Movie Reviews & More
Man of the House (2005)
This was a funny, enjoyable movie.
Tommy Lee Jones stars opposite five very self aware, cute college cheerleaders who witness a murder. As a result, he is charged with guarding them and keeping them hidden until he and the rest of his police unit can figure out who the killers are.
The movie is such a trip because Tommy Lee is a no-nonsense, lonely man who has forgotten how to interact with society, women, and even his daughter. (I know, what I would perceive to be a REAL stretch for his true persona) He is stuck watching over these girls who insist on dressing skimpy, talking big, and generally getting into a lot of trouble.
Watch this movie. I think there is a little humor in it for everyone, both of the sexes, but maybe not little kids. The penultimate part is when Lee goes off to the store to get “monthlies” for the girls. All you see is this enormous wall of products as tall and wide as the eye can see, and the camera switching back and forth to this dried up old man (Lee) with a painfully confused look on his face. He then asks another female character which ones to get, the regular ones or the ones with the wings. The delivery is priceless.
Lemony Snicket’s – Series Unfortunate Events (2004)
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Turned off by how incredibly childish the Harry Potter Movies are, I watched this movie largely in part to see Jim Carrey. But soon I was taken in by the imagination and the life the story possessed.
The three Baudelaire children are orphaned in the beginning of the movie, and sent away to live with their peculiar and very evil uncle Count Olaf. They then exchange the hands of two other misanthrope relatives as Count Olaf chases them around in hopes of expiring them. Each time, the children are resourceful and witty enough to come out on top. My favorite child being Sunny, the little baby biter, and the increasingly funny dubbed over sounds that she makes throughout the movie.
Another role that was particularly fitting for Carrey, he isn’t over the top, but I imagine plays the part perfectly, as well as two other great disguises. But, this does have a distinctly Carrey feel, so if you enjoy his acting, check this flick out. But, I can’t really figure out who wouldn’t enjoy this movie, even just a little bit. If you don’t have an imagination, then pass. But the cool animals, the peculiar characters, and the “Hardy Boys” approach the children take to getting out of sticky situations is particularly entertaining.
Oh, and this series, blows Harry Potter out of the water.
Constantine (2005)
This being a comic book movie, I had to see it. I wasn’t too nervous about it being stupid, because I had not basis to judge it on. But, I was nervous about Keanu Reeves. But this movie was really cool.
Keanu Reeves is Constantine, a man who can see demons, and basically uses that to banish them to hell. Then, by fate he runs into Rachel Weisz who is looking for answers into the mysterious death of her twin sister. The story escalates and we find that Weisz is a psychic who has repressed her ability to see demons and it takes Reeves converting back to find answers into the apparent suicide of her sister.
This movie is cool for a couple of reasons. I don’t watch what I would call “thrillers” all that often, but even thrillers usually deal with something evil, but it isn’t labeled explicitly “Hell”, instead labeled broadly as “Evil”. In this movie, coming from a faith background, it was interesting to see the interpretations of demons, hell, exorcism, and angels.
We get to see some horrifying imagery of what Hell may really be like. We get to see Gabriel with her majestic angel wings, and we get to see all sort of things of the “Occult” from going between the different planes, the tools to capture and exercise demons, and interesting interpretations of the physical forms of demons in bugs and just freaky monsters. Oh, and Satan is a perfect interpretation in human form.
This movie did not stray away from the bible either, with Reeves reading different sections of it, and other theories on a bible of Hell and lost scripture verses.
If nothing else, the two things about this movie that I loved. Reeves is believable as this character. You almost forget it is him in his mannerisms and speech.
Also, the theory of this movie is that the son of Satan cannot cross over into Earth in physical form unless he has the “Spear of Destiny”, with the blood of Christ from the cross. Gabriel helps Satan’s Son find it, because she is angry that God would forgive his flock so easy and get into heaven. Sin permeating a human mind and perception, very interesting.
Not for everyone, especially those un open minded Christians. But you may fear Hell more after seeing this, and there is plenty of action. Keanu Reeves is cocky, but by no means invincible like a Matrix movie. This movie really breaks ground visually on some of these age old concepts.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001)
We got this free from the library, and man am I glad.
Starring Nicolas Cage, Christian Bale, and Penelope Cruz, this movie is set in Greece in World War II. A love story across two very different cultures, Cage comes with his fellow Italian brigade to peacefully occupy Greece. Cage and Cruz fall in love, and then all hell breaks loose.
