strudeau Reviews

Siskel & Ebert (1986–2010)

Ebert is awesome! Roeper is terrible!! GENE COME BACK FROM THE DEAD!!

[12 December 2002]

Siskel and Ebert are the two best critics of all time hands down.. There was no one that could have replaced Gene Siskel, and I believe they could have done ALOT better then Richard Roeper!!! Why didn't they get Leonard Maltin, or Rex Reed??? Maybe Harry Knowles... Richard Roeper is annoying, stupid and obviously does not like movies. All he does is complain about good movies. He said Lord Of The Rings repeated itself and complained about it having an "unhappy" ending.. He even said Elijah Wood and Sean Astin were bad casting calls?? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU RICHARD??? DO YOU WATCH THE MOVIES YOU REVIEW?? I think he's the only person on the earth that didn't like that movie.. It's one thing to give a bad review.. But he complains incessantly about non-existent points. He really takes the fun out of watching movie reviews (Even Ebert's bad reviews are hilarious) and I wish they would fire him so that we may enjoy an unfettered Roger Ebert once again.

Airborne (1993)

The "Citizen Kane" of teenage rollerblade movies!

[10/10 · 8 January 2002]

Airborne is mostly a teen movie marketed back in the early 90's when the rollerblade craze was starting to catch on. It's like the rollerblade companies needed some more exposure, so they gave these guys a bunch of money and said "hey, make the kids crave rollerblades". With all that aside, it is a rather enjoyable movie. Shane McDermott plays Mitchel, a surfer from California who must move to Ohio for a couple months. His performance reminds me of a teenage version of Keanu Reeves in Point Break. Seth Green plays the comic relief hapless friend, and Seth's parents are played by Edie McClurg(secretary from Ferris Buehlers) and Patrick O'Brien. The parents in this are hilarious and they work very well with the rest of the cast. The moviesfollows Mitchel as he tries to adjust to the very different Cincinatti atmosphere. He quickly becomes a heartthrob thus alienating him from every guy in town. So he pretty much spends the next hour trying to avoid trouble, but at every turn it seems to find him. In the course of this he ends up playing ice hockey/roller hockey and then rollerblading. The major flaw of this movie is the motive and identity of the villains. You see very little of them throughout the movie, and their dialogue is terrible. There is also a huge disparity in the look of the males and the females in this movie. Most of the male cast looks and are well into their 20's (with the exception of the Shane and Seth).. The girls in this movie look like a bunch of 12 year olds... But since there isn't a lot of interaction between the two, it doesn't detract from the movie too much. All in all, I enjoy this movie. I really like the approach they have taken with the Mitchel character.. He's just a young surfer dude who is a vehement pacifist. He is very cool and very not violent (hero's always breed violence in modern movies).. He also makes a couple of Zen-like observations which are fun to watch. The movie ends with a rollerblade race through downtown Cincinatti with the hero's facing the "Preps". The rollerblade race is the best part of the movie, and it is very well played out. This movie isn't oscar material, but it is much better then any other "roller-skating" movie, sport genre movie, and many disney-teen movies.. Jack Black also play's a small role in this, and is fun to watch. I give this 7 out of 10 stars.

Krull (1983)

Much better then it's given credit for

[10/10 · 7 November 2001]

Like many of the other user's writing comments, this movie is something that I treasured from my childhood. I must have seen this on HBO when I was younger like 50 times. I remember reading the Maltin review on this (he slam's it as a Star Wars clone) and I was thinking "Gee, it was probably only good cos I was a stupid kid"... I must take that back however because I watched last night on digital cable, and it was MUCH cooler then I remembered!!.. (it's been 15years).. The score was so powerful I was actually getting goosebump's watching it! (the last movie to give me goosebumps was watching the 5th Element in theatres). Yes the plot is a little cliched, but the characters and their chemistry is great. It's an over the top movie that never fails. I really love the special effects (I'll take it over CGI any day!), and it truly is a visually stunning piece.. People complain about the mountain climbing scenes and horseback scenes, but damn.. Those are really cool scenes. Probably the coolest mountain climbing scene's ever filmed. I mean come on, they have awesome visuals of Ken Marshall (or stuntman) just dangling on those awesome huge mountains. I could watch 5 hours of that cos it is really thrilling. The horseback scenes are great and really add tenfold to the fantasy element. Every shot and scene of this movie is tantalizing and this is one of the few movies that your eyes will wander around the entire screen in awe. This is not a bad movie in any sense (come on, now Pearl Harbor/Armageddon/Mission to Mars/Charlies Angels those are bad movies..) This is one of the great 80's adventure movies!

Wish Upon a Star (1996 TV Movie)

Much more then it appears to be

[10/10 · 29 August 2001]

I don't know how I was drawn to originally see this movie, but I'm glad it happened. It's definitely not your average made for TV movie and it really fly's leaps and bounds beyond what it really is. It is the story of two sisters who are worlds apart, who after a wish switch places. (Ala Freaky Friday, Vice-Versa) This features Katherine Heigl(Roswell) and Danielle Harris(Urban Legend) as the sisters who exhibit and on screen chemistry that has been absent in today's cinema. As the story progresses the sisters wage an all out war against each other and spend the rest of the movie trying to patch up the damage. Their adventures are cliched at points, yet Heigl and Harris carry it and make a very engrossing and funny film. Everyone who I show this movie to is instantly hooked. This is a true to life "Cult" movie. This is one of my favorite movies, and I attribute that fact to the wonderful Katherine Heigl and Danielle Harris.. Katherine Heigl's popularity has skyrocketed since this, yet Danielle Harris has been pretty stagnant. Hopefully Danielle Harris will get a push soon! This movie was previously unavailable on Video (save for a few video stores, and $70 ebay copies), but thanks to Warner Brothers selling the distribution rights, Wish Upon a Star is now on DVD!! (as of August 2001) This DVD is a must buy so don't pass it up. Feel free to email me if you want to talk about this movie! **** out of ****

Heavyweights (1995)

A pleasant suprise!

[10/10 · 6 June 2001]

This movie is much better then people give it credit for. It bombed at the box office, and I don't think it did too well on home video, but it is one of those rare gems. I think this movie is very good at keeping away from the standard Disney movie cliches, and I recommend you watch this at once!!! I would have never had seen this had it not been in the movie theatre I worked in when I was younger. Let me tell you, this movie is definitely one of my most pleasant memories of my stint at the theatre!! Ben Stiller plays a crazed camp counselor, in what I consider to be his best and funniest performance. He is very convincing as a paranoid/richard simmons-ish/body by jack-ish fitness tyrant who tries to train a bunch of unreceptive overweight kids at a fat camp. They of course rebel, and it plays out in a comedic formula that isn't standard disney fare. I'm not a big fan of Disney movies, but if they were all this good, I'd probably be one of those yahoo's walking around with a Mickey Mouse letterman jacket. A must see, for anyone at any age, or any body size!