Movie Verdict

Theater Progress

2010-03-25T21:30:00.002-04:00

Speaker Cable

2010-02-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

Prepare For the Next Snowstorm

2010-02-10T12:34:00.001-05:00

TurboTax Is On Sale Until Jan 23

2010-01-17T13:03:00.001-05:00

Might as well buy it now rather than pay more later.

HDMI Cables

2009-12-26T16:12:00.002-05:00

I would bet right after Christmas is a good time to sell cables for electronics. Order online for the cheapest cables and adapters around.

Blu-ray Players Are Cheaper

2009-11-26T23:34:00.001-05:00

Exercise Indoors

2009-08-10T20:05:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it's too hot or too cold outside. Workout inside.

Great Deal for Road Trips

2009-07-14T18:37:00.001-04:00

Wii Rock Band 2 Wireless Guitar

2009-06-04T19:48:00.000-04:00

I've spent a lot of time searching for the best price and this is it for a new Rock Band 2 Wii Wireless Guitar.

Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

2009-04-25T01:08:00.003-04:00

Okay. I have fallen in love with Rock Band and Guitar Hero. I bought the band set for Guitar Hero on the Wii. Here is the problem. The instruments are totally incompatible with the other game. Rock Band needs Rock Band instruments and Guitar Hero needs Guitar Hero instruments. This makes sense except that on the Xbox or PS3 they are compatible across both games. Sometimes I regret getting the Wii. Xbox is almost as cheap, but it has better games, better graphics, better hardware and more disk space. The PS3 has the Blu-ray and is a great system, but it is the most expensive.

Here is another secret. The Guitar Hero instruments each need their own Wii remote. Assuming you have two Wii remotes already, you need to spend $80 for a four-person band. I think Rock Band only needs one Wii remote for the microphone. That is the trap of the much lower price for the band set. I admit that the drum set for Guitar Hero is better if you like a bigger challenge.

To me, Rock Band has the better vocals. I use the same Guitar Hero microphone on the Rock Band game and I can actually hear myself sing. In Guitar Hero your voice doesn't come through. Note that the USB microphone is the only thing that is compatible for both games. The drums and guitars are incompatible on the irritating Wii system. If you like to download songs, you probably will need an SD card when you run out of disk space. Other than that I have no complaints about the Wii.

This guitar which is compatible with both Wii Guitar Hero and Wii Rock Band might help with the pain. Only the drums would need separate versions if the guitars and mic were game-independent.

Tax Time

2009-03-21T17:04:00.001-04:00

Buy some tax software here. It's cheaper than Costco and it will save you time. If it finds you a deduction you would have missed, the product pays for itself.

Prepare To Get a CCNA

2008-12-16T00:12:00.000-05:00

Microsoft Office 2007 On Sale!

2008-11-30T11:48:00.001-05:00

Great Deal! Expires December 1 So Hurry

My Wii Fit Photo for Ebay Listing

2008-09-10T15:50:00.001-04:00

Something to prove I have a Wii Fit for sale.

Back To School

2008-08-24T07:41:00.002-04:00

Get some new textbooks.

Wii Fit

2008-07-24T14:34:00.000-04:00

Work out in the comfort of your home for a fraction of the price of a gym membership.

Star Wars: Episode III 1/2 - Force Unleashed

2008-07-22T10:23:00.004-04:00

I can't wait for this game to come out. It will provide part of the story between Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV - A New Hope.

I'm glad I got the Wii, but Force Unleashed is available on almost every platform. Just click the link and find the game for your system.

2008-05-27T17:02:00.002-04:00

Here's a good way to cut your grass without polluting your family's air. No gas is required and you can burn calories at the same time. It's one of the few reel mowers that can be set to cut at a height of three inches. For most grasses don't get below three inches and never cut more than 1/3 of the height of the grass. Also don't cut the grass until it is dry (wait 12 hours for grass to dry).

Don't forget to keep your blades sharp.

CNET Best 32" TV for 2008

2008-05-21T21:26:00.001-04:00

Here's a good deal on the highly rated Samsung 32" LCD LN32A450.

