CGarcia-2 Reviews

The Matrix (1999)

Great special effects does not a great movie make!

[6/10 · 3 January 2001]

What can be said about The Matrix that hasn't already been said about every other 90s MTV generation movie? You want special effects? You got it! You want action? You got it! You want violence? You got it! You want loud? You got it! You want characters you'll like? Um, look elsewhere! You want emotion in those characters? Um, look elsewhere! You want to root for the good guy? Um, look elsewhere! Let's face it. Today action movies rely on alot of bullets and computer generated effects, and acting is put on the back burner...Is it any wonder that most characters in the Matrix look and sound as if they got the typical Generation X labotomy before the cameras rolled? So robots are, yet again, at war with the humans who created them. I think The Terminator did it better, even a monotone Arnold shows more emotion than Keanu Reeves. The plot itself takes us into a dark world of reality that tells us our "real" world isn't real at all. Who would want to live in that dark world anyway? Why bother to fight the battle at all? I mean any logical person would rather live in this world we've been lied about, as opposed to the dark world that represents reality, and shows no hope for mankind. Something happened to motion pictures about 15 or 20 yrs ago. Fun science fiction programs like the original Star Trek, hammy acting, Romper Room props and all, made way for The Next Generation and brain dead acting, with the scripts to match...Somehow, society has been brainwashed into believing anything with great special effects is worthy of high praise. Sorry folks, I've been around for many yrs, and I know a classic when I see one. The Matrix is just more of the same, throw in a man vs. robot story, alot of gunfire, special effects and martial arts, and Hollywood will have another hit...They were right, but unfortunately, many of us have seen it all done much better before...Terminator's script blows away this rehash. The worst of the Bruce Lee movies gave us REAL kung fu magic(not some computer generated effects that mocks our intelligence). Next time, how about making us care about the characters a little, have a woman cry in a man's arms. Make us believe these people FEEL...Maybe then we'll find ourselves rooting for Keanu, instead of the robots.

6 stars out of 10. Mostly for special effects, that by now only contribute to put us to sleep.

Batman (1989)

Mean spirited Batman, so dark it seems they forgot to use lighting!

[4/10 · 19 December 2000]

The Batman TV Show was alot of fun, I used to watch it as a kid and feel Batman was my hero. Later, after I grew up, I saw the show again and loved the comedy around it, but ALWAYS it was fun, on both levels. Tim Burton's Batman is fun on no level. At moments it's way too violent to be fun, at others it's way too boring to be fun. Perhaps this version is what Bob Kane intended it to be, but as a fan, I don't like it at all, and yet it's still better than any of the sequels. For fun, just watch the old TV show, at least you can laugh, have a good time, check out all those cool props(Even the TV show Batmobile is far superior than this tank!) As for this movie, if you like a movie where you'll have to squint to see what's going on, and characters so drole you'll find yourself yawning...Give it a look. Oh and one more thing, Tim Burton was the wrong man to have been given the job of directing these movies. He likes to deal with freaks, and as a result focuses more on the characters around Batman, more than the caped crusader himself. Maybe he should've called this movie "The Joker".

Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990)

It's all been done before, and alot better...

[7/10 · 20 December 1999]

Jacob's Ladder is one of the most hyped up movie I've read about on the internet. Direct Adrian Lyne seems to enjoy in borrowing from other movies which have done it alot better...Take Fatal Attraction...Those who loved it probably never saw the Eastwood classic "Play Misty For Me"...And no, "Flashdance" was NOT a poor man's version of "Saturday Night Fever"...Jacob's Ladder is an overlong, pretentious character study along the lines of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", as well as "Carnival of Souls"...There's even an old episode of the Twilight Zone called "The Hitchhiker" that did it better...Sorry folks, but those of you who love Jacob's Ladder for it's originality, are probably too young to have seen the movies that did it all better...But that's ok, I know alot of people who used to call Brian DePalma a genius, because at the time Hitchcock's Rear Window, Vertigo and the Man Who Knew Too Much were not in public release...Watch the originals, then watch Jacob's Ladder again, look at all its inconsistencies, like Disco music from the late 70s played in 1972...Then ask yourself...Is this movie REALLY a classic like 2001? Or have we just been thrown everything and the kitchen sink, and then been asked to look at this as a classic? Even the new Bruce Willis movie "The Sixth Sense" did it better folks...and once again, though it was a good movie, it certainly doesn't merit "classic" status that the originals do.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

If you have no imagination, then you'll hate Blair Witch Project!

[8/10 · 27 September 1999]

I loved it...then again I'm 39 years old...I come from a generation where special effects in films were rare, and only used to emphasize a part of the story...Today if a movie doesn't have computer effects, it can't scare you...well guess what? Computer effects put me to sleep...but I thank god for my imagination, it makes me appreciate this little psychological horror film for the mini classic it is...I bet most people here who are ridiculing BWP probably have never heard Orson Welle's radio broadcast of War of the Worlds...and if you DID hear it, you probably thought it was boring, made you fall asleep...I pity today's culture because you have all been brainwashed by Hollywood into believing good horror=great computer effects...No...I do something called "thinking", that's how I decided Hollywood's computer MTV Exorcist ripoff "Stigmata" stunk, while the Exorcist WAS scary...why? It's a thinking man's film...so is Blair Witch Project, the best Indy horror film of the 90's...oh and to those who think Evil Dead was the greatest thing since sliced bread...think again, it's just a bad ripoff of the Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with alot more gore....gore isn't scary...a thinking movie is...Kudos to everyone involved with the Blair Witch Project...You guys took me back to when horror movies WERE scary!

