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Starcat Zeppo
Reviews
Molly (1999)
Yes, it HAS been done before.
There are few great ideas in the world, so to claim that everything is a repeat of something else isn't too far off. Still, this movie takes the idea "Let's make a heartwarming story of a handicapped woman" and mushes it into crap. There are a lot of "Awakenings" factors in this movie, but the difference is Awakenings was worth watching. Awakenings was loosly based on fact. Molly seems to be a cheap rip off of all the better movies meant to make us better understand those around us who don't seem "normal". I find movies like this one, "The Other Sister", "I Am Sam", for more examples, to be an insult to mentally handicaped people. Take a big name star and watch them try to act less than normal. Bobby D and Dustin Hoffman are the only ones who have pulled it off for the newer generation. Everyone else is trying to play catch-up. Shue's performance is lame, weak, and a joke. While this movie does nothing more than try to manipulate the human emotions, magnify the human condition, it doesn't succeed on either front.
It (1990)
Read the book, THEN watch the movie.
While it is hard to compair ANY book to it's visual twin, this one is a so-so effort. Loyal King fans might be upset at some key story points left out -- rightly so, as what can be shown on non-cable TV prevents a LOT of King's work from being aired.
Still, the movie keeps with the main points of the story. It was a HUGE novel, so cramming it all into several hours of TV couldn't have been easy. It is a good enough made for TV movie, second only to King's "The Stand" which was a better interpretation of his work for TV.
The cast does a decent job with their task of fearing a demon that has come back to haunt them a second time in their lives. The "Losers" battled "IT" as children, and find themselves drawn back as adults to do the same. It's worth a view, but to get the TRUE meaning of the entire story... read the book first.
The Dead Zone (2002)
Off in a Dead direction
I watched the season opener of the show, and was amazed at how they have tried to cram an entire book into a one hour opener of a TV show. The "tweeking" of themes of the book are going to put off King readers.
(SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK, MOVIE, and the TV SHOW) In the book, Johnny and Sara had not slept together. That was his biggest lament in leaving the night of his accident. Now, they want us to shift our thinking that yes, they DID sleep together, AND they have a son. Not to mention the child that is his son looks to be about 5 years old. Johnny was in a coma for 6 years... and now Sara's remarried with their 5ish son. It lacks the heart and longing of the original story. While I'm happy to see Anthony Michael Hall getting work, I have to say that, once again, Stephen King's characters are being turned out and twisted for some unknown goal. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. Leaving Johnny's situation with Sara as it was in the book would've been fine, leaving his parents alive would've been fine, and still left the door open to make an entire season of the show. As a King fan, I can say I won't be watching this.
Anna and the King (1999)
A treasure for everyone....
It's possible that I've become rather jaded with period movies. I put off viewing this film, and watched it today on cable for lack of anything else to do. I WILL BE BUYING THIS MOVIE... what a wonder as I was totally engulfed within the story, the sceenery, the acting abilities throughout... It has been a very long time since the romance of any movie has caused me to catch my breath and become entranced in a movie. Ladies, if your man won't watch this with you, you're better to watch it alone and become embraced with the emotion that this film cradles the viewer. Hats off to Foster, to Fat, to everyone involved in providing movie lovers with a strong example of WHY we love movies.
Mission to Mars (2000)
Want My $7.00 BACK
This is yet another case where the previews of a movie lure you in, thinking it is a "hint" of something more. WRONG. All the "cool" stuff seen in previews to this movie were the ONLY things even worth looking at in this movie.
Plot holes aside.... because I don't see ANY movie for the "realism", I LIKE science FICTION, but come ON.... this movie dragged on and on and on and on... I was so disappointed. I can't even believe they had the cast that they did to make this movie. Can any one tell me WHY it was needed to put eyeliner on Gary's eyes like that? It bugged the hell out of me, but at least it gave me something to think about. The movie itself sure didn't.
EDtv (1999)
Ed and Truman: NOT the same
I was like every one else. I thought this was going to be a variation of The Truman Show. Personally I think Truman and Ed are like apples and oranges--can't be judged with one another. Truman: Guy didn't know he was on TV.
Ed: Guy WANTS to be on TV, and doesn't think about what it's going to do to himself, or more importantly, his family.
