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Reviews
Say Anything... (1989)
a more adult "teen comedy"
john cusack will get me to watch the most banal film as long as he is in it...American sweethearts,serendipity,anyone? cusacks character in this movie however,is the reason i love him as an actor,he almost seems to be playing himself.that is that its the kind of role we have come to love him in.lloyd dobler is not too dissimilar from the characters he played in grosse pointe blank and high fidelity.smart,intelligent,sometimes shrewd,but untimately lovable people.its this that makes this film so watchable.because it is more serious in tone than say john hughes' teen movies,its slightly harder to watch were it not for cusack.also brilliant is john mahoney,erstwhile martin crane in frasier.the film also has a great sense of time and place,one of its biggest appeals for me was its 80's setting and the music that comes with it. unlike some other teen movies the film is also very realistic,dealing with real issues,that are dealt with realistically. this is a very enjoyable film,not what i was expecting going into it,but for which i am pleasantly surprised.
Beetlejuice (1988)
one of the great comedies of the 80's
a great movie.this film is just a wonderful experience.its surreal,zany,witty and slapstick all at the same time.and terrific performances too.it was one of those movies that defined the 80's for me as a kid.it also did the impossible and make me briefly fall in love with winona ryder,here in her best role of her career. there's something in the colour of this film too,its inviting,its dark but its not very dark at all.i think its the kind of movie anybody could love as its harmless in its horror and broad in its humour. i don't think tim burton has bettered himself since.few comedies have surpassed it,i don't think anything will soon either.
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
jason takes a boat
i was very disappointed with this.as a kid i sat in barbers next door to our local video shop reading those free "upcoming releases" magazines.when i looked and saw "jason takes manhattan" and its video cover i was so thrilled at the idea of jason running around manhattan.then years later i have an inspired idea to buy every single one of the Friday the 13th movies one day.i get to part 8 and what the hell was this?!.for 3/4's of the movie it was set on a boat!and the scenes in manhattan are are set in darkly lit alleyways which could be anywhere. as a basic slasher i guess it was competent enough,and it has an unmistakable late 80's feel to it,especially the new york scenes.it was a bit of fresh air after parts 6 and 7,but the cover and tagline are deceiving.a passable effort.
Freddy's Nightmares (1988)
great nostalgic TV
i know technically this isn't the greatest TV show ever,i mean it was shot on video and its limitations show in both the audio and visual aspect of it.the acting can at time be also a little crumby.but,i love this show so much.it scared the hell out of me when it first aired in 1988.of course it would i was 5 years old.but i recently purchased the DVD of the first 3 episodes,which unfortunately i hear is now deleted.and i also heard warner's aren't going to release any more due to the first DVD's bad sales.also the TV show didn't have the same feel as the movies,in fact i thought it had a more sinister tone.even though the colour palette is similar to nightmare on elm street 4(both that film and the TV show were made the same year),this has more of a serious tone whereas the fims were progressively getting more and more sardonic and jokey.not a bad thing,i like freddy as the clown wise cracker.but i think that was the strenght of this TV show,you didn't have freddy popping up every minutes cracking a joke before and after he kills somebody.in fact this has more of a dream feel to it,reinforced by the soft focus of the lense.im not sure if its deliberate on the part of the shows creators or just to the limitations of being shot on video. i love this show,and taken not as a companion piece to the movies can be very enjoyable.much better than anything on TV today.
Uncle Buck (1989)
an enjoyable and easy-to-watch romp
i like this film.it has a an endearing quality to it that makes it so easy to watch.i think i was six when i saw it in the cinema and i remember renting it a lot and taping it on TV every year for about 5 years,and then i forgot about it until i was going through a john hughes phase recently. it wasn't quite the chuckle-fest i remembered but it brought me back to a time i miss.i find it very easy to watch and is one of those films you can just smile along to. its definitely no "planes,trains and automobiles" or "ferris bueller's day off",but the late,great john candy can make me sit through a lot of unfunny films just because of his presence.this is a film that won't change your life,but if you are a hughes fan,it's a warm inviting film with usual michigan setting,80's new wave music and warm atmosphere to it.it does end all of a sudden and your left wanting a bit more,but its an enjoyable ride nonetheless.
