Time After Time (Snap Case) (1979) Review

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(More customer reviews)It has been a while since I've reviewed something on my lifelong favorite's list. So I've chosen "Time After Time" because it isn't very well known by younger audiences nor is it necessarily considered a "classic."
However, I instantly fell in love with this movie over 25 years ago--and I still consider it a rip-roaring good time!
Starting out with the most bizarre plot ever, "Time After Time" will keep you enthralled. It is a glorious popcorn flick--fast, light, fun, and exciting in equal measures. Set in 1893, we meet H. G. Wells (Malcolm MacDowell) who is unknowingly friends with Jack The Ripper (David Warner). MacDowell has constructed a time machine which Warner misappropriates as he is fleeing the authorities. He travels to modern day San Francisco where he continues his murderous ways. MacDowell follows him, he must stop Jack The Ripper! He meets up with a local woman, Mary Steenburgen, who helps him adjusts and ultimately gets caught up in his unlikely story.
"Time After Time" succeeds in several different genres concurrently. This is a credible sci-fi pic, a sweet romance, a fish out of water comedy, as well as a decent serial killer thriller. I think that's what I love and respect about this film, it's out there. There is no way that this picture should work, it should be terrible. And yet, inexplicably, Nicholas Meyer has crafted an intricate and audacious work. Even if I didn't love this movie, I would respect its ambition and scope. But love it I do, this is one of the most wildly entertaining pictures you could hope to see. Some people might be tempted to dismiss this work as dated or even slight--and yes, you do have to accept that this is a product of the 70's. There are references to "free love" and other concepts of the era, but at the same time--the film is incredibly prescient about violence in the modern age. Every time Warner describes how he was meant to exist in this future, where killings and debauchery are commonplace, I understand a real truth in his sentiment.
The performances are cracking good. MacDowell is the unlikeliest hero and a refreshing romantic lead. Warner has NEVER NEVER been better. If you are even a passing fan of his, you must see this picture. And Mary Steenburgen is a delight--she doesn't do enough these days! Maybe this isn't highbrow entertainment, but it is dazzling fun. Recommended to all without even the slightest hesitation. KGHarris, 12/06.

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London 1893 is home to a killer with a macabre nickname... and also to a visionary genius who would write "The Time Machine." But what if H.G. Wells' invention wasn't fiction? And what if Jack the Ripper escaped capture fleeing his own time to take refuge in ours - with Wells himself in pursuit?

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Tank Girl (1995) Review

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(More customer reviews)I adore this movie in a completely irrational, fan girl way. I know it's corny, I know that some people will hate it, and think it's stooopid. It fits the comic book style of punchy, fast action. Lori Petty quite effectively becomes the punk-girl she ought to be.
But like other reviewers, I am quite, quite disappointed in the DVD version of this film. From the trenches you hear grumblings that there was a lot of edited stuff that COULD HAVE been put on the DVD. Why don't DVD makers do more than reprint what we already have on video for us to (silly consumers we sometimes are) just rush out to buy anyway? The picture quality of the DVD is not significantly higher than that of the video-- the only real bonus is that you can do still pauses and get some cool screen shots for that conference paper presentation you're doing... There is nothing more than the video on this DVD. Not even any nifty "Making of Tank Girl" footage, or sketches of other rejected cartoon scenes, or whatever! Even an oldie/goodie Cherry 2000 has more than this one, and surely the DVD makers could have done better.
I'll just hope that Men In Black is correct, and someday, when we get the next alien form of media (I guess I'll have to buy the White album again) the next makers of whatever futuristic thing we'll all have to rush out and buy will heed this advice-- put more on your big media! There's no real reason for me to excercise my insane consumerism if you don't fill up my big old plate!

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If you're into in-your-face visuals, outrageous action sequences and non-stop explosive laughs, this is your "rip-roaring power surge of a movie" (L.A. Weekly).The year's 2033 and since a humongous meteor hit earth, the world just hasn't been the same. No Movies, No Cable TV, NO WATER!!! A mega-villain, Kesslee (Malcolm McDowell), the leader of Water & Power, holds the world in his grasp since he controls all the H2O down to the last drop...or so he thinks. Two colossal enemiesstand in his way: (1) The Rippers - an army of half-men/half-kangaroo people whose sole purpose is to bring down the W & P, and (2) a chick with a tank and tons of attitude - a.k.a. Tank Girl (Lori Petty). Kesslee had better get a grip on reality and his water jugs because not even a run in her stocking is going to stop her from saving the planet.

