I really enjoy musicals, but I’m a bit of a snob for “book musicals.” I like The Sound of Music, but the original John Waters Hairspray and High School Musical were disappointments because all of the song and dance routines are ancillary to the plot. West Side Story is the perfect antidote for those films. The plot advances more through dance than through song, which is fine because the choreography is great. It’s a very 60s movie (Austin Powers, mod 60s; not hippies 60s), which kinda slapped me in the face at first, but I quickly came to like that aspect of the production.
This movie is a classic for good reason and highly recommended if you like musicals. I could easily watch it again.
There’s such a long list of dystopian sci-fi films and books that it’s hard to determine exactly where THX1138 falls in the overall scheme of things. It borrows heavily from Brave New World and 1984, but it also is reminiscent of Metropolis, The Island, and The Matrix. Except that all of those things are goodâ€â€okay, not The Island, but it at least had explosions and good chases.
For whatever reason, the subtitles turned themselves on about five minutes into the movie, and that was a good thing. I could understand all the soft-spoken parts (there are a lot) as well as the background vocals (there are a lot of disembodied announcer, too), which helped me to understand a lot more about what was going on in terms of both the plot and the future society in general.
Taken solely on its own merits, THX1138 would be a forgotten film. It’s preserved solely by another small film made by the same director a few years later. Ultimately, it’s only a footnote.
I’m not a big fan of lists or countdowns that are “The Best Whatever as Voted by YOU.” The entries are generally all top-notch, but what’s number one is such a matter of personal preference that I always end up being disappointed. So with that preamble, I have to say that the Top 50 Dystopian Movies hits all the right notes, although I may not necessarily agree with the actual rankings themselves. The honorable mentions are also great.
I’m fascinated by movies that are structurally more like literature than cinema. SLC Punk is a good example: it’s highly non-linear yet easy to follow, and it reveals the protagonist’s inner thoughts (not with an annoying voiceover, but by cleverly breaking the fourth wall). Oscar-nominated Little Miss Sunshine similarly feels like a work of literature rather than one of film.
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They just don’t make movies like this anymore. Something like a third of the film is just people walking. But it’s still some of the most tense walking ever. That’s to say nothing of that famous car chase. This movie has no automatic weapons. Nothing blows up. No Michael Bay sweeping camera shots. The characters are flawed and gritty. And (spoiler alert) in the end, the bad guys get away.
Highly recommended.
This movie is so mediocre that I keep forgetting I’ve seen it. As comic book movies go, it’s no Daredevil, but it’s not X-Men either. The backstory and development of the characters and their powers is interesting, but the movie fails to be compelling overall. The film’s antagonist, Dr. Doom, is obsessed with destroying his enemies, and really, no one cares.
Look, when you’re writing a comic book movie, take a lesson from the Star Trek film franchise. Nobody cares when the bad guy(s) threaten either the protagonists and some backwoods part of the galaxy (see ST: Nemesis or ST: Insurrection). But when the planet Earth is on the line, then the audience gets really involved (Star Trek VI or ST: First Contact).
By that logic, this movie would have been a helluva lot better if Dr. Doom had tried tried to take over the world or destroy New York or something. As it stands, I give it 2.5 out of 5.
Imagine Godzilla taking a dump. It would be a turd the size of a city bus, and its name would be The Dukes of Hazard. That’s the nicest thing I can say about this movie. Nothing can redeem it. Not the gratuitous boobs. Not Willie Nelson. Punching Burt Reynolds in the face. Twice.
Avoid at all costs. It really is as bad as you’ve heard.
Next up: The Fantastic Four.
Paris Hilton is a car crash I just can’t look away from; she’s just too damn trashy. Of course I had to watch House of Wax, which is I guess is her big-screen debut. No surprise, the girl can’t act her way out of a paper bag. I will say that her scenes are pretty entertaining, mainly because they’re so bad. I laughed out loud when she was killed by taking a metal pipe to her forehead, which Paris herself described as looking like a big dildo sticking out of her head. That’s class.
As for the movie itself, it’s pretty formulaic and predictable. It has a few gross-out scenes, but the attempts to make the audience jump fall flat. Chad Michael Murray and Elisha Cuthbert aren’t as annoying as I expected. Overall, it’s pretty bad: I give it 1.5 out of 5.
It’s a bit of an exaggeration to say that I have no life, but it is a fact that I haven’t been to a movie since October. Instead, I depend on Netflix to bring me movies. At this point, I think I’m still catching up on last summer’s releases. So I’m going to start reviewing these movies, even though they’re by no means current, hence “Too Late Reviews.”
But the catch is, I don’t have the greatest taste in movies. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy good, artistic films. I also have a fondness for popcorn flicks, even ones that aren’t very good; they’re entertaining. So my reviews are likely to favor these movies. Consider yourself warned.
Lucasfilm has wisely decided to release the original Star Wars trilogy in un-remastered form. The catch is that they’ll only be available from September 12th to December 31st. Anyone who wants to do some early Christmas shopping, you can preorder now. 
I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I don’t own any Star Wars movies on DVD. I guess I was waiting for the all-in-one, 6-movie, 27-disc mega-collection. Surely they have such a thing out now. Can’t hurt to have the original original trilogy, too. I’ll just have to buy it again in about 10 years when the DVD’s successor format is revealed. Progress.
