Misery (1990)
Good horror. Good characters. Good acting. Nice flavor. Great story. But why would she want the sheriff to stay at her house? Interesting film from a guy like Reiner. Also interesting that they wanted Warren Beatty for the lead. He probably would have done better than Caan. Everyone wants to…
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A Few Good Men (1992)
Courage Under Fire meets A Time To Kill. Pretty boring. The whole premise/comflict seems unimportant. A lot of talking, and it gets tiresome. Big cast. How many times has Cruise played the hot-headed military man/lawyer? He’s pretty much a young Paul Newman. Pollack’s pretty funny. I never thought Nicholson was…
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Calendar Girl (1993)
Can you say, “Banking off the lure of hot stars of television to make a few quick bucks off the poor, little teeny-boppers who don’t know how to distinguish a good movie from a load of shit?” My date for this one: Jill.
Full ReviewOrlando (1993)
One of the most beautifully shot films I have ever seen. Fantastic colors and great composition. Great use of sound and music. Marvelous set and costume design. Fabulous flavor. Has that same eerie flavor that The Devils has. The looking at the camera bits I didn’t like. I found them…
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The Client (1994)
This movie was cute, I guess, and also a little heart-warming. The story was pretty interesting. I can’t help feeling that something was missing in this movie. It could have been the monodirectional singular plot of the boy and his lawyer that didn’t have anything else in the movie to…
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Three Colors: Red (1994)
Nice flavor, beautifully shot. Some neat camera movements, nice colors, and cool lighting. Not surprisingly, red is used quite a bit. Cool intro, but I sure as Hell don’t get the ending. The girl was cute, especially with that crinkle in her forehead. Almost a cross between Elisabeth Shue and…
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Bad Boys (1995)
Great cinematography (big bucks) for an OK story and a hint of real humor. It was like a giant episode of “Miami Vice” with some action clips directly from True Lies and some blue lighting (and a milk truck) from Terminator 2. Nonetheless, surprisingly good for a movie with “trendy”…
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Get Shorty (1995)
A bridge between the classic, more subdued films of the older generation and the young, dark Tarantino movement. Nothing great about this one. Story is decent, comedy is decent, acting is decent.
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Sonny Liston: The Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion (1995)
Interesting. I got a very clear idea of who he was. But the modern-day night shots of the city don’t work.
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Broken Arrow (1996)
Reminded me of Speed somehow. Just didn’t work. And the ending didn’t help, either.
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Jerry Maguire (1996)
A few funny moments. Cruise is good. The Katy girl is good, and the kid is great. Preston is hot. The football footage is surprisingly good. If anything, a tad long.
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Striptease (1996)
A few pretty funny moments. Bergman is probably the one to credit for those. Heavily romaticized. If only stripping was truly that respectable. Patrick is terrific as the slimeball. Ving and Burt are good too. Demi’s hot but not my type. Good music. Didn’t know the Eurythmics were still cool.
Full ReviewStar Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back [Special Edition] (1997)
As with the rest of the films in the series, a fantasy for kids. As with Star Wars, I was kinda disappointed, for most of the same reasons I explained before. It’ll be interesting to see if Lucas makes the 3 new movies the same way he made the old…
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Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997)
Funny! Sorvino, Kudrow, and Garafalo were all great.
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Dark City (1998)
If Tim Burton has made The Matrix, this would be it. A lot like Proyas’ earlier work, The Crow. Constant music, constantly moving camera. A lot like a music video. Brazil-like rising building metaphors. Could have used a legit star in the main role. Exorcist and Nosferatu-like villains.
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Pleasantville (1998)
Works on many levels, a real thinker. Similar to the “what else is out there in TV land” Truman Show premise. Nice story, and nice use of effects. Just wish we could have somehow bypassed the silly “fighting for the remote control” time warp that set this wonderful story into…
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10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Can’t slight the story, since Bill wrote it, but it *is* poorly executed. Horrible acting, and even worse writing. The comedy rarely works. The unimpressive but professional score almost overpowers the amateurishness of the movie. I did like the poem though. Cameron is annoying. How can we possibly sympathize for…
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For Love of the Game (1999)
More of a straight drama than a baseball movie. It’s more about the girl than the perfect game. Costner is good. I’ve always loved his understated style. We even get to see him cry for the first time in what is probably the film’s most powerful scene. His shoulder pain…
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Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
Pretty good story, although the immaculate conception bit was a bit hard to swallow. Introduces the saga nicely, and cleanly lays out the stories for the next two films of the series. A tad long and slow. Just wish the characters were developed a bit more. The characters in this…
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The Starfish (1928)
Boring. That shower door effect was kinda cool but it gets old. Was there a point to it?
