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Titus (1999)
Richly cinematized, avant garde morality movie that's right on the money and entertaining.
This movie is about the opening scene in relationship to the closing scene, where the two hour and 40 minutes in between are a lesson. The story seems to be a morality lesson for a totally goofed up kid who lives and breathes childish, popular violence.
Yes, the movie was beautifully photographed. Yes, it was often beautifully choreographed. Yes, it was avant garde in jumping around from one era to another. Yes, the acting was competent. But these are all merely tools of this morality movie.
Titus, the Shakespearean play, by itself, probably couldn't be related to by today's people. However, add a kid from our century, obviously drenched in cereal box war toys, TV cartoon violence, prime-time Cops shows, Terminator movie violence, and endless news coverage of violence, violence, violence. Suddenly we have, by connecting the kid to a Shakespearean play, a morality play that can be related to by our 21st century kids. At the end, the kid has obviously learned a lesson, walking away from the violence while displaying caring for another.
Striking, in that opening scene, was the absolutely mindless violence of the kid playing with his toys. Extreme. Movie goers must have universally concluded that this 21st century kid had lost all of his marbles.
Then we movie goers, questioning the opening scene, are taken back with that kid to historical eras in which violence was considered a respectable, understandable, justifiable, everyday way of life. What kind of violence? War. Honoring war heros. Religious-ceremony violence to assuage the Gods for the killing of "our boys, the war heros." Then Justice, eye for an eye revenge. Power-seeking. Feudal intrigue. Family feuds. Fascism, Nazism. Most of all, Revenge! Justified, always justified, revenge--rolling on and on like the plague revenge is. Oh, how we love, in America, justified eye-for-an-eye revenge.
A man justifying stabbing a mid-wife, to forever silence her, to protect HIS son.
Endless Justified violence is one of the great everyday themes of modern-day man. And so the writers, actors, producer, and director of Titus decided to make a movie about it.
That insanely violent kid, shown murdering toy after toy in the opening, is the object of a morality lesson. He is shown Real Violence. He learns that his insane breakfast-table rampage with toys is truly "kid stuff" compared to historical violence. He learns how insane Real Civilization is. Ultimately, he quietly rejects violence and walks away from it in an act of love towards another human being. The young kid finally seems to be the only "adult" in the whole movie.
This is a movie that should be seen by kids. Unfortunately, it probably cannot legally be shown to kids because of a few X-rated fornication murals on walls during Roman orgy scenes. Too bad. Because if ever there were a Scared Straight movie for today's violent, numbskull kids, this is it.
The movie is well done. Because it's restricted to Shakespearean dialogue that's tough to say as well as hear, the acting could only be said to be very competent. But the morality message was clear. The message against violence is right on target for our American society that is heaped in "justified" violence.
I wish this movie could be shown UNCUT on national TV during prime time. It might do our society some good, in place of, for one night, of all our horrible television shows of our putrid 21st Century entertainment era. Most of today's entertainment features violence and humiliation in a style resembling arena-gladiator shows of the past, where we cheer the death, injury and humiliation of our fellow human beings that we home viewers (and kids) watch on television.
Bravo, to all involved in this movie. It was brave of them to attempt a modern-day morality movie. They're way ahead of their audience of today. Hopefully, this movie will catch on and the message will be understood.
Titus (1999)
Richly cinematized, avant garde morality movie that's right on the money and entertaining.
This movie is about the opening scene in relationship to the closing scene, where the two hour and 40 minutes in between are a lesson. The story seems to be a morality lesson for a totally goofed up kid who lives and breathes childish, popular violence.
Yes, the movie was beautifully photographed. Yes, it was often beautifully choreographed. Yes, it was avant garde in jumping around from one era to another. Yes, the acting was competent. But these are all merely tools of this morality movie.
Titus, the Shakespearean play, by itself, probably couldn't be related to by today's people. However, add a kid from our century, obviously drenched in cereal box war toys, TV cartoon violence, prime-time Cops shows, Terminator movie violence, and endless news coverage of violence, violence, violence. Suddenly we have, by connecting the kid to a Shakespearean play, a morality play that can be related to by our 21st century kids. At the end, the kid has obviously learned a lesson, walking away from the violence while displaying caring for another.
Striking, in that opening scene, was the absolutely mindless violence of the kid playing with his toys. Extreme. Movie goers must have universally concluded that this 21st century kid had lost all of his marbles.
Then we movie goers, questioning the opening scene, are taken back with that kid to historical eras in which violence was considered a respectable, understandable, justifiable, everyday way of life. What kind of violence? War. Honoring war heros. Religious-ceremony violence to assuage the Gods for the killing of "our boys, the war heros." Then Justice, eye for an eye revenge. Power-seeking. Feudal intrigue. Family feuds. Fascism, Nazism. Most of all, Revenge! Justified, always justified, revenge--rolling on and on like the plague revenge is. Oh, how we love, in America, justified eye-for-an-eye revenge.
