Fire God Reviews

Starting Over (2003–2006)

Could Be Much Better

[18 November 2004]

One problem I have with this show is the arrogance of the "life coaches". These people act like they have all the answers all the time, and I find that attitude to be very silly. Sometimes they are just plain wrong, and other times there really are no right or wrong opinions on what they are "coaching" people about. Life is funny that way. I just wish that the coaches "feigned" a little ignorance now and then instead of constantly acting like self-important know-it-alls. Watching these women gives me the same feeling in the pit of my stomach that watching Dr. Phil or Oprah Winfrey does.

Another problem I have is that it is only a place for women. Perhaps we are not yet ready to treat people as individuals first and whatever their gender is second. That is what it would take to have a show about PEOPLE trying to better themselves, and not just women.

Mister Sterling (2003– )

Why not?

[9/10 · 7 February 2003]

So far, Mister Sterling has been all about a phenomenon that is especially prevalent in politics, but is also readily observable in most walks of life. This phenomenon is how we tend to ignore what we really believe is right or wrong just so we can make things easier on ourselves by saving time and not rubbing certain people the wrong way. Sterling doesn't worry about that kind of thing and instead just does what he feels are the right things to do, no matter how much hassle it causes.

When people watch this show, most of them probably believe that Sterling is doing the right things, but most of them also probably realize that people just don't do those types of things in real life very often. I hope this show makes many of those people ask themselves one important question: Why the hell not?

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Touching, But a Theft Is a Theft

[6/10 · 9 January 2002]

I can't help but feel emotional every time I see this film. Both Robbins and Freeman are excellent, and the supporting cast is good enough not to screw anything up, but they aren't spectacular.

One of the few complaints I have about the film is that it does get slow at times, and I find myself becoming a little bored. Another complaint I have is I wish the makers of Shawshank would give credit where credit is due for the amazing amount of scenes and ideas taken from Escape From Alcatraz, starring Clint Eastwood. How can so many critics claim that Instinct is derivative while none of them mention the fact that Shawshank Redemption is one of the most derivative movies of all time? Shawshank is significantly better than Alcatraz, and it does have important emotional elements that Alcatraz is void of; but a theft is a theft, and that won't change unless the makers of Shawshank start giving credit to Alcatraz. Here are some of the things stolen:

The digging tool being kept in a carved out bible and the somewhat funny irony that that entails.

The rapist encountering the star in the showers near the beginning of the film to set up further encounters.

An inmate at mealtime asking the star whether he will be eating something and then pulling out a small animal. I'm sure most Shawshank lovers thought that the whole bird thing was a completely original symbolic idea. Sorry, but even though the symbolism is well taken, it was FAR from original. The whole idea probably started with the mealtime animal scene, as it was obviously a direct steal.

The digging debris being emptied out of the star's pants during strolls.

The star befriending the black guy who can get you anything. True, Red is a much more important character, but this is definitely part of the theft.

There are several others that I have forgotten. And if Instinct had any cliché's, Shawshank certainly did, with the evil warden, the evil guard, the religion, the "highly intelligent" star, and the concentration on the "hole", where the star is always sent to burn for a while.

Despite all of this, I really do like Shawshank Redemption and will probably watch it many times in the future, but it absolutely amazes me that I have not seen or heard one single critic mention the robbery here. And as people became critic-following sheep with Instinct, they certainly did with Shawshank.

Jeremy Barger

Instinct (1999)

Great, Poignant Drama

[9/10 · 6 November 2000]

Dan Marcus and jasper, I just have a few things to get off my chest.

Last night I watched "Gorillas in the Mist" for the first time in 12 years. It is a good movie, but comparing it to "Instinct" is a pretty difficult thing to do. It is only similar to Instinct in that it has gorillas in it, and it has a message of freedom.

Similar things can be said about comparing "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" to "Instinct". Mist is about Gorillas, and Cuckoo is about mental patients, while "Instinct" is mostly about the mental freedom that humans need to achieve; we need to wake up and realize that we do not own the universe.

That is the message in "Instinct" that you seemed to have either so ineptly failed to comprehend, or became so very angry at, because you did understand. Yes, these other two films could point you in the same direction, but "Instinct" very bravely shoves this message right in our faces, tempting many brain-dead and/or heartless people to get their butt hairs all up in twist, bashing this incredibly brilliant, poignant and valorous film. I understand. Really I do. But you don't. Are you free, juha?

