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Blast from the Past

Blast from the Past

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Adam & Eve in Modern Day
Review: I've seen this film a lot of times, more than I'd care to admit to, and I never tire of it. The first five minutes are pretty dull, so I tend to skip past them, as it really starts when the plane crashes into the house.

Christopher Walken & Sissy Spacek are the perfect people to play Brendan Fraser's parents, both as quirky as each other. Sissy plays the perfect wife, drinking to escape her husband and life below ground. Christopher is perfect as the Dad, teaching his son everything he knows.

Alicia Silverstone is kooky, "psychic", and is a perfect match for Adam's character, and of course she has to be called Eve. How original.

Troy's character is brilliant, playing the stereotypical gay guy, which Adam thinks means "happy". Troy and Eve live together, and have a very similar relationship to Will & Grace in the TV show. The girl who has a gay guy for a roommate - tell me, how many times has that been done?

The first fifteen minutes go quickly through the first 35 years of Adam's (Brendan Fraser) uneventful life, cutting back and forth between what's going on above the family.

I couldn't imagine anyone else in the part of innocent Adam, apart from Brendan. He comes out with the funniest expressions! He is brought up to be the perfect gentleman - opening doors for women, calling them ma'am, doing all those things, the guy who every girl would like but then quickly get fed up of!

Some parts of the film aren't explained, leaving you wondering how they had enough supplies to last 35 years, how none of them got seriously ill, until the dad does twenty minutes in, forcing Adam to go up into the big bad world, and how the money hasn't changed in 35 years!

The funniest bits of the film are when Adam talks to complete strangers, in his off-hand way. The best sequence in the whole film is The Mask-reminiscent dance scene, when Adam goes to a club and dances with the two women. It's very similar to when Jim Carrey & Cameron Diaz dance together in The Mask; both are great & memorable. And like any dance scenes in films (Grease, The Mask, Saturday Night Fever) the crowd instantly makes a circle around the main people dancing and watches them. This wouldn't happen in real life, so why do they keep repeating this in films?

The storyline is pretty predictable: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and boy gets girl back.

There aren't many extras on the DVD. There are trailers; cast & crew biographies; deleted scenes and a B-roll. They're your basic extras - not worth watching more than once, if you can last through them. According to the back of my DVD, there's a "Love Meter" but I can't find it amongst the extras so god knows where it is.

This is definitely for sentimental fools, like me, who love a good romance, and think Brendan Fraser is so cute - just not when he sings!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very funny movie
Review: and I have to disagree with the reviewer who said that the foul language wasn't necessary. It provided a stark cultural contrast between Adam, who didn't talk that way, and most of the modern people who did. We also got to see Adam's reaction to it. Unlike most movies that use foul language, the use of such language in this film was used very effectively to allow Adam to stand out from everyone else, and to tell us something about his character. It was used for characterization, and not gratuitously. Overall, it was very funny-which is always a good thing- and as usual, Brenden Fraser is hot!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Tough language for for a sweet, fun movie.
Review: This is a movie I love. A couple that is expecting their first child end up spending 35 years in a fall out shelter, not a bomb shelter. The doors unlock and their now 35 year old son goes out for provisions and to find a wife. It is a sweet, fun movie that my whole family would like. I WOULD HAVE GIVE 5 STAR except for the language. Not that i was counting but i heard the F word, the Sh#@ word several times and Son of a Bleep 3 times. It ticks me off that not of this was necessary, and it turns an otherwise good movie for my whole famly into an adult only movie.

So have discussed their dislike of a prominent gay character "Troy". Here I thought the director did a good job of handling Troy's role in a manner that shouldn't offend family values folks. Troy was very well done.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertaining (yet predictable) & some good points to make.
Review: But it's definitely lighthearted so it's hard for me to give it 5 stars.

Christopher Walken is histerical. But it's Fraser's innocence and genuine expressed joy that really makes the film watchable. Not to mention that I always enjoy seeing him dance. He's definitely got some go.

Alicia Silverstone's character is pretty transparent but she gives a credible portrayal.

It just works.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: good film but.
Review: whoa hey fellas & gals at new line i wanted lauauage taken out not the content for cryin out loud you did a great job with the bachelor but not this one ,i felt like i was being hit by a bus the pace was choppy & uneven in places . just leave the film the way it was but take out the profanity go back to the drawboard a good effort none the less keep them coming though i'm impressed i love this film only wishing for a better edit than is presented here.

i still recommend for safe family watching.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A VERY FUNNY FILM...
Review: I have seen this movie twice and have loved it both times. It is a funny and endearing romantic comedy that is peppered with a terrific cast and excellent performances. I would gladly watch it again.

