Taking place in a small town called Derry (sorry lactose intolerants), the film IT follows a group of social outcasts struggling to fit in with the rest of the crowd. Along their journey to take down a group of bullies, they start to notice that there is more to this town than meets the eye. We see this through the lens of Bill (Richard Thomas, Jaeden Lieberher), a young boy who has tragically lost his brother Georgie (Tony Dakota, Jackson Robert Scott). Little does he know, the peculiar events taking place in his town are caused by a clown named Pennywise (Tim Curry, Bill Skarsgard), who is far from ordinary. He cannot be killed by any normal means, can cause hallucinations, and only comes out from hiding every 27 years to kill a new batch of kids. After fighting Pennywise and his hallucinations that are specific to every child in the group, they finally defeat Pennywise once and for all... or so they thought.
Overall, I loved both of these movies. The 1990 edition gave me some good laughs, while 2017 left me terrified. Who wasn't left terrified after 2017 though? I would tell anyone to watch these if they want a good bad horror movie, or a scary horror movie with character.
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Taking place during the height of the Vietnam War, Maverick (Tom Cruise) makes it into a flight school called "Top Gun". This is an elite training academy where members of the navy learn how to become experts in aircraft. Alongside Goose (Anthony Edwards), Maverick is successfully skating through his Top Gun training. On a fateful training mission, Goose's neck snaps which sadly leads to his death. While juggling the sudden passing of his best friend and a love affair with Charlie (Kelly McGillis), Maverick successfully passes his Top Gun training. During the graduation party, an urgent mission arises, which leads to Maverick and his fellow graduates to be appointed to one last mission. Maverick ends up saving the day because of course he does.
I, as expected, really liked this movie, even though I watched it with... my parents. Crazy, I know, but they really wanted me to check this out and I'm glad I did. It had a healthy amount of action and romance in it that kept me entertained the whole time. I thought it was a nice touch how they killed Goose off. Though sad, I think it made a semi-bland part of the movie into a heart wrenching moment. There were some critiques I had with this film, though, especially the romance with Charlie. It seems like they talked 3 times in the movie and kisses once. Of course this isn't known as a romance movie, but it was a little too buried for me to enjoy. On the other hand, the action was slightly unsatisfying as well. "A healthy amount" doesn't exactly mean it's perfect. These are just minor griefs I had, I overall really enjoyed what I watched and would recommend it to everyone. In a Utopian society where social classes are divided and live separately, a rich man named Freder Fredersen (Gustav Fröhlich) finds a woman with her kids and starts following her... for some strange reason. He then watches as her children disappear out of thin air. This understandingly intrigues him. He then follows the woman and finds an underground world filled with lower-class workers who keep the Utopia running. There are only a few who know of this underground world, one being Freder's father, John Federsen (). He then finds out that the woman who he was following is named Maria, and she wants him to join this underground society. The Utopia is made up of different sections that are referred to as parts of the human body, such as the above ground section being the "head", and the underground section being the "hands". John then goes on to try to shut down the underground machines because it's a movie and they needed a villain.
Whilst watching this film, I noticed an array of elements that the director put in for the sake of art. The attention to detail was outstanding, especially the robot who made me feel uncomfortable. The structural intuition that was imposed didn't go unnoticed by me, quite the contrary actually. I spent more time in this movie admiring the beauty and camerawork than I did paying attention to the story. I even had to look up some plot summaries since I didn't have a clear idea of what actually occurred. It all seemed a little sloppy by today's standards, but for the early 20th century, I could tell that this was a film that influenced many more to come. Mind the inner history nerd in me, but this was developed during the Weimar period, which was a horrific time for poor Germany, and this movie definitely raised some spirits. Long story short, loved the technical aspects, story was passable, and I believe this was an amazing movie for the time and I recommend it to everyone who wants to see an old movie with detail out the wazoo, as the kids say. Taking place during the Progressive Era, Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) is appointed the coach of a high school football team. The year he started coaching was the first year that their team consisted of people of different races. Boone saw how the team members were racially segregated from each other and tried his best to integrate them as one team. Through the ups and downs of the season, their team came out on top. This story brings light to a true story taking place during the 50's, where American citizens were trying to conquer racism and treated every human as equals.
This film took the tense times of racism in America and painted a picture that was truly inspiring. It took these two groups of races and show their points of view of each other in the beginning and the end. The way the black men were treated 100 years after slavery was abolished was disgusting to watch. Living in a world where racism is nearly universally frowned upon, it's crazy to think that discrimination against blacks was an everyday occurrence. There was a happy ending of course, this was from the year 2000 after all. In the end, they all worked together like a team, because of course they did. It was in a way that seemed completely natural and wasn't forced, which was the complete opposite of what I expected. When Gerry (Ryan Hurst) was hit by the truck, it was a somewhat unexpected moment that really turned the team for the better. They saw that he was hurt and wanted to win the championship for him, which they did because, again, of course they did. The opening and closing scenes were Gerry's team visiting him, which was a touching moment that was cleanly done (other than the fact the girl was just like "Gerry died 10 years later whoops"). It's one of those late 90's early 2000's movies that are kind of cheesy and don't work in some spots, but they just somehow hit you in the feelings and bring you back to a simpler time. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who's looking for a movie that you can just get lost in. The cheesiness got me again and I just can't directly insult this film. It was good! Great, even! Mr. Anderson...
