The Movie Journal

1941 (1979) Every filmmaker has their own flops or mediocre movies, no matter how great the directors are. Martin Scorsese has New York, New York, Francis Ford Coppola has Jack , and the list goes on. In this instance, the great Steven Spielberg has 1941 . It was crushing for critics and audiences because Spielberg wowed them with Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind , so everyone was eagerly anticipating his next project. I liked the idea behind the movie, but I felt it to be a misfire. The movie, of course, satires World War Two and the military, but it was not funny at all and that is the biggest failure of all. Jokes are thrown at you at the speed of light, but everything feels so forced. I merely chuckled from time to time, but I wonder if I did that out of respect. In addition to poorly-written jokes, the movie is loud, obnoxious, and has way too many explosions for this type of movie. Well, I had to get the bad stuff out of the way first. However, there were s...

Alien (1979)   “Jaws in Space.” The perfect three words to describe 1979’s unique Alien . If you look at it closely, Alien is very similar to Jaws . An abnormal giant creature is terrorizing a bunch of innocent humans, and even the introduction to each monster is eerily similar. I really dig the influences that Jaws made on Alien. I liked how they hid the alien until the end, where we finally get to see him in all his grotesque glory. The 1970’s was a hard time for sci-fi. Not many science fiction movies were made in the midst of American exploitation films, but luckily Star Wars and Close Encounters changed everything. Because of the success of those films, one of the best sci-fi/horror classics of the twentieth century was able to get produced. I am not much of a horror guy but if you are able to add a science-fiction element to the horror and actually make it good, well you can count me in. I enjoyed nearly everything about this film from start to finish. One of ...

Apocalypse Now (1979)   “ I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” I have many ideas and thoughts about Apocalypse Now. Based off Joseph Conrad’s Hearts of Darkness, it is considered to be one of the best films of the twentieth century and one of the best Vietnam War movies ever made. I can generally agree with that assessment, but this movie is overly complicated sometimes. The movie has much to say on character and Darwinism. This movie follows Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) as  he is tasked to travel downriver from Vietnam to Cambodia to assassinate a former American colonel, Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando). But when Willard arrives to meet the Colonel, he realizes all is not what it really is. Kurtz has sided with the North Vietnamese for reasons of Darwinism and staying alive. He confesses how much stronger the Vietcong were than the Americans. They would go to any length to win the war and that is what gave them strength according to Kurtz. Kurtz...

The Great Santini (1979) Robert Duvall had himself a fantastic year of 1979. He was nominated for his supporting role in the iconic war film Apocalypse Now . He follows up that “napalm-smelling” performance with another Oscar-nominated performance in this movie The Great Santini . His character in this movie is a form of his character from Apocalypse Now. His character, Bull Meechum, is a hardened Marine who knows nothing but victory and competition. He lives his life with a code and he involves his family in his code. The main theme of the movie is family and at the heart of that theme is a father-and-son story. A very good one at that. The movie was directed and written by Lewis John Carlino, and he did a wonderful job in making the small moments matter. The story itself is a sentimental one, but it stays away from being sappy. There may be tears over the course of the film, but at least you should not end the movie feeling depressed. Lets get ourselves acquainted with the...