Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

I use a computer, not a phone, and I can see the title.

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Monsters University is a fun movie, but it's not nearly as good as Monsters Inc.. I highly recommend that you watch the first movie.

While I enjoyed Monsters University, I think the biggest problem with this movie is the message that it sends to kids. It shows them that they can cheat, and still get what they want. Mike and Sully don't really suffer the consequences of their actions when they find another way in to the Scare Team.

Up is one of those movies that seems to grow on me more and more each time I watch it. I love the beginning of the movie, but like you, I lose interest around the time the house lands and we meet the talking dogs.

However unlike you, I liked the kid, Russell. I thought he was a little annoying at times, but overall he was kind of fun. And I liked the dog, Dug , but I didn't really care for the rest of the dogs or the bad guy who was voiced by Christopher Plummer.

I thought Robinson Crusoe on Mars had a pretty good story, but I found the main character to be so dislikable that I didn't really care if he survived. I think it would have been better if they had cast Adam West in the main role, instead of the minor role that he had. I also thought the monkey was one of the most annoying animals in any movie I've seen.

Directors: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell
Writers: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell
Cast: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside
Genre: Comedy Sci fi Spoof



Turbo Kid what a totally fun movie! I thought I might like it, but I was surprised that I had such a blast watching it! I loved the clever ode to the 80s B sci fi movies. It's not just the 80s style that is explored here...the film is done as one of the low budget 80s sci fis that they use to make. Turbo Kid reminded me of one of my fav sci fi B movies, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) It has the same basic story and even has the same Michael Ironside.


Laurence Leboeuf rocked her role as Apple. She made the movie fun. I loved her wacky way of seeing the world...and all while being so sweet...she just wanted a friend, ahh. I know a lot of people will focus on the fight scenes and yeah those were fun too. But it was the bonding between Apple and Turbo Kid that made the film memorable to me. This is going to be one of my favorite noms. Sure there are bigger and better sci fis, but I love this as a nom as it was an unexpected joy. I could watch this again.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Scott Frank & Jon Cohen (screenplay)
Cast: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton
Genre: Action, Sci Fi


High marks to the unique story concept of Minority Report, and that's thanks to the sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick who also penned the novel Blade Runner.

Minority Report did indeed feel a lot like Blade Runner. There was the same roguish law enforcement individual, who finds himself violating society's future laws and goes on the run. Then there's the humans who aren't quite the same as everyone else. They have unique abilities and those abilities cause them to be treated like objects, all for the benefit of society. Then there's the same invasive technology that has been usurped by commercialism and used to sell goods via personalized ads that follow you around like a bad rash where ever you go, sort of like what is happening today.


I found the concept of the movie to be deep...but damn if good ole Steven Spielberg didn't come along and muck up a great sci fi with his bloated chase scenes and product placement that must have brought in millions of bucks for him.

Image for a moment if Spielberg had directed Blade Runner and instead of the deep existential story about what it means to be human, we'd get Harrison Ford driving cars down the sides of buildings and flying through air as he leaps for his life like some reject from an amusement park ride. And image if Spielberg had taken the visual beauty from Blade Runner and replaced it with yet another assembly line looking Dream Works movie...

Luckily Spielberg didn't get his hands on Blade Runner but he sure did a number on Minority Report. This could have been great, an equal to Blade Runner...But instead this unique vision by Philip K. Dicks was demoted to 'Hollywood movie making magic'.

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Ha I know! Turbo Kid should have been higher

Denzel Washington...a good actor that has the misfortune of ending up in mediocre action movies. Deja Vu is one of those ah-it's-ok flicks that are easy to watch and...easy to forget.

I really liked the first 30 minutes when the film was a straight, crime scene investigation drama. Denzel was real good in those first 30 minutes. But once we get to the sci-fi time-spy-cam, the film takes a step backwards and even Denzel goes from interesting to luke warm.

I had to laugh at his tizzy fit when in a frustrated rage he throws a chair into the FBI's ultra expensive time machine monitor. Silly, but not his fault, it's the directors mistake.