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You’re Telling Me (1934)
One of the worst attempts at comedy I have ever seen. Fields is a comedian? He was one of the most unfunny, boring characters I have ever seen. This old man can’t do physical comedy, his timing is awful, and he beats his jokes into the ground. His only saving…
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The Seventh Victim (1943)
A lot of symbolism. A Psycho shower scene. And a guest appearance by Pulp Fiction’s Uma Thurman.
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A Place in the Sun (1951)
This movie didn’t have any major faults that I could pick at. Basically, it was a very generic but enjoyable love story that with no icing to make it a really great movie. This movie was probably great when it first came out because of it’s purity as a simple…
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Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
Good character development for an old movie, but pretty slow-moving. And it left me hanging a bit at the end. I didn’t know Conan O’Brien was making movies this early. Albert Finney was a virtual look-alike.
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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Pretty good, if you can make sense of it. Good drama and story. Exceptional special effects (not flawless, but pretty damn accurate) for a 60’s movie, especially considering they hadn’t even gone to the moon yet. The first 1/3 is very 60’s-ish, while the next 2/3 is remarkably modern. The…
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The Godfather (1972)
Great cast, but the acting’s not so good. Brando’s got a great look (except for the lump in his forehead), but you can’t understand a thing he says. Reminded me a bit of Casino. Nice flavor. Lots of browns, blacks, grays, pinks. Nice Potemkin shot-in-the-eyeglasses homage/hack.
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The Deer Hunter (1978)
The story-telling is a bit clunky, typical of movies from this time period. Best Picture? Really? Russian roulette is always dramatic. I wonder how dramatic this would have been without that scene. De Niro is intense, as expected. Walken was pretty good. Streep actually used to be pretty hot. Cazale…
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The Shining (1980)
Nice flavor, as with most of Kubrick’s work. Kubrick’s style is very interesting and very apparent when you compare The Shining with 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange. Formally, he uses extreme, bright, ultra-saturated contrasting colors or many similar drab colors. He also uses almost perfectly symmetrical square…
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Scarface (1983)
I like how the story was kind of divided into two halves, the rise and fall of Montana. Strangely, I thought the film was over after the first half, but I was happy to see that the story continued and that we had another 90 minutes to go. As I…
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Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
Kinda cheesy (story, dialogue, music, costuming, effects) all around, but kinda fun and playful nonetheless. A bored housewife looks for some adventure, like True Lies. Only this housewife is sociopathic. Madonna was OK, but Rosanna Arquette was HOT! Stephen Wright was pretty funny. For some reason, I keep getting him…
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Lucas (1986)
Rudy in high school. Great cast, and a great job by Haim. Wonderful supporting cast or Charlie Sheen, Jeremy Piven, and Winona Ryder. As someone who grew up in the 80’s, this movie definitely touches on a lot of the insecurities and confusion that boys of the time felt. I…
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Storme: Lady of the Jewel Box (1987)
Interesting, but we should have seen some of the show somehow. That’s all they talked about, about how great it was, and they hyped it up, but we never get to see it. That was really a woman? My God.
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Dead Poets Society (1989)
Good story, good acting, and some pretty cool cinematography. The kid who fell in love was particularly good. That Puck guy looks just like a young Jim Carrey.
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Uncle Buck (1989)
John Hughes and John Candy show what a great combo they can be. Hughes uses the same great comedy and touching ending he used in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. And it works great. Martin is good, and this might be Candy’s best performance. And this is probably the only movie…
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New York Portrait: Chapter III (1990)
It’s interesting how silent, black and white, artistic poetry films have changed since the City Symphonies of the 20’s and 30’s.
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Hard Boiled (1992)
Pretty good, but I have to say that the violence is a bit gratuitous at times, with a body count in the thousands. Much of this film either influences or copies Cameron’s Terminator and Terminator 2, including the characters, drama, settings, and action. There was even a bit from Die…
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Carlito’s Way (1993)
Great story, great characters, great directing. The suspense is fantastic. Great flavor. Probably my favorite De Palma film. If anything, a few subtle but sloppy continuity errors between angles in a few of the scenes. Pacino delivers a commanding, engaging performance. He looks great, and he’s real cool. I love…
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Philadelphia (1993)
Sad story, great acting by a lot of great actors. But plot’s a little too “jumpy” sometimes, and a little too much “art” in that opera scene.
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Color of Night (1994)
A Psycho-esque whodunnit plot about a schizophrenic who throws the detective off his mark. Some interesting twists and neat special effects.
