leadpoisonaod Reviews

A Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955)

Well, it is entertaining

[20 July 2005]

I think I am probably the only 16 year old American who has seen this movie. I may have been born in 1989, but a copy of this film somehow managed to fall into my hands. This is because when I was around 7 or 8 years old, I saw an ancient trailer for the movie on a video tape my second cousin bought me. The tape was called "Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies". I saw the trailer, and subsequently saw the film itself on sale at Wal-Mart for about 5 bucks. I had to have it.

When I first watched it, I thought it was awesome. After that, it collected dust for almost a decade. Today I randomly came across it and decided to watch it again. And man, I had some good laughs. It didn't take me long to notice that the boys in the movie looked strangely foreign, especially because of what they were wearing and the fact that the original audio of the movie was cut out. Everything was a voice-over. Most notably their voices. The lip-syncing in this movie makes the stuff in Kung Pow look unintentional. An entire silent conversation will go on in silence. Then all the sudden the American voice will blurt something when all the mouths are still. You truly have to see it to believe.

Turns out, this is actually a Czech movie made and shown throughout Communist Europe. The original purpose was to be an adventure story. However, American producers decided to use it for educational purposes by doing voiceovers for the Czech characters and using look-alike stand-ins to start the movie in New York City's central park. This new version opens up the issue of the horrible lip-sync, ridiculous dialogue, and Big Apple-sized plot holes. I'm sure the original Czech version was much more complete and not nearly as stupid. But these days, how can any movie involving dinosaur puppets, cardboard cutouts of jaguars, and Communist versions of Beaver, Wally, and Eddie Haskell not be funny? The American version (I can't speak for the Czech one, of course) is incredibly lame as far as its artistic values go. But it is still fun. And I'll be holding on to it for future laughs.

El Dorado (1966)

A Solid Western

[8/10 · 15 June 2005]

This is one of my favorites of the Duke's movies, and one of the better westerns of the day. There is a lot of good action. (although much more "theatrical", as were most movies back then)The plot is obviously a near duplicate of Rio Bravo. Although it may not be quite the "classic", it's still a solid film and spliced with humor and characters who go well with each other. I watched this a lot as a little kid, and I was a Duke fanatic for quite some time. I recently uncovered my video copy of El Dorado and watched it for the first time in several years. I relived all sorts of memories of how I used to idolize the Duke. And I kinda still do. This was not his best, but it's up there.

Alive (1993)

Solid, but far from perfect

[7/10 · 5 June 2005]

When I read the book ALIVE, by Piers Paul Read, I had to see the movie. I picked up a copy after much searching and relished the chance to see the amazing events (especially the crash itself) portrayed on screen.

I have to say that I was mildly impressed. The movie stays fairly true to real life and is well made. Considering that they had a few of the actual survivors assist with the production, I trust the integrity of how the characters, crash, and other details were presented. The crash scene in the beginning is pretty well done (especially for 1992) and the story can't help but be pretty gripping, which means that a lot of complaints like "an unrealistic plot" can be thrown out the window, because the plot already happened. The circumstances alone keep you on the edge of your seat during this movie. Heck, I even knew who was going to die and when, but I still found it exciting to see how these things were portrayed.

There were a few parts that I found fault with in the movie. A couple characters were altered and some combined with others to form a new, fake character. I just have to assume that this was done to make the story more "compatible" for a film version. Also, there were a couple characters who died in real life that are portrayed as having survived in the movie, and some of the deaths in the movie seemed kind of unfitting, and undignified, especially for a movie based on REAL EVENTS with REAL PEOPLE. I like to think that the survivors who were assisting gave their consent that the representations were accurate.

However, on top of all this, portions of the movie were left out. There is no reference to the "mini-government" that was formed by the survivors. Also, the search made by the parents, and a large portion of the final expedition are left out. Once again, I have to assume that the producers had their reasons.

Overall, this is a solid, thrilling, and well made account of the "Andes Miracle". Some things were changed here and there, and substantial parts of the actual events were left out, but its still a decent movie all the same. 7/10 stars

Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004 Video)

Fun and not half bad

[7/10 · 8 May 2005]

The original Tremors was a classic and a well put together big budget Sci Fi movie. The follow ups have all been more low budget and released only on video, but have actually been OK. I mean, you can't possibly take them seriously, but they're a lot of fun and the characters wind up being pretty memorable. Tremors 4 manages to continue the follow ups while maintaining originality. This alone is an accomplishment, since many sequels end up being repetitive and boorish. Tremors 4 doesn't have this problem.

Instead, Tremors 4 is a prequel set in 1889. Perfection is a new town called Rejection and is populated by miners....until they start getting eaten. Most of the remaining townsfolk leave. The only ones that stay behind are an Indian, the Chang family, a Mexican guy, and an unmarried red headed woman. Sound familiar? The townsfolk send for a man to asses the mine, which turns out to be Burt Gummer's great-great granddad: Hiram Gummer. Hiram is a proper eastern dude who has never touched a gun and is completely unprepared. He doesn't want any business with the "dirt dragons". However, he gets swept up with the situation and decides to stay and fight the worms. He enlists the help of a famous gunslinger and together the motley crew of 8 battle the monsters. A big subplot in the movie involves the revelation of how the Gummer family became obsessed with guns, bombs, and preperation. Although, like all Tremors movies, its inherently a little bit silly and hard to take seriously, the movie is laced with nostalgic humor and for a #4 continuation, it's pretty well done and should satisfy most any fan.

The Land That Time Forgot (1974)

Entertaining

[14 December 2004]

When I was about 5 years old, my uncle bought me a video collection of a bunch of old dinosaur film trailers called "Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies". It was the goofiest thing and I don't talk about it much these days (too embarrassed), but I have a slightly altered brain and a lot of memories of an odd childhood spent making adventure movies with my plastic action figures about men with guns, fighting dinosaurs.

And in short, that was what this movie reminded me of. When I looked at those dinosuars in the film, I felt like I was staring into the face of the plastic T-Rex toy that I spent so many rainy days with as a little kid. And all the British soldiers running around with their bolt-action riles reminded me of the little plastic men that I played with. It was just too weird. I connect too much with this film to give it a low rating. It was so darn entertaining for me. There is really nothing terrible about it. It's just very typical looking of the 70's dino movies.

I'd give it 6/10 stars

The Alamo (2004)

Well Crafted Historical Film

[10/10 · 26 October 2004]

I saw this movie on opening day with high expectations. I am somewhat of an Alamo buff and wanted to see the event portrayed better than ever before. And it certainly was. The historical aspect was perfect. I've read up on the Alamo before, and all the details were accurate: the clothing, guns, uniforms,the way the battle unfolded, and even the weather. The acting, especially Billy Bob Thornton's, was excellent. Almost Oscar worthy. The casting was just as good. Each actor fits their rolls with almost uncanny perfection. Although Hancock isn't quite Spielberg, he is exceptional because he did a good job on the film, and he put a LOT of care into it. (no props, stage lighting, a 50 acre set, not to mention historically perfect)

The Alamo is no doubt a controversial film. Those who slam it seem to revert to the fact that it should have been directed by Ron Howard, and been more gory, glamorized, and shouldn't have been so compressed (the original version was over 3 hours). More Hollywood, is basically what they're saying. It's these same people who compare it to John Wayne's version, saying it should have focused on artistic merits rather than history. Personally, I don't know if these people would know the whole PURPOSE of the Alamo if it ran over them with a steamroller. Hancock's vision was to make an Alamo that actually had some history to it. He wanted to tell the story right for once. The way I see it, The Alamo has as many if not more artistic merits of John Wayne's version, but adds historical accuracy and tells it true, without sacrifcing the drama.

The acting, casting, and directing are great, the historical value superb, and the battles (especailly on widescreen) are breathtaking. Sure, it would have been better with more scenes and blood, but this is the best Alamo movie I've ever seen, and a good film anyway. Not perfect, but pretty darn close. 9/10 Stars.

The Alamo (2004)

Well Put Togehter

[10/10 · 10 April 2004]

As an Alamo buff, I went to see this movie on opening day, and I must say that it was very good. The expansive battle scenes, historical accuracy, realism, and decent storyline make this film well worth seeing. It could have been better, but it is still prety good. Very well put together and acted. Even though you don't really get involved in the movie, the characters are as developed as they could be, considering that we already know what happened. Billy Bob Thorton is especially good as Davy Crockett. Some of the people who write bad reviews about this movie really don't know jack about what they're saying. There is nothing wrong with it. Sure, its not the epic it could have been, but it's still great. I'd give it an 8/10

The Alamo (2004)

Best Alamo Movie Yet

[10/10 · 9 April 2004]

I'm a real Alamo buff who went and saw this movie on opening day. I thought it was really good. It was realistic, historically accurate, had some emotinal depth to it, as well a good dose of epic battle sequences, which was the best part. The emotional depth and overall "epicness" of it could have been improved, but we all know too much already for it to be all that involving. A lot of reviews I've read really slam this film over the stupidest reasons, which is dissapointing. Overall, it was very well put together, not perfect, but still pretty good. It has to qualify as one of my favorite movies, mostly because I appreciate a truly well put together Alamo movie. I'd give it an 8 out of 10.