aeowen-03398 Reviews

Grey's Anatomy (2005– )

A little of this, but too much of that gets really old

[5/10 · 11 April 2024]

Good series for the medical procedures and the stories behind them plus the actors are great in their character roles, but....

... too much sexual innuendos such as making out in hospital rooms make this series made me stop watching it. Granted I am and have been married for a very long time (33 years), it just doesn't impress me.

This is why I give it just a 5/10. May be sad, but there is always room for improvement. Just feel that the more medical significance of a patient's storyline would be in better in line. Still watching it because my wife loves it, but I lost complete interest. Not great but not bad.

Fatal Attraction (1987)

Very intense for its time

[8/10 · 20 January 2021]

Well, despite all the nay-sayers about how "average" this film was, I can agree with that somewhat. The time I saw it was after it was first released in 1987, and some scenes just packed fear and intensity, which is why I gave this eight stars of 10.

I really don't care for Michael Douglas anymore since his macho conquest quote about how he "nailed" Catherine Zeta-Jones, but he played his role here very well.

FA is a good first-date movie and I enjoyed it.

Dark Waters (2019)

Mirrors "Erin Brockovich"

[9/10 · 8 December 2019]

...without the love interest of Aaron Eckhart.

Granted I liked EB before this ever came out, but Mark Ruffalo made this seem much more deeper, darker, and intense. I could actually feel his stress and emotion for all of the good he was trying to do for his clients. Reminded very much of everything my now late father had to do in order to prove his job, even if it meant putting everything on the line, including his family and career.

Just clear your mind and follow the movie from the first minute. Not at all a disappointment.

The Space Movie (1979)

Long begore....

[10/10 · 11 August 2019]

...current technologies and wider coverage, this movie was one of a very few that actually made the space race a real story to me, not just launching tickets every few months to conquest a small gray object in the sky...the moon, of course.

Much emphasis on this film was focused on Apollo 11, but with Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" and "Incantations" music tracks in the background, I found the movie more intense than a regular documentary.

More of an achievement that a goal was set and met.

One movie I I will always enjoy and never get tired of. Simply brilliant.

Never Been Kissed (1999)

Cutesy movie wannabe

[8/10 · 21 July 2019]

This was an okay movie, Drew Barrymore looks hot in boots, and the reggae band should have never been involved. It's okay for teens and early twenty-somethings, but just seems the usual silly and ambitious. It could have been better in parts, but the plot is predictable all the way to the end. Good for watching once in a great while, but nothing really to write home abouf. 8/10 but nothing higher.

Dr. Cyclops (1940)

Try not to laugh...

[4/10 · 20 July 2019]

.. about my review, but this is the one and only movie that I am entirely scared of.

I think this is because I first saw this when I was around 8 years old at a sumner camp. It literally traumatized me, especially when Albert Dekker's Dr Cyclops either knocked out one of the shrunken scientists with chroloform or suffocated them. I still cannot watch this again to this day. Don't know why, but I still am terrified of it. I am petrified of it.7l.88

Bring the Funny (2019)

Sorry. Just plain stupid.

[1/10 · 10 July 2019]

I wish I would never watched this. Stand-up comedy does not belong on network TV. Especially this. Seemed like the same recycled jokes over time. Not all that funny too.

Won't be watching again.

Touched by an Angel (1994–2003)

Too preachy and maligned

[3/10 · 25 June 2019]

So this are what angels look like? Nice imagination.

Now I am no hypocrite, but I find it amusing that like in all TV shows, everyone speaks perfect ENGLISH! Where are the Japanese angels? Oh, they're Shinto Buddhist. What about Russian? No, they're Eastern Orthodox. Not even a Jewish angel? No, because they're Hebrew.

See a pattern here? Same story, different outcome. I've been to church sermons on the same level. Too syrupy, sappy, and never a tear cries in sorrow.

Amazing.

