Film

Movie Reviews

Here are my brief impressions of various films.

Title Year Rating/10 Review

A:

Adaptation 2002 8 From Spike Jonez comes another excellent and very off-beat film. This movie is sort of about the writing of a screenplay of this movie, and then some. It reflects on itself in clever ways, and has a number of interesting and unexpected turns (my favorite is when, in the background during a voiceover, a screenwriting teacher blasts the use of voiceovers). Cage (one of my favorite actors) performs wonderfully, giving life to the writer's conflict between wanting to finish the script yet remain true to the spirit of the book. The last third of the movie was unexpected, yet upon reflection, not so much so. Definitely a must-see!

the Aviator 2004 8 Despite my general distaste for Hollywood blockbusters, this one was quite entertaining and didn't suffer from much of the "wink wink aren't we a clever and expensive film" introspection that irritates the heck out of me in many films of its type. DiCaprio's portrayal of Howard Hughes was nuanced and thoughtful (although Blanchett's Hepburn was overdone and affected), and the special effects did exactly what they should - stay out of the way while conveying an appropriate sense of awe. The editing felt at times a little chopped up, as if they wanted to say more, but had to trim things down to fit in the 2.5 hours the film was released at. A little research after viewing and we learned that Hughes' life was even more interesting than the movie portrayed it (much like A Beautiful Mind's John Nash), but the film didn't omit anything too major during the time period covered (well, except for a marriage....). Most of the rest of the cast is very good, and the scenes between Alan Alda's corrupt senator and DiCaprio's Hughes were the films highlights for me. I agree with the academy that this was one of the better films of 2004 (though definitely not with their choice of Blanchett as best supporting acress).

B:

Barbershop 2002 2 Insipid comedy(?) about a barbershop and its barbers and customers with a full complement of stereotypes (the jovial continental african, the white boy who wants to be black, ad nauseum), and pithy lessons accentuated by sub-par acting by Ice Cube & Cedric the Entertainer. Yawn. Calvin owns the family barbershop, sells it to a sleazy loan shark to pay off real estate tax debt or some such contrivance before realizing that its really the heart of the community. There's a very annoying sub-plot about a couple of hoods trying to break open a stolen ATM machine (haha, it turns out to be empty anyways!), and in the end everything gets wrapped up all nice 'n neat-like.

Being John Malkovich 1999 9 Funny and really, really odd. Craig (John Cusack), an unemployed puppeteer, finds a portal into the mind of actor John Malkovich in his workplace on the 7 1/2th floor of an office building. His wife (Cameron Diaz, who I didn't even recognize until the credits rolled at the end) enters Malkovich's mind and decides to have a sex change operation, Craig's dangerous co-worker Maxine (Catherine Keener) toys with him mercilessly, and his boss, ancient lech Lester (Orson Bean) regales him with lewd fantasies. And then it gets weird :) I love this movie - its eccentric, humorous, and has some interesting discourse on the nature of relationships. There are some great cameos, the scene where Malkovich enters his own mind is amazing, and Malkovich plays himself with an amazing tolerance. Not to be missed!

Bend It Like Beckham 2003 6 Good feel-good movie about a young Indian girl living in London who wants to play football (soccer to us Americans). No new ground covered here, really (traditional family wants her to have a traditional upbringing, but she wants to be a typical modern London youngster, stern father turns out to have a warm heart afterall, etc), but its all fun and enjoyable enough.

Best of Youth ("La Meglio gioventu") 2003 10 Italian history from 1966 through 2003, as experienced by the Carati family, and excellently so. The characters are fully-developed, and we were made to care about them. The film's length must be mentioned, as it is 6 hours long (my local theater showed it as two separate 3-hour features, which worked well), but don't let that discourage you - especially in the second half, I didn't find myself looking at my watch even once! The movie primarily centers on the life of the Carati brothers Nicola and Matteo, from their youth, through the turbulent 70s and early 80s, and the relative calm of the 90s and early 00s, paralleling the turbulence of youth and serentiy of mid-life (well, sort of). Much is un-spoken, and there are no swelling symphonic soundtracks to tell us which scenes are dramatic, but rather the actors tell us via their nuanced performances. I've never seen anything quite like this movie. Highly recommended!

Better Luck Tomorrow 2003 4 An almost-good tale of teenage angst. Its a MTV production and shows it, with very flashy production values, but ultimately not too much substance. It started off promisingly, using the good old "start at the end of the movie" device, but dragged along and failed to make much of a point at the end. It tried to be a cool story about grade-A teenagers moonlighting as thugs & drug dealers, but wasn't quite. Oh well, better luck tomorrow, eh?

Big Fish 2003 7.5 Another visually-appealing film from Tim Burton, but this one a bit more tame than others I've seen by him. The blurring of fantasy and reality was done very well here, leaving me never quite sure what was real and what was not, even at the end, when one might have reasonably expected that things would be made clear. I liked this aspect of the film. Given the excellent cast, it's no surprise that the acting is above-par. I was hoping that the movie would be a bit darker/edgier, but as it was, an entertaining outing nonetheless.

the Bourne Identity 2002 7 Great action flick. Its pretty true to the book, which I thoroughly enjoyed when I read it many years ago. Not a breakthrough movie in any way, but very entertaining. Pretty much nonstop action from the get-go, including one of the better car chases in recent memory.

the Bourne Supremacy 2004 6 A good follow-on to the Bourne Identity. The cinematography was a little (OK, a lot) irritating at times, with too much camera shake and fast takes leaving me faintly dizzy. As with "Identity" this movie mostly eschews action film cliches and with good results. Acting is fine throughout, and the plot is allowed to develop a bit (albeit in a completely different way than in Ludlum's book on which it is based). Unlike "Identity" the main car chase was a lowlight rather than a highlight - it was too long and busy.

Bowling For Columbine 2002 9 Fantastic documentary from Michael Moore (author of the also-very-good book "Stupid White Men.") about guns and why're used to kill so many people in this country. Moore makes some really interesting and unexpected points, and scores some poignant interviews, most notably with NRA president Charlton Heston (whom I will never see the same way again), Dick Clark, and shock-rocker Marilyn Manson. This movie wasn't exactly about what I was expecting it to be about (I was expecting more-or-less a pro-gun-control movie, but that's not at all what it was).

Bride and Prejudice 2004 6 A lightweight Bollywood take on Austen's novel. It was a little weird seeing a bollywood-style movie in English, as I'm not used to understanding the song lyrics (which is usually for the best since they're very cheesy more often than not!). The story is a typical rich-boy-meets-country-girl affair with the usual initial spark followed by circumstances conspiring to keep the couple apart, followed by joyous reunion, but it's well-presented and visually interesting. There are some genuinely funny moments, particularly on a Los Angeles beach when everyone bursts into song, but it's a somewhat forgettable film overall. Aishwarya Rai fills her role well, and is certainly very easy to look at, but most of the characters are shallow and without motivation, and some potentially interesting themes about gender, culture and society are abandoned. Still, a fun date movie.

Bush's Brain 2004 5 Although my personal political views are very much on the left side of the spectrum, I found this to be a pretty boring movie that too often resorted to heartstring-tugging to try to make its point. That said, I did learn some very interesting and disturbing tidbits about Karl Rove's influence on George W. Bush from an early date. My problem is that the film consists almost entirely of talking heads remembering their experiences with Rove at one time or another, interspersed with sentimental sappiness, not making for a very interesting viewing experience, scary conservative behind-the-scenes notwithstanding.

C:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2005 9 A fabulously-imagined and rich tale, as Tim Burton was born to tell. Depp's portrayal of the eccentric Willy Wonka is weird indeed, and a good deal darker than Wilder's performance back when. Depp's Wonka is quite unused to human contact and customs. As we all should know from the book, or the classic '70s movie, the nasty children are whisked off - one by one, getting their just desserts, so to speak. Unlike the first Wonka movie, we get to see the children emerging from the factory at the and, just a little worse for the wear, and also unlike the first movie, the ending has much more depth. I thought this was a great film in pretty much every respect. Per usual, Depp made what would otherwise have been a good children's movie into something strange and appealing for all ages. One of the better films I've seen in some time.

Chicago 2002 8 Great reworking of the classic musical for the screen. Zellweger, Zeta-Jones and Gere perform excellently, as did the rest of the supporting cast. The filming is vivid and evocative. I really liked how the non-musical bits were played straight, with the musical numbers being done in fantasy. Definitely deserving of its Oscar nominations for actress, director, art direction and costume design! I'm hoping that Chicago will make another stage run at some point so I can see it in that medium too.

Cigarettes and Coffee 2004 5.5 Jim Jarmusch's somewhat high-concept B&W film consists of a bunch of vignettes featuring mostly famous people (Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, Bill Murray, Wu Tang Clan, Steve Buscemi and so on) talking mostly about cigarettes and coffee. There are a few other common threads interspersed throughout, but I found myself wishing that the theories of Tesla were more thoroughly explored. There are some pretty funny scenes, particularly Tom Waits & Iggy Pop and the Wu Tang Clan and Bill Murray, but several others fall pretty flat and the movie is over-long. I would have preferred fewer shorts with deeper connections. The film is visually appealing in an artsy sort of way, but I can't say I'd recommend it.

City Of God 2002 8 Another in the unusual (but very welcome!) series of many excellent movies to be released in late-2002/early-2003, this sober movie tells the story of children growing up in the optimistically-named "City of God," a slum in Brazil. The children take to crime and violence at a very young age, and mostly die after various lengths of time. Based on the true story of a child who grew up in the slums, took to photography, and eventually gained (at least some) fame and compensation by taking pictures during a bloody drug gang war. The direction and cinematography were very good, effectively using flashbacks and quick rewinds to unravel the story (which starts very near its end chronologically). This movie would probably have had more of an impact on me if I hadn't seen the Pianist a week earlier....

