erosen Reviews

The Village (2004)

Thought-provoking, entertaining, unexpected twists

[7/10 · 9 February 2005]

Chromium, if this is the WORST movie you've ever seen, you must not have seen many movies in your time. I'm jealous! I found this movie interesting with a cool twist that I didn't see coming. At its core is a traditional love story, along with exploring the psychology of fear in a community where the world around them seems beyond explanation. When you think of all we know in modern society, all that we have explained and can control, you wonder how fear influenced the lives of those who existed in a more "innocent" time. It begs the question, is it better to know, or to hold onto innocence?

{SPOILER}

"It sounds a lot like a 20th century guy writing what he guesses 18th century people might have talked like"

Um, YEAH, that is the point. These are people who grew up in the 20th century and are pretending it's 1897. If you don't see the end then you think the dialogue is weird and the monsters are cheesy-looking. When you find out what's really going on, it all makes sense.

50 First Dates (2004)

fun movie!

[8/10 · 12 January 2005]

This was such a cute movie. Very amusing. Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler are great in this tale of a girl named Lucy with a fictional condition brought on by an accident involving a cow. Every morning she wakes up with no memory of anything that's happened since the accident. Adam 's character, Henry, happens to fall in love with her, and must make her fall in love with him again every day. Rob Schneider provides additional comic relief as Henry's buddy, a dread locked, one-eyed rasta mon. Sean Astin is amusing as Lucy's lisping, steroid-addicted, bed-wetting brother.

It's not the typical laugh-after-laugh goofball Sandler flick, but it is pretty funny, and heartwarming. More of the chick-flick variety, although there's plenty of Sandler/Schneider interaction and walrus-schlong jokes to keep the guys interested!

check out the soundtrack too, cool covers of 80s songs done reggae-style! great summer cookout music.

Shining Through (1992)

great spy/love flick

[8/10 · 12 September 2004]

I've always liked this movie. It's got the action of a Nazi-era spy flick, along with a great love story. Melanie Griffith may not be the best actress but I did like her in this one. She's believable as a secretary-turned-spy and adds some humor and emotion to the role. Michael Douglas is awesome in this film, playing Melanie's boss who reluctantly agrees to send her in to enemy territory, refusing to admit that he has feelings for her. Melanie's character, Linda, is an American Jewish woman who happens to speak fluent German, and has learned a number of spy techniques from watching war movies.

Using these tools she tries to obtain intelligence on top Nazi officials while posing as a domestic worker, all with the hope of tracking down her cousins, who are in hiding. She's never sure who she can trust and must think on her feet to avoid being caught. It's a great story of courage, of triumph over evil, of risking it all for love.

Desert Saints (2002)

well... keifer is hot

[30 August 2004]

This may not be the best or most original movie I've ever seen but it kept my interest for a few hours. And Keifer is always nice to look at. I'm not sure why exactly it skipped around in time... other than that it was your basic stone-faced-hitman-psycho-learns-to-smile-when-he-meets-a-chick film. It was somewhat predictable but suspenseful enough to be interesting. Good way to kill some time on a rainy day. Well, it tells me I have to have ten lines to comment so... did I mention that Keifer Sutherland is hot? It was nice to see him in a cable-TV-worthy love scene. I didn't quite get the thing with the waitress he hooks up with every few years? Why doesn't he use her for a murder and kill her? I would have thought that was a useless plotline but then again it was an excuse for more Keifer-gettin-it-on action.

10.5 (2004)

god help us all

[2/10 · 3 May 2004]

I pray this isn't the future of TV drama. I had to laugh at the opening scene where a guy on a bike manages to dodge every piece of falling debris, including the entire Seattle Tower. Maybe after that it turns into a decent suspense movie, I can't tell because the quick cuts and jerky in-and-out zooming is not only distracting me from what the characters are saying, it is physically making me nauseous and I have to turn it off. They don't pull off the attempt at the NYPD-Blue (maybe it was Kim Delaney's idea?) camcorder style. It's like watching Cribs on MTV, not one shot is long enough for you to see what is going on. It's just frustrating and annoying. This movie should be shown to film classes as an example of what NOT to do.

