Michael-J.-Fox Movie Reviews

PLANET OF THE APES - This wildly popular but heavy-handed and amateurishly directed film of Pierre Boulle's "Monkey Planet" still has a great idea going for it. Charlton Heston (overacting as usual) is Taylor, an astronaut stranded in a future world run by a corrupt ape government that keeps humans as slaves. Heston is pretty annoying, but after he's shot in the throat and captured, we identify with his repeated attempts to show the apes he's intelligent. Befriended by sympathetic chimpanzee scientists Zira (Kim Hunter) and Cornelius (Roddy McDowall), Taylor escapes with his new love interest Nova (Linda Harrison) and, in the famous shock ending, finds out where he really is. Repetitive and slow-paced, but fun. With Oscar- winning make-up by John Chambers, one of Jerry Goldsmith's cruder scores, and lots of messagey dialogue about evolution -- you can tell Rod Serling worked on the screenplay. Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner (who did "Patton" next).

BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES - A lot less poky than the original, and generally more entertaining. Taylor and Nova ride across the Forbidden Zone. Taylor stumbles into the hide-out of some radiation-scarred mutants who presumably survived the nuclear holocaust. They worship a big atomic bomb. The lonely Nova meets another astronaut, Brent (James Franciscus), who's less condescending towards her than Taylor was, though he does try to kill her a couple of times under the telepathic influence of the mutants. Meanwhile, a cadre of gorillas led by Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans) and the warmonger General Ursus (James Gregory) delve into the Forbidden Zone looking for Brent and Nova. There's some funny, dated social commentary (the pacifist chimpanzees hold a sit-in peace protest against the gorillas) and a typical 1970 ending in which the bomb is detonated and a narrator intones, "An insignificant green planet is dead." Big Chuck was finished with the "Apes" saga but returned the next year in another post-apocalypse cult favorite, "The Omega Man."

ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES - Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) and Zira (Kim Hunter), along with a third chimpanzee, Milo (Sal Mineo), manage to escape from Earth 3955 before it blows up. They land on Earth 1973. The tables are turned as Cornelius and Zira are befriended by kindly scientists Bradford Dillman and Natalie Trundy. Cynical genius Eric Braeden (now on "The Young and the Restless") wants to kill the apes, who are expecting a baby. Helpful circus owner Ricardo Montalban takes them in and adopts their baby, who goes on to star in the next installment. Passable entertainment, but it's no fun watching the likable, witty Cornelius and Zira become hairy martyrs. With a rinky-dink score by Jerry Goldsmith and a confusing explanation of infinite regression. Watch for M. Emmet Walsh as the military aide with the oranges, and don't get too attached to Milo.

CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES - It's 1991, and humans have turned apes into pets because all the cats and dogs were killed by an outer-space virus in 1983. Over the past eight years the apes got smart enough to be conditioned as domestic servants. Enter Caesar (Roddy McDowall), the adult son of Cornelius and Zira. Caesar's friend Ricardo Montalban has kept him away from society. When Caesar sees how humans are brutalizing apes, he gets mad and starts planning a revolution. With a band of orangutans, chimps, and gorillas, he clashes with the human army and gives a stirring speech. It's the shortest film in the series, but it's lead-footed and erratic, with the climactic skirmish shot way too close in. Typical piece of hackwork from J. Lee Thompson, who also directed the next and last one. It's the only PG-rated "Apes" movie (the rest were G), probably because of increased violence and lots of electroshock torture.

BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES - An okay finale. It opens in 2678, with John Huston as the Lawgiver, a wise old orangutan who teaches his class about Caesar (Roddy McDowall). The rest of the movie is set in about 2015 and involves Caesar's problems with the barbarous gorilla General Aldo (Claude Akins) and a band of mutants from the Forbidden Zone. The film brings the "Apes" saga almost full circle, with the humans in Ape City reduced to slaves (who can still speak, having not been lobotomized yet). The battle scenes are staged better than in "Conquest," and there's a lot of action and the usual political parallels (at one point Caesar says "Let us reason together," just like LBJ). Also with Lew Ayres, Paul Williams, Austin Stoker ("Assault on Precinct 13"), and John Landis as a human slave. Landis got to know "Apes" make-up designer John Chambers, who later appeared in Landis' directing debut "Schlock."

