The Battle of Shaker Heights (2003)

I can't believe that this project actually came together as well as it did. I wonder if I'd not seen PG2 if I'd have enjoyed this as much...? I guess I'll never know. One thing's certain -- they lucked out when they hired Shia. He's a treasure.

B+

Jane Eyre (1997)

Very well-cast and true to the book, despite necessarily leaving out huge chunks of story. It works.

B+

Open Water (2004)

Truly frightening at times but doesn't work as a whole for several reasons.
1) The actors were not believable.
2) The characters were not likable.
3) The music with vocals was extremely distracting.
4) It suffers from "The Perfect Storm" syndrome: I hate when "based on actual events" movies create a complete fiction when there's no way of knowing what actually happened. It insults my intelligence, frankly. It's arrogant for them to pass this off as "true" when, at best, it's "inspired by" or "suggested by" true events.

C+

Maniac Magee (2003)

Nothing like the book - flat-out jaw-droppingly bad. This blows.

F

Open Range (2003)

Visually gorgeous, but standard, western. Heroes minding their own business wander into a corrupt town and get entangled and then must exact revenge. Verged on boring due to lack of originality, but worthwhile because, like I said, it's gorgeous.

B-

Among Giants (1999)

I love Rachel Griffiths…and this is the first time I've been let down by one of her films. Just kind of lies there on screen. I know that part of my problem was the difficulty I had in deciphering the dialogue, but most blame must be laid on the film's lazy "nothin' happening here" tone. These guys were supposed to be desperate for cash -- all of them on the dole and working off-the-books. None of them seemed desperate at all, however -- we're just supposed to buy it from an ex-wife's comment that she's shopping at the "charity shops" and from the guys' constant pestering of the boss for their backpay.

Lots of talk, just but not much meat.

C

Shaolin Soccer (2004)

Funky "ragtag team makes good" film -- lots of fun. More than a few steps above Dodgeball, that's for sure.

B-

Undercover Blues (1993)

It feels sorta grinchy to grade this low because it's kind of fun…but hey. It ain't good. Dennis Quaid is the life of the movie -- but there's too much early-'80s vibe going on here. OK diversion, but not really worth the time.

C-

Murder, Inc. (1960)

Might have been shocking when it was made, but rather square now. Follows the true life story of mob assassins in the '30s. The voice-over has a school filmstrip vibe…cool-remove monotone.

B-

Hellboy (2004)

This movie really worked for me. Fun performances, especially by Perlman. My biggest problem was the lore…but I guess it'd be kinda silly to leave it out.

B-

The Son (2003)

Quiet - almost too quiet - film about a vocational teacher and his new carpentry student. Misleading at first and not as powerful as it could be, but it works on a very human level. I doubt there was more than 10 pages of dialogue in the whole thing.

B-

Stuck on You (2003)

Weird movie. It's not funny…but neither does it seem to be even played for laughs. At its best moments, it's mildly sweet. Too bad there are only, like, seven best moments and 111 mediocre ones.

C-

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Doesn't measure up to the first movie…after watching them both, I'm of the opinion that there was no need to have 2 volumes…just one film tightened up to about 2 hours and 20 minutes would have worked much better.

David Carradine was the BIGGEST among many problems with this film. His monologues challenged my attention both in pacing and length. The ending also sucked. Please. The five-point-exploding heart technique? No. She should have performed the little pattern...let Bill assume it was the technique, but as he stood to walk away, run him through with her sword...having fooled him into believing she'd been taught what Pai Mei wouldn't teach. Let her OUTSMART him, not outfight him. Isn't that better?

Huge disappointment.

C-

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

(Director's Cut)

I wasn't expecting much from this movie at all, but it simply blew me away. Had the same effect on me that Memento did -- just WOW. Truly original.

A

Starship Troopers (1997)

Much better than anticipated. Denise Richards' story line is a bore (and she, as a leading lady, is wooden). But the rest of the film is fun and exciting -- maybe going on just a bit too long. Best bits are the news reports.

B-

Prime Suspect 2 (1992)

This is just OK. Helen Mirren is wonderful and the subplot of her involvement with a new detective in her squad is terrific, but the actual case is lacking.

B

Runaway Jury (2003)

A huge improvement over the book. Rachel Weisz (who usually bothers me to an incredible degree) was good here, but Dustin Hoffman was weirdly doing Tootsie. Enjoyable.

B

Prime Suspect (1992)

Tense and well-acted. Introduces characters I'm eager to follow.

B+

Pennies From Heaven (1981)

A mean, ugly bore. The only sequences that are worth a look are the first "Pennies From Heaven" "performed" by the accordion man & "Let's Face the Music and Dance." The rest is a sordid slog.

F

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Delightful! I usually don't like Garner at all, but this turned out to be an exception. She wasn't holding her lips in that weird halfway-to-a-pucker-but-really-just-protruding-somewhat pose that she relies on -- and she was terrific. As films the whole family "gets," you can't do much better than this one.

B+

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

I was angry throughout most of this movie because they took what *appeared* to be awesome fight & chase sequences and completely screwed them up with the camerawork. They may as well have filmed them under a strobe light. Without a love interest, the story was rather boring and I think that, with careful cinematography, the action sequences could have made this a thrilling ride -- but instead I was just irritated for chunks of time and bored for the others.

D+

The Good Son (1993)

Sweet young child has to stay at his Aunt & Uncle's home for a couple of weeks with his bad seed cousin, Culkin. Mac's no Mary McCormack, though. Somewhat tense, though mostly one-note.

B-

My Life (1993)

Dying-of-cancer story that tries something new: making the main character cold and rather unsympathetic. They attempt to redeem him by showing us the home movies he's making for his son (at the beginning of the movie yet unborn) and his reconciliation with his past...but he never really matters and his sickness can't make him decent. The problem *might* have been Keaton's performance (which is almost flip), but I think it's more likely the script.

C-

The New Guy (2002)

This reminded me a bit of Sugar & Spice -- it's just a slight teen movie, but it works well -- has a certain silly charm. I will point out that I've now seen Zooey Deschanel in several films…and I feel that I can say with authority that the chick cannot act. Sure, she's got an interesting face, but that's no reason to cast her (except, maybe, as a mime).

B-