Quickie Reviews - 08/23/08

I’ve been catching up on movies that I’ve “missed” in past years. This is basically me trying to define my own taste. I will be doing this until I am clear that I’ve seen enough movies, which is like… for the rest of my live probably, especially with the list of films that I have. I decided to write little mini-reviews, three sentences or less, of the films that I’ve watched in the course of eleven days.


“Blade Runner” – Back when I watched the Director’s Cut two years ago, I found “Blade Runner” overrated and boring, but very pretty to look at, and now that it is 2008 and I have seen the Ridley Scott approved Final Cut, I still think that it is… well… overrated and boring. When it comes to visuals, though, the film looks amazing. The acting is decent too, but Rutger Hauer gives the performance of his life here. (**½)


“Videodrome” – For the first of the three David Cronenberg films that I viewed so far in this series, I began them with “Videodrome,” which is honestly one of the most insane films that I’ve ever seen. I’m sure that if you haven’t seen “Videodrome” yet, you have seen it somewhere along the way. It is a creepy, fun, and bloody ride from start to finish. (****)


“The Apartment” – The last good romantic comedy I can remember seeing was “Definitely, Maybe,” and before that, I can’t even remember. It feels good to have a movie like “The Apartment” record onto my DVR, because it is the perfect romantic comedy. The performances are great, the story is well-developed, and the ending is the perfect cherry on top of the vanilla ice-cream. (****)


“The Fly” – After “The Apartment” ended, I turned on “The Fly,” the second of the three David Cronenberg films that I’ve watched this week, and I found this one to be boring and confusing. Though I do admit that the editing and the directing here are top-notch, it lacks a certain kind of meat on the bones. It is better than a lot of remakes released today, but as a remake of its own, we really didn’t need to see a remake for “The Fly.” (**)


“O Brother, Where Art Thou” – I finally got the time to watch a movie that I’ve been dying to see for five years since I heard about it. In the Coen Brothers version of Homer’s “The Odyssey,” George Clooney leads an all-star cast and provides us with tons of laughs and good fun. It isn’t the Brothers best movie (which is still “The Big Lebowski,” “Fargo,” and “No Country for Old Men,” in that order) but it is quite memorable. (***)


“Pickup on South Street” – I went into Sam Fuller’s “Pickup on South Street” expecting a full-throttle chase for a missing film piece, but instead I received a film noir flick that took its time getting to the story. While that isn’t a problem, it is just something that I hadn’t expected when it came time to watch it. I enjoyed “Pickup on South Street” for what it was, but I will have to go back in the future and watch it again once I get into more of these types of movies. (***)


“Do The Right Thing” – For some reason, people consider this film to be the greatest movie that Spike Lee has ever done, but I don’t get why. It is a good movie, don’t get me wrong, but the best movie that he’s done? Spike Lee’s first film is a good one, but a lot better came from him once his talent’s evolved. (***)


“Pump Up The Volume” – After a string of decent flicks to boring flicks, this film starring Christian Slater caught me off-guard. I accidentally recorded this on my DVR without realizing that it wasn’t on my list of movies to watch, but I’m glad I did. This isn’t just one of the greatest teen movies of the 80s and 90s, but this is probably one of the smartest movies ever, the best movie about being rebellious, and one of my all-time favorite movies in general. (****)


“The Iron Giant” – Brad Bird’s first feature-length animated film was one that I haven’t seen until a couple of days ago, but I’m just glad that I saw it. It isn’t “Ratatouille” or “The Incredibles,” but it is better than a lot more animated films that have been released in the past few years. Brad Bird definitely has a future ahead of him, and I see many more great animated films from him coming our way. (***½)


“Oldboy” – For some reason everyone has a boner over this movie and I can’t seem to understand why. It is good, but it isn’t the greatest like many have proclaimed it to be. It could have been though, if we just replaced that last half-hour with a more satisfying conclusion. (***)


“Duck Soup” – Have you ever wondered what the inspiration of the making of films like “Blazing Saddles,” “Airplane,” “The Naked Gun,” “Spaceballs,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “South Park,” and the most recent “Tropic Thunder” have come from? Well look no further. The Marx Brothers’ “Duck Soup” is one of the greatest comedies ever made, with one-liners and sarcastic humor flying all over the place. (****)


“Harold and Maude” – I don’t really know what I could say about “Harold and Maude,” but dare if you watch “Juno” and “The Bucket List” back-to-back, you might actually be getting somewhere close. “Harold and Maude” is one of those romantic comedies that would have failed if it was made today, but it wasn’t, so therefore, it doesn’t. (***½)


“Cry-Baby” – In a random but last minute choice, I watched “Cry-Baby” last night and really found myself liking it. This is the second mainstream film made by John Waters, and you can tell that while making this film he had traces of “Hairspray” still carved onto his mustache. It’s an unusual film, but even the most unusual films can be enjoyable. (***)


“Big Trouble in Little China” – In the first of many films that I will be watching of John Carpenter, I started off with his action-comedy “Big Trouble in Little China.” The film is really funny but at times too campy for my tastes. The action sequences are a lot of fun, which makes the film a rental. (***)


“Swingers” – How the hell can an acclaimed film like “Swingers” seem like such a shitfest to me? I knew that this was going to happen sometime, but I didn’t know it was going to happen this soon into my search. Some people are just devoted to this movie – one of the reviewers from the site grab their name from a quote here – but it just doesn’t get a positive review from me… sorry. (**)


“Stripes” – I’m not the biggest fan of Bill Murray, but I got to admit that I had a ball while I was watching “Stripes.” This is “Duck Soup” but fifty years later and in a different point of view. It’s silly and sometimes unbelievable but that’s why “Stripes” works so well. (***)


“Manic” – When this film began, I really thought I was going to hate it, with it being shot like it was a documentary and all. But as the film progressed, I really got familiar with some of the characters and developed a bond with them, especially with Joseph Gordon Levitt (the single greatest young actor working today). If it wasn’t for the last rushed five minutes, this film would have received a perfect four star review from me. (***½)


“Crash” – And in the third part of my David Cronenberg visitation, I got to see “Crash,” a film about people “getting off” on car-accidents, and Jesus H. Christ is this one terrible fucking movie. I don’t understand why the guy can make some good movies here and there (“Videodrome,” “A History of Violence) and then come out of nowhere, experiment a little bit, and make some very fucking terrible ones like this. For this film alone, I have to watch the rest of his flicks and make sure that none of them are as bad as this one. (*)



The next time – I educate myself with some Ingmar Bergman, Sidney Lumet, and Carol Reed. Expect that coming next week in a jam-packed edition of some quickie reviews.