Jeremy Barger

A Time to Kill (1996)

Let's Not Kill But Let's Watch This Anyway

[9/10 · 21 June 2000]

I reveal extremely important details of A Time to Kill in this review, so if that would ruin the movie for you, please don't read on.

Samuel Jackson plays Carl Lee Hailey. Hailey kills 2 men who raped and almost killed his little girl, Tonya. It is up to Jake Brigance, played by Mathew McConaughey, to try to keep Carl Lee from either spending the rest of his life in prison or being put to death.

McConaughey and Jackson give us great performances and so does most of the supporting cast. Kevin Spacey plays the prosecutor, who you might like and hate at the same time, with the brilliant flare I have grown accustomed to. Sandra Bullock is good enough, as the assistant to Brigance, and Kiefer Sutherland is excellent as the racist and revenge-oriented brother of one of the rapists. Other actors who give good or great performances include: Donald Sutherland, Oliver Platt, Ashley Judd, Patrick McGoohan, and Chris Cooper.

I agree with and like the racial messages in this movie, and think that they were very well implemented. I don't think the average person realizes how much racism there really is. It's not just in the Ku Klux Klan, a bunch of skinheads or even the bigoted `Archie Bunker' living next door. It's in you and it's in me. Until most of us realize that, and make a concerted effort to do something about it, racism will continue to live strong in this world.

I like A Time to Kill a whole lot; it's actually one of my 50 favorite films of all time, but I wouldn't feel like I was writing a complete review if I didn't share my disagreement with the main message this movie seems to convey. That message, the way I see it, is that it is ok to take the law into your own hands, to break the law in order to execute your own version of justice in the form of murder, before the system has even had a chance to succeed or fail.

If this case happened in real life, I would be very disappointed in the jury for acquitting Carl Lee. I view a jury's duty to follow the law as being similar to a country's duty to follow the principle of freedom of speech. These two ideas are opposites in a way but the philosophies and significance to society are very much similar.

We shouldn't censor a statement just because we disagree with it; in fact we should support the right to say it, or freedom of speech won't work. For very similar reasons, we should not condone someone breaking the law just because we empathize with that person. `I'd have done it too, if it was my daughter!' A big problem with this way of thinking is: who is to decide what laws should be broken, and for what reason? You? Me? How about a member of the Ku Klux Klan? No to all. We should tell all people to not break the law, and if they do, they should be held accountable by the law, except in rare circumstances. If Carl Lee was legally insane when he committed the murder, I would not be complaining; but he wasn't, and the Jury knew that.

And what if the murdered suspects are innocent? You can't even partially undo that kind of injustice. In A Time to Kill, the viewer sees the crime that Carl Lee is responding to; in real life, however, it is usually not that clear cut. If you take the law into your own hands, killing the accused, you are not only breaking one of our most important laws, you might just be murdering an innocent person.

A Time to Kill is an entertaining movie that makes people think long and hard about very important issues, which is great; I just hope it doesn't inspire too many people to take the law into their own hands by either committing a crime, or exonerating those who do.

Jeremy Barger

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Not Great

[8/10 · 16 November 1999]

The whole movie is centered around the "surprise ending". From what I've seen and heard, when one is surprised by the ending, and think that it's brilliant, one generally loves the film. But if you know the ending of Sixth Sense, this movie seems to drag on, and I was pretty bored most of the time. I just wasn't very interested in the surprise, and didn't find that there was much more to this film.

Good performances by Willis, Osment and others, and a few intense moments that were well directed, help to keep Sixth Sense from being as bad as it could have been. After seeing the ads, I though Osment would be real irritating, but he surprised me, and I think he will probably give us good to great performances for a long time to come.

Sixth Sense is rated as one of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database. I happen to believe that the public should be able to judge movies better than that.

Jeremy Barger http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/firegodsmovieclub

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Very Touching

[6/10 · 16 November 1999]

I can't help but feel emotional every time I see this film. Both Robbins and Freeman are excellent, and the supporting cast is good enough not to screw anything up, but they aren't spectacular.

One of the few complaints I have about the film is that it does get slow at times, and I find myself becoming a little bored. Another complaint I have is I wish the makers of Shawshank would give credit where credit is due for the amazing amount of scenes and ideas taken from Escape From Alcatraz, starring Clint Eastwood. How can so many critics claim that Instinct is derivative while none of them mention the fact that Shawshank Redemption is one of the most derivative movies of all time? Shawshank is significantly better than Alcatraz, and it does have important emotional elements that Alcatraz is void of; but a theft is a theft, and that won't change unless the makers of Shawshank start giving credit to Alcatraz. Here are some of the things stolen:

The digging tool being kept in a carved out bible and the somewhat funny irony that that entails.