The irony of the "Apes" series is that it preaches non-bigotry, but it's still racist on some level. The warlike, bestial gorillas are dark-skinned; the more intelligent and peaceful orangutans and chimpanzees are light-skinned. Fox may have been able to get away with that in the early '70s, but if they want to revive the franchise today they'd better rethink the color-coding a little.

So here are your options: 1. Buy this on DVD or video 2. rent them 3, Watch them on AMC.
Go Apes!!!!!!!!!!

The movie is about president who lost his wife, who falls for a environmental lobbyist. The struggle comes from Richard Dryfus's character "Bob Rumpsfeld" (bad nomanclature). He finds out that this woman is an extreme left lobbyist. He uses this to throw stones at the president, who he is trying to defeat in the coming election. The presidential staff characters are wonderfully acted and fun to watch. The interaction in the staff is Golden.

People should look at this movie as a movie, not a political statement. Of course the movie has liberal themes. When a filmmaker makes a movie, the audience is what he/she is working to please. It is hard to romanticize a conservative agenda. This movie's target audience is women(Even thought I love it). Do you think a woman is going to want a watch a romantic dramedy with a central theme of business, welfare reform, or maybe even limiting awards in malpractice suits? NO, of course not. I am a conservative, and I don't want to watch a romanitic comedy about my agenda. Two things that are heart felt issues on both sides of the isle are the environment and gun control. They use these issues because they are common and good plot points, and are easily dramatized. They are not the central theme of the movie.

Overall, the movie is quality. It is a movie that I never get tired of watching.

Michael Douglas plays somewhat against his usual type as a likeable, widowed, well-meaning single father who is also the President of the United States, Andrew Shepherd. He becomes romantically interested in an environmental lobbyist, Sidney Ellen Wade (Annette Benning) which turns out to cause a lot of problems for both of them.

These two high-powered actors manage to humanize their characters into ordinary, likable people who are just trying to fall in love despite unbelievable opulence of surroundings, ugly political maneuvering and living inside a media fishbowl of publicity. Along the way, there are plenty of funny, heartwarming moments including a couple of very funny telephone calls. (Imagine what YOU would do if you suddenly received a call from someone who claimed to be the President of the United States)

David Paymer, Michael J. Fox and Martin Sheen are excellent in their supporting roles as advisors to the President and Shawna Waldron is wonderful as the 1st daughter.

If you love humorous dialog, beautiful, nearly fairy-tale settings and happy endings, be sure to see this movie. You won't be disappointed.

Michael Douglas' realistic portrayal of the title character [President Andrew Shepherd] is a refreshingly-different change for Mr. Douglas, from his earlier rather--shall we say--steamy roles in "Fatal Attraction" (1987), "Basic Instinct" (1992), and "Disclosure" (1994).

Annette Bening also shines brightly here--as Douglas' love interest.

Written by "The West Wing's" Aaron Sorkin, it's nearly impossible to watch this movie today and not notice the similarities between Sorkin's work on the film and the excellent NBC-TV program it spawned.

Several of the actors in the film went on to star in the TV series as well, including Martin Sheen, Joshua Malina, and Anna Deavere Smith.

Mr. Sorkin is one heck of a writer. And he wrote an impressive movie in "The American President".

Unfortunately, there's no "Making Of" type of materials included on the DVD. We get a trailer for the film, plus some production and bio (text) notes, but nothing more in the way of bonuses. (Perhaps a "Special Edition" DVD Edition will some day surface. That'd be sweet indeed.)

While it's certainly true that the picture quality on this non-anamorphic Warner Brothers DVD-Video is far from being perfect....I still think it's in a highly-watchable condition. Sure, we get the usual amount of "jaggies" and blurred images of stuff in the background inherent to an image that's not been enhanced for 16x9 televisions. But I don't really think it's the worst DVD transfer ever to come along either. Of course, mileage will vary. Everyone has their own definition of "bad".

The soundtrack, on the other hand, seems quite robust and nice. There's a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track on this disc.

"The American President" is presented here in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. I've seen information elsewhere that claims this DVD presents the movie in a 1.85:1 ratio, which is inaccurate. So don't be fooled, it's definitely shown here in its full w-i-d-e "scope" ratio of 2.35:1.

This is a fresh, funny, smart, sassy, intelligent film, no matter if it's your first time seeing it, or your hundreth. Despite a less-than-stellar video transfer, I'd still recommend every DVD collector pick this baby up right now!

