Starring: Penelope Ann Miller; Tom Sizemore; Linda Hunt; James Whitmore
Director: Peter Hyams
Ebert's Review- 3 Stars
Leo's Review- 3 Stars
Peter Hyams "The Relic" is a great thriller/science fiction film. It is set in Chicago (my home town) at The Field Museum where a mysterious "thing" is feeding on humans. Tom Sizemore plays the very rough Lt. Vincent D'Agosta who believes in superstitions and thinks it may not just be a murderer who is doing this to people at the museum. The monster is an awesome creation by Stan Winston (Jurassic Park and Terminator 2) that looks like a mix between the Rancor from "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" and "The Predator". It is a very entertaining and scary movie that involves Penelope Ann Miller as Dr. Margo Green as the Anthropologist who has discovered that a shipment of leaves has cells that the monster is after. In the monsters search it leads to it hunting and chopping off heads of many people. As Ebert says in his review "It's clever the way the movie combines the conventions of the horror and disaster genres." I think it is a must see.
Starring: Sean Connery; Ursula Andress; Joseph Wiseman; Jack Lord
Director: Terence Young
Ebert's Review- DNR (Did Not Review)
Leo's Review- 3 Stars
I had never seen any "Bond" films so I am on a string of watching 007 films. The first installment, "Dr. No" is a fun movie with everything you could want from a secret agent type film. Bond is searching for the person behind the murder of a colleague which leads him to the secret island of Dr. No. Roger Ebert did not review this movie. I do not know if Ebert would have "loved" this movie, but I think he would have liked the moments of suspense and the scenery of Jamaica. Sean Connery is the stylish James Bond who has a knack for suspense and always seems to find his way out of any tough situation. For its time this movie is great. There is a car chase, a crawling spider, and great explosions! It has everything you would want from an old 60's film. Check out the set in the end at Dr. No's lair. I saw flash backs in my mind of Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon" or of course Dr. Evil-in Austin Powers.
Starring: Pierce Brosnan; Sophie Marceau; Robert Carlyle; Denise Richards
Director: Michael Apted
Ebert's Review- 3 ½ Stars
Leo's Review- 3 Stars
"The World is Not Enough" is a very cool movie. The opening scene (a Bond movie staple) is action packed with bullets flying and Bond using another man's belt to get from the top floor to the ground. Pierce Brosnan was born to play Bond. He has the perfect accent and displays complete cool when under pressure. Bond is trying to figure out who is after the wealthy Elektra King and how to stop the evil Renard. Like Ebert's review- this movie is a list of everything that is BOND! Explosions, beautiful leading ladies, a mad villain, chase scenes, gizmos and gadgets. It is a lot of fun! Denise Richards is not a great actress and there are some moments of "oh come on"! This is why this movie does not get the ½ star from me like Ebert. But Bond movies are not meant to be perfect. They have great action and a lot of twists!
Starring: Charles Chaplin; Paulette Goddard; Jack Oakie; Reginald Gardiner
Director: Charles Chaplin
Ebert's Review- 3 ½ Stars
Leo's Review- 3 ½ Stars
I now have learned that in order to know great comedy you must see movies by Charlie Chaplin. "The Great Dictator" is a movie that is so funny that I felt I could tell where every other great comedy director- i.e. Mel Brooks or The Farelly Brothers-got their training. Chaplin, in what is his last movie to use his character "The Little Tramp", plays both Hynkel (not to be confused with Hitler) and The Jewish Barber. This was Chaplin's first talking picture and he uses the stage of this movie as his own statement on the World War. The Jewish Barber has saved a member of Hynkel's party in a plane crash, gets amnesia and makes his way back to health; only to find out that Hynkel is in power and terrorizing Jewish people in the Ghettos. Since Hynkel and the Barber look the same this leads to the obvious confusion. There are great moments like the hand shake between Hynkel and the very funny Napolini, The Barber having trouble with a machine gun, and of course Hynkel's poetic dance with a globe. Ebert gives great praise for the film saying, "There are also immortal moments of Chaplin pantomime. He shaves a customer in time to classic music. As the Jewish barber, dressed in the stolen uniform of the dictator, he nonchalantly reviews "his" troops and then sits in a folding chair that collapses, causing complete confusion."
Starring: Daniel Craig; Eva Green; Mads Mikkelsen; Judi Dench
Director: Martin Campbell
Ebert's Review- 4 Stars
Leo's Review- 4 Stars
In Martin Campbell's "Casino Royale" we get a new beginning to the "Bond" series. Casino Royale is the first tale written by Ian Flemming on the 007 agent. It is also Campbell's way of making Bond not a character that will always get what he wants, but more of a man that is learning on his feet and finding out fast that being a 007 is not easy. Daniel Craig steps in as James Bond and brings more muscle and more toughness. There are two scenes that bring the movie to life 1) A very cool chase scene. This involves Bond and a terrorist for hire where the man that Bond is chasing uses the skill of parkour. It is a must see. 2) The poker scenes. Even if you do not like poker, the events that happen in this scene are intense. The poker table is where Bond is trying to bankrupt an evil man name Le Chiffre who is funding terrorists. This Bond movie goes into the realm of a "Bourne" movie style of action film. It stands alone in the Bond series because of a more realistic view. Bond does not always get the girl, Bond does get hurt, he does bleed. This is something that had not been done yet. Bond is actually human and this makes a very real movie!
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