Here be your SPOILER warning....

Raging Bull *****/*****
(no review since I'm planning a major review for this one, like the one I did for Troy)

Equilibrium ****/*****

What a nice gem! Bale was great in Batman Begins? well, you better see him in this one cos he turned an "average" futuristic film into a mind blowing experience! add in a great suppor from veteran Sean Bean, and this film, ladies n gentlemen, is a winner in my book.
"Sense offenders" are those who oppose the new world where emotions are illegal...since they are the cause for wars. Yeah whatever. So due to a mix of events, Bale ends up not taking his pills, thus beginning to FEEL. that emotional conflict he portrays is mesmerizing. He even has a little breakdown in one scene when he listens to classical music. Highly recommended.
This film is also famous for presenting a new fighting technique called Gun Kata, which Bale masters. It is said this is the movie with the highest number of on screen kills, but like I said, the action is realy secondary in this film.

Ong Bak **/*****

So Tony Jaa is the new shit of martial arts. Here be yer proof. But for crying out loud, can we have a slightly better scenes when he's not fighting? I know that the fight scenes are all that matters in this film, but please have merci! You have this guy on a wheelchair, the main villain, talking through a device which creates the most horrible sound your ears will ever experience. Torture, my friends, torture. And if that's not enough, you have the lead female screaming like a horny elephant when she loses her sister. But no, she had to lose her firend in the end of the film as well, and we are doomed once again.

The Protector ***/*****

The following Tony Jaa film. Peace to my ears!finally! the plot is even better this time. Instead of searching for some holy head of a statue, this time he is searching for a lost elephant. But yeah, the choreography of the fights is also much better than in Ong Bak. The scenes are more versatile. In one videogame-like scene he mounts the stairs, taking the baddies one-by-one or should I say five-by-five. And the opponents are also more interesting. All in all, this is a better film than Ong Bak. I made the mistake of watching this one first, so Ong Bak didnt gave me anything new, other than the knowledge that throwing refrigerators at your enemies is pointless.

Fantastic Four */*****

I would say plenty, only there's not much to comment about. Same type of dissapointment I had with PIRATES only this time the rescue wheel is Chiklis instead of Depp. The guy just didnt give in to CGI and insisted on acting it out. He was also the reason I watched it till the end.

Finally...........I rewatched my favorite film of all time.

Yeah...that one with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis.

No...not the acrobats one.

Later folks.

Thanx rons for all the compliments. Keep it rockin!

You welcome Fame.

You know, you ever considered half-stars is that just not your thing?

THE ADDAMS FAMILY 1/2
(First Viewing)

For 25 years Uncle Fester has been missing. An evil doctor finds out and introduces a fake Fester in an attempt to get the Adams Family's money. Young Wednesday Addams has some doubts as to the sincerity of the new Uncle Fester. The fake Uncle adapts very well to the strange family. Can the doctor carry out her evil plans and take over the Adams Family's fortune?

I never saw the TV show and I've also enjoyed ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES so I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the original as much. It was rather weird seeing Christina Ricci at such a young age (she was only 11 when she made this film). In the 2 years it took to release VALUES, she grew up quite a bit. Finally, how can you hate a film when its soundtrack features 3 M.C. Hammer song ("This Is The Way We Roll," "Too Legit To Quit," and "Addams Groove")? Ah, if only I could get my hands on a time machine, I'd go back and live in the early 1990s.

I watched The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) tonight, and it was pretty good. But I'm not here to give a review -- I'm here to tell Capo that he's almost a spitting image (from the nose up) of Timothy Hutton in '85!! I swear, every 10 minutes or so, I was like, "it's Mick!"

"From the nose up"!

I've never seen him before. I've had two people tell me now though that I look like a young Gary Oldman.

I'm to the belief that if by the year 2035, medical-science allows two men to have a love-child, if Mark Wahlberg and Heath Ledger were to have a baby, it'd look like Mick.

I saw OCEANS 13 and KNOCKED UP this week.

I can't really add to Irish's review. I enjoyed them both. Rooting against Al was more fun than I thought it would be.

I think I like KNOCKED UP more than Irish did. If you didn't find it as funny as THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, it's because you were expecting it to be that funny. If KNOCKED UP came out of left field like the former film, you'd be rolling in the aisles.

But what do I know?

Glad you enjoyed them pizzaboy! Is MR. BROOKS still playing in your local theater?

I live in New York City, boy.

If it's still in theaters, it's playing here.

Did you read my review of it? Try to see it this weekend if you have the time.

Actually, my dad wants to see it, so I might just take him today.

