8. Freejack
A movie I’d wanted to see for a while, since it was based on a Robert Sheckley novel (whose work I had to read after seeing a pull quote by Douglas Adams – “I had no idea the competition was so terrifyingly good”). The books are great, but this movie, not so much. Emilio Estevez does ok as the time shifted protagonist (which I didn’t find such a stretch considering his work in Repo Man), Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins are good, although Mick Jagger is a bit out of place as a bounty hunter (I kept expecting Keith to pop up and wasn’t surprised when Jerry Hall did). The idea is interesting but the execution is more of a movie length chase scene, and you see the ending coming a mile away. C
Odd aside: I still have the soundtrack for sale, which I’ve had since my old record store closed, and it was there when I first came aboard back in 1994 (not that I’m terribly surprised – only ok collection of songs, and Mick Jagger’s on the cover but not inside).
9. Rudy
I watched this while on the bus to go skiing. Had never seen it before, a great sports movie of a kid whose dream it was to play football at Notre Dame. Sean Astin does a good job with the title character (and he’s older than I thought he was. B
10. Epic Movie
I like spoof movies, and I liked the X-Men, Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter movies, but this fell flat. Even Jennifer Coolidge, Fred Willard and Kevin McDonald (Kids In the Hall) as Harry Potter couldn’t do too much, although Crispin Glover as Willy Wonka and Darrell Hammond as Captain Jack Swallows are both gloriously unhinged. I don’t know if I’d chose to watch Meet the Spartans (from the same folks) after this flick. D+