Change Your Image
eric-1501
Reviews
Frasier (1993)
Frasier Worst Sitcom Ever
I can't believe so many people loved this sitcom. Frasier Crane presents nothing but a prime example of the selfishness and immaturity exhibited by so many so-called sophisticated, educated "adults" in our society. He breaks up his marriage and leaves his ex-wife and his preteen son all alone in Boston while he moves 3000 miles away an essentially cuts off 99% of his contact with them in order to relieve his own angst and massage his own ego with a new job. As if the a new job is his identity. Frasier drops all pretense of being a father any longer except for the occasional reference to Frederick, usually in the context of a punch line. And we're expected to swallow this drivel, a child who needs a father figure practically cut off from the man of the house in the boy's mid-childhood, reduced to a laugh line. Frasier is a bum for doing that, he's nothing but an absent sperm-donor.
Lured (1947)
Lucille Ball is better every time you see her
This great murder mystery has a fine cast made up of some of the best leading actors and legendary second-bananas as you could want in a late-1940's film. Charles Coburn is an old favorite who always gets right into character. Hardwicke and Sanders were at the top of their game at this time and their performances show it. And that cameo by Karloff is super. Ideal writing matched with ideal actors. But, young Lucille Ball steals every scene from her older, more-experienced colleagues in this movie, as she did throughout her career. There's just something in her stage-presence and her commitment to the project that make every movie she's in 'Lucy's picture.'
The Ritchie Boys (2004)
Hitler & his party were MORONS
Not only was it stupid to strike out militarily and try to conquer the world, not only was it moronic for the leader of a nation to cast himself in the role of messiah, not only was it idiocy of the first order to practice a religion of racial superiority, the Nazi's and their fuehrer were incredibly foolish to expel and kill the Jews! This little documentary demonstrates how effectively German Jews were able to help bring down the Third Reich during WWII by effectively interrogating German POW's the allies had captured, getting Wermacht soldiers to surrender and such. Had Hitler had the Jews on his side, had he cultivated them for the loyal citizens they were and mined their fantastic intellect, he may have built a better Germany. But, meglo- maniacs never use logic nor practice humility.
This movie was sobering in some of the vivid descriptions of combat and other realities of war, just as much as it made you realize that there are some wars that cannot be avoided if we wish to maintain civilization. More wars like that will come.
It was also great fun to see so many of these old guys enjoying life and having kept sharp mentally after all these years and all those experiences.
JFK (1991)
Failure of a documentary Laid groundwork for other packs of lies.
Oliver Stone help lay the groundwork for other documentaries or documdramas that are packed full of lies and abound today like mosquitoes in Wisconsin in July. So much supposition, so much out right falsehoods, so much twisting of events to reach for a foregone conclusion I'd never seen before. Now, filmmakers like Micheal Moore produce one 2-hour lie-fest after another as a way of making their dishonorable livings.
About this movie, Walter Cronkhite said it best, "Stone combines real and fictional footage in a very clever way that completely obliterates the truth. He uses my announcement of the President's death to provide an air of reality that he avoids for the rest of the picture. His preposterous theory is that top echelons of the United States government committed the Kennedy murder in order to put Lyndon Johnson in the White House. That work of fiction is dangerous, it seriously misleads a whole generation of Americans who were not alive at that time."
The uncountable legions of reality-challenged Americans who think this movie great and it's director an admirable man are prime examples of why our nation is becoming stupider each day. And, we have public mis-education to thank for much of that.
Valkyrie (2008)
Most revealing Cruise performance since "Cocktail"
Not a bad screenplay. Very authentic sets & costumes. Extremely-motivated supporting cast. Aura of authenticity back to the 1040's. Thought-provoking premise despite the historical realities that remind us that Hitler died in the bunker in a most-cowardly act of suicide just before the Russians would have captured his ass. However, who's idea was it to put Tommy in the lead role? He detracts from every scene he's in by his lack of presence. Tommy's insistent actor persona detracts from the importantly historical character he's portraying. Unique in hollywierd, Tommy is never happier when he's playing Tommy enjoying Tommy. A remarkable achievement.
Once Is Not Enough (1975)
Once was too much
Ick. Everyone's rich. Everyone's decayed. Everyone's white. Everyone's horny. Everyone's drunk. The subplot of a young adult with sexual feelings for her dad made me uncomfortable, and not in a "last scene of North by Northwest" way either. Strangely, Kirk Douglas just goes through the motions. Alexis Smith contributes nothing more than if she'd been typing into Stephen Hawking's voice machine. David Janssen is still hoping his looks will divert people from finding out he can't act. Melina's kind of interesting. And George Hamilton is good at putting down the idle rich by just playing one of them. Other than that, a waste of time.
