Dune (1984)

Where to start with Dune?

It's a wild movie. It's like if you mixed Blade Runner, Tron, and really any 80s cult sci-fi film together, and I've been hearing a lot of shit talking about it in recent days from useless hack websites who have nothing better to write about while I actually kinda liked it. Again, for a person who only got about a quarter of the way through the book I was keeping up with it, had a good time, and while there are things that were off this is by no means a bad film. Though I heard the production was a bit of a wreck and David Lynch totally disowns this film which is a shame because he took the director's chair because he saw a lot of potential, but the studio wanted a specific movie and didn't even give him final cut privileges, the only film he directed where he didn't have the final say. That's a real shame that it's such a bad memory for him cause the film is honestly decent. I hear it takes bits from all the books but mainly focuses on the first, with Paul Atreides leaving his home planet with his family to the planet Arrakis to expand the family's power and wealth only to be targeted by another family clan as Paul rises to his destiny and declares war on the entire empire controlling Arrakis. It's not a bad story, and the way it's told isn't perfect but I never had 20 questions per scene and felt the cast while giving a more film serial performance was still very good. I know a lot of people gave Kale good grief because he seemed too old for the character of Paul but he looked very young, and is easily the best actor in the film. Which is saying something when you have Patrick Stewart, Jurgen Prochnow, Sean Young, and Max Von Sydow in the same cast. Even with the performance of the utterly hammy and absurd Baron Vladimir, it looks like Kenneth McMillan is having the time of his life playing this bonkers villain to the max. The special effects and set design is really great stuff, with detailed sets, unique costuming, the sandworms look awesome, it's a very 80s looking film in every respect but I dig that kind of look. It's a very dramatized story with dramatic acting, hence why it felt very Flash Gordon to me but I hold no major grievances with it. It's decent, I liked the cast, I got the story which was very streamlined for audiences, but yeah even I was quoting lines and rocking out to the music when Paul rides the worm. So call me a fan, and I'm curious how the new film will adapt the book for better or worse. 3 stars, 7/10.

Ace Ventura Pet Detective

Yeah, it's my favorite. What a twist!

I'm pretty sure this was the first Jim Carrey movie I saw, might have been Batman Forever but I'm hedging my bets on it being this one. And I could be here all damn day telling you how much I love it, I was reciting lines left, right, and center through the whole thing and had a total blast with it, so it's gonna get the best rating even if I'm very nostalgically biased towards it. I can't even imagine how big the movie was in 1994, seeing as how I wasn't born yet but I can certainly imagine! I mean Jim got a one-two punch with The Mask and Dumb And Dumber, but this was just a knockout for that year. And while it is undoubtedly a comedy first it still has crime elements, with Ace Ventura the world's best and only pet detective called in to retrieve the Miami Dolphin's mascot and figure out who kidnapped the poor creature and why. Incredibly basic plot that I can attest that even a small child can understand, and to be fair the mystery/detective parts are handled well and keep you invested until the end. But the comedy is what gets people coming back, and Jim Carrey is on top form in this, though I've loved his performances in the previous movies of his that I've reviewed, this is just next level. I actually found out recently that Carrey built his Ace persona around birds, the colorful hawaiian shirts, the absurd yet glorious hair, the exaggerated neck movements, I certainly see it now. To be honest, his comedy hits every time for me in various degrees, from a quick smile to hard laughs, and I'll be honest his schtick never got old for me. These 3 movies I reviewed were the big ones for me, watched them constantly and never got tired of the antics, and while I've grown and my taste and sensibilities have changed there's still a part of me that loves these movies. But Jim isn't the only one who is good in this, Courtney Cox is fun and has quite good chemistry with Jim, Sean Young hasn't aged a day since Blade Runner and is friggin' fit as hell in this movie, I even liked seeing Tone Loc again though bless him I don't think he's been in much since the 90s. So cast is great, comedy is a blast, the crime solving aspects are handled well, and it even made football tolerable to me. Is there anything I don't like? Well I can see one thing about a certain aspect of the film that might not have aged well, if you know you know, and while I certainly can totally understand where people are coming from and even agree with them on points, I can also say that people shouldn't take it too seriously to the point you can't enjoy the movie. I'd blame more the individual for taking a certain mindset away from this movie than the movie itself, because the director and cast absolutely meant no ill will, but I totally get a bit of the concerns. Does it hurt the score? No. Do I think people should take a chill pill and not make everything an issue? Yes. All in all, it's still a favorite of mine, and not even like a guilty pleasure I unironically love Ace Ventura, I think it's a very funny and entertaining movie and I'll no doubt keep watching it in the future and just as a bonus I'm gonna review the sequel too. But in the meantime, 4 stars! I dare even give it an 8/10, and I'll see you next time when nature calls.

