Some Best Picture Winners and...

This past week I had the pleasure of watching two Best Picture winners and also quite a few different movies. I was pleasantly surprised by one and enjoyed almost all of them with the exception of Ice Age 2.




Amadeus (1984)
Directed By: Milos Forman
Starring: F. Murray Abraham




Considering this was a semi-musical including of all things opera and on top of that was the Director's Cut (exceeding 3 hours) I fully expected myself to hate it. The third thing against it was that it is not entirely factual which puts me in the position of being a hypocrite because later in this review I am going to bash on a movie for being nonfactual, but this is my review and I get to take liberties like that. I had to watch it in two sittings because we had things to do last Saturday, but I was absolutely drawn in by this film. The settings and the overall story line of the film was great and all of the acting was very good. All things considered this is a very solid film and has aged very well.

Acting: (8.5)
Effects: (9.5)
Plot: (9)
Entertainment: (8.5)

Cumulative: (8.875)




All About Eve (1950)
Directed By: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter




In comparison to Sunset Blvd. this provided some solid all-around acting performances and a scene stealing, young Marilyn Monroe. The plots are somewhat similar, but this is much more believable and provides the better value. It won the Best Picture that year, but for some reason is not remembered as fondly as Sunset Blvd.

Acting: (8.5)
Effects: (7.5)
Plot: (7.5)
Entertainment: (8)

Cumulative: (7.875)



Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Directed By: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach




A solid war movie that tends to stray to far from its path in the middle and end.

Acting: (8)
Effects: (8)
Plot: (7.5)
Entertainment: (7.5)

Cumulative: (7.75)



The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Directed By: Kevin Macdonald
Starring: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy



Now I get to be a hypocrite, but for good reason. This movie was moving along nicely and then they decided to go extreme with the punishment of McAvoy's character and throw in a ton of violence that was completely unnecessary and ruins the last half of the film.

Acting: (8)
Effects: (6.5)
Plot: (7)
Entertainment: (6.5)

Cumulative: (7)




The Lost Boys (1987)
Directed By: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Jason Patric, Keifer Southerland, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman



I ended up watching this after I caught a famous scene that I remembered from my childhood and figured I would see how it was.

Acting: (5)
Effects: (7)
Plot: (7)
Entertainment: (7.5)

Cumulative: (6.625)




Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
Directed By: Carlos Saldanha
Starring: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah




Severely taints Ice Age which was a decent movie. This is a sequel that should never have been made of course who am I to judge since it made $195,329,763 at the box office.

Acting: (5)
Effects: (7)
Plot: (4)
Entertainment: (4)

Cumulative: (5)