Christopher-Lee Movie Reviews

Drew Barrymore plays a pre-teen who's father left her and her moher. Her mother is bitter and tries to keep Drew from seeing her father's father. The grandfaher, Robert Young, reaches out to his grand daughter. They each have fantasies to reconcile. Warm story. Nice lesson about commucation and the importance of grandparents, dreams and love. Not sticky at all.

Drew Barrymore plays a pre-teen who's father left her and her moher. Her mother is bitter and tries to keep Drew from seeing her father's father. The grandfaher, Robert Young, reaches out to his grand daughter. They each have fantasies to reconcile. Warm story. Nice lesson about commucation and the importance of grandparents, dreams and love. Not sticky at all.

Pretty much overlooked when it came out in 1979, this film is a rare gem. George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg play three retirees sharing a house in Queens. Bored and bitter, Joe (Burns) talks Al and Willie (Carney and Strasberg) into going in on a bank robbery. The three get a real buzz out of pulling off the job, the only excitement they've had in years. But what seems to have been the perfect crime soon begins to have tragic consequences. When Willie dies from a heart attack, Joe and Al take off for Vegas where they wind up getting into a once in a lifetime crap game. This excursion then takes on tragic consequences of its own, leading up to a bittersweet ending. While all three of the leads are terrific, it is really Burns who carries the film. I believe this to be his best film work. For those who have always felt that a little bit of George goes a long way, you should check this film out to see what a truly remarkable acting talent he could be when given the material. His work here is totally devoid of the "cuteness" that marked a lot of the films he was in such as "Oh, God!" A truly Oscar-worthy performance. One wonders what the atmosphere on the set must have been like with Burns and Carney, two masters of schtick, and Strasberg, the father of modern method acting. Whatever the chemistry, it definitely shows up on screen.

This is the first episode of this series that I had ever seen. The opening scene is a contest of skill in horsemanship, marksmanship and something else that leads to the underlying theme of this episode. I kept wondering as I watched the openning action montage, who played the lead, Hawkeye, AKA Nathaniel Bumpo of the "Leatherstockings" series of books dating back to the days of Melville and Moby Dick (or some time after). I suddenly realized that it was Lee Horsley, who I enjoyed watching in his role as Ethan Allen Cord in the western series, "Paradise." I was hooked. This episode has some of the most dynamic action scenes that this series produced and some of the most memorable. I had not seen Lee Horsley in a role like this since "The Sword and the Sorcerer."

Interestingly, this is the only episode of the series without Lynda Carter in her staring role as the heroine, Elizabeth Shields. What keeps bringing me back to viewing this episode is Jill Teeds, who plays a character so much like the Shields character, yet is different in manner and delivery. This woman plays the strong lead effectively and is quite fascinating. In one sequence she is disgusted with men and in need of help -- she rolls her eyes, tosses her head, snaps her neck to back and to the side -- leading her to see Rodney A. Grant as Hawkeye's friend and native brother, Chingachgook in a classice and memorable "noble savage" stance. Another example of the dramatic direction in this episode.

Jill Teed plays a lot of supporting roles and I hope that she will continue to act and appear in TV and movie productions (most recent is "Mission to Mar"). She is one of the many reasons to see this episode.

doug jeffrey was so young in this movie but definately made this movie very hot

This film is in a small sub-genre of movies about Vikings in North America that includes "The Norseman" with Lee Majors and Cornel Wilde. This movie, though smaller and lower budgeted than "The Norseman," is far better in its historical authenticity, believability, and accessability to a family audience.

The story follows a young Irish Christian, a slave to a crew of Vikings, who escapes on the shore of North America and becomes friends with a Native tribe. The "magic stone" is a quartz stone through which a navigator can find the sun in a hazy sky. There is one particular Viking, who doesn't like the Irishman and wants the stone, who keeps on interfering with the possibility of peaceful trading between the Vikings and Natives by killing the Natives. The story does cover some documented details of the Norse colonization, including the time a woman rallied a band of warriors who had been trapped by the Natives (called "Skraelings" by the Vikings).

It is pretty obvious by the understated style of acting, the good-looking young actors, and other details of the production that this film was intended to be family friendly, not too scary for young children (in this instance, the film does not suffer for that). There are a few battle scenes with swords, spears, and some blood, but they are handled with restraint and tact.

