recent product reviews
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010)
A heartfelt homage to the cast and crew, and a wonderful job getting so much of them back. A boon for real fans of the series. The rapid-fire interviews are marvelously intercut, and the documentary is cleanly broken down into logical sections for each film. The editor deserves a lot…
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Patton (1970)
Epic in length and scope, but unfortunately the story is a little boring. Scott commits to the role, but he plays a character who is not very redeeming. Scott is known as one of the great actors, but he doesn’t have a great body of film work. That makes it…
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American Sniper (2014)
A respectful account of a war hero, but the story as it’s told seems a bit simplistic. I know we’re bound by the truth here, but something was missing for me dramatically. A man goes to war, bad guys die, friends get killed, and he struggles to reconnect with his…
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Nightcrawler (2014)
Starts off with a creepy guy being creepy, but the tension builds nicely and it all unfolds into something pretty heavy. A quality production. Gyllenhaal convincingly plays a sadistic genius. His cold stare and speech inflections are a nice touch. This is definitely a Gyllenhaal vehicle, but the creepiness of…
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Big Hero 6 (2014)
Fun, fast-paced, emotional story. You can count on the Pixar folks for that. Brilliant animation, especially when flying around the city. The effects inside the portal were truly magical. Even Hiro’s hair was amazing. Baymax is likable and fun, with dialogue and a voice that’s hilariously sterile and charming. Pixar’s…
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Life Stinks (1991)
This movie stinks. The comedy of Mel Brooks just isn’t for me. Simplistic, on-the-nose comedy like this might have been funny in the 1930’s, but these days, we need a bit more.
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Midnight Run (1988)
A woefully mediocre attempt at another 80’s cop comedy. Grodin is almost funny a few times. Apparently they wanted a big name actress, someone like Cher, in Grodin’s role. I think that would have been great.
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The Imitation Game (2014)
Another Oscar contender about a tragic scientist. A solid production, but not exceptional. The story deftly jumps between present and flashback, something that can be tricky to do. Cumberbatch is a bit weird looking, but he can act, can’t he? Strong is strong, as usual. Knightley is OK.
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13 Assassins (2010)
A samurai version of 300. I do appreciate the epic scale and simplicity of the story. Early on, there’s a lot of talking and it’s a bit hard keeping track of who’s who, but things pick up. Really, the whole movie is a build-up to a big ass-kicking at the…
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Overboard (1987)
A silly diversion for the married couple. Goldie loved to show off her body, didn’t she? We didn’t need that goofy banjo music highlighting every comedy scene.
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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 2,374 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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