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Reviews
Red Dwarf (1988)
Back to Earth is AWESOME!
Anyone who has a problem with this revival is either A) a smeghead, or B) can't handle Red Dwarf without a laugh track.
Ditching the laugh track forces the script into sharper writing. Overall, there are less jokes than the previous seasons, but the jokes are higher quality. This is as it should be. The "There Must Be A Laugh Every 11 Seconds Or Less" rule of television sitcoms is the bane of true comedy. It's amazing the original Red Dwarf ever circumvented it while conforming to it.
Now Red Dwarf isn't restricted by such nonsense and is truly entertaining. If this is the last Red Dwarf we see, I will be absolutely sad.
Hell, this comeback leaves me cheering for a Red Dwarf movie.
The Hobbit (1982)
This um... video game.
My family had this video game on our Apple //e when I was a kid. It even came with a copy of the book The Hobbit. It was a text adventure based on the book.
We also had The Fellowship of the Ring video game for our machine. Both games are very linear and loyal to the plot lines of the books.
It should be noted however, that these games hold no value today. They kinda acted as cliff notes for the books, and books were more enjoyable to read. Yes at the time it was an enjoyable computer game, but the computer thing was kinda novel then. After the novelty of basic computer technology has worn off, there's nothing left but the poor representation of a classic novel.
And if there WAS someone still running this game on a 30 year old computer, trying to solve it, I would wonder. Yes, I would wonder.
The Matrix (1999)
Beyond Me
I just thought I'd comment, after seeing this anywhere near the top 250 films of all time, that if I'd had the choice I would have walked out of this film.
The initial concept, I agree, was an excellent idea. Its execution left me initially bored, then irritated, then frustrated, then screaming for the exit. I guess I'm not de-sensitized enough to be able to get into the casual destruction of life, just because it's not the reality we think we know.
There is no reality, I agree. There are truly some wonderful concepts to explore in the initial idea to this film. But I guess if you were born before 1975, it's just going to ellude you... at least with everyone I know.
But so many kids have gone nuts over it, I cannot stop wondering how they got de-sensitized so quickly.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
No Film Like 2001, No Film Better
It might be fact that there's "no film like" this one, but I freely admit it's my personal opinion that there's "no film better".
2001 is one of those films that is completely timeless. The only thing that makes it appear dated is the pure plot itself in association with the year 2001, which by now we can all understand as yet-another-hyperbolized-future-vision-of-the-60s. Call it 3001 then. Take the date out of it, it's a timeless film.
What I wanted to comment on though is a part of the film that's usually overlooked: the beginning. It's not like people forget the "Ape Sequence", it's just it doesn't stand out in minds usually as much as Hal 9000 and the simple docking of a space ship to the music of the Blue Danube. But the "Ape Sequence", without resorting to spoilers and specifics, captures the essence of the progression of the Human species.
You can look at countless examples in history when the obvious has laid before Human's eyes for a very, very long time, and yet they don't see it. It's almost as if it takes alien intervention, or God's intervention, to suddenly make the epiphany happen. Where one individual can look at something looked at countless times, and see something that's never been seen. The discovery of proof of the atom's existence (rather than the speculation alone) in the 19th century is just one example of this. You have peanut butter and chocolate sitting right next to each other for decades, and in retrospect it's amazing that it took so long for someone to connect the dots. The "Ape Sequence" at the beginning captures this concept of intervention cleaner than the rest of the film.
But the entire film is a complete joy.
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
There Should Be a Law
This is not just a movie I would recommend, I would ask and beg people to see it. I've only seen two films in my life that I sometimes wish there were a totalitarian law that all citizens must watch. This is one, the other is The Deer Hunter.
They are not necessarily films you will take entertainment out of, they are simply films you need to see at least once in your lifetime. They are very important.
It doesn't have the same effect on the small screen that it did for me when I saw it in the theatre, but now that it's out on DVD at least it's in a good widescreen format accessible to most people of Western Civilization (though it might be 51%, not sure on the exact figures of people who own DVD players in computers or otherwise). Its production in laserdisc was far too brief, and the cropped VHS version leaves a lot to be desired.
Please see this film. Please.
Fargo (1996)
A Film That Keeps You Off-Balance
There's something almost mystical about the pacing and plot turns of Fargo. It really is something of a unique film; it's hard to compare other films to it. Those unfamiliar with life around North Dakota land will be especially intrigued, because it is a slice of America that Hollywood routinely ignores. The lifestyle is not only captured on film by direct means, it is captured indirectly simply through the pacing and erm... Color? Angles? Way?.. the film is shot. It puts you there.
But you won't be focusing on that, you will be focusing on the riveting plot and performances of every actor in the film. You will experience the feeling of North Dakota along the way, but it is not the chief commodity of the film. If there were an Academy Award for the person/people who do casting for a film, this is one that should have won that year. From largest role to smallest, everyone is amazingly perfect.
My only complaint with the film was how it was originally billed. It was billed as based on a true story. That must have been some sleazy move by the studio to help promote a film they felt would otherwise go unnoticed, because the film is not based on any real life story at all. The people are all very real and believable, as is the plot, as is the place. But outside of the place, it's entirely fiction.
The Incredibles (2004)
Great kids film, otherwise...
...skip it. And I say great kids film _not_ because the humor is aimed exclusively at kids. Like most major family films these days, they aim the humor at "all ages". I say kids because you will find the film very entertaining if you haven't seen a ton of movies before.
But if you HAVE seen a ton of movies before, there isn't a single surprise in the whole film, and its humor and entertainment relies heavily on the element of surprise. From beginning to end, there was not a scene I didn't see coming at least twenty minutes in advance. Before the film is halfway over, you pretty much know how the rest of the film will play out if you've seen many films.
Now, if the overused formulas and obvious plot developments are new to you, The Incredibles does it very well. Unfortunately for those familiar with how plots develop and why certain elements are put into place, you'll pretty much just be waiting for it to be over.
And by the way, they're working on a sequel. But Pixar and Disney have parted ways, so the sequel will be Disney ONLY. So what little innovation might have existed in The Incredibles will most likely be lost in the sequel. But as with the tired formulas in the film, this should not come as a surprise that a sequel won't stand up to the original.
The Big Bus (1976)
Contrary to this other guy's review...
This just might be one of the worst movies made. A million movies, particularly in the 70s, predating the Zucker brothers (airplane etc), used this kind of humor. The Zucker brothers were the first to do it well. Prior to them, it's garbage and horribly, horribly unfunny.
Not even campy enough to be a cult classic. You will just groan and wonder when it's over.
(and IMDb will not accept this review unless I make it longer, as if there was anything more to say about the film. It's just bad, okay? Like really really really bad. I feel like I'm writing an essay for school that has to be 500 words. I only stopped on this big bus page because I was showing my friend here that this movie I was describing does actually exist. hard as it is to believe they made a movie this stupid, they really did. The 70s had a lot of really bad comedies like this, that weren't even very funny then, and when you add how dated it is now, it's just horribly tedious. I read this other guy's review about how amazingly funny this movie is, Airplane-quality and all that, and found his review funnier than anything in The Big Bus. decided to write a brief review as a warning that if you're looking for a campy 70s comedy, there are films in this line of sludge that are better, such as Car Wash. Some films aren't even amusing in a camp sense when they've lost all the rest of their appeal... this is one of them. Okay IMDb, care to take this review yet?)