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• Director: Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick
• Genre: Animation/Family/Adventure/Comedy
• Year: 2006

Another kids movie, not by choice, I promise, but because my kids had been bugging me to see this one. And unlike Hoodwinked, this one actually was quite fun to watch. Though most people talked trash about Madagascar (which I actually liked), I agree with them when they say this one is above that movie and just below Shrek. Frankly, I am not sure that Dreamworks Animation Studio will ever be able to top Shrek.

Anyhow, this movie is actually pretty good, with an interesting story line, likeable characters, good amount of humor and entirely shot at low camera angles, which gives us as the audience the same perpective all these little animals get to see. The voice talent does a pretty good job bringing the animals to life, and it is safe to see that Steve Carrell’s Hammy runs circles around Cory Edwards’ Twitchy. All in all this movie is much more fleshed out than most animation movies.

The plot? Well, it actually revolves around a loner racoon that gets himself in trouble with the bear and ends up using a ‘family’ of critters to collect the food he had lost, in the process learning a valuable life lesson. No, its not Oscar worthy, and it is not the deepest of movie, but certainly enjoyable and easy to watch. This one is actually one worth watching even if you do not have kids.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Notes: Fun and good for the whole family
Quote: Hammy the Squirrel: Wanna see what I can do with my nuts?
RJ: As tempting as that sounds, I’ll have to pass.

• Director: Cory and Todd Edwards
• Genre: Family/Animation/Mystery/Crime
• Year: 2005

I normally would not have bothered to review this movie, but given that during my stay at Rocky Point the kids made me watch this about 3.5 times, I feel like I may as well give my two cents on it…which is about what this movie is worth, two whole cents.

It is not an entirely horrible movie, but lets be honest, from the start, you have to deduct points for the terrible animation job. At a time when movies like Dreamworks and Pixar are continuously raising the bar, if you want to be a contender, you are going to have to put together something much better than this. The characters have no consistency in features, stylization is all over the place, the motion is choppy, the joints are sloppy, textures are lame at best, sets are blah…all in all there is simply nothing aesthetically good about this film.

Its only saving grace is a unique approach to its Little Red Ridding Hood story, which unfolds like a who-dun-it a la Usual Suspects. But even then, the plot is thin and glass transparent, with a predictable ending that you can almost literally see from the begining scenes. I have to give them a few points for its approach, attempting to give this movie a non-linear flow, making it fun to see it all come together at the end. Also, there is a number of good lines which will bring out a few chuckles.

Do not go out and watch this movie unless you have to. And if you do watch it, then make sure you have a couple of pain killers.

Rating: 2 out of 5
Notes: Your kids will love it.
Quote: Nicky Flippers: So! Mr. Wolf… May I call you Wolf?
The Wolf: You can call me Sheila. I like long locks and fresh flowers.
Chief Grizzly: Quit playing around! You’re looking at 3 to 5 in an old shoe with no windows, SO START SINGIN’!

• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Genre: Drama/History/Thriller
• Year: 2005

Good Ol’ Spielberg. A lot of the times it is hit or miss with him. When he misses, it is one of those devastating misses that make you wince. When he hits…he hits with decisiveness. I saw Munich when it came out in theaters and for one reason or another, I will blame it on my absent mindedness, I forgot to review it right away, so I do it now after Sefo brought it up.

This movie, as far as I am concerned, was a true hit, much in the way that “Saving Private Ryan”, “Schindler’s List” and “Empire of the Sun” were. It is a movie that does its best to be honest, even if there is a certain bias that will always filter through.

The movie deals with a terrorist incident in 1972 which resulted in the death of 11 israeli’s. The movie you watch, is the events that unfold after, when Israel decides to hire a small group of operatives to strike back. In its wake, the movie opens your eyes to a number of perhaps unexpected reprecautions that linger long after the screen has gone blank.

Aside from good writing, an engaging story, good acting and impressive cinematography, Munich also does a good job at pulling the audience into its setting. There is something very gravitational about this movie that submerges the viewer in the time and place in which all of this takes place. Partly because of the film’s colorization and partly because of great costume design, this movie feels and watches like a seventies film.

