catplace88 Reviews

Up (2009)

Almost perfect if not for:

[9/10 · 7 June 2009]

The dogs! They kept this thing from being perfect. It was magical and original until those dogs showed up. Then we got the bad humor found in all the awful Madagascar/Ice Age stuff (at least they didn't break out some C&C music factory rubbish). Plus it was asking too much to suspend our belief that this man figured out how to make a dog translator (and taught dogs how to cook dinner and fly planes)-- yet didn't seem to invent anything else on that level. MAYBE if we found him to be some sort of Captain Nemo-esc genius with all these other gadgets and such in his lair... but everything else he had was antiquated. On top of that, why was he still alive and physically superior to our 78-year-old protagonist who was obviously much younger than he? It's like they had it all done and some exec screened it; saying "can you add some humor and action in there for the lowest common denominator video game mentality crowd?".

Other than that, it was beautiful. The first 20 minutes or so of it was so amazingly wonderful I found myself tearing up. I teared up at the end as well. But most of the middle "action" part was tired.

Nevertheless, Pixar is the golden goose every year. I'd follow them off a cliff.

Bush's Brain (2004)

Worth seeing

[23 August 2004]

While this documentary is quite interesting and revealing, it does sort of jump around a bit and lacks clarity and bullseye blame on some of Rove's nefarious deeds.

What is most bizarre is they abandon the flow for awhile to concentrate on one soldier's fate in Iraq. In the wake of the administration's misleading information, I'm sure they wanted us to feel the sting of loss of a real person as opposed to just "another soldier dead"... but why just this one "random" fellow? At first, I thought it may have been one of Rove's relatives or something. But it wasn't. It suddenly felt like someone changed the channel to another documentary.

Having said that though, this is definitely worth seeing as the election looms.

My Dinner with Andre (1981)

Kill me

[20 August 2004]

I always wanted to see this movie because I thought it was the best idea for one. I expected some great mixture of philosophy and humor. I was hoping for some sort of Woody Allen goes to dinner with Jesus flick and battles out the meaning of life or relgion or whatever in a unique funny clever way.

What I got was one of the biggest beatings of my life. Andre was just the sort of dimestore philosopher that I dread hearing at the table behind me; laughing at himself; thinking people would be shocked by his ribald experiences eliciting courtesy smiles. For Andre, it was a one-way me-fest conversation of generic find-yourself crap (meditating/India/the "beehive") that made me want to just pull out a revolver and smack a bullet through my brain pan.

I'm sorry, but after the first 45 minutes, it was either suicide or turning the thing off. I'm still alive... thus I did a rare thing and didn't finish a flick (I only have done that to "ARMAGEDDON" so far).

Fortunately I had the genius "CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS" as a back up that night; followed by "Inherit the wind".

Treasure of Matecumbe (1976)

Even "SONG OF THE SOUTH" looks more releasable than this flick

[22 April 2004]

They'll never release this again. I bought it used on video... but I can see no DVD for it ever. First of all, no one wants it. It is badly acted (except of course the great Peter Ustinov's character) and not exciting or interesting. The main female lead, rest her soul, had the most horrible attempt at a "southern accent" I've heard. There is a dance scene on the dock with some tough guys that makes you want to put a gun to your head too. It feels like a 1970's TV movie big time. Even though it is supposed to be taking place during the reconstruction... the opening credit music just ignores that and goes with some Godawful "Matecumbe" song that sounds straight out of 1976. Also, Vic Morrow opens the film by asking "where's you blacks?" referring to the plantation owners' former slaves. He then shortly thereafter shoots the former slave that night. Usually in Disney flicks, they shoot at someone but always miss. This guy just layed there and died! In addition to that, this is the only Disney movie that has the Ku Klux Klan in it. All this may sound interesting, but it isn't. It is a lousy movie at best.

Radio (2003)

Thank goodness for films like this...

[26 January 2004]

OK, first I'll say that yes, the whole movie felt a little like a simple

Hallmark channel film. The characters' roles were painfully easy

to read (i.e.- that banker guy was the obligatory anti-"Radio"

element and Coach Jones' relationship problems with his

daughter were brutally obvious).

BUT having said that (and I'm sure I could bag on more of it), let's

hope that children see this film. It's simplicity helps to make it

easy to follow for them. Somewhere in the middle of all the junk

that today's kids see... whether through videogames or some

godawful movie like "Torque" or "Fast and the Furious"(and I don't

knock this stuff because of cussing or violence... they are just real

mindless pieces of garbage)... it is glorious to know that a warm

film like "RADIO" is out there for them.

If we could all help and care about others the way that Coach

Jones did for "RADIO", what a beautiful world it would indeed be.