Stigmata (1999)

Terrible ripoff of The Exorcist!

[1/10 · 10 September 1999]

When will Hollywood finally learn that special effects no longer scare? In this the summer where the legend of a witch scared audiences to the tune of $150 million, along comes another Hollywood dud...This movie TRIES to scare us the way The Exorcist truly did, 25 yrs ago...it fails miserably...I have to give the movie just 1 star because unoriginality needs a great story to merit more stars....With Stigmata we get a bad ripoff of a great horror movie, done with no style...and of course LOTS of great computer effects! (YAWN)

Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990)

Flawed but interesting experimental film!

[7/10 · 8 September 1999]

Jacob's Ladder is a visual experiment along the lines of the short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"...While the movie does take you places we wouldn't ordinarily be going in a typical Hollywood contemporary horror film, my problems with the movie deal with it's inconsistencies...The biggest one being...if the movie is a flash forward from the Vietnam era(late 60's-early 70's), why do we hear disco music when it hadn't been introduced until much later in the decade? This is the problem I have with the movie...it's one thing to have a story about a drug trip, but to throw everything at you and answer away any inconsistencies by saying "Well he was high when it was happening"...sorry, I don't by that...do some more research before shooting begins guys! Oh yeah... look for McCauley Culkin to make an appearance towards the end of the movie.

The Children (1980)

A truly bad, camp classic that entertains!

[2/10 · 8 September 1999]

I remember seeing The Children when it first came out around 1980...Even back then it was cheesy to say the least...It tries to be creepy in the way Village of the Damned was, but fails miserably...The acting is pretty bad and I actually remember having a great time because of it...I can't give it just 1 star because it's too entertaining a movie to fall into the "awful" category...those black fingernails on the kids...the hugs that produce that nuclear smoke, and the hysterical reactions of the adults they hug make this movie a baddie classic...look for my favorite bad acting line in the movie..."Sheriff you shot a dead dog!" 1980 winner of the Ed Wood entertainment film award in my book!

Vertigo (1958)

Probably the most beautifully haunting movie ever made!

[10/10 · 5 September 1999]

Vertigo is one of those masterpieces that you either get, or you don't...If you get it, like I do, you will find yourself watching it over and over, discovering new shots within shots, subplots, and falling deeper in love with Kim Novak upon each viewing...This movie makes me wish I lived back in the 50's, when everything looked like a dream...the cars, the scenery, the landscape, the costumes...Vertigo is a timeless classic that you can admire over and over...Kind of like going to a museum and staring at "Portrait of Carlotta" time and time again!

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The best horror movie of 1999, and it DIDN'T come out of Hollywood...thank god!

[8/10 · 26 August 1999]

What can you say about The Blair Witch Project that hasn't been said about such pioneer, breakthrough horror movies such as Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist or Texas Chainsaw Massacre...Simply put, the movie is an "accidental" work of genius...Yes I know the directors came up with this plot, but when you consider the fact that the actors were not only acting, but improvising the storyline along the way, while also being the camera people, sound people and lighting people for the project...that simply makes this movie the most brilliant independent horror movie ever to be made...Only time will see this movie as such, however...take a look at the list of movies we call "classics" today, and see how many of them were hated by critics when they first came out...Fantasia, Vertigo, Psycho, 2001 A Space Odyssey...the list goes on...The sad part of the story isn't so much how many people hate The Blair Witch Project, as it is the fact of WHY they hate it...It doesn't spoonfeed the horror to you...If you need Hollywood special effects to come at you and go BOO in order to scare you, then Blair Witch is not for you...If you have an open mind, and like to use your imagination, then you will love it...Unfortunately, most of today's audience might just not get it...this isn't their own fault, however, since Hollywood has been feeding the audiences so many bland computer effects for the past few years, that today's kids never really learned what REAL horror is all about...I look at it this way...If having a camera aimed at someone who's listening to Orson Welles' 1939 broadcast of "War of the World" would intrigue you, then you will definitely love The Blair Witch Project, since its mental stimulation goes far more than any movie made today...However, if you're the type who says "War of the World", Yuck....then forget it...Blair Witch Project relies on us using our imaginations, and allowing us to "think" about the horror..."what isn't seen is alot scarier than what is", something that Hollywood forgot along time ago, and unfortunately has desensitized today's audience into becoming nothing more than living robots, not able to use their own minds anymore.

Vertigo (1958)

My favorite movie of alltime!

[10/10 · 25 August 1999]

I have seen ALOT of movies in my life, but none have moved me the way Vertigo has...It's simply brilliant...the more times one views it, the more one picks up from it...a true masterpiece from the master himself...When I think Vertigo, I think the colors red and green...when I think Vertigo I think obsession with love, and the film itself...This movie is so deep that you could write a thesis on it and keep adding to it from time to time...Hitchcock really gave his all in this picture...it's about the ultimate love...wanting to achieve the ultimate love, and, as happens in life, never having love turn out to be the way we want it to be...all star performances by Stewart, Novak and Bel Geddes make this visually stunning masterpiece a true film classic...Newly restored, the DVD version simply blows you out of the water....I have seen the movie about 20 times now, and everytime I love it more...Vertigo is the ultimate cult film for me, as I keep going back to it more and more...considering it's dark storyline, it must be a glut for punishment, but Hitch only keeps me wanting more....10 stars...only because I can't give it 100 stars!