The Natives speak in their own language (subtitled) through the first half of the movie, until a plot point allows the actors to speak in the Irisman's/Vikings language (English).

I bought this movie at wal-mart today for 3.95 in Caniaden dollars, so thats must be 50 cents US and its selling for that much. Holy cow

The unmatched exuberance of youth and self portrait of the suffering artist is captured in this light-hearted romp through the inner visions of modern day survivalists facing the perils of a wilderness which cannot be understood or overestimated.

Once again the video market is blessed with another direct-to-video movie! The sequel to Blood Cult has the evil cult leader (Played by Carradine) continuing his evil blood cult until no one is safe! When a women stubles over the "secret" cult she finds out that she is the next to be sacrificed! Teriffic movie!

Okay, my headline is a little coarse. I'm not really personally insulted -- just appalled that so much money, which could be better spent on something of real value, is wasted on this drivel.

A bad script can often be brought to life, as is proved over and again with actors and directors of real talent. Alas, no such people here. The leads should donate their salaries to the Actors' Home and go back to their Burger King jobs.

I don't mind being fooled -- it's part of the movie aesthetic. But deafening computer-generated effects at lightning speed are not remotely believable. Whoever invented these effects should be locked for a month in a blindingly lit room with plastic food.

It's been argued that the Star Wars films are intended not as realism but as comic books. Well, the original Alec Guinness-Harrison Ford offering was in many ways extremely realistic. For another thing, it was superbly acted. And the script, despite major weaknesses, was full of tongue-in-cheek wit. The only wit in the current films is the half one whose idea it was to film them.

I have a few things to say about this movie (and the less would be said the better), here they are:
1. Good ole Lucas completely succmbed to the mainstream of "Dungeons & Dragons" movie and such rubbish.
2. There are a lot of talented scriptwriters (Tracy R. Hickman ("Dragonlance" series), Chris Metzen ("Warcraft","Starcraft" storylines)),why Gl hasn't chosen them to write the script for this miserable movie?? Script grade: 0.1.
3.The love story gave a good impression of "dark, forbidden love" but the acting was the worse I ever seen. Acting grade:0.000000000001.
4.The only actor who actually saves the movie is Christopher Lee (cheers to Saruman and count Dracula) playing count Dooku. CHRISTOPHER LEE RULZ!!!
5.I symathize lord Sith (and Darth Maul+Count Dooku) for trying to wipe out all these pesky psychotic would be "dark lords" (aka Anakin Skywalker), idiotic senators who fall in love with the would be "dark lords" (aka Padme), stupid amphibians who even don't know to how speak proper english (Jar Jar STINKS (a lot)) and even more stupid Jedi Knights (aka Obi-Wan).
6.Give me a StarCraft movie instead.
7.The love scenes were worse than in "Titanic".
8.If you don't believe me that "Attack of the Clones' is the worst movie in the world, go watch it... But beware of the psychologic trauma that might occur to you after seeing so bad a movie.

The bad parts of this movie overwhelm the good parts. The worst is the love story: Two mediocre actors reading awkward dialogue in three or four settings. None of the scenes are convincing. One or two make you cringe. Then there's the confusion of the plot, leading to a number of action scenes that aren't necessary. (Did they have to run around on the robot conveyor belt? It looks like a video game.) The actors are stiff because they appear to be reacting to CG creatures. Finally, the story takes the main characters to too many locations. By the end, you wonder which planet they are on and why they're there.

Of course, there are a few good things about the movie. The climax is amazing --- a combination of light saber duels and a science fiction war. (Somehow, Yoda is the center of both of these sequences.) The creatures, spaceships, and locations are wonderfully designed. The colosseum of the insect creatures looks like it was carved out of a hive. The three beasts the heroes fight in that scene are amazing (in their appearance and the way they move), the clone-making aliens look great, and each landscape and vehicle is unique and detailed. Ewen Macgregor is also good --- every scene he's in is worth watching, simply because he's such an accomplished actor. It's a treat to see him do an impression of a rain-soaked Alec Guiness while he talks to an alien creature that wasn't even there at the moment his parts were filmed.

In the end, you can't give this movie more than two stars, because so much good will was squandered. Every sequel to a blockbuster has a built-in audience, but Star Wars was always different. The fans wanted to relive the thrill of the first two movies with a return to the saga. But Attack of the Clones is so poorly-made, with so much bad acting and dialogue, if feels like a half-hearted attempt to cash in on the old magic.