Movies of 2000 to 2008

MOVIES OF 2000 - 2008

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Movies of 2009

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Movies of 2008

"The Dark Knight" - Also known as "Batman: The Dark Knight". With Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Michael Hall. Directed by Christopher Nolan.
Plot Intro: Batman fights the mafia, the Joker, and Two Face, but he also has to deal with a public that's had enough of his efforts.
Review: Another good effort in the Batman series. Christian Bale is great, though I think they could have toned down his gravelly voice a bit. Heath Ledger is amazing. If you went to the film and didn't know he was playing the Joker, I don't think you would be able to say who the actor was. Ledger inhabits the character. You have to wonder what he would have done if he hadn't died. This performance would have launched him to the top echelon of actors. No doubt he will be nominated for many awards, and he will probably win many of them.
Rating:
"The Dark Knight" at Amazon.com.
My review of "Batman" (1989).
My review of "Batman Returns" (1992).
My review of "Batman Forever" (1995).
My review of "Batman Begins" (2005).

"The Forbidden Kingdom" - With Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael Angarano, Yifei Liu, Bingbing Li.
Plot Intro: A young man finds a staff in the back room of a local store, and he is eventually transported to a Chinese kingdom where he has to return the staff to its rightful owner.
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Jackie and Jet are great, and Angarano holds his own. Yifei Liu is beautiful. The photography and the martial arts choreography were very good. It kind of looked like they were setting it up for a sequel that would star Angarano.
Rating:
"The Forbidden Kingdom" at Amazon.com.

"Ghost Town" - With Ricky Gervais, Teá Leoni, Greg Kinnear, Aasif Mandvi, Alan Ruck, Michael-Leon Wooley, Dana Ivey, Billy Campbell.
Plot Intro: A dentist goes in for a routine colonoscopy. When he comes out he finds he is seeing dead people, and he finds out that he had been dead for about seven minutes during the procedure.
Review: A light romantic comedy. Gervais is very funny. Kinnear and Leoni are very good, as are Mandvi and Wooley.
Rating:
"Ghost Town" at Amazon.com.

"Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army" - With Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt. Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Plot Intro: Hellboy has to stop an army that cannot be defeated.
Review: It was obvious that the director tried to top the first film. The special effects are great, but the action is so frantic at time you can't actually see what is happening. They spent so much on the special effects, but there were times when they were fighting and the monsters were just a blur.
Rating:
"Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army" at Amazon.com.
My review of Hellboy (2004)

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" - With Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Kate Blanchett, Shia LeBeouf, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent. Directed by Stephen Spielberg.
Plot Intro: Jones finds himself under suspicion of the US government, and he becomes embroiled in trying to rescue a young man's mother from those who have kidnapped her. Part of the solution to all of it is to find out what to do with a crystal skull.
Review: A lot of fun. May be better than Indiana 2 and 3. Of course, most of it is just fantasy.
Rating:
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" at Amazon.com.
My review of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981)
My review of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984)
My review of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989)

"Iron Man" - With Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard. Directed by Jon Favreau.
Plot Intro: An arms merchant is captured by Muslim extremists in Afghanistan. He builds an iron suit in order to escape. When he gets back to his home he begins building a more technologically advanced version.
Review: I like Downey. Even though he mumbles a little, and even though he might talk too much, I didn't think that he took away too much from the film. His humor adds more to the movie than it takes away. The special effects of the suit and what it is like inside it are excellent. I'm not sure how anyone could control flight when there are rockets on the bottom of the feet and in the palms of the hands. Just moving one hand a little wrong would send the person in a direction that was unanticipated. If you think of golf, a sport which professionals practice hour after hour. In order to hit the ball where it is desired, all of the muscles have to be under a certain amount of control. There isn't anyone in the sport who can get every shot perfect. So unless the computer is completely controlling Downey's character's whole body, something I'm not sure that the film was implying, I don't see how he could quickly learn how to control his movement.
Rating:
"Iron Man" at Amazon.com.

"Leatherheads" - With George Clooney, Renée Zellweger, John Krasinski, Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Root. Directed by George Clooney.
Plot Intro: It is 1925. The National Football League is struggling.
Review: A fun movie.
Rating:
"Leatherheads" at Amazon.com.

"WALL-E" - Animated feature from Pixar. With Jeff Garlin, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzenberger.
Plot Intro: A robot that is programmed to clean up earth becomes a hero in space.
Review: Another very good movie from Pixar/Disney. I still think that Monsters, Inc. was the best, but "WALL-E" is very good.
Rating:
"WALL-E" at Amazon.com.

"You Don't Mess With The Zohan" - With Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Rob Schneider, Lainie Kazan, Kevin Nealon, Charlotte Rae, Chris Rock, Shelley Berman, Mariah Carey, John McEnroe.
Plot Intro: An Israeli secret agent fakes his death and goes to New York City in order to become a hairdresser, but he can't shake his past.
Review: I found the first two-thirds of this film to be very funny. I had to cover my eyes a few times when the movie crossed a line for me. There was a large crowd in the theater, and they were all laughing through most of the movie. Of course, most comedies have to tie things up in the last third, and they can end up being too silly to be funny. I would recommend this film, though it may not be to everyone's taste.
Rating:
"You Don't Mess With the Zohan" at Amazon.com.

Movies of 2007

"3:10 to Yuma" - With Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol.
Plot Intro: A gang leader is caught in a small town. His gang tries to set him loose.
Review: Remake of the 1957 film. Very good, but the ending is a little hard to understand. It would make sense if Ben Wade knew the farmer's wife, but the film isn't very clear about that.
Rating:
"3:10 to Yuma" at Amazon.com.

"Bourne Ultimatum" - With Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Stathairn, Scott Glenn, Joan Allen, Albert Finney. Directed by Paul Greengrass. Based on the book by Robert Ludlum.
Plot Intro: Jason Bourne regains enough of his memory to know how he became Jason Bourne.
Review: The story, the action, and the acting are great, but the technique of filming takes away from the enjoyment of watching the film. The director is enamored of the shaky, handheld camera method of filming. I guess he thinks that this will add an edginess and drama to the film. It just makes it hard to watch. Many of the scenes end up being blurred and out of focus -- even when there is very little action. It may be that the proponents of this kind of filming also want to replicate how we see things in real life. I've been thinking about this, especially after viewing this film -- since the shakiness was so extreme. When I'm sitting or standing still, nothing that I'm looking at is shaking. My suggestion is that it would be better for the handheld camera work to be used when people are on the go or when there is fighting. They should give viewers a break during the parts of the film where people are just sitting there talking. I actually got quite sick during the film, which may have occurred since I sat closer to the screen than I could have. I'm sure that watching it on the big screen made the affect worse, and when I watch the DVD I will not have the same effect on a smaller screen.
Rating:
My review of Bourne Supremacy (2004).
My review of Bourne Identity (2002).
"Bourne Ultimatum" at Amazon.com.

"Dan In Real Life" - Romantic comedy with Steven Carrell, Juliette Binoche, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney.
Plot Intro: Dan's wife died suddenly four years before the film starts. He is left to be a single parent of three girls of slightly different personalities. He takes his family to his parents' house for a holiday where he meets his brother's girlfriend.
Review: Very very good film. Well written. Steven Carell and Juliette Binoche are great. The rest of the cast are very good, too.
Rating:
"Dan In Real Life" at Amazon.com.

