Movies

James Cameron

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For Cameron’s expertise in atmosphere, research, and camerawork, he certainly lacks in characterization and storytelling. His weakness in that area was hidden in his early movies that focused almost solely on action, at which he’s a master. But with Titanic and (from what I’ve heard, Avatar), he really is in over his head.

True Lies: The first time I saw this I had a temperature of 104 and thought I was going to die. From strep throat, not the movie. There’s some good action here in the vein of Die Hard, and Jamie Lee Curtis is just about perfect. But Tom Arnold is pretty obnoxious and the scene with the horse lost me completely. I wish it had gone for either complete farce or complete seriousness.

Grade: D

Titanic: DiCaprio and Winslet are amazing actors but not even they could save one of the worst romantic plots I’ve seen. It’s a tragedy, since Cameron does a fantastic job with the actual ship and the actual people on the ship. He is able to evoke a decent amount of emotion with the stories of the crew and those in the lower classes. But the script for the added characters is a complete hatchet job. Billy Zane is so sneeringly evil you wonder why he wasn’t given a twirly mustache.

Grade: C

Aliens: I don’t like this as much as Ridley’s film as I prefer a more slowly building tension, but it’s still an example of a good action movie. Good acting and shot well.

Grade: B

The Terminator: The perfect role for Schwarzenegger, and good casting with Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton. It’s nice to have a heroine who is strong but actually seems like an every day person. Good tension. I love the way Cameron keeps things dark and generally slower-paced for most of the movie. Special effects lack at times. I’m also crazy about the soundtrack.

Grade: A- 

Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Much like the sequel to Alien, T2 is less about suspense and more about action. When I saw this in 1991 I was blown away by the special effects and they still hold up every well to this day. In fact, “liquid metal,” instantly became a new thing in the vocabulary of most people I knew. Exceptional casting with Robert Patrick; he absolutely kills it as the villain and the movie isn’t the masterpiece it is without him. Eddie Furlong’s first acting experience, and despite some troubles with projecting, I think Cameron directs him well. I believe this kid and his emotional turmoil. And talk about a transformation for Linda Hamilton.

Grade: A+

Other James Cameron Movies You May Have Seen

Avatar
The Abyss
Piranha Part Two: The Spawning

Movies

Ridley Scott

1 Comment

If there’s one hallmark of Ridley Scott is that you’ll be hard pressed to forget any of his movies. His ability to create atmosphere is one of the best in the business. He definitely knows how to raise the goosebumps. However, he seems to a bit lacking in character development, which I definitely crave more of as I get older. Can any of my readers enlighten me as to whether or not he’s improved upon this in the last ten years?

Blade Runner: This movie (based on Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”) may have my favorite cyper-punk dystopian vision of the future. To this day the movie is still breathtaking. Harrison Ford plays a blade runner, an enforcement agent tasked with finding and terminating replicants, man-made human slaves gone rogue. I love the ideas here, especially the Voight-Kampff tests designed to detect replicants by asking them benign questions. But oh boy does this movie have a lot of problems. Ford’s character is so callous and cold that I was actually rooting against him by the end. There’s a rape scene which is just brutal and completely out-of-nowhere. In fact, it’s too much like a Christopher Nolan movie in that it’s more or less devoid of emotion, which this story needs in spades. I watched the Director’s Cut, which apparently has a better ending and eschews some god-awful narration by Ford. I’m glad I watched the movie; it certainly made the computer game more enjoyable. But it’s current ranking at IMDb as the 126th best movie of all-time is kind of embarrassing.

Grade: C+

Hannibal: Very stylish follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs, which focuses more on Hannibal than detective Starling. Unfortunately, Foster bowed out and was replaced by Julianne Moore. I like Moore, but I don’t think she was the best choice for Starling and the lack of chemistry in this movie severely dampened the emotional impact the first movie had. That said, the atmosphere is fantastic, dark and horrifying. Anthony Hopkins is great once again.

Grade: B

Alien: Incredibly horrifying movie. Scott is a master of suspense here, creating a claustrophobic environment where the scares rely mostly on the unknown (and some great shooting). Sigourney Weaver is great. I really need to watch this again.

Grade: A-

Gladiator: Loosely based on the lives of Maximus and Commodus, Russel Crowe shines as the former, avenging the murder of his wife and death and engaging in Coliseum battles, trying to survive as a gladiator. Oliver Reed’s final movie. Joaquin Phoenix puts in a masterful performance as Commodus. We are supposed to hate his character and he makes it very, very easy. As is usual with Scott, the visuals are stunning. The story isn’t perfect and is just a teeny bit too manipulative for my tastes.

