Popcorn55

Production, cinematography, editing, cast, acting: Good Screenplay: TERRIBLE The cast and crew are all pros and do the best they can with a disastrous story and script. The usual fake-looking "90s video game" CGI also weighs down this film, but the real problem is the catastrophic fail in the storyline and the screenplay. Obviously the demographic committee wanted to add more women leads and more "diversity". They also decided to show a "kinder gentler" side of Terminators -- as in, retired Terminators settle down and raise a family after they finish their mission. I mean it *might* have been funny as an SNL skit... but as the official, serious storyline in an actual Terminator film? Is this supposed to be a thoughtful, meaningful exploration of human and robot psychology? Epic, epic fail. Someone at the higher levels should have known to block this crap. It's the misguided "cute ideas" of a desperate, and very pretentious screenwriter having a bad day under deadline pressure. In this case, the screenwriter essentially destroys the entire franchise. A good cast, good performances, and even the great Linda Hamilton herself cannot rescue this totally unconvincing storyline. Nevertheless, there's another film that needs to be made here. It's the only story that could deliver the same grim, visceral, prophetic resonance of the first Terminator: a film that shows us Judgment Day, the nuclear war itself -- not in a soft, 30-second CGI clip, but in an HOUR LONG, immersive sequence showing just exactly what it would really be like for the human race to destroy itself this way. What it would look and feel like from street level. How things would go down in the days of horror immediately following. A dark film with no fan service whatsoever, a film designed to shock the audience and deliver the same warning as the first one, but amplified by modern cinematography and effects. Such a film could actually help restore the urgency of political opposition to nuclear weapons, and we need this now.

This film has aged well. It's astonishingly well-researched and techno-evocative, especially for its times (the late 70s). Here we have a fully-developed thesis about the corrupt nuclear-industrial-corporate system and its dangers, long before any such thesis was mainstream. In retrospect, one can conclude that this film likely darkened the public perception of nuclear power across America to some degree, all by itself, which is a much more important and historic change than most people realized at the time. Now, the nuclear industry is on its last legs, and this film stands near the effective beginning of the movement and the social stigma that has gradually taken down that industry over the course of two generations. Bravo to a historically-important film well-written, well-researched, well-acted, and well-directed, that serendipitously was in theaters during 3-Mile Island. Makes you wonder if this project was really developed and injected into the system by time travellers tweaking history at just right moment.

Entertaining! That's all I really ask of any film. This one's also interesting because it's a true story. Acting is okay, nothing stellar. Constance Wu has too many tiny-tears scenes where she's staring into space and you can almost see the eyedropper dripping the water on her face. Quite a few good laughs though. They should have left out the frequently-vomiting girl. Added nothing whatsoever. When will screenwriters realize that puking is NOT FUNNY? Grow up, screenwriters.

Had high hopes for this but they messed it up in the usual way by mixing in half-hearted family matters into the hard science action adventure. These things just don't mix and the obligatory inclusion of a family story that's not really done with any conviction, spoils the entire drama and dynamic of the film. It's just like when they have the kid in Terminator 2 having fun with the Terminator. No, no, no! Jumped the shark right there with a cutesy family angle. Stupid! And the same kind of thing spoils this film. Also, the adventure isn't very interesting either, and I can't even remember much about it now, that's how dull it was. One problem is that Hollywood needs to realize that BLACK HOLES ARE OVER -- they aren't interesting or cool anymore. That was the 70s, guys. Let's move on to other topics, please.

Scifi with some laughs and a heart for a change. Avoids the pretentious self-importance of many recent scifi films like Interstellar. A good story and well directed, with a really upbeat and inspiring end credits sequence set to "Love Train", which wraps it up on a high note, shows us all the characters again, and leaves us with a good vibe - one of the best end sequences in cinema imho. Points for daring to lay in 70s disco and 80s pop as the main soundtrack - helps to keep a light mood and avoid the dreaded heavy pretentious quality of so much sci fi. Points off for some very thin and weak science that breaks credibility several times -- esp. during the final pickup when he magically flies around like Iron Man using just a little whiff of escaping air from his spacesuit. Come on! The screenwriter ran out of ideas at 3 AM. This is where the director has to step in and take control -- find a better way. Watney misses his big moment when he finally gets a chance to send a message back to Earth. He should have sent, "SEND - EARTH - WOMEN" -- cut to the next scene, mission control telling him they got 172,000 volunteers.

