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A few favorites: Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, There Will Be Blood, John Wick, Blazing Saddles, The Black Cauldron, Blue Velvet.
Things have been done and re-done for many centuries. We remake them at a faster pace to satiate our limitless need for entertainment and pleasure. Reboots are part of life.
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Reviews
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Scorsese does it again.
Martin Scorsese is by no means one of my favorite directors. This is the first of his I've seen in theaters, chosen because I was very excited to see this story on the screen.
An epic in scale, it was disappointing. Uneven. Attempted to do a lot, but too many things fell flat. There were a few powerful moments, but they were just that: brief moments in a movie that ran 200 minutes.
De Niro playing the same character he's played in too many movies. Did we need De Niro getting shaved on screen in another movie?
An excellent story that featured too little of Gladstone, who was so so good. Just a few more minutes of her, rather than the self-aggrandizing end. In this age of self-referential humor and homage, I expected better from Scorsese. Perhaps that was my mistake.
DiCaprio was good enough. He plays a loser, which was a nice turn.
Among the rest of the cast, Brendan Fraser has only a few minutes of screentime but he's excellent.
I've never watched a movie in theaters before that somehow seems slow and rushed at the same time.
In short, this film reaffirms that Scorsese is not the director for me.
Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)
A disappointment, despite the all-star cast.
First time watching this one. Never read the book. With a 127-minute runtime, this movie tried to cover a lot of ground and fell short on everything it tried to convey.
Flashbacks from several perspectives, jumping around, many scenes with nothing but the brooding and powerful score. Very dramatic and stylistic film, but essential plot points were glossed over as a result.
The several intimate moments between two characters who are barely teenagers was fetishistic and gross. Nothing explicitly shown on-screen, came just short. But needed to develop more of a friendship there.
An all-star cast, so many great actors in here. Max Von Sydow is a delight.
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
On the rewatch, better than expected.
I loved this movie as a teenager in the years after it came out. Rewatched it for the first time since then last night. Great actors, shoutout to Leguizamo and Hawke in particular. The script was a little spotty, especially at the end. The opening scene was incredible. Much better than I remembered.
Solid on-screen performances all around. The script held this one back. Lines that didn't make sense with what was going on in a few cases.
Little Women (2019)
Got to see an advanced screening last night...
Not my kind of movie, went with my wife. I've never had a movie move me so much. Several times I got teary-eyed. Gerwig did an excellent job keeping the movie pretty fast-paced for an adaptation of Little Women and the decisions she made were excellent. All of the performances were satisfactory or better. Laughter was frequent as well.
I really cannot imagine a better adaptation of Little Women.
Bullet Head (2017)
Great cast and a killer dog won me over
A lot better than I expected, caught this one on Netflix this evening and it's a straightforward movie. WARNING: dogfights are a major part of this one, although it leaves most of the gore to the viewer's imagination. Not a movie for folks who don't like to hear dogs yelp/sound like they're in pain.
Three thieves (Brody, Culkin, Malkovich) hide out in an abandoned warehouse after a heist. But there's a killer dog on the loose. Reminiscent of Cujo only with really good sets. Had me on the edge of my seat. Intermingled were chunks of exposition on each of the thieves in flashbacks. Culkin was quite good.
A lot of camera work from the dog's point of view, which was a unique element. The first minute of the movie was the worst minute.
SSX 3 (2003)
Pinnacle of a Franchise (thus far)
Released in 2003, this third entry to the popular SSX snowboarding series kept what made SSX Tricky so popular and added a comprehensive snowboarding universe to the mix. Gear, character stats, and uber tricks are all purchased with prize money from events.
In short, this game is the best of the franchise to date: later SSX games tried to incorporate motion technologies and brought in skiing, making the gameplay a little uneven.
Pros: graphics were incredible, especially for such fast-paced environments. The Peak 3 drop-off is where they really impress, with snow drifts and wind significantly impacting visibility. The variety of characters made sure there was someone for every type of player. Replay value is high; each course has the typical bronze, silver, and gold medal awards, but a higher level of platinum was introduced. In most cases, this 4th level is incredibly challenging. Some seem impossible, but they can be done.
To further encourage players to stick with the game, tokens and objectives (the latter during free ride) are present on every course.
Perhaps most impressively, some of the final challenges involve boarding down the entire mountain through courses attached to all three peaks. Play is continuous with no "load screens". These missions require 20+ minutes.
Courses are complex and unique in length, with some trick courses including nothing but halfpipes (or, in one case, a single pipe).
The soundtrack is excellent, as it is in most EA Big games.
Cons: the "copycat" accusations when considering Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series are easy to make. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland actually borrowed and expanded a bit from this game as well, most notably the lack of load screens while playing.
If you want a snowboarding game that obeys the laws of physics, do not look in the SSX series. Sorry kids, snowboards cannot continually rotate in the air for 5+ seconds, nor can snowboarders ride up a 90-degree angle and fly hundreds of feet up into the sky with just gravity.
One thing I enjoyed in SSX Tricky was the unique trick and skill sets of each character. In SSX 3, every uber trick can be purchased, and every character can reach the same 10/10 in numerous statistical categories.