Change Your Image
johnm-14
Reviews
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena: The Bitter End (2011)
Roman barbarism
It's amazing that we can decry the barbarity of Rome and its culture. We can condemn wholesale slaughter as entertainment, people as slaves being forced to do their master's bidding, and rampant hedonism at every turn. But what are we? Now, 2000 years later, 2000 years of increased civilization, and we are still watching the very same things. The only difference between Romans watching gladiators and our watching them is that the blood in our combat is fake and the gladiators will come back to life when the director, ironically, says, "Cut!" To me, this is a small difference, as everything we have in technology is used to make it all more real.
I agree about the quality of the acting. I agree with most of the comments about this series. I just wanted to point out that there isn't much difference between the Romans and us.
One thing I found EXTREMELY disturbing, and that was the execution of Jessica Grace Smith's character, Diona. She was used and abused from the beginning - like a blow-up sex doll. When she was killed she was dragged away like so much trash. I guess I wish that Bataitus would have shown some humanity and that somehow she's be back next season. Small comfort knowing his end.
Ski Ball (1973)
The Worst
This movie answers the question, how bad can it get? It is a terrible, early 70s sex film done as cheaply as possible. The greatest cost being getting it processed at the drugstore.
The plot: three young women go away for a ski weekend. On the way, they pretend their car breaks down so some men, or as they put it in their quaint way, "some c**k" will help them. They get to the lodge and everyone - except one of the men - has sex. Then some ski footage. After that, they come back to the lodge and have sex, only now there are 4 women. After 2 rounds of sex, they go skiing, then have sex. After that, the women sneak out, go back to their car and leave, while the movie replays snippets of what happened, as if a memory.
There are only 7 stars in this opus, 3 men and 4 women. The men sport typical 70s facial hair and leave you wondering how any women could be that hard up. One thing good about it is seeing what their doing leaves the rest of us guys saying, "There's hope!" The women are attractive enough, what we see of them, that is. The camera work often leaves their heads off and when they show them, quite often, their hair is in the way. One of the stars is Sue Mitchell, who, according to IMDb is the star of, "Teenage Cheerleader." Sue was beautiful. She was a naturally pretty woman, with a cottage cheese butt, but her eyes remind me of Dana Delany's. She's the reason I got this movie, as I'm a big fan. Sorry, IMDb, the Sue Mitchell in this trash is not the same one. Nobody in this even closely resembles Suzie Mitchell of TC.
The color looks like it was done by Crayola crayons. The lighting looks like it was done by Thomas Eddison himself. It all smacks of having been done with an 8mm camera in a hotel room on a Saturday afternoon. Even the credits are hand drawn.
Don't waste your time with this. If you're a fan of entertainment, you'd be less frustrated watching cement dry. If you are fan of Suzie Mitchell, as I am, she's not in this.
Utter junk!
The Hunt for Eagle One (2006)
Not bad at all
This is a surprisingly good movie, considering it is basically low budget. It is fairly realistic, too. The weapons sound like the real weapons. The actors act like real Marines and soldiers.
There are some lapses in dialog, though. Some of the things the Marine lieutenant says would not be uttered by a Marine.
Far and away the biggest lapse is Rutger Hauer. He is starting to show his age - unfortunately. Plus, with his long hair a scraggly 3-day-old beard, he looks more like a street person than a Marine Corps General.
That notwithstanding, the military advisers did a much better job than in other movies of this genre. It held my attention, even if it wasn't Saving Private Ryan.
Mission to Mars (2000)
A Real Sleeper!
One of the worst movies ever! This movie lasted longer than a real flight to Mars. At least Ed Wood, in his science fiction movies, didn't waste so much money on special effects. A real sleeper, which I mean this is a definite cure for insomnia. Did anyone else notice that Gary Sinise, who is normally a fine actor, was wearing so much make-up that it looked like we were watching The Birdcage or La Cage aux Folles? Terrible.