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Reviews
Shrek (2001)
They've actually done it! A movie with *genuine* magical powers!
Concerning "Shrek", I have just this to say:
~~ Imagine yourself to be a person who's been really, *REALLY* sick for a really long time. Imagine that you usually spend thirty minutes or better just cranking up the will power to get up out of bed. This is on a good day; on a bad one, it might take an hour and a half or even longer. You watch LOTS of movies, cartoons, etc., trying to get your mind off your illness (the symptoms are sort of hard to describe; something like a cross between Siberian Death Flu and Radiation Poisoning, but less pleasant).
~~ With VERY few exceptions, your reaction to just about all of them is absolutely zip -- nada. Some cause reactions too scary to talk about; like the kind that produce a "Right -- that's it. Where'd I put that gun? On second thought, forget it. I feel too bad to look for it" sort of response.
~~ Then -- one *particularly* not-nice day -- the kind you want to take back to the store and get a refund on -- a friend drops by unexpectedly and hands you a VHS of "Shrek". "Check this out," says he. "Got a couple of snickers out of this last night."
~~ Within, say, twenty minutes, you find there's a serious possibility your friend has just uttered the Understatement Of All Universes. Your first clue of this comes when you are laughing so hard that your cola beverage goes down the wrong way and you're interrupted for a bit, trying pretty hard to find some spare oxygen somewhere.
~~ After you've finished un-choking yourself to death, and rewind a bit to catch whatever you missed while the suffocation thing was going on, comes the second clue: Pretty shortly, when you're again laughing so hard you realise you're in serious danger of tearing something up in there permanently, your voice gives a final "wHAAAAaaaa..aa..." -- and that's it. You're still laughing; but the only sound you now get is weird, almost inaudible noise -- something like "Heeerr... Heeerrrr", while you're rolling on the floor.
~~ And then -- it's over. But guess what ...? Despite the possibly permanently fragged voice, you are feeling *MUCH* better!! Better than you've felt in many weeks!
~~ Well then -- cease straining your imagination. Because that's almost exactly the effect "Shrek" had on me... well, not the part about rolling on the floor. There's not enough available floor space in my bedroom for that, unless I happened to be the size of a laboratory rat.
~~ It's twenty-four hours later -- and I'm STILL feeling better! But -- er -- there's just one thing: "Shrek 2004"?!? You mean I have to wait THREE YEARS before the sequel to the ONLY movie that has made me feel just a *whole lot* better is produced!?!
~~ (Groan).
The Iron Giant (1999)
Life-Changing
** You will almost certainly *never* be the same after watching this movie. However you may have felt when you began watching it will be altogether different when the film is over. It changes nearly all one's perspectives. ** And -- it simply makes one feel very, very good. ** This is, to put it bluntly, the sort of movie they simply DO NOT make enough of. Period.
The Iron Giant (1999)
Life-Changing
** You will almost certainly *never* be the same after watching this movie. However you may have felt when you began watching it will be altogether different when the film is over. It changes nearly all one's perspectives. ** And -- it simply makes one feel very, very good. ** This is, to put it bluntly, the sort of movie they simply DO NOT make enough of. Period.
Pánico en el Transiberiano (1972)
Scarier than given credit for...
I first saw Horror Express back in the mid-1970s; I didn't see it again until just recently. It is very interesting to me to note that after all this time, the movie still inspires the same feeling of dread that it did years ago. In the opening scenes, after Lee's "fossil box" has been loaded on the train, a low, deep-pitched growl sounds from somewhere. The sound echoes as the bystanders look on, alarmed. Suffice it to say it alarmed me as well, a feeling which the viewing of the rest of the film did nothing to alleviate.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Scary comments
There are probably far too many comments concerning this movie already, but I'll advance one more. I'd always heard what a 'dreadful' and 'violent' movie "Clockwork Orange" was. It debuted while I was still in early high school; I didn't actually see it until quite a few years later. I do remember, incredibly, my first introduction to it in the form of a parody from "Mad" magazine. Though silly, I recall the MAD spoof as being amazingly reminiscent on the whole. However, I have seen the real thing now, twice; I've read the user comments from the IMDB site. And I have to say this: The movie didn't particularly frighten me in regard to the rape-and-ultra-violence scenes. Though of course quite troubling, those were inherently part of the story about a disturbed society and its even more disturbed methods of dealing with the above. What did scare me a bit were some of the comments I read. I would have to say that any people who think this movie "boring" or otherwise un-stimulating, are people I want to stay very far away from.
A pattern seems to emerge: These individuals appear to regularly watch movies that are chock-full of totally gratuitous violence. Then, having heard what a Terribly Violent film it is, they approach "A Clockwork Orange" in anticipation of more of the same. They are invariably disappointed -- the reason being that there is really little or no 'violence for violence's sake' in the film. In fact, as a person who decidedly does NOT get off on movie violence, I'd say there is no more than there has to be to help get the very disturbing points of the movie across. "A Clockwork Orange" could easily have been a great deal worse in that regard -- and apparently, some people are let down that it wasn't. So, to such people I suppose I'd have to say this: If you want gratuitous, mindless, and really horrible violence, rent "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or any of the dozens of other, equally insane films -- including some animated ones -- that have come out since then. But if that's the kind of thing that works for you, don't bother renting "A Clockwork Orange". Violence may be the theme of this movie, but it is NOT the message.
The Name of the Game (1968)
Intriguing Series
"The Name Of The Game" was, as I recall, a very interesting and well-done "rotating" series that portrayed various and sundry well-known actors such as Gene Barry and Tony Franciosa as personnel connected with a well-known magazine. The peculiar thing was that this "fictional" magazine later became the real thing in life as we know it. It was a fascinating show to watch -- especially if you'd not seen it before and had caught it in passing later in syndication. It also had a very cool theme song, quite an accomplishment in itself.
How to Frame a Figg (1971)
Don Knotts teams with an unrecognised well-known.
HOW TO FRAME A FIGG is a vintage Don Knotts-frenetic, farcical comedy, and features him at the top of his form as the hysterical, cat-on-hot-tin-roof nervous, persecuted civil servant Hollis Figg. What a lot of people may not recognise is that they are also seeing someone else in a rare character appearance: Figg's slightly dim-bulb sidekick, Prentiss Gates, who is played convincingly by Frank Welker. Welker, whose face is relatively unknown, has nonetheless a voice that is very well known indeed: He is heard in literally bazillions of films, TV series, and cartoons. You have watched but few shows in recent years, including "The Simpsons", that did not feature Frank Welker's remarkable ability to mimic animal sounds and other weird aural effects.