amitjusc Reviews

The Avengers (2012)

Smarter than the rest, better than the best

[9/10 · 23 May 2012]

Let me preface by saying that I am no fan of superhero movies, whether they be from DC or Marvel. I find that their biggest failing is that they have long action sequences that become dull because you simply cannot identify very deeply with the characters involved. This is usually a result of poor character development and hackneyed dialog. The abysmal Transformers movies and Star Wars prequels come instantly to mind (my wife and I almost fell asleep during the opening scene of Revenge of the Sith during the long, boring space battle). Fighting and action need context to have an impact on the more discerning viewer. The 13-year old version of me probably would have enjoyed the aforementioned movies, at least a little bit, but 34-year old me would rather scrape sandpaper over my eyeballs than be subjected to a pointless visual assault.

Now with the Avengers coming out, my wife and I decided that we should probably check it out for 2 reasons: Joss Whedon and Robert Downey Jr. When it comes to the superhero genre, Batman Begins and the first Iron Man sit at the top of our lists. Iron Man was funny, engaging and completely owned by Downey's personality. It was great fun and left the viewer with lasting thoughts and imagery. So with this being a Joss/Downey production for the most part (if you don't love at least some of Whedon's work, then you are not on my Christmas Card list), we were excited.

We watched all of the prequels, hating Iron Man 2 and the Edward Norton Hulk movie, but loving Captain America and Thor. J. Michael Straczinsky wrote the story for Thor, and it showed with it's depth and scale. We are huge Babylon 5 fans, so we simply had to see it. If you have yet to see The Avengers, the only absolutely necessary prequel is Thor. You really must see it for critical story elements to truly appreciate The Avengers. The rest of the prequels you can afford to miss, but Iron Man and Captain America are both great and it would help to some extent to see them before the Avengers. After seeing all of the prequels, we were ready to jump into the Avengers last night in 3D IMAX on a 72 foot screen (not that fake IMAX Experience crap on a 25 foot screen). And we had a grand ole time.

The movie pretty much starts where Thor left off, story-wise, and quickly advances the plot. Whedon ably does this while developing the myriad characters within. By the time the obligatory massive action sequences occur, you are "all in" and right there with these heroes. I would much rather see story than action, personally, but the balance was well handled and kept the user engaged at all levels throughout. Humor and drama were well balanced as well, with every character bringing some humor, but Downey stealing the show as he was destined to do. We were never bored and the 2 and half hours flew by. My wife is a big Neil Gaiman fan and she felt the the actor who played Loki did a near perfect job in both Thor and The Avengers.

Whedon is the new "King of the World"

9/10 - almost perfect

Babylon 5: Soul Hunter (1994) Season 1, Episode 2

Not a terribly important episode, but worthy nonetheless

[20 September 2011]

The universe of Babylon 5 is rich and full of depth. So many cultures, all with different beliefs on life, death, the soul, the afterlife. The clash of these ideals is nicely displayed in this episode, and profound questions are raised about who is right regarding these philosophical questions in such a heterogeneous universe. And, as with all good sci-fi, it parallels the human condition with our own wildly differing ideas on these questions.

This episode is not without its faults, but this can be expected and forgiven in the first season. The conflict between the soul hunter and Delenn was well done, as was the acting by both characters. There are a couple of episodes that could be skipped in season 1; this is not one of them.

Babylon 5: Babylon 5: The Gathering (1993) Season 1, Episode 0

A weak start to what would ultimately be one of the best TV series of all time

[20 September 2011]

For any true Babylon 5 fan, The Gathering is indispensable. With such a long and detailed story arc ahead, it would be a mistake to miss this, or the majority of the episodes of the first season. Unfortunately, both suffer from mediocre acting and so-so special effects (by today's standards).

By the end of season 1, Michael O'Hare does grow on you, even with his hammy acting (he is a stage actor which didn't translate so well to TV). He's not bad, but Bruce Boxleitner ultimately does a much better job. Claudia Christian also gets better over time, and is light years ahead of Tamlyn Tomita, who did an awful job in the pilot.

That said, I am on my second viewing of B5, and although the pilot and first season are cringe-worthy at times, they are both worth seeing, culminating in an incredible payoff with seasons 2,3 and 4. Watch this and then watch the whole series. You won't be disappointed.

Babylon 5: Midnight on the Firing Line (1994) Season 1, Episode 1

Good first episode and showcase for the 2 best actors in the series

[20 September 2011]

Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas are the 2 actors that made this series for me. Without them, and Mira Furlan as well, the plot would still have been amazing, but some of the bite would not be there.

