Movie Revies

Movie Reviews

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Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde - The unstoppable irresistable happy sappy pink lawyerette is back, this time taking on the backstabbers in Washington DC. So far over the top it's back down to amusing.
The Hunted - A trained killer can't stop killing. His trainer must stop him. Backstory and character development are just filler for the chase and the fight - the most intense, realistic, believable, viceral chase and fight portrayed on film.
Shanghai Nights - Pure slapstick from Jackie Chan. Fun, though lacks the more jaw-dropping stunts ("he actually did that?!") of other Chan films.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Awesome adaptation of the book. Remember: this is the middle third of a 9-hour movie of a 1200-page book, so things are a bit abridged and rushed and pass over the gentler & finer details of the story.
Bad Company - Putting Anthony Hopkins (knighted highbrow serious actor) with Chris Rock (foulmouthed comedian) in an action movie was a worthy move. While neither really got to shine, the result was enjoyable.
Daylight - Sneering Sly Stalone comes back to provide an engaging, if sometimes improbable, story of survival.
The Sum of All Fears - Another Tom Clancy novel comes to the big screen just as well as the others. Jack Ryan is back, this time early in his career and before meeting his wife. I wonder when ad agents will recognize that these Jack Ryan stories constitute a franchise much like the James Bond series.
Star Trek: Insurrection - The next episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. No more, no less.
Interesting how big-budget direction/production/effects/script/time/etc. can be so acceptably bland when near-total lack thereof was so effective in The Blair Witch Project. It's not what you've got, but what you do with it.
The Blair Witch Project - Awright, THAT WAS DISTURBING. A high point in minimal filmmaking: with little direction, production, effects, script, time, and budget this movie tells a story like few have. Only in this and Deliverance have I seen a story tap so directly into what really scares us: an unknown we are powerless over.
The Ring - A creatively stylized horror film that spends little time with gore and much time messing with your head. Prompts good conversation after...that is, if you don't just giggle at it. Sometimes the viewer must decide whether to accept what's happening and indulge in the horror; without such wilful indulgence, it may not work.
The greater horror is in much of the audience, who laugh at serious scenes of suffering and death when sudden or odd. Shocking tragedy is increasingly met with guffaws in our culture; this cannot be good.
Collateral Damage - Arnold is back, this time terminating terrorists. An otherwise decent action film caught off-guard by 9/11, 'tis telling that some leaders object to its methods and message of individuals directly dealing with terrorists.
The Order - Exactly what you hope for in a Jean Claude Van Damme film - no more, no less.
The Godfather - Perfectly written, acted, directed and filmed. Pity I just don't "get" Italian dramas.
U. S. Marshals - The Fugitive, just different.
Kodo - Documentary of the Japanese drumming group Kodo, investigating the tight-knit group of musicians, some of their notable travels, and the dynamics of this rather large group. Be sure to listed to a few of their albums before watching.
The Substitute 4: Failure Is Not An Option - OK B-movie if you're looking for action, and recognize you're getting an action B-movie. Ex-CIA guy goes undercover in a school as a substitute teacher to root out a particularly nasty gang. Being the fourth time around, now it's a private military school and he's pursuing neo-neo-nazis.
This is the predictible offspring of the surprisingly good The Substitute.
The Conversation - Eavesdropping on other people's conversations makes you wonder who's listening to yours. Giving what you overhear to others makes you wonder what will happen when secret info is shared. Then knowing that someone is secretly listening to you completes the circle of self-induced insanity.
Horatio Hornblower: The Duel (part 1 of 4) - Interesting tale of tough life as an English sailor at war with France and in conflict with his peers.
Samurai (1-3) - The grand story of Myaimoto Musashi, the most famous samurai, from his first fight through his grandest battle. A masterpiece.
George Lucas In Love - A hysterical short, perfectly explaining how George Lucas came up with "Star Wars".
Blind Justice - This western tale of a blind gunfighter left me with a feeling of...neutral. The good parts perfectly balance the bad parts. It's a movie.
Good Will Hunting - A prodigy may care little of his grand talent, seeking only normalicy while others manipulate him toward greatness. A moving tale of a janitor who casually solves the most advanced mathematical problems, and those who struggle to make him appreciate his talent.
First Knight - Good twist on the classic Arthurian legend, focusing on Lancelot. Romance & action mixed well.
Serendipity - An oh-so-romantic tale of a couple whose first day together goes amazingly well...then nearly blow their lives by letting coincidence decide whether they will meet again.
A Summer's Tale - I really wanted to like this movie. No grand drama, no mood music, no special effects, no big budget, ... just a gentle, believable, sensitive story of a young man's pained attempts to decide which of three desireable young women he will choose. One easily believes this is a real story of common folk The acting and dialogue are refreshingly realistic, the filming is remarkably simple and honest, and the story so very genuine. Unfortunately, the story - so true to life - is truly stupid. All four have a vague notion of desiring romance, are so dishonest to themselves and to each other about their intentions, so trivialize sensitive and important matters, so magnify trivialities, so avoiding painful decisions and thus causing more pain, ultimately working into a corner where a decision must be made and hearts broken and commitments made. Except that none really care enough for the decision to really matter. Except that the decision is, based on a fortuitious phone call, an excuse to run away. I really wanted to like this movie...but in a painfully realistic fasion, it didn't make a decision and ran away.
One could argue that it remarkably captured reality. Trust me: your life is more interesting.
What is interesting is how it demonstrates the way young adults tend to choose a mate in Western culture: feign disinterest, don't know why a mate is being sought, trivialize everything, be directionless, break hearts all around, put trivialities first. The pathos just screams for purpose and direction.
One Day in September - Documentary following the terrorist attack during the 1972 Munich Olympics, resulting in the deaths of 11 Israeli atheletes. Many have seen the famous photos of the terrorist on the terrace. Some remember watching the drama unfold on live TV. Few actually know what happened outside the camera's view: the attack plan, the numerous botched rescue attempts, and the incredibly idiodic handling of the final ploy and inexplicable freeing of the remaining terrorists. Interviews include the last surviving (hopefully not for long) terrorist.
While not as technically detailed as security-minded viewers may desire, this covers the event in a very accessable form.
The Hudsucker Proxy - A wonderfully over-the-top treatment of corporate greed and personal redemption.
Pluto Nash - Eddie Murphy in a space comedy. Fun flick. 'nuff said.
Minority Report - A superb high-action sci-fi detective thriller. A cop must stop a killer, and knows much of how the murder will occur - including that the killer is himself, and that his "precrime" unit is tasked with arresting him for the murder before the fact. A must-see sci-fi.