Instead of soaring through the cosmos, it was SNORING through the cosmos! How do you say "the great yawning" in Latin? OMG that should have been the title. It's like they took the slowest, most boring, and talky parts of "2001", "First Man", "Interstellar", "The Martian", and "Gravity", and spliced them together with slow, sad kind of background music: result, the ultimate space snoozer ever made! Even the rocket launches that should at least have some awe and thunder... are often silent with tinkly sad keyboard music. Whaaat?? And the constant self-analytical voice-overs explaining his feelings?? omiGAWD people -- this is sposed to be a sci-fi ADVENTURE DRAMA and instead it's like... monks marching sadly to their doom. That's basically the feeling of it. Rent this one at Redbox, do NOT spend $20 to see it!!

Groundbreaking must-see war film, which in parts crosses the line from entertainment to immersive simulation -- enough so that several combat sequences, when seen for the first time in a theater, actually begin to induce subliminal panic and distress for the fully-engaged audience. At the time it was released, people in the theater expected a typical glorified war epic. So for many, the raw carnage of the opening sequence was a shock, outside the bounds of what they'd seen on screen before. Yet this is not the end of the terrors of this film. Much later on, when the squad is resting at last in the ruined town having accomplished their primary mission, we think (somewhat gratefully) that it's over and credits are about to roll. Then we hear the TANKS. Clanking in the distance, getting louder as they approach. German tanks. And then, for the exhausted viewer, begins another relentless, nonstop, seemingly endless combat sequence every bit as brutal as the opening scenes. By the time it was finally over, when I first saw this, there were people crying in the audience, not from sentimentality but from nervous reaction. Of course times and expectations have changed, so this won't have the impact on DVD in your living room that it did at the time of release on the big screen with a big sound system. Some of the secondary characters and minor sub-plots feel unnecessary and should have been trimmed; they bring a slight corniness to some of the middle of this story. And, the present-era intro and outro scenes tend to distance and defuse the otherwise overwhelming experience. But these are small flaws in a great film.

One of the better sci-fi films in the "all-is-not-what-it-seems" genre. Very much an early version of "The Matrix" concept, where instead of the red pill the rebels have tactical sunglasses that let people see through the projected illusions surrounding them. Because of its gritty, man-on-the-street, realistic, present-day ambience, the sudden reveal and the ensuing drama packed quite a punch (at least, in the 80s when this film was released, when there was no precedent for it). It's eerie and effective because of the rarity of special effects, not in spite of them. The lower-budget approach makes this more convincing than the bluish CGI crap we get today in sci-fi films. Definitely see this film!

Like I don't know what the big deal is here with this movie. It's OK, but how is it a billion-dollar mega-hit like this? Story is so-so, and visuals are full of blue-tone CGI, which is very 1997, and very video-game-looking.

All-around well-made film -- a good screenplay made well, with many excellent performances notably Gossett's Oscar-winning DI role. There's some male chauvinist subtext here, with the adulating women chasing the officer candidates, and the lone female recruit getting "helped" through the last toughest challenge in the training, but it's probably accurate to the times (1982). One of the better films of the early 1980s.

