Change Your Image
otherRic
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Jingle Bell Bride (2020)
Charmer
This is a perfect example of why these Hallmark style Christmas movies are so popular.
The production staff put every penny into the sets; the scenery is lovely; the actors are charming; the outlook is positive; villains lose & heroes win; Christmas is awesome; love prevails.
The writing was surprisingly fun ( even if the plot was predictable), the direction was solid, and the editing was surprisingly above average.
If you like sappy Christmas romance, you'll love it.
Special attention to the supporting actors who all really put in great work.
Also, the chemistry between the leads was really good!
Some Nudity Required (1998)
The 'Documentary of Bad Films' is a Bad Film
While watching this is dawned on me - it's a satire. The creator is hitting every stereotype she complains about! The "Odette" making this movie is just as callow, shallow, biased, exploitative, and narcissistic as the people the documentary shows. There is even an overly-dramatic shock reveal at the end! The camera work is too flowing, lighting too dramatic, and so on for a documentary. But as a sendup of B-movies it's perfect.
It's a subtle, subdued Borat-style comedy piece. Nothing else really makes sense of the film.
Once I realized that this was a joy to watch and I like to share it with friends for the humor and the various B-movie icons that appear.
House M.D.: Ignorance Is Bliss (2009)
What stupid people think smart people are like
Yet another example of the ridiculous idea that smart people are freaks, depressed, incapable of handling life, and bad at relationships.
Like House, TBBT, and a host of other shows written by people with no clue.
The concept that a guy that smart would marry a mentally hindered woman is just ridiculous. Has the writer never heard of Smith College?!
And even if he did, how? After all, when he's himself he can't relate to her.
Terrible writing, terrible episode.
Techno-Crazy (1933)
A fascinating glimpse of a virtually forgotten social movement
In the first decades of the 20th Century Technocracy, Inc. Was a social movement that wanted to radically reorganize society to be ruled by engineers and to abolish things like the price system and banks. Briefly popular it has all but vanished (look online for it, though!).
The short film is based on the popular view of the movement's promoters as ridiculous dreamers and offers a view of this obscure group from the outside.
Deliver Us from Evil (1973)
Before Blood Simple there was Deliver Us From Evil
Well-acted film that skips flashy for effective. With its character focus, surprisingly good characterization, character development, moral ambiguity, and pacing it feels a lot more like a stage play than a TV movie - in the best ways.
Bradford Dillman and George Kennedy put in great work with Dillman's quiet desperation being particularly poignant.
The mountain setting works well to focus on the isolation of the characters both from the world and from moral decisions then, finally, from each other. The cold weather seems at first to represent the hostility of the world but ends up representing the coldness of the men toward each other.
The writer, Jack Sowards, had previously worked on TV series like Bonanza and this was his first full-length screenplay to be shot. Its good dialog, solid pace, and rich characterization foreshadow the work he did a decade later when he wrote Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Definitely worth a watch if you can find it!
Year of the Comet (1992)
A wonderful film for a rainy Sunday
In an obvious homage to the wacky films of the '40's and '50's, year of the Comet is very good at being what it is - a fluffy film to be enjoyed lightly. It won't cure cancer, it won't change your political ideology, but it will make you smile, laugh, and have a nice 2 hours.
Tim Daly is effortlessly charming and Miss Miller is properly wholesome, as the role demands. Nice one-liners and recurring jokes, a frothy but well-paced plot, and some excellent performances by character actors in supporting roles (I especially love the Scottish mother) make it easy to watch and enjoy.
Well, unless you want explosions and political subtext.
1941 (1979)
Spielberg taps into the roots of movie comedy
I have always considered "1941" to be a misunderstood masterpiece. Stevie tapped into the madcap comedies of the 1930's and captured that amazing frenetic energy wonderfully. The inter-cut, naturally delivered but wholly contrived dialog is pure Howard Hawks while the sight gags, non requiters, and puns seem like the Marx Brothers. We have mistaken identity (a few times!), a dangerously-crazy villain, a humorously crazy hero, the local schlub turned hero, epic quests that are ultimately meaningless, and befuddled fathers.
OK, its not "Bringing Up Baby" (which was considered a terrible bomb in its own day), but it carries on the same traditions. Watch "Duck Soup", "Bringing Up Baby", and "Sons of the Desert", then watch "1941" with that same outlook.
