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Reviews
Chicken Tikka Masala (2005)
Better than one would expect...
...but not spectacular. If the whole gay and South Asian thing is what you're looking for, "Touch of Pink" is probably slightly better, in terms of its camp value at least. "Chicken Tikka Masala" could have done with better editing, fewer irrelevant camera shots, and some dialogue tightening; for the hour-and-some of actual plot time, the characters don't get a fair chance to grow, develop, or even have any sort of discernible impact on the audience. Kill two minutes of the excessive wedding scene (any of them) and use it to make us care about the people we're watching! While the characters are mildly likable, someone should have told the writers that if you're going to make a movie about gay people, seeing the homosexual subjects actually interact wouldn't be a bad idea.
The movie dialogue can be a bit stilted, and moments in the movie are occasionally a little preachy. On the other hand, the movie's a good way to kill some time on a lazy afternoon, if all you're looking for is eye/brain candy and nothing requiring serious thought or intellectual stimulation.
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
Decent, but just barely.
The movie smashes together a series of half-baked allegorical figures and images in an effort to tell a Messianic tale, but never succeeds. There will undoubtedly be many people who will think that this is the best movie ever made, but at the end of the day, it's really nothing more than a good, solid action-flick, with none of the intellectual stimulation and challenges that characterized the first two movies of the trilogy.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
A little from column A, a little from column B
As a movie, this is a brilliant piece of work. It's complex, well-crafted, and painstakingly put together. As an adaptation however, The Two Towers is awful. Perhaps it's just because I'm a Tolkien purist, but I found the missing plot points to be upsetting; not only do I feel that they were co-opted by what seems to be a better version of "The Exorcist-Power-of-Christ-Compels-You" scene(s), but there's probably a whole generation of people out there who're going to accept the movie as truth and not realize how much they're missing. The breaking of Saruman's staff, the loss of the palantir (for those of you who haven't read the books, that's the glowing stone Saruman is so frequently depicted with, holding it under his palm); the actual "arousal" of the Ents, which in the movie came across as sheer bad reverse-psychology (yes, of course, we'll trick the eons-old wise beings, aren't we clever?). And just out of curiousity, when did Faramir become such a putz? What about the death of Theoden? The battle with the Nazgul? Eowyn's sacrifice? And why in the WORLD would Elrond (who is half-Elven and half human) decide that he despises all humans? There's a curious inconsistency, within both the movie's "romance" idea, which is absolutely stupid. It doesn't happen in the book, and it shouldn't be in the movie--it's misleading and quite frankly, destroys the chemistry between two (unnamed) characters.
In all fairness, I have to admit that as a cinematic piece, I found that "The Two Towers" was quite spectacular. While I hesitate to gush and rave as many do, that this is "THE BEST FILM EVER!!!", it must be said that you could certainly do far worse with your money. The acting is excellent; Gollum/Smeagol is characterized in an absolutely fascinating manner, with a wonderful theatrical device; the battle with the Balrog is just phenomenal, and the vistas breathtaking. Again, it has to be said--the movie is terrific; the adaptation leaves much to be desired.
Supergirl (1984)
It's easy to forget what makes this movie worthwhile
People argue that this is a crappy, badly-done, "Superman-wannabe" movie--while one can't deny that it's certainly not up to the special-effects levels of today's movies, it's a good film in some basic senses. Supergirl is probably the first movie ever vaguely popularized that allows for women to be the protagonists and antagonists of a film. That alone makes it great. Sure, it doesn't seem like much when it goes up against Buffy or Xena, but in 1984 (remember people, 1984, when there were no CG graphics, or at least really tacky ones?), it was pretty damned good. It's not great, but it deserves consideration, not out and out dismissal.