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Reviews
Judge Dredd (1995)
A Dreddful, yet entertaining film.
Judge Dredd is one of the worst comic book movies from the 1990s in my opinion. It is dreadful to watch with all the hammy dialogue and terrible acting, but there is something about it that makes the film intriguing to me.
One of the biggest issues that I have with Judge Dredd is that it has a hard time conveying tone. The comic series that is based in the UK was dark, melancholic, and full of dread while the film pulls a 180 on what could have been a solid action flick. Physically Sylvester Stallone was a good choice to play Judge Dredd. His muddled dialogue and hammy acting makes him more of a joke rather than a threat to me. Stallone is a tremendous actor in quite a lot of his films like: Rocky, First Blood, and even The Expendables. In those films his lines are quite simple and can be intimidating as well as understandable. In Judge Dredd I couldn't make out most of his lines throughout the film. Even the subtitles felt like they weren't really synching up with his mouth.
Having a comedian as your sidekick in a superhero movie hasn't worked yet and it most likely won't. Richard Pryor was horrible in Superman III and Rob Schneider as Fergie Furguson was unbearable throughout all of Judge Dredd. Every time I see Rob on screen I don't envision him as the character he is supposed to be portraying. Instead I see him as Rob Schneider playing Rob Schneider. His acting makes the movie feel like a Saturday Night Live Sketch. At any moment Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, and Phil Hartman could appear with Adam playing Khan from Star Trek II; Wrath of Khan, Chris as Jabba the Hut from Return of the Jedi, and Phil as Flash Gordan from Flash Gordan. Taking Rob out of the picture entirely would have helped the tone immensely or if they got a different actor to play him like James Spader or Philip Seymour Hoffman as well as rewriting the dialogue than I would be more forgiving of the character.
I can't take Judge Dredd seriously at all. When Stallone says "I am the Law" my insides hurt from laughing so hard. Nothing in this film makes sense, but it is too stupid to be truly mad at it. I am just thankful that the 2012 reboot Dredd is the gritty action film that fans of the series deserved.
Judge Dredd is a dreadful film to say the least. It is campy and over the top unlike the melancholic comic book series that it is based on. This is a terrible film, but I still have a blast every time I watch it. I plead guilty to liking Judge Dredd and Dredd can by my judge, and jury for enjoying this film. I don't want him as my executioner though.
For the full review go to: http://www.thriftymoviecritic.com/reviews-1- 5.html
Out of Sync (2000)
A surprisingly entertaining film about the music industry.
There are so many films in the Direct to Video market that is just utter garbage, but there are a few movies that are a diamond in the rough. Lip Service is a fantastic film about the music industry as well as a decent Romantic Comedy.
The plot of the movie is about a record producer named Roger (Peter Outerbridge) is asked to produce a record for an up and coming super star named Sunni (Kari Wuhrer). The issue is that Sunni may be one of the worst singers around so Roger needs to find a way to cover up her voice. He finds a soccer mom named Maggie (Gail O'Grady) in a bar and gets her to do the vocals. Sunni becomes an instant superstar while Maggie does not get any recognition. At the end of the film Maggie ends up being the star and Sunni is no longer famous.
The humor of the film is very campy, but it uses that to its advantage. At the end of the film Roger asks his friend Buddo (Jerry Ciccoritti) for help to mute Maggie's tracks during Sunni's debut concert. Roger uses one of the funniest lines ever conceived in my opinion to get Buddo to help: "She baked you cookies." Buddo has a montage of Maggie giving him a cookie and he accepts Roger's proposal to take down Sunni. The line itself is funny, but the montage is the icing on the cake or the chocolate chip on the cookie.
The Romance between Maggie and Roger was very unique in my opinion. It is not your tradition Romantic Comedy where the two leads eventually fall in love and live happily ever after. It is a Traditional Romance in the real world from my perspective. Maggie and Roger have great romantic chemistry together, but they never act upon it. Roger did kiss Maggie and she fantasized about him while cleaning the house, but apart from that they never acted on their emotions towards one another. At the end of the film Roger is caught in a sex romp with Sunni and ends up being single while Maggie is still happily married. The romance in this film reminded me of Once, but on a less bittersweet note. In Once I wanted the two leads to be together, but I knew it was impossible. In Lip Service I was fine with Roger and Maggie never getting together.
Lip Service was surprisingly a fantastic film. I found it in a dollar rack in a Dollar General. I thought it was going to be a campy version of Showgirls, but I liked this film a lot more than I thought I would have. If you have a chance to find a copy of this movie you will not be disappointed.
For the full review go to my site: http://www.thriftymoviecritic.com/reviews-1-5.html
Eragon (2006)
A carbonite copy of 'Star Wars" or "Lord of the Rings" than the novel that "Eragon" was based on.
Eragon is a carbonite copy of Star Wars and Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings rather than the book that the film is based on. There are so many little nuances like Eragon (Ed Speelers) grieving for his uncle is a shot for shot rip off from Episode IV: A New Hope where Luke (Mark Hamill) mourns his relatives. The cinematography is attempting to make the world of Alagasia as grandeur as Middle Earth, but is trite in comparison.
Eragon has some of the worst pacing for a fantasy film that I have ever seen. The novel is 500 pages long while the run time is just over the 90 minute mark. The movie is practically a series of introductions and as soon as a character exits off screen we may never see or hear from them no matter how significant a role they play in the novel. There is little entertaining or even worthwhile to watch in the 100 minute rushed film. If it was 30 minutes longer at least I think there was potential for an okay movie. The only parts that I got a kick out of was Jeremy Irons who played Eragon's trainer named Bron and Durza (Robert Carlyle) who was Galbatorix's (John Malkovich) Sorcerer. Both of these actors were at least trying to breathe life into this dreadful film and they were the only actors that made this sit bearable.
I felt that Eragon is a failure of a movie that is too short and had more in common with Star Wars and LOTR than the novel that it was originally based on. It has a few enjoyable moments such as Jeremy Irons and Robert Carlyle. I would recommend watching LOTR or even Star Wars over this film because it made me think about those films over the one that I was watching. Let's let Eragon join the countless other fantasy films that have become lost and forgotten.
For the full review go to: http://www.thriftymoviecritic.com/reviews-1- 5.html