"Ghost Rider" - With Nicolas Cage, Peter Fonda, Donal Logue, Eva Mendes, Sam Elliott.
Plot Intro: A teenager makes a deal with Mephistopheles to save his father, and years later he is called upon to fight a fallen angel who wants to create hell on earth.
Review: This film had one of the best trailers I've ever seen. I had seen it on the internet maybe 9 months before I saw the film. I have to say that the film is not quite that good. The special effects are great. Many times films are the most interesting in the first half when they are setting up the character and his relationships with the other characters. That is what happens in "Ghost Rider." The film is a little too melodramatic, especially when it comes to some of the lines that Nicolas Cage's character says. But I still found the movie entertaining.
Rating:
"Ghost Rider" at Amazon.com.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" - Fantasy with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), Alan Rickman (Professor Snape), Imelda Staunton (Prof. Dolores Umbridge), Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore), Maggie Smith (Prof. Minerva McGonagall), Brendon Gleeson (Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody), Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Tom Fenton (Draco Malfoy), Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Emma Thompson (Prof. Sybil Trelawney), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange). Based on the book by J. K. Rowling.
Plot Intro: Harry is having dreams about a door, one that he feels he has to open up. The Ministry of Magic is telling people that Harry is just an attention-seeking teenager, and no one has to worry about whether Voldemort is back. The Ministry of Magic places a new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher in Hogwarts. And Dumbledore ignores him and refuses to be in the same room with him alone.
Review: The computer graphics, the art design, and the costume design are very good. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but the books are two or three times better than the movies. The movies abbreviate everything a little bit too much (maybe they should get someone from Reader's Digest to do it). Too much is left out, and much that is left in is changed almost beyond recognition. The movies are probably enjoyable to those who haven't read the book or have short memories. Maybe my problem is that I read the books again before the movies come out.
Rating:
My review of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (2005)
My review of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004)
My review of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (2002)
My review of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001) - AKA "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"
A compilation of emails about the HP7 book.
A compilation of emails about the HP6 books and speculation about HP7 book. Might be old, but it could be interesting reading.
The HP Lexicon - some interesting reading if you are a Harry Potter fan.
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" at Amazon.com.

"Hot Fuzz" - Satire with Simon Pegg, Timothy Dalton, Jim Broadbent.
Plot Intro: A member of the British police force in London is sent to a small village with a very low crime rate, because he is causing the crime rate to be so low in London that the authorities are concerned for their jobs.
Review: The build up to the end is a little slow, but it is still entertaining. The finale is great. Loads of fun.
Rating:
Follow-up to "Shaun of the Dead" (2004)
"Shaun of the Dead" at Amazon.com.

"Live Free or Die Hard" - With Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Long, Maggie Q. Also known as Die Hard 4.
Plot Intro: John McClane tries to stop a plot to rip off billions of dollars and destroy the United States.
Review: Excellent film, even after the long break after Die Hard 3. Bruce is great, and Justin Long shows that he has a natural ability to lighten things up. Olyphant and Maggie Q are great villains. Much better than Die Hard 2.
Rating:
My review of "Die Hard" (1988).
My review of "Die Hard II" (1990).
My review of "Die Harder: Die With a Vengeance" or "Die Hard 3" (1995).
"Live Free or Die Hard" at Amazon.com.

"Mr. Bean's Holiday" - Comedy with Rowan Atkinson, Willem Dafoe, Emma de Caunes, Max Baldry.
Plot Intro: Mr. Bean wins a trip to Cannes. On his way to the beach, he leaves destruction in his wake.
Review: A little slow in the beginning, but when the Mr. Bean and the boy (played by Baldry) become friends, the movie becomes a lot of fun. Atkinson has some good moments, and the ending is very sweet.
Rating:
My review of "Bean: The Movie" (1997).
"Mr. Bean's Holiday" at Amazon.com.

"Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" - With Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman.
Plot Intro: A magical toy store owner declares that he is retiring, and the store starts having problems.
Review: A children's film. Children will probably like it more than adults will. I thought it was good but not great. The special effects were good but not great. Portman seems a little stiff, but that's how she was in the Star Wars films. She was better in "V for Vendetta".
Rating:
"Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" at Amazon.com.

"Music and Lyrics" - With Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Kristen Johnston.
Plot Intro: A pop music star from the 1980s is asked by a current mega pop music star to write her a song. He and his manager see this as a way to resurrect his career, but the problem is that he was the music part of the old group and his one-time writing partner was the lyrics part. He finds out that his new plant-waterer is a natural, and he coerces her to help him write the song. They only have one week.
Review: Another Hugh Grant light romantic comedy. He is really good at this kind of film, even though I understand that he hates to do movies. He is still making the rounds of actresses. I had the feeling while watching the movie that Barrymore wasn't up to the task of this kind of script. Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts did really well when teamed up with him.
Rating:
"Music and Lyrics" at Amazon.com.

"No Country For Old Men" - Thriller with Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson, Stephen Root, Tess Harper. Written and directed by Ethan and Joel Coen.
Plot Intro: A drug deal in 1980s southern Texas goes bad. There are dead bodies all around, and a man who is out hunting finds the scene -- with a satchel of money. He tries to lay low, but a killer finds out who he is and begins tracking him down. The local sheriff is left to find the trail of dead bodies.
Review: Won Best Picture Oscar for 2007. The Coen Brothers won Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Javier Bardem won the Best Supporting Actor oscar.
Rating:
"No Country For Old Men" at Amazon.com.

"Ratatouille" - A Pixar animated comedy with Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Brian Dennehy, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, John Ratzenberger.
Plot Intro: A rat finds out that his nose is special. He can determine what ingredients were used in a recipe. He can smell rat poison from a distance. He gets separated from his family, and he ends up near a famous restaurant in Paris. He can't resist going into the restaurant's kitchen.
Review: The animation on the film is remarkable, and the writing is clever. However, the film is slow in parts, and the storyline is one that is questionable. The storyline contains a lot of cooking and some food critics -- things that I thought would make no sense to the children unless they were 8 or 10, and watching hundreds of rats cook in a kitchen is difficult for adults. There were parents with their kids all around us, and all I could think of during the show was, "What are the kids thinking? How many of them understand how awful it is to have rats in a kitchen?" Having those kinds of thoughts go through my head took away from the enjoyment of the film. When we were viewing the film, there didn't seem to be a whole lot of laughs, though it was entertaining to the adults I was with. I'm giving the film 3 stars, but for a long time I was torn between 3 and 2.5 stars.
Rating:
"Ratatouille" at Amazon.com.

"Spider-Man 3" - Comic book Fantasy with Toby Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Thomas Hayden Church, James Franco, Topher Grace, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Elizabeth Banks, Cliff Robertson, Bryce Dallas Howard. Directed by Sam Raimi.
Plot Intro: Peter Parker wants to ask Mary Jane to marry him, but he doesn't know the trouble she's going through, because he is constantly dealing with the New Goblin and Sandman. So she becomes disillusioned with him, and lets him know that all of the popularity is going to his head. Then a third super-villain appears -- Venom, and Spider-man has his hands full.
Review: The villains are very good. The New Goblin's paraphernalia are very good. Sandman and Venom are very good. All of the special effects are excellent. Except for a couple scenes, it looks like Kirsten Dunst never smiles -- which tones down her attractiveness. The counterpart played by Bryce Dallas Howard is very attractive. Topher is very good. My only negative comment is that parts of the movie are slow.
Rating:
My review of Spider-Man 2 (2004).
My review of Spider-Man (2002).
"Spider-Man 3" at Amazon.com.

"Zodiac" - Thriller with Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch, Chloë Sevigny. Directed by David Fincher
Plot Intro: A serial killer terrorizes the San Francisco area. The police have a few suspects, but one stands out. The murders become an obsession for a reporter and a political cartoonist on the San Francisco Chronicle.
Review: Based on the book which was written by the political cartoonist. The story draws you in. The whole cast is excellent -- especially Ruffalo.
Rating:
"Zodiac" at Amazon.com.

Movies of 2006

"American Dreamz" - With Hugh Grant, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, William Dafoe, Jennifer Coolidge, Marsha Gay Harden.
Plot Intro: A president — who hails from Texas and whose father was president before him — realizes that he needs to improve his popularity, and he and his advisors agree that he can be a guest judge on American Dreamz.
Review: The American Dreamz show is meant to refer to American Idol, the Hugh Grant character is meant to relate to Simon Cowell, and the president is meant to make people think of George Bush. The book starts out very slow. It picks up when the events get to the actual American Dreamz competition, but the ending lacks any punch. Dennis Quaid is very good. There isn't enough of Grant being Cowell. Mandy Moore is fine. The Muslims are all very humorous, especially the three in LA and the Bin Laden character who parrot the party line, but they end up getting wrapped up in the American Dreamz show.
Rating:
"American Dreamz" at Amazon.com.

