Weekly Wrap-Up (7/24)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
After my the advance screening on Wednesday I saw this again over the weekend with my Dad and brother who both really liked it. Captain America was just as good the second time around! Before The Avengers comes out in May 2012 I want to marathon all the Marvel Studios movies like I did before the final Harry Potter came out. I'll probably do the same with the Batman movies to get in the mood for The Dark Knight Rises.
8/10

The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)
I love time travel stories so I had been seeking out this movie for awhile. The Philadelphia Experiment is loosely, and I stress loosely, based on actual events of an attempt during WWII to make a battleship invisible. The lead actress is Nancy Allen, who played Officer Anne Lewis in Robocop. The aerial shots were done very well although the time travel special effects were cheesy even for the time. Sure it didn't have a large budget, but neither did The Terminator which came out the same year, and this is the main visual effect in the movie. Like Back to the Future which came out a year later, there is a mandatory "Ronald Regan was an actor" joke! I liked the future shock of a man out of time, although it has been done better before and since. While I think this movie has a cool concept, it would have worked better as a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode since several scenes felt like filler and the plot was a little too thin.
The Philadelphia Experiment is not a bad movie, its just not a particularly good one either. If you like time travel movies you will enjoy it.
5/10

Stand by Me (1986)
Stand by Me is based on a Stephen King story. Although I haven't read it, according to Wikipedia it seems to be fairly close to the source material. There were a lot of  kid-centered adventure movies made in the 1980s (E.T., The Goonies, The Explorers, The Monster Squad, etc.) and while I haven't seen many, I think this is the best one I've seen so far. The cinematography (especially in the forest) and the acting were both great. I was especially impressed with River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton. There are a bunch of familiar faces (Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Feldman, Richard Dreyfuss, John Cusack, etc.) in this film and no weak performances. The movie also features a great example of Chekhov's gun! I didn't really like Richard Dreyfuss' narration but I guess it was necessary to tie things up. I didn't really get the pie scene as it was a showstopper in the middle of the movie that had nothing to do with anything, but I guess the point is that in real life kids would tell a campfire story like that. I had Stand by Me recommended to me awhile ago, so I am glad that I finally got around to watching this film.
8/10