Change Your Image
stevedee
Reviews
Gods and Generals (2003)
Awful
I couldn't get through this movie. The battle scenes are realistic, but that's about all that is realistic. The dialogue is comical, the characters are wooden stereotypes and the melodrama is the cheesiest I've seen in a movie made after the 1930's.
According to this movie, the blacks were all happy living as slaves and loyal to the states the enslaved them, the whites treated the slaves like family, everyone in the south was against slavery and the God fearing confederates did absolutely nothing to provoke a northern invasion.
Now let's get history straight; the southern states rebelled because the nation elected a republican, the south wanted to expand slavery into the frontier territories, the south's entire economy depended on slavery and it was the rebels that fired the first shots in the civil war. I would also mention that based on the numbers of liberated slaves that took up arms against the confederates, I doubt they were as loyal to their states as the movie would have you believe.
I even found fault with the battle scenes. Unfortunately when you use Civil War reenactors as extras, you get a lot of fat old men. I would imagine that not too many soldiers were fat, and at this early stage in the war the rebels were not yet taking old men.
Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
I was a bit disappointed in this film
I was a bit disappointed in this film. Based on some of the amazon reviews I read, and Roger Corman's stellar reputation I thought that I would be seeing the creepiest, grossest most graphic `amphibious monsters killing the men and mating with the women' type movie imaginable.
I had a few problems with this film. First of all the whole sub-plot of the conflict between the Indian who wants to preserve the river and the redneck fishermen who want the cannery to be built was completely unnecessary and boring. C'mon, you have salmons mutating into humans and terrorizing a town, isn't that enough? The other problem is that you have a director who gives the whole thing a made for TV look, with absolutely no atmosphere. What you wind up with is a good premise that was ruined with poor execution.
There are some fairly graphic rape scenes between the monsters and the women, although they really just consist of a guy in a fish suit laying on a naked woman as she struggles and screams. What they could have done to make it grosser is have these mutant salmon-men with their ugly fish faces French-kissing the women, or, if they wanted to add a more perverted twist, show the women as enjoying having sex with the mutant fish-men. Anyhow they really could of made much more of that aspect of the film then they did.
The other area for improvement in my opinion, would have been if all the fish-men were about four feet tall like the one shown in the finally. There was something really viscous and scary about that one as opposed to the man size creatures.
The Ring (2002)
a ghost story does not have to take place in an "old dark house" to be scary
I reluctantly put this DVD on the other night, thinking it to be another lame horror film typical of the genre over the last ten years. Boy was I wrong. This film may have some of the creepiest imagery since "Carnival of Souls". In addition to the nightmarish imagery, this film also included an Urban Legend, an intriguing mystery and a twist at the end, all these things kept me completely engrossed in the film from beginning to end.
I did not see the original, so I am only reviewing it based on it's own merits. The plotline does have some flaws but not enough to distract from its overall impact. The fact that the story centers around television and video proves that a ghost story does not have to take place in an "old dark house" to be scary.
The Death Collector (1976)
Far Exceeded My Low Expectations
I saw a version of this in a 4 DVD Mafia collection put out by Brentwood and I have to admit that it was a good film. The quality was a little worse for the wear, but it was a well acted and realistic drama involving low level New Jersey gangsters. Pesci once again though, steels the show!
Doctor Zhivago (2002)
Blows the doors off the original.
This version is much better than the 1965 film with Omar Sharif. Although it didn't have the lavish production shot in Technicolor, cinemascope and with a cast of thousands, what it did have were characters you actually cared about.
In this newer version, you didn't merely see the characters behave a certain way, you understood why they behaved that way and what made them change and grow for the better and for the worse.
If you want to see a "Gone With The Wind" or "Titanic" sort of a film, watch the original. If you want to see good drama with good character development check out this one.
Lo spettro (1963)
suspenseful and atmospheric film, with some occasional well placed shockers
I recently watched this film, which was part of a 10 pack horror collection that was put out by Brentwood. Unfortunately the source print for this dvd was a print that was in terrible condition, and barely watchable.
