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MJB784
Hey, my name is Michael, I was born on July 10, 1984 and I have been a big movie fan all my life!
WHAT MAKES A MOVIE GREAT?: Every scene needs to be looked at in two different ways. One way is what the scene is about and the other way is how the scene is filmed. I think a great movie is when the story keeps moving along and the film making doesn't look aged.
WHAT MAKES A MOVIE MY FAVORITE: When I feel it's perfect on all levels of filmmaking.
REASONS WHY IT MATTERS WHAT YOU SEE:
1. Nobody knew what a movie was when they first saw a movie and they enjoyed it because it was filled with images they've never seen before. Then over the years, they lost the memories and didn't gain much knowledge since they started judging movies over what year it came out or what the genre is and all of the above have good movies and bad movies. So keep the memories from when you first saw a movie and gain the knowledge at the same time. That way it's a win-win situation.
2. You will never get your time back no matter what movie you see.
3. There's thousands of movies made and you won't see every one.
4. The winning team, in terms of movies, are not the majority. It's the one that paid the most attention.
I watch movies from nearly every genre: Action, Adventure, Animation, Biography, Comedy, Crime, Documentary, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Film-Noir, Foreign Films, Gangster, Horror, Martial Arts, Musical, Natural Disaster, Romance, Samurai, Science Fiction, Silent Movies, Sports, Spy Movies, Superhero movies, Suspense, War, Western
I ENJOYED EVERY MOVIE FROM THE FOLLOWING SERIES':
All three BATMAN/DARK KNIGHT's
All three GODFATHER's
All four LETHAL WEAPON's
All three LORD OF THE RINGS
All six MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE's
All five RAMBO's
All three THREE COLORS TRILOGY
All four TOY STORY's
Films I've changed my mind on:
Absolute Power (was: 5/10 now: 8/10), Adam's Rib (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), After Life (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), All of Me (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), Amarcord (was: 9/10 now: 6/10), American Graffiti (was: 9/10 now: 5/10), The Animal (was: 7/10 now: 3/10), Annie Hall (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Apartment (was: 9/10 now: 5/10), Apocalypse Now (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Arsenic and Old Lace (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Bananas (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Bank Dick (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Barbarella (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Batman Forever (was: 6/10 now: 7/10), Beguiled (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), The Birds (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Black Swan (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), Blade (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Blood Work (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Bringing Up Baby (was: 9/10 now: 10/10), Broadway Danny Rose (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Bronco Billy (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Buck Privates Come Home (was: 7/10 now: 9/10), Cape Fear (1991) (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Chain Reaction (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Changeling (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), Cheetah (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Child's Play 2 (was: 5/10 now: 6/10), Cobb (was: 6/10 now: 8/10), Coconuts (was: 6/10 now: 5/10), Conan the Barbarian (1982) (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Coogan's Bluff (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Crimes and Misdemeanors (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Deep Red (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Deliverance (was: 8/10 now: 5/10), Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (was: 5/10 now: 7/10), Die Another Day (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Die Hard (was: 5/10 now: 8/10), Dinosaur (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Dirty Dozen (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Doc Hollywood (was: 6/10 now: 7/10), Down to Earth (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Dr. No (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Dumb and Dumber (was: 6/10 now: 7/10), East of Eden (was: 9/10 now: 6/10), Edge of Darkness (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Eiger Sanction (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), El Mariachi (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), The Enforcer (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Escape From Alcatraz (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Exorcist (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Fantasia (was: 9/10 now: 6/10), Fast and the Furious (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), F For Fake (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Firefox (was: 4/10 now: 5/10), Fistful of Dollars (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Flags of Our Fathers (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), For a Few Dollars More (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Forbidden Games (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Forbidden Planet (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Freaks (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), French Connection (was: 9/10 now: 5/10), Friends With Money (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Fun With Dick and Jane (2005) (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Gangs of New York (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Giant (was: 9/10 now: 5/10), Godzilla (2014) (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Goldeneye (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), The Good Shepherd (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Good the Bad and the Ugly (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Grandma's Boy (1922) (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), Great Muppet Caper (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), Hang Em High (was: 6/10 now: 5/10), Heartbreak Ridge (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Hellraiser (was: 7/10 now: 4/10), High Plains Drifter (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), Holiday (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Horton Hears a Who (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Husbands and Wives (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Inception (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), In Cold Blood (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Insidious (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), Inspector Gadget (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), In the Navy (was: 6/10 now: 7/10), It Happened One Night (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), It's a Gift (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Jack (was: 7/10 now: 4/10), Jackie Brown (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Jezebel (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Jingle All the Way (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), King Kong (1933) (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Knowing (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), L.A. Confidential (was: 9/10 now: 10/10), Last Samurai (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Laura (was: 9/10 now: 6/10), Lethal Weapon 2 (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), Lifeboat (was: 8/10 now: 5/10), Life of David Gale (was: 7/10 now: 4/10), Little Mermaid (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Lost Weekend (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Love and Death (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), M (was: 9/10 now: 7/10) Mad Max (was: 8/10 now: 5/10), Magnolia (was: 9/10 now: 10/10), Manhattan (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Manhattan Murder Mystery (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Matinee (was: 6/10 now: 7/10), Matrix Reloaded (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Mean Streets (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Megamind (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Milky Way (1936) (was: 5/10 now: 7/10), Millions (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Mission (was: 9/10 now: 6/10), Mister Roberts (was: 9/10 now: 5/10), Monster House (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), My Fellow Americans (was: 6/10 now: 3/10), Naughty Nineties (was: 5/10 now: 7/10), Never Ending Story (was: 9/10 now: 6/10), Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (was: 6/10 now: 4/10), Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child (was: 4/10 now: 5/10), Night of the Hunter (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Night of the Living Dead (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), North by Northwest (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), Oh Heavenly Dog (was: 8/10 now: 5/10), Oliver and Company (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Once Upon a Time in America (was: 7/10 now: 9/10), One Hour Photo (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), Open Water (was: 8/10 now: 5/10), Our Hospitality (was: 9/10 now: 5/10), Passenger 57 (was: 7/10 now: 4/10), Patch Adams (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Peter Pan (1953) (was: 7/10 now: 9/10), Pi (was: 10/10 now: 9/10), Planet of the Apes (1968) (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Play It Again Sam (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Play Misty For Me (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Psycho (1960) (was: 9/10 now: 10/10), Pulp Fiction (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Purple Rose of Cairo (was: 9/10 now: 10/10), Radio Days (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), Raging Bull (was: 8/10 now 7/10), Rear Window (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Rebecca (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Rebel Without a Cause (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Road Warrior (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Rocky (was: 9/10 now: 5/10), Rocky Horror Picture Show (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Run Lola Run (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Rushmore (was: 7/10 now: 9/10), Ruthless People (was: 6/10 now: 7/10), Saboteur (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Schindler's List (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), School of Rock (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), Seabiscuit (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Serpico (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Seventh Seal (was: 9/10 now: 6/10), Shadow of a Doubt (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Shawshank Redemption (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), She's Out of My League (was: 8/10 now: 5/10), Sideways (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Sinbad: The Legend of the Seven Seas (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Singin in the Rain (was: 9/10 now: 10/10), Sleeper (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Spellbound (1946) (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Spirit of St Louis (was: 9/10 now: 5/10), Spy Kids (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Spy Kids 2 (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Stardust Memories (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Stepmom (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Sunset Boulevard (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Survivors (was: 6/10 now: 3/10), Suspicion (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Suspiria (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Sweet and Lowdown (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Swing Time (was: 5/10 now: 8/10), Tarzan (1999) (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), Terminator (was:9/10 now: 8/10), Thank You For Smoking (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), That Thing You Do (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), Them (was: 7/10 now: 6/10), 39 Steps (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Thunderball (was: 6/10 now: 5/10), Top Hat (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), Trading Places (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Treasure of the Sierra Madre (was: 9/10 now: 6/10), UHF (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Unbreakable (was: 8/10 now: 5/10), Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (was: 8/10 now: 9/10), What About Bob? (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), What Dreams May Come (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), When Harry Met Sally (was: 7/10 now: 8/10), Where Eagles Dare (was: 8/10 now: 6/10), Wild Bunch (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (was: 8/10 now: 7/10), Witness (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Wolfman (2010) (was: 9/10 now: 8/10), World Is Not Enough (was: 7/10 now: 5/10), Yankee Doodle Dandy (was: 9/10 now: 7/10), Zelig (was: 7/10 now: 5/10)
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The Simpsons Movie (2007)
There are a lot of laughs in this movie.