The rapist encountering the star in the showers near the beginning of the film to set up further encounters.

An inmate at mealtime asking the star whether he will be eating something and then pulling out a small animal. I'm sure most Shawshank lovers thought that the whole bird thing was a completely original symbolic idea. Sorry, but even though the symbolism is well taken, it was FAR from original. The whole idea probably started with the mealtime animal scene, as it was obviously a direct steal.

The digging debris being emptied out of the star's pants during strolls.

The star befriending the black guy who can get you anything. True, Red is a much more important character in Shawshank, but considering how much was stolen, this certainly was too.

There are several others that I have forgotten, as I have not seen Escape from Alcatraz in quite awhile. And if Instinct had any cliché's, Shawshank certainly did, with the evil warden, the evil guard, the religion, the "highly intelligent" star, and the concentration on the "hole", where the star is always sent to burn for a while.

Despite all of this, I really do like Shawshank Redemption and will probably watch it many times in the future, but it absolutely amazes me that I have not seen or heard one single critic mention the robbery here. And as people became critic-following sheep with Instinct, they certainly did with Shawshank.

Jeremy Barger http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/firegodsmovieclub

Back to the Future (1985)

Very Good Movie

[7/10 · 15 November 1999]

I don't care as much about who is directing a movie as some people do, as my top 20 movie list has 20 different directors, but Robert Zemeckis is probably one of my top 5 favorites of all time.

Even though I liked Back to the Future more when I was a kid, I think it is an enjoyable flick for both adults and children. Certainly there were things that strained credibility; like the 30-something Lloyd looking 60 something, the people in the picture fading out of existence, and the lightning coming on the exact second of the minute change. But, this is a comedy, as well as a movie trying to deal with time travel, and I am able to put those petty complaints aside enough to realize how entertaining this film is.

I thought that Zemeckis and the actors did a very good job of blending comedy and action together in a smooth fashion. Fox's physical work was impressive to say the least, and I must have laughed at his athletic comedy 3 or 4 times.

In short, this is an exciting, funny and memorable film for all ages. I can't say that about very many movies.

Jeremy Barger http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/firegodsmovieclub

The Terminator (1984)

"You can't stop him!"

[10/10 · 7 October 1999]

Like other great action films, this is a very fast paced and thrilling ride that barely let's you catch your breath; but unlike most other great action films, the acting is very good, and the writing is phenomenal, giving us incredible dialogue, among other things. T2 is very good, but when I watch The Terminator, and I find myself wanting to memorize five or six lines or even write a book about humanoid machines or time travel, I realize that this one is much more exciting and impressive. Besides, that kid in T2 really annoys me.

Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger do a good job, but Michael Biehn is the one who does not get enough credit for this movie. However, he was lucky enough to get the best lines by far. "That Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear; and it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!" That line would be good if only said well, but when Biehn says it, it might be my favorite line of all time; and there are several other great lines in The Terminator.

I can't think of one general thing that is bad about this movie. Aside from the afore mentioned dialogue, action, and acting(which includes the actors with smaller parts like Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen, Earl Boen and Bill Paxton), the plot is brilliant, the music is great, and even the performance and handling of the dogs was impressive!

I used to think that Empire Strikes Back was my favorite movie, but since recently watching The Terminator, after not having seen it in years, I'm pretty sure this is my favorite film of all time.

Jeremy Barger http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/firegodsmovieclub

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Number6-6, you are not alone.

[6/10 · 13 September 1999]

You are simply one of the few people who have the guts to admit they don't like this movie. While watching The Godfather part II, I kept waiting and waiting for something special to happen, and the closest thing that came was when Pacino gave Keaton a good smack. I think this is a boring movie and way too meandering for my taste. I almost feel ashamed, since this is considered one of the greatest movies of all time by many people whose opinion I respect very much; but honestly folks, this is one of the most over-rated films of all time.

Jeremy Barger http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/firegodsmovieclub

Fargo (1996)

Huh?