New Baby Coming - Great Graco Travel Systemt Deal

2007-10-30T11:26:00.001-04:00

I think this is a good deal. Amazon cut the price on this Graco Travel System (Bancroft) by $60. Check it out.

Wicked Is a Great Broadway Production

2007-03-10T20:22:00.000-05:00

Wicked on Broadway lived up to the hype.

Interesting Books

2007-03-10T20:11:00.000-05:00

Interesting books about identifying your natural abilities.

For My Wife

2007-03-10T20:04:00.000-05:00

My wife picked this out. You might wanna try it out.

Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Bar Kit

2007-01-04T10:27:00.000-05:00

You would be surprised to see how well clay bars work at cleaning your car. They pick up small little pieces of debris that are stuck in your paint. It's the secret that professional detailers don't tell you about.

Canon Photo Paper

2007-01-04T10:24:00.000-05:00

I was having trouble finding 5x7 photo print paper, but I found some on Amazon. Most places use 4x6, so if you need any odd sizes use this link.

An Inconvenient Truth

2006-12-18T14:54:00.000-05:00

It's really an important movie to see. Everyone should be aware of the data and how much is at stake.

Watch Deal

2006-11-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

Pretty good watch deal to check out.

Miami Vice Review

2006-07-30T20:15:00.000-04:00

Wow, this movie was disappointing. I was really looking forward to this movie. There were a couple of really good action scenes, but I was expecting more. The plot is decent, detailed and seemed pretty sophisticated to me. A lot of law enforcement and criminal lingo was used to add to the realism. The biggest problem was the romance subplot, the bad acting and terrible dialogue. There were so many accents in this movie that subtitles would have been helpful. Colin Farrell continues to disappoint as an actor and even Jamie Foxx showed a couple of weak moments. Edward James Olmo should have been brought in as the boss and a good 30 minutes could have been cut out if Sonny Crockett's womanizing character trait was eliminated. This movie could have been so much better. Watch Heat and Collateral until Miami Vice comes out on DVD.

Miami Vice = Wait for DVD

Lady in the Water Review

2006-07-30T20:02:00.000-04:00

This movie isn't nearly as bad as the critics described, although it isn't that great. Out of the five M Night movies that I've seen, I would rank Lady in the Water third ahead of Signs and Unbreakable. The Sixth Sense was the best with The Village coming in second, despite a lot of people thinking it was terrible.

Lady in the Water has several really tense scenes that made people jump in their seats and there are some humorous moments. Overall, the plot does seem like it was contrived out of a bedtime story and there isn't too much behind it. The way the story unfolds did hold my attention and made it somewhat entertaining.

Lady in the Water = Good DVD Rental To Look Forward To

Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest Review

2006-07-08T13:43:00.000-04:00

Wow, this movie was packed and the previous three showings were sold out so we had to hang around the mall for a couple of hours. I guess I don't really understand all the hype. Disney seemed to do a good job of appealing to the masses. There was a little bit of humor and action for both children and adults. Pretty much all of the great characters from the first Pirates were back and there were several references to the events in Curse of the Black Pearl. Dead Man's Chest is pretty similar to the original Pirates of the Carribbean with more elaborate action sequences and more creature effects for the bad guys. At the beginning, there were some clever little action sequences, but in end it was a bit overdone and just added to the length of the movie (2.5 hours). If you liked the Pirates of the Carribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, definitely see Dead Man's Chest in the theatres. Otherwise you could wait for it on DVD and have a good rental. Unfortunately the movie was overshadowed by the teaser trailer for Transformers. Too bad that doesn't come out until next summer (7.4.7)

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest = Worth the Price of Admission

Superman Returns Review

2006-07-07T10:07:00.000-04:00

I’m really glad that Superman Returns kept the music and opening credits from the original movies. One of my fears was that the entire movie would be altered like the Batman movies have changed. Bryan Singer does a pretty good job with the action scenes and the new CGI technology available since the days of Christopher Reeve. I probably should have been looking forward to this movie rather than X3. Superman Returns does run long and you feel it in the beginning, but this might be for the younger generations that haven’t experienced much of the storyline. There isn’t too much repetition of old information and I was pleasantly surprised that there was a decent amount of new plotlines that were introduced. Brandon Routh, the new Superman, was an excellent pick and he continues the precedent that Christopher Reeve started. Besides the special effects being improved, the fights and general action scenes seemed to be more realistic, if that is possible for a comic book story. Overall, Superman Returns is a good addition to a classic set of movies (I’m not counting Superman III and IV since they don’t really exist in my mind, sort of like Rocky V).

