Quick Movie Reviews

Stardust - This one is charming, and I don't know why it didn't do better in the theaters. It wasn't as good as, say, "The Princess Bride", but it had that fun sort of fairy tale feel to it. Definitely recommended.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - I was intrigued by how polarized the Netflix reviews were for this one. I'm not especially a fan of any of the actors involved, but thought the premise was unique enough to check it out. The bottom line is that I thought it was original (which is hard to come by these days) and intelligent. I think the polarized reviews came out of it being too smart for the room, and a lot of people who didn't like it seemed to be expecting a comedy, which it wasn't. Also recommended, but remember that the story is being shown out of order, which seemed to confuse a lot of the people who didn't like it.

Resident Evil: Extinction - I'll admit to watching the first two Resident Evil movies, largely because my wife loves a good monster flick. The first two were okay, because the monsters were kind of fun to look at, and there were some attractive women (Sienna Guillory in the second one is a particular favorite) to enjoy. We're not looking for Shakespearean quality writing here. The third movie is a step down from the first two in almost every respect, with Ali Larter not being as much fun to watch as Sienna Guillory, the monsters not nearly as cool, and even the writing was a step down. It's time to put this series out to pasture, guys. Not recommended.

The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari - I'm talking about the 1920's original here, folks. There are reasons why this one, like Nosferatu, still holds up after so many years. The sets remain the best reason to watch this one, as strange as that will sound, and the story is good. I read on Wikipedia that someone did a remake with the sets duplicated as closely as possible, but with sound and modern quality acting. I can believe that, for once, that sort of remake might actually have been a good idea. Recommended, but keep the time period in mind while you're watching to get you past the acting.

Ghost Voyage - Yes, this is a Sci Fi Channel movie, and these are are almost uniformly awful. We ended up watching this one almost by accident. And yet, there's something to learn here, which is how thin the difference is between a good movie and a bad movie. The premise was good, and if the writing, directing, and special effects were just a shade better, and the acting a lot better, this could've been a really good film. I wouldn't recommend it, but I might steal the premise for a roleplaying session sometime.

Night Gallery, Season One, Disc One - I hate to admit that I remember watching these on television when they were new. I rented this because I wanted to see how well this old favorite would hold up, and the honest answer, at least for this disc, was "not very well". There are some good acting performances (Burgess Meredith springs to mind), but episodes that I thought were stupid as a kid ("The Nature of the Enemy", in particular) still strike me as stupid now. I was hoping that watching these from an adult perspective might reveal a few gems that I'd missed the first time, even if it meant that some of the ones I'd enjoyed when I was young might not hold up, but I found no unexpected gems on this disc. I'll continue with the series, but I plan to be selective, focusing on the episodes I remember enjoying so many years ago, and hopefully I'll still find a few I might enjoy more from an adult perspective. I especially look forward to the Lovecraft adaptations ("Pickman's Model", for example). This disc, though, is not recommended.