I am less than fully familiar with the original STAR TREK despite writing a novel in which the main character is, unabashedly, a Trekkie. I saw many NEXT GENERATION episodes and all of those movies. I’m enough of a fan to have wanted to see the original stuff for awhile. HBOHD aired all six features this week so I snagged each on the DVR. I guess we will see how many I get through…
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979)’
After watching a few uninspiring movies over the past week, I needed to watch something which I knew was good. It’s been a decade since I last watched JAWS, but so many images from it are burned into my mind. Very glad I watched this again. What a great movie! SOME SPOILERS BELOW, but if you have never seen JAWS, what is wrong with you?!?!
The Dragon well is a lightly drawn from pool for the movie industry. Not that we need many (or even one) every year. I imagine that for someone hardcore into dragon lore, this movie might be a favorite. It’s nothing special on face value, but it’s one of the more decent entries in its niche genre.
Nope, this isn’t a porn movie, STAG NIGHT is a horror flick set in the NYC subway wherein a group of people get chased by cannibals. The title is thanks to the fact that the proceedings occur on the night of some guy’s bachelor party. I recently talked about how I don’t have time for crappy movies anymore. I followed that comment up by watching the terrible SALT and then this piece of garbage on back-to-back nights.
This genre of uber-action involving spies and double-crosses and human beings jumping from the top of one moving truck to another CAN be done well. The MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE series has gotten it right 3 out of 4 times, with only the second film being a misfire. Heck, Angelina Jolie is in one of my favorites of this genre, MR. AND MRS. SMITH. So how does SALT stack up? Terribly, I’m afraid…
I had no idea that this was written and directed by Paul Haggis, who did both jobs for the Oscar darling CRASH and the less-known (but equally good) IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH. Being a suspense film in which Russell Crowe’s everyman is trying to break his potentially innocent wife (Elizabeth Banks) out of jail, this could have been a very minor film. But the people making this movie didn’t want to make a minor film. SOME SPOILERS BELOW
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks THE NEXT THREE DAYS (2010)’
I went into this movie the same way I went into the first HARRY POTTER, the first LORD OF THE RINGS, and the first TWILIGHT. With all these first features in their respective fantasy series, I was somewhat familiar with the premise, but didn’t go in knowing what would happen. I fell in love with the HARRY POTTER and LOTR franchises starting with movie one, and never watched another TWILIGHT flick because I found the first to be inane. So which category would HUNGER GAMES fall under?
I’ve been wanting to see this since the first teaser came out. I avoided all I could, and went into this knowing only that it involved a group of kids encountering some aliens, and a train wreck. It’s not easy to avoid all information about a movie you want to see, but my experience was the better for it.
It’s been a few months since I ventured over to FEAR NET for a potentially horrible movie. Well, let me qualify that. I have started and stopped several movies. There was a time when I would’ve been happy, almost eager, to watch a crappy movie. Then I could come onto this blog here and rip it. But now, when I watch a first scene and know a film is unable to be saved, I shut it off. I guess that’s one way that having a family has changed my life: I have less patience for shitty films. SOME LIGHT SPOILERS BELOW
For the most part, everything I watch and rank here is viewed in one sitting. But in the interest of full disclosure, I did watch THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN over the course of a couple of pieces through the past week. It’s important that I get that off my chest for the two or three people who read this…
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (1971)’
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