These are Resurfaced short or quickie reviews written in 2002 or earlier. For more information, please visit this link: Resurfaced Reviews.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Rating

Director

Stanley Kubrick

Screenplay

Stanley Kubrick & Arthur C. Clarke (Short Story: Arthur C. Clarke)

Length

2h 29m

Starring

Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter, Leonard Rossiter, Margaret Tyzack, Robert Beatty, Sean Sullivan, Douglas Rain

MPAA Rating

G

Basic Plot

A large black obelisk poses bizarre questions about our origins. A doomed voyage in space. An intriguing look at our future.

Review

2001 is a classic in science fiction film history. It is one of the earliest films dealing with a futuristic setting that not only has the originality edge, it also has a wit about it. It looks at our dependence on technology, before our dependence was terribly large, it charges that automation can be a dangerous thing. Artificial intelligence: The way of the future or its demise?

Review Written

October 19, 2021

Murder by Death (1976)

Rating

Director

Robert Moore

Screenplay

Neil Simon

Length

1h 35m

Starring

Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, Estelle Winwood, James Cromwell, Richard Narita

MPAA Rating

PG

Basic Plot

A Comedy/Mystery from the famed playwrite Neil Simon. Five world-renowned detectives are invited to “a dinner and a murder.”

Review

Great comic actors flood this hilarious send-off on fictional detective of mystery fiction. Featuring such famous detectives as Milo Perrier(Hercule Poirot), Sam Diamond(Sam Spade), Jessica Marbles(Jane Marple), Dick and Dora Charleston(Nick and Nora Charles) and Sidney Wang(Charlie Chan, I believe). The ensemble works fantastically well together and we see the first major screen role for Babe’s farmer Hoggett, James Cromwell. In a film that is as surprising as funny, Murder by Death is a classic mystery spoof that helped bring us brilliant films like Clue.

Review Written

September 28, 2011

Dumbo (1941)

Rating

Director

Sam Armstrong, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen

Screenplay

Joe Grant, Dick Huemer, Otto Englander, Bill Peet, Aurie Battaglia, Joe Rinaldi, George Stallings, Webb Smith (Book: Helen Aberson, Harold Pearl)

Length

1h 04m

Starring

Edward Brophy, Verna Felton, Cliff Edwards, Herman Bing, Sterling Holloway

MPAA Rating

G (formerly: Passed (National Board of Review))

Basic Plot

The stork delivers a baby elephant to Mrs Jumbo, veteran of the circus, but the newborn is ridiculed because of his truly enormous ears and dubbed “Dumbo”. Dumbo is relegated to the circus’ clown acts; it is up to his only friend, a mouse, to assist Dumbo to achieve his full potential.

Review

A story about perserverance and faith comes from the master himself, Walt Disney. Dumbo weaves a tearful and exhilierating story with music that doesn’t play hard, but almost hides in the background. Some child-attracting qualities sometimes distract from the film, but Dumbo still remains an entertaining film.

Review Written

Unknown

Wings (1927)

Rating

Director

William A. Wellman

Screenplay

John Mark Saunders, Hope Loring, Louis D. Leighton

Length

2h 19m

Starring

Clara Bow, Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers, Richard Arlen, Jobyna Ralston, El Brendel, Richard Tucker, Gary Cooper, Gunboat Smith, Henry B. Walthall, Roscoe Karns, Julia Swayne Gordon, Arlette Marchal

MPAA Rating

N/A

Basic Plot

A young man, a woman and a car. The woman loves the man, but he doesn’t know. The young man wants to be a pilot and leaves for the army. The car…well, the woman just drives it around. The tale primarily focuses on the young pilot in the Great War and all the trials and tribulations he must face.

Review

“Wings” is an endearing tale with a rather interesting cast and some great effects. The use of overlay in some scenes was quite stunning and helped boost the film in its quality. An occasional bit of bad acting doesn’t help much, but doesn’t detract a lot, because the film is completely silent.

Review Written

October 3, 2006

Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1990)

Rating

Director

Rachel Talalay

Screenplay

Michael De Lucas

Length

1h 45m

Starring

Robert Englund, Lisa Zane, Shon Greenblatt, Lezlie Deane, Ricky Dean Logan, Breckin Meyer, Yaphet Kotto, Roseanne, Tom Arnold, Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper

MPAA Rating

R (For horror violence, and for language and drug content)

Basic Plot

The sixth film in the Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise. Trapped in a town with no children, a group of teens are stalked by the dream master himself.

Review

The theatrical release of this film included a amateur 3-D sequence. Add on top of that your staandard bad acting and you have a poor send-off of the Freddy franchise. While the acting is terrible and many effects are overusedre are still refreshing parts to the film. Four lively guest appearances, including Roseanne and Tom Arnnold, Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp (star of the first film), dot the spotty landscape. Before and after the dream sequence we find out why Freddy turned into the nightmare he did and this is the part of the film that most intrigued me. Seeing Freddy’s beginnings, first as a bastard child of a thousand maniacs (from the third film) to this installment gives unique insight. While most people won’t find this film very entertaining or worth anything, being a horror fan keeps my thoughts in perspective and makes this film better than anything Friday the 13th or the repetative Halloween series could produce after their initial runs.

Review Written

September 5, 2007