Tag: review

Okay. I am on a tear seeing many of the summer movies this year and thoroughly enjoying ever moment. Some films are good some are bad, but it is watching them in the dark that makes it so fun. Now if only I had more company.

The latest batch from this past weekend are Catwoman and The Manchurian Candidate.

First up, Catwoman. We caught this on a friday evening screening (7:40) and there were not many people seeing this movie in its second week in the theatres. No legs. This was the best worst flick I have seen in a while. It is everything that the critics have been saying it was. Bad. Bad. Bad. But I think this will be a classic bad movie. So bad it is good. At first, you can see and feel how bad the movie was, but then as you accept its awfulness, you begin to enjoy it. Halle Berry! Nice. The plot was outrageous. Something to do with stopping an evil makeup conglomerate from unleashing its toxic makeup on unsuspecting women. I shit you not that that was what the conflict centered on. From the opening to the closing, Catwoman stunk up the screen, but I appreciated its badness and applauded at the end. I knew we were in trouble when the director goes by one name.

5 of 5 stars.

The Manchurian Candidate is the total opposite of Catwoman in terms of critics’ approval. It has garnered some great reviews. I don’t know why. It was somewhat boring. And I predicted the ending in the first reel. Good but not great. A little slow and predictable if you are well versed in conspiracy theories. There is always a patsy. Thanks, X-files!

3 of 5 stars.

Caught an early evening showing of The Bourne Supremecy. I kind of liked it. At the start, it felt like we had walked into the middle of the movie, because it continues from the last Bourne movie, The Bourne Identity. There was a little less action than in the first. The flick was a revenge movie, because once Franka Potente’s character was killed, Jason Bourne had to avenge her death. The plot was methodical. Slow like Europe.

3 of 5 stars.

This will be a quick review.

I saw I, Robot this past weekend expecting it to be an action flick. Turns out it was equal parts thriller and detective story for three quarters of the film. Then as all summer movies must be, the action kicked in and the story turned for the worse. Not as bad as I thought it would be considering it was a Will Smith movie.

3 of 5 stars.

Caught King Arthur in the matinee. This was a truly B movie. Dialogue. Plot. Acting. Actors. All of it was cut rate. The story seemed silly. If you had to describe it in a pitch think Saving Private Ryan meets The 13th Warrior. If you had to destroy the myth of King Arthur, this movie was the place to start. It wasn’t even a bad summer movie to love. The king is dead.

2 of 5 stars.

Before seeing this movie, I mentioned to some co-workers that I had reservations about seeing it. That it might be a comedic movie in which you wait for the comedy to happen. “They’re saying something funny. I should be laughing. Why am I not laughing?” I had every reason to hope that this would not be the case. Unfortunately, my fears were confirmed. This movie was like an SNL skit — unfunny in long stretches. Considering that Will Farrell wrote it, it may have been a rejected SNL skit. A skit which did not make it to Saturday night, but was cut by Lorne Greene by showtime. I did not laugh once in the first 10 minutes, and it was hard to find something to laugh at for the rest of the movie. The only thing that saved it is the great Vince Vaughan. And if you don’t mind spoilers, the Mexican standoff between local television news crews with Luke Wilson, Tim Robbins and Ben Stiller making hilarious cameos. I suggest you watch this flick next summer when it makes its rounds on HBO.

2 of 5 stars.

I don’t have the time to review the latest movies that I have seen. Not that my reviews are all in depth and all. But I recently am going through a whirlwind of movie watching in recent days, 4 in the last week alone. Here then are the movies I have seen and a quick rating:

• Saved. 3 of 5 stars.
• Fahrenheit 9/11. 3 of 5 stars.
• Spiderman 2. 5 of 5 stars.
• The Terminal. 3 of 5 stars.

The Christian school Mean Girls, Saved is one of the better movies that I have seen this summer. It makes you think about religion and approaches the question of how do you incorporate religion into your modern life.

The only problem is the tone of the film. Was it satire? I thought it started out as such, but morphed into a straight morality tale by the end. I had laughed lots at the start, but was somewhat melancholy at the end.

Watch it. It is good.

3 of 5 stars.

Saw Stepford Wives tonight so that you don’t have to. Let me warn you now. It is humorless and lifeless as the robots of the original. Did I ruin it for you? Good. Don’t see this movie.

1 of 5 stars.

Caught a matinee of Dodgeball. Funny, funny, funny. First, the great Stephen Root is in it, as is the hilarious Vince Vaughn, and that guy in all those commercials, Joel Moore. Christine Taylor/Marcia Brady looking cute. Lots of dodgeballs to the groin. Good popcorn movie for a Saturday afternoon.

3 of 5 stars.

Like Van Helsing, before him, the hero of this movie needs only one name. Riddick. He makes his return from the darkness of Pitch Black in this sequel. I must confess I have not seen the first movie. It would help you if you did, because some of the characters and all the emotional weight seem to be embodied in the relationships and interactions of those that survived the blackened hell of the first movie. But since I didn’t see the first movie, I could care less about that. The Chronicles of Riddick is not bad. I was confused as the action scenes are a jumble of bodies and spaceships in motion. You can hardly tell what is going on, especially when the movie in the second reel turns into a jail house flick. Why’d they switch up the plot on us? Sci-fi I like. Riddick is cool. The movie so-so.

3 of 5 stars.