Of note is the detailed treatment given to an excellent new computer/user interface, much of which is possible today - if only someone would bother to do it. Computer GUIs in movies are rarely plausable; this one is not only plausable and creative but predicts the next major paradigm.
The Tailor of Panama - A tailor makes elegant and useful items out of whole cloth. This tailor also does so metaphorically. A plausable example of what likely drives much of world events: selfish self-important people making much ado about nothing, subsequently spinning events wildly out of control.
Blade II - A rarity: a sequel superior (if only slightly so) to the original. This bumps up the intensity while avoiding the derailing supernaturalism of the original. Quite possilby the only vampire movie I can tolerate.
Bridget Jones' Diary - A year in the life of a single thirtysomething. May help those who weren't understand those who are. Good companion to the book, which is an easy read: don't do one without the other.
The Shootist - A famed old-west gunfighter attempts to face his own mortality and create his own quiet end; many pester him for their own selfish ends. A fine study in personal honor. "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie - Nothing is lost from the original series as our heros attempt to move into the third dimension.
The Outlaw Jose Wales - A fine western. (I usually don't care for westerns!) The Civil War strikes home, prompting Jose Wales to seek vengance on those who gratuitously destroyed his family. The nation's war ends, but Jose's continues on, even as he attempts to peacefully found a new family and homestead.
The Tao of Steve - "Be desireless, be excellent, be gone": according to a fat underemployed suburban hedonistic pseudo-buddah, that's the secret to getting chicks. What our hero (?) learns in the end, and which much of the audience probably won't get, is that there's a fourth part: be monogamous.
The Brotherhood of the Wolf - An artsy violent French film, depicting the terrorizing of a town by a wolf/beast, the quest to find and destroy it, and the secret behind the creature. Glamorously done.
Unfortunately, and of particular note considering its country of origin, it very pointedly portrays Christianity as a bastion of evil. This is notable as France is rapidly becoming devoid of religion, and such a comprehensively evil portrayal of a righteous organization constitutes pure bigotry of the worst kind (even allowing for the misuse of the church in the past).
Black Hawk Down - A must see (for those who can handle it) - not just because it's well done, but because it gives an insight into the reality of combat. When you hear or think about sending soldiers somewhere, be it war or "peacekeeping", be aware of the the reality of combat: when the first bullet flies, politics goes out the window and people die. This film is, to the observant and thoughtful, a prime example of why those who control the deployment of troops (i.e.: the President) should have military experience; those who do not understand the nature of combat cannot understand the grave matters of directing those who risk their lives under that command.
Be sure to read the book.
Beowulf - A great movie opportunity blown badly. The modest success of the techno-feudal setting and the upper-B-movie cast is squandered by a script that has only the slightest resemblance to the great ancient English legend.
(When the box descrption mentioned the "techno-fuTILE" setting, I knew something was very wrong.)
Get Carter - Contemplative action drama of a Las Vegas "fixer" (as in "pay up or I fix your spleen") seeking his brother's killers and discovering some family secrets along the way.
Not the Vegas action flick you're probably expecting.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Magnificent screen adaptation of the book. Lush, rich imagery accurate to Tolkein's vision. Fine acting. Slight modifications from the book are acceptable for practical reasons. Do read the trilogy first!
15 Minutes - An engaging thriller. A murderer's partner takes on the annoying habit of videotaping the former's crimes, who in turn attempts to use the videos to short-circuit the murder laws and escape conviction. A pair of cops are faced with the annoying task of stopping him.
Unbreakable - A quiet yet powerful film about...well, can I manage to say what without giving it away? A security guard with an otherwise painfully dull life survives an unsurvivable train wreck. He discovers that he has never been injured or sick, as pointed out by a comic art dealer who is perpetually injured and sick. How this is discovered, and what it develops into, is remarkable.
Princess Mononoke - Best watched in conjunction with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Both are beautifully animated (in remarkably different ways) tales of Japanese pantheism. Interesting that such advanced storytelling technology is used to tell such anthropologically immature mythology.
Once Upon A Time In China - The way martial arts movies should be! As Western culture begins to infiltrate Chinese society, a doctor is drawn into the new power struggles. Such cultural struggles move fast with great force, foregoing intellectual dialog with submit-or-die conflict. Complicating the issue is the arrival of the firearm as a frequent weapon in close-quarters combat, changing the dynamics of hand-to-hand decision making.
Ocean's Eleven - The way heist movies should be! Having been parolled from prison, Danny Ocean decides to pull off the biggest robbery ever - $160M from an impenetrable casino vault - with the help of ten talented crooks. Ocean's motivation goes beyond simple greed. More enjoyable than recently-released Heist. A remake of the classic Rat Pack movie.
Replicant - van Damme vs. van Damme, but not twice his standard fare. Ok if you don't think about it too much - they tried to make a reasonable cloning movie.
Heist - Hackman & DeVito in a good last-big-job theft movie. Just a few too many plot twists.
Monsters, Inc. - Pixar (Toy Story, A Bug's Life) continues exercising their hysterical and visually rich talents while explaining why there are monsters in your closet. (Don't hurt yourself laughing at the lead-in animated short.)
Iron Monkey - Chinese Robin Hood, heavy on combat. One of Jet Li's better movies.
Seven Years in Tibet - The flip side of Kundun, the same story told from the Englishman's point of view. Both movies complement each other and reflect the aesthetics of each character.
The Crow: Salvation - Decent retread of the Crow franchise. Slain innocent returns from the dead to avenge the murder of a loved one, systematically and spectacularly eliminating those involved. Not quite as spectacular as The Crow, not quite as bizzare as The Crow: City of Angels, not quite as unsatisfying as The Crow: Stairway to Heaven .
The Way of the Gun - One baby due, one million dollars for services rendered due, and a lot of heavily armed people very confused about who gets what. Story by the author of The Usual Suspects, and just as confusing. Well done; no fun.
Deliverance - A very effective movie about people facing the reality of evil: how easily common people can choose to inflict evil deeds, and how few people are ready to deal with such situations.

All Access - IMAX biiig screen interviews & performances by major musicians Moby, BB King, Dave Matthews, Santana, and others.
Hearts In Atlantis - Subtle, intense film of childhood enhanced with just a touch of the supernatural. About kids, but not really for them.
Shrek - Hysterical take on fairy tales. Fun for all ages.
Bait - Standard action flick with a dollop of humor.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence - ...you get to live another day. Such is the casual mercy and brutality found in a POW camp, as a prisoners and captors play subtle high-stakes mind games of honor. Nice touch is the extended foriegn-language segments sans subtitles, which help the viewer perceive simultanious clarity and obfuscation.
