Wacky, bizarre, zany and enjoyable. That’s about all I think I can really say about this movie. Don’t take my tone wrong…I loved it …but…I just don’t know. I’m not the best critic (Shut up! All of you who doubt my power will fry!) for subtitled movies… because I don’t normally watch them. So why this one? Because one ad I saw advertised it as The Matrix meets Looney Tunes directed by Quentin Tarantino (or something like that), and that just sounded fun. And it was. I haven’t seen any of the older kung fu movies that this one supposedly parodies, but that doesn’t make it any less funny (actually it does, because unless you know a parodies source material, the joke is only so funny). The not so difficult to follow plot is about Stephen Chow’s character who wants to join the Axe Gang and be a bad guy … Continue reading →

Definitely the most spectacular movie I’ve seen in a long time. It’s film noir at it’s best. It’s the technique that Sky Captain introduced perfected. It’s a comic book movie at it’s best. It’s beautiful. The phenomenal ensemble cast probably won’t garner any Academy Awards (just as Lords of the Rings didn’t (although Elijah Wood once again tosses his hat into an ensemble cast with amazing aplomb)), but hey…I wouldn’t use the word phenomenal once (let alone twice) if I didn’t mean it here. The cast is absolutely perfect and they deliver all of Frank Miller’s incredible dialogue with all of Robert Rodriguez’s (not to mention Miller’s and Quentin Tarantino’s) direction to perfection. They all look like the comic book characters…they all sound like the characters ought to sound…they all kill people like the characters ought to kill people…it’s just perfect. And talk about ultra-violent! It was incredible! I loved … Continue reading →

Apparently based on the older film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? with Sidney Poitier and Spencer Tracy (I thought it was a movie based on that board game where you had to match up the people based on what they looked like…of course I’m the only one who remembers that game so I’m in the minority there), the remake flips the racial pole (the original was a black guy coming to a white family which was obviously more potent/powerful in the 60’s) so that Ashton Kutcher meets his future black in-laws and is scared to death of Bernie Mac, his future father-in-law. While that remake concept is obvious, I also felt like I was watching Father of the Bride (Steve Martin is a penny pincher and so is Mac) and Meet the Parents (Mac checked up on Kutcher using his “contacts”Â, lots of bad things happen to Kutcher as he … Continue reading →

This movie was incredible! I mean when I first heard about it, I could already see where it was going (ala 24 season three where Tony Almeida’s wife Michelle is kidnapped and used against him), but to actually see it…woof! And it’s based on a book! Hm…might be worth looking at (of course it wouldn’t really change my opinion of this film). I thought Ben Foster, who normally plays these kinds of fruity teenagers, was a bona fide psycho here! I mean he was a full on monster (especially at the end!) and its incredible acting. It’s just an amazing tribute to his ability being able to do this kind of character (the kind that watches someone die because he’s psychologically imbalanced). Not to say he was the only great character…just the most indelible. Bruce Willis was great as an ex-hostage negotiator dealing with his personal demons based on a … Continue reading →

This movie was hilarious…but in a different sense (obviously) from The Pacifier. It’s so familiar to those who enjoyed “Get Short” (especially if you see it right before you go to the movie) but it’s also a whole new medium for Chilli Palmer (John Travolta). See now instead of getting into the movie business, he’s getting into the music business…and has to deal with all the cutthroat deals going on (again a natural profession for a former shylock (loan shark)). I really enjoyed Cedric the Entertainer as a record producer who hangs out with a bunch of “killah ganstas” but has a degree from Yale (or Harvard or someplace like that). It was especially great when he rails on a Russian Mafia boss for a good minute and a half because the boss called him a N-word. Of course the epitome of what Cedric rails against is Vince Vaughn as … Continue reading →

You know, I have to say I enjoyed this movie a whole lot better than I thought I would. I mean I knew I was going to see it as soon as I saw the trailer, but it touched me how genuine some of the moments were. The basic story is that Lt. Shane Wolf (Vin Diesel) has to protect 5 kids (ages ranging from 16-3) while their mother is helping the government after the father is murdered for some satellite program he invented. We quickly learn that Vin never had any sort of normal childhood because he was raised almost entirely in the army which leads to several enjoyable moments where he has to cope with reality as the kids experience it everyday including life at a kindergarten through 12 grade school, girl scouts, and diapers (the 2 youngest kids are both still in diapers). Aside from the comedy, … Continue reading →