Calvin Webber (Christopher Walken), a nerdy, nutty scientist, and his traditional and very pregnant wife, Helen (Sissy Spacek), are living in California in fifties style splendor in the early nineteen sixties, when the Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. Buying into the red scare of the day and convinced that attack by the communists is imminent, they immediately go underground into the super deluxe bomb shelter that Calvin had had the foresight to build under his house and fully equip with enough supplies to last thirty five years. No sooner do they do so, Calvin's fears are reinforced, as suddenly a force of great impact shudders overhead. Thinking that they were hit by an atomic blast set off by the communists, they hunker down for the next thirty five years, waiting for the radiation to dissipate.

In the interim, they have a baby boy, whom they name Adam (Brendan Fraser). As Adam grows up, he is unknowingly caught in a time warp with his parents, as they have no contact with the outside world. Adam's world view and values reflect that of his parents, as his entire life, thus far, has been spent underground soley in their company. When the thirty five years are up, Calvin surfaces briefly to check the state of affairs topside. What he sees, he misinterprets, and upon his return to the bomb shelter ends up having a heart attack. He and Helen then dispatch Adam on a reconnaissance mission to get needed supplies.

What transpires when Adam ventures into the outside world is very funny and often poignant. As played by Brendan Fraser, the thirty five year old Adam, a fresh faced, polite virgin with no fashion sense, has a Dudley-Do-Right quality and a load of goofy, sincere charm that ensures the comedic success of this film. His foray into the outside world, his endearingly innocent interpretation of all that he sees, and his interaction with others will leave the viewer laughing. When he runs into Eve (Alicia Silverstone), the hard edged, appropriately named, beautiful blonde with a heart of gold, he is smitten. Together they will leave the viewer hoping that Adam and Eve will find the Garden of Eden.

Christopher Walker is wonderful as the slightly nutty, paranoid but brilliant scientist. Sissy Spacek shows a distinct comedic flair as the patient and long suffering wife who buys into her husband's vision of things. Dave Foley of "Kids in the Hall" fame is terrific as Eve's drolly funny, gay roommate. Alicia Silverstone, while ostensibly the weakest link in this otherwise brilliantly cast comedy, still manages to give a more than acceptable performance as the cynical Eve. It is Brendan Fraser, however, with his aw-shucks, innocent veneer, who deftly steals the show right under everyone's nose. His charming and funny, ingratiating performance is one that will have the viewer watching this film over and over again. This is a must have comedy for one's personal collection.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A fun "what if"
Review: Back in the 60's we had the threat of nuclear war. Many people built fallout shelters. While most shelters were just holes in the ground, Calvin Webber (Christopher Walken) went all out and builds an environment to sustain his "family to be" for the duration. Due to a series of mishaps they are convinced that the war is taking place and descend to their underground abode. There they raise their newborn son with loving care. 35 years later it is time to test the waters. What they find is beyond their speculation and this is the first time out for their son. This is the story of the adventures of the son (Brendan Fraser) and what he found. Will he find a woman to return with or have to settle for a mutant?
The first shocker is the sound track of Randy Newman singing "Political Science." The song is just as (in) appropriate today.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A fine film
Review: Very funny and stylish. Fraser is a total crack-up, and Alicia Silverstone has never looked better, dolled up to the max in fine clothing. The nightclub scene is one of my favorite cinematic moments, with some incredible swing dancing and lots of laughs. Walken and Spacek are hilarious, and the soundtrack is loaded with great songs. Cool movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not as engaging as I had hoped ...
Review: I actually plunked down the cold, hard cash for this DVD before I had even seen it, based on the generally favorable reviews. Although there were a few good laughs, the time between their delivery was substantial. Twenty minutes could have been shaved off the running time if the story had been tightened up a bit, and a better film would have been achieved in the process. The acting was generally pretty good, with the exception of Silverstone's performance. Perhaps her character was miscast, but whatever the reason, her whining and belly-aching was a bit over the top and wore thin real fast. The similarly-themed film "Pleasantville", which is about modern kids transporting back to the fifties, is a much better movie than this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A very fun movie.
Review: Brendon Fraser and Alicia Silverstone give amazing performances in this movie, and the storyline is original and funny. It also looks at the world from a different perspective like Pleasantville did. It shows how sad the world became in 35 years from one point to the next. One of the best movies! This is a great romantic comedy and drama, and I reccomend it to anyone wanting to watch a good movie.


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