Hit (doesn’t compare to the original)– Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco

Spider-Man 2 was not the surprise hit of the summer, but it was highly entertaining for a film based on a comic strip. According to Spider-Man comic strip guru Wesley Cram, this Spider-Man installment was highly disappointing because its plotline does not parallel that of the original comic strip. Well, unfortunately Hollywood likes to go the “road less traveled� just to upset those people who actually expect a good film. This is also seen in the horribly told Hollywood tragedy Daredevil (we will get to that later). In the Spider-Man sequel, Spider-Man is trying to be a normal human being but is overcome with his need to save the world from the horrible and corrupt Doc Ock. This movie leaves room for a sequel where the audience is left in wonderment as to what will become of James Franco’s character, Harry Osborn. James Franco provides some onscreen eye candy for the ladies but his performance is not on-par with his previous performance in Spider-Man, and The Company. While James has come a long way from Freaks and Geeks I feel that his performance was missing something relevant. Both Kirsten and Tobey return to revive their roles with the same nature that they did in the original. Both characters are likeable but not as over-the-top as I would have liked considering this is a comic strip rather than an actual drama. The best performance of the movie goes to Daniel Gillies who plays John Jameson, the man who owns the newspaper where Peter Parker (Maguire) works. His comedic performance is unstoppable. Bottom Line: Not as good as the original, but provides good entertainment for the family.

Best Scene: (as seen in the trailer/previews) When Doc Ock seeks out Peter Parker at a Cafe with Mary Jane.

Rated PG-13 for stylized action violence.
Action / Comic Book
Running Time: 2 hours 7 minutes

photo courtesy of upcomingmovies.com

Miss- Starring Michael Moore, George W. Bush, and plenty of non-union actors

Synopsis: Michael Moore’s viewpoint of what really happened surrounding the September 11th attacks. This includes information about what is being done now because of the tragic incident.

A note to those who are reading this review: My comments about this film are purely concerning the film itself and the filmmaking process. It does not reflect my viewpoints on the comments Michael Moore has made about our great nation. I, for one, agree and disagree with him on many issues.

Sloppy Joes for dinner anyone? Compared to Bowling for Columbine I found this “mockumentary” to be the most horrible display of filmmaking I have ever witnessed. Michael Moore should be ashamed of his lack of storytelling and structure. I feel that my personal documentary of my family vacation to Washington D.C. was a better representation of acceptable filmmaking. Being my first family documentary at 12 years old, I find it to not only have commentary and interviews that follow a linear fashion, but it also contains candid and uncontrived situations and interactions with “real” people.

Michael Moore, it is doubtful that you will ever read this but if you do I want you to know that I expected great things, but what I got was a whole bag of nothing.

Watching this film made me feel like I was a little kid in 1st grade. It reminds me of watching those films on the projector that tells us how we can be clean by washing our hands with soap and combing our hair. “Look, Johnny uses bar soap to wash his hands before dinner.” From the first frame of the film I felt as though I was being talked down to. I know it is desirable to save money and have yourself be the narrator, but really, your narration sucks. I would suggest Liam Neeson because he has an excellent narrator voice. Bottom line: Not worth renting the film for $3.00. Instead I suggest buying a Starbucks coffee (which will really make Michael Moore happy).

Rated R for some violent and disturbing images, and for language.
Mockumentary
Running time: 2 hours 2 minutes = the best nap of your life!

Photo © Copyright Lions Gate Films. All Rights Reserved.

Hit Starring Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands, Sam Shepard, Joan Allen, James Marsden

The story begins with an older gentleman reading “The Notebook,” to an old woman in a nursing home. “The Notebook,” follows the story of two young lovers Allie (McAdams) and Noah (Gosling). Their love is separated by her disapproving parents. 7 years later, Allie is engaged to an army soldier, yet she still unsatisfied by where her life has taken her. She returns to Seabrook to find Noah in search for the meaning of true love.

