2003 Movie Reviews
Lord
of the Rings: The Return of the King
Halleluiah!! This film is absolutely
flawless and breathtaking. Peter
Jackson has finished his trilogy with a
bang. This movie is definitely a
fitting end to the three part series and
what an end. We continue on the journey
towards Mordor and the end of Sauron.
Not only are the action sequences and
battle scenes outstanding but there is
still more character development that
goes on and gives us more of an inside
on all of the characters. The character
that definitely comes into his own in
this film and shines is Sam Gamgee
played by Sean Austin, he is in essence
the true hero in this epic tale. The
cinematography and camera moments keep
the audience entranced in the story. If
there is any justice in the world,
Return of the King should get best
picture and best director Oscars.
Grade: A+
Haunted Mansion
My love for movies
based on theme park attractions stops
with Haunted Mansion. This film tries
to get the feel of the ride by adding
certain scenes that are in the
attraction but that is as far as it
goes. I was so excited to see this film
after the excellent job done with
Pirates of the Caribbean, but this moved
failed miserably. Eddie Murphy stars as
an annoying real estate agent who tries
to sell Gracie Mansion aka the haunted
mansion. As soon as Murphy's character
enters the mansion this movie takes a
turn for the worst using jokes and plot
points from a hundred other haunted
mansion movies. I think I would have
liked this movie if I was 5 and Eddie
Murphy was not cast in the lead role.
Grade: C-
Master & Commander
Russell Crowe starts as Jack Aubrey, one
of the Navy's finest sea captains. This
film is the first based on Patrick
O'Brian's hugely successful novels based
on Captain Aubrey and the British Navy
during the Napoleonic Wars. I am sure
that more films will follow based on the
success on Master & Commander. Captain
Jack Aubrey's ship is bodily damaged at
the beginning of this film and it is up
to Aubrey to save his crew and stop his
enemy on a mission that can decide the
fate of a nation. Crowe does a
exemplary job playing Aubrey and fits
the role perfectly. The special effects
are quite good for this type of film and
it keeps the viewer fully entertained
throughout the entire film. This is a
historic swashbuckling adventure that is
definitely a must see.
Grade: B+
Elf
Ever since I first
saw Will Farrell in the Night at the
Roxbury I knew that he would make it
big. He has stared in the two funniest
comedies of the year, Old School
and now Elf. The film was originally
supposed to star Jim Carrey, but he
decided not to do it before
pre-production. This film only works
because of Will Farrell. The film is
about Buddy, a human who is raised in
the North Pole by elves. Buddy finds
out that he is adopted and travels to
New York to find his real father (James
Caan). The story is a classic fish out
of water story but only Farrell could
pull it of playing like an innocent
child in the city for the first time.
The expressions on his face are what add
to the innocence of his character. The
film also plays tribute to old Christmas
specials such as Rudolph the Red Nose
Reindeer or Frosty the Snowman.
The film is directed by
Jon Favreau
who directed and starred in Swingers and
Made. This film is a definite must see
for the winter holiday season and will
unquestionably make a star out of Will
Farrell.
Grade: A-
The
Matrix Revolutions
The journey through the
matrix is finally over with the final
film in the trilogy. The
Wachowski
Brothers
finish what
they began in 1999 with the original
Matrix film. The film starts Keanu
Reeves as Neo, Carrie-Ann Moss as
Trinity and Lawrence Fishburne returns
as Morpheus. This film starts where
Matrix Reloaded ends and the fight
to save Zion intensifies. The tag line
for this film was, "Every thing that has
a beginning, has an end," it seems that
this movie did not head its own slogan.
One of the greatest downfalls for this
movie was its ending. If you expect
this movie to tie up all the lose ends,
you will be disappointed. Although the
CGI effects and action sequences are
grand they do not compare to those in
Reloaded. Hugo Weaving returns as Agent
Smith and it seems that he
single-handily saved this movie. The
Agent Smith character is perhaps the
most interesting entity in the entire
Matrix universe. Jada Pinkett Smith's
character Niobe also plays a bigger part
in this film and seems to fit in her
role more comfortably than she did in
Reloaded. I think that the first two
movies set up for a huge ending to the
trilogy, but Revolutions did not deliver
and this is where it failed.
Grade: B-
Kill
Bill Vol. I
This is Quentin
Tarantino's
fourth film and it seems that with each
film he feels more comfortable with his
directing style. It seems that in
making this film Tarantino threw
everything he knew about film into this
project. Kill Bill is laced with
references to past films that spans
across different genres. It even
includes bits from anime to help explain
the story of one of the assassins. The
story itself is a story about revenge,
Uma Thurman plays "The Bride" and hunts
down members of her former gang for
trying to kill her. The action
sequences in this film are phenomenal
and are true to older Asian films with
more reliance on ancient weapons such as
the Samurai sword. The only fault in
this film is its abrupt ending. This
movie was originally intended to be one
long film, but producers decided to cut
it into two parts with the later
premiering in February of 2004.
Grade: B+
Underworld
I first saw the
trailer for this film a few months ago
and I was somewhat intrigued. It looked
like a Matrix meets Blade type of film.
This movie delivers on everything that
it promised in the trailer and more.
Kate Beckinsale stars as a vampire
leading a battle against werewolves that
has been going on for the better part of
a century. The action sequences are
quite elaborate and the story gets
intricate at times. This is
Len Wiseman's first
time directing a feature film and he
will have no problem getting more gigs.
The cinematography and music are what
really set the tone for the story and it
makes you feel as if you are involved in
this world. The only real downside to
this picture is the ending which sets up
a sequel. I guess they presumed it
would do well at the box-office.
