Reviews

If ever a comic book movie were to get a best picture nomination come February it would be The Dark Knight. To say this is just a comic book movie would not only be a disservice to the film, but an insult for this is much more than that. It is in essence an unbelievable film.

So few films in any genre strive, and fewer still attain the kind of beauty that The Dark Knight captures in every facet possible. From the taught script by Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan(with an assist by David Goyer) the movie barrels at break-neck-speed and never truly lets up. It is also very intelligent; pursuing ideas on what it means to be a hero and how Batman through his disregard of the law is just a decision or two away from being The Joker. It also manages to be a social commentary relevant to our time. It brings up moral issues like public surveillance and whether or not the public when stretched to the brink by a madman, will sacrifice anyone or anything for their safety and in a sense destroy what separates them from the very thing that makes up a cornerstone of our society; courage, hope, and compassion.

Now onto the performances. It is without a doubt that Heath Ledger's performance elevates this movie in such a way that without him, it would have been good, but with him is a gold standard. The way The Joker walks, talks, darts his tongue and licks his lips. Even the way he manages to alter the pitch and tone from high to low in a second shows craft that few other actors could accomplish. He truly becomes this character instead of just reciting lines. Others do amazing jobs. Christian Bale is the reliable rock of the movie and gives both he and Batman more depth as his character and alter ego are tested in every way possible. Michael Cane and Morgan Freeman get more to do and both have some fine speeches when advising Batman. Maggie Gyllenhaal is an upgrade from Katie Holmes and shows more grit and humanity in her role.

The action is amazing. Best of all it's mostly done with real pyrotechnics and stunt work. This isn't a George Lucas movie with 99% of the screen done by computer generated effects. Christopher Nolan has really elevated his already amazing game to heights I would not have imagined.

Simply put, this movie deserves every accolade, every good word-of-mouth review, and all of the awards I hope it collects throughout the year, especially come February. Yes Heath deserves his award and not because of his passing. If he were alive now, he would be picking it up himself when the time comes.

At the end of the movie last night when I was walking out of the theater, someone in a crowd waiting to get into the next screening asked me if the movie was good. I looked at him seriously, then smiled and quoted Michael Cane's Alfred from the movie and said "You have no idea".

The hype for Superman this year has been fairly large and expectations even larger after almost 20 years off of the big screen. With Bryan Singer at the helm, and his skills honed from doing the first two X-men movies, Superman has benefited from that knowledge and more. Over the past 5 years we have been bombarded with an assortment of superhero movies, most good and some not. The two that have shown the biggest influence on this movie are Spiderman, and X-men.

Superman has been gone for 5 years now searching the ruins of Krypton in a futile search for survivors. Now with a literal crash he is back on earth but things have changed. Lois has a child, and she is engaged. Crime, war, poverty, and general chaos now rule the world that is in true need of a hero. In a scene of breathtaking intensity he saves a botched plan to send a shuttle into space. Lois is on this plane and he meets her for the first time since he left. Lex Luthor is now out of of prison and his plan to both stop Superman, and rule the world is actually a very creative one.

The performances are good all around. Brandon Routh is good. He actually plays a tricky role here. When Christopher Reeves played the man of steel he did it with a wink to the camera. Here Routh plays him seriously, but must infuse him with a sense of vulnerability that makes him accessible to us. This is where Spiderman and X-men influence the movie. Vulnerable characters are the key especially to a man who is all powerful except to kryptonite.

Kevin Spacey is both wicked, and wickedly funny as Lex Luthor, Supermans old nemesis. Kate Bosworth also has a tricky role especially following in the footsteps of some of her famous predecessors of the role but she does a good job in showing both her anger at superman leaving her, and her love that still remains. It is also nice to see James Marsden get a more sizable role after 3 X-men movies where he went largely unnoticed.

If you want to see a movie that sits at the top tied with Spiderman, and X-men as the pinnacle of the superhero movies look no further. This one is how its done ladies and gentlemen. *****/*****

Ever meet a girl who is stunning in so many ways? She gets you and you get her but the problem is . . . well you can't be with her, whether its because she's already with someone, or she lives far away or in the case of this movie she's 13?

Well that my friends is the real problem in Beautiful Girls which is the story of a group of twenty somethings who all have relationship problems and try and figure them out over the course of 3 weeks before their high school reunion. The movie contains many established, and up-and-coming stars like Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, and Natalie Portman.

I liked the movie in so many ways because its was beautifully shot, and maybe even more beautifully written. While not a ground breaking film in its content( it owes much to the big chill) it is still a very well done movie with some fine thoughts about love, life, and what it means to really connect with someone.

Now back to the original thought I was having about not being able to be with someone because she's so young, well in this movie that would be Timothy Hutton's character Willie who comes home trying to figure out if he really wants to be with his nice attorney girlfriend of roughly a year. Thats when he meets the next door neighbor Marty. She's precocious, very intelligent, witty, cool, and even at the tender age of 13 you can see she's going to be one very gorgeous girl (Natalie Portman had one of her finest performances here might I add). They bond during their first talk together because Marty sees right into and through Willie who doesn't realize he's already smitten.

