Reviews

Elaborate Harry Palmer sequel, with lots of James Bond like influences, ie, the credit sequence, immense high tech sets, and hundreds of soldier extras. Movie has a campier approach this time, and is a bit over the top with crazed Texan Ed Begley screaming rants against communism and his fascist imagery. But holding it all together is Michael Caine with his smart ass, jaded attitude to the events, the double crosses, authority figures and his need for money. Movie energetically directed by Ken Russell, and has one of the best double piano movie scores ever. The location shooting in Finland really effective in making things look freezing cold.

Watchable soap opera with stunning widescreen location photography of Kauai and early 60s Waikiki Beach. Charlton Heston, in a commanding performance, plays a bigoted plantation owner who refuses to let his sister, Yvette Mimieux, marry a local Hawaiian boy. His racist hypocrisy is called out when it is revealed he is having an affair with a local Asian woman. George Chakiris and James Darren play Hawaiian brothers in love triangle, vying for the love of Yvette, a headstrong alcoholic dingbat. That said, Yvette is so beautifu and sexy in this movie. I like how movie captures the look and feel of living in late 1950s rural Hawaii, and the depiction of Western ranch life, Also startling, is the dark, creepy vibe of the subtext of Heston's nearly incestous attraction to his sister,

Compelling parallel tales of two connected families, in a time of great change in 19th century Hawaii. Charlton Heston is the black sheep of his rich family, who uses ruthless and criminal ways to build a pineapple empire. Mako and Tina Chen are Chinese immigrants, that Heston brings to the islands. Mako and Tina end up working for Heston on his plantation, and they soon recognize the importance of land ownership, and Tina becomes a tough business woman. And how both families adapt to the changes in Hawaii, including the growth of agriculture, slum like conditions for immirgrants, a leper colony on Molokai, America's overthrow of the Hawaian monarchy, bubonic plague, and the great Chinatown fire. All of this works, thanks to the strong performances by Heston and escpecially, Tina Chen.

Movie is better than the normal giant bug attack 1950s B picture. Most memorable are the mostly top notch stop motion animation of the enormous beasts. Movie has alot of action, both small and large scale horror attacks. Film's most effective sequence is an eerie and intense scene, where our heroes are lowered into a huge volcanic cavern and get to meet the title boss monster. Demerits include a very annoying kid that keeps getting in the way, and an unnecessary love interest sub plot between Richard Denning and a cattle baroness. That said, she does live in an opulent ranch house. I was amazed at its' interior design and decor. That was a cool looking house.

Movie is stylish, and compelling, with twists and turns, and one extended flashback that keeps the viewer offguard. Which is what happens to Robert Mitchum's detective. He is smart, direct, and always one step ahead of everyone, except for the matters of the heart. Which catches him offguard.

Enter the stunning Jane Greer, who changes Mitchum's life. Their relationship makes this movie worthwhile. Kirk Douglas brings charming menace to his supporting role.

And for a film noir, it was nice to see scenic mountains, forests, lakes, beaches, with picturesque trips to Mexico, LA, San Francisco, and other rural California locales.

Did I mention how attractive Jane Greer is ? It's no wonder Mitchum falls so fast, and so blindly in love.

Overall, this is kind of backwards moviemaking.

The producers got their hands on all this color combat footgage, and decided to make a movie around it. So when movie switches back and forth, between real and staged, it really took me out of the drama.

That said, the movie is anchored by the two stars, which makes the film watchable. Especially John Wayne. This is a more hard edged WW2 role for him. He's tough as nails, and has no time to babysit and coddle his young squad, and he frequently calls out their bs. This is contrasted with Robert Ryan. He leadership style is to be one of the guys, be more empathetic, and the two leads clash alot, espcially when lives are lost.

Wow, this movie was not what I expected.

A heartfelt, down to earth tale of people facing adversity in life, and doing their best to cope and overcome them.

And that sometimes things dont have a happy Hollywood ending, but they still try to live their lives with dignity and respect for others, And how Alan Arkin's character helps, in various ways, the people he meets, and how he makes a lasting impression in their lives, Movie, pushes all the right emotional buttons.