I enjoyed this movie for what it was: A comedy. There were some serious moments, but over all it's a junk food movie. One you want to watch without getting some DEEP life meaning. It's a fun flick.
I'd recomend it to any one.
I'd have HATED to be Sherry though. There are a lot of women I know who's egos would be deflated if they saw the world was taking a poll on whether or not she was worthy of her boyfriend!! <-- on that note, when Ed stops to look at the list of "who people think he should be with"... you just wanna smack him. He's a loveable oaf, one you're rooting for, and then he stops to actually READ the list. Wonderful!!
Storm of the Century (1999)
Gem of the Century
I watched this when it first aired, and am pleased to see it out on video. I was TOTALLY pulled in by this mini when it was on television. Reading some of the other reviews, I see it's mixed on whether or not this movie was likeable.
IMHO... this was the best King on television to date. Until this point, THE STAND was my favorite, and it does still remain my fave as far as King's books go. BUT.... I'm a King fan. I wouldn't recomend this movie to too many people who do not have the patience to over look King's repetative nature.
I enjoyed the slight reference to Dolores Clariborne in STORM. I think those little things go unnoticed to some one who hasn't followed King's work. I think that Colm Feore was PHENOMINAL as Andre Linoge.... I will never be able to look at him the same way again. In City Of Angels, watching Colm as Meg Ryan's failing love interest, I was waiting for him to say "Give me what I want and I'll go away" to her!!!
I think the sheer horrific idea of having to give up a child to some one so evil was missed on all the people who didn't like this movie. But I'm not here to change any one's mind.
If you like King, and you like a good story, you'll love this movie. It IS a little long.... but I'd rather pay for a rental that's not over in 90 minutes myself.
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Jennifer's In Love with her breasts...
I liked the first one. It was okay. I'm still more of a Scream fan, and since these two movies were running neck and neck with one another, I'm gonna say I'm more on the Scream side.
**********SPOILERS AHEAD********** But THIS Sequel... it just STUNK. Doesn't any one wonder HOW or WHY there was a sequel, since in the first they show at the end that Jennifer Love-My-Cleavage is being attacked in that shower scene? And this one, the ending had the SAME stupid "GOTCHA" that DIDn't "get me". What's up with her man lovin' his electric tooth brush so much since those things have been around since the dawn of horror sequels? I'm all for just kickin back and being entertained by a movie and not giving a rat's behind to the probability of the story as pertaining to real life. But this movie has no plot. The whole "Benson" "Ben's Son" thing was just screaming "accept this lame reasoning for us to have an entire movie encasing Jennifer Love Hewitt's Breasts for over an hour"
There's going to be a Scream 3. Let's hope that shortly either before, or after, the release of Scream 3 that we don't see a movie trailer that's titled "Last Summer? Still Knowing It" To put it in teen aged terms, the Scream kids are the seniors, and the Still Knowing kids are the dorky freshmen trying to behave like upper classmen, and FAILING miserably.
Scream 2 (1997)
Waiting for a third helping please....
I have to laugh as I view these reviews at how disenchanted every one is....
Let me lump Scream and Scream 2 into the same review: Scream's tribute to the genre that made it possible (70's and 80's slasher flicks) was CLASSIC. Not since Friday the 13th or Halloween have I had so much fun with a horror movie. I was scared in the theater, and I LOVED it. Let's use this years "The Haunting" as contrast: The Haunting took itself WAAAYYY too seriously, and it stunk. It was a big nutty turd floating away with a big budget, and it was just pure swill.
Scream 2: Yes, there were a LOT of similar points from one to two... and therein was the charm of the inside joke about making FUN OF THE HORROR SEQUEL RUN ON PROBLEM. It's known that there are going to be three Scream movies. Let's save the sequel slamming for Friday the 13th part 957. Granted, the whole IDEA behind Scream 2 is unbelievable, but it's a MOVIE. WHEN did every one become SOOOO concerned with what is probable in a MOVIE?? I want to pay my $7.50 for a ticket and be entertained, and that's what this movie, along with the first Scream did.
*******SPOILERS AHEAD****** I loved it in Scream 2 that they wanted you to "think" it was Sid's boyfriend, right down to the superficial wound he sustained when chasing the killer. Granted, the film student had nothing to do with squat, but bringing back Billy's mother was a HOOT! I'm so curious to see who the killer(s) are going to be in 3. I guess I'm stupid, because I DIDN'T guess the killers in 2. I didn't try to. I wanted to watch a movie, and have fun with it, and not try to see if I was soooo much smarter than the writers and FORGET that I was being entertained.
