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Reviews
Best in Show (2000)
Occasionally Amusing, Mostly Dull.
My wife and I rented this movie on DVD based on rave reviews by many colleagues and friends. Personally, I found myself snoozing within about a half hour! Thankfully, I woke up (well, OK, my wife prodded me) and caught some of the amusing dialog.
Even more thankfully, I gave the deleted scenes feature of the DVD version a shot. I wish most of these scenes were left in the movie - most of them are funnier than the scenes that were left in the movie. If you rent the DVD, don't forget to watch the "commentated" version of the movie & scenes - it's much better than the movie itself. In a way, it's like the director doing a "Mystery Science Theater 2000" on his own movie ...
All in all, not a bad movie. But I can't say I agree with those who are really gung-ho about recommending it. Maybe they're just starved for entertainment?
October Sky (1999)
Enjoyable movie.
This is a great movie for everyone with a brain (provided you enjoy using it). The story follows a teen through his experiments in rocket building, and the hardships his working class town imposes on him while he tries to expand his mind to follow his calling to science and engineering.
Being a scientist who broke out of a working class town myself, I instantly related to this movie. But the movie is more than that - it's a message to all Americans: if you work hard at something you want, you can achieve it; furthermore, people will eventually respect you for being good at what you do. But, whatever you do, don't quit.
A great movie to sit a pre-teen (or a teenager) down with, and an even better movie to watch as an adult for its amusing and heart-warming scenes, not to mention its endearing plotline.
It may look pretty dull in the video store, but it is well worth it!
Oh, and if you like the movie, check out the book ("Rocket Boys") too!
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
As a stand-alone movie, it isn't good, but as a setup for Episode III it isn't bad.
First off, let me say that Episode I was so bad I considered not seeing this movie (and I've seen and loved each of the original trilogy at least 6 times in theaters).
That being said, I took the time to see Episode II expecting to be disappointed. Well, I wasn't TOTALLY disappointed, but will say that it still is FAR from a good movie.
There's plenty of "brain candy" - overly long (and only mediocre computer generated) chase/battle scenes, ridiculously long and badly written "romantic" scenes (only saved by Natalie Portman's skimpy clothing), and plenty of third grade humor. Unfortunately, I don't like dishing out $7 for 2+ hours of this stuff - especially when I can get it for free with a TV combo of "Friends" and "Star Trek:TOS" (yes, some of the "special" effects were that bad, gang).
So what was right about Episode II? Well, I'm a big Star Wars fan, so I watched the movie for its undertones. And there are a few of them running through this movie. We get a feel for the causes of what will be Anakin's turn to the Dark Side, a peek at the future Imperial Army, motivation for Boba Fett, vulnerability of the Jedi Knights, ... and a few others (I don't want to list too many spoilers). All in all, these elements begin to put in place what could be a very dark and brooding Episode III.
Bottom line is that this is at best a fair movie, but it sets the stage for Episode III to be a very dark and enjoyable film.
Get the message Mr. Lucas?
After Hours (1985)
Dull
An unbelievably boring and uninvolving movie. The only reason it avoids being turkeyed by me (i.e. receiving a 1 out of 10) is that it wasn't offensive. Well, at least not much.
Unless you're looking for a movie to put you to sleep, don't bother.
Testament (1983)
A Grueling Movie
This is probably the most grueling movie you will ever sit through. By the end of it, you will be totally withdrawn and unable to function for the rest of the day/night, so be prepared. Although it is fiction, it is reasonable to believe that this is an accurate portrayal of how a suburban community (one family in particular) would react to "surviving" a nuclear missile exchange. It successfully brings home the idea that surviving a nuclear blast may well be worse than being killed by it.
This is NOT a good date movie or a good movie for young children. It would be an excellent movie to show to someone who thinks that a nuclear war is "winnable" (or even "survivable").
Das Boot (1981)
Excellent, but "unenjoyable" film.
Although I have not (yet) seen "Saving Private Ryan", this movie best captures the reality of war for me - both the futility and the pointlessness of it. This would probably be a very good movie to show all of those generals and such who seemed to get a rise out of our "video game" like bombings in recent US campaigns. The movie reminds one of the fact that the vast majority of the "enemy" are everyday ordinary people, just like ourselves - they live and die as horribly as we would if folks were lobbing explosives at us.
This is absolutely NOT a movie for children! My wish would be that everyone who is considering joining the military would be forced to watch this - especially those that "wrap themselves in the flag".
Don't see this if you want to see an uplifting movie, but if you want a movie that will shake you right to the bone and make you question many of the ideas you take for granted, this is your movie. Just be prepared to be a little shaken for a few days afterwards.
Starship Troopers (1997)
Sickeningly Awful. And then some.
This movie is the only movie during which I have ever used muscle to begin walking out of the theater (although I remembered how much I paid for admission, so I stayed in the comfy seat). And I've seen some real stinkers!
The movie glorifies everything that is wrong with modern society: war, cheating on friends (while still pretending it's OK), unimportance of education, etc...
Lots of violence and unnecessary gore along with completely unnecessary nudity at many points. This movie is just rock awful, even if you "take the whole thing as a big joke" as some of my friends tried to get me to do. It was way too Nazi-like in its demeanor for me to take it as a joke...
Avoid this one like the plague, unless you're into paying for brief scenes with barely above average special effects.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Weak plot is an excuse to deliver special effects
Well, I went into this movie as an avid Star Wars fan, fully expecting to be as disappointed by this movie as I was by ESB and ROJ. And, in this respect, I was not disappointed.
From the very beginning, I realized how contrived everything felt. By the end of the movie I was still waiting for a significant plot to develop, but it never did. So I asked myself "what was the plot?" ... and yes, I did come up with what all of this movie's defenders came up with. But I quickly realized that the whole thing was just an excuse for George Lucas to play with his special effects team. And he did a good job of it.
It's just too bad that the rest of the movie, to be blunt, is terrible. It took me all of about 10 seconds to figure out who the bad guy is after he was introduced (and I avoided nearly all of the pre-movie hype) - although I will admit that this actually passed by the person I saw this with, as they were not as "into" the Star Wars mythology as I am. The characters were, well, boring.
I will admit that I'll still see the rest of this prequel's sequels. Probably for the same reason that I read all of the stupid books based on Star Wars- I got addicted when I was 7 back in the 70's and can't shake it.