If only the story was as simple as boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. This plot would have satisfied me, but the story goes beyond this simple plot line and touches on so many emotions it is outrageous. Although I found the ending extremely sad (for those of you who know people with the sickness that Gena Rowlands character is suffering from you will understand) yet I really enjoyed the whole movie and even found myself wanting to watch the story again days later.

Let’s talk about Ryan Gosling. Mr. Gosling creates an extremely lovable Noah character. He performs on target, the women of the world respond, and instantly fall in love with this character he has created. And I am sure some women will not be able to separate the real Ryan Gosling from his fictional portrayal of Noah Calhoun. This may cause problems for his personal life. But it is just too bad that he is a good actor and he has a pretty face. I guess one should be so lucky. Nice work Mr. Gosling, I really enjoyed your performance and your ability to dress the set with your handsome face.

Rachel McAdams. Bottom line: Love her. She was great in Mean Girls and I really liked to see her transform from the Mean Girl character to a fun loving debutante. Her on-screen beauty is so captivating and so real I feel that she would be georgous in any costume or character. Her portrayal of Allie was everything I would have pictured Allie (the book character) to be. It is nice to see someone who has a captivating talent for theatre. I hope to see more of her and more of Ryan. They are a dynamic duo.

Other actors that added to the greatness of this movie include: Sam Shepard (if you have read Buried Child you know that this is indeed the same Sam Shepard- apparently he can do everything well), Gena Rowlands provides a heart-breaking performance as does James Garner, James Marsden is a nice addition to the cast (plus he is quite good looking), and lastly, the great Joan Allen who is an actress to be clearly remembered and honored.

Bottom Line: Rent this movie ASAP! And don’t forget the tissues.

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality.
Drama / Romance
Running Time: 2 hours 1 minute

Bonus Features on the DVD: Deleted, extended, and alternate scenes, commentary, and how they picked the location of the film.

Photo copyright Screen Gems. All Rights Reserved.

Miss– Starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor

What can be said about Dodgeball??? This is certainly a slapstick comedy that says “this is funny, please laugh, please laugh.� To this I respond, “this is stupid, please stop, please stop.� Now, I do understand that many people find slapstick comedy funny but really, how many times can you hit someone in the balls and laugh about it? A lot of people in the movie theatre I went to found this movie quite hilarious but it just was not my cup of tea. I was really saddened by the fact that I didn’t really find anything funny because I really like Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, and Vince Vaughn. They also included the guy from Office Space, which is awesome because he rocks. Bottom Line: If you like Slapstick humor (i.e. people getting hurt because they are constantly getting hit in the balls, in the face, or anywhere on their body) then you would really like this movie. If you like smart humor, then you will not like this movie.

Best Scene: When we discover new information about Christine Taylors character at the end of the dodgeball tournament.

Rated PG-13 for rude and sexual humor, and language.
Comedy
Running Time: 1 hour 32 minutes

Photos © 20th Century Fox. All Rights Reserved.

Hit- Starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci

Viktor Navorski is traveling from his Eastern European homeland to visit the United States of America. Unfortunately, while Viktor was flying the friendly skies, a war errupted in his country, causing it to be unrecognized as a official country. Viktor may not enter the United States of America, and he may not leave the terminal to fly home. Therefore, Viktor must make a home for himself in the terminal while his vacation plans have been put on delay.

Steven Speilberg has done some excellent work with this film in terms of casting, set design, and an interesting plot. Mr. Spielbergs biggest downfall of his directing career (mostly as of late) has been the running time on his films. This film was nicely put together but could have been shorter by 20 or 30 minutes. In order for a film to be sent overseas and be internationally recognized, the film must be 90 minutes in length. I find that this is a great time frame, and it really makes my Friday night to see that I won’t be stuck in a movie theatre forever.

As always, Tom Hanks delivers an excellent performance. I don’t think Mr. Hanks is capable of anything besides greatness. Catherine Zeta-Jones offers a complementary performance that makes her character likeable and genuine. Overall, a nice rental film for the family.

Best Scene: Dinner with Catherine Zeta-Jones’ character.

