Browsing all articles in Movie Reviews
10,000 B.C. DVD Review
Director/writer Roland Emmerich (Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, The Patriot) has fallen prey to what a lot of talented people in Hollywood fall prey too. I’ll call it the reverse success effect. His career started off with great promise, but through the years, it has dwindled down to failed attempts at entertainment. [...]
The Secret Life Of Bees DVD Review
The Secret Life of Bees, which is adapted from Sue Monk Kiddís 2002 best-selling book by the same name, is set in 1964 South Carolina, where Lily (Dakota Fanning) is living with her alcoholic father, T. Ray (Paul Bettany of The Da Vinci Code). Lily is 14 years old and dealing with the death of [...]
The Strangers DVD Review
What you are about to see is inspired by true events. According to the FBI, there are an estimated 1.4 million violent crimes in America each year. On the night of February 11, 2005, Kristen McKay and James Hoyt left a friend’s wedding reception and returned to the Hoyt family’s summer home. The brutal events [...]
The Women DVD Review
For the record, I’m perfectly fine with an estrogen-dominated film, especially when it is interesting and entertaining. But, despite a multitude of talented female actors, The Women was one of the worst films I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona DVD Review
This drama (billed as a romantic comedy) was written and directed by Woody Allen and is about Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson). The two young American girls travel to Catalonia for the summer–Vicky is studying for her master’s degree in “Catalan identity”, thus she needs the research, and Cristina is there to soak [...]
What Just Happened? DVD Review
What Just Happened? is based on writer/producer Art Linson’s book, What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line. This is the same Linson behind such big films as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Untouchables, Heat and Fight Club. In this case, the film is about a successful Hollywood producer, Ben (Robert DeNiro), [...]
Snow Angels DVD Review
Small town lives, both highs and lows, are captured eloquently in Snow Angles, a film with lots of subplots that serve to propel the film to a tragic ending. High school trombone player Arthur (Michael Angarano) works at a restaurant with Annie (Kate Beckinsale), who was his babysitter/crush years ago; they both work at the [...]
Transsiberian DVD Review
I like a good mystery, and Transsiberian delivers that and more. The film is about an American couple traveling on the Trans-Siberian Express, a train twisting across the Siberian landscape. Woody Harrelson plays Roy, a practicing Christian on his way to Moscow after doing volunteer work with needy children in China. He enjoys trains, is [...]
Max Payne DVD Review
Having no prior knowledge of the Max Payne video game before seeing Max Payne the film, I think the film was an adequate crime/action drama with average acting and an interesting, if meandering, story line. Let’s just say that the first hour or so really dragged, and then the latter half of the film sped [...]
Rails & Ties DVD Review
First-time director Alison Eastwood (who acted in Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, among other films), daughter of Clint, crafts a heartbreaking, uplifting tale in Rails & Ties. The film stars Kevin Bacon as railroad engineer Tom Stark, whose wife, Megan (Marcia Gay Harden), a nurse, has terminal breast cancer. My Rating: