In April, May and August, 2002 I put up ratings for movies I'd watched each month. Here they are, collected in one place for you.
- Rated 1 Aug 2002:
- 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.
- Rated 27 May 2002:
- The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension: Ahh, the 80's. Good vs. Bad, with a brain-surgeon / rock-star as the hero. Buckaroo isn't really believeable as either a rock-star or a brain-surgeon, but suspension of disbelief makes this one work. Quirky. 7 of 10.
- Kiss of the Dragon: Okay, you've got Jet Li, who's supposed to be the hot new action star, and it's directed by Luc Besson, who also did the original Nikita and Léon (aka "The Professional"), both of which I enjoyed immensely. Jet's certainly a very good and fast martial artist, and probably much better than Jackie Chan. But Jackie's funny and that makes him a lot more fun to watch. It was still a very good movie, but I found that I'd rank it behind just about any of Jackie Chan's recent movies. With Besson directing, I should have known it would be moodier and darker, but I don't watch kick-flicks for moody and dark, I watch 'em for things like Roy O'Bannon saying
I may not know karate, but I know crazy.
6 of 10. - Showgirls:
Sleek seductiveness... a world of exoticism and danger!
says the big print on the back. I'm not sure I understand the NC-17 rating. It feels more like the same level of sex you see in the not-rated (soft-core) movies on late-night (non pay-per-view) cable. The plot is pretty weak, but there is one. Plenty of tits to be seen, but the movie didn't feel all that seductive or erotic. Just naked. Without all the good-looking nekkid chicks, I'd probably rate it a 3 or 4. Due to the nudity, I'll give it 5 of 10.
- Rated 28 Apr 2002:
- Swordfish: It's another hacker-adventure movie. The most notable thing about it is Halle Berry's tits. They're nice tits. John Travolta plays the bad-guy he's discovered he's good at. Hugh Jackman plays the quirky hacker. No great performances, not terribly technically accurate, but it's good mind-candy. 7 of 10.
- Rock Star: Marky-Mark plays a singer from a
tribute band
who ends up singing for the band they're covering. Up, down, good times, bad times. He finds himself in the end. It surprised me by being better than I expected, but my expectations were pretty low. I'd have probably rated it higher right after I saw it, but it left no real lasting impression. 5 of 10. - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure: Party on, dudes! 10 of 10.
- Jackie Chan is the Prisoner: It's nice to see a movie that gives Sammo Hung and Tony Leung prominent parts. But it ain't your typical Jackie Chan movie, and Jackie appears in less than a quarter of the movie. It's basically a Hong Kong version of Cool Hand Luke, and may appeal to some, but only if you're not expecting a Jackie Chan movie. I was. 2 of 10.
- Heat: With DeNiro and Pacino starring, I expected a decent movie. I got one. It's an crime/action flick. Heavy on the bullets. One of the few movies I didn't pause in the middle to get up and go check email or something. 9 of 10.
- Red Dawn: Wolverines! I liked it back in the 80s. I still like it. Kids fighting Russians (and Cubans and Nicaraguans) and winning. 9 of 10.
- Unbreakable: Huh! Bruce Willis almost plays his typecast
confused (or slightly dim) hero
. It's a superhero movie of sorts. If you thinkDark Knight
Batman, you won't be too far off. Dark, moody, atmospheric. If you like that sort of thing, it's a good movie. The other thing that writer/director (M. Night Shyamalan) did that I'd heard of was Sixth Sense. 7 of 10. - Gladiator: Swords. Blood. Fights. The only thing that disappointed me about this was that there were some longer scenes that were setting the mood which seemed to me to just slow the movie down. With a running time of 2 hours 35 minutes, I think it would have been a better movie at closer to 2 hours long. I still liked the movie, but there were a few times I wanted to tell Ridley Scott to just get on with it. 8 of 10.
- Lost Souls: Winona Ryder plays warrior (well, spriritual warrior) for God, saving a man from being inhabited by Satan. It's the first movie directed by Janusz Kaminski, and he still hasn't figured out pacing. It's a fairly predictable story, which doesn't help. 4 of 10.
- Sleepy Hollow: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, and Tim Burton directing. What's not to like? It's a horror/suspense/mystery/comedy. Oh, and Christopher Walken plays the headless horseman. 8 of 10.
- Slap Shot 2: If you liked the original, you'll probably like this one.
Old-time Hockey! Like Eddie Shore! Dit Clapper! And Toe Blake! And Gordie Howe!
There were enough homages to the original to keep me happy, even though it's not as good of a movie as the first one. Stephen Baldwin turns in a decent performance, but he's no Paul Newman. The woman coach didn't really seem to fit, other than as a romantic interest for Stephen Baldwin. Gary Busey's a bad guy (go figure). And it's got the Hansons. 7 of 10. It would make an 8 or 9 if you're a guy drinkin' beer. The guys at the Slap Shot Tribute don't agree. - Frantic: A Polanski thriller. It takes a while to get going, but turns into a pretty good movie. I end up madly in lust with Emmanuelle Seigner when I watch it. Harrison Ford plays the somewhat confused hero searching for his kidnapped wife. Arabs, Israelis, Americans and the French are all bad-guys, so there's something for everyone to hate. 6 of 10.
Well, there it is. Looking back on my ratings, I think anything I rated 6 or better left me feeling I'd gotten my money's worth. Rock Star, Jackie Chan is The Prisoner and Lost Souls didn't make the cut. The movies that got a 9 or a 10 are personal favorites, and I'll watch them more than a couple times. The 8s will probably merit a second viewing sometime down the road.