Title: Rock, The
Year: 1996, Color
Run Time:
Genre/Sub/Mix: Action, Espionage
Era: Modern Era
Grade Catagory: Big Budget (70 Million)
Cast: Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, and Ed Harris
Director: Michael Bay
Plot: A chemical expert for the FBI (Cage) is called in to help with a raid against a terrorist
group led by a highly decorated Colonel (Harris). Harris is trying to get Washington to
compensate the families of sol-diers killed in the Gulf War. To carry out his threat he has stolen
some very volatile chemical warfare missiles, and threatens to fire them into the heart of San
Fransisco. His stronghold is non-other than the island penitentiary of Alcatraz. In order to get
into Alcatraz the FBI acquires the help from the only man who ever escaped "The Rock", an ex-British Secret Service Agent (Connery). Let the Action commence.
Critique: Beautifully photographed. Lots of action and fun. The story is good, and the film
works on building action. Cage is excellent, and I will be the first to yell Best Actor Nomination.
Components:
PC: 8.6 (B+)
CA: 8.9 (A-)
MS: 8.5 (B+)
DE: 9.3 (A)
CS: 9.5 (A)
Critical Grade: 9.0 (A-)
Final Word: The film is very good. It is built very well. The mood of the film is as tough as the
rock itself. Go see Cage. He is perfect. Connery is his same old greatness.
Final Grade: A-
Title: Song is Born, A
Year: 1948, Color
Run Time: 113 minutes
Genre/Sub/Mix: Musical, Comedy, Romance
Era: Golden Era
Grade Category: Mainstream
Cast: Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Benny Goodman, and Louis Armstrong
Director: Howard Hawkes
Plot: A naive Professor of Music (Kaye) falls in love with a beautiful bar singer (Mayo), and that
creates trouble for him because her boyfriend is a gangster. When she tries to use Kaye, by
seducing him, he inadvertently thinks she wants to marry him. When the gangster boyfriend gets
wind of this, he decides to use it to his advantage as an escape route for his girlfriend. Mayo
winds up falling for Kaye, and it s up to Kaye and his professor friends (includes Goodman and
Armstrong) to help foil the gangster s intentions.
Critique: The film is very funny. It is an enjoyable piece of work. The musical interludes do not
take the viewer away from the plot. Kaye is enjoyable and his character has a friendly yet
sophisticated manner. Mayo is beautiful. The film has a certain bit of maturity, especially during
some scenes with Mayo and Kaye, and it some times catches you off guard because of the year the
film was released. Kaye calls himself an "ass", and Mayo is not only beautiful, but hot.
Components:
PC: 8.1 (B)
CA: 8.8 (B+)
MS: 8.8 (B+)
DE: 9.2 (A-)
CS: 8.1 (B)
Critical Grade: 8.6 (B+)
Final Word: The film is recommended, because it is fun, and Mayo is a sight. To also see all
those musical greats in one film is something to be cherished also.
Final Grade: A-
Title: Spy Hard
Year: 1996, Color
Run Time: 96 minutes
Genre/Sub/Mix: Comedy, Spoof, Police
Era: Modern Era
Grade Catagory: Big Budget
Cast: Leslie Nielsen, Andy Griffith and Nicollette Sheridan
Director: Rick Friedberg
Plot: A spy named Dick Steele (Nielsen) is called out of retirement, to try and stop a madman
(Griffith) from destroying the world. Steele is aided by a beautiful woman (Sheridan), as she tries
to save the life of her scientist father. The film spoofs many films such as "True Lies", "Speed" and
"Pulp Fiction".
Critique: This film does not compare to the first two "Naked Gun" films, but it is much better
than the third one. It has some recycled over-done jokes, but it still holds its own. Nielsen and
Griffith are the only viable attributes to the cast. I don t care how hot the women in the film are,
their characters are pointless. I was not bored, but I did feel that this form of Zucker-Bros-type
film has hit an end.
Components:
PC: 7.2 (C)
CA: 6.7 (C-)
MS: 7.4 (C+)
DE: 8.4 (B)
CS: 8.6 (B+)
Critical Grade: 7.7 (B-)
Final Word: I recommend the film because of Nielson. He makes the film work. If he was not
there it would be a waste of time. Unless you like this sort of comedy, than do not bother. If you
can handle it than see it.
Final Grade: B-
Title: Twister
Year: 1996, Color
Run Time: 127 minutes
Genre/Sub/Mix: Action, Disaster
Era: Modern Era
Grade Catagory: Big Budget
Cast: Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton and Cary Elwes
Director: Jan DeBont
Plot: A Storm Chaser (Paxton) returns to his mid-western home to locate his ex-wife (Hunt), and
have her sign their divorce papers. She, her father being a victim to an F-5 tornado, is also a
Chaser, and she talks Paxton into one last chase. This final chase will enable them to use their
new tornado analyser perfectly named Dorothy. This amazing machine sends hundreds of tiny
orbs into the funnel to study and compute how a tornado works. Another competing chaser
(Elwes), has stolen the idea for Dorothy, and both teams race to see who can analyse the first
tornado ever, and be a hero in history. A few renegade storms, and many tornadoes enter the
picture to destroy their plans.
Critique: This film contains amazing special effects. The action is great and the terror is very
evident. Hunt and Paxton do very well. The rest of the cast do fine jobs also. The film is not
boring, but the plot is very weak and can t hold much wind, until the tornadoes come. Many
holes are found in the script, and you find yourself guessing ahead of time what will happen.