The themes of hopes and dreams trying to overcome mental illness, physical handicaps, racism, poverty, unexpected illness, alcoholism, and injustice, are all handled with proper understatement.

One of Alan Arkin's best roles, matched by strong cast, especially Sondra Locke in her best role. Effective cinematography by James Wong Howe,

Wow, this movie is surprisingly embarrassing, given the stellar talent involved on both sides of the camera.

The movie is, at times, boring, laughable, and poorly acted,.

Tennessee Williams' usually razor sharp dialogue, rings false, and the story is a stupid mess, instead of being tragic.

Obviously, Montgomery Clift's real life problems affected his wooden performance, and Katherine Hepburn's bizarre hysterics were annoying and offputting.

From a visual standpoint, the only positives are Elizabeth Taylor's beach scenes. Wow, she is absolutely stunningly beautiful and sexy in these moments.

Silly, but watchably fun MGM musical, that benefits greatly from its' opening, and the on location scenes in New York, and the great chemistry of the three leads, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin, as sailors on 24 hr shore leave.

But, the fantastic opening scene is so strong, the rest of the movie suffers in comparison, as our trio seek out romance and get into all kinds of wacky situations. A little more editing would've helped, especially during the film's weakest moment, the Prehistoric Man number in the museum. Yikes! That was bad. Despite that, this movie is a pleasant diversion.

Amusing holiday light comedy fare, with a very appealing Barbara Stanwyck performance, as she tries to bs her way about her faux perfect homemaker persona to her magazine boss, and visiting war hero.

The movie fun works best with the " how is she gonna get outta this one? " type situations which include her fake baby, her lack of cooking skill, her questionable marital status, etc., all the while trying to openly woo the military guy who adores her magazine articles.

Add to that, the Christmas production design, the wacky but likeable supporting cast, and an overall good time romantic mood, make for a solid Christmas movie.

Movie was fun and fresh at the beginning, then grew tiresome and illogical, as it went on, much like the main characters.

Oskar Werner was the best thing in this movie, his understated performance balanced the increasingly wacky drama. He was the most normal of the 3.

The low budget New Wave, hand held rambling camera, offbeat style was interesting at first, but like Moreau's unstable character, grows tiresome and annoying.

Why the two guys stuck around for so long, enduring her mood swings, selfish uncommitments, cheating, etc, is maybe the point of the movie. I wouldn't tolerate that. I would've dumped her after a year of her self destructive nonsense.

Watchable old school Hollywood epic.

Most memorable are the eye filling scenes of thousands of extras, populating gigantic full size lavish sets on location in Egypt, stunningly captured in Cinemascope.

Movie is staggering by a sheer logistical standpoint. Kudos to Howard Hawks and his production team.

Other notable standouts are the fascinating details of building a pyramid, both interior and exterior, and the trashy scheming of Joan Collins.

Jack Hawkins is okay in the lead as the increasingly paranoid pharaoh. But a more commanding performance would better suit the epic nature of the film, and would merit a higher rating from me.

This charming Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical romantic comedy fluff, made me smile alot.

The mistaken identity plot is slight, but used as a springboard to showcase the fun and lavish musical numbers, especially Night and Day, and The Continental

But that Continental number, at 17 minutes, gets a bit too repetitive, as it goes on too long. Mark Sandrich and his team should've edited it down and streamlined it, to maximize the impact.

The supporting cast of Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore, Betty Grable, and especially Erik Rhodes, as Gingers' fake suitor, all add to the wacky hijinks and good natured vibe.

An entertaining mixed bag reaction from me.

Movie's noirish, humorous style to spare, and charismatic leads overcome an increasingly convuluted story of blackmail, drug fueled jealousy, coverups, and murder.

The fun, clever, snappy tough guy dialogue, zingers, trashy sexy femme fatale vibes , and dynamic pairing of Bogey and Bacall all make up for the storyline flaws.

Hawks' supporting players are also well cast, especially the ladies. A few of them rival Bacall in stunning beauty, especially. Martha Vickers. And it's amusing that every woman in this movie are instantly attracted to Bogie's tough guy smart ass cool.

Charming family film that works best when young Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor are onscreen with Lassie.

No amount of CGI could ever match these old school scenes of geniune warmth and connection between kids and a very smart, clever, and loyal dog.