Cage is a man of peace, happiness, and singing. He sings with his men, and beautifully plays his mandolin for most of the movie. But then the Germans occupy this little town, and he starts to realize that his time has come. The climax of the movie being when his whole squad is instantly, without warning, executed by and firing squad.
This movie feels a lot longer than two hours. Cage does a good job acting, but I wouldn’t even recommend this as a good love story. The movie seems a little convoluted, and ends in a sudden sort of way. I didn’t feel attached to the characters in this story, or empathize at all with them, and that is so important in a good love story. I would definitely pass on this one.
Presumed Innocent (1990)
I really like Harrison Ford, and even though I realized I had already seen this movie after watching 10 minutes of it, I enjoyed it for the second time.
Starring Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia, and Bonnie Bedelia, this movie is basically about how lust can destroy a marriage.
Ford is a prosecutor who, from the very beginning, is thrown into a murder trial of one of his fellow attorneys. But this is not just any case, but appears to be the rape of the head prosecutor for abuse and other heinous crimes. Not to mention, it is a happened to be one of Ford’s love interests for awhile.
As we get deeper and deeper into the story, all signs point that Ford is guilty. But it also seems like a setup. Dennehy is looking for a public election, and had insisted Ford take the case. But all of a sudden, is turning on him out of jealousy and Ford becomes the scapegoat, sacrificed for everyone else.
A great movie, a little slow at times, but it builds to the finale. Warning : Spolier Ahead – The movie is great for at least one reason, we find out that his wife is the killer. Smart and well thought out, jealous over Ford’s lustful fling with this woman, she murders her in hopes of taking her out of the picture, and sets it up to look like Rape. She knows from what Ford has told her of previous cases.
This came out right after “The Last Crusade” so Ford is still brilliant in this movie, and you may want to see it just for that reason. If you like thrillers that you don’t know how they will end, (but now you do), see this one. But, don’t watch it late at night, you may doze off.
Be Cool (2005)
This is the sequel to Get Shorty. I don’t know why it took 10 years for it to come out, but it did anyway.
This movie still has an enormous cast, including this time round, Christine Millan, Uma Thurman, The Rock, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, and Harvey Keitel. But just because it has a great cast, doesn’t mean it was a great movie. I may watch this movie again, but I doubt it.
This time round, John Travolta is trying to get out of the movie business. He is a successful producer and still has great presence, but it tired of the politics of film making. Through another weird series of events and contacts, he comes across a very hot young singer (Millan) and proceeds to take her to the top.
Uma is the gorgeous record producer that Travolta brings out of the brink of destruction to sign this hot artist and take her to the top. Along the way we meet Vince Vaughn, who is a pimp and talks like he is ethnic, The Rock, who is a very gay bodyguard, and Cedric, who is a Beverly Hills Harvard gangsta with a whole posse of huge guys.
There are some very funny parts, but there are parts that are like nails on a chalkboard. From Vince Vaughn talking too much, to one of the hit men and his funny eating mannerisms, there were parts of this movie where I just wanted it to be over.
Not hardly for everyone, if you remember the first movie then see this one. If you can see it for .50 cents like we did, see it. But otherwise, I would pass. Poor John Travolta and Uma Thurman, they do a great job, but the rest of the movie kind of hops from one hilarious part to the next, with long dead awkward moments in between.
Garden State (2004)
Who’s in it
Natalie Portman, Ian Holm, Zach Braff, Peter Sarsgaard
What was good
I thought this was a cool story that was told backwards, and it worked really well. It starts out slow but as you get to know the main character (Braff) you start to realize why he is the way he is, slow, dopey, and he barely talks. Braff is grown up, working at a dead end restaurant job and his father calls to tell him his mother died and the funeral is during the next week. This takes him back home, to the typical small town where he has some fame for writing a script for a tv show. But nothing excites him and we really start to relate why.
What sucked
The beginning was terribly slow, and looking back I think it could have been explained a touch better. You never see Braff with pills and I think so little detail is covered that you can’t even look back towards the end of the movie to make the connections, “Oh, I remember that, that is why he…”. If you don’t appreciate small time folks and the things they do to stay entertained, some of their activities are annoying and make you cringe but life in a tiny city can be darn boring.
Who should go see this
I would recommend this to my friends. There is a great love story that develops between Portman and Braff that gets a touch too sappy at the end of the movie, but otherwise this movie has a decent amount of humor with a lot of serious moments. This is the second or third movie that I have seen Portman play this cute really young girl that older guys are attracted to. I like the role, but I don’t want to keep seeing her play it, it seems a little wrong for how young she postures to be. But, a select group of 20-30 somethings would like this if you they liked other movies then goofy comedys.
