BoxcarEdit Reviews

JourneyQuest (2010– )

Surprisingly funny and clever

[9/10 · 22 September 2013]

The first season's episodes are short. Keep watching. They get even funnier and thread together well.

The writing is great. It's really well acted (including a few known actors and some who will clearly get picked up in other things) and well put together. For a series made without a big studio budget this is three notches above what you typically see.

I heard someone describe this as "Lord of the Rings meets Monty Python" and that's just about right. You don't have to be super into medieval settings to like this.

There are plenty of clever lines, funny subtitles for things not in English (surprise! Orcs don't speak English!), and plot setups that you don't see coming until they hit.

Funnier than most TV shows out there.

The Terminal (2004)

Way More Than Expected- A must see for many people

[9/10 · 20 April 2005]

Loved this. I suggest watching it twice, as I caught way more the next day (yea, 3-day rentals!).

While expecting just a quirky, sit-com-like film focused on the circumstances that might keep someone in an airport, there was way more going on. It has some great messages of self reliance and an incredible mirror showing the best and worst of human intention. There's enough humor and plot to keep this entertaining while a brilliant film sneaks past the viewer.

This is the kind of film I find myself quoting and using as a frequent reference. "Do you have an appointment?"

I know a lot of people missed this in the theaters and hope it will make it's way into people's favorites over time.

The French Connection (1971)

Boring, boring, boring. This Emperor has no clothes.

[3/10 · 20 April 2005]

A movie so bad it finally got me to sign up for an IMDb account to comment on it and save others from its grip.

This was not even worth watching to catch up with a "classic." Maybe in 1971 the reality TV aspect and gritty bad cop stakeouts were more interesting. This needed a plot, a script, and an editor.

I love these actors and can't get how this happened. It felt like the interesting footage got destroyed and they still had to make a film out of it.

It baffled us that this won the awards it did. I rented it thinking it had won awards, we nearly stopped it a dozen times because it was SO bad, then we joked that obviously I had this mixed up with another title. Then we read the back of the DVD cover and saw it won Best Picture. Ouch.

Maybe this is worth watching to study how film-making changed, if indeed this was a change for that era. Otherwise, save two hours or warm up the fast forward button.