1979 Review Blog
Alien
Grade: B 10/26/2008
I certainly don't consider this the masterpiece of sci-fi horror that most people do, but it IS impressive. The production design is top notch, the design of the large aliens are freakishly realistic, and this film contains the most intense, jump-out-of-your-seat moment you will ever see. It took me a good 5 minutes to calm down from that one...it was THAT unexpected, thrilling, and terrifying.
1001 Movie to See Before You Die
Grade: B 10/26/2008
I certainly don't consider this the masterpiece of sci-fi horror that most people do, but it IS impressive. The production design is top notch, the design of the large aliens are freakishly realistic, and this film contains the most intense, jump-out-of-your-seat moment you will ever see. It took me a good 5 minutes to calm down from that one...it was THAT unexpected, thrilling, and terrifying.
1001 Movie to See Before You Die
Kramer vs. Kramer
Grade: A 10/31/2010
I don't think I have ever before seen a more powerful, tear-inducing, poignant human drama than KRAMER VS. KRAMER. It is a simple story about a man whose wife walks out on him and his 6 year old son and shows up 18 months later seeking custody. In lesser hands, such a simple film would come across like a LAW & ORDER episode. As it is...it is worthy of virtually all of its Oscar wins (100% behind Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, and Screenplay...but I could argue Director for Coppolla in APOCALYPSE NOW. Hoffman is terrific and scenes like the infamous Ice Cream scene and when his son recieves stitches made my heart ache at the seriousness and relatability of young Billy's parents' predicament.
1001 Movie to See Before You Die
Grade: A 10/31/2010
I don't think I have ever before seen a more powerful, tear-inducing, poignant human drama than KRAMER VS. KRAMER. It is a simple story about a man whose wife walks out on him and his 6 year old son and shows up 18 months later seeking custody. In lesser hands, such a simple film would come across like a LAW & ORDER episode. As it is...it is worthy of virtually all of its Oscar wins (100% behind Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, and Screenplay...but I could argue Director for Coppolla in APOCALYPSE NOW. Hoffman is terrific and scenes like the infamous Ice Cream scene and when his son recieves stitches made my heart ache at the seriousness and relatability of young Billy's parents' predicament.
1001 Movie to See Before You Die
Manhattan
Grade: B 10/19/2008
No one has made New York more iconic in cinema than Woody Allen...and no movie has epitomized Allen's love of the Big Apple more than MANHATTAN. From a technical, artistic standpoint...it is Allen's finest film. However, his strong point has always been dialogue and neuroses. MANHATTAN's plot is vintage Allen, but never quite as interesting as the visuals or the wonderful use of George Gershwin in the soundtrack. I liked seeing Meryl Streep in the film, but the presence of Mariel Hemingway, as an underage lover of Allen's, was a little creepy...especially knowing Allen's history. Still...it is a classic Allen feature.
1001 Movie to See Before You Die
Grade: B 10/19/2008
No one has made New York more iconic in cinema than Woody Allen...and no movie has epitomized Allen's love of the Big Apple more than MANHATTAN. From a technical, artistic standpoint...it is Allen's finest film. However, his strong point has always been dialogue and neuroses. MANHATTAN's plot is vintage Allen, but never quite as interesting as the visuals or the wonderful use of George Gershwin in the soundtrack. I liked seeing Meryl Streep in the film, but the presence of Mariel Hemingway, as an underage lover of Allen's, was a little creepy...especially knowing Allen's history. Still...it is a classic Allen feature.
1001 Movie to See Before You Die
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Grade: B+ 10/20/2010
Movies about the lack of knowledge and characters that to not understand their situation are few and far between....because it is hard to tell a story about people who "don't know what happened". Peter Weir's film is a solid example on how to make a movie like this. It follows a trip by a bunch of college girls, in 1900, when 4 of them disappeared without a trace during their picnic at the locally famous geological outcropping. No one knows what happened, no one understands why no one knows, and we never find out. It is an odd approach to the movie....but Weir's cinematography and especially the score, project a sense of mystery that can easily be explained like it was a Twilight Zone episode written by Jane Austen.
1001 Movie to See Before You Die
Grade: B+ 10/20/2010
Movies about the lack of knowledge and characters that to not understand their situation are few and far between....because it is hard to tell a story about people who "don't know what happened". Peter Weir's film is a solid example on how to make a movie like this. It follows a trip by a bunch of college girls, in 1900, when 4 of them disappeared without a trace during their picnic at the locally famous geological outcropping. No one knows what happened, no one understands why no one knows, and we never find out. It is an odd approach to the movie....but Weir's cinematography and especially the score, project a sense of mystery that can easily be explained like it was a Twilight Zone episode written by Jane Austen.
1001 Movie to See Before You Die