Scott's Movie Reviews

Bruce Almighty is a goofy comedy from 2003 starring Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a self-absorbed goofball who never seems to break out of stupid jobs as a reporter and cannot appreciate his wonderful girlfriend Grace (the beautiful Jennifer Aniston). Things go wrong and he blames everything on God (Morgan Freeman), who responds by saying "if you think you can do it then I'd like to see you try." Bruce obtains God's powers and things get sour quickly. This movie has its moments, but at heart is really not that great of a movie. There are several parts that are pretty tasteless (i.e parting the red soup at the diner). And at the core the movie ends up slipping into just a sappy romance movie where it's the guy trying to win back the girl, losing some of its originality. That said, there is one scene in the movie in which Bruce tampers with the newscasting of anchor Evan Baxter (Steve Cavell, from Anchorman), which is literally side-splittingly funny. My sides hurt for about 10 minutes after that scene, it is that funny. I would recommend watching the movie just for that scene and skipping over some of the less stellar moments.

Scott's Rating:
Bruce Almighty: 2.5 stars

I never cease to be impressed by the range and quality of Marlon Brando's film career. Marlon passed away last month, so I decided to watch another movie that was a stretch for him, Julius Caesar, the Shakespeare play. The movie, from 1954, surrounds the circumstances in which Brutus, Cassius, and others form a plot to kill Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, and the aftermath of that murder. Brando plays Marc Anthony, and he is simply fantastic. I think this is one of Brando's best acting jobs of his career. Up until that point in his career, he had been known only for grunting and mumbling in movies like A Streetcar Named Desire. He was very believable here, though, as a Shakespearean actor, delivering his lines with clarity and all the right emotions. It is Brando's role that defines this film, even though he does not have the largest part, and the scene in which he addresses the masses after Caesar has been killed ("Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears...I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him") is one of the most powerful scenes ever filmed. James Mason is decent as Brutus as well, the most fascinating character in the play. All in all, it is a very good movie, although the ending is a little confusing and the forced suicides are a little strange. I must assume that this is factual though so there isn't much you can do with that. You can't beat a good Brando film.

Scott's Rating:
Julius Caesar: 3.5 stars

I have finally come to a close in going through the Rocky series. Rocky V is widely regarded as the worst film of the series by far. Halfway through the film, I actually found myself liking it. The story has Rocky forced to move back to the slums of Philly after being robbed by an accountant. He comes across a young fighter, Tommy Gunn, who wants Rocky to train him. Rocky agrees to, at the same time ignoring his impressionable son Robert (played by his real life son, Sage Stallone). I found the storylines compelling, especially the son's struggle to get Rocky's attention and blend into a new, tough neighborhood.
The movie just ended up descending into something awful though, towards the end. The whole scenario with Tommy ending up seduced by the promises of Duke, the Don King impersonator, and then challenging Rocky to a street fight. Is this what the series has come down to, a street fight? That whole scene was just terrible, complete with Rocky having mental flashes of Mickey's haunting face screaming at him and shots of him being pummeled by Ivan Drago and others. And the portrayal of the media, at the press conferences screaming at and degrading Tommy Gunn, was ridiculous. The sports media would never act like that in the real world. The whole movie just descended into the worst form of what it was trying to create over four other movies. And this was by far the worst performance I've ever seen by Sly Stallone; he could barely talk! I couldn't believe how bad he was.

Anyway, here's my ranking of the series, from best to worst:
Rocky II, I, III, IV, V

I would add that the first three movies are significantly above the last two, and I would gladly see the first three again. Not so for the last two.

Scott's Rating:
Rocky V: 0.5 stars

Well, the Rocky formula is starting to go sour a little bit. I just finished Rocky IV, which really is not a good movie at all. This movie pits East against West as Rocky sets out to avenge the death of Apollo Creed and takes on the Soviet Ivan Drago, in Moscow. Everything about this movie is done poorly. The montage sequences were way overdone, especially the scene where Rocky is driving a car to who knows where (it never shows his destination) and just shows clips from the past 3 movies. What is the point of that? Also, the soundtrack is terrible. I guess they found the need to "spice up" scenes in the movie by adding bad '80s music. Trust me, it does not work; the only thing it is is obnoxious. And the movies' special effects are in bad taste. One in particular which during the fight freeze-framed Rocky and Drago getting punched on top of each other was terrible.
What Sly Stallone and the filmmakers were trying to accomplish was to have Rocky's fight symbolize the Cold War battle between the United States and the Soviet Union. They went about this all wrong though. All of the Soviet characters were horrible stereotypes, and the scene in which they are announcing the fight is very poor taste for having the Soviet promoter (?- they never explain who he is) start trashing the US Government. And by portraying all these characters as horrible people you are painting the Soviet Union truly as the Evil Empire. If this is the case, then why would halfway through the fight the very hostile fans all of a sudden start rooting for Rocky? Even if they had secretly wanted Rocky to win wouldn't they have been afraid of persecution had they not been supremely loyal to the USSR, especially with the Premier there? And Rocky's little speech at the end trying to tie up the differences between the two countries just comes across as completely lame. One in the span of history does a Miracle on Ice occur that defines the politics between two countries; a boxing event will never have this kind of power.

Scott's Rating:
Rocky IV: 1 star