Taking place in an irrelevant city in some year, the real setting of The Matrix is, well... The Matrix, a simulation that is just like our reality. The real reality is something beyond us, a place where humans can control everything if they "believe". Our hero, Neo (Keanu Reeves), is a computer hacker that has access to this reality beyond reality. His colleagues Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) join him in taking down the Agency, lead by Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), with some Kung-Foo for added measure. This story is filled with intense action, funny moments, and perfectly combed hair to keep the audience entertained for 136 minutes of pure enjoyment. After some intense rest and aspirin, my mind is finally ready to share my opinion on this movie. Though confusing to a little 16 year old boy who struggles with his vocab homework, let alone The Matrix, I had a fine time watching the entire thing. There were some stale moments, like that stupid oracle lady, but overall, this was a great pick for an action movie. The grand highlights were without a doubt the following scenes: Neo dodging all of those bullets, Neo and Trinity killing everything in the main floor of the skyscraper, and everything that had the agents in them. I don't know why, but I feel naturally inclined to love the agents. Maybe it's because they share my same monotone voice? Who knows. Morpheus was a solid character who has to be one of the coolest people ever, Trinity was a nice love interest, and Neo really picked up toward the end. The fact that Neo was saved by the power of true love disgusts me, but at least that was saved by the train fight. Wow, that was cool. Anyways, the thought that I almost shelved The Matrix for another action film makes me wanna slap past me right in his stupid face. All jokes aside, The Matrix was everything an action movie should be and supposed to be and I really have no real complaints about it that aren't balanced out by attributes I enjoyed. Hats off to the director and actors, I had a great time while watching this. In 1981, this movie was deemed to be PG. Just excuse the nazi imagery, since 5 year old kids should be allowed to watch Hitler trying to conquer the world if only they are accompanied by an adult. As previously stated, the 80's were a different time.
(and yes, Mr. H, I did steal your ratings joke. What are you gonna do, jug me?) Indiana Jones, an archaeology professor, is alarmed when he hears of how the Germans were trying to locate and steal ancient artifacts, such as the Lost Ark. And, yes, this was when the Germans were bad. Jones then goes on to foil the Nazi's plans, while juggling around his fear of snakes, as well as his ex-girlfriend. With a simple plot like that and a lack of high-tech special effects, I'm not sure how this movie could fail. It's a standout classic to say the least. It's a movie that has a certain niche in the film world that doesn't have many others who satisfied the same story line as itself. My absolute favorite parts of this movie were the traps Indi had to pass through during his dangerous treks in the caves. I also loved the sense of whit this movie had, there were many times where I audibly laughed during it (pretty impressive, since laughing in a quiet room alone is a rare occurance). Overall, this movie was fantastic and I can't wait to watch every other one (besides Crystal Skull). Coming into this movie, I had little to no expectations. I read a text from my friend Patrick, asking me to come see a movie with him. "Sure, why not," I said. Little did I know how bad this movie really was.
A company trying to reach the depths of the ocean, their mission is put to a halt when a few of their explorers are trapped in the bottom of the ocean. Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham), a former rescuer of a group lost at sea, is appointed to go on another rescue mission for these crew members. He saves all but one. The rest of the film is more or less the characters trying to kill the shark, it's pretty one-dimensional from this point on. To start out with some positives, the second film in the Month of Action was a breath of fresh air. Instead of watching guns and chases, I was watching a shark eat people while avoiding getting killed in the process. This theme really got me hooked and I was excited to see what the outcome would be. The beginning was promising, I especially joined where one of the crew members (Masi Oka) sacrificed himself. The rest of the movie from then on was laughably bad. Pardon my French, but gosh darn this movie was garbage. Seeing it with some of my good friends, we all made fun of it throughout its entirety. Some of my standout nitpicks start with the fact that barely any major characters died. Toshi did, but for the rest of the 90 minutes of the movie, everyone was close to death numerous times, but they somehow survived in the end. The fact that there were so many suspenseful moments that went absolutely nowhere sealed the deal for me. This was not the only one-dimensional parts, another glaring flaw was how every character was flat, except one, who was the main character. Every single person except Jonas behaved the exact same as they did in the beginning. I could go on for days about the minor criticisms I had with this, but I'll leave it there. This movie was a 1.5/10 and I never want to hear about it again. Here we go again...
