The Great Raid

Imagine you've got a script that's based on the most successful rescue mission in the history of the American military, you've got some decent actors, and you've got a relatively sizeable $70 million budget. Sounds like it should end up being a good movie, right? Curiously, this is one of the most uninspired and to put it bluntly, boring, movies that I've seen in a long time. The script is unbelievably bad, offering no real connection to any of its characters and chalk-full of terrible dialogue. The direction is unevenly paced and there's way too much dramatic music - it's in almost every scene of the movie. The actors are decent, considering what they've been given to work with, but they don't even come close to making this one watchable. Once the actual raid kicks off, there's a noticeable increase in energy, but not enough to save the film. A huge failure. My grade: D+

Synopsis: Taking place during World War II, 500 POW's have been entrapped in a camp for 3 years. Beginning to give up hope they will ever be rescued, a group of Rangers goes on a dangerous mission to try and save them. (via Imdb)

Avg. Critic's Score: 5.3 (via Rotten Tomatoes)
Avg. Viewer's Score: 7.0 (via Imdb)

Director: John Dahl (Rounders)
Writers: Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro
Stars: James Franco (Spider-Man), Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality), Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare In Love), Connie Nielsen (Gladiator), Martin Csokas (The Bourne Supremacy), Masa Yamaguchi, Max Martini (Contact), Cesar Montano

Useless Trivia: Ebong Joson actually plays the role of his own grandfather.

A Scanner Darkly

I enjoyed this movie a ton, but I will say that this review comes with one disclaimer: I've read the book, and I think some people will have difficulty figuring out what the hell is going on if they aren't already familiar with the novel. For those who like Philip K. Dick (I'm a big fan), they'll be delighted to know that this is the most faithful adaptation of any of his works to be put on the big screen yet. A good bulk of the dialogue, even, came straight from the book, which pleased me to no end. Linklater's animation, which has been much discussed, is the perfect match for this story, and I was quite impressed with how it came out. Likewise, the actors are all very good. Even Reeves turns in a surprisingly good performance, but it's Downey Jr and Harrelson who shine as the drug-addled roommates. My grade: B+

Synopsis: Set in a future world where America has lost the war on drugs, an undercover cop, Fred, is one of many agents hooked on the popular drug Substance D, which causes its users to develop split personalities. Fred, for instance, is also Bob, a notorious drug dealer. Along with his superior officers, Fred sets up an elaborate scheme to catch Bob and tear down his operation. (via Yahoo)

Avg. Critic's Score: 6.4 (via Rotten Tomatoes)
Avg. Viewer's Score: 7.5 (via Imdb)

Director: Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused)
Writer: Richard Linklater (Before Sunset), based on the novel by Philip K. Dick
Stars: Keanu Reeves (The Matrix), Robert Downey Jr. (Wonder Boys), Winona Ryder (Girl Interrupted), Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers), Rory Cochrane (Empire Records)

Useless Trivia: When Arctor sits on the stage waiting to give his speech to the Brown Bear Lodge, one of the images his scramble suit displays is Philip K. Dick.

Empire

The critics panned this flick for retreading a lot of familiar plot points, and although I can't disagree with that argument, I found myself enjoying this one anyway. Although there's a lot of cliches, the overall plot arc is something that hasn't really been done before. Plot aside, the script is pretty decent, with quite a lot of quality dialogue. Leguizamo and Sarsgaard turn in particularly good performances and, with the exception of the dependably-bad Denise Richards, the rest of the cast does pretty well, too. Best described as a Scarface "lite" for this decade, this one's a decent rental. My grade: B-

Synopsis: Victor is trying to escape his life as a drug dealer in the South Bronx. Enter Jack, a Wall Street investment banker with a business proposal that has Victor's name (and money) written all over it. (via Imdb)

Avg. Critic's Score: 4.4 (via Rotten Tomatoes)
Avg. Viewer's Score: 5.9 (via Imdb)

Writer and Director: Franc. Reyes
Stars: John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge), Peter Sarsgaard (Garden State), Denise Richards (The World is Not Enough), Delilah Cotto, Vincent Laresca (Lords of Dogtown), Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet), Sonia Braga (Angel Eyes), Nestor Sarrano (Bad Boys), Treach, Fat Joe

Useless Trivia: When Fat Joe's son is playing Playstation, he pauses the game. You can see in the background that the game he's "playing" is a recording on a VCR tape, shown from the tell-tale VCR pause picture static.