Superman Returns = Worth Seeing In Theaters

The Break-Up Review

2006-07-06T12:21:00.000-04:00

The Break-Up wasn’t as funny as I expected considering the last Vince Vaughn movie I saw was Wedding Crashers, which was hilarious. The movie is not bad, although I would say wait for it on DVD. At certain points, the fighting got a little too realistic and stopped being funny. Instead the audience felt more awkward as if they were really observing a real fight. Despite some serious arguments, Vince Vaughn does bring about most of the laughs. Besides Vince’s co-star Jennifer Aniston, the rest of the cast is surprisingly recognizable. Jason Bateman, Joey Lauren Adams, Vincent D’onofrio and Jon Favreau all make appearances. The Break-Up does a fairly good job characterizing general relationship problems, which helps the audience identify with the characters. Because of this, Vaughn and Aniston don’t seem as crazy with the extremes that they go to. In the end, I did like seeing the results of both character’s arcs.

The Break-Up = Wait for DVD

Da Vinci Code Review

2006-06-02T10:07:00.000-04:00

I didn't read the book, but I really enjoyed the Da Vinci Code. The movie is long, but it moved pretty quickly. There was a lot of information and mystery to sort through so the movie didn't seem that long. Some of the theories and the facts are questionable even to someone that hasn't done any research, but it is a fun ride. I can see why many people will dislike this movie, but if you don't take it so seriously, this movie is really interesting. Check it out.

Da Vinci Code = Very Interesting, I'd See It Again

X3 Review

2006-06-02T09:49:00.000-04:00

X3 didn't live up to my high expectations. The first X-men was surprisingly good when I saw it and I thought X2 was even better. X3 wasn't quite as good as the first two despite introducing many new characters and having a lot of big things happen. For some reason, I thought the plot was very simplistic with no mystery when compared to the other two movies. There seemed to be more bad one-liners in this movie than the other two combined and the action wasn't that great. Maybe that was because Bryan Singer didn't direct this time around. Overall the movie was better than average but my expectations were just too high.

X-Men 3: The Last Stand = Slightly Better Than Average

Jarhead Review (DVD)

2006-05-08T14:43:00.000-04:00

Jarhead was pretty much what I expected. The movie seemed realistic at times and way too Hollywood at times. Jake Gyllenhaal was surprisingly good in this movie. This is the first time I've seen him do a character like the Marine he plays in Jarhead. Jamie Foxx was pretty good as usual and Sarsgaard should keep getting new roles. The book was written by a real-life Marine so the mental aspect of being a soldier seemed to be accurate in Jarhead. Because this was the first movie I had seen about Desert Storm, the movie held my interest. Overall its a decent movie, but it is nothing spectacular.

Jarhead = Decent Rental

Fever Pitch Review (DVD)

2006-05-01T10:40:00.000-04:00

I was surprised to find out that this movie was by the Farrelly brothers. Although the movie was New England-centric, there wasn't the usual nasty humor with crazy old ladies. Drew Barrymore was a long way off from her days in the Wedding Singer, but Jimmy Fallon does a pretty good job in this movie. Fellow SNL grad, Adam Sandler was probably funnier in the Wedding Singer, but Fallon was a more realistic character. Even if you don't have half of the passion of a Red Sox fan, most everybody can relate because they know somebody that is nuts over a sports team. The movie does a fairly good job of incorporating the real season events and footage into the main plotline. I guess I can't fully appreciate the end of the curse of the Bambino and I definitely don't understand how Fallon and Barrymore on the field after the World Series cheapened the victory. Red Sox fans waited since 1918 for the moment and some still gripe that a movie was being filmed to capture the event. Why can't they just be thankful for the championship? That being said, overall, Fever Pitch was a decent rental, but nothing about it was really outstanding.

