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oltmansg
Reviews
The Cannonball Run (1981)
A genuinely bland movie
I was honestly very disappointed with this movie. I kept hearing from my fellow co-workers about how AWESOME this movie was and were amazed that I had never seen it. "You HAVE to see this movie," they chanted. So I did.
Other than seeing a lot of Bond movies with Roger Moore, and Jackie Chan of more recent times, most of the big name actors in this movie never really appealed to me that much. I never cared much for Smokey and the Bandit movies, for instance. Maybe I just didn't have the emotional attachment to the actor's reputations that apparently a lot of people have.
With all that in mind, I instead watched the movie hoping for a fantastic movie that stands on its own merit instead of riding the coattails of a bunch of (mostly) washed-up actors. Unfortunately, this "comedy" had no sense of comedic timing, the slapstick was poor, the gags were not funny, none of the jokes are original or particularly funny, and there was never any real likable characters (except maybe the cross-eyed "doctor") in my view.
Why anyone would think this was anything but an expose' of once popular Hollywood "talent" is beyond me. I was able to watch this movie all the way through, which is saying something. However I just kept waiting for the entertainment that never materialized before the end of the movie.
I give it half a star.
Rat Race (2001)
Great movie!
Quite frankly, I was amazed at the level of criticism this movie has received. It was amazingly funny.
First a brief synopsis: Several groups of people are in the same hotel in Las Vegas. While each of these groups is playing slots, they receive a special token, which they redeem to the manager/owner of the casino/hotel (John Cleese). This random selection determines who races to go for the money.
The twist however is that John Cleese's character has set up this race as a betting event for a bunch of high-dollar compulsive gamblers. To me, the funniest part of the movie was to see Cleese and company killing time betting on incredibly STUPID (read: funny) stunts while waiting for their group to win the race. :)
The film is not without it's problems, just like pretty much any film. I felt that Rowan Atkinson's presence and character was not near what it should have been, and I could have done without Cuba Gooding driving the bus full of transvestite Lucille Ball impersonators (hey, if you saw the preview, you saw at least something of this).
Overall though, it was excellent.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Watchable, again and again
In fact, to truly appreciate this film, that is exactly what you will have to do. The first time I saw it, I thought it was awful. There were many scenes that seemingly don't translate well to the small screen.
On subsequent viewings however, I began to appreciate the film more and more. It is really interesting. And although I say it is interesting, I can't say why. I suppose it's the extraordinary attention to detail, or the way it conveys so much with so little dialog. I'm not sure what! In fact, that's probably the reason I find it interesting.
One thing that I will point out is that if you do get a chance to see this movie, watch the letterboxed DVD. I was BLOWN AWAY. There are actually scenes that are distorted by the VHS copy, by reasons of the much lower picture quality but also the cropping of the image.
Case in point: The scene where we see Dave exercising inside Discovery there is a rather long shot of the "eye" on the HAL computer. On the VHS copy, it's a seemingly tedious shot with no reason for being there. However, on inspection of the DVD copy with the higher resolution picture, you can clearly see Dave jogging in the reflection on the lens. The purpose being to show how lonely Discovery is, and an erie sensation that "you're being watched."
It's almost impossible to notice this on rental VHS copies of this film... maybe because of degradation due to age, but the DVD was the first time of many viewings I noticed it.
I urge you to give it a second, third, etc. chance. This film deserves it.
The Matrix (1999)
Not the worst movie I've ever seen...
... but it's in my top ten list.
This movie is evidence, at least to me, that good special effects do not a movie make. Even some of the scenes were not that special. The "Kung-Fu" scenes spring instantly to mind. Especially when compared to the works of Bruce Lee and his ilk. I really wish Hollywood would stop using special effects as a crutch for a weak movie... reference also "Mission to Mars" or "Hollow Man."
As for some of you, just remember: IT'S ONLY A MOVIE. Some people have really latched onto the idea that the plot of this movie has some basis in reality. GROW UP. IT'S A MOVIE, and not a terribly good one.
Mononoke-hime (1997)
Not as good as advertised
I suppose I am a glutton for punishment. I've had a love/hate relationship with anime for quite some time now. Despite being disappointed more often than pleasantly surprised. I keep coming back for more for some reason. I suppose it's because I hope that sometime someone will get it right and finally mix stunning visuals (of which there are plenty in the anime world) with a coherent plot, and an interesting story (of which there are woefully few).
Princess Mononoke fits into this category quite nicely. The visuals are absolutely breathtaking. I would rate it in the same category along with other fantastic anime like Macross Plus, Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, and Wings of Honneamise. The framerate was better than average for most anime. The only place I think they could have improved was on the behemoth night-walker spirit, which seemed a little choppy at times.
The soundtrack is one of the best you'll hear. The musical score in particlar excels right through to the end of the movie. The sound effects were outstanding also. If a soundtrack CD is offered for this movie, I'll buy it in a heartbeat.
Where the movie really disappoints is with the storyline. This is tragic too, because there are so many good characters on which to develop and plot devices (the tree spririts were fantastic) to use. After the first 30 minutes or so, the plot becomes incoherent, with no clear direction, and the characters sink into the not necessarily good/bad roles that has become the norm for anime.
I feel that Princess Mononoke scores highly on technical merit, but really lacks when it comes to an involved, entertaining storyline. I hope that anime studios will learn from this, and in the future hire some talented writers to match their artists.
Macross Plus (1994)
Fantastic animation, pure and simple
First and foremost, let me say that Macross Plus is far and away the best piece of animation I have ever seen.
Macross Plus is based loosely on the Macross/Robotech series, and is set many years forward into the future. The story is about three friends, Isamu, Guld, and Myung that were childhood friends and due to some conflict, grew apart. Fate has brought them back together several years later. Myung is the producer of a hit pop-star, Sharon Apple, that also happens to be a computer. Guld and Isamu are test pilots on competing plane/spaceship projects. In addition to the tension created by the two ego-maniacs competing for the heart of Myung, further trouble arises when Sharon Apple starts exhibiting sentient behavior.
The story is split into four approximately 45 minute segments. Even with this short format, there is an excellent progression of plot from one episode to the next. The animation is a good balance of traditional hand-drawn cell animation and computer generated effects. The attention to detail is astonishing.
What sticks out in my mind even more than the beautiful eye-popping animation is the fantastic soundtrack, and sound effects. It is without a doubt the best soundtrack of any anime, and perhaps of any animated feature film yet. A large portion of the soundtrack was performed by the Israeli Philharmonic. The cello and piano solos of Myung's Theme are absolute masterpieces.
Macross Plus is available both in a four part miniseries and a movie format. I strongly urge you to see the miniseries before watching the movie, or skip the movie altogether. The edit job on the movie version is terrible, and the continuity of the plot is almost destroyed as a result. That aside, there are several minutes worth of animation in the movie that do not appear in the miniseries. I would love to see them edit the pieces from the movie into the miniseries. It would be perfect then.
Run, don't walk to your movie favorite movie rental store and check this out. Better yet, buy the whole set. I did!