|
Aug 24 1997
|
Mimic |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Charles Dutton, Mira Sorvino |
| In an effort to stop an epidemic, Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) creates
a mutant breed of insect that is designed to kill all the cockroaches in
New York City. The mutant insect is designed to only live for one
generation, but somehow survives and rapidly evolves. So, Susan and
crew head into the subways and sub levels of the city to hunt them down.
Mimic basically ends up being Alien minus the parasitic action and the acid blood. I didn't buy the mimic part of the movie. I thought the bugs would be indistinguishable from humans from the prevues (insectacons!), but from what was in the movie, even in shadows ya knew something wasn't right. The mimicking was not a big part of the movie. It was more of a tromp thru the subway sub system hunting down the bug (more like the bug hunting down them). It was a decent movie, although it could have been better. All it was missing was Ripley walking around with a flame thrower. Also, they missed an opportunity at the end for a good twist. When everyone was emerging from the subway at the end after defeating the insects I was just waiting for one of the figures to pause at the top of the stairs, spread it's wings and fly off. Oh well, maybe next time. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth a matinee |
|
Aug 23 1997
|
Cop Land |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Harvey Keitel, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick |
| Freddy Heflin (Stallone) is the sheriff of Garrison, New Jersey, a
small town occupied exclusively by police officers from New York City.
When one of those police officers inadvertently kills a couple of teens,
there is a cover-up in Garrison that Heflin must investigate. NYC
Internal Affairs investigator Mo Tilden (Robert De Niro) is also very interested
in the case and persuades Heflin to assist.
This is defiantly not your average Stallone flic. It's not an action packed movie, and it moves kinda slow. The story is strong enough and interesting enough to carry the movie. Although it moves slow it's interesting and does not loose interest. This is a good drama and is defiantly worth seeing. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
Aug 16 1997
|
Event Horizon |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan |
| Event Horizon was a bit of a dissappintment. This was more like a big budget episode of the Outer Limits. Joe Miller (Laurence Fishburne) is the captain of the Lewis and Clark, a recovery ship. They are sent to investigate the reappearance of the Event Horizon, an experimental faster than light ship that disappeared seven years earlier on it's maiden voyage. The crew of the Event Horizon are all dead, but there seems to be a life force everywhere. This movie tries to be a haunted house in space. There's a few good concepts (such as how to survive when thrown out an airlock without a space suit), but it never really amounts to anything. It gets some points for concept, but don't expect much more. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth Renting |
|
Aug 16 1997
|
G.I. Jane |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Director
|
Ridley Scott |
|
Big Names
|
Demi Moore |
| G.I. Jane suprized me. I didn't expect much, but it turned out
to be pretty good. Got to see this as one of those preview screenings/double
features. It was actually showing with George of the Jungle, but
we snuck across the hall and saw Event Horizon instead :)
Lt. Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore) get a chance to be the first female to go thru Navy SEAL training because a feminist senator had something on her fellow senators. The Navy chose SEAL training since it had a 60% dropout rate for men and they knew she wouldn't last. She doesn't want special treatment and wants everything exactly the same as the guys (i.e. same barraks/latriene). She even shaves her head to show her commitment. She ends up being one of the best and in the end saves the day. G.I. Jane always keeps you interested, and even has a couple good plot twists. I heard on the radio this morning that the execs are saying Demi Moore has proven with her last few movies that she hasn't been able to hold her own, and she needs big name co-stars. I've got to disagree; Demi Moore was the biggest name in G.I. Jane by a long shot and it was definatley a worth seeing. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
Aug 9 1997
|
Conspiracy Theory |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Patrick Stewart |
| Finally, a decent suspense movie!! I usually hate suspense movies because they usually make me bored just waiting for something to happen, but Conspiracy Theory works. Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson) is a taxi driver that always tries to find conspiracies (i.e. - NASA is trying to kill the president). He also publishes a newsletter to share his theories with the world. Jerry is obsessed with Justice Department investigator Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts) whom he warns of his theories and tries to get her to help. I can't say much more without giving anything away. Conspiracy Theory constantly keeps you guessing; what's going to happen next, who are the good guys, and who are the bad guys. It keeps you guessing to the very end. It's not quite as good as Mel Gibson's last big movie, Ransom, but it holds it's own. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time - Another Must See! |
|
Aug 2 1997
|
Spawn |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Michael Jai White, Martin Sheen |
