Rodent's Reviews

Rodent's Reviews: Delivering The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly In Film

Rodent's Reviews: PART DEUX!

Rodent's 1950-Present Sci-Fi And Futuristic Fantasy Movies

I Am Rick Cottontree

09-25-12

Part Of Rodent's 15 Review Marathon Of The 1980s Classics And Their Sequels

Review #147 (2nd of 15): Field Of Dreams

Ray Kinsella is a newbie and failing farmer. His crops aren't great and he's facing financial ruin and bankruptcy.
While out in his corn field he hears a strange whispery voice saying "If you build it, he will come".
At first Ray thinks he's going mad and hearing voices... but as time goes on, the voice keeps sounding and he sees a vision of a baseball field where his crops are. He build the field and is stunned when an apparition of a dead baseball player magically appears on the field. The problem is, nobody apart from Ray and his immediate family can see the ghosts of the dead players on the pitch.

Eventually, Ray is lead to seek out Terrence Mann... and their adventure together will lead them both not only to the depths of disbelief... but to a destiny that will change their very existence forever.

A lovely, lovely movie, laced with just enough schmaltz and heart felt emotion and backs itself up with small element of humour and lashings of mystery and drama.

Dreams isn't the average voyage of discovery or even the average drama... it throws a huge element of fantasy into the proceedings too and does it extremely well.
The plot falls a little flat at times, particularly when Ray is discovering certain things about where his quest is going, but it's hardly recognisable as a fault really.
There is however the mystery and some spooky aspects to the story and overall feel of the movie that work great as well.

There's also masses of wonderfully playful plot elements and the odd little twists that keeps the viewer watching the screen.

The acting is spot on though.
Kevin Costner as Ray is brilliantly lost in the series of events. He plays the comedy really well too, especially when he first meets Terrence Mann's character.
James Earl Jones as Mann is also wonderful. His chemistry with COstner is perfect and they work well off each other in every scene they're together in.

Ray Liotta makes a brilliant show as Shoeless Joe Jackson, the main ghost of the baseball players. His brooding and rather sombre take on a lost but intelligent soul is really something very wonderful.

Back up comes from Amy Madigan, Timothy Busfield, Gaby Hoffman, Art LaFleur, Steve Eastin, Dwier Brown and Burt Lancaster.

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All in all, not a perfect film, but has some really great lumps of mystery and drama. It's acted well, has a really nicely written screenplay with only the odd crease in the plot and the ending is wonderfully heart felt after the fantastic build up.

My rating: 90%

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Originally Posted by Iroquois

Resident Evil: Retribution was my one-pointer

Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 01:43 PM.

akatemple

"akatemple of movie reviews"

Sit Ubu Sit.... Good Dog

09-25-12

I have never seen Cop Land but with your review I have added it to my list. Beverly Hills Cop 1 has always been a favorite, never really cared much for the other ones.
Really great reviews Rodent.

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akatemple

Sit Ubu Sit.... Good Dog

09-25-12

HA, Field of dreams is a classic to me, I grew up watching that movie.

The Rodent

I Am Rick Cottontree

09-25-12

Cheers matey! Got a list of 80s here that I'm going to get through... hopefully you guys like them all, 18 more reviews to go, 22 movies in all

You'll have to keep watching to find out which ones I've got lined up though.

JayDee

Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave

09-25-12

Oh s**t I forgot to tape Mississippi Burning last night!!!

Had noticed it and meant to but completely blanked on it. Need to maybe pick the DVD up cheap at some point.

Anyway you've certainly been a busy little rodent haven't you!

Love Field of Dreams and the Beverly Hills Cop films. The first is by far the best but I even like the really goofy third one.

Look forward to seeing what else you've got up your sleeve in this season of 80s movies; one of my favourite, if not my absolute favourite decade for films

__________________

JayDee's 100 Favourite Films

JayDee's DVD Collection

JayDee's Movie Musings (Reviews - Frailty / Total Recall / Lone Ranger / Nightcrawler / Whiplash / Imitation Game / Birdman / Avengers: Age of Ultron / Mad Max: Fury Road)

The Rodent

I Am Rick Cottontree

09-26-12

Part Of Rodent's 15 Review Marathon Of The 1980s Classics And Their Sequels

Review #148 (3rd of 15): Stand By Me

Based on Stephen King's novel The Body... four school friends Gordy, Chris, Vern and Teddy are a pretty disparate group of kids.
Teddy is a bit of a wild child with a violent father, Vern is overweight and a bit dumb, Gordy is the smartest of the group and has a talent for telling stories and Chris is carrying the burden of being a thief due to his older brother having a reputation.
Gordy is also put upon by his family after his older brother died not long ago. His brother was seen as the first son obviously and Gordy feels he has been forgotten by his father, which upsets him deeply.