A man justifying stabbing a mid-wife, to forever silence her, to protect HIS son.
Endless Justified violence is one of the great everyday themes of modern-day man. And so the writers, actors, producer, and director of Titus decided to make a movie about it.
That insanely violent kid, shown murdering toy after toy in the opening, is the object of a morality lesson. He is shown Real Violence. He learns that his insane breakfast-table rampage with toys is truly "kid stuff" compared to historical violence. He learns how insane Real Civilization is. Ultimately, he quietly rejects violence and walks away from it in an act of love towards another human being. The young kid finally seems to be the only "adult" in the whole movie.
This is a movie that should be seen by kids. Unfortunately, it probably cannot legally be shown to kids because of a few X-rated fornication murals on walls during Roman orgy scenes. Too bad. Because if ever there were a Scared Straight movie for today's violent, numbskull kids, this is it.
The movie is well done. Because it's restricted to Shakespearean dialogue that's tough to say as well as hear, the acting could only be said to be very competent. But the morality message was clear. The message against violence is right on target for our American society that is heaped in "justified" violence.
I wish this movie could be shown UNCUT on national TV during prime time. It might do our society some good, in place of, for one night, of all our horrible television shows of our putrid 21st Century entertainment era. Most of today's entertainment features violence and humiliation in a style resembling arena-gladiator shows of the past, where we cheer the death, injury and humiliation of our fellow human beings that we home viewers (and kids) watch on television.
Bravo, to all involved in this movie. It was brave of them to attempt a modern-day morality movie. They're way ahead of their audience of today. Hopefully, this movie will catch on and the message will be understood.
The Final Countdown (1980)
All-timer great movie, fantastic flying, top acting, themes for men & women
This film is one of the great ones. Having served on an aircraft carrier for 2.5 years, I'm familiar with aircraft carrier excitement. But the movie was more than just wonderful shots of the U.S. Nimitz. The cast was top drawer, and their acting was as good as it gets. Standing above all the great performances was a Japanese actor portraying a shot-down, highly competent, captured Japanese Zero pilot. While racism understandably raises its ugly head during wartime, with epithets and insults hurled in both directions, in fact this Japanese actor portrayed a Japanese warrior at his finest--someone whom Japanese viewers would be proud of. Played equally well were American military personnel, including some Marines. One of the candid themes of the movie is the tragedy of such fine people going to war against each other, whatever their race.
The film is undeniably top drawer, far more mature than than "Top Gun," with even better flying scenes. So I've often wondered why it isn't widely known and not kept in stock in widescreen format. Perhaps the answer is today's wimpy trend towards "politically correct" dialog. In one scene, Kirk Douglas refers to the captured Japanese pilot as a "yellow bastard." In the video version, this was sanitized. However, sanitized or not, the original racial comment, by itself, may have doomed the film from greater video distribution.
I saw the film when it came out in wide-screen format and saw it several times before it left town. Thereafter, the only other versions available in video were "fit-to-TV-screen" size. That was tragic! Though still exciting in "box" format, the widescreen original was breathtaking. I cannot imagine why producers haven't released this in DVD in original wide-screen format. It makes a huge difference with this film! (Aircraft carriers are huge!)
One interesting comment to add about the F-14 flying scenes. I was awed by one particular F-14 maneuver, which I didn't think airplanes were capable of doing. A couple of years later, I talked with a Navy fighter pilot and brought this up. He was very familiar with that scene and personally knew the pilot who flew the F-14 in the movie. He told me that the F-14 almost crashed in that scene, stalling while trying to fly too slow, diving for the ocean to pick up speed, and barely recovering just above the wave tops. This near-accident was caught on film and added immensely to the exhibition of flying skill. An exception had been granted to the Navy's policy of not allowing "dissimilar aircraft" to fly together in movie scenes. The result of that granted exception was almost the loss of an F-14.
This is an incredibly good drama. I found that the various twists and turns, and particularly the call-it-off ending, all contributed to the drama and moral dilemmas. This is a fine, great movie. Like others who commented here, it seems tragic that this film is not available in widescreen DVD format. Everyone I've shown it to loves it, male and female. Feminism and romance are included, along with a collie dog for the kids.
Young Einstein (1988)
All-timer, beautiful, imaginative story that's also funny.