| Spawn is the latest comic turned movie. I can't say that I am familiar with the comic, but the movie seems to stand by itself pretty well. Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) is an agent of a secret branch of the CIA who finds out his superior Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen) is using the missions to further his personal interests. When Simmons decides to quit, Wynn sends him on one last mission during which Wynn kills him. Simmons goes to hell and makes a deal with a demon that he may return to earth to see his wife if he leads hell's army. He agrees and he is turned into Spawn. From here it goes into the typical story of betrayal and revenge. Spawn does have some good special effects. Spawns has powers to shape change at its own will into armor, spikes, chains, and has a cape that does lots of tricks also. The special effects of Hell were not so great though. They looked a little too cartoonish, and the 'camera' paned around too quick so you couldn't tell what was going on. Stay for the a couple minutes of credits on this one. They're kinda wild to watch. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth Renting |
|
July 26 1997
|
Air Force One |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close |
| Air Force One was much better than I had expected. Harrison Ford plays James Marshall, The president of the United States, who also a metal of honor. Air Force One is hi-jacked on the way back from Moscow by Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman) and friends. In typical hero fashion, Marshall doesn't take the escape pod (unbeknownst to the hi-jackers) in order to save his wife and daughter that are being held by the terrorists. Marshall takes out the terrorist one by one until they figure out who it is and threaten to kill his wife. The best part of this non-stop action movie is that once they get rid of the terrorist, it keeps going for a half hour pulling out all aces.. This movie is definitely a good one.. go see it. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
a very high - Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
July 19 1997
|
Nothing to Lose |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Tim Robbins, Martin Lawrence, Michael McKean |
| Nick Beam (Tim Robbins) is an advertising executive who comes home early to find his wife in bed with his boss. He doesn't interrupt them, but rather drives the streets of L.A. aimlessly. T. Paul (Martin Lawrence) is an amateur carjacker that tries to grab Beam's Truck. To Paul's suprise, Beam takes off with him in the car, ignoring all threats and not saying a word. After becoming friends, they later plot revenge on Beam's boss who has hundreds of thousands of dollars in a safe at work that Beam has access to. Nothing to Lose has a couple hilarious scenes, but all in all it's just worth a matinee. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth a matinee |
|
July 12 1997
|
Contact |
|
Rated
|
PG |
|
Director
|
Robert Zemeckis |
|
Big Names
|
Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey |
| Contact is another movie that looked promising. And it almost
was. Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) is a radio astronomer
that is searching for proof of Alien life. As the money for her grant,
that she fought so hard for, is about to dry up, she makes her discovery
and receives a signal from space. After a few breakthrus on decoding
the signal, they discover plans to make a machine that they think will
transport a person to the origination of the signal. The best scene
in this movie (excuse me while I give it away) is when the machine is destroyed
by a terrorist's bomb in a huge mass of twisted flying metal.
Contact was a fairly good movie, but it gets extremely slow at times. Like I want to watch her sit at the edge of a canyon thinking for 2 full minutes!! The part I really didn't like was the actual journey thru the machine and what happened afterward. That could have been made much more interesting. The journey was way too dreamlike, and the aftermath almost put me to sleep. That was the only problem with Contact; It really built itself up, only to let ya down. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth a matinee, almost Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
July 6 1997
|
Men in Black |
|
Rated
|
PG13 |
|
Big Names
|
Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith |
| The big summer titles just keep coming. Men in Black is another
comic book turned big budget hollywood spectacular. All the reviews
I read said they liked it and that it was a comic book movie that was actually
done right. I would go along with that. It had it's share of
comedy, action, and it's pace never really slowed down.
In Men in Black, Will Smith is recruited by Tommy Lee Jones to join the M.I.B., division 6 of immigrations that handles other worldly aliens. He is brought into the organization and learns what is really happening on Earth; aliens have been living among us for years. They start hunting down a 'bug', an alien that thinks he is superior and takes pleasure in killing humans and aliens. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones both add their unique brands of humor to this movie, and it works out great. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
June 29 1997
|
Face Off |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Director
|
John Woo |
|
Big Names
|
John Travolta, Nicolas Cage |
| Face Off is a story with a very interesting concept. That you
can slice the skin of your face off and switch it with someone else.
This premise is a little far fetched. It seems it would be extreemly
difficult to convince someone who knew that person with just a switched
face, touched up hair and an implant for the voice.