The endless diplomatic dueling between Mollari and G'Kar is always a sight to behold, and the emotional power of theirs and Delenn's speeches draws you deeply into the story. They're just getting started here, but it is a sign of great things to come.

The plot to this episode is a good setup to the long conflict between the Centauri and Narn. Enjoy the fireworks, and don't miss a moment of the two ambassador's dialogue.

Lie to Me (2009–2011)

Canceled and for good cause

[6/10 · 17 May 2011]

This show burst out of the gates in the first season with some of the best television I had seen in a long time. This was a fantastic drama with great characters and a great concept. Unfortunately, the viewers for the pilot were over 12 million people, but had dropped by 4 million for the season finale. After that, the show started going off in new directions that did not mesh with the way the characters were being developed. One can only guess that Fox had a hand in this, pressuring the writers to bring in more viewers at all costs. AS you would expect, the results of that were not good, to say the least.

The second season was flawed, but still entertaining. The third season, however, was a complete disaster. It needed to be canceled at that point as it was no longer salvageable so, dare I say, Fox made the right choice. If you haven't seen this show before, do yourself a favor and watch the entire first season. You won't be disappointed.

Star Trek (2009)

Dumbed down for the masses

[4/10 · 14 May 2009]

I wanted to like this movie, but there was just so much wrong with it, that any attempt to suspend my disbelief would be futile.

Here's what I felt worked well in the movie:

The comedic elements (which was shocking because the comedy that these writers put in Transformers was completely awful). Especially funny was the origin of McCoy's nickname. And even though the multiple injections he gave Kirk was silly, it was still funny and elicited genuine laughs.

The Enterprise looked beautiful, and in fact almost every set looked fantastic.

The cast did a good job playing their parts, more or less. Especially good were Pine as Kirk, Urban as McCoy, Saldana as Uhura, Pegg as Scotty, Greenwood as Pike, Nimoy as Spock, Cross as Sarek and Tahir as Robau.

They kept the Academy scene brief; not turning it into Starship Troopers.

Here's what I felt didn't work so well:

Quinto as Spock just didn't capture the character very well. Maybe he just isn't the best actor, but I felt like he was unable to convey what Nimoy could do just with his eyes. It would be hard to top Nimoy because he was always the best actor on TOS, but I felt that Quinto fell quite a bit short.

I really like John Cho but they really didn't have to cast a Korean guy to be Japanese; are there really no good Japanese actors out there that weren't dying to play the part of Sulu?

Bana as Nero was nothing special. Shinzon in Nemesis did a much better job of playing a furious Romulan than this guy, and that movie was pretty bad.

Yelchin as Chekov was nothing special, either, though I disagree with a lot of others who that he was a completely wrong choice.

All of the action sequences, although they looked very nice, moved too quickly to follow. Too many fast cuts and bright flashes to truly get a sense what was happening. Reminded me a lot of the action in Transformers.

The musical score was not nearly as good as other reviewers have stated. It felt very out-of-place on numerous occasions (I did like the scene with Sabotage, however).

And now what was just awful:

Pike promoting Kirk to 1st Officer was just stupid and never should have happened.

We as an audience being given no emotional attachment to the planet Vulcan before it was destroyed made it considerably less weighty. We were meant to feel more for Kirk's father dying than for the death of an entire planet of beloved Vulcans.

Spock subsequently ejecting his new 1st officer from the ship was another lazy plot device. The ensuing scene on the ice planet with the animal chase scene was pathetically reminiscent of Star Wars, which led to the very random encounter with Spock Prime.

Ummm, how does a black hole send two ships through time? Every molecule in each ship should have shattered and been compressed to near- nothingness. Nimoy explaining that event made me say, "Wow, Leonard Nimoy just sold out!"

The scene where Scotty is trapped in the water tubes was just silly.

And the ending where they dump and detonate the warp core to escape was lame. The old Trek would have come up with something intelligent, instead of making a huge, pretty explosion to save the day.

Anyway, I have little faith in the future of this franchise as long as the same writers and director are involved. There was definite potential here which was squandered with lazy storytelling and lazy directing. The look was certainly fantastic, as were some of the acting performances, but it was not enough to offset the numerous failures. It is possible that the sequel could be better, but I fear they will follow the same dumbed down and mass appealing direction that so many movies have moved to nowadays. Action movies can work very well when there is heart and good storytelling behind it, and unfortunately, this had little of either.

