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Pearl Harbor (2001)
Succeeds on all fronts and gives the nurses their due
I can't add much more to kitkat's excellent review except to also point out the good job the filmaker's did in presenting some of what the nurses in Hawaii did on December 7th. They were young women in a sleepy locale that, in the face of utter horror and their own mortal peril, rose to give the aid and comfort they had pledged themselves to. I think the movie gives them their due and I have seen few WW2 movies OR documentaries that have even tried. I'd also like to take a bit of an issue with the criticism of the filmakers' calculated efforts to provide a return on their investment. I am far from a defender of either Disney or capitalism in general (more of a wary partaker of the products and an enthusiastic critic of both ), but if you are going to make an epic you should spend the big bucks. If you spend the big bucks you've got to try and make them back or those with the bucks won't let you near them again. Simple as that. Pearl Harbor is an epic day in the history of the world's greatest nation, without question. It deserves a block buster as much as anything does and hype is part and parcel, a neccessary evil, if you will. You always have the choice to waste your $9 on Tom Green!
The Kid (2000)
Flies Straight To Your Heart
Much better than I expected. We took our 15 and 11 year old daughters and our (almost) 8 year old son and they all loved it. Bruce Willis was smooth and believable as both a near hopeless jerk and as a changing man. This movie understands young children, both their fragility and their neuroses, and their ability to still cope. It is simply a sweet, optimistic movie that isn't afraid to say, yeah, childhood isn't all misty-happy times but we can't use past pain as an excuse to run away from loving others now. Great date movie as well as for families.
Starship Troopers (1997)
Fascism 90210!
Gory, thrilling fun. Lots of big ugly bugs and they are hands down, the greatest looking giant bugs in movie history. Also the best special effect ever of people getting bitten in half. Great crimson geysers! Story? Yeah, there is a real simple one right there on the surface: shiny, happy recruits join up, train hard, lose a battle, get a bit grimy, but still look like teen models. Its Klendathu 90210! Background story of a future earth united in a sort of vaguely happy fascism run by the military is quickly setup, but its ramifications are ignored. You have to listen to the audio commentary to even realize that the writer & director dont think this is a desirable future! Gee, ya wouldn't know from watching it! Acting is mediocre, made even more so by endless old-war-movie cliche dialogue, which was probably ment to be a bit tongue-in-cheek but comes off as trite. Still, its exciting, quite funny at times and contains the absolute best space invasion scene ever filmed. Yes, ever. Rent it (but don't eat while you watch it!)
Pump Up the Volume (1990)
A thoughtful, liberating teen movie
This was one of the best movies about teenagers I've seen before or since. Christian Slater is marvelous and believable. It's a shame we haven't seen him do any work similar to this and his other "Heathers"-era roles. A good movie for any age over 14.
Jezebel's Kiss (1990)
Beautiful scenery, crappy plot
It's like something out of a movie, really. This (unheard of ) director comes to a small remote town (Eureka, Calif., 280 miles north of San Francisco) and makes headlines by filming "a big Hollywood production!" entirely in our area. We're so far from anything that this becomes very exciting, especially when they hire some local talent to act and work. At premiere time there is a big "opening night" at a local theater, complete with director and lots of publicity (lots by our standards). A large, excited crowd fills the film house and sits *stunned* by the horribly stupid plot that unfolds. At first we're excited by all the scenes of local beauty, and enchanted by a very pleasant soundtrack, but by the time we are halfway through, we realize we have wasted part of our lives, captive to a film turkey. We file out in silence, yes, *silence*. I heard only one person speak all the way to the parking lot a block away, offering, "well, the music was nice". The movie went straight to video and it has since become a local joke. It *does* do justice to our beautiful N.Calif. coastline but if you want that, rent "Outbreak" or even "The Lost World". They were also filmed here and went far to get the taste of Jezebel's Kiss out of our mouths!
EDtv (1999)
Fun, witty, and sweet: quite believable w/o high concept
Sure, the Truman Show was social commentary and high art rolled into one wickedly biting film, but EdTV had one quality that Truman lacked: believability. These people were realistic, though he plot did go over the top at times. It wasn't as perfectly crafted as Truman but Ed holds up as a funny, sweet, and crafty film that had us hooked from the get-go. In a year when the best stuff to watch has been on TV (SportsNight, Sopranos, Oz, That 70's Show), one of the best movies is about TV. Rent Ed, and damn if he doesn't grow on ya! [PS: I don't work for Universal, loved Truman, and initially thought Ed was a pale ripoff of Carrey's flick...wudda I know!]