2nd Viewing: Blade Runner

Really it's more my 3rd viewing. I watched both the theatrical and final cut today so I could compare notes correctly.

And you know what? I may not fully get it, but this is a really damn good movie now that I saw it again! I highly enjoyed it, and wasn't just witness to the story and didn't feel much. I don't know the deeper meaning of the movie, probably never will, but it was a better experience this time. Cinematography and visuals are stunning and breathtaking, you can see the craftsmanship in everything, and I love the world it builds. Characters are interesting and memorable, especially Roy played to beyond perfection by Rutger Hauer, seriously the man needs an Oscar, he knows exactly what he needs to potray and how to do it. Decker is a great protagonist, and the story flows very nicely as he hunts these replicants down. I think it worked greatly in my favor to watch both versions, and I can safely say the final cut is vastly superior. What shocked me was the narraration was not that excessive in the theatrical cut, it cropped up...maybe 5 times in 2 hours of film, so it never felt overbearing. The final cut has so much better editing, framing, visual richness, and a more coherent story. I really enjoyed this movie, and no doubt will buy it soon. The immersion it sets, I think, is why it is so good. It sets up the technology, the characters, history of said characters, and a wonderful atmosphere. I can stare at those backgrounds for hours, they are so finely detailed and for paintings the depth is incredible. Blade Runner is a heavily visual film, no doubt, but the story it tells is interesting and engaging enough so that it can't just be considered eye candy. I will be seeing it more times in the future, and I fully agree with Harrison Ford and his views on the film, so the final cut is the version you should go for. But for curiosity's sake, if you want to, track down the theatrical cut. It's not often in life you can say the same movie can be viewed literally very differently. So I am very happy to have seen it again, we will touch on Blade Runner 2049 tomorrow, so until then my friends.

Blade Runner

I do not actually think it's fair to review a movie like Blade Runner on the first viewing. Yeah, it took me 22 years to finally see Blade Runner, a movie I've heard so much about and seen referenced countless times and only now have I seen the source material.

So Blade Runner is basically a sci-fi noir film following a detective on the hunt for human replicants for murder, and that's just the plot synopsis from what I saw. This is not a movie you can watch just once in your life, it's a difficult movie to fully describe. It's a quiet movie (I watched The Final Cut, so no voice over.) and you do have to pay attention to even slightly understand the plot. It's a visually rich film without a shadow of a doubt, and in retrospect Ghost In The Shell with Scarlett had much in visual style and art direction to be owed to Blade Runner. In fact almost every science fiction movie after 1982 owes some element to this movie. Now I know this movie is an adaptation of "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick, and I have read up on it briefly, but even then the movie is it's own entity. I don't know, it's just such a bizzare, mysterious, just strange movie and there's no way in hell anybody can form a true opinion on this film in one viewing, this is a movie that you have to watch multiple times so I may have to break a rule and next year I will rewatch Blade Runner and do an In Retrospect of it. There's just no movie with a look and story like this movie, so I feel really bad actually about writing this review, because I have no words to explain how I feel. I couldn't even really say it's a great or even good movie although I found little wrong with it, so it's just all depending on the person and how many times they are willing to watch it again. So that's why I absolutely have to watch this movie again and talk about it again, because it's just that kind of movie. I'm sorry I was all vague and not highly opinionated, but my mind was accepting what I was viewing and I was highly interested in the movie, it held my attention all the way through, but I just couldn't say anything very definitive besides rich visual appeal, so I have to say go watch this movie and please for the love of all things good in this world tell me what you thought of it, doesn't matter if you've seen it once or 50 times I would love to hear your opinions. All I know for sure is, I want that gun.