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John J. Puccio

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Teacher, English and Film Study, retired. Classical Music Editor, $ensible Sound magazine. Review Editor, DVDTOWN.com. Member, Online Film Critics Society (www.ofcs.org). Bright, quiet, loyal, dependable. Easily trained. Will fetch. Make offer. Home theater: Sony KDL-40XBR6 widescreen HD television, Toshiba HD-A35 HD-DVD player, Panasonic DMP-BD50 Blu-ray player, Onkyo TX-SR705 A/V receiver, 7.1 Boston Acoustics Reference Series speakers with Energy e:XL subwoofer, Harmony One universal remote, Monster Cable speaker wire and interconnects. Primary target: The ICBM missile complex at Lapuda. My earliest recollection of motion pictures having a profound and moving impact on me was in about 1951 or 52 when my dad took me to see "All Quiet on the Western Front," the 1930 film in rerelease. I remember the lobby was filled with display memorabilia--World War I uniforms, rifles, a small cannon of some sort--fascinating stuff to an eight-year-old kid. I loved the movie, I loved the action, I loved the main character, and I was totally shocked and shaken when at the end he was killed! This was the hero. Heroes didn't die. Not in the movies. Not anywhere. It wasn't for another day or two that the second revelation sunk in. The hero was a German. Understand, I saw this film only seven or eight years after the Second World War, and the Germans had been our enemies. When my friends and I played army men, the bad guys were always Germans or Japanese. (Never mind that I was Italian; the Italians, as far as I was concerned, had never even been in WWII, let alone fought against us.) Anyway, "All Quiet's" hero, Paul Baumer, was a German, yet I was totally sympathetic toward him. It wouldn't be for another few years that I would recognize the significance in my life of books and literature in quite the same way as I had by then learned the value of movies. And they were lessons I would never forget. I tend to wonder sometimes if I'd be teaching English and Film today if it weren't for that hand reaching out to the butterfly. Sweet, touching, funny, exciting, romantic, unforgettable, and ofttimes monumentally poignant images make good films what they are, different and precious for everyone who watches them.

Publications:
Favorites:

Some favorite films: Casablanca, Citizen Kane, The Godfather I & II, The Third Man, 2001, Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Dr. Strangelove, Snow White, Fantasia, Pinocchio, A Night at the Opera, Some Like It Hot, To Kill a Mockingbird, M. Hulot's Holiday, Psycho, Cabaret, Day for Night, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, The Music Man, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Haunting (1963), The Uninvited, True Lies, Contact, Moonstruck, Cool Hand Luke, Alien, Dark City, Devil in a Blue Dress, My Fair Lady, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Singin' in the Rain, Stardust, Pan's Labyrinth, and about a thousand more. Not-so-guilty pleasures: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, The Ghost Breakers, Them! John

Critics' Group:
Location:

Martinez, CA

Official Website:

http://www.DVDTown.com

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Trouble With the Curve (2012) 51% 5/10 EDIT “For what it is, it no doubt succeeds. It's just that Eastwood usually strives for something more.” – Movie Metropolis Dec 6, 2012 Full Review Catch Me if You Can (2002) 96% 7/10 EDIT “I don't think anyone would argue that 'Catch Me If You Can' is one of Spielberg's best films. However, it is good enough and passes a pleasant couple of hours.” – Movie Metropolis Nov 28, 2012 Full Review The Dark Knight Rises (2012) 87% 7/10 EDIT “There's plenty of action, intrigue, special effects, and high-tech gadgets to maintain our attention at least in spurts.” – Movie Metropolis Nov 20, 2012 Full Review The Apparition (2012) 3% 3/10 EDIT “I like a good ghost story, but 'The Apparition' is nothing like a good ghost story. It's more like a Syfy Channel show where they try to scare people in a darkened room.” – Movie Metropolis Nov 17, 2012 Full Review The Captain's Table (1960) 6/10 EDIT “The viewer will find a few hearty chuckles and a number of smaller giggles involved, the movie creating an amiable atmosphere and general good cheer.” – Movie Metropolis Nov 1, 2012 Full Review The Campaign (2012) 66% 6/10 EDIT “If it's sophistication you're looking for, forget it. This one's strictly for low laughs, at which it succeeds nicely.” – Movie Metropolis Oct 25, 2012 Full Review Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) 78% 7/10 EDIT “It has a little something for everyone, from kids to adults, probably too much slapstick and chasing around, but a mature element as well that makes it worth watching.” – Movie Metropolis Oct 13, 2012 Full Review The Most Dangerous Game (1932) 100% 6/10 EDIT “The movie is melodramatic, the acting stiff, and the music overwrought; yet I'm sure that's exactly why audiences liked the movie in the first place and why we find it so much fun today.” – Movie Metropolis Oct 10, 2012 Full Review Chernobyl Diaries (2012) 18% 3/10 EDIT “There's nothing interesting, creative, innovative, exciting, suspenseful, or scary about it. We just sit there and wait for it to be over.” – Movie Metropolis Oct 6, 2012 Full Review Rock of Ages (2012) 43% 4/10 EDIT “If you grew up with the music of the 1980's and want to relive it, you may enjoy the film. For me, I could easily have skipped both the music and the movie.” – Movie Metropolis Oct 2, 2012 Full Review Dark Shadows (2012) 35% 5/10 EDIT “It's just sort of a star vehicle for Johnny Depp, with everyone and everything else a secondary consideration at best.” – Movie Metropolis Sep 23, 2012 Full Review Pet Sematary (1989) 58% 4/10 EDIT “...one of the most witless horror movies I've sat through, essentially a zombie ghost story that's wholly predictable throughout.” – Movie Metropolis Sep 20, 2012 Full Review Dave (1993) 95% 7/10 EDIT “...an affable, good-natured comedy, thanks to its stars and director, who never push it too far beyond gentle political and social satire and light romance.” – Movie Metropolis Sep 17, 2012 Full Review Titanic (1997) 88% 7/10 EDIT “While I admit the film does not impress me as much as it does most other people, there is no questioning its passion and excitement.” – Movie Metropolis Sep 5, 2012 Full Review The Lucky One (2012) 20% 4/10 EDIT “The movie follows the Sparks formula so precisely, you could write out every detail of the plot just from watching the trailer.” – Movie Metropolis Aug 24, 2012 Full Review The School of Rock (2003) 92% 7/10 EDIT “It's great fun. It's like one of those inspirational sports movies where you want to stand up and cheer at the end.” – Movie Metropolis Aug 21, 2012 Full Review The Dictator (2012) 56% 5/10 EDIT “This is Cohen in a lightweight mood, taking very few chances, instead relying on only mildly irreverant humor.” – Movie Metropolis Aug 18, 2012 Full Review The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964) 40% 5/10 EDIT “The story and characters in "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" seem like a good fit for a fifteen or twenty-minute short feature.” – Movie Metropolis Aug 15, 2012 Full Review The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1939) 6/10 EDIT “The movie has more than a few good qualities, most notably the presence of Leslie Banks as the wonderfully droll police inspector. He pretty much makes the show.” – Movie Metropolis Aug 10, 2012 Full Review Fanny by Gaslight (1944) 50% 5/10 EDIT “If it's Victorian melodrama you're after, the movie does its best to fulfil your needs.” – Movie Metropolis Aug 3, 2012 Full Review The Way Ahead (1944) 100% 7/10 EDIT “Carol Reed directed this 1944 war film from a script by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov.” – Movie Metropolis Jul 26, 2012 Full Review Your Past Is Showing (1957) 7/10 EDIT “While the ending gets fairly manic, you'd expect that of what is essentially a screwball British comedy. ...funny stuff.” – Movie Metropolis Jul 22, 2012 Full Review Coma (1978) 81% 7/10 EDIT “...a genuinely suspenseful mystery thriller, with a conspiracy angle unfolding in due course without a lot of fuss and bother.” – Movie Metropolis Jul 19, 2012 Full Review Altered States (1980) 86% 6/10 EDIT “Think of it as an extravagant and exhilarating, if over-the-top, piece of filmmaking that's silly, to be sure, but engrossing at the same time.” – Movie Metropolis Jul 15, 2012 Full Review Outland (1981) 59% 6/10 EDIT “...not a great movie but a reliable one, with another solid performance from Sean Connery, who always makes a staunch, stalwart protagonist of truly heroic proportions.” – Movie Metropolis Jul 10, 2012 Full Review
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