Highlander: Endgame (aka Highlander 4) - Highlander was a fine guy film that ended with total closure. Highlander 2: The Sicken...(er, 'scuse me)...Quickening totally mangled the first story, ignored the closed ending, and carried it on in bizzare ways; the Director's Cut reportedly edits the movie severly, effectively turning it into another film. Highlander 3: The Sorcerer formally apologized for the previous film and discarded it, and said of the first film's ending "no, wait, we apologize, the story isn't finished after all" so they could present some more gratuitous sword fights and beheadings. Now there is Highlander: Endgame which rolls back the story to about 2/3rds through the first film, ignored the other two, picked up the TV series (no comment), and tried to end the first story a fourth way...but it's not done, because of the Hollywood need for a happy ending which makes no sense and opens the door for (retch) a fifth sequel/ending; but that's the Producer's Cut version, which is somewhat different from the theatrical release. This movie, in and of itself, is an OK B-movie; in context of the serieses (plural plural), it's another round of "why are they doing this to me (the viewer)" and six profoundly different endings to one otherwise good story. I suggest you watch the fine cult hit film Highlander,and if anyone suggests you watch any sequels consider following Connor McLeoud's example upon them.
Titan AE - A rare animated movie for grown-ups. Decent sci-fi story with impressive backdrops. Pity there aren't more movies like this.
Kiss of the Dragon - Jet Li gets this action flick exactly right: simple sufficient story, lots of perfectly executed high action, believably done. Oh yeah...
Atlantis - Slightly overdone animation (fortunately, no musical numbers or high-profile annoying sidekicks). Good eye candy, don't think too hard about it. Worth a rental.
AI - Moving tale of a robot boy. Pinnochio meets Blade Runner. (Not for kids - they'll relate to it way too much.) Very well done.

SwordFish - Good over-the-top tale of a criminal mastermind pulling off high-profile bank job for reasons of...nah, I won't tell. One of the best opening sequences I've seen in a long time.
Tomb Raider - Pure popcorn movie for guys. Fine balance of wild action, preposterous story, and engaging heroine. Don't think, just enjoy.
Fortress 2 - Decent sci-fi/action from my favorite B-movie star (Christopher Lambert). Better than the original in that the plot didn't deteriorate into complete absurdity.
The Matrix - Woah. Even the 8th time around.
Exit Wounds - Steven Segal has a pretty good movie formula down pat.
Heartbreakers - Mother-daughter con team marry rich guys & divorce them for big profits. Has its moments.
Shadow Warriors - Big-budget B-movie action. 'nuff said.
U-571 - Almost believable tale of a hijacked U-boat. Nicely done.
Ninja Scroll - One of the better Japanese animations I've seen, and certainly the best ninja film - for once, ninjas are portrayed as what they mythically are, not as parodies of themselves. 3/19/01
Enemy at the Gates - A grand yet marred tale of the possibly true, possibly propaganda tale of two snipers deuling in WWII Stalingrad. Grand because of the eye-opening Saving Private Ryan-like view of the suffering of Stalingrad, and the believable blind-chess sniper action. Marred because of the much-discussed irrelevant gratuitous romance (never has a scene been so erotic and shown so little), and the total lack of appropriate accents. Note that sniper "action" is mostly cerebral and subtle: don't be seen, sense the invisible, and deliver one shot. 3/17/01
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Klein et al) - Shakespeare's combination fantasy sex romp and comedy about actors. Done reasonably well. Word is the connection between storyline 1 and storyline 2 is explained by a speech that was left out of this version. 3/16/01
Jessie James at Bay - A good ol' Western. Roy Rogers plays Jessie James being an old-West Robin Hood. 3/11/01
Bicentennial Man - Asimov's gentle story of a robot's quest for humanity. Best watched with an Aibo frolicking nearby. 3/10/01
The Lion in Winter - King Henry II is growing old, and his three sons want the throne. A surprisingly comedic look at their intricate plotting and back-stabbing. 3/9/01
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - The classic Hong-Kong style done right. Beautifully filmed, a strong credible story, touching romances, and a lot of believable yet unbelievable combat. Impossible flying leaps, inhuman speeds, yet believable as if they simply understand reality better than we do. (Compare to The Matrix.) Glorious scenery. Goshdarnit, they just got this one right . 2/2/01
The King of Masks - A moving story of a poor street performer and his adopted child, set in China. One of the few movies truly meaningful and suitable for most ages (anyone have a name for this category? includes The Princess Bride, Toy Story, and few others). 2/1/01
Attila - A fine tale of the rise and fall of a barbarian king. That the king is named Attila The Hun, and that he unifies central Asia, and that he attacks Rome, appears to be a coincidence. 1/31/01
Dr. Bethune - Subtle, elegant tale of the Canadian who brought modern medicine to Chinese military fronts. A bit hard to follow, as the tale jumps around in time and requires more brain cells than those needed to chew popcorn. Again I'm struck by the problem of "great" people: too often they move the world yet crush their own families, noted here as the doctor saves thousands (ultimately millions?) of lives yet wholly neglects his wife.
Chicken Run - The Wallace and Grommit crew make an excellent tale of a chicken farm (run like a concentration/extermination camp) from the chicken's point of view - plus lots of wonderful action/comedy twists.
Charlie's Angels - Butt-kicking babes. Don't ask me to think.
Brazil (The Final Cut) - Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam's brilliant black comedy about government bureaucracy gone bezerk. A bug squished in a printer kicks off a bureaucratic "butterfly effect" that ultimately destroys the protagonist. Pay attention: it's subtle and very strange. 1/10/01
Random Hearts - He's a cop, she's a senator. Never met, not even close. At least until their spouses, travelling as Mr. & Mrs., die in a plane crash. The surviving spouses eventually meet as his investigative nature compels him to find out about the affair he never noticed, and forces her to do the same. An interesting study of human nature undergoing the shock of discovering that a living, loving spouse is a dead cheater. Well done, though predictable. 1/9/01
All The Pretty Horses - Two young cowboys go to Mexico to find and work a traditional Old West big ranch. Classic stupid mistakes and suspicious associations make for a tough time. The slow-moving story well evokes the sense that life really is slower and quieter in the southwest - but no less intense. The characters do not take action so much as are acted upon. Not a particularly pleasant story, but well told. 1/5/01
What Women Want - An ad designer acquires the ability to hear women's thoughts. Amusing and decently done, but finally works itself into a corner and escapes via a cheesy ending. Only a man like Mel Gibson can really make a cross-dressing scene work. 1/5/01
The Heist - A twist on the "loser" genre. Most armored car robbery films expect some degree of cleverness and sophistication on the part of the theives - not this film. Three small groups of losers get involved in robbing an armored car, and engaged in confused interaction as they're generally scared, confused, and above all stupid. Ever notice (shall we call it) deep urban culture working at a fast-food restraunt, where employees are more interested in insulting each other than serving you? Transplant that attitude to an armored car heist. 12/27/00
Drunken Master - Billed as Jackie Chan's best film. Another one of his clothesline plots that hold a sequence of impressive fight scenes together.