Scenes of Lassie's long, dangerous trek home across forests, rivers, shorelines, mountains, and valleys are also first rate and well orchestrated.

Movie loses some impact due to unecessary side excursions into Lassie's dealings with a street performer, and an elderly couple.

But the film's feel good appeal is strong enough to overcome these few storytelling lulls.

I saw this back in the summer 1999, and rewatching it after all these years, I had same reaction :

I'm blown away by the stunning production design and huge cavernous sets, and I really enjoyed Catherine Zeta-Jones' performance. She is the only cast member with any charismatic spark.

Rest of movie is a misfire, A miscalculation of story and approach. There is no sense of dread or horror. The terribly conceived and executed CGI drops the scare factor to zero, There is no rooting interest in the plight of Lili Taylor's character, Her motivations and outbursts are increasingly annoying,

Overall, I believe in giving movies a 2nd chance, especially ones with so much talent involved, hoping things will improve as the years pass. But for this movie, even nearly 25 years after my first viewing, it is still haunted by the ghost of suckiness.

4/10.

This movie is an overlong, boring, tedious slog for the first 2 hours. Just endless scenes of uninteresting people wandering in an uninteresting desert, dealing with unecessary soap opera sub plots,

Movie finally picks up with decent battle carnage involving walls of fire, floods, bow and arrow, stone slinging, and sword stabbing, between hundreds of stuntmen..

Then Lot and his tribe finally get to to be citizens of Sodom. Let the wickedness commence !!!

But it's too little, too late to save this mess.

The ensuing few tame scenes of sin, depravity, corruption, and fx destruction, are mostly watered down to satisfy the censors,

Overall, a major disappointment given director Robert Aldrich

4/10.

Are you nostalgic for 1950's atomic era, giant insect horror sci fi action ?

Well, this movie mostly hits all the right notes.

First half of the movie is best, keeping the terror local, confined to a small desert town. The eerie atmosphere, weird sounds, with the dread and spookiness factors keep building and building. Great stuff.

But once the ant attack spreads nationwide, the second half of the movie loses some impact.

Despite that, the battle spectacle of the soldiers and cops, machine gunning, grenade launching, flame throwing the beasts, is all kinds of awesome.

Also nice to see the movie grounded by old school Hollywood acting by stars James Whitmore, James Arness, and Fess Parker.

One of the weakest episodes so far this season.

The producer's idea of having the Sesame Street muppets involved in the quickfire challenge was an embarrassing misfire. Padma, now that she has a kid, seemed to enjoy it. I didn't. Making cookies ???? Cmon.

The Target challenge was slightly better. The whole thing happened at 3:30am. They had to only use cooking and food items found inside the store. That was a nice twist. Given what they had to work with, most of the dishes looked decent. But nothing that made me hungry and say, " Wow". For me that's a sign of a good episode, that the food prepared looks great.

What also was missing was the warm, beautiful presence of Gail Simmons. She's my favorite judge. She's so pretty and makes every episode she's on, so much fun.

For me, all the years of watching Top Chef, I have never have any rooting interest in any chef to win. I just like the scenes of food preparation, the drama inherent in that, the dishes themselves.

However, when contestants are behaving like jerks or snobs, then I have an interest in watching them get kicked off the show.

Overall, hopefully Top Chef goes back to sensible Quickfire and Elimination challenges, and not these ratings stunt episodes.

Jon Hamm is a solid performer, but for the most part, Seth and his writing team didn't give him enough solid material for him to shine.

Lorne stacked all the high points towards the front of the show. The brilliant digital short was right after the monologue, with Rhianna and Shy Ronnie ( Samberg reprising his role ) in a hilarious hip hop spoof of Bonnie and Clyde.

Next was the always clever and funny Vincent Price Halloween special. Guests spouting off double entendres were Judy Garland, Liberace, JFK, and Price doing his best to censor them.

Another home run was the Back To the Future 25th Anniversay DVD showing auditions by Al Pacino, Bill Cosby, Sam Kinison, Prince, Robin Williams,and best of all, Eddie Murphy. Another brilliant impersonation by Jay Pharoah.

