Category — movies

  (2.5/5) crime drama

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Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes 45% | Metacritic 40%

I hadn’t heard of Best Laid Plans (199) until it showed up as a Reese Witherspoon Wishlist option on my TiVo. Reese is one of my favourite contemporary actresses. Josh Brolin, who I was impressed with in the recent W. (2008), also plays a supporting role. On the basis of that star-power I set my TiVo to record it.

I was initially disappointed with the movie and was about to delete it. As my finger was hovering over the delete button, a rather surprising plot twist occurred. The twist extended my interest enough to watch it to the end. Unfortunately, while the twist made the movie initially more interesting, the script was poor, the less-than-credible plot unravelled, and the movie hobbled across the finishing line.

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Tags: alessandro nivola, josh brolin, reese witherspoon

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  (5/5) action, adventure, thriller

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Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes 94% | Metacritic 81%

As I did before watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I went back and watched the fantastic Casino Royale (2006) in preparation for the forthcoming Quantum Solace (2008). Quantum Solace takes-up 15 minutes after Casino Royale ends.

Casino Royale (2006) is a remake of thee earlier Peter Sellers, Casino Royale (1967). The remake follows the classic James Bond formula - exotic locals, fast action sequences, beautiful women and sports cars. But this time, Daniel Craig’s Bond is blonde haired, blue-eyed and superb.

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Tags: casino royal, caterina murino, daniel craig, eva green, james bond, jeffrey wright, judi dench, mads mikkelsen, tobias menzies

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  (2/5) romantic comedy

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Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes 66% | Metacritic 55%

In the main, I respect Kevin Smith and have enjoyed several of his acting and directorial works including Clerks (1994), Chasing Amy (1997) and Clerks II (2006). But I hated Dogma (1999) and his excessive use of over-the-top bathroom humour.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno had some funny moments and some tender moments. But, alas, it had too many cringe-worthy, putting my hands in front of my eyes, moments. I’ve outgrown Kevin Smith.

I’m tiring too, of Seth Rogen it seems.  I enjoyed him in The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) but wasn’t terribly impressed with him in either Knocked Up (2007) or Superbad (2007). He played the same, odd, yet endearing lug in all these movie.

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Tags: elizabeth banks, jason mewes, justin long, kevin smith, seth rogen, zack and miri make a porno

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  (3.5/5) political drama

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Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes 56% | Metacritic 56%

W. is Oliver Stone’s take on the life of George W. Bush. The advertising for this movie is misleading. I was half expecting a lampoon-style, slapstick comedy but I got a drama.

Not as blatantly, over-the-top, biased or revisionist as some of Stone’s prior work (JFK, Platoon, Nixon), but still riddled with cheap shots – such as the multiple, and disingenuous, uses of famous Bushisms (or DubyaSpeak) taken out of context.  Nonetheless, the movie is a surprisingly sympathetic and engaging portrait of George W. Bush.

The huge cast is destined to yield Oscar nominations. Josh Brolin embodied Bush. He was absolutely terrific. Richard Dreyfuss (one of my all-time favourite actors) as Cheney was superb. Scott Glenn as Rumsfeld and Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powel were very good. Elizabeth Banks was enjoyable as Laura Bush.

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Tags: elizabeth banks, ellen burstyn, james cromwell, jeffrey wright, josh brolin, oliver stone, richard dreyfuss, scott glenn, thandie newton, toby jones

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  (3.5/5) documentary, comedy

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Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes 70% | Metacritic 56%

In the irreverent Religulous, Bill Maher uses humour (and a little mean-spirited, unfair editing) to poke holes in the dogma, beliefs and creeds of several religions. Maher is an agnostic. His intention is to show that religion is dangerous, plays too large a part in politics (especially in the U.S.)  and is the cause of most of the world’s problems. While he spends half the film challenging Christianity, he also confronts Judaism, Mormonism, Islam and Scientology.

Religulous has a Michael Moore-like feel. It is directed by the same director as Borat – the Larry David protégé, Larry Charles. It’s punchy, funny, ironic and even engaging. But the unfair editing, unnecessary pot shots, disrespectful interruptions and biased subtitles needlessly diminish it.

While amusing, it is not as funny as some critics lead me to believe. The movie will be offensive to devout theists and informative to those questioning their faith. The latter would be better served by picking up a copy of either Dawkins’ The God Delusion or Hitchens’ God Is Not Great.

Tags: bill maher, larry charles, religion

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  (3.5/5)

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Reviews: IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes 81% | Metacritic 69%

Yippy Ki-yay! For the fourth time in nineteen years, Bruce Willis enjoyably reprises his irreverent role as Detective John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard.

This is a fun, predictable, action-filled romp with a nonsensical plot and a nonsensical villain played unconvincingly by Timothy Olyphant.

It’s the second movie I have seen featuring Justin Long – the Mac in the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” commercials. Is it just me, or does Justin Long seem to you as if he is the result of Zack Braff and Keanu Reeves mating? True to form, he played a computer hacker in need of Detective McClane’s protection. Amusingly, there wasn’t a Mac in sight! I enjoyed his performance - exactly what you’d expect. 

