Change Your Image
trhendricks1966
Reviews
Jack Hunter and the Lost Treasure of Ugarit (2008)
A Guilty Pleasure
This series certainly - and shamelessly - lifted the Raiders of the Lost Ark for base material, but it does give enough of a twist on events to make it legal, and somewhat serviceable.
I like this genre so I enjoyed watching it for entertainment's sake. Of course it has as much "cheese" in it as a Green Bay Creamery, and the dialogue is not Oscar material, but I watch documentaries if I want something deep.
Johnny Goes Home (1982)
some things change....
When I saw this show in Grand Junction, I never thought I would be in this community. Yes, There is indeed a rivalry Between Norfolk and Columbus that reminds me of the Grand Junction and (Grand Junction) Central rivalry of my own High School Days. The bridge he hanged off of is still there and the train lumbers across, day in and day out to a large electric furnace steel mill. Scrap goes in, tool and dye steel and high grade trusses come out.
When employment brought me to Norfolk, I always wanted to see the theater he showed in the Documentary. Alas, after 2 years there, it was revealed by a friend the local newspaper had it razed and it is now a parking lot. I often wonder if Carson ever found out, or was ever told.
Seeing how such a town could have a Major Television figure, relatively good leadership, people good work ethic, and water resources that drive me to envy does indeed make me bristle on how a wonderful, published theater could be tossed like a Mc Donald's wrapper. At least Grand Junction has it's Avalon Theater on main street. I wonder if Norfolk fully realized they lost Johnny, despite the gifts.
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
A good movie, but the book was better
I read Lauren Weisberger's novel when it first came out. I loved the novel despite the usual 20-something trade quirks in it as it resonates so well about how management can be not only over-demanding but foolish, inefficient, and their own worst enemy.
No doubt the details of the Novel had to be changed for various reasons to please the "Dailies" and the "Cards", I am certain the movie would need an R rating if it followed the book more closely, which it should have done. Let's be honest. The language looked like the novel was written by Walt Disney or Geroge Lucas and that is not honest.
It was disappointing to see some of the peripheral characters reduced even more. While Hathaway did a fantastic job, given her past two dimensional stilted work from Disney, I still do not find Streep as great a legend everyone makes her out to be, though she was indeed satisfactory. Except that I find this particular role more akin to her Chimerical politics which all too often ruin an artists craft.
Beyond that, the movie was a good movie.
Baby Geniuses (1999)
Rotten but funny
Horrible Acting: Clearly Kathleen Turner, Christopher Lloyd, and Kim Catrall were not at their best. Even the legendary Dom DeLuise was not in very good form. It always seemed the cast members were either disinterested, or in Turner's case, over the top.
Dr. Elena Kinder was not the only idea thief. Some of the scenes were clearly recycled from other films, such as Home Alone, but they still, for some unexplained reason, made me laugh until it hurt.
The use of babies was disgusting: It smacked of some to the early work of Ann Geddes. It was condescending in a veiled fashion. The technology was not great either. The morphing of the babies mouths was useless. The money spent on that could have gone to restructuring the plot.
Really deserved to be rated a zero, yet... I liked it... Strange......
Die, Mommie, Die! (2003)
a great film
Yes it i campy, yes it is a "gay" flick (whatever that is)... but it is a great Indy film which uses good old fashioned stagecraft and leave the FX to other films with lesser plots. Of course I am not gay, but I love good film. and this is good film.
I have read the commentary on the DVD and I was touched that they even mentioned the Architect of the house. As an architect myself, I know we are a hidden bunch. The home is a great piece of California Hillside architecture, and Paul Williams is a master.
An interesting point is this film was shot in 18 days...
I read a snippet where this was not in Nebraska.... Well after living here 15 years, I could provide Mr. Busch with enough material about Norfolk to keep him busy for quite some time.
Dune (1984)
A confession of a non-book-reader
Perhaps I should read the book, I was first introduced to this film while I was in the service in the 1980's, I find it mind-stretching then as well as now.
While the quality is a little grainy, and the line is a little juvenile, I regard Dune as a fairly good film. But then it is easy to call it a good piece when compared with the schlock Hollywood is emitting. Even though I have never read the book, I could tell this film is like many films based on books. Much of the detail in the book has to get cut as the 25-to-200 hours of reading time has to be telescoped into the standard 90-110 minute attention span of your typical, illiterate, movie fan.
It looks like Mr. Herbert's book was written with the same care as Michener's Centennial because there are so many loose ends in the plot and the detail work it does indeed let you down. I always wondered what that instrument Gurney was packing would should like, as well as see what really went on with Paul's guerilla war. The voice-over said 2 years. The action on the screen looked more like 2 weeks. If the novel is 1/2 as good as sci-fi-fans attest. Dune should have been handled like Centennial, with multiple installments or a miniseries.
But despite the Reader's Digest treatment all movies seem to get, I consider it good entertainment, and a interesting take on religion, culture, and how society treats their resources. Kind of looks like to me we didn't learn very much over 81 centuries....
t.r.