OK so imagine that your immature buddy in 7th grade wrote a screenplay over the weekend for A/V class, based on a 1997-era video game. And they made that into a big-budget movie, word for word, with effects that look exactly like 1997 video-game graphics. That's Godzilla. It's just the most idiotic infantile thing you ever saw. Every lame, tired cliche from previous disaster movies is included like a recipe: * Great big video-game monstas that move real slow and walk real loud; * Constant "SHOOM... SHOOOM... SHOOOOOM!" sound effects; * The gay-glasses-guy who wisecracks annoyingly but un-funnily all through the film; * The child who gets separated from parents and is constant danger; * Lame, blue-toned video-game CGI; * Separated family members screaming "NOOOO!" as they get separated; * The music and monsta-fight-noise stop politely when characters need to have an emotional talk during the crisis; * Explosions and massive flying objects moving WAY too fast, but somehow missing everybody; * Blubbering family reunion at the end. Since it seems to have been written by a 7th grader, it really doesn't quite make sense and after a while, it's impossible to follow the narrative (if any), with all the scene and character changes -- like how they all suddenly end up in Boston when they were just in Mexico or the Gulf of Mexico? Anyhow, if you're a very immature 7th grader, you might like this, but otherwise, for Godzilla's sake stay away!

The book was hypnotizing and everybody I know who read it, couldn't put it down -- page by page it's like: incredulous laughter -- "oh my GOD" -- stunned silence -- "wow!"... Now, it's a very tall order to match this book but they've made a good effort in this film. Woody Harrelson gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the toxic dad. Details from the book are faithfully presented. But this is a personal narrative story that just doesn't transpose strongly to the screen; it's the author's unique voice, and pacing, and style that gives the power to the book, and there's no way to duplicate that in film without actual voice-over. Well worth watching though.

Reminds us that yellow cars are the best cars, and that 80s music is the best music. The gag at the end is a great ending, lol. Other than that... pretty silly stuff! As an adult I really shouldn't be wasting my time. A kids movie.

Lost in a limbo somewhere between Masterpiece Theater and Monty Python, this artsy-fartsy cutesy-pootsy "period drama" is neither convincingly "period", nor very dramatic, nor does the occasional half-hearted comic scene redeem it. A lot of work obviously went into this, and we have to respect the efforts of all involved but... it all turns out to be an odd and rather dreary affair that's more depressing than entertaining. While there are many lingering close-ups of Emma Stone to show that her agent has negotiated a generous portion of exclusive screen time for her, the cinematography in general is notably annoying and distracting. In particular the "fisheye" wide angle shots with peripheral curving and distortion of the images, help to destroy any immersive experience here, and distance us from the story. A story which is often a bit hard to follow, and hard to swallow. That most of the cast don't make any attempt at English accents, and talk essentially L.A. street talk, additionally sabotages the historical ambience we expect. Maybe this was supposed to be campy, like it was in "Marie Antoinette", but it doesn't come across that way here. Finally, the irritating score compounds the strange off-key quality of the film. While some period music is used, it's performed and mixed in a way that sounds inauthentic. Then we have long, long periods where the score is some kind of inexplicable, monotonous, modernistic knocking, tocking noise that again distracts us from the action at hand and reminds us that this is an artsy-fartsy director getting in his artsy farts instead of entertaining us. On the positive side, the bunnies are cute; ducks are always a plus in any film; and when the horsies prance along with their feathered crests on, that's pretty darn cool.

The future may end up being like this film, if humans keep on the way they are. It has a prophetic, warning feel to it, which is part of its power. It chillingly rings true to human nature. "They had built a house of straw..." and we're living it today. Yep, we'll probably all end up killing for gasoline, banding together in terrified groups in improvised fortresses with medieval jury-rigged weapons, and eagerly eating canned dog food (if we can afford it in the post-apocalyptic barter economy). The bands of marauding killers will prey on the ever-shrinking bands of decent people trying to sustain a remnant of civilization. Basically, it will be like Attila the Hun vs. the peasants of Europe, with the occasional lone heroic knight showing up to help the good guys. And that's more or less what this film is about, with Mel Gibson as the nothing-left-to-lose knight of the road. A highly original, superbly well-made, riveting and immersive nonstop rampage through a grim and grotesque future that may well come to pass in 50 years or so... let's hope not.

Seeing it in 1982 I expected just another SF film, so the initial eruption of that dog in the beginning took me totally by surprise. It was so shocking that I had to leave the theater for a few minutes. No other film has ever even come close to doing that to me! No question -- this is one of the grimmest horror films ever made, a diabolically powerful masterpiece of a futile fight for survival by a small and shrinking group of terrified humans against an utterly alien, unimaginably ancient entity, surrounded by the deadly, primeval, Antarctic winter night.

