"The Fast & The Furious"
For those of you who are thinking that this is this years "Gone In 60 Seconds," well yes, but this is better. The movie is about an undercover cop (Paul Walker; Varsity Blues, The Skulls), who attempts to infiltrate a gang of truck hijackers. He must first gain the trust of the leader Dominck, (Vin Diesel). In order to gain his trust, he must earn respect. How? By street racing of course. Once Walkers character earns 'Dom's' trust, things get complicated as always. Caught in the middle is Dominicks little sister, (played by Jordana Brewster). Once Walkers character gets into the gang, he must decide if he is a cop, or a street racer.
"The Fast And The Furious" has great car racing scenes, far superior than the disappointing "Gone In 60 Seconds." The problem with this movie is there are a lot of things that are not believeable. I did not buy Walker as a cop for a minute. Usually, in a movie like this, you have a real bad-boy cop, Walker is not even close to this. The other thing that I did not buy: The merchandise that was being highjacked. Normally, the bad guys would be highjacking things like cars, or drugs. This movie has little things like DVD players, CD players, & car stereos. The movie, like about all of them, has its strong points. I liked Vin Deisel as the bad guy. He had the attitude & the body for a role like this. The movie has great car-racing scences, but not enough to earn a rating higher than 5.
"Cats & Dogs"
For any of us who has ever wondered what cats & dogs do when us humans are not paying attention, this tells us. The movie is about a professor,(Jeff Goldblum), who is searching for a cure for dog allergies, but the cats of the world want none of this. So it's up to the dogs of the world to protect Professor Brody's lab against the evil cats of the world. But plans for a cure also interfere with the professors family life, (wife played by Elizabeth Perkins). The cats plans take an unexpected turn for the worst when the professor "accidently" finds a cure, thanks to his son Scott, (played by Alexander Pollock). So forced to "revamp" his plans, Mr Tinkles, (Voiced by Sean Hayes), decides to kidnap the Brody family, snatch the cure, and reverse it so every human will become allergic to dogs, thus making cats the superior of the two. So it becomes up to Lou, (Voiced by Tobey Maguire and Lou is a dog), to save his family. Despite Butch's (Voiced by Alec Baldwin), and the Dog Council's protest, Lou has to try to save his family. Does Lou succeed? Only one way to find out.
"Cats & Dogs" is the family movie of the summer. I laughed from almost start to finish. The only times I didn't laugh is when I was in the bathroom. The folks at Warner Brothers did an excellent job with the training of the animals and with the computer generated animals. This movie also blends in the family struggles that occur with a busy parent, and the love of a dog that binds them together. If you are looking for a movie to go to for the whole family to enjoy this 4th of July weekend, "Cats & Dogs" will not disappoint you. It will leave you wondering, who is the superior of the two species. Final rating: 10
"Final Fantasy"
"Final Fantasy" is very, very, very, loosely based on the popular video game series. However, I am told that one has almost nothing to do with the other, but thats another story. The story is about planet earth's remaining few who trying to save off the earth from extincition from the phantoms from another planet. It's about 2 different sides who are trying for the same thing: Save the planet. But one has much different plans than the other. On one side you have the scientists who believe that the key to saving the earth is finding the seven spirits. The other side believes that the only way to save the earth is with a weapon that will wipe out the phantoms. Once again, caught right in the middle of all of this is the council. Despite efforts from Drs. Aki Ross, (Ming-Na Wen), and Sid, (Donald Sutherland), the council feels that they have no choice but to side with a very ignorant, and stuck-up, General Hein (James Woods). The only problem that the council is not aware of with the weapon, is that it could not only wipe out the phantoms, but the planet as well. So it is up to Drs Sid & Ross to try and find the seven spirits before it is too late. In order to do this, they need the help of the army, and they get it but there is a catch. The catch is that General Hein wants Captain Gray Edwards, (Alec Baldwin), and his men to go with the good doctors. But Hein is not convinced that he can trust Capt. Edwards, or Dr. Ross, and he has good reason. Dr. Ross has phantoms of her own inside of her, so he has his own men follow Edwards. Things get very interesting when the phantoms try to take over Dr. Ross' body. Do the good Doctors suceed? Or does the earth get blown to bits? I'm not gonna tell you.
"Final Fantasy," I think will be the sci-fi movie of the summer. There was so many things that I liked about this movie. The one thing I liked best is that the computer-generated characters look so life-like, I had hard time deciding if they were real people or not. "Final Fantasy" also manages to blend in a Romeo & Juliet story along with all the action. You like the fact that Capt. Edwards and Dr. Ross find someway to fall in love with each other because they start off not being able to stand each other. The movie keeps you wondering throughout the whole time because we try to figure out what exactly are the phantoms doing on earth? Are they here for domination of our planet? Or did something happen to them and they just got lost? I had to have it explained to me, (by the movie is what I mean). The final thing that I like about this movie is that I felt it combined three stories into one, this is where one of its few flaws comes. Think of this movie as a cross between Toy Story/Battlefield Earth/Romeo & Juliet. Allow me to explain: Obviously, Toy Story, because of the animation and the adventure it has. Battlefield Earth because of the attempted takeover by aliens, that is where the problem arises. Remember how bad that movie was? And finally, Romeo & Juliet because of the unexpected love story that evolves between Dr. Ross & Capt. Edwards. It also has a tragedy similar to that of Romeo & Juliet. "Final Fantasy" deserves, & earns, a solid 8.
"Rush Hour 2"
After a very surprising hit "Rush Hour," here is a much anticipated look at the sequel. "Rush Hour 2" picks up where the original left off. It starts with Lee & Carter, (Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker), already in Hong Kong for 3 days. Carter is starting to become agitated because Lee is suppose to be showing him a good time but he keeps on taking cases. Even though Lee promises Carter that he will not be taking any more cases, he gets one that he has no choice but to accept: Someone has bombed the US Embassy in Hong Kong. Just as in the first, the US wants no help from Lee or Carter, but of course, they don't listen. Once Lee's investigation starts, he soon re-connects to the past when he finds our his fathers ex-partner, Ricky Tan, (John Lone), maybe involved. The story takes a little bit of a twist wehn Lee & Carter crash Ricky Tan's party on his boat. When Lee talks to Tan, Tan denies having anything to do with the bombing, but suspects that it could be an inside job. Shortly thereafter, Tan is killed by one of his own. While all of this is going on, Carter notices a rich guy, Steve Reign, (Alan King) who is way too out of place. So after this tragic shooting, the US Secret Service basically tells Lee & Carter to get out of town. But before they do, Carter tells Lee about Reign and how he seemed too out of place. Oh and coincidentally, this guy is from LA. So the case takes both of them right back to the mean streets of LA. When they get there, they meet Isabella (Roselyn Sanchez) who is a Secret Service agent posing as a crooked Customs Agent in an attempt to infiltrate the Chinese Triands. But she does not gain your full trust, especially when she is almost responsible for getting Carter & Lee killed. But she does tell them what the case is really about: Triads attempting to sell off artifacts in the US for a huge payday. Do Carter & Lee stop them? Only one way to find out.
I don't know where to start or stop praising this movie. This sequel is one of the few to outdo its predeccsor. This one is funnier, has more action, has a stronger storyline than the first, and is a bit more suspensful. Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker are without a doubt the best action/comic relief duo in movies today. I am still amazed at what Jackie Chan can do for action and stunts. Chris Tucker is funnier than ever. He helps make Jackie Chan a funny man too. "Rush Hour 2" immediately will be making you wonder when "Rush Hour 3" will be coming out. I absolutely loved theis movie. "Rush Hour 2" is the action comedy of the year. I really liked the idea of connecting the story to 3 different cities. "Rush Hour 2" deserves, & gets, a perfect 10.
"Planet Of The Apes"
Well, here it is, the latest remake. Director Tim Burton this time takes his directorial talents and tries to apply them to apes. But after such wonderful movies as Batman, Sleepy Hollow, & The Grinch, this movie does not quite live up to all expectations. "Planet Of The Apes" is a remake of the 1968 classic that starred Charlton Heston, with the story being very much the same. The movie starts out with Captain Leo Davidson, (Mark Wahlberg; The Perfect Storm), and his crew in outer space running tests to see how well monkeys can handle space. After disobeying orders, Davidson decides to send his monkey out to space, the monkey literraly vanishes into space air. Despite protest, Davidson goes after his monkey. Davidson goes right into an electrical disturbance that hurdles him onto another planet, 300 & some odd years into the future. But right away, Davidson gets hauled away by apes. After he gets hauled into town, he meets the slave trader Limbo, (Paul Giamatti; Private Parts). But while he is held behind bars, he also meets Ari, (Helena Bonham Carter; Fight Club), a very sympathetic ape, which if she were human, she would probably be a P.E.T.A. person because she believes that humans have rights too. After Davidson escapes, he constantly has run-ins with Thade, (Tim Roth; Lucky Numbers), the ruthless leader of the apes. A dangerous game of cat & mouse happens when Davidson and the human slaves attempt to reach Calima, the place where all of the apes secrets are held. Do Davidson and the humans make it? Well, if you have seen the original, you know the answer to that question already. If not, I am not going to tell you.
But I will tell you this: There will be another one. This remake does not outdo the original. The storyline constantly drags. The movie gets to the point right away and this got me really excited. Right from the beginning, the film had a solid chance at a perfect 10. But, once it takes off, it drags itself along. Eventually, it picked up again, but almost as soon as it did, it dragged along again. The other problem with this movie is that the love story that was suppose to happen between Davidson/Ari does not happen. I was eagerly anticipating that to happen. But, as such, it did not. The movie has a lot of strong points. The apes actually look like apes, and not like apes from a distant planet as it was in the original. The film has an outstanding cast that also includes Michael Clarke Duncan, Kris Kristofferson, and a cameo by Charlton Heston, (he plays Thades father but is not given a name). If the story had not dragged along as it did, I would have given it an 8.5. But because the story drags, and the alleged love story does not happen it fairly deserves this rating: 7.
"Jeepers Creepers"
This time around I take a look at "Jeepers Creepers." Yes, this is the latest horror flick but this time its from United Artists, and not from some of the usual companies like New Line Cinema. I know there are other production companies that release horror movies, but New Line Cinema is one of the most popular. Anyways, on with the review. "Jeepers Creepers" starts off with a brother & sister with the names of Darius & Trish, (Justin Long & Gina Phillips), driving home from college who are also taking the long way home. While they are driving, they continusely get "bumped in the rear" by a psycho driver, (Jonathan Breck), with a very old truck and the license plates reading BEATNGU, (Try to figure it out). So after the truck driver finally passes them, they go about their mary way. Mary, that is, until they drive a few miles down the road. They once again run into their old friend with the old truck at an abandoned church. But this time, Trish & Darius see the guy dumping something down the sewer drain wrapped in a cloth & tied up with rope. After seeing this, Darius persuades a very reluctant Trish to go back and see if they saw what they think they saw. When they get there, Darius decides that he hwants to stick his head down the sewer drain with Trish holding his feet. But, as bad things often do happen to people in horror movies, Trish loses her grinp and Darius falls all the way to the bottom. Once he gets up, he sees something so terrible that you could not even dream of: 100's of bodies plastered all over the wall. Remember, Darius is in the basement of the church. So after those two finally get out of there, they go to the nearest town to phone for help. While they are waiting in the diner for the police to show, Darius gets a strange phone call from a lady called Jezelle, (Patricia Belcher), who somehow knows about everything they have been through. So after the state police head out to the old church with Darius & Trish, well I think you know what happens to the cops. Once the creature, (Jonathan Breck), finishes off the cops, we get our first real good look at him. The creature is definetly something that is not human, almost look a mutated Jason Voorhees. And what is the creatures favorite song? Well, "Jeepers Creepers" of course. Once the "hunted" hears that song, how do you spell doom again? Do Trish & Darius escape the creature? Or does a terrible fate await them as well? Only one way to find out.
I am not sure what to think of this movie. "Jeepers Creepers" is a cross between "Blair Witch" & "Friday The 13th, (You can take your pick between which of the 9). The film has its same tactics & tricks that all of the other horror movies has, but this one is a little bit different. Unlike other horror films where you know right away if the killer is human or not, you don't know right away in this one. You first think that the creature is human because it can drive, and it carries heavy things like a human does. But eventually you figure out it is not human. You don't find out what this thing is, besides that it's not human. For all I know he acts like a demented relative of Hannibal Lechter. The big problem with this movie is it's too short, and it leaves so many unanswered questions except for one: There will be a sequel. Whether it comes to theaters or goes straight to video will have to wait & see how well this one does in the theaters. But because this film leaves too many questions unanswered, and my indecisviness of how I fell about this movie, I have to give my first rating below a 5. But now don't get me wrong: This is one of the better horror films I have seen in a long time. But I feel this is a fair rating: 4.5
"Hardball"
Allright, I first must admit that I expected this film to be about just baseball, boy was I wrong. I never in a million years imagined that a movie like this would pluck my heartstrings.
"Hardball" is based upon the book Hardball: A Season in the Projects by Daniel Coyle. Which it is my understanding that Coyle, and others are not too happy about the way this film was made. In the mix of all this, the Chicago city council is none too happy with the profanity that the kids use in this film. But that is a story for my editorial page, (perhaps at another time though).
"Hardball" stars Keanu Reeves, (The Matrix) as Conor O' Neill, a down on his luck gambler who always bets on the wrong teams. When his gambling debt finally catches up with him, he turns to help from his friend who is a very rich broker. His friend agrees to help him, but there is a catch: He must coach a local "Bad News Bears Team." O'Neill reluctantly accepts to prevent him from getting his butt whupped by his bookies. Once he gets out of debt from his bookies, O'Neill makes the most difficult decisicion of his life: Should he stick with the team, or go back to gambling? He gets no help from his friend Ticky, (John Hawkes), because Ticky wants to keep on gambling. When a tragic accident happens, O'Neill decides to stick with the team. Oh and while he is trying to break away from gambling, he manages to fall in love with Miss Elizabeth Wilkes, (Diane Lane), and she helps to put him on the right track.
With the exception of all the profanity by the kids, and the situation that the coach puts himself & his kids in, "Hardball" had the potential to be a really good film. But you also need to look at the fact that most of these kids are growing up in the projects with things like drugs, gangs, & murders occuring just about everyday. A real lightbulb moment for O'Neill occurs when he is walking one of his players home, and he notices that everybody is on the floor and hardly standing up. They need to sit on the floor to try to avoid the stray bullets. The one character that made this film a really funny movie was Jarius "G-Baby" Evans, (played to perfection by DeWayne Warren). The other thing that I really admired about this film was the heart that the kids showed. It wasn't so much about wanting to win, it was just wanting to play. And in today's society, most kids think that winning is the only thing. But these kids, and this movie, remind us that having the heart & desire to play the game, is much more important than winning itself. The only thing that this movie could improve on is that the profanity should have been cut down. My final rating: 6.5
"Training Day"
Allright, now you don't need to be a genius to know that Denzel Washington plays the bad guy in this film. If you didn't know that, I am sorry for blowing it for you.
"Training Day" starts off with Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke, Hamlet, Gattaca), getting prepared for his first day in the Narcotics division. He receives a phone call from his new partner Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington, Remember The Titans, The Hurricane), telling Hoyt to meet him at a restaurant to get the day started. Now right away when you see Alonzo, you know there is something not right about this guy.
So after Hoyt basically tells Alonzo his life story, the two decide to hit the street. The one thing that separates Detective Hoyt from other cops, he wants to bust some ass to anyone he sees breaking the law, being it's narcotics or not. Harris is just a little bit different: He is exactly the opposite. He only cares about busting narcotics offenders. Allow me to explain: Shortly into their trip, the two see two guys attempting to rape a young girl. Hoyt demands that Harris stops the car but Harris doesn't want to, he eventually does though. While Hoyt is literally getting his ass kicked, Harris just sits back and watches. See it was at this point and time that I knew for sure that something was not quite right with Alonzo. Normally, someones partner would help him out. But Hoyt winds up stopping the two, but Alonzo lets them go.
