All posts by Beau

Movies

Quentin Tarantino

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Quentin Tarantino reportedly watched every single movie in his video store before he became a director. It wouldn’t surprise me, considering every eight seconds in his movies is an homage to something. Still, I never feel like he’s copying anything as his scripts are fresh and he finds ways to tell familiar stories in a way nobody has ever done. I’m sad I haven’t seen anything he’s made in the past ten years as I’m sure I’d love most of it.

Kill Bill: Volume 2: I enjoyed the trailer home scene and the ending quite a bit, but I was bored for most of this film.. Though I appear to be in the minority about this, so if you like the first movie, certainly don’t listen to me.

Grade: C

Kill Bill: Volume 1: I love how damn stylish this movie is, mixing martial arts within a suburban setting. I found myself smiling almost from beginning to end. The plot is intriguing, the fight between Uma Thurman and Vivica A. Fox is brilliant. the fight between Thurman and Lucy Liu is almost as good, and the scene in the board room still gives me goosebumps. However, the climax of the movie–a crazy, mother-of-all martial arts fight scenes–goes on too long for me, but your mileage certainly may vary. I definitely did not wait to pop in the sequel.

Grade: B

Reservoir Dogs: A veteran thief brings together six previously unacquainted criminals, who know each other only by their colors (e.g. Mr. Brown). They execute a jewelry heist (which we don’t see) that goes terribly wrong, so they begin to suspect that one among them is a police informant. Tarantino’s first movie is exceptional in its use of subtlety, symbolism, purposeful dialogue, and brutally honest character motivation. Almost the entire movie takes place in a warehouse where they all agree to meet after the heist. Despite being low on action, the movie is engaging and I was racking my brain the whole time. What a debut.

Grade: A-

Pulp Fiction: And what a sophomore effort. Told like a novel in where we get to know several seemingly unrelated characters, but when all the different story lines start coming together, it’s impossible to put the book down.The plot is difficult to describe without spending several paragraphs, but there’s hitmen, mob bosses, drugs, boxing, a record number of F-bombs, and one enormous MacGuffin. Tarantino single-handedly revived John Travolta’s career here, and the performances are great all-around. Won the award for Best Screenplay and deservedly so.

Grade: A+

Other Quentin Tarantino Movies You May Have Seen

Django Unchained
Inglourious Basterds
Death Proof
Grindhouse
Sin City
Jackie Brown

Movies

Alfred Hitchcock

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I really do need to see more of this dude’s movies. He did a lot of things nobody was else was doing, sometimes with camera work, mostly with topics he was willing to film and talk about. The original master of suspense, though unfortunately our society has become numbed to a lot of what used to be considered scary. Fortunately, Hitchcock liked to use Jimmy Stewart quite a bit, and he still holds up. Please give me recommendations in the comments.

The Birds: Definitely some suspense in this movie, and I found it scary as a kid, but when the birds attack the special effects do not hold up well. Also, I don’t really buy the actors’ reactions to the bird attacks.

Grade: C

Rear Window: I wish I could say I like this just as much as everyone else, but maybe I just grew up in the wrong time. It’s very-well acted and very-well directed. The camera work is really good. But I did not feel one iota of tension or suspense the entire movie. The final scene did nothing for me. I realize this may be because other movies have copied this formula so I knew what was coming, but it has to be something more than that. I just don’t know what it is.

Grade: C+

Rope: Like Rear Window, a one-room movie. Two men commit murder, just to see what it’s like. They arrogantly host a party for friend and family of the victim in the same room they’ve hidden the body. The added fun as a viewer is that in addition to it being a one-room movie, it’s also a one-shot movie. Back at the time, Hitchcock only had ten minutes of reel, but he would do fancy camera work to make it appear the entire movie was one long shot. Still, that’s pretty damn impressive. The only thing that falls short in this movie is the script, which is a bit heavy-handed at times. Jimmy Stewart is good as usual.

Grade: B

The Lady Vanishes: Just before he came to America, Hitchcock directed this brilliant mystery that takes place mostly on a train. A young couple realizes someone has been kidnapped and the investigation ensues. The script is incredibly tight, and the witty humor made me laugh out loud several times. It’s never terribly suspenseful, but I don’t know if Hitchcock even intended that, It’s mostly just fun to try to figure out the mystery before our protagonists do (I didn’t). There’s a great use of a MacGuffin, not a surprise for the master of the technique. My favorite movie from the 1930s, though it’s not like I’ve seen a lot from that decade.

Grade: A

A Partial LIst of Other Alfred Hitchcock Movies You May Have Seen

Pyscho
Vertigo
North by Northwest
Rebecca
Strangers on a Train
Notorious
Dial M For Murder
Shadow of a Doubt
The 39 Steps
Lifeboat
Spellbound
To Catch a Thief
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Trouble With Harry

Movies

Mel Brooks

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Mel Brooks still acts on occasion but hung up the director’s chair back in 1995. Doing exclusively comedies, his career as a director took off as his skills improved, often using vulgarity, exaggeration, and occasional satire. But somewhere around the 1980s, he resorted to slapstick almost exclusively, which is very hard to do well and Brooks’ seemed to be pretty mediocre at pulling off. His three worst rated movies on IMDb are his final three movies, so it looks like he retired before he further tarnished his legacy.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights: Some fun performances by Roger Rees, Cary Elwes, and Patrick Stewart, but some definite lulls with some mediocre jokes. I haven’t seen the whole movie, so I won’t rank it, but I’ve seen most of it and it would likely rank behind the next three movies.

Grade: N/A

Spaceballs: Low on satire, heavy on slapstick, this Star Wars spoof cracked me up as a kid and can still make me laugh a few times today. The fight between Bill Pullman and Rick Moranis is great. as are some throwaway jokes like “combing the desert.” A bit too obvious at times.

Grade: C+

Young Frankenstein: More than just a send-up of Mary Shelley, there are many genuine laughs that don’t rely on the source material. Mel Brooks creates a solid screenplay that is both hilarious and heartwarming, partly thanks to Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn, who are at their best. Not as funny as the next movie, but better directed.

Grade: B

Blazing Saddles: One of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, Mel Brooks throws everything and the kitchen sink into this crazy, jumbled…something of the Old West. It’s part satire, part parody, part slapstick, and part lowbrow comedy. From Alex Karras punching a horse, to a preacher telling everyone that “our women have been stampeded and our cattle raped,” to everyone in the town being named Johnson, the laughs rarely stop coming. Mel Brooks gets away with a lot of vulgarity and offensive language because he sets up the safe space for it so well. Cleavon LIttle is fun as the black sheriff who is supposed to scare everyone out of town so a railroad can be built, but they instead warm up to him. Gene Wilder plays his drunken deputy and Madeline Kahn plays a man-killer. All-around, it’s a confusing mess, but it’s one time where I don’t care.

Grade: A-

Other Mel Brooks Movies You May Have Seen

The Producers
The Twelve Chairs
Silent Movie
High Anxiety
History of the World: Part I
Life Stinks
Dracula: Dead and Loving It

Movies

Chris Columbus

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Columbus just seems to me like a completely nondescript director, as far as that’s possible. His movies are generally easily digestable and the actors always seem to be having a good time, but there’s nothing about the direction that is all that innovative or special. The only trademark I can see is that he likes to go for some genuine but easy tearjerker moments in otherwise light movies.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch: I really disliked this when I was ten years old, and I haven’t seen it since. However, I like the first movie and I’ve heard good things about this one, so I’ll have to give it another shot someday.

Grade: N/A

Home Alone: Holy crap was this movie popular. I liked it fine enough as a kid, and it’s fairly inoffensive as an adult. But Macaulay Culkin is precocious and obnoxious, so it’s hard to root for him against the cartoonish villians (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern). In fact, the whole move is cartoonish, and not all that funny.

Grade: D

Adventures in Babysitting: I think it’s awesome that Vincent D’Onofrio played in this movie the same year as his role in Full Metal Jacket. I would probably need something lighthearted too after that movie. Anyway, Elizabeth Shue agrees to babysit three kids before taking them all in her car to go to Chicago and (surprise!) wacky hijinx ensue. One of the first movies I ever watched twice in the same day. I haven’t seen it since I was a kid, but I have enough fond memories of it that I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy it if I watched it today. I may just keep my fond memories, though.

Grade: C-

Gremlins: After a boy gets a cute furry bat for Christmas, he fucks everything up by spilling water on it and feeding it “after midnight,” whatever that means. It produces many gremlins, which terrorize the town, kill a few side characters, and do some hilarious shit like get blown up in microwaves. Creepy at times, hilarious at times, and a bit slow at times. The actors appear to be having fun.

Grade: B

Rent: I wonder if Columbus took this movie because he worked with Anthony Rapp in Adventures in Babysitting? Tenuous connection, I know, but it’s not like Rapp has done a lot of other stuff other than Broadway. Either way, this is a solid but not spectacular translation of the Tony-winning play about a bunch of whiny artsy types whining about having AIDS, getting fired for insubordination, and by gosh, actually having to pay rent to live somewhere. I have a feeling in forty years that almost nobody will care about this play, as it doesn’t translate all that well outside of the 90’s. Other than the character of Angel, pretty much nobody in this play is sympathetic unless you’re a bleeding-heart communist. Still, there’s some fun music and Columbus was able to get most of the good songs into the movie while actually making it look like a movie (for the most part) rather than a play. Most of the actors who didn’t look ridiculously old yet reprised their roles, including Jesse L. Martin, who is fantastic as Tom Collins. Rosario Dawson (a newcomer) also shines as Mimi.

Grade: B

Mrs. Doubtfire: I honestly don’t know what to do with this movie, as it’s yet another Robin Williams vehicle I was crazy about when I was 12 and I like less and less over the years. The plot is insultingly contrived, as for some reason his ex-wife (Sally Field) is so bitter about Williams just being an okay husband that she convinces the court to make sure his visits with his kids are supervised by a bitch, despite the fact he obviously loves his kids and other than being a mild risk-taker, has never endangered them. Then, rather than get a better lawyer, he decides to cross-dress so he can be his kids nanny, which is scarier than anything he did while he was being a supposed bad father. Cue tired old cross-dressing jokes that stopped being funny sometime in the 80’s (or for me, 1994).  Still, I have a soft spot for this as the performances are good (Williams is actually restrained…for him) and it is pretty endearing, despite the ridiculousness of it all. The kids are adorable, especially Mara Wilson, and you really believe they’re family. I also love Robert Prosky, who plays Williams’ boss. I also appreciate the fact that Field’s new boyfriend, Pierce Brosnan, just plays a regular, nice guy and not some arrogant jerk for Williams to play off of.

Grade: B+

Other Chris Columbus Movies You May Have Seen

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Bicentennial Man
Stepmom
Nine Months
I Love You, Beth Cooper
Only the Lonely

Movies

Andy & Lana Wachowski

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Andy and Lana (formerly Larry) Wachowski have only done six movies, but boy their first two were so special one thought they’d be a legendary super-director team.  I don’t know if The Matrix sequels derailed them or they just ran out of ideas (they also write their movies). Or maybe they ran out of Joe Pantoliano. Either way, they are highly skilled at directing fight scenes and are pretty good at understanding suspense. But as far as getting the most out of their actors they’re only average and their writing appears to be hit and miss, perhaps too ambitious as of late.

The Matrix Reloaded: Not-needed sequel failed in part because it ruined the mystique of the original, over-explaining everything. Some decent action scenes, but man I felt nothing while watching this. So much so that I haven’t bothered to watch the final movie.

Grade: D-

Bound: A genuinely tense thriller that relies heavily on situational tension rather than manufactured scares, An ex-con (Gina Gershon) teams up with her new lover (Jennifer Tilly) to swindle millions from the mob while framing Tilly’s boyfriend, Joe Pantoliano. Very tight script with slick direction. Tilly and Gershon have good chemistry, and Pantoliano is outstanding. And just so my wife knows, I don’t like Bound just because of the lesbian scene.

