Movie Reviews

Herbie Fully Loaded – 4/5 Really Liked It
Watched this because Tonia and Tanner were watching it for the 17th time one evening. It was surprisingly fun to watch. It had that mac guy in it (who was great) and Lindsay Lohan showed what could have been had she not taken the paths she took later in life.

The Constant Gardner – 4/5 Really Liked It
Slowly paced but in the end you’ll be happy you saw this one. It’s a great love story, as well as a great testament to taking action against injustice. To my surprise there was very little gardening going on.

What Would Jesus Buy? – 3/5 Liked It
Could have been so much better. I agreed with the premise, and I even laughed a few times, but it was lacking that punch that could have made this a real winner. It did reinvigorate my quest to kill santa however.

Walk Hard – 3/5 Liked It
I laughed out loud a lot during this movie, especially during the first 30 minutes as they parodied Walk The Line. But then they started showing male appendages and I did a few dry heaves. It also seemed to drag on there at the end, which is weird for a 90 minute movie.

Kite Runner – 5/5 Loved It
It took a good 10 minutes to get used to the sub-titles, but this was a great movie. I may end up reading the book even though I know how it turns out. It’s just a well done movie of a really great story.

Punch-Drunk Love – 3/5 Liked It
Quirky movie, but after it gets rolling the second half is pretty good and you find yourself enjoying the characters. Adam Sandler did a really good job in this one.

Stealth – 2/5 Didn’t Like It
A Tonia special—she loves the action flicks. Too bad this movie sucked. It’s hard to imagine given the stellar cast, but man… so bad. Possibly the worst ending line in a movie ever. I did have fun laughing at it with Tonia though.

The Insider – 4/5 Really Liked It
How can you go wrong with Russell Crowe and Al Pacino? I’m not sure how I missed this movie nine years ago, but it didn’t disappoint. It’s kinda scary how powerful the tobacco companies are. Major props to guys like Jeffrey Wigand who are willing to put their lives on the line for what’s right.

Filed under: Adam Sandler, Al Pacino, Apple, Culture, Jesus, Johnny Cash, Lindsay Lohan, Love, Movies, Reviews, Russell Crowe, Santa Clause, Tobacco

Movie Reviews

Stranger Than Fiction — Will Ferrell’s first real shot at making the Jim Carrey switch from being a slap-stick comedy guy to an actual actor—and it wasn’t too bad. I really enjoyed this movie, however had it not been for Dustin Hoffman’s interpretation of his character it wouldn’t have been as good. He was spectacular. Speaking of supporting actors, Queen Latifa seemed out of place to me. They either didn’t write her role well, or she didn’t put much into it. The animated illustrations felt a little overdone at times, but overall they weren’t a hinderance to the movie’s quality. Another complaint would be that the whole guitars-as-a-symbol-of-people-who-are-free cliché bothered me. Let’s find another illustration already. But seriously, this was a nice movie. It felt like a silver screen enactment of one of my creeds: Stop Existing & Start Living.

Insomnia — Not too shabby. Al Pacino doing his regular bit. He did a pretty good job of demonstrating how one little lie can snowball into a crazy tangled mess. And apparently nobody ever told him about the tin foil in the window trick to get rid of light. That was a must for me in college. I really liked seeing Robin Williams as a bad guy. The best part about this movie for me was the scenery. This was filmed in British Columbia (not Alaska), and the waterfalls and forests reminded me of Oregon. Of course I’ve never been to Oregon, but that’s what I imagine it would look like.

Bull Durham — This was on my list of popular movies I had never seen before. All I knew about it was that it was a baseball movie. I guess I should have looked into it a little bit before watching it. Turns out it has a lot of sex and sexual innuendoes. I had to turn it off after only 35 minutes. I was more embarrassed watching this by myself than I was watching the unrated version of Anchorman with my parents. From what I was able to see when everyone had their clothes on, it looked like a decent sports movie. I was really enjoying the internal dialogue with Kevin Costners character while he was at the plate. And Tim Robbins as a dufus was fun too.

Risky Business — Obviously I made the same mistake as I did with Bull Durham. This movie was all about sex as well. He turns his house into a brothel for crying out loud. Why did I not know this going in? Ugh. But I was way more disappointed with having to turn this one off early (42 min.) because it was so completely 80′s and looked really well done. At least I was able to see the famous dancing in his underwear scene. Well, I mean at least for cultures sake. I told Tonia to slap me if I ever did something like that.

Bourne Ultimatum — I’m a huge fan of the Bourne Enterprise! He’s a one man whooping crew, a better version of Steven Seagal with a much better story. As far as this ones place in the series, I enjoyed seeing him dig deeper into his past. The camera work felt slightly overdone. It would easily cause motion sickness in the elderly. But overall it was exactly what you’d expect, a lot of hand-to-hand combat and some chase scenes. I think Greg would appreciate the overall moral of the story at the end. Especially the line when he asks the other asset, “Do you even know why you’re supposed to kill me?” Deep stuff. It’s unfortunate that Matt Damon hates this series and is done with them after this one. It looks like it will continue without him though. Hopefully they can successfully pull off the Sean Connery to Roger Moore switch.

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**REWATCH** — Thirty years after George Lucas changed the landscape of cinema goodness, a group of us gathered to watch Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. I must tell you, it’s like time has stood still. It’s still as good as it was back then. The two things that stood out as something I loved back as a kid was Luke’s Speeder and Han’s Blaster. I’m really looking forward to see Empire Strikes Back this Sunday!

Filed under: Al Pacino, Bourne Ultimatum, Culture, Matt Damon, Movies, Reviews, Star Wars, Steven Seagal, Will Ferrell