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Reviews
Donovan's Reef (1963)
A movie with lots of fun - casting problem gets in the way
This movie is a lot of fun to watch, the scenery is great, the singing lovely, the people beautiful, the characters interesting and the performances are very good too. My major problem with this movie is the casting of the two youngest children of 'the Doc' and Manulani - Sarah and Luki were in no way children of the Doc and Manulani - Leilani looked the part and played it well but Sarah and Luki each had at least one Chinese parent. They could not have had an Hawaiian mother and a Caucasian father. The visual clash really interfered with their being presented as Leilani's siblings. The two child actors did well - but couldn't overcome their appearance. Trying to pass them off as half Hawaiian and half Caucasian was really an insult to them and their own heritage. My other problem with it was the spanking scene - I know, those kinds of scenes were in several movies of that time period but even then I found the 'it's okay to spank a woman to get her to behave the way you (the man) want her to behave' was objectionable. Other than those two issues .. an entertaining movie.
Dracula (1979)
The most seductive Dracula ever
This review does contain spoilers. This is without a doubt the most erotic Dracula movie ever made. Frank Langella's Dracula is handsome, charming, seductive and very believably able to seduce any woman on whom he focuses his attention. The B&W movie is classically eerie and spooky, the sets are almost cliché's of the horror genre as is Mini's 'heroic' solo dash from her sick bed to the shore to try to rescue those on the storm lashed ship wreck instead of calling for help. That scene was enough to steal a 9 or 10 rating from me, although if it was intended to be humorous, a bit of comic relief, then it succeeded.
The seduction scene between Dracula and Lucy was brilliantly handled leaving details to the imagination of the viewers.
Olivier was marvellous, as always, as was Donald Pleasence, an actor who, in my opinion has been frequently undervalued. Tony Haygarth was very effectively creepy. And Kate Nelligan was superb as the strong willed Lucy who still remains strong willed after Dracula's seduction.
We have watched this DVD a few times and have been entertained each time we see it. And being entertained is a major criteria for us ... were we entertained and will we watch this again? The answer to both questions is - Yes.
The Untouchables (1987)
I do recommend this very well done movie.
On the whole I must say I loved this movie. The performances by Kevin Costner, Andy Garcia, and Charles Martin Smith were wonderful and of course there was Sean Connery who was at his inimitable best in this film. Another chilling performance by the incredibly handsome and almost deliciously evil looking Billy Drago also stands out among so many strong performances. Of course Robert De Niro was superb as Capone as well.
The cinematography was wonderful as was the direction and all the production values were of high quality except for that monotonous, repetitive sound track behind the opening credits and on the DVD before you can choose which options you want to select. That seemingly never ending budda boom, budda boom, budda boom, budda boom, set my teeth on edge and had I had the misfortune to have experienced it in a theatre I might have been tempted to get up and leave the theatre for fear that that irritating noise was to be continued as the sound track throughout the film. Fortunately I have it on DVD and can skip to Scene 2 or hit the Mute button instead of tearing my hair out.
I absolutely recommend buying and watching this movie on DVD, just skip over the opening credits or hit the Mute button in compassionate consideration of your teeth and your hairline.
"Here endeth the lesson."
Steel Magnolias (1989)
This movie will make you laugh and cry and love every minute of it.
I absolutely love this movie. The performances are superb and the emotional range of these women is incredible. I rarely laugh out loud when I'm watching a DVD alone at home but this movie had me laughing out loud and for so long my sides were sore and I had tears rolling down my face and this happens every time I see this film. And at the other extreme, Sally Field's performance throughout was wonderful but her portrayal of the insanity of such loss and grief in the scene at the cemetery is gut wrenching and explores the whole insane range of emotions that are experienced with such profound grief. I was sobbing and even after repeated viewings - I do watch movies that I really like several times over a period of weeks or months and even years - her portrayal of this grieving mother has me first crying and then laughing every time I watch it.
The lifelong bonds between these women are wonderful in their depth and complexity and their acceptance of each others idiosyncrasies that are so well portrayed by these amazing actresses is heartwarming and funny and very real. These women portray friendship at its best.
I highly recommend this film, chick flick or not, it's fun and funny and gut wrenching and heartwarming. I laughed until I cried until I laughed again.
Why at least some of these women did not receive Academy Awards for their brilliant performances of this amazing script, I'll never understand.
I must also give high praise to the use of silence in this film. So many moments are given such importance and impact by the use of silence especially those very long moments in the hospital around 'the decision' spoke volumes.
I do hope it is not possible to wear out a DVD because I might just watch it enough to wear it out!