Closer 2004 5 I can't say as I understand what all the buzz about this movie is for. Although well-acted, the story isn't very creative and the characters aren't likeable. It's essentially about a womanizing writer who leaves his young muse (Natalie Portman) for a photographer (Julia Roberts), who herself winds up with a fellow sent her way as a mean joke. The endless series of each person being with, leaving, being with, leaving again the others grew tiresome and I didn't feel as though the film made much of any point in particular except for a feeble "too much honesty can be bad" bit at the end.

The Corporation 2004 8.5 An excellent examination of the roles coporations have played/are playing in the world. I've read quite a lot on the topic, so much of the film wasn't too surprising to me, but it kept my attention nonetheless. The first 45 minutes or so felt a little bit slow, but the remaining 95 minutes were well-paced. To an extent, both the anti-corporate and pro-corporate views are shown, but the bias is decidedly to the left. As an employee of a large corporation, a number of the issues raised made me think. Definitely recommended!

D:

Dancing Outlaw 1991 6 Very odd documentary about Jesco White, an hillbilly tap dancing weirdo who has 3 personalities (Jessy, Jesco, & Elvis). Its only 30 minutes long, but that's plenty long enough to disturb the viewer with his frequent threats to his wife, footage of drunken family gatherings, and semi-coherent ramblings about his sunglasses. After the documentary are 30 minutes of outtakes, including an extended rambling about sunglasses. Strange pic - somewhere between sad and funny, but definitely worth a view.

E:

The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004 8.5 A very good movie, despite starring Jim Carey, whom I generally do not care for at all. He's great here, though, and the film, like the other Kauffman movies I've seen (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) really made me think when it was over. A pretty heady rumination on life, memories, joy, pain, loss and sorrow, it manages to avoid being overly philosophical. The acting is uniformly solid and there's just the right amount of comedy and absurdity to counter-balance the brain trip. Highly recommended!

Evolution 2001 4 An OK movie, but unremarkable for the most part. It succeeded in keeping me non-bored for its duration, but didn't contribute anything to its genre. The acting was adequate, the special effects pretty darned good actually, and the plot was ponderous. Head & Shoulders must've paid the producers off handsomely... Worth seeing on a slow night on cable, but not otherwise. Men In Black and Mars Attacks did this genre (sci-fi/comedy) in a vastly superior fashion.

F:

Fahrenheit 9/11 2004 8 Michael Moore's scathing documentary about the Bush family's ties to Saudi Arabia in general, and the Bin Laden family in particular. Liberal or conservative, this movie is sure to make you mad, though for very different reasons. Some of the facts in this movie surprised me, but sadly, many others did not. I thought Moore showed more restraint than he did in Bowling For Columbine, with few guerrila interviews and substantially less humor. One lenghty interlude of a woman reading her son's last letter from Iraq before being killed played the heart strings too hard for my liking, but I found the movie poignant and well-done otherwise. I was surprised and enheartened that this movie topped the charts upon its release.

The Fast and the Furious 2001 2 Some fun cinematography and car race scenes can't save this stinker - very bad acting, dialogue, and scripting, but hey, it has lots of fast cars, fast women and things blowing up.... And no, I wasn't expecting it to be any good :)

Finding Neverland 2004 8 An engaging but ultimately sad romance story, told in an unconventional way. Johnny Depp can do no wrong (well almost) in my book, and Kate Winslet's performance is excellent to boot. The direction, set and costumes are spot-on, and the pacing is delightfully unrushed. I'll not say much more so as not to spoil it, but it's one of the better recent films in my book. Although I quite enjoyed it, Sarah found it a little bit manipulative and cheesy, so the more jaded among us, beware.

Fong Sai Yuk (AKA "The Legend") 1993 8 (movie)
4 (dubbing) This Hong Kong kung fu movie features some great choreography with Jet Li, Josephine Siao, beautiful set design & cinematography, and, I assume, a solid plot. That said, the dubbed version I saw is horrible. Its simply impossible to ignore its awfulness. I understand that the non-dubbed Chinese version is a fair bit longer as well. I haven't liked any of the American Jet Li movies I've seen ("Romeo Must Die" was pretty bad), but he was great in this, and clearly knows his moves. Now I really want to see the original, un-edited, un-dubbed version.

G:

Gorgeous 1999 4 This Jackie Chan "romantic comedy" is pretty awful, with horrible dubbing and a lame plot. The too-few fight scenes, however, are really good - some of the best Jackie Chan I've seen. The filler in between the fight scenes is a love story about a rich recycling plant owner (??), played by Chan, and a young woman, and a feud between Chan and a fellow who owns a company that produces styrofoam (moral of the story: styrofoam is bad, mmmmK?) and goes bankrupt and gets depressed when Chan sells his shares in the company.

Gumnaam 1965 1.5 Oh my.... This Bollywood "suspense" movie almost deserves a 9 for effort and for sheer campy'ness, except that its over 2 1/2 hours long. Some um, amazing, dancing, especially in the ballroom and dream numbers, and phenomenally bad acting, directing, scripting, and editing! Sadly, the (broken) English subtitles didn't include the songs, so we may have missed some important plot points (not bloody likely!). The sound and video on the DVD were bad, but as expected for a mid-60s Indian flick. I'm happy to own this so I can inflict it on others. Its worth having just for the first dance number (which is also included on the extra section of the DVD of "Ghost World," which is how I came to know of this gem of a movie) and the outlandish (and misleading!) theatrical trailer. For all of its length, it does very little in the character development department, and often makes no sense at all. See this movie!

H:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 2001 7 Fun adaptation of the popular (but I haven't read them) children's series by JK Rowling. Good special effects and well-cast, I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to when I was finally convinced to watch it on video. It is unfortunate that it and Lord of the Rings were released so close together, as, although they're pretty different, they're both effects powerhouses in a magical/mystical setting.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 2002 7.5 I liked this a bit better than the first Harry Potter. Here, a somewhat older Potter and his pals sleuth out the cause of a series of wizard school student petrifications (they, of course, succeed). Again laden with well-done effects (and a pretty creepy spider scene) and again well-cast (no surprise there since it's mostly the same cast as the first movie), this is a darker, more brooding movie than its predecessor. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how the series evolves.

Hero 2002 7 A good film, in the style of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but necessarily not as ground-breaking. It's, at a high level, about a plot to assasinate the ruler of the kingdom of Qui, and many intrigues are laced in it's non-linear unravelling. The fight scenes, while certainly pretty (and borrowing very heavily from the aforementioned Crouching Tiger, complete with dancing on water and treetops), aren't really the point of the film (thankfully). The somewhat convoluted timeline flows pretty well given that it jumps back and forth in time and between fantasy and reality, and the use of color to delineate various characters and times is quit well-done. I found it to be a bit of a downer overall, but I'm glad I saw it.

I:

I Heart Huckabees 2004 7 A surreal existential comedy, wherein our protagonist hires detectives to find the meaning of his "coincidence" and begins to unlock the secrets of life in the process. The story unfolds in a very quirky way and we were chuckling throughout. Not immensely memorable, but certainly enjoyable. The fact that it didn't play at all like a typical Hollywood comedy is very much to its credit.

J:

K:

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 2003 8.5 Over-the-top with action, visual effects and bathed in blood, this was actually a very fun (and dare I say, funny) first half of a revenge movie a-la Tarantino. No doubt this would have received a NC-17 rating if not for the animation and non-realism of much of the violence. The plot is a mostly straightforward one, unfolding in non-linear progression as Tarantino's films so often do. Sly references to various genres and films (including Pulp Fiction) abound, yet don't give the film a "wink wink nudge nudge" feel. As jam-packed with action as it is, it was a bit of a jolt when it just suddenly ended on a cliffhanger (at least the "Vol One" in its title gave advance warning). Very enjoyable.

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 2004 8 This second half of Tarantino's bloody tale of revenge is much more deliberate than the first, stopping to catch its breath and fill in the back story a bit more than its predecessor. Genuinely creepy in places (a live burial scene in particular), and equally funny in others (the flashback to B's martial arts training is done as a spot-on light spoof of 70's kung fu films). Although slower and less action-filled than Vol. 1, in most any other comparison, it was quite lively. Taken together, the Kill Bill films are the best of their type I've seen in a long while.

Kiss of the Dragon 2001 4 This action flick adds nothing of note to the genre, except perhaps for an acupuncture angle (which I'm unconvinced the genre benefits from), buts its entertaining enough in its own right. Its a typical good-guy-gets-framed-by-bad-guy-in-a-supposed-to-be-good-position-and-has-to-clear-his-name story and never really deviates from that formula. Li has some fine moves, and the accupuncture bits are different, if not entirely necessary. After the usual close shaves to make his escape, Li does the usual anger-building and develops a vengance motive so he can properly kick ass in the final fight. There's also the mostly irrelevant romantic interest sub-plot (with a hooker (Bridget Fonda) this time). At least I learned that accupuncture has "forbidden" pricks....

L:

The Last Dragon 1985 2 Oh my.... Mowtown exec Barry Gordy's mid-80's campy, unholy marriage between a Bruce Lee movie (pick one, any one), and "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!" is truly terrible, mostly in an entertaining way (and serves as a useful reminder of all that was wrong with that decade). I won't bother with commentary about plot or acting, as those are irrelevant to this movie. If you liked "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" you'll undoubtedly like this.

Living In Oblivion 1995 6.5 Campy send-up of low budget filmmaking. Steve Buscemi plays a frustrated director, suffering a buffoonish prima-donna, an actress he has a crush on, a prima-donna cameraman, surly dwarf, and a host of other problems. In the end, of course, it all works out and everybody lives happily ever after, but its a fun ride.

