Final Part of Time Traveling Trilogy 'Back to the Future Part III' Review

After recently watching Back to the Future Part I & II, I naturally wanted to see the final part of an enjoyable trilogy. One thing I wish I hadn't seen was the theatrical trailer for Back to the Future Part III; that was forced upon the viewer right after the Part II movie, before the credits rolled. The reason is that after seeing Back to the Future Part III, I soon realized the trailer showed most of the best scenes and lines from the movie.

Here is the Trailer for anyone that is interested: 

Back to the Future Part III's conflicts are pretty similar to the first two parts, and this film has a goofier and kind of cheesier feel to it as well.  If someone just watched Part III without watching the first two films, I can't imagine anyone liking it nearly as much.  The main reason being that this film plays off fan favorite parts from the other two films. Especially the over used catchy line said by, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) & good pal, Emmett Lathrop "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd).  They both say "Great Scott!" multiple times throughout all three parts.           

I do believe the ending of this trilogy was satisfying for anyone that saw all three parts. 

I would rate Back to the Future Part III: 7.2/10.  

Part three was no where nearly as good as parts one and two. I wish they made the third parts story and conflicts not so similar to what we have already seen in the previous two films. I guess the franchise went with the,"if it aint broke, don't fix it" strategy.  Rating wise though Back to the Future Part III, received a rating of 73% from Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the 96% that Back to the Future Part I was given.

Overall this is a great trilogy.  I enjoy the balance of thrill and drama with the right mixture of comedy and that is one thing all of these films did real well.  If somehow someone never saw any of these films, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND seeing the Original!  

If I just saw Back to the Future Part III without seeing the first two installments I would rate the film: 3.5/10.  You need to see these films in order to fully understand and enjoy the ride of this popular time traveling trilogy. 

Django Unchained and Christoph Waltz

Over the holidays, I managed to make it to the movies three times. Two of those three times were to see the new Quentin Tarantino spaghetti western flick “Django Unchained”. Django was an absolutely brilliant film, combining all the qualities you expect from a Tarantino flick and then some. You were given the proverbial Tarantino gore, witty banter, and slew of absolute brilliantly written characters, but also saw the intertwining of an unforeseen amount of humor (the KKK scene? BRILLIANT) with a compelling love story that drove the film’s protagonist throughout this entire elaborate and entertaining plot. All while taking place in the cruel and slavery infested era that is the 1850’s south.

What made “Django Unchained” even more incredible, and what I personally loved about it, was the absolute exceptional casting and performance by the actors. While they were all brilliant, Christoph Waltz (Dr. King Shultz) was on another level as far as I’m concerned. What astounded me about Waltz’s performance was that he was not only able to portray this very intellectual character so fluidly with his unconditional charm and enunciated vocabulary, but also capture the roughness and danger that is the bounty hunter. As you know, he won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for this performance and still awaiting to see if he can go for two for two with his Oscar nomination in the same category. Waltz won the Oscar two years ago for his role as “Hans Landa” in Inglorious Basterds. I think it’s safe to say that if Waltz should work exclusively on Tarantino films for the rest of his career, well he’d be just fine.

Western Movies

I’m very passionate about the western film genre. Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, Once Upon a Time in the West and Il Mercenario are some of my favorite westerns and some of my favorite movies in general.

 

One of my favorite things about westerns is their incredible use of music and the moving image to build suspense with little to no dialogue. This is why a standoff is such a powerful and memorable scene: in this situation, a character’s eyes and body language can communicate thoughts and feelings more eloquently than dialogue could. 

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly has one of the most memorable standoffs, partly because it features three gunslingers instead of two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXldafIl5DQ

Il Mercenario features Ennio Morricone’s song L’arena, which can be heard in Kill Bill Vol. 2 as the Bride escapes from her grave:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXeBxtyF-5U

While westerns aren’t as prevalent as they were in John Wayne’s day, they are still incredibly influential: a True Grit remake was produced in 2012 by the Coen brothers, and Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming movie Django Unchained draws inspiration from the legendary western, Django, with Franco Nero even having a cameo in the film.

As a huge fan of the genre, I’m looking forward to Tarantino’s film. I hope someday to make a short western film of my own!