In Face off Travolta plays Sean Archer, a cop and Cage plays Castor Troy, the terrorist who killed his son. Archer devotes his carrer to catching Troy and finnaly does after 6 years, but Troy has left a bomb in LA. So, they switch faces and Archer goes after Troy's brother to get info to stop the bomb. Meanwhile Troy wakes up from a coma without a face and get the doctors to give him Archer's face. This presents an interesting situation, since they can now screw with each other's lives. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth a matinee |
|
June 14 1997
|
Batman and Robin |
|
Rated
|
PG13 |
|
Director
|
Joel Schumacher |
|
Big Names
|
Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Elle Macpherson |
| Another movie I've been waiting forever to see. Summer seems
to be full of these..
This is the latest in the series of Batman Movies (duh).. Clooney is the latest Batman, and I think he's the best so far. Keaton didn't seem right and Kilmer seemed too secluded. The costumes are great, including nipples on all bats but batgirl :( and a Mr. Freeze costume only Arnold could lift. We see a little more of Gotham. Talk about Gothic! Director Schumacher has taken the last two Batman movies in a direction I don't quite like.. There's too much glitz and glamor in the form of neon and dayglow. There's a scene in which Poison Ivy finds her lair that is completly dayglow/blacklight. But other than that this movie was great. This time Barbera/Batgirl seems to be Alfred's Niece instead of the commisioner's daughter. Arnold did a good Mr. Freeze. I was afraid he would be a little too ....uh.. Arnold. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
June 14 1997
|
Con Air |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Colm Meaney, Ving Rhames |
| Another movie I've been waiting forever to see. Don't ya love when you see trailers for a movie 9 months before it comes out? Con Air didn't disappoint. Cage is a former special forces guy that is sent to prison for 8 years for killing a man while defending his wife. Before his release he hitches a ride on a flight that is transporting the worst of the worst of criminals. Needless to say, the bad guys take control of the plane. Cusack and Meaney opposing good guys trying to get control of the plane back or destroy it. Con Air is a great action flic; plenty of explosions, action and bodies flying out of the plane at 30,000 feet. There's also log of great chanacters, especially Buscemi who plays a great Hannibal Lecter type character. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time - Go see this... It's a good movie. |
|
May 25 1997
|
Chasing Amy |
|
Rated
|
PG-13 |
|
Director
|
Kevin Smith |
|
Big Names
|
Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee |
| I went into Chasing Amy expecting it to be like Clerks and Mallrats. The same great humor was definatly there, but they tackled a somewhat serious subject. It's the same two from Mallrats, but now they've made their own comic book based on Jay and silent Bob. This time Affleck finds the girl of his dreams, Adams, and falls madley in love with here, but later he discovers she's a lesbian. He then starts his quest to convert her. Not everyone may like the humor, but if you liked Clerks and Mallrats, you'll like Chasing Amy. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
May 25 1997
|
The Lost World - Jurassic Park II |
|
Rated
|
PG-13 |
|
Director
|
Steven Spielberg |
|
Big Names
|
Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Julianne Moore |
| Yes, The Lost World is Jurassic Park all over again. In some repects it's the same story with additional plot lines added. They go to the Island... the dinosaurs are cute at first... someone tries to take the dinos off the island... the dinosaurs run rampant... the t-rex's attack... the raptors attack... some people get off the island safe... Last time it was Nueman trying to take dinos from the island, this time it's a group of hunters hired by the kid's father (yes, the kids are back briefly). It may be the same story, but it still works. The CGI is better; the dinos look great. The kicker is that they actually succeed in bringing a t-rex back to LA and it runs rampant thru the streets. All in all it's worth seeing. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
May 18 1997
|
Austin Powers : International Man of Mystery |
|
Rated
|
PG-13 |
|
Big Names
|
Mike Myers,
Elizabeth
Hurley
Cameos - Tom Arnold, Carrie Fisher, Rob Lowe, Cheri Oteri, Christian Slater |
| Austin Powers is exactly what you would expect from a Mike Meyers comedy. Mike Meyers plays Austin Powers, a groovy James Bondish spy from the 60's. When his arch enemy, Dr. Evil (also Meyers), cryogenically freezes himself Austin Powers volunteers to have himself frozen should Dr. Evil ever resurface. When thawed in the 90's, Austin finds himself out of place, but he continues in his groovy ways. While not as good as Wayne's World (the ultimate Mike Meyers cult movie), it still holds it's own. Mike Meyers is one of those people that you either like or don't. If you liked Mike Meyer's previous movies you'll like Austin Powers. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth a matinee |
