Dead Poets Society (1990)

 

Synopsis: Disaster ensues after impressionable high school students take their caring and empathetic teacher’s profound words about self-empowerment and non-conformity seriously. 

Blurb From the VHS Jacket: “He was their inspiration He made their lives extraordinary.” 

What Did I Learn?: 1) There’s a time for daring and a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for. 2) Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. 3) The best advice for high school students would be to agree with everything your parents and school administrators have to say, don’t make waves and don’t be afraid to squeal like a pig to save your own academic career, because everyone in this film who defies authority meets with an unfortunate end. 

You Might Like This Movie If: you're in the mood to hear some poetry. 

Really?: 1) Don’t these kids ever ponder the consequences of their actions? How did Neil think his father would react to him disobeying his orders by starring in a high school play? What did Knox think would happen after he decided to make out with a semi-conscious girl right in front of her boyfriend and his football buddies? Did Charlie even consider the possibility that he might get paddled, and possibly expelled for publicly ridiculing the headmaster? 2) So, Mr.-Find-Your-Own-Way-In-Life orders his students to rip pages out of their textbooks because he disagrees with J. Evans Pritchard’s essay? Is that action meant to advance free-thinking or intolerance for opposing views? 3) Keating (Robin Williams) and his pupils certainly quote a lot of poetry, but he doesn’t seem to provide any insights into the subject. 3) Ok, I can see Cameron finking on Keating in order to save himself from expulsion, but justifying it to his classmates with a hateful and completely self-serving speech? Considering the audience had absolutely no reason to suspect or dislike Cameron up until that moment, I have to say that it’s awfully contrived.  

Rating: I have to give Dead Poets Society something of a mixed review. While I liked this coming-of-age drama’s overall message about finding one’s own path in life, and standing up for what’s right, and one has to admire both Williams’ fine performance and the film’s beautiful cinematography, something about Dead Poets Society has always rubbed me the wrong way (see: “Synopsis,” “What Did I Learn?” #3 and “Really?”); Dead Poets Society is a good movie, but its a little too superficial, one-sided and contrived for my taste to be a great one. 7.5/10 stars.  

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097165/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Black Sunday (1977)

 

Synopsis: Israeli commandos and senior FBI agents race against time to stop an authorized half-time show at Super Bowl X. 

Blurb From the VHS Jacket: “Black Sunday is the powerful story of a Black September terrorist group attempting to blow up a Goodyear blimp hovering over the Super Bowl stadium with 80,000 people and the President of the United States in attendance.” 

What Did I Learn?: 1) Cancelling the Super Bowl is akin to cancelling Christmas. 2) Anyone who has a nervous breakdown has got to have something wrong with them. 

You Might Like This Movie If: you know that blowing up the Goodyear blimp wouldn't be the worst thing to ever happen during a Super Bowl. 

Really?: 1) I’d like to know a bit more about Lander’s (Bruce Dern) motivations. I realize Lander was treated badly by his wife and the military, but I had some trouble believing he would become not just a cold-blooded murderer but a suicide bomber for a Palestinian terrorist group. 1b) For that matter, I was a bit surprised that Dahlia (Marthe Keller) would similarly volunteer for suicide bomber duty, considering she’s a multilingual, and highly competent killer who would (presumably) be much more useful to her comrades alive than dead. 2) Hey, if Sean Connery can portray a Saudi Arabian diplomat, I guess Robert Shaw can be an Israeli commando. 3) Wait, do the terrorists know the US President will attend the Super Bowl? This is never mentioned until the third act of the film. Oh, and I'm pretty sure that if the Secret Service is given credible intelligence of a possible future terrorist attack they have the authority to tell the President: "nuh-uh...you're not going." 

Rating: Black Sunday is slightly dated, and it may bore modern action movie fans because long stretches pass without any violence, but in my opinion John Frankenheimer succeeded in crafting a gripping counterterrorism thriller that’s well worth checking out at least once. 8/10 stars. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075765/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2

Threesome (1994)

 

Synopsis: Hmm… the title of this movie is “Threesome” and the VHS jacket features two dudes and an attractive young woman; take a wild guess about what happens. 

Blurb From the VHS jacket: “One girl. Two guys. Three possibilities.” 

What Did I Learn?: Sex is kinda like pizza - when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. 

You Might Like This Movie If: You're fascinated by its subject matter, and its ability to inspire thoughtful and tasteful entertainment. 