This classic (the original 1984 film) is a FAR better film than it gets credit for. Original, gripping, somewhat chilling storyline, well executed. "What if?" ... and if accept the premise, we are drawn into a very entertaining heroic tale that isn't so utterly far-fetched, and includes some striking and vivid combat scenes that go far beyond our low-budget expectations. Like the scene where the helicopter shoots up the enemy roadblock... that was money for sure, and it's almost just a background cameo. Makes it feel unexpectedly real and immersive. We really feel, "yeah, this is kind of how it would be, if the US homeland were actually invaded". Hence, we identify with the high-school kids turned patriot soldiers in a **** world where they don't even have any news of what is happening, at least until the downed pilot shows up. We need more homeland survival dramas in this genre. It's a fascinating theme, and plenty of room for more "What if...?" stories about what ordinary folks in America would have to do when the country is falling apart.

This is a fantastic recruiting film for the drug courier industry! Makes me want to sign up right away! Just a nice road trip once a month, easy driving, listen to the radio -- see America! $30K waiting at the end... not bad at all, beats Uber driving! Wonder if there's an app for it, LOL! Actually I suppose these days, the cartels probably *do* just call a few Ubers to get their loads along the road. All kidding aside, though, I was pleasantly surprised by this very original and engrossing, well-acted film. As you know it's closely based on a true story, and truth is always both stranger and more interesting than fiction. Very entertaining, with wry humor along the way. Thought it might be hokey and corny, but it wasn't. Very VERY similar story to "American Made", which was also based on true events and characters. Definitely see or rent this film!

They sure as hell gave it everything they had to convey the spirit and legend of Queen -- especially the lead actor, who totally earns an Oscar in this film! By the time we get to the grand finale at Wembley, it feels like we're watching the real band, it's that good. This could have been cut shorter and edited a little better, but on the other hand it's rather nice that they took the time to give Freddie's cat all those glorious full-screen close-ups -- especially the purring scene. :) Gotta love a movie that has frequent feline focus moments.

Well, this ain't no Red October or Crimson Tide. But, it's a pretty good naval combat drama which could have been much better. Good effects, talent, reasonable script, decent story -- but it somehow doesn't carry any real voltage except in a few scenes. The subtle flaw here is the editing! The editing is constantly episodic -- one set scene, then another, but few of the little connecting scenes that a director and editor are supposed to fill in to create a smooth, immersive story narrative. Example: the officers climb up into the hatchway to the mini-sub. Then -- boom -- cut to the officers sitting at the controls 3 min. later. Jarring "jump cut" just skips over a whole segment of time! We're like, "huh?" Normally a director will fill in a few 1-second, 2-second transitional scenes quickly showing the guys scrambling up out of the hatch -- urgently running to the controls -- strapping in -- flipping switches. This creates a series of shots pulling us along through an urgent and suspenseful part of the story where time is of the essence. Instead, we just cut to the guys sitting kind of relaxed at the controls. No tension! No voltage! It's "limp", and destroys the suspense. This sort of thing happens over and over again throughout the film. It's as if they used the spec script as the shooting script -- as if they shot the whole film as a series of storyboards, with no interpolation or connecting material. It damages the film badly, but it's also very educational -- a shining example of what "episodic" really means, and why it's avoided by professionals. Despite this, it's still an entertaining film, and I felt like I got my money's worth. The scene where the sub is getting kicked around by all those mortar depth charges is epic! Excellent punchy sound and visual effects, reasonably well cut, thasss what I wanted to see, oh yeah. If they'd had more of that, and the director/editor had worked harder at transitional details (rather than just leaving them all out), it could have been a really tight and memorable war drama. Maybe they were trying to cut out scenes to shorten the run time? If so -- penny wise pound foolish. DON'T cut the 1-second transition scenes, that won't save any real time, but it'll hurt your film bad Mr. Director!

