A few days after revisiting the first BOURNE film, I was able to move on to the second in the series. This is the shaky-cam filled sequel, directed by Paul Greengrass, which turned some people off to the series. While no one seemed to question the story or the character development, there were those who just couldn’t get past the handheld camera usage. Me? I always liked this entire series.
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004)’
What an odd series JURASSIC PARK is! The first is a revolutionary leap into the digital age of special effects. The second is a shameless cash grab due to the success of the original. The third is a very slightly underrated movie which can’t get out of the enormous shadow of the first film (though it is only underrated because the common perception of JP3 is that it is unwatchably horrendous). Below is a comparative look back at my previous rankings.
Continue reading ‘johnlink bundles his JURASSIC PARK rankings’
ARMORED is a minor film concerning six armored-car employees who decide to rob the vehicles they drive. It has some nice names in it, with Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno, Matt Dillon, Skeet Ulrich, and Fred Ward. A $20 million budget was barely earned back with a low impact release. But I’m a sucker for heist films, and I’ll give most any in the genre a chance.
I came into 2012 wanting to catch up on some movie franchises which hadn’t made their way onto this blog. As I sit here at the end of June, halfway through the year, I’ve been able to revisit all eight HARRY POTTER films, the four INDIANA JONES flicks, and the three JURASSIC PARK entries. Additionally, I have knocked out the first two MIB movies, three of the five AVENGERS related stories (just missing the two IRON MAN movies), and three of six original STAR TREK films. You would think I would get back to one of my incomplete series, but instead I’m staring another. With the fourth BOURNE flick (sans Matt Damon) scheduled to hit theaters here soon, I wanted to see the first trilogy again.
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002)’
I haven’t seen this in several years, so I went into PITCH BLACK curious as to whether or not my mind had retroactively inflated the value of this movie. This is a film I know I liked better than I should, and much of that can be attributed to being a pleasantly surprised 17 year-old upon this film’s release in February of 2000. I went into it thinking it would be terrible, and instead found that Director David Twohy had successfully drawn an interesting character out of Vin Diesel. Coming back more than a decade later, could PITCH BLACK still hold up?
I knew absolutely nothing about this movie going into it. In fact, the only reason I watched it was because the movie was mentioned in SCREAM. Rose McGowan looks around at deserted Woodsboro and declares that “It’s the town that dreaded sundown.” I never even knew she was referencing a specific movie until this thing popped across Turner Classic Movies. Turns out I’m not crazy though. This is a movie which had a limited VHS release, but has never been released on any kind of disc. TCM recently acquired a widescreen version of the film and has given it a couple of sporadic runs.
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (1976)’
I wasn’t sure if I had the energy to watch a movie last night, so I figured I’d put something entertaining on which wouldn’t cause me any guilt should I pass out halfway through. I don’t think that’s the sort of endorsement they put on the poster.
When you hit a milestone like your 400th ranking, you like to do something big. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is one of my absolute favorites, and its a shame I’ve gone so long without having seen it. For what it’s worth, this is the movie which currently sits at number one on IMDB’s list of the Top 250 Movies of All-Time. Oh, and there will be SPOILERS BELOW. I’m even going to talk about the very last moment of the film. So do yourself a favor and watch it before reading.
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)’
I’m not a fan of the silly Jason Statham of CRANK or THE TRANSPORTER. I don’t usually mind super-macho silliness, but those films just weren’t for me. On the other hand, I really enjoyed his work in THE BANK JOB, and this seemed to be more of that sort of action movie, one with a more serious slant. Statham playing the pupil of assassin Robert DeNiro and being opposed by ex-SAS agent Clive Owen? That’s a movie I will give a run.
I’ve mentioned wanting to get certain favorites ranked as I close in on 400 movies for this site. A FEW GOOD MEN is certainly part of that effort. This is a movie I watched many, many times while in high school, and which I’ve always held up as one of the top courtroom films. And consider this last sentence the only acknowledgment of this article in which I lament for simpler days when Tom Cruise wasn’t crazy.
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