher, the action is stronger, more intense and intriguing and the

characters are deepened. This has to be the best sequel since "The Empire

Strikes Back". It is that much deeper than the first film, "The Fellowship of the Ring"- as "Empire" is much deeper in scope than the original "Star Wars".

Character-wise, if "Fellowship" was Gandalf's film, this is Aragorn's film. Viggo Mortensen's intensely good performance gets better here as his love for the elvin Arwen is put in jeopardy. Everything in this movie works. Gollum is an amazing presence. He is the anti Jar-Jar. Gollum is the first CG character to accomplish the feat of forgetting that he is a CG character. His "schizo" scenes are especially effective. Frodo also deepens and Elijah Wood is able to show

more of his acting chops as the ring begins taking control. Merry and Pippen are also put to better use here, as they meet up with perhaps the strangest and most magical character in the film. The visuals too are spectacular, especially at the battle for Helm's Deep- probably the best castle-siege scene ever put onto

celluloid. The lingering problems with the first film disappear here as the story deepens. This is going to go down as the best trilogy ever- better than the first Star Wars Tril. (but influenced by it- as that trilogy was influenced by these books)- and MUCH better than the NEW "Star Wars" trilogy (ie. BAD Star Wars

trilogy) --While "Attack of the Clones" takes the story given to us in "The

Phantom Menace" and mangles it and gives it back to us unrecognizable, this

film takes what was there (from "Fellowship") and beautifies it, expands upon it, and gives us the "bridge" in what will surely be an amazing trilogy.

This film is a disaster of cinema on a scale that could probably rank up there with 'Cleopatra' or similar botched attempts at "epic" cinema. George Lucas has, indeed, "lost his touch", as some people have said but it could be more easily explained this way: George Lucas has simply decided that the scripts of his STAR WARS prequels don't really matter that much and can be developed "along the way". In my opinion, and most REALLY GOOD FILMMAKERS would probably agree, this is ASS BACKWARDS. In LucasLand, apparently, you can start with an "idea", pay a huge staff of VERY creative graphic artists and painters to design vehicles, make models, choreograph scenes on the computer without ever having seen THE SCRIPT. Don't agree? Check out THE ART OF STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES and you will see pages upon pages of beautiful renderings and designs that were completely wasted on a film with no script. Don't agree? Read the sorry ass excuse for a script at the back of said book. This script is so bad, it is unbelievable. It truly shows how much contempt Lucas has for the written word and this man should never be allowed near a typewriter. If I were one of the designers on this film, or The Phantom Menace for that matter, I would quit. I wouldn't want my BABIES, ships and locales that I slaved over to be used in service of some of the most haphazard and shoddy storytelling this side of Corusant. Don't agree? Watch Anatomy of a Murder. Psycho. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Kramer VS. Kramer. Star Wars. Alien. These films all had one thing in common. Before there was a CHECK cut to anyone, there was a script. Before a date was scheduled, there was a SCRIPT. It's too bad that we give Lucas so much power- somebody really needs to say no to this guy. "Sorry George," I would say if I were THAT GUY, "but you may not start this new series of films until I see AT THE VERY LEAST a script for the FIRST ONE. Oh, and most people do five or so drafts and have other people LOOK AT IT so they can tell you when you are being a dunderhead (Jar Jar, or all of the dialogue in AOTC, for example). THEN AND ONLY THEN MAY YOU COMISSION THE ARTISTS NEEDED TO PULL THIS THING TOGETHER! Not before, no, not before." Lucas has put the cart before the horse, my friends and so that is why these films are classically bad. We are witnessing failure on a colossal scale. I'm not talking box office. If these films were good, they would be pulling down twice as much- AT LEAST- no, I'm talking about QUALITY. I'm talking about LOVE. WE LOVE STAR WARS because the first ones (or at least the first two) were made with LOVE. Like Grandma's chocolate chip cookies. The new ones? Apparently Grandma's gone crazy and decided to ALTER THE RECIPE. She is now adding the sugar AFTER BAKING THEM. See how crazy it is?

