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ahaney
Reviews
Krull (1983)
Lots of fun
I absolutely LOVE this movie. I fondly recall watching it over
and over on cable as a kid. I did not, however, get a chance
to see it in theaters, which is a shame, since even in the
pan & scan TV version you can see that there is some great widescreen photography and composition going on here.
I do think that you have to be a kid when you first see this
film in order to fully appreciate it. I can see by some of the
other comments here that most of this movie's fans first
saw it when they were kids. That makes sense, given that
the movie operates pretty much in pure fantasy mode. If
you're in the right frame of mind, it's loads of fun. If you try
to take it too seriously, it doesn't work.
Great battles, great set pieces, wonderful outdoor scenery
(especially that meadow at the end!), and some pretty cool
special effects. There's also a terrific sequence involving
some creatures called "fire mares", which are these enormous horses that can run so fast they leave trails of
fire. For the most part I've never understood the fascination
some people have with horses, but these are some equines I could actually get excited about. What kid wouldn't want to ride something called a "fire mare"! The
scene involving them kind of reminds me of the chariot
race from "Ben Hur". At first, the only sound is the pounding of the horses hoves, but then the music kicks in,
and before you know it, you just can't help but feel excited.
I also have to mention the music. James Horner pulls out
all the stops here and gives us a grand, sweeping orchestral score that is one of my all-time favorites. There
are some problems with the performance of it though. Despite being recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, it sometimes sounds a bit sloppy, and the french horn players in particular have a lot of trouble
meeting the challenge of Horner's ambitious notes. That's
a very minor gripe, though. It's still an outstanding score;
good enough to make me pay $40 for the 2-CD set!
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Outstanding script and acting
My god! I have never seen a child actor carry a movie the way Haley Joel Osment does with The Sixth Sense. I seriously think he deserves an Academy Award nomination for this performance. I suppose that would make him the youngest person ever nominated for a best acting Oscar, but he really deserves it. Bruce Willis also does an excellent job, and the resulting chemistry between the two actors is fantastic.
M. Night Shyamalan's screenplay also deserves an Oscar nomination, and will probably get it. After reading rave reviews of this script on Comng Attractions over a year ago, I can say now that those kudos were well earned. I am also glad to see this movie doing such good business. Movies this good always deserve success, but don't always get it.
Dragonslayer (1981)
One of the scariest movie monsters ever
I remember seeing this movie on cable over and over when I was a kid, and I never tired of it. The middle ages atmosphere is excellent, with some very nice touches. I especially like the way the hierarchical society is portrayed; how everyone defers to the king without thinking. It is much better than movies in which people act and speak just as they do in modern times, only with the historical costumes and sets around them.
However, the real star of this movie is the dragon, which was created by George Lucas's prestigious ILM outfit. Despite the fact that it was made using stop-motion techniques, it is still very convincing -- especially when it breathes fire (which it does quite often!) The dragon's movements are always smooth and life-like, and this is aided by a truly frightening design for the dragon's face. The tiny, smouldering red eyes convey an intense fury that makes the villagers' fear of the dragon quite understandable. One can also tell that a lot of effort went into giving an impression of sheer size with this monster.
There are no silly-looking shots in which various elements are mismatched in terms of scale (such as a supposedly enormous creature breathing flames that look as though they are produced by a match). Even when the dragon splashes into a lake, the volume of water thrown up looks huge (no individual drops are visible, which is a mistake that FX artists still make eve today). The result is one of those rare sci-fi/fantasy movies which ages well. Even though the techniques used in this film have been supplanted by new ones, it is still easy to sit back and be awed by what is happening on screen.
Bone Daddy (1998)
This movie has inexplicable draw for me.
For some reason I can't explain, I keep thinking about this movie. Every time I see it while flipping channels, I have to stop and watch it. If I see it on the shelf in the video store, I have to stop and read the back of the box (even though I've read it before). I don't understand why I can't get this movie out of my head. All the elements of this film are quite ordinary. The acting, story, and direction are decent but unremarkable. Yet the total effect is something unique. It evokes a strange sensation. I don't know what it could be, but there is something about this film that makes you feel involved in a very personal way. Maybe it's the gruesome M.O. of the killer. Or maybe it's the sexy yet foreboding presence of Barbara Williams. Or maybe it's the rich and haunting imagery of Chicago's more gothic areas. It's hard to say. But something makes me think this elusive quality I'm talking about is an accident. I don't think the filmmakers did it intentionally. I could be wrong about that, but if so, why haven't the people involved in this movie achieved greater notoriety?
The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994)
Bizarre, but good.
This movie is incredibly strange, and a hell of a lot of fun
besides. Matthew M. goes hog wild as the lead psycho, and his
entourage of crazies provide for some hilarious interactions.
The on-screen insanity is real enough to pull you in and make
you feel like you are part of this frightening (and funny)
nightmare world. As long as you don't go into it expecting a
treatise on the whole horror movie genre, you'll have a good time.
The Black Hole (1979)
Remarkably good movie; severely underrated
This is one of my favorite science fiction movies, although I can't help wondering if I would have liked it as much if I hadn't first seen it at such a young age. Watching it as an adult, everything about it seems first-rate. The cast delivers some excellent performances, and John Barry's haunting score combines well with the overall look of the movie to produce a very spooky and foreboding atmosphere. However, I think it may be a little easier to take this movie seriously as a child than as an adult. Of course it's impossible to tell because I already formed an impression at a young age, and you can't undo a first impression. I think that may be what leads to the somewhat mixed reviews in the other user comments. Most of the people who like the movie mention having first seen it at a young age, and having that first impression stay with them for a long time. The robot character Maximilian, for example, is probably much scarier to a child than to an adult, although I still find him quite menacing even 20 years later. Despite all this, I think "The Black Hole" has some universal appeal going for it that both adults and kids will like. It does a good job of creating a fantasy world all its own, complete with thoughtful touches usually not found in other sci-fi films, such as the way the laser beams appear instantly, rather than taking a perceptible amount of time to move (as in Star Wars, et. al).