10 Ways to Make a Memorable Movie Character

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

This summer’s movies have had plenty of action and spectacle, but can you name one character from those films that made an indelible impression on your mind? One who joins the ranks of Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, and Michael Corleone as someone you know by name and by their characteristics?

The new Superman isn’t as memorable as Christopher Reeve’s iconic portrayal.I can’t think of one. The new Superman isn’t as memorable as Christopher Reeve’s iconic portrayal. The main villain in Star Trek Into Darkness is too bland to join the ranks of other great baddies from the Star Trek pantheon. Making a memorable character is really hard to do because a movie has to make us care about them in more than just a superficial way that services the plot.

So today I’m going to list 10 ways to make a memorable character and give 10 examples of characters who exude these qualities. Let’s start leaving an impression. Continue reading →

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10 Words That Shouldn’t Be Used in Movie Titles

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

I love creative movie titles. For example, The Shawshank Redemption works on several levels, and Back to the Future describes the plot in a unique way not usually found in time-travel stories. But there are also plenty of titles that don’t work because they lack creativity and overuse a number of tired words.

I’m going to go through 10 words that I think should be used extremely sparingly, if at all, in movie titles. To be fair, there are some exceptions to the rule, but most of those films are classic films or based on classic books. So let’s start making films an offender for a word with my list of 10 words that shouldn’t be used in movie titles. Continue reading →

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Movie Matchups: X-Men Origins: Wolverine vs. Rambo: First Blood Part II

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Why does X-Men Origins: Wolverine get such a bad rap? Maybe it’s because people were expecting it to be a full-blown origin story of Wolverine (hence the title), but instead what they got was simply a solid action film. It goes out of its way to turn Wolverine into John Rambo and it even follows the story of Rambo: First Blood Part II.

I thought long and hard about how to approach this article because basically my point is that X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an underappreciated film that should be judged for what it is, not what it could have been. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it’s a perfectly decent film.

I was going to write this as a Pleasant Surprise article, but in my planning I kept comparing it to Rambo: First Blood Part II, so I figured I would just go ahead and do a Movie Matchup of these two films. They aren’t exact matches, like many of the other films I’ve compared, but they’re close enough to warrant a detailed inspection. Continue reading →

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The Only Funny Joke in 10 Unfunny Comedies

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Comedy is hard. I understand that. It’s also subjective. Something I find absolutely hilarious might be completely devoid of humor to many other people, and vice-versa. Keep that in mind as you read this list I have put together of the only joke I found to be funny in 10 films that are otherwise complete wastes of time, in my opinion.

I included a clip of several of them so you can see for yourself how funny they are. Let the fun begin. Continue reading →

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Movie Matchups: Tangled vs. The Lord of the Rings

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Disney’s Tangled has much more in common with the three Lord of the Rings films than it does with the story of Rapunzel. I’m not kidding. A kid-friendly throwback film to Disney greatness follows the same exact story as the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. Don’t believe me? I am so excited to show you all of their similarities.

Let’s journey to Middle-earth and climb the tallest tower to discover how Tangled and The Lord of the Rings compare. Continue reading →

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10 Things an Outsider Doesn’t Understand About Utah

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

I don’t typically reveal much about myself or discuss any topic other than movies, but I’d like to try something different this week.

I was raised in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. That’s a really beautiful place, and I enjoyed all the lush trees, friendly people, and easy access to the waterfront. However, when I finally grew up I met a wonderful girl from Utah and we fell in love through letters and a few brief in-person encounters. When it came time to get married, I decided to quit my job, leave most of my immediate family, and move to Utah. It wasn’t easy, but my wife was worth it and the past four years have been the happiest of my life.

Even though I’ve lived in Utah for a while now, I still consider myself an outsider in many ways. After all, I grew up in a different geographic region with a somewhat different culture. Utah has a lot of quirks that I still don’t understand as a stranger in this strange land. Here are the top 10 things that don’t make sense about people and places in the state of Utah. Continue reading →

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Will Movie Budgets Ever Reach an Upper Limit?

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

From 1988 to 2007, there were 14 times that a new film became the most expensive film ever made up to that point, not adjusting for inflation. That’s impressive considering that from 1946 to 1987, only eight films succeeded in becoming the most expensive film ever made. Budgets for blockbusters are ballooning to incredible proportions. The stakes seem to be huge for every summer movie to perform amazingly.

The current record holder is Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, the third film in that series, and definitely the worst of those three. It cost an estimated $332 million in adjusted dollars. No other movie has cracked the $300 million mark – yet. But it seems like $200 million budgets are so common that few people stop and think about what a huge number that is.

In the past six years, no movie has been bold enough to challenge Pirates of the Caribbean’s place as the most expensive, but they certainly haven’t shown any signs of shrinking. Is $300-ish million as high as they’ll go? Is there a natural barrier to movie budgets that prevents them from getting much higher than they already are?

I’d like to talk about the factors that could keep film productions from getting too much more costly or ensure they continue to rise in the coming years. Continue reading →

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10 Unsung Heroes Who Saved Star Wars

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Star Wars didn’t become a cultural phenomenon by magic. Plenty of amazing films fail to find an audience and are only appreciated long after the fact, like It’s a Wonderful Life, Blade Runner, The Shawshank Redemption, and John Carpenter’s The Thing. What made Star Wars so special that it escaped those films’ fate?

Aided by George Lucas’s vision, Star Wars had many people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to turn that film into quite possibly the most successful film of all time. These people have remained largely anonymous or forgotten – until now.

Let’s recognize the incredible work of 10 unsung heroes who saved Star Wars from obscurity. Continue reading →

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Movie Matchups: Star Trek Generations through Star Trek (2009) vs. The Karate Kid Films

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Last week I did a massive comparison of the first six Star Trek films and the Rocky series. Even though those two series seemed to have nothing in common on the surface, they turned out to have numerous similarities when examined closely. I’d like to follow up that article with another eye-opening comparison of the next five Star Trek films – Star Trek Generations through Star Trek (2009) with the Karate Kid series.

So let’s boldly finish what we started last week as we explore the similarities between Star Trek VII through XI with the five Karate Kid films. Continue reading →

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Movie Matchups: The Original Star Trek Films vs. The Rocky Films

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Let’s go where no Star Trek comparison has ever gone before: the Rocky series. I love both of these film series. It was actually a delight when I realized that they both charted an identical course that led to extremely entertaining results.

This is unlike any other Movie Matchup I’ve ever done because it’s comparing an entire series, not just a single film. For that reason I will be fairly brief as I explain the similarities between each film in these series. Otherwise, this would be a monstrosity to read.

Plus, I have to admit that the first Star Trek “film” I’ll be comparing isn’t Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but the original series episode entitled “Space Seed.” I already wrote about how Star Trek: The Motion Picture is virtually identical in both style and substance to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It may be the first numerically of the big-budget Star Trek films, but every film that followed it is a direct sequel to Space Seed, and they never even mention the events in The Motion Picture.

With that said, let’s find out what “Beam me up, Scotty” has to do with beating the snot out of guys as we compare the first six Star Trek films with the Rocky films. Continue reading →

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