Frankly, I don't know what some of the early critics are talking about. This is an amazing movie in almost every way. It bridges the two series for the first time in ways 'Menace' never could and is more exciting than any Indiana Jones movie. And then there's the special effects....they are by far the best I've ever seen. Not to say there aren't some dull moments- some scenes simply do not click and so therefore the movie isn't perfect? WHO CARES!!! Was 'Empire' PERFECT? NOOOOOOOOOO (I have always found the Dagobah sequence a little boring). 'Jedi' (Jabba laugh)- certainly not. 'Menace'? Let's not even go there.

So no, 'Clones' is not perfect and I don't know why some critics feel the need to bag on it when it is so wonderful in so many ways. It's their loss, really, because they decided not to enjoy this film which is so rich and delectible it begs to be enjoyed.

In short, the love scenes are not as annoying as some might think. They are actually rather sweet- especially the later ones. Anakin is showing some definite 'Vader-esque' traits here and C3P0 has his best moments yet. It's a wild ride and is just waiting to be enjoyed by every man, woman and child on this planet. AMAZING! 10/10

What an ugly mug that Tom Cruise sports in close up after close up in this supposedly intelligent "thriller". It is all hopeless to describe and pointless to write about. This is because it is about a character who is so despicable, we WANT him to die! You mean he survived again? GGRRRR! There has never been so much TOM CRUISE in one movie and he can not carry this thing because he is not likable- hardly at all in real life, even less so in this film. The ending is the only thing which really makes this film at all worth seeing but it plays like a long, LONG version of an episode of the Twilight Zone. There is also an element of Spielberg's 'A.I' in here as well as Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut'. In 'A.I.', the main character is also named David and it also ends with a gonzo whopper of a sci-fi finale. Unfortunately for this film, 'A.I.' also had two interesting acts previous to the last one, which this film does not have. Not to strain the Spielberg connection too much, but the guy makes a cameo in 'Vanilla Sky'(why?).All of that said, there are some creepy moments but unfortunately they add up to nil. Also, Cameron Crowe's trademark "alternative" sounding rock soundtrack finally spoils the party. Finally when things are getting interesting I hear Sinead O' Connor and I think, "Oh, this is from that album that bombed". I am taken out of the story just when it is getting good (at two hours +). Watch this one on late night cable when you are alone in your motel room at the "Red Roof Inn" and have nothing better to do. Actually, scratch that. At the "Red Roof Inn" you can play Nintendo for 8.50 an hour. THAT would be money well spent.

Overall a disappointment.

Very CG-heavy- fake looking special effects. The Cave Troll is

really good. Legolas is cool.I wish Merry and Pippin didn't look

exactly the same because it took me an hour to figure out which

was which (also- say Merry's name already will ya'!) Gandalf is

terrific. Elijah Wood is so pretty . Too much monsters and fighting.

Story is very confusing, I got lost along the way. Couldn't figure out

where they were going or why. Why send only nine? Why not send

everyone? Again, the Cave Troll was super-cool, as was the

Octopus thingy. All of the elves were pretty. I liked Strider and the

other guy...The dwarf I didn't like so much because he reminded

me of the troll guy from 'D&D'. The ring is pretty. Why were the F/X

so bad? Some things were good but so much of it looked like a

big video game I just got numb to it after awhile. It was really long

too. Sam is a good friend.

Too much like Peter Jackson's loud and obvnoxious 'Frighteners'

and not enough like his achingly beautiful 'Heavenly Creatures'.

Too many of those long, swooping pan-shots of everything; like in

every scene! Burger King glasses are cool. I got Strider and Arwen

(kiss kiss). Statues pretty cool. Elves are pretty. Violent- not too

good for kiddies- scary. Character development shabby- How

come I don't care more about Frodo? Too many slimy scary-sounding bad guys. Lots of weird cuts- Suddenly we're on

top of the mountain' okay now we are at the entrance to the cave.