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
In a word, this film is Majestic.
Every time I watch this DVD I am blown away by the music which is soaring and majestic and so is the cinematography. The performances are powerful and convincing and yet have great subtlety. The brutality of the combat is gut wrenching and the tenderness of the love and caring is heartwarming. Even the simple scenes with the Cameron family are a delight in their casual ordinariness and at the same time the affection and respect between all those sitting quietly talking around the dinner table creates a simple pleasure. I find Daniel Day-Lewis' performance to be incredibly masterful, he is Hawkeye and many others including Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig, and Jodhi May gave wonderful portrayals. Steven Waddington's portrayal of the lying and underhanded Maj. Duncan Heyward was riveting and Wes Studi, as Magua, was brilliant as usual and chilling.
I highly recommend this movie even though I find the brutality of the scenes of combat to be disturbing taken as a whole the movie is simply brilliant.
The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines (2006)
Another great movie in the Librarian Series
I love the other two The Librarian movies, they are a lot of fun and I love this movie too, at least as much of it as I could understand. For some unknown reason there are only Spanish subtitles (in Canada?) but no English Subtitles or English Closed Captions for this movie although the other two have English text for those of us who are hard of hearing. I'm one of them. And sadly there are whole conversations and scenes where I may be able to understand what one person is saying but the other person's lines are completely unintelligible, usually Gabrielle Anwar's lines but sometimes Noah Wyle's are too. Occasionally I have no idea what either of them has said and I don't read lips well enough to figure it out either. I'm not that deaf, only about a 50% loss in one ear and the other ear is fine but I do find that often in newer films people speak a lot more quickly than they used to speak and often their enunciation is sadly lacking. They've forgotten about speaking at a 'listening pace' and sadly this movie has that problem more so than the other two. Even repeated viewings have not helped nor has increasing the volume until it becomes almost uncomfortably loud. Please, someone, re-issue this movie with English CC or Subtitles. Please! We have searched in vain to find another release with CC in English in DVD or Blu Ray but have not been able to find one.
We both like these movies enough to buy another copy of this one if it had CC in English.
Hatari! (1962)
This movie is a lot of fun - with a few goofs - most already listed
I really enjoyed this movie, so much so that I have watched it several times on DVD. As always for any movie my criteria is 'was I entertained?' and I was certainly entertained. Red Buttons as Pockets was a delight. In fact all the performances were very good. The humour was fun, the scenery was beautiful and the animal chases were exciting and the baby elephants were cute and Sonja was gorgeous. Aside from things like the changing water level when Kurt and Chips Jeep was stalled in the river and after several references to 15 pounds and one reference to a shilling, when Pockets was taking up a collection to buy some goats he asked for 2 dollars from each person, but most things were fine and Pocket's rocket was great. The one thing that really stuck out for me as being very wrong was when The Indian aka Little Wolf was gored by the rhino, Pockets said (I think this is what he said - it's not in the Closed Caption and I'm a little hard of hearing) 'this tourniquet isn't doing any good' and then on the radio Sean said The Indian was bleeding badly and they would be at the hospital in about 5 hours. If Pocket's statement and Sean's statement were both accurate The Indian would have bled to death long before the 5 hours was up, probably in the first hour! Once I got past that rather lethal goof I sat back and just had fun.
In Harm's Way (1965)
A movie that I did find entertaining despite some glaring problems
I recently acquired the DVD of this movie in a three DVD set that included Donovan's Reef and Hatari.
On the whole I've found that In Harm's Way meets my criteria - I was entertained but I'm afraid that there were several things that stretched credibility beyond usual limits.
First the Japanese planes shooting at two people on a beach before they attacked Pearl Harbour was a bit far-fetched and then the incredible flaming car with flames pouring out of the passenger area after the head-on collision with the truck was way over the top. And then later for Liz's purse and shoes to be in pristine condition after being in that blazing inferno and her being recognizable when Paul came to identify her pushed this whole 'bit' into being just plain silly.
And later the very obvious use of model ships in some shots that were not quite big enough to pass for real ships somewhat spoiled the effectiveness of the images of the ships. Much later at almost the end of the movie when Admiral Torrey 'wakes up' on the hospital ship after almost 3 weeks the gauze 'hat' that the costume dept plunked on his head looked nothing like a professionally applied dressing and after almost 3 weeks any open wounds would have been well healed and not needing to be bandaged any longer. Also to have an unconscious patient in a closed room by himself, lying face up and with no IV or catheter was a glaring omission. Anyone 'asleep' aka unconscious for any length of time would, even in the 1940s, have had IV fluids 24/7 which would require a catheter 24/7 as well but what they did have beside his bed was a stainless steel pitcher and a drinking glass half full of what was probably water, not exactly what an unconscious patient needs. Until those scenes with Admiral Torrey on the hospital ship the medical scenes were actually quite well done but that silly looking gauze hat actually had me laughing. I guess it was easier to just plunk it on his head when they needed to do a retake but if you'll notice most of the time he looked like he was afraid to move his head because it would shift around because it was so loose.
What held this movie together for me were the performances. As always I thoroughly enjoyed Patricia Neal's performance as well as the performances by Paula Prentiss, Tom Tryon, Kirk Douglas, Stanley Holloway, Burgess Meredith and of course 'The Duke'. Young Brandon De Wilde's transformation was interesting to watch as well as convincing and Patrick O'Neal's sleazy Commander Neal Owynn was very well done too.
It is a different kind of war movie and well worth watching in spite of the above mentioned problems that I have with the film. I have watched it a few times and will again at some point because in spite of its sometimes silly shortcomings, because of the performances, I was entertained.
Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986)
A delightful little movie spoiled by the photo on the DVD packaging.
******A possible Spoiler for the movie The Sixth Sense follows at the end of this review as well as a possible spoiler for this movie******
I give this film an 8 out of 10 based on my original TV viewing of this movie. The spoiler on the DVD packaging would probably have it only rate a 5.
I had first seen this movie on TV and found it to be a delightful little movie - I've been a Katherine Hepburn fan for decades. It dealt well with the prejudices of different groups in western society and had a lot going for it. It was about a wonderful romance between two senior citizens. However what was for me a delightful surprise when the wedding finally took place was completely spoiled by the photo of Katherine in her sari on the cover of the DVD case! It completely diluted the wonderful surprise of the wedding they created for themselves when neither of their religions would agree to marry them. When I saw it on TV I had no warning or even any idea about what they would do and how they would do it but when my husband and I watched it together a few years later, the photo on the packaging had completely removed all the surprise of the wedding for my husband since he was the one who had purchased the DVD and seen the cover photo. Talk about a spoiler! It was like telling the punch line first and then telling the joke.
Or for the movie The Sixth Sense to have on the DVD cover, information that gives away the surprise twist ending of the movie.
I'm really angry at them for spoiling the delightful ending of this film. The cover photo was really harmful to what should have been a surprise ending of this film.
Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
How bad is bad - this may answer that question
My husband had ordered the DVD of this film for both of us thinking we'd both have some good laughs by watching it. Well, I don't quite know where to begin. This movie is so bad and so unfunny as to be almost painful to watch. We usually thoroughly enjoy Jackie Chan movies and he did try but given what he had to work with even he couldn't salvage this disaster. I suspect he's embarrassed by how bad this movie actually is. Some movies that are bad are actually so bad that they become funny. Sadly this thing wasn't even bad enough to be funny the way Atomic Twister managed to become funny. There was another bad movie that I saw on TV a few years ago - I have forgotten the title - that had lava flowing out the door of a garage only after the door was opened, as if the garage beside a house in NYC could contain an 8 foot deep mound of molten lava, that movie was so bad it was funny! I have only once before given up on a movie part way through but at what I assume was about half way through the India part if this trip around the world I turned it off.
I kept hoping this movie would get better but it didn't. If anything it got worse as it went on. The gags that were supposed to be funny were dragged on and on and on and since they started out bad the longer they went on the worse they got.
If you're thinking about buying this DVD, don't bother.
Backdraft (1991)
A Masterful Performance in a Film loaded with Masterful Performances
I must say that Backdraft is one of my all time favourite action movies. I'm unable to go to theatres to watch movies anymore because of some brain damage I can't watch a whole movie at one sitting so over the past 13 years we have collected about 300 DVDs so that I can watch the classic movies that I like in manageable pieces and my husband gave me a copy of Backdraft last week. I have watched it enough in this past week to have seen it all 3 or 4 times and there are so many great things about this movie it's hard to know what to pick out - the direction, the cinematography, the amazing special effects, the story itself, the fire, the music and all the performances are wonderful but one performance for me, stands out even above all the other great performances. Donald Sutherland's portrayal of Ronald is brilliant, absolutely convincing and chilling, especially in his second scene when it's just Ronald and Brian on screen. I have skipped back and re-watched this performance several times today and every time I've watched it I've been amazed at just how good he is - he is Ronald and every time I watch that second scene he makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I've been a fan of Donald Sutherland for several decades and this performance for me is a standout in a career that has been loaded with standout performances. If you want to see a master at work among other masters at work, watch this movie.
