He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special (1985) – It spends
too much time with a bunch of robots we don’t care about and haven’t seen before
or since, and there’s other general silliness (e.g., the Laser Bolt flying), but
it’s unrelentingly endearing, and “good” Skeletor is worth the price of
admission all by himself – plus, Orko gets to hear the Gospel. 7
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
The Last Man
The Last Man (2000) – The characters may be realistic, but
they aren’t very interesting or sympathetic, and this really hurts the film
because there’s not much else going on, including comedy; Arnott turns in a
good performance, but his character’s petty, hypocritical antics wear thin long
before the end of the movie. 5
Thursday, December 20, 2012
JCVD
JCVD (2008) – Van Damme, doing something along the lines of
Shatner in Free Enterprise, is
impressively self-referential and self-deprecating; most surprisingly, he
demonstrates some very solid acting ability; the director does some things
extremely well, but there isn’t enough story or depth for the running time, and
the ending is bizarre. 6
Thursday, December 13, 2012
The Final Inquiry
The Final Inquiry (2006) – The acting, direction, and
screenplay in this Gospel-circling film are all subpar, the romance is
eye-roll-inducing, and the condensed theatrical version makes big, awkward
jumps in the story, but the film also does some things well, and even though it
only scratches the surface on profound questions of faith and reason, by God if
there isn’t a good film in here screaming to get out (although it might be The Robe); it’s kind of weird that they got
the guy who played Pilate in The Passion
of the Christ to play the same role here (It’s also weird to see Dolph in a movie like this, but he and his giant battle axe are welcome additions). 5
Saturday, December 8, 2012
An American Werewolf in London
An American Werewolf in London (1981) – The special effects
are quite impressive, but after a promising start, the film falls inertly into
the vast horror/comedy no-man’s-land, and Landis doesn’t seem particularly interested
in developing his story or in setting an immersive tone one way or the other. 5
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Warning from Space
Warning from Space (1956) – Ye gods, do those aliens look
silly; even so, this is a well-shot, well-staged, earnest and optimistic film,
but unfortunately, the plot crawls with agonizing slowness as characters go
about their everyday business for much of the film, and there’s some truly
shoddy plotting going on as well. 4
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