When 3 comes out in theaters, I'm gonna rent one and two (if I don't own them by that time) and watch those first THEN go see number 3. If you want to knock on the new horror of the 90's, go to the I know what you did last summer board....
Sling Blade (1996)
Haunts me still
I scanned the previous comments just to see if others were as moved by this movie as I was. I was shocked to see that there were some (very few) who put this movie down (seeing that most negative reviews were done anonomously--how bold!)
This was a moving movie. VERY, if there's a heart in you. One viewer said the friendship between the boy and Karl was unbelievable... I disagree. Karl was never given a childhood of his own, and the boy didn't really have an adult male to look up to. Why is that so hard for some of you to understand?
I guess this is just a movie you have to let yourself become a part of
***SPOILERS AHEAD***.... if you were locked in a shack and forced to bury your not yet dead sibling, I think there would be some ill effects to your mental state. BBT does a phenominal, FANTASTIC job with the character of Karl. Seeing BBT in other movies like Pushing Tin, it's hard to believe he's the same man. You know he's done wrong, and you can see that he's about to do wrong again... yet you feel for him. The motive behind his action is one of love. Violence is never the answer, and in a perfect world there would be no violence nor need for it, but Karl's life isn't perfect... so far from it, in fact, that it is easy to see why he is the way he is.
The movie is slow moving, but I think to rush it along would kill off the charm it holds.
I recommend this movie to every one. I've yet to have some one take my advice, and come back later and say they didn't like it.
Grease (1978)
John Travolta... (sigh)
It could be that my emotional attachment to this movie stems from the fact that it was the first flick my older siblings took me to see in the theaters, but I doubt it. Or it could be the life long crush I've had on Travolta, but I doubt that too.
I've watched this movie time and time again, and yes, there are times that the actors OBVIOUS age differences from that of teen agers JUMP off the screen... but this movie is FUN. It's not an earth shattering special effect hyper flick, it's not over flowing with great emotion... it's just FUN.
The only really negative thing I can think to say about this movie is that it spawned a sequel..... Grease 2 is total JUNK, but this original.... it's wonderful. Simple as that.
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
This Generation's "Breakfast Club"
I stumbled upon this movie, I had no great intentions of seeing it... but I'm glad I did.
I haven't walked down a high school hall way in over 10 years, yet I found the adolescent inside loving every moment of this movie. I thought the entire cast did a GREAT job, and I'm hoping to see Heath Ledger (did I get that name right?) in more movies to come.
Someone else mentioned this but I have to, HAVE to repeat it just to make sure no one misses it.... WAIT until the credits have rolled, because there are some GREAT out takes at the end of this movie!!!
I don't think, in response to another comment, that "rapping" a Shakespeare poem is wrong for a teacher to do. ANYTHING that will get a new generation hooked to the classics is fine---if you don't think so, watch Mr. Holland's Opus. HE was about strung from the rafters for using Rock N Roll to teach music, and it worked. I wish some of the snoozer teachers I had in school had been that creative (although some of the language the teacher used would NEVER fly in a real school... unless things have drastically changed in 10-15 years!)
The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
I Think Amy Irving Just Needed WORK...
I was in total SHOCK to see so many reviews praising this movie... GIVE ME A BREAK!! I know, we're all entitled to our own opinions but.... This is a case of copy-catting at its worst.
Here we have a classic horror movie: Carrie. Written by one of the most well known horror writers of our time, and his FIRST book to boot, King gave us a wonderful story. Now we have, almost 20 years later (more or less... not too sure) someone riding King's coat tails trying to cash in on a new generation. Reading these reviews, I see that it worked. How SAD.
