Reviews

This 15-minute film is obviously a pioneer of a medium new to the turn-of-the-century world and I was impressed with the innovation of shot-framing for the time period. The shot set-ups for many scenes helped to make the picture more exciting considering that the camera would not be moved during shooting. For instance there are scenes filmed from on top a moving train and from a forest road where bandits and their pursuers gallop toward the camera's positions while firing at each other. Early movies before this were not nearly as innovative in setting up shots, even as basic as they seem to us now almost a century later.

I commend this movie also in attempting stunts and fight scenes. I had to laugh though when a bandit is fighting a engineer on top of the locomotive car roof and once he beats him unconscious the live victim is replaced with a stuffed man-sized dummy and thrown overboard with a casual fling by his abuser. Also, the bandits make what I thought to be a very clean getaway far ahead of any possible pursuer (commandeer a locomotive engine to the mountains, flee on foot into the mountain woodlands, meet up with their waiting horses) but somehow the posse heroes catch up with them the very next scene from belatedly finding out about the train robbery the bandits pulled off.

Anyway, it was an interesting and unintentionally amusing film. Far more exciting than all the other turn-of-the-century films I've seen on the Library of Congress website (loc.gov).

This representation of the popular children's story on film is pretty pathetic to watch. I know it is one of the earliest efforts at moviemaking, but this 15-minute picture is unimaginative and poorly shot. "The Great Train Robbery" (1903), which I also commented on, is much more creative and exciting to watch.

We see little long-haired Jack trade a cow (2 men in a cow-suit) for a hatful of beans from a merchant and later a beanstalk grows from where his mom throws them in the yard (I guess poor Jack attained the wrong kind). Jack dreams of a goose (actually it seems to be a chicken) and golden egg and the next day climbs the stalk into heaven.

There is no effort made to be creative in this film. The stalk looks like a rope with leaves on it, the giant is just a tall bearded guy in a home with nothing abnormally large in comparison to Jack and the climax to the film where Jack makes his escape with the goose-chicken and its golden egg is miserable as a stuffed dummy falls from out of screenshot in place of the giant and then the actor takes its place - rising up on his feet in a exaggerated death dance like in most early films. The beanstalk (leaf-covered rope) comes trailing down from above and coils neatly on the giants forehead.

Watch something else.

Ok, I agree with all previous comments saying this was a pretty bad film. However I have to say that I love the scene where an astronaut who has been infected by the aliens blows his head clean off with a shotgun and you watch as it grows back bit by bit. Really a way cool effect! Also the sex-leading-to-alien baby-exploding-from-model's-stomach scenes were lot's of fun too. This movie is midnight madness kind of entertainment and "Species II" could very will be great cult movie fare.

"Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" has to be one of the best movies I've ever seen. I think love for a film should be measured by how many times you feel the need to pull out the tape and watch it... I must laugh over this movie at least every other week. Mike Myers is absolutely brilliant as both the free love-era spy and the diabolical Dr. Evil. Elizabeth Hurley is not just incredibly sexy in this, but she's an exceptional foil to Austin Powers as he romps around Las Vegas trying to catch his nemesis, trying to "shagg" beautiful women in the process. YEAH BABY! YEAH!!!

This movie is absolutely hilarious from beginning to end. Not one single joke falls flat and that is no small feat in this age of recycled trash that's on the screens these days. Carrey and Daniels are perfect in their roles as two morons who stumble across a briefcase full of cash that belongs to Lauren Holly's character and is meant for a kidnapping payoff. Carrey falls in love with real life second wife Holly and when he and his friend lose their jobs he decides to pursue her across the country to find her. All sorts of hilarious acts of stupidity are perpetrated by these two guys and you just have to fall off your chair and spew popcorn everywhere watching them.

I did not like this movie at all and I am a HUGE Adam Sandler fan. I loved him on SNL, I loved him in the "Wedding Singer" and "Bulletproof"... but this movie was simply god-awful. Simply tackling people while yelling like a moron is not funny. Bad cajun accents are not funny.

As for the performances, Sandler knew he was in a turkey and seemed to be sleep-walking through his role without much enthusiasm... Henry Winkler as an insane football coach was just glad to be working and seemed to be putting a lot of enthusiasm into his dumb role, but it was still dumb. Kathy Bates though is Oscar-caliber talent and for the life of me I do not know how she got mixed up in this pic. She was fairly entertaining as Sandler's domineering cajun mother living in the swamps and cooking 'gators and snakes.

The plot just got more and more pointless and the jokes more and more dumb and by the end of it I just felt sorry for everyone involved. I understand the movie is making money, but I hope that Sandler will look for much better writing and directing in his next movie.

Fargo is an absolutely incredible film that achieves its goal of being both side-splittingly funny and viciously violent, while at the same time getting across a meaningful message to the audience. The senslessness and selfishness of the criminal path is put across in a brilliant way through great performances by the entire cast.

Frances McDormand's was a restrained performance, but one in which she WAS the charming and very pregnant sheriff of a small Minnesota city and the viewer couldn't help but love her character and find her believable and endearing. She definitely deserved her Oscar as Best Actress and I consider this one of my top-5 favorite movies.