Though a little draggy at times for a movie based on a long running TV show that's known for sharp comedy and timing, this was a mostly satisfying and entertaining movie. The story involving Homer causing a giant glass dome hovering over the town of Springfield and leading to the family's escape makes this more about the family than many episodes do. Though of course the supporting characters are associated with the Simpsons as friends, here, we get to see The Simpsons explore life outside of Springfield, which doesn't happen often enough. The supporting characters are still used well, but don't take control of the story as sometimes they would. Ned Flanders is used more sympathetically in this movie than just an annoying neighbor and the story also goes environmental, rather than just some story for the comedy.
Commando (1985)
A very 80s and aged action movie.
I know this movie has many fans, but I'm not one of them. The action scenes don't seem very memorable to me and some of the deaths are just dumb. An example of the latter is when Arnold kills a guy sitting next to him in an airplane before takeoff by breaking his neck and no one notices. One thing that doesn't make sense is that the character John Matrix says to his daughter early on what it was like living in Germany when Arnold is Austrian. There are some good one liners and Arnold does his best with the cool war paint and use of weapons, but the story and villains are blah. It's basically John Matrix trying to get his kidnapped daughter back without her getting hurt. Rae Dawn Chong does have a good part as an accomplice inadvertently associated with John Matrix giving some comic relief as a innocent character thrusted into some of the violence (for example: After a car crash, she says, "I think I'm dead!").
Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka (2023)
I really wanted to like this movie because the animation is so well drawn and colorful.
Unfortunately, the story and pacing are frustrating. The opening starts quite well as the young boy is missing his parents who died in a fire during World War 2 and he's adopted. He sees a beautiful bird flying known as Heron in Japan, but soon the bird is mischievous and has a human face inside his beak and speaks. Soon, he's trusted into this other world where a hallway full of doors opens to various places and various things happen. This also includes a door he and a lost girl walk through that sends them in the fireplace of someone's house while the fire is on. As you can tell, the story becomes more difficult than needed and I was disappointed since I enjoy some of Miyazaki's other movies.
North by Northwest (1959)
Of all the movies Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock made together, this is my favorite.
I used to think their best collaboration was Suspicion, but this adds up more and has more classic scenes. The story is of mistaken identity. Grant plays Roger Thornhill who is running away from criminals who think he's someone else and police who think he is a criminal. Roger runs into a young woman who might be double crossing him if she works for the enemies. The situation Roger is put through are clearly the highlight of the movie. There's the memorable scene when he's forced to drink a bottle of alcohol and driven down a windy road only to be captured by the police as a potential drunk driver. There's Roger's supposed meeting in the middle of nowhere that becomes a chase to survive when an airplane is running towards him deliberately. Of course, we have the infamous climax on top of Mount Rushmore. There are many famous scenes. A couple scenes with blue screen age and explain why the boy would cover his ears before the woman played by Eva Marie Saint fires at Grant at a restaurant? They could've used a different take. Most of this is amazing, though. How could I forget the exciting opening credits, too or the music score by Bernard Hermann?
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
One of the few remakes that I liked more than the original.