Owning Mahowny

Put simply, this film is all about Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman turns in an absolutely fantastic performance as the obsessive Dan Mahowny. Everything aside from that, unfortunately, is pretty hum-drum. The rest of the actors don't do too much of anything - I even found John Hurt's performance more irritating than anything else. The script doesn't have much zip to it and anything that's compelling about it comes from the fact that it's based on a true story. Unless you're a Hoffman fan, skip this one. My grade: C+

Synopsis: A bank managerwith a gambling problem and access to a multi-million dollar account gets into a messy situation. Based on the story of the largest one-man bank fraud in Canadian history. (via Imdb)

Avg. Critic's Score: 7.0 (via Rotten Tomatoes)
Avg. Viewer's Score: 7.0 (via Imdb)

Director: Richard Kwietniowski (Love and Death on Long Island)
Writer: Maurice Chauvet, based on the book Stung by Gary Stephen Ross
Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting), John Hurt (V for Vendetta), Maury Chaykin (The Sweet Hereafter), Ian Tracey ("Da Vinci's Inquest"), Sonja Smits ("Traders"), K.C. Collins (Bulletproof Monk), Vince Corazza (Bride of Chucky)

Useless Trivia: The person Dan Mahowny is based on is now a consultant for a company that investigates fraud.

An Inconvenient Truth

There's not a whole lot of things worse than watching someone yammer away in front of a PowerPoint presentation. So, imagine Al Gore, of all people, yammering away in front of a PowerPoint presentation for an hour and a half and you've got a critically-acclaimed documentary. Make sense to you? Me neither. I assume the reason the movie has been so well reviewed is because of the sheer amount of evidence it gives for global warming. Now and then pictures of glaciers around the world, projections of what parts of the world will be under water given a few years, and so on. You name it, they've got it. What I find the most terrifying, however, is that there are people who don't actually know about this. Maybe Canada has a wildly different stance on global warming than the States, but I didn't actually learn very many new things when I watched this. And, as you might imagine, a PowerPoint presentation filled with second-run information isn't very exciting. It doesn't help that the whole thing comes of as pretty self-aggrandizing for Al Gore, who seems to be labelling himself as something of a lone warrior. I give this one a low rating, but if you're not familiar with global warming, it'll probably be enormously interesting to you. My grade: C-

Synopsis: A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide. (via Imdb)

Avg. Critic's Score: 7.6 (via Rotten Tomatoes)
Avg. Viewer's Score: 8.1 (via Imdb)

Director: Davis Guggenheim (Gossip)

Useless Trivia: The cartoon clip that Al Gore shows to help explain global warming is from the Futurama episode "Crimes of the Hot." Al Gore guest starred as himself on the episode. He also guest starred on a previous episode as the head of Al Gore's Vice Presidential Action Rangers. His daughter Kristen Gore, was a writer for the show.

Poolhall Junkies

This is one of those flicks that has gained a cult following among a lot of guys in my age group, so I'd heard more than a few recommendations for this movie before seeing it. Unfortunately, it turns out that the recommendations weren't really on target. Honestly, this movie isn't terrible, it just has one glaring problem: Mars Callahan. Callahan sure as hell can't act, and he's not much of a writer or director, either. Occasionally there's a bit of snappy dialogue and there's a ton of awesome pool scenes, but aside from that and Christopher Walken's appearances, this movie doesn't have much going for it at all. My grade: C-

Synopsis: A talented pool hustler who has stayed out of the game for years must go back to his old ways when his little brother gets involved with his enemy. (via Imdb)

Avg. Critic's Score: 4.5 (via Rotten Tomatoes)
Avg. Viewer's Score: 6.7 (via Imdb)

Director: Mars Callahan
Writers: Mars Callahan and Chris Corso
Stars: Mars Callahan (Kalifornia), Christopher Walken (True Romance), Chazz Palminteri (A Bronx Tale), Michael Rosenbaum (Urban Legend), Alison Eastwood (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), Anson Mount (Crossroads), Phillip Glasser, Ernie Reyes Jr. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2), Rod Steiger (The Hurricane), Rick Schroder (Crimson Tide), Glenn Plummer (Strange Days)

Useless Trivia: In real life Mars Callahan is an accomplished pool player who met co-writer Chris Corso in a pool hall where each was trying to hustle the other. After a bitterly contested game (neither will tell who actually won) the two became best friends. Swapping war stories about their mutual experiences playing pool, the two decided to write a script based on their experiences and observations. Two weeks later the script was completed, but it would take another ten years to get it to the big screen.