When word reaches their ears of the location of a missing boy from their school, the four pack some camping equipment and head out into the Maine wilderness for what they think will be grand adventure of discovery and a chance to get away from their tormented lives...

... what they discover though is themselves, each other, life lessons and discover that growing up to become men is a different experience than they all initially thought.

A lovely lovely movie full of some great acting and a wonderful screenplay.
Stand By Me has a brilliantly pieced together backstory too, there's lashings of history to the characters and it gives them a real and recognisable air that never fails to keep the viewer interested.

The screenplay itself is a little linear, but it doesn't spoil the film, it keeps things simple and doesn't confuse nor bore the audience. There is a nice twist/change in the linear screenplay that appears near the end that keeps things different though.

There's also a couple of little hits of more exciting cinema but it's kept relatively real and relatively small but still makes a mark on the audience.

There is however a greatly concieved soundtrack... most of it is based around the styles of the time and the title song works perfectly with the movie too.

That's all there is to say about the movie itself really, it's really all about the talent on show doing their best to back up the haunting series of events and backstory.

Jerry O'Connell as Vern, the fat kid that's bullied is a wonder to watch. He's funny and is the basis of most of the group's situation comedy.
Corey Feldman, as usual is brilliant. His take on the mentally disturbed but eccentric wild child is perfect and fits Feldman to a T.

Wil Wheaton plays Gordy, the smartest academically and is also played by Richard Dreyfuss as an older man. Dreyuss' narration is really good and adds an element of nostalgia to the proceesdings but Wheaton is the on screen Gordy, and he absolutely nails the role. It's by far Wheaton's best role to date.
The late great River Phoenix plays Chris, the other wild child with a twist. Phoenix really makes a mark on the viewer and really is the best actor on show of the main cast. He's also extremely intense when needed and carries the humour well too.

Back up comes in the form of Bradley Gregg, Gary Riley, the great Marshall Bell, Casey Siemaszko and Kiefer Sutherland as the leader of a group of bad boys that Chris' brother is part of.
John Cusack also makes a brilliant appearance in flashback as Gordy's deceased brother.

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All in all, apart from the linear and slightly lacking script (I wanted to see more of our heroes and villains after the credits rolled), Stand By Me is a near perfect movie. Full of awesome acting, haunting subject matters and funny situational humour. This coming-of-age story is an absolute must see and the air of nostalgia that the movie has is top work, even though you've never met the characters before.

My rating: 97%

Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 01:44 PM.

The Rodent

I Am Rick Cottontree

09-26-12

Part Of Rodent's 15 Review Marathon Of The 1980s Classics And Their Sequels

Review #149 (4th of 15): Rain Man

Charlie Babbit is a successful car dealer, but one of his deals is about to go awry and he has to take off across America to sort out the mess.
When news reaches him that his estranged father has died, he cancels the trip temporarily and goes to the Will Hearing, only to discover that he has an older brother he'd never heard of... a brother that will inherit all of his father's wealth.
Jealous and upset, he visits his brother in the hope that he can maybe twist him into giving up the inheritance and to investigate this disturbing turn of events, but finds out that Raymond is a Savant, or Autistic if you will, and he takes Raymond on his now un-cancelled trip across America to rediscover his past and his family and get his car deal sorted out...

... but things won't be as logistically simple or as emotionally easy as he thought with Rain Man by his side.

An absolutely fantastic film of self discovery and emotional connection comes from the minds of some of the best actors and filmmakers in the business.
Rain Man isn't just another simple odd-couple movie... it's a heartwrenching movie that also manages to be funny, painfully emotional and extremely intense in the turn of events that captures the feelings of family and love perfectly.

It's another movie that's based mainly around the acting but this time round it has one of the finest screenplays and actual character developments I've yet to see in any movie.
It's extremely believeable too. Unknown pasts and secretive families taking the forefront of the screenplay and the voyage of discovery that the main duo go down is very very well pieced together. The scenes when they go to a Casino are brilliantly funny too.