"Cars" - Pixar animated feature with Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Cheech Marin, Tony Shalhoub, Katherine Helmond, John Ratzenberger, Michael Keaton, Bob Costas, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Mario Andretti.
Plot Intro: A cocky young race car has some lessons to learn, and he starts by getting lost on the interstate.
Review: Very entertaining movie. The graphics are great.
Rating:
"Cars" at Amazon.com.

"Casino Royale" - With Daniel Craig, Judi Dench.
Plot Intro: Bond must beat Le Chiffre at cards in order to prevent about $150 million from going to terrorists and those behind them.
Review: "Casino Royale" is somewhat based on the first Bond novel by Ian Fleming. It may be the best James Bond film of the series, and Daniel Craig matches Sean Connery in quality and beats Connery in intensity. The film is well-written and well-filmed, and the cast is great. Highly recommended.
Rating:
"Casino Royale" at Amazon.com.

"The Da Vinci Code" - With Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen, Audrey Tautou, Alfred Molina, Jürgen Prochnow. Directed by Ron Howard. Based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown. AKA "The DaVinci Code."
Plot Intro: An old man is killed at the Louvre in Paris. A college professor, who specializes in religious symbology, works with his granddaughter — while fleeing the police and a religious fanatic — to solve his murder and to discover what he died protecting.
Review: I thought the movie did an admirable job of attempting to bring the story in the book to the big screen. The use of special effects was very effective in forwarding the story through flashbacks. Audrey Tautou, Tom Hanks, and Ian McKellen were great. There some differences with the book. I plan on reading the book again after the DVD comes out, but here is a partial list:

The movie says that the old gentleman who was killed at the Louvre was not Sophie's grandfather, but in the book he was her grandfather.
I don't remember there being conflict between the head of the French police investigation and his assistant as it is portrayed in the movie.
In the book there were two puzzle boxes known as cryptexes, while in the movie there was only one.
When Sophie gets to Scotland in the book, she finds out that she still has a brother and a grandmother. In the movie, the brother was killed in the automobile accident that killed her parents.

If you are interested in reading further on this subject, you can search out books by Laurence Gardner and Michael Baigent.
Rating:
"The Da Vinci Code" at Amazon.com.

"Deck the Halls" - With Matthew Broderick, Danny DeVito, Kristin Davis. Directed by John Whitesell.
Plot Intro: A new neighbor moves in, and his plans for his house to be seen from space start to cause problems for the neighborhood.
Review: Not very memorable.
Rating:
"Deck the Halls" at Amazon.com.

"The Departed" - With Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon.
Plot Intro: A cop working undercover for a mafioso has to help the police find out who is working undercover for the mafioso on the police force.
Review: Very good film. Won Academy Award for Best Movie in 2006. All the actors do great. The film was based on a 2002 foreign film called "Infernal Affairs". Please be aware that the language can be very offensive.
Rating:
"The Departed" at Amazon.com.

"Eragon" - With Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Rachel Weisz, Robert Carlyle, Edward Speleers. Based on the book by Christopher Paolini.
Plot Intro: A teenaged boy discovers a stone and takes it home. He realizes that it is a dragon egg, and he becomes a dragon rider.
Review: Based on the first novel by Christopher Paolini who wrote the book soon after his high school graduation at the age of 15. The special effects are excellent, and the acting is very good. The movie is obviously a setup for a series.
Rating:
"Eragon" at Amazon.com.

"Failure to Launch" - With Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Bates, Terry Bradshaw, Zooey Deschanel.
Plot Intro: Parents hire a woman to giver their 30-something son some incentive to move out of their house.
Review: The plot is forced. It is the kind of thing that would probably never happen. The studios continue to throw various combinations of male and female leads together in different romantic situations. It is rare that two stars play opposite each other in a series of films (like Tracy-Hepburn or Powell-Loy), but that's kind of how it's been from the beginning. The most recent couple that has done several films together was Hanks and Ryan. Anyway, this film is relatively harmless, and the leads and supporting players are fun to watch. It's not "Gone with the Wind", but that's not what it's intended to be. I laughed enough to make the film worth going to see. Just be warned about Bradshaw's naked room.
Rating:
"Failure to Launch" at Amazon.com.

"Flags of Our Fathers" - Directed by Clint Eastwood. With Robert Patrick, Neal McDonough, Judith Ivey.
Plot Intro: The Marines land on Iwo Jima, and the Japanese are waiting for them. The movie follows the story of what happened to the men who were in the famous photograph of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima.
Review: A companion film to "Letters from Iwo Jima." Excellent film. Highly recommended.
Rating:
"Letters From Iwo Jima" - My review.
"Flags of Our Fathers" at Amazon.com.

"Flushed Away" - Animated film with Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellan, Jean Reno, David Suchet.
Plot Intro: A pet rat is flushed down a toilet into the sewer system while his family is away on vacation, and he asks an underground rat to help him get back home.
Review: Very entertaining. Very good graphics. The voices chosen for the parts were perfect. Jean Reno does a kind of Maurice Chevalier impersonation. A very humorous film from the makers of Wallace and Gromit.
Rating:
"Flushed Away" at Amazon.com.

"The Good Shepherd" - With Matt Damon, Robert DeNiro, Angelina Jolie, John Turturro, Alec Baldwin, Michael Gambon, William Hurt, Joe Pesci, Billy Crudup, Timothy Hutton, Eddie Redmayne.
Plot Intro: A man who is good at keep secrets and want to serve his country works in the US intelligence community from before World War II through several decades. It has affects on his marriage and on his relationship with his son.
Review: I thought the movie was interesting in parts. Damon is good, and Redmayne has some good scenes as Damon's son. The rest of the cast is good. Jolie didn't seem to fit her part (not sure why -- just an impression). The film seemed too long. It was also hard to follow (I recently watched it on a very small screen), since the story jumped back and forth in time and the text that indicated the date was hard to read. I think that films are using the technique of jumping around a little too often. There was what I thought was an inconsistency in Damon's character. He continues to maintain that no one can be trusted (something his told very early in his career), but he is trapped in a couple affairs that are set up to destroy him. You would think that a smart intelligence officer would be able to avoid these things.
Rating:
"The Good Shepherd" at Amazon.com.

"Invincible" - With Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Nouri.
Plot Intro: A 30-year old bar tender tries out for the Philadelphia Eagles in an open tryout in 1976.
Review: Based on the true story of Vincent Papale who played three years for the Philadelphia Eagles, from 1976 to 1978. He is still the oldest non-kicking rookie that ever played in the NFL. The movie is very good. Mark Wahlberg is excellent, as is Elizabeth Banks and Greg Kinnear. The screenwriter did make some changes to the story, but the movie is still very good.
Rating:
"Invincible" at Amazon.com.

"Keeping Up With The Steins" - With Jeremy Piven, Jami Gertz, Garry Marshall, Doris Roberts, Darryl Hannah.
Plot Intro: A Jewish boy, whose Bar Mitzvah is approaching, has to deal with his father (Jeremy Piven) who is very competitive with another father who just gave a Bar Mitzvah celebration for his son that cost half a million. He also has to deal with his father's issues with the grandfather (Garry Marshall).
Review: The film starts out very funny. You may need to understand a little about Jewish culture in order to get some of the early jokes, but, as the movie progresses, it turns into a coming of age or personal growth/journey story for both the father and son. And that's OK. Jeremy Piven is great in other films as the sidekick, but here it seemed like the director needed to work a little harder than he did to try to get a better performance from Jeremy in certain scenes. Jami Gertz and Garry Marshall were very good. Doris Roberts and Darryl Hannah were fine.
Rating:
"Keeping Up With The Steins" at Amazon.com.

"El Laberinto del Fauno" - Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. AKA "Pan's Labrynth".
Plot Intro: A girl's mother marries an officer in a fascist regime. She is told by a fauna that she is a princess, and he gives her three tasks to complete before the full moon.
Review: Excellent special effects. Some very graphic violent scenes. The film isn't for children. It's a melding of fantasy and political imagery.
Rating:
"El Laberinto del Fauno" at Amazon.com.
"Pan's Labrynth" at Amazon.com.