[3/10 · 26 August 1999]

I've always known that the Oscars suck, but the fan popularity of this movie absolutely staggers me. I'm beginning to wonder if half of the movie goers base their opinions of a movie strictly on the Oscars and the thousands of burnt out, dull critics out there. Fargo is an 8.1 with over 12000 votes on the IMDb for crying out loud! This is without a doubt the most over-rated movie I have ever seen, with zombie-like acting(on purpose? why?? is this a satire??), and terrible writing. It's one of those movies that I laughed at, not with, and I have no idea if it was a comedy on purpose or by accident. If I lived in Fargo I'd be plenty p***ed off because this film makes the people there look like cardboard figures pretending to be goofy moroninc humans. The Brothers Coen geniuses? I think not. And if anyone is thinking "he just didn't get it", well, if true, at least that's one good thing about Fargo, because whether it was supposed to be serious, or supposed to have some deep comical meaning, I don't WANT to get it!

Jeremy Barger

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Fantastic

[9/10 · 23 May 1999]

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Planet of the Apes uses an original idea that could have resulted in a very silly movie, and instead succeeds in creating an intelligent, provocative masterpiece. The writing and directing were superb, and the acting was pretty good most of the time, with flashes of brilliance every now and then. I cannot believe Maurice Evans wasn't nominated for best supporting actor, as I was very impressed with his performance as Dr. Zaius. There is one significant problem with this movie; a logic problem. Taylor was obviously a very intelligent man, and yet he never seemed to wonder why the language of the apes was English. This kind of bothered me through the entire first time I watched the movie, because I figured that it either meant that the movie makers compromised on logic for easier and more practical cinema, or that I had figured out something I wasn't supposed to yet. I didn't mind knowing the mystery, but I did mind the implausibility that Taylor couldn't figure it out til he saw the Statue of Liberty. With all of that being said, I have never seen a movie that did not have a significant flaw, and as far as flaws go, Planet of the Apes was very short on them, and very long on intelligence and excitement. If you haven't seen this movie yet, you have been missing out.

Scent of a Woman (1992)

Is this a comedy?

[5/10 · 23 April 1999]

Why am I not surprised that the Oscars honored this film? It's a bad movie, with only one grace that I could tell. It is pretty funny. Some of the funny parts are on purpose, and some of them are products of bad cinema. Watching a blind man drive down city streets at high speeds reminded me of the Naked Gun movies. Those movies knew how silly they were, because they did it on purpose. The pathetic thing about Scent of a Woman is they probably had no idea how idiotic they were being. And can someone please explain to me why all of the over-rated movies in this world are too long? Are you trying to put us to sleep or make us slit our wrists? Bad film.

Titanic (1997)

Good Movie

[7/10 · 23 February 1999]

First of all I want to express how impressed I am at how intelligent so many of the comments here have been. It kind of surprised me, because I figured the average person who loved or hated the movie Titanic would be at least a little bit on the dull side. We are talking about people who, in my opinion, got so carried away with the romance that they completely over-rated the film, or people who I thought were going to blast the film for stupid and superficial reasons. I was wrong. The comments here have been fantastic.

This was a good movie, but it is not one of my favorites of all time. It is a very beautiful film at first, and obviously becomes ugly when we slowly watch the brutal disaster get worse and worse. We know that the ship sinks, we know that many people died, and we know that it was a long time ago, but Cameron succeeds in bringing new and intense emotions out of us anyway.

While Titanic has hard work, precision, and passion, it does lack some real intelligent writing. Much of this movie is like a high quality soap opera filled with chatter and non-verbal language that left me bored several times.

Still I thought the romance, special effects, music, and acting were all good enough for me to enjoy the Titanic, and will probably watch it several times.

I have seen several people here change their minds about Titanic, when their original opinion was way on one side or the other of the spectrum. That is because when you use your open-mindedness, you will probably find that this is not a near-perfect film, nor is it a piece of crap; but that the Titanic is a pretty damn good movie, plain and simple.

Batman Returns (1992)

Awful

[3/10 · 15 February 1999]

One of the most anticipated movies in my life, and by far the biggest disappointment. It is hard to believe that Tim Burton directed both this and the original Batman. I went to see it with my brother on something like the second day it was released. The theater was jam packed, and there was a lot of chatting. When the advertisement stopped, and the movie started many people cheered. When they showed Michael Keaton for the first time, many more people cheered, it was pretty nuts. The excitement from the audience very slowly died down and at the end of the movie no-one clapped, no-one cheered, we just all cleared the full theater, most of us with dull looks on our faces.