Grade: B

The Matrix: I had high expectations when I saw this in the theater and they were met tenfold. I was blown away by the special effects, possibly the only time that’s ever happened. The fight scenes are some of my favorite ever. But more than that, I found the pacing of the movie to be brilliant, with very effective doses of tension. Hugo Weaving plays the cold-as-ice lead agent perfectly, and the rest of the cast is capable, especially Pantoliano and Carrie Ann-Moss. Keanu Reeves doesn’t get in the way, which is the best he can probably do. The plot (is our reality the real reality?) is not terribly original, and sometimes the philosophizing and Jesus references gets to be a bit much, but the story is revealed layer by layer, with the viewer never knowing more than the main protagonist. Repeated viewings weakens the movie only slightly.

Grade: A

Other Wachowski Movies You May Have Seen

Matrix Revolutions
Speed Racer
Cloud Atlas

Movies

Michael Ritchie

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The Candidate: I haven’t watched this since high school, but I remember being thoroughly bored as even my younger self was able to see every twist and turns long before it came. Robert Redford stars as a candidate for U.S. senate who has no shot at winning so he challenges the establishment at every turn. I prefer my satire a bit more subtle.

Grade: C-

Diggstown: James Woods is a con-man who bets another con-man that he can find a boxer who can knockout ten of Diggstown’s best boxers within the span of 24 hours. That boxer is Louis Gossett Jr. The two have great chemistry together, and the jokes that are there are pretty funny. Unfortunately, it goes for some dramatic moments that don’t really work. Oliver Platt is fun.

Grade: B-

The Bad News Bears: Known for Walter Matthau being a drunk Little League coach and a bunch of kids who curse a lot, The Bad News Bears goes far beyond this with its brute honesty and real humor, rarely going for the cliche or contrived moment. Tatum O’Neal is pretty good as the team’s star pitcher, and the rest of the kids feel real, even if they’re not fleshed out as much as one would hope.  The atmosphere is fantastic; I’m taken back to the 70’s every time I see it. One of my favorite movie scenes ever takes place in the final game against the Yankees, when that team’s pitcher, son of the coach, disobeys an order and tries to bean Engelberg. The scene highlights Vic Morrow, who plays the scary Little League parent to a tee without becoming a caricature. Ritchie really pulls every ounce of emotion out of this scene by saying very little. And then you have the ending, which is also the best of any kids sports movie.

Grade: A+ (I got a Harley-Davidson. Does that turn you on? Harley-Davidson?)

Other Michael Ritchie Films You May Have Seen

The Golden Child
Fletch
Fletch Lives
Wildcats
Cops and Robbersons
The Scout
A Simple Wish
The Couch Trip
Student Bodies
The Survivors

Movies

Stanley Kubrick

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Kubrick’s career spanned many decades, averaging about two to three movies per decade. He started off slow, then starting with Paths of Glory, pretty much everything he did turned to gold. His camera work is usually stunning. Four of the five movies below I’ve seen only once, and I have sharp visual memories of all of them, even the parts I don’t particularly care for. Apparently he was a bear to work with, as he obsessed over the smallest details and required an insane number of takes for most shots. However, it seems most of his actors held a deep respect for him.

2001: A Space Odyssey: There are certainly timeless aspects of this film. The chilling relationship between Dave and HAL holds up very well today. The special effects are still pretty good and unlike most movies that take place in space, it was pretty scientifically accurate (e.g. there is no sound in space). However, the grand philosophical theme of the movie did nothing for me. “The Dawn of Man” part that opens the film literally made me fall asleep, and the ending left me cold and uninterested, or rather, wishing I was high so I could really enjoy it. Still, the middle part of the film is brilliant everything.

Grade: B-

Paths of Glory: French soldiers in WWI refuse to continue with an attack that is hopeless, but their superiors decide to make examples out of them in order to keep control over their army. Kirk Douglas shines as one of the sympathizers for those that mutiny. Very dark film, both visually and emotionally. Some of the shots are very chilling. My main quibble is Kubrick went for satire at times rather than pure horror; for example, the evil people are a little too evil (much like the communists in Orwell’s Animal Farm).

