Reviews

Ladies and Gentlemen:

You are invited here today to announce our review of the 1974 Paramount feature film, "The Parallax View" starring Warren Beaty and directed and produced by the late Alan J. Pakula. After six months of investigations, followed by ten weeks of hearings; it is our unanimous verdict that this film is a classic, a near-masterpiece with no serious flaws. An overwhelming body of evidence supports this conclusion and we want to make it clear-that there is no evidence of any kind to counter this conclusion, NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER! Now, it is our hope that this will finally put and end to all the detractors and critics who are spreading negative opinions against this film. A full, verbatim transcript of our investigation and hearings will be available shortly to the general public.

This is an announcement, not a on-line chat room. Therefore there will be no questions, thank you.

(Final rating: 9/10)

Between 1963 to 1989 the BBC aired 159 adventures of DOCTOR WHO. Most of these were 90 minutes long consisting of four 25 minute episodes. Each episode ending with a cliffhanger. Some were lame, but most were very good. Those cliffhangers were essential in getting us new fans addicted (and I mean ADDICTED!) to the show. The Doctor (he has no known name) is a renegade Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who stole a time machine called a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space) and with at least one companion, travels throughout time and space. As a Time Lord, The Doctor can "regenerate" up to 11 times, which means all 7 actors who played him ARE the same character! I have seen every adventure every made that wasn't erased by the BBC, so I'll cover each Doctor in order:

William Hartnell: (1963-1966) Of the surviving stories, only LAND OF THE GIANTS is a classic. I can't stand crappy b/w film, but that one was a clever one. Sadly, Mr. Hartnell left the series because he had MS. He died in 1975, before the show reach it's international fame.

Patrick Troughton: (1966-1969) Almost all of his adventures were lost, but of those that survive, THE WAR GAMES is his best. It was also his last. He died at a fan convention in Atlanta in 1987...how sad!

Jon Pertwee: (1970-1974) The problem with his era was the tiresome use of UNIT and The Master (Roger Delgado, who died in 1973). However, Pertwee did 6 classics: INFERNO, THE DEAMONS, THE THREE DOCTORS, CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS, PLANET OF THE DALEKS, and DEATH TO THE DALEKS. In retrospect, Pertwee made a huge mistake leaving the series, it was just about to get extraordinarily great with a new producer (Phillip Hinchcliffe) and script editor (Robert Holmes). Pertwee died in 1996.

Tom Baker: (1974-1981) With Hinchcliffe and Holmes at the helm, DW deliberately focused on Gothic-horror, and it absolutely worked! Baker's first 3 1/2 years (or the pre-K9 years) were the greatest in the show's history. From ROBOT through IMAGE OF THE FENDAHL, almost every adventure is a classic or near-classic! So what happened? DW became too controversial for many. Conservative citizens like the late Mary Whitehouse lobbied the BBC to fire producer Hinchcliffe and make changes! (Why can't these people just change the channel?!) The 1976-1977 was the greatest single season in DW history, but it was also the last for Hinchcliffe. When he left so did script editor Robert Holmes. He still wrote for DW but he was no longer re-writing all of the scripts personally. Also, David Maloney, the series' greatest director, left to produce the BBC series BLAKE'S 7(1978-1981). That show flourished at the expense of DW, since it was created by the late/great Terry Nation (Daleks/Davros creator). Another talented writer, Chris Boucher (ROBOTS OF DEATH) also left DW for B7! Not to mention all the technical, f/x, designers, and so forth that would have been working for DW. Talented director Douglas Camfeild (SEEDS OF DOOM) left as well! New producer, Graham Williams got off to a great start with HORROR OF FANG and FENDAHL. But after those two-the smart, scary stories were gone forever! DW was now a gimmicky, sci-fi junk series. The K9 dog was the essence of that changed philosophy. Between THE SUNMAKERS (when K9 became a full-time cast member) through WARRIOR'S GATE, (of those 20 stories) there are only 3 classics: THE PIRATE PLANET, STONES OF BLOOD and STATE OF DECAY.

