When I have no time for a full length review, I often write these short reviews of the films I have seen.
A gorgeous looking movie about a girl who becomes a geisha.She started as a servant and then through hard training becomes a star geisha. She harbours a secret love for The Chairman, a gentleman who was kind to her one day.
Intriguing movie.
A loving remake of the 1930-something classic. A film producer (Jack Black) persuades a ship's captain to take him to an uncharted island. Little does he know that something lurks behind the wall in the mist. His leading lady is sacrificed to Kong but Kong falls in love with her. The well known story, but told well. Tons of special effects, but they rarely overpower the story. Definitely a must see!
Two warring brothers find an old fashioned board game called Zathura and end up taking on malfunctioning robots, Zorgons and black holes. A fun little movie, probably good for families and older children. I liked it much better than Jumanji.
They meet in Columbia, 5--no 6 years ago. They fall in love, get married, live in the suburbs, and kill people for a living. Of course, neither of them knows that the other one is an assasin for a competing "company" until a job goes wrong and they are assigned to kill each other. Their attempts to kill each other rekindle the passion and ..... well, that's all you get! A fun movie, despite the subject matter. Good for a laugh. Good for reminding you that even though you may be married, you never really know to whom you are married!
What a rush! Harry grows up and has to ask a girl to the ball. He fights with Ron, Hermione looks gorgeous in a ballgown and Voldemort makes an appearance. Excellent adaptation of the novel, missing out the book's confusing ending and some of the boring stuff...SPEW, etc. Great fun.
A young man on the verge of suicide finds out that his father just died. His trek to meet the southern half of his family, and the help of a scattered flight attendant make this an enjoyable little movie. It's full of humor and love for its characters. Nice to see Orlando Bloom in modern clothing too!
This film isn't just a "chick flick". It's an enjoyable drama about a dysfunctional family. There's Maggie, who can't read well, and her older, more responsible sister Rose. This story moves from Philadelphia to Florida, makes perfect sense, and yet has a wonderful heart to it. This is about loving people even when you don't want to and even when you know that you might get hurt. It's funny, smart about its characters with a great story. I have the book, it's next on my list! Must see movie!
As a child I read many fairy tales, and many versions of fairy tales. I enjoyed most of them, with the possible exception of Oscar Wilde's. They were just too sad. This movie takes some of the fairy tales and tries to make an interesting story out of the story tellers. It isn't entirely successful. The effects are cool, but a day later I'm still not sure what happened and why. Not funny enough to be a comedy, not serious enough to be a drama and definitely not scary enough to be a Brothers Grimm story. Fans only.
Tim Burton's latest animated feature is good, but not great. It just doesn't quite reach joyful insanity. Victor has to marry Victoria in the morning but while practicing his wedding vows accidentally marries a corpse. The two worlds tear Victor, the world of the dead is colourful and happy, the world of the living is grey and dull. Which should he choose? Hmm. The songs are fun, the animation is good, but overall it just lacks something. Still worth a look though if you like this sort of thing.
A girl from the right side of the tracks becomes a bounty hunter. This is a wild, frenetic movie starring Keira Knightley. It's terribly violent, but also quite fun. What happened? I'm not sure, but that might be a good thing. Not a movie I'll remember for ever, but a very engrossing one.
A great movie with boxing about a good man in the middle of the depression. At the beginning, Jim Braddock is a successful boxer, and family man. During the depression he has a run of bad luck. He breaks his hand and can't fight, his wife takes in sewing to try and make ends meet. Things are so desperate that he goes on welfare, but then gets one last chance to fight. Against unbelievable odds, he wins the fight, and then another one. Finally, he has a chance to fight the heavyweight champion, a man who has killed two men in the ring.
This is an excellent movie. Renee Zellweger is wonderful as Mae Braddock and Russell Crowe is perfect as Jim Braddock. They really seem to be married. It's rare in modern movies to show nice people, but these two are. They are married, supportive and a real family.
This is a movie to watch and enjoy the performances. See it!
A fun but rather low quality comic book adaptation. Enjoyable, but not in the same league as Spiderman 2 or Batman Begins. Worth a shot if there's nothing else on.
A generally quite accurate retelling of the book, with the addition of a childhood for Willy Wonka. The parts where they stick to the book are great, the flashbacks are interesting, but not necessary. Freddie Highmore is wonderful as Charlie and Johnny Depp is on another planet as Willy Wonka. In Pirates his over the top performance worked, here it's quirky and a little strange. The book Wonka seemed much more cheerful than the film version. A sweet little confection (sorry!), nonetheless.
It's been over a month since I saw a film so finally we broke down and went to this film. It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't very good. Watching an episode of the original show probably would have been funnier. If there's anything else playing in your theater, see that, otherwise, it's an okay way to spend some time. Very lukewarm review from me!
Lincoln Six Echo is starting to ask questions, just as his best friend Jordan Two Delta wins the lottery to be relocated on The Island. Lincoln sneaks out and sees some traumatic events. He realizes that The Lottery is a lie. Lincoln and Jordan sneak out and go on the run. This film is a bit like a combination of Logan's Run and any chase movie you can name. I enjoyed it, but that was mostly due to the likable stars. See it if you like sci-fi movies.
The last Star Wars movie? Maybe. Definitely the best of the newer 3 films. Anakin is manipulated into believing the Jedi are going to take over the Senate, or something like that. He has dreams that Padme will die in childbirth and tries to increase his own power to prevent it. Fun.
Steven Spielberg's latest sci-fi is exciting with great effects, but all in all, is a let down. Aliens attack Earth, and Ray (Cruise) must try to protect his two children and take them to safety. The aliens are scary, but we don't learn anything about them. Why are they here? Why would they want the Earth anyway? If you like Spielberg or Tom Cruise, it's worth a look.
Finally, a real Batman movie comes along. It's a lot of fun, but also a pretty good movie. The British cast gives it respectability. If you like this sort of thing, you'll love Batman.
The Academy Award winning film finally hit Japan and it's wonderful. Swank is great as the female boxer who is a little too old to start out, and Clint is wonderfully flinty as her reluctant trainer. Their relationship grows and changes and is incredibly realistic. This is a movie about boxing, but also about people. Even if you don't like boxing (I don't), this is a great movie to see. My husband (who NEVER talks about movies) is still talking about this one weeks later.
A very violent, but beautiful looking film based on a graphic novel. If you like movies in the Pulp Fiction vein, it's worth it, if not, give it a miss. Extremely violent, but also wickedly funny, and inventive. I liked it very much, but it isn't for everyone.
A UN worker overhears a plot to assassinate an African dictator. The race is on to find the killers before they can succeed. Sean Penn is excellent, as is Nicole Kidman. An interesting and intelligent thriller.
A young man travels from his small French hometown to Jerusalem and becomes embroiled in the Crusades. His own goodness and sense of honor triumph when it seems that all must be lost. Orlando's first really solo big budget movie is a good one. Very violent, but worth a look.