Eye of the Beholder - Psychopaths in love. She is a serial killer, acting out some Freudian nightmare. He is a British spy, obsessed with secretly observing her and acting out some Freudian nightmare. Things do not end well.
Bowfinger - A desparate movie director makes a movie featuring an acting superstar who doesn't realize that he's in the movie: as the star goes about his daily business, actors, scenes and cameras are sprung on him without his knowledge. Interesting concept humorously executed (with Steve Martin and Eddy Murphy, how could it not be?), but I'd rather see a movie actually done that way than a spoof about making such a film. (Note: the business-hours bank robbery scene in The Thomas Crown Affair (original, not remake) was in fact done this way; hidden cameras were set up, security quietly alerted, and actors sent in, while the bank tellers and customers thought an actual bank robbery was underway. This is one of the most memorable movie scenes I've seen.)
Patriot - A must-see. Loosely based on actual US Revolutionary War events, this brings home the mundanity and extremety of the war that created this country. This plus Braveheart and Gladiator form a trilogy of heroic patriotism. Some liberties were taken in the story, apparently to consolidate smaller notable events: there is no historical record of a church-burning, but there are numerous other British atrocities which aggregate into an equivalent horror. This film may help some understand how revolutions begin gradually and sweep people into the fray, like it or not; war is individuals vs. individuals, acting over individual events.
Hamlet - Like the latest Romeo and Juliet, proof that humans really haven't changed. Whether in Denmark the country or Denmark the corporation, whether to England by boat or plane, whether "to be or not to be" in an orchard or the Action aisle of Blockbuster video, people still murder for power and lust, people still suicide over lost loves, and people still agonize over revenge only to decide on impulse. The advantage of this Hamlet, like other modern-setting Shakespeare performances, is to give new insight on old natures by using props and settings that viewers are more familiar with. Sure, people may not talk in Old English while hanging out in a laundromat - it wouldn't be Shakespeare if the words were changed - but the meaning is just as current as the downtown Manhattan setting.
Shaft - A cop movie for guys who like cop movies. Except it is now politically incorrect for a cop to rough up a bad guy, so the cop quits so he can do the job right.
Schindler's List - A must-see. Watch carefully as a whole population follows gradually-increasing "reasonable", "acceptable" and "tolerable" impositions on their rights, ultimately leading to wholesale slaughter - and consider how our own rights are gradually imposed upon (to what end?). Also note the extraordinary efforts of a rich and powerful man as he attempts to save a relatively mere 1100 of the intended victims.
M:I-2 - Another high-energy artful-violence film from John Woo, this time depicting Tom Cruise as a hotshot near-loner spy caught up in a romance as he pursues a difficult objective. This movie includes many Mission Impossible references (main character is named Ethan Hunt, his mission orders are delivered on a self-destructing message, realistic masks are used for deception), and makes me wish someone would make a Mission Impossible movie. [Explaination of the last sentence for the sarcasm-impaired: this movie is Mission Impossible only in name and a few gimmicks...it is NOT the same Mission Impossible as two successful TV series and a blockbuster movie. The Mission Impossible franchise ended with the first movie of that name. This movie begins a new series, M:I-n.]
Kill the Man - A mildly amusing B movie about a couple guys running neighborhood copy store and their sophmoric attempts to fight the copy chain mega-store that moves in across the street by pulling the obnoxious, amusing, disruptive and pointless pranks that we've all wanted to do but have the good sense not to.
Soldier - Famous for doing Escape from NY and Escape from LA, star Kurt Russel basically carries the idea on with what should have been called Escape from Some Nameless Garbage-Dump Planet and does the whole thing with a single expression on his face.
Romance with a Double Bass - John Cleese (Monty Python ) stars in an amusing telling of Anton Chekov's short story. Set in Victorian England, a double bass player decides to take a dip in a pond before performing at the betrothal party for a princess. Independently at the same large pond, the princess takes a dip as well. Of course, the clothes of both are stolen, both meet in their desairation, and both must return to the mansion in time for the party. A gentle farce ensues as he smuggles her back in his double bass case.
Gladiator - Like Braveheart, a grand and violent tale of patriotic heroism. A man just wants to be with his family, but when the tyrant casually has the family destroyed for insubordination of the man, he fights to destroy the tyrrany and restore freedom to the people. A man with nothing to lose and the freedom of his country to fight for is a powerful example.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - What happens when you insert ancient Japanese warrior philosophy into the 'hood? A big loner homeboy devoted to his life-saving Mafia boss, and a strange mix of cultures. Really quite a good portrayal of samurai philosophy as learned and implemented by a loner. Also interesting is the believability of the characters: the mobsters are grungy old geezers who have lived hard lives and meet in dirty, secret places; the ice cream man has a tough, poor life selling to a small neighborhood; even Ghost Dog lives in poverty, spends dull times preparing and travelling to hits, and the hits themselves are not particularly glamorous.
Six-String Samurai - Wow! That was stupid! Cross Road Warrior with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and you get the post-apocalyptic tale of a sword-wielding guitarist making the hard desert trek to become the King of Lost Vegas by winning the greatest gig contest ever. Hindering his trek are murderous bowlers (yes, I mean the Tuesday night crowd that throws concrete balls at pins), a canabillistic stereotypical '50s family, other "let's see what post-nuclear-holocaust freaks the costume department can invent", guitar-playing sword-swinging Death and his idiot cronies, and the constant loving companionship of a little orphan boy. Did I mention this was stupid?
Sleepy Hollow - Supposedly a telling of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", this spectacularly serious & bent visual tale is only tangentially linked to Washington Irving's classic tale. Only director Tim Burton could pull off these twisted, over-the-top horror visuals...and he does it well.
The Whole Nine Yards - Bruce Willis and a bunch of other semi-notable actors just had a grand old time making this movie. They could barely keep straight faces while filming a farce about the murder-for-hire ex-mobster next door. Certainly not a great film, but gobs of fun.
Yojimbo - A samauri movie from Japan, done in the style of an old black-and-white spaghetti western. An unemployed samauri ("ronin") wanders into a small town suffering from gang warfare. With delight, skill, and an occasional hack & slash, he manages to play the gangs against each other until they destroy each other. Not much actual swordplay, as a swordfight between master and punk really doesn't take very long; what little there is, is impressive.
Thinner - A not-all-that-bad tale Stephen King tale of a fat man cursed to grow thinner...and the way a lawyer with, um, "connections" can return a curse in kind.
