CellarDorm's Reviews

Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail (1996 Video Game)

9/10

19 November 2002

Almost every other viewer seems to be confused...this is the game made for the PC a few years back.

Anyway, it was quite ingenious (if a little straightforward) and involved going through a few of the main set pieces of the film, doing a few things per scene (hard to explain, but it pretty much amounted to a lot of point and click), then returning to each screen to collect several items, such as "bodice of a virgin" and "Sir Gawain." At the end of the game you were rewarded with an awesome cut scene from the movie. Apparently, it was only scripted (might have had voices laid down as well, but I'm not sure), and was presented at the end of the game for the first and only time. Best of all, it was Gilliam-esque animation.

Other than that, the best part of the game was all of the mini-games you could find scattered throughout the game. These included "Drop Dead," a Tetris-style game in which you dropped plague-ridden corpses into a big pit/grave; A "Sorry"-style game of witch burning; and everyone's personal favorite, "Spank the Virgin."

If you weren't a big Python fan, the game's novelty would wear off rather quickly. However, if you love the revolutionary humorists as much as I do, then you'll find yourself immersed in hours of fun.

32 out of 33 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Princess Diaries (2001)

I hate myself

24 October 2002

I'm in a car with very young kids. I'll save you the details, but I don't really have much say. These kids are between ten and seventeen years younger than me. There's a tv with a dvd player inside and we end up watching "The Princess Diaries." I don't like Julia Roberts, I don't like the new generation of brainless Disney films, and Garry Marshall generally doesn't do much for me. Also, the previews for this film made me want to slit my wrists against the plastic armrests. So we finally arrive after only watching an hour of the movie. This would seem to be merciful except for one disturbing fact: I wanted to watch the rest. What the (insert expletive that IMDB won't allow) is wrong with me? I get bored watching "I Spit on Your Grave" but here I want to know the end of a movie about a f**king princess?

This movie's all good and stuff. I hate it but it works. I don't know, it just doesn't suck. I mean, it does, it's terrible. I can't wait for the sequel though (they better still make it).

Oh God, why?

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

What a Cartoon: Larry & Steve (1997)

Basis of tv series "Family Guy"

20 October 2002

This hilarious short is about an old (kind of) man and his dog. They go shopping and cause several mishaps and problems. This short was originally part of the "Cartoon, Cartoon" showm from which several cartoons were turned into full series. "Larry and Steve" was later expanded upon and matured for an older audience to create the hilarious, classic tv series "Family Guy." Larry and Steve are basically Peter and Brian Griffin from the aforementioned series. The short was funny, but not nearly as entertaining as "Family Guy."

2 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

9/10

Kubrick's best, but not nearly as good as the book.

6 April 2001

Warning: Spoilers

This film is quite enjoyable, but Stanley Kubrick did not use the ending of the book, missing author Anthony Burgess' moral entirely. Whether Kubrick's decision was intentional or not, I don't know.

The origin of the problem springs from Anthony Burgess' New York publisher, who, when the novel was first published in America, decided to edit out the entire remaining chapter of the book. It is the 21st chapter of the novel, and Burgess has stated numerous times that he intended to have 21 chapters because that is the age of maturity, the birthday when a person is given more privileges for the first time (at least in the 60's, when it was written) than at any other age.

<SPOILERS, BOOK AND MOVIE. I SUGGEST FIRST READING THE BOOK OR AT LEAST THE 21ST CHAPTER BEFORE GOING ON>

The 21st chapter begins with Alex sitting in the Korova milkbar again, in the height of fashion (which had no changed from that seen in the beginning of the book and film to a style much more closely resembling that of a skinhead), with a new gang to lead. He is now the oldest of the gang members, but finds himself growing quite weary of the "ultraviolent" lifestyle. He doesn't participate in the gang's activity, merely gives orders. He leaves early one night, and starts on his way home. In the movie, Pete and Dim have become corrupt police officers, but in the novel, Dim is the only one who has. We don't know what has happened to Pete for most of the book, until the last chapter. I won't reveal it here (read it!!!), but I will say it is enough to get Alex to begin desiring a family, with a nice wife to come home to, and an infant son. As the novel's true climax ends, Alex realizes he has matured.

The novel's moral is that the psychological intervention by the government was greatly unnecessary and wrong. Violent behavior is a thing of youth, Burgess says, and will eventually be overcome by conscience and the transformation from childhood to adulthood. The incomplete novel and Kubrick's film are both left kind of purposeless, with a moral and an ending much more abrupt and FAR less satisfying than the novel.

0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

CellarDorm

Reviews

Tell Your Friends

Recently Viewed