Drive (1997)
Surprisingly Good
Okay, Okay, this is a shocker, especially considering who the producer was, but Drive is a wonderfully entertaining film. The action set pieces are great, the pacing is tight (well, with two small exceptions), and the special effects aren't asked to do too much. The plot is thin, the characters thinly written, and the end seems a little rushed. BUT, that's okay. Dacascos and Hardison do a great job of fleshing out their characters and adding zip to the dialog. Pyper-Ferguson transcends the limitations of his role and Tracey Walter is, well, as quirky as ever. Also surprisingly good was Brittany Murphy as Deliverance, the nutty hotel clerk.
While no awards will ever be sent its way, it is well worth a rental and, maybe, a re-viewing.
La ragazza e il generale (1967)
A wonderful example of Italian cinema
The Girl and the General has a special place in my heart - I saw this late one night when I was about 10 years old when cable TV was brand new and they were desperate for programming. Lucky for me. This was my first real exposure to the wonderful explosion of realism in Italian cinema from the '60's.
The movie does a wonderful job of depicting war as something that happens during peoples' lives, not vice versa. Rather than the defining element of the time, its another element in of life, where people fear, and hope, and struggle.
Wonderfully acted, good cinematography (as long as you remember that this is realism), and decent editing. Full of humor and pathos.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
An all-around excellent experience
What a triumph for everyone who has been complaining that 'no one has done a comic book movie right'! Spiderman 2 does it right - the action is better and better paced, the human elements are more complex and gripping, and the plot addresses Big Ideas without getting distracted from being a movie. The effects are great, the writing is solid, and the acting is also great. Molina is in fine form as Dock Ock, MacGuire has Peter/Spidey down pat, and the rest of the cast is as good as one could hope. I just hope that Spidey is as successful and long-lived as the James Bond franchise
Decoys (2004)
Excellent try
OK, the dialogue needed another polish. And there was some adding/pacing issues. And the budget was obviously very small. And a few of the actors needed more rehearsals. All true.
But they certainly tried to put out a great comedy/parody. And they succeeded in a cute comedy with some great moments. C'mon, the concept of sorority sisters that whose touch can freeze you from the inside out? That's a metaphor - and funny! And the shy boy who 'melts the heart' of one of the aliens... the writer(s) came up with a great core concept.
There were a handful of good slapstick moments (although more fell flat) and the director and editor seemed to realize that the 'guy playing the sidekick' was the better actor - the lead vanishes for a few stretches to let him roomie steal the spotlight. The cinematography was good with great use of deep focus in 2 scenes and a good use of American closeups throughout.
View it as an attempt at parody rather than hard science fiction and you'll enjoy it much more.
Armageddon (1998)
The only thing worse than the acting is the science
Truly painful to watch, this movie had the dialog of a cheap 1930's serial and the plot of a Tom Swift novel. Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler are terrible, Bruce Willis seems to have phoned in his performance, and the character actors, all talented, are wasted.
And the science is flawed; yes, only a portion of the sky is routinely scanned. But a chunk of rock that big would be visible beyond the orbit of Pluto. And to approach as it did, it must be close to the ecliptic, meaning it was in the portion of space watched most closely.
I enjoy science fiction and I enjoy action. But this movie was so bad my willing suspension of disbelief got up and went to get a drink!
The Rock (1996)
One of the worst movies ever
I love to bring up this movie in casual conversation. Someone says "That was a pretty good movie" but after I point out 2 or 3 things they usually admit that it not a good movie in any way.
The plot has holes big enough to drive a Mack truck through - soldiers who died in a declared war had their deaths covered up? Why? Everyone in the world knew here they were and what they were doing.A man is kept in prison for 30 years with no charges and no convictions and no one notices? A dozen men can steal a dozen weapons of mass destruction (including missiles) in 10 minutes with dart guns? SEALs can't figure out how to open a locked door?
You get the idea. I can't get through 3 minutes of this movie without shaking my head in disgust.
X-Men (2000)
Great adaptation
The flat best adaptation of a comic to the big screen ever. While I expected great action and good fights, I was very pleased to see they kept the big issues (mutants as metaphors for any oppressed minority, laws driven by fear rather than justice, etc.) and the character conflicts (not everybody gets along) from the comics. If you want a summer movie with great action *and* a plot, then see X-Men.
The Contraption (1977)
Well made short with one line of dialogue
This almost wordless short is visually gripping. It is, effectively, a 5 minute one-man play that will leave you stunned.