Alfred Hitchcock was one of the few directors to remake his own movie. I'm not sure what made him remake his 1934 movie of the same name, but I didn't find that movie very memorable. Maybe he felt the same way, but the title could be used in a number of other movie titles from him. Both movies deal with American out of country that are witnesses to murder and don't know the whole story, but both the criminals and those who think he's one of them are after the main character. In this version, James Stewart and Doris Day are a married couple with a son named Hank who stumble onto the death of an unknown man falling into Stewart's hands. This also leads to the kidnapping of their son and the Albert Hall concert finale where the climax arrives. I don't think this is as memorable as some of his other movies. There aren't many classic camera angles, memorable villains, famous music score or impressive set pieces aside from its finale, but I did enjoy the movie and the performances. I also like how colorful the scenery was.
Under the Skin (2013)
How does one describe this movie?
The opening of the story and visuals are very intriguing, but feels more like a short story. An alien takes the human form of a woman played by Scarlett Johansson. She lures men into the truck and brings them to an outer limit where nothing is there and pulls there body down to whatever is below. The visuals show the blankness and the dark otherworld like an ink blot test in its visual effects. It looks cool, but where is it going? The climax is in the woods and the final scene has what looks like ashes falling onto the camera in a low angle shot. This also looks like water colors falling on the lens. Beautiful, but not a clear tone or story.
The Strangers (2008)
The original Strangers is truly terrifying.
One of the scariest movies I've ever seen. In repeated viewings, it's still extremely scary. The story is more cohesive than you realized. The voice over narrator admitted that what happened that night isn't entirely clear. The whole idea of a couple in an isolated house coming home from a wedding and staying at the boyfriend's old summer house is a timeless idea when they hear unwanted knocks on the door. How they keep the faces in shadow is also effective, but seeing them appear in frame wearing the masks is scarier. The music and other knocks on the door are also chilling. I'm not just talking about the score, but also the lyrics of other music. This is an example of pure terror without forced violence and ridiculous amounts of blood. Of course, horror movies have violence including here, but this is like a 70s throwback that doesn't overdo it. I wonder what Alfred Hitchcock would've thought if he saw this movie.
Road to Perdition (2002)
I used to think it's very good, but in repeated viewing, it's just good.
The attention to detail of the costumes, cars, buildings and tone of the 30s era was very well done. I also enjoy the performances, but most of the characters aren't given much to do. Some of the characters the father works for or with don't have much personality and Jude Law's character only seems important for the climax at the beach house. A lot of scenes move too slowly, but the story is quite good still. Tom Hanks is against type as a gangster who hides his profession from his children, but comes home seeing his wife and child killed by other mobsters with him a wanted man. His other son is still alive and snuck into his car in the backseat not knowing his father's occupation. The son, Michael, is of course shocked that he witnesses his father murdering others with a machine gun and after the rest of the family is murdered, the father and son flee for safety. There isn't a whole lot of violence for a gangster movie, but I do like the shoot outs.
The Running Man (1987)
Certainly an 80s movie, but still entertaining.
The highlights are when he's on the game show and battling to stay alive with various contestants he's up against to the death. It was very fitting that the game show host is played by Richard Dawson from Family Feud back in the day. I also enjoyed the many challenges Arnold faces and the machine he's in that catapults him into the arena. The opening credits looks very silly like a Pac-Man video game with aged animated red and white images on the screen of stick figures and the music isn't that impressive either, but the movie improves when Arnold is the contestant and put to the task of all these villains. Very strange that such a movie is based on a novel by Stephen King, who went by the alias Richard Bachman. I don't know what this has to do with his other movies. Usually, he tells stories about childhood problems or characters with special powers or horror stories. I also find it strange that such an actor like Arnold Schwarzenegger would be in a movie from an author like King, but with a different name for the author, maybe they didn't know at the time.
Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
What a terrible movie.
Why would such talented actors like Paul Giamatti and Clive Owen choose such a forced action picture with ridiculous action scenes? The entire movie is about murdering an innocent baby after his mom gave birth just so the killers can save a life with a bone marrow transplant. The opening action scene is already messed up since the imbilical cord after birth was literally shot off with a gun. The hero not only draws fire, but kills some characters with carrots?! How do you do that? Throughout the movie, he's seen eating or throwing carrots when not using his gun. That's basically all the story there is.
RoboCop (1987)
The only Robocop movie I like.
