Before watching the movie:
I was originally attracted to this movie for the time travel, but I don’t expect it to be my favorite kind of time travel story. Peggy Sue goes back in time by Macguffinal means and fixes her life. No paradoxes, no knotty time loops, just an opportunity to do it again. The period nostalgia should be fun, though.
I’m very surprised to learn that Nicholas Cage (before he was a joke, if there was ever such a time) plays a lead role in this film.
There will be no Yesterday’s Movies review this week. The end of the semester is bearing down on me, and I’m too busy for an update.
Here’s an essay I wrote recently about the Help Nathan Buy Firefly movement.
Here’s one of the projects I’m working on right now.
Here’s a film review thing run by some friends.
Next week will have a new update. Probably.
Before watching the movie:
I have high expectations for this movie, but I’m surprised considering its source. It was recommended to me by a friend on Facebook (I’m not sure who. He made a general recommendation through a status update) and it sounds like it has the potential to be hilarious.
On the other hand, it’s from George Lucas in the years between his old glory and much-maligned revival. The story is his, but fortunately he didn’t write the screenplay. Also, the last time I saw a movie about the radio with musical numbers, it was A Prarie Home Companion, and that was dull mixed with depressing. Continue reading
Before watching the movie:
I don’t know how much room this movie has to surprise me, since I know the surprise twist. It’s one of the unavoidable spoilers of our culture. In fact, for all I know about it, I may be lacking for writing material. I’m looking forward to seeing if the story manages to support the twist better than The Sixth Sense did, as well as just seeing how the story actually plays out. I know where it starts and where it ends, but the transit between is a mystery. To get cliche, the journey is more of the destination than usual this week.
Also something about soap. I have no idea what the soap is all about.
Before watching the movie:
No reputation of this movie has reached me. It was a recommendation based on other films I’ve had interest in, and I picked it up because I thought it was a different movie with George C. Scott.
This sounds like a premise with great potential though. Michael Caine is a scam artist trying to get Steve Martin from horning in on his turf. Since I hadn’t heard of it before, it can’t be as good as I expect, but it sounds like fun.
Before watching the movie:
I remember a time in this blog when I sought out movies generally considered bad to give them a chance at some small redemption. Looking back at recent selections, I guess I haven’t shied away from the duds, but I haven’t looked for them either.
It’s my understanding that either this, Patch Adams, or Bicentennial Man was Robin Williams’s worst comedy film. I liked Bicentennial Man, and a look at the description for this movie sounds interesting. It could almost be a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire, with Williams again playing an out-of-work children’s performer.
All of the above isn’t to say that I went out of my way to find this movie, I just noticed that.
Before watching the movie:
I don’t remember where I first heard of this film, but I liked the idea immediately. I like metafictional stories, and I don’t see them often applied to movies, especially as straightforwardly as this seems to be doing.
Action movies may not be my favorite, but I usually enjoy them, and they’re certainly ripe for parody, which is another thing I’m drawn to, if my blog history doesn’t show that.
The main thing that I keep forgetting when looking forward to this movie is that he’s a contemporary hero, a Die Hard, Rambo, or Schwarzenegger/Van Damme (big surprise) type. I always picture a more fantasy-style action hero, probably because there was a dragon movie right next to it on whatever page I first heard about this.
Before watching the movie:
It occurs to me that I may not have actually seen any Woody Allen film before. I’ve seen him perform before, though possibly the only thing I’ve seen longer than a clip of is Antz.
That aside, once again I only realize at the moment I have to sum up my preconceptions that I don’t know what I’m getting into again. It sounds somewhat raunchy, but every adult comedy at the time was at least a little raunchy. For what it’s worth, it got a PG.
Ultimately, what I can say is that Woody Allen”s character finds himself in a future which no doubt is designed to be a satire on the world of its time.
Before watching the movie:
Terry Gilliam made some movies in the 80s. Specifically, he made three movies about dreamers, which Gilliam has come to call the “Trilogy of Imagination.” Three different movies about protagonists of different ages trying to escape the oppressive world around them. I’ve already seen Time Bandits (the dreamer as a child) and Brazil (the dreamer in middle age). Baron Munchausen is an older man going on fanciful adventures that may not exactly be accurate.
I’m not sure how I expect this film to make me feel. Time Bandits was fun and the end was depressing but hopeful, Brazil was a long downward spiral through madness, and Twelve Monkeys was depressing throughout. “Munchausen” looks like some good fun, but I don’t know how much of that is a misrepresentation for marketing purposes.
Before watching the movie:
Until just a few minutes ago, all I knew about this film was that Dustin Hoffman (too soon for another Hoffman? Nah.) plays an autistic man in a praiseworthy manner, and it’s about the relationship between him and his brother. I didn’t even realize until now that the brother was played by Tom Cruise. I was worried that the plot would be too much like Of Mice and Men for me, but it looks more like it’s about Cruise’s character being taught to be a better person and coming to love his brother.
Yesterday's Movies 