Fever Pitch = Mildly Funny Rental

Capote Review (DVD)

2006-04-28T16:10:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-04-28T16:05:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-04-28T15:58:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-04-28T15:51:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-04-27T15:05:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-04-27T10:47:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-04-26T15:36:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-04-26T15:34:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-04-26T15:31:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-04-26T15:19:00.001-04:00

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)

2006-04-26T15:19:00.000-04:00

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

V for Vendetta Review

2006-03-21T10:44:00.000-05:00

This movie was worth seeing in the theaters. The story seemed pretty original to me and it didn't seem like a Wachowski brothers screenplay. I think they did a good job to stay away from their Matrix series. The emphasis of the movie was more on literature, history and tactics to control mass populations. V speaks in a formal and sophisticated way that could be comical at times, but it holds your interest and makes the character more impressive and feared. He's one of those cool and calculating fighters that does everything better than the rest. As the mystery unravels, V launches his vendetta, which leads to some great action scenes but even greater dialogue. Some of the lines that V has are so brief, unmerciful and to the point that you can't help but admire him. From the very start of the movie, the plot is compared to the Guy Fawkes (hence the mask) Gunpowder plot from the early 1600s and various books and movies such as Macbeth and The Count of Monte Cristo. In the end, there are some interesting messages about ideals and government that relate to today's current events. The only negative was that the movie does run 2 hours and 11 minutes and it doesn't feel any shorter than that. It was totally worth it though.

V for Vendetta = Go See It

The Great Raid Review (DVD)

2006-03-21T10:34:00.000-05:00

This is a World War II story that may not be well known, but it was definitely worth making the movie. The Great Raid starts kind of slow with a lot of backstory and explanation of the prisoners, the underground, the captors and the soldiers of the great raid. This does payoff later in a very good ending for this movie. Something about the movie seemed very realistic in terms of the events and the characters. There were a couple of Hollywood moments that made me question if that is what really happened, but for the most-part the movie seemed believable. Benjamin Bratt was very good and young James Franco (aka Green Goblin II) was also better than I expected. Besides some slow moments in the middle of the movie, there isn't too much that I didn't enjoy. Sure, you could just read a history book about the Great Raid, but the action scenes made the movie worth it.

The Great Raid = Great Rental

The Brothers Grimm Review (DVD)

2006-03-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

The Brothers Grimm is a clever story about the fable-writing duo and their adventures in a town where girls have gone missing. The look and feel of this movie isn't bad, but the story is a little confusing and it didn't hold my interest that much. Throughout the movie there are neat little references or inspirations for many of the Grimm stories. There isn't much to say about Brothers Grimm and its probably better suited for children as a scary campfire story. I just couldn't get into it.

The Brothers Grimm = Below Average Rental

Good Night and Good Luck Review (DVD)

2006-03-21T10:13:00.000-05:00

Maybe I didn't give this movie a fair shake, but I did fall asleep towards the end. Good Night and Good Luck has a good message about standing up against powerful people, but it is a little hard to watch. The funny thing is that the movie is rated PG but anyone who didn't live through the McCarthy era shouldn't be allowed to see it. The subject matter is more geared towards a PBS documentary rather than the big screen. I'm not exactly sure why the critics liked the movie so much.

Good Night and Good Luck = Skip the rental and just read an article about it.