The story eventually starts to drag along, as it is so common these days. Even when we first meet Alonzo's friend Roger, (Scott Glenn The Virgin Suicides, Firestorm), it never really picks up because you don't really know what they are doing there, we would eventually find out.
However, the story does pick up when the two leave Rogers house and actually do narcotics work when they bust a handicapped person, Sammy (Snoop Dogg). After Sammy gives up his informants name, things get interesting. Hoyt & Alonzo go to the dealers name, with a fake warrant, and Alonzo winding up stealing about $60,000 in cash, this is where Hoyt gets very suspicious.
So deciding that a bust is needed to be made, Alonzo goes back to Rogers house with his crew, (Which also includes Dr. Dre). Roger being totally unaware of what's happening, winds up being murdered in cold blood. Plus stealin about $4 million in drug money. The crew declares that Hoyt is the one that shot him.
At this point, Hoyt decides that this is not right and that Alonzo must go down. Once Hoyt finds out that Alonzo is in really big trouble with the Russians, he decides to use this to his advantage. What happens? Well, I may have told that Denzel is the bad guy, but I am not goin to go this far.
"Training Day" was the perfect name for this movie. Knowing that Alonzo is the bad cop but also provides important pointers for a young cop like Hoyt, almost throws you for a loop. I liked this movie a lot. In fact I compared it with "Exit Wounds" because I felt that both movies do a good job of exploring police corruption. But "Exit Wounds" has a lot more action sequences than what "Training Day" has, primarily because I don't think that I could ever buy Denzel Washington or Ethan Hawke as action heroes. But I believed Denzel as the bad cop. Denzel could do about any movie that you could imagine, except for action. "Training Day" is not an action film, it falls more along the lines of a drama. "The Hurricane" is about as close to an action film that Denzel will get, that was not an action film either. But Denzel & Ethan really team up well with each other, even though Ethan is kind of a wuss. I would have given this film a perfect 10 if it would not have dragged along for the 30-45 minutes that it did. When the story was moving along, this was enjoyable to watch. This was a really good drama film, one of the better ones I have seen. My final rating: 7.5
"From Hell"
"From Hell" is based upon the legendary murder "Jack The Ripper." I am not quite sure how 20th Century Fox managed to pull off a thriller like this, considering that nobody really knew who Jack The Ripper was. But I don't feel like talking about that right now, so let's get on with the review.
"From Hell" intruduces us to Inspector Fred Abberline, (Johnny Depp; Blow, Sleepy Hollow), who had made quite a career for himself because of his unique ways of solving a crime. He was able to see & solve crimes by seeing the crimes in his dreams. You know that he could make one helluva friend for "The Psychic Friends Network." Or do I hear "Miss Cleo" calling? either way, this guy is a total wuss. No wonder he never took on Jack The Ripper one-on-one.
If any of you have heard the story of Jack The Ripper, he was very selective of his victims: He murdered only hookers. Why that is, I don't think anyone knows for sure. It was really too bad, most of the women who played the hookers in this movie were quite good looking.
But I probably have already bored you enough, so I will continue. Almost the minute that Inspector Abberline & his partner Peter Godley; (Robbie Coltrane; The World Is Not Enough, Message In A Bottle) show up in London, they meet one of the most popular hookers Mary Kelly, (Heather Graham; Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Boogie Nights). Mary & her friends are not doing too well with their business because they are always winding up short on money for their boss who has threanted them so many times, he was easily mistakened for Jack The Ripper. Anyways, how these women are being murdered is almost peculiar. They are being lured into a stagecoach by a bumbling idiot, and then are offered Laudnum & grapes by Jack The Ripper. The reason for this is simple. If you give them something that they like, they are going to trust you no matter what you show them. Of course, all of those women would meet a tragic ending.
One of the things I really liked about this movie is that the love story between Insepector Abberline & Mary Kelly doesn't develop, it more or less just happens. You see, the previews basically tell you that these two fall in love so you go in thinking "This love story is going to develop," but the movie surprises you: The love story just happens and kind of catches you off guard. The first kiss between the two happens in, of all places, an alleyway. Which is a bit odd & surprising considering that most of the murders happened in an alleyway. But obviously, you know that Inspector Abberline is not Jack The Ripper. However, the good Inspector gets so involved with her, he never imagined in a million years that Jack The Ripper would get as close to her as he did. So what happens the rest of the way? Well, you'll just have to find out for yourself. You maybe surprised at a few points & times.
"From Hell" is a great suspense/thriller flick. This film had talked about so many storylines that could lead you to believe that anyone of the characters could be Jack The Ripper. This film got going right from the start and did not slow down at anypoint and time. Most of the time a movie will start off fast, drag, pick up, drag, pick up, and drag somemore. This film did nothing of the such. I was kept in suspense and was not ever let go.
Now the part I love & hate to do: Discuss the flaws. As I mentioned before, the Inspector was too much of a wuss. It doesn't really surprise me because a lot of Johnny Depp films, I felt his character was such a wuss and where his character was bad, "The Ninth Gate," need I say more? But what's that old saying? Oh yes, "Behind every man is a good woman." Heather Graham was excellent in this movie. But if you go there expecting here to get naked, you will be disappointed, it does not happen. She was the straw that stirred the dring for his film. Mary Kelly was the glue that held her crew together, even as they were being sliced & diced. She proved her strength in a way that most women: She raised a child that was not hers by herself.
But if you are looking for a good suspenful, thriller to go to this week, "From Hell" will not disappoint you. Final rating: 8.5.
"Monstes Inc."
"Monsters Inc." is the latest production from Disney & Pixar Studios who you may remember made such wonderful films like "Toy Story", "Toy Story 2", & "A Bug's Life." After those highly entertaining movies, this one does not quite live up to the hype & expectations.
"Monsters Inc." first starts off by showing us what exactly all of these Monsters do. They work for a company that's called "Monsters Inc." The company runs the whole town that all of the monsters live in. The main thing this company supplies is the town's energy. But it's how they get the energy is what's interesting: They get the energy from screaming kids. They then collect the screams in containers and thus the town is supplied with energy. There is just one rule that they all must follow: They must not come into contact with any children because they believe that the children are contaminated. Please keep this in mind.
All of the monsters have to go through some "basic training" before they can go scaring little kids. When the man that runs the place Mr. Waternoose, (Voiced by James Coburn, the guy that voices the Chevrolet commercials), sees a very disappointing performance from one of his rookies, he tells all of them there is only one man who is the best at what he does. That man is James P. Sullivan, (Voiced by John Goodman, One Night At McCools, The Emperor's New Groove). Sullivan, is also on the verge of breaking the all-time screams record. And, naturally, he has some help from his friend Mike, (Voiced by Billy Crystal, Analyze This).
Mike is quite the bizarre character who is really only interested in fame, despite that he is the one that always gets shunned from fame. We notice this when Mike & Sullivan are at home watching television anticipating the new TV commercial for "Monsters Inc." and even though he shows up at the end of the commercial, he gets covered up by the "Monsters Inc." logo. Just when you think he is going to be shocked that his face got covered up, he is quite the opposite: He couldn't be happier. Mike also struggles to balance his personal life between his girlfriend Celia, (Voiced by Jennifer Tilly, Bride Of Chucky, Liar, Liar), and work.
Things take a turn for the worse for the monsters when Sullivan goes to scare a little kid, and the kid is able sneak over to the monsters world. This little incident figures to play right into the hands of Randall, (Voiced by Steve Buscemi, Armageddon, Con Air) who has intentions of putting all of the monsters, except for himself, out of work with his "scream machine."
Do Mike & Sullivan get the kid back to her room? Are the monstars kept out of work? Only one way to find out.