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Tags: bruce willis, cliff curtis, justin long, kevin smith, timothy olyphant

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  (1.5/5)

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Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes 79% | Metacritic 62%

The title should be changed to "Burn Before Watching". It’s an awful movie. I laughed a lot during Burn After Reading (2008). I laughed at it, not because of it.  Given my general disdain for Coen Brothers movies, I only went to see it because a good friend paid for my ticket (it was my birthday).

This bit of drivel attracted yet another star studded cast, all of whom wasted their considerable talents on a movie about hapless physical trainers (Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt) trying to ply a hapless ex-CIA agent (John Malkovich) for money in exchange for the return of electronic documents of questionable intelligence value.

Tilda Swinton, who won the Best Supporting Actress award for her terrific performance in Michael Clayton (2007), was wasted as Malkovich’s one-dimensional, witch-of-a-philandering-wife. George Clooney reprised his O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) buffoonery as a Treasury Department body guard, engaged in multiple affairs with the Swinton and McDormand characters, among others.

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Tags: brad pitt, coen brothers, frances mcdormand, george clooney, john malkovich, tilda swinton

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  (5/5)

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Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes 95% | Metacritic 82%

Wow! The Dark Knight was so good I would have wanted to give it 5.5 Dale-heads out of 5. But, its whopping 2.5 hour length, and the fact that I don’t have a graphic for 5.5 Dale-heads, pulls it back to a meagre perfect 5 out of 5.

I quite enjoyed Batman Begins (2005). The Dark Knight was even better. In this instalment, Christian Bale’s Batman, Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman ) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) had been making significant strides in reducing the crime-ridden Gotham City we encountered in Batman Begins until a new arch-villain, The Joker (Heath Ledger), rose up to challenge them. And challenge-them he does.

Heath Ledger as the Joker was spectacular and is a shoe-in for Best Supporting Actor. He steels the show from Christian Bale, though Bale’s performance was very good too. Ledger’s creepy, nuanced performance of a sociopath is acting at its best.

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Tags: aaron eckhart, christian bale, gary oldman, heath ledger, maggie gyllenhall, michael caine, morgan freeman

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  (4/5)

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Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes 93% | Metacritic 75%

Enchanted (2007) is a terrific movie that lives up to its name. Few musicals since the Sound of Music (1965) and West Side Story (1961) have been as satisfying and enjoyable as Enchanted. It had me pleasantly smiling from beginning to end.

Amy Adams plays Giselle, a princess, that literally falls out of a fairytale into Manhattan’s Time’s Square. My first discovery of Adams was her Oscar nominated performance in Junebug (2005) where she, but not the movie, was wonderful. In Enchanted she plays the same kind of unwaveringly, wide-eyed optimist character that she played in Junebug. She convincingly plays a fairytale princess, capable of motivating hard-edged New Yorkers into spontaneous song and dance. Somehow she pulled it off in an entertaining fashion. So much so that I rewound and watched that scene several times. Her That’s How You Know song got me humming along.

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Tags: amy adams, james marsden, patrick dempsey, rachel covey, susan sarandon

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  (4/5) romantic comedy

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Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes (68%) | Metacritic (59%)

Golden Globe nominated Legally Blonde (2001) introduced me to two of my favourite (and two of the prettiest) contemporary actresses, Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair.  Despite its quirkiness, I laughed a lot and really it (it’s sequel Legally Blonde 2 (2003) - not so much). I saw it at the cinema when it first came out, again on DVD a few years ago and was happy to watch it once again when it was broadcast in HD on abc this evening.

In Legally Blonde (2001), after being dumped by her Harvard Law-bound boyfriend (Warren), fashion merchandising major Elle Woods (Reese) (with a 4.0 GPA) decides to make an unlikely application to Harvard Law School to impress upon him that she is marriage material. While very blonde (Reese sports some 40 different hairstyles in the film), Elle’s definitely not dumb!

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Tags: ali larter, linda cardellini, luke wilson, reese witherspoon, selma blair

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  (4.5/5) action, super-hero, thriller

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Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes (84%) | Metacritic (70)

This is a very good movie.

I watched Batman Begins (2005) for the second time both to prepare for The Dark Night (2008), and to test HD Internet movie downloads through my Apple TV (review coming soon). I was impressed when I saw it in the theatre back in 2005 and was impressed once again. 

As a child Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) witnessed the murder of his parents. We discover him years later in an Asian jail as part of his ‘exploration of the criminal fraternity’.  Ducard (Liam Neeson) urges Wayne to follow his master, Ra’s Al Ghul (a cameo role played by Ken Watanabe), to become more than just a vigilante. Ducard promises, that as a member of the ‘League of Shadows”, Wayne will learn to combat his fears, combat evil - and become a legend. That’s how Batman begins!