Family Food Fight (2019)

Wasn't this already attempted...

[3/10 · 25 June 2019]

...by Food Network?

I guess this was designed for people who don't have cable or satellite TV.

Storyline is just parallel to Food Network's version. I hate fluff. Everything almost like it, just barely passable. I don't see why I endured this for a whole hour. Just know I won't be tuning in again. There are reruns of Chopped I can watch, and probably still will.

Only reason I have this 3 of 10 stars is just to save it some grace before it gets mercilessly thrown under a line of Greyhound busses.

Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)

A unique and rare find!

[10/10 · 17 June 2019]

Now I know Fritz Lang, director of 1927's Metropolis, had done films for pre-Nazi Germany, but not this!

An old film school professor had lectured on Lang for many occasions, and spoke of this movie often. I knew too based on it's age, from 1924, it would likely have been either destroyed in the second world war or just obscured. I did a number of months research time to find this, and was very impressed. This too was a time when cinema was epic, plus too I found this adaptation of Richard Wagner's magnum opus well within it's time. Just wish there were more movies like this to glorify the beginnings of film, but only a few still survive today.

One of Lang's very best. 10/10.

The Hustle (I) (2019)

Did we just go back to World War II?

[3/10 · 8 June 2019]

I mean, the movie started off relatively funny but just suddenly dive-bombed into nothing. No laughs hardly, no real humor to be found.

Now I do like Rebel Wilson in everything she has been in, but it just seemed like this was not the role for her. She does have a few laughs, yes, but the story was threadbare. Throw in a few elderly men for laughs just didn't seem funny. Yes, the theatre was full, but I heard was more nervous laughs than total crack-up laughs. Was it maybe that I fell asleep unintentionally or was it because the story tailspinned and almost crashed and burned?

I only have this 3 of 10 stars is because of Rebel. Nothing else made this movie funny in the least.

Ghost (1990)

I just couldn't see what the hype was all about

[2/10 · 4 June 2019]

Okay, so we had the late Patrick Swayze here in his prime and Demi Moore in the beginning of hers. And not to mention the incredibly unfunny Whoopi Goldberg thrown in as a token element in the mix.

Now I'm not saying I am being heartless in a review of a film countless number of people loved and adored, it's just I can't understand what the hype was or the romantic meaning of the storyline was. My ex-wife loved it, but I saw nothing remotely interesting that would catch my attention.

My reasoning behind the 4 out of 10 star rating is for the soundtrack and not-too-shabby acting, although Demi Moore looks like she was so attention-starved it was almost too funny. Yet I'll leave this Ghost for all the Casper lovers out there because that is the only Ghost I believe in.

Holocaust (1978)

Excellent study...

[9/10 · 3 June 2019]

...of comparative societies.

We all who know our history know of the Holocaust, but some do deny it just the same. The series here is well-intended, but some of the elements of events prior to and during the period were a little over the top. We see slave labor in a rock quarry, but this type punishment was subjected to more of the dissenters of the Nazi regime, or asocial misfits. There are several accuracies, and several inaccuracies equally...but not every story can be exact, or even inexact.

The series is worth seeing, even with some intense scenes, but you get the idea what the Holocaust was and meant. See it once and you'll understand more before making or rendering blame on one party over the other. It packs a brutal punch.

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

A solid start that means well...

[5/10 · 29 May 2019]

...but just fizzles out.

The movie was a huge hit for kids my age (10) when this came out because it clearly made boobs out of cops and plenty of car chases and wrecks which were a wow factor for us. Not to mention Sally Field and her legs. It's a good little movie that means well, but it just loses its edge after the storage unit of Coors is packed up and heading back to Georgia. I will say I did like the movie back in 1977 until by the time I was 18, it just seemed like another car chase, let's-stick-it-to-the-cops flick.

Kids today may see some fun in it, but I still give it 5/10 stars...only because it seems very outdated and with all the recent Fast and Furious craze, this film is just simply another film in the early days of the genre.