Yes I know this sounds disgusting. A 27 year old guy falling for a 13 year old? But no its tastefully done. Willie just see's something in her he can't help but like and through some very well conceived scenes admits to being jealous of a 13 year old kid on a bike who is flirting with Marty while he looks through the window at them. This my friends is the heart of the movie and while they devoted a good bit of time to it with such a large cast of characters my only knock on the movie is that they should have made it more center stage. The movie ends well and all seems good with good stories and excellent performances.

What i'd really like to see is a sequel with Willie now divorced and Marty now 23 and how they reconnect after 10 years and see if a romance is at all possible. NOw that would be a great movie. this one gets 10/10

I remember finally getting my hands on this movie the day it arrived at the rental store and popped it in my DVD player. My hands were shaking with anticipation, and by the end I was satisfied but not with all of it.

My only complaint was that it had too many story lines in it. If I could cut down the amount of couples whos story lines were interesting, the top three would have been, Juliet and Mark. I honestly felt bad for Mark who has always loved Juliet, but as a way of protecting himself never said anything and had to watch his best friend marry her.

The prime minister and Natalie. It was nice to see the prime minister portrayed as a guy who's just as lonely, and in love as the next guy.

And lastly Daniel who has just lost his wife and is grieving, and his step-son sam who is in love. Its a touching relationship where we see Daniel coming out of his pain and helping his son which in turn helps him to heal.

The movie isn't perfect, and if it concentrated on these stories instead of so many more it would have been better. Some of the others were good too but I think these 3 if they were given the detail, and time would have made a great movie.

Being both a critic and a movie lover means you must be able to watch movies from any genre and have the possibility of liking them exist. That being said, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton is a pretty good movie though formulaic.

The strength of the movie lies in its casting and how the movie creates an old 1950's romantic feel to it. Rosalee played very well by Kate Bosworth is a young girl working at a Piggly Wiggly in W.Virginia. Her co-worker and boss is Pete who has longed for Rosalee for years but lacks the confidence to show her his real feelings. Rosalee's favorite actor is Tad Hamilton and one day both Rosalee and her friend enter a contest to Win a Date with said heartthrob. Tad has had some run-ins recently with the law and paparazzi that have hurt his perfect image and his agent suggest this as a contest to improve it.

Rosalee of course wins and off she goes to Hollywood for her perfect date which goes quite well if a little awkward at times. A few days after going back to her hometown Tad who saw something innocent, fresh, and sweet in Rosalee that he probably hasn't seen in a woman in a long time follows her. Soon he buys a home with the hopes of allowing his romance with Rosalee to become something a lot bigger. Pete of course just lurks in the background muttering, and being grumpy which doesn't gain any sympathy votes from me or much of the audience most likely. By this point you know whats going to happen which is the films biggest mistake.

Up until this point the film is quite good. Josh Du-Hamel who plays Tad does so perfectly, painting a portrait of an up and coming actor who has made some mistakes especially in his choice of women but now sees what a real good woman is. He is charming but not in a slimy way which probably would have been more effective for its ending. No instead Tad is earnest, and sweet in his sudden attraction to Rosalee, and their budding relationship and romance is also sweet, and honest. They have chemistry unlike Pete and her who's relationship is usually smart comments and not much else.

Unfortunately studios don't like taking chances which is their biggest mistake. If they really wanted to make this a good movie they would have changed the ending to end with Rosalee and Tad's romance having a chance. Istead its the usual Hollywood re-tread with Rosalee chasing after Pete after "aparently" realizing she loves him. Suffice the ending left me less than thrilled. I knew it was coming but was hoping I was wrong. Is the movie worth checking out??? Yes for everything but the ending.

That magical moment in life, that point between the beautiful innocence of childhood, and the confusing whirlwind that marks adulthood . . . this is what this movie is all about.

Danni (wonderfully played by Reese Witherspoon) is right at that moment in life when the movie starts. She swoons over Elvis, playing his records and wishfully thinking about love. Maureen her sister will soon be off to college, has no trouble with attracting boys, is beautiful, and seems to have it all figured out although she doesn't. She dates a local loser whos father is also after her, and just wishes she could find a decent boy and be swept off her feet. Danni like most young teenagers wishes she could be anyone else but herself because most teenagers think that who they are just isn't good enough. She wants to be Maureen but doesn't see that she is beautiful herself.

The moment adulthood begins to intrude itself upon her life is when she meets Court Foster for the first time. Court whos father has recently died has moved to their old farm to work it with his mother and two younger brothers. He has been thrust responsibility when he should be having fun. On one particular hot day he goes to the pond and jumps in only to find Danni skinny dipping. They yell and argue and Danni leaves. But they see each other a day later when Courts mother is invited to Danni's to visit old friends(Danni's Parents). Danni becomes attracted to Court, and Court to Danni. She is a tomboy and is spunky, has attitude and says whats on her mind.

