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Reviews
Hou ying quan (1981)
Drunken Monkey!! Nope. Good Kung Fu? Heck yeah!
This is low budget beyond belief. The dubbing is hideous and the copy I have has no Chinese soundtrack option. There's no drinking, except the beggar looks pretty blitzed most of the time. There's no drunken fighting. There's no Monkey style. This film however does have everything you would expect from an old Hong Kong low budget Kung Fu film. The bad guy has a Fu Manchu and long white hair. The good guys are humble and ragged. Everyone is bent on revenge. The fighting is just great! All its low budget stupidity and lame slapstick comedy aside, it has beautiful fighting. And seriously, a lot of these movies are just like blue films from the 70s.. You fast forward through the plot and get right to the action.
For the dollar I paid, I am totally not disappointed.
Naked Lunch (1991)
The Criterion release it totally worth the $$$
A lot of people have already covered all the bases on why the movie is good. Now I'd like to express why the 37 dollar price tag is worth it.
Firstly, the finest and most movie enhancing directer commentary ever made. Cronenberg and Weller are entertaining and informative, and they left me wanting to watch the movie again, equipped with a deeper understanding of this classic film. You also get a whole second disk of special features including hundreds of photos from the movie and of Burroughs and friends,The making of the movie, and Naked lunch read by Burroughs himself in all its obscene glory. This DVD is a class act and truly it is how any great movie should be treated.
Criterion also uses the finest in today's technology to restore and transfer the original masters to DVD. They went as far as to consult the director for his approval. The sound is also perfected to crystal clarity.
In conclusion... You aren't getting ripped off for 37 dollars. In fact, you are getting such an amazing deal it's beyond words.
Citizen Kane (1941)
I keep trying, still don't quite have it.
OK, technically beautiful, great to look at. A real technological trailblazer.
But why hasn't anyone noticed the acting and dialog? Though I found most of the actors to be completely bereft of talent I am not sure a good actor could make the stiffly written script sound good. Sometimes it seems like they are reading cliff notes about their current events rather than having a conversation. Perhaps that's a writing device movie makers used, I don't like it if so.
I bought this movie before I saw it, so I had the chance to give it 3 watches. Actually it's 5 watches if you count the times I didn't make it through the first 40 minutes before passing out. I really do regard myself as a semi-sophisticated semi-learned movie buff but for some reason I can't wrap my brain 'round this one. I'll watch it again in 6 months and come back and tell you if I still don't like it.
Freaks and Geeks (1999)
Why bother when they still make Degrassi High?
The box set is out, and my wife had me run out and pick it up for her. My feelings for the show, after 6 episodes watched, are very strong.
The writing is plain bad. The dialog is stiff and most of the actors are extremely poor. They are trying to show the "harsh tribulations of growing up in the 80s" but really, it's just an embarrassing display of high-school psycho drama complete with stiffly written lines and events that don't ever happen even in the most extreme cases.
I think their ideas are good. The conflicts shown are realistic, but not presented with realistic dialog or a realistic outcome. When the show is conflict after conflict it starts to seriously insult one's intelligence. It takes something you probably experienced and elevates it to a "do you really expect me to believe that?" level.
The cast is the biggest load of unlikable, untalented people you've ever seen since you were last at a community college theater workshop. Only a few of the actors actually look the age they are supposed to represent. Many of them look like they are 30.
The music in the show is mostly generic pop-rock from the era that you can find on any "best of the 80's" CD. It's relentless, and their selection of tunes are increasingly banal and predictable. And the noise doesn't stop until someone starts yelling at someone.
This show is Degrassi High with an inflated ego, except Degrassi lasted more that 1 season. Our TV history is shamed by this show, and I am embarrassed for the writers and actors who participated in it.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Robot holocaust or no?
I have to disagree with everyone as usual. This is in fact a mindless action flick. It isn't insightful. The plot is by no means rich. In fact there are plot holes so big you can throw a cyborg cat through them. The attempts to make this an R rated family film are pathetic. "Killing is bad so just leave a hundred cops disabled! Much better!"
The movie is good for what it is. The camera work is fun, the action is intense. The special effects are.. special for their time but primitive for today. But don't let it fool you. This is not more than a gratuitous special effects action flick for the whole family.
I don't think it deserves to be a sequel.
So.. How can one ever possibly finalize this story when you add all the extra science fiction time travel elements that T2 brings? It's plot allows an infinite number of chances to send an infinite number of Terminators back to an infinite number of time lines. Next thing you know whe have a planet full of Terminators and Counter Terminators and Terminator double agents and it would just get out of hand. Hey! Why not go back and just take over the planet in the 1500's? Pave the way for T4 - T12.. And get Hoobastank's agent on the phone, we need a soundtrack!
You take the rich, dark atmosphere of the first movie and you splatter it with hope and rainbows and I am badly disappointed. I like it better as: Computers take over, humans revolt led by John Connor, humans win, computers make a last ditch effort that fails. End of story. It's not a good enough idea to make any more than that in the first place.
Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
Don't overlook this film due to misguiding reviews.
I am writing mostly because I've heard some things that could be terrible misguiding and I'd hate someone to pass Mighty Aphrodite up as the next thing on their "to rent" list.
The Greek style performers are fantastic and not at all out of place. The director put it there, and when an old proven talent does something like that, it's up to you to understand it. It isn't up to him to direct down to your level. The movie doesn't meet standards of movie normalcy, and that will probably confuse and annoy those who aren't up to using their brains extensively while they enjoy a film.
Woody Allen has become more challenging to watch as he matures, but as I get older and more observant I can find and enjoy more of the subtleties. When it seems like "it's getting slow" that just means he's setting you up for something grand.
Mira Sorvino is good. Decent. But she isn't "all that". She's great to look at. Is she the super-acting light in an otherwise dark cave of a movie? Absolutely not.
Watch, listen. Enjoy! And remember, great movie makers are like great writers. You can't pick up a piece of Shakespeare's literature and go "oh man.. This is crap." Because it's not possible. Come back to it later, when you are smarter.