Taking place in a once futuristic Detroit where violence has gone up and robots are being tested for the latest in protecting the city is similar to director Paul Verhoven's Starship Troopers ten years later. The idea about a police officer who's been paralyzed due to a dangerous situation undercover where he's assumed dead only to be reprogrammed as a robotic killing machine is very cool. The robots were originally to replace the officers on duty, but turning a human being into a cyborg on the outside certainly makes an entertaining movie. There isn't a real ending to it though as it kind of just stops after the death of the last character and Robocop as a character is kind of repetitive, but I still enjoy this movie. Turning this into a series is tough because of how few things the character can do. This could explain why I haven't enjoyed another movie with him in it.
The Time Machine (2002)
I was disappointed overall, but it started out well.
The scientist creating the time machine was well played by Guy Pearce and the first half was entertaining as we see him trying to get his invention made. There's also a funny in joke within its own movie of Orlando Jones acting like a guide about the Time Machine and saying it's based on an H. G. Wells book and mentioning a remake in progress. During the next half, our hero goes to an unknown world with creatures that remind me of the planet of the apes and the pacing starts to drag. The story loses interest and the finale shows him battling the creatures while also finding a way back home. As you can tell over twenty years later, this wasn't a memorable movie. Not many have remembered that there was a remake and the original will still be the first thing that comes to sci-fi fans minds when they mention the title.
The Prestige (2006)
The entire story is a three part magic act.
As expected from Christopher Nolan, he tries to manipulate the audience by being a 21st century Alfred Hitchcock. When I first saw this movie, I loved it, but in repeated viewings, I liked it. One weakness is the magician played by Hugh Jackman who creates a giant machine filled with light bulbs for cloning himself to outdo his previous partner turned nemesis played by Christain Bale in the hopes of becoming smarter and the better magician. The scenario for cloning himself should have happened once, but he decides to do it over and over which doesn't make sense other than the opening scene panning the top hats with the narrator saying, "Are you looking closely?" I don't think the pacing is as strong as some of his other movies, but I do like most of the story and the twists involving Christain Bale's doppelganger as well as the magic tricks.
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Could someone explain this to me please?
The first half feels like a fairy tale for a tv show. The main character is an actress in Hollywood and dreams of success and stardom. Even the Cowboy who appears in her dreams would act like it's made for tv. He would say stuff like "Smart aleck" rather than foul language and the filmmaking is deliberately bright even for nighttime scenes. The Cowboy returns and says, "Time to wake up, little lady" and soon the rest of the movie has nothing to do with the first half. I haven't enjoyed any David Lynch movies. I'm not sure where the mystery of this appears or the significance of the Blue Box the camera pans to after the Cowboy tells her to wake up. I don't understand the ending where some of the characters were miniaturized. What was this?
The Mummy Returns (2001)
With the first sequel, Mummy Returns doesn't know when to quit.
The movie starts out quite good with a backstory of The Scorpion King being this evil warrior. We also reunite with the characters Rick O Connell and Evelyn, who are married with a young son of theirs. Of course, the boy is mischievous and creates a plot point to reawaken the Mummy and its many henchmen back from thr dead and how the Mummy is also interested in The Scorpion King being resurrected, too. The rest of the movie is pure chaos. There's way too many action scenes and fast pacing. The balance of calm and fast from the original is gone in favor for over the top filmmaking. I will say the visual effects are well done, but it's hard to get involved in the story and even the action scenes are hard to follow without breaks. I also don't think they did a good job bringing the Scorpion King back from the dead for its climax. The CGI of the Rock looks too pasted on the body of an artificial character and it doesn't move smoothly either. The body movements are sort of like stop motion animation even though it's clearly made on a computer without smooth shades of colors for the skin tones or giving the character free range in movement. The body moves so forcefully and seems stiff.
The Mummy (1999)
The remake of the 1932 movie is a really good demonstration of properly remaking a movie.
