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Reviews
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Could have been smarter
I have been a fan of the radio series and books for twenty years, and while I love the design of this movie, the best lines of the move just fell flat. I think they tried too hard to make this movie for an American audience and not a British audience. There was so much stupidity the cleverness of Hitchhikers gets lost. As for the design, I loved every aspect of it. The Vogons are wonderful. Magrathea is wonderful. The Heart of Gold is wonderful. So much of this movie can be seen as little gifts to the long time fans, it can be hard to make a solid self-contained movie. They succeeded in that regard. The movie works, but compared to the original acting it falls short.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Impressive work
I'm a long time Tolkien fan and I remember when cast lists were being drawn up on USENET five years ago. I don't think any of my cast list made it. I felt that the Shire was too rustic. The first half was a little too lose with the book for my taste, but the second half was wonderful. The Balrog will be in my nightmares for a while. The story does seem to move slow. It is definitely worth the big screen and I will spend a lot of time pausing the video to look at the background effects, which looked amazing in the small amount of screen time they got.
Dungeons & Dragons (2000)
It could have been worse.
The exterior shots and CGI were very well done, The flybys and crowd scenes certainly gave the right feel to the game. The plot is a standard D&D adventure, but it is a real shame that the two main characters are buffoons and the props look more plastic than authentic. I am also impressed that the characters who died stayed dead. That was unexpected, but I am glad they avoided bringing him back.
George Lucas in Love (1999)
Excellent!
Every time I watch this short I catch some other small joke that I hadn't noticed before, and probably wouldn't get if I'd only seen Star Wars a few times. This short is a must see for every true Star Wars fan!
Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
Highly Entertaining.
I wasn't expecting a musical, since I hadn't heard anything about this movie before I saw it, but it was certainly one of the most entertaining movies I've seen all year. The parts were performed perfectly, and the music was good and well sung. Some of the transitions into the musical numbers was just downright silly, but who does "serious comedy" anyway? If they had composed the musical numbers specifically for the production, it would have gotten a 10.
Tale of a Vampire (1992)
As fluid as frozen velveeta.
The opening scenes move as fluidly as frozen velveeta. The attempt at dramatic dialogue only makes me wish I had better control of the fast forward control. Vampires are usually portrayed as sexy and intelligent or mangy disgusting creatures. This vampire tries to seduce his prey by imitating a lost puppy. I usually tally a body count, so there was a cat (which doesn't count) a bum, a girl who fell out of the sky with a sword in her (whatever that was about) and then the plot. Foley artists are respected for using celery to create the sound of a broken arm, but using the sound of biting into an apple for a vampire biting a victim is just plain silly. I liked Warlock, but this movie just stunk so bad that we turned it off, and it was so forgettable we rented it a year later only to turn it off again.
Mission to Mars (2000)
Identity Crisis
MTM was a buddy film, no, it was a tense drama in space, no, it was a science fiction examination of the beginnings of life. Actually, it was a bit of a muddle. The performances were all well done and believable, but the story itself fell apart. After watching the trailer it was sad to see all the nifty special effects used only at the end of the film.
Romeo Must Die (2000)
This ain't no Romeo and Juliet
The only thing I knew about this movie is that it was a Romeo and Juliet plot, but it's stretching it on that point. The "romance" between Han and Trish was underplayed. I wouldn't even call it a romance and that's a good thing. This movie didn't need a romance. The relationship between them was a bonding that any two people under stress would feel.
But they do make a lovely couple when Han uses Trish to fight a woman that's attacking them. The rest of the movie is so full of action that afterwards I had forgotten some of the best action sequences. The escape from prison is a great opening for Han, but the sequence gets lost with the rest of the action.