Lost In Translation 2003 6.5 As is usually the case with much-hyped movies, I walked away a little disappointed with this film. Sort of a slice of life flim about directionless Americans living in Japan, I didn't have any real sense of closure or lessons learned at the end. Bill Murray's portrayal of a lost faded film star is good, as is everyone else's, but I couldn't help but wonder about a film whose comic relief elements (and this movie definitely needed comic relief!) primarily involved laughing about how different the Japanese are from Americans (the hooker scene, however, was genuinely funny).

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2002 7 Not quite as good as "The Fellowship of the Ring," but highly entertaining nonetheless. Gollum is a marvel of computer animation, with much more expressiveness and depth than any CGI character yet seen. The story suffers somewhat from being the middle piece of a large epic tale, and thus doesn't really have a start or an end. The battle scenes are huge, engaging, and very well-done. The purists will no doubt dislike some of the deviations from the book, but, book fan though I am, the changes didn't really bother me at all.

Lord of the Rings: Return of the Kings 2003 8.5 Excellent follow-up to last year's LOTR:TT. I actually enjoyed it more (likewise the corresponding book). This was the only one of the "Ring" trilogy where I did not even once look at my watch to see how long it was 'til the end. The battle scenes were among the best yet committed to film, and the various ends left un-tied in LOTR:TT were nicely re-wound. Tolkien devotees will undoubtedly complain about the lack of Saruman, the missing "cleansing of the Shire" and other such minutae from the book, but let's face it - only a dozen or so people would actually want to watch a completely verbatim translation of the book to the screen.

M:

The Matrix Reloaded 2003 7 Very entertaining sequel to the Matrix, which I loved, as any geek should. With the big "whoa" already dealt with by the first film, this packed less of a punch, but there's a lot of action, nice geeky pseudo psycho-babble, and great effects. The ending is quite the cliffhanger, obviously prepping us to drop another $10 in 11/03 for "the Matrix Revolutions." In a few places, the slowmo effect was overdone, and a few scenes were a little belabored, but I enjoyed it quite a bit and will undoubtedly see it in the theater once again.

Mean Creek 2004 8 An excellent and somber coming of age tale. Feel-good? Hell no. The cast's performances are uniformly believable, capturing effectively the innocence and foolishness of youth. Every character is at once somewhat sympathetic, yet also deeply flawed in one way or another. The story is basically about a plot to get even with a school bully. Said plan, naturally, goes horribly wrong, and we're left with no resolution as to the eventual fate of our characters (this is a good thing - wrapping everything up in a tidy little package would have ruined this film). We're left un-knowing, just like them. The cinematography and direction do an excellent job of setting the mood. Recommended.

A Mighty Wind 2003 7 Funny faux documentary about a reunion concert of three (non-existent, but obviously concocted from bits & pieces of real folks groups) folk bands (Mitch & Micky, the Folksmen, and the New Main Street Singers) to honor a recently deceased promoter. Its engaging throughout its 87 minutes and rarely hits a false note, although its not a laugh from beginning to end. The Folksmen bits were my favorites, but it was all a good-natured send-up of the folk genre. What few song lyrics I made out were really funny and over-the-top, delivered completely deadpan. All and all a fun and better-than-average movie!

Million Dollar Baby 2004 9.5 A superb drama, directed with rare subtlety by Clint Eastwood, and acted admirably by himself, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. A deliberate pace, punctuated by rather graphic boxing scenes leads to a finale that is totally unimaginable in the first half of the film. This is one of the best dramas I've seen in quite some time and is told as a straightforward story, narrated by Freeman, filmed with hard, gritty and often dark, light. To say too much would ruin the movie, so I'll leave it at this, but it's absolutely deserving of the acclaim it's receiving.

Monsoon Wedding 2001 10 I'd been eagerly waiting for this movie to make it to my neck of the woods after reading reviews of it online, and it surely didn't disappoint! Nair's film is a wonderful slice of life, taking us through the trials and tribulations of a Punjabi family as they prepare for the wedding of their only daughter. Money troubles, infidelity, sexual abuse, family duty, and marriage (of course!) are all examined here, and to great effect. The cinematography is excellent. It felt like I was an unseen observer in the goings-on. The costumes were gorgeous, especially the wedding gown, and the acting is all good-to-excellent. See this movie!

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2002 7 An enjoyable romantic comedy about a Greek woman who falls for a non-Greek man and gets engaged to him. Most of the movie is about her large, loud Greek family and their resistance to her marrying someone who isn't Greek. Nowhere near as good as Monsoon Wedding, but more lighthearted, and worth a see.

N:

O:

O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2000 6 A decent movie about some convicts who escape and their escapades trying to get to a buried treasure before it's reclaimed by the creation of a hydroelectric lake. Were it not for the superb soundtrack, it would be much less memorable. George Clooney looks like he's having entirely too much fun as a smarmy con-man, John Goodman makes an interesting appearance as a one-eyed heavy, and a number of goofy incidents take place through the course of the movie, but ultimately it's not all that substantial.

P:

Panic Room 2002 6 Jodie Foster (one of my favorite actresses) is a newly-separated woman who moves into a fabulous NY brownstone with her diabetic daughter. The house has a "panic room" (hence the name of the movie), an "inpenetrable" room where the residents can retreat if threatened. Shortly after moving in, they're threatened and just make it into the room before the baddies get them. Inconveniently, the phone in the panic room isn't hooked up, and they play a waiting game to see what it is the intruders want. It turns out what they want is in the panic room - bummer for the locked-in family. This movie is pretty good. The acting is uniformly good, and the cinematography is very interestingly-done. The direction suffers from some too-heavy-handed suspense building (like when she almost has her cellphone in reach, the accidentally kicks it just a little bit farther), but only in a few places. I'm not super-big into modern suspense movies (I far prefer Alfred Hitchcock's style of suspense building), but as far as they go, this one wasn't bad.

the Pianist 2002 9.5 An emotionally exhausting film from Roman Polanski about a Polish concert pianist's experience during WWII before, during, and after the relocation of over 360,000 Polish jews into ghettos. Everything about this movie is exceptional. Its difficult to watch in many places, and is quite graphic and violent (as its subject matter demands). The story is true, based on pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's autobiography, and is even more poignant when one considers that Roman Polanski himself escaped a Nazi ghetto at the age of 8. Adrien Brody's performance as Szpilman is nearly flawless and totally believable. Rather than a hero, he's a survivor, smiled upon by the fates. The music is wonderful, primarily Chopin, Bach, and Beethoven, and the real pianist whose fingers are on the keys is a virtuoso. There is no heightened sense of drama here, no romance sub-plot (at least not after the first 10 minutes), no moralizing, just a bleak and often painful tale of a man trying to stay alive against terrible odds. While there's no shortage of Holocaust movies around, this, along with Schindler's List (though I prefer the Pianist), are the best.

Q:

R:

Rabbit-Proof Fence 2002 8 Wonderful movie based on the true story of two girls who escaped from state-imposed and walked the length of Australia to return to their village. Wonderfully acted, especially by the three child leads, and lushly filmed, this movie was great to watch. It was amazing to me that Australia had the policies it did for so long (basically any half-aborigine children were taken by the state and trained to be "white" or as servants), but I suppose I shouldn't be so shocked. Peter Gabriel's soundtrack is excellent to boot.

The Recruit 2003 7 A fun action/thriller movie with many twists (in fact, there's almost nothing that is not a twist). Colin Farrell and Al Pacino perform very well. I almost got a little tired of the "trust nothing" mantra, and the cinematography was a little heavy handed in the nostalgic imagery (particularly in its repeated focusing on the CIA's memorial to the unnamed lost-in-action), but I enjoyed the movie a good deal. Pacino was a bit less blustery than usual, and for the most part, the action is in our heads rather than explicitly on-screen. As with any movie featuring anything even remotely techhie, and me being something of a geek, the computer shots were funny in a "yeah right" sort of way. They were using a version of MOS (the non-existent "Movie OS") I've not seen before, and I thought it was cool to see the great internet browser, Opera featured in one shot.

S:

The Saddest Music In The World 2004 8 A highly original and quirky film by Guy Maddin. A beer baronness (Isabella Rossellini) holds a $25,000 contest to hear the saddest music in the world. Amazingly un-feeling and sleazy Chester (Mark McKinney) enters, representing the US, his father Fyodor (David Fox) for Canada, and to both of their surprise, his brother Roderick (Ross McMillan) for Serbia. Roderick is a bit loony, carrying around the heart of his dead son, pickled in his own tears, sensitive to light, sound and touch, and bereft of his lovely wife, Narcissa, who coincidentally, is having a fling with Chester on the orders of her tapeworm. The cinematography is black and white, and just wonderful. Mostly a pretty funny movie, it isn't without its serious moments, but all are weird. Delightfully off-the-beaten-track!

The Scent of Green Papaya 1993 6.5 A pretty, if somewhat unsatisfying, movie about a young Vietnamese servant, Mui, and her life growing up with the family she worked for. The cinematography was very good, as was the acting, but the pacing felt a bit off, and many sub-plots and characters were simply dropped. The first half of the film chronicles Mui's girlhood, the second her womanhood, culminating in her marriage to a rich westernized man. There was little dialogue (nearly all of it from the women), which lent it an artsy feel, but I left the movie with too many questions about unfinished plots and abandoned characters.

Scorpion King 2002 3 WWF's "The Rock" is a warrior from an ancient order, tasked with killing the sorceress Cassandra (Kelly Hu) of the evil king Memnon. Said sorceress is, of course, a babe, and spends most of the movie in various states of semi-dress. He rescues, then is rescued by, a horse thief (Grant Heslov), who then tags along as the movie's comic relief. As far as testosterone-laden action flicks go, this movie isn't too bad, and thankfully doesn't take itself totally seriously. Cassandra kicks some butt here and there to keep things "equal." The script ... well, it has lines like "I'm here for the girl, and your head" - need I say more? Its a sort of fun, but overall stupid movie, worth catching on a matinee if you like mindless action films (which I sometimes do!).

Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus 2005 7.5 A visual and audio smorgasborg of the American south, as presented by musician Jim Smith, as he leads a BBC film crew on a musical tour of one of the US's more stereotyped regions. Although not a lifelong southerner himself, Smith acquits himself well as a guide, providing good voice-overs and the occasional song. The main story here is the music, and it's great. I was dissapointed to find that only about half of the songs heard in the film are available on the soundtrack (particularly an excellent version of "Rye Whisky", one of my favorite blues songs). Although this could have easily been a movie about how screwed up the south is, it by and large avoids that conclusion, preferring instead to focus on the people, their religion, and their music. Definitely worth a view if it comes to a theater near you.

Shanghai Noon 2000 5 Jackie Chan meets the western (yay?). Chan is a chinese imperial guard sent to accompnay the royal translator to Carson City, NV to deliver the ransom for the emperor's daughter Pei Pei (Lucy Liu, who looks lovely in her fancy imperial garb), who had been kidnapped by the uber-badguy, who is also working Chinese immigrants like slaves in his mines. Chan's uncle is killed in a badly-done train robbery, and Chan is on the revenge trail. The bad guys are waaaaaay overplayed (I guess that's supposed to be funny?). Jackie tokes up with some native americans after saving one of their young women from the marauding Crow, and wakes up married to her. He then meets one of the robbers (Owen Wilson) from the train an after a bit of contrivance, they're together for the journey to Carson City to rescue the princess. In the end, Chan gets the girl (Liu), and somehow his marriage to the native american girl gets nullified and Wilson gets her. The sets are pretty good, with an appropriate grimy feel to everything, and as always in a Jackie Chan movie, the fight scenes are choreographed wonderfully. Lucy Liu kicks some butt, which is nice to see. Its not a terrible movie, but its not a particularly good movie either. It would be much better if they didn't ham it up so much, plus there are some inconsistencies (in the final fight scene, 2 of the imperial guards just disappear conveniently, to reappear in after the fight is over).

Sideways 2004 7 A often-funny black comedy/drama about two bumbling men on a drinking trip to California's central coast wine country. Giamatti's portrayal of Miles' bumbling, elitist, depressed wine snop was pretty spot on and will probably cause a sag in Merlot sales state-wide and Haden Church's low-brow cad Jack comes off pretty genuinely. As an enjoyer of wine myself, I was hoping for a little more information about exactly why Merlot is the worst thing in the whole wide world, but Miles' lengthly waxing poetic about Pinot Noir was great. Although I enjoyed this movie well enough, I don't quite see what all the Academy fuss was about - it wasn't that good.

Signs 2002 4 M. Night Shyamalan's third outing has a great deal of potential, which it mostly fails to live up to, unfortunately. The acting is pretty good, however the same cannot be said about the screenplay. The movie develops rather slowly (which is fine by me - I'm patient), but also uses some annoyingly obvious plot devices ("the bad guys are all gone and we can relax... OH WAIT, THERE's ONE MORE AFTERALL!" - bleah!). There are also inexplicable flashbacks that reveal what happened to our protagonist's wife, which is totally irrelevant to the movie. On top of that, the flashbacks are very awkwardly placed and paced, and don't make any attempt at all to let you know they even are flashbacks (its obvious enough after the first one though). This movie was extra-disappointing because of its potential to be a great movie. The premise and high-level plot are quite interesting, and one would think a great film could be made from them. Alas, this is not that film. There are some funny moments in the movie, without which it would be totally unbearable. Oh, and the end rather sucked as well. It must be said, however, that the movie is visually well-done. There's also something to be said for a movie about unfriendly alien visitors that isn't obsessed with splattering their guts all over the place and cutting between shots every 0.25 seconds. In fact, I really liked the pacing - it built suspence without beating you over the head with it too much. All in all a disappointing movie, though.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow 2004 5 OK action/comic book movie with a typical stop-the-madman-before-he-destroys-the-earth plot. Despite the decent cast, the acting is fair to poor, especially Paltrow, who is particularly wooden. Special effects (and there are a LOT of them) are well-done, and the film has a great moody retro-Art Deco visual style. I would have enjoyed this movie more if they'd made up their mind to either play it straight or camp it up. As it was, there was much of both, giving it an uneven feel. Many possibly interesting side-stories were left un-pursued, but all in all, it was an alright movie for what it was. I wouldn't rush out to see it again, however.

Spiderman 2002 5.5 Not a bad movie, but not as good as I was expecting/hoping either. The special effects were very good, but repetitive. Unlike the concurrently-released Star Wars Episode II, the acting was pretty good. The story was perhaps a touch simplistic, but then again, this was adapted from a comic book, so what does one expect? It obviously set itself up for a sequel at the end (ie. "I'll get you, Spiderman!"), but not in an annoying way.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones 2002 4 Terrible acting on the part of the two leads, but great action sequences, computer-generated imaging and sets. My friend and I were specualating that Lucas is surrounded by "yes-men", as nobody else could possibly have thought that the romance scenes were anything other than awful. Lines like "I die a little every time I see you" made me want to alternaltely puke or MST3K the movie. There are decent action bits scattered through the first half of the movie to make the rest of it semi-palatible. That said, the second half had me enthralled. Some have critisized Yoda's fight scene as cheesy and dervish'ish, but I liked it, and the battles were on a grand scale worthy of the Star Wars franchise (most unlike Episode One, which had, as I recall, exactly one decent battle). Jar Jar, sadly, still exists, but only briefly thank heavens! All in all, I found it worth seeing, and the fact that the last hour or so was engrossing justified the price of admission.

Starsky & Hutch 2004 6 A harmless enough comedy, if not an entirely memorable one. Character development isn't a strong point here. The plot is a typical get-the-drug-dealer one, with an prolonged cameo near the end by the original actors who played Starsky & Hutch in the TV series. Snoop Dogg plays his usual character in his usual good fashion.

The Story of the Weeping Camel 2003 8 An interesting and wonderfully-filmed slice of life in a Mongolian camel farming family's life. A young white camel is born, but is rejected by its mother for whatever mercurial reason, and the family sets about the task of getting the mother to let it nurse. Certainly not a gripping premise on paper, but it's actually quite engrossing as the story slowly unfolds. There are no special effects of any sort, few scenes, almost no music, and little talking, so my Hollywood-addled brain took a few to adjust to the pacing, but in the end, this was quite an enjoyable and memorable film. The cinematography is simply superb.

T:

Talk To Her 2002 9 Really well-done movie, expertly directed by Pedro Almodovar. The story revolves around the relationship between two men who both have women they care about living in a coma. From that seemingly less-than-gripping premise, the story builds, often flashing back to before the women were comatose, and the unique relationship between the two male leads becomes clear. Totally deserving of its 2 Oscar nominations (director and original screenplay), and it has a fantastic soundtrack. Particularly interesting (and funny) is an "old silent movie" that one of the characters watches. Less light-hearted than other Almodovar movies, it still manages to crack many smiles.

The Triplets of Belleville 2004 7 A very french animated film about ... uh ... hmm, well I'm not quite sure. There's a bicyclist who is trained for the Tour de France by his older relative and, while riding, is kidnapped by the Mafia to ride in confinement for sport & profit, three elderly and seemingly (and probably) insane women who were flappers in days gone by, and the elderly relative and a corpulent (and rather funny) canine. The animation is unusually-done, the soundtrack superb (along with it's best animated film nod, it's up for an Oscar for best original song, if that matters). Sure to offend frog-lovers everywhere (you'll know what I mean when you see it!), I really enjoyed this movie for its originality and unapologetically-quirky spirit.

Twilight Samurai 2003 7.5 In some ways a throwback to Kurosawa's samurai films of the 60's, but also different in some important ways. Seibi Iguchi is a low-ranking samurai, tasked with tending and inventorying the food stores for his clan to ensure they have enough in case of seige. He works hard during the day and is responsible for his two daughters and elderly mother the rest of the time. Indebted for a pricey funeral for his late wife, he is just barely getting by, but he seems happy enough until he is called upon to kill a renegade samurai who refuses to commit hari kari when ordered to. Definitely the least fighting of any such film I've seen (there are two fight scenes, only one of them lenghty, and neither is really the point). The predominant lack of soundtrack and slow pacing really forces the actors to convey emotion on their own, and by and large, they do so admirably. Some details were lost in translation (mostly terminology of the samurai era), but nothing important. Very enjoyable and leisurely-paced.

U:

V:

W:

Winged Migration 2003 7 A good movie, but a bit disappointing in that it made no statement whatsoever, relying instead on the gorgeous filming (and believe me, it is gorgeous!). Although ostensibly a documentary, it also delivers little in the way of facts aside from identifying what birds are on-screen and how far they migrate. Still, the amazing cinematography mostly carries the film through to the end. There are several sad moments, mostly hidden from the viewer, although they're alluded to (ie. you see a threshing machine heading towards a baby bird, then it cuts away to another scene. We can guess what happens to the bird.). As an amateur bird enthusiast, I was expecting to like this movie more than I did.

X:

Y:

Y Tu Mama Tambien 2003 6 I'm not entirely sure what all the fuss over this movie was. It's an alright teen coming-of-age movie, but doesn't really make any salient points, and the periodic voice-overs are very distracting. Perhaps its appeal comes partially from its very non-Hollywood depiction of sex (which is definitely refreshing, but be warned - if you're uncomfortable with frank depictions of sex, you will not like this movie one bit). The story, about two young men who go on a road trip with a pretty woman, alternately have sex with her, get in fights, and make up (sort of), isn't anything too new or interesting. Enjoyable enough, but not great.