"You think there's an assassin waiting in the flower shop just in the off-chance I might be stopping by?" -- President Shepherd

LOL! *wink*

Score: 64/100

He's clever. He's enthusiastic. He's a can-do little guy with an attitude. And he's a mouse. From the co-director of The Lion King and the writer of The Sixth Sense comes an entertaining family film from classic American author E.B. White. It's surely a star-studded crew there, and there's not much a family of four could white other than a couple of talking mouse's and many exciting scenes. Even though Stuart Little falls flat from a few flaws, it's still a fun children's comedy, that will be worth your time, depending on your feelings towards movies like this.

In a cosy house near New York City's Central Park, Mr. and Mrs. Little (Hugh Laurie and Geena Davis) bring home a surprising addition to the family...Stuart (voiced by Michael J. Fox), and he's a er...mouse. Despite the urgings of Mrs. Keeper at the orphanage to adopt within their own species, the Littles beam with the pride of new parents. At home the little guy with a big heart (not to mention whiskers, a little pink nose and a really dapper wardrobe), searches for a sense of belonging and a place to call home in the decidedly supersized world. When Stuart is adopted by the Littles he embarks on an adventure with a variety of characters - including his nemesis, the cat Snowball (voiced by Nathan Lane) - and learns the true meaning of family, loyalty and friendship. The Littles, in the meantime, each discover there is a Stuart in all of us - the spunk, spirit and courage to be true to ourselves and follow our dreams despite the odds.

Stuart Little is a good movie, but it suffers majorly from an over-corny note. It's big smiles and drowning frowns all the time, none of the characters ever look normal. Their expressions are practically drawn in, and none of them have much originality about them apart from Stuart, of course. Still, the film provides plenty of entertaining scenes, including an exhilarating cat chase and a superb boat race. It may have a sense of bore in some parts of the film, but overall, it's a very bearable movie that will silent children and, surprisingly, adults for a rainy day. It's a film that combines live action with some groundbreaking visual effects by artists and innovators who have taken digital character creation to a bold new level with the birth of Stuart. The visual effects are the most plausible thing about the film, they are truly memorable, it's some of the most amazingly done animal-talking done since Babe.

Not as good as it could've been, Stuart Little is still watchable fun, a film where you can really expect the whole family to enjoy it.

The animation is outstanding, so much that you don't even notice it, and Michael J. Fox is absolutely perfect as the voice of Stuart. The very colorful, almost-realistic-but-not-quite setting was quite well done, and the group of acting cats must have been a monumental accomplishment. Jonathan Lipnicki is cute as a bug, and Hugh Laurie (great fake accent!) and Geena Davis are perfect storybook parents who finish each other's sentences and eat a lot of meatloaf. Rounding out the talent is Nathan Lane as the voice of Snowbell, the cat who is mortified at having a mouse in the family.

It is fascinating to watch the extra features and to see just how much work went into making Stuart so real. Excellent work! A clean, fun, enjoyable movie.

Score: 64/100

He's clever. He's enthusiastic. He's a can-do little guy with an attitude. And he's a mouse. From the co-director of The Lion King and the writer of The Sixth Sense comes an entertaining family film from classic American author E.B. White. It's surely a star-studded crew there, and there's not much a family of four could white other than a couple of talking mouse's and many exciting scenes. Even though Stuart Little falls flat from a few flaws, it's still a fun children's comedy, that will be worth your time, depending on your feelings towards movies like this.

In a cosy house near New York City's Central Park, Mr. and Mrs. Little (Hugh Laurie and Geena Davis) bring home a surprising addition to the family...Stuart (voiced by Michael J. Fox), and he's a er...mouse. Despite the urgings of Mrs. Keeper at the orphanage to adopt within their own species, the Littles beam with the pride of new parents. At home the little guy with a big heart (not to mention whiskers, a little pink nose and a really dapper wardrobe), searches for a sense of belonging and a place to call home in the decidedly supersized world. When Stuart is adopted by the Littles he embarks on an adventure with a variety of characters - including his nemesis, the cat Snowball (voiced by Nathan Lane) - and learns the true meaning of family, loyalty and friendship. The Littles, in the meantime, each discover there is a Stuart in all of us - the spunk, spirit and courage to be true to ourselves and follow our dreams despite the odds.

Stuart Little is a good movie, but it suffers majorly from an over-corny note. It's big smiles and drowning frowns all the time, none of the characters ever look normal. Their expressions are practically drawn in, and none of them have much originality about them apart from Stuart, of course. Still, the film provides plenty of entertaining scenes, including an exhilarating cat chase and a superb boat race. It may have a sense of bore in some parts of the film, but overall, it's a very bearable movie that will silent children and, surprisingly, adults for a rainy day. It's a film that combines live action with some groundbreaking visual effects by artists and innovators who have taken digital character creation to a bold new level with the birth of Stuart. The visual effects are the most plausible thing about the film, they are truly memorable, it's some of the most amazingly done animal-talking done since Babe.

Not as good as it could've been, Stuart Little is still watchable fun, a film where you can really expect the whole family to enjoy it.

The animation is outstanding, so much that you don't even notice it, and Michael J. Fox is absolutely perfect as the voice of Stuart. The very colorful, almost-realistic-but-not-quite setting was quite well done, and the group of acting cats must have been a monumental accomplishment. Jonathan Lipnicki is cute as a bug, and Hugh Laurie (great fake accent!) and Geena Davis are perfect storybook parents who finish each other's sentences and eat a lot of meatloaf. Rounding out the talent is Nathan Lane as the voice of Snowbell, the cat who is mortified at having a mouse in the family.

It is fascinating to watch the extra features and to see just how much work went into making Stuart so real. Excellent work! A clean, fun, enjoyable movie.

Score: 64/100

He's clever. He's enthusiastic. He's a can-do little guy with an attitude. And he's a mouse. From the co-director of The Lion King and the writer of The Sixth Sense comes an entertaining family film from classic American author E.B. White. It's surely a star-studded crew there, and there's not much a family of four could white other than a couple of talking mouse's and many exciting scenes. Even though Stuart Little falls flat from a few flaws, it's still a fun children's comedy, that will be worth your time, depending on your feelings towards movies like this.

In a cosy house near New York City's Central Park, Mr. and Mrs. Little (Hugh Laurie and Geena Davis) bring home a surprising addition to the family...Stuart (voiced by Michael J. Fox), and he's a er...mouse. Despite the urgings of Mrs. Keeper at the orphanage to adopt within their own species, the Littles beam with the pride of new parents. At home the little guy with a big heart (not to mention whiskers, a little pink nose and a really dapper wardrobe), searches for a sense of belonging and a place to call home in the decidedly supersized world. When Stuart is adopted by the Littles he embarks on an adventure with a variety of characters - including his nemesis, the cat Snowball (voiced by Nathan Lane) - and learns the true meaning of family, loyalty and friendship. The Littles, in the meantime, each discover there is a Stuart in all of us - the spunk, spirit and courage to be true to ourselves and follow our dreams despite the odds.

Stuart Little is a good movie, but it suffers majorly from an over-corny note. It's big smiles and drowning frowns all the time, none of the characters ever look normal. Their expressions are practically drawn in, and none of them have much originality about them apart from Stuart, of course. Still, the film provides plenty of entertaining scenes, including an exhilarating cat chase and a superb boat race. It may have a sense of bore in some parts of the film, but overall, it's a very bearable movie that will silent children and, surprisingly, adults for a rainy day. It's a film that combines live action with some groundbreaking visual effects by artists and innovators who have taken digital character creation to a bold new level with the birth of Stuart. The visual effects are the most plausible thing about the film, they are truly memorable, it's some of the most amazingly done animal-talking done since Babe.

Not as good as it could've been, Stuart Little is still watchable fun, a film where you can really expect the whole family to enjoy it.

The animation is outstanding, so much that you don't even notice it, and Michael J. Fox is absolutely perfect as the voice of Stuart. The very colorful, almost-realistic-but-not-quite setting was quite well done, and the group of acting cats must have been a monumental accomplishment. Jonathan Lipnicki is cute as a bug, and Hugh Laurie (great fake accent!) and Geena Davis are perfect storybook parents who finish each other's sentences and eat a lot of meatloaf. Rounding out the talent is Nathan Lane as the voice of Snowbell, the cat who is mortified at having a mouse in the family.

It is fascinating to watch the extra features and to see just how much work went into making Stuart so real. Excellent work! A clean, fun, enjoyable movie.

Senator Bulworth is running for re-election at the same time that he has a nervous breakdown. As corporate America queues up to buy his influence, his liberal past gazes down with disapproval at him from the photos on the wall - Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy. Sickened by the way he has sold out to the power elite, he arranges for his assassination so that his daughter can claim the life insurance. Once this is set up and he is dragged around the election circuit, he feels a great weight off his shoulders and he starts speaking his mind rather than the usual platitudes: He tells audiences that he acts for corporate America because they have the money - the people don't; medicine will never be socialised in America because the insurance corporations want to hold on to their profits; and government will never act on behalf of black people because black people lack all financial clout.