"Monstars Inc." what can I say? I went into this movie expecting to be entertained with a lot of laughs, boy did I get disappointed. This movie lacked the comedic value that I was so desperatly looking for. After creating such entertaining movies such as "Toy Story 1 & 2," what the hell were the writers of this one thinking? Did they think that only the kids would need to be entertained? Now, yes my 3 year old was entertained by this movie, I think all kids will be. But this film needed more than what it had. After seeing Mike's reaction to being covered up in the TV commercial, I thought I would see some more comedy like that. A lot of Billy Crystal movies in the past have been funny, this one did not come even close.
But, there are a lot of things that save this movie from total boredom. When the monsters come into contact with the kids, it's very hilarious to see all of the hell that breaks loose. There was one big thing that happened that really got me: When Sullivan realized that he was responsible for the kid, he became more like a human father than a monster. There is even one point & time when he is forced to turn his back on his best friend, Mike in order to make sure the kid is safe. When Sullivan thinks that something really bad has happened to the kid, it's really touching to see how his feelings come out. This is what really saves this otherwise disappointing movie.
Now don't get me wrong, "Monsters Inc." will entertain kids. But if you are looking to be entertained yourself, you may be surprised. Sorry Disney, I hate to do this to you: 6.5
"Behind Enemy Lines"
With the recent events that have happened, this one does a good job of hitting close to home, maybe a little too close. When you watch this movie, you will notice that it reminds us all of us fighting in Bosnia several years ago. But despite that fact, this has nothing to do with that.
"Behind Enemy Lines" is about an American Navy Pilot named "Burnett," (Played by Owen Wilson; Shanghai Noon, Anaconda), and his partner "Stackhouse," (Played by Gabriel Macht; American Outlaws). The two pilots are becoming extremely frustrated because of the fact that they are in a foreign country doing what they love, (flying), but they are not able to do what they love. With as frustrated as they are becoming, they act like they want to do something that would give them a reason to fly, if you know what I mean. The frustration gets so bad for Burnett that he turns in his notice to Lt. Reigert (Gene Hackman; Heist, The Replacements). And having this notice turned in seems to aggrivate Lt. Reigert himself because he knows how good of a pilot Burnett. Despite heavily objecting the resigination notice, Reigert decides to grant Burnett his request. But before the request is granted. But before the request is granted, Reigert sends Burnett & Stackhouse out on a mission to go fly and make sure that nothing is out of the ordinary. Now remember when I said that the 2 were very frustrated about not seeing any action? Well they get the idea to fly off course, what they see is something that no one ever wants to run into. I am sorry but I will not tell you what it is, because it is very gruesome. When the Serbs and Croats discover that an American Fighter Plane has flown over this area, they shoot it down. What then happens after that becomes one of the greates cat & mouse games that Hollywood has ever produced. And despite orders from his superiors not too, Reigert goes out after his man.
There are several reasons why I liked this film. First of all, Owen Wilson has had a history of playing characters who have been total wusses, like Anaconda for example. His character is much, much different in this film. His character is very much a smartass, but when it comes down to survival, he will do what is necessary to survive. This film made me feel like I was right in the middle of the war, and it reminded me so much of conflicts in the past that if they did any better, you would think that this is what it's about. The army folks in the film really reminded me of some of the folks in Washington D.C. Now granted, I understand and respect that peace is very, very important. But I also believe that when one of your men is down, you need to go and do what you have to do to get him out. This is why I loved Gene Hackman's role. Reigert is caught right in the middle of the peace process and getting his man out. His character had balls. He risked his life and career to get his man out of a jam, who is basically responsible for getting himself in it in the first place. The final reason why I liked this movie? Well, that's pretty simple. I never really realized all of the dangers that soldiers put themselves in when they are defending our country. My final rating: 9
"Ocean's 11"
Well here you go; the latest attempt at a remake. But this time it's not from television as it has been the past few years. This is a remake of a popluar 60's film that had great legendary performers Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin. Just like the original, the remake includes one of the best all-star casts I have ever seen in my life.
Now for those of you who do not know anything about this movie, this is a crime-caper movie which also can blend in it's own style of comedy. With some of the actors in this movie, it was almost surprising.
"Ocean's 11" was directed by Steven Soderberg who directed "Erin Brochovich," this movie also re-united him with Julia Roberts. Anyways, here we go. "Oceans 11" gets right to the point and introduces us to Danny Ocean, (George Clooney; Spy Kids, The Perfect Storm), a down-on-his-luck thief who is up for parole and he must convince the parole board why he should be paroled. Naturally, he is granted parole but he must stay in the state of New Jersey. But as the old saying goes, "Once a thief, always a thief." This holds true for Danny who sets out to find his old friend Rusty Ryan, (Brad Pitt, The Mexican, Fight Club), to plan his next caper. Rusty Ryan is also of sorts down-on-his-luck by teaching actors how to play cards. When the two meet up, Ocean starts to hatch his plan: Steal $150 million dollars from 3 major Las Vegas Casinos on New Years Eve night during a major fight.
So once Rusty Ryan agrees to go along, they both decide that they are probably going to need at least 12 guys to help pull this off. So the nation wide search begins. First,they need someone that can move around the vault with barely being noticed. Yen (Shaobo Qin). A young guy with the intelligence to be just about anything, Linus (Matt Damon, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Good Will Hunting). An explosive's expert, Tarr (Don Cheadle, Swordfish, Traffic). There are two major players whom can't forget about: The casino owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia Desperate Measures, When A Man Loves A Woman); and his girlfriend Tess Ocean, (Julia Roberts, Erin Brochovich, Pretty Woman). And in case you have not figured it out yet she is Danny Ocean's ex-wife.
So once the crew is all in place, it's time to start planning. These guys come up with so many schemes and blueprints and twists in the plans that it sometimes throws you for a loop, (in a good way). When Rusty sees Danny's ex-wife, he begins to think that this is all about getting revenge on Benedict to get his ex-wife back. Rusty pleads with Danny to tell him that all of this is not about Tess. Once you figure everything out, you realize it is The two get into a heated argument in front of the others that you think it's not a part of the plan, boy are you wrong.
Remember earlier when I said that this caper is to take place during a major fight? Okay well the major boxing match is between Lennox Lewis, (who makes a cameo), and some other guy. Once it's time for the robbery to take place, all of the schemes take off almost without a hitch. They run into some glitches in their plan but manage to work through it.
So what happens exactly? If you think I am going to tell you, then you are dumber than I thought.
"Oceans 11" was a very interesting film for me. This movie was loaded with all-stars. Like it almost always is with movies that have as many popular stars as this one did, it turns out to be a good movie. Where was Tom Cruise? He would have been perfect for this flick. There were so many things I liked about this movie. I liked this film getting as quick to the point as it did. Right from the get-go, Steven Soderberg wasted no time and introduced us to all of the characters while the story was taking place at the same time. That is what I like about Steven Soderberg. In "Erin Brochovich" not once did the story ever slow down or take a different direction. This was the case here. However, the knock I have on this film was that it was not as funny as I thought it was going to be, but it was very enjoyable. My final rating: 8.
"Not Another Teen Movie".
All right I have to get this out of the way. I reviwed this movie because I was asked to. After seeing the reviews by my other comrades, I thought that they would be wrong, (As they so often are ). But after I saw this one, I almost hated to agree with them. THIS MOVIE WAS BAD!
"Not Another Teen Movie" is a parody of several teen movies, (duh!) Some of those movies are: American Pie, The Breakfast Club, She's All That, Varsity Blues, & Bring It On, are just a few of them. Remember how bad most of them were? This may have well been declared a remake of "She's All That" because that's what it is basically modeled after. With the high school jock Jake Wyler, (Chris Evans The Jungle Book), attempting to turn the school nerd Janey Briggs, (Chyler Leigh making her movie acting debut).
