I've Totally Seen That Movie Before

Batman (1989) Director:  Tim Burton Cast: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, Jack Palance Writers: Bob Kane (Batman Characters), Sam Hamm (story, screenplay), Warren Skaaren (screenplay) Synopsis: Batman (Keaton) tries to stop the Joker (Nicholson) from poisoning the citizens of Gotham and interfering with the city's 200th anniversary celebration. The caped crusader is helped by the peppy photojournalist, Vicki Vale (Basinger) and his loyal butler Alfred (Gough). The Dark Knight soon learns a painful truth about the Joker's connection with his dark past and the film culminates in a showdown between Batman and the Clown Prince of Crime atop a cathedral bell-tower. First Impressions: I was 13 years old when this movie came out and remember being so excited to see it. I quite enjoyed the film, so much so that the following Christmas my brother gave me a copy of it on VHS as a gift (th...

Ronin (1998) Director: John Frankenheimer Cast: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan  Skarsgård, Sean Bean, Skipp Sudduth, Michael Lonsdale, Jonathan Pryce Writers: J.D. Zeik, David Mamet Synopsis: A woman named Deirdre (McElhone) hires a group of mercenaries, including former intelligence operative, Sam (De Niro); the fixer, Vincent (Reno); former KGB computer specialist, Gregor (Skarsgård); wheel man, Larry (Sudduth); and former SAS soldier, Spence (Bean). The team's objective to to steal a mysterious attache case to prevent it from being sold to the Russians. Things don't always go as planned, however, and the team is forced to deal with betrayal from within and without. First Impressions:   I saw this film in the theaters upon it's release in 1998. I was about 22 years old at the time and smack dab in the middle of my pretentious "cine-file" phase. At the time, I quite enjoyed this movie because it was a solid spy ...

Open Range (2003) Director:  Kevin Costner Cast: Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, Michael Gambon, Michael Jeter, Diego Luna, James Russo, Abraham Benrubi Writers:  Lauran Paine (Novel), Craig Storper (Screenplay) Synopsis: Boss Spearman (Duvall), along with his crew Charley Waite (Costner), Mose Harrison (Benrubi) and Button (Luna) free graze their cattle across the prairies of the West. When they are forced to wait out some bad weather they come into contact with the town of Harmonville, which is run by the cattleman Denton Baxter (Gambon) and his corrupt sheriff Marshall Poole (Russo). Baxter isn't fond of the idea of free grazers and tries to scatter or steal Spearman's herd, which leads to members of Spearman's crew getting injured and killed. As a result, Spearman and Charley, who only wanted to be left in peace, are drawn into an eventual showdown with Baxter and his men.  First Impressions: I saw this movie when it was releas...

First Blood (1982) Director:  Ted Kotcheff Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna, Bill McKinney, Jack Starrett, Chris Mulkey, David Caruso Writers:   David Morell (based on the novel by), Michael Kozoll (screenplay) Synopsis: Former Green Beret and Vietnam vet John Rambo (Stallone) wanders into a small town in the Pacific Northwest, where he is arrested for vagrancy by corrupt sheriff Will Teasle (Dennehy). After suffering abuse at the hands of Teasle's deputies, Rambo snaps and escapes custody, injuring several deputies in the process, and flees into the nearby hills. During the manhunt, deputy Art Galt (Starrett) is killed in a helicopter accident. The death pushes Teasle over the edge and he becomes consumed with finding Rambo. Colonel Trautman (Crenna), Rambo's former superior officer, is brought in to help the local authorities bring him to justice.  First Impressions: This movie came out in fall of 1982, when I wa...

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Director:  James Cameron Cast:  Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Earl Boen, Joe Morton, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jenette Goldstein, Xander Berkeley Writers: James Cameron, William Wisher Synopsis: The 21st century AI computer Skynet once again sends a Terminator back to the past in an attempt to kill its enemy John Connor (Furlong), some 10 years after it attempted to kill John's mother. This time, two Terminators are sent back in time: the T-1000 (Patrick), sent by Skynet to kill young John and the T-800 (Schwarzenegger), sent by future John as a protector for himself. With the help of his new guardian, John breaks his mother, Sarah (Hamilton) out of a mental institute and tries to prevent Judgment Day, all while dodging repeated attacks from the T-1000. First Impressions: I was 15 when this movie hit theaters and while it definitely would have been something I would have loved to watch, the "R...

The Terminator (1984) Director: James Cameron Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen, Rick Rossovich, Bess Motta, Earl Boen Writer:  James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd Synopsis: A cyborg called a Terminator (Schwarzenegger) is sent back in time to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Hamilton), whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against a sentient AI. A young human soldier from the same time named Kyle Reese (Biehn) is also sent back to protect Sarah at all costs. If the Terminator is successful, the future of mankind is doomed. First Impressions I was 8 years old when this movie came out, so I didn't get to see it in the theaters, but for kids my age, the movie was almost like a myth. I mean, a killer robot from the future punches a guy through the stomach, how could I not want to see that? Anyway, I was a teenager by the time I finally saw it on home video and I thought it was great. It was dark and violent but with a so...

Throw Momma From the Train (1987) Director:  Danny DeVito Cast:  Billy Crystal, Danny DeVito, Kim Greist, Anne Ramsey, Kate Mulgrew, Branford Marsalis, Rob Reiner Writer:  Stu Silver Synopsis In this re-imagining of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train , writing professor and struggling author Larry Donner (Crystal) gives one of his students, Owen Lift (DeVito) some advice on writing. When Owen misunderstands this advice, he murders Larry's hated ex-wife, Margaret (Mulgrew). In exchange, Owen wants Larry to kill his mother (Ramsey), who has made his life miserable. Hiding out and on the lam, Larry agrees to help Owen out, but Momma Lift is much harder to kill than they thought. First Impressions I saw this movie for the first time when I was about 12 years old and I thought it was frigging hilarious. The movie is what one would call a "dark comedy" but it also had its share of slapstick humor, which is probably what appealed to me when I was a kid. I was a lit...