If he don't like it, I can always blame you. He's not too fond of the Irish , anyway.

That's OK. If he doesn't like it then I want HIS review of the film

Well Pizzaboy, OCEAN'S 13 did apparently make up for the crappyness of OCEAN'S 12, thankfully.

Oh my god. At first I thought that was Capo.

It's quite possible that OCEAN'S 12 was the hardest to follow film EVER.

Wow, that's uncanny. I can see the Gary Oldman resemblance as well.

Its not hard to follow...its just STUPID.

The "Twist" makes no damn sense. You have Matt Damon scrambling to pull the caper off out of his ass, like someone who's head would become scrambled eggs if he doesn't cut it in time.

Then you have the "twist revelation," and once we see that Damon was privy to it...if Damon's character knew of it, why would he bother shoveling his ass to pull a needless caper off?

The Fountain
Darren Aronofsky 2006 USA 5th time
A young research-scientist obsessed and plagued with death fights to cure his wife of cancer while a 1,000 year journey through space and time is embarked upon.

Pi and Requiem for a Dream where remarkable for their cunning visual styles and chilling penetration of the human psyche. The Fountain has both of those, plus more thematic depth than I could have expected, making Aronofsky's third effort his best to date. How he developed as a storyteller so much in the seven year time-span between Requiem and this is beyond me... But, I have to say, it must be one of the most visually stunning films to come along since 2001: A Space Odyssey The future scenes, among others, where by far some of the most lavishly original images to grace my eyes in a while; and when I learned that he did not use CGI in the creation of these scenes, I was only further impressed.


The Departed
Martin Scorsese 2006 USA/Hong Kong 2nd time
A gangster pretends to be a cop, informing the Mob, whilst a cop pretends to be a gangster, informing the police.

I can't help but think the academy really only gave Scorsese the oscar to make up for lost awards and past times. This certainly wasn't his best; maybe not even one of his ten best. But that just goes to show of what caliber Scorsese is. I highly enjoyed this film, on the basis of cop versus criminal. It was very entertaining an interesting. But this is certainly more an actor's film than a director's film. The performances are all excellent... And Marky Mark Wahlberg officially has three movies that are worth a damn.


Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Larry Charles 2006 USA 2nd time
A local television personality from the middle east sets foot in America with a camera crew to make a documentary based in New York City, but finds himself on an epic journey to Hollywood in search of Pamela Anderson.

Probably the funniest film I've seen in a while. Just the sort of offensive mind-fuck that tickles my fancy. It certainly goes the extra mile, in terms of b-grade comedies. My only complaint--as is my complaint with films like Anchorman and Napoleon Dynamite--is that, while they're a good laugh, the catch on in pop culture at a disgusting rate, and then the morons that I loath but put up with on a daily basis start quoting lines at a criminal rate.


Apocolypto
Mel Gibson 2006 USA 1st time
Upon being captured for human sacrifice, a young Mayan man stuggles to survive.

Really, really good. Surprisingly, Moses does not make a cameo, and I don't think he killed more than three Jews. Go figure. No, seriously, despite the fact that Mel Gibson is a horrible human being who will most certainly burn in hell, assuming it exists, this was an excellent film; I'm not sure how much of it was historically correct, but it provided a very interesting view of Mayan society. This is the sort of movie I'd like to see appearing in theaters more often. I have to hand it to the man though... He sure does know how to take a film with a commercially unpopular premise, and turn it into a mega-million dollar epic that the studio's will actually support. Good on him and his weird, creepy elitist-agenda.


La Lettre The Letter
Michel Gondry 1998 France 1st time
An adolescent hears out the advice of his older brother upon falling in love with a young girl.

Classic Gondry. His first widely distributed short film, long before the years of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I much liked it; any man who says they cannot relate to it is a liar. Also, I believe this marks the start of that Gondry-styled surrealism... And, based upon its surreality alone, this short contained what could have been one of my favorite moments in Gondry's surrealism.


One Day...
Michel Gondry 2001 USA 1st time
A man's life-sized feces follow him out of the bathroom and accuse him of attempted murder before claiming to be his son.

Fucking hilarious. I love Gondry's sense of humor. So bizarre... I'm sure this had to be one of those sitting-around-the-office moments, when he just decided "I should do something with that gigantic crap-costume in my basement." I can't really say too much more about a short film with David Cross dressed as a giant shit.


Peacon Pie
Michel Gondry 2003 USA 1st time
A man drives a bed on wheels while singing the Elvis tune "Peacon Pie".

This reminded me of these really poorly made commercials we used to