To Die For - The protagonist really, REALLY, really, really, rEaLlY wants to be a major TV commentator, working her way up from zero. She thinks her husband will prevent her from reaching this dream, so she convinces some kids to eliminate him. This story is told in a combination TV documentary and normal movie style, letting characters tell their view of events in ways not normally seen in movies. Most movies featuring sociopaths go for large-scale pathology (Silence of the Lambs, Seven); this one studies the petty.
The 13th Warrior - A fine telling of a Norse tale of heroic warriors vs. a mysterious bloodthirsty race. Contains shades of Beowulf. Probably has very little to do with the book it is supposedly based on, and the Arabic link is quite irrelevant. A good movie for guys who like movies.
Analyze This - Billy Crystal and...Robert DeNiro? Crystal does a good shrink, and DeNiro best plays a high-level mobster. There's one minor flaw in DeNiro's superb acting skill: he never had to cry on camera before, and it shows. Fun to see each actor in the other's very different realm.
Natural Born Killers - Director's Cut - Three additional minutes of film didn't add much to an already way-the-heck-over-the-top movie. According to the attached "Making Of and Bonus Footage" tape, everyone involved in the movie was asked for their deepest, darkest, most artistic "killing is fun" ideas...and it shows. Despite the obvious point that director Stone himself is deranged, he does at the end make the point - with still-memorable news footage - that our society fosters this kind of behavior.
Toy Story 2 - Better than the original, which was hysterical. A "lighter" story as well; no evil kid making mutant toys and blowing up others. Even manages to jerk a few tears...a tough task for a computer animation.
Office Space - Life in cubeville sucks. One day, our hero begins to do what so many dream of: ignore the boss, be frightfully honest with the "downsizing consultants", get a window seat, siphon off gobs of bucks and ... well, it all starts to work out really well until the obligitory "something goes really wrong" scene, at which point this otherwise very funny movie doesn't quite live up to expectations, but does manage to redeem itself right at the end.
Desert Heat - Life in a tiny, middle-of-nowhere town is laid back and a bit eccentric with a slight grin, an attitude shared by Van Damme as he takes murderous revenge on rival gangs who are bent on terrorizing the inhabitants. Remake of Yojimbo.
Bonnie and Clyde - Sure, a life of crime sounded glamorous to Bonnie: money, excitement, glamor, and a strong-willed man. But constantly running, losing one's family, small takes (it was the depression, even banks didn't have much), dingy hotels, annoying companions, and getting killed in a police ambush really does suck.
Kundun - A beautiful portrayal of the life of the 14th (current) Dali Lama. Such elegance, faithfulness, and devotion to non-violence...which made the Communist Chinese takeover of Tibet trivial. The Dali Lama's profound ignorance (to be fair, he was merely a teen at the time) and pacifism resulted in the deaths of thousands, oppression of millions, and undermining of a fine culture. Moving music provided by Philip Glass.
Murder at 1600 - A murder in the White House. Nothing that happens there is normal, much less unusual happenings...which keeps the city detective very busy trying to figure out what really happened, why, and how to get this information past some very powerful people. This interesting premise is presented with proper use of standard movie tools; engaging, but not groundbreaking.
The Avengers - Panned badly by critics, it's really not that bad...as long as you keep in mind that it's supposed to be a preposterous live-action cartoon.
Zero Woman - Another recent Japanese kicking-butt heroine movie. She's a secret agent from off-the-books government-run Agency Zero. Decent action for bachelors. I hate endings where the long-pursued object - bought at great cost of money and lives - is destroyed by the survivor.
The Crow: Stairway To Heaven - Yep, a TV series premiere based on the cult classic film. The Crow was about closure, bringing back a dead innocent for retribution via spectacular slaying of the guilty; The Crow: City Of Angels was as well. This Crow, while fairly enjoyable, cannot be about closure because, as a TV series opener, major characters cannot be killed off. Vengance gives way to the status quo.
Prisoner Maria: The Movie - Any movie title with the suffix "The Movie" indicates that something was pretty successful, so somebody decided to make a movie about it. In this case, Prisoner Maria is a Japanese comic book about an imprisoned assasin who is occasionally let out to do government dirty work in return for the chance to occasionally see her son. Decent action, nothing bad, nothing great. Not often do we Americans see modern Japanese non-anime movies.
The Thirteenth Floor - Another good "what's real?" movie. Less action than The Matrix, though more believable. A fantastically believable virtual reality is created, and the virtual inhabitants are not happy when they discover that they're "not real" and are occasionally posessed by "real" people using them as avitars. But the lines don't stop there...
The World Is Not Enough - Bond. Pure Bond.
Being John Malkovich - Words escape me. Intense yet low-key, believable yet surreal, big-budget yet starving artist, modest yet erotic, hysterical yet ponderous...how to describe an in-depth analysis of the experience and consequences of being someone else? ...for fifteen minutes, then being dumped on the shoulder of the New Jersey Turnpike? Contains the hands-down most surreal movie scene for the year.
Go - Another movie, like Dazed and Confuzed and Swingers , where the camera follows mundane losers around for one night. Are audience's lives so boring that they find it interesting to watch a day in the lives of other boring people?
Fight Club - <insert long blank contemplative stare here> A lowly office peon, saturated by our feminized consumer culture, is launched into a high-testosterone, combative male-essence lifestyle when he meets a soap salesman and his apartment explodes for no apparent reason. Beginning with nothing but a malnourished male psyche, a warrior spirit and culture is born. At this point the scripwriter was apparently hit by a bus, causing someone else (maybe the other half of aforementioned scriptwriter's brain) to insert A Twist which rocks the story to its core and leaves the viewer almost but not quite getting it for the rest of the movie.

Double Edge - An assasin pits Mafia vs. Yakuza, and two cops pursue him. Ok rental if you want sensless violence.
Three Kings - ...who are four greedy soldiers. Good moving story highlights the small-scale cruelty and horror that takes place during societal chaos. Saving Private Ryan's opening scene was shot in an unusual grainy, frantic & overexposed style; Three Kings uses that style almost exclusively.
Action USA - The blurb on the box emphasizes "car crashes and gun battles...fireballs and hunks of twisted metal." Yep. As only a B-movie can.
Avenging Force - Essentially two movies in one. First, an assasination attempt against a southern black political candidate. Second, a hunt-the-human story. The first actually has a plot (ultimately depressing), the second is an excuse for a series of fight scenes. The fact that a 100+ minute movie was recorded on a fairly small amout of videotape was a tip-off that this would not be an A-level film. To its credit, it is better than the star's American Ninja.
Adrenalin - Fear the Rush - Cops pursue a disease-carrying fast-moving mass-murdering psychopath into a former dungeon. Two plot set-up points - a quarantine city, and a fake passport to get a child out - are entirely irrelevant. While tense and occasionally revolting, it inspired a foreboding sense of apathy.
Drivers Wanted - Low-budget, made-in-Rochester mockumentary about pizza delivery drivers. What can I say?
Another 48 Hrs. - Standard sequel. This time Eddie has his act fully developed.
48 Hrs. - Cop and convict team up to get a murderous robber. Obviously Eddie Murphy hadn't fully developed his fast-talking con-man act yet, but it's a good start.
52 Pick-Up - Adultry, blackmail and murder bring Harry's world tumbling down, and he does a decent job of cleaning up the cards.
8 Million Ways To Die - A so-so movie with a pointless title. Alcoholic ex-cop gets sucked into saving a hooker (sorry, call girl ) from a double-crossing world of a pimp and a cocaine merchant. Kept my attention while I pedaled an exercise bike for two hours.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - Second time around, it's even better. The effects are incredibly detailed. The work that went into subtle nuances was just amazing: even a simple shot of a character talking with a desert in the background had a tiny, moving, perfectly out-of-focus ship fly by; even broad horizon shots of the Senate planet had just the right subtle atmospheric effects.
Wild Wild West - Completely entertaining. Sure, well-educated critics may rip it apart, but it was fun!
The Mummy - The great old tradition of cheezy horror films is back with really cool special effects. The effects team should be complemented for their superbly detailed work. The continuity director should be buried alive...assuming this movie even had a continuity director.
Shot Thru The Heart - A modified retelling of a true story. Two boyhood friends are about to compete in Olympic rifle competitions, when civil war breaks out in Sarajevo. The two, virtually brothers, are swept apart to opposite sides of the conflict. Just training soldiers at first, each gets drawn into killing. One takes up the killing of innocents on the streets as people go for water; the other realizes what is happening and hunts down his old friend. While the movie is engaging, the real-life interview with the survivor (on 20/20, Dateline, or somesuch show, I don't recall which) was far more interesting and compelling; the scriptwriter would have been wise to stick closer to the true story.
UFC: Ultimate Brazil - 22 competitions, the UFC has gone from "there are no rules" to a growing list of restrictions. While understandable - competitors don't to suffer broken fingers or repeated head butts - it has distinctly watered down the nature of the competition. I watch UFC tapes to learn about martial arts applications and see high-level people exercise their techniques; by increasing restrictions (padded gloves, no pressure points, restricted impact areas, etc.) the exercise and education of true fighting is being reduced to gamesmanship.
UFC: Brawl In Buffalo - Another installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The competition is changing: over time, inherent aspects of the match are apparently leading to idealizing of the participants' techniques. While the first event (elsewhere on this page) was pure inter-martial-art fighting, this event shows a clear movement toward groundfighting and grappling as they prove uniquely suited to "the octagon". The change has increased the dullness, as opponents quickly move to the ground and get into a long, dull, balanced standoff position. Very little looks like actual martial arts here.
Soldier of Fortune, Inc. - 1.5 hour intro to a TV series. Depicts the operation that severs (maybe) an elite combat unit from government control and motivates mercenary motivations. First third is a detailed review of the operation from multiple points of view, including a significant red herring view that later proves to be a dream/halucination; this latter bit - while well performed - is frustrating to the viewer. Much of the movie uses frequent flashbacks, so many that the present often seems more like a flash forward. Good film for a guy who just wants to kick back for a bit.
The Challenge - A good tale of modern-day samauri. A third-rate American boxer gets sucked into a Japanese family feud over who gets to own the family heirloom: a pair of katanas (swords). The older brother (who runs a very traditional martial arts school) recovers the lost sword, while his younger brother (a mega-powerful executive) keeps the other, and wishes to join the two through any means possible. The American is an interesting wild card within this ancient game.
How To Irritate People - John Cleese and other Monty Python cast members teach "how to be irritating" via case studies. An irritating film...but what did you expect from a Monty Python production entitled How to Irritate People?
The Usual Suspects - Unlike 12 Monkeys, this one does not tell you everything throughout. Unlike 12 Monkeys, you think you know what's going on...but then it escalates again and again. Starts with a straightforward crime story, but then it subtly grows until suddenly you are surrounded by a grand conspiracy and you think you know what's going on...but then it escalates again. Who is Keyser Soze, anyway?
12 Monkeys - Second time thru it's a little easier to follow. A little. The story is complex and unexpected, even though everything really is quite clear. Amazing how hard it is to follow a story where all the information is right there in front of you. Intense, strange.
Eyes Wide Shut - A film perfectly executed by one person. Everything is exactly as director Kubrick wanted it, and he had quite a vision of what he wanted. Even the high-budget actors are merely quality tools in the hands of Kubrick. The painful examination of prospects of infidelity among a married copule leads to a hands-off exploration of possibilities. The high sexual content is never gratuitous. Every scene, every setting, every action, every word, every sight is very deliberate and purposeful, carrying out a single rich vision. Simply a masterpiece. Very deliberate pace may bore the heck out of some viewers, and rumors of extreme sexual content will misdirect both prudes and perverts. (Side note: methinks nothing in the trailer is actually in the film. Very similar, but not same. Such was Kubrick's passion for secrecy.)
Universal Soldier: The Return - Shoulda gone straight to video. Heck, shouldn't have been made. Starts with a bunch of ex-dead-people (see Universal Soldier for the story behind that...or better yet, don't), then proceeds to repeatedly kill and restore them. "He's dead...he's back...he's dead again...he's back again..."
The Thomas Crown Affair - Slick action/romance. Pierce Brosnan is perfect as a guy so rich and skilled and bored that he steals super-expensive paintings for fun. Similarly, Rene Russo is great as the insurance-bounty-hunter who figures he did it. Together, they're excellent as they fall for each other hard despite their high-stakes ulterior motives. The opening scene of an art heist does not live up to the superb bank robbery that starts of the original version of this film. (The original was done using hidden cameras on real people in a real bank with no warning except to high managment and security.) A great date film. Be warned: you'll get a good look at Rene...repeatedly.
Hooligan - Dramatic back-then gangster film. Big stars carry their roles well, though just a tad too far (which is forgivable). Standard story is well done: reasonable gangleader (oxymoron?) has his territory infringed upon by the upcoming smartass, a gang war erupts and eventually the area's Mr. Big is called in and used to sort things out to our satisfaction, with a generous dose of tragedy. Lawrence Fishburne (this movie, The ) should give Ice-T (Crazy Six, Mean Guns) lessons on how cool is done.
