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spmshield
Reviews
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
Hated it
There are a handful of movies that many people seemed to like, but I hated. This is near the top of the list of movies I hated. I found it to be nothing more than a long episode of Pokémon, with fabricated characters, fabricated scenarios, and no sense of logic, morals, or plot.
The animation is pretty good, and some of the creature/characters are visually interesting, but I found the plot, or lack thereof, to be just a progression through disjointed scenes with no story integrity.
I purchased it on DVD and watched it with my children who were 5 and 8 at the time. At that age they would watch videos they liked over and over again. But they never wanted to watch spirited away for a second time.
Moll Flanders (1996)
Great period piece of perseverance and resolution
If you like period pieces of redemption / revenge / resolution after long struggle through hardship and injustice (for example, Count of Monte Cristo, Shawshank Redemption, Red Violin) you will like Moll Flanders.
Robin Wright does a great job and is as beautiful as ever. Aisling Corcoran, who plays young Flora, is skilled beyond her years.
Morgan Freeman also does a pretty good job, although this role does not seem to draw on his talents as much as Moll brings out greatness from Robin.
I saw it on free-on-demand, but it's worth a rent for sure if you can't get it free in your area.
Flashdance (1983)
Michael Jackson ripped ff Moonwalk from Flashdance
This was a decent movie and it kicked off a lot of the fashion trends of the 80s.
But the most notable fact is that this is where the moonwalk was first seen. Contrary to popular belief, Michael Jackson did not invent the moonwalk.
There is a scene where Nouri and Beals are taking a romantic stroll. They momentarily pass a group of people break dancing on the street. This is where the world was first treated to a moonwalk.
It wasn't until years later that Jacko took credit for inventing it. He never gave proper credit to the unnamed street dancer in Flashdance.
Showgirls (1995)
So bad it's a must see.
This film is so bad you must see it.
It was supposed to be a star-making vehicle for Elizabeth Berkley of "saved by the bell" which was actually a pretty good show.
I suppose they thought they could cash in by taking a semi-attractive star from a tame kids show and showing her in a lot of nakedness and sexual stupidity. Instead it was just plain embarrassing.
By the end of the movie you end up hating her so much that you're glad the movie trashed her 'career'.
Probably the best scene is her sex scene in the pool. It is so poorly acted and shot it is painful to watch. You can tell they thought they were creating some kind of ground-breaking sexual energy, but it just failed miserably.
A couple years ago they brought out a Showgirls boxed special with a shot glass and poster. I don't know how it sold, but I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the pitch meeting.
I saw this movie once a decade ago, yet I find myself compelled to spend 4 minutes of my life berating it.
Anyway, enjoy.
Aliens (1986)
May be the best horror film of all time.
This is one of my favorite movies ever. It is awesome.
When Aliens comes up on cable I still find it hard not to watch even though I've seen it over 20 times.
It is no longer scary for me, but it is still such a great movie and filled with great lines, especially from Bill Paxson.
If you want to be scared out of your pants, watch Alien 1 first, then Aliens 2, alone in the dark after a few cups of coffee.
In Alien 1, Director Ridley Scott uses a camera trick of leaving open space in the scene, creating a not-so-subtle expectation in the viewer that something scary will pop into the space. This of course rarely occurs, so the viewer builds incredible tension that is never resolved.
James Cameron starts up Aliens 2 with the same trick, but then shoves that aside for a never-ending onslaught of Aliens from all directions.
Aliens 3 was pretty weak.
Aliens 4 was better than 3, but still nowhere near as good as 1 and 2.
Just saw Alien vs Predator. Judging by the other comments, AVP seems to be nearly universally hated. I didn't hate it. I found it entertaining and liked the way it filled in historical aspects about the origin of Aliens and Predators and how the tmeple came to be there.