Z:

Title	Year	Rating/10	Review
A:
Adaptation	2002	8	From Spike Jonez comes another excellent and very off-beat film. This movie is sort of about the writing of a screenplay of this movie, and then some. It reflects on itself in clever ways, and has a number of interesting and unexpected turns (my favorite is when, in the background during a voiceover, a screenwriting teacher blasts the use of voiceovers). Cage (one of my favorite actors) performs wonderfully, giving life to the writer's conflict between wanting to finish the script yet remain true to the spirit of the book. The last third of the movie was unexpected, yet upon reflection, not so much so. Definitely a must-see!
the Aviator	2004	8	Despite my general distaste for Hollywood blockbusters, this one was quite entertaining and didn't suffer from much of the "wink wink aren't we a clever and expensive film" introspection that irritates the heck out of me in many films of its type. DiCaprio's portrayal of Howard Hughes was nuanced and thoughtful (although Blanchett's Hepburn was overdone and affected), and the special effects did exactly what they should - stay out of the way while conveying an appropriate sense of awe. The editing felt at times a little chopped up, as if they wanted to say more, but had to trim things down to fit in the 2.5 hours the film was released at. A little research after viewing and we learned that Hughes' life was even more interesting than the movie portrayed it (much like A Beautiful Mind's John Nash), but the film didn't omit anything too major during the time period covered (well, except for a marriage....). Most of the rest of the cast is very good, and the scenes between Alan Alda's corrupt senator and DiCaprio's Hughes were the films highlights for me. I agree with the academy that this was one of the better films of 2004 (though definitely not with their choice of Blanchett as best supporting acress).
B:
Barbershop	2002	2	Insipid comedy(?) about a barbershop and its barbers and customers with a full complement of stereotypes (the jovial continental african, the white boy who wants to be black, ad nauseum), and pithy lessons accentuated by sub-par acting by Ice Cube & Cedric the Entertainer. Yawn. Calvin owns the family barbershop, sells it to a sleazy loan shark to pay off real estate tax debt or some such contrivance before realizing that its really the heart of the community. There's a very annoying sub-plot about a couple of hoods trying to break open a stolen ATM machine (haha, it turns out to be empty anyways!), and in the end everything gets wrapped up all nice 'n neat-like.
Being John Malkovich	1999	9	Funny and really, really odd. Craig (John Cusack), an unemployed puppeteer, finds a portal into the mind of actor John Malkovich in his workplace on the 7 1/2th floor of an office building. His wife (Cameron Diaz, who I didn't even recognize until the credits rolled at the end) enters Malkovich's mind and decides to have a sex change operation, Craig's dangerous co-worker Maxine (Catherine Keener) toys with him mercilessly, and his boss, ancient lech Lester (Orson Bean) regales him with lewd fantasies. And then it gets weird :) I love this movie - its eccentric, humorous, and has some interesting discourse on the nature of relationships. There are some great cameos, the scene where Malkovich enters his own mind is amazing, and Malkovich plays himself with an amazing tolerance. Not to be missed!
Bend It Like Beckham	2003	6	Good feel-good movie about a young Indian girl living in London who wants to play football (soccer to us Americans). No new ground covered here, really (traditional family wants her to have a traditional upbringing, but she wants to be a typical modern London youngster, stern father turns out to have a warm heart afterall, etc), but its all fun and enjoyable enough.
Best of Youth ("La Meglio gioventu")	2003	10	Italian history from 1966 through 2003, as experienced by the Carati family, and excellently so. The characters are fully-developed, and we were made to care about them. The film's length must be mentioned, as it is 6 hours long (my local theater showed it as two separate 3-hour features, which worked well), but don't let that discourage you - especially in the second half, I didn't find myself looking at my watch even once! The movie primarily centers on the life of the Carati brothers Nicola and Matteo, from their youth, through the turbulent 70s and early 80s, and the relative calm of the 90s and early 00s, paralleling the turbulence of youth and serentiy of mid-life (well, sort of). Much is un-spoken, and there are no swelling symphonic soundtracks to tell us which scenes are dramatic, but rather the actors tell us via their nuanced performances. I've never seen anything quite like this movie. Highly recommended!
Better Luck Tomorrow	2003	4	An almost-good tale of teenage angst. Its a MTV production and shows it, with very flashy production values, but ultimately not too much substance. It started off promisingly, using the good old "start at the end of the movie" device, but dragged along and failed to make much of a point at the end. It tried to be a cool story about grade-A teenagers moonlighting as thugs & drug dealers, but wasn't quite. Oh well, better luck tomorrow, eh?
Big Fish	2003	7.5	Another visually-appealing film from Tim Burton, but this one a bit more tame than others I've seen by him. The blurring of fantasy and reality was done very well here, leaving me never quite sure what was real and what was not, even at the end, when one might have reasonably expected that things would be made clear. I liked this aspect of the film. Given the excellent cast, it's no surprise that the acting is above-par. I was hoping that the movie would be a bit darker/edgier, but as it was, an entertaining outing nonetheless.
the Bourne Identity	2002	7	Great action flick. Its pretty true to the book, which I thoroughly enjoyed when I read it many years ago. Not a breakthrough movie in any way, but very entertaining. Pretty much nonstop action from the get-go, including one of the better car chases in recent memory.
the Bourne Supremacy	2004	6	A good follow-on to the Bourne Identity. The cinematography was a little (OK, a lot) irritating at times, with too much camera shake and fast takes leaving me faintly dizzy. As with "Identity" this movie mostly eschews action film cliches and with good results. Acting is fine throughout, and the plot is allowed to develop a bit (albeit in a completely different way than in Ludlum's book on which it is based). Unlike "Identity" the main car chase was a lowlight rather than a highlight - it was too long and busy.
Bowling For Columbine	2002	9	Fantastic documentary from Michael Moore (author of the also-very-good book "Stupid White Men.") about guns and why're used to kill so many people in this country. Moore makes some really interesting and unexpected points, and scores some poignant interviews, most notably with NRA president Charlton Heston (whom I will never see the same way again), Dick Clark, and shock-rocker Marilyn Manson. This movie wasn't exactly about what I was expecting it to be about (I was expecting more-or-less a pro-gun-control movie, but that's not at all what it was).
Bride and Prejudice	2004	6	A lightweight Bollywood take on Austen's novel. It was a little weird seeing a bollywood-style movie in English, as I'm not used to understanding the song lyrics (which is usually for the best since they're very cheesy more often than not!). The story is a typical rich-boy-meets-country-girl affair with the usual initial spark followed by circumstances conspiring to keep the couple apart, followed by joyous reunion, but it's well-presented and visually interesting. There are some genuinely funny moments, particularly on a Los Angeles beach when everyone bursts into song, but it's a somewhat forgettable film overall. Aishwarya Rai fills her role well, and is certainly very easy to look at, but most of the characters are shallow and without motivation, and some potentially interesting themes about gender, culture and society are abandoned. Still, a fun date movie.
Bush's Brain	2004	5	Although my personal political views are very much on the left side of the spectrum, I found this to be a pretty boring movie that too often resorted to heartstring-tugging to try to make its point. That said, I did learn some very interesting and disturbing tidbits about Karl Rove's influence on George W. Bush from an early date. My problem is that the film consists almost entirely of talking heads remembering their experiences with Rove at one time or another, interspersed with sentimental sappiness, not making for a very interesting viewing experience, scary conservative behind-the-scenes notwithstanding.
C:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	2005	9	A fabulously-imagined and rich tale, as Tim Burton was born to tell. Depp's portrayal of the eccentric Willy Wonka is weird indeed, and a good deal darker than Wilder's performance back when. Depp's Wonka is quite unused to human contact and customs. As we all should know from the book, or the classic '70s movie, the nasty children are whisked off - one by one, getting their just desserts, so to speak. Unlike the first Wonka movie, we get to see the children emerging from the factory at the and, just a little worse for the wear, and also unlike the first movie, the ending has much more depth. I thought this was a great film in pretty much every respect. Per usual, Depp made what would otherwise have been a good children's movie into something strange and appealing for all ages. One of the better films I've seen in some time.
Chicago	2002	8	Great reworking of the classic musical for the screen. Zellweger, Zeta-Jones and Gere perform excellently, as did the rest of the supporting cast. The filming is vivid and evocative. I really liked how the non-musical bits were played straight, with the musical numbers being done in fantasy. Definitely deserving of its Oscar nominations for actress, director, art direction and costume design! I'm hoping that Chicago will make another stage run at some point so I can see it in that medium too.
Cigarettes and Coffee	2004	5.5	Jim Jarmusch's somewhat high-concept B&W film consists of a bunch of vignettes featuring mostly famous people (Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, Bill Murray, Wu Tang Clan, Steve Buscemi and so on) talking mostly about cigarettes and coffee. There are a few other common threads interspersed throughout, but I found myself wishing that the theories of Tesla were more thoroughly explored. There are some pretty funny scenes, particularly Tom Waits & Iggy Pop and the Wu Tang Clan and Bill Murray, but several others fall pretty flat and the movie is over-long. I would have preferred fewer shorts with deeper connections. The film is visually appealing in an artsy sort of way, but I can't say I'd recommend it.
City Of God	2002	8	Another in the unusual (but very welcome!) series of many excellent movies to be released in late-2002/early-2003, this sober movie tells the story of children growing up in the optimistically-named "City of God," a slum in Brazil. The children take to crime and violence at a very young age, and mostly die after various lengths of time. Based on the true story of a child who grew up in the slums, took to photography, and eventually gained (at least some) fame and compensation by taking pictures during a bloody drug gang war. The direction and cinematography were very good, effectively using flashbacks and quick rewinds to unravel the story (which starts very near its end chronologically). This movie would probably have had more of an impact on me if I hadn't seen the Pianist a week earlier....
Closer	2004	5	I can't say as I understand what all the buzz about this movie is for. Although well-acted, the story isn't very creative and the characters aren't likeable. It's essentially about a womanizing writer who leaves his young muse (Natalie Portman) for a photographer (Julia Roberts), who herself winds up with a fellow sent her way as a mean joke. The endless series of each person being with, leaving, being with, leaving again the others grew tiresome and I didn't feel as though the film made much of any point in particular except for a feeble "too much honesty can be bad" bit at the end.
The Corporation	2004	8.5	An excellent examination of the roles coporations have played/are playing in the world. I've read quite a lot on the topic, so much of the film wasn't too surprising to me, but it kept my attention nonetheless. The first 45 minutes or so felt a little bit slow, but the remaining 95 minutes were well-paced. To an extent, both the anti-corporate and pro-corporate views are shown, but the bias is decidedly to the left. As an employee of a large corporation, a number of the issues raised made me think. Definitely recommended!
D:
Dancing Outlaw	1991	6	Very odd documentary about Jesco White, an hillbilly tap dancing weirdo who has 3 personalities (Jessy, Jesco, & Elvis). Its only 30 minutes long, but that's plenty long enough to disturb the viewer with his frequent threats to his wife, footage of drunken family gatherings, and semi-coherent ramblings about his sunglasses. After the documentary are 30 minutes of outtakes, including an extended rambling about sunglasses. Strange pic - somewhere between sad and funny, but definitely worth a view.
E:
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	2004	8.5	A very good movie, despite starring Jim Carey, whom I generally do not care for at all. He's great here, though, and the film, like the other Kauffman movies I've seen (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) really made me think when it was over. A pretty heady rumination on life, memories, joy, pain, loss and sorrow, it manages to avoid being overly philosophical. The acting is uniformly solid and there's just the right amount of comedy and absurdity to counter-balance the brain trip. Highly recommended!
Evolution	2001	4	An OK movie, but unremarkable for the most part. It succeeded in keeping me non-bored for its duration, but didn't contribute anything to its genre. The acting was adequate, the special effects pretty darned good actually, and the plot was ponderous. Head & Shoulders must've paid the producers off handsomely... Worth seeing on a slow night on cable, but not otherwise. Men In Black and Mars Attacks did this genre (sci-fi/comedy) in a vastly superior fashion.
F:
Fahrenheit 9/11	2004	8	Michael Moore's scathing documentary about the Bush family's ties to Saudi Arabia in general, and the Bin Laden family in particular. Liberal or conservative, this movie is sure to make you mad, though for very different reasons. Some of the facts in this movie surprised me, but sadly, many others did not. I thought Moore showed more restraint than he did in Bowling For Columbine, with few guerrila interviews and substantially less humor. One lenghty interlude of a woman reading her son's last letter from Iraq before being killed played the heart strings too hard for my liking, but I found the movie poignant and well-done otherwise. I was surprised and enheartened that this movie topped the charts upon its release.
The Fast and the Furious	2001	2	Some fun cinematography and car race scenes can't save this stinker - very bad acting, dialogue, and scripting, but hey, it has lots of fast cars, fast women and things blowing up.... And no, I wasn't expecting it to be any good :)
Finding Neverland	2004	8	An engaging but ultimately sad romance story, told in an unconventional way. Johnny Depp can do no wrong (well almost) in my book, and Kate Winslet's performance is excellent to boot. The direction, set and costumes are spot-on, and the pacing is delightfully unrushed. I'll not say much more so as not to spoil it, but it's one of the better recent films in my book. Although I quite enjoyed it, Sarah found it a little bit manipulative and cheesy, so the more jaded among us, beware.
Fong Sai Yuk (AKA "The Legend")	1993	8 (movie) 4 (dubbing)	This Hong Kong kung fu movie features some great choreography with Jet Li, Josephine Siao, beautiful set design & cinematography, and, I assume, a solid plot. That said, the dubbed version I saw is horrible. Its simply impossible to ignore its awfulness. I understand that the non-dubbed Chinese version is a fair bit longer as well. I haven't liked any of the American Jet Li movies I've seen ("Romeo Must Die" was pretty bad), but he was great in this, and clearly knows his moves. Now I really want to see the original, un-edited, un-dubbed version.
G:
Gorgeous	1999	4	This Jackie Chan "romantic comedy" is pretty awful, with horrible dubbing and a lame plot. The too-few fight scenes, however, are really good - some of the best Jackie Chan I've seen. The filler in between the fight scenes is a love story about a rich recycling plant owner (??), played by Chan, and a young woman, and a feud between Chan and a fellow who owns a company that produces styrofoam (moral of the story: styrofoam is bad, mmmmK?) and goes bankrupt and gets depressed when Chan sells his shares in the company.
Gumnaam	1965	1.5	Oh my.... This Bollywood "suspense" movie almost deserves a 9 for effort and for sheer campy'ness, except that its over 2 1/2 hours long. Some um, amazing, dancing, especially in the ballroom and dream numbers, and phenomenally bad acting, directing, scripting, and editing! Sadly, the (broken) English subtitles didn't include the songs, so we may have missed some important plot points (not bloody likely!). The sound and video on the DVD were bad, but as expected for a mid-60s Indian flick. I'm happy to own this so I can inflict it on others. Its worth having just for the first dance number (which is also included on the extra section of the DVD of "Ghost World," which is how I came to know of this gem of a movie) and the outlandish (and misleading!) theatrical trailer. For all of its length, it does very little in the character development department, and often makes no sense at all. See this movie!
H:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	2001	7	Fun adaptation of the popular (but I haven't read them) children's series by JK Rowling. Good special effects and well-cast, I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to when I was finally convinced to watch it on video. It is unfortunate that it and Lord of the Rings were released so close together, as, although they're pretty different, they're both effects powerhouses in a magical/mystical setting.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	2002	7.5	I liked this a bit better than the first Harry Potter. Here, a somewhat older Potter and his pals sleuth out the cause of a series of wizard school student petrifications (they, of course, succeed). Again laden with well-done effects (and a pretty creepy spider scene) and again well-cast (no surprise there since it's mostly the same cast as the first movie), this is a darker, more brooding movie than its predecessor. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how the series evolves.
Hero	2002	7	A good film, in the style of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but necessarily not as ground-breaking. It's, at a high level, about a plot to assasinate the ruler of the kingdom of Qui, and many intrigues are laced in it's non-linear unravelling. The fight scenes, while certainly pretty (and borrowing very heavily from the aforementioned Crouching Tiger, complete with dancing on water and treetops), aren't really the point of the film (thankfully). The somewhat convoluted timeline flows pretty well given that it jumps back and forth in time and between fantasy and reality, and the use of color to delineate various characters and times is quit well-done. I found it to be a bit of a downer overall, but I'm glad I saw it.
I:
I Heart Huckabees	2004	7	A surreal existential comedy, wherein our protagonist hires detectives to find the meaning of his "coincidence" and begins to unlock the secrets of life in the process. The story unfolds in a very quirky way and we were chuckling throughout. Not immensely memorable, but certainly enjoyable. The fact that it didn't play at all like a typical Hollywood comedy is very much to its credit.
J:
K:
Kill Bill: Vol. 1	2003	8.5	Over-the-top with action, visual effects and bathed in blood, this was actually a very fun (and dare I say, funny) first half of a revenge movie a-la Tarantino. No doubt this would have received a NC-17 rating if not for the animation and non-realism of much of the violence. The plot is a mostly straightforward one, unfolding in non-linear progression as Tarantino's films so often do. Sly references to various genres and films (including Pulp Fiction) abound, yet don't give the film a "wink wink nudge nudge" feel. As jam-packed with action as it is, it was a bit of a jolt when it just suddenly ended on a cliffhanger (at least the "Vol One" in its title gave advance warning). Very enjoyable.
Kill Bill: Vol. 2	2004	8	This second half of Tarantino's bloody tale of revenge is much more deliberate than the first, stopping to catch its breath and fill in the back story a bit more than its predecessor. Genuinely creepy in places (a live burial scene in particular), and equally funny in others (the flashback to B's martial arts training is done as a spot-on light spoof of 70's kung fu films). Although slower and less action-filled than Vol. 1, in most any other comparison, it was quite lively. Taken together, the Kill Bill films are the best of their type I've seen in a long while.
Kiss of the Dragon	2001	4	This action flick adds nothing of note to the genre, except perhaps for an acupuncture angle (which I'm unconvinced the genre benefits from), buts its entertaining enough in its own right. Its a typical good-guy-gets-framed-by-bad-guy-in-a-supposed-to-be-good-position-and-has-to-clear-his-name story and never really deviates from that formula. Li has some fine moves, and the accupuncture bits are different, if not entirely necessary. After the usual close shaves to make his escape, Li does the usual anger-building and develops a vengance motive so he can properly kick ass in the final fight. There's also the mostly irrelevant romantic interest sub-plot (with a hooker (Bridget Fonda) this time). At least I learned that accupuncture has "forbidden" pricks....
L:
The Last Dragon	1985	2	Oh my.... Mowtown exec Barry Gordy's mid-80's campy, unholy marriage between a Bruce Lee movie (pick one, any one), and "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!" is truly terrible, mostly in an entertaining way (and serves as a useful reminder of all that was wrong with that decade). I won't bother with commentary about plot or acting, as those are irrelevant to this movie. If you liked "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" you'll undoubtedly like this.
Living In Oblivion	1995	6.5	Campy send-up of low budget filmmaking. Steve Buscemi plays a frustrated director, suffering a buffoonish prima-donna, an actress he has a crush on, a prima-donna cameraman, surly dwarf, and a host of other problems. In the end, of course, it all works out and everybody lives happily ever after, but its a fun ride.
Lost In Translation	2003	6.5	As is usually the case with much-hyped movies, I walked away a little disappointed with this film. Sort of a slice of life flim about directionless Americans living in Japan, I didn't have any real sense of closure or lessons learned at the end. Bill Murray's portrayal of a lost faded film star is good, as is everyone else's, but I couldn't help but wonder about a film whose comic relief elements (and this movie definitely needed comic relief!) primarily involved laughing about how different the Japanese are from Americans (the hooker scene, however, was genuinely funny).