And best of all, when all is said and done, there is lots to chew on and plenty of fodder for conversation with friends.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Notes: Violence, sexuality, nudity and language
Quote: Carl: [To Avner] I knew guys like you in the army. You do any terrifying thing you’re asked to do, but you have to do it running. You think you can outrun your fears, your doubts. The only thing that really scares you guys is stillness.

• Director: J.J. Abrams
• Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller
• Year: 2006

Ok, it was about time that I got off my ass and got started with the reviewing again, partly because of the hacking of my forum and partly because I have been largely distracted with my recent purchase of a 360, I have not watched as many movies as I would like. This movie marked my return to the theaters, as a narrow save from “American Haunting.” Yes, initially I had purchased tickets for that movie, then for whatever reason we changed our mind and went back and had them exchanged for M:I 3. As it turns out it was a great decision.

I have always liked the M:I franchise. To be frank I do not find them the smartest of films. They are really they type of movie that you enjoy for the action, for the girls and to watch stuff get blown to bits. However, the first installment did have some enjoyable parts. The second one was not exactly a disappointment, but it did not rank very high on my list either. This time around…I really enjoyed the third one. Maybe it is because, as Todd said, they actually got the team to work together more rather than having Ethan Hunt do his mission solo. Or maybe it was because they threw in some nice, unexpected twists…or maybe it was Phillip Hoffman Seymour stealing the lime light yet again as one of the coolest bad guys I have seen in the recent past. Either way, this movie ranked pretty high on my list.

As always, do not go in there expecting a masterpiece and intellectual fodder, but for what it is, this movie was highly entertaining, action packed and a delight to watch.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Notes: Lots of action and one very hot chick. Oh yeah, and language.
Quote: Owen Davian: Who are you? What’s you’re name? Do you have a wife? A girlfriend? Whoever she is, I’m gonna find her. I’m gonna hurt her. I’m gonna make her bleed. And then I’m gonna find you and kill you right in front of her.

• Director: James McTeigue
• Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Sci-fi
• Year: 2005

The first I hear of this movie was at the ComicCon last year, when we where shown previews of ‘The Fountain’ and the fourth installment of Harry Potter. However, I missed the actual trailer and only caught the interview with Natalie Portman. However, the idea intruiged me enough to want to see the film and worried me enough to think that it was going to fall on its face as most comic book movies often do.

The trailers did very little to ease my nerves, because one can make a crappy movie look good in a trailer if one knows what one is doing. It happens all the time, you watch a trailer for an action movie that looks like its going to be sweet only to find out they basically showed you all the good parts of the movie in the trailer and the remaining 95% of the content was pure crap.

Either way, just the fact that this had Natalie Portman in it gave me enough momentum. I would have seen this on its opening weekend if I had not been in Las Vegas at the time. Instead it had to be put off for a week, which gave me enough time to get a feel for what reviewers were saying. Normally I do not give much weight to reviews. I find that I need to determine the credibility of the reviewer before trusting his/her opinion. So oftentimes I resort to Metacritic or Rotten tomatoes, which give averages of a number of reviews rather than just focus on one. From what I could see, this movie was pretty well accepted.

In the end, however, it took me sitting down in front of that screen and watching this movie to really make up my mind (as it should be, I suppose). I liked it. I really did.

I should take a moment and clarify that I have never read the comic book and that I have no intention of doing so, therefore I am free to look at this movie on its own without comparing it to its original source. And as such, I felt this film did a great job with its characters, particularly when the lead is a man whose face you never see and whose sole emotions are carried from behind a mask that never changes its features. That is quite a task, and yet the film was not short of emotion.

Based in the near future, the story deals with a terrorist, fighting the government in order to bring power back to the masses where it should be. Though at the heart of his reason, is a very personal agenda. Caught in the slipstream, is Natalie Portman, who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and ends up getting sucked into this anarchist’s vacuum.