Hard Candy (2005)
not impressed
i thought this movie was awful.i went to see it with four friends and we were completely divided down the middle about it. my problem lied in the fact i hated ellen paige's character.i had no sympathy for her.the whole point of the movie i gathered was that we were to understand her desire for revenge.fair enough! but i just couldn't bring myself to like her character at all and sometimes wished the guy she has strapped down would break free and knock her senseless! i mean what kind of movie is it you end up rooting for a suspected bad guy? if her character was given more background and was portrayed a little more sympathetically i would have cheered her on. the film had a couple of good tricks up its sleeve and was photographed really well.but im afraid because the central character,i thought the movie was awful.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
the greatest film since blue velvet
i have never left a cinema shaking before i saw this movie.it was the night i got my exam results and when the rest of my class where out partying i decided i would go see this movie.i have never regretted it.this film to me is the definition of great cinema.this film has everything,top class directing,perfect acting and casting,superb and haunting soundtrack,beautiful photography and a pure classic feel to it. this is probably my favourite kubrick film next to the shining.i had to see this movie twice in the cinema and i never looked forward to a film coming out on DVD as i did this one.i bought it twice because i knew i would be handing it around to friends to watch.everyone i know hated it.maybe because nothing much happens and what does happen is rarely explained.obviously that far too much to ask of audiences in these days of lord of the rings and spiderman movies. this is without doubt the greatest film to be made since David lynch's blue velvet from 1986.the only film that has since come close to eyes wide shut in David lynch's inland empire.when more films of this standard are made,the sooner we will get to quality films being shown in our cinemas.
Psycho II (1983)
a worthy sequel
over the years i have noticed a lot of bad press about this film.i think it is as good a sequel to psycho as anyone could possibly want.and i know there's a lot of people who will say "psycho din't need a sequel,etc" but i think the story provided a good follow up for the characters. the film is genuinely creepy,i think more so than the original psycho i felt was much more a thriller than a horror.anthony perkins as usual was brilliant.this is one of those movies that years ago i would tape off the television and bring to my friends house and watch in the dark,i think i was four years old when i first saw it and maybe its i was so young that i still remember how creepy it was. psycho 3 was awful,psycho 4 the beginning was pretty bad two.i think this movie just works so well as an effective horror film.whether your looking for a great sequel to a classic or just a stand alone movie,this is really great stuff.
The Room (2001)
beautiful piece of film
this a haunting piece of work.its only ten minutes long but i would sooner pay ten bucks into the cinema to see this than to see any full lenght movie currently doing the rounds. it is a simple piece of a man's reflection.he arrived a young man in this place and was mesmerised by a room and the music coming from it...and now here he sits,dying in old age in this place he so fondly connects to his youth. the music in it is brilliant,the guitars have that jazz-room twang like neil young's music in dead man. if you get the chance,watch this film.its worth it.if rutger hauer made more films like this i think he would get more respect than he gets.at the moment you hear him put under phrases like "everybody's favourite psycho".im sure that is not what rutger would want to be rememered as an actor for.he also directed this film,so in this shows that he a very artistic actor/director.a change from the b-grade movies he has been doing since the early 90's.i hope to see more of this rutger hauer as he is one of my favourite actors.
Masters of the Universe (1987)
the greatest sci-fi action movie of the 80's and beyond
i know this is not a very cool thing to admit but in my humble opinion this is the greatest sci-fi movie of the 80's and nothing has bettered it since.the sheer joy of watching this brings me back to the day i went to see it as a kid in 1987(the best year for both movies and music).i remember it vividly and i think thats the sign of a great movie. the villains in this movie are also pretty scary.skeletor,beastman,blade and karg all creeped me out as a kid and still do. the best thing about this movie though is its a spectacle.its a story of good versus evil and filmed in such a fantastic way.looking back at it now in crystal clear DVD it shows the limitations of the effects,but it doesn't matter,because the movie just looks so great.the vivid colours of both eternia and los angeles and then final showdown in gold bring you into this cartoon world without ever making you think "damn this is cheesy". i would much rather sit through this,even with its limited effects,than the likes of "lord of the rings" or "spiderman".there will come a time when movies don't look like movies anymore because they're so heavily effects-laden(sin city,300).if a movie is to be effective it shoudn't have to have "amazing" special effects.it should be down to the characters and storytelling.the mind is a powerful thing,we don't or shouldn't need everything put on a plate for us.masters of the universe takes you on a wild ride regardless of dodgy dialogue and not-so state of the art effects. i love this movie,its underrated and deserves greater respect than it gets.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
best comedy of the 80's
this film is a triumph! it works on every level:acting,directing,music,mood...it's possibly the perfect comedy. the fact that it contains two of the finest comedic actor's best performances says it all.this is without doubt the best work steve martin and john candy have ever produced.there is heart to their performances and it seems to show that they enjoyed making this movie and had respect for it.very few comedies bring me to tears but this does every time,and i watch it quite often.for me its one of those movies that after watching it you want go out and be nice to people because it's a story of human issues. the music in this film is wonderful,my two favourite scenes are complemented by one song,"the power to believe" by the dream academy.those scenes are the first hotel room argument and the final flashback scene in the train.i think these scenes exempify the power of music in movies to provoke an emotion. and last but especially not least is john hughes.the man in my mind is a genius,with this he even surpasses his own high standards of ferris bueller's day off,in my opinion the second best comedy of the 80's. this film is wonderful.watch it.