Peter Davison: (1981-1984) Producer John Nathan-Turner (JNT, who died in 2002), did so many right things: A new glossy title sequence, updating the music, more money into the series, killing Adric off, casting Davison, creating Tegan and Nyssa, promoting the show abroad, bringing back the Cybermen, The Master (a wonderful Anthony Ainley!) and other classic monsters. Sure he made mistakes, but of the 19 Davison adventures, few are turkeys. THE FIVE DOCTORS launched the second best season ('83-'84) the show ever had with winners like FRONTIOS, PLANET OF FIRE, RESURRECTION OF THE DALEKS (with a moving farewell scene from Janet Fielding's Tegan). And of course...THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI. For fans who still worship the Tom Baker era only, Baker himself has admitted in interviews over the years that he made a mistake in leaving the show when he did. The JNT-Davison era was wonderful!

Colin Baker: (1984-1986) From this point on I can't defend JNT, script editor Eric Saward or DW. REVELATION OF THE DALEKS is a classic but all the other stories are awful. On Feb. 27th 1985, BBC-1 head Michael Grade stunned fans (especially those in America) when he put DW on hiatus for 18 months...effectively killing it. I wish Grade had just canceled the show outright. We would've been spared the dreadful TRIAL OF A TIME LORD season, easily the worst season in DW history!

Sly McCoy: (1987-1989) Many fans insist that DW was making a comeback. Perhaps it was, and McCoy was good if a bit "lispy". But all the fun of the show was long gone! The untimely death of writer Bob Holmes in 1986, was the final nail in the coffin for DW. So long as Holmes was around, there was still some hope...

Before I go, let me give you my 5 favorite DW adventures:

1) THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI (1984) Easily the greatest DW adventure ever made!

2) THE PIRATE PLANET (1978) From the mind of the late/great Douglas Adams!

3) EARTHSHOCK (1982) JNT's finest moment as producer. He somehow kept the two big secrets from both the media and viewers!

4) REVELATION OF THE DALEKS (1985) Are you picking your nose? (!)

5) PYRAMID OF MARS (1975) If you see only one DW story, make it this one!

A 12 year old Mac Culkin and Elijah Wood fighting for the 'love' of Wendy Crewson...well, it's not exactly Gable and Laughton in "Mutiny on the Bounty"! As cute as he may have been, I've never been a fan of 'Little Mac'. But fans of Elijah Wood must see this one. "The Good Son" isn't QUITE as bad as Roger Ebert and most critics think because, and only because of the future 'Frodo'. Wood is the real star of the film. Still, there's a strange spooky quality to this film. It plays like one of those lesser Stephen King stories. It is well photographed, paced and the music is good. So, if your a fan of curious films or Elijah Wood then "The Good Son" works. After all, we can be glad Mac's mom and dad weren't blinded by Hollywood money(!) (PS: The Culkin kids aren't done yet! Rory, who's baby picture is in this film, co-stars in that upcoming Mel Gibson film, "Signs".)

Final rating: 5/10 "Your standard film. You can watch it once, but then move on with your life."

During the 1980's the Nickelodeon cable channel had great success with "Double Dare" with host Marc Summers. "Funhouse" was an attempt to copy that success in syndication. "Funhouse" was actually a good game show, at least for kids. It required them to do a lot of silly stunts and answer some easy questions. I remember J.D. Roth hosting that show. I also remember "Tiny" the announcer who looked like he weighed 300 lbs! The show ran for about 2 years, from the fall of 1988 to early 1990. Perhaps the Gameshow channel will show the reruns someday.

Final rating: 7/10 (For 80's children) "An enjoyable show. Not a classic, but it's not supposed to be".

'A lot of people say, 'what's that?!'...it's Pat. A ma'am or sir, a him or a her, whatever it may be. It's time for androgony...here comes Pat.'

Have you ever noticed that Orson Welles couldn't get funding for decades, and yet these SNL 'comedies' keep getting made?! Shame on Hollywood and shame on Lorne Michaels for inflicting these 'SNL-movies' on the world. The era of 1986-1994 (known as the Hartman-Carvey era) on SNL was the greatest of that show's history, and SNL was one of the greatest shows of all-time during that reign. With talent like the late Phil Hartman, the late Chris Farley, Dana Carvey, David Spade, Adam Sadler, Dennis Miller, oh yes...Mike Myers, Kevin Nealon, Ellen Cleghorne, Jan Hooks and others they were truly funny. That era includes Julia Sweeny and of all the skits during that reign, 'Pat' was probably the most famous. Well, at least after Myer's 'Coffee Talk'.

