Patton (1970)

Rating: 100%
Now the actual main character of this movie I was well aware of for quite a couple of years before I finally saw this film. I saw the beginning scene a few times and I even spoofed it for a project in my theater class during my last days in high school. But still, it has taken a long time for me to fully see it which I have finally done today. So here's my review for the best picture winner of 1970, Patton.

Plot: To put it briefly, the story is about General George S. Patton (obviously) during a lot of the battles that he did in World War II such as the battles in North Africa, Sicily, and all the way to the Battle of the Bulge and shows the stuff he did throughout the war and during the end of the war (I think).

To put it plainly, this was a very well done movie. It is a little long. I mean it's almost 3 hours. But they did a very good job with those close to 3 hours. the editing, the acting, the action and of coarse the way they developed General Patton. Now naturally it isn't too accurate, or at least from what I understand from looking up on Wikipedia - yes I know that's a terrible sight to use but in my experience, it's good to at least give you a good gist in covering what you're after - but it's pretty loyal to what happens regardless. I will say this though: when I started watching this movie I began to wonder if it was somewhat going to be similar to Lawrence of Arabia. I mean it sort of it in the extent that they were in the desert in the beginning of the movie and how both main characters were very successful leaders. But there's also their deaths after their parts in battle considering both of them died in a sort of road accident. Lawrence of coarse died riding his motorcycle, but - and this is not in the movie - Patton also died in the road. And that is sadder is that while Lawrence died long after WWI, Patton actually died just the day before he was finally leaving to go back to the U.S.A. Interesting thing to have in common but it's very sad regardless.


Acting/Characters:
George C. Scott/General Patton: So this is the ultimate shinning moment in Scott's career that I kept hearing about. I mean I've seen - or what's a better way of putting it; heard: him in some of his other  movies namely Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue but primarily his awesome role as the evil Percival C. McLeach in Disney's The Rescuers Down Under. But it wasn't until now that I got to see this performance that everybody knows so well. And as it probably goes without saying, he did a darn fine job. He showed us this clever, occasionally feared, stubborn but ultimately highly respected leader that took part in all these battles. But let's not forget how he has his caring side for his soldiers and was capable of admitting it whenever he was wrong. I can see why he's #29 in AFI's 100 Heroes and Villains list.


Music: I thought it was nice, though I thought some of the music sounded similar to some other pieces. Granted most of those pieces that I'm thinking of are much younger than this film so for all we know, it's just coincidence. We may never know.

Editing: The editing was very nice especially with the action scenes which is all the more reason why i enjoyed them.

And that's my review of Patton. It gives us an excellent hero that was brilliantly performed that altogether gave us a darn fine American classic. "Alright now you sons-of- &(@#&$, now you know how I feel. Oh, and I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle – anytime, anywhere.
That’s all." -General George S. Patton

Rain Man (1988)

Rating: 100%
Now for me, this is another brilliant film where finally fully seeing it for the first time has been LONG overdue. Now I've seen clips of this film that I've remembered for years wanting to finally fully see. And I wanted to see it more when I learned more about Hoffman's character. So as of tonight, I finally settled the score once at for all in finally watching the Best Picture of 1988, Rain Man.

Plot: Charlie Babbitt is a car dealer whose father that he has avoided throughout his life has recently died. In his father's will, Charlie is left with his father's car and his prized roses but the three million dollars his father had is inherited to a trustee on behalf of an unnamed beneficiary. He later learns that the money is going to a mental institute where he learns that he has an autistic brother there named Raymond that he has never even heard of. Charlie, starts a custody battle against Raymond's doctor in order to at least get half of the money. Which leads Charlie and Raymond to go on a trip to L.A. in order to settle the matter in court.

This was a beautifully done movie. I mean what I especially love is how Raymond really relates to some of the things autistic people will do and what abilities they have. I mean it's not always the case, but it really works in giving us a generalized idea of what Autism can be like. And the story turned out to be way more interesting then I thought it would be when we learn a little more about Charlie and Raymond's family prior to the events of the film.

