AndyDursin wrote:

and I didn't care for the sex stuff (unnecessary) and some of the gratuitous violence

That's one of those movies I really, really despised. I appreciated some of Snyder's visuals but the sexual material and the level of violence were dialed up so much it didn't sit well with me at all. I realize the film might've been trying to make an "artistic expression" but rape and women being beaten -- no thanks.

Right....I totally agree with you there. That scene between the Comedian and the Silky whoever was beyond disturbing. However, I liked it more for its story and how it portrayed and characterized the ambigous morality/ethics of its characters. I think the most tragic figure of them all was Dr. Manhattan because he basically lost all emotional connection in relationships, instead becoming almost "pure logic". I am also not a fan of sex that has nothing to do with anything really...the movie didn't need the two of them banging each other in the ship above the city. Stupid.

The Satan Bug 7 of 10.

I got my MGM DVD-R release yesterday having heard the word that it was not remastered. The image was better than my TCM recording, but the audio had loads of pops and crackles.

This was also the first time I really was critically hanging on every word and I have to admit that there was a lot of too much rapid-fire exposition in the dialogue, and Sturges made things a bit confusing in his directing by not *showing* us the dead bodies of first John Anderson (the security chief) and then Henry Beckman (the murdered head of the lab) or showing them getting bumped off. I'm as much for restraint when it comes to violence as the next guy, but this time it didn't work.

Great vintage views of the interior of Dodger Stadium just a couple years after it opened. Even though the stadium hasn't changed too much I imagine that part we get to see at least has!

I also couldn't help but think of how James Doohan's unbilled, dialogue-free role as the doomed agent is in effect him getting to play the equivalent of a Trek security guard who always gets his.

WEIRD SCIENCE - I'm not giving this a grade because it is a guilty favorite, but man I LOVE this movie. Bill Paxton and AMH are superb and I still laugh through the whole thing, even though it has some really bad dialogue and dumb situations. It still remains one of my favorite 80s films.

CLOVERFIELD - 5/10. I liked the premise and I liked how it was filmed...it definitely owed a lot to BLAIR WITCH in its style. However, it was very run-of-the-mill in characters and story and not as entertaining as a Godzilla film. I especially got frustrated when the helicopter that air-lifted Beth and Hud and the other dude flew right next to the bomb zone and put themselves in harm's way. I hate stuff like that...it's so DUMB! Why not just have the monster ruin the helicopter before they could get on...that way it makes the situation more hopeless especially since you knew the characters were going to die when the film started. There were a lot of unexplained things in the movie (how do all those bombs not even do at least a little damage to the monster when they can level cities??), and I guess it was meant to be left unexplained. It was entertaining, but far from being what it could possibly have been.

WEIRD SCIENCE - I'm not giving this a grade because it is a guilty favorite, but man I LOVE this movie. Bill Paxton and AMH are superb and I still laugh through the whole thing, even though it has some really bad dialogue and dumb situations. It still remains one of my favorite 80s films.

It's not my favorite Hughes comedy but it is a lot of fun. UNCLE BUCK, one of my favorite Hughes comedies, incidentally just came out on Blu-Ray -- one of Universal's best BD transfers of late. Figures under $10 they'd do a good job with that, and do a poor job with OUT OF AFRICA! lol.

WEIRD SCIENCE - I'm not giving this a grade because it is a guilty favorite, but man I LOVE this movie. Bill Paxton and AMH are superb and I still laugh through the whole thing, even though it has some really bad dialogue and dumb situations. It still remains one of my favorite 80s films.

Weird Science is one of the few John Hughes films that didn't have me gouging my fingers into the armrest in annoyance. It does have it's share of tiresome "Hughes-isms" (spoiled kids who disrespect their "stupid" parents, and the glitzy, materialistic 80s zeitgeist), but it is light-hearted and funny enough to glance past these things. Vernon Wells' cameo is hoot too!

AndyDursin wrote:

WEIRD SCIENCE - I'm not giving this a grade because it is a guilty favorite, but man I LOVE this movie. Bill Paxton and AMH are superb and I still laugh through the whole thing, even though it has some really bad dialogue and dumb situations. It still remains one of my favorite 80s films.

It's not my favorite Hughes comedy but it is a lot of fun. UNCLE BUCK, one of my favorite Hughes comedies, incidentally just came out on Blu-Ray -- one of Universal's best BD transfers of late. Figures under $10 they'd do a good job with that, and do a poor job with OUT OF AFRICA! lol.