Crash Review (DVD)

2006-03-06T13:11:00.000-05:00

Somehow this movie pulled off the upset and the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was a pretty good movie and I really can't compare it to the other nominees except for Munich (Walk the Line should have been nominated instead of Munich). Crash seemed to be similar to PT Anderson's Magnolia with all of the different intersecting characters that come together in the end, but it wasn't as offbeat. I bet the Academy liked the social commentary and message for change that Crash presented. The overall cast is very good and I thought Ludacris did a good job as did Matt Dillon. Crash is a pretty good movie, but I'm not sure it lives up to the Best Picture hype that it will start getting. The storyline is fairly intricate and the way the story unfolds is well done. The messages in the movie are told in a subtle fashion and it makes you think about how hate breeds hate. Crash does make you want to make changes in yourself and it shows how all of the human interactions we go through every day can make a big difference.

Crash = Above average rental

Broken Flowers Review (DVD)

2006-03-02T10:17:00.000-05:00

This movie is slow, but very subtle. Somehow it held my interest and the ending makes you think that you've missed something. Bill Murray reminds me of when he was in Lost in Translation. In both movies his acting is very subtle and he doesn't have many lines. I didn't think the humor in Broken Flowers was as good as Lost in Translation, but Broken Flowers does have more interesting characters in it. The process of searching for answers in this film does keep the audience interested, but it is more of an artistic movie, so its not going to have mass appeal. Overall I did enjoy the movie, but I wouldn't want to watch it again.

Broken Flowers = Worthwhile rental, but there's no need to rush out and get it.

North Country Review (DVD)

2006-02-27T09:13:00.000-05:00

This was a pretty good drama movie, but I don't think its for everybody. As always Charlize was excellent and it was clear why she is nominated for another Best Actress Oscar. In fact, I thought she was a little bit better in North Country than she was in Monster. Frances McDormand's performance was very good as usual and Richard Jenkins did a good job as the father that works at the mine. Sean Bean and Woody Harrelson also do pretty good jobs. North Country takes a boring news story and turns it into a pretty interesting movie. The storyline in the movie is fictional, but it is based off the first sexual harrassment class action suit and shows how ordinary people can have extraordinary courage. The movie is well done and really worth seeing. My only complaint was that the courtroom drama and scenes got way too Hollywood in the end. Its hard for me to imagine a real-life judge losing control where the entire courtroom is doing whatever they feel like. However, this did not take away from the great performances and the story behind the film.

North Country = Go Rent It

Dark Water Review (DVD)

2006-02-23T17:07:00.000-05:00

This movie isn't too scary, but its not bad. The trailers would have you thinking that this is a cover your eyes type movie, but it's more of a mystery movie. The cast is decent besides Jennifer Connelly. Most of the other actors are recognizable from other films. Pete Postlethwaite aka Kobayashi is in it. John C Reilly the fitness expert from Boogie Nights is in it. Dougray Scott from MI-2 is in it. Camryn Manheim makes an appearance and my favorite, Tim "be cool honey bunny" Roth shows up as well. The little girl Ariel Gade steals the show IMHO. Another actress like Dakota Fanning that is ahead of her time. The beginning of the movie is slow and the suspense isn't that high, but I liked that the movie didn't get really crazy like The Ring and The Grudge. The Japanese-converted supernatural thriller movies have started to run their course since they aren't too original anymore. Maybe there is a good idea or two left for this genre, but we'll have to see if the trend continues. This movie would have been disappointing in the theater, but as a rental it's not bad.

Dark Water = average rental

Four Brothers Review (DVD)

2006-02-21T23:06:00.001-05:00

Four Brothers has a couple of over the top Hollywood moments but overall it was a decent rental. There are a lot of tough guys in the movie and it's a basic street justice flick. A mystery element has been thrown in to add interest to the movie and the action is decent. Andre 3000 does a pretty good job of acting considering he's so fresh and so clean, clean. If you like tough guy movies on mean streets, this is probably a decent recommendation.

Four Brothers = Decent Rental

Corpse Bride Review

2006-02-10T10:27:00.000-05:00

I actually got to see an advanced screening of Corpse Bride and thought it was pretty good. Visually the movie is great and the Johnny Depp character had a very unique voice. There are times throughout the movie that you forget it is him. The piano pieces were very good in the movie, but the overall soundtrack was very Danny Elfman. There were a couple of very creative musical bits with some great visuals. In the end, I thought Corpse Bride had a good message and some funny moments. However, the middle of the movie did drag a little for me. This is a cute little movie with some sophisticated elements for adults.