Acting/Characters:
Dustin Hoffman/Raymond: The best actor award he got for this film? Yeah, he totally had it coming. If you are an autistic or someone who knows very well about autism, you can tell that Hoffman did a lot of research at what autistic people are like. And his character Raymond was brilliantly done showing us the symptoms and skills Autistics can have. Lot's of daydreaming, can be really sensitive, like to keep things in a certain routine, not being aware of what's happening around them, having excellent memory, can be really good with math, saying things or wanting to do things for reason that only make sense to them, the list goes on and on. There's a lot of way where real autistic people differ from Raymond whether they're high-functioning, low-functioning or have a form of autism like Asperger's, but when it comes to giving the world a good, general idea about autism, Hoffman as Raymond did his job extremely well.
Tom Cruise/Charlie: I think this is the first time where I can really enjoy Tom Cruise as an actor. I mean yes, I've seen other movies where I liked him or roughly liked him like in Mission Impossible III, Tropic Thunder, and...maybe Far and Away? (I don't know, that's undecided because it's been a long time for me with that movie.) But from just a drama film, I found a way to appreciate him a little more as an actor. So now I sort of have something to like about him...other than sometimes making fun of him with the fairly well-known "Trapped in the Closet" episode of South Park. 

Music: Surprisingly, I ended up paying a little more attention then I probably normally do when it comes to watching movies I've never seen before. The score gave a nice smooth sort of music that was kinda weird considering I didn't expect that kind of music to be in this film, but turned out to be interesting, especially when I learned that the music was done by Hans Zimmer.

Editing: I really enjoyed the editing. Because to top it all off with Hoffman's performance, you occasionally get these cuts of random things that Raymond is looking at like a bridge or seeing the same program at the same time with the TV and his small TV or looking at the rail as he's riding a car and stuff like that. Autistics do like to look at stuff like that from when they're in the car and all that, and I liked how they put that in.


And that's my review for Rain Man. It's spectacular film that must be remembered for a very long time for how it give us a brilliant, generalize idea about the life of being a person with Autism.  

Horrible Bosses (2011)

Rating: 70%
I probably waited a little too long to review this because I borrowed and watched it the same time as Green Lantern. But who cares. I am doing it now so here we go.

Plot: Nick, Dale and Kurt are friends who each hate their bosses. Nick's boss, Dave led him to believe that he was getting a promotion and instead gave himself a promotion. Dale is constantly being sexually harassed by his boss Julia who keeps attempting to make sure that he has sex with her before he marries his fiancee. Kurt's former boss who he loved dies and his drug addict son (bobby) takes his place in the company and is ruining it. At the bar, Nick and Dale suggest that they should kill their bosses and Dale eventually agrees. So they get a hitman named "Motherf*cker" Jones who suggest that they should try to kill each others' bosses in order to keep the police from catching them, which is what they attempt to do.

This is plainly one of those nice, decent comedies that come out once in a while. Now as far as how the three main characters interact as a group, it's kinda the same thing as both Hangover movies in a sense. But the story is nice considering that the subject roughly has to do with something that a lot of people can relate to. The comedy is nice, nothing really memorable to me, but it works. And I really enjoyed how it came together especially with what happened between Dave and Bobby and how the movie went from there. I thought that worked.

Actors/Characters:
Jason Bateman/Nick: I liked how Nick was sort of the main character and the smart one in the group. Although I didn't think they laid it out as far as they should've done completely, and I'll explain that when I get to the editing.
Charlie Day/Dale: I kinda liked Dale. Just how he had this big care about wanting to be married and having a lot of messed up stuff happening to him and it seems like no one relates to him when it came to stuff like how it's not cool that Julie is trying to sleep with him and with stuff like being called a sex offender that apparently does not sound accurate. That, and I thought he sounds a lot like this guy Nate from my church. Kinda makes me want to show this movie to him and our friends and hope they see it too.
Jason Sudeikis/Kurt: I kind of liked how he was like a complete sex addict but they didn't go way to far with it...or that is to say, they didn't over develop it at least in my opinion. But what really messed with my head is how there where a lot of times that I thought Kurt looked a lot like Ed Helms. I mean when i saw the Jeremy Jahns review to this film and he admitted it himself, I was like "YES!!!!!!" because I wasn't the only one.
Jennifer Aniston/Julia: Now I've recently become a big fan of Friends and I thought it was kinda crazy to see Aniston being a completely different character. But my big issue is that she wasn't there as much as I would've liked as a Friends fan.
Kevin Spacey/Dave: Okay so this the first movie I've watched since I finally started knowing who Kevin Spacey is after I saw The Usual Suspects about four months ago. I enjoyed Dave considering how much he really was a psycho.

Music: The score is alright, but this film really does a job on you in terms of really getting "How You Like Me Now" by The Heavy stuck in your head for a while.