Now, I always liked the 'Pat' skits. I remember one with Harvey Keitel on a deserted island in particular. But after 6 or 7 minutes the whole joke of 'Is Pat a man or woman'...GETS OLD! How can anyone watch this for 80 minutes! "It's Pat" was such a disaster that it was pulled from it's microscopic theatrical release in 1994. When it came to video the following year, I remember one critic who said, 'It's a stinker beyond belief!'. Also, what the hell is Charles Rocket (another former SNLer) doing in this? He had a good role opposite Kevin Costner in the masterpiece, "Dances With Wolves" (1990). I've never seen an actor go from such a great film to such a bad one in such a short period of time. I guess he needed the money.

"It's Pat" is so bad it's actually funny. Sweeny's voice is funny in itself, but become extremely hard to listen to after a while. Chris Foley should be ashamed of himself too. Talk show hosts should humiliate him by dragging this footage out every time he does a show. I was laughing at this film, but NOT because it's an effective comedy. I was laughing because it's THAT BAD! "It's Pat" is truly a stinker beyond belief. It has to be seen to be disbelieved!

Final rating: 1/10 "Avoid at all costs! Unless your a film/screen writing student you can study this as 'Don't let this happen to you'."

I think I'll go vacuum under my sofa right now. (!)

The legendary film critic Pauline Kael (who passed on last summer) asked, "Is there a better working actor in America than Morgan Freeman?" (paraphrasing). Mr. Freeman in every role (even this one) is so commanding, believable with one of the best voices around...I just don't know why he keeps wasting his time on junk like this! Does he really need the money?

"Hard Rain" does have an excellent cast and some impressive set designs and effects. But it is so horribly written and cliché ridden it's distressing to see such a cast and budget wasted! When this film came out, Norm McDonald of SNL during the "Weekend Update" announced: "Christian Slater was temporarily released from prison so he could attend the premiere of his new film, "Hard Rain". After the first ten minutes, he was escorted back to jail." (!) In fairness, "Hard Rain" isn't THAT bad, but close enough.

Final rating: 5/10 A standard movie. You can watch it once, but then move on with your life."

(Trivia: The trailer for this film was released when "Titanic" first came out in December/January of 1997/1998. It was good, but it didn't help this film at the box office.)

I want to thank everyone else who wrote a commentary because it convinced me to rent this little gem. "The Other" (1972) was one of the best rentals I've had recently. I won't dare give away anything here, but if you haven't seen it do so at once! Don't be alarmed if you think the movie is going around in circles, it's not. You have to be pay attention but you won't be disappointed if you do. What impresses me the most is that this film doesn't employ any super-naturalism unlike all other films of this nature which makes it a wholly intelligent, believable and scary film.

Director-Producer Robert Mulligan is best known for the classic, "To Kill A Mocking Bird" (1962). His steady, no-nonsense direction makes this film work when it could have very easily gotten grotesque and silly. The photography is also beautiful and the acting is perfect. I do have a few minor complaints, but I won't spoil it for you. You may have to search for this film, but if you find it...SEE IT!

Final rating: 8/10 "Almost a classic. Only a few problems keep it from getting a higher rating."

I saw this movie while in a high school health class. The instructor thought so highly of it he said he would show it to all his classes no matter how dated it was, I see why! I haven't seen "Shattered Spirits" since 1995 on cable, but I remember it well. With the huge success of "The West Wing" and the reissue of "Apocalypse Now" perhaps Martin Sheen's star will get this movie back in the arena. This movie is about a hard working, reliable family man who has only one problem-drinking. It deals with the issue in a totally believable way. Sheen's 'family' consists of Melinda Dillion (the mom from "A Christmas Story"), Matthew Laborteaux (Albert from "Little House on the Prarie"), and Lukas Haas ("Witness"). Although it does reek of the mid 1980's, that won't matter. If you can find this on video, or if it ever shows up on TV somewhere...SEE IT! You won't regret it.

Final rating: 9/10 "A classic. No flaws or complaints from me, just doesn't have that 'special magic' to give it a full 10."

For years I've heard about this film, so I finally decided to watch it and I wasted a buck and two hours of my life! Bill Murray gives it his all (not surprising when you consider it was a do-or-die film vehicle for him) but even that's not enough. "Meatballs" is a complete relic of the late 1970's...it's almost funny just to see these fashions and listen to this music. I still can't get those child voices singing, 'Are you ready for the summer...' out of my head! Craig Kilborne of CBS last summer did a clever comedy piece when they announced, 'And now it's time for Craig to learn that the movie "Meatballs" has nothing to do with meatballs..."