|
May 12 1997
|
Fifth Element |
|
Rated
|
PG-13 |
|
Big Names
|
Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Luke Perry |
| This is another movie that looked promising from the trailers and I expected alot out of. It didn't disappoint. The Fifth Element is about a great evil that comes to destroy the earth every 5000 years. The only thing that can stop the evil is the fifth element, a perfect being in the form of Milla Jovovich. 300 years from now it's time for the evil to come back, but oops.. the fifth element was borrowed 400 years before by an alien race. This begins the adventure to get the fifth element back and to retrieve the stones that represent the other four elements to form the force that could stop the great evil. The futuristic aspect of the movie is good. There is a good hover car scene as well as many other futuristic technologies. The Fifth Element is a great Action Adventure Sci-Fi futuristic movie that doesn't disappoint. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
May 11 1997
|
Breakdown |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Kurt Russell, Kathleen Quinlan |
| Breakdown is a movie that tried to be a suspense movie. I don't
think it did a great job of being a suspense movie, but other than that
it was a good movie that was worth seeing. I don't particularly like
suspense movies. I'm never on the edge of my seat when someone creeps
up to a door and slowly opens it, it's more like <yawn> when is something
going to happen. Breakdown winds up being a fairly good action movie.
Kurt Russell plays a man that is moving across the country with his wife. They break down in the desert and his wife is picked up by a passing trucker and promptly disappears. The trailers hint of a big conspiracy, but all is revealed about halfway thru the movie and it's not as much of a conspiracy as it first seemed. All in all it was a good movie, but had some letdowns. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth a matinee |
|
April 26 1997
|
Volcano |
|
Rated
|
PG-13 |
|
Big Names
|
Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche |
| Volcano is the latest in the string of recent natural disaster movies.
One can't help but compare it to Daunte's Peak. The two are similar
in that both deal with a volcano, but Daunte's Villain is not so much the
lava as the side effects from the eruption. The villain of Volcano
obviously is the lava flowing thru the streets of L.A. The
story was fairly believable, although I would think there would be much
more lava than the lava flowing down one street. Volcano finally
answers the question, what would happen if you tried to walk thru lava?
In a great special effect scene a man walks thru lava while saving another
man and he sinks/incinerates into the lava like quicksand.
Volcano is an excellent movie. The special effects are great, and there's a decent story to back it up. Just the idea of a Volcano popping up in one of America's largest cities is a very intriguing concept. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
April 19 1997
|
McHale's Navy |
|
Rated
|
PG |
|
Big Names
|
Bruce Campbell, Tom Arnold, Tim Curry, Dean Stockwell, French Stewart, Ernest Borgnine, David Alan Grier |
| Bruce Campbell stars in another excellent movie. McHale's Navy is about Virgil (Bruce Campbell) and his fellow freeloaders at a navel base in paradise. McHale (Tom Arnold) is the local trader that enjoys bribing his way onto the naval base and dealing contraband. Tim Curry is the world's second best terrorist that tries to set up his own base on a local island, forcing the locals out, and get revenge with McHale. Bruce Campbell and his merry men save the day and destroy Curry once and for all. Bruce Campbell once again stars as the witty arogant master of the one-liner. Bruce really makes this movie, but what movie with him could be bad?!? | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth a matinee - maybe more.. |
|
April 12 1997
|
Grosse Pointe Blank |
|
Rated
|
PG-13 |
|
Big Names
|
John Cusack, Dan Aykroyd |
| While this movie moves slowly at some points, it's still a great movie.
Cusack is a professional killer that goes to his 10 year high school reunion.
While back in town he tries to get back together with his old girlfriend
whom he stood up on prom night and subsequently disappeared for 10 years.
Unfortunately his job follows him and the action ensues.
This is definately a good movie.. Full of humor about his being a profesional killer. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth a matinee - and then some... |
|
April 12 1997
|
Anaconda |
|
Rated
|
PG-13 |
|
Big Names
|
Eric Stoltz, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Ice Cube |
| I didn't expect alot from this movie, but it suprized me. It
was really a good thriller. A team of documentary people head into
the rain forest on a riverboat to make a documentary on a secluded tribe.
They rescue a guy from a trapped boat that lead them on an involuntary
hunt for an anaconda. From the trailer I thought the CGI snake
looked too computer generated, but the CGI sequences are done very well.