There is no scene in this movie that isn't beautiful art. If it was a relatively low-budget film, you couldn't tell it. It was made up for by traveling to gorgeous scenes. It has the look of an expensive film. Odile Le Clezio, a French actress, is a darling as Young Einstein's romantic interest. All of the actors and actresses were superb, top drawer, flawless. The talent of Yahoo Serious, who starred in and created this movie, is awesome. The scenes and acting are so good that this movie continually evokes the most wonderful memories between repeated viewings. I've seen it maybe 30 times, mainly because it's a must-see video I share with new friends. Although funny, this movie isn't "goofy." This is a witty script of wonderful, down-to-earth themes. The music's great. The gags are first-rate, not only in being unexpected and very interesting, but in being wonderfully acted and beautifully photographed. I don't tire of seeing these gags time after time. Everyone I've shown this movie to loves it. It's an all-timer, one of a kind, a classy, colorful, imaginative gem. Yahoo Serious is awesomely gifted and, thankfully for us, independent in his creations. This is NOT a movie hacked out by bored corporate committee members filling in quotas of stupid juvenile formulas. This isn't a "spoof," either. It's a unique work of art produced by a young genius who uses for a story line the idea "what if" Einstein was born on an Australian farm. The real Albert Einstein would have given this imaginative work of art an enthusiastic standing ovation.
Mission to Mars (2000)
Not a violent or obscene movie, but not a great sci-fi movie
By radio, I quickly learned Mission to Mars wasn't going to be an all-timer sci-fi movie. My expectations were low, which upstaged my becoming disgusted. Acting was barely competent, TV soap opera level. Actually, Gary Sinise was excellent, and he should be given a gold star for continuing to act during a lost cause.
But I applaud this movie because of its lack of violence. The obscenity level was low, too. It's clean, and love was not hidden. Thus, it's a good "serious" movie to take kids to.
To those of us who saw 2001, Bladerunner and The Right Stuff, Mission to Mars is soap-opera in space. It's mediocre for adults, but thought-provoking, like a Mr. Rogers TV show, to kids. Yet, it wasn't an awful movie. It completely lacked greatness, but stayed a step above awfulness. It's a tame Disney-grade movie that Walt Disney, himself, would have felt was too boring to produce unless Donald and Goofey were inserted into the cast to drum up interest and add realism.
It's tragic that so much money was wasted on a mediocre script. This movie follows corporate movie-making trends of today. It's what happens when bored, talent-free corporate employees, with one greedy eye on Nielsen ratings and the other on the clock, joke and laugh while dipping potato chips and drinking their fourth beers while patching together a mediocre movie script just in time to go home Friday afternoon. Missing is the influence of a genius or two, like Stanley Kubrick, who had something to say.
But it's not a worthless movie. It reminds me of sci-fi movies produced in the 1950's with upgraded fake special effects. It's as fake as any Buck Rogers movie made in the 1950's. It's important to note that the so-called "great special effects" are generally boring and less realistic than a toy commercial. As for drama, I didn't cry when the wife failed by just a foot to throw a rope to her husband stranded in Mars orbit. However, I would have laughed hard if the producer and director of this film had been left in Mars orbit, ultimately being scalded during a fiery entry into the Mars atmosphere and ending up slamming head-first, shoulder-deep, in a remote Martian desert.
Nevertheless, give Mission to Mars credit. It's a step in the right direction, which is ultimately to Mars. NBC, CBS, and ABC will make better documentaries of a real mission to Mars. This movie is a modern-day, Mr. Rogers level, sci-fi kids' entertainment that whets our appetite for inevitable real missions. After all, many of our astronauts were mesmerized and influenced by gun powder sparks hissing out from the back of a 1950's Buck Rogers rocketship, with visible threads jiggling the plastic model before a hand-held camera. The professional cameramen of Mission To Mars, to their credit, used tripods. Take your kids to this movie, particularly if they ooh and ahh, clap, and ask questions while watching Barney.
Pitch Black (2000)
Although "B-grade" budget, it's outstanding! Non-stop interest.
I went to the theater to see Mission To Mars, and after being bored and disappointed with it, I ducked my head into the Pitch Black theater just before it started. I had no expectation of staying longer than 5 minutes to see Pitch Black. Instead, I liked Pitch Black far better than Mission ToMars.
I thought Pitch Black was an excellent sci-fi movie. It warrants must-see status by any fan of sci-fi movies. I thought the special effects were far more interesting and effective, even though less expensive, than those of Mission To Mars.
I was surprised that the plot was very interesting at the end. This director cared about the performances of his actors and actresses! There's no sense of watching second rate performances, even though I've never seen these actors and actresses before. If Mission To Mars had been directed by the director of Pitch Black, the former would likely have much better than it was.
I'd give Pitch Black a top recommendation for sci-fi fans.