I was sick in early July, and that led to another bout of movie-watching while I laid around feeling miserable. Here's the reviews:
- Apocalypse Now (1979) - This is a movie I've liked since I first saw it on the big screen at theSkyway Theater in 1982 (before they chopped it into multiple smaller screens). It's a powerful movie, and there's plenty of violence, both implied and explicit. I still like the movie, but watching it on the tube is nothing like watching it on a truly big screen. 8 of 10.
- Big Lebowski, The (1998) - The Coen brothers take on bowling. Er, sorta. Roger Ebert calls it a
genial, shambling comedy about a human train wreck.
Yeah, maybe it's not quite as good of a movie as Fargo (their previous movie) was, but it's still a damn fine movie. Jeff Bridges does a great job as The Dude. Don't expect a nice linear plot - as with The Dude's day-to-day life, there's not always a clear progression. But as The Dude says,Fortunately, I'm adhering to a pretty strict, uh, drug, uh, regimen to keep my mind, you know, uh, limber.
9 of 10. - Roman Holiday (1953) - It's pretty rare that I'll actually watch a whole movie on cable, rather than on DVD. Saw this on one of the classic movie channels and fell in love with Audrey Hepburn. But I'm not the only one. In this romantic comedy, she's pretty alluring. Gregory Peck does a good job of starting out crusty and falling in love with her. Lovable rogue? Dunno, the guy's got smoove. 9 of 10.
- Single White Female (1992) - It's a disturbing movie about a disturbing chick. It's pretty good as that sort of movie goes, but I guess I'm just not entranced with the "psychological thriller" genre. I was pretty entranced while watching it, and definitely got my money's worth, but I don't know as I'll watch it a second time, so even though it deserves better, it only gets a 6 of 10.
- Entrapment (1999) - Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. They're both fun to watch, and I generally like action-adventure movies. The plot's not so much thin, as implausible, but the action is well-done and as I said, it's fun to watch them on-screen. There's the obligatory hints of romance, too. But it was basically good-looking mind-candy. No real problem with that, but I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough, so it only gets a 5 of 10.
- Magnificent Seven, The (1960) - The Seven Samurai as a western. I'm a sucker for clear-cut good vs. bad movies, and this doesn't dissapoint. But there are some twists to the characters that make it even more enjoyable. 9 of 10.
- Cast Away (2000) - Well, it's pretty much all Tom Hanks, all the time. He's all alone on an island, and if you don't like Tom Hanks, you won't like the movie. But I kinda do like him. The ending was a little off, though. It just squeaks out an 8 of 10.
- Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - I don't remember how old I was when I first saw Dog Day Afternoon. Not much more than 13, I think. The movie's got a few twists, and a lot of compelling scenes from Pacino. The vague memory of those drew me in again, but the bank-robbery gone wrong just didn't seem as powerful this time around. Dunno. 7 of 10.
- Army of Darkness (1993) - I'm a sucker for Bruce Campbell, and this movie is a big part of the reason why. The third movie in the Evil Dead trilogy, it's the first of them that I saw, and I think I like it the best. But that's probably because it's less of a horror movie than a slapstick comedy, and that's what BC is good at. Fantasy-action-adventure-horror-comedy, now there's a genre! 8 of 10.
- Shanghai Noon (2000) - A fine Jackie Chan buddy-movie, this time set in the old west. A fair number of fight scenes, a good quantity of comedy, and a guy goes away happy. Yeah, there's a certain amount of mind-candy to it, but sometimes that's just what a guy needs. I'm giving it a 9 of 10.
- Logan's Run (1976) - A pretty cool science fiction movie for its time. And then along came Star Wars, and Logan's Run has been relegated to the bargain bins at the video store. It's probably got more meat to it than Star Wars, but I can't say that it's as enjoyable. It's still a good movie, but it probably won't see heavy rotation in the DVD player, and that's part of what I'm basing my ratings on. 6 of 10.
- Mad Max (1979) - In the late 90s they finally released the version with the original Australian dialog in the US. Now it's available on DVD. Cool! My biggest gripe with the movie was always the crappy dubbing of American voices on the movie, and that's been fixed. Tons of implied violence, but almost none actually shown. There's a good amount of suspense, too. And some pretty cool auto and motorcycle stunts. 10 of 10.
- The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) - Another master-thief and insurance adjuster movie (like Entrapment), but this time with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. Tough call as to which leading couple is better between the two movies. And after having watched both of them, I think Entrapment suffers by comparison. Brosnan gets to do some cool stunts, and Rene Russo plays a good sexy (as opposed to Zeta-Jones' beautiful). Roger Ebert liked Entrapment more, I think I like Crown more, in spite of having seen the chopped-up-for-broadcast version, rather than the real movie. 6 of 10.
- Also see the rest of Dave's Movie Ratings for movies I watched in other months.