This is the only film I have ever seen where the entire cinema audience, spontaneously, stood up at the end with a standing ovation. It's that engrossing, and that well done, and stays true to the spirit of Tom Wolfe's book, which is itself one of the great masterpieces of American literature, vividly conveying the drama, humor, tragedy, and glory of US experimental aviation and spaceflight in the 1950s and early 60s. One of the greatest ensemble casts ever put together delivers many simultaneous career-best performances as the Mercury Seven. Astoundingly well-cast, with the slight exception of Sam Shepherd who's just a little too movie-star for the Yeager part and whose fake drawl doesn't quite make it. However, they managed to get the *actual* Yeager in there, as a local yokel in a bar scene, so it all evens out I guess. Considering the relatively primitive special effects technology available in those times, it's notable how good the flight scenes are compared to more recent big-budget films -- in many scenes better than "First Man", for example. The director, editor, and cinematographer just had superior skills and execution compared to their counterparts today. They did much more, with much less. This film needs to be brought back for another go-round, another wide release, so that a new generation can stand up and cheer one of the great stories of American history.

Good opening with the X-15 -- first time we've seen anything about the legendary X-15 in a major movie in decades. Still the most radical aircraft that ever flew: its story deserves a whole movie of its own. But I digress. This film is a pretty good treatment of the historical events, but it has a kind of matter-of-fact tone to it, a strange lack of drama or suspense. It does successfully evoke the respect and wonder we associated with those events at the time, but has three specific flaws: First,the music, which never really connects, and is most often an intrusive, distracting background; the greatest moments of the film are when the music stops in favor of respectful silence. Second, the sound effects: the sound director seems to have thrown together random chaotic stacks of software sound effects for the rocket-flight scenes -- as if they didn't know exactly what to do, so piled as many canned booms, shrieks, wind rushes, and howls as possible on top of each other hoping it would all somehow add up to awesome -- but it doesn't. It sounds fake... off key. Like the sound guys never listened to an actual rocket launch, even on film, or youtube? Do your research guys, work a little harder. Third, all the flight scenes recycle this same, lame sequence of shots over and over: 1. shaky vibrating shot out the window (we can't see a thing); 2. shaky close-up of Neil's eyes, staring straight ahead; 3. shaky vibrating shot of the control panel (we can't see a thing). REPEAT three or four times. WTF? First it's an instant cliche. Second we can't see anything -- it's an undecipherable visual mishmash (which would be OK once or twice to convey the confusion the pilot has to deal with -- but we GOT it already the first time, jeez). Meanwhile, there's a lot of cutting to family life back home, and this stuff is pretty slow and excessive. Lot of shots of the couple staring at each other **** in silence. But what exactly is being communicated? Between them, or to us? We end up not even knowing what is going on. There's no takeaway. The screenwriter needed to step it up here, and write some actual dialogue forcrissakes. I hope this film doesn't win any serious awards, because it doesn't really deserve them. Yes, worth the ticket price, for sure, but if you want a truly inspiring historical space flight epic done right, rent "The Right Stuff", a far better film that audiences cheered in the 80s.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

A nice happy Cinderella film where everybody gets to party. Yay for that. Now keep in mind that this is a chick flick, so of course all the young men have to take off their shirts periodically, for no particular reason. In fact they even have a scene where someone spills wine on the hero, in order that he then has to take off his shirt for 5 minutes... while talking with his mom? Well these shirtless episodes are just mandatory in this type of girly film, so guys, just take it in stride. Meanwhile, Awkwafina steals the show. And then there are the many chubby-faced comic supporting guys, whom I couldn't keep track of or tell apart... but aren't they stereotypes? Is Tarantino's deadly Asian schoolgirl with the ball and chain gonna show up at the party? No matter, it's all good clean fun, and darn it, it's good *for* you, cause it makes you wanna be a crazy rich Asian too!

This is a fun tale about bow-wow doggie and his pal Neanderthal doggie boy and their long walk home. This is the stone age just like I remember it, when you hadda know how to chip a stone spearhead just to make the grade for the hunting party. Yeah, those were the good ol' days...

Laugh-a-minute white trash comedy with very very annoying loud music intruding constantly trying to make it seem all epic. Like it begins with opera yodeling, that should tell you how pretentious it is. But this here is Whiskey Tango all the way to the core, and its trashy loser characters shouldn't be talking about Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare and other crap that white trash don't know nothin about. That's the screenwriter being cute, and jesus does it ****. Just trying to sneak the word "Oscar" into the dialogue as a subliminal suggestion to the industry. Shame. Yeah this is kinda like Fargo as others have said. Yawn. Makes me wanna go burn down a billboard.

Ohhhh my god. Why did I waste $1.67 at Redbox on this? I knew better. I knew it would be bad. And it was... you really have to watch it as comedy I guess. If you accept the hilarious premise of this franchise, namely that giant Japanese monsters from another dimension are periodically climbing up out of the seafloor to smash all buildings that they can find, then you have to also accept the fact that you are watching something designed for 8-year olds, basically, and from that uncritical point of view, it's sort of entertaining for a while. But then all the usual giant-robot combat ensues, and it wears thin rather quickly... why is that pre-teen girl able to build giant robots all by herself? I never understood that... or any of dozens of other examples of far-fetched silliness that's taken for granted here. Really the best part of this eye-roller is the names of the giant Jaeger robots... "November Ajax" etc. Definitely good stuff for 8-year olds to get into and then buy the plastic model kits...

A fine entertaining popcorn movie for a summer weekend. Nobody gets shot or killed, and lots and lots of glitzy fashion, bling and style, not to mention eye candy! Sandra Bullock is always fun, and while not entirely believable, the rest of these rather wholesome and middle-class badgirls are an engaging crew. Credibility wears thin in places, but hey--it's a tall tale, not a documentary fercrissakes. Whaddya expect?? The all-business guys at Cartier are one of the high points of the film, kudos for their faultlessly executed supporting roles. And that sure is a big heavy vault door they have there!

One of the greatest films of all time. John Boorman has brought extraordinary, magical and tender beauty to this tale, and brought it alive as never before or since. This is a theatrical work of great genius, crafted with passion and profound insight, on a tiny budget. Though the budget clearly constrained some of the sets and effects, so that some of the lesser, connecting scenes present essentially like stage theater, we don't care, because interspersed with those scenes, are spellbinding, gorgeous episodes -- the most visually enthralling, mesmerizing sword-and-sorcery scenes in the history of cinema. It's that alternation of minimal dreaminess, which evokes an aura of fantasy and theatrical storytelling, with these dramatic eruptions of photo-realistic, vividly immersive beauty, magic, and drama, that build the power of this film like a steadily chanted spell. IF ONLY Boorman could have been the one to direct Lord of the Rings! IF ONLY! He has the precise eye, heart and vision, style, and craft for it -- and no one else even comes close. The irony is, he WAS on deck to do just that, back in the 70s, but something went wrong, it never happened. "Excalibur" gives us just a glimpse at the utter glory that could have been LOTR, if they had given him the green light and a big budget. Instead we got the tacky bluetone CGI and Peter whatisname directing a shameful shadow of Tolkien's vision.

The Harrier jets attack and expertly evade a shoulder-launched AA missile, then pull around with a glorious "boom" across the sky and ocean... it's only a few seconds but it's one of my favorite scenes in all cinema. :) Besides these superb, vividly realistic military scenes, you get a tongue-in-cheek tall-tale spy story with nukes, snappy dialog between Arnold (S.) and Arnold (Tom), and an underlying subversive sense of humor, and it's all highly entertaining from beginning to end. A great job all around, at the very top of its genre.

One of the finest science fiction films of all time. In its originality, its chilling relentless drive, it moves us steadily from an innocent, cheerful 1980s world into an utter nightmare, with the looming spectre of nuclear extinction and the end of humanity. The sweet young waitress finds herself in a fight to the death with an enemy that just will not die, that can't be killed, that will never stop its pursuit. Perhaps unintentionally, this film rises to the level of prophecy; it's a real warning, about the real future dangers facing the human race (AI, autonomous robots, and nuclear war), and it's possibly affected enough people over the decades to have had some actual historical effect. This film and its sequels has affected our culture, and our point of view, at a deep level, making us more skeptical regarding these emerging technologies. And that is a good thing. "Not for about forty years," says Reese in the film -- but now it's been 34 years, and there actually are walking, talking autonomous robots. That nightmare future... may be very close now.

