American comedies directed by Harold Ramis, Amy Heckerling and Jeremiah S. Chechik, starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo.
Mr. Griswold tries to show his family a good time on hollidays, but things never go as planned.
Another set! I have to take these back-logged movies down as efficiently as possible. This set, like Indiana Jones, peaked in the middle. I like European Vacation most because it was still funny and fresh at that point, but without Aunt Edna. I think Edna really crapped on the middle of the first film. My favorite scene from European was shopping for Italian clothes. The French waiter mocking the Griswolds was funny and, holding a personal grudge against a douche-hound myself, seeing one jump off the Eiffel Tower was cool. Chevy Chase is an alright actor, but I liked him more in Caddyshack (1980). He seems a little too goofy in Lampoon's Vacations, but has Beverly D'Angelo to play the "straight man" for his funny man act. What really bothers me about this set is switching actors for the children in every film. They seem to be teenagers in European and it almost works, but are back to small children in Christmas. I have not included the newer films because I just plain don't like them and won't watch them (yet). I rate this set o.k. and would recommend European over the others.
An American comedy directed by Stan Dragoti, starring Michael Keaton and Teri Garr.
A man loses his job and his wife gets a new one, so he has to stay home and take care of their kids.
I would describe this as a very "low impact" film. It's really easy to just watch through and laugh about a few jokes. The vacuum cleaner, washing machine and the boy's blanket are funny to me. The humor in this film is the opposite of Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob. That was crude and this is benign. The humor springs from mundane situations which are widely recognizable through common experience of many viewers. A man who has never faced a washing machine with no clue of how to run it is not a man. I can totally understand the husband wearing the same clothes all the time and growing a beard. I do the same thing. I may have trouble getting really into daytime TV soap operas though. I liked how militant and authoritarian the people at an elementary school were about driveway direction. I've seen those people in real life. I rate this good because it's realistic, easy to watch and has some good "clean" humor.
American comedies directed by Kevin Smith, starring Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes.
A reluctant convenience store clerk is friends with the inattentive clerk of the video store next door. A drug dealer and his friend hang out in front of the shops. In Clerks II, the characters are at a fast food restaurant, in Dogma, the drug dealer and friend try to help a woman to prevent fallen angels from entering a church and in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the guys outside the stores go to Hollywood to claim money for a movie being made about them.
Another set! I'm not including the animated Jay and Silent Bob film or the 2019 sequel to Strike Back. I've seen Dogma many times and Strike Back came out when I was in college the first time and my friends watched it lots. The humor in these films seems awkward, crude and irreverent, even to me. Dante gets on my nerves a little bit and Jay's jokes are only about sex and ganja. Clerks 1 being in all black and white was a little daring for Kevin Smith's first film in 1994. All of them looked fine, except that Strike Back looked a little too Hollywood to me. I rate the set o.k. and you should watch it if your sense of humor is crude and irreverent.
I am now realizing why I did not review the films I've seen so many times. It's hard to think of something to write about a movie I know so well that I can watch it in my head.
American action adventures directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Harrison Ford.
An archaeologist is trying to get the ark of the covenant before nazis do, rescue magic stones from a cult in India, searching for his father and the holy grail and returning a crystal skull to aliens before the soviets get it.
Pretty cool stuff. I like Temple of Doom the most because of the action scenes and comedic relief of Short Round. I think Indy gets beat up a little more in this than the others too. The rest are alright and fill out the story of the main character. One of the film classes I took cited Raiders of the Lost Ark as being filmed well. I can see them all being filmed well, with lots of planning to get timing right. This is one of the sets that I like to watch consecutively, just because of length. I rate it adequate because it all just blends together into a whole story to me and it's relatively good, but there are far better films.
American comedies directed by Chris Columbus, starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Candy, John Heard and Catherine O'Hara.
A boy's family leaves for Christmas vacation in France, but forget to bring him. While they are away, burglars try to break into the house. Then he gets on the wrong plane and ends up in New York City while his family are in Florida. The same burglars show up.
When I began taking college video production classes, I realized how cool the original Home Alone was. Everything is done straight up, by the book. Every shot is identifiable and everything is planned for clear communication. Casting did a great job. On an interesting note, Catherine O'Hara (Mrs. McCallister) voiced Malicious in Witch's Night Out (1978) and played Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice (1988). The second film was not as good as the first and buggered belief even more. I rate the original best and the sequel adequate.
An American drama directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Sally Field.
The life of a man from Alabama is shown: from his first time getting onto a school bus until his son gets onto a bus the first time.
This is one of my favorites. Around 2 hours and 20 minutes duration is filled with plot and characters. The main character, Forrest Gump just happens to be present at every historical event of his time. His friends are great and casting was done well. Robin Wright (Jenny) played Buttercup in The Princess Bride (1987) and Sally Field (Mrs. Gump) played Frog in Smokey and the Bandit (1977). This was based on a novel and the book included the main character as an astronaut, professional wrestler and chess player. This is one of my back-catch-up reviews about a film I've seen lots of times, but not written about. I rate it best. Watch it!
An American animated comedy directed by Mark Dindal, starring David Spade, John Goodman, Wendie Malick and Patrick Warburton.
An Incan emperor wants to build his summer home on a hilltop occupied by a village. A peasant living there finds out about this, but the emperor's advisors turn him into a llama in an attempted murder by poison. The llama emperor ends up on the hill with the peasant and tries to return to the city.
This is far outside the year range of "good Disney movies", but I really like it. The plot seems designed to hold the interest of children as well as the parents who bring them to the theater. There were a small number of characters, but even some of the minor ones were instantly recognizable and make the viewer care what happens to them. Pacha's unnamed children are a good example. I like that the John Goodman character looks like John Goodman. Some of my favorite humor scenes were Kronk carrying Kuzco out of the palace, the squirrel near the jaguars and what happened with Yzma and Kronk at Pacha's house. I would really rather watch this again right now than try to think of something more to type about it. I rate it good and you should probably watch it.
