My Favorite Movies

Several years ago I was driving a bus through an intense Saskatchewan thunderstorm. I was constantly steering partially right just to stay on that straight prairie road and out of the rain-filled ditches.
Suddenly, the wind completely reversed direction. Without missing a beat it slammed from left. I nearly ended up on two wheels but, with more luck then skill, we carried on.
Before catching another breath I was staring through the windshield, awestruck, as water rose from the left ditch to blow across the road like driven snow. I should have been praying. Instead, I heard this voice out of my own head: "Belcher! We've got upflow!"
No twister dropped that afternoon - at least not on me. Even though I love the movie, I'd rather just watch, thank you.
I've seen this movie more times than any other but Top Gun. What keeps me coming back are the characters. Philip Hoffman's Dusty could be a university course on its own and is one of the most likeable characters to come out of any movie. Scott Thompson is perhaps the most unusual of the group as "preacher", but he and Sean Whalen as Sanders or Alan Ruck as "Rabbit" add as much to the movie as the four primary characters. However this takes nothing from Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton Jami Gertz and Cary Elwes and they all work magic together.
Dialouge is generally short, snappy and believable while editing moves the story faster than a falling Jeep Honcho. One thing I find most endearing is that for a movie where characters regularly spout lines from other films -- "that's no moon. It's a space station" -- it has left its mark with a few quotables of its own. "Dusty. We got Debris" and "Cow. Another Cow. -- Actually, I think that was the same one".
There are some things that annoy me - primarily how a tornado usually lasts until they interact with it and then disappears. Also, since seeing the movie, wind chimes ringing at night have taken a more sinister meaning. But that won't keep me from joining their chase again.

It's got all the key elements to make a great movie -- cars and women. Did I mention plot? yeah, there's some of that too

Very rarely have I found a Nicholas Cage movie that I didn't like. "Knowing" is no exception.

Cage is haggard and frantic throughout most of this film. Given what's going on around him I would say that's just about right. He plays it well, too. Its not overpowering moodiness seen in some movies. It's a guy who has no idea what the hell is going on in his world and doesn't like it.

The movie itself is enjoyably unsettling. Can you use those two words together? I just did. It keeps your attention with both suspense and drama, notching the story forward a little at a time. Yet when it all comes together, it all makes sense.

I will be one of the first waiting outside the doors when this thing hits DVD.

Reasons for that go beyond the acting performance. This is also a darn good story. It's a surprisingly suspenseful take on a popular Sci-fi theme. It wasn't until towards the end if the movie that I was able to figure this flick out, however, so will not give it away here. Wether I am reading or watching a movie, I enjoy it more when I can't figure out what the heck is going on. This one kept most strands perfectly confused until it all tied together in the end

The other major business on this is the special effects. You will sit transfixed in awe at time. Other moments shock you or make you cringe further into your seats. I found myself wishing very badly for the remote at times. But if I want to see that sequence again, for now at least, I'll have to buy another movie ticket to do so.

I do have to say one thing, though. This web site is saying Nicholas Cage's character opens a time vault at his son's school. He does not. But he does figure out the meaning of its contents. This distinction should be noted but, hey, it's not the end of the world the way they have it, either.

Ah the polyester-clad neon world of the eighties. Little guy makes it big. Little guy gets the girl. Little guy screws up. little guy loses everything. Little guy gets shot in the back. I love this movie.

What can I say about Top Gun that hasn't already been said. Great pacing, amazing soundtrack and incredible flying sequences. Someone probably said that somewhere, didn't they?
I know. The enemy planes aren't really Migs. They're just F5 Freedom Fighters. Today, we have a Mig 23 on static display at the local air museum (I live near a Canadian airbase) and I have seen a Mig 29 Fulcrum in action. We also have had Antonov and Ilyushin cargo planes flying over the house. But that is today. If I had seen those sights when Top Gun came out I would have screamed "red dawn", run for the woods and joined the Wolverines.
Still, it's about high time for a remake of this movie. One where Maverick and Goose are pitted against actual Migs instead of run-down Northrops that were already almost 30 years old when the movie came out.

My buddy and I were the only ones in the theater without kids - but we didn't care.
The story itself was not earth shattering. It was more for the ground-breaking animation that we went. Such computer animation may be common now but was something new back in the day. But even now I admire the attention to detail. Dirt on the walls and cracked paint here and there gave the whole thing a more lived-in feel. It made a movie about talking toys seem that much more believable.
Voice acting was as good as you would expect from an all-star cast.

I wasn't too keen on this one when it first came out, but a friend dragged me, kicking and screaming, into the theater. God bless her.
I was expecting just another disaster movie but what I got was something much more. weaving the shakesperean love story of Jack and Rose through the fateful journey made for an exceptional movie. I have to call this one the best movies ever made.