Glen and Randa (1971)

Very different...

[5/10 · 26 May 2019]

...but unique by it's own right.

I had heard of this movie years ago, but always had an interest in watching it. It wasn't until about 15 years ago when I bought a VHS tape of it. What I saw was quite different and very unique for the time it was released, in 1971. I had read long ago that it was about a couple of teenagers surviving a nuclear holocaust and after several years, go on a quest to find the fictional Metropolis of Superman fame.

Here's where I was wrong. The couple come across some characters along their way, which kind of muddled up my thoughts of what I read. I wanted to research it, but by the time I wanted to, my ex-wifer threw it out in a yard sale.

My quest goes on to find it again...but it still very different and quite unique.

Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967) Season 2, Episode 4

One of TOS best

[10/10 · 13 May 2019]

I first saw this episode in 1973, when I was 7 and able to understand the meaning of Trek. This has turned out be in my top three episodes of TOS, and here 44 years later, I can never stop watching it.

Now granted there is Star Trek Continues and they made a good follow up to the story, but I would love to see this continue more. What eventually did become of the Terran Empire after the overthrow? Too many questions that should be followed up, in my opinion.

Awesome episode. One of TOS very, if not the best.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

I've watched this countlessly...

[10/10 · 6 May 2019]

...even read the Sentinel a few times, and I still can't figure it out.

By far this ranks as #2 of my all-time favorite movies, it still resonates superiority in filmmaking; Kubrick had extreme vision, although there may have been differences with Arthur C. Clarke behind the storyline. Even in 1968, some technologies did come to pass in our own 2001. There's just something about the film that keeps you interested and intrigued if you like the sci-fi and suspense genre. I like to think of the story as man vs. machine conflict, like who would win the battle of the fittest...which in turn leads to the question of if man created the machine, would not both destroy themselves if they were to error?

And that's where I get lost. I'm going to watch this yet again to see if I can reason with myself to see if I can make deeper sense of it all...and because I love this movie.

A no-questions-asked 10/10 in my books. It will never get old.

Star Trek Continues: Fairest of Them All (2014) Season 1, Episode 3

Excellent continuation!k

[10/10 · 3 May 2019]

I never thought it could have been done this way, but it did...yet the only thing I feel that was just a pinch flawed was when Spock donned the captain's top at the end. Just didn't seem right, but then again, Spock found a way to become captain of the Enterprise.

I wish I would have known about this series when it was released in 2013 as the continuation of a few of my other favorite episodes are here. It's a great addiction now to watch these.

Job well done! A tip of my hat to the success of this unique and pleasant series that is very imaginative in every way that the original series is as well.

Rocky (1976)

One of the best...

[10/10 · 3 May 2019]

..sports movies out there, but it was good enough to rank #3 of my top five in that category.

Like many of the reviews here say, Rocky is not a boxing movie, and I agree with that. I saw a movie about opportunity, about being an unknown becoming known. There were parts I did not care for, like Paulie incessantly breaking Adrian down. Not called for, but people said it the character's drinking problem that caused his rants and rages. Fine. Yet the movie itself makes you want to cheer for the underdog by being right there ringside. From start to finish, it's an awesome movie with an awesome score with awesome acting.

Packs a mean upper cut. Very excellent movie indeed.

We're the Millers (2013)

Now THIS is comedy!

[9/10 · 2 May 2019]

Although it is slow in parts and seems to drag, it picks right back up with a one-two punch to the gut and will leave the hardest person just bust out in a hard-core fit of laughter. Did me!

So here we have a good-hearted drug dealer who has cheated his dealer and to get the dealer the money back, he must get a load of high-octane marijuana from Mexico to him. Problem is, the marijuana will be stolen as well.

Not wanting to travel alone, our lucky dealer seeks the help from a stripper, a complete doofus of a neighbor, and a stteet-smart kid...all to pose as his family to not look so conspicuous.

