The Movie Journal

Stripes (1981) Stripes is everything I want from a movie involving the director/actor tandem of Ivan Reitman and Bill Murray. The movie is raucous, irreverent, and just a silly movie in general. Towards the end, the movie loses some steam, but I cannot deny how involved I was for the first hour or so. As a movie that pokes fun of the military and basic training, I was reminded of 1980’s Private Benjamin which I was lukewarm on. That particular movie featured some fine comedic moments but Goldie Hawn’s romance sidetracked the film. This film, however, stays true to the military from start to finish as it antes up the comedy level. It’s not every movie that features explosive weapons where we can find hilarious, albeit questionable uses of kitchen utensils! If you went into this movie blind, you would be forgiven if you thought this was a National Lampoon movie. The same kind of raucousness you might have seen in Animal House is seen here. The writer behind that film, Haro...

Superman II  Superman II is the only one of the three original sequels produced that could live up to the classic 1978 Superman . That is a surprise because the drama behind the movie is more famous than the movie itself. There are two cuts of the movie. The Richard Donner version and the Salkind version in which they brought in comedy director Richard Lester to direct the movie or what little remained to be shot. That said, I thought this movie was enjoyable! Compared to the first film, it had a lighter tone and comedy was used more here. I will say the film does come close to overstaying with its comedy. I also liked the introduction of three villains-the three Kryptons led by General Zod. Before we discuss the film, it is important to talk about the behind-the-scenes drama. Richard Donner, who directed the 1978 original film, was filming the sequel back-to-back. The producers-the Salkinds, decided to shut down production so they can focus on promoting the first fi...

Bates Motel: Season 1, Episode 10 "Midnight" May 20, 2013 SPOILERS AHEAD! Ladies and gentlemen, it has finally happened! In the vein of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho , Freddie Highmore aka Norman Bates made his first onscreen kill. If the show really wanted to be Psycho , it would have done away with the last shot of the dead body of poor Miss Watson. The audience knows she is dead, but the show maybe did not realize its audience knew. I’m glad this episode ended with a bang. The last few episodes were solid in their own right, but they were slow episodes meant to build towards this finale. From start to finish, this episode had me from the edge of my seat. Norma finally broke down and I guess you can say that Norman did as well. In this episode, “Midnight,” Norma does not believe she will be able to meet Abernathy with the $150,000 she promised him. She fills in Sheriff Romero with the details and he tells her he will take care of everything. Romero visits Sommer...

Bates Motel: Season 1, Episode 9 "Underwater" May 13, 2013 We are one more episode away from the season finale and oddly enough, this episode doesn’t seem like it. “Underwater” obviously pushes the season towards the end, but the episode has a calm aura, an aura that allow the episode to build towards the end at its own pace. I was taken aback at first since I wasn’t used to these kinds of penultimate episodes. That said, I enjoyed this episode very much so. It’s funny, horrifying, and it’s entertaining to see Norma lose her cool. At the end of “A Boy and His Dog,” a mysterious stranger dug up and left the deceased body of Zach Shelby in Norma’s bed. Sheriff Romero removes the body and doesn’t believe that Norma is in any danger. Abernathy wants Norma to really understand who he is and what he is looking for. Norma wants to move away from White Pine Bay because of the veiled Abernathy threat and the building of the bypass. Meanwhile, Norman writes a short story ...

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Steven Spielberg is back, better than ever! After the dismal failure that was 1941 , the acclaimed director teamed up with George Lucas, coming off his Star Wars fame to create one of the most memorable heroes of all time. Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite movie from 1981 and is in my top 20 films of all time. This movie gives everything you could ask for. Strong, memorable characters, witty dialogue, fantastic set pieces, exotic locations, great action, and a John Williams musical theme you could never forget. Indiana Jones is my favorite fictional hero and this movie is the example why I believe that. This movie has fascinating origins. George Lucas was writing this movie the same time he came up with the idea for Star Wars . He decided to pursue his space adventure instead to great success. In 1978, while on vacation in Hawaii, he ran into Steven Spielberg, who was coming off Close Encounters of the Third Kind . Spielberg expressed ...

The Fan (1981) I am definitely not a fan of 1981’s The Fan . The movie has a nice premise and some interesting characterization. The film received lots of media attention because it came out only mere weeks after John Lennon was shot to death by a crazed former fan. Talk about wrong timing! The movie started out well as the movie explores the actions and the ideas of fandom and how intense it can be, as well as a middle-aged actress stuck in her own thoughts about divorce and middle-age. But halfway through, the film becomes your standard, cliched thriller that relies upon unnecessary violence. The producers were impressed with the Friday the 13 th box office, so they unwisely changed the ending to make the film appeal to those who went to see that movie. Well…..they failed as this movie ended up being one of the biggest box office bombs of the year. According to reports, the movie set was not a fun one. Everyone apparently disliked each other and no one was happy with ...