Alfie

Most people who saw this flick didn't have very good things to say about it. Me? Well, I didn't think it was bad at all. Not great, certainly - there was too much left undeveloped an unexplored for it to be a true character study, and too little genuine feeling for it to be a great drama, but I found myself enjoying the movie more than expected. Jude Law's a great actor and, while he doesn't have the best material to work with here, he pulls it off and turns his version of Alfie into a sympathetic, if not likeable, character. The female talent is there mostly to look good (and I thought Sienna Miller looked very good, by the way), but they do a respectable job in their roles, which isn't surprising, given the high pedigrees of the actresses here. Overall, I'd say that this is a watchable remake. My grade: C+

Synopsis: A cockney womanizer learns the hard way about the dangers of his actions. (via Imdb)

Avg. Critic's Score: 5.5 (via Rotten Tomatoes)
Avg. Viewer's Score: 6.1 (via Imdb)

Director: Charles Shyer (Father of the Bride)
Writers: Elaine Pope and Charles Shyer (Private Benjamin)
Stars: Jude Law (Cold Mountain), Sienna Miller (Casanova), Marisa Tomei (Anger Management), Nia Long (Boyz n the Hood), Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking), Omar Epps (Love and Basketball), Jane Krakowski ("Ally McBeal"), Dick Latessa (Stigmata)

Useless Trivia: Alfie's Vespa is painted blue and white as an inside joke. The colors pay homage to Jude Law's favorite football team, Tottenham Hotspur.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Watching anime in English has always weirded me out, but given the strong cast for this one, I thought I'd give it a try. The verdict? Well, it's still weird, but I managed to make it the whole way through the movie without having to switch back to the Japanese version, so I guess I'll give it a thumbs up. As for the movie itself, it's a generally enjoyable story with a fair share of lessons on environmentalism, but there wasn't anything specific that elevated it for me. Miyazaki, though, has a way of engaging you in his worlds that results in his films leaving a more lasting impression than your typical fare. My grade: B-

Synopsis: Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet. (via Imdb)

Avg. Critic's Score: N/A (via Rotten Tomatoes)
Avg. Viewer's Score: 7.9 (via Imdb)

Writer and Director: Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away)
English Cast: Alison Lohman (Matchstick Men), Patrick Stewart (X-Men), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), Shia LaBeouf (Constantine), Edward James Olmos (Blade Runner), Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Tress MacNeille ("The Simpsons"), Mark Silverman
Japanese Cast: Sumi Shimamoto (Princess Mononoke), Goro Naya (Casshern), Mahito Tsujimura (Porco Rosso), Yoshiko Sakakibara (Ghost in the Shell 2), Iemasa Kayumi (Ghost in the Shell), Yoji Matsuda (Princess Mononoke), Hisako Kyoda (Millennium Actress), Ichiro Nagai (Castle in the Sky)

Useless Trivia: The lack of color fidelity used in certain versions give many people the impression that Nausicaa flies around in a miniskirt with a bare butt. This is not the case, she's wearing pants that happen to be roughly the same color as her skin, and the "skirt" is actually the lower part of her coat.

Primal Fear

Courtroom flicks don't get much better than this. I'm actually surprised I went as long as I did without seeing this. I'm a huge Edward Norton fan, and this is Norton's breakout film, not to mention his first Oscar nomination. Although Norton's performance is astonishing, Richard Gere manages to do a good enough job not to be overshadowed. The rest of the cast never stands out, but gets the job done quietly. As for the script, I was impressed. Nothing goes quite the way you expect it to and the ending is a real shocker. The very last shot of this movie has to be one of my all-time favourites. If this one slipped through the cracks for you, too, be sure to check it out. Recommended. My grade: B+

Synopsis: An altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep. (via Imdb)

Avg. Critic's Score: 6.7 (via Rotten Tomatoes)
Avg. Viewer's Score: 7.5 (via Imdb)

Director: Gregory Hoblit (Frequency)
Writers: Steve Shagan (Gotti) and Ann Biderman (Copycat), based on the novel by William Diehl
Stars: Richard Gere (Chicago), Edward Norton (American History X), Laura Linney (The Truman Show), John Mahoney ("Frasier"), Frances McDormand (Fargo), Maura Tierney ("NewsRadio"), Alfre Woodard (K-Pax), Andre Braugher ("Homicide: Life on the Street"), Steven Bauer (Scarface)

Useless Trivia: 2,100 actors auditioned for the role of Aaron Stampler - Matt Damon was one of them. Wil Wheaton and Leonardo DiCaprio also turned down the part before it went to Edward Norton.