"Letters From Iwo Jima" - Directed by Clint Eastwood. With . In Japanese with subtitles.
Plot Intro: The Marines land on Iwo Jima, and the Japanese are waiting for them. The movie follows the story of several of the Japanese soldiers who defended what had always been Japanese soil.
Review: Companion film to "Flags of Our Fathers". Both were filmed at the same time. Excellent film. Highly recommended.
Rating:
"Flags of Our Fathers" - My review.
"Letters From Iwo Jima" at Amazon.com.

"Night at the Museum" - With Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Carla Gugino, Ricky Gervais, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Anne Meara, Paul Rudd, Kim Raver.
Plot Intro: The American Museum of Natural History is laying off its elderly group of security guard in a cost cutting move, and they are hiring a jobless, divorced entrepreneur (Stiller). Odd things happen on his first night at the museum.
Review: Good family fun. I saw this in a packed theater filled with families, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It has special effects that reminded me of "Jumanji". It's not "Gone with the Wind", but it's fun to watch.
Rating:
"Night at the Museum" at Amazon.com.

"The Pursuit of Happyness" - With Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandie Newton, Dan Castellaneta.
Plot Intro: A man in San Francisco is just trying to make ends meet by selling a product few people want, and he decides to try to become a stock broker, even though he only has a high school diploma. His marriage falls apart, and he is homeless part of the time. He pesters the head of human resources and shows he is more intelligent than his resume portrays him. He is given a chance, and in spite of all the challenges he perseveres.
Review: Based on a true story. Very moving at the end. Will Smith and Jaden Smith are excellent! I highly recommend this film.
Rating:
"The Pursuit of Happyness" at Amazon.com.

"A Prairie Home Companion" - With Garrison Keillor, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, John C. Reilly, Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, Maya Rudolph. Written by Garrison Keillor. Directed by Robert Altman.
Plot Intro: It is the last show of "A Prairie Home Companion." The station where the show originates was bought by a Texas millionaire who thinks that the day of old fashioned radio is gone.
Review: I catch Keillor's radio show from time to time. I am always impressed by his ability to smoothly navigate his way through the show. His voice is so resonant and perfect for radio. Watching this movie gave me the same feeling I get when I listen to the radio show. The movie navigated its way through the back stage and on stage events with the same efficiency, and there was always Keillor's voice. Harrelson, Reilly, Streep, and Tomlin do great -- especially Streep who showed she has a very good singing voice. The Kline and Madsen characters are the weakest ones in the movie. Altman's direction is expert to accomplish this, and the script is wonderful.
Rating:
"A Prairie Home Companion" at Amazon.com.

"The Prestige" - With Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johannson. Written by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Novel by Christopher Priest.
Plot Intro: Two magicians begin their careers working together for another magician, but they compete for the rest of their lives after they go off on their own.
Review:"The Prestige" almost a science fiction movie as much as a suspense movie. The movie has a good group of stars, and the acting was good. The artistic and production design and costumes are very good. However, I am only giving this movie a mediocre review. You definitely have to suspend your skepticism in order to make sense of this film. The machine that Jackman's character uses is not believable, and the final twist at the end was just too much.
Rating:
"The Prestige" at Amazon.com.

"Stranger Than Fiction" - With Will Ferrell, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tom Hulce.
Plot Intro: An IRS agent finds out that his life is being narrated by the author of a work of fiction, and his fate doesn't seem to be in his own hands.
Review: Excellent film. Very interesting graphics. It was interesting to note where there was a comparison between the square and the round, between the drab and the colorful.
Rating:
"Stranger Than Fiction" at Amazon.com.

"X-Men: The Last Stand" - AKA "X-Men 3" or "X3". With Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn, Anna Paquin, Keley Grammer. Plot Intro: The father of a mutant develops a "cure" for all mutants. He offers it to the government, and this triggers all out war with the mutants. Review: Special effects are good, and the story is pretty good. Some of the mutants lose their power, and some of them die -- but then, maybe not.
Rating:
My review of X2 - X-Men United (2001).
My review of X-Men (2000).
"X-Men: The Last Stand" at Amazon.com.

Movies of 2005

"Batman Begins" - With Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, Morgan Freeman. Directed by Christopher Nolan who is best known for his films "Memento" and "Insomnia".
     Plot Intro: The story of how Batman was created and what happened when he faced his first evil foe.
     Review: This film is the 2005 addition to the Batman franchise. The claim of the filmmaker is that this version of Batman comes closer to the comic book version. (If I remember right, this was the claim of Tim Burton's version as well.) I've never read the Batman comic books, so I don't know if this movie is closer to the original concept. I'm not really sure why there is the emphasis on going back to the original concept of comic book heroes, since comic book characters evolve over time as the authors develop the character and new authors take over. Though I guess the point is that it would be good for movies and TV shows to at least come close to a character at some point in its evolution. The other side is that a film could actually add to the evolution.
     The first half of the film is somewhat of a retelling of how Batman was created, since the first Batman goes over the same material (the killing of his parents, for instance) — except that in "Batman Begins" Batman learns a lot of martial arts, and much of it is told in flashback. The art direction and the production design of the first Batman film were better than in "Batman Begins." Or maybe it is just that Tim Burton's film is easier to look at. Everything in "Batman Returns" looked gray and filthy, which I guess means that it looked like a real city. The fighting is too blurry, too much motion of the camera (I can take that kind of camera work only in small doses) to emphasize the violence. At times you couldn't see anything that was going on as the whole screen would degenerate into one big blur.
     Christian Bale is good as Batman. He has a enough dark seriousness to give the portrayal some weight. Katie Holmes (love Katie Holmes) was very good. I haven't seen everything she's done, but my impression is that this may be her first totally adult part (late 20s rather than the college age or younger characters I've seen her do). Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are always fun to watch.
     The Neeson character isn't at the same level as Nicholson's Joker. The Joker was in Batman's face throughout the Tim Burton film. In "Batman Begins" there are three evil men, and it is only in the last half hour that Batman has to face his real nemesis. So Neeson's character isn't really able to build to the same level. At times Neeson seemed to represent the extremes of a religious movement that would want to raze a city if it became too evil (thinking they were instruments of God). At other times the character had elements of the extremes of the environmental movement that would want to raze a city if it became a blight on the planet environmentally. Most of the emphasis was on morality, since Bruce Wayne was always saying that Gotham could be "saved." In this way, the film may convey subliminal messages about real-life activists.
     "Batman Begins" leaves at a point where the Joker character is introduced at the end as a setup for the sequel.
Rating:
"Batman Begins" at Amazon.com.
My review of "Batman" (1989).
My review of "Batman Returns" (1992).
My review of "Batman Forever" (1995).
My review of "Batman Begins" (2005).

"Be Cool" - With John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Steven Tyler, Cedric the Entertainer, Robert Pastorelli, The Rock, Danny DeVito, Harvey Keitel. Based on the book by Elmore Leonard.
Plot Intro: Chili Palmer becomes bored with the movie industry, so he gets involved in the music industry. He finds that it's almost has hard as working in the mafia.
Review: Basically a sequel to "Get Shorty", one of my favorite films. I've been an Elmore Leonard fan for quite a while, but I have to say that I haven't had the time to read the book. I was very excited when "Get Shorty" came out, and it lived up to the advertisements and promotions. When I saw the advertisements for "Be Cool", I thought it would be a movie that didn't measure up to the previous film. The casting just didn't fit an Elmore Leonard book (for example, Cedric the Entertainer). I finally got around to seeing it, and I was pretty much right. The first half of the film is somewhat entertaining. However, after a while the parallels between the plot of this film and the plot of "Get Shorty" reached a tipping point where I started to wonder if the screenwriter(s) (or the author of the book) had run out of ideas. It is one thing to try to show that the two industries (film and music) have similar problems, but it is another to overuse the technique by stealing plot devices over and over again from the first film. The scene where Travolta and Thurman dance is, of course, another scene related to another movie ("Pulp Fiction"). It was like the filmmakers were winking at the audience and saying, "Look how cute this is. We must be really clever to refer to a really cool film." I never winked back. One more scene piled onto the other scenes that were similar to other movies. The Rock was great in the whole film. I was very surprised and impressed with how well he could get into the part. It wasn't that long ago that he was a professional wrestler, and while there admittedly is some acting in that "sport", The Rock must have taken a crash course in acting, and he must have a natural ability to pick up all of the required techniques. Steve Tyler may be one of the better actors that is also a rock singer, but that doesn't mean he is a good actor. I thought that Vince Vaughn's effort was frenetic and out of place. Of course, John Travolta was cool, but he needs to find another good film or his career will dwindle away. Overall, a slightly above average effort.
Rating:
"Be Cool" at Amazon.com.