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	2002	7	Not quite as good as "The Fellowship of the Ring," but highly entertaining nonetheless. Gollum is a marvel of computer animation, with much more expressiveness and depth than any CGI character yet seen. The story suffers somewhat from being the middle piece of a large epic tale, and thus doesn't really have a start or an end. The battle scenes are huge, engaging, and very well-done. The purists will no doubt dislike some of the deviations from the book, but, book fan though I am, the changes didn't really bother me at all.
Lord of the Rings: Return of the Kings	2003	8.5	Excellent follow-up to last year's LOTR:TT. I actually enjoyed it more (likewise the corresponding book). This was the only one of the "Ring" trilogy where I did not even once look at my watch to see how long it was 'til the end. The battle scenes were among the best yet committed to film, and the various ends left un-tied in LOTR:TT were nicely re-wound. Tolkien devotees will undoubtedly complain about the lack of Saruman, the missing "cleansing of the Shire" and other such minutae from the book, but let's face it - only a dozen or so people would actually want to watch a completely verbatim translation of the book to the screen.
M:
The Matrix Reloaded	2003	7	Very entertaining sequel to the Matrix, which I loved, as any geek should. With the big "whoa" already dealt with by the first film, this packed less of a punch, but there's a lot of action, nice geeky pseudo psycho-babble, and great effects. The ending is quite the cliffhanger, obviously prepping us to drop another $10 in 11/03 for "the Matrix Revolutions." In a few places, the slowmo effect was overdone, and a few scenes were a little belabored, but I enjoyed it quite a bit and will undoubtedly see it in the theater once again.
Mean Creek	2004	8	An excellent and somber coming of age tale. Feel-good? Hell no. The cast's performances are uniformly believable, capturing effectively the innocence and foolishness of youth. Every character is at once somewhat sympathetic, yet also deeply flawed in one way or another. The story is basically about a plot to get even with a school bully. Said plan, naturally, goes horribly wrong, and we're left with no resolution as to the eventual fate of our characters (this is a good thing - wrapping everything up in a tidy little package would have ruined this film). We're left un-knowing, just like them. The cinematography and direction do an excellent job of setting the mood. Recommended.
A Mighty Wind	2003	7	Funny faux documentary about a reunion concert of three (non-existent, but obviously concocted from bits & pieces of real folks groups) folk bands (Mitch & Micky, the Folksmen, and the New Main Street Singers) to honor a recently deceased promoter. Its engaging throughout its 87 minutes and rarely hits a false note, although its not a laugh from beginning to end. The Folksmen bits were my favorites, but it was all a good-natured send-up of the folk genre. What few song lyrics I made out were really funny and over-the-top, delivered completely deadpan. All and all a fun and better-than-average movie!
Million Dollar Baby	2004	9.5	A superb drama, directed with rare subtlety by Clint Eastwood, and acted admirably by himself, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. A deliberate pace, punctuated by rather graphic boxing scenes leads to a finale that is totally unimaginable in the first half of the film. This is one of the best dramas I've seen in quite some time and is told as a straightforward story, narrated by Freeman, filmed with hard, gritty and often dark, light. To say too much would ruin the movie, so I'll leave it at this, but it's absolutely deserving of the acclaim it's receiving.
Monsoon Wedding	2001	10	I'd been eagerly waiting for this movie to make it to my neck of the woods after reading reviews of it online, and it surely didn't disappoint! Nair's film is a wonderful slice of life, taking us through the trials and tribulations of a Punjabi family as they prepare for the wedding of their only daughter. Money troubles, infidelity, sexual abuse, family duty, and marriage (of course!) are all examined here, and to great effect. The cinematography is excellent. It felt like I was an unseen observer in the goings-on. The costumes were gorgeous, especially the wedding gown, and the acting is all good-to-excellent. See this movie!
My Big Fat Greek Wedding	2002	7	An enjoyable romantic comedy about a Greek woman who falls for a non-Greek man and gets engaged to him. Most of the movie is about her large, loud Greek family and their resistance to her marrying someone who isn't Greek. Nowhere near as good as Monsoon Wedding, but more lighthearted, and worth a see.
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O Brother, Where Art Thou?	2000	6	A decent movie about some convicts who escape and their escapades trying to get to a buried treasure before it's reclaimed by the creation of a hydroelectric lake. Were it not for the superb soundtrack, it would be much less memorable. George Clooney looks like he's having entirely too much fun as a smarmy con-man, John Goodman makes an interesting appearance as a one-eyed heavy, and a number of goofy incidents take place through the course of the movie, but ultimately it's not all that substantial.
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Panic Room	2002	6	Jodie Foster (one of my favorite actresses) is a newly-separated woman who moves into a fabulous NY brownstone with her diabetic daughter. The house has a "panic room" (hence the name of the movie), an "inpenetrable" room where the residents can retreat if threatened. Shortly after moving in, they're threatened and just make it into the room before the baddies get them. Inconveniently, the phone in the panic room isn't hooked up, and they play a waiting game to see what it is the intruders want. It turns out what they want is in the panic room - bummer for the locked-in family. This movie is pretty good. The acting is uniformly good, and the cinematography is very interestingly-done. The direction suffers from some too-heavy-handed suspense building (like when she almost has her cellphone in reach, the accidentally kicks it just a little bit farther), but only in a few places. I'm not super-big into modern suspense movies (I far prefer Alfred Hitchcock's style of suspense building), but as far as they go, this one wasn't bad.
the Pianist	2002	9.5	An emotionally exhausting film from Roman Polanski about a Polish concert pianist's experience during WWII before, during, and after the relocation of over 360,000 Polish jews into ghettos. Everything about this movie is exceptional. Its difficult to watch in many places, and is quite graphic and violent (as its subject matter demands). The story is true, based on pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's autobiography, and is even more poignant when one considers that Roman Polanski himself escaped a Nazi ghetto at the age of 8. Adrien Brody's performance as Szpilman is nearly flawless and totally believable. Rather than a hero, he's a survivor, smiled upon by the fates. The music is wonderful, primarily Chopin, Bach, and Beethoven, and the real pianist whose fingers are on the keys is a virtuoso. There is no heightened sense of drama here, no romance sub-plot (at least not after the first 10 minutes), no moralizing, just a bleak and often painful tale of a man trying to stay alive against terrible odds. While there's no shortage of Holocaust movies around, this, along with Schindler's List (though I prefer the Pianist), are the best.
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Rabbit-Proof Fence	2002	8	Wonderful movie based on the true story of two girls who escaped from state-imposed and walked the length of Australia to return to their village. Wonderfully acted, especially by the three child leads, and lushly filmed, this movie was great to watch. It was amazing to me that Australia had the policies it did for so long (basically any half-aborigine children were taken by the state and trained to be "white" or as servants), but I suppose I shouldn't be so shocked. Peter Gabriel's soundtrack is excellent to boot.
The Recruit	2003	7	A fun action/thriller movie with many twists (in fact, there's almost nothing that is not a twist). Colin Farrell and Al Pacino perform very well. I almost got a little tired of the "trust nothing" mantra, and the cinematography was a little heavy handed in the nostalgic imagery (particularly in its repeated focusing on the CIA's memorial to the unnamed lost-in-action), but I enjoyed the movie a good deal. Pacino was a bit less blustery than usual, and for the most part, the action is in our heads rather than explicitly on-screen. As with any movie featuring anything even remotely techhie, and me being something of a geek, the computer shots were funny in a "yeah right" sort of way. They were using a version of MOS (the non-existent "Movie OS") I've not seen before, and I thought it was cool to see the great internet browser, Opera featured in one shot.
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The Saddest Music In The World	2004	8	A highly original and quirky film by Guy Maddin. A beer baronness (Isabella Rossellini) holds a $25,000 contest to hear the saddest music in the world. Amazingly un-feeling and sleazy Chester (Mark McKinney) enters, representing the US, his father Fyodor (David Fox) for Canada, and to both of their surprise, his brother Roderick (Ross McMillan) for Serbia. Roderick is a bit loony, carrying around the heart of his dead son, pickled in his own tears, sensitive to light, sound and touch, and bereft of his lovely wife, Narcissa, who coincidentally, is having a fling with Chester on the orders of her tapeworm. The cinematography is black and white, and just wonderful. Mostly a pretty funny movie, it isn't without its serious moments, but all are weird. Delightfully off-the-beaten-track!
The Scent of Green Papaya	1993	6.5	A pretty, if somewhat unsatisfying, movie about a young Vietnamese servant, Mui, and her life growing up with the family she worked for. The cinematography was very good, as was the acting, but the pacing felt a bit off, and many sub-plots and characters were simply dropped. The first half of the film chronicles Mui's girlhood, the second her womanhood, culminating in her marriage to a rich westernized man. There was little dialogue (nearly all of it from the women), which lent it an artsy feel, but I left the movie with too many questions about unfinished plots and abandoned characters.
Scorpion King	2002	3	WWF's "The Rock" is a warrior from an ancient order, tasked with killing the sorceress Cassandra (Kelly Hu) of the evil king Memnon. Said sorceress is, of course, a babe, and spends most of the movie in various states of semi-dress. He rescues, then is rescued by, a horse thief (Grant Heslov), who then tags along as the movie's comic relief. As far as testosterone-laden action flicks go, this movie isn't too bad, and thankfully doesn't take itself totally seriously. Cassandra kicks some butt here and there to keep things "equal." The script ... well, it has lines like "I'm here for the girl, and your head" - need I say more? Its a sort of fun, but overall stupid movie, worth catching on a matinee if you like mindless action films (which I sometimes do!).
Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus	2005	7.5	A visual and audio smorgasborg of the American south, as presented by musician Jim Smith, as he leads a BBC film crew on a musical tour of one of the US's more stereotyped regions. Although not a lifelong southerner himself, Smith acquits himself well as a guide, providing good voice-overs and the occasional song. The main story here is the music, and it's great. I was dissapointed to find that only about half of the songs heard in the film are available on the soundtrack (particularly an excellent version of "Rye Whisky", one of my favorite blues songs). Although this could have easily been a movie about how screwed up the south is, it by and large avoids that conclusion, preferring instead to focus on the people, their religion, and their music. Definitely worth a view if it comes to a theater near you.
