NerveBoy

Where do I start? This is a fun movie. Ok, that'll work. I enjoyed it enough. The special effects were not just well-done, but funny too. Normally, when I hear the term "family movie" I tend to think "kids movie". Well, that is kinda the case in this movie, but it's not too cheezy for those of us mature non-children. The biggest problem is that the whole movie rushes by you in about 80 minutes. Now, if you're paying 5 bucks for the movie ticket, you're only getting 9.6 seconds to the penny. That's about one computer-animated gadget, two lines of dialogue, and a laugh or two. Not bad. Bottom line: If you're taking the kids, they'll love it, and maybe you will too.

I waited with the most gleeful anticipation to see this movie, see I'm one of the million "star wars fanatics" out there. I saw the movie. I walked out of the theater wondering, "what happened?" It's as if the director/producer Mr. Lucas, never realized that the original trilogy was great not just because of the special effects, but because it was a great movie. Compare Phantom Menace to the any one of the original Star Wars films. In the original trilogy, there was a plot that always kept moving, always a reason to get to the next part of the film, always a level of suspense that kept the movie going. Those movies never took 25 minutes out of the film for scenes with bland dialogue, super-cheesy acting, and no suspense, only to follow this monstrosity with a pod race which, though great in special fx, had NOTHING to do with the final outcome of the movie, the characters, or anything else that was thrown into this film. Another difference between the classic trilogy and the Phantom Menace: the conflict between good & evil. During every major fight scene in the original trilogy, there was a level of personal character conflict between the characters (Luke finding out his relation to Darth Vader, Obi-wan Kenobi meeting his old adversary and former friend, etc). This conflict was ALWAYS more important than the external light-saber fights. In the Phantom Menace, all we have is a big choreographed, special fx-enhanced fight between characters who we know little about. Why are they even fighting? Good vs. Evil I guess, but there's no conflict. ...and since when do they use Kung-Fu in Star Wars???? In the classic trilogy, it was always traditional medevil-style sword fighting, and now it's flip-kick-jump-do-a-twirly-thing-with-your-sword. Sure, it's kinda fun to watch, but it all boils down to a fight with NO REAL REASON FOR CONFLICT. And then there's the humor... Here we have Jar-jar Binks, a clumsily-walking, unintelligibly-talking, alien, who has NO personality, and spends all of his time flopping around acting stupid to make the little kids in the audience laugh. In the original movies, all of the humor came from the characters and their personalities. Example: In Episode IV, we know that Han Solo is a somewhat laid-back, loner who seems to be only interested in money, and doesn't take orders from anyone. Princess Leia has already shown herself to be someone who is used to taking charge of a situation, and who can be sarcastic and serious at the same time. When Han has to rescue her, there's a tremendous amount of personality conflict and witty little comebacks between the two of them. This is funny. A five-year-old might miss the humor in the screenplay here, but it's funny. Absolutely nowhere in the original trilogy did we have someone with no personality do dumb stuff to try to make us laugh. Also, in the original trilogy, the adventure was the key to the films success. It was an epic adventure composed of characters who learn their destinies, and develop their relationships and personalities. In the Phantom Menace, we know nothing about the characters personalities, because all they give us is a mish-mash of bland dialogue that doesn't develop any feelings, emotion, personality, or character whatsoever. Phantom Menace also had little lines here & there about how bad gambling is, and how people should help eachother. It's a good message, but it should have no place in this movie. The first trilogy never dealt with moral issues. It was beyond that. In Phantom Menace, the good guys are 100% moral, and the bad guys are 100% evil. In the classic trilogy, even most of the good guys had a darker-side; Lando sold out his friends to Vader, only to make it up by rescuing them later. Han and Chewie were both gamblers, and lived somewhat "outside the law". These are heroes we can relate to, because they aren't these idealist, bland, boy-scout types we see in Phantom Menace. Also lacking in Phantom menace are a few other key elements that made the original trilogy truly classic: romance, a scene with suspense every 15 minutes, the characters' reaction to what happens, etc. All we have in Phantom Menace are incredible special effects. It's not a classic. It's just a light-show. If you want plot, intrigue, character, personal conflict, and suspense, see the original trilogy on video, or buy a ticket for The Matrix. If you've got little kids, take them to see Phantom Menace. They'll probably like it. but as for those of us who really appreciate good movies, this is a disappointment. The force was weak with this movie. Try again, Mr. Lucas.

Phil, a sarcastic weatherman from Pittsburgh, goes every year to a little "hick town" where he covers the Groundhog Day festival. He hates it there, and can't wait to get out. But then he gets trapped in a time warp, and realizes that his problems just keep starting over and over again. I thought that this movie didn't look like it was gonna be all that great, maybe a few laughs, but not the best comedy ever.

I was wrong. This movie is funny, creative, heart-warming, clever, entertaining, funny, and um, really funny. Just when you think this movie is gonna "run out of tricks" it takes a new turn and ends up getting better and better. And then it makes you think. The only movie of this type that comes close to Groundhog day, in my most humble opinion, is As Good As it Gets. See Groundhog day. I did. over and over again. and it's still just as good as the first time I saw it.

Fled is, without a doubt, the stupidest, most brainless, pointless action movie ever (or at least something REALLY close). Imagine getting high, and going on a scavenger hunt to places that are completely irrelevant to what you're doing, having shoot-outs with hitmen from the mafia, and acting like you're cool. Congratulations!! You're a character from Fled. The plot keeps changing, but not in a good way, like L.A. Confidential. I'm talking like in a "oh, ok. so he's a cop, and he's a thief, but not a bad thief, and this cop guy is not a prisoner, but, um THIS SUCKS. etc. etc." frustrating, meaningless, stupid sort of way. My advice to you is: FLEE FROM FLED. It's a movie for idiots.

Akira has, without a doubt, the greatest animation anyone has ever seen. No joke. This movie has every special effect of modern-day cinema, and it's beautiful. With zooms, 180 degree camera pans, lights, explosions in 65,536 colors (or something close), slow-motion, Akira makes the best efforts of Disney and Dreamworks look like Saturday morning cartoons back in the sixties. Then you get into the rest of the film. The dubbing job is not perfect, in fact it's far from good, but you can't hold that against a film that wasn't made to be in English. The story is innovative at times, but seems like a mish-mash of New Age "I am in control of my universe" sayings etc. at other times. Overall, it's a lot more original than what we've been seeing lately, and it creates a great blend of action, science fiction, and psychological thriller. See it. If you like Anime, see it NOW.

Gremlins. Ahhhhh, those evil little destructive monsters, now I get it. You know, it's funny how so many people dismissed this movie as a cute little comedy, something worthwile, but not much more. I simply can't see how they can't see how great this movie really is. First of all, there's Gizmo, the cutest little creature I've ever seen, EVER!!!. I JUST WANNA HUG HIM AND SQUEEZE HIM ALL DAY LONG, HE'S SO CUTE!!!!!! \......But...... As with most cheap potatoes, all you do is add water, and there you go: Little wicked monsters. BOOM!!!! But that's not all. These little devils can make you laugh, too. You know, I don't recall ever laughing as hard as I did when I saw the gremlins, in the movie theater, singing "HI-HO, HI-HO" right along with the seven dwarves. It just doesn't get any funnier than this. I'm telling you, If you haven't seen Gremlins SEE IT. But see Gremlins, not the sequel. "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" just isn't......... bla bla bla I've wasted enough of your time. Please see Gremlins.