"Broken Flowers" - With Bill Murray, Sharon Stone, Julie Delpy. Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.
Plot Intro: A bachelor gets a letter supposedly from a former flame who says that her son has is trying to find his real father. His neighbor, a wannabe detective, encourages him to make a list of the women he had a relationship with that year, and then the neighbor gets him to take a trip and visit each of the four women.
Review: Entertaining. Bill is a genius at portraying a lot of internal thoughts with a slight move of the face. He gets to see how his life might have been if he had stayed with each of the women. All he ends up with is a black eye and a constant paranoia about each man in their late teens, early twenties. Is this the one? The thing I don't get is that if the kid was trying to find him at his house, why didn't he just stay home?
Rating:
"Broken Flowers" at Amazon.com.

"Cinderella Man" - With Russell Crowe, Reneé Zellweger, Paul Giamatti. Directed by Ron Howard.
Plot Intro: A Depression Era fighter, who has lost everything in the stock market crash of 1929, tries to get extra money to keep his family together by picking up fights. He ends up with a shot for the heavyweight title.
Review: Based on the true story of James J. "Jimmy" Braddock who fought Max Baer for the heavyweight title and was called the Cinderella Man by Damon Runyon. This is a wonderful film. The fights are filmed and edited in such a way that the action looks very real. This is not a film for people who are squeamish about violent boxing. Russell Crowe, Reneé Zellweger, and Paul Giamatti were excellent — as always. The whole film is excellent. It's the best film I've seen this year.
Rating:
"Cinderella Man" at Amazon.com.

"40 Year Old Virgin" - With Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd.
Plot Intro: A 40 year old man's friends find out that he is a virgin, and they try to train him for dealing with the opposite sex.
Review: Some of this movie is fun to watch. Carell and Keener are great, and Carell's friends have their moments. However, the language and some of the subject matter are very adult-oriented and may not be for everyone's taste.
Rating:
"40 Year Old Virgin" at Amazon.com.

"Good Night and Good Luck" - With David Strathairn, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Frank Langella, Jeff Daniels, George Clooney. Directed by George Clooney. Written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov.
Plot Intro: A senator who is crossing the line of the Bill of Rights is exposed by a news investigation.
Review: A dramatization of the exposing of the methods of the Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy by Edward R. Murrow on his show on CBS. The film shows what pressures were placed on CBS, and what it was like to live at a time when innocent people were implicated by hearsay and innuendo. There is a large presence of the military and loyalty oaths. Fear was everywhere. The film is effective, well-written, and well-directed. The film was nominated for the 2005 Best Film Academy Award. David Strathairn was nominated for Best Actor, George Clooney was nominated for Best Director, and the script was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. The film was also nominated for cinematography and art direction. The Bill of Rights protects rights that we should be willing to defend with everything we have.
Rating:
"Good Night and Good Luck" at Amazon.com.

"Guess Who" - With Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher.
Plot Intro: Successful African-American parents have raised their daughter to not take the color of skin into account when determining the value of a person, but they have to push that philosophy to another level when she brings home a young white securities broker to meet them. They would have less to object about except that he quit his job and hasn't told her yet.
Review: Not really a re-make of the 1967 classic "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner". It covers some of the same ground and yet tries to update the material with some humor. This film tries to have it both ways. It tries to be very funny while at the same time it tries to deal with some serious issues (albeit in a less serious way than the original "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"). Most of the funny parts of the film were revealed in the previews or commercials that did not give any indication that the film would attempt to turn serious. When the film did turn serious, it seemed to ring false — mostly because they kept the reason Ashton's character lost his job a secret until the very end. I have only seen the film once, but the film might be more poignant and meaningful when viewed a second time, since the viewer will know at that time what Ashton's character is keeping secret and how it impacts on the rest of the film — even though the viewer will then know the punchlines of most of the humorous scenes.
Rating:
"Guess Who" at Amazon.com.

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" - Fantasy with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman (Professor Snape), Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore), Maggie Smith (Prof. Minerva McGonagall), Brendon Gleeson (Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody), Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Tom Fenton (Draco Malfoy), Miranda Richardson (Rita Skeeter), Timothy Spall (Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew). Based on the book by J. K. Rowling. Directed by Mike Newell.
Plot Intro: Harry is entered into the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and he has to compete with three other students who are 3 years older than him, two of whom are from other wizarding schools.
Review: The fourth entry in the Harry Potter movie series and the one which strayed further from the book than the previous three movies did. In general, I thought that they did well to put all of the story that they did into a single movie that was around 2.5 hours, but I was somewhat disappointed by how much was left out. The parts of the book that were done were done well. The film felt kind of rushed to me. The three main actors were better in this film, and this was the best that Michael Gambon has done. Gambon shows that he will make a fine Dumbledore for as long as Dumbledore lasts. Harry's dragon is pretty cool, but the scene was changed. These are only some of the positives. Of course, the graphics, special effects, set design, etc. were excellent. HP4 is the second longest book in the series, and there is a lot of repetition and belaboring of points in the book, but I found that many things that I thought were important and related to other parts of the story were left out or breezed over. Each book is a transitional book to the next, and some of the things that they left out will make transition to the next film a little more difficult — especially for those who only see the movies and never read the books. Below is a list of the things that were missing or changed. By making the list, I am not implying that all of them should have been in the movie. I've attempted to indicate which ones I would like to have seen. Rating:

My review of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (2007)
My review of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004)
My review of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (2002)
My review of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001) - AKA "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"
A compilation of comments about the 4th movie - what was left out or changed.
A compilation of emails about the HP7 book.
A compilation of emails about the HP6 books and speculation about HP7 book. Might be old, but it could be interesting reading.
The HP Lexicon - some interesting reading if you are a Harry Potter fan.
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" at Amazon.com.

"The March of the Penguins" - AKA "La Marche de l'empereur". Documentary narrated by Morgan Freeman.
Plot Intro: The emperor penguins fight to have their species survive.
Review: "The March of the Penguins" is an amazing film. Not only are the images powerful, but the editing is expertly done. The DVD has an excellent feature on the way the movie was filmed. When they speak of the temperatures in the middle of the winter going down to 80 degrees below zero, and when you realize that these men were living on the Antarctica and hiking from their camp to the nesting area of the penguins, you have to marvel that the film ever was able to be accomplished. The only fault with the film is that it seems too short.
Rating:
"The March of the Penguins" at Amazon.com.

"Mr. & Mrs. Smith" - With Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn.
Plot Intro: Two people meet in South America, fall in love, and get married. Each of them keeps a secret from the other: they are hired killers.
Review: Brad and Angelina look like they are having fun. Watching it isn't quite as much fun though.
Rating:
"Mr. & Mrs. Smith" at Amazon.com.

"Nanny McPhee" - With Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Kelly Mcdonald, Angela Lansbury, Imelda Staunton. Screenplay by Emma Thompson.
Plot Intro: A single father is about to be put out of his house by his own aunt, and he has a terrible time getting his children under control. No one in the local area will agree to work as nanny in his house. A rather ugly woman appears on his doorstep to be the nanny.
Review: A good children's film. Based on the "Nurse Matilda" books.
Rating:
"Nanny McPhee" at Amazon.com.

"Pride & Prejudice" - With Keira Knightley, Donald Sutherland, Matthew MacFadyen. Based on the book by Jane Austen.
Plot Intro: A spirited girl is turned off by a rigid rich man, but then she realizes that she loves him.
Review: May be the tenth version of "Pride and Prejudice" brought to film or TV, but this is a very entertaining version. Knightley and MacFadyen were great, as was Donald Sutherland and the rest of the cast.
Rating:
"Pride & Prejudice" at Amazon.com.

