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Great Movies No Matter Where You See Them
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Home Theater Rating
Movie Rating |
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The Godfather. One of the greatest movies ever made, and with
good reason. Al Pacino gives the performance of a lifetime. His
transformation from idealistic young army vet to a hardened mob boss has
got to be one of the greatest character developments on film. This is not
the greatest movie for a projection-based home theater just because so
much of it is so dark. The darks in a projection system are not all that
dark, and so you don't really get as much black as you'd like. |
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Godfather Part II. A lot of people think the Godfather Part II
is a greater film than the original Godfather. It is a phenomenal
film, but I prefer Godfather Part I. |
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Chinatown. One of the great classics. Amazing performances by
Jack Nicholson and John Huston. Like the Godfather, the movie has a
lot of dark scenes that don't work especially well with a DLP projection
system. |
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Dead Again. I like movies that keep me guessing, and this movie
engaged my full brain for the duration. If you're willing to buy into the
existence of reincarnation (which I'm willing to buy into for purposes of
watching a movie, anyway), the plot elements fit together very tightly.
Like The Sixth Sense and other movies that depend on a surprise
ending, it isn't as powerful after the first viewing, but the first
viewing is nonetheless a treat. |
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A Few Good Men. |
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Diva. This has been one of my favorite movies since I saw it in
college. The movie is a combination mystery/thriller, with an incredibly
convoluted plot, which is probably harder for me to follow since the movie
is in French with subtitles. The soundtrack contains a wide range of music
from opera and classical to jazz to synth-pop. The video quality and sound
quality are so so. |
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Blue Brothers. The visuals aren't spectacular for a home theater,
but the soundtrack is a must. In my view, this is the greatest musical
ever made. "Musical?" you say. "How can you call this a
musical?" Easily! What other movie has performances by John Lee
Hooker, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and many others?
Moreover, one of my pet peeves about musicals is the way that characters
break into song with no justification in the story for why they're
suddenly singing. In this movie, all the songs are motivated by the story
line, so in addition to the music itself, the songs also support the
plot. |
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Caddy Shack. This is one of the greatest comedies ever made.
Performances by Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and Bill Murray are
timeless. |
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Dr. Strangelove. One of the funniest movies ever made if you
can get past the whole "nuclear annihilation" thing.
Every character is funny, ranging from Peter Sellers in a variety of roles
to Sterling Hayden as the whacked-out base commander to Slim Pickens as
the gung ho B52 pilot. My favorite performance is George C. Scott as
General Buck Turgeson. His character is only minor shades different than
his character in Patton, but the dramatic vs. comic effect is completely
different. |
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Office Space. This cult classic has nothing special to offer the
home theater enthusiast, but everything to offer people who see the humor
of modern cube farms and who don't mind quite a bit of crude humor. |
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Oscar. OK, OK, I have to admit that this isn't one of my favorite
movies. But is is a movie I enjoyed very much, in part just because of the
surprise of seeing Sylvester Stallone in a comedy. If you haven't seen
this movie, you might not believe Stallone could be funny, but he gives a
solid comic performance as a mob boss whose life is unraveling. Marisa
Tomei is good as Stallone's spoiled daughter. The real star of the movie
is Tim Curry (Dr. Frankenfurter from Rocky Horror), who plays an eccentric
linquist. He steals every scene he's in. |
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More to come... |
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Email me at
stevemcc@construx.com. |
