R Movies
Raising Arizona (1987)
Who’s in it
Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman
Should you see this movie?
No. Dated and not funny but more disturbing, I hated this movie and can’t think of many people in my circle of friends that would find it funny. We saw it as a recommendation, and because there are some clips in “SceneIt”, and typically I like Cage. But this is before he became big, and it is no wonder why he didn’t get there with this movie. It reminded me some of Mad Max and is really dated in a bad way. Skip this at all costs.
Ransom (1996)
Who’s in it
Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise, Liev Shreiber, and Gary Lindo – Ron Howard (Director)
What was good
This is an intense movie. Mel Gibson’s son is kidnapped and he comes to grips with what this means for his son’s life, that more than likely it is lost. He doesn’t give into demands, and he turns the tables on the bad men, gambling with his son’s life. His gamble works, he scares the men into turning on themselves and forces them right into the public eye to get what they were after, money.
What sucked
Not too much. Sometimes you have a hard time believing that a guy as rich as Gibson wouldn’t just pay, that he would risk his son’s life, but that is the point of the movie, so you have to suspend belief. The only other reason this didn’t get a perfect rating for me, is because I couldn’t watch this a million times. But don’t get me wrong, it’s another masterpiece from Ron Howard.
Who should go see this
Everyone should see this. It only gets violent at the end in the shooting scenes, but is it an intense thriller of a movie that is entertaining too.. If you like Mel, this is also a good movie for you, he does a lot of his crazy face grimacing, takes his shirt off, and runs around, the staples of what makes dem ladies swoon.
The Road Warrior (1981)
Who’s in it
Mel Gibson, and a bunch of other wacky guys
What was good
I can’t think of much. I guess in a way how different the story is. There is nothing like it. It’s about a desolate wasteland destroyed by war in Australia where the few remaining people rule by motorbikes and cars, and they kill each other over fuel.
What sucked
I think this would have been something I would have appreciated more about 15 years ago. This is the second in a trilogy, and seems very dated, but I really don’t see the draw to how these films could have been so popular. Mel Gibson doesn’t barely do anything, he just drives over people. In this movie, I had a really hard time with the kid who only communicated by grunting and looked like Alf’s human baby.
Who should go see this
If you love Mel Gibson and have a commitment to see all of his work. But I wouldn’t recommend this movie to many people, I can’t think of similar movies I have seen to this, there is a whole genre, they are just slipping me right now. Bleak, desert setting, and off the wall plots, this is probably more a cult classic than anything.
Red Eye (2005)
Starring Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, and Brian Cox, Red Eye is a short compact fun thriller by Wes Craven that I could watch a bunch of times.
Right away Craven starts to layer in the underlying stories of each of the characters, mostly McAdams, a friendly manager at a high rolling hotel who is always trying to keep others happy. On a plane flight back from her grandmother’s funeral, she meets Murphy, who although creepy, serves as some company through the flight, which she is uneasy about.
We soon realize that Murphy wants something, and he takes McAdams hostage in her plane seat, anticipating her every move. Every attempt she makes to escape, or get help is thwarted until the end, until the plane lands. The only really graphic part of the movie, Adams jams a pen into his throat, and makes a run for it. Then Craven takes over with his signature Scream type style climax, with McAdams trying to save her father at her home, while trying to stop Murphy.
A good compact little thriller at just over and hour and twenty minutes, if you don’t like thrillers at all you won’t want to see this obviously, but even for me, I don’t like some thrillers, and this was the perfect mix, a more mainstream version. The acting is decent, McAdams is always ravishing and captivating, and Murphy has quickly established himself and the up and coming creepy psycho to watch. The dialogue and their interaction in the beginning isn’t awkward and forced, but when the plot escalates, it is enveloping.
I recommend this to almost anyone, it has a widespread appeal with a nice cast of actors.
Ray (2004)
Starring Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles Robinson, you would never know that it isn’t Charles himself. Instead you are slowly immersed into the character and the world that Ray feels because he is blind. The movie covers the different perspectives, from racism, to love, to moving around through a seeing man’s world and how it feels to be blind for all of those things.
I never thought much of Charles. He was a little bit before my time, and although I probably won’t start listening to his music now, the song he did with Billy Joel will have more meaning for me now. A well traveled, tortured musician who fell prey to heroin and adultery, this movie does not make him seem like a good guy by any definition of the word. It instead cuts Charles wide open until there is no where to hide. But you understand why he is the way he is, and you will empathize in one aspect or another by the end of the movie.
A truly great movie, it seems only fitting that Ray passed away just before it finished, so that his legendary status became complete. Not for children because of the drug use and mild sex scenes, I would recommend this movie to anyone, and everyone should see it.
Robots (2005)
Voice talent including Halle Berry, Drew Carey, Mel Brooks, Terry Bradshaw, Greg Kinnear, Robin Williams, Ewan MacGregor, and Jennifer Coolidge, this is a highly under rated animated flick by Dreamworks. I laughed quite a bit in this movie, and I thought that, even though robots are done quite a bit in movies today, this was still a endearing and inventive movie.
Rodney the robot sees a robot on TV named Bigweld, who invites all inventors to come to robot city and have their ideas come to life. Rodney grows up with that dream, to help out his family, and heads to the city, only to find out that it isn’t as he thought.
About helping people, and never to loose your dream, two cliche ideas, this movie is still engaging and fun.
See this one, it will make you forget Shark Tale.
The Rocketeer (1991)
A Disney movie when they were still making good ones in the early 90’s, The Rocketeer stars Jennifer Connelly, Timothy Dalton and Paul Sorvino and is set in the 40’s at the star of WWII. Cliff (Bill Campbell), a no name loser pilot comes into the possession of a jet pack that empowers him to do good and stop evil. Nevlin SinClair (Dalton former Bond) is a Nazi in hollywood, with hopes of mass producing this successful version of the pack in Germany for a whole fleet of airborne troops in a really cool retro type video.
I liked this movie then, and has held up well with ILM doing the special effects, what do you expect. Good family movie, a fun character created by Dave Stevens, who is pretty well known in the comic book world. Plus this is Connelly’s breakout role, and she is just a classic beauty you don’t find anymore.
