recent product reviews
Underworld: Evolution (2006)
Lots of pretty good action, and lots and lots of blood, but I still found myself bored. Beckinsale’s a cute chick, and she pulls off the female action star thing pretty well. She should have been Lara Croft, not Angelina Jolie.
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Amadeus (1984)
A very literal adaptation of theater. Milos has always been literal and plain. He’s almost like an older version of Ron Howard. The scene where he “improves” Salieri’s own composition is a good representation of Mozart’s genius. Although he’s a good pianist, Hulce is borderline annoying. I might have preferred…
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Dead Calm (1989)
A good, classically made thriller. Great location, believable acting, pretty good suspense. A score is almost completely absent, which is great. Loved the ending. Why was he being questioned by the police in the beginning? And I’m not sure what the kid/car accident thing has to do with it. Why…
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The Family Stone (2005)
Lots of script problems. The story awkwardly bounces between comedy and drama and tragedy. How are we supposed to feel? Unlikely relationships between characters aren’t flushed out, they just happen. Mom’s illness is handled sloppily. And references to things we haven’t seen indicate that the film may have been cut…
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Road to Perdition (2002)
An engaging, beautifully shot film. The story sucks you in, the sets are elaborate and believable, the photography is silky smooth. Hanks and the kid are exceptional. Newman is still vibrant at 77.
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Sin City (2005)
The loosely connected stories are off-beat, comical, and horrific. Strange anachronisms, from cell phones to vintage cars to sports cars, make things extra weird. The whole thing is like a nightmare, actually. Frightening. Extremely violent, lots of beatings and torture. Fringy characters try to outdo each other with annoyingly poetic…
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Alien (1979)
Interesting departure from the recently released Star Wars in that it’s dark and moody and dramatic and real. Well, more real than Star Wars. An interesting critical analysis could come out of comparing the space movies of the time, Star Wars, Alien, Close Encounters, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Action is…
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Baseball (1994–2010)
A documentary that takes a very leisurely pace through baseball history, almost at the pace of a real baseball game, which is to say, it’s too slow. The camera hesitates on each photo for just a moment too long (with this many photos, it adds up), and the voiceover is…
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The Delta Force (1986)
The hijacking scene is interesting to watch post 9/11. I’d love to see something like this in a Hollywood movie nowadays. Great cast. Marvin in a good, although small, farewell performance. Forster is magical. And thankfully, we don’t have to see Norris very much.
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Death Wish (1974)
Charles Bronson is one of the ugliest, least interesting leading men in history. I guess standards were a bit different back then. In a way, it feels like movies were in their adolescence in the late 70’s. Remnants of 50’s camerawork, acting, and dialogue stuill remain, but filmmakers were starting…
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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 2,371 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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