Then the fun starts...

...watch the movie, it's well worth the time if you like stupid humor like me. I actually liked this movie so much I bought it on DVD.

You won't be disappointed.

The Proposal (I) (2009)

Usual story and overblown

[2/10 · 1 May 2019]

Now I happen to be a big Sandra Bullock fan, but honestly, she never should have been cast in this movie.

The movie itself seemed amatuerish; the ho-hum beginning, the yawn, and the big sleep. Personally also, I do not like Betty White, and her presence here just sunk the movie more into the abyss.

Only reason I gave this two stars out of 10 is for the presence of Bullock. Nothing else in the movie made me laugh or chuckle. That bland.

Boiler Room (2000)

Solid storyline and acting...

[9/10 · 29 April 2019]

...with the exception of Ben Affleck, who plays yet another smart-assed character who doesn't even need to open his mouth to ruin a film.

The movie here is solid; keeps your attention from start to finish. Giovanni Ribisi is excellent as Seth, as is Ron Rifkin as his totalitarian judge father. Then of course there's Nia Long as Abby, the no-nothing secretary but very intelligent, and yet another non-sensical moron character portrayed by Nicky Katt.

But enough on the actors, the movie. It gives enough flow to keep you interested, the story is almost very poignant enough that it merely was a predecessor to the Enron Scandal of 2002, with elements of corruption, much like Wall Street in 1987, and almost identical.

Watch Boiler Room, the ride is fun, but just overlook Affleck and Katt, and you have your 10/10. It's worth the viewing.

Tammy (2014)

Not really funny at all

[1/10 · 26 April 2019]

Now having seen all Melissa McCarthy's movies, this and The Boss seemed to me the most unfunny movies she has ever been.

All starts when her bad luck gets her fires by her real-life husband Ben Falcone, and just continues to flat line faster and faster. I think after seeing this I just laughed maybe not even once. I don't know if this was meant to be honestly funny or cutesy, but it seemed like it fell off the wagon.

Not really a movie I would recommend to others because the pace is too slow and makes you want to sleep through it. That bad.

Downfall (2004)

Strong and intense!!

[10/10 · 24 April 2019]

I have seen many films about both world wars, some were good and some bad...but Downfall seems to me, in my opinion, the most intense, deepest, and strongest movie about the demise of Hitler and the end of the European theatre.

Bruno Ganz portrays Adolf Hitler as if he were Hitler himself. The gestures, mannerisms, even the look would literally give an intense fright to anyone if he walked into a room where no one knew who Ganz was. So much of the story follows the real story of life in the bunker, in and around Berlin, April 1945. The film grips you with clutches of paranoia, fear, and the unknown. It is truly one of those movies that you have to truly appreciate history to understand the complexity of Germany at the final end. It is not an ordinary "ding dong the Führer's dead" movie; it's a compelling and to-the-point one you never want to get up and go pee kind.

Very sharp, deep, and intense. Definitely a buy and keep for any military or history nostalgia buff.

Casino (1995)

Uncomparable

[9/10 · 24 April 2019]

I really didn't watch many mob movies except for the Godfather trilogy, Once Upon a Time in America, and Goodfellas...then in 1995, along came a Scorsese classic I found deep, intense, and very well told...Casino.

The best parts of this movie hit you right at the moment when you least expect it. DeNiro and Pesci again make a dynamic duo here. One of the greatest assets in my opinion was getting to see plenty of Sharon Stone's gorgeous legs. The whole main cast was above and beyond...plus being an Alan King fan, this made the movie a plus to me.

However, there are some senses that I felt should never been in the movie, but being by Nicholas Pileggi's book, they were. Unforgettable scores by many big 60s and 70s bands, all the way up to the 80s.

Overall, a very impressive film, despite the length, which was great, but maybe more elements could have been added. This movie is a sure bet to always be in my vast library.