The sci fi elements didn't work and the idea of the Minority Report style high tech crime surveillance monitors just wasn't interesting to me and either were the actors who played the 'time geeks'. I can't watch Adam Goldberg without thinking of him as Chandler's crazy roommate from Friends, sorry but that boy is time-cast...err I mean type-cast.

Shanti (does she have a last name?) was the only believable scientist crime fighter in the time geek squad. But poor Val Kilmer didn't get to do anything interesting. Though I will say that Jim Caviezel gets some really good scenes as he plays an oddly inspired, home grown terrorist. The producers apparently wanted a sequel, as his character hints that he's on some sort of mission, which I took to be that he was a future time traveler sent to change the past, so he's available for part 2!

The film was kind of exciting during the chase scene in the Hummer, though chases aren't really my thing. But then they break that tension by going back to the girl's apartment and hang out for awhile...What? I thought the clock was ticking with only minutes left before the bomb explodes...They sure took their sweet time, but then with a time machine you can do that

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I'm glad you wrote this - I thought I was supposed to like Minority Report a lot more than I did. Like you, I appreciated the concepts, but now I can hardly remember most of the movie (which means it didn't make a huge impact).

I remember it having a little in the way of Jeunet style sci fi/fantasy mix that was somewhat interesting but didn't really go anywhere with the film mostly ending up as a pretty standard sci fi action thriller.

Directors: George P. Cosmatos
Writer: Kevin Jarre
Cast: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Dana Delany
Genre: Western

I've been meaning to re-watch Tombstone ever since I got on an O.K. Corral movie kick. I've watched a number of films about the gunfight at O.K. Corral. Some you might know of like John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946). Others you should've heard of like John Sturges' pair of fine films: Gunfight at OK Corral (1957) & Hour of the Gun (1967)...And others like the Marie Osmond's TV vehicle, I Married Wyatt Earp (1983) is best unheard of, yikes.

As I worked my way through all these films and documentaries too, I started getting an appreciation for the life of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and the infamous fight in Tombstone at the O.K. Corral. Well actually the gun fight only lasted seconds and took place in a vacant lot next to the O.K. Corral, but like they say, 'don't get your history from movies.'

I probably could write a mini novella about the real Wyatt Earp and still get it all wrong because the only true facts are: that no one left alive knows the real story and it has been spun so many different ways that Wyatt and Doc have entered that magical realm of mytho-heros.

Tombstone doesn't try to be factual, thank goodness as how could it be when the real facts are unknown...Instead it takes the myth and delivers it up in a potent, folklore way. The characters are larger than life with memorable lines and unforgettable scenes that one can recall long after the movie is over.

The last Wyatt Earp film I watched was Kevin Costner in Wyatt Earp (1994). I can't say I remember a thing about that movie, not one line, not one scene... Dennis Quad was a great Doc in Wyatt Earp, but for my money I'm going with Val Kilmer as the best Doc Holiday around. Val's Doc has heart and damn if he doesn't get all the best scenes to boot, even the scene without his boots! I loved the scene where he first meets Johnny Ringo who pulls out his gun and spins it around all fancy like...then, Doc answers him by taking a tiny tin cup and spinning it around his finger like it was a fancy six shooter. Did Val Kilmer win best supporting actor? If not he was robbed!

Director: Kevin Costner
Writers: Lauran Paine (novel), Craig Storper (screenplay)
Cast: Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Diego Luna
Genre: western

I liked Open Range, with some reservations. I have reservations about most movies I watch. By that I mean: smaller things that I didn't care for or would have done differently if I was in the director's seat. If I'm really into a movie then those reservations are forgotten. But with Open Range I'm on the fence, a barbed wire fence, ha, I did enjoy the film, but like a lot of Kevin Costner's films it felt long to me. The only movie of his that didn't feel long was Dances With Wolves, which was fairly long, go figure.

The opening scene out on the range, could have been trimmed by 10 minutes as it took 24 minutes before the crisis began and I was losing interest during that first establishing scene. But once the big guy goes missing and the boys go looking for him, the film caught my attention.

I'm sure some will say Open Range is sentimentalism. Well I like sentimentalism myself, though a couple of times director Costner dipped into that well too deeply, especially the scenes with the dog which had me in the mindset of Hallmark. But mostly it had a nice touch to it.

