jimjer Reviews

8 Mile (2002)

The ending was not unsatisfying.

[26 November 2002]

(Spoilers)

The ending was real. As a matter of fact the film even with its cinematic flaws redeemed itself in my opinion, by avoiding the happy sappy ending. I am not a die-hard Eminem fan, but I applaud him for portraying the role in as real a manner as he did. In the end of the film, it did not finish with the typical montage-style switchover, starting with the cheering fans at the Shelter and ending with some packed stadium. The film did not start with a preamble of "this is what happened." The film did start, however, with the main character in a bad situation, and at the virge of a defining moment in his life, which is what could easily be told of many a young person's life. Through the course of a couple hours we witness what he actively does to make his situation better, and witness turnarounds of other characters as well. I think that the writer of the film added Eminem's mother's bingo success in to not make the situation so dire as to suspend disbelief. The fact that she won 3200 dollars in bingo only stabilizes her situation, as she has no job to speak of. This ensures that Lily is taken care of for the moment, but in a way is real as well. In real life oftentimes all we can do is stabilize the situations that occur. To continue, Eminem holds his own in the rap contest and finds his true voice out of personal anguish. He ends the film walking off to "do his own thing," because he finally realized this was the only thing he could do. In real life if you hit your mark you don't give up what you do to support that mark. As Mark Twain once said, "Put your eggs in one basket; then watch that basket." He knew he couldn't miss the rest of his shift, for he would have been fired for sure and not get enough money to record his newfound voice. All of this, ending included, makes the film real, and I think realism is what the film was stressing throughout.

Scary Movie (2000)

The humor would have been better appreciated if.....

[17 July 2000]

The children weren't in the theater! This movie just barely misses an x rating, and this is coming from an extremely liberal critic. "Scary Movie" features too much adult-based humor and sexual situations that are so strong-that to have so many children in the theater actually left many of us in there embarrassed to be laughing at such situations. (i.e., male nudity, explosive ejaculations, penis humor, pubic hair humor, etc.....)

I think that the children in the theater enjoyed the film exactly three times: the beginning scene of the Scream-like murder, the "whazzup" sequence, and when the murderer fights John Woo style with the main character near the end, which consequently were scenes from the trailer. Everything else in the film was purely aimed at adults. You may say "That makes sense, it is an R rated film after all..." The trouble is, however, that with an R rating the kids can get in with an adult. I think this film could have been an NC-17 and still would have been a hit. Parents take note: This film is rated R for a Reason!

Hi Honey, I'm Home (1991–1992)

Coming home from my day, on the highway...

[10 July 2000]

never do I roam, for there is nothing sweeter than to greet her, "Hi Honey, I'm Home." That was once our theme song, then a dream song, of a honeycomb..... This show was a cliche, yes. However, it was the cliche that was so endearing. It was nice to see a conservative TV comedy family living in the "real world," and the comedy that ensued worked on so many levels.

We were once a sitcom family, on the black and white TV, now we're off the air been pulled from there and dropped into reality....

For the record, it indeed did get syndication on Nickelodeon. In my region it played on the ABC network also. I believe the concept was ripped off to some extent in the movie "Pleasantville" (You know.. teaching 50's sitcom characters 90's morals).

Life was once much duller, before color, in a monochrome. Still, she gabs all day and spends my money, I find the situation funny, isn't life just so Re-runny? Hi Honey, I'm Home! Hi Honey I'm Home.

Lost in Space (1998)

A cohesive plot is necessary in any film. ANY FILM.

[5 May 2000]

I am the ambiguous owner of a DVD copy of Lost in Space.

Something I realized as I watched the film a couple times was that the holes in the plot were less than deliberate. The DVD version has some unseen footage, where Penny and the girls enter the time bubble and discover a much older Blaarp (that chromakey monkey thing). It makes you wonder if the film was rushed into the theaters, before obvious plot holes could be fixed. Another incongruity in the film is when the Proteus materializes near the strange planet. The crew doesn't mention that as they enter the range of the Proteus they enter a time distortion. When Professor Robinson chastises Will Robinson about the natural vs. artificial causes of the time bubble Will seems to overreact a bit too much, leading to the older Will being very obsessive about this time machine contraption in the destructed alternative future Jupiter 2. This seems to be the point in the film where the writers said "if we don't do something blatant the film will go on for 4 hours." I did enjoy the film, however, when I realized that this brand of science fiction is for pure visual enjoyment, not serious analyzing. If there ever is a sequel, however, you might have a hard time convincing Gary Oldman and the rest to do it, for each of them (penny and will excluded) were too serious for the roles they played. Overall, this film was great eye candy and much better than the TV series.

Terror at London Bridge (1985 TV Movie)

Cult film for the vault. Keep it in the Vault!!

[3/10 · 28 March 2000]

This film is set in my hometown of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, home of the London Bridge. What I can tell you about this film is that you should only see it if you live in LHC and would like a big laugh. To see big stars (Rose Marie from the Dick Van Dyke Show and David Hasselhoff) in our little meccha is unreal, especially when you see that Rose Marie is the owner of the hotel at the edge of town. This film is one for the history books, and if you had the opportunity to see this film on NBC when it first aired, you would have probably seen the Apple Computer "1984" commercials a few times too. Ahh memories!

She's All That (1999)

One of the most comfortable looks at high school yet.

[11 August 1999]

I had the opportunity to watch this film with my girlfriend and we both agreed that "She's All That" was a very comfortable look at a high school experience. Everyone who went to high school can remember their first raucous party, the mild confrontations in the cafeteria, and the turmoil of popularity. This film had "all that," and had a gentle edge, instead of the blundt "The Substitute," or the insane "Can't Hardly Wait" effects. Sometimes high school is not a mysterious game or a dark and brooding affair, and this film describes the power-played moods of emerging adults generally well. Music from Sixpence None the Richer enhanced the experience, and gave the main characters Zack and Laney an endearing quality. For guys who are uncomfortable watching "chick flicks" this is a welcomed deviation from the norm.

Crazy People (1990)

Forget France - Come to Greece. We're Nicer.

[3 March 1999]

I saw this movie back when it was in theatres, and busted up laughing when I saw it, it can make an excellent addition to your home video collection. It makes you wonder whether advertisers in real life should start acting like the ones in the film... "Forget France - Come to Greece. We're Nicer."