Entertainment Weekly: Top 100 Films

This is undoubtedly one of John Wayne's greatest films. Action, pathos, and emotion all run high. The only thing preventing me from giving it a full five-star rating is the ending. The abrupt, whiplash-inducing changes of heart experienced by the characters played by John Wayne and Natalie Wood are without basis, and seem downright contrived. After vowing bitterly to put Wood down like a sick dog, the hard-hearted Wayne...doesn't. And after Wood declares to the heroes that she has settled into a niche as a fully converted member of the Indian tribe, she is eager to leave with the heroes upon her very next meeting with them. While all of this makes for a happier ending, I have the distinct feeling that we, the viewers, were cheated out of a much more complex and pathos-laden resolution.

The trouble with this movie is that it isn't subtle enough to be funny. In his effort to make fun of paranoid Cold War mentality, Kubrick goes too far, straying from satirical to just plain stupid and annoying, especially concerning the mad officer who thinks that the Soviets are trying to corrupt our precious bodily fluids with chlorine or whatever. Okay, okay, I get it! Paranoia is silly! Can we get on with it, please? It's all just way too blatant and ham-fisted to be amusing or clever.

"E.T." is one of those movies that's great when you're a kid, but seems to lose a lot of its appeal once you turn thirteen.

I can imagine 1937 movie audiences just completely losing their shit when they saw this beautiful, masterfully animated film up on the big screen. I mean, it had to be literally stunning, since all cartoon animation up to that point had been primitive, restrained, and largely black-and-white at that. Then along comes this incredible, unprecedented achievement, full of life and music and humor and emotion...they must have been weeping in their seats.

Long-winded, disjointed, and the poor quality of the film made it extremely difficult to read the placards.

I have no idea why this movie gets so much acclaim. It's not very profound or poetic despite its aspirations, and it's dull and needlessly drawn out. It's people jumping around in gorilla suits and screaming, classical music in zero gravity, and a guy turning inexplicably into a fetus after an interminable psychadelic light show, all spread out over the course of two and a half hours. I know there are many movie buffs out there who swear by this film, but seriously...ugh.

This film was my first exposure to the Marx Brothers, and I'm sorry, but I just didn't care for it. I think it's because the humor had no anchor. There was no method to the madness. The Marx Brothers were just cracking wise and taking pratfalls for absolutely no reason, and to me, that makes them no more sophisticated than the Three Stooges. I guess it's just not my cup of tea.

If some kid barged into my restaurant with his radio blasting and didn't turn it off when I told him to, I would have smashed it to smithereens as well. I really don't see any fault in the restaurant owner's behavior throughout the film. So he doesn't want a picture of Malcolm X hung on his wall. That's his right. So he doesn't want his customers disturbed by loud, obnoxious music. What business owner can say differently? I really don't know what Spike "I hate white people" Lee is driving at here.