Grade: A-

Other Ridley Scott Movies You May Have Seen

Prometheus
American Gangster
Black Hawk Down
Kingdom of Heaven
Robin Hood (2010)
Body of Lies
Matchstick Men
Thelma & Louise
A Good Year
G.I. Jane
Legend
Black Rain
1492: Conquest of Paradise

Movies

Andrew Stanton

2 Comments

A Bug’s Life: Ants are tormented by grasshoppers, and one particular ant is tormented by the other ants. A bit similar to Antz, released the same year, and I like both equally for different reasons. You can tell Pixar was still getting their feet wet with plot and humor, but the visuals are pretty fantastic.

Grade: B-

Finding Nemo: See Lee Unkrich

Grade: B

WALL-E: A delightful tale about a robot designed to pick up and organize trash on Earth while the humans colonize elsewhere. The first 22 minutes have no dialogue, and the next 18 don’t have much either as we watch WALL-E cope with his situation. We learn about him, his struggles, his goals, and his personality without any words being said. It’s a huge testament to the writers and animators and  what we get is one of the best first halves of any movie ever. The last half focuses more on the humans that left Earth and their plight is a little less original from a storytelling perspective. Still, an amazing accomplishment from a company that has no shortage of them.

Grade: A+

Other Andrew Stanton Movies You May Have Seen

John Carter

Movies

Lee Unkrich

5 Comments

Unkrich co-directed his first three movies with Pixar but he had full reins over Toy Story 3. I don’t know how to gauge the strengths of a director of animated movies, especially when there’s multiple directors. But Toy Story 3 is a masterpiece, so my official opinion is that this guy knows his stuff.

Monsters, Inc.: We learn that monsters scare children to supply the power to their city. We follow a couple of those monsters who struggle with the fact that kids these days just don’t scare as easily as they used to. Home run premise sputters at times with obvious plot points and obvious jokes but it’s charming all the way.

Grade: C+

Finding Nemo: A clownfish becomes separated from his father and they spend a good deal of time trying to find each other. Visually stunning and thoroughly endearing. Seems more geared towards children than other Pixar movies, but it’s definitely still geared for adults.

Grade: B

Toy Story 2: A significantly more engaging story than the first movie, this one focuses even more on the toys. Woody gets kidnapped by a toy collector who learns he’s worth quite a bit. Barbie’s introduction is way better than I would have thought it would be. Rex is absolutely hilarious.

Grade: A-

Toy Story 3: Easily my favorite final movie of a trilogy. An epic story focusing on Andy’s toys being dropped off for retirement at a daycare center and the horrors they find there. I think I had a smile plastered across my face the entire movie and I cried at least once. Funny, beautiful, touching. A perfect end to the series.

Grade: A

 

 

Movies

Richard Donner

1 Comment

Superman: Saw this several times a kid but never as an adult. I do remember liking Hackman’s Lex Luthor and some of the story.

Grade: N/A

The Goonies: Some nerdy kids find a pirate treasure map and try to save the neighborhood from a crime family by getting the treasure. Written by Spielberg and Columbus. I remember kind of liking it as a kid. I saw about 75% of it a few months ago, and was pretty lukewarm about it.

Grade: N/A

Lethal Weapon 3: See below.

Grade: C

Lethal Weapon 2: See below.

Grade: B

Lethal Weapon: Danny Glover is the veteran cop, Mel Gibson is the suicidal young cop. Both hate working together, but because this is a movie, they get paired together for a lot of funny one-liners until they catch some drug smugglers. All three movies are ridiculous and fun, though the third one lacks a bit of the spark.

Grade: B

Maverick: Based on the television show, Maverick (Mel Gibson) finds himself weaseling his way out of many sticky situations while hoping to join a huge poker tournament for a big pay day. He gets competition along the way from a thief (Jodie Foster) and a marshal (James Garner, the original Maverick). The movie goes on a bit too long (just over two hours) but I love every minute of it. Donner really knows how to get comedy out of Gibson, and Foster is fantastic. It’s not particularly laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s consistently charming and amusing from beginning to end. The climactic poker tournament is a blast and features many cameos from famous country singers. It also has a great country-music soundtrack with nearly all original music that fits the movie’s theme.