4/10 (Edited from a 5 after further reflection)

As a reference, I love TOS and the first few movies, thought TNG and Voyager were mediocre except for a few good stories here and there and a few good actors, never saw DS9 or Enterprise, and I never went to conventions or anything, just always liked the positive spirit of the show.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Overrated but still a fine film

[8/10 · 13 August 2007]

Top 250 material - YES #1 movie of all time - not a chance in Hell.

I saw this movie when I was like 14 or 15 and thought it was the greatest film ever made. Great acting, great story, great subplots, best Stephen King adaptation ever, Morgan Freeman.

The things that bother me most now are the one-dimensional characters of the warden and guards. If we could see what turned them from human beings into what they are now, that would have been helpful to the emotional atmosphere of the film. The warden was definitely one of the central characters and I didn't quite get a sense of who he was.

Still a fantastic film, but I can think of 100 better ones.

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996)

This is a movie; not just an extended episode

[8/10 · 5 August 2007]

One thing this movie never fails to do is be entertaining. The crassness of these two dimwits against the backdrop of their youthful innocence makes for a good 90 minutes of comedy. The cameos and Robert Stack as the government agent were a nice touch. Also, some of the cool animation techniques like the mirror ball scene in the casino and the tripping scene in the desert showed that there was more to this than just an extended episode.

Fans of the show will undoubtedly enjoy this. Non-fans will be less enthused, of course, and I am not sure this movie would be for them. Give it a try, though; you may be surprised.

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Should be on the Top 100 of all time

[10/10 · 4 August 2007]

I have seen this movie more times than any other movie ever. When I was 12 or 13, my brother rented it and we watched it 3 times in the same day. At first, I hated it because I didn't know any better, and my brother never "helped" me figure out why it was funny. The second time I watched it, I "got it" and have never been the same person ever since.

First off, the entire film is ad-libbed except for the songs and a few lines; which is the reason that people are talking over each other a lot, requiring repeated viewings to catch everything. It is in documentary format, so it all works for this type of film. The songs are hysterical but catchy at the same time, just like real 80's arena rock and hair metal (well some of it). It certainly helps to be a fan of the rock genre to enjoy the film, or you will miss out on some significant references and the basis for each of the band members.

There are no dull moments in this brisk, 82-minute film, and the sheer number of hysterical cameos (including Fran Drescher, Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby, Howard Hesseman, Paul Shaffer and Anjelica Huston) kicks the film up to 11 as they all put in stellar performances.

This film should be in the Top 100, no question. On my list, it would be in the Top 10. Of course, American History X is currently rated #41, so that tells you something about the IMDb rating system.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

A fantastic dark comedy that is wholly interesting from beginning to end

[9/10 · 22 July 2007]

My wife and I usually enjoy watching movies in two parts, so we started watching this at 11:00 PM intending to stop it halfway through and finish it tomorrow. That did not come to pass as we couldn't bear to wait till tomorrow to see the results of this nightmare road-trip. Someone here compared it to National Lampoons Vacation without the Wally World aspect. That is a gross simplification that ignores the depth and message of this film. They also stated that the family members could possibly be in the same family. Apparently, they don't know too many people in any great detail, because most families are more like the ones we saw here than almost any other I've seen on TV or in movies. But enough ranting.

Alan Arkin stole the show in every scene he was in. All of the other actors put their best efforts into every scene and it shows. The character development was excellent and kept you interested to the last moment. I really have nothing bad to say about this film since it delivered what it was supposed to and much more.

Any parent who brought their kid to this movie or showed it to them are probably the same idiots who showed them Pan's Labyrinth. In the age of the Internet, I think you can be a little bit smarter and bother to check rottentomatoes or IMDb (or how about the MPAA ratings as they were both R-rated). Some parents are just disgraceful.

Downfall (2004)

A new angle on WWII that needed to be put to film

[9/10 · 22 July 2007]

Painting Hitler and the Nazis as anything other than real human beings is the great failing of most WWII movies. This film dares to show a different side of the cast of characters we have come to regard as soulless monsters, while still showing us why they are regarded as such. However, their human sides are revealed as are the impetus behind many of their decisions and actions.

I have never seen a better film about WWII from any perspective. The plight of the Jews was barely shown because we have seen it in countless other great films like Schindler's List. This allowed for more time to be devoted to the Nazi government and was one of the most interesting and informative films I have ever seen. I gave it a 9 instead of a 10 because of a subplot or two that could have been shortened. However, these showed the plight of the German citizenry which was necessary to the story; they just could have been a tad shorter.

