ProudSonOfNewJersey Reviews

Alien: Covenant (2017)

This Film Is Not Crap!

[9/10 · 18 March 2018]

Did the haters and I watch the same movie? I think it danced on the edge of being a sequel to Prometheus, which I also enjoyed. But IMHO, Prometheus deserves a real sequel, to flesh in what happened after the ship took off, and to link to what happened in this movie.

This was an Alien movie, plain and simple. I found the first 20 minutes BORE-ING, but once the crew agreed to follow the rogue transmission to the new planet, things got interesting. Plenty of human-error and "well, it seemed like a good idea at the time", but I think that's what happens when actual people encounter the unknown and unexpected. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the movie. Maybe I completely enjoyed this movie cuz all I'm looking for is to be entertained, but I really think it fit in well with all of the other Alien movies. Plenty of action and "waiting for the other shoe to drop" moments.

I'm a hard-core sci-fi fan - I like everything from Edgar Rice Burroughs & Jules Verne to James P. Hogan and David Brin. I found nothing to support the hate and low ratings that this movie received. Thankfully, I like to make up my own mind, and not be led by the nose by poor ratings. If the hate and bad ratings have scared you off this movie, I encourage you to download it or rent the Blu-Ray from Netflix or wherever and make up your own opinion.

Battleship (2012)

Movies should be fun, not not advanced physics or logic classes

[10/10 · 17 February 2013]

Piffle! I weep for the people who can't just enjoy a movie for what it is - pure entertainment. When my wife & I saw this, we weren't looking for a physics class or a logic seminar. We were just looking for tons of action and things that went boom.

We have a saying that we use when something clearly impossible is being done. When one of us starts saying "What!? That's bull****, the other says "Relax, it's just a movie". And the other relaxes, able to enjoy the rest of the movie, because In Movies Everything Is Possible.

Who cares about great acting? If you're after that, go look at a "film", which drives normal people into a deep slumber. For the people who disliked this movie because of flaws in science and/or logic and/or acting, go to wikipedia.org, and use this search term: "List_of_films_considered_the_best". As a public service, I recommend that you have the list tattooed on your arms for easy reference.

Here's a quote from that Wikipedia article: "Every decade, the British film monthly Sight & Sound asks an international group of film professionals to vote for their greatest film of all time. The Sight & Sound accolade has come to be regarded as one of the most important of the "greatest ever film" lists. Roger Ebert described it as "by far the most respected of the countless polls of great movies—the only one most serious movie people take seriously."[1]".

There you go - Serious Movies for Serious Movie People. Kinda like the Knights Who Say Ni.

The only criteria that folks like me ("Sweat-hogs" perhaps?) look for is, "Is it fun?". Battleship delivered fun in spades. Not, of course, for Serious Movie People who watch Serious Movies.

Run time of 131 minutes never bothered us - we rented the Blu-ray from Netflix, and paused as desired to refresh drinks, snacks and bathroom breaks. Admittedly, the first hour was kind of talky (dull boring "character development"), but after that, Battleship was an action movie junkie's dream. Big Iron duking it out.

And putting in the old vets - totally awesome! (On a tour of the Intrepid in NYC, there were some WW2 vets on board to answer questions. They were great guys!) Without the old vets, the ship wouldn't have made it away from the dock.

I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to go watch Zombie Strippers. Toodles everybody, Kisses!!

Eragon (2006)

Loosen Up and Enjoy! My Wife & I Loved It!

[8/10 · 2 June 2009]

The only reason that I gave it 8 out of 10 was the ending. It was only after turning to IMDb that I found out the movie was based on a book series. I can only hope there will be a sequel so that I can see how it ends. It seems that most folks don't like the movie because it wasn't faithful to the book. That happens a lot. I read John Grisham's "A Time to Kill", and got sick when the movie came out. So, I can relate to the book fans, but on its own, I just loved the movie. Amazing scenery, good fight scenes, real good special effects, a classic good vs evil theme, an evil wizard...jeez, who could ask for more? I guess I'm not as astute as some of the other reviewers, as I didn't notice any bad acting. I was totally wrapped up in the movie. Now I'm inspired to read the book series.

Butter (1998)

Surprised to find out I was watching a bad movie

[7/10 · 18 May 2009]

It's the wee hours on Sunday night / Monday morning, and channel-surfing brought up this movie. It didn't seem too bad, and in fact, I was really enjoying it. I was curious about who played Rick, and naturally went to IMDb, and I found out that I should hate this movie, if I can trust most of the other reviewers. Phooey on them --- I LIKED IT!! It kept my attention, stuff was always happening, heck, I had fun! That's what I watch movies for -- fun. I don't know about direction, plot holes and all that other jive -- save that for English class and Miss Pruneface. I mean, what more do you want from a movie: vertigo, Tim Lister AND Tony Todd, a drum magazine in a 9mm pistol, jeez, this movie had it ALL!

The Village (2004)

Save your precious heartbeats for reruns of Gilligan's Island

[1/10 · 24 February 2008]

If I could have given this turkey a negative number, I would have. My wife and I have cursed the idiotic impulse that led us to rent this colossal waste of time.

Pointless, aimless, boring beyond words, dialog that was s-l-o-w, and those are the good points. The plot was just plain stupid, storyline hard to follow, attempts to scare us finally fizzled into prayer for a village-wide catastrophe that would end our misery. When we got to the end, we absolutely could not believe how badly we had been hosed. The entire miserable movie is one giant con-job!

I beg you, save yourselves from our awful fate. AVOID THIS DRECK AT ALL COSTS!!!

Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

51 year old guy bawls his eyes out, as usual

[8/10 · 19 May 2005]

I can't see why a retelling of a really good story gets panned. It stayed true to the original concept, that believing in something good, even if it only comes once a year, can make us better. If I may reference another Christmas classic of which there have been several worthy interpretations, "Scrooge" (1951), the young Scrooge says to the young Marley upon their meeting, "I believe the world is becoming a very hard and cruel place...". If it was that way in the 1800's, it's ten times worse today, and therefore all the more reason to be reminded of our better nature. I especially enjoyed the scene where the streets of New York City were filled with throngs of people, traffic on the bridges was stopped, all waiting for the verdict. I know NYC well, and how its people rise to such occasions. These scenes were not in the 1947 version, and I think they added a uniqueness to this version. Better, worse than the 1947 version? Neither - just different, and just as valid.