Save for a couple of moments that were a bit “comicbookish” and in my opinion a bit cheesy, the movie as a whole played out well, giving enough fodder to think about the subject beyond the concept of a cool vigilante.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Notes: There is quite a bit of violence and brief nudity
Quote: V: A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having.

• Director: Danny Boyle
• Genre: Crime/Drama/Family/Adventure
• Year: 2004

After having had a rather heavy load of films on my list, this movie came as a breath of fresh air. Light, spirited and inspiring, this pleasant film serves as a good counter point to the more disturbing subject matters I often find in the films I have been watching of late. This film also is a rather different view of director Danny Boyle whom I have loved ever since Trainspotting. Both “Shallow Grave” and “28 Days Later” left a big impression of me, so I was truly looking forward to watching this film.

The story is relatively simple. Just before the switch of to the Euro, a group of thieves pull off a perfect plan to steal some Pounds. When one of those bags falls on Damian’s cardboard fort, the highly religious, saint obsessed child assumes it was a gift from God. His brother Anthony, is less naive, but regardless of their difference in point of view, they both agree that something must be done with the money, since there is only 12 days left to spend it before it becomes worthless. Morals and ethics are tested, when one brother wants to give it to charity, the other wants to spend it, and there is a thief trying to recover the money before it is too late.

A number of tools were utilized in this story that I found rather innovative. I found the editing to be quite sharp, quick paced and clever. And I loved the fact that finally I have found a movie that used Muse in their soundtrack…I was begining to think something was really wrong with the world. Good acting (yes, even from the child actors), good directing, good editing and an entertaining plot…there is really no way you can go wrong with this movie.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Notes: Pretty much a family film, safe for most kids to watch, though the accent may make it difficult to understand.
Quote: Damian Cunningham: [voiceover] The French have said au revoir to the franc, the Germans have said auf wiedersehen to the mark, and the Portuguese have said… whatever to their thing.

• Director: Lukas Moodyson
• Genre: Drama
• Year: 2002

Here is a bomb of a film to watch, in a way very reminiscent of “Nobody Knows” which I still hold as the saddest movie I have ever seen in my life. Here, as in the previously mentioned movie, the primary concept is that of abandonment, which in the case of Lilya, is explored with an older child, in this case a 16 year old girl who is abandoned by her selfish mother when she recieves the opportunity to go to the United States with her internet boyfriend.

Left behind with nothing, a handful of money and an aunt that has no desire to care for her, Lilya soon finds herself struggling to survive and the world tightens in on her as an easy target, due to her trusting spirit and naive nature. Accompanied by a fourteen year old neighbor with problems of his own, the two team up and form a bond that sheds the only bit of light in this movie. Though I am never one to hail child actors, both Oksana Akinshina and Artyom Bogucharsky breathe a life into their characters that is both touching and heartbreaking.

Difficult to watch, shocking and brutally cold in its portrayal of a world that often fails to protect its children, this film opens the eyes of the audience to some of the most ugly things we are capable of doing as humans.

Technically the film is strong, often times utilizing a hand held technique that draws the viewer into the film itself. Its shortcomings arrive in the form of the music editing, which I feel could have been stronger, some plot predictability and the usage of the wings. In order to not give away any spoilers I will leave it at that, but I can personally think of various ways to portray what the director wanted to portray, without using the fake wings.

But…do not let that stop you from watching this powerful film.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Notes: Very adult content, sexual content and a rape scene.
Quote: Lilja: That’s stupid. I’m not going to die. I’m going to America.

• Director: Hayao Miyasaki
• Genre: Animation/Adventure/Mystery/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
• Year: 2004

For the longest time I had been on anime hiatus, mostly because anime largely is so disappointing half of the time. You get your occasional gems, Cowboy Bebop, Lain, Grave of the Firefly…but for the most part, even those that had potential, like Trigun and up being a bit of a wash. Miyasaki, however, has consistently come out with a good product. Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away are some of my favorite anime movies and this one largely fell into that same category.

