#79 Once Upon A Time In America

1984

Staring

Jennifer Connelly, Robert De Niro, James Woods, Paul Bettany, Grace Hightower

I think to myself, "Ive got a couple of hours spare today, Ill watch another movie on the list, oh its a gangster movie, brilliant, I like them" (starts movie) "WTF!!!! its 3 HOURS AND 49 MINUTES long" Now, to quote Youtube "Aint nobody got time for that"

So I had to do this one in two sittings, I did consider it in 1, but after the first hour there was no chance of that happening. When this came out on the big screen, the whole world got their monies worth with this one, other than one country who were too uncultured to be able to sit and digest the complex intertwining's, flash backs and epicly long cut scenes, Never mins and endless ringing of a telephone for about the first 15 minutes. Of course America decided to cut the film by a whole 90 minutes, rendering it utter 'jibberish' just a car crash of random scenes forced together to create zero continuity and a story that makes little seance.

So I did endure the full version as the director had wanted, and my initial thought was "this is going to be slow" and it didnt disappoint, almost 4 grueling hours of my life spent watching this. It was long for a very good reason, to be able to fully tell the story that spans over 3 decades of the lives of a group of friends turn gangsters who form a bond like no other set of criminals, that takes the all the way from childhood to death.   

The scores

Visual
7/10 pretty standard

Sound
5/10 Nothing too sparkling here 

Acting
8/10 real good acting

Plot
5/10 So I love a good gangster film and this one didn't disappoint, apart from the length.

Ending
5/10 wasn't the best part of the movie, so a middle of the road score.

Final Score
30/50



Total Movie Minutes So Far ~ 2840

Next up - Lion King

  

#80 Star Wars : Return Of The Jedi

1983

Staring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie fisher 


Star Wars, do I need to explain this one? I think almost all of the population has seen a Star Wars movie, if you haven't, where have you been? In this installment to the Star Wars franchise we see a huge slimy slug type creature and some tiny bears, there are also some flying machines and a camp gold robot.

Return of the Jedi is the 6th movie in the series but turns out to be the 3rd I think?? Any way...
I feel obliged to really like Star Wars, but in reality, Im not that fond of it. I can sit and watch it, but im certainly no Star Wars convention goer...

The long and short of it is, Hans Solo (Hamill) gets captured by the giant slug Jabba the Hut. He gets cast in some life preserving metal type substance, and hung on the wall like a piece of art. It takes Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia to rescue him. Now spoiler alert) this "dark lord" Dartf Vader, happens to be Luke's father, Luke is trying to get him to see the light and leave the dark side.

Thats it really. Short and sweet.Moving Swiftly on.... 

The scores

Visual
8/10 Good set and costume designs

Sound
5/10 Standard 

Acting
6/10 middle of the park, not bad.

Plot
5/10 Im not a big space film fan.

Ending
5/10 yep, it had one.

Final Score
29/50



Total Movie Minutes So Far ~ 2611

Next up - Once Upon A Time In America