Murky and amateurish. Not slick at all like 'The Matrix' or 'Ep. I' -

both of these film's CG F/X run circles around this movie.

This movie reminded me way too much of Dungeons and Dragons, which was a very bad movie. This is not a very bad

movie, it just needed a little less brashness and a little more

whistfulness. The book has a natural, easy charm to it that the

movie lacks- it's way too 'hard'. The book is warm and soft, the

movie is ice cold.

Parts of it also reminded me of, gulp, 'Shrek'. Ugh. Although I'd like to see Shrek battle that Cave Troll. Cave Troll

would eat Sully for breakfast. Shrek could probably take him

though.

I can't say enough about this series. I just watched 28 up, 35 up and 42 up all in about a week's time, so there are a lot of things to talk about within the entire series, rather than just in this one particular film. But I'll do my best to focus on 42, since that is the film I am commenting on.

As a film on its' own, 42 up is probably the most interesting of the series as far as watching the people change physically over the years goes. Each subject filmed at the six different stages appears (except for those that had dropped out of the program) and you get to see how they have transformed over the years. 42 is also great because you also get to see how film techniques (& stock) have evolved over the years along with the people. In the present time, the film looks beautiful and rich in color while each successive film appears murkier and murkier over time until you get the original black and white of 1964. The problem with 42 Up, if you were going to watch just this one film, is that because there are so many flashbacks of people at various stages, this leaves little room for getting to know them better (during a 2 hour time frame). I have talked to people who say, "I am just going to watch 42 up because they give you all the background stuff anyway.." I say NO!.....

For a richer experience, and this is what I did so you can take it for what it's worth, watch 28, 35, and 42 up at least so you can get to know these people fully at each stage. There are crucial things that happen to these people in 35 for instance which does not show up in 42.(Neil!!John!!) I cannot even view each film as seperate, because they all seem sewn together somehow. Taken as a whole, they are amazing to watch..and the suspense in wondering what happened to each over the next seven years is truly there if you start early in the series. So watch some of the others before you watch 42 to get the full effect.

On to the characters..who are real people. Their stories are so beautiful to watch unfold over time it is truly amazing they were captured at each stage as they grew up. And you can even get the feeling by the end how large their lives really are and that they extend way beyond the borders of the film which the filmmakers obviously knew and luckily never once tried to pretend that they could completely capture the essence of a person on film. You just get tiny snippets of who these people are yet by the end you can't stop thinking about them, they become a part of you. I cannot think of any movie or series of movies where the characters were so richly drawn as these were, especially over the course of time. A beautiful, wonderful series that everybody should own.

Questions (if anyone can answer them for me) 1) Whatever happened to John???? why don't they even mention him (like they do some of the others who dropped out) in 35 & 42? He disappears after 28! What happened to him??? 2) Are there any other projects going on like this in America or on a global scale? I think it would be a brilliant idea to do this similarly Globally to investigate and compare cultures all over the world! 3)Will there be a 49 Up or was that the end of the series?

a perfect date movie. There are some plot-holes however. I won't give anything away but some things are just too far fetched to be believable. These flaws don't discount a very funny, warm movie with delightful performances by Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, and Jeremy Piven, who is the very best "best friend" ever. This guy needs his own movie. A perfect film to see as an escape from these violent times.

Apparently time travel has become so mundane, so commonplace now for Marty McFly that it doesn't really even faze him that he has been sent back to the wild west. Fox looks bloated and bored in this one, and the story is obviously wearing thin. Also, Biff Tannen provided such a wonderful villian in the first two, why not try something new? Nope. Instead we have "Mad Dog" Tannen saying (from across the saloon) "Hey McFly!". Sorry, but what was fresh in the first one and somewhat fresh in the second is now stale here. That being said, there is still some fun to be had. The train sequence is Grrreat!!! Marty is peculiarly droll and mellow in this one (why?) but it works occasionally for some laughs ("Frisbee! Far out!"). The Doc love story is nice too. It's not awful, it's just ho hum-- kind of a fizzle-y way to end the series...or is it the end after all???