Corpse Bride = Worth the Price of Admission/Decent Rental

Team America Review (DVD)

2006-02-08T10:06:00.000-05:00

Despite being made by the creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, I didn't think this movie would be very funny because it is a puppet movie. On the contrary, some of the funniest moments were because you could get away with things using just puppets and not live actors. Team America was a lot funnier than I expected, but it was a little bit shocking too. The language is really vulgar and the sex scene was freaky. I couldn't believe they got away with some of the things they did, but it might just have been because it was the unrated DVD. It makes me wonder if certain parts were shown in the theaters. If you can handle the shock value and the really adult humor, you'll definitely laugh watching this movie. Its pretty offensive and may disgust many people, but its worth trying out.

Team America: World Police = Funny Rental

Flightplan Review (DVD)

2006-02-04T17:29:00.000-05:00

I heard a lot of good things about this movie and someone even said it was the best movie they had seen in the past 10 years. The only way this could be true if you watched nothing but junk in the past decade. At the beginning the movie is so boring as you watch a mother and daughter deal with a death in the family and pack up for a flight back to the US. Its about as fun as travelling in real-life. The little girl all of a sudden is missing and the best part of the movie starts. Jodie Foster does a good job of acting psycho and making the audience feel scared and tense for her situation. There are some great exchanges and insults thrown about and the mystery is setup. The end left a lot to be desired since it was so far-fetched with loose ends that didn't quite make sense. A lot of explanation is made to answer questions that everyone watching might have, but I'm not sure if you could buy everything that was explained. In the end the movie has a lot of flaws in the premise and it just seemed so unbelievable. Its not the worst movie but I was definitely disappointed.

Flightplan = Average Rental Without the Hype

Lord of War Review (DVD)

2006-01-31T11:09:00.000-05:00

I really loved this movie. It was funny as I expected, but I didn't realize that the movie would be more of an eye-opener as to what is going on in the rest of the world. Maybe there isn't much an average person can do about gun-running but at least it is good to be aware of what is going on. Nicholas Cage and Ethan Hawke do a pretty good job in this movie as do the guys that play the Baptiste duo. Lord of War is a serious movie, but it is funny and sad at the same time. Nicholas Cage's character is based on a conglomeration of five different arms dealers, but the conflicts and dates seem accurate. I would say that the movie is somewhat realistic because there are no real good guys and everyone has some flaws. This movie deals with gray areas rather than clear black and white, except for the message that guns are bad.

Lord of War = Great Rental

Fantastic Four Review (DVD)

2006-01-31T10:00:00.000-05:00

This movie isn't much better than The Alamo. The hype for this movie left it a clear disappointment. Visually, the movie and the special effects were definitely geared towards the summer youth audience. I guess the easy money is in cookie cutter comic book movies with hot actors. There are a bunch of things that didn't quite make sense (jumping into a hot spring with no worries after your date spontaneously combusts into a ball of fire?) and the transition from discovering super powers to expert control of these powers comes a little too fast. In no time the Fantastic Four are performing synchronized combined attacks on Doctor Doom. This movie could be fun if you're under the age of twelve, but otherwise it is pretty mediocre.

Fantastic Four = Skip it and watch the X-men movies instead

The Alamo Review (DVD)

2006-01-31T09:47:00.000-05:00

This movie does run a bit long at 2 hours and 17 minutes. Overall the story is pretty good, but if you already know the history of the events its probably not too exciting. There some over the top hollywood moments, but overall it's not the worst movie I've seen, which is what you would expect considering it went through theaters without much notice. I thought it was a pretty good history lesson although I could have learned a lot more in less time from a textbook or online article. The Alamo probably isn't as bad as everyone thinks, but you're not missing anything if you don't see it.