Pretty radical stuff. Unfortunately, Bulworth is not good cinema. The story is hackneyed and unbelievable. It's basically a third rate thriller with left-wing politics dumped into it. The Battle of Algiers it is not. However, Bulworth still entertains. If the story does not convince, at least the pace never slackens. Certainly, Beatty deserves credit for remaining true to his political beliefs when many others have long since abandoned commitment to anything other than chasing the almighty dollar.

Senator Bulworth is running for re-election at the same time that he has a nervous breakdown. As corporate America queues up to buy his influence, his liberal past gazes down with disapproval at him from the photos on the wall - Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy. Sickened by the way he has sold out to the power elite, he arranges for his assassination so that his daughter can claim the life insurance. Once this is set up and he is dragged around the election circuit, he feels a great weight off his shoulders and he starts speaking his mind rather than the usual platitudes: He tells audiences that he acts for corporate America because they have the money - the people don't; medicine will never be socialised in America because the insurance corporations want to hold on to their profits; and government will never act on behalf of black people because black people lack all financial clout.

Pretty radical stuff. Unfortunately, Bulworth is not good cinema. The story is hackneyed and unbelievable. It's basically a third rate thriller with left-wing politics dumped into it. The Battle of Algiers it is not. However, Bulworth still entertains. If the story does not convince, at least the pace never slackens. Certainly, Beatty deserves credit for remaining true to his political beliefs when many others have long since abandoned commitment to anything other than chasing the almighty dollar.

Such whimsical behavior in fact leaves the senator feeling so liberated that his death wish vanishes, and the movie turns into a frantic chase to track down his anointed assassin and cancel the plans. This lends the movie some of its hilarious moments and what could even have been an adorable pace.

But the movie and its pace are thrown to the wind as we quickly get swamped with empathetic odes to negro stereotypes -- young black kids under 10 years of age selling dope on the streets using F-words as punctuation, abject poverty (15 people in a small shoddy home for e.g.), rusty cars from 1625 A.D. for the black folk but Rolls limos for everyone else, white cops badgering the afrincan-american drug salesmen and the kids of course replying in an F-laden rants with allusion to parental family members etc etc.

As though this was not enough, a dreadful overdose of rap music compounds our woes (no no, I love rap music with a capital C) with the possible exception of Ghetto Superstar (yeah). Even the senator develops a rap-tongue and cannot seem to speak in anything but rhyme, whether on TV or in private tete-a-tetes with Halle Berry.

Beatty's wrinkles show up in this movie but do little to add to his expressionless expressions, although he is convincing in his role. Halle Berry is confident as usual, but in her african-women-can-be-intelligent-too anti-stereotype role, seems to have a medical inability to smile because, clearly, intelligent people are always serious. The senator's chief of staff campaigner has a perpetual frown with all this bizzare callousness, which is somewhat grating. Everyone else does his/her job well - no more no less.

Overall, a unique theme with a lot of promise that could easily have been a 5/5 material had Beatty not been so smitten with his inane takes on the minority agenda. Still worth a watch if you are interested in (what is almost) a "political satire".

Senator Bulworth is running for re-election at the same time that he has a nervous breakdown. As corporate America queues up to buy his influence, his liberal past gazes down with disapproval at him from the photos on the wall - Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy. Sickened by the way he has sold out to the power elite, he arranges for his assassination so that his daughter can claim the life insurance. Once this is set up and he is dragged around the election circuit, he feels a great weight off his shoulders and he starts speaking his mind rather than the usual platitudes: He tells audiences that he acts for corporate America because they have the money - the people don't; medicine will never be socialised in America because the insurance corporations want to hold on to their profits; and government will never act on behalf of black people because black people lack all financial clout.

Pretty radical stuff. Unfortunately, Bulworth is not good cinema. The story is hackneyed and unbelievable. It's basically a third rate thriller with left-wing politics dumped into it. The Battle of Algiers it is not. However, Bulworth still entertains. If the story does not convince, at least the pace never slackens. Certainly, Beatty deserves credit for remaining true to his political beliefs when many others have long since abandoned commitment to anything other than chasing the almighty dollar.