Editing: So my one issue with the editing was the very end. *WARNING SPOILER* The way they show how things worked out was basically showing how Nick, Kurt, then Dale where doing after the events of the film. I really think the order should've been done in reverse. Because that way would make it in the order of who kinda had it the worst in the beginning. Dale should go first because while stopping Julia was especially a big deal for him, it wasn't a big deal comparing to Nick and Kurt and his story is not one that the audience could relate to as much. Kurt goes second because he was kind of in between. Then Nick because A) he's the one we start out with in the beginning, B) he's the main narrator of the story and C) his part in the end, ends with a shot of his new boss being freeze-framed and described to what he is through text just like all the bosses were in the beginning. Considering they were going to do that for his new boss, I thought ending with that would've worked way better as an ending. *END OF SPOILER*

And that's my review for Horrible Bosses. It's a nice comedy with a nice idea, familiar actors, and came together rather well, but didn't have a completely well organized ending. But all around it worked in terms of how so many of us hate our bosses...well except for guys who like their boss like me considering how my boss is a

(see? that worked much better for an ending. and this is just on my review. case and point right there.)

Borat (2006)

Rating: 0%
If there could be one time that I would've decided to sleep in and ditch class, today could've been the day. Because in my Documentary Film class, we actually watched this horrid movie, Borat!

Plot: Now while it's a documentary, it's basically laid out like a narrative film. Borat Sagdiyev, a popular Kazakh television reporter, goes on a trip to America to make a documentary film to some fictional Kazakh ministry. But while he's in new work, he watches an episode of Baywatch and falls in love with Pamela Anderson. So he deceives his producer Azamat in order to help him go to California and make Anderson his wife. Along the way he meets a lot of different people which eventually causes him to end up in a who lot of trouble.

Now from a documentary point of view, it works. I mean when we discussed the movie at the end of class, we talked about how this was well used in a reverse psychology kind of way and stuff like that. And it apparently work in terms of teaching how Documentary films aren't that different from narrative films. But there's so many things that are wrong about this movie, that it's a miracle that Sacha Baron Cohen and the film crew managed to not get arrested pretty much every time. (which there were several points where they could have.) Now I understand that there are people who love this kind of comedy. I mean half of the class was laughing as we watched this. But since I am NOT one of those people, this may as well have given me a reason to miss the twins from Revenge of the Fallen and heck, maybe even Hangover part II!!!!

Music: Annoying as heck. Didn't really help while putting up with the crap in this movie.

Editing: Well i didn't pay too much attention to the editing (especially when Borat and Azamat fight naked) But I think it worked in terms of the movie as a documentary.


And that's my review for Borat. While some may love it, it was one of the most horrid things I have ever had to put up with and I hope I forget about it long before the day is over. So if you need me, I'll be using Nostalgia Critic videos, comics, the last harry potter book, new movies from the library and heck, maybe even my Philosophy of Religion class to hopefully (if the Lord is willing) make that dream a reality.   

An Affair to Remember (1957)

Rating: 95%
Well considering that there's an awful lot of movie classics that I have yet to see, I decided that along with the VHS tapes to finally get started in seeing A LOT of movies that I still need to see and review. There's a whole collection of DVD's at home so I'm going to finally start watching a lot of them starting with An Affair to Remember.

Plot: Nick Ferrante, a well-known playboy is currently engaged and is sailing to new york to meet her. Along the way he meets a woman named Terry McKay who is also with someone, who after a few meetings in the ship develops a friendship with him. But after briefly visiting his grandmother, they begin to fall in love.

Now this is apparently #5 on the AFI list of America's greatest love stories. Now since I'm an expect in romance films, I wouldn't know if I agree to that, but I will admit it's a fairly romantic film. It's a well made romance, with some really nice cinematography. I especially love the shot of when Terry was opening that outside window when she's in New York and it's reflection is the Empire State Building. It has it's cute moments, some really good music, the acting is very well done, it's just a really nice romantic movie. It's not for me to say that it's one of the best let alone say that it deserves to be #5 on that AFI list, but it does it's job.


Acting/Characters:
Cary Grant/Nick Ferrante: ...uuuuhhhhhh...what do I need to say? I mean let's be serious. It's Cary Grant! He does an excellent job pretty much all the time. And it was no exception with Nick. He was charming, he was clever, he was just the way we remember him.
Deborah Kerr/Terry McKay: Now I'm not as particularly familiar with Kerr as I am with Grant, But she did a very good job too. She was very charming too and she had some nice emotional moments and while her last scene wasn't the most emotional, she did a good job.