Night of the Comet (1984)

Smart and funny parody of 50's Sci-Fi garbage

[7/10 · 22 July 2007]

I just saw this again on HDTV and I have to say that it looks pretty damn good for a movie made in 1984 on a low budget. The empty LA scenes were great, as were all of the characters with their superficial lives. It even has one pretty scary scene where a kid starts terrorizing Hector in his parent's house when he goes to track them down.

It also had some good character development when the daughters are at odds with their cheating step-mom. The development of Hector was also pretty good. Although the rest of the characters had very little development, that can be expected and forgiven in a film like this. All in all, a very entertaining and fun movie.

Transformers (2007)

Just awful!!!...the 1986 film was far better and that's not saying much

[3/10 · 7 July 2007]

Let's be honest, people. If you are like me, you are perfectly capable of turning off your brain and enjoying a good action romp. Live Free or Die Hard was a good example of this, although it was smarter than most people give it credit for. This piece of garbage, however, featured probably the best special effects ever seen in a movie, with no emotional subtext to make you care about any of it.

The opportunities for character development are wasted on childish drivel. There were more intelligent adult themes in the original cartoon than this, and that's not saying very much (even though I am a die hard G1 Transformers fan). If you don't care about the characters, you don't care about the action sequences. Incidentally, the action featured so many quick cuts and rapid camera motion that it was really hard to enjoy them.

There were a few funny jokes in the movie, and a lot more bad ones. All of the acting was terrible, although Shia and the people who played his parents did a halfway decent job. The plot was mediocre, but bogged down by terrible dialogue and directing. Michael Bay did what I expected him to do, which was to waste a wonderful opportunity to make an engaging action spectacular.

The biggest crime for me was the characterization of all of the Transformers. No Starscream-Megatron rivalry at all (except for one throw-away line). No personality at all, in fact, for the Decepticons. Ironhide was the only good Autobot personality while the rest, including Optimus, just aroused no feeling in me, and the Jazz character was just racist IMO (Scatman Crothers did a much better version of Jazz in the original series). I didn't give a damn who won the battle because I didn't know any of these undeveloped characters.

In the 1986 film, people were crying their eyes out in the theater at some points (no spoilers here because this is the film all of you should see if you care about Transformers). There's nothing to care about here except the really cool transformations and a few jokes. That's it and nothing more at all. I am so unbelievably disappointed.

Phat Girlz (2006)

The fact that this is in the bottom 100 is a disgrace

[7/10 · 20 June 2007]

I am giving this film a 7 out of 10 to counteract the ridiculously low rating. This film has a lot of heart and speaks to people of all cultures and physical proportions. The obsession with thin in America is an unhealthy one, and I applaud Monique and Co. for speaking their minds on the issue in a unique and uplifting way. It has its flaws and certainly gets a little cheesy at times, but I can name 200 films off the top of my head that are worse than this. This movie had my wife and I into it from the start (and mind you we are both thin and have never even seen Monique before) and we enjoyed almost every moment. Shame on anyone who gave this film 1 star; it deserves 4 at the bare minimum and I personally would give it 5.5/10. The 2.1 average as of 6/20/2007 is disgraceful and I hope it climbs up after people start seeing it more on cable.

There were a few technical flubs, but overall the directing and cinematography were quite good for such a low-budget movie. At no time did I feel that the acting was forced or unnatural (except when Eric Roberts opened his mouth).

Watch this movie with no expectations and you will enjoy it. Do not listen to anyone who lacks the wisdom or maturity to see that this movie is not one long-running fat joke. You will be rooting for these "Thick Madames" I guarantee.

Garden State (2004)

Worthless for anyone with taste

[2/10 · 12 March 2006]

An awful waste of time that piggy-backs itself on the current music and art "scene" which is so devoid of content or depth, that it helps sink this film instead of enhancing it like so many others have pointed out. No, the soundtrack was not cool; almost no "cool" music has been recorded for years. The Shins have about as much credibility as the Black Eyed Peas. OK, that sounds cynical, but EMO and the rest of this crap is not art.

As far as the film itself goes; what is there to say that hasn't already been said by the people who wisely gave it a rating of 3 or less. It's a clichéd, boring, sophomoric piece of crap. I would have hated this movie in high school, so I really don't know how it appealed to so many young people, critics included. My fiancée and I were appalled.

Don't waste your time watching 5 minutes of this literary and directorial train-wreck. Don't believe the hype (how is this rated 8.0 as of this writing on IMDb?) Don't see it!!!