Simon's Movie Reviews

Films like Toy Story 2 (1999) are staggering examples of how sometimes the sequel can be just as good, if not superior to the original. That the geniuses at Pixar managed to pull the hat trick again with the third instalment in the series speaks volumes about the talent of their writers. Surprisingly Walt Disney Studios was initially considering releasing the second movie straight-to-video, and the production was apparently very troubled. However director John Lasseter not only salvaged a children’s movie, but also delivered a great movie for all ages. The first Toy Story ended up in the VHS collection my parents dutifully provided for my brother and I, and I loved the idea that toys had their own adventures going on between them. Just like Andy in the films I have been growing up with the release of each film, but was still young enough to go see the sequel in theatres when it came out in the Christmas season of 1999. This was one of the rare times when my family and I went hom...

Courtroom dramas make for great movies, and even though the trial does not occupy the majority of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) it is one of the best trials in cinema. Especially significant is its landmark racial element. By having one of the greatest actors of all time, Gregory Peck, play a white lawyer in 1930s Alabama defending a black man accused of rapping a white teenage girl, it daringly indicated that things were changing in America. Before the classic movie there was of course the classic book by Harper Lee, which is one of the books all students must read in English class. I certainly had to read it when I was at an American high school while living in Chile, and I liked it a lot better than Catcher in the Rye . To anyone who disagrees with that I have only one question: where is the movie adaptation of Catcher in the Rye ? Lord of the Flies has children going feral and fighting one another, but that story has been adapted twice. Although I read the book and watch...

“Do I feel lucky? Well do you punk?” You know a movie is iconic when one of its lines of dialogue still sounds just as badass over 40 years later. Dirty Harry (1971), directed by Don Siegel, cemented Clint Eastwood’s status as a movie star after he had conquered the Western genre in the 1960s with Sergio Leone. As San Francisco Detective Harry Callahan he plays somewhat of a modern gunslinger, taking out bad guys with a .44 magnum revolver, and often working outside the bounds of the law in the process. He may not be a model for real-life cop, but Callahan served as the template for hard-boiled cops for decades to come. Eastwood’s characterization and dialogue from the film has been so ingrained in pop culture I had a rough idea of who Harry Callahan was long before ever seeing Dirty Harry . Jim Carrey parodies the “feel lucky” speech in The Mask (1993) and in the 90s I would watch the Lethal Weapon movies, which essentially had Mel Gibson playing a modern-day Harry Callahan. T...

Paths of Glory (1957), one of the many great films by the iconic Stanley Kubrick, is somewhat of a lesser-known entry in his filmmography, but in a way it is as violent as Full Metal Jacket (1987). Due to its portrayal of the French military it was not shown in France until 1975, which is unfair since the actions depicted could have been those of any army that fought in World War I. Wars are generally insane, but that particular war holds a special place in the pantheon of madness for employing trench warfare, which effectively turned battlefields into killing fields for all soldiers. As it is one of the few movies to portray historical events in a boldly accurate way, despite having American actors play French characters, I got to see Paths of Glory in a high school history class during my last year in Chile in 2002. I had a pretty good teacher who held an interesting debate after the end credits to see which officer was most at fault. It is a conversation that could yield a ...

If there is one thing riskier than making a film about the war on terror, it’s making a movie about the horrible day that started the damn thing in the first place. Paul Greengrass was brave enough to make such a film and thankfully he was skilful enough to make it in a way that would be tasteful, accurate, and nail biting all at once. With United 93 (2006) he placed his focus not on politicians or soldiers, but on ordinary people who fought back against their captors and more than likely helped to avoid an even bigger catastrophe. Considering its subject matter Greengrass’ film of course did not make a fortune at the box-office and I was also hesitant to see it for a while. Watching any movie that deals with Sept.11 feels a bit like homework assignment: you don’t really want to do it, but you probably should. Everyone who was young enough to have experienced that day knows exactly what happened since the images of the towers collapsing kept playing on CNN all day long. I rememb...

Having done everything from romantic dramas to science-fiction thrillers, Richard Linklater can’t be accused of only doing one type of movie. However his love of rock music was evident in Dazed and Confused so he was the perfect guy to harness the manic energy of real-life rocker Jack Black for School Of Rock (2003). Written by Mike White, who also worked on the criminally overlooked TV show Freaks and Geeks , this rock’n’roll comedy has the old concept of the teacher who bonds with his students, except this teacher’s curriculum focuses on the historical importance of everyone from The Who to Led Zeppelin. I wish I could have signed up for this class. A couple of things about this movie: It came out in October of 2003, a few months after I had moved back to Quebec after having lived in South America for several years That was when I realized most movies in Quebec come out dubbed in French, which I hate because I want to hear the original actors speak no matter the language. Ins...

Who you gonna call? Since 1984 there is only answer to that question: GHOSTBUSTERS! Now an established part of pop culture, in no small part thanks to Ray Parker Junior’s signature theme song, it was at the time one heck of a gamble. What were the odds that a comedy/horror movie filled with some of the most expensive special effects at the time and starring the wise-cracking comedian from Caddyshack and Stripes , one half of The Blues Brothers, and the heroine from Alien would become a massive hit? With Canadian director Ivan Reitman at the helm and Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis on writing duties, it turns out the odds were pretty good. I didn’t watch Ghostbusters until sometime in the mid 90s when it was playing on TV at my grandma’s house, but before that it was firmly ingrained in my culture. Plenty of kids could hum that earworm of a song, the animated series was doing pretty good, and I had a horn shaped like Slimer on my bicycle. I think I actually ended seeing Ghostbuste...