********SPOILERS AHEAD************
First of all, no doubt this is a TOTAL KNOCK OFF of the first movie. The flash backs made me want to just watch the original all over again! And Amy Irving... oh man... could she have been any more annoying? I was actually glad when Sue Snell finally bought it. Everyone is praising the detailed gore in this movie! If you like that, then great! But the appeal of the first movie, and others from its time like the original Halloween, is the LACK of gore, leaving it to one's imagination. There was no immagination in this movie. No point. It stunk. It was a huge, nutty Hollywood turd floated out to theaters so younger viewers could enjoy its total stupidity. I think it's an insult to the mentality of teenagers today to MAKE something like this! Even the "it's a pleasing ending but LOOK OUT! SOMETHING'S GOING TO HAPPEN" ending made me LAUGH!! They couldn't even give this piece of pulp dignity in the last few moments without trying to cash in on the original.
200 Cigarettes (1999)
Had 80's flash backs for a week after watching this!!!
Maybe it's just me, but I LOVED this flick!! It could be because I was remembering the time my older sister got drunk and passed out BEFORE her birthday guests arrived, and she didn't remember a single THING about her own party.......nah....that's not it. The bad hair, the aweful NEON clothing.... those hot pink tights!! Ugh, Stephie brought back memories of BAD fashion choices that myself and my friends fell victim to! The movie itself...hmm... it was purely trash! It's a guilty pleasure flick. You know you should eat a salad, but you sneek a Big Mac. The characters are all sterio types, and they're played out wonderfully!! I was rootin' for Love's slut the WHOLE time!! The best part of the whole movie is the last few minutes when the Cabbie is talking about the pictures he took. Laughed my butt off!!
Practical Magic (1998)
In favor of this movie!
Reading the reviews of this movie is like being on a teeter-totter. One hates, the other loves, one hates... I LOVED THIS MOVIE.
Maybe it's because I come from a family of 6 sisters.... The bonding and care between the sisters and the Aunts, standing against the rest of the town's distrust and dislike shows family strength. When Sandra is weeping over her husband dying, I cried with her. I thought it was a fabulous moment for her in the movie.
If you want a movie about a woman getting revenge on an abusive husband, rent The Color Purple (ALSO a fave of mine) This movie was playful, at times slightly spooky... Hello? It's a Witch story... it should have SOME spooky stuff in it, and I don't feel the special effects were too over done.
As far as them inviting the women of the town in to help, I loved that whole sceen as well. The flash backs to the sisters as children and not wanting to let the other go... all of it. Each time that sceen pops into power mode, it makes me want to call every one of my sisters.
I haven't read the book, so I understand there might be some disappointment from those who HAVE read it. Movies rarely pack the punch of the written word they're based on. (Like EVERY King movie EVER put on film!)
But I adore Practical Magic. I saw it in the theater, and bought it as soon as I could.
Tim (1979)
Not what I expected from Mel
I'll admit I was going through a Mel phase, buying any movie with him in it. This movie started out to be so moving, so wonderful... Mel plays a Forrest Gump like character. I wont get into the specifics because the other reviews did... what amazed me though is the way this story ends. Because it just.... ends. It's like they ran out of money and said "just end it here" No wonder this flick was on a $5.99 discount rack. There were possibilities here, and great acting and a wonderful story until the last...oh...five minutes. But you don't KNOW it's the last five minutes because it just... ends. There's no closure to the story. Watch it, and you'll see what I mean, but don't say you weren't warned....
The Stand (1994)
"This is the way the world ends"
When my sister and I read this book years before it's release to film, we were paranoid at any sneeze or cough for months. I wish I could say this adaptation had the same effect. For a TV Mini, it wasn't bad. There were a lot of the more intense parts of the book that couldn't be seen on the small screen. For the part of Tom Cullen, I envisioned Bill Fagerbakke as the perfect person to play him and was delighted at his performance. Ruby Dee was also perfect in her role. Ray Walston's performance also remained pretty true to the character as it was written in the book. However, Molly Ringwald's weak and pitiful performance of the strongest female in the story, Fran, was just... It was terrible. I could understand why her weak performance along with Laura San Giacomo's Nadine would make someone turn this movie OFF if they had not read the book. The best thing to do is read this first. Then, watch the mini series. Best left for the die hard King fan who is used to his work being butchered on film, unless you have an idea of the characters and story involved, this adaptation leaves too much to be desired. Another hour or two of story would have helped. Hey, the BOOK is a mamouth, so why not take advantage of the time alloted to a mini series and go all out? As negative as the review may read, I LIKED this movie. Jamey Sheridan gives me the creeps in anything I see him in now because of his part as Flagg. But after reading the book so many times, as a whole the movie just left out too many parts.
