Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Movie/TV Review Catch Up Post

I am behind in my movie "reviews", although I haven't really watched much lately. Mostly just TV on DVD.

I recently got my wife into Deadwood. She got hooked about episode 3 in Season 1. Now we are in the process of watching Season 2. First of all let me say that Season 1 of Deadwood might just be the greatest TV drama I have ever seen, which makes me sad to say that so far Season 2 (we've seen 4 episodes) has been lackluster. It might just be because our expectations were so high, but in my mind I can't help but think that if Season 2 was actually Season 1 I would never have continued watching. Really disappointing.

Getting her into Deadwood, I was able to ease her into Pale Rider starring Clint Eastwood. Not his best western, but notable because it was his first in a decade after the greatest movie ever made, The Outlaw Josey Wales. Pale Rider earns 3.99 stars out of 5.






With her general acceptance of westerns as a legitimate form of motion pictures after seeing Pale Rider, I was then able to fulfill a lifelong dream and watch the greatest movie ever made, The Outlaw Josey Wales, with her. Thanks, hun, for making my lifelong dream come true (here's a list of Homer's lifelong dreams). The greatest movie ever made gets 5.01 stars out of 5.





The next western on the list to watch? The Magnificent Seven or maybe The Wild Bunch but most likely Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I haven't seen that in a decade.

Serenity
A pretty good science fiction movie made even better because it was a freebee from the library. An even 4 stars out of 5.






Friday Night Lights
Yeah, again, from the library. I think this came out before Y2K, but who cares? It was FREE. I don't like high school football, which this movie is based upon. I don't like egomaniacal teenagers or dads living vicariously through their kids or even Texas for that matter. I kept waiting for Billy Bob Thornton to get real drunk and make a fool of himself, but that never materialized. What a let down. 2.5 stars out of 5.



The Hills Have Eyes
I don't watch many horror movies mostly just some of the classics from the 70s like The Exorcist, The Omen, etc., but for some reason I wanted to see this. There's something about mutants that appeals to me. I don't know why. Having never seen the original (although I probably will now) I can't compare it to that, which may or may not be a good thing. It's a good movie though, but not for the faint of heart. Pretty gory but I've become desensitized to that since war movies like Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot routinely show people getting their heads and limbs blown off and that time I witnessed a mob execution. There's a character in this movie, one of the mutants, named Lizard. I could have sworn it was Alice Cooper, which wouldn't be a stretch since he's well, Alice Cooper, but alas, I was wrong. It was a guy named Robert Joy who I recognize now from bit parts on some TV shows. Anyway, it's a pretty creepy movie that I enjoyed and for that I give it 3.8 stars out of 5.

Last but not least, another TV show, Arrested Development. The funniest thing on TV since The Simpsons Season 6. Too bad its cancelled. Actually no, its not too bad. Now it can live forever in DVD form without ever have gone 7 seasons past its prime. We're halfway through season 1 which I had never seen before. Three times I watched Disc 1 and I suspect the same will happen with Disc 2. This is a must buy, people, as in you must buy it for me for Christmas because I am too broke right now. I don't typically rate TV shows, but if I did, AD Season 1 would get 5 stars out of 5. No no, 5.001 stars out of 5.


5 comments:

skape7 said...

...You witnessed a mob execution?

gagknee said...

naw. just kidding.

mike gagne said...

i happened to like friday night lights. until i found out they tweaked and changed alot of the facts for hollywood.

and there are rumors of an Arrested Development movie. i dont know how good of an idea that is.

skape7 said...

I thought so, but just wanted to check. :)

gagknee said...

its not a good idea. at all. just like the rumors of it going to Showtime.