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Easy A (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)It's easy to like a character, but it isn't often you come across one that you would want to actually be friends with, or maybe even wish you could be like. For me, such a character is Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone), a high-school student from Ojai, California. True, she may only be a fictional character, but she's also the embodiment of personality - smart, witty, and affable, yet not so perfect or above it all that she fails to be human. Despite these magnetic qualities, she isn't noticed much by her peers, and she's all but upstaged by her best friend (Aly Michalka), who makes it a point to believe only what she wants to believe instead of actually listening to the truth. Things drastically change for Olive when she gains an infamous reputation as the school floozy, something she didn't start but certainly chose to perpetuate.
Her story is told in "Easy A," which is not only one of the funniest teen comedies of recent memory, but is also one of the most intelligent. Rather than go for obvious lowbrow sex and booze toilet humor, director Will Gluck and writer Bert V. Royal show the temerity to engage the audience with clever dialogue, strong characters, and a plot we can actually care about. It doesn't play down to the audience. If we laugh, it's not because of a vulgar throwaway gag but because of genuinely funny scenarios, many of which are relatable to varying degrees. Perhaps the film is founded on an extraordinary premise, but in my mind, it's a perfectly plausible premise, and the fact that the filmmakers could keep the story grounded while making it entertaining is quite an amazing achievement.
Olive's infamy begins when she lies about having lost her virginity over the weekend to a college student she made up. The lie is overheard by Marianne (Amanda Bynes), a judgmental and pious Little Miss Christian, who proceeds to tell everyone she knows about Olive's indiscretion. Rumors quickly spread. Other students begin to take notice of her, and although she never asked for her newfound reputation, she finds she's appreciating the attention. She's then approached by her gay friend, Brandon (Dan Byrd), who's so tired of being harassed by homophobic bullies that he begs her to pretend to have sex with him. Knowing that no one would believe her if she simply told people about it, Olive drags Brandon to a classmate's party, where they lock themselves in a bedroom and make all the necessary noises. Everyone is fooled.
This includes Marianne and her circle of Christian friends, one of whom boldly suggests that Olive follow the lead of Hester Prynne in "The Scarlett Letter" and mark herself. Not content with doing things half-heartedly, Olive arrives at school the next day wearing a bustier with a red A affixed to the right breast. In due time, she's approached by other boys who want Olive to do for them what she did for Brandon; she agrees to help them all, although she's well aware that the situation is getting out of hand. It's bad enough that they're using her to inflate their egos. Why must they also compensate her with gift certificates and coupons to affordable stores like The Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond?
The ads have prepared us to view Olive as a cliché - a wisecracking teen who never shows her emotions and flaunts her superior intellect in the form of biting sarcasm and dry wit. But we end up seeing nothing of the sort. Olive is a young woman of considerable depth, jokey on the outside but within harboring needs, hopes, and deep insecurities. They emerge during scenes with the school mascot, Woodchuck Todd (Penn Badgley), the one guy who has known Olive most of her life and sees the person behind the reputation. Through him, she comes to believe that regaining her self-respect depends on tracking down each of the boys she helped and coercing them into telling the truth. This proves far more difficult than she expected. It's just as well; the root of "self-respect" is "self," which is to say no one other than her can turn the situation around.
Other characters, such as Olive's loveably liberal parents (Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci) and her perpetually flustered school principal (Malcolm McDowell), add color to the story, even if they are a bit less three-dimensional and serve mostly as comedy relief. The English teacher, Mr. Griffith (Thomas Hayden Church), is not only as witty and charming as Olive but is also remarkably perceptive; the same cannot be said about Mr. Griffith's estranged wife (Lisa Kudrow), which is ironic since she's the school's guidance counselor. I don't want to reveal too much about this couple. Let it suffice to say that Olive's actions have consequences that extend beyond the limits of the student body.
The film is told as a retrospective, Olive opening the film with a webcam confessional that continuously weaves in and out of the story proper. This is far from an original narrative technique, but Stone's performance and Royal's dialogue elevates it to new heights. Right at the start, we're drawn to this character, and we want to stay near her even after the story has come to an end. Not too many roles have this kind of power. Not too many teen comedies are this well written. "Easy A" is a sweet, sassy, ingenious little movie, one that I hope will not be forgotten ten years from now.

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OLIVE AN AVERAGE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, SEES HER BELOW THE RADAR EXISTENCE TURN AROUND OVERNIGHT ONCE SHE DECIDES TO USE THE SCHOOL'S GOSSIP GRAPEVINE TO ADVANCE HER SOCIAL STANDING.

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