I think the worst part of the movie was the animal element. There were a bunch of bats, a bunch of cats, and a bunch of penguins. The character to take the animal mania the furthest was Catwoman. She licked herself clean, she purred, she crawled like a cat, and oh yeah, she had nine lives. Did we need any of this? Penguin in the comic books wasn't a penguin, he was a fat guy in a tuxedo. Catwoman wasn't a cat, and Batman wasn't a bat.

Why must all good comic book movies have sequels that are so silly? We need more people who understand the comic books, and less people who have no problem with making them look real stupid. I'm glad that Burton stopped making Batman movies, but I'm afraid his successor did the same thing with HIS second Batman movie..

Batman (1989)

Easily the best of the bunch

[7/10 · 15 February 1999]

Keaton was a surprisingly good Batman, Nicholson was a pretty good joker, and the other characters were well done. I wish there was a more convincing bad guy to actually fight Batman though. The big black guy at the end just didn't cut it, mostly because we didn't see anything about him earlier in the film. Over all a good film.

Point of No Return (1993)

Good Movie

[7/10 · 9 January 1999]

I enjoyed it. The action was done well, there was no bad acting that I noticed, it was an intriguing story, and it was well directed. I've heard from many people that the original is much better. I want to see it, but considering the fact that I've never seen a decent non-American film by American film standards, I'm not holding my breath that La Femme Nikita will be the outstanding masterpiece people are making it out to be.

Some people think that the bathroom sniper scene was just an excuse to show everyone Fonda's panty-covered ass, but in my opinion, that assumption is pretty silly. In order to keep millions of people from complaining about things like this, you'd have to wrap the female star of an action movie like a damn mummy for the whole film. When Tom Cruise and his co-stars all stripped down to their briefs in Top Gun, millions of women came flying to the movie theatres to watch an obviously male oriented action flick. When Kate Winslet exposed herself in Titanic, feminists didn't say much, because it was a great romantic story and very tastefuly done. But oh no! Put a woman in an action flick and all of these feminists become nuns! Gimme a break.

Secrets & Lies (1996)

bring it on

[3/10 · 26 November 1998]

Well, EYEboy, I must say that it pleases me to no end when someone singles me out and tries to make fun of me, especially when it is someone who seems as intelligent as you do. My favorite part of your post was "But no big bang-bang good-guy bad-guy here, kimosabe. Me suggest you stick to movie with lotsa bang bang."

Well said! I do like action movies, especially if they are well done, but I also like movies that don't have a whole lot of action, as long as THEY are well done. I'm sorry, but Secret's and Lies does not fit into that category and is simply a very bad movie. I really don't see very many non-American films, so maybe I was spoiled, and didn't realize how bad foreign films really were when I saw Secrets and Lies. Perhaps if I judge foreign movies by a different standard I could some day see how Secrets and Lies could possibly be one of the highest rated movies on the IMDB. Hmm... If true, that is very scary.

Jeremy Barger [e-mail](new e-mail)

Pale Rider (1985)

Good Eastwood action, but not a great film

[6 November 1998]

Enjoyable western action. Ever see the movie "Shane"? Well, the acting in Pale Rider was better because it wasn't in the developmental stage of movie acting, but that's about the only difference. A stranger rides in, stays with a family where the mother falls in love with him, helps with some stone breaking(wood chopping in Shane), beats up on some trouble makers, kills the bad guys and rides off into the sunset with a little kid shouting out after him. Belive me, of all the films that need to be copied or remade, Shane is not very high on the list.

The Right Stuff (1983)

not bad, but not great

[5/10 · 24 October 1998]

Way over-rated. I'm glad I saw it, but it should not be nearly as popular as it is. What bothered me the most were those times when a good or great actor's acting was poor. This shows sloppy directing. One example is when John Glen(Ed Harris) was in a centrifuge. They didn't do anything to make his skin fly back so Harris tried to fake it by stretching his lips. Either that or he was acting like he was in pain (or maybe he really was!). Awful. There were plenty of other moments where I could tell the bad acting was the fault of the director, and I just wanted to find Kaufman and smack him one. This movie wasn't all bad, but I can't figure out why it is so popular and why it is rated 8.0 on the IMDB.