"Robots" - With Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Terry Bradshaw, Jim Broadbent, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge.
Plot Intro: Robots in a robot-world are required to upgrade or they face being recycled. A young robot organizes a resistance.
Review: The graphics are good. The writing could be a little better.
Rating:
"Robots" at Amazon.com.

"Rumor Has It ... " - Romantic comedy with Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo, Mena Suvari. Written by Ted Griffin. Directed by Rob Reiner.
Plot Intro: The movie takes place in the early 1990s. A woman (Aniston) finds out the the book and the movie called "The Graduate" is based on some events in her family's history. Then she decides to meet the man at the center of it all to find out if he is her father. In the end, she finds out that she has more in common with her mother than she thought.
Review: Good romantic comedy with a novel premise. The film is more of a story of a personal of a woman and her attempt to find out more about her mother who died when she was very young. Aniston, Costner, MacLaine, and Ruffalo are very good, and Suvari has some good scenes especially towards the end. Some may be turned off by the fact that three generations of women end up in bed with the same man. If you are one of these, you probably won't want to see this film. My only question is why would she take his word for anything? Why wouldn't see ask for a genetic test?
Rating:
"Rumor Has It ... " at Amazon.com.

"Star Wars, Episode III - The Revenge of the Sith" - Science Fiction with
Plot Intro: Anakin is turned to the dark side. Obi-Wan attempts to turn him back.
Review: A very good movie to close out the series.
Rating:
Star Wars Timeline

My review of "Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" (1999)
My review of "Episode 2: The Revenge of the Sith" (2002)
My review of "Episode 4: Star Wars" (1977)
My review of "Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back" (1980)
My review of "Episode 6: The Return of the Jedi" (1983)
"Star Wars, Episode III - The Revenge of the Sith" at Amazon.com.

"Syriana" - With George Clooney, Matt Damon, William Hurt, Angelina Jolie, Christopher Plummer, Chris Cooper, Amanda Peet, Robert Foxworthy.
Plot Intro: A CIA agent and an oil industry analyst get in the middle of US desires to manipulate the accession to the throne of an Arab kingdom.
Review: Excellent. Clooney deserved his Oscar. There were some stories that said that the film was hard to understand. I watched the interview of Clooney on the Special Features. After that, I found the story easy to follow.
Rating:
"Syriana" at Amazon.com.

"Thank You For Smoking" - With Aaron Eckhart, William H. Macy, Maria Bello, David Koechner, Robert Duvall, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, Dennis Miller, Joan Lunden, Kim Dickens. Screenplay and direction by Jason Reitman. Based on the book by Christopher Buckley.
Plot Intro: A tobacco lobbyist has to deal with the antagonism of a Senator, the press, and the public. He also has to deal with his ex-wife, her new husband, and his son who is growing up.
Review: Excellent satire about a public relations lobbyist and the techniques he used to turn an argument back on the ones who are politically correct. Similar to what politicians do today in the political debate.
Rating:
"Thank You For Smoking" at Amazon.com.

"V for Vendetta" - With Hugo Weaving, John Hurt, Natalie Portman, Stephen Fry, Stephen Rea. Written by the Wachowski brothers.
     Plot Intro: A man who was tortured by representatives of the government seeks revenge on all of those involved in the plot that ended in the overthrow of true democracy.
     Review: The events of the film takes place in 2020. A crisis was engineered by certain people who wanted to take over the government. They created a virus for which they had the only antidote/cure, and they released it on their own people. Then they took over the media and controlled the citizens through intimidation and false information. The result was that those involved grew extremely rich and powerful.
     Some will see links between what happens in the film to what is happening today. They may have a point, since governments more and more are attempting to feed their propaganda and misinformation through the media, developing a spin for all of the events that occur to place any opposition in a negative light, creating crises or taking advantage of real ones in order to sow fear, complacency, and dependency on the government to the point where governments are able to listen in on private phone conversations and search offices and homes without a warrant — all because of the claim that the country is supposedly at war. The movie, however, is based on a book that was written during the Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan administrations, but these kinds of political movements come and go all of the time, so the movie could apply to many different eras in human history. "V" says at one point that people shouldn't be afraid of their government, but the government should be afraid of its people. That is a good point of view. Sometimes governments do not seem to have the proper respect for their people or for the democratic institutions they are supposed to be protecting. Those in power seem to act more like those institutions are a burden, and they keep their actions secret from their own people.
     Though the film is made by Wachowski brothers, the same group that made "Matrix" and its sequels, it does not have the same power of the initial Matrix film — or even the second one. (Not many films will be able to match that one.) Natalie Portman does a great job — much better than in the Star Wars films where apparently she was not allowed to really act. Hugo Weaving does an amazing job even though his face is never revealed from behind the Guy Fawkes mask that he is required to wear. Stephen Rea is excellent as the intrepid detective. I recommend the film.
Rating:
"V for Vendetta" at Amazon.com.

"Wallace and Gromit and the Were-rabbit" - Animated comedy.
Plot Intro: Wallace and Gromit's new business venture is ridding their community of rabbits which are preying on vegetables that were being grown by gardeners for the local vegetable competition. However, they refuse to kill the rabbits, and this leads to nothing but trouble.
Review: A good movie-length version of the Wallace and Gromit clamation cartoons that are favorites worldwide, the ones who also made "Chicken Run". There are some good laughs for the kids and for the adults as well. I love the Wallace and Gromit shorts. At times, though, the movie felt like it was a little stretched out. The tightness of the stories involved in the short versions such as "The Wrong Trousers" (which I think is the best of the three) — or like "Chicken Run," for that matter — didn't seem to be there. The film may seem better after multiple viewings, especially after you catch all of the jokes. I'm sure that the "Making of" special feature on the DVD will be very interesting. I'm looking forward to that.
Rating:

My review of Chicken Run
"Wallace and Gromit and the Were-rabbit" at Amazon.com.

"Wedding Crashers" - With Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams, Jane Seymour, Dwight Yoakim, Will Ferrell, Isla Fisher.
Plot Intro: Two men have the hobby of attending weddings uninvited. They attend one of the oldest daughter of a member of the US Cabinet. They get involved with his two daughters.
Review: Humorous and mostly fun. Vaughn, Wilson, and Fisher are great, and Rachel McAdams does very well. Christopher Walken is great as the father.
Rating:
"Wedding Crashers" at Amazon.com.

Movies of 2004

"Around the World in 80 Days" - With Jackie Chan, Jim Broadbent.
Plot Intro: A British inventor makes a bet that he can make it around the world in 80 days. The people who make the bet with him attempt to sabotage him. At the same time, a gang is after one of his sidekicks.
Review: I didn't like the original too much, and this version made no improvement. Even Jackie Chan's fighting wasn't that great.
Rating:
"Around the World in 80 Days" at Amazon.com.

"The Aviator" - With Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Cate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law. Directed by Martin Scorsese.
Plot Intro: A boy who grew up in Texas, during times of yellow fever and other diseases, moves to California, becomes a movie producer, the owner of TWA, and an airplane designer. Then he takes on the U.S. government and wins.
Review: Excellent movie. DiCaprio and Blanchett are very good. Beckinsale is beautiful as always. Probably should have received the Best Picture Oscar.
Rating:
"The Aviator" at Amazon.com.

