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ONE MILLION YEARS BC (1966): 7/10
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this after seeing it umpteen times as a kid and being rather bored. My general impression of films with Ray Harryhausen special effects is that they're great when the effects are on screen, but dull when they're not. On my recent viewing, I loved the Harryhausen animation, of course, but I was also strangely caught up in the (some would say ridiculous) surrounding story. What a great love story! Unfortunately, my DVD is the American version, which cuts out ten minutes of footage. Anyway, I liked it a lot, and the Mario Nascimbene score is absolutely wonderful, from the appropriately "rock-clacking" and "chalk on blackboard" percussion for the uncivilized Rock People to the sumptious love wailings of the more developed (indeed) tribe led by Raquel Welch.
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Posted: |
Jun 7, 2009 - 12:04 PM
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By: |
Greg Bryant
(Member)
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Dreams With Sharp Teeth (2007) 8/10.
Documentary on writer Harlan Ellison. Until someone writes a biography on Ellison, this will be the best you can get. Of course any autobiography Ellison writes will either be full of hyperbole, never get finished or both. And if anyone tries to write a biography of Ellison, he'll probably bite their head off, no matter whether it's an authorized or unauthorized biography.
That said, it was a very interesting look at what makes Ellison tick, with commentary from friends (he has/had a lot, including Robin Williams, Steve McQueen, and a ton of fairly famous people). Plus a lot of footage of Ellison himself from lectures, TV interviews, and cameras following him around.
The one thing I would have liked more depth on was his famous battles over his involvement in various TV series, including the rewriting of his Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever" (which is documented in a book published by Ellison in the 90's); The Starlost; and so on. We do get a few good anecdotes from Ellison, but given Ellison, we don't know how true they are - the other party is not given a chance to tell their side.
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Ben-Hur (1959) - 10/10
Foul Play (1978) - 8/10
Eragon (2006) - 4/10
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Posted: |
Jun 20, 2009 - 1:21 PM
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By: |
Greg Bryant
(Member)
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 3/10.
David Fincher makes certain kinds of movies very well. Unfortunately, this is not one of them. Can you say interminable? It took me almost four hours to get through this.
It seems like most of the movie was a gimmick, with Brad Pitt being mostly a special effect throughout. Mostly, I felt bored and unable to connect with this movie. I kept watching it, hoping it would get better, and being a Best Movie nominee, I felt that I should give it a chance. But no love here.
I gave it a 3, mainly for Alexandre Desplat's gorgeous score, and for the final ten or so minutes, when Daisy moves into the old folks home and takes care of the "aging" Benjamin.
BTW, what was the point of setting the present day scenes during Hurrican Katrina? It was as if they were trying to give it some sort of subtext, but then it's never explained.
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"Alice Doesen't Live Here Anymore" on TCM last night. I'd give it 8 out of 10 stars.
The realism of life in a restaurant / kitchen was lost in a lot of ways. It gets a hell of a lot crazier in those places than the film depicts. I didn't see sweat and grease and grime on the aprons of the kitchen cooks. The kitchen itself looked much too clean for such a high volume place during breakfast rush.
If you've ever worked in one of those shitholes, you'll know where I'm coming from.
The restaurant in the film reminds me of a place I once worked at except this joint was much worse and plum fuckin' insane.
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