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I've never understood why Signs is usually considered "the other M Night movie that isn't total shit".
I liked The Village quite a bit. Signs was dumb.
I liked The Village quite a bit. Signs was dumb.
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For some reason my mind constantly confuses The Village with The Stepford Wives, which came out around the same time I think and I remember being pretty bad. When I hear "The Village" I always picture Nicole Kidman, so I'm pretty sure I'm remembering the wrong movie and may have actually never seen the real thing..Comment
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The first half of The Stepford Wives remake was actually pretty interesting. The second half was poop.Comment
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Yes, the dumbest, most comically inept aliens ever, but there were aliens.Originally posted by Dr. Strangelove View Post"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham LincolnComment
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I'd never heard of it, so I just watched the trailer. No thanks, especially right now.Originally posted by Hannibal View PostComment
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I watched Around the World in 80 Days last night. I'm now not sure if I had actually watched it before. All I remembered was the balloon part, and even that was something that I thought happened later in the movie and not at the beginning.
It had some funny moments and I was excited that this was the first Cinerama movie of the Oscar-winners. It was nice to get "beyond the box" on my TV and get to use the widescreen. Other parts of the movie were showing their age. Casting Shirley MacLaine as an Indian Princess was certainly a sign of the times. I also felt David Niven really didn't have much asked of him. He was a one-note character and that really left me wondering why MacLain's character falls in love with him. He wasn't even the guy who saved her life, although she did credit him with doing so.
Anyway, there was some good physical comedy and, if I were a really serious follower of classic movies, I would've noticed a lot of cameos. Frank Sinatra and Peter Lorre were really the only ones I could ID on sight.
Oh, graphic artist Saul Bass did design the credits. That was really good work but that's not why I see movies.
I'd place this one somewhere in the middle of my list.
The Bridge on the River Kwai is next. My 8th grade english teacher made us watch it in class. I found it pretty boring at the time. I'm sure it will seem more interesting this go-around but I don't know if I'll love it.Comment
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THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987)
d. Rob Reiner
Starring: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon, Mandy Patinkin, Andre the Giant, Wallace Shawn, Christopher Guest, Peter Falk, Fred Savage, Billy Crystal
Taking on a bit of a sacred cow here...
There are people who adore this movie. I am not one of them. But it is a movie that makes me smile. It's a very nice movie. A movie safe to watch with your grandparents. It's simultaneously a parody of fairy tales and Prisoner of Zenda type stuff while also being a heartfelt tribute to them. It's based on a 1973 novel but I have no knowledge of how faithful it may be.
For those unfamiliar, the basic gist is that a farmhand named Westley is kidnapped by pirates and when he returns he must rescue his true love from being married off to the two-faced Prince Humperdinck, who is secretly planning to have her killed to start a war. The story is told through the framing device of a grandfather (Peter Falk) reading the story to his sick grandson (Fred Savage) -- they periodically interrupt the story, usually because of some objection by Fred Savage.
The movie is very charming and all the actors do a good job (except for one I find extremely grating but more on that later). To me the comedy is very, very gentle. Mostly subtle. There's no fart and poop jokes here. Like I said earlier it's more the type to bring a smile to your face rather than guffaw. I never saw this growing up. I can understand why those who did might have extremely warm feelings for it. For me the best part of the movie is the first Act; after Vizzini is dead and the story becomes more directly Westley & Buttercup versus Humperdinck, it starts to drag a bit.
Wallace Shawn and Mandy Patinkin are great. I can't understand half of what Andre the Giant is saying but it's great seeing him in a movie too! Cary Elwes is doing his dashing best. Everyone else is perfectly fine in their roles EXCEPT for fucking Billy Crystal. People who love this movie apparently also love "Miracle Max": Billy Crystal doing his "old Jewish man" schtick under 20 pounds of old-age makeup. Luckily he's only around for less than 5 minutes but his wildly over-the-top character seems out of place.
All in all this a fine film, loved by some, and is worth your time if you've never seen it. If simply to understand a few cultural references.
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I've never understood the love of that movie.Comment
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It's a solid B for me. I could easily go the rest of my life never seeing it again. Maybe if I hadn't heard all of the best lines for decades before I actually saw the movie it would've been funnier. Any of the Zucker Brothers comedies from the 80's are easily better.Comment
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BULLETPROOF (1988)
d. Steve Carver
Starring: Gary Busey, Darlanne Fluegel, Henry Silva, William Smith, L. Q. Jones, Thalmus Rasulala, Juan Fernandez
The CIA sends the greatest agent (Frank "Bulletproof" McBain) in the history of The Company to Mexico to recover a stolen top-secret tank...and also rescue the woman he loves.
I don't want to oversell the fun to be had in watching this piece of shit, but it's pretty great. Gary Busey versus a band of terrorists similar to the one found in Invasion USA (1985). It's the most fucking internationalist terrorist organization ever: Mexicans, Russians, Arabs, Cubans.
It doesn't start off that way though. At first it seems like it's going to be a Lethal Weapon ripoff. Busey is a cop partnered with Blaxploitation era star Thalmus Rasulala, moaning about how he's too old for this shit, and they're raiding a bunch of crooks (Danny Trejo!) dealing drugs and guns out of an ice cream truck. But then it settles down into the actual plot. And at this point...I gotta admit I missed something. The CIA deliberately sends a bunch of army personnel into Mexico escorting a Super-tank, which they expect to get stolen by terrorists, who are ordered around by a Mexican "El Presidente" guy, all so they can pressure Busey out of retirement? I think?
Anyways, Busey-McBain-Bulletproof kills a bunch of terrorists, saves his lady friend, and gets the tank back to the States.
Busey is soooo bizarre. Have you ever heard anyone use the term 'butthorn'? He uses it frequently in this. There's also a hilarious flashback early on in which he's playing 'sexy sax' music on the beach.
At minimum watch this highlight reel.
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RIP John Saxon. Damn, Regis and Saxon todayComment
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Well, these things always seem to come in threes. We lost overnight one of the last great Golden Age actors. Possibly the last living adult that was in Gone With the Wind??
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HEATHERS (1989)
d. Michael Lehmann
Starring: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Kim Walker, Shannon Doherty, Lisanne Falk
Veronica Sawyer's in the most powerful clique in her high school, along with Heather Chandler, Heather Duke, and Heather McNamara. And she desperately wants out. Angry new transfer student Christian Slater seems to be her escape route, but is he worse than the dreaded Heathers themselves??
Heathers was a bomb at the box office but has since become a beloved cult favorite for its dark comedy and cynical depiction of high school. And sitting here thinking about it, I think it's an interesting bridge between the 80's and 90's. Christian Slater, with his dark clothes and trenchcoats and violence seems a proto-goth (and Jesus, Winona Ryder of that era sure was) while the Heathers are the ultimate 80's princesses. I had never actually seen it and it's a really good movie. It's genuinely dark at times. A little rapey. Lots of gay panic. And yet it all seems pretty good natured in the end. Movies centered around bitchy high school girls like Jawbreaker and Mean Girls that came alter owe a huge debt to Heathers.
If I had to criticize anyone in the cast it would probably be Christian Slater a bit. Some say his career is one long Jack Nicholson impression, and that's definitely accurate here.
I was looking at the Director's filmography (Michael Lehmann) and talk about a spotty record. It's a totally different movie but he had one well-liked film in the mid-90's with The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Otherwise, boy, pure crap. This man made Hudson Hawk. And gave Gheorghe Muresan a starring role.
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First 2/3 of the movie is really good. The ending is pretty bleh.Comment
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