A Simple Plan (1998)
Nothing simple about this movie
Which one of us watching this movie wouldn't want to find a way to keep it? The idea is "simple" enough; three men, two of which are brothers, find money in a crashed plane and decide to sit on it until they see whether or not someone's looking for it.
If it were THAT easy, there wouldn't be a movie here. Everything about this simple plan goes wrong and goes wrong FAST. Paranoia sets in on all fronts, each man is a suspect of the other on who's going to cut whom out of their share... I felt for a while that I could predict the ending of this movie, but no matter what you THINK is going to happen, unless someone's told you the ending you won't know it (or believe it) until you see it. Paxton gave a midline performance as usual, but once again Billy Bob Thornton manages to change everything about himself from his speech to his appearance to play his character to the fullest extent.
Silent Fall (1994)
Dreyfuss lays an EGG....
I'll admit I bought this movie unseen off a discount rack. The fact that it was on a discount rack should've been my first clue. I expected that, because Dreyfuss delighted me so in "The Good-Bye Girl", "Jaws", and "Mr. Holland's Opus" that he could continue to do so.... WRONG. This movie starts out promising. The story idea here is intriguing. An autistic boy is the only witness to the murder of his parents, and Dreyfuss is a teacher to these challenged type of children. It goes down the toilet FAST when the facts of autism are tweeked and twisted to fit the lame direction this story takes. I have an Aunt who taught the mentally handicaped, and PRAYED she never watched this movie because it would have made her mad at the way it was conceived that an autistic child has the choice to learn. They don't. The movie goes off the deep end into stupidity the minute it looks like it MIGHT be good, and it never saves itself. I watched it once, and it now sits and collects dust among the other "stinkers" I bought on faith.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
A timeless classic....
I've read the reviews of this movie and I was shocked. I thought everyone loved this movie as much as I do. I was 9 when it was first released, and I saved Birthday money and conned every family member I could to take me to see it as many times as I could. This movie, although almost 20 years old, still holds water against all the COMPUTER generated special effects of today. There are parts of the movie so detailed you can see E.T.'s veins and temples pulse. Although Drew Barrymore's cheesy performance makes my stomach turn, I can over look that. This movie, torn apart for it's "unbelievability" (which is the most MINDLESS argument against a FICTIONAL movie I can imagine) is a heart warming story of a boy who's lost and alone looking for a friend. Here's an alien also left alone. Elliot's parents are separated--a point made more than once in the movie. This can have an effect on any 10 year old, then and now, and he's also the "middle" child. Here he finds E.T. and is able to love, and be loved, without question. I paid to see it 10 times when I was a kid. I went to see it in the theaters AGAIN on it's re-release in 1985-ish (?). I own the original copy released on video, and then bought it AGAIN when it was re-released on video with interviews from Stephen and cast. I own over 300 movies and none of them have received that kind of love and attention from me. Parents can watch this with their kids, or.... without them.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
A Serious Retro Fix
Ahh.... Peter Frampton on the big screen!! Yes, I saw this movie in the theaters. My older brother took me, and the "ticket ripper" didn't rip our tickets and when the movie was over, I batted my big brown eyes at my brother and BEGGED to see it again. What older brother can say no to his 7 year old sister? So we watched it a second time.... (I think my brother fell asleep) and at the time I didn't know this was Beatles music. I was just overwhelmed with the story. Ok, that was when I was a kid. Now, I STILL enjoy this movie. It's hoakey--no doubt about that. The only person who speaks is George Burns throughout the entire movie as Mr. Kite, the mayor of Heartland. This movie is so full of color, so full of music. Alice Cooper's rendition of "Because" scared me as a child and, truth be told, creeps me out still. (I creep out easy) Peter Frampton's tears through "The Long and Winding Road" look like he had someone shoot visine in his eyes, but by that point in the movie if you haven't turned it off, you're wrapped up in it and don't care. Steve Martin as Dr. Maxwell is vintage Martin, hamming it up and singing off key. YES, Steve Martin sings in this. If Jack Nicholson can sing in The Who's Tommy, let's give Martin a shot, shall we? This is a great testament of the 70's in all it's glory. I still own the soundtrack on LP, own the video, and am excited that through this page found the soundtrack on CD which I am about to go order now.......