Hit - Starring Matthew Lillard, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, Seth Green, Alicia Silverstone

The Scooby Gang is in over their heads when a masked villian comes to Coolsville and wreaks havoc on the city. All the monsters that the gang had once captured are now unleashed. It is up to the Scooby Gang to save Coolsville before it is completely destroyed.

Funnier than the original. This film has a lot of laughs. There is an overall feeling of cheesiness, but that is expected in a movie based on a classic cartoon show. I don’t think anyone could play Shaggy quite like Matthew Lillard. He really brings this character to life. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s stunt double is glad this movie had a lot of action. First 8 years of Buffy and now a comedy action film? This stunt double is getting a great work out (and a lot of money). Bottom Line: Scooby Do.

Best Scene: When Scooby, Shaggy, and Patrick meet in a deserted area.

Best Line: “They are like totally having a montage sequence in there without us,” says Shaggy.

Rated PG for some scary action, rude humor and language.
Comedy
Running Time: 1 hour 28 minutes

Photos © Warner Bros. Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Hit- Starring Tom Hanks, Marlon Wayans, Irma P. Hall

A southern professor makes intricate plans to lead a casino heist. In order to pull off the heist, Professor G.H. Dorr (Hanks) rents a room from a Marva Munson (Hall) who lives close by the casino. Everything goes according to plan until Marva discovers their crime.

A delightful comedy with many laughs. There is one scene of this movie that will have you laughing days later. Everyone appearing in this film was perfectly cast. I really enjoyed Tom Hanks as the ringleader of the group. He is by far the most talented actor I have ever seen on-screen. Marlon Wayans provides good comedy and seems to be the only character to recieve multiple slaps to the face (ouch!). This film was a joy to watch and I will soon add it to my movie collection. Bottom Line: I suggest renting this film tonight.

Best Scene: When Garth Pancake loses his finger. Also: when his finger is disposed.

Rated R for language including sexual references.
Comedy
Running Time: 1 hour 44 minutes

Photo © Buena Vista Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Hit - Starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo. Written by Charlie Kaufman.

Joel (Jim Carrey) discovers that his long-term girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has undergone a medical procedure to erase Joel from her mind. Upset by the fact that his love of many years does not know who he is, Joel decides to erase Clementine from his mind. The majority of the film takes place in Joel’s mind as the memories of his relationship with Clementine are slowly erased. After his first memory of his girlfriend has been deleted, he realizes that he does not want to forget her, so he tries to hide her in other memories of his life.

Charlie Kaufman does it again. I loved this movie from start to finish. Kaufman provides the audience with a fresh script full with various themes and ideas. There isn’t much else to say about this movie except it is brilliant. Bottom Line: Run to your local video store!

Best Scene: When Joel is a young boy hiding under the table (pictured below).

Rated R for language, some drug and sexual content.
Dramedy
Running Time: 1 hour 48 minutes

Photo © Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.

Miss- Starring Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Kiefer Sutherland

A serial killer is on the loose. But this is no ordinary serial killer, this murderer assumes the identities of the people he killed (The Talented Mr. Ripley, anyone?). Angelina Jolie plays a FBI profiler who is hired to find the serial killer before he takes the life of another victim.

Sometimes I feel that Angelina Jolie selects her films solely based on nudity and sex. This movie had an interesting premise that begins to sour when the audience realizes that the movie is not going anywhere. If Angelina’s character was such a world renowned FBI profiler then she would have been suspicious of the people she trusted most. But that does not happen in this film. You want to feel bad that Angelina’s character makes bad choices but you can’t help not having any empathy for her character from the beginning. Bottom line: Don’t let this movie take your life, or rather your money.

Best Scene: The first murder. This sounds morbid but it is actually interesting.

Rated R for strong violence including disturbing images, language and some sexuality.

Drama

Running Time: 1 hour 43 minutes

Photo © Warner Bros. Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Miss (is that a bus, or the ending of the movie, that I spy?) - Starring Johnny Depp, John Turturro.

Mort Rainy (Depp) is a writer accused of plagurism by a strange hick by the name Shooter (Turturro). Shooter stalks and threatens Rainy in hopes Rainy will give credit where it is do.

For those of you who did not know how this movie was going to end, shame on you! This movie was predictable since the opening sequence. I am surprized that the director thinks his audience is born yesterday. Hello! We have all seen The Sixth Sense! Stop trying to trick us. It doesn’t work. And, we don’t like you. Bottom Line: Johnny Depp is pretty, but not pretty enough to save this movie.

Best Scene: The unfolding of events… even though we all knew what was going to happen.

Rated PG-13 for violence/terror, sexual content and language.
Suspence
Running Time: 1 hour 36 minutes. Time it takes to figure out the ending 30 minutes or less.

Photo © Columbia Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Miss - Starring Val Kilmer, Derek Luke, William H. Macy, Ed O’Neill. Written and Directed by David Mamet.

U.S. government secret agent Scott (Kilmer) is assigned to investigate the abduction of a high-ranking U.S. government official. During his journey, Scott figures out that there is a larger investigation at hand, and now his search has taken an unexpected turn.

Why David Mamet? Why? Never in my life have I seen such a horrible display of talent on screen. This movie made Val Kilmer look like an amatur actor. The only saving grace to this film are the performances by William H. Macy and Ed O’Neill. I could not make it through the entire film because not only were the performances awful, the writing and direction were awful as well. This is heartbreaking because I really respect David Mamet as a playwrite and a director. Hopefully his next project will be a complete 360. Bottom Line: No joy in muddville, our David Mamet has struck out.

Best Line: When Scott says to two convicts, “I have to do some cleaning.” This is the best line of the movie in a sarcastic sense. Thank you Val, that was awesome!

Rated R for violence and language.
Action / Drama
Running Time: 1 hour 46 minutes. Time I checked out: 1 hour 20 minutes.

Photo © Warner Bros. Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Hit - Starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Vince Vaughn, Juliette Lewis

Ken Hutchinson “Hutch” (Wilson) and Dave Starsky (Stiller) are police detectives who fight crime together in this comedic period piece set in the 1970’s. These men rely on street informer Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg) to uncover case clues and provide leads for the detectives. The story revolves around their first big case (acting as a prequel to the television show) involving a high profile criminal drug dealer (played by Vaughn)

This movie is overall entertaining. It provides some good laughs, and some great dancing. Some sequences in the movie are reminiscent of other films such as Easy Rider. Stiller and Wilson prove to be an excellent duo. I laughed, I cried (no I didn’t), I liked this movie. Bottom Line: Good home video fun.

Best Scene: The car raffle. Best Line: “Do it.”

Rated PG-13 for drug content, sexual situations, partial nudity, language and some violence.
Comedy
Running Time: 1 hour 41 minutes

Photo © Warner Bros. Pictures. All Rights Reserved.