Moose And The Movies

Back To The Future Part III, 1990, directed by Robert Zemeckis, Universal Studios 4K blu-ray (Back To The Future: The Ultimate Trilogy box set, 2020), 3.5 stars. Two out of three, in the end, ain't bad, I suppose. As disappointed as I was with Part II, I really was pleasantly surprised with Part III. I was dreading watching this but decided to soldier on and be done with it. And I wound have having a blast with it. We got a little too much fat in the first and last 10 minutes of Part III -- mostly having to do with revisiting and doing some cleanup with Part II. But with the 100 minutes or so in the middle, Part III was a fantastic homage to the great Western movies of the past -- with some big nods to Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of the 1960s. Marty McFly adopts the Clint Eastwood alias, dons The Man With No Name's trademark hat and poncho. And the showdown in the street between Marty and Buford Tannen was straight out of A Fistful Of Dollars, as telegraphed on a TV scre...

Back To The Future Part II, 1989, directed by Robert Zemeckis, Universal Studios 4K blu-ray (Back To The Future: The Ultimate Trilogy box set, 2020), 2 stars. Dare I say it? I did not like this movie at all. It isn't the worst movie I've seen, even in the past week. But it's the most disappointing one in quite a while. I did see this on opening weekend back in November 1989. I didn't remember much about it at all. I have always remembered that George McFly was only in one brief scene, and he was upside down for some reason. That happened, I knew, because Crispin Glover did not return for this movie. The other thing I've always remembered about Part II is that it was underwhelming and not particularly memorable. I learned tonight that my impression was spot-on. I went into it this time, though, with high hopes. I had just seen the first Back To The Future, and I was floored by how much I enjoyed it after all these years. So I came back to Part II fully expecting to u...

Back To The Future, 1985, directed by Robert Zemeckis, Universal Studios 4K blu-ray (Back To The Future: The Ultimate Trilogy box set, 2020), 4.5 stars. I hadn't seen this since its opening weekend 40 years ago. I am astonished at how well it held up to my critical and skeptical eye. I enjoyed it this time around much more than I expected. I went into it with my intellectual, critical eye wide open. But, I'll be damned, it found its way straight into my heart within about five minutes. I really did not expect that. Four decades on, Back To The Future is still damn near a perfect movie. That anticlimactic, sequel-forward ending slipped it a notch off its perch. But until then, it was still a marvel. I came out of this viewing with two big impressions: 1.) Christopher Lloyd was born to play Doc Brown. He was absolutely perfect. I can think of no one else who could have played that part. 2.) This movie was much funnier than I remembered. Most all the gags landed brilliantly -- and...