The first thing that struck me about this film was the music. Even during the opening credits I was watching the credits carefully to see who the composer was, half expecting it to be Ennio Morricone, (which it wasn't). If the music wasn't enough to hook me completely, seeing Barbara Steele on the screen, whom I immediately recalled from "Black Sabbath" definitely made me want to continue watching this film, bad print and all.
The setting of this film is a gloomy Scottish mansion, around the turn of the century. The young wife (Steele) of the creepy, crippled and rich Dr. Hitchcock, conspires with her handsome lover, to murder her husband. Her lover happens to be her husbands physician who is treating him by administering a lethal poison which is immediately followed with the antidote. Needless to say they decide not to administer the second part of the treatment one day and are able to fulfill their burning desire to be together, happy ,rich and rid of the husband. Unfortunately for them, things don't quite work out so well, and things begin to unravel during a succession of supernatural events that take place after the murder.
While this is a fairly predictable plot of greedy people being punished from beyond the grave, the director manages to create a suspenseful and atmospheric film, with some occasional well placed shockers. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would love to see an uncut well preserved print of it.
Breakdown (1997)
loved every minute of it!
Let me begin by saying that even though I watched it on network T.V. with edits and commercial breaks, this was one of the most exciting films I've ever seen. I won't bother to re-hash to plot, which you can read about from other reviews, but I will make a few critical comments.
Firstly, I agree with other reviewers, that it may be a little far fetched that Kurt Russell would chose to stay with his Jeep rather then go along with the trucker and his wife. However, JT Walsh, as the trucker truly did come across as a genuinely nice guy. He was clean-cut and well-spoken in contrast to the other dirty red-necks in the film. So unless one had the audiences advantage, a person very well may have reacted the same way as the characters did in this situation. Also, the fact that the Kurt Russell character was more concerned with the safety of his SUV than his wife may have been a subtle commentary by the filmmaker on the materialism of the yuppies that Kurt Russell's character represented. It should be noted that the Kurt Russell in this film was a little softer and pudgier than say the Snake Pliskin character he played in the `Escape' movies.
I would also, like to say that I agree with others in that the final chase scene was superfluous and the film could have effectively ended in the barn. Nevertheless in that final scene, I saw no ambiguity in the characters finishing off a helpless villain. I believe it was his wife that actually did the deed, and it is left up to the audience to imagine what horrors the wife may have suffered at the hands of the villains that motivated her to act in such a way.
Finally I was never clear as to what the villains original intent for the crime was. My impression was that the ransom idea was initiated by the wife in a desperate attempt to save herself from being killed by the kidnappers. If that was the case, then what were they originally after?
Those few criticisms aside, I must say, that I was on the edge of my seat for the entire film, and loved every minute of it!
Messiah of Evil (1974)
Well worth a look for the "B" Flick horror fan!
I recently stumbled upon this gem when I purchased a ten-pack of horror DVD's, and loved it. Combine elements of "Carnival of Souls", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", and "Night of the Living Dead" and you get "Messiah of Evil"(aka "Dead People").
Of course this film has flaws, but its more than made up for in some truly memorable horror sequences.
Well worth a look for the "B" Flick horror fan!
Gangs of New York (2002)
Entertaining, but doesn't live up to it's potential.
I have been eagerly awaiting this movie's release since I first learned that Scorcese was adapting The Gangs of New York to film. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the film, It fell way short of it's potential.
Having read two excellent books on the period, (The Gangs of New York and Low Life), I felt that of all the colorful characters of that time and stories that could have been told, this films simple story of revenge and love was pretty unworthy of such an epic undertaking.
The two real strengths of the movie were the sets and Daniel Day Lewis as Bill the Butcher. The Five Points neighborhood of New York where this film takes place, (all traces of which have long since been completely removed, even to the point that the streets do not even come to five points any longer), vividly comes back to life on film. The director made a great effort to recreate the street life as it would have looked back then. The only flaw, was that the scenes that took place at night, showed the streets completely deserted, like some sleepy little village, which it was not.
The other strength, Danial Day Lewis as Bill the Butcher, was a great character played by a great actor and hence the only character with any depth. Even though he portrayed the villain, he was the only character I really cared about.
In conclusion I think this is an important film, because it touches on a part of American history that alot of people don't know much about. But for those who want to know about the gangs of New York, read the book, the truth is much more interesting than fiction.