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The Lion King (1994)
Another Disney product. They have a formula, and it works. Great animation, good music. I could do without the traditional Disney musical numbers, but that’s just me. Lots of celebrity voices. Is Jones the perfect choice for Mufasa or what?
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Timecop (1994)
I suppose writing a good time paradox story takes some skill, but then there are the predictable action scenes, jarring camera movements, and a gratuitous nudity that mark all of Van Damme’s films. Like a lot of movies from the 90’s, this one was shot like a television sitcom. It…
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Batman Forever (1995)
Pretty good. Great casting, with everyone fitting their role perfectly. Nice effects. Some loose ends, though. Never realized the Batman uniform had nipples.
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GoldenEye (1995)
Some good scenes (with that classic Bond flavor), some corny scenes. Some good special effects, some fake special effects. The intro sequence with the bike and plane was pretty good. More scenes like that would have made for a more exciting movie. The story needed a bit of work. It…
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Species (1995)
Some unappealing film techniques did nothing for the story (which could have been a lot better itself). And the ending was one of the dumbest I have ever seen. Date: Melissa Morgan
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Courage Under Fire (1996)
Almost like a modernized Rashomon plot, with several POV flashbacks being different variations of the truth. A few pretty cool war scenes. A war movie that was completely made up of war scenes like this would cost a zillion dollars but would be awesome. Good characters. Meg is surprisingly good.…
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Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Mmm. Want a cold one? Don’t bring the kiddies. Weird story about weird people. It had some Gus Van Sant flavor to it, only there weren’t any gay people. I think the director was drunk when he made the movie. Nicolas Cage was great, but I don’t know about the…
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Supercop (1992)
So far, my least favorite of Chan’s. Too much Hollywood explosions and guns and killing, and not enough real Jackie action. The girl, not Jackie, has some of the best stunts. She took away some of Jackie’s thunder. Her jumping into the closed door was pretty funny. A decent story…
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Face/Off (1997)
Cage and Travolta both do surprisingly well in difficult roles. Allen and Gershon are good in supporting roles. Definitely feels Wooish. A stand-off at the end with slow-motionbullets and pigeons. The boat chase was great.
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Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
The story is jumbled and uninteresting. The only semi-emotional moment in what I thought was supposed to be an emotional movie was when he presents his child with the musicbox. Too long. If the story had been good, I might have thought differently. Pitt uses his customary soft-spoken, indirect delivery.…
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Deep Impact (1998)
Story’s pretty good, but it finishes a bit too cleanly. Every character seems to have changed, whereas a closer look at how a few of them changed would have been more interesting. I keep thinking that it would have been better if the big one would have hit. Then a…
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The Prince of Egypt (1998)
Cleared up a lot of history that I wasn’t too sure about. Learned more about Jewish traditions than I ever did at a Passover Ceder. A great springboard for religious conversation. On the way home from the movie, Melissa caught me up on 3000 years of theology. Aside from the…
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American Beauty (1999)
Touching, with a lot of important messages. Good writing. Acting and casting is perfect all-around. Spacey and Bentley are fantastic, Bening is annoyingly perfect. Spacey’s subtley, sarcasm, and timing are impeccable. He’s perhaps the funniest actor of the 90’s. His character reminds me of Broderick in Election. Heather Sher? Neat…
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The Green Mile (1999)
Another great prison movie, again from Frank Darabont. A definite Oscar consideration. I’m really becoming a fan of his work. The acting and casting is perfect all around. Hanks is pretty good. He looks like a fat toad, but he knows how to do drama. Sometimes I wish he would…
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The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
As a film produced by Emmerich, I’m surprised it was half-decent. Bierk was really good, but I’d like to see him knock out one more believable performance before i call him a good actor (a guest appearance on “Ally McBeal” won’t cut it). D’Onofrio was really good. Begins with a…
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The Smiling Madame Beudet (1923)
Without sound, most films of this period are pretty boring, especially if it didn’t have a great story, comedy, or special effects. This was no exception. I have no idea what it was about and I don’t care, either. Why did they use irising so much for cuts and sometimes…
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Steamboat Willie (1928)
A cartoon classic. Remarkably sexual and violent. A film/animation student could redo this film and modernize it to make it excessively sexual and violent. That would be really funny.
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Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Funny movie. Good acting by Karloff, bad acting by that young lady. Effects are amazing for its time. Really a complex movie in terms of effects, lighting, sound, Dutch angles.