Each film takes it's own tone and Open Range takes it's tone from Kevin Costner and despite his character's shady past we see he's a decent guy who's thoughtful and considerate...kind of like me!

Well Costner's character did remind me of myself, except for the gun slinging stuff of course, but rest assured if I got mud all over a pretty woman's floor I'd be picking the mud clods up too! Loved that scene BTW. Also the scene in the general store where he's looking at a mail order catalog to replace a china set, just in case he doesn't survive the gunfight...that was a nice touch to the movie. And that's what works for me in this film is Kevin Costner, he's easy to relate to.

Jungfrukällan (original title)
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Writer: Ulla Isaksson
Cast: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom
Genre: Historical Drama
Language: Swedish


This is the third or fourth Bergman film I've seen and the first one that held my attention. Of course it was beautifully filmed with compositions that could be printed, framed and then hung in an art museum. I was intrigued at first by the jealousy the dark haired-servant girl showed towards the blonde spoiled daughter. But I was disappointed that instead of an exploration of that jealousy, the film simply shows a brutal rape and murder scene of the poor frightened girl. Then comes a long slow march until we finally get the prerequisite revenge scene.

I don't see what the appeal of this film is? I mean what do people get from it? Besides the aforementioned cinematography, what does the film have to offer? I know that this was based on a 12th century folk ballad so when the film was made I can understand that the movie might resonate with the Swedish audience of that time. But despite the master craftsmanship by Bergman, the story itself offered little to me.

I'm not saying it's flawed, just saying it didn't do anything for me. Perhaps if I knew more of the ancient religious beliefs of 12th century Sweden, then I might have gotten much more out of it as I believe there was a juxtaposition of the ancient beliefs vs the modern Christian beliefs, and the film demonstrates through different events that regardless of one's beliefs, the need for understanding and revenge and forgiveness is universal. At least I think that's what it was about.

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Director: Joseph Ruben
Writers: Pierre Jolivet, Olivier Schatzky
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix
Genre: Drama


Loved the premise and the moral exploration of the theme of responsibility...that's my kind of movie.

But I hated how the actors, especially Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche acted so light heartened in so many of the scenes, which then diluted any power the movie's moral dilemma had. A scene would start out strong only to have Vince end it by grinning at Anne Heche...I've never seen more smirks and smiles than in this movie. For the subject matter, the tone of the film was too light, except for Joaquin Phoenix who added needed believably to the otherwise mess of a movie.

The characters almost never delivered their lines like a person's life actually depended on them. I didn't believe them for one second, as they didn't act like they believed the situation themselves.

What derailed the film was the romance thing between Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche, it added way too much lightness to what needed to be a hard hitting film. I actually laughed a couple time at the daft way the characters handled themselves...At the beginning of the film Anne Heche confronts Vince Vaughn on the street and tells him his friend will be executed in 8 days if he doesn't return to Malaysia to serve jail time (Heche was OK there but then) she goes from serious to happy chirpy when she says 'how about dinner?' 'how about drinks'...The film lost me right there. Then again the script doesn't offer the actors much to work with but ad-hoc gimmicks. But it's the director who I blame most as the entire movie felt too light weight for the seriousness of the subject matter.

The film projectionist warns the boy that the life of film is no life at all, and that he will become isolated from the world as he watches movies 100s of times over. But the boy falls under the spell of film and escapes into a world of movie fantasies and that's what we see...the older director looking back at his boyhood and seeing the town and it's people as if they were characters in a film.

The boy loses himself into a world of movies and by that ruins his own life. Cinema Paradiso warns us not to live inside a dream, and that, the illusion of cinema is so strong that one can live a lie, instead of living a life.

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I'm not big on Pixar films. I do like a few - Monsters, Inc being my favorite. When it came to Up, my favorite character is ... Kevin...

I liked Return to Paradise, but I agree that the romance part didn't work in the movie. It might have worked if it turned out that Heche was just playing Vaughn just to try to get him to save Phoenix, but it wasn't a real romance. But it just didn't work as a real romance.

I'm not big on animation, but I've liked the Pixar films. Funny thing is I just watched Monsters, Inc. last night. It was nicely done, but I think my favorite Pixar is Wall-E.