Change Your Image
enochbrandon
Reviews
Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
Depressing, Angering
This is one of the worst, if not the worst, Christmas movie I have ever seen in my life. The movie depicts very scary and unfunny moments when the two main characters decide not to celebrate Christmas in the usual manner and go the Bahamas rather than putting out a large amount of money, almost the same, for decorations and other holiday items. Once Allen and Curtis opt out of the normal routine the are at once set upon, not surprised or merely baffled friends and neighbors but a collection of psychos, protesters, stalkers, and bullies. It is like, as another writer put it, like the Nazi's came out and are forcing them to do Christmas. I felt angry at the people and the neighbors, not just frustration but real anger, I would have frankly called the cops or something because it is sheer outlandish harassment and abuse. I felt like the movie was trying to portray those who celebrate Christmas as being over-the-top zealots and scary people. I know some neighborhoods have guidelines and letters for decorative ideas but the man in charge in this movie is like a neighborhood Gestapo (played by Dan Akroyed in his worst role). Allen's character and Curtis also do not allow for one to be way to generous. They are an aging couple of people who have sent their daughter, only daughter off to the Peace Corps for a winter mission, or longer. There were a couple of moments that made me think of my folks and made me laugh but I assure you that these were few and far between. Most of the time they are fighting with each other and tugging against each other and against the neighborhood. Two things I will say and then sum up. One, having left home during the Christmas time I know my parents, and I believe most parents, would not think twice about skipping the big Christmas traditions and would not hesitate to go on a trip somewhere, anywhere to enjoy their second freedom especially the Bahamas, so it's a rather lame premise to begin with. Second, it makes me wonder what kind of image this gives people in the world about who American's really are and how we celebrate Christmas. Again, I am living and working abroad and trust me Hollywood has far more to do with shaping their ideas about us then any one person or political party. And most foreigners don't know a lot our country in general.
The Rescue (1988)
The Best Kid's V. Commie Movie
I saw this in the theater when it came out and it made a big impression on me that lasts until today. I have long searched to find in on DVD and will buy it when I can. I thought that this movie was one of the best released in the eighties dealing with this subject. The characters are the kind of kid's that you'd like to hang out with and you are not unwilling to suspend disbelief for a short time and have good entertainment. The plot, the characters, and the material are all well thought out and put in place. The shooting is well executed and, now living in Korea, the locales are perfectly representative of the North. The director and the production designers did their job well and you can tell that this was not a "slapdash" movie like Haunted Mansion or the minions of other rush jobs Disney and their partners have put out recently. The differences between the North and South in this movie should not be overlooked. The tensions between the two countries have never been higher and I think that with the current political scene the action takes on a lot more meaning.
I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951)
A Ministerial Film
This movie is a great representation of the many challenges that a minister faces in his career and it is well written from the wife's prospective. It shows that a minister is made better and stronger by a good wife by his side. The setting is North Georgia and shows the wonderful Georgian countryside. The writing is also very good. I think what makes me like this movie most is the fact that this is the one of maybe two times that Hollywood, pre-nineteen sixty, actually portrays evangelical Christians as not only normal people but honestly devout and truthful to the Bible. It really lifts you up and makes you remember that there are people who do live by the Bible and that makes them better people.
The Astronaut Farmer (2006)
The Worst
I saw this movie and was very disappointed. I must confess that when I went to see it it was as a last resort and wish I hadn't seen it. The movie was a very depressing one when you think of the expense and disasters that this man put his family through and the headaches he causes to pursuit a "dream" which is nothing more than bankrupting his family and sending them to the edge of sanity. Add to that this man cares nothing about bringing the government to his home and totally thinks of himself when confronted with the possibility that his family will be taken away from him and he locked up in the, excuse the pun, funny farm. Also he pursuits this goal, not out a pure desire to see space or to open it up for many people. It is simply for himself and trying to get rid of guilt over leaving NASA and his father's committing suicide. Again this did not inspire me but rather depressed me. There is no grand Americana and there is no ground swell of support it is simply a man against the world which does nothing to bring people to his aid. In moment he threatens murder, this is not the kind of inspired leadership that would hope for or expect. If you want to make yourself feel terrible, feel angry at the world and your family, and basically burn money for no good reason then go see this movie.
Forbidden Planet (1956)
One of the Best
This movie stands out as one of the few really good movies from this era that are sci-fi. Most of the movies from this time spent very little time in thinking out the characters, technology, and the special effects. In watching the film I am fully convinced that the producers actually sat down and thought out how they would communicate and how they would get from one place to another. As I mentioned, the characters are believable. In this film the hero and the woman he loves are not just the only plot line, there is a fairly complex system of plot and sub-plot which keeps the movie from becoming nothing more than a excuse to show skin. The people really do seem to believe that they are were they are supposed to be and doing their job seriously.
The special effects are up in the same category as those done on War of The Worlds. When I first saw it I was amazed at how they portrayed each of the pivotal points about the ship and the threat which moves the story along. See this movie and be amazed.
My recommendation is too buy it on DVD for format reasons and durability.