Change Your Image
cameo-5
Reviews
Tourist Trap (1979)
terrible
I can't believe that I wasted 90 minutes of my life watching this movie. I often like cheap, slasher flicks. But this is among the worst I've seen. Terrible story; terrible dialogue; terrible directing; and unbelievably bad acting. There are a lot of entertaining movies out there that you can watch, including even some bad horror movies. Don't waste your time with this one.
Duck Soup (1933)
brilliant
This is the funniest movie ever made and one of the great films of all time. The Marx Brothers are usually great, but this movie, in my opinion, is in a league by itself. What else can I say -- except that I've probably never seen anything funnier than when Harpo and Chico first appear in disguise.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
fantastic horror movie
This is probably the best horror movie I have ever seen -- and I've seen quite a few. (In fact, a rewatched The Birds a few weeks ago, which, until now, was my favorite horror film.) The documentary style is clever; it moves the story along and helps us see things through the characters eyes. The tension builds from nothing to extreme. The fear it arouses comes entirely from that tension -- we never see what is out there, and there are no cheap scares from sudden surprises.
I found this film to be totally engrossing. My impression, moreover, is that everyone else in the full theater felt the same way. I don't know if I've ever been in a movie theater that was so quite during and after a film.
The only negative aspect of this experience for me (like someone else who posted comments here) is that it actually left me feeling queasy. I think that was because of the jerky cameras. But this is not intended to be criticism -- doing the film in fake, amateur style was great; it's just a warning that you might not want to eat a lot before or during the movie.
Se7en (1995)
junk
I basically thought this movie was exploitative junk. The violence was gratuitous and the plot was not compelling. Although I must admit that I found the movie very disturbing, that does not mean it was well made. Watching people being tortured and mutilated for no reason is disturbing even if the movie as a whole is terrible. Moreover, my views are not based on my being squeamish -- which I am not. I think Silence of the Lambs -- which is gross and disturbing, and which some people compare to Se7en -- to be one of the great movies of all time.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
extremely funny (and offensive)
I've never watched the TV show and have really disliked some of the other crude, offensive movies released recently (e.g., There's Something About Mary). But I loved this movie. I can't remember when a movie made me laugh so much. Beware, however: it has something in it to offend everyone.
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
excellent if your a Star Trek fan; otherwise ...
As a Star Trek fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It was one of the best of the Star Trek movies. Of course, that makes it about the same as a particularly good double episode of the series. As a result, my guess is that non-Star Trek fans would not enjoy the movie.
The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
Matrix is better
The concept underlying this movie is pretty interesting -- and probably more interesting than the one in the Matrix. But the production of Matrix was a lot better. Unless you feel a need to see them both, skip the Thirteenth Floor.
Notting Hill (1999)
Julia is pleasant; the movie is slow and we've already seen it
This movie is an attempt at a cross between Four Weddings and a Funeral and Pretty Woman -- and not just because of the overlapping cast members. Like Pretty Woman, it involves a potential relationship across a big cultural (and economic) divide. Like Four Weddings, we see the beautiful American who comes to Britain, meets the same good looking guy, leaves, returns, leaves, returns, leaves, returns . . . .
Unfortunately, Notting Hill doesn't live up to the standards set by either of those movies. Although neither was brilliant cinema, I enjoyed both of them immensely. Notting Hill, in contrast, mainly just bugged me. For one thing, it's much too slow; half an hour could have been cut. Second, I didn't care much about these characters. Maybe that's because of a third problem -- this movie was so much like Four Weddings that I felt I had already seen it. And it wasn't just Roberts and Grant that I didn't care about. The supporting cast members, although occasionally mildly amusing, were mainly just silly. The Four Weddings supporting characters were much funnier, much more real, and much more talented.
I'm not saying Notting Hill was terrible. I just think it was a mediocre movie that I could happily have skipped. Of course, then I would have missed Roberts who, at least by the end of the movie, showed some of the radiance and charm we too rarely see.
Midnight Offerings (1981)
bad; how can anyone think otherwise
How could 4 out of 16 prior voters give this movie a 10? How could more than half the prior voters give it a 7 or higher? Who is voting here? I can only assume it is primarily kids -- very young kids. The fact is that this is a bad movie in every way. The story is stupid; the acting is hard to even think of as acting; the characters are characterless; and the dialogue is terrible. I saw this one rainy afternoon on the Sci-Fi channel. In the sad event that it is ever rebroadcast, I suggest you read a book instead.
The Mummy (1999)
skip it and see the original instead
I can't understand the decent reviews this film has been getting. It's too long, the first hour is amazingly slow (and mummy-less), I don't care about any of the characters, the acting is weak, and the dialogue is pathetic. And all this from someone who often likes both horror movies and 1930's style action adventures -- both of which this movie purports to be. After this miserable experience, I went back and re-watched the original 1930s Mummy. It wasn't one of the best horror classics, but it was a lot better than the new one.
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
read the book instead
Another major movie disappointment for me. I loved the book on which this movie was based. Even with the most ironic writing I've ever experienced, it is still very moving. The movie captures none of this, in my opinion. It was undoubtedly better when Welles finished in and before the studio butchered it, but I obviously didn't get to see the Welles version. Instead I saw a film that was so poorly edited that I don't think I would have understood most of what was going on if I hadn't read the novel.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
very disappointed
I loved the book both when I was a student and when I re-read it a few months ago. I usually think Depp is excellent and highly underrated. I looked forward to seeing this movie for a long time. I was massively disappointed. I understand the effort to portray the drug thing, but the movie was unnecessarily incoherent. More importantly, I thought it was boring -- so boring, in fact, that I couldn't sit through it at one time and had to try it again later. Moreover, I didn't see anything special about the performances or direction. In fact, I didn't see anything I liked.