DeBont did a much better job on "Speed".
Components:
PC: 6.8 (C-)
CA: 8.6 (B+)
MS: 7.6 (C+)
DE: 8.8 (B+)
CS: 9.9 (A+)
Critical Grade: 8.3 (B)
Final Word: Go see the movie for the action, terror, special effects, Hunt and Paxton, and the
biggest star of them all the Tornadoes. It is an incredible sight. Do not however look for a story. Snore!
Final Grade: B
Title: Under Seige II: Dark Territory
Cast: Steven Seagal and Eric Bogosian
Director: Geoff Murphy
Genre: Action
Plot: The sequel to Under Seige has military cook/ex-navy seal, Casey Rayback (Seagel) riding on
a train with his neice, when terrorists take over the train with a stolen top secret computer. This
computer con-trols a very dangerous satelite that has capabilities of destroying anything, by using
the properties based on an earthquake. The leader of the group (Bogosian) threatens to destroy
the Pentagon, and Rayback has to stop them alone.
Critique: Lot of exciting action. Bogosian is a great techno-computer genius psycho. He
incorpor-ates humor with megaolomania in fine fashion.
Poor effort in finding a different script for this film, compared to the first film.
Components:
PC:
CA:
MS:
DE:
CS:
Critical Grade:
Final Comment: The complaint I had for Die Hard with a Vengence , in which I
felt they went too far away from a good formula is used wrong also, but in the other direction.
The film is a blatant carbon copy of the first film, only it takes place on a train. The same things
happen in this film that happened in the first one. He gets stuck in a meat locker, he picks up an
untrained side kick who is kicking some ass by the end of the film, he gets in a knife fight, and
many other things are the same. It really killed the film because I knew what was going to
happen. They stayed too close to the first script. However, the film was still fun, Bogosian really
helped things along, and it had some excitement, and that was good, because I still felt entertained
in a way, even though, it felt like I just saw this the night before on video tape, which I did
because I rented the original the night before.
Grade: B-
Title: Untouchables, The
Year: 1987, Color
Run Time: 119 minutes
Genre/Sub/Mix: Drama, Action, Gangster, Historical
Era: Modern Era
Grade Catagory: Big Budget
Cast: Kevin Cosner, Sean Connery, Robert DeNiro and Andy Garcia
Director: Brian De Palma
Plot: This is the story of Al Capone (DeNiro) and Elliot Ness (Cosner), as they waged their
Prohibition war against each other. Ness needs help and he gets it from a semi-retired, Irish beat
cop named Malone (Connery). They form a team (with Garcia) named the Untouchables, and
learn that not only do they have to fight Capone, but the currupted Cop infested hell hole known
as Chicago.
Critique: This may well be one of the greatest gangster movies ever made. DePalma s direction
is fan-tastic. The camera work, the editing, the pacing, the intensity, along with the music make
this a heart pounding action thriller, as well as a little taste of history. DeNiro makes you
speechless, Connery is his normal greatness, and Cosner puts up a very good piece of work.
Components:
PC: 9.2 (A-)
CA: 9.5 (A)
MS: 9.0 (A-)
DE: 9.9 (A+)
CS: 9.8 (A+)
Critical Grade: 9.5 (A)
Final Word: This film is so good in that, it puts you into Prohibition-Era Chicago. It puts you at
the crime scene, and with the action, and with the blood. See it if you haven t already, and feel
the pulse-pounding action, and learn something too.
Final Grade: A
Title: Village of the Damned
Year: 1995, Color
Run Time: 98 minutes
Genre/Sub/Mix: Horror, Macabre
Era: Modern Era
Grade Category: Mainstream
Cast: Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley and Mark Hamill
Director: John Carpenter
Plot: Based on the book "The Midwich Cuckoos", and also a remake of the 1960 film, Village of
the Damned, this macabre horror film really keeps your eyes open. The story begins in a small
town, and
one day all the town people pass out. No one knows what happens during those few hours, but
days later, many women of the town are pronounced pregnant. Nine months later, the babies are
born. When the children grow a few more years, this is when hell on earth begins. The town
doctor (Reeve) has no idea what is going on, until the mysterious female scientist (Alley) explains
to him her job. The chidren poss- ess a certain kind of telekenesis, and reap havoc across town.
The town preist (Hamill) feels they are the Devil s children themselves.
Critique: Carpenter returns to his old form. He shows momments of brilliance, much like in the
old days of Halloween (and II) and The Thing. The film is scarry, and not too gory, even though
Carpenter was always good at using gore and blood at strategic areas, and never really over
burdened us with it. He uses great camera work as well. The children picked for the film were
perfect. It did not put me asleep and trust me I was tired. There are a few slow points. Alley s
character I felt was pointless. Some of the military scenes were a little bit silly and unbeleivable. Alley s office(?) looked like the office for my vetenarian. The film works. Some of the acting
and storyline is a bit average, but I had fun nevertheless. Kirstie alley should stay out of horror
films, and Carpenter s interpretation helps to save a hills and valleys script.
Components:
PC: 5.9 (D)
CA: 6.5 (C-)
MS: 7.0 (C)
DE: 8.5 (B+)
CS: 8.0 (B-)
Critical Grade: 7.2 (C)
Final Grade: C+