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Double Indemnity (1944)
A great contrast with Sea of Love, another film noir. While modern noir films are audiovisually superior (in terms of color and sound), the older, black and white noir films relied on deep scrpitwriting (and more real, developed characters). The movie was a rehash of Sunset Boulevard, another Wilder film.…
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The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
Rather uninteresting. A precursor to noir? Nice Donkey Kong barrel-throwing scene, and a psychologist scene with the stadium seating that I have seen before. I liked Meixner.
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Spartacus (1960)
Without a doubt, a huge production. A combination of Planet of the Apes and Braveheart. Nice and slow-moving. Nice and gory for an older movie. The battle scene (choreography and photography) was great, although there should have been more of them. Armbands for a crucifixion? The story is told with…
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Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Looks a lot like a student film in terms of the quality of the stock and formality of the image. Horrible acting, horrible lighting, bad editing, bad continuity, cheesy writing. It gets points for being so cheesily funny, not because it’s scary. But the cheesiness gets old. Cool seeing the…
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The Way of the Dragon (1972)
Nice intro sequence. A bit slow overall. A bit too much time is spent trying to develop the crummy story. Nice 60’s flavor and music. Funny sounds he makes when he fights. The fighting sounds were a bit gay because the sounds were so unnatural. When a fighting scece uses…
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Foul Play (1978)
OK, what is it, a romance? Action? Suspense? Mystery? Horror? Thriller? Comedy? Film noir? It doesn’t work as a combination. If they had picked one and gone with it, it might have been good. Chevy in a dramatic role doesn’t work. He just needs to be goofy. It could have…
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2010 (1984)
Hard to say. I remember this movie appealing to me much more when I was younger. The story is great, and the special effects are spectacular at times, but I just don’t know. Pretty good. An interesting, more narrative-based continuation of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Refreshing long shots of action.…
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European Vacation (1985)
Hughes did the story. I might have to give him the title as the funniest man in Hollywood. Nice to see that they finally did hook up at some point in their respective careers. I can’t decide if Chevy is funnier when he’s dumb or when he’s smart, as in…
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The Mosquito Coast (1986)
A story about a genius and a genius-in-training. One of the best movies for intellectual enjoyment. The movie is really a social statement, and it really makes you think. Recommended viewing for all geniuses. Allie really was a genius. The character was fascinatingly complex and very real. I agree with…
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Tin Men (1987)
The acting is kinda stale, but there is a hell of a lot of buddy-buddy dialogue and smalltalk (which is kinda fake at times and does little to forward the surprsingly simple plot). What’s with the St. Louis Arch at the end? A symbol for “brotherhood”? A long ad for…
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The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
A pretty good, solid movie, and there aren’t really any flaws, but it’s not terrific in any way. It was interesting seeing the attempt to use Jeff Bridges to recreate the “cool-man” genre of the black and white days.
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War of the Roses (1989)
A pretty good anti-divorce movie. A comedy, but also a more serious social comment. Surprisingly good direction. Dumb title, though. Just a tad slow. And I don’t like flashbacks that repeatedly rip you out of the story and bring you into the less interesting present. Of course, Danny would be…
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Paris Is Burning (1990)
An informative look at an interesting culture with lingo all their own. Refreshing to see inner city, black, gay guys. One of them was actually pretty good-looking as a girl. But these people have problems. It’s frightening how into it these people are. They’ll do anything to escape themselves. New…
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Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)
Cheesy horror movie with horrible acting and mediocre effects.
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The Cement Garden (1993)
All the sexual problems of the world rolled into one family, the English version of American white trash. Tons of masturbation, which you don’t see much in movies. The content was so intense, there were moments when I didn’t know if I wanted to watch. The mom dying thing was…
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The Piano (1993)
The story about a mute, sexually confused woman who uses her piano as an outlet for her emotions. Good character development. From the first moment, the viewer wonders if/when she’ll talk again. A few plot questions, though. Maybe I missed it, but why is she even there? It’s obviously not…
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The Crow (1994)
I was disappointed with this movie. After hearing the reviews of how great this movie was and expecting something special from all the hoopla surrounding Brandon Lee’s death during filming (which probably was the wrong thing to do), I was left with only a feeling of partial satisfaction. Edward Scissorhands…
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Little Women (1994)
A bit slow at first, but it quickly grew on me. By the end, I noticed that I had actually developed a bond with those girls. But the end had hardly any impact and did not punctuate the movie like endings are supposed to.
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Grumpier Old Men (1995)
Had its moments and one-liners, but not as funny or original as the first. The story runs a bit slow. It’s amazing that thay got the entire cast from the original movie together for the sequel. It’s a shame that that doesn’t happen very often with sequels. The blooper clips…
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Spin (1995)
Very interesting. Watching this film helped me decide that I definitely don’t want a career in broadcast jounalism or TV. TV just has too much BS. It’s not in-depth, and there’s too much concern for political correctness.