Forget this film, if your looking for a great summer camp movie try to find "Poison Ivy" a 1985 TV movie starring, Michael J. Fox, Nancy McKeon, Robert Klein and Adam Baldwin. It's hard to find and not that great anyway, but "Meatballs" makes it look like a Billy Wilder film!

Final rating: 3/10 "A bad movie. Unless you have a very specific interest in this film, stay away from it."

Peter Hymans directed "2010" (1984) one of my favorite films over the years. I read many previous reviews here on this database so I went to rent it...I wish I hadn't! "Capricorn One" should be called "Crap/Corn 101" it's horribly dated with poor effects, lame characters and campy acting from people who should know better. It starts out promising enough, but goes awry and on and on with a terrible ending that leaves you wanting for something. "Capricorn One" is a relic of the late 70s' and should be viewed only as a historical oddity (ie: A pre-scandal O.J. Simpson, the then 'Mr. Barbra Striesand', Elliot Gould and the future 'Mr. Barbra Striesand', James Brolin together!).

Final rating: 4/10 "A below average movie. It may have some wonderful elements but on the whole I cannot endorse it."

Alfred Hitchcok said that the difference between a European film and an American film is that a European film can open with a shot of clouds, cut to a second shot of clouds, and cut to a third shot of clouds. If an American film opens with a shot of clouds by the second shot there must be an airplane and if by the third shot if the plane hasn't crashed the audience is bored. I believe Hitch said that around 40 years ago, further proving his genius. I am an American film fan. I follow Hollywood, major independents and major English language films. I'm not denigrating great European or non-English pictures, but I swear Hitch is right...all these European films I've seen, (even so-called 'masterpieces' like Fellini's "8 1/2"), are boring, meandering, non-sense. I just don't get it!

The one exception is Lasse Hallstrom's "My Life as a Dog" (1985). Maybe I'm just a sucker for these kinds of films, but I love this movie! I was browsing in my video store, looking for something different to rent. I was so desperate, I went to the 'foreign language' section and saw the box cover for this movie. Hallstrom was riding high from "The Cider House Rules" (1999) which I had just seen and didn't care that much for, but I did respect it, so I gave "Dog" a chance. For me, this movie played like a "Stand by Me", with subtitles. That's not a fair comparison, but like "Stand" it reminisces about a childhood life in the 50's. But I felt "Dog" was even more honest and accurate about children and the way they think and behave. I certainly will never know what it's like to live a life like Igmar's, but I did some similar things at that age. I won't spoil anything for you. If you liked "Stand By Me" or the TV series, "The Wonder Years" I think you'll like "My Life as a Dog" too. Although unlike those shows there's no voice-over narration here, which is good. As for the sexuality and such, I don't see this film endorsing anything negative at all. It's just presenting a realistic look about how curious children are, something I don't see an any Hollywood film or TV program, certainly.

Final rating: 8.25/10 "Almost a classic. Only a few minor flaws keep this from a higher rating."

I sometimes think "Dances With Wolves" and "JFK" were the two WORST possible things that could have happened to Kevin Costner. They're TOO great! With the exception of "Thirteen Days", he hasn't done one really good film since, ("The War" as okay-but that was more of an Elijah Wood film). I know a lot of people are down on Costner. Like Bruce Willis, Sly Stallone and of course John Revolta...err Travolta, they have done so many bad films people give up on them. But unlike those actors, Kevin Costner really does have great potential and true star quality, as much as any leading man Hollywood has ever had. He absolutely proves it with this great movie!

"Dances With Wolves" plays like an American "Lawrence of Arabia". It's flawlessly photographed, cast, paced with powerful and totally captivating ideals and performances. Many people dump on this film for it's alleged 'sermonizing'. Name me one major film that doesn't 'sermonize' to some extent though!

The fact that Alfred Hitchcock never won a best director Oscar, that fact alone, proves the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences fraudulent, (and just how did "Gigi" beat out "Vertigo" in 1958?). To say nothing about Orson Welles! I will never be a fan of the Oscars, but there are two exceptions when the Academy went out on a limb and really got something right in giving a film a bunch of awards. "Dances With Wolves" is one of those exceptions, (the other being 1984's "Amadeus" by Milos Forman). Everyone on Earth was expecting Martin Scorsese's "Godfellas" to run the table, and don't get me wrong...I LOVE "Goodfellas". It's one of the best films of the decade, but it doesn't have the rare texture, detail and rich feel that "Dances With Wolves" has.