The Alamo = Worth Seeing If You Really Like Movies or American History, Otherwise Skip It

Serenity Review (DVD)

2006-01-23T22:18:00.000-05:00

This sci-fi movie looks pretty good in terms of overall special effects. The ships, planets and characters blended in well with the actors. However the dialogue is hard to understand with fictitious words and phrases throughout. The one-liners aren't very effective and the entire movie lacks great scenes. There are a couple of really good tough guy characters in the movie and the plot isn't bad once the ending is revealed. Overall, Serenity is a decent movie but nothing about it is outstanding.

Serenity = Not worth seeing in theaters/Average Rental

Wolf Creek Review

2006-01-17T23:09:00.000-05:00

This is one of those movies where its based on a true story, but you leave questioning how much of it is fact or fiction. Set in the Australian outback, some folks in the audience might have some trouble understanding the heavy Aussie and British accents throughout the film. There are very few characters in this movie, but it doesn't have a low-budget look to it. There are frightening moments and scenes that make you want to cover your eyes like a good horror movie should, but in the end, there isn't very much to the story and it takes way too long to get going. The first half of the movie shows everyday college kids partying and then going on a long road trip. Not much happens. Once the movie gets going, there are some really tense and gross moments, but not much else. Some folks might leave the theater thinking, I liked the movie the first time I saw it when it was called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Wolf Creek = Save Your Money/Rent It If You're In the Mood to Be Scared After a Really Long Introduction.

Munich Review

2006-01-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

I had pretty high hopes for this movie since the premise sounded good and it was directed by Steven Spielberg, but I was disappointed. Munich isn't nearly as disappointing as War of the Worlds was, but it still wasn't very good. At 2.5+ hours, Munich is unnecesarily long, boring and slow. There are some good messages in the movie, a great 70's look to the film, some really realistic-looking action scenes and a solid performance by Eric Bana, but the positives didn't add up to make this movie worth the price of admission. Like War of the Worlds, I wonder how Yahoo! Movies can have good users and critics ratings for both Spielberg flicks. I do applaud Spielberg for presenting both sides of the conflict as having faults considering his heritage, but I am a little worried that he's dropped two disappointing films in such a short amount of time. I think Indiana Jones IV needs to come out real soon.

Munich = Wait for DVD/Average Rental

On a side note, Daniel Craig the new blonde James Bond was part of Eric Bana's team and he really pulled off the tough guy role.

Ratings warning - There are some gruesome scenes sprinkled throughout the movie. There is also full frontal male and female nudity for a brief period.

King Kong Review

2006-01-06T15:16:00.001-05:00

This year's King Kong was much improved from the original movie and is clearly the better version. Unlike some movie remakes, Peter Jackson's product was probably necessary (I haven't seen the Jessica Lange 70's version so I'm not counting it here). One example of a movie that didn't need a second version was Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (aka Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Johnny Depp really showed an original character in his acting repertoire, but the souped-up special effects didn't add very much to a movie that really wasn't that old. King Kong on the other hand is just an ancient flick that was ahead of its time, before the age of color film and CGI. That being said, I understand the reason for the remake, but I really didn't get into the original King Kong story the first time I saw it.

Most of the changes were well done. Kong shows a lot more detailed expression, the scenes and creatures are much more frightening and the overall action is better, but it's just really long with a run time of 3+ hours. I have to admit that I nodded off for a minute or two at the end of the movie. The rest of the audience seemed to really like it and some even applauded when the credits rolled. The "word of mouth" review seems to be positive, but I definitely could have waited for DVD. Peter Jackson does a great job with the movie. Kong's actions, expressions, abilities and overall look were much improved, but in the end the story doesn't intrigue me too much and the lengthy 3+ hours is mostly due to the movie showcasing a bunch of frightening creatures on the island.

King Kong = Wait for DVD/Good Rental

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Review

2006-01-06T15:16:00.000-05:00

When every trailer before a movie is animated, the expectations for a movie become lower since it is probably for children, but Narnia lives up to the hype. It's a really good story and the characters are well developed. That's probably what separates Narnia from Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I thought Narnia was better than both. You get to know the characters of the movie instead of just learning about their abilities, skills and special powers. Even if you're not a fan of fantasy movies, Narnia holds the audience and doesn't seem like a really long movie.

