Reviews
Popeye (1980)
Why reinvent the wheel?
Popeye was a hit in original style in all of the cartoons. It's still one of my favorite cartoons, and one of my favorite characters. He is also one of my favorites to draw as an amateur cartoonist. I remember seeing this in theaters in 1980 and thinking it was hard to understand and difficult to follow. The town seemed bleak and depressing unlike any of the cartoons. The new for the big screen songs? Why? His song was and is a classic. They seemed to be trying to reinvent the characters as well, which I find totally unnecessary. I loved the idea of the movie and wish they would've stayed more true to the comics and cartoons. The last straw was when they let fly with the curse words! I thought I'd misheard but the dozens of small children in the theatre didn't and they all gasped and giggled uncomfortably, the parents obviously upset, and i as a teen sitting with my own family felt awkward. There was simply no need for the language! I thought so then and I still think the same as an adult. It was gratuitous and served absolutely no purpose other than for Hollywood to jam down our throats every time they got a chance. SMH. It could've been a blockbuster, it could've been a classic it ended up being a mostly forgettable two hours with some of the biggest names in Hollywood filling the cast. What a waste.
The Inspector General (1949)
Good clean fun, with a morality lesson.
Movies, and TV of today lack a lot of things to make them good clean fun and family entertainment, but old movies such as this have it in spades. The entire movie ends up being an object lesson in honesty and I for one applaud these types of shows. Danny Kaye brings an innocence and energy to keep this movie going through the parts that try and bog the story line down I recommend this to for all ages although those under 10 may have a difficult time understanding parts of this film.
Signs (2002)
Signs
I am a HUGE fan of M.Night to begin with and it all started with this movie!
I love the "War of the Worldesqe" feeling the movie has throughout...the spiritual side was also very a very interesting aspect.
M Night does an excellent job keeping you on the edge of your seat using your own imagination against you...I find this far more thrilling than the slasher/animated monster type shows that are so prevalent.
His movies make you "think" throughout the entire movie and no matter how open you are, or how much attention you pay he always manages to "get" you!
Kudos to M Night, Mel, Jaquin (sp), and the lady Sheriff actress for making such a superb film.
I even managed to get my wife to watch and she usually will NOT watch any scary movie! I don;t think she enjoyed it as much as I though! ;)