Sleepless in Seattle

In the 1993 movie, Sleepless in Seattle, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) is a single and widowed father in Seattle who is trying to raise his only son Jonah (Ross Malinger) by himself. Jonah calls into a late night radio program asking for a mother. Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) all the way in New York City and lonely herself takes an interest in the story and she falls for Sam without ever seeing him. A love story forms on fate and some rather ridiculous antics.  

I have liked Tom Hanks for years and I have always wished Meg Ryan's career had panned out better  for her. You can't say this duo does not have chemistry because they really do while Ross Malinger as Jonah fits into the mix perfectly and the story the film tells is very original. Still though, the likelihood of this story actually happening is very far fetched. Seattle and New York are such a long distance apart and it is filled with a predictable ending involving an airplane that wouldn't work now because of 9/11. Bill Pullman and Rosie O'Donnell are the leaders of the supporting cast and the mixture is frankly beyond uneven.

Now a week after it's 21th anniversary release week, Sleepless in Seattle is surely a very loved film. This film is one I can see living on for awhile and of course it is a classic for the ladies. Maybe it's the boy in me but I find Sleepless in Seattle to be a flawed piece more than anything. I think it is an overrated and somewhat underwhelming romantic flick.   


3/5

The Serpent and the Rainbow

Wes Craven really is kind of a hit or miss director. He made The Serpent and the Rainbow in 1988 at an interesting time of his career after having some success with Nightmare on Elm Street but after the disaster of Deadly Friend. The Serpent and the Rainbow has a few interesting ideas but Craven never really develops them very well. This is really a big miss film from Craven.

Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman ) a researcher out of Harvard goes to Haiti to tackle the mystery of a zombie legend and also a type of drug that might be connected. There is also a voodoo theme as the drug is used in Haitian voodoo rituals.

You really to have to question what Craven was doing with this film. He starts with what seems like an interesting plot and the really lets it sink. The plot really goes everywhere and is very hard to follow. There is also a love story that is very shallow as well as dream scenes that never seem to end. By act 3, you expect that it can't get much worse but you would be wrong. It also has an ending that has you saying "What am I even watching?" Frankly, this is a movie where in the end, you don't even know what you just watched.

Interestingly, this was Bill Pullman's second film ever and before he had his big roles. Actually, he plays his role very well and the character is smart, has a heart and is easy to root for. Pullman makes this movie somewhat bearable along with some rather different zombies.

I think this is a case where Craven basically had a couple of random ideas and put them together and called it a film. I hated this movie with a passion even more so considering what it could have been.

2/5

Presidential movies

I am not a real big political guy and a frankly I find politics to be more annoying than anything. As time goes by though, I do find more political stuff that I can relate to and I have started to lean towards one party over the last year. As always though, I am more interested in the movie side of politics and as Election Day approaches, here are my top Presidential movies.

Long forgotten and no doubt not a perfect film but Dave has a different and interesting take on the Presidency. It also has a nice love story to it.

Of these films, Dick is no doubt the funniest. It tells the story of the Watergate scandal in a really cool way and is a good early performance by Kirsten Dunst.

Not a lot of people liked this film but I did. Vantage Point is a political action thriller about the attempted assassination of a President seen in of lot of different and interesting ways (vantage points). This is a very original film and again I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Obviously Independence Day is a pretty good sc-fi film but the Presidential angle of this film is really good too. I think it stood out more than maybe it should have and the movie made me like Bill Pullman even more than before.

While this is not a real big list of Presidential films, all of them depict the Presidency in unique and different ways and all of them are quite watchable. Check some of these out instead of election returns Tuesday if you want.