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Reviews
A Haunting on Dice Road: The Hell House (2016)
A Good Story Wrapped in a Terrible Narrative
There's no doubt something happened on Dice Road in the mid-70's. Unfortunately, this is buried in a laughable excuse of a current "paranormal" investigation. I will admit we had a good time laughing at all "activity" and the "investigators!" It almost came off as a spoof! ....almost.
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Assault on Common Sense
Potential spoilers
if you've never seen a bad cop movie before.
The guilt ridden hero cop abusing drugs and alcohol, dirty cops (ethically and physically), cops who dramatically rack the slides on their guns before they go of to do something (nobody keeps a loaded gun??), shooters with full automatic weapons who can't hit each other from 20 feet away, people who die instantly from non-lethal stab wounds, etc
Hawke shows up in uniform with something on his face. What is it?? Five o'clock shadow? A goatee?? I spent more time trying to figure this out than paying attention to the movie. No self respecting police officer would show up in uniform like that or allow another to do so. He looks like some kid who walked in off the street.
Stylishly shot and a great cast, but its failure to be anchored in something close to reality turns it into an unintentional spoof.
Scooby-Doo (2002)
Scooby-Don't!
Add another victim to the list of enjoyable TV cartoons turned into terrible movies. The actors portraying Shaggy and Velma were right on the mark, but everything else was way off, especially "Fred." My kids love movies and they love the Scooby cartoons, but they sat there practically bored to death in this movie. The only laugh the movie got out of them was the cheap gas gag. We were all very disappointed in this movie.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
An incredible movie for those who have read the books and those who haven't.
I read the books twice, twenty+ years now. While I remember the core story, some of the subplots have become forgotten to me. I made a conscious decision to not re-read The Fellowship prior to seeing the movie. Movies rarely, if ever, live up to the books upon which they're based. This movie does. The story all came back to me as if reading it for the first time. What makes this movie unique is that I've seen it before...in my head when I read it. The movie captures exactly the images I had while reading the book. Not only that, but also the "feel" of the books. Also the feel of being kids and running through the forest as Frodo, Sam, Aragorn and Legolas, being chased by Orcs. This movie exceeds on every level. This is the best movie I have seen in a long time (and there have been some good movies).
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)
Another animated Batman movie that outshines the live action films.
This is another animated Batman movie that outshines the feature films. It really shows when there are people working on a movie that care about the subject matter. If only they could do this in the live action films! This film answers some of the major questions left hanging about certain characters presented in the Batman Beyond TV series. It will knock the socks off of Batman fans. It is intense, so parents of very young viewers should be cautioned. This brings up the issue of the unedited version. Even though the released version is still intense, they went a little too far in the re-editing. Warner Brothers needs to make the unedited version available to the fans who want to see it.