You don't have to see the original movie to enjoy this and while black and white cinema works for the bandages in the earlier movie, the color works splendidly for the deserted landscapes in the 99 movie. The action scenes are a lot of fun with and without special effects and the Mummy known as Imhotep is a truly menacing creature with body movements similar to the T-1000 in its relentlessness. The comedy in between works, too and so do the characters looking for the lost city for treasure before awakening the Mummy through the book of the dead. I will say some of the pacing is a little slow here and there and the blue liquid doesn't blend with anything in the climax. Otherwise, this is a worthy remake.
Death to Smoochy (2002)
I will say it was better than my expectations.
The trailer and word of mouth in theaters were bad and I had no desire to see it on dvd. Audience members said it was misunderstood and quite funny. So, years afterwards, I decided to give it a chance. The filmmaking was very colorful and stylishly done. The colors of purple, red, gold, etc were well lit and designed with the staging of the television show Rainbow Randolph and later Smoochy's show. There's also some nifty split screen edits and zoom in and zoom outs. Unfortunately, the screenplay is boring, repetitive and not that funny. The concept sounds like a one joke as an adult look behind the scenes of television shows for kids. Barney the purple Dinosaur is an obvious target for Smoochy, but there's not much to it and I found it boring. It wasn't as unpleasant as the trailers made it look, but not very special either.
Casablanca (1942)
There are many classic scenes in this movie.
The question is not whether it's a great movie. The question is if it's the greatest or one of the greatest. While certainly the best movie of 1942, I don't think it's a perfectly made movie or my favorite Bogart movie. Some of the dialog in French has no subtitles and I don't think every single scene plays like the best part. There are definitely memorable characters and situations at Rick's Cafe and outside the cafe. Notice the classic scene of Rick reading the letter Ilsa wrote to him in the heavy rain while he and Sam are waiting for the train to arrive. The voice over of Ilsa and image of the ink dribbling down the page is a terrific idea for filmmaking and narration, but in the next scene, the two characters are perfectly dry when boarding the train with an inch of water on them. The songs performed by Sam are legendary, too and so is the last scene involving the relationship of the two leads. By the way, my favorite Bogart movie is The Maltese Falcon. That's a perfectly made movie, but Casablanca is my second favorite Bogart movie. Some of his others I find overrated not because of him, but because of the story and pacing being forgettable.
Dial M for Murder (1954)
I find it entertaining, but not much more.
On the positive side, I find it superior to the remake A Perfect Murder which had dumb characters and odd situations (for example, the victim and her husband live in a giant mansion with only one phone across the house for her to walk to?). I liked the story and characters, but it's a little too light for Alfred Hitchcock. I'm not blaming the fact that it's in color. I'm referring to the shades and that the ending is blah. I liked Grace Kelly's performance and the main scene when she gets to the phone at night leading to the twist in its story. Also, Ray Milland plays it so laid back and kind for someone plotting murder. Other Hitchcock movies like Vertigo had a more mysterious look in color than this and the music isn't memorable, but I do enjoy the idea of a woman with an unfaithful husband planning to kill her and having it lead to a memorable sequence shown on the posters and front covers of dvds and blurays. I don't know why he filmed it in 3-D. I watched a re-release of this at the Chinese Theater in 3D and while the presentation popped and looked sharp, it wasn't a story or vision in mostly one setting that needed 3D. Coming back to Vertigo or Grace Kelly's other Hitchcock movie Rear Window, imagine the logic in those pictures filmed for 3D where the audience sees only as near or far as the main character is seeing for a stronger effect.
The Shining (1980)
I can't get into most of this movie.
Artistically, the camera angles and key sequences of horror are quite good, but the running time is too long. There isn't a need for this to reach over 2 hours and 20 minutes. The character Jack Torrance slowly loses his mind and isn't even writing a book just as his son Danny is slowly having hallucinations in his mind of various characters and deaths. This is good stuff, but it just goes nowhere after. The scene in the bathroom with the deformed old woman being imagined by Jack was scary and so was the axe chopping scenes with Scatman Crothers and Shelly Duvall as the wife. However, the ending doesn't make sense that these characters knew each other through a photograph in the final scene or the purpose of Jack Torrance losing himself in the Overlook Hotel. Why would he keep writing the same phrase in different alignments over and over also?