If you haven't seen this film, don't believe all the negative talk from the other users here...go rent it at once, preferably the special edition which has much more to offer, but even if you can't find that version, see the regular anyway. It's one of only three movies of the entire 1990's I will give a full '10' to. It's THAT great!

Final rating: 10/10 "The rarest of all films. Not just a 'flawless masterpiece', but that kind of film you can enjoy for the rest of your life and never tire of."

As a child of the 1980's I remember this movie vividly, although I haven't seen it in years. Michael J. Fox, (right before "Back to the Future") and Nancy McKeon, ("The Facts of Life" still had 'life') were romantically linked. Robert Klein has always been an underrated comedian, Adam Baldwin has gone on to many film roles since, ("Independence Day", "Predator 2") and young Carey Guffy was the little tyke in the Spielberg classic "Close Encounters". The rest of the cast is good and so's the whole pacing of the nominal story, ("This is color war! Your friend could be your enemy!"). It's a curious little movie, although I doubt Mr. Fox would like it if some talk show host dragged the footage out! Forget "Meatballs", if you can find this on video or TV, (Ted Turner used to run this a lot during the summer as I remember), it will be worth your time. If you like summer camp films, that is.

Final rating: 6.75/10 "An above average film. Well made and enjoyable, but nothing to 'write home about' (get it?)."

Of course "AF1" has more plot holes than a Jerry Bruckheimer film, but watching this movie back in 1997 was one of the biggest cinema joys in recent years! "AF1" is a MUST for all Ford fans, as well as fans of action. Wolf Petersen is one of my favorite directors, he makes this movie 'take off' and really 'fly' with excitement. I also should say, Gary Oldman is probably the greatest working film actor today who has never been nominated for an Oscar, (as far as I know). I'm not saying "AF1" is 'Oscar material' but I'd rather watch this than something like "The Last Emperor". "AF1" may go down in my book as Harrison Ford's last great action role, so what if it's unbelievable?

Final rating: 8/10 "Almost a classic. It has it's flaws but is an otherwise very memorable film."

I'm not saying "Bugsy Malone" is a great movie, it isn't. But film fans, even those who hate musicals, (and there are many), should watch this. It's just SO BIZZRE! A film where everyone is under the age of 16. Alan Parker is one of the most gifted writer-director-producers of our time, it's odd he did this. I believe this was only his second movie, I wonder what it was like trying to direct all these kids!

On the plus side Baio is very suave, (this was before he threw away a promising film career to do TV), and I just love Martin Lev as Dandy Dan, one of my more favorite film villains. Most of the songs are good. My favorite is "We Could of Been Anything We Wanted To Be". If you need a movie to show kids someday-this is something to consider. I also wonder how may times Jodie Foster has been ridiculed by people for doing this thing? (Ala Tom Hanks in "Bossom Buddies"). Sorry Jodie, were not going to forget!

The one major problem with "Bugsy Malone" is the voice dubbing was done very poorly. It's a real distraction for me. I don't expect these kids to Frank Sinatras or Barbra Streisands anyway, so just let them do their own singing!

But, even if you hate this film, I can promise you this: you have never seen a film like this before!

Final rating: 7/10 "An very enjoyable, entertaining movie. Not a classic, but it's not supposed to be."

"Billy Elliot" plays like a cross between "The Full Monty" and "Saturday Night Fever" for kids. There's nothing really unique or special about this film except for one thing...the wonderful music of the late, great Marc 'T.REX' Bolan! (Notice my on-line name?) Just to hear five...FIVE songs of Bolan's in a movie was great joy. When "Get it On" came on...I almost cried! You see, Marc Bolan has been my only favorite musician for eight years now and I'm one of the few in the U.S. who knows anything more about him than "Get it On"! I have no complaints about this movie, like "The Full Monty" it's a little British film with great heart and care, well executed and Jamie Bell is a wonderful find, (please don't disappear from us, Jamie!). But it just doesn't do anything I haven't seen before. Still, I recommend this film , especially for kids, (don't be afraid of the 'R' rating parents-it's nothing your kids haven't heard before!) Thank you Mr. Dahldry!

"I love to boogie...on a Saturday night!" :)

Final rating: 8/10 (Only a 6/10 if it wasn't for the T.Rex music).