One of the most enticing things about this movie is the imaginative approach and the unending amount of creativity that come bundled in it. The story revolves around a cursed girl and a cursed wizard, who end up tangled up in the same web and helping each other trying to return themselves back to normalcy. In the process, we are introduced to a number of colorful characters, including a fire demon that runs Howl’s castle.

As always the animation is above par and the story is never quite black and white. That is one thing that I find myself truly liking about Miyasaki movies, the fact that they do not have a clear antagonist, but rather characters that realistically have their own agendas and are not necessarily evil. However, the problems still are in the dub. I appreciate the fact that they got big names to do the english voices, including Christian Bale as Howl and Billy Crystal as Calcifer…but it still is not quite right, certain parts fall short. Its a good movie, though falling short of both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Still, definately worth a watch.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Notes: This is a pretty kid safe movie, though some of the plot content is a bit on the more advanced level, the younger kids may find it slightly too complicated to follow. And unfortunately for them (fortunately for the rest of us) there is no real annoying, cutesy characters to keep them mindlessly occupied with.
Quote: Old Sophie: All right Calcifer, lets get cooking.
Calcifer: I don’t cook! I’m a scary fire demon!

• Director: Eric Bress & J. Mackye Gruber
• Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Thriller
• Year: 2004

I got this movie for Christmas and it had been sitting in my unwatched pile of DVD’s for all this time. Perhaps shallow, perhaps not, I have to admit to not watching this movie solely because of Kutcher, whom I do not like outside of the Punked! show. This weekend, however, having extra time and no movies to watch, I ended up picking it up and giving it a whirl.

In the end, I am going to have to put this movie in the same category in which I put “The Jacket” a movie with great potential, but in which they dropped the ball. The difference being that this time around the ending was actually interesting.

The theory that one slight thing can provoke a series of events is examined in this movie. Ashton Kutcher plays a college kid suffering of blackouts, and eventually discovers the ability to go back in time and change details of his past that end up shaping the future. His goal is to make the future bright for everyone he loves, but as he ends up finding out, often times the happiness of others comes at a heavy price.

The acting is sadly off and on in this movie, which leads me to believe that it is perhaps the director(s) that messed up. Both Ashton and Amy Smart play good and bad roles, there are some very convincing moments and some which are pitifully carried. At the same time more often than not, the dialogue is weak. When you add in to the mix that there are some scenes that seem very conveniently dropped…well it all leaves me thinking that at best, I can give this movie a mediocre score. Its fun to watch, but by no means a good movie.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Notes: I saw the Director’s Cut, so I am not exactly sure what the difference between it and the theatrical version is. The Director’s cut had some very brief nudity and a few violent moments. Adult content is splattered all over the plot, however, so I do not see the Theatrical Version being any more kid friendly.
Quote: Dr. Redfield: Just think of your mind as a movie, you can pause, rewind or slow down any details you want.

• Director: Fabian Bielinsky
• Genre: Crime/Thriller
• Year: 2000

I love Con films. I do not have it in me to ever be able to pull off a con like a con man, oustide of a harmless joke, but I admire (and loathe, in a twisted sort of combination) those that can consistantly pull it off without a cinch of guilt. Whatching a movie about con men, however, is always very entertaining.

Going in, you already know one thing for certain, when dealing with a con film, you know somebody, or some people, are going to get stabbed in the back. And when most everbody in the film could potentially be pulling the hood over somebody else, this film becomes an exciting run with numerous twists.

Having paired up after an accidental run in, two men decide to work together as a team for a day and in the process stumble into an opportunity to make an obsene amount of money selling a forged sheet of stamps. But as one may expect, things do not go quite as planned…or do they?

You really must watch this movie to enjoy it and no, the surprise ending is not really that much of a surprise, because of what I mentioned at the beginning of this review. But that does not matter, the fun of this film is not in unexpected twists, but the complexity of the game these people choose to play, and their intricate webs which they fix in order to one-up each other.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Notes: Spanish with English subtitles. Some language (which if you don’t speak Spanish, you may not even pick up).