If I ever get stuck in a theater near pre-teen girls that can't keep their damn mouths shut thru the entire movie, I WILL walk out and demand a refund. The only thing I can't stand about going to a theater is other people! I like to have both seats next to me empty (for the armrests!), the seat in front of me empty (gotta put your feet up!) and the seat behind me empty (can't stand getting bumped or kicked).. I know this is picky, but this delivers the best viewing experience. Why do they have to make all the new theaters so small?? All the new ones are only 20 rows or so. But ya have to go there to get half way decent sound (see Jedi review).. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth a matinee |
|
April 6 1997
|
Double Team |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dennis Rodman |
| I didn't expect much from this movie going in, and it didn't disappoint me. Typical Van Damme flick although Rodman was an interesting twist.. Van Damme is a spy type guy (didn't I just write this??) that tries to get out of the buis., but forced to go after one more bad guy. Rodman is an arms dealer that teams up with him. This movies has some interesting ideas (such as the island of retired spies), but they kinda fizzle out. Could there be any more basketball references in this movie??? | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth Renting |
|
April 5 1997
|
The Saint |
|
Rated
|
PG-13 |
|
Big Names
|
Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue |
| Val Kilmer plays a guy without a name. He grew up in an orphanage
monastery religious type of place and has a bad experience that scars him.
Now he is an independent spy guy that is hired to steal the formula for
cold fusion. He ends up falling in love with the chick he's stealing
from and the rest is spy cloak and dagger.. Val Kilmer is one of
my favorite actors. He can do a wide variety of characters, from
Jim Morrison to Doc Holiday. He pretty much makes any movie, and
this one takes advantage of it.
Damn good movie.. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time |
|
March 30 1997
|
The Devil's Own |
|
Rated
|
R |
|
Big Names
|
Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt |
| This is definitely a good movie. There were a few parts that the pace of the movie slowed down, but it kept my attention. Brad Pitt is "Frankie the Angel", an IRA terrorist, that comes to America to make a weapons deal. While setting up the deal he stays with a NYC cop, Ford, and his family. He becomes close with the family but eventually things go wrong as Ford discovers Pitt is not what he seems. | |
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth paying to see in prime time - Go see this... It's a good movie. |
|
March 23 1997
|
Liar Liar |
|
Rated
|
PG |
|
Big Names
|
Jim Carrey |
| First off, let me say I can't Stand Jim Carrey. I think his humor
is idiotic and completely unfunny. (referring to they type of 'humor'
he used mainly in Ace Ventura.) I'll never go to see the Ace Ventura
movies, I saw the Mask only for the special effects, Dumb and dumber was
so-so - but Jeff Daniels was better, Cable guy was so-so, and he was the
worst part of Batman forever.
Now that that's off my chest, I'll say this movie wasn't so bad. He only broke into his idiotic humor a couple times and it didn't destroy the movie. The plot basically goes - Lawyer has to lie to get by, breaks lot of promises to his son. Son wishes his father couldn't lie for a day. Dad goes nuts not being able to lie, but finds out in the end that he can get by without lying. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
Worth a matinee - Would have been better without Jim Carrey |
|
March 22 1997
|
Return of the Jedi |
|
Rated
|
PG-13 |
|
Big Names
|
Hamill, Ford, Fisher, etc, etc, etc. |
| What can I say about this movie? It's not the best in the trilogy,
but even by today's standards it's still an awesome movie. The only
part that still has poor special effects is the rancor scene in Jabba's
palace. Some serious bluescreen goin on there! New parts
- The song at Jabba's Palace - a bit better and seamlessly integrated into
the movie. The Death Star Explosion - Similar to the one in Star
Wars. Ewok Song - MUCH Better!!!! They got rid of the cheesy
ewok song, and showed the celebration on several planets.
Now let me say my bit about sound quality in a theater. I went from Cincinnati to Columbus (> 100 Miles) Just to see this in a THX theater. It was definitely worth it! Sound quality in an average theater just plain SUCKS! My AC-3 system at home sounds better than most of the theaters I've been to! For example, One of the previews before Jedi was Volcano. This audio Rocked! Some serious sub-bass going on! I saw it the next day in an average theater... I couldn't believe it was the same preview! No bass whatsoever! I live for the say that all theater's will have at least one screen that meets THX standards. |
|
|
Marc's Rating
|
See this movie as many times as you can! |
Page by ">Marc Reiter - Last updated 10/3/97