Twilight Zone: The Movie

Watching Twilight Zone: The Movie has always come with one great big caveat, can you enjoy the movie knowing that three people lost their lives during an accident on set? It's not an easy thing to get past. If you are able to set that aside for an hour or two, there is still plenty to enjoy in the movie. Sure, it's pretty well impossible not to think about the accident during the film's first segment. Directed by John Landis, "Time Out" is the story of an angry racist who gets to experience what it's like to be on the other side of bigotry and hatred. The second segment, "Kick the Can," directed by Steven Spielberg, doesn't quite fit the tone of the rest of the movie but is helped by Scatman Crothers' endless supply of charisma. The movie really kicks into high gear in the back half, with remakes of two all-time classic Twilight Zone stories. "It's a Good Life," directed by Joe Dante, pairs a lot of Dante's favorite cartoons and character actors with some memorable special effects from Rob Bottin. And finally, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," directed by George Miller, which features John Lithgow (in a role originally played by William Shatner) as a man desperately trying to convince his fellow passengers that there's a gremlin on the wing of their plane. The movie also includes appearances from Albert Brooks, Dan Aykroyd, Vic Morrow, Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Cartwright, Dick Miller and narration by Burgess Meredith.

Rating: 74%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Fun Fact: Steven Williams, who played a bar patron in the first segment, also played Creighton Duke in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and a tree trimmer in Better Off Dead.

Innerspace

After losing everything, disgraced aviator Tuck Pendleton joins up with some scientists for a top secret miniaturization project. Everything goes well until a group of rival scientists steal the miniaturization technology. In order to keep him from falling into the wrong hands, Tuck gets injected into the body of Jack Putter, a neurotic hypochondriac. With the threat of a dwindling air supply hanging over their heads, Tuck and Jack have to team up with Jack's ex Lydia to recover the stolen microchips so that they can get Tuck out of Jack and back to his normal size. Though far from perfect, Innerspace is a real gem. The special effects hold up incredibly well and the performances are excellent. Martin Short is in top form here, his timing is incredible and his physical comedy is amazing. There are even a few stunts in the film that are reminiscent of Jackie Chan's work. The movie might have benefitted from some tighter editing and the score is pretty weak overall. Even still, Innerspace is definitely worth a watch.

Rating: 71%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Duel

Before lighting the world on fire with Jaws, Steven Spielberg was a struggling director. Unable to get the material and opportunities he wanted because of his young age and lack of experience, he threw himself into directing for television. His first real breakout success came with the 1971 Movie of the Week Duel. The original TV movie received such acclaim that it was eventually padded out with some extra scenes and was released as a feature film in Europe. The most easily accessible version of the movie today is the European cut, which can definitely feel a little overlong at times. This movie is definitely a must-watch for Spielberg fans though. There are so many hints at where he'll go as a film maker in the first decade or so of his career. The masterful use of tension and release that proves so effective later in Jaws is here. The use of snakes and spiders and the incredible shots of cars and trucks moving at high speed that work so well in Raiders of the Lost Ark are here as well. Duel is the filmic equivalent of the basement tapes that proceed a great album.

Rating: A Valiant Effort%

(Image from IMDB)

Jaws

#28 on Glenn's Top 100 Movie List

I don't care about/am not scared of sharks. Big fishy killing machines that could take me out with one bite? It seems pretty easy to go through life and avoid that ever happening. I guess that doesn't subtract from this being an awesome movie though, and it's pretty terrific even 34 years later. Oh right, the plot for those of you who haven't seen it - a big shark is eating people so they try to stop it and do stop it (spoilers). Smile you son of a BLAOW!

RATING: 91%

Schindler's List

#37 on Glenn's Top 100 Movie List

Here's a movie that's no fun, but is still an amazing film in almost every way. This was really the first place one can argue that Spielberg made it evident that he was capable of serious filmmaking. I mean, he tried with The Color Purple and Empire Of The Sun, but the former was a disaster and the latter was a box office failure. This is a powerful movie that has been accused of melodrama by some people, but come on, are you going to be subtle when dealing with the Holocaust?

