in re-watching this movie, my initial evaluation was turned on its head. originally, i had previously glossed over the film as only above average summer fare. i've decided that i was wrong. the movie is not only entertaining but also scary, intelligent, surprising, and wonderfully constructed. plus it co-stars tom cruise's forehead vein, which has never been displayed so prominently or vividly. i've elevated minority report to my "best of the best summer blockbusters" list. the combination of philip k dick, spielberg and cruise won me over.the role of agatha (played by samantha morton), the female precog, was originally offered to cate blanchett and jenna elfman. jenna elfman turns down movies? really?
see jackie (chan) run, see jackie jump, see jackie kick ass. in this case, the jackies are a pair of french daredevils/stuntmen named david belle and cyril raffaelli. if you saw the old nike presto commercial featuring a guy jumping off of rooftops and shimmying spiderman-like up walls, you already know david belle. he's the founder of an urban sport called 
bridging the gap between star wars episodes two and three, clone wars is a series of three minute episodes detailing all the cool parts that the movies left out. like you know, the action. while there's hardly enough dialogue to figure out what's going on, you don't really miss out on anything because the fast and furious pace of the cartoons pushes you along to all of the fighting scenes. it's no surprise that george lucas was only nominally involved in this project, because the clone wars are superior to the prequels in every way.
having missed out on every 80's classic, i'm on a mission to watch them all. my question after having seen heathers, pretty in pink and now sixteen candles is: why does it seem like 80's teen movies had better dialogue than today's teen movies? did teens get dumber? or are our teen movies just inferior? it's not like sixteen candles had a great plot or great acting, but the dialogue was better. and the characters are more likable, well-rounded, memorable, and easier to relate to. watching sixteen candles made me sad and melancholy. is that supposed to happen?
doug liman (swingers, go) drops another excellent movie. even though much of the success of this movie is due to the beautiful brad and angelina pairing, some of the acclaim must fall on the director right? whatever. angelina is beyond hot. brad is um, hot. the movie itself is good enough to be enjoyable and never terrible enough to become distracting. mr and mrs smith will probably be the best mindless fun of the summer.
two face isn't just the name of a batman villain, it describes the newest batman movie. the first half gives you some gristle for the good movie mill. then, as soon as bruce wayne becomes batman, the movie tanks. it turns into a typical craptastic summer movie with horrific one-liners and dizzying fight scenes -- and not dizzying in a good way. plus, batman in the batsuit looks fat. chubby superheroes hold no appeal for me.
a documentary chronicling the rap element of hip hop. don't buy into the big names on the cover (mos def, roots, talib), this documentary concentrates on lesser known rappers whose forte is freestyling. i loved the documentary but it is a bit on the short side and there really isn't as much rapping as you'd like. the extras on the DVD are wack as hell too. overall, awesome documentary if you're into hip hop, mildly interesting if you're not.
for some reason, i've been waiting to watch this movie for like, two years, without ever successfully convincing anyone to watch it with me. and now i know why, it's because the movie wasn't anything special. it's not scary, it's not suspenseful, it's almost boring. but you gotta find out who jack the ripper is. and the explanation behind this fictionalized version of jack is sort of interesting but ultimately just a fantasy. johnny depp and heather graham share the most non-sensical romantic kiss i've ever seen. then again, at least he got to first base with a girl...
a movie that got lots of hype. so, was the film deserving of the hype? nope. watching the "making of" documentary was twenty times more interesting than watching the actual movie. this movie has been aptly compared to the blair witch project. both are interesting as indie phenomenons but terribly boring as films. there aren't even enough sharks in this movie. if and when there's an "open water two: more chum", try to have more than thirty seconds of sharks please.
i've never seen any of wes anderson's previous movies (royal tenebaums, rushmore) so i can't say i previously "got" him. however, i really liked the life aquatic. enough even to buy the DVD -- although that purchase was spurred by the awesome cover art and the way the DVD is presented. the life aquatic was a wryly humorous satire and it had me laughing at so many little moments. in the end however, i think the adventures of steve zissou is a love it or hate it affair.
people are mixed on the movie. if you had high expectations going in, you were disappointed. if you had low expectations, you were pleasantly surprised. i was pleasantly surprised. the movie is a pretty generic three hour biopic but the story of howard hughes was captivating so that inspired me to watch the entire film and then to subsequently research the real howard hughes. this may be a case where the man and the myth outshines the movie.
bad acting, bad pacing, bad dialogue, bad everything really. but yet, it's an awesome movie. c'mon, it's star wars! watching the vader mask go onto anakin's head is worth the price of admission alone. so what if scrawny hayden doesn't quite fill out the darth vader suit? it's star wars! did i watch it again and purposefully fall asleep though? um, yeah.