Rated PG-13 for brief language and drug references.
Dramedy
Running Time: 2 hours 8 minutes

Photo © DreamWorks Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Hit - Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez, Tina Majorino

Our quirky hero, Napoleon, is confronted with the challenges of high school romance and friendship, while dealing with a considerably unorthodox home sitiation. Napoleon and his older brother Kip both live with their grandmother until a offroad quad accident places her in the hospital and their uncle Rico moves in to fill her role.

I was a big fan of this movie. The film unfolds as a series of vignettes each depicting a small part of Napoleons life and is quite possibly the most realistic portrayal of high school existence that I have ever seen on the silver screen. The characters were awkward and despite being played in an overly deadpan style, to me they were believable. Films like Mean Girls, Can’t Hardly Wait, and The Breakfast club, present us with beautiful, confident, outspoken teenagers who suffer through idealized situations that are at best perversions of the actual realities of teenage life. Napoleon Dynamite provides a sharp contrast that I found refreshing.

This film may be a little off beat for the tastes of some, but I think that it deserves a chance even from those that may be initially turned off by the manner in which the film was promoted prior to its wide release.

Best Scene: The school election speeches in this movie could have easily been lifted from the cafetorium of any number of high schools.

Rating: PG for thematic elements and language.
Coming of age/ Self discovery
Running Time: 1 hr. 26 min

Photo © Fox Searchlight. All Rights Reserved.

Miss– Starring Vin Diesel (Mark Vincent), Judi Dench

I am not one for Science Fiction movies, I have to be eased into the idea. Therefore I was not very excited for the second installment of Pitch Black called The Chronicles of Riddick. Granted I have not seen Pitch Black so I do not know the back story concerning Riddick and his previous adventures. From the sequel I have learned that Riddick has some powers and yada yada yada. Whatever, basically this is lame. Bottom Line, if you like Sci-Fi I am sure you will like this sequel. But don’t see it if you have not seen Pitch Black and don’t see it if you are so-so concerning Sci-Fi.

Best Scene: When people attempt to outrun the sun and its burn factor, and when they fail to succeed.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action and some language.
Science Fiction
Running Time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Photo © Universal Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Miss – Starring Matthew Brodrick, Nicole Kidman, Glenn Close, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken. Directed by Frank Oz (aka the voice of Yoda)

Some movies should not be remade by Hollywood. Is there really nothing else to do but remake movies these days? A remake to me says: I really couldn’t find any other project to do so why not take a sure thing and make it a winner. In this case, you should have gone out on a limb and tried something new. Apparently John Cusack was supposed to play the Matthew Brodrick part but turned it down because he knew it was a train wreck. Although it is mildly entertaining, it lacks any sort of new flavor. The script is stale, the acting is stale, and the ending is stale. Bottom Line: Stale, stale, stale. Stay away.

Best Scene: When a woman dances out of control at the Square Dance.

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, thematic material and language.
Comedy
Running Time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Photo © Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Hit– Starring, what I like to call the New Brat Pack.

What is not to like about Harry Potter? I really don’t know. This movie is magical fun for the whole family. Again we join Harry at Hogwarts, another year of frivolous witchcraft and fun. New characters create good fun around the Hogwarts campus. These characters include the lovely Emma Thompson as the hippie Professor Trelawny, and Gary Oldman as the dangerous Sirius Black. As always Alan Rickman’s performance as Professor Snape remains untouchable, we welcome to the cast Michael Gambon to fill the shoes of Albus Dumbledore. While his performance is not exactly parallel to that of Richard Harris, we still find him as loveable as always. This movie has great computer generation (ex. the dementors) but my biggest concern is that the children are becoming older. I hope they are not in their mid-twenties by the time the final Harry Potter film is underway. Overall, good fun.

Best Scene: Learning about the Bogarts.

Rated PG for frightening moments, creature violence and mild language.
Fantasy
Running Time: 2 hours 21 minutes

Photos © Warner Bros. Pictures. All Rights Reserved.