The Patriot (2000)

All Americans should see this movie!

[9/10 · 3 December 2002]

This film was a powerful, moving story of one family's experience with war and the fight for American independence. I first saw this film a few years ago. After the 9-11 terror attacks, I thought of this film often, as it is a classic tale of how sacrifices must be made so that future generations can have better lives. This movie made it all seem so real, the way that the founding fathers of the United States had to live, their fears and obstacles, and what they must have gone through to fight for their vision of what this country could be. While we obviously don't live in a perfect world yet, we don't have soldiers breaking down our doors and setting our homes on fire.

"The Patriot" makes you appreciate what others have gone through and the sacrifices made for us to have what we have today. It is very real and emotional, and though at times it is hard to watch, it makes you proud to be an American!

Atomic Twister (2002 TV Movie)

nucular??

[2/10 · 11 June 2002]

OK I have to say this was one dumb movie. I would have had to change the channel except that I can't pass up the opportunity to see Mark Paul in uniform, awww yeah. (Guys would probably not mind seeing Sharon Lawrence gettin all greasy in a white tank top either.) The acting in this movie stunk to high heaven and the dialogue was so cheesy, not to mention that nothing made sense and the characters inspired more yelling at the screen than any thriller I have seen in years. Yeah, the portable radio is our only link to the outside world during a nuclear crisis, let's leave it outside during a tornado. Good idea. Unfortunately this movie even ruined Mark Paul for me when I heard him pronounce nuclear "nuke-u-lar." Ugh!

Never Been Kissed (1999)

What is Criz talkin about??

[7/10 · 15 October 2000]

What are you talkin about Criz? Of course the characters are believable! Where did you go to school? No offense but I think I will move to Saskatchewan too because it sounds like you grew up in some Utopia where people are treated the way they deserve. Half of the people who are "outcast" in the wonderful society of high school are people who are not at all deserving, many of them attractive people who just don't have the best makeup sense, taste in clothes, money, connections... Drew Barrymore is perfect for the role, someone who, when you get to know her, is a wonderful person, as well as attractive; someone who should be popular except that kids can be cruel and find any flaws and magnify them, to make even intelligent, good-natured, attractive girls feel like c**p and be looked at as "losers." Leelee Sobieksi is also perfect, her character looks really dorky and chooses to publicize her interest in math - I don't know anyone in high school who was considered "cool" after admitting to liking math, no matter what they looked like! I hope you are not assuming it is unbelievable that an attractive girl could like math!

It is sad but this is the way our society has been for a while now; saying that the characters are unbelievable is totally off-base. Actually they are perfectly representative of real life. Hopefully kids who see this movie will get the message but more likely they will go on judging each other based on stupid criteria that have nothing to do with a person's personality or good nature. I highly recommend this cute, funny, thoughtful statement on what really makes someone "cool."

Night of the Comet (1984)

Daddy would have gotten us Uzis.

[7/10 · 14 August 2000]

All of you who said this movie was dumb, unrealistic, or not scary, that is the point of a B-movie, as others have pointed out. What made this movie great was that it knew it was cheesy. A valley-girl cheerleader and her movie-theater-employee sister running around with machine guns, raiding the mall and saving the world while hiding out as radio DJ's, is not supposed to be taken seriously. Of course it is ridiculous that people would be instantly incinerated, yet plant life, clothes, and the electric company would be untouched. A lot of Academy-Award winning movies are not realistic either. This is supposed to be entertaining, and make you think about what you would do if you were one of the few people left in the world. This film was a classic 80's comedy. And I for one found the zombies pretty creepy, except for the junior zombie that breaks into Hector's mom's house, that was just hilarious. Catherine Mary Stewart (Regina) is great as the older sister, I was always surprised that she didn't become a bigger star after this one. If you grew up in the 80's, and you never saw this movie, see it now! It is an 80's classic! To this day I can't jaywalk without hearing the line, "The future of civilization is on us, we do not CROSS against the LIGHT!!"