Grade: A+

Other Richard Donner Movies You May Have Seen

Lethal Weapon 4
The Omen
Conspiracy Theory
Superman II
Assassins
Timeline
Scrooged
Ladyhawke

Movies

Tim Burton

6 Comments

Burton is one of those directors who just seems better at his job than he really is. He’s always been able to create stunning and imaginative worlds, and he’s able to get good performances out of his actors. But his scripts (he has written about half of his movies) tend to lack subtlety. Also, it’s hard to find a movie of his that doesn’t star Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, or Johnny Depp (especially Depp). I like Depp just as much as anyone, but I wonder if using him for nearly every major movie of his has limited their potential.

Mars Attacks!: Man, this could have been so good. Lampooning alien invasion flicks with a monster cast (Nicholson, Close, Bening, Fox, Devito, Brosnan, Portman) should have made this a slam dunk, but there’s not much here that’s actually funny. Amusing at times, and maddeningly flat most of the time, coming off too much like the films it’s supposed to be lampooning.

Grade: D

Batman Returns: Been a long time since I’ve seen this, but I remember feeling quite underwhelmed by Devito’s Penguin and Pfeiffer’s CatWoman.

Grade: D+

Batman: It’s impossible to compare this to Christopher Nolan’s movies as they shoot for completely different styles. While Nolan’s movies go for the more modern “realistic” superhero, Burton was obviously going for a comic book feel. He does this mostly well. Nicholson’s Joker is really good. Keaton is solid as well. Unfortunately, I’m not a huge fan of comic books so that likely affected my enjoyment.

Grade: C+

Beetle Juice: Ghosts hire an exorcist to rid their home of the new alive tenants. Not terribly funny these days, but I still enjoy watching it thanks to the imaginative world Burton creates and a very enthusiastic performance by Keaton. Alec Baldwin is good as usual and Geena Davis and Winona Ryder hold their own.

Grade: B-

Edward Scissorhands: An isolated scientist creates Edward (Johnny Depp) and gives him scissors for hands until he can finish the real hands. Unfortunately, he dies before he can do so, and the naive Edward rolls into town. His brief celebrity ends quickly as the prejudiced town members turn against him. Great performance by Depp, but like Pleasantville, it’s easy to choke on all the allegory being shoved down one’s throat.

Grade: B+

Other Tim Burton Movies You May Have Seen

Big Fish
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Alice in Wonderland
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Sleepy Hollow
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Dark Shadows
Ed Wood
Frankenweenie
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

Movies

Terry Gilliam

8 Comments

Monty Python gang member Gilliam has had a pretty successful career doing pretty much everything. Not a lot of humor outside of Python; his dramatic movies have been better received.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen: A fantasy m0vie about some guy. I’ve never been a fan of Gilliam’s fantasy worlds (I fell asleep watching Time Bandits) and this is no exception. Interesting casting with Jonathan Pryce, Sting, and Oliver Reed to name a few, but I was never intrigued.

Grade: D

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Not my favorite Python movie, but it easily has the most iconic scenes and quotable one-liners. Uneven in pacing and continuity, but the good scenes are really funny. A good introduction to British humor.

Grade: B+

12 Monkeys: Bruce Willis, a prisoner, must travel back in time to the 90’s to find the cause of a virus that kills five billion people. Trippy time-travel stuff, solid plot, and excellent performances. One of the best of Willis’s career, and probably my favorite performance by Brad Pitt (a mental health patient) as well. Gilliam’s apocalyptic future is visually interesting.

Grade: A

Other Terry Gilliam Movies You May Have Seen

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Brazil
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Brothers Grimm
The Meaning of Life
The Fisher King
Time Bandits

Movies

Amy Heckerling

2 Comments

I think Heckerling is the only female director where I’ve seen at least three movies from. That’s kind of sad.

Look Who’s Talking: I pretty much hate talking babies, but Bruce Willis’s baby narration might be the least hate-able I’ve come across. John Travolta and Kirstie Alley have just enough chemistry together to keep this from being completely worthless.

Grade: D

A Night at the Roxbury: What’s up? Someone thought it was a good idea to take SNL’s Roxbury guys and give them 80 minutes. Not as awful as I expected, but it still remains a mostly one-joke premise so much of the movie drags. Will Ferrell, as usual, gives an enthusiastic performance which helps save things a bit.

Grade: D+

Clueless: Alicia Silverstone is the most popular girl and does all sorts of popular things and tries to help clueless people emulate her, until she realizes she needs a more spiritual makeover. Yeah, as if! Inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma. Alicia plays her role well and for the most part the performances are good, but the script seems dated, or at least underwhelming. When I see it I just think I’d rather be watching Mean Girls.

Grade: D+

Other Amy Heckerling Moves You May Have Seen

Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Look Who’s Talking Too
European Vacation
Loser
I Could Never Be Your Woman
Johnny Dangerously