What makes the film stand out from any other film of it's kind, is the awesome screenplay. There are sequences of events and discovery that not just the cast go down, but the audience is taken down too.
It's almost an education in the subject of Autism and how the human mind works... the subject matters involved have definitely been well researched before being put to script. It's also handled with incredible care for detail and respect.
Very well done indeed.

The acting, not only is a surprise from Tom Cruise, is wonderful throughout.
Cruise in particular, like I just said is a surprise to be sure, but he's extremely real in the events that are unfolding around him. His feelings of regret, jealousy and occasional smarmy and slimy persona shine through greatly. His frustrations with Raymond are also felt by the viewer too.
Now, Dustin Hoffman as Raymond is an absolute gem in the movie world. Dustin's quiet, unassuming yet brilliantly intelligent character is not only annoying, but heart wrenchingly loveable and funny. Hoffman even won an Academy Award for his role. One of the finest performances going I'd say.

Back up comes in the forms of Valeria Golino and Jerry Molen but the movie really is all about Cruise and Hoffman on their road trip.

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All in all, the film lacks almost nothing... the performances, screenplay, script, soundtrack and especially the emotions the viewer is taken through are all incredibly powerful.
One of the best dramas from the best decade for movies, an absolute must see.

My rating: 100%

Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 01:44 PM.

JayDee

Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave

09-26-12

I really need to watch Rain Man, been on my radar for a while and still not got round to it.

The Rodent

I Am Rick Cottontree

09-26-12

You've never seen it?

It's one of those films that surprised me when I first watched. I expected a pretty standard road movie with a bit of emotion thrown in for good measure, I think having Tom Cruise in the film made me think that, I expected a bit of a girly drama with Cruise as the eye candy for the teenyboppers... it's much much better than that though.

The Rodent

I Am Rick Cottontree

09-26-12

Part Of Rodent's 15 Review Marathon Of The 1980s Classics And Their Sequels

Review #150 (5th of 15): Big Trouble In Little China

Jack Burton is a truck driver, he's also a bit of a hustler and smart-mouth who loves himself... a lot.
When he and his friend Wang Chi go to San Francisco International Airport to pick up Wang's fiancee Miao Yin, they are attacked by a street gang and Yin is kidnapped, presumably to be sold as a sex slave.

Burton vows to help Wang find his bride to be and take on the gang... but what they discover is that Miao Yin is part of a centuries old legend of Chinese sorcery and black magic that will shake the Pillars of Heaven if evil prevails.

The ultimate 80s classic in terms of cheese, action, tongue in cheek humour and some exceptionally wooden (but knowing) acting.

John Carpenter really goes against type with his direction too. The movie is completely different to his other outings.
It also contains a very particular taste in production value, settings, humour, screenplay and the overall script and story.
If you don't get it, forget it, the movie isn't for you.

The story itself starts out pretty simple... two friends getting the girl back with some really good action and martial arts thrown in... then toward the second act it turns into an extremely imaginative fantasy full of weird creatures and some even weirder special effects and costumes.

What makes Big Trouble stand out though is exactly that... it's very disparate from one scene to the next, the viewer never really knows what coming next.
Which also adds to the mystery of what's going on in the turns of events.

Not all of the film works though, some of the legend and the history of the legend in the story is a little under-written (if that's a word). It feels quite childlike and doesn't quite have the air of what Carpenter set out for... ageless legends.

The acting though is knowingly bad. The cast seem to be almost smiling throughout while delivering their cheesey dialogue.
Kurt Russell as Burton, the muscleheaded self promoter is perfectly cast. He's funny, believeable when the going gets tough and carries the action brilliantly. Most of his humour comes from acting dumb throughout the turn of weird events.
Dennis Dun is also a perfect match for Russell. His wise young China man and unassuming stature give him a real edge against Russell and their on screen chemistry is wonderful.

Kim Catrall makes a nice show as Burton's love interest and another damsell in distress. She's at her usual for the time of filming, kind of lost and yet still sexy with it.

Back up comes from James Hong, Al Leong, Carter Wong, Peter Kwong, James Pax and the late great Victor Wong.

The action is really what it's all about though. It's loud, brightly coloured, full of excessive use of pyrotechnics and one of the main martial arts antagonists even influenced a very famous videogame God... but you'll have to watch to find out who.

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Al in all, no where near being a perfect movie technically... but Trouble gives cheese, fights, highly memorable monsters and characters and some really funny scenes in bucketloads.
An 80s actioner well worth a spot in my 80s classics section, it's also one of my guilty pleasures.

