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Reviews
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
No, this was not a mistake....
First of all........LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!! Instead of a regular review, I
just want to make a point about something in this movie that has
confused a lot of people. In the world of Star Wars, the technology
they have has existed a lot longer than it has on Earth. The reason
the ships and stuff look "cooler" in the prequels is because we are
seeing a thriving society at the height of it's development. In the
"original trilogy", we are seeing a galaxy torn apart by years of
warfare. The rebellion will be using, for the most part, thrown
together equipment that has to be maintained on the fly by
volunteers and such. The Empire will have destroyed much of the
facilities that existed and will also using what they can produce
themselves. Imagine if a global nuclear war happened here in the next 5
years. 50 years from now, we wouldn't be flying around in neato
hoverships and watching nifty 3-D holographic television. We
would still be rebuilding. Just wanted to clear this up for the people who have a hard time
wrapping their brains around logic.
Mission to Mars (2000)
Great Science Fiction
I finally saw Mission to Mars last night and thought if was one of the best sci-fi movies in recent years. The acting was beautiful. I thought the story was great and the music...Oh God, the music!! Loved it. The f/x were great and didn't totally dominate the picture. If you can sit back and let it happen, De Palma will suck you in with some nice, slow, pretty sequences and then BAM throw a big fly in the ointment and stress you out for a bit. However, there are parts of this film that are (gasp) not based in scientific reality (where do they get the nerve?).
The movie doesn't have that comfortable, "this could happen to you" quality that is so very important in science fiction movies...uh...what did I just say? Science fiction? That sounds suspiciously like it could mean "fictional science". Nah, that would never fly. We need total realism, like droids rolling on wheels across the top of a spaceship flying at top speed without falling off, or a big-ass spaceship that causes mailboxes to shudder when hovering nearby, but doesn't even cause a hair to fall out of place when hovering over people. Mission to Mars is not a NASA approved instructional video on how to survive Mars with only a tent and a bag of M & Ms, but rather an adventure in "what if?".
Def by Temptation (1990)
Don't let the Def tempt you
***SPOILER***
Like the moron I must be, I rented this movie because I like vampire films and I like Samuel L. Jackson. Maybe I didn't do enough research or something, because when the video box says that the movie "stars" Samuel L. Jackson and is what Vampire in Brooklyn should have been, I foolishly thought that (a)Samuel L. Jackson would be in the movie for more than 5 minutes (b) It would be about a vampire (c) it would be better than Vampire in Brooklyn. Boy was I wrong. I respect it as an ambitious independent film but I would have been more impressed had it been the first attempt at film-making. This was amateurish with a capital "A". A few genuinely frightening moments, but they were bookended by some genuinely terrible moments. If you are looking for a fun movie to "MST" with friends at a late night Halloween party...this is a good choice. Otherwise, beware of this temptation.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Don't watch this movie through rose colored glasses
The most common complaint about this movie seems to be that it didn't live up to the original. I get the impression that a lot of these comments come from people who first saw them on video and had the benefit of being able to watch the trilogy back to back. I remember when Star Wars (nobody called it "A New Hope") first came out. Everybody I knew thought Luke was a whiny little pipsqueak. Chewie annoyed us. Lea was hot. Han was cool. Vader scared the poo-doo out of us. C-3PO and R2-D2 were funny. Before "Empire" came out, rumors were flying that Luke and Han would be killed on Hoth. We all thought that would be sad, but would run with it. Not to wax too "back in my day", but when we saw a movie, someone was telling us a story. Now everyone wants a say in the story. I'm no fan of Jar-Jar but I can appreciate his place in the story. My biggest gripe is that his dialogue was written by Mike Myers for Waynes World ie. "esqueeze me". I thought Phantom Menace was a great Sci-Fi fantasy movie and it gives a lot of insight into some of the stock characters from the first trilogy. I've lived my life as a huge Star Wars buff. But I will admit that most of the acting and writing in the first three films sucks if you watch it like you're watching The Godfather. These are fun, fantasy, comic book style movies. And as far as the CGI characters, how stupid would people in battle droid costumes looked? Or the Gungans for that matter? At least now, all the aliens don't have to look like humans with bigger heads and mouths
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
Unbelievable
This movie is one of the best "this is your brain on drugs" movies I have ever seen. It's able to get the point across without the preachiness. There are no weak links acting wise either. DiCaprio pulls off a performance that makes me want to yell at people when they gripe about him being a pretty boy teen idol. I was reading some of the other comments and had to laugh out loud when some of them complained that the Catholic High School players dreaming about pro ball was unrealistic. Folks, this is based on a true story. If you've actually read Jim Carrolls book, you'll see that the movie is toned down quite a bit, but the story is a real guy's experience. I loved Jim Carroll's cameo. Lorraine Bracco who I generally regard as a one-trick pony nearly brought me to tears simply by putting a bill back in her purse. I recommend this movie wholeheartedly