Court is 17 and Danni 14 and he knows it but they continue to grow closer with their days at the pond between Court working the farm. By the time Court kisses her one day, Danni is smitten. Danni's father tells her to invite Court to the house and he does. but things are uncomfortable for Court on his "sort of date". The silence though is broken by his meeting with Maureen who has yet to see Court. One look between the two and its all over. The looks of pain and defeat on Danni's face are both beautiful in their trueness to life and painful at the same time. The rest of the movie I will not tell but the movie has more to it than a relationship between a boy and two sisters.

The greatness of the movie is in its depiction of lifes moments both beautiful and painful and the relationship between two sisters whose love is tested by both a boy that they love, and the pain they must endure both together and individually. Danni eventually marks her entrance into the world when she sees that the world is unfair, painful, and maybe even a little less hopeful than when the movie started. Few movies can truly capture the wonder of childhood and the pain of adulthood so perfectly. This movie has since the first time I watched it stuck in my mind. Its in the my Top 100 movie list and deservedly so. I only wish more movies like this were made, because if so . . . my faith in Hollywood would be a lot better.

Most thriller movies are neither intelligent, or give their characters morals and moral boundaries that they are tempted to cross and good reasons for doing so. They simply let the story drive the plot instead of the characters and their choices, character arcs, and faults drive the plot line.

Its finally a joy to see a movie that does just that. A simple plan simply follows 4 people as their morals are tested, stretched, and eventually broken over the course of a month or so. 3 men find 4 million dollars in a wrecked plane on a reservation and decide to keep the money even though Hank Mitchell the sensible, moral, family guy in the film at first says no but agrees when the other two men (his brother and his friend) want to keep it. He takes it home where his wife also says no at first till she sees the money.

At first the plan seems simple enough which is to keep the money hidden and safe till the spring in case anyone comes looking for the money, and then if no one does then they split the money and hit the road. But alas the most simple things in life usually are the ones that run into the most problems. And this movie does just that except the problems are greed, mistrust, and loyalty, as each man is pitted against the other. Values also as time goes by eventually erode as each man see his future only in the money.

Hank becomes paranoid by greed and the constant lurking of the possibility of being caught. By the time the first half of the movie is over he has already killed someone. His wife helps him in plotting against the others in order to protect themselves, while the other two men are not quite smart enough to think of these things. There are some great scenes be each major character. Hank's wife Sarah gives a speech on how she doesn't want to check the coupons in the paper the rest of her life for every nights meal or when going out to eat they have to skip the dessert because they can't afford it. Hank's brother Jacob one of the other men is not quite so bright has two scenes that struck a cord as in one he comments on how their dad lost the farm because of Hank's college tuition and it shows how jealous Jacob is of his brother. In another Hank talks about how Jacob was once happy with a girl he dated in school only for Jacob to reveal that the girls best friends bet her $100 she wouldn't go steady with Jacob for a month. These are just a few of the scenes that give the screenplay which is very intelligent a lot of humanity.

The acting is top-notch as every actor throws themselves into their character till you only see their character on the screen. The plot is simple but its not the plot but the characters, their morals, reactions, and greed that make the movie so engrossing. Basically this movie is about how even he best people can succumb to the great life that they think money can provide and exactly how far people will go to get it and how even murder which normally would never enter their mind can be so easy and necessary to give them this life.

When I think about it I realized one day that I never once questioned whether or not the events in "Before Sunrise" were truly as believable as they make it out to be. Then I also realized right after that I didn't care, and if any movie could make me believe in that kind of moment and love its this one.

What makes this movie so great are the small detailed true-to-life-moments that other movies don't even think to pay attention to which is their unfortunate downfall. One of my all time favorite images from the movie has to be in the bus when Jesse has to do everything he can from fully reaching out and touching a stray lock of Celine's hair. Another is in the elevator when each looks at one another and then looks away once eye contact is made. Or when they tentatively kiss for the first time which is touching.

Moments like these are often never seen because the common romantic movie overlooks them when if they were truly smart they would realize that the cornerstone of any great romantic movie should be moments like these. Chemistry too is something most of these movies never seem to really achieve, but which this movie does without trying.

The love in this movie is real. You never once question whether or not their love is real because your ready to believe it halfway through the movie even before they fully realize it. No grand gestures of love, or sickening melodramatic moments that make you roll your eyes and groan. The simplicity in this love is the truth of what love is. Fully accepting the person and really making a connection.

SPOILER 9 years after legends of the fall was released I have finally at the age of 21 found the time and a copy to see just how good it is. Well I liked this movie alot but at the same time I have issues with it. The story centers on tristan who is the middle child of the movie and how everyone he touches or is close to him dies. I was surprised when isabella died. I did not see that coming largely because the movie looked as though it was going to end happily but it didnt of course. The major problem with the movie is that it kept going and going and going.

And everyone in this movie seemed to die. Isabella, susannah(played by the gorgeous julia ormond) both beautiful are killed and I would be lying if I said it didnt pull at the strings of my heart. That I think is the greatest advantage of this movie. Its ability to tug at your heart as you cheer for tristan. You sit in disbelief as he leaves susannah and goes away for years, and then feel happy as he marries the girl who always loved him as a child(Isabella), and then you almost want to cry when not one but both die. Part of you loves the movie and hates it at the same time