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baghutch
Reviews
National Treasure (2004)
Terrible...but I had a GREAT time watching it.
Highly recommended for good friends in full MST3K mode. There was almost no better time for me this year than watching this implausible piece of work in a friend's basement theater with my brother and another friend of ours. We'd planned this for WEEKS, always putting off watching it until we were all there, and it paid off spectacularly. Who could have imagined it was sillier than the trailer portrayed it to be? And a film with Sean Bean as the bad guy?!?! What a shock...almost to a David Moresian proportion. Needless to say, I can't wait until the sequel comes out. Why does Turtletoub haunt me so? I expect that the hidden clues of the Euro will be explored for all to see...and the truth will come out about why all European currency had to be recalled...you know...I may have something here.
Left Behind III: World at War (2005)
Easily the best of the three...but think about that...
Kudos to Baxley's DP for making this look like a real movie, the first time that's happened in this series (with the notable exception of the F/X scenes). In moving closer to movie production values, however, it lost most of the entertainment value of the first two. They were very much in the 'so bad they're good' category of horrendous film entertainment. Can an argument be made though that the 'believers' were simply trying to make a generic action film with praying in it? There are so many times in the film where they discard their own belief system as to be annoying. If everything that happens is according to God's will and they are simply his instruments, than the people who are infected with the virus have that happen as a part of his plan, right? Apply that to every situation where someone of faith doesn't submit to God's will, and you get a fairly hypocritical little movie from the director of 'Action Jackson'.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)
See The Uncut Version NOW in stores...
The uncut version hones and clarifies several points presented in the film. It has a greater emotional resonance, although I'm amazed at the difference between a 'G' and a 'PG-13' rating. They aren't that widely or wildly different in content, so the idea that kids were being 'protected' is hogwash.
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
The most aggressive sustained film making I've ever seen
The last 40 minutes of this movie are harrowing and unmerciful to the audience, and I loved loved loved that a movie could make me feel as much as this did, even if it wasn't a particularly nice feeling. ANYONE who loves movies as a medium should see this challenging piece of work.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
If you don't think its the best of them, remember that you're the one who need to 'get it'
This is so easily the best of the three dino films that I and a select group who 'do' get it are baffled every time someone has warned a friend away from it, railed against it in favor of the 2 kids running around with ice cream, and protested against the fact that it presents a ham handed eco friendly point of view. DID YOU SEE THIS MOVIE? Spielberg is at the top of his action form, free and loose with handheld everywhere. The dinosaurs are far superior to the first, with better action sequences (the round-up comes to mind). Finally, you have a post Schindler's List Spielberg now working with Cinematography god Januz Kaminkski, who makes this movie look like the most wonderful horrible place on earth to be. That ILM's work was able to match such harsh lighting (for the first time) is a testament to the overall skill that went into it. Plus, you have DINOSAURS doing dinosaur things on an island and in LA!!!!! You're damn jaded if you don't like it, and maybe you should figure out where your life went wrong when you're incapable of seeing the good in something.
Jurassic Park III (2001)
it's summer, it's dinosaurs, it's what we want
Just a quick " finally, a summer movie with SOME payoff" here from corn country. How anyone is so jaded as to not have fun with 94 minutes of dinosaurs is beyond me. Is the end abrupt? Yes. Did I care? No. I understand that A.I. is the only film that will ask us to think this summer, but this is the only one of the 'blockbusters' that didn't make me wretch so far this year. One sixteenth of a brain was enough.