Topkapi (1964)
Too damm cheeky
Topkapi wasn't a bad idea for a movie. It turned out to be just another one of those talky, self-consciously-sophisticated boredom factories that emerged from too many snappy, international playboy directors in the 1960's. Hardly an honest laugh in the entire experience, except once or twice grinning at Ustinov. Other than that, I laughed at the script's multicultural pretence and excruciating euro- centrism. It's clear that Jules Dassin is trying to widen my experience and enlarge my hick American mind with comedy he thinks is urbane, but he tries too hard with actors whose noses are just lifted too damm high. Such a premise WOULD be funny if one of the stylish and refined characters surprised the audience and turned out to be nothing but an uneducated, coached & scripted dolt; they audience wants the veil pierced but it never happens, except to Ustinov, who we already know as an awkward fraud that the others can make fun of.
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
If this movie were made today, 2008
Enough's been said by my fellow amateur reviewers here that I don't have much to add to remark about this film's greatness. Having seen more than enough of current movies, though, a contemporary director would modify this script to a point where there would be little resemblance to the 1992 work by Mann. First, the pioneer families would complain, complain, complain about being victims of the over- arching villainy of ordinary business interests, wanting to install a Marxist economic system more than anything. Second, Cora and Alice Munro would be using karate kicks, punches and against anyone who attacked them, Indians, French troops, you name it...then they'd slowly walk off after setting explosive charges and would be shown silhouetted against the huge balls of fire. Thirly, Hawkeye would find moments alone with Cora to express his inner feelings of inadequacy and burning hatred of all violence. He'd admit to being plagued by inner demons from the past that he has no power to banish. However, he'd later go out to meet the foe and commit countless stagy, gratuitous acts of violence for which we'd find little justification. Fourthly, Chingachgook would be the main character, keeping the other characters at arms' length, occasionally spouting phrases from Shirley MacClaine's latest works of religious impotence which have nothing to do with traditional American Indian culture or faith. Fifthly, the French would have wisely refrained from attacking British positions and would have already surrendered. Finally, Magua and his band would be revealed to be not American Indian at all, but the last remains from an early settlement of brutal, northern-European white males from the land of Halliburton.
Now, Voyager (1942)
Poor Mr. Livingston's boys!
Bette did several movies where she's downright sexy and this is one of them. Compared to the first scenes, her appearance on board ship where she meets Paul Henried really blows you away. Watched this last night again and hadn't noticed it before but Bette had such a sexy slinky walk in this movie she was almost dancing the hula or something. Will look out for it in her other films. I guess the 1940's were Bette's sexiest times...in The Little Foxes, The Letter and Now Voyager you can't keep your eyes off of her if you're a red- blooded American boy. Mostly, I felt sorry for Mr Livingston's "half- grown" sons near the end of this picture. Imagine having Charlotte Vale for a step-mom when you're 11 or 12 years old! It was only their old man's stuffy old-Boston ways that put the kibosh on that blessed event...too bad.
Recommendation for Mercy (1975)
Sometimes vivid film, with a format and co-stars that confuse
Recommendation for Mercy could make you think that the Ontario government actually hanged an innocent 14-year-old guy. There's a chilling scene of the main character, John Robinson, finishing his last meal, being handcuffed and led to the gallows, walking alongside a Anglican priest, arriving to face a hooded hangman, the noose placed round his neck and the trapdoor lever pulled...his "best friend," a teenager who helped convict him, though, is pictured seated on a windowsill watching with cold interest, as the execution proceeds. It was all John's imagination of future events. The movie's production quality is a little amateurish, with an annoying electronic music score threaded throughout most scenes and some shaky camera-action, but it was done on a low budget by a director/producer who want to "get the story out" and somehow help the real victim of a wrongful conviction, Steven Truscott who, in 1959, was a typical nice- kid-RCAF-brat living in one of many postings his father had had during the 1950's around Canada, and who had the misfortune to give a 12-year- old girl a lift on his bicycle for about four miles to Highway 8 so she could see a local farmer's ponies. Steven left her there and lazily pedaled back home, stopping to visit with pals who were swimming in the local river and others who were playing baseball at the schoolyard. The girl who'd hitched a ride on Steve's bicycle, Lynn Harper, was brutally raped and murdered, her body found very near the County Road which she and Steven had traveled to reach the intersection with the Highway. Within 3 months, the boy was tried, convicted and sentenced to hang for the crime, all on some very flimsy circumstantial and manufactured evidence. Local & Provincial Police and a hot-shot prosecutor manipulated their prisoner, his friends and medical evidence in an effort to get a