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The Terminator (1984)
Incredible for an action film
This is a really great movie and one of Cameron's best. Biehn and Schwarzenegger play their roles perfectly and the writing is very cool. Personally, I'm not sure why everyone prefers the sequel to this, but I couldn't even tolerate T2 due to the way they played it for cheap laughs and Schwarzenegger got to play the good guy, which doesn't make a lot of sense.
Biehn plays the part of the lone protector just as he should: desperate and unsure of himself, but with enough focus on his mission that he'll try as hard as he can to protect Sarah. Schwarzenegger plays the killing machine as a cold and unfeeling thing, unconcerned with anything at all except its end goal. Hamilton is great as an everywoman who has to muster more than she thinks she has just to survive and to deal with what she's told is coming ahead.
The only missteps were the relationship between Reese and Connor, as I thought this seemed out of place tonally and turned the movie into a different direction than it should have been going. Luckily, that's a small part of the movie and can easily be overlooked by how great the rest of it really is.
I'm not an action movie fan, but Cameron is right on target here and made me a believer. For one movie, anyway.
The Others (2001)
Way too slow
I appreciate the fact that people are attempting to make scary movies and thrillers without resorting to blood and violence, but it seems like they don't think they need to replace it with anything. The Others seems to repeat the same scene over and over for the entire first half of the movie. I started to get bored with the whole idea, hoping for something, anything to happen. This really would have worked better as a half hour episode of The Twilight Zone, so that half the movie didn't need to be fluff and just extraneous details that didn't move the story forward at all. Ah, well. Here's to trying, at least.
The Lathe of Heaven (1980)
Good idea, but ...
I saw this movie after finding out the basic plot and learning that other people thought it was fantastic. I admit that it started out interestingly and that the general idea is really cool, but the execution just left me cold. It felt like it ran on and on and on and after a while, I stopped caring about the characters and just hoping that something--anything--would happen. Yes, changing anything has a drastic effect on everything, but then what? They beat that idea for a while and then ... nothing. It just kind of ends.
I'll probably give the book a read just to see what it was that I'm missing out on. Can't say that I would recommend the movie, though.
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
Don't waste your time
This film is completely worthless. Rather than try something unique or original, they rushed out this trash to quickly cash in on the success of the first film. Granted, this isn't a surprising tactic, but surely they could have done better than this. I suppose the worst thing about this sequel is that they try to make it out to be something more than it really is: apparently, someone behind this movie thought it was scary, interesting or entertaining. It is none of these. It's a muddled and confusing mess that the creators were hoping the audience would look at and be able to find something that they would like. Why, though, should the audience put more time into thinking about this movie than the people who made it did?
Invisible Thread (1987)
See it if you can find it.
A very good short starring Penn and Teller and featuring the magic trick that saved the world. Vaguely amusing, vaguely bizarre but definitely entertaining. I only wish that I had a copy of it. I haven't seen it in years, but it left enough of an impression on me that I still think about it from time to time.
Cube (1997)
Great idea poorly executed
This movie definitely works better as an idea than as a movie. It could have been a really, really good film but the execution just wasn't there. The acting was laughably bad, the dialogue was horrid and the characters were all stock and two-dimensional. It was almost as if the film makers felt that the idea was enough, that the actual movie could ride on the coat tails of the story. Well, no. You actually have to go forth and create something as good as the idea you originally came up with. Some of the metaphors are really beat over your head, too. By the end of the movie, I had given up all hope on being entertained and was just curious as to how they were going to end this mess and then a series of movie cliches broke out. Surprise, surprise. With a much better script and real actors, this movie would have been something cool. As is, it just steals 90 minutes of your life. It would have felt much more satisfying if they had just relayed the premise of the film and ended it at a running time of 5 minutes. Then you could at least go home and think about how the movie _should_ be done.