As a normal woman in the 80's, Sarah Connor is shocked when one day she hears on the news that two women with the same name as her were shot and killed on the same day. Fearing the same fate for her, she hides in a nightclub to seek refuge and avoid the same fate. She was right in doing that, as the Terminator killed the wrong two girls named Sarah Connor. The Terminator goes to her house and kills her roommate as well as her roommate's boyfriend and overhears the voicemail Sarah sent out and finds out where she's hiding. He then goes to the nightclub she's at and attempts to kill her. Luckily for her, a man with the last name Reese saves her life. On the run, Reese tells Sarah about the dystopian future that he comes from, and how the Terminator came after her because she gives birth to her son, who then destroys their plan. She learns that the Terminator is a cyborg who was created by Skynet, a robots-take-over-the-world type of organization. After many chases and many lives lost, Sarah and Reese finally take down the Terminator. Or so they thought. The Terminator loses his humanlike form and chases after them once more. After Reese was severely injured, Sarah finally takes him down by crushing him in a machine. I will firsthand say that I really liked this movie. I had no idea it was a story about traveling back to the future (sound familiar?), but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Some of my favorite scenes of all time from this movie were the scene where the Terminator destroys the whole police station, as well as all of the many, many chases sprinkled through the film. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, I caught more I didn't enjoy about it compared to last week's movie. The ending was really predictable, such as Sarah saving the day, and the fact that Reese was John's father. I kept going back and forth on whether or not Arnold becoming a cyborg at the end was a good choice, so I've decided that it was just mediocre and I would've liked him to stay as a human. Reese and Sarah's relationship was weird and also paradoxical, since she's old enough to be his dad and Reese is also her son's age in the future, it just doesn't make any sense. I really didn't like the fact that the Terminator could talk in other people's voices, I don't know why, but that's just a small little nitpick that kept coming to mind throughout the movie. I may have had much negative to say, I cannot stress how great all of the action scenes were. All I could think of when watching the police station scene was the Darth Vader scene in Rouge One, where a powerful person kind of just kills everything. Some 80's movies can be incredibly corny, this one still holds up (not from a technological standpoint, but everything else is still up to par in the 21st century). I really liked this movie and would recommend it to anyone seeking a good action movie. This one sure is a classic. Growing up in a small town called Hill Valley, young Marty McFly lives a simple life. Not until one day Doc Brown, a "mad scientist" in the town, tells Marty that he has built a time machine. After careful preparation, Doc is ready to send Marty back into the past. Whilst a few terrorists hunt down and kill Doc, Marty is sent back into the past just in time (put intended). He is sent to the year 1955, a whole thirty years before present time. He is quickly greeted with the town he lives in thirty years later. Stopping into a diner, Marty finds his dad, and they are the same age. After witnessing some boys bullying his father, he follows George McFly. George heads to Marty's mom's house, Lorraine, and watches her change in the window. He falls out of the tree he was perched in and was almost ran over by Lorraine's dad's car, but Marty pushes him out of the way. This movie hones in on the idea that any small change in the past can have huge implications for the future, and this was the first example of that. Marty is housed by Lorraine, spending time with his mom in the past. There was one dilemma, thought, Lorraine develops a crush on Marty. Talk about implications. Marty then does his best to unite his mother and father so he can exist in the future, while pissing off some bullies in the process. Marty was forced to ask Lorraine to the school's prom, so George and him develop a plan to get George with Lorraine. After some small roadblocks and a 6'4" one for good measure, George and Lorraine fall in love and everything goes to plan. Marty makes it back to 1985 with the help of Doc from the past and everything is back to normal.
Let's start with the negatives, since I have more to say with the positives. I didn't like it when Marty survived in the end, not because I'm a heartless human, even though that's correct, but because he ripped up the note in the past! It just doesn't make any sense. Doc dying in that scene with the terrorists would've been epic in my opinion. He could've died doing what he loved. I felt really uncomfortable while watching the scene where the school bully kisses, or does something even worse, to Lorraine without her consent. This is 1985 we're talking about, it's too early for serious topics sprinkled in classics like that. My final gripe, although minor, was how the movie was self-aware that it would be a smash hit. If they didn't make another one, the ending would be pointless. With all negative criticism aside, this movie was amazing! I really loved watching this movie, especially because of all of the present day time travel movies that were built over this one. I immediately fell in love with the plot. This movie killed it with the idea that a boy goes back in the past and meets his parents at his own age, while making sure they ended up together. The funniest part of this movie was when Marty was sitting at the dinner table with Lorraine and her family and she flirted with him. Now that's what I call risque. I also enjoyed the scene where the bullies chased Marty and ran into a truck full of manure. The prom scene for the most part was really enjoyable, I especially loved when Marty played music from the '80s and said "your kids will like this". Alongside all of these scenarios throughout the movie, a big highlight was the "back to the future" scene, where everything worked out perfectly at the last second after everything went horribly wrong. The major characters are all fleshed out and you could tell what their goals are. The camerawork in this film was spot-on and looks like the camerawork in movies today. The costumes were great, especially Marty's life jacket. Overall, this movie was outstanding and most definitely blew my expectations. I can't wait to watch the rest of the films in this series (even though they'll probably be garbage). |
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