Change Your Image
Lon-17
Reviews
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
Save your money and see "Desperado" again
What a let-down! Of course, I was expecting something even better than Desperado, and didn't get it. This movie pales in comparison. There is no facet of this movie that even comes close to Desperado.
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Review of the Collector's Edition
One of my all-time favorite movies. The tale of a child-slave who grows up to be a gladiator/pit fighter, earns his freedom, has various adventures and eventually becomes a king.
The special commentary was pretty good. Arnold apparently has not seen the movie since the premiere 20 years ago, as he couldn't remember even the most basic portions of the plot and most of his commentary consisted of the blatantly obvious, ("yeahh...here is where I chop off Thulsa Doom's head"), etc. He frequently leaps ahead a scene and remarks on things not yet on the screen. He also makes frequent mistakes and Milius just lets it slide, even though he knows different (as most fans of the movie will). He should have at least watched it once beforehand to refresh his memory a bit.
Milius' commentary was a lot more insightful than Arnolds, to say the least. He provided some great insight, from why and how he casted certain people, location information, how some things were filmed, incidents on the set, etc.
The deleted scenes section left something to be desired. It consisted mostly of several versions of the same one scene. Nothing really new or exciting. There has to be some other deleted footage that was filmed!
The "Conan Unchained" special was very cool and the highlight of the disc! It was and hour-plus feature all about the Conan movie. It includes some things that Milius touches on in the commentary, complete w/ cast interviews (Arnold, Bergman, Lopez, Milius, Stone, De Laurentiis)
There is also a pictures section that shows behind-the-scenes production and cast photos, wardrobe concepts, etc.
Overall, the collectors edition could have been better, but is still a must for any Conan fan!
Made (2001)
Not for everyone, but still an OK movie
If your a big fan of Vince and John, then see this movie. But, I can see how not everyone likes this movie. It is a totally different movie than their previous effort together,(Swingers) and definitely darker and not quite so funny. Vaughn plays one of the most annoying characters in recent memory, and is a testament to Favreau's character who puts up with it the whole movie. Their interaction with each other can be funny though. Not a bad rental.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
Pretty good action flick!!
Definitely not the abhorrent film that some people have made it out to be. Ok, so maybe its not perfect, and there are some plot holes, but give me a break, what were you expecting..it's a popcorn summer movie.
Angelina makes a great Lara Croft. I can't imagine too many actresses that could actually pull off looking and appearing as tough as she does. She does it with ease. The scenery was great, from the insides of the buildings and temples, to Cambodia and on. It all looked very good. The special effects were also not as some people have written. I was going in expecting Ray Harryhausen type of effects from some of the comments I read. All of looked pretty good, and I particularly liked the battle-robot.
I would definitely recommend this movie to action fans, Lara Croft fans, and fans of Angelina Jolie, of which I'm sure there are a lot more of now.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Can I have those 2 1/2 hours back?????
What a waste! It is neither a kid's movie, as some might think, nor an interesting movie for adults. At the end of the movie, everyone in my area of the theatre was looking around at each other with blank looks on their faces. They were probably thinking that they couldn't believe that they actually paid to see it. I was with five other people, and none of us cared for it at all. I would have gotten up and walked out, but I was with them!
While I will have to give Osment credit for some fantastic acting, the movie is boring, overly long, unconnected and cold. In fact, the last 15 minutes of the movie (felt like an hour) was like something out of a bad LSD trip.
Were there 3 seperate scripts that fell on the floor in Spielberg's office, and then when they picked all of them up, A.I. was born? If so, then that would explain a lot.
Unbreakable (2000)
A superhero movie that makes you think
I thought it was a "thinking" superhero movie. It didn't have all of the action of other hero movies, but it did keep me thinking for days about it.
The acting was great on both leads parts. Willis was great as the "reluctant hero", and Jackson was good as his mentor.
The only thing I didn't care for was the ending "update" that appeared at the end. There was no need for it, and was totally out of place, as it is not a true movie.
The movie is also what you could call a realistic hero movie. No spandex, lasers or claws in this hero movie. But, it doesn't stop it from being very well done.
By the way, I think I'm in the minority who didn't like Sixth Sense. It thought it had the pace of a crippled turtle, and without the last 2 minutes of the movie, it would have been a complete waste of time, instead of just a reason to catch up on my sleep.
What Planet Are You From? (2000)
A must for Gary Shandling fans !!
Most people probably do not appreciate Gary's understated humor, but I find him hilarious. Greg Kinnear and Annette Bening also are very good. Ben Kinglsey is also good as the leader of the alien planet of men, searching for a way to continue the species by having Gary find a mate on earth. The scenes where they try to understand what a woman says, and what she actually means are hilarious.
Major Payne (1995)
Very Funny Movie
This is one very funny movie. I can't believe that it wasn't graded any higher. Damon's character is very funny, and there are several scenes that are side splitting. His character's militaristic interaction with the young kids makes for some funny scenes.