RATING: 92%

Gremlins

Imagine that you have just watched a movie about a killer Santa that looks like it was shot for the equivalent of $18 in today's currency. Next you pop in another holiday horror classic, and since it is Gremlins and had a lot of money and talent behind it it ends up looking like Citizen Fucking Kane (that's the sequel to Citizen Kane). We all know the plot, but this movie is pretty dark considering it's ostensibly a kids' movie--a lot of people get killed, and the Gremlins themselves meet with pretty gruesome fates (microwave, blender, melting, exploding, etc). This movie, along with Temple of Doom and Poltergeist, was responsible for the PG-13 rating coming into existence, so thanks Spielberg.

RATING: 71%

Space Aliens

In my opinion space aliens are the shit. I'm pretty sure somewhere in the universe they exist, and learned to travel to Earth through time warps or wormholes. Maybe their God decided to help them out just a little more by sharing the secrets of the universe, but maybe they're just way smarter. Aliens get a kick out of fucking with us by sending their early model pie tin spaceships to Earth so people can flip out and take photographs. Come on guys, you think those are capable of surviving intergalactic travel? Also, every once in a while they'll abduct someone and do experiments on them, but it's all in good fun, and at least you got a free trip to space. It costs $30 million to get the Russians to take someone into space. You got a great deal, so why don't you whine some more about how they took your baby.

RATING: 92%

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

#53 on Glenn's Top 100 Movie List

Well, Duh.

RATING: 95%

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

#63 on Glenn's Top 100 Movie List

One of the great things about this movie is how music is allowed to mold the shape of the film. Another great thing is the effects. Another great thing is how it really works as an early example of a "hyperlink" movie, which is a term I read about describing those multi-storied movies like Babel, Traffic, or Syriana, in which main characters only briefly intertwine and all work through their own dilemmas. Another great thing about this movie is the special effects. Another great thing about this movie is that I think there is a pretty cute seventies woman in it who wears a t-shirt with no bra on under it and that was hot if I do recall.

RATING: 88%

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Cyrstal Skull

By now you've probably seen this or heard it was not good, so hate to be redundant. I saw this the other day, and while it was not terrible, it was also not very good. It was a lot of fun, I'll admit, but it was one thing the other Indiana Jones movies weren't: stupid. Sure, a lot of ridiculous stuff happens in those movies (like this one), but they never felt like just plain dumb summer fun, which this one did. Anyway, one thing I never thought I'd say before this summer's movie season was done is that I liked Speed Racer a lot more than Indiana Jones, but there you have it. Sometimes you get an apple pie and sometimes somebody gives you a brick with your name carved in it, and while a brick with your name carved in it is certainly nice, apple pie is way more delicious. I don't know what I was getting at with that metaphor.

RATING: 68%

AI: Artificial Intelligence

#82 on Glenn's Top 100 Movie List

This movie gets a bad rap for some reason, but I think that apart from a couple of what I like to call "John Williams is too emotional" moments, this movie is pretty great. Everybody says it would be better without the "sappy" ending thousands of years in the future, but to me that's just SPOILER the machine fulfilling its programming to its fullest extent. There's no real emotion there. Starting with Saving Private Ryan I think Spielberg really entered the best phase of his career. Even though I hated War of the Worlds, it still had a bunch of terrifically terrifying scenes.

RATING: 86%

Poltergeist

#89 on Glenn's Top 100 Movie List

Is it wrong of me to have two Tobe Hooper movies on my top 100 list but only one Clint Eastwood movie? This movie's no "Texas Chain Saw," but it's still pretty scary. Also, I kind of would like to see a ghost some day, but not in my own home. So if any of my friends knowingly have a haunted house or apartment you'd better invite me over already. Unless it makes your fried chicken all maggotty like in this movie. That doesn't sound like a very fun kind of ghost.

RATING: 88%

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom

#97 on Glenn's Top 100 Movie List

Look, I gotta say, this is way better than Last Crusade, and if you disagree then you're deluding yourself. Last Crusade is just a copy of Raiders with Sean Connery. This has chilled monkey brains and non stop action. What more can you want? PS - There are zero Sean Connery movies on my top 100 list.

RATING: 86%

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

What, are you kidding me? It's motherfucking Raiders.

RATING: 95%