With the mere fact that all of the movies this movie parodied, just about all of them were not that good in the first place, (I will make exceptions for American Pie & Varsity Blues but that is it). What I think the producers, writers, & director were trying to get at was what The Wayans Bros. did with Scary Movie 1 & 2. But the big difference with that is the movies that Scary Movie parodied, they were much more successful and recognizable than most of these teen movies.
How bad was this movie exactly? Well as bad as the movies that were parodied were, this one makes them look good and enjoyable. I only found myself laughing I think about 4 times and that was it. But beyond that, the acting was bad, the script was plagorized way too much, and even the naked girls did not help this one at all. I think once you've seen one movie parody, you've seen them all. They all have the same thing: Make fun of bad movies, weak story lines, very bad jokes, and lots of sexual innuedo. Not that I didn't mind that.
Here's the bottom line: If you are debating whether or not to see another parody, save yourself and don't. My final rating: 2.5.
"Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
Allright, I must admit, I have never been an Elijah Wood fan because most of his movies have sucked, and his characters have been total wusses. This movie has changed my thinking, of sorts.
You don't need to be a genius to know that "Lord Of The Rings" was a popular book written by James R. Tolkien. This was written as one huge book but has been split up into 3 different movies: "The Fellowship Of The Ring," "The Two Towers," and "The King Returns." Which was probably a good idea to do considering that the first one alone was almost 3 hours alone.
"The Lord Of The Rings" is about the Dark Lord Sauron who made a ring many, many years ago who made a powerful ring that was made in the fires of Mount Doom. While he was in his final battle, the ring was cut off from his finger from the human hero Isildur, but when he had the chance to destroy the ring, he kept it for himself for it's power. After many generations it found itself in the hands of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm, From Hell; Bless The Child). After deciding that he wants to leave the village so that he could finish his book among other things, he leaves everything he owns,(ring included), in the hands of his assistant Frodo, (Elijah Wood, Black & White; The Faculty) and his trusting companion and wizard Gandolf, (Ian Mckellen, X-Men; Apt Pupil). When Gandolf tells the story of the ring to Frodo, they along with other friends, embark on a journey to destroy the ring. There is only one place it can be destroyed: In the fires of Mount Doom.
But of course, along with this awesome responsibility, comes tons of danger as well. With Lord Sauron's demons constantly pursuing them, and the uncertanity of who you can or cannot trust adds to the delight of this adventure. Stay tuned the next couple of years to find out how the others did.
Perhaps these movies can best be summed up by this. I was watching "World News Tonight" on Tuesday. This guy was being interviewed about "The Lord Of The Rings" movies and he had this to say: "This is like the 'Harry Potter' of our generation. Now keep in mind that this guy was in his mid 30's-early 40's. Now while that may hold true, I cannot make a fair assement of that. Why? Because I have no desire to see "Harry Potter" anytime soon.
Now for one who has never read the book, I really liked this movie. My favorite part was Gandolf, probably just because I like Ian McKellen but that's beside the point. What this movie does is it basically keeps the same settings, but has a more modern times theme to go along with it. All of the scary creatures are excellent computer animations. So good infact that if they would have made this movie back in say the '60's or '70's, the creatures could have looked a lot like the apes from "Planet Of The Apes," but such is not the case. This film has amazing special effects and a good music format. I would honestly be looking for this one to get some Oscar nominations.
But the one knock I have on this film, and trust me it's just me: This movie is too long. These days, I barely I have the patience to sit through a movie that is more than 90 minutes long. Like I said, this one is almost three hours long. But it did not affect me that much to give it this rating: 9.
Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius
For the kiddies out there, I am doing a holiday review for them. Remember in "The Lord Of The Rings" review I quoted a man as saying "It was the Harry Potter for their generation?" Well, the same could probably said for this one as well, but one for the ones who are not quite old enough for "Harry Potter."
"Jimmy Neutron" is about a boy with superhuman intelligence and a head that's bigger than a pro athlete's head, (seriously)! Here you have a kid who can build anything from anything that most modern Rocket scientists would not have a clue on how to build. This is wher a lot of the fun comes in.
But this movie also deals with typical kids issues: School, girls, parents, etc. Jimmy,(Voiced by Debi Derryberry), dislikes girls so much that he invents a plant-eating girl. He also has other interesting inventions like burp-after-every-sip soda, and an airplane type device that take him to outerspace.
But just like any other kid, Jimmy wishes that he could do more than what his parents allow him too; as do the other kids in this movie. One of the things that they wish they could do but can't because it's a school night, is to go to the grand opening of a new amusement park, but everyone's parents says no. But like a lot of kids, this doesn't stop them, they just sneak out. While Jimmy & his friends are walking home, one of his friends wishes that the parents would disappear, he never imagined that his wish would come true.
While everything goes good with no parents around for one day, they change their thinking after that first day. With a huge mess to clean up, lunches to be made, and tummy aches to get rid of, the kids want their parents back but could not understand why they would suddenly leave for Florida. Once Jimmy gets home and scans the letter that was left for him, he realizes that the message was written by aliens.
The aliens are really called "Yokians". Lead by King Goobot,(Voiced by Patrick Stewart; Star Trek: The Next Generation Series), and his trusty sidekick Ooblar, (Voiced by Martin Short). Lead by Jimmy and all of his friends, they set on a course for space to rescue their parents and destroy the evil aliens. Do they succeed? I'm not going to tell you.
There are several reasons why I liked this movie. First of all, the creators made this film as intelligent as the kid himself. The inventions that this kid made makes you wonder why we have the people that we do running our country and not someone with real intelligence. The animation was a lot like the animation with "Toy Story." I apologize for making reference to a Disney movie with a movie that was produced by "Nickelodeon." The creators really appeal to everyone's fantasy when we were growing up. I think that at some point and time, we all wished that we could make really cool things that could communicate with aliens or get rid of the opposite gender.
Bottom line is this: Take your kids to see this movie, both of you will really enjoy this. Final rating: 8.5
"Ali"
Not since "The Hurricane," starring Denzel Washington, Have I seen a more powerful & moving biographical epic. Now I will admit that I am not a huge boxing fan. But whether you are or not, you need to thrown that out the window and see this movie.
"Ali" is, of course, about Muhammed Ali. Considered by some as the greatest boxer, and in some cases, greatest athlete ever. But unlike other biographical movies that discuss a whole person's life, (mostly because the person is no longer with us), this focuses between the years 1964-1974, called the most tumultuous of Ali's life.
"Ali" starts off with Cassius Clay, (Will Smith; Enemy Of The State, Men In Black), and Sonny Liston being weighed in before their big championship bout. And as you have heard the stories, Clay really runs the mouth off but of course he could back it up.
After winning the bout, the movie strays away from the boxing and focuses on the other events that occured in that 10 year period. Most notably was his involvement with Malcolm X, (Mario Van Peebles; Solo), and their involvement with the Islamic religion. You all know what happened to Malcolm X and this seemed to have the most influential impact on Ali's decision to convert to Islam. His conversion to Islam, and the tension it causes between the ones he loves the most, is brought out very powerfully by first wife Sonji, (Jada Pinkett Smith; Set It Off, A Low Down Dirty Shame), and Drew "Bundi" Brown, (Jamie Foxx; Bait, Any Given Sunday). But without a doubt the most memorable event that happened to Ali was his refusal to be drafted in the Army to Vietnam. The boxing commision would later revoke his title & license. But I think what was most amazing by this was Smith's ability to show Ali's anger towards America because of the people's refusal to stand up for him.
As you all know The Supreme Court did overturn Ali's conviction. There was still one hurdle to clear: Get his license re-instated. The only way that he could do that was to get Joe Frazier to fight him in Atlanta, of course, he loses. But Frazier eventually loses to George Forman and thus sets up an Ali-Forman match.
Now normally, I don't like doing reviews on biopics. But I had to make an exception in this case. This was a very powerful and moving epic drama. There were several things that amazed me so much about this film: Will Smith looked so much like the real Ali back then is one; Will Smith's ability to move, talk, & act like Ali is another; and Jon Voight's permormance as Howard Cosell. This film is already up for Golden Globes, and should win some. If this film does not win any Oscars, I will be surprised. Final Rating: 10.