The Civil War (1990)

You'd have to hate history a whole lot... not to love this

[5 November 2002]

Burns takes cold facts and gives them human warmth. He takes stiff-looking b&w pictures of men in their long beards... long dead... and brings a light of personality to them. It's more than just the numbers and the maps... it's the human side of it. There is a wonderful familiarity across time to the outakes of letters and quotes. We realize that these people were very much like ourselves, yet thrown into another window of opportunity and time on earth.

The main reason, though, I feel that this documentary is so powerful is because not only was it glorious for the already-converted CIVIL WAR buffs... but it converted the non-converted... and THAT is the best one could hope for from a film of this nature.

Thank you Mr. Burns ("Ken"... not "Montgomery")

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Love/Hate relationship with LUCAS

[23 May 2002]

I just saw this thing yesterday (and I'm still confused as to what they're fighting for), but so far this is my opinion:

WHAT I LOVED:

1. Ewan McGregor made/saved this movie. Obi-Wan is becoming my favorite character now. It's James Bond meets Jesus.

2. All the flying/chase/fighting sequences in this movie really blew me away. I felt like I was right in the middle of it. The industrial design/special FX of the different environments was, for the most, part absolutely amazing.

3. Even thought Frank Oz's voice still makes me think of "Fozzy Bear", the new CG (and therefore less "muppety") Yoda works wonderfully for me. And it was good to see him show us why he is the "Jedi Master" in this film.

4. Christopher Lee as "Dooku" was amazing. I wish he could have been the Emperor/Darth Sidius. Now that he and Cushing are part of STAR WARS lore, I only wish Vincent Price could have been too.

5. Samuel L Jackson got to say "the party's over" and you know what, it worked for me. If anyone else said it, it wouldn't have worked.

WHAT I HATED:

1. What made me cringe first, was that 50's diner where Obi-Wan went to ask about the origins of Jango's dart. There are certainly very-coincidental parallels to our galaxy found within the Star Wars galaxy (Library with stereotypical Librarian and busts of Authors for one), but come on, George! A chrome and red diner!... with electronic blues music too!!... and that sassy waitress droid?!!

2. The second and recurring problem was the terrible and forced "let's make 'em fall in love" script for Padme and Anakin. That was really hard to watch. Think back to how Leia and Han finally kissed... it felt right... it felt like it was time. Han and Leia also had plenty of time together with bickering arguments. That tension was going to lead to some kind of emotion; whether it was love or hate. And whether you agree with that or not, Portman and Christensen both acted like they had no souls, no humor, no nervousness, (maybe that works for the future "Darth Vader", but Padme?). Maybe it was the script too, but outside of possibly being sexually attracted to each other, they had no reason to kiss yet.. let alone say "I love you". It's not like they ever did anything for each other (risked their lives etc.); showing their true love or devotion... or really spent a considerable amount of time together. I guess they just had to "shoe-horn" their marriage in there so that they could eventually have Luke and Leia. What a shame. I'm not saying they couldn't fall in love, but just standing around in flowers for a few days...

3. Although C3PO actually did make me laugh as he was accidentally forced into the droid army, when I heard him say "what a drag" (on his head being dragged by R2) and "I'm beside myself" (on his head being layed next to his "headless" body), I thought "what the hell is that?". That was horrible! Why, George? Why?

Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

Square-Jawed Stiff

[15 May 2002]

This movie seems to start and stop without cause or resolution. What the hell is the point of this thing? The soundtrack has terrible lyrics in it that remind me of some "Wilderness Family" movie for kids. It felt like some bad made-for-TV movie. Redford is such a stiff too. He has no soul, no happiness, no sorrow. He just sits there with his hair and looks at us... oh yeah... and kills a truck-load of "savage" black-foot indians. His short-lived family doesn't work. They quickly try to show scenes of affection before they get killed, but who cares?

Years later, another movie with another "square-jawed stiff" came out called "7 years in Tibet". I hate the fact that I've wasted hours of my life watching both of these bore-fests.

A Dog of Flanders (1999)

WORST EVER

[5 December 2001]

I never thought I could come to such a ultimate decision about a film, but I can, without a doubt, say that THIS IS THE WORST FILM I HAVE EVER SEEN.

It is masterfully bad. One has to do a fantastic job of walking the fence just right between something being great and amusingly terrible like a Ed Wood film. This thing does neither. It stagnates in a threshold between the two and produces a lukewarm saccharin nothing. I can't even start to list the layers upon layers of reasons that this flick is a complete mess... even for children. It is done horribly. I would be interesed to see what Jack Warden, Cheryl Ladd, or John Voight actually thought of it once they screened it.