My rating: 86%

Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 01:45 PM.

mastermetal777

Msg

I don't remember asking you a ******* thing!

09-27-12

Can you believe I never finished Rain Man? I love that movie, and yet I don't know how it ends! It's a terrible tragedy that I need to remedy soon. It's a marvel of a film in acting, direction, and writing in general. Dustin Hoffman's performance is definitely in my top 10 male film performances of all-time.

The Rodent

I Am Rick Cottontree

09-27-12

Michael Bay takes over the third act as director and there's a huge explosion and some Navy Seals and Hoffman goes all Jackie Chan on their asses.

The Rodent

I Am Rick Cottontree

09-27-12

Part Of Rodent's 15 Review Marathon Of The 1980s Classics And Their Sequels

Review #151 (6th of 15): Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

In a fantasy world, cartoon characters live in the same world as real people and are hired just like regular actors to star in cartoons.
When Marvin Acme, an important person in the toon industry is murdered, Roger Rabbit is the first suspect because his wife Jessica was seen and photographed with Acme.
Acme's last Will is also missing, a Will that apparently leaves Toontown to the toons that live there.
If the Will isn't found though, Toontown will be ripped down and replaced with a highway that will bring millions of dollars in for the owners.

It's up to a Toon hating PI called Eddie Valiant to investigate this turn of events and discover who Acme's murderer really is and find out who will profit from what appears to be a cover up.

One of the most original movies of the 80s... Framed gives the viewer a taste of what a handful of movies gave years before with the likes of Mary Poppins and Bedknobs And Broomsticks...

... then turns the whole thing right up in the action, writing, comedy and screenplay stakes.

It's a big hit movie with younger movie goers due to the wacky and zany comedy on show and the bright colours of the setting and characters but Framed is really a more adult murder mystery filled with an incredible eye detail and a screenplay that rivals most murder mysteries.

It's highly inventive too with the subject matters and smaller plot points that go on throughout, including the air of history and mystery that's added to the storylines and plots.
The whole journey through the story is felt wonderfully by the viewer.
The other thing is that there's always something happening on screen, whether in the background or simply something going on with the dialogue... it's very cleverly put together.

It's also incredibly funny at times too. The humour is based around in-jokes mainly and references to other cartoons and the legend of cartoons from over the years but it's handled with a real world realism that makes it much more than just homage type humour.

The animation is also lovely... it's bright, colourful, zany at times and works wonderfully with the talented cast on screen. The voice-over work is also top notch.

The acting is absolutley bang on too.
Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant is absolutley perfect... his drunken but intelligent and tough PI works brilliantly with his co-star Roger... the disparate pair really are extremely believeable when seen together, even though Roger isn't actually there with Hoskins.
Joanna Cassidy makes a nice appearance as Delores, Eddie's love interest.

Charles Fleischer voices Roger with a gorgeous sounding Kathleen Turner as Roger's beautifully animated wife Jessica.

By far the stand out role though is Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom... a sadistic hater of Toons and a heavy handed authoritarian. He's extremely memorable too, especially in the third act when Lloyd seems to have been given free reign with the character. Shame he's not on screen more though.

As for the action side of things... the technicalities throughout having humans and Toons interacting couldn't have been easy but it's the highly charged scenes of action and running around fighting that are an absolute marvel to watch.
The humour involved with Roger makes some of the action even more exciting too.

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All in all, an absolute masterpiece in technical terms... and the story, plot, screenplay and acting are all on serious top form. It's highly funny, incredibly exciting and even the quieter scenes keep the audience fixed to the screen.
It's also the first time in history that cartoon characters from different franchises are seen together on screen, from Disney to Warner to Terrytoons.
Another highly memorable 80s classic.

My rating: 100%

Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 01:45 PM.

JayDee

Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave

09-28-12

Love Roger Rabbit!

Definitely need to give it a rewatch sometime, been a good few years now since I last saw it.

As for Big Trouble... while I do like it it's never lived up to my high expectations. A few years back I had just discovered John Carpenter through They Live and Escape from New York in quick succession and loved them. With that love and how awesome it sounded I thought I would absolutely adore it, but it's just never quite reached that level for me.

Originally Posted by The Rodent

You've never seen it?

