If you haven't seen this yet, go rent it. A heartwarming account of a young girl making her way across the country to get back to her father during the depression. One of the earlier reviews was talking about how all of the bad things that happen to Natty are inappropriate for a disney movie, but I think that those are the things that make this film so great. It is a gritty, realistic, non sugar coated story. The things that are shown to happen to Natty happen every day and have been for many many years. They bring drama and "heart" to the film, and make it what it is. Combine the latter with unbelievable cinematography of America, very good performances, and you are left with a very memorable, timeless film. I only wish that Disney would release it on DVD in widescreen. With such great widescreen nature cinematography, having to repeatedly watch the "chopped up" pan and scan version on vhs is killing me!! If you release it we will buy it!!!
Reviews
8 Reviews
Did New Line secretly pay for all of these positive reviews?
19 December 2001
I saw this movie at the midnight screening on it's first day of release with 2 other friends. After reading the unbelievable positive reviews on IMDB, we decided to go. Needless to say, we were very dissapointed. The movie plays just like a novel...which is to say it is much too long, drawn out and complicated to be a movie. There were way too many characters, languages, etc. Towards the middle of the movie, I just started waiting for it to end. Also the entire movie looks like it was done in a computer. All of the reviews are so good on IMDB, they have to be some kind of plant by the movie company....see the movie and decide for yourself....
Perfect Lover
(2001)
Fun and creative
18 October 2001
Warning: Spoilers
I don't know why this film got a 3.7. I saw it at the Big bear film fest and it was one of the most innovative and imaginative independent films I've seen in a long time. Maybe people that have seen this think it is a huge 100 million dollar Hollywood film, and that it should have the production values of such a film, which it doesn't, because that's not what this film is about. It's about clever writing, good acting, and a funny story that makes you think. If you have a chance to rent this or see it at a festival, give it a try... you will probably be presently surprised. SLIGHT SPOILER: Any film that starts out with the (female) president of the United States proclaiming that she "did not have sexual relations with that young man..." has got to be good!
Planet of the Apes
(2001)
Should have been straight to video
29 July 2001
If you want to see a movie with a textbook example of horrible writing, acting and directing, this is it. This film is packed to the hilt with cliches, unrealistic reactions of characters to their situations, and completely uninteresting characters, with the exception of a couple of the apes. The makeup and production design is of course, very good, but, LESSON TO HOLLYWOOD:::: IF THE SCRIPT AND THE CHARACTERS SUCK, NOTHING ELSE IS GOING TO MATTER, NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY AND TECHNICAL TALENT YOU DUMP INTO IT. Whew, glad I got that off my chest. The real tragedy here is that James Cameron was going to direct this at one point. What a shame to think of what could have been....
Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story
(1980 TV Movie)
very, very good, especially for a tv movie
21 July 2001
This is a very entertaining film, with great direction. Very interesting action and characters. When you consider that this is a tv movie, it makes it even more amazing. It's hard to believe that a 20 year old made for TV movie can be so much better than most of the stuff hollywood is putting out these days. Definately watch (and record)this if it comes on tv. And whoever owns the rights to this, release it on DVD letterboxed, ss-dl.
Pearl Harbor
(2001)
Not exactly Braveheart, but worth seeing for what it is
25 May 2001
Warning: Spoilers
It is hard to imagine how the writer of Braveheart could have produced another film that is also a love story set against a dramatic background, but done it with such a lack of emotional substance. Not that Pearl Harbor is bad, it's a great action movie... but that's pretty much all it is. There are some (isolated) good dramatic moments, some jaw dropping shots, and unbelievable action. Overall, it should have been a two hour action movie, not a three hour "love story" (if you can call it that.) If you are expecting the drama of Braveheart, or the love story of Titanic (which this film steals horribly and blatantly from, by the way), or the inspiration of Shawshank, you will be disappointed. The sound editing is incredible (expect an Oscar), and so are the special effects, most of which you can't even tell are special effects, since they look so good. Overall, if you like movies, especially action movies, go see it, and it's probably not going to be a life changing experience, but it'll be worth the 8 or 9 bucks.
P.S.-----very mild spoiler alert:When Alec Baldwin's character was talking about how rather than be captured he would fly his plane into a Japanese target and "try and kill as many Japs as he could" or something like that, the whole audience started applauding like crazy....Japanese-Americans are worried about what this film will do to their image, and first I was like "people will protest about anything", but after seeing the film, it is true that there is some pretty strong anti-Japanese scenes. Scenes like the one above probably weren't necessary. But I gave it a 7 out of 10 because overall its a pretty good action flick.
P.S.-----very mild spoiler alert:When Alec Baldwin's character was talking about how rather than be captured he would fly his plane into a Japanese target and "try and kill as many Japs as he could" or something like that, the whole audience started applauding like crazy....Japanese-Americans are worried about what this film will do to their image, and first I was like "people will protest about anything", but after seeing the film, it is true that there is some pretty strong anti-Japanese scenes. Scenes like the one above probably weren't necessary. But I gave it a 7 out of 10 because overall its a pretty good action flick.
Top Gun
(1986)
Bruckheimer's best
14 March 2001
I went into the local electronics store yesterday and in the "home theater" room they were showing this film. Any film that was made over 15 years ago and is still technically good enough to show off audio/video equipment has to be good. Yes, the plot isn't exactly "Braveheart," however the performances aren't bad, although some of the lines are definately a little "Hollywood." (corny). Just take this film at face value... a film made to inspire patriotism and show off (justify) the billions of dollars put into hardware during the defense budget of the Reagan era. Does it glorify war? Probably a little. But humans are tribal people. And tribes will always want more. More land, more wealth, etc. So war is always inevitable at some time and place. Overall, the film has great cinematography, and the average person doesn't notice the technical inaccuracies that everyone else is complaining about. Oh, and what is with the 2.00 aspect ratio of the transfer... you can totally tell that the film was composed for 2.35, as most of the bottom quarter of the screen is full of nothingness. I can't imagine why it was transferred at 2.00.. Overall a pretty good film for what it is.
Braveheart
(1995)
This film will be watched a thousand years from now...
3 March 2001
Braveheart will be watched a thousand years from now because it exploits the power that film as a medium possesses. It does this in the two ways that are most unique and powerful to film: Visually and emotionally. Emotionally, it brings us firsthand into the human experience. Braveheart gives us a sampling of all of the most powerful human emotions most of us experience over a lifetime: love, fighting for what we believe in, family, loss, betrayal, sacrifice, and revenge to name just a few. It takes a lifetime of emotions and feeds them to us in a few hours. It also shows how very two sided man can be. Wallace, (Mel Gibson), is both caring and loving, while at the same time being capable of horrifically killing and maiming his fellow man... a "murdering savage", (a line from the film, I think.) In addition to all of this, it is set to beautiful surroundings, and the battle scenes make great use of cinematic techniques. Notice there is no weird film special effects, such as we are seeing overused in too many modern films.. (traffic, etc). No digital "soft looking" effects.... Just great plain old filmmaking.
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