Black Rain (1989)

An overwhelmingly under-rated movie

[9/10 · 18 October 1998]

Empire Strikes back is my favorite movie of all time. Black Rain is a very close second. My thinking is when people see this film they don't give it a chance. A great many people who have seen it only saw it on video, and have probably been distracted during key moments. Most people just didn't imagine that they were watching one of the greatest films of all time so they didn't care enough about the movie, and didn't pay enough attention to it when they saw it. If you watch Black Rain all the way through with an open-mind all the way through I believe that most of you will love it. Michael Douglas stars as a kind of dark New York City police officer who is under suspicion of being dirty. He and his partner played by Andy Garcia, have to take a Yakuza gangster back to Osaka Japan. The actors don't get any credit for this film, so I will give it to Michael Douglas, Ken Takakura, Yusaku Matsuda, Andy Garcia, Tomisaburo Wakayama and Kate Capshaw. I wish one or more of the significant characters were female, but the casting was so great I just can't sincerely complain too much. Ridley Scott, who created Thelma and Louis, Alien, and Blade Runner, does a PHENOMENAL job with the most under-appreciated movie he will ever make. Black Rain is physically a very beautiful movie, but that is one of the least important aspects that Ridley is responsible for. His plot organization was brilliant to say the least, and he probably inspired these great actors to deliver the performances of their lives for most of them. I bet that many people were bored with the part of the movie where Andy Garcia and Ken Takakura were singing in a restaurant, but I saw it as just one of the several parts of the movie that reminded us that Japan and the United States have much to learn from one another. It was also about Charlie(Andy) and Mas(Ken) bonding with each other which was important to the plot. Most people don't pay much attention to music in movies especially on video, but I thought the organization of the music was a fantastic part of the experience. The last time I saw this film everyone in the room started talking at the end when the song "I'll be holdin on" started. Try listening to all of the lyrics at the biggining and end of the movie. If I hear someone get asked about the movie Black Rain and they respond by characterizing it as an action flick, I will think to myself "there goes another person who just didn't pay enough attention".

The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

Horrible

[4/10 · 17 October 1998]

Another stupid movie which bored me to tears but seemed to entrance millions of people. Clint Eastwood is one of the greatest movie stars of all time, and he really put a big boring stamp on a great career with this lame excuse for entertainment. I want to be excited in a movie, I don't want to sit there watching people SIT THERE talking about dull stuff! I don't even remember most of what they talked about it was so boring. It absolutely amazes me how many people seem to be entertained by brainless babbling. Bad film.

Steel Magnolias (1989)

What an awful film

[17 October 1998]

Ok, many people like movies that have endless babbling throughout the whole thing, and hey, I like emotional films myself if they are done right, but at least have good acting in the thing. A Chimpanzee could have done a better crying job than Roberts, and how many movies do we have to see where most of the stars are trying to fake a southern accent? Either higher actors who do it better or take out the southern element please. The writing was pitiful, hey go write for soap operas will you, because movies aren't for you. If I want to watch a bunch of women babble I'll go to a NOW meeting ok. This movie was horrible.

Secrets & Lies (1996)

The most over-rated movie I have seen on the IMDB!

[3/10 · 23 September 1998]

At least among those movies with 100 votes or more. Nominated for best screenplay written directly for the screen? Brenda Blethyn nominated for best actress in a leading role?? Nominated for best picture?? I always disagree with many of the Oscar picks, but this movie might very well be the worst movie of all time to be honored by the Academy. The writing and acting were both horrible. Blethyn's perfomance in particular was one of the worst I've ever seen, and probably the most over-rated acting performance of all time. Awful movie, not worthy of the big screen and not worthy of any cable or television channel that has ever played it, including HBO(where I saw it). I am only thankful I didn't actually pay to see one of the most over-rated movies of all time.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Once again another good movie that is being WAY over rated.

[6/10 · 15 September 1998]

I am glad I saw this movie and some elements in it tend to justify my anti -war attitudes, but it is NOT one of the greatest movies of all time. It might not even be one of the greatest Steven Spielburg movies. Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park are definitely better, and Spielberg has made several movies that MIGHT be better like Jaws, Amistad, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Schindler's List, and maybe more.

Saving Private Ryan is a good movie with some good qualities, and some bad ones. After how great I had heard SPR was, when I saw it, I was disappointed in the directing, writing and acting. I expected all of those things to be great and found the directing to be pretty good, the writing to be pretty bad and the acting to be mediocre. I'm sorry, but graphic war action which makes us think long and hard about many things is not enough reason for me to love this movie as much as so many other people seem to. And the emotional nature of 3 brothers getting killed in action and the attempt to bring the last brother home to his mom doesn't cut it either. Because quite frankly that's pretty much all this movie was about. It was a good movie, but that's all.