Welcome to the latest installent of "At
the Movies with tkt". Summer is fast approaching,
and with it comes a load of big budget blockbuster films.
Stay tuned in the upcoming months for reviews of this
summer's blockbusters, plus reviews of blockbusters of
summers past. Now, on with June, where in my "Retro
Pick O' The Month", I review one of my favorite
films of all time in honor of a recently passed on Oscar
winner.
Along Came a Spider
Rated: R
CAST: Morgan Freeman,
Monica Potter, Michael Wincott, Penelope Ann Miller
DIRECTOR: Lee Tamahori
What's It All About, Alfie?
The sequel to the 1997 hit "Kiss the Girls". A
congressman's daughter is kidnapped from a private
school. The kidnapper (craving publicity more than
money), lures Detective Alex Ross, who is recovering from
the loss of his partner, into the case. Ross teams up
with a Secret Service agent from the school to try and
find the kidnapper before he kills his hostage.
My Two Cents
I'm a sucker for suspense thrillers. Ones with Morgan
Freeman are even better. He always seems so caring, like
he could be the viewer's dad (or at least make the viewer
wish he was). Freeman gives a good performance as always,
this movie probably wouldn't have been half as good with
someone  else in the role.
Monica Potter is kind of blah, I hadn't really seen
anything else with her, and she reminds me too much of
Julia Roberts to actually like her. The film itself keeps
you in suspense, it has a lot of twists including a
mildly surprising ending which I won't give away. Michael
Wincott gives a strong performance as the villain. I
liked how the kidnapped girl was very resourceful in
finding ways to try and escpe her captor. Her ideas were
smart, probably using things she'd learned in school, as
opposed to having some sort of ingrained survival
ability. You won't be able to say that you liked this
movie more than "Se7en", but it's still a good
way to spend you moviegoing dollar. Amusing sidenote: the
scene at the beginning where Freeman loses his partner
has some of the fakest special effects that I've seen on
a moderately budgeted movie in quite some time.
Would I Buy This film on DVD?
Maybe, but probably not. That doesn't mean it isn't good,
but probably not worth seeing more than once, after you
know what happens. You'd be wiser to spend your DVD
allowance on the New Line Platinum Series deluxe 2 disc
set of "Se7en". But, overall, I give this film
3.5 out of 5 FIREBALLS.
 
Poltergeist
Rated: PG
CAST: JoBeth Williams,
Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight, HEATher O'Rourke,
Zelda Rubenstein
DIRECTOR: Tobe Hooper
What's It All About, Alfie?
A suburban California family's home is haunted by ghosts.
The once cute ghosts suddenly turn evil and
"kidnap" the family's youngest daughter, who
can only be heard occasionally through the television.
The family hires experts in parapsychology to help them
try to get their daughter back from the unknown place,
while still battling the ghosts themselves.
My Two Cents
I saw this film when it was first in theaters, and I have
loved it ever since. It's one of those films where I can
sit and quote almost the entire thing. It's not really
too scary, even when I was 8 years old I wasn't too
scared, at least by the ghosts themselves. The one thing
that IS scary is THAT  DAMNED CLOWN DOLL. Ok, and that line up
there that says "Directed by Tobe Hooper"?
Everyone knows this movie was REALLY directed by Steven
Spielberg. It's filmed in the same neighborhood (or an
exact copy) that was used in "ET". There are
great special effects (yes, it's 20 years old but they're
still cool). Something you might need to explain to kids
seeing it for the first time is that yes, television
stations used to go "off the air" at night and
they always played the national anthem beforehand. But
really, not much else in this film is that dated, they
could probably use the same script and still make this
film today, although they'd have to use different actors
since many of the principle actors in this film are now
dead. RIP Oscar winner Beatrice Straight.
Would I Buy This Film on DVD?
YES! For some reason, I don't have it on DVD yet,
although my birthday IS less than 6 months away, so you
can start shopping now. I DO own the letterbox VHS, and
the deluxe 4 (yes, 4) disc laserdisc edition. Obviously
this is one of those films that stands up to repeat
viewings, I've probably seen it 40 times. It's on TBS
quite a little bit too. Some HOT product placement to
watch for: In the kids' bedroom (why do they have a boy
and a girl sleep in the same bedroom instead of the two
girls?), Robbie has
"Geoffrey" sheets on his bed, as well as a
Darth Vader action figure collector's case, a Captain
American comic book, and a Rams helmet, not to mention
the Chewbacca t-shirt that he uses to cover up the face
of THAT DAMNED CLOWN DOLL. Carol Ann can be seen with a
Luke Skywalker action figure in her mouth, pleasing Mark
Hamill to no end, I'm sure. Near the end of the film when
Mom tells Dana that they'll be staying at the Holiday
Inn, Dana says "yeah, I remember that place".
The book that Dad is reading when Robbie comes into the
parent's bedroom before getting eaten by the tree is
"Reagan: The Man, the President". When Dad
comes home from work, Carol Ann rats out Mom "Mommy
didn't make any dinner", and Mom responds
"We'll go to Pizza Hut, honey". Ok, maybe I
have seen this movie a few too many times, but RENT IT
ANYWAY! Overall, I give this film 5 out of 5 FIREBALLS,
because it's SCORCHING HOT!
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