"Rollerball"
I know, it has been awhile. Hollywood has not released anything good of late. Not to say that this one is any better than what has been released, but it has to be better than "A Walk To Remember." I would think that after one sees that one, they just soon forget about it. This one, you won't exactly forget about, not for awhile anyway.
In case you have not noticed, "Rollerball" is a remake from the 1975 original that starred James Caan. The original was set in the year 2005 with the gladiators using skates and motorcycles. Not too far from this one, except that it is set in the modern day. Now for the record, I must say that I have not seen the original and therefore you might think that it's not fair for me to review this one. Well, tough! This is my sight and I will review what I want.
"Rollerball" starts off by introducing us to Jonathan Cross, (Chris Klein; American Pie, American Pie 2), a promising hockey player with a bright future in the NHL. But instead he is lured away to play "Rollerball" by his friend Marcus, (LL Cool J; Any Given Sunday, Deep Blue Sea), who actually is very well intentioned by trying to persuade Jonathan to join, and stay away, from the game. Of course, Jonathan joins the league. But he quickly learns, that there is more to the league than meets the eye. A mystery starts to unravel when one of Cross' teammates gets seriously injured during a game. His teammate gets his jaw broken, and after the game is over with, one of his friends brings the helmet up to him and sees that the chin strap has been cut.
So after seeing this, Cross decides to go up to the leagues owner Petrovich, (Jean Reno; Roning, Mission: Impossible), who comes off as a nice guy. But as it always is, there is more to the character than what we realize. The man is very corrupt, running a corrupt sports organization to get television ratings. Cross quickly picks up on this after Petrovich attempts to have his girlfriend Aurora, (Rebecca Romjin Stamos; X-Men, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me), killed during a game. But instead Marcus gets hurt.
After the game is over, Cross convinces Marcus of the corruption and they attempt to leave the league all behind them. Now if you've seen the original, you know what happens.
I must say that I was quite disappointed with this film. After the original in 1975 was set in the year 2005, you would have thought that the writers would have had the setting somewhere in the future. This way, all the cool stuff would be much more high tech and advanced. But as a result, where left basically watching the original with different characters. Chris Klein was not too bad in this film but he was not convincing enough for me to believe that he could actually lead a revolution like that. LL Cool J would have been better off with the role. But the one thing that I did like about this movie was the corruption of the sport. It made me wonder if there is corruption in real-life professional sports. But not even that can save this movie from weak acting, bad story line, and bad ending. Final rating: 4
"Collateral Damage"
What are the odds of these events happening? At first we learn of a movie being released dealing with terrorism, and then we actually have a terrible act of terrorism? Certainly, nobody wanted it that way. But as such, this is the way it is. But, just because this movie is about terrorism, this is not a patriotic movie.
"Collateral Damage" stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, (The 6th Day, End Of Days) as Gordy Brewer; a local LA Firefighter who faces terrorism head on. On the day he is to pick up his son from the doctors office, he is a few minutes too late. The block explodes right in front of his face that killed 9 people, including his wife & kid. While Gordy is in the hospital for his injuries, he overhears 2 of his friends saying that the bomber was disguised as a cop. When Gordy hears this, he remembers talking to the cop about where his vehicle was parked. He walks straight out of the hospital and meets with CIA Agent Brandt, (Elias Koteas; Lost Souls, The Thin Red Line), who appears to be more of a scumbag than a CIA Agent. But then again, aren't they all that way? Just kidding!
So after Gordy buries his wife and son, he is at home watching TV when he sees an interview with a gentleman, who is of same descent as the bomber, not praise and certainly not condone the attack. Gordy gets real upset when the man refers to his wife & son as "Collateral Damage." Naturally, this sets him off and he goes and destroys the man's office. After being let go by the CIA, and feeling that the CIA is not going to do anything for his son & wife, he flees the country and heads to Columbia to search for justice. In Columbia, Gordy meets up with Felix, (John Leguizamo; Summer Of Sam, Spawn), a local who helps Gordy get around the Guerillas.
When Gordy gets to Columbia, we see what the country is going through. And in essence, this also shows us what the country of Afghanistan is going through. Rich people who do nothing to help there country but yet feel that it is more important to fund terrorist operations. The film really gets in depth to show the moviegoer what really happens in this country. And yet, you still cannot understand why they don't put there money to good use. But while Gordy is in Columbia, he also meets up with his enemies wife Selena, (Fransesca Neri; Hannibal), who is not at all what she seems. And because of this, she earns our trust.
"Collateral Damage," I am not too sure what to say about it. I think that if the idea of this movie had been conceived after September 11, no way this would have made it as far as it did. I expected that maybe this film would touch a nerve with some people because the ending takes place in Washington, D.C. But I really liked this movie because it goes in-depth into the world of terrorism. And I really think that at this time, this is what we needed because we as a country have not taken the time to understand what life is like in Afghanistan. Now while I think this movie was good for this reason, I do not feel the need to glamorize terrorism at all, not that this does, but it also shows the life of a terrorist. And as an American, I don't want to know what it's like to be a terrorist because as far as I am concerened these guys are cold, heartless, cowards. As I said before, if you go to this movie expecting some sort of patriotism, you won't get it. This is about a father/husband who is on the crusade to avenge his family. Gordy could not really give a damn about patriotism. My final rating: 7.5
"Queen Of The Damned"
Ok. Out of all of the sequels that have come out in the last several years, almost all of them have had something to do with their predecessors. What I mean is, they find a way to get back to the first one. I am not talking just about trilogies, but any sequel. "Rush Hour 2," they only discussed something in the first movie once, but it was about a story that was told in the first movie.
In "The Queen Of The Damned," you all know that this is the sequel to "Interview With The Vampire" which starred Tom Cruise as Lestat and Brad Pitt as Louie. And you may also remember that at the end of that one, Lestat killed the reporter that was talking to Louie. And keep in mind that was set in the 1990's.
But now instead of keeping with that story lines of sorts, the producers and writers did something a little bit different. They started off to discuss about just how lonely a vampire's life is. Yes, while they may be immortals, when they realize that they will be spending the rest of their lives alone, it is not as much as fun as first thought. We get told this sob story from Lestat, (Played by Stuart Townsend), instead of deciding to spend the rest of his time alone, goes to sleep for a hundred years. Now this is the part that does not make sense. If indeed he had been asleep for 100 years, then he would have had no involvement in killing Louie's reporter in the first one. But when Lestat wakes up, we go all the way back to his creation, which almost was a waste of my time but I'll tell you why it wasn't in just a minute.
Lestat goes back in time and introduces us to his creator Marius, (Vincent Perez; I Dreamed Of Africa, The Crow: City Of Angels), who of course shows no remorse for anyone. But when Lestat first transforms into a vampire, he still has human emotions. Now if you will remember in the first movie, Lestat would kill almost every human he came into contact with. This time around was different because Lestat cared about Humans for the most part. One night, Lestat accidently opens a door to a secret passage way. Being curious, Lestat naturally investigates and finds 2 stone statues: One of a king & queen, Akasha; (Played by the Late Aaliyah; Romeo Must Die). I believe that I did forget to mention that Lestat was carrying a violin with him. Lestat plays his violin and the queen's statue begins to come alive. Lestat then goes over to the statue and drinks the queens' blood, thus giving him his powers. So after 100's of years of adventures, Lestat basically gets bored and goes to sleep. He is awaken by something odd: A rock & roll group. He then realizes that this is a way that he can flush out his enemies and destroy them once & for all.
Once again, his music begins to stir the vampires, and brings Akasha to life. While Lestat and his band are performing in Los Angeles, all hell starts to break loose. Realizing that she has to do something Jesse, (Played by Marguerite Moreau; that girl from the Mighty Duck movies), goes back to her vampire aunt and her friends to help destroy Akasha. Do they succeed, or does does Aakasha raise more hell? I'm not gonna tell you.