Crazy Six - An artsy action film that frequently forgets it is supposed to be an action film. "Slow" is a word that frequently came to mind. Dramatic lighting is nicely done. Actor Ice-T can scowl better than anyone. Note to future writers: never start a movie with the accidental theft of plutonium if you're not going to make a big deal out of it at the end.
American Ninja - I was in the mood for a big-budget grade-B action. I'd complain about the typically lousy portrayal of the mythical "ninja" super-fighters and their wholesale slaughter by an amnesiac American, but that was kind of what I wanted when I rented it.
Out Of Sight - An action-comedy-drama-romance-farce which never quite decides how to balance itself among those generes. Standard situations and difficulties arise when an escaped convict and an FBI agent fall for each other.
Raise the Red Lantern - A very deliberately filmed tragedy of life in a gilded cage. The four wives of a rich Chinese man are trapped within beautiful and well-furnished buildings, and develop a hateful, manipulative and destructive relationship as each fights for the attentions of the Master.
American Samauri - A surprisingly good B movie about honor, birthrights, heirlooms, skill, and a survivor-wins arena. Respectable portrayal of Japanese sword techniques. Think "Bloodsport" with sharp edges.
Black Mask - Pure Hong Kong action and plot. The fact that he and his primary opponents ar re-engineered humans lets the fight scenes go on and on and on. The fact that he's still human lets him show pacifism and have a romantic interest. The fact that he wears a Kato-like mask is giggled at by audience and film alike. "Hoo! Chaw! Neee-woup! Pah! I will kill you now! Heeee----YAW!" Not quite Jackie Chan, but still entertaining.
Arlington Road - What to do when the new nice happy stereotypical suburban family next door are domestic terrorists? This serious entertaining fim probes relevant issues of what happens when a growing government pushes people to the brink. After seeing it, discuss the questions the film raises...but don't think much about the plot itself.
Rob Roy - The fraternal twin of Braveheart, this movie follows a trusting, honorable man as he suffers the slings and arrows of profoundly dishonorable men and the nitwits that come between them.
Keys to Tulsa - As more movies are made about losers, the more believable and presumably accurate the portrayals are. This movie portrays a bunch of losers bumbling thru a blackmail plot, bumbling which more happens than is driven. The plot bumbles as well, occasionally appearing to remind you that there is indeed a plot about a bunch of losers, who as losers really are quite uninteresting.
The French Connection - As a friend put it, the first modern urban-action drama. Very believable; the cops and crooks are more realistic than most films. While I usually dislike 60s & 70s films, a few like this are good, possibly because they don't suffer from the perfection and effects usually found (there was one special effects person, not dozens representing hundreds).
Payback - He stole the $70,000 fair and square. Now that someone stole it from him, this savvy thief is focused on and will do anything to get it back from whoever's got it. Well done, but very rough.
South Park - To adolescent boys, the ultimate in trash humor. Suitable only for adults, who by now should have grown out of enjoying such dreck. According the the writers/directors, they worked it down to an R rating by adding more trash (proving how inconsistent the MPAA rating board is).
Knock Off - John Woo-like dramatic visuals, Jackie Chan-like comedy & action, featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Plot? Oh, something about micro-bombs in counterfit jeans.
Legionnaire - Jean-Claude Van Damme finally stars in a fairly meaningful film without him doing martial arts and cringe-inducing splits. Such a change from his norm may very well cause this relatively worthwhile film to be forgotten. Our hero finds a lost/left love, loses her again, and joins the French Foreign Legion to escape her powerful husband's wrath. In the deserts of Africa, he discovers (more or less) depths of meaning of relationships in a survive-or-die environment.
The Great White Hype - A portion of the over-promoted career of a boxer, and the fall guy created to promote the sale. While some films feature and all-star cast, this features an all-supporting-star cast of Samuel L. Jackson, Damon Williams, Jeff Goldblum, John Lovitz, Cheech Marin and others; you know, those supporting-role actors that you like to see but you wouldn't rent a movie that actually featured them. Put an almost-but-not-quite stellar cast in a film, and you get an almost-but-not-quite stellar film.
Gattaca - The future of discrimination, and a desprate attempt to let human will triumph over it. A calm (usually) film exposing one man's stress of pretending to be a genetic superman, his success despite genetic imperfections, a murder investigation that may expose his technical fraud, and the people who discover his truth. Thought provoking and well done without most of the sex, violence and stupidity added to films to make unappealing films appealing. Minimalistic aesthetics (down to the extremely spartan computer displays) fit and support the plot without extraneous filler. What will we do when people's lives inevitably become highly predictable, and excuses appear to discriminate based on genes?
Swingers - A gentle, believable look at the dating rituals of bar-hopping humans...which is pretty pathetic (the rituals, not the movie). Dazed And Confused ten years later; neither has a plot, but instead follow the natural progression of personalities and circumstances.
Color Of Night - A psychiatrist views the couch from both sides, and discovers an attractive woman and a creative & largely ineffective murderer. Being a psychological thriller, this movie features more personalities than there are bodies to put them in.
Return Of The Street Fighter - Sequel to a so-so Hong Kong chop-socky film. 'nuff said.
Dazed And Confused - Last day of school, and the party night that follows.Cruising, beer, and partying. I agreed with one character at the end: "If I ever start referring to these as the best years of my life, remind me to kill myself." Scary thing is, a bunch of people actually did decide to commemorate that kind of evening by making a movie about it twenty years later.
Kalifornia - A couple makes a cross-country journey to document famous serial killers. A serial killer and his befuddled girlfriend join them. Well-made believable films about murderers are not fun.
Natural Born Killers - Oliver Stone is a really seriously disturbed director.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - Monty Python does The Wind In The Willows. Wonderfully done.
Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace - Long title, as if we didn't know what it was. A wonderful high-action kids film for adults, drenched in special effects. Remember: it's episode one of six.
Henry V - Excellent movie adaptation of Shakespeare's violent drama.
The Street Fighter - A so-so Hong Kong chop-socky film.
Entrapment - A pair of theives reach for extreme jobs. Film over-reaches a bit, losing some substance in trade for attempting excessively high goals. Story may not have worked without Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones perfectly fitting the roles.
Full Contact - Chun-Yow Fat in a pretty solid Hong Kong gangster film.
Twin Dragons - Slapstick martial-arts comedy. Orchestra conductor (Jackie Chan) meets long-lost twin car mechanic (Jackie Chan). Standard comedy of errors interlaces standard Chan fight choreography. Suspend your disbelief; better yet, leave it locked in the car trunk.
The Nutty Professor - Eddie Murphy does Dr. Jeckel & Mr. Hyde, this time the Dr. Jeckel is a body-concious fat professor and evil Mr. Hyde is standard Eddie on a testosterone overdose.
Mad City - A variant of Dog Day Afternoon. A laid-off security guard wants his job back, so he waves a shotgun at his boss just as he's seen TV characters do successfully (?). TV ain't reality, and soon he's shot his friend the other guard, taken a grade school class hostage, and has a reporter manipulating the situation to create a better story. A tale of how a little stupidity, misunderstanding and malice can really screw up a lot of people.
Hollow Point - Comforatble action/comedy about an FBI agent, a [former] DEA agent, an assasin, and four mob leaders. The comedy blends unusually well with a typical multi-cross plot.
Pi - A horror film about...numbers? Seeing patterns of chaos in everything, a math genius seeks to predict the stock market, and gets caught up in the quest for the numerical name of God. The human mind just can't handle matters that weighty, and he goes mad. Another well-done low-budget story, well shot in grainy high-contrast black & white.
The Matrix - Awesome! Intense, mind-blowing effects...and a serious plot! Best seen with no knowledge of the plot; best to discover the story with the main character. Finally, a cyberpunk film done right . Make sure you (a) understand the concept of moving in and out of virtual reality, (b) observe the religious symbolism. One of the best "guy films" ever.
Nick Of Time - Uniquely, a real-time movie. A normal guy is unwillingly compelled to carry out a high-visibility daylight assasination..and has 90 minutes to pull it off. But he doesn't want to...
Kiss The Girls - Inappropriately titled well-made horror film about a sociopath who doesn't kill women, instead he collects them. Morgan Freeman once again does a good job playing the cop who must find a brilliant madman.
Good Night Mr. Bean - Real-life ugly British commedian Rowan Atkinson has discovered that he can be absolutely hysterical playing Mr. Bean, a near-mute social misfit who has his own way of interacting with the world. You never guessed you could bust a gut watching someone do laundry or paint a room.
Who Am I - More spectacular stunts performed by Jackie Chan. Plot? You mean, the stuff holding the action sequences together?
Dune (expanded version) - Three-hour epic-form summary of the epic book, telling the grand futuristic tale of a noble family, the political battles for a desert planet, the mysterious longevity drug mined thereon, and the discovery of the much-foretold mystic leader. David Lynch's best and most sane film. Best viewed with a "this is the abridged version" mindset.
Surviving The Game - One of the better (best?) instances of the hunting-humans-for-fun plot. Of course, the prey becomes a predator and systematically terminates his persuers.
Ronin - Spectacular film noir about unemployed hard-core spies. Hired to steal "the briefcase" (doesn't matter what's in it), the inter-personal dynamics of inherently suspicious team members is intense and revealing. Amazing car chases. And the coffee ambush is brilliant.
Body Count - A slow action film about the hired murder of a rich family. The parents are stiff and rich, the kids are wild slackers. And who hired Iced T to kill them all and steal the paintings?
Killing Time - Assasin is hired to eliminate a crime boss...but then the client tries to eliminate the assasin because the client can't pay. The non-English-speaking assasin is an interesting twist. English filmmakers have the interesting knack of making even an exciting plot boring, yet still manage to keep you entrhalled. Both meanings of the title apply.
Shakespeare in Love - Bravo! Another brilliant Stoppard film like Rosencrantz and Guildinstern are Dead. Here, Will's ideas for Romeo and Juliet come from various aspects of his own life. And for once, endless one-liners intended for the intellectual.
Mean Guns - Ok action. Lock 100 criminals in a large building, add a lot of guns, stir the pot with a box containing $10M, and see what happens.
El Mariachi - Good mistaken-identity action film. Wouldn't guess it was made for just $7000.
Rush Hour - Another wonderfully choreographed action film from Jackie Chan.
301/302 - Same vein as Delicatessen and Eating Roul . Elegantly filmed, but not for those with weak stomachs.
Dracula: Dead and Loving It - A bland retelling of the old story, with a few mild jokes tossed in.
Bloodsport II - As good as the original, which was pretty good.
The Getaway - Good telling of the standard "last big heist" story.
Chain of Desire - Ugh. Nevermind.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship - The much-maligned sport event is actually an excellent, reasonable competition of top martial artists. It's Van Damme's "Bloodsport" in real life.
Prince of Egypt - Grand re-telling of Exodus, from the basket to the Red Sea. Go re-read the original story before & after.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Pharmecuticals and Vegas, as only bizzare-movie director Terry Gilliam can show.
A Bug's Life - Spectacular graphics support a really fun film. Tense scenes will rattle a little kid.
Mr. Nice Guy - A good choice for good, light-hearted action. Plot? What plot?
Wag The Dog - A revealing look at an unthinkable and influential world view. (See with The Siege and Enemy of the State for a weekend of paranoia.)
The Siege - After a few terrorist bombings, polling data leads to internment camps. Who's worse: the terrorists or the politicians?
Enemy of the State - You're not paranoid if they really are after you. Nearly everything shown is possible: now it's your turn to get paranoid.
Antz - Good clean fun. All computer generated; good job. Woody Allen's best role: an insignificant neurotic ant.
Dark City
Jackie Brown
Saving Private Ryan - Reality sucks and is frequently pointless. Incredible film.
Small Soldiers - CG realism hits a new high. Only one questionable/identifiable CG effect.
Mulan - Revolutionary Disney animation: A-cup heroine has two respectable parents.
The Truman Show - First "original" (more or less) story in a long time. Wonderfully meaningful tale of a man who finds there's a big secret about reality, and he's the only one not in on the secret. Good one to discuss afterwards.
Godzilla - Remember, it's a cheezy movie with a huge special-effects budget. Looks great, very entertaining, still cheezy.
My Best Friend's Wedding - Nice. Surprisingly, it works out the way it should. Someone observed how society would vigorously object if gender roles were reversed in this film.
Bean - The TV series was better. Still goofy; preteen boys would particularly like it. How badly can a bumbling social misfit mangle a painting presentation?
Starship Troopers - Triumph Of The Will 90210. Based on the back cover of a novel by Robert Heinlein. A good "guy movie".
Four Weddings And A Funeral - Nicely done.
5th Element - Space opera, overdone just right.
12 Monkeys - Really bizzare. Best time-travel film I've seen.
Braveheart - Excellent. Well-presented portrayal of a hero...and the horror of medieval warfare.
La Femme Nikita - Stunning. Dark. Draining. Excellent portrayal of a spy's life.
Apocalypse Now - Wierd, dark. Gets wierder and darker.
Being Human - A moving story of a man who loses his family, seeks a new life, and regains his family. Uniquely, the story is told in five parts across several millenia; the story happens repeatedly in human history, and we see the parts told by five different men (all played by Robin Williams) as they all suffer essentially the same fate. Taking notes may help you follow the story.