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Reviews
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
EPIC. Decades ahead of its time. Essential viewing.
The only reason I give it 9 and not 10 is because of the ending. Too weird! It does lead me to believe that one or more of the production team were taking recreational drugs.
But other than that, it is a wonderful rendering of what could have been and perhaps what might be. Rich in detail, stunning special effects and great sets. And all from 1968... heck, I was still in high school and, as a timeline reference, the Japanese hadn't yet brought their first 4-cylinder motorcycle to market yet.
The one prediction which they had completely wrong was the operator/ownership of the shuttle - PanAm was strong in 1968 but would be long gone by 2001. And we haven't discovered any remotely controlled monoliths yet.
Philosophically, the film contains several messages, but one pervades all : "we are mere puppets of the Universe".
Don't plan on watching this movie quickly, or even once. You'll miss way too much of what makes it a Sci-fi benchmark.
Young Guns II (1990)
Probably the best Western movie I've ever seen, period!
I really haven't enjoyed many Westerns since those heady days which could best be described as Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti era. But this one is without doubt The One which comes to mind for me as the quintessential Wild West movie. I particularly enjoyed the beginning and end as they tie the movie together very well and leave the viewer wondering whether or not it is all fact or fiction. No doubt, just as in many retellings of history... there's a good mixture of both.
Billy the Kid's role is convincingly played to the hilt by Estevez, who manages to be both frivolous and serious at the same time. The Kid is more than just handy with a gun and knows it. So he carries a huge ego and a wicked sense of humor that can turn deadly in a heartbeat. He is really just a naive, rebellious teenager - but with easy access to firearms and of course he has no respect for societal norms, including the law! I can't think of anyone else playing this role as credibly, so kudos to whomever was responsible for the casting.
There's an impressive cast - many of whom were just appearing on the acting horizon when this film was made. Not one of them puts in a lackluster performance, but Billy steals the show. Highly Recommended viewing. Even for those who don't usually watch Westerns.
Malevolent (2002)
Disappointing lack of editing finesse!
It always amuses me when bad editing results in cars magically having regrown hubcaps that clearly flew off in an earlier scene - just seconds earlier.
It struck me that the final car chase scene was very familiar, from the way the blue BMW zigzagged across the park and jumped the wall, followed closely by a beige Dodge Ram. I thought it was remarkably similar to a scene I remembered from a Steven Seagal movie, probably "Marked for Death" which I saw in the early Nineties. Then I noticed that the mag wheels had miraculously changed from alloy spokes to gold BBS honeycomb style wheels... and the shade of blue wasn't right, either. If you're observant, you can clearly see both Seagal and his co-star companion in the truck (supposedly now driven by Phillips, who elsewhere is shown to be alone in the vehicle) at various times, but most noticeably when it spins round and enters the sidewalk, and again as it gets back on the street.
If you watch closely, you can even see those nasty Jamaican drug dealers from the 1990 movie in the BMW... in one scene there is a black hand hanging out of the passenger side window (when there's supposed to be no passenger at all in either car)
You sort of feel cheated when they pull this kind of stunt on the audience. Did they manage to save so much money after paying royalties to the owners of the Seagal movie? Or did budget constraints prevent them from staging their own car chase and doing their own stunts..? I'm told that the opening car chase was similarly taken from another movie which I haven't yet seen.
Recycling in general may be sensible and politically correct - but this is taking the concept too far. Moviegoers should be entitled to a partial refund - or free copies of the movies from which these scenes were lifted.
Lou Diamond Phillips has done better work for decades. It does him no favors to be associated with a production which relies so heavily on disingeniously regurgitated material.