Misery (1990)
There wasn't much to talk about.
Supposedly, the book is hundreds of pages long and Stephen King says it's almost autobiographical because of how many obsessed fans he has. The story starts out quite well as an injured author is taken into a cabin in a snowy town by none other than his number one fan Annie Wilkes. She wants him to write another novel, but doesn't want him to leave. Annie goes from being sweet and pleasant to being a deranged woman. The problem with the story is, that's expected when characters are trapped in a cabin and there's no way out. If he left, there would be no movie. The idea is similar to two people socializing at an isolated location in the movie Psycho, but Marion Crane wasn't famous and there were other characters afterwards investigating the murder. We are not given other big characters or goals for the audience. I do enjoy the performances, though.
Man of Steel (2013)
There wasn't much Superman in this movie.
The first act was quite good. I enjoyed seeing Krypton and spending more time on the planet than other Superman movies. Inevitably, due to the safety of newborn baby Clark Kent, he had to leave and is adopted like the earlier movies. Unfortunately, there's no action for a long time. This is more about being Clark Kent than being Superman. He doesn't officially become the title of the movie until the last 20 or so minutes. Nothing memorable happens in between and I realize that the series has told us basically everything you can about Superman. He is a more repetitive character by force due to hid strengths and weaknesses than Batman and Spider-Man. He is invincible except with kryptonite, becomes stumbling, bumbling Clark Kent by prentending to be a human character working at Daily Planet while in love with Lois Lane and that's about it. He has fulfilled all he needed to.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
There was no need to make a third Terminator movie.
I knew there would be a problem already when I read that James Cameron had nothing to do with it. The trailers didn't seem promising either as it didn't have anything memorable. The first two were not only well written and filmed, but were released when technology in real life was just starting to grow. These were made around the time of satellite TV, video games, computer games, internet, etc and a few years before dvd. By the time the third was released, it felt too "normal." Also, the villain wasn't memorable or with much desire to stop John Connor. She wasn't relentless like the terminators before her. There were a few good action scenes, like the freeway sequence, the funeral shootout and a fight in the bathroom, but the other scenes didn't stand out and neither did the special effects.
Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
The first Die Hard movie I watched.
I know most people see each movie in order of their release date, but I was 11 years old when I rented this on video. I wanted to see a Die Hard movie since the series was as popular as Lethal Weapon movies were. I liked the movie, but wonder how I would've felt had I watched the series in order. The action scenes and story connections to the original Die Hard were very entertaining. The pacing was mostly smooth and I was entertained other than the fact that it was a little overlong. While I enjoyed Samuel L. Jackson's performance as Zeus, the purpose of him felt like an excuse to feel similar with Lethal Weapon, except Zeus is not a cop. He doesn't feel necessary other than his involvement in Harlem when McClane is forced to wear an offensive sign by orders of the criminal Simon. That's similar to the other Bruce Willis action picture Last Boy Scout where Damon Wayans was important to the story at first, but stayed as a "partner" for Bruce Willis even though he wasn't a cop or crook. I recommend the four Die Hard movies because of how cheerful Bruce Willis' performance is and the exciting action scenes plus alternate stories and locations John McClaine is forced into. Haven't seen the fifth movie.
Sideways (2004)
There is still a lot of laughs and heart to it.
The main storyline about this wine expert named Miles who wants to give his best friend a good time over at a winery over the week is charming. Their relationship is interesting because their behaviors are kind of polar opposite. The best man just wants a relaxing time with a strict schedule, the groom-to-be wants to go all out and end up with another girl (Sandra Oh) they meet on the way. Miles soon becomes interested in her friend, a waitress at a restaurant they were at, played Virginia Madsen. Of course, certain secrets will be revealed and accidents will happen. It's comedy starts out as dialog driven, but moves to a more slapstick tone. The character Miles also changes from a stiff character to a more chaotic one. There were a few slow spots, but this was a mostly well written and entertaining movie.