Music: The song "An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)" was pretty nice. I mean i'm not an expert in songs from back then, but it was we made and well sung. some of the other songs were pretty good, but it was obviously that one that stood out.

Editing: I thought the editing was fairly well done. I mean it's the usual kind of style if you will that they had back them but it was still good.

And that's my review for An Affair to Remember.I wouldn't know if it really is one of the very best, but it does it's part in bringing us a nice romantic film.

Return to Me (2000)

Rating: 70%
Alright. Now here's the third VHS movie from the bag: Return to Me.

Plot: Bob Rueland is an architect who is currently working on a building at the Lincoln Park Zoo where his wife, Elizabeth is a zoologist. But then Elizabeth is killed in a car accident. At the same time, Grace is in intensive care awaiting high-risk, life-saving cardiac surgery. The surgery is successful due to the doctors actually using Elizabeth's heart to save Grace. A year later, Grace is living life to the fullest with the intention to even go to Rome. Bob meanwhile, is still grieving over his loss, so his friend charlie sets him up with a blind date. The date doesn't go well, but in the end, he becomes interested in the waitress in the restaurant who happens to be Grace. From there stay start going out and falling in love unaware that Grace has Elizabeth's heart.

Now I'm probably sure that you guys are guessing that it's not very unpredictable just like My Giant and Corrina, Corrina. So is it?...well in the general sense, yes. But that doesn't stop it from being good. Because unlike the last two VHS films it was much, much more interesting. I mean the story all around was nice, the romance was cute, and while the comedy isn't super hilarious, there were a lot of points - especially from some of the scenes with Grace's grandfather and his friends - that turned out to be at least a little funny. So yes it's not original, yes it's not a classic, but it's pretty enjoyable anyway.

Acting/Characters:
David Duchovny/Bob Rueland: I thought he did a good job with his emotional parts from after Elizabeth died. I may not be an expert on that stuff, but as far as I can tell, he did alright with that. When it comes to the rest of the film, he did a good job with giving us this character who is still going through the loss but is really loving the time he eventually starts spending with Grace.
Minnie Driver/Grace: Grace I thought was cute. I liked how she had the habit of worrying what men think about the scar she has from her transplant and how that went when she was finishing her first date with Bob and was totally regretting it and stuff like that.

Music: The music was okay. nothing really stood out.

Editing: I was fine with the editing except for the beginning. Because I felt that they didn't give us enough to show so that we knew right away that Grace is getting Elizabeth's heart. They did show Elizabeth's body during the surgery, but considering we only knew this woman for only...7 ish minutes, I at least had no idea until around 15 minutes later in the film.

And that's my review for Return to Me. It's not original, but it gives us an interesting, fairly funny, and a little romantic movie that is enjoyable anyway.   

Corrina, Corrina (1994)

Rating: 20%
Okay now here's another movie from the bag of VHS videos, Corrina, Corrina.

Plot: Manny and recently lost his wife, so he is looking for a nanny to take care of the house and his daughter Molly. So after a while, he hires one named Corrina. Through the events of the film, Corrina and Molly bond, which helps Molly after the loss of her mother.

This is not an original film. You get a good idea what happens throughout the film possibly close to right away. It's predictable, it's not all that funny, really if you enjoy family movies like this, that's fine, but it's not much of a film aside from that.

Acting/Characters:
Ray Liotta/Manny: He was okay. He was not a very original character, but he did alright considering the part he was given for this kind of film.
Whoopi Goldberg/Corrina: To be fair, I can see how the did have a sort of fun charm back in that time. I mean she was clever and had a cute personality.

Music: As far as score goes, it's not very original since this is a drama, comedy and romance movie in the 90's where we basically get the same kind of thing. But I liked the 50's songs that were played throughout the film, especially one that I'm familiar with since I work at the 50's restaurant.

Editing: The editing was okay, but some cuts needed to be done sooner than later. There were a couple of times where either they cut at a time that's a couple of seconds before we get the action the editor wanted from what was happening at that scene, and another point where after the action the editor wants from one scene, they just let the clip continue to where the character is just standing there for about a couple of seconds until we finally cut to the next scene.

And that's my review for Corrina, Corrina. It's not a very creative film, but if you want to see a cheesy movie as long as you're getting some sort of drama or comedy like this, this movie might be for you.