Really?: 1) It’s amazing that Eddy writes all of Stuart’s essays and still has time for his own studies. Come to think of it, None of these kids seems to spend all that much time with the more mundane activities of going to university: studying for exams, researching and drafting papers, etc… 2) Funny how Eddy’s sexual attraction to Stuart commences mid-way through the movie after Alex moves in; that seems a bit contrived. 3) So, the other residents of the dormitory are gossiping about Eddy, Stuart and Alex, and none of them seem to care about what’s being said. This subplot should have been developed further. 4) Apparently, this film was based upon a real-life situation, but I had a bit of trouble believing a key part of the film’s premise; Stuart has no problems wooing and banging attractive women, so I’m not sure why he would fall for her, or engage in such a weird relationship. 5) Holy shit, this is a film about three young people in university - don’t any of them have parents, family members or even high school friends who might visit? 

Rating: I had never seen Threesome until a few days ago (which is strange, considering it’s generally regarded as a film that helped define Generation X, along with Singles and Reality Bites), so I was pleasantly surprised by its thoughtful observations on friendship and sexuality, witty dialogue, and a sexy performance by Lara Flynn Boyle. The film is a bit contrived in places - I seriously doubt the university would force Alex to share a dorm with two young men when it’s obvious she’s a woman and somebody made a mistake - and it could use a few more laughs, but it’s otherwise an enjoyable, if unusual romantic comedy. 7/10 stars. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111418/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Requiem For a Dream (2000)

 

Dang - this would have been perfect for my salute to addiction-themed movies back in 2011!

Synopsis: Confused older lady and her nitwit son, as well as the son’s troubled girlfriend and his streetwise straight-up G find out the hard way that drugs are bad, mkay? 

Blurb From the VHS Jacket: “Darren Aronofsky follows up his acclaimed π with this emotionally charged film set amidst the abandoned beaches and faded glory of Coney Island, Brooklyn.” 

What Did I Learn?: Holy shit, if I ever decide to become a heroin junkie, I’ll never inject into the same location more than once, and if I find myself addicted to diet pills, my very first action will be to unplug the refrigerator! 

You Might Like This Movie If: You believe your major appliances have minds of their own. 

Really?: 1) I had a bit of a hard time believing Sara (Ellen Burstyn in a magnificent performance) would actually watch, let alone wish to appear on the Tappy Tibbons show, considering his way of life revolves around giving up red meat and sugar, and it’s obvious that Sara likes to eat. 2) Wait - it’s obvious that Harry (Jared Leto) desperately needs medical attention for his arm, so how can the doctor on duty at the hospital fail to provide treatment? Wouldn’t that result in a huge lawsuit? And while it’s obvious that Harry and Tyrone are junkies, how can the local cops arrest them (and apparently send them to prison without trial) when the entire reason they’re travelling to Florida in the first place is that they don’t have any drugs? 3) Ok, Sara isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, and she’s obsessed with fitting into her red dress, but she’s also a grown woman without any history of substance abuse. Most normal people would stop taking the diet pills at the first sign of hallucinations. 4) Hmm… Sara and Harry have one confrontation over Sara’s drug habit somewhere in middle of the movie, and then they never speak to each other again. I was expecting more of a resolution. 

Rating: Requiem For a Dream is a depressing, but highly engrossing and stylishly-directed public service announcement on the evils of addictive drugs, including legal substances such as caffeine. The film features several fine performances (Burstyn thought this might have been her best work, and I’m inclined to agree with her), but none of the characters develop even the slightest self-realization, and the plot becomes so cluttered with strange contrivances (see: “Really?”) that it’s difficult to care about how it ends. 7/10 stars.  

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180093/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Twister (1996)

 

Synopsis: It’s basically two hours of Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton bickering with each other in a pickup truck as they criss-cross Oklahoma during some really bad weather. 

Blurb From the imdb.com: “Bill and Jo Harding, advanced storm chasers on the brink of divorce, must join together to create an advanced weather alert system by putting themselves in the cross-hairs of extremely violent tornadoes.”

What Did I Learn?: 1) Things go wrong. You can’t explain it, you can’t predict it. 2) The “suck zone” is the point when a twister sucks you up. 3) In a severe lightning storm, you wanna grab your ankles and stick your butt in the air. 

You Might Like This Movie If: You want to understand the inspiration for a much later cinematic travesty. 

Really?: 1) Hmm…. so, Bill is getting married and starting a (safe) new job fairly soon, and he somehow allows himself to sucked back (pun totally intended) into his ex’s storm-chasing insanity one last time. That sounds an awful lot like the storyline of The Front Page / Switching Channels. 2) While I'm certainly not an expert on meteorological matters, I don't think Bill and Jo would be able to survive a Category 5 tornado just by holding on really tightly to some exposed pipes. 

Rating: Twister features some impressive special effects as well as several moments of genuine excitement, and that's about it. Twister isn't quite awful enough to qualify for Bad Movie status (although its plot and dialogue are terrible), but it isn't very good (or memorable), either. Speaking truthfully, the last time I attempted to watch this film in the mid-2000s, I fell asleep. Meh. 5/5/10 stars. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117998/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0