Then things start to pale. Kristin Wiig as a clueless actresses making outrageous contract demands, and a TV show about Viral internet victims.

Things brightened up with the sexy Rhianna music sets, the Weekend Update reteaming of the musical duo who clearly are unprepared, and make stuff up on the spot, and the homo-erotic Chips TV satire.

Opening with Joe Biden and Hamm's ad genius monologue were cringe worthy.

Overall, a mediocre Halloween episode. Thank god for DVR, so easy to fast forward through the dead on arrival skits.

The Jane Lynch hosted episode was a mediocre offering, with very few hits, and a lot of misses.

The hits : Damn It, Your Mom's on Facebook. Truly funny. Jay Pharoah's spot on Denzel Washington impersonation Muscial guest Bruno Mars.

The skits that had some quasi success : Samberg / Lynch therapy session ; Sunday night football song.

The rest of the skits were vastly underwhelming, stupid, or downright annoying : the Madeline Albright opening, the monologue, Glee gilly, tax man's twin brother, Secret Word, Suzy Norman's gay guest, Weekend update.

I enjoyed this season opener. The hit / miss ratio favored the hits. Truly funny opening spoof of GOP Senate wannabe Christine O'Donnell's bizarre past deeds. And an inspired opening monologue / dream by host Amy Poeler, with great cameos by Jimmy Falon, Tina Fey, Justin Timberlake.

Hair replacement commercial was gross but funny, and Maya Rudolph returns to team up with Amy on Bronx talk show with guest librarian, Katy Perry, wearing low cut Elmo shirt, exposing the most beautiful cleavage in show business. A riff on her recent Sesame Street dustup on her excised segment, being too sexy for innocent kid viewers.

Other highlights, Amy reteaming with Seth for Weekend update, joined by outgoing NY governor Patterson, and new cast member Jay Pharoah, doing a spot on Will Smith impersonation : Expendables movie sequel spoof digging up more has-beens was hilarious : and SNL finally books a musical guest that I actually watched both performances : Katy Perry. The last time I did that was when U2 performed in 2003 when Val Kilmer hosted.

I loved both Katy's performances, even though lots of viewers complained about her singing. Not me. I think she's great, especially her 2nd performance, wearing the super hot short red glitter skirt, and blue hair highlights, backed up by smoking hot cheerleader singers.

Surprising misfire : Adam Samberg's usually funny digital short was stunningly lame ( Boogerman ??? ) But like I said the hits outweighed the misses.

one of weakest episodes of the season.

Jon Hamm's has his second stint as host, but the writers don't give him the material to showcase his strong comic talents

only standout are two skits :

first is a digital short : Andy Samburg's parody of the movie Drag Me To Hell, where Andy is cursed by the appearance Sergio ( Hamm as a sexy sax playing Lothario ) with the uproarious punchline happening in a hospital delivery room.

the other amusing skit is Hamm as new Massachusetts winking senator driving the democratic leaders in conference to fits of sex daydreams

Seth Meyers normally bright Weekend Update is watered down by another overlong appearance by the unfunny Sooki impersonation.

An above average episode.

The standout skits are truly funny. The best being the My Cousin Vinny courtroom parody scene. Except it's OJ on trial and Tomei reprises her wonderful Mona Lisa Vito character as a defense witness, charming Judge Ito into freeing OJ.

The second best : Tomei hosting a talk show about body piercing, and most of laughs involve combating infections.

Tomei still remains one of Hollywood's most charming, talented, and hottest actresses.

She should host again.

An overall mediocre offering at best.

Jude Law does an okay job as host, but the two of the three standout skits he's in also feature the lovely, Abby Eliot ( the prettiest girl on the show ) The best is Jude as a Spanish killer enticing two brain dead chicks, Eliot and Slate, to come with him.

The second best is a Twilight Zone, Terror at 20,000 feet parody with Law as the schizo airline passenger and Eliot as his girlfriend. Biggest laugh comes when the gremlin on the wing appears with musical guest, Pearl Jam.

Big laughs also come during Andy Samberg's ghetto blaster causing a senior citizen orgy musical, and Jerry Seinfeld joining Seth Meyers on a Really segment of Weekend Update.

The rest of the show was lame.