The battle scenes are pretty good despite lacking some realism since children go toe-to-toe with fearsome adult creatures. Narnia maintains a kid friendly rating by making epic battles look like Braveheart and Troy without the blood. The movie is just really well done and the story has proven to stand the test of time.

Kids and adults alike will enjoy Narnia and leave wondering when the next movie will come out. IMHO, CS Lewis' Narnia is more enjoyable than Tolkein's Lord of the Rings and the overrated Harry Potter series.

Narnia = Worth Seeing in the Theater/Excellent Rental

Aeon Flux Review

2006-01-06T15:15:00.000-05:00

I have to admit that Charlize Theron is one of my favorite actresses. If she wasn’t the star of this movie, I probably wouldn’t have seen it or liked it.

If you’ve seen the animated series on MTV, you may have a better appreciation for this movie. It is less confusing and weird compared to the cartoon. The plot actually makes sense in the movie version of Aeon Flux since there is actually dialogue that explains what is going on. Stylistically, Aeon Flux looks good in terms of costumes, set design and art design. It is pretty true to the animated series. The action scenes were not as good. Some of the ideas behind the action scenes were decent, but in the end the action fell short of the Matrix-style fighting. I really didn’t have high hopes for the movie, so I am not too disappointed by it and Charlize did a pretty good job.

Next week, I'll review The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Aeon Flux = Wait for DVD/Average Rental

Walk the Line Review

2006-01-06T15:14:00.001-05:00

Let me first say that I am not a Johnny Cash fan and I didn’t know anything about the man prior to seeing Walk the Line. It was pretty obvious to me that this movie deserved the hype it got and I would be surprised if Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon didn’t win Oscars. The acting was excellent and Robert Patrick aka T1000 from Terminator 2 was surprisingly good. I know there are some purists out there that think the original Johnny Cash and June Carter recordings are better, but after comparing the soundtrack versions of some songs with the originals, I actually thought Joaquin and Reese had very good covers. If I had to choose between the Joaquin version and the original Cash version, I’d probably choose the version off the soundtrack since it was remixed and more contemporary. Joaquin seems to have a pretty rich voice even though he probably isn’t as good a vocalist as Cash.

The movie does run a little long, but it only drags in a few places. Joaquin’s subtle transitions are very well done and his wardrobe looks really good. It is by far the best performance I’ve seen from Joaquin. I’m not a huge Reese fan but she does a really good job as well and I thought the accent was natural. The style of the movie is pretty much the same as all of the recent biopics, but something about it was just done better. As great as Jamie Foxx is, Ray wasn’t as good a movie. Both had excellent music, but Walk the Line was not as slow and boring as Ray. I would describe Walk the Line as one of those movies that you can’t figure out why it was good, but for whatever reason you liked it. Maybe it was just the subtle acting and the persona, but overall it was just a well done film.

Walk the Line = Worth Seeing in Theaters/Great Rental

Saw II Review

2006-01-06T15:14:00.000-05:00

I'll have to admit that when I saw the first display for Saw, I thought it was just a lame and gory horror movie. To make things worse, the big stars in the movie (Danny Glover and Cary Elwes) weren't really that big. After getting multiple recommendations, I finally watched Saw on DVD and it was not the mindless gore-fest that I expected. Contrarily, it was rather twisted and interesting with some good messages in it. I would say it's a pretty sick movie at times, but you can't help wanting to know what happens in the end.

Of course, I had to go see Saw II right afterwards. I'll agree with my roommate that it was even a little more disturbing than the first film, but I thought the ending was better. However, I would disagree and say that seeing the first Saw is a MUST. Several scenes in Saw II don't really make sense until you see the first Saw. Overall, both movies do a great job of keeping you interested, but it isn't for the faint of heart. If you can handle it, I would highly recommend seeing both IN ORDER. By the way (btw), the ending for Saw II is better than the Skeleton Key, so don't believe the hype about the best ending since the Sixth Sense.

Saw and Saw II = Worth the Price of Admission/Great Rental