A Saturday detention session becomes an intense encounter group for all concerned, even the teacher and the janitor. This film has the best casting choices in the history of cinema. No plot at all. No gun battles, no car chase, no explosions... no three-act structure! Breaks all the strict rules of screenwriting and industry structure requirements -- but still ranks as one of the greatest films of the 80s. Bravo!

Horsies galloping. Guns shooting. Pew-pew-pew! Bombs falling - kshhh! Bang! Barooom! Grizzled warlords talking, hard-bitten wise talk but we not care at all about that. Grizzled warriors fighting, bad guys all in black. That's how we know they bad guys, all black clothes. More horsies! Rockets firing off like in Star Wars - ksshh! kshhh! BAM! Well anyhow... it was entertaining. That's all I ask of any film.

The actor playing Rapp isn't physically imposing enough to be credible in the role. Seems like a kid, no threat, doesn't seem appropriate at all. No voltage. The idea that he somehow works out for 6 months and then starts infiltrating terrorist cells in Libya, knows the Koran and speaks Arabic, etc. -- just doesn't fly at all, right off the bat. It's the kind of thing an inexperienced screenwriter writes, and it seems OK to read it in the script, but it doesn't actually play well to the audience. The intuition to detect this kind of problem and avoid it is a prime distinguishing characteristic of better screenwriters and directors. The whole movie somehow fails to create the suspense and credibility that Bond, Bourne, etc. do so well. It's like an imitation spy movie. I actually fast-forwarded through several parts of the DVD, just couldn't sustain interest -- and many scenes are hard to figure, stuff happens but it's not very clear exactly what. Lots of foreign dialogue with tiny subtitles hard to see on the TV also detract from the storytelling. Weird fail, doesn't make the grade despite a lot of effort that obviously went into it. The lousy special effects at the end - blue-tone CGI stuff - puts the nail in it. It's that blue-tone 1997-style video-game CGI that more than anything, brands a bad movie these days.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

No more than 10 movies will ever get a 10 score from me, and this is one of them. The superb execution of a brilliant story concept was good enough to take me by surprise, and this is not easy for any movie to do -- most all film plots are very predictable. But the Matrix completely blindsided me when Neo woke up in that pod, I just didn't see it coming. The special effects and fights could all be dispensed with, it's that core concept and story line that are so powerful and haunting. In the end, there's an uncomfortable similarity to our own Matrix-like experience in our work cubicles every day -- staring at computer screens -- being anonymous production units in a huge organization. We're not actually generating electricity, but something even more insidious -- our very brainpower and life energies are enslaved in our version of the Matrix, as our muscles atrophy. Eerily similar. But how can we waken from our Matrix? Will love save us, as it saved Neo? Whether it intended to or not, this film makes us confront the fundamental values and experiences of the human species in an increasingly cybernetic world. And for that, it rises beyond entertainment, to the level of chilling prophecy.

"What do you got - a stairway to the stars?" "Maybe..." There you have it -- young ambition in a nutshell. The basic human condition.

This is just a tall, tall tale about two friends, two nuclear warheads, a plane, a train, and a whole lot of chasing, fighting, and shooting. It doesn't take itself seriously, and neither should anybody else. If you accept it on those terms, as pure entertainment, which is all it intends to be, it's delightful! This timeless tale of loose nukes, smirking heroes, and cheerful villains on the rampage could be told around a campfire by an old guy strumming a guitar, for a friendly audience who don't mind at all if it's a bit over-the-top. We, the popcorn people, are that audience, and this movie is that campfire legend -- the legend of crazy Deke and the B83 nukes. (And there actually is one hell **** on the soundtrack - the legendary Duane Eddy, who provides the perfect tall-tale gravitas at just the right places.) *** SEQUEL!!! *** Seriously, I want to see a sequel to this film! Yeah!!