This film strayed away from it's predecessor way too much. When I first heard about this, there were rumors that this might go direct-to-video, and I think it should have. But witht the death of Aaliyah, I think the producers saw this as another Brandon Lee-Crow type thing. With Aaliyah gone and all that, I also expected her character to be a little more spookie, she was not. But this movie works just on the mere fact that Aaliyah was killed in real life and is playing the Queen of the undead in her final performance. Unfortunately, this does not save the film from it's rating that I will give it. I think that this would have not only been better as a direct-to-video movie but would have been served better as a prequel, instead of a sequel. There is no reference made to Louie, or any of the other vampires in the firs one. Yes Aaliyah, your fans miss you and I loved you in "Romeo Must Die," but I think you could have done a lot better. One final note to anyone thinking of making a movie like this: If the title is going to be something like "The Queen Of The Damned," involve the queen in the story a little more often. Final rating: 5.
"The Timemachine"
Allright all of you H.G. Wells fans, your time, & movie has come. However, there are so many things in the movie that are much different than the novel itself, (but isn't that always the case?). Some of the things are different is that the setting is New York City, and the reason for attempting time travel is to change the past.
"The Timemachine" starts off with Alexander Heartdegen ,(Guy Pearce; The Count Of Monte Cristo, Rules Of Engagement) a dedicated professor at Columbia in the year 1895. One night, he runs so far behind that he almost forgets about his date with Emma, (Played by Sienna Guillory), with whom he plans to marry. However, things take an unexpected turn for the worst when the two are robbed, and Emma is murdered.
The murder fuels Alexander's obbsession with time travel to reverse the past. Despite his friends' David Philby's, (Mark Addy; A Knights Tale, The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas) beggings and pleadings to stop what he would call "foolishness" and get on with his life, Alexander feels he must continue. After many years of work & research, he succeeds and gets his timemachine. Of course, his first order of business is to travel back in time to save Emma. He goes back 4 years to save her and almost does, unfortunately, poor Emma gets trampeled.
Alexander's next quest is to then have this question answered: "Why can't I change the past?" In order to answer this question, he feels the answer maybe in the future. So he propels himself to the year 2030 and finds that New York is much different than his time. One of the things he cannot grasp is a hollographic image, (Orlando Jones; Double Take, The Replacements). After Alexander tries to get some answers out of him, he realizes that 2030 is not the year for this answer. He goes ahead a few more years only to find out that the moon is destroying the earth. While he is attempting to escape, he gets a nasty bump on his head and accidently propels himself 800,000 years into the future and finds out that we are back to the stone age and finds out that Earth is ruled by two groups of people: The Eloi, (the nice ones), and the Morlocks, (Hideous creatures). The Morlocks come out at night and kidnap the Eloi for food.
After seeing Mara, (Played by singer Samantha Mumba), get kidnapped Alexander wants to know why the people don't fight back. So, naturally, he takes it upon himself to lead the people to fight back and rescue Mara. When he rescues Mara he meets the leader of the Morlocks Uber-Morlock, (Jeremy Irons; Dungeons & Dragons, Lolita), who answers Alexanders question. If you want to know what happens next, you have to go see the movie itself.
Now, once again, I did not read the novel. But I do believe that Simon Wells made great-grandpa proud. Yes, Simon Wells is the great-grandson of H.G. Wells. But I had to disagree with my fellow critics because I think that this movie gives us the real possibility of time travel in the future. Unlike past time travel movies, like Timecop, I think that this is a much more realistic look at time travel. And it also teaches us an important lesson: Now matter how much we want it to be different, the past must remain the past. But we can change our future. My final rating: 8.
"Jason X"
If you really thought that "Friday The 13th" was gone for good, what the hell were you thinking? But as the old saying goes, "If you've seen one you've seen them all." That holds quite true for this one.
"Jason X" starts in the year 2010. Jason, (Kane Hodder; Jason Goes To Hell; Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhatten), is back on his old stomping grounds, Crystal Lake. However, it has become a research facility and he is wanted there quite badly. And the person who sent to pursue him is Dr. Rowan, (Lexa Doig). After she is successful in capturing him the plan is to cryogenically freeze him so he can no longer kill people. But the director of the facility will have none of that. His plan is to keep him like he is so that people can see him, and rake in the dough. That, of course, doesn't go quite so well with Jason. Once he escapes and kills everyone except for the good doctor, he gets trapped in the freezing machine. But before he gets frozen, he stabs the doctor with his machette causing her to pass out, and an accident which leaves her frozen with Jason. Fast forward now to the year 2455. Earth has become obselete. Nothing has survived, except for the two specimens. A research group from space lands on earth at Camp Crystal Lake and discovers the two specimens and bring them on board. I don't need to tell you what happens after that.
Okay, I will admit, I have been a big fan of "Friday The 13th". But lets face the facts: This is an old franchise that has worn out it's welcome. I have loved every single one of the movies. Now this one, I can respect, but not love. All of the tricks that are used in this movie ain't much different than from the horror movies in the '80s. Unlike a film like "Jeepers Creepers" where lots of new stuff was used in the horro movie genre, this one stuck with what worked in the '80s. But in todays world that just does not work. Now, while there is some really cool stuff that is done, I don't want to give it away, lots more could have been done because the setting was in the years 2010 and 2455, and they were in space too. The same weapons were used, most commonly is Jason's machette. The weapons that were used in space by the passengers, probably have already been made. Like all movies though, there are some good things about this. I loved the upgrade that Jason got it should have been used more. I liked the holographic images that were used to confuse Jason. There are a couple of other things that I liked but if I told you, it would be giving away some secrets.
Here's the bottom line: Even if you are still really into "Friday The 13th," wait for video or pay-per-view. Final Rating: 3.5
"Spiderman"
Ok, next to "Star Wars Episode II," this is perhaps the second most highly anticipated summer blockbuster. And with this just being the first plate, the other helpings look good too.
"Spiderman" is based on the Marvel Comic Books series created by Stan Lee, (duh)! The one thing that separtes this one from previous comic book movies, with the exception of "Spawn," this one has a lot more computer animation. And might I say it was brilliantly done.
"Spiderman" introduces us to Peter Parker, (Toby Maguire; Cats & Dogs, The Cider House Rules), a nerdy high school student who is picked on and looked down on by everybody. Everybody that is except for Mary Jane Watson, (Kirsten Dunst; The Virgin Suicides, Interview With The Vampire), who is a hottie. Peter's class is on a tour of a science lab which happen to contain 15 gentically enhanced spiders, but there is only 14 in the cage. Mary Jane being the observant one, makes this note. Young Peter wants to take her picture for the school newspaper. But as he does, he gets bitten by the 15th spider. Peter notices the side effects as soon as he gets home when he realizes he has a lot more muscle. Things get a little stranger the next morning when he can see without needing his glasses. The biggest change he notices is when he gets into a fight with the school jock, and he kicks the jocks' ass.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, scientist Norman Osborn is busy developing stuff for the army but things aren't going quite so well. Things are so bad that the armys general threatens to give their contract to another lab, but Dr. Osborne will have none of that. He really wants the contract so bad that he wants testing done on himself. Despite his assitants pleading, they go ahead with the testing; things don't go quite so well. The experiment-gone-bad causes the good scientist to start hearing voices and he ultimately becomes "The Green Goblin." Things take a turn for the worse when The Goblin starts to take over Normans body. The relationship with his son starts to go sour, especially when him and Mary Jane start dating.
As far as the rest, I'm not going to say anything else because I do not want to give away too many secrets. But anticipate "Spiderman" and "The Green Goblin" to do battle again probably in about 2004.
If "Star Wars" did not come out this summer, this would probably be the best and highest grossing film of the year. There have been so many comic book heroes that have come alive in the big screen over the last 13 years. Most notably have been "Batman," "Blade," "Spawn," and now "Spiderman." I had a very hard time finding any flaws in this movie. This movie goes much more in depth to Peter Parkers life outside of being "Spiderman." It focuses on Peters's relation ship with Aunt May & Uncle Ben. When a terrible accident happens to Ben, Peter's new powers are put into perspective and he then realizes what he must do with his powers. One thing that separates this movie from previous comic book movies is that "Spiderman" himself is computer generated in a lot of the action seqeunces, and he would have to be with all of the stunts that he can do. Director Sam Raimi picked the perfect actor to play the goblin. Willem Dafoe is one of the few actors in Hollywood who has a very menacing look on his face that he looks like a bad guy in real life. There is one thing that reminded me so much of "Batman Returns" that I absolutely loved. Do you remember in that movie when Batman & Catwoman would beat the snot out of each other but would then become lovers with their alter-egos. Well, this reminded me a lot of that except there were no lovers this time. Harry Osborn and Peter Parker, and on occasion Norman Osborn, would be the best of friends in the daytime. But they would beat the hell out of each other at night.
I absoultely loved this movie. Next "Star Wars," this will be the highest grossing movie of the year. Final rating: 10.
"Unfaithful"
Allright, while I normally get all excited about movies like this, I would have been better off just watching "Fatal Attraction" again. However, despite that opinion, this is somewhat different than that.
I don't really need to tell you what "Unfaithful" is about, all you have to do is look at the title to figure that out. But this time, this goes beyond the affair and the consequences that happen. Normally, these types of consequences that happen here, don't happen in real life. But that's the movies for you right?
"Unfaithful" is about a wife Connie Sumner, (Diane Lane; The Glass House, Hardball), who is stuck in a boring sparkless marriage with husband Edward, (Richard Gere; The Mothman Prophecies; Pretty Woman). When one day she has a chance encounter with a very handsome stranger Paul, (Olivier Martinez), and scrapes her knee. Paul offers to help take care of her scrapes but obviously has more on his mind. While Connie is tempted, she resists. She later comes back to buy a book from him and you know what happens next. Edward eventually gets suspicious and hires a PI to follow her around. His worst fear comes true. Instead of first confronting his wife he confronts the lover. And in an act of rage, kills the lover. Once Connie figures out what he has done, she helps him to cover it up.
Now I did like "Unfaithful." But I could have saved a lot of time just watching "Fatal Attraction" again. Both films are very similar in many ways. They have the same director, a person has an affair, a family gets hurt, the affair dies. But unlike previous movies like "Fatal Attraction", "Body Of Evidence", or "Indecent Proposal", this movie has nothing to do with obsession. It more focuses on the consequences of an affair. Someone will always get hurt and, in some cases, killed. In past movies, the lover becomes obsessed with the husband/wife, such is not the case here. While Diane Lane and Richard Gere give real powerful performances, I think this will become known as "The Fatal Attraction" for this generation. This is where the huge deduction comes from. This film never establishes it's own identity. I have compared this as a cross between that one movie and "Basic Instinct." "Basic Instinct" dealt with obsession and wanting what one could never have for themselves. There are no twists in this film. You know going in what happens. The ending is a little dumb but I can honestly give this one a 7.5.
"Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones"
Only 3 more years until the conclusion. It only will have taken about 25 years to get here. Like most middle movies of a trilogy, you get what you expect to get from this movie.
Episode II picks up 10 years after Epsiode I with Obi Wan Kenobe, (Ewan McGregor; Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Eye Of The Beholder), as the Jedi Master training young Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen; Life As A House). They are given the same assignment as they had in the first movie, protect Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman; Star Wars Episode I; Where The Heart Is). This time she is a senator because her terms as Queen had ran out. But someone in the Galactic Empire wants her dead. So the Jedi counsel sends Obi Wan on a mission to find out who wants Padme dead, and giving young Skywalker the assignment of protecting Padme. While he is doing his assignment, he finds himself falling in love with her. But with every passing day, Anakin is becoming more frustrated. He misses his mother, and he feels that Obi Wan is holding him back from becoming a Jedi master. Throw love into the mix, it's not a good combination. Anakin decides to go back to Tatooine to rescue his mother, only to be too late. She dies in his arms. In a blind rage, he kills everyone in the camp.
Meanwhile, while Obi Wan investigates who is behind Padme's assisnation attempt, he finds a force that is threatning the Republic and forcing the Jedi to make decisions to save the universe. The ending is, and is not, quite what you expect. Tune in in the year 2005 for the exciting conclusion!
I don't know what more you could expect from the middle man of a trilogy. What exactly would you now call this series? A triple-trilogy perhaps? I pretty much got what I expected from this movie. But what I did not expect was the movie to focus more on the love story between Anakin and Padme. The transformation into Vader is gradually surfacing. Anakin's hurt, anger, and frustration is growing all of the time. But I was quite disappointed of the lack of action sequences in this one. That's what a large part of the Star Wars franchise has been about. But I almost excuse that because Anaking falling in love is a part of his transformation into Vader. Because it is in the Jedi' code that a Jedi shall not love, and Anakin defies all of that. But this is still a good movie. This could very well knock off Spiderman. Final Rating: 8.5
"Enough"
Ok, I have read some of the other reviews of this movie, and this one is not that bad. I don' have much of an open for this so I will just get right to it.
"Enough" first introduces us to Slim, (Jennifer Lopez; Angel Eyes, The Cell), a single waitress working along side her best friend Ginny (Played by Juliette Lewis). When Slim goes to serve a very charming & handsome customer, (Noah Wylie; TV's ER), he appears to be the man of her dreams. But the gentleman sitting right behind him, (Billy Campbell, The Rocketeer), asks him "how much was the bet for?" As it turns out, Slim was a bet to try and get in her pants. So thinking that this customer is her night in shining armor, she marries him. By the way, the guys name is Mitch. The first few years of the marriage are good, but Slim then begins to suspect her husband of cheating. Her fear comes true when Mitch's pager buzzes and slim calls the number. When Slim trys to confront Mitch about this, he simply tells her "I make the money, I can do what I want. If I want you, I will have you." I am paraphrasing of course. And Mitch then proceeds to beat the hell out of her. After this continues for awhile, Slim gets the courage to leave. Slim & Gracie barely escape with their lives when they do leave, but Mitch warns her that he will find her. So Slim does everything she can possibly do to get rid of Mitch. She changes her name, appearance, cuts her hair, changes her hair color, etc. But what she forgets is that this is the information age, and no matter where she goes or what she does, Mitch is able to track her down.
So slim decides that she has had enough. Enough running all the time, hiding, & changing her appearance. So with the help of her friends, she hides her child and hires someone to look like her so she can take kickboxing lessons. She has one month to learn as much as she can before Mitch gains sole custody of Gracie. And when she has been fully trained, she sets the other part of her plan in motion. Does she succeed? Only one way to find out.
I don't think you need to be a genius to figure out that this is one of those "chick-in-pms" type movies. Now, while I normally loathe these types of movies, I actually liked this one. I would anticipate this movie to be on Lifetime within 3 years. But this is where a huge problem arises. This movie is so cliche. If you are an avid watcher of Lifetime, (believe me, I am not), a lot of their movies revolve around the same thing. Now while I am not promoting domestic violence, I am very much against it, if you have seen one movie about this topic, you have seen them all. But it's different then typical made-for-tv movie. In the made-for-tv movies, the women usually let the court system take care of the abusive husband. J. Lo takes things into her own hands because she realizes that she can't win in the court systems. The other thing that I didn't like was the choice for the bad guy. While Billy Campbell did well in this movie, I think Noah Wylie would have been a better choice. In one scene when Slim is hiding in Michigan, Noah Wylie's character tracks her down. When he finds her, he gives a really nice evil look. Billy Campbell does not have a real menacing look that convinced me he could be a bad guy. On the plus side, I did not like his show "Once & Again." Billy Campbell is a good actor, but he is not capable of playing a good bad guy. However, he can play a good chauvinistic pig. Here you go: You've got kind of a weak dialog, good story, average acting; when you combine those three things you get this rating: 5.5
Rating system:
10: Excellent
7-9.5: Good
5-6.5: Fair
0-4.5: Poor
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