Capote Review (DVD)

This movie was a must see for me because I had to see why Phillip Seymour Hoffman beat Joaquin Phoenix for Best Actor. The movie itself isn't very interesting and is more about Capote's experience writing In Cold Blood than it is about his entire life and career. I guess In Cold Blood was the defining project of his life, but since the movie was titled Capote I thought the story would cover his entire life. There is no doubt that Hoffman does a great job of acting. I've seen him in several movies like Boogie Nights, Magnolia and a few others and I thought his role was very original. He was so much different playing Capote that you could forget it was really Hoffman. Joaquin Phoenix probably had a more difficult job of playing Johnny Cash since he did all of his own vocals, but I guess after Jamie Foxx won for Ray the Academy couldn't give it to him otherwise every musical biopic actor would expect to win if they took some voice lessons. Hoffman probably deserved to win Best Actor and if it was a different year Joaquin would have won. Some years the competition is just tougher than others. My hat goes off to Hoffman because I thought Joaquin had Best Actor locked up after seeing Walk the Line. Too bad Capote wasn't half the film that Walk the Line was.

Capote = Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the Only Reason to Rent This

Land of the Dead Review (DVD)

I'm not a huge fan of zombie movies, so I am very much a newbie to the genre. The last two zombie movies I saw were 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead. Land of the Dead is probably the first George Romero movie that I've seen. My initial thought was that the movie would be horrible, but it wasn't bad. The action kept flowing and the gruesome scenes were held to a minimum. The storyline held my interest and I thought the characters were likable. I think the average movie watcher could still enjoy the movie even though its a zombie flick.

Land of the Dead = Average Rental

Batman Begins Review (DVD)

I really liked this Batman when I saw it in the theater and thought it was the best one yet, even better than the Nicholson Batman. After seeing it again on DVD, I'm having second thoughts. If its not the best Batman movie, I would say its the second best. Christian Bale was surprisingly good as Bruce Wayne and the movie was a little more frightening than I thought it would be. The Scarecrow allowed for some creepy images and the dark feel to Gotham was really good. I liked how the story tied into the other movies, except some guy Chill kills the Wayne's parents and not Jack Napier like in the Michael Keaton Batman. I'm not clear if Chill becomes the Joker like Jack Napier does, but that didn't bother me. It also didn't bother me that Gotham was more like Chicago than New York. The trains were elevated like in Chicago and Bruce's car had Illinois plates. I liked the gritty feel of Batman Begins along with the super high tech weapons that Christian Bale had. Michael Caine did a good job of making Alfred more of a human character and the villains were only limited to a few.

Batman Begins = Worthwhile Rental

Wizard of Oz Review (DVD)

Okay, I admit it. I've only now taken the time to watch The Wizard of Oz. I am a non-movie critic after all. The movie is definitely well done and it deserves to be a classic, but #5 on the AFI Top 100? I don't think so. For it's era its a pretty impressive movie with all of the special effects, but compared to some of the movies today it's not that great.

Wizard of Oz = Overhyped Rental

Open Water Review (DVD)

Open Water is a kind of scary story since it seems like it could happen to anyone. Even the look of the movie has a realistic camcorder-type feel to it. Part of the reason for the camcorder feel is probably because of the low budget for the movie. There are suspenseful moments and the ending wasn’t what I expected, but this movie was pretty forgettable. It’s just one of those movies that could be summed up in a couple of minutes. Not a whole lot happens.

Open Water = Skip It Unless You Like Sharks

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers Reviw (DVD)

Okay, this movie was another selection due to a cast list that included Charlize. I expected a pretty bad movie and was already regretting that I put it on my Blockbuster Online queue. On the contrary, the movie was done fairly well. Geoffrey Rush is really just a wonderful actor. I see him from time to time in certain movies, my favorite being Lantana. For the record, I haven’t seen Shine yet so the verdict is still not in yet on Rush’s best performance. The Life and Death of Peter Sellers is a biopic that is done in a more original way than the generic formula of opening with a defining moment and then having a childhood flashback that brings everything back full circle. Geoffrey Rush plays Peter Sellers as if Sellers was directing and starring in a movie about his own life. This allows Rush to play several different characters for brief moments including Stanley Kubrick, Seller’s mother and Seller’s wife among others. The subject might not interest everyone, but the movie is very well done. After seeing this movie, I have now put Dr. Strangelove on my Blockbuster Online queue.

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers = Pretty Interesting Rental

The Weather Man Review (DVD)

As good as Lord of War was, The Weather Man was bad. How can Nic Cage pick such a good role as an arms dealer and such a bad role as a TV weather man? Admittedly, I missed a few minutes from the middle of the movie, but I doubt the movie would have been any better. I just saved myself some time. I suggest you do the same and avoid The Weather Man.

The Weather Man = don’t bother renting

The Longest Yard Review (DVD)

I haven’t seen the original Longest Yard and I heard bad things about this version of the movie. Despite expecting a terrible movie, I had to see it just to support Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. Longest Yard ended up being surprisingly fun. This movie has some funny scenes and you have to accept that it isn’t going to be very intelligent. The best part of the movie is recognizing all of the real-life NFL, WWE and mixed-martial arts guys that were cast in this movie. The Longest Yard basically takes every big muscle guy from all the recent action movies and puts them together in prison. As soon as you think that’s the biggest guy in the movie another monster is introduced. Let’s just say that Goldberg looks small compared to some of the other guys. In addition to the biggest guys you’ll ever see, the cast includes several ESPN personalities and other SNL comedians. This movie is fun for picking out all the celebrities and watching some mindless violence in the form of prison football.

The Longest Yard = decent rental

Hide and Seek Review (DVD)

The cast of Deniro and Dakota Fanning couldn’t make this movie great. Overall the movie is decent, but as the Barenaked Ladies say “It’s All Been Done.” Many of the psychological thrillers in recent memory seem to share very similar plot lines, ideas and surprise endings. Hide and Seek has some tense moments, but the ending didn’t seem to fit together very nicely.

Hide and Seek = average rental

Sea Inside Review (DVD) (aka Mar adentro)

Although I heard that this movie was pretty good, it really exceeded my expectations. I should note that the film is in Spanish, but still very easy to watch. Javier Bardem does a great job of portraying a quadriplegic that fights for his right to die. Of course, the movie does evoke strong emotions. The Sea Inside is one of those films where you become curious about the real-life person that it is based on and you want to see what he really looked like. The bonus materials on the DVD do show footage of the real-life Ramon Sampedro.

Sea Inside = excellent rental

Mindhunters (DVD)

A group of FBI profilers in-training are sent out for a training exercise in this thriller/mystery movie. One by one the profilers end up dead in some really gruesome but great scenes. Overall the movie isn’t great, but it is entertaining and keeps you guessing at who is the bad guy.

Mindhunters = rent it if there isn’t anything better