ariannastarr Reviews

My Girl (1991)

A Film about what it is to grow up

[10/10 · 28 April 2004]

Summer in the early 70's. Vada Saltenfuss is 12 years old, dealing with a absent mother who died in childbirth, budding hormones beelining her at her poetry teacher, a live-in grandmother who's slipped into senility, and a distant undertaker father, whom Vada believes will only pay attention to her if she's dying, a feat she tries to accomplish on a weekly basis. She has one friend that she feels comfortable with, her "allergic to everything" slightly gawky Thomas J.

This movie is about all of the things that change as we grow up, centered largely about dealing with the death of a loved one, how to grieve, how to cope, and how to move on. In the beginning of this movie, neither Vada nor her father are connecting with each other. He coops himself up in his funeral home house, surrounded with death, but never dealing with the death of his wife. Vada believes that she killed her mother, and that thought haunts her, but she never talks about it to her dad. Enter Jamie Lee Curtis' character, a make up artist who takes a position at the funeral home, and Vada's world, and her father's begin to change. Vada has a female role model, and her dad has someone to shake him out of the funk he's been in for the last 12 years.

**spoilers**

The plot is brought to a head when Thomas J is stung by bees and is killed. Vada's father thinks that seeing death and being able to deal with it are the same thing. Vada proves otherwise. Her grief on losing her first crush, her poetry teacher she just found out is engaged, her guilt on killing her mother and the unreality of Thomas J's death hit her hard at his funeral where she burst out in a heart wrenching monologue about her best friend.

I was 12 myself in 1991 when this movie came out and it never failed to bring tears, and laughter. It is wonderful nostalgia of the simpler days of childhood and the sometimes heartwrenching process of growing up.

Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer (1985)

Nostalgia about a butt-kicking little girl

[20 March 2004]

This was one of the first movies I ever got to see in theaters, and for nothing else it's a nostalgia trip. I must have watched it a lot as a kid cause I remember it pretty clearly, without having seen it recently.

The script was a cheese factory, and the characters are pretty silly, but it was never meant for adults. I personally as an adult found the princess to be entertaining, but mostly I credit this movie, and the series from which it was made as being very positive for young girls. Rainbow Bright, while being a bit silly, was a strong female presence in network after network of male oriented cartoons intended for the same audience.

What ever sillyness and unrealness came from the movie are secondary to me. It's a nostalgia trip, and a good memory to boot. Show this movie to your young female children. The boys won't like it, but I think that most young girls will still see what I saw in it almost twenty years ago.

Hidalgo (2004)

A Class Act, for a cowboy movie.

[9/10 · 6 March 2004]

Audiences love having an underdog to cheer for, and Frank Hopkins and his little painted Hidalgo give them that. Pitted against some of the most legendary Thoroughbred horses the arabian nation has to offer, the cowboy and his little mixed blood horse look like a joke at best, at worst an insult to the prickly pride of both foreign breeders, and the Arab racers, and they do their best to assuage their bruised pride.

I thought this was a fabulous movie. It had all the trappings of a traditional cowboy movie, one man against rough odds, trying against hope to pull through in the end, but Viggo's character actually had some class and self esteem. He knew he was being laughed at, but shrugged it off. He didn't feel required to test his manhood against any challengers that may walk by, nor did he feel the need to get between every woman's legs either. He was happy to do what he came there to do, and that was to prove himself.

The cinematography was awesome, there was real development of Viggo's character, and a blood stirring race to watch. I was quite pleased with it, and would recommend the movie to anyone.

The Order (2003)

Connection Failure (may contain Spoilers)

[16 February 2004]

While this movie will never rate among my favorites, it is not as bad as some of the posters have led me to believe. I firmly stand by my take of read the reviews, but never let them scare you off of a movie that you wanted to see.

The main problems with the movie are simple. The characters are played somewhat too aloof, making it hard to connect to the audience. A death scene that should have been poignant left me, the family waterworks, dry eyed. Another problem with the movie is that it is a bit too cerebral for the target audience. My guess is that many of the people that slammed it, as with other movies, simply didn't get it. Not being Catholic, much of the target audience was left to look up some of the references. Things that should have been explained were not, and the audience was confused.

All that being said, interesting was about the best compliment I could put to the movie. I didn't suffer through it, but it didn't enrich my life either. I found it interesting and it kept my attention but without characters I can relate to, and with so many obscure and unexplained references, it is not one I'll buy or make an effort to see again. On a scale of ten, I'll give it a five.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Horrific Disappointment

[4/10 · 10 January 2004]

After the first movie, I was expecting gold from the next two. What I got, in my opinion, was dross. While this movie had very pretty fight scenes, going places no one else had been, like the first movie, it spent more time reveling in gratuitous moments than it did developing the aura and story of the world. The love scene intercut with the dancing, would have been beautiful had it been shorter, but cut in the full length bordered on pornographic. The schoolyard fight with the Smith Clones was spectacular, yes, but this movie was not based around a fighting competition with artistic points. There was an actual war going on. When Neo figured out that he couldn't win, which the audience did very early on, he should have taken off like he ended up doing later anyway. There were better uses to which he could put his energy. And the car chase made me sick to my stomach to watch on the big screen. It was also too long.

I do give the writers and director some points for the art. There is still a lot of things to be said with what was introduced in the movie. The twins for example were interesting, and the war converging on Zion lent an underlying urgency to the movie. Even the age old do I save the world, or do I save the one I love battle was well played. But as with many miracles of the scientific world, just because you can do something, that doesn't mean you should.

I see a lot of movies in theater, and own still more. Rest assured, this will not enter my collection, nor will I see in theaters or purchase Revolutions. I won't spend any more money on this franchise, and I won't be sullying the original by trying to add this to it.