quick conviction and hold onto their jobs in the face of a public outcry and increased fears that a psychotic killer was lose among the local populace. The judge presiding at the trial, in real life, obviously considered himself to be the prosecutor's b*tch, asking pointed questions from the bench that tended to shore up the shaky evidence against Truscott over and over again. Admittedly, 1959 was a time when most people in North American culture tended to trust government authorities, so it was relatively easy to convict a teenager who was woefully ill-prepared to defend himself either psychically or financially. It wasn't until 1976 that Canadian Defence Attorneys won the right of examining all the prosecution's assembled evidence in what is commonly called the "discovery process". Such barriers to justice helped substantially to convicted Truscott and send him to the Huron County jail in Goderich, ON to await his hanging for over five long months. Truscott's death sentence was finally commuted to a life term and he was paroled after ten years in custody. He lived an honorable, responsible life, marrying just once never divorced, raising two children, working hard as a machinist not 40 miles away from where he'd once sat in the death cell at age 14-15. This film portrays a very different background story, putting John Robinson in the role of a boyfriend of the murder victim and doesn't portray the circumstances of his giving the girl who would be murdered a lift on his bicycle very clearly. The music score distracts the viewer from following what the two kids are doing that fateful evening, so we don't get a clear picture of John's innocence. Those unfamiliar with the Truscott story will question throughout whether or not John is guilty of the crime, save his continued insistence on his own innocence and his failure to change the story he tells the police. Confusing elements like too many flashbacks and the introduction of two very pretty 14-year-old girls who look too much alike to keep the story flowing well; one the victim and one is her friend who later on testifies against John in court. The military element is missing in the film, an important element \ which also helped in Truscott's wrongful conviction...the local civilian population distrusted the military families who move in and out of little Clinton, ON with such regularity...and the Truscott jury was made up entirely of local middle-aged civilian men, just the kind of people who would most-deeply mistrust teenage guys and later admitted they all viewed Truscott as guilty from the start. The director rescues us from our confusion somewhat as the actual trial proceeds, bringing to light John's "friends" and their successful manipulation by the police & prosecutor and helps illustrate what false maturity is demanded of impressionable teenagers who get mixed up in the legal system.
Danton (1983)
Reflection of our times
Many American pea-brains who worship and support the political half-truths of hucksters like Michael Moore would do well to sit through this movie more than once and see how hypnotic manipulators can scare, intimidate and lie to an underinformed public and get the people they fear or loathe killed, spindled and mutilated. Robespierre in this fine epic kills the opposition by remote control, all in a fit of self-righteous devotion to his principles. We get the impression that Robes felt it quite justifiable to snip off his opponent's heads, even as he sent his minions out to trump up false and misleading charges against the State. Today, the captains of our rotting media institutions are much more sensitive that Robes...they merely murder your character with innuendo and false charges laid down without foundation or sources. Witness Dan Rather's attempts to assassinate W's character on the eve of the 2004 election, or the constant drumbeat that the 2000 election was stolen, although constitutional scholars continue to scoff at such irresponsible drivel.
Reds (1981)
Could it be more boring?
The cinematography was good and I could look at Diane Keaton all day without it getting old. Other than that, this excruciatingly long soap opera is surely a movie one never has to or wants to see a second time. Obviously an exercise in conceit for Warren Beatty, who shamelessly promotes this confusing, pointless film with the transparently egotistical tag-line "Not since Gone with The Wind has there been such an epic" or some such nonsense. Sitting and fidgeting in the cinema, I was frequently reminded of the old Carly Simon song "You're so vain" rumored to have been written about Mr Beatty. To the ever-self-worshiping baby-boom generation, Beatty endeavors to tell us that this commie mumbo-jumbo would really work if given a the proper chance, etc etc. Predictably, in 1981, all the Hollywood limousine-liberals fell in step with the aging producer-director-star-messiah to give this wandering anti-history lesson their highest plaudits and most hyperbolic praise; then all went home to guzzle champagne & cocaine, fire their American-born servants and hire illegal aliens for the money-savings. Basically, the film gives us several insights into the early days of Progressive Movements and the first successful Communist Revolution but doesn't know what to do with it...all we get is vignettes. The film-makers also try to develop the love story between the Reeds but can't take a stand there, either. If this WERE a 20th-century Gone With The Wind, we would never know why the confederates fought the union for or if Scarlett really did end up in love with Rhett.