Not as of yet. Up until a year or two ago it never really appealled for whatever reason. Maybe it was coming on here and seeing quite a few big fans of it that got me interested. Anyway picked up the DVD a while back but not got round to it yet. However I've got a bunch of films in mind I intend on watching soon and that's definitely part of it

The Rodent

I Am Rick Cottontree

09-28-12

Part Of Rodent's 15 Review Marathon Of The 1980s Classics And Their Sequels

Review #152 (7th of 15): Innerspace

Lt Tuck Pendelton is a bit of a loose wire as a Naval Aviator. His superiors hate him, his co-workers don't want to work with him and his girlfriend has left him.
He gets the chance to work in a scientific project due to his skills as a pilot as part of a Miniaturization Experiment.
Tuck and his craft will be shrunk to microscopic size and injected into a Rabbit, to see if he can make contact with it and see if certain experiments will work at such a small size.

But the plan goes awry when a competitor/criminal scientific group storm the lab and Tuck finds himself injected into an unwitting and unwilling civilian called Jack...

... and Tuck must make contact with the Hypochondriac civilian, explain what happened and the pair must join forces so to speak, and get Tuck out safely before the criminal group catch up with them so they can steal the technology.

Inspired by the 1966 B-sci-fi Fantasic Voyage, Innerspace ramps up the special effects and reworks the overall story to give a really original series of events that are laden with thrills, spills and comedy.

Brought to the screen by Joe Dante, and starring most of his usual collaberators, Innerspace has a definite classic feel to it. The screenplay is a bit OTT at times and some of the effects and ideas seen at the time were pretty outlandish, but the weird thing is that over time, the ideas haven't aged at all, some of them seem, still, like sci-fi, and others actually seem normal by today's standard of technology.

The film is really all about the connection between Tuck and Jack and the odd-couple buddy comedy that ensues between them and Tuck giving Jack a hard time by making certain parts of his body either malfunction or completely changing the dimensions of his face.
The screenplay is really just to back up the laughs and various zany sci-fi happenings that are laced throughout the film.

It does work though, it gives the audience a laugh a minute style movie with only the odd hint of genuine emotion.

The above also gives the film the chance to throw a load of action in too. Not just the more exciting scenes of car chases, fist fights and the 80s cliche of having people hanging off the back of a moving lorry either... there are some really exciting scenes inside Jack's body, seeing how Tuck moves around in his Craft, the third act that contains a one-on-one fight inside Jack and the things seen on screen in terms of biology are an absolute joy to watch.
It's also close to being flawless in the look too... the effects are superb.

The acting is good too.
Dennis Quaid as Pendelton is wonderfully gung-ho and has a relatively caring side to him, especially for his love interest Meg Ryan. He carries the comedy well but he's more about the strapping hero thing than comic relief.
Martin Short stands out though as Jack... he's basically been given the script and then let loose with it. He's incredibly funny, charming, zany, wacky and even manages to give an air of emotional content when th equieter scenes are playing out. His chemistry with Quaid, even though the two are never really on-screen together is wonderfully created.

Meg Ryan makes a show as Pendelton's love interest... but she spends more time on-screen with Martin Short... still though, their time together on-screen is memorable.

Back up comes from Kevin McCarthy, Fiona Lewis and rent-a-baddie Vernon Wells as the antagonists... and long time Dante collaberators Robert Picardo and Dick Miller also make a show. Picardo in particular is exceptionally good in the film as "The Cowboy".

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All in all, not a perfect movie, but the special effects, top actors and well written comedy that backs up the slightly lacking screenplay are exceptionally good.
Dante's natural style of direction and having his usual cast of regulars mixed with a couple of newer faces also gives the movie a much better edge over most comedy sci-fi movies. Still though, it's another of my guilty pleasures.

My rating: 90%

Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 01:46 PM.

nebbit

Registered User

09-28-12

Originally Posted by The Rodent

Part Of Rodent's 20 Review Marathon Of The 1980s Classics And Their Sequels

Review #151 (6th of 20): Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Nice review about another rodent

__________________
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

The Rodent

I Am Rick Cottontree

09-28-12

Aww Nebs! Wabbits aren't Rodents. They're Lagomorpha.

Fankoo anyway!

nebbit

Registered User

09-29-12

Oops

mastermetal777

Msg

I don't remember asking you a ******* thing!

09-29-12

I'm ashamed. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is one of the few supposedly "great" films I've NEVER watched in my life. Am I really missing out on such a fantastic movie? I fear the hype is gonna overwhelm me if I watch it.

The Rodent