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davekingman
Reviews
Caddyshack II (1988)
really underrated
I was really expecting to hate this, I'd heard so many bad things about it. So maybe that's why I liked it more than most of the reviewers here. I didn't have such high expectations that it would be as good as the original. Well, it isn't as good as Caddyshack of course, but it is good on it's own merits, & very funny at times. I thought Jackie Mason was just terrific in this, he has great comic timing even when his jokes are old ones that I'd heard before. Even his delivery or his mannerisms make me laugh. The supporting cast were all real good for the most part, especially Chevy Chase who had some great one-liners, & Dyan Cannon was real good & fun to watch as usual. She looks really beautiful in this, considering she was in her early 50s. The girl who played Jackie Mason's daughter was pretty good too, & really nice to look at. The worst part of this movie was the Dan Akroyd character. Bill Murray would have been so much better. Also, the movie is just too silly, and just plain dumb at times, the gopher is used too much, and Marsha Warfield is in it (but thankfully, not too much). So, if you don't expect much, you might enjoy it. It's not a great comedy, but it's not embarrassingly bad like most people say it is. The problem with those people is they want to compare it to the original. You can't really blame them for that. But when you watch it, try to forget about the original and accept it as something separate from that. I wish Rodney & Bill Murray were in it too, but they're not. So what? I wish John Candy was in it. He would have been great too. But he's not, so what? It's still pretty funny. Hey, if I liked it than it can't be that bad. My standards are pretty high.
East of Eden (1981)
The book is far better
Doesn't do the book justice. And it's not entirely true to the book. Too many important scenes are left out. For instance, it never even mentions that Cathy kills her parents. This would have given the first half more weight as it would show more than just imply how evil the Cathy character really was. As for the acting, Timothy Bottoms is a detriment. His acting is very wooden; he's really lousy. Much better is the actor who played Cal. And Seymour was quite good, especially as the story unfolded and her characters' sinisterness became more apparent.
Lloyd Bridges wasn't believable at all. He really overacted and made his character seem meaningless whereas in the book it was terribly sad when Sam Hamilton died. In this film, I was relieved that he was gone.
Although I have not seen the 1955 version, I hear it only covers the last few chapters of the book. I'm hoping the new version being directed by Ron Howard will be more complete and therefore more engrossing. This classic book deserves much better.
U Turn (1997)
Were they making this up as they went along?
While I found this to be entertaining, it's nothing more than a time-waster if you're expecting something with more substance or social commentary. I expected something more from Stone, but this was purely fluff for the sake of entertainment.
Not that there's anything wrong with that but it was highly derivative of other "road" type movies like Red Rocks West and Kalifornia. What's worse, their were no characters I could identify or sympathize with. As a result, I found it to be pretty forgettable. I watched this last night on TNT and it wasn't until it was half way over when I realized I had seen it before.
It seems as if they were making this up as they went along. It leaps from one outrageous scene to the next while becoming more and more improbable. And there's very little background on any of the characters, including Penn. Why does he owe those guys all that money? Maybe I missed that part, but I think the characters should have been more fleshed out. Instead, they're stereotypes and cartoonish.
Anyway, if you're sick in bed and have nothing better to do, it might be fun to watch, just don't expect too much. I give it a 6/10.