Shanghai Noon	2000	5	Jackie Chan meets the western (yay?). Chan is a chinese imperial guard sent to accompnay the royal translator to Carson City, NV to deliver the ransom for the emperor's daughter Pei Pei (Lucy Liu, who looks lovely in her fancy imperial garb), who had been kidnapped by the uber-badguy, who is also working Chinese immigrants like slaves in his mines. Chan's uncle is killed in a badly-done train robbery, and Chan is on the revenge trail. The bad guys are waaaaaay overplayed (I guess that's supposed to be funny?). Jackie tokes up with some native americans after saving one of their young women from the marauding Crow, and wakes up married to her. He then meets one of the robbers (Owen Wilson) from the train an after a bit of contrivance, they're together for the journey to Carson City to rescue the princess. In the end, Chan gets the girl (Liu), and somehow his marriage to the native american girl gets nullified and Wilson gets her. The sets are pretty good, with an appropriate grimy feel to everything, and as always in a Jackie Chan movie, the fight scenes are choreographed wonderfully. Lucy Liu kicks some butt, which is nice to see. Its not a terrible movie, but its not a particularly good movie either. It would be much better if they didn't ham it up so much, plus there are some inconsistencies (in the final fight scene, 2 of the imperial guards just disappear conveniently, to reappear in after the fight is over).
Sideways	2004	7	A often-funny black comedy/drama about two bumbling men on a drinking trip to California's central coast wine country. Giamatti's portrayal of Miles' bumbling, elitist, depressed wine snop was pretty spot on and will probably cause a sag in Merlot sales state-wide and Haden Church's low-brow cad Jack comes off pretty genuinely. As an enjoyer of wine myself, I was hoping for a little more information about exactly why Merlot is the worst thing in the whole wide world, but Miles' lengthly waxing poetic about Pinot Noir was great. Although I enjoyed this movie well enough, I don't quite see what all the Academy fuss was about - it wasn't that good.
Signs	2002	4	M. Night Shyamalan's third outing has a great deal of potential, which it mostly fails to live up to, unfortunately. The acting is pretty good, however the same cannot be said about the screenplay. The movie develops rather slowly (which is fine by me - I'm patient), but also uses some annoyingly obvious plot devices ("the bad guys are all gone and we can relax... OH WAIT, THERE's ONE MORE AFTERALL!" - bleah!). There are also inexplicable flashbacks that reveal what happened to our protagonist's wife, which is totally irrelevant to the movie. On top of that, the flashbacks are very awkwardly placed and paced, and don't make any attempt at all to let you know they even are flashbacks (its obvious enough after the first one though). This movie was extra-disappointing because of its potential to be a great movie. The premise and high-level plot are quite interesting, and one would think a great film could be made from them. Alas, this is not that film. There are some funny moments in the movie, without which it would be totally unbearable. Oh, and the end rather sucked as well. It must be said, however, that the movie is visually well-done. There's also something to be said for a movie about unfriendly alien visitors that isn't obsessed with splattering their guts all over the place and cutting between shots every 0.25 seconds. In fact, I really liked the pacing - it built suspence without beating you over the head with it too much. All in all a disappointing movie, though.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow	2004	5	OK action/comic book movie with a typical stop-the-madman-before-he-destroys-the-earth plot. Despite the decent cast, the acting is fair to poor, especially Paltrow, who is particularly wooden. Special effects (and there are a LOT of them) are well-done, and the film has a great moody retro-Art Deco visual style. I would have enjoyed this movie more if they'd made up their mind to either play it straight or camp it up. As it was, there was much of both, giving it an uneven feel. Many possibly interesting side-stories were left un-pursued, but all in all, it was an alright movie for what it was. I wouldn't rush out to see it again, however.
Spiderman	2002	5.5	Not a bad movie, but not as good as I was expecting/hoping either. The special effects were very good, but repetitive. Unlike the concurrently-released Star Wars Episode II, the acting was pretty good. The story was perhaps a touch simplistic, but then again, this was adapted from a comic book, so what does one expect? It obviously set itself up for a sequel at the end (ie. "I'll get you, Spiderman!"), but not in an annoying way.
Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones	2002	4	Terrible acting on the part of the two leads, but great action sequences, computer-generated imaging and sets. My friend and I were specualating that Lucas is surrounded by "yes-men", as nobody else could possibly have thought that the romance scenes were anything other than awful. Lines like "I die a little every time I see you" made me want to alternaltely puke or MST3K the movie. There are decent action bits scattered through the first half of the movie to make the rest of it semi-palatible. That said, the second half had me enthralled. Some have critisized Yoda's fight scene as cheesy and dervish'ish, but I liked it, and the battles were on a grand scale worthy of the Star Wars franchise (most unlike Episode One, which had, as I recall, exactly one decent battle). Jar Jar, sadly, still exists, but only briefly thank heavens! All in all, I found it worth seeing, and the fact that the last hour or so was engrossing justified the price of admission.
Starsky & Hutch	2004	6	A harmless enough comedy, if not an entirely memorable one. Character development isn't a strong point here. The plot is a typical get-the-drug-dealer one, with an prolonged cameo near the end by the original actors who played Starsky & Hutch in the TV series. Snoop Dogg plays his usual character in his usual good fashion.
The Story of the Weeping Camel	2003	8	An interesting and wonderfully-filmed slice of life in a Mongolian camel farming family's life. A young white camel is born, but is rejected by its mother for whatever mercurial reason, and the family sets about the task of getting the mother to let it nurse. Certainly not a gripping premise on paper, but it's actually quite engrossing as the story slowly unfolds. There are no special effects of any sort, few scenes, almost no music, and little talking, so my Hollywood-addled brain took a few to adjust to the pacing, but in the end, this was quite an enjoyable and memorable film. The cinematography is simply superb.
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Talk To Her	2002	9	Really well-done movie, expertly directed by Pedro Almodovar. The story revolves around the relationship between two men who both have women they care about living in a coma. From that seemingly less-than-gripping premise, the story builds, often flashing back to before the women were comatose, and the unique relationship between the two male leads becomes clear. Totally deserving of its 2 Oscar nominations (director and original screenplay), and it has a fantastic soundtrack. Particularly interesting (and funny) is an "old silent movie" that one of the characters watches. Less light-hearted than other Almodovar movies, it still manages to crack many smiles.
The Triplets of Belleville	2004	7	A very french animated film about ... uh ... hmm, well I'm not quite sure. There's a bicyclist who is trained for the Tour de France by his older relative and, while riding, is kidnapped by the Mafia to ride in confinement for sport & profit, three elderly and seemingly (and probably) insane women who were flappers in days gone by, and the elderly relative and a corpulent (and rather funny) canine. The animation is unusually-done, the soundtrack superb (along with it's best animated film nod, it's up for an Oscar for best original song, if that matters). Sure to offend frog-lovers everywhere (you'll know what I mean when you see it!), I really enjoyed this movie for its originality and unapologetically-quirky spirit.
Twilight Samurai	2003	7.5	In some ways a throwback to Kurosawa's samurai films of the 60's, but also different in some important ways. Seibi Iguchi is a low-ranking samurai, tasked with tending and inventorying the food stores for his clan to ensure they have enough in case of seige. He works hard during the day and is responsible for his two daughters and elderly mother the rest of the time. Indebted for a pricey funeral for his late wife, he is just barely getting by, but he seems happy enough until he is called upon to kill a renegade samurai who refuses to commit hari kari when ordered to. Definitely the least fighting of any such film I've seen (there are two fight scenes, only one of them lenghty, and neither is really the point). The predominant lack of soundtrack and slow pacing really forces the actors to convey emotion on their own, and by and large, they do so admirably. Some details were lost in translation (mostly terminology of the samurai era), but nothing important. Very enjoyable and leisurely-paced.
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Winged Migration	2003	7	A good movie, but a bit disappointing in that it made no statement whatsoever, relying instead on the gorgeous filming (and believe me, it is gorgeous!). Although ostensibly a documentary, it also delivers little in the way of facts aside from identifying what birds are on-screen and how far they migrate. Still, the amazing cinematography mostly carries the film through to the end. There are several sad moments, mostly hidden from the viewer, although they're alluded to (ie. you see a threshing machine heading towards a baby bird, then it cuts away to another scene. We can guess what happens to the bird.). As an amateur bird enthusiast, I was expecting to like this movie more than I did.
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Y Tu Mama Tambien	2003	6	I'm not entirely sure what all the fuss over this movie was. It's an alright teen coming-of-age movie, but doesn't really make any salient points, and the periodic voice-overs are very distracting. Perhaps its appeal comes partially from its very non-Hollywood depiction of sex (which is definitely refreshing, but be warned - if you're uncomfortable with frank depictions of sex, you will not like this movie one bit). The story, about two young men who go on a road trip with a pretty woman, alternately have sex with her, get in fights, and make up (sort of), isn't anything too new or interesting. Enjoyable enough, but not great.
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Adam's all-time favorite movies (in alphabetical order):

Amelie
Babette's Feast
Being John Malkovich
Blue Velvet
Bowling For Columbine
Brazil
Charade
A Clockwork Orange
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Dog Day Afternoon
the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
the Matrix
Million Dollar Baby
Monsoon Wedding
Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail
North by Northwest
the Outlaw Josey Wales
the Pianist
the Professional
Psycho
Room With A View
Schindler's List
Scarface
Talk To Her
the Wall
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Film

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Movie Reviews

Adam's all-time favorite movies (in alphabetical order):

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