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Tags: christian bale, christopher nolan, gary oldman, katie holmes, liam neeson, micahel caine, morgan freeman, tom wilkinson

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  (3.5/5) - screwball comedy, romance

Reference: | | TCM
Reviews: IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes (80%)

While deftly putting off an inevitable marriage to his fiance (played by Jean Harlow), in Libeled Lady (1936) the editor of a New York paper (Spencer Tracy) hires a reluctant former employee (William Powell) to seduce the daughter of the owner of a rival publication (Myrna Loy) to ward off a libel suit.

Libeled Lady is one of 14 films starring the wonderful Powell and Loy duo. Ironically it lost the 1936 Best Picture Oscar to another of their collaborations, The Great Ziegfeld (1936). TCM’s Robert Osborne believes Libeled Lady was the better of the two. (Having not yet seen Ziegfeld, I’ll reserve judgment).

While Powell and Loy are one of the most famous onscreen couples in movie history, at the time this movie was being made Powell and Harlow (19 years his junior) were engaged to be married. Sadly, Harlow died of kidney failure just two years later at the age of 26.

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Tags: jean harlow, myrna loy, powell-loy, spencer tracy, william powell

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  (3/5) drama, mystery, romance

William Powell and Myrna Loy are second only to Tracy and Hepburn in the pantheon of my favourite classic movie on-screen couples. They appeared together in 14 films over 13 years, the most famous of which were the widely popular (in their time) “Thin Man” series.

In Evelyn Prentice a workaholic lawyer (played by Powell) is too busy for his young wife and child. As the relationship is strained, Loy spends an increasing amount of time with a womanizing poet intent on blackmailing her.

Evelyn Prentice (1934) came out in the same year as the first Thin Man movie. What made the Thin Man and its successors so delicious for me was the terrific chemistry between the two. That couple was clearly, absolutely and deeply in love with each other. Their witty banter and repartee combined with mutual respect and equality was uncharacteristic of the era.

Their relationship in Evelyn Prentice, a very different kind of movie, is only a hint of what it is in the Thin Man series.

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Tags: myrna loy, powell-loy, rosalind russell, william powell

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(2/5) sci-fi, mystery

There isn’t much to say about The X-Files: I want to Believe (2008).

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprise their roles as Mulder and Scully. Despite undeniable chemistry, their relationship is as confused as ever. Fresh off the failure of the terrific Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the always enjoyable Amanda Peet gives a passably respectable performance as an FBI agent.

Unlike the first X-Files movie (The X-Files: Resist or Serve (2004)), there are no aliens of any kind. Instead, this one takes the viewer down the paranormal X-Files track. A convicted child molester priest (played by Billy Connolly) uses his visions to help the FBI track down a missing agent. Without spoiling anything, I found the resolution to the mystery to be preposterous.

But for the chance to hang out with a buddy I hadn’t seen in awhile I never would have wasted my time with this movie. Disappointed by the first X-Files movie, I didn’t “want to believe”, and was vindicated in that view. There are any number of TV episodes that were better than this movie.

If you enjoyed the TV series, you’ll probably enjoy the movie when it reaches the rental window. If you are not a fan, my recommendation is to wait for it to come out on TV or skip it altogether.

Reference: |
Reviews: Roger Ebert | IMDb External Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes | metacritic.com

Tags: amanda peet, billy connolly, david duchovny, gillian anderson, x-files

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  (3/5) sci-fi, thriller

While I enjoyed Vin Diesel in Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Boiler Room (2000), I became a fan after watching his unexpectedly good performance in xXx (2001).

In 2004 I discovered, Vin Diesel’s cross-media Chronicles of Riddick franchise after playing the terrific Xbox video-game Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher’s Bay (2004) (“Butchers Bay”). The video game serves as a prequel to the movie that is the subject of this review - Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black (2000) (“Pitch Black”). The third work of this series, the movie The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) (“Chronicles of Riddick”), is a sequel to Pitch Black (I haven’t formally reviewed it on The Daleisphere. It is about on par with Pitch Black).

Somewhat confusingly, the sequel movie, Chronicles of Riddick, came out at the same time as the prequel video game, Butcher’s Bay - and both came out four years after Pitch Black. To confuse things further, the developers of Butchers Bay (Starbreeze Studios) are developing a remake of Butcher’s Bay for the Xbox 360 and PS3 with a different name: The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (due out in late 2008 or 2009). Confusion notwithstanding, playing the critically acclaimed video game before watching either of the the not-so-acclaimed Pitch Black or Chronicles of Riddick , made both movies more understandable and enjoyable.

Back to the movie at hand: Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black (2000).

Until today, Pitch Black was the only part of the series I had not experienced. When I discovered that the HD version was available on Apple TV [review coming soon], I chose to download and view it as my inaugural Apple TV rental test. I wasn’t disappointed.

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Tags: chronicles of riddick, radha mitchell, vin diesel

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  (4/5) - fantasy, super-hero, action, sci-fi

2008 is the summer of super heroes. First came the terrific Iron Man, then E