Dante's Peak (1997)
My criteria was met by this movie: I was entertained! Spoiler Alert.
Spoiler Alert: I guess my major criteria for any movie is ''was I entertained?" and my answer when it comes to Dante's Peak is Yes.
I do have some issues with some of the details of this film but not enough to spoil the fun in watching it and the actors did a great job with this film, including the two kids.
Spoiler begins here: I think my major problem happens near the end of the film when Harry has been trapped in the crushed truck for up to two days with a compound (bone sticking out of arm) fracture of his left forearm and the paramedic gets him out and he's standing up! First of all after two days with no water he'd be dehydrated and on top of that he'd have suffered considerable blood loss from the compound fracture and be in severe pain. He would also be in shock. One of the first things a paramedic would most likely have gotten started before trying to remove him from the truck would be an IV line with saline to replace some of the lost fluids and treat shock. He would probably also have a fever from infection from an open wound being exposed to the dirty environment of that mine further contributing to shock. He would not have been vertical for very long but been loaded onto a stretcher very quickly. But of course the drama of the scene where they are all reunited would have been lost if our hero was on a stretcher. Okay so I'm nit picking but it's a pretty big nit.
All that being said, I do own the DVD of this film and have watched it several times because it does meet my criteria - I am entertained by this film and I happen to like Pierce Brosnan's and Linda Hamilton's performances as well as the performances of Jamie Renée Smith as Lauren and Jeremy Foley as Graham
Avatar (2009)
I got the DVDs and mostly watch the Extended by 16 minutes version and I can't get enough of it. I love it.
*** This review may contain spoilers *** I don't remember what I saw or heard about Avatar that made me want to see it but my husband put it on my list of desired DVDs and got the three disc release for me for my birthday in March. I was blown away. I have watched the two shorter versions but by far and away the Extended by 16 minutes version is even more excellent than the theatrical release and it was wonderful.
I have watched all the extras that come with the three versions of the movie and have found the explanations and demonstrations about what was done and how it was done have only added to my enjoyment and appreciation of what it took to create this amazing film - Capturing Avatar is definitely worth watching and the deleted scenes are interesting and some are fun too.
The message of Avatar and the horror of the destruction of the Amazon and other areas of our planet is definitely worth seeing and experiencing. Frankly the entire package is excellent.
The casting was brilliant and their performances are amazing - all they had was the 'sand box' and the script and the director - the rest had to come from their expertise as actors - seeing the contraptions they were actually wearing and then the beauty and intensity of the performances married to the technology to create very real beings still blows me away. I've lost track of how many times I've watched these DVDs and I can't wait for the next ones.
The quality of every aspect of this film is superb and exquisite, I can only imagine what the experience must have been when seen in 3D. The attention to even minute detail is almost beyond belief.
Even on DVD Pandora and the Na'vi are real.
I also loved the not so subtle symbolism of the Ampsuits with absolutely nothing above the shoulders - all brawn and no brains.
Bravo!
Star Trek (2009)
On the whole I liked it but I had an issue with casting.
I basically enjoyed watching this movie. True there were inconsistencies and things that made no sense at all once a person started taking it apart and asking a lot of why and how questions but although I was prepared to not like this film at all I found myself enjoying it - it was a fast and furious romp through an alternative reality with young versions of familiar characters as well as my favourite character from the original Star Trek - Nimoy as Spock and I must say I really liked the new young Spock too. The role of Spock is a huge role to try to fill and he managed it very well.
Like many others I found the incessant flashing and lens flare to be distracting and intrusive and at times downright uncomfortable - I found myself looking away or closing my eyes - the interior Enterprise sets were also very cold and sterile, not something people would find comfortable to live and work in for months and years at a time - harsh best describes the colours and the lighting not only for viewers but also for the performers and the characters they portray.
My major complaint was in casting - 'Asian Americans' are not interchangeable. To cast a Korean as a Japanese character just doesn't work - Koreans don't look Japanese and Japanese don't look Chinese. Surely there are enough Japanese-American actors that at least they could have cast someone from the same race as his character's name Sulu. This in no way is a criticism of Cho's performance. He did it very well. The problem was he didn't look Japanese - there was this mismatch between his name and his face and I just could not get completely past it even with repeated viewings of the DVD.
There are many little things that with subsequent viewings became mostly minor issues for me but on the whole the movie stood up to my basic criteria - was I entertained? And my answer to that question was and still is Yes.