Grade: B

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb: A U.S. general gone mad orders the bombing of the U.S.S.R., which would set off a doomsday machine on their end that would destroy the world. Most of the movie takes place in the war room in D.C. as they try to avert disaster. Laced with obvious satire “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!” but also some great subtlety as well. Peter Sellers is great, playing three different characters who are all trying to stop the bomb. A little too off-beat for my tastes, but I have fond memories.

Grade: B

The Shining: Jack Nicholson takes his family to a remote hotel in Colorado to be the caretaker for the winter. In the book, he slowly goes mad as the hotel takes over his psyche. In the movie, he’s pretty much of a psychopath from the beginning, just under control of his violent tendencies. That’s my main criticism of the movie. I don’t really believe Nicholson’s character is anything but a mean drunk who just needed a slight push to go completely mad. Shelly Duvall’s character is pretty believable as the meek wife of an abuser. The kid is downright terrible, no surprise there. At least Scatman Crothers is excellent. Where the movie shines (sorry), is the atmosphere and the genuinely creepy sense of isolation and terror that builds throughout. Kubrick has some superb shots, including one long one following Danny moving through most of the hotel on his tricycle. Also, the young girls and the bleeding elevator was brilliant. The Razzies nominated him for worst director for this movie and I don’t get it. I think they just really hated Shelly Duvall.

Grade: A-

Full Metal Jacket: Two movies in one, with the first half being the brutal nature of Vietnam War boot camps, and the second half being the brutal reality of being in Vietnam. The former is simultaneously hilarious and scary, while the latter is truly horrifying with some biting satire thrown in for good measure. A bit uneven at times, but very powerful.

Grade: A

Other Stanley Kubrick Movies You May Have Seen

Eyes Wide Shut
Barry Lyndon
A Clockwork Orange
Lolita
Spartacus
The Killing
Killer’s Kiss

Movies

Paul Verhoeven

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Verhoeven seems to really like exaggeration, both in visual effects and story elements. Directing actors does not appear to be his strong suit, but each film has a definite vision and consistent atmosphere. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen by him, though none of it has out and out wowed me. I also haven’t seen Showgirls, which is wowing in that it’s considered one of the worst movies of all-time.

Robocop: Peter Weller, police officer, gets killed during an arrest. Well, almost killed. The Detroit police force is able to turn him into a cyborg who kicks some royal justice ass, makes witty remarks, and struggles with faint memories of his former life. Lots of fun.

Grade: B-

Total Recall: Arnold Schwarzenegger is a construction worker who’s having trouble memories about life on Mars, so he visits a memory implant corporation to investigate if he’s currently living out implanted memories. Naturally, a bunch of shit goes down and there’s a lot of questions over what’s real and what isn’t. Like Robocop, some over-the-top situations that are mostly fun, as well as the witty one-liners. I love the visual and philosophical representations of late 21st century Mars colonization.  Loosely based on a Philip K. Dick story.

Grade: B

Basic Instinct: Michael Douglas is a detective investigating a murder. The prime suspect is a socialite author (Sharon Stone) who recently released a bestseller which details a murder that is virtually identical. Did she use the book as an alibi or is there a copycat killer? The movie sets up both possibilities really well. Sharon Stone is really good, playing the sexy but emotionally cold psychopath role to a tee. Michael Douglas, unfortunately, never quite comes across realistic. Some will hate the ambiguous ending, though I’m a big fan. Graphic sex scenes broach gratuitousness, but sex is a heavy part of the plot. Your mileage may vary.

Some LGBT supporters were very angry when this film came out, as every suspect in the movie is gay or bisexual, while all of the “good guys” are straight. I have a hard time getting worked up about that, since there is little in the way of emotion in the movie (and I never got the feeling that the sexuality of any character was being judged) and all of those involved, even the “straight” characters, have loose sexual morals.

Grade: B+

Other Movies By Paul Verhoeven You May Have Seen

Hollow Man
Starship Troopers
Showgirls
Black Book
Flesh+Blood
Soldier of Orange
Turkish Delight
The Fourth Man