"Bourne Supremacy" - With Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Julia Stiles.
Plot Intro: Jason Bourne is in India with his girlfriend, but he realizes that he is being followed. In Berlin, his fingerprint is being left in order to frame him for the murder of some agents. Bourne tried to flee, but he realizes that he has to find out the reason why he is being followed and why he is being framed.
Review: Excellent film with some very good action sequences. I thought that the interplay between Bourne (Damon) and the girl (Potente) added a nuance that gave the first film a little more of a human touch. The characters became more fleshed out.
Rating:

My review of Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
My review of Bourne Identity (2002)
"Bourne Supremacy" at Amazon.com.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" - Produced, written, and directed by Michael Moore.
Plot Intro: The film analyzes events surrounding the 2000 election, the actions of the Bush administration, the events surrounding the career of George W. Bush, and the relationship of the Bush family to the Saudis and particularly to the Bin Laden family.
Review: An important film, and I recommend that everyone see it before Election Day. Moore is as much a satirist as he is a documentarian. He doesn't necessarily prove anything, but his film is chock full of documentation and film footage to prove most of his points. His film raises enough questions that it really makes you wonder what's been going on and what the real goals of the far right-wing of the Republican party are. Recently a book was published that attempts to savage Michael Moore. (The same thing is happening to many of the spokespeople on both sides of the political spectrum.) If you feel good about what is going on because a book came out and criticized Moore, then you are allowing yourself to be blinded. When it is apparent that members of an administration deceive the public into a war and then the administration breaks other laws in order to spy on its own citizens, those who support that administration must be willing to set aside their party affiliations and think of what is good for the country and for democracy. It is important to remember that there are good people in both parties who are patriotic and want the best for the country. It is also important to remember that not everything that an administration does is good or bad just because of their party affiliation. At some point we have to remember that we are Americans first.
Rating:
My review of "Bowling for Columbine"
"Fahrenheit 9/11" at Amazon.com.

"50 First Dates" - Romantic comedy with Drew Barrymore, Adam Sandler, and Rob Schneider.
Plot Intro: . A guy happens to meet a girl with short-term memory loss. She can't remember anything that happened the previous day. He falls in love with her, but he has to make her fall in love with him every day.
Review: The film teams up Sandler and Barrymore who had been successful in "Wedding Singer" (1998). The beginning of the film, the part where all the women are talking about Adam Sandler's character, is pretty funny. After that I lost interest. Barrymore was almost as sweet as can be, it was hard to relate to Sandler's character.
Rating:
My review of The Wedding Singer (1998)
"50 First Dates" at Amazon.com.

"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" - Fantasy with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman (Professor Snape), Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), David Thewlis (Professor Lupin), Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew). Based on the book by J. K. Rowling. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron.
Plot Intro: Harry is spending the summer with the Dursleys when they are visited by Mr. Dursley's sister — a woman who has never had any love for Harry. After quite a fight, Harry runs away with all his possessions, is picked up by a sorcerers' bus, and is taken to Diagon Alley. On the way, he finds out that Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban Prison, and in Diagon Alley he finds out that Sirius Black is out to kill him.
Review: An excellent film. The first Harry Potter film that is not just for children. Buckbeak, the Hippogriff, is great. It was amazing every time he was on screen. The werewolf at the end was just as good. I had never thought of what a werewolf could look like, but the werewolf in the film seemed to make sense. The new Dumbledore, Michael Gambon, did a good job. I kind of missed Richard Harris, however. Harris had a great way of talking to Harry. Maybe the difference was that Gambon's version didn't really get that kind of scene with Harry in this film. Oldman was also good, but there seemed to be something missing from his scenes towards the end. Needless to say, they left a lot of things out of the original story to make the film (maybe a little too much) — though, if you take the film's version of the story on its own, it hangs together with its own logic. If you like the Harry Potter films and you haven't read the books yet, what are you waiting for? The books are twice as good as the films.
Rating:

My review of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (2007)
My review of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (2005)
My review of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (2002)
My review of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001) - AKA "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"
A compilation of emails about the HP7 book.
A compilation of emails about the HP6 book and speculation about the HP7 book. Might be old, but it could be interesting reading.
The HP Lexicon - some interesting reading if you are a Harry Potter fan.
"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" at Amazon.com.

"Hellboy" - With Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Selma Blair, Ruppert Evans, Jeffrey Tambor. Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Plot Intro: A creature who came through a portal becomes an agent of the government, and he is a hero who protects us all.
Review: I really like this film. Perlman and Blair are great.
Rating:
"Hellboy" at Amazon.com.
My review of "Hellboy 2" (2008)

"Hero" - Martial arts film with Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Donnie Yen. Also known as "Ying xiong". Directed by Zhang Yimou.
Plot Intro: A man removes all the assassins who could kill the only ruler who could unit China into one nation.
Review: "Hero" was released in China a couple years before it was released in the US. The film is excellent. The photography is breath-taking. The fighting is reminiscent of the fighting in "Crouching Tiger" (2000). Scenes are filmed with certain colors as dominant. This raises the artistic level of the film above most martial arts films. I liked "Crouching Tiger" a little better. The romantic storyline added a more human element in "Crouching Tiger". That is mostly absent, or at the very least it is de-emphasized, in "Hero". Also Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Phat are so good, and Zhang Ziyi has a better part and really adds to the film.
Rating:
See my review of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000)
See my review of "House of Flying Daggers" (2004)
"Hero" at Amazon.com.

"House of Flying Daggers" - Martial arts film with Zhang Ziyi. Directed by Zhang Yimou and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Also known as "Ambush From Ten Directions", "Lovers", "Shi Mian Mai Fu".
Plot Intro: The government is trying to find out who is the new leader of an insurrection group, the Flying Daggers. They capture a woman who is supposed to be the blind daughter of the former leader of the group. A government agent springs her from jail, and then he follows her in the hopes of finding out where the group is.
Review: I went to see what I thought would be a martial arts film, but what I found was a chick-flick. I'm calling "House of Flying Daggers" a chick-flick, because when a film has a woman who has two death scenes in the arms of her lover, it is definitely a chick-flick. I don't mind many movies that can be termed as "chick-flicks", so that is not my point. I don't mean to offend anyone, and I can watch a lot of films (as my reviews attest), but this film really struck me as a poor attempt. I've seen "Crouching Tiger", and I think it is one of the best films of that year. I've seen "Hero", and it was very good — though not as good as "Crouching Tiger". The difference is that the other two films had a well-written story and fighting scenes. "Crouching Tiger" is the best, because it has a story that holds together. As you may know, all three films have some kind of romance, and there are things that happen in each that go beyond the bounds of physics. But "Flying Daggers" has knives that are thrown that suddenly stop spinning, or they act like a boomerang and change direction. It is one thing for people to defy the laws of physics. That can be "excused" by saying that they were utilizing some special abilities after years of training. But for inanimate objects to suddenly change direction of stop spinning was more than I could take. The fighting in "Crouching Tiger" was better choreographed. In "Flying Daggers" sometimes all of the opponents strike at once, but somehow none of the blows land. By the end of the film I wanted every character to die. Die, Die, Die. That might have made it worth going. That didn't happen either.
Rating:
See my review of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000)
See my review of "Hero" (2004)
"House of Flying Daggers" at Amazon.com.

"The Incredibles" - Animated feature with Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Jason Lee.
Plot Intro: Superheroes have to hide their identity due to a series of unfortunate events. They are gradually being eliminated by a madman, so the superheroes have to save themselves and the world.
Review: The movie has elements in it from "X-Men", since the talent of each superhero is key to a victory. When the characters work as a team, the combination of their talents is hard to beat. Holly Hunter is perfect as the up-tight mother, and Craig T. Nelson offers a very good mix to his voice of depression or bravado.
Rating:

My review of X-Men (2000)
"The Incredibles" at Amazon.com.

"The Ladykillers" - With Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall, Marlon Wayans, George Wallace.
Plot Intro: A man moves into an old southern woman's house. He's the head of a gang, the brains behind a heist of money from a local casino. But then the old woman finds out about their theft.
Review: This is a remake of the 1955 classic with Alec Guinnes and Peter Sellers. This version is not very good. I'd recommend that you find the 1955 version.
Rating:
"The Ladykillers" at Amazon.com.

"Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" - With Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Angelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Bud Cort, Michael Gambon. Directed by Wes Anderson.
Plot Intro: An oceanographer loses his long-time partner to the jaguar shark. Like a modern-day Captain Ahab, he vows revenge. In the process he has to deal with his ex-wife, her former boyfriend, his supposed estrange son, and a pregnant reporter.
Review: Very clever movie, one which must be watched and listened to closely in order to get the real feel for what is going on. Everything is just slightly off. The dialogue is slightly off, the ship is less than what you'd expect for a Cousteau-like person, and the sealife has been manipulated graphically to be completely unique. Bill Murray cracks me up in just about all of his films, and Owen Wilson can do the same thing with his ever-smiling delivery.
Rating:
"Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" at Amazon.com.

"Mean Girls" - With Lindsey Lohan, Tina Fey, Rachel McAdams, Ana Gasteyer, Tim Meadows, Amy Poehler. Screenplay by Tina Fey. Based on the book by Rosalind Wiseman.
Plot Intro: The new girl of the junior class in high school has to deal with a clique of snobbish girls.
Review: The first half to two-thirds is very good and enjoyable to watch. It slows down a little after that. The ending is better than expected.
Rating:
"Mean Girls" at Amazon.com.

"Napoleon Dynamite" - Comedy (?).
Plot Intro: A nerdy high school student finds new friends and helps one of them run for class president.
Review: Not worth your time. While the actor who plays the title character may be the quintessential movie nerd, there is nothing funny about anything he does. His friends are not interesting, and uncle is somewhere between creepy and slimy. Don't be deceived by the advertising which implies that the film is full of laugh-out-loud scenes. I didn't see anything funny at all at any point. The only people who are attracted to this film are those who need to feel superior to the nerds. I'm giving this film no stars.
Rating:
"Napoleon Dynamite" at Amazon.com.

"Ocean's Twelve" - With Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac, and Catherine Zeta Jones. Directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Plot Intro: The con-artist gets out of prison again. This time the Ocean's Eleven are under pressure to pay back to the casino all the money plus interest. They cannot work in the states, so they fly to Italy where they are pursued by a detective (Jones) and in competition with another expert burglar.
Review: Similar to the first movie, but a little more confusing. It may benefit from multiple viewings. But the reason to view the picture is to see all of these great personalities together on the screen together.
Rating:
My review of "Ocean's Eleven" (2001)
"Ocean's Twelve" at Amazon.com.

"The Passion of the Christ" - Directed by Mel Gibson.
Plot Intro: Jesus prays in the Garden, and he gets arrested, tortured, executed, and buried. But does it end there?
Review: "The Passion of the Christ" is the somewhat controversial film about the Passion of Jesus Christ. I have to say that this is an extremely violent film. If you saw the torture of Mel Gibson's character William Wallace in the movie "Braveheart", you can multiply that violence by a factor of a hundred. Those who have weak constitutions or dislike violence should not subject themselves to "The Passion of the Christ" without some precautions — like sitting in an aisle seat, not eating any food for a while before going to the presentation, or waiting for the DVD and watching it in multiple sessions. I am not exaggerating about this. While the film is horrific, it is also very moving. It may be the closest representation to what is portrayed in the Gospels — even though it may not come close to what Jesus actually went through. This version of the Passion will be the most-watched portrayal of the story of any of the others.
Rating:
"The Passion of the Christ" at Amazon.com.

"Ray" - With Jamie Foxx and Regina King. Directed by Taylor Hackford.
Plot Intro: A boy who lost his sight at a young age grows up to become one of the most successful recording artists of all time.
Review: Excellent movie. Jamie Foxx is amazing. He played the piano for the part, and I believe that he did his own singing. The film shows Ray's fight against drug abuse and some of his other problems, but the film is uplifting overall since he conquered all of his handicaps and personal problems.
Rating:
"Ray" at Amazon.com.

"Shaun of the Dead" - With Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran.
Plot Intro: A guy who isn't living up to his potential and who still lives with his college buddies, is having some relationship issues with his girlfriend. But then the dead become zombies, and everything works out.
Review: Pretty funny zombie movie. Well written. Well researched. Good use of popular music.
Rating:
My review of "Hot Fuzz" (2007)
"Shaun of the Dead" at Amazon.com.

"Shrek 2" - Animated film voiced by Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese. Sequel to "Shrek" (2001).
Plot Intro: Shrek and his bride, Princess Fiona, are just married and are beginning to settle down to married life when they get an invitation to come to Fiona's parents' house. It's downhill from there.
Review: Very good film. There were times when the quality of the animation was near reality quality. There may be a little too many references to other movies. The natural next step for the series is for Fiona to be pregnant.
Rating:
My review of Shrek (2001)
"Shrek 2" at Amazon.com.

"Sideways" - With Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh.
Plot Intro: A man is about to get married in San Diego, so he and his friend, the best man, travel to Napa Valley in northern California to do a wine tasting tour. The best man sees this as a chance to have one last week of friendly bonding, but the groom-to-be sees it as his last chance to have a fling.
Review: A good portion of the film deals with the four principle actors, and the acting is very good from all of them. The beginning of the film is pretty funny. It's kind of an odd-couple on wheels with a wine tasting every now and then. Giamatti's character puts so much into his wine tasting that he comes off as a pompous intellectual. He is a depressed, beaten-down man who is uncomfortable around women, partly because he is recently divorced. The bridegroom-to-be, Thomas Hayden Church, comes off looking like a buffoon. For example, he goes to a wine-tasting while chewing gum. The second half of the film degenerates further and further into absurdity and becomes somewhat depressing. There is an attempt at about 30 seconds of a "good ending," but that is left up in the air.
Rating:
"Sideways" at Amazon.com.

"Spider-Man 2" - With Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe, Cliff Robertson.
Plot Intro: Spider-Man faces another nemesis and has to save his aunt and M.J.
Review: Extremely good movie. Much better than the original — and the original was very good. "Spider-Man 2" is the best super-hero movie that I've ever seen. Excellent.
Rating:
My review of Spider-Man (2002).
My review of Spider-Man 3 (2007).
"Spider-Man 2" at Amazon.com.

"Super Size Me" - With Morgan Spurlock.
Plot Intro: A man eats three meals each day for 30 days at McDonalds. He orders the super-sized meal whenever the person asks him if he wants to "super-size that." And he is monitored by a doctor and worried over by his vegan-girlfriend.
Review: Excellent. The affects on his body and the scientific details that Spurlock offers in the film make you wonder why anyone would eat fast food.
Rating:
"Super Size Me" at Amazon.com.

"Terminal" - With Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci. Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Plot Intro: A man gets off of a plane and finds out that his country no longer exists and his passport is no longer valid. He is left in limbo at the airport between two countries.
Review: Somewhat entertaining. The remarkable thing about the film is the set which was totally constructed from scratch.
Rating:
"Terminal" at Amazon.com.

"Welcome to Mooseport" - With Gene Hackman, Ray Romano, Marcia Gay Harden, Maura Tierney, Christine Baranski, Fred Savage, and Rip Torn. Directed by Donald Petrie.
Plot Intro: A former president (Hackman), after two terms in office during which he was divorced by his wife (Baranski), moves to his summer home in Mooseport. He asks a young veterinarian to dinner without knowing that she is the girlfriend of the local hardware man. She accepts his invitation in spite of the objections of her boyfriend. Meanwhile, the town leaders have a problem that there is an impending mayoral election with no candidates. The ex-president agrees to run, but, because of his interest in the veterinarian, the hardware man decides to run, too. The rest involves debates and golf.
Review: Somewhat entertaining. Ray Romano is a favorite of mine, and this part fits him like a glove. Gene Hackman is good — as always. But it is Christine Baranski who steals every scene she's in. She provides the film with a needed amount of humor. Wait for the video.
Rating:
"Welcome to Mooseport" at Amazon.com.

Movies of 2003

"Big Fish" - Fantasy comedy with Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, Danny DeVito, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi.
Plot Intro: A man is married and working in Paris. His wife is expecting. He gets news from his mother that his father, who he hasn't talked to in years, has just had a stroke. He flies home and tries to get his father to speak to him without all the fanciful stories that his father told him — and everyone else — when he was a kid. But are those stories complete lies?
Review: Excellent. I enjoyed the whole film, but there were times when I wasn't sure my wife would enjoy it. I guess that means that some people may not like this film as much as others. The film is entertaining throughout, and some scenes are laugh-out-loud funny. There are some special effects that are truly amazing.
Rating:
"Big Fish" at Amazon.com.

"Elf" - With Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Asner, Zooey Daschanel, John Favreau. Directed by John Favreau.
Plot Intro: An orphaned baby is accidentally taken by Santa Claus to the North Pole where