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Downhill Willie (1995)
On USA late at night. Probably the most hilariously dumb movie I’ve ever seen. The farting scene was just unbelievable. See it for laughs. Keanan is good-looking, but she tries to do the “just sit there and be beautiful” thing that only the best-looking women can do and it doesn’t…
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A Time to Kill (1996)
McConaughey actually turned me on. He has a big future ahead of him. Somehow, it even felt like it was from a book, which it was. Must have just been a well-written story. I like how the film sided with blacks but exposed the NAACP. The metaphor with the dog…
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Fierce Creatures (1997)
A few funny moments (mostly by Kline), and a few cornball moments (it just wasn’t as witty as A Fish Called Wanda). The story was decent, but it seemed that it wrapped itself up a little too quickly at the end. And unlike A Fish Called Wanda, the story delved…
Full ReviewStar Wars [Special Edition] (1997)
Films are now able to be electronically perfected two decades after their original production, and we have taken the first steps toward the point when movies can be digitally manufactured from the beginning. A huge step in filmmaking, and a saddening loss of tradition and accountability. The film’s attraction lies…
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Dirty Work (1998)
McDonald just isn’t funny. No improv skills. And Saget has never made me laugh, either. Chevy is actually not bad, and Rickles is pretty good.
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Ronin (1998)
A story about unrelated criminals who gather to commit a common crime, not too different from Reservoir Dogs. And the whole story revolved around a case with unknown but extremely valuable contents, like Pulp Fiction. Weird. A simple story with lots of neat twists and developments. Nice and long. All…
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American Pie (1999)
Pretty good humor, even the dumb stuff is pretty good (Finch’s Dumb and Dumber-ish shit humor was hilarious). A lot of interesting moments, and even a bit touching at times. Good characters. The acting is refreshingly natural. Biggs is believable and hilarious. Klein does a good job. I see a…
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The Insider (1999)
Crowe once again gives us a superb, intense performance. Al is Al. Eisenberg is a future star. Nice, kinetic editing adds to the tension. Long.
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The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Don’t know how it compares to original since I haven’t seen it. A complex story with a bunch of twists, more than I could ever come up with on my own. A bit slow at times. Was it me, or were there focus problems in a few of the scenes?…
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Ballet mécanique (1924)
They say it’s abstract, and boy, are they ever right. It’s pretty dumb. I have no interest in watching a fat, ugly lady holding a bag of rice run up the stairs a thousand times.
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The Big Sleep (1946)
Interesting seeing Bogart for the first time and his standard of “coolness.” But what was the deal with the end? They couldn’t kiss? There are a few funny scenes (police on the phone), and a few good lines. I hate to say it, but I think this role would have…
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High Noon (1952)
Cooper was pretty good, but not the legend that I had expected. A pretty good story, and interesting real-time use of screentime.
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Chronicle of a Summer (1961)
Interesting, and at times, amusing. An original idea for a feature film/documentary. I can see how this film established many modern film techniques and conventions. Interestingly, the movie within the movie was deemed a failure, but the movie in its entirety was a commercial success.
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The Odd Couple (1968)
There were a few funny classic Jack Lemmon moments. One of the best movies about conflicting personalities, because the characters seem so deep and real. They just don’t spend as much time developing characters in scripts anymore like they did in this one. Nowadays, it’s all about how much BS…
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The Exorcist (1973)
Interesting beginning, but I don’t quite get the connection with Iraq. Pretty good story, but it takes a while for it to get going. Good music and good, freaky possession sequences, but the film needed more of both. I can see how Poltergeist was modelled after this movie.
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Spiritual Kung Fu (1978)
The story’s not very interesting. As is often the case with Asian cinema, an ultimate power, force, or technique is revered by the worthless, stupid, cartoonish peasant masses. Godzilla uses the same formula. The whole film is silly and cartoonish, like a lot of French films I have seen. Chan…
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An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Something you’d see on cable at 3am. The acting isn’t so great and the writing is pretty stale (seems like a student film), but some pretty good special effects for its time. The car accidents were nastier than the wolf.
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I'm a photographer, web developer, travel enthusiast, and movie buff living in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.In the summer of 1993, I started writing reviews for every movie I saw and haven't looked back. I'm up to 2,363 reviews now. This makes me cool or a complete dork, depending on your perspective.
Some of these reviews contain spoilers, so if that bothers you, don't read!
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