I like UNCLE BUCK too...need to rent that one since I haven't seen it in ages.

mkaroly wrote:

AndyDursin wrote:

WEIRD SCIENCE - I'm not giving this a grade because it is a guilty favorite, but man I LOVE this movie. Bill Paxton and AMH are superb and I still laugh through the whole thing, even though it has some really bad dialogue and dumb situations. It still remains one of my favorite 80s films.

It's not my favorite Hughes comedy but it is a lot of fun. UNCLE BUCK, one of my favorite Hughes comedies, incidentally just came out on Blu-Ray -- one of Universal's best BD transfers of late. Figures under $10 they'd do a good job with that, and do a poor job with OUT OF AFRICA! lol.

I like UNCLE BUCK too...need to rent that one since I haven't seen it in ages.

Check it out, the Blu-Ray looks great.

Jean Louisa Kelly was tremendous in that film too. Never had much of a career after that -- just the underrated filming of THE FANTASTICKS and that horrible CBS sitcom that seemed to last for years and years.

The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005): 9.5/10

Ah, Valentine's Day...

Devil in a Blue Dress



I've wanted to see this film for a long time but never got around to it until tonight.

Outstanding! WHY wasn't this movie more of a success? Denzel Washington is magnificent, and Don Cheadle is both hilarious and chilling as Washington's trigger-happy friend (the whole cast is phenomenal really). The script is at once a superbly-crafted mystery/film noir as well as a telling gaze into the inequities post-war race relations (yet it never hits you over the head with a "message"). Far better than LA Confidential (or any of Spike Lee's "joints").

I love Elmer Bernstein's score too, which is his best of the 90s -- though unfortunately much of it wasn't used in the film. What is used however is greatly effective. It is Bernstein's Chinatown.

DEVIL was a terrific movie. I remember seeing it with my roommate from England during my Junior year at BC one night -- and it was one of Elmer's better scores. One of the many "bootleg special" albums we got from Elmer scores of the '90s.

Recently watched The Hound of the Baskervilles, the 2002 BBC production with Richard Roxburgh as Holmes and Ian Hart as Watson. Quite a faithful adaption even down to filming in the actual location of the novel. One of the highlights for me was Rob Lane's outstanding score. I wish this would get a CD release.

THE LATE SHOW 8/10

While watching some old Siskel & Ebert shows I came across their review of this 1977 Robert Benton film and Netflixed it. Glad I did -- this is a hugely enjoyable "film noir" with Art Carney as an aging detective hired by "fruitcake" Lily Tomlin to find her abducted cat.

The movie is funny and warm, with a mystery that's just engaging and convoluted enough to keep you watching, but it's really the performances of Carney and Tomlin that make it so appealing. Strong writing, good characterizations -- something we don't see a whole lot anymore.

Superb score by Ken Wannberg as well -- deserving of its own CD release (and not just a Prometheus "compilation" that was likely derived from secondary sources I'm guessing).

I saw THE LATE SHOW when it first came out and have loved it ever since. As I remember, Carney got critical raves and even a few critic's awards and I remember a lot of disappointment when both he and Tomlin were not nominated for Oscars. This is still my personal favorite of Benton's, if only because it is simply done yet meticulous and not "safe," like many of his later films became.

I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER - 8/10. It's very predictable and formulaic but I found it to be a sweet movie and suprisingly poignant as I reflected back on high school. I really hated that time of life and would never want to go back to it. I had some basketball skills (which was my 'in' with the popular people), and there are a few really good moments/memories that I treasure, but overall it is painful to go back and think about it. Lol...anyway, I think the five main characters were sweet and it was well-acted. Again, very predictable and formulaic, but it's worth a viewing.

AGAINST ALL ODDS - 7/10

Uneven, not particularly well-written, but interesting "80s noir" (and a very loose remake of the superior OUT OF THE PAST) with Jeff Bridges tracking down Rachel Ward. Definitely no BODY HEAT but the locales are interesting and a few standout sequences (including an early car chase) make it worthwhile, plus James Woods and veterans like Richard Widmark in the supporting cast.

On the downside, this has -- undoubtedly -- one of THE all-time worst scores of all-time by Michel Colombier and Larry Carlton. It's so bad, there are sequences in the film where the music doesn't even remotely fit the emotions and drama of what's going on. It's loud, awful 80s synths and guitar, absolutely clueless...imagine if Brad Fiedel had scored BODY HEAT and scored it the same way he did THE TERMINATOR. I wish there was an ISOLATED DIALOGUE track so I could just not hear it!!

And the irony is the movie has one of, arguably, the best movie songs of all-time -- Phil Collins' classic title track -- relegated to its end credits and maybe 1-2 minutes of underscore where it's used.

Utterly, completely AWFUL.