Grade: B
Pirates
of the Caribbean
This movie was
absolutely AWESOME!!! I have been
waiting for this film for a year now and
been following the progress of it since
last year. This movie definitely lives
up to the ride at Disneyland. I might
mention that Pirates of the Caribbean
has been my favorite ride since I was a
kid and I was not thrilled about the
idea of making a movie of this ride,
especially after the Country Bears
bombed so badly in the box office. A
great thing about this movie is that it
incorporates a lot of the ride into the
movie which adds to the flavor. The
director of this film is Gore Verbinski
who also directed The Ring. The movie
stars Kiera Knightly (Bend it Like
Beckham), Orlando Bloom (Lord of the
Rings), and Johnny Depp (Edward
Scissorhands). Johnny Depp steals the
show from all of the other actors and
deserves an Oscar nomination. Another
actor who does an excellent job is
Geoffrey Rush who plays the captain of a
cursed crew who are searching for a last
piece of gold to end their curse. I
definitely recommend this movie and I am
glad I did not use the word
swashbuckling to describe it.
Grade: A+
The
Matrix Reloaded
The second film in the Matrix trilogy
opened with a bang and lives up to the
expectations of the first film. It
seems that many people either hated or
loved this film. I am one of those who
actually loved it. Many will agree that
the first half hour was pretty much slow
and pointless. The action sequences
were absolutely fabulous and raised the
bar form the first film. One of the
reasons that many people might not have
liked it is because the bar was raised
so high on the first film. All of the
actors are back in this film and the
battle for Zion continues with some new
twists and turns. Many people might be
turned off by the abrupt ending but
don't worry because the final
installment will be coming out in
November. Like the first Matrix this
one will have you thinking hours after
the film is over.
Grade: A-
X-Men
2: X-Men United
Welcome to the summer of sequels, this
is the first of what promises to be a
great summer movie. X-Men 2 is in all
respects a "popcorn flick," it gives the
audience everything it is looking for in
a summer blockbuster including
spectacular effects. Bryan Singer
returns with the rest of the cast from
the first film with a few new editions
including Alan Cummings as Nightcrawler.
Although you can definitely feel the
size of this movie it does not live up
to the expectations that it could have
fulfilled. The story tries to show the
importance of the X-Men and continues a
few plot points from the first film
(i.e. Wolverines quest). I was not
impressed by this film and even found it
slow at times, Singer had years of plot
lines and characters to incorporate from
years of X-Men comic books such as the
Beast or Gambit but failed to do so and
only made a movie that could have been
better. Alan Cummings and Patrick
Stewart save this film as well as Hugh
Jackman funny as ever.
Grade: B-
Ghosts of
the Abyss
This film was not
a wide release film, but is only playing
in selected IMAX and special 3-D
theaters. I am a huge fan of the
Titanic so I absolutely loved this
film. This film chronicles director
James Cameron's journey to the bottom of
the ocean to get a closer glimpse of the
legendary liner, Titanic. Joining him
on this adventure is Bill Paxton who
also starred in Titanic the film. Even
if you do not have a interest in Titanic
the visual effects are stunning and the
added 3-D effect makes it seem as if you
are right there with them. If you don't
catch this in theatres you are missing
out on a great movie going experience.
Grade: A+
Chicago
This is rookie director Rob
Marshall’s first directorial feature and
he hits this one out of the ball park.
If you are a fan of musicals and
Broadway you will absolutely love this
film bar none. The Oscars it received
were very well deserved and it is a
shame that Rob Marshall did not get one
for directing. This film is set during
the roaring 1920s, with a beautiful
backdrop of Chicago. The film stars
Renee Zellweger as Roxie who dreams of
becoming a star on the stage much like
Velma Kelley played wonderfully by
Catherine Zeta-Jones. I must say that
this is the best I have seen from both
actresses. Roxie is accused for the
murder of her lover and it is Richard
Gere’s job as Billy Flynn to get her off
the hook. This film has excellent
cinematography, costumes and dance
numbers. One of the best films of 2002
and 2003. Do not miss this film it will
surely become a classic.
Grade: A
Bend it
Like Beckham
This is Gurinder Chadha’s third
feature film and she keeps getting
better with every one. This is a light
hearted comedy about a young Sikh girl,
Jasminder, who dreams of playing
professional football (soccer for you
Americans). She finds another girl who
also takes an interest in football
played by
Keira Knightley (look for her
in this summer’s Pirates of the
Caribbean) who gets Jas to join the
town’s girl’s football team.
Jasminder’s parents are against her
playing football and she tries to sneak
off to play. Much like Bhaji on the
Beach and East is East it follows in the
tradition of poking fun at Indians
living in England. Jas ultimately has
to choose between her culture and her
first love. The music and camera work
is great for a low budget film.
Although it is in limited release it
should be easy to get on video and DVD
soon enough.
Grade: B
Lord of
the Rings: The Two Towers
I
am putting this film under 2003 because
that is when I saw it, although it came
out in 2002. This film is nearly
flawless, during this film I could not
believe that I was watching a movie that
not only had a plot but was visually
stunning. The film continues where the
last one left off and does not waste
time updating the audience of what took
place in the first film. We follow
Frodo and Sam on their continuing
journey as they travel with a new
companion named Gollum. We also see two
major battles take place in the end of
this film. I thought that this movie
was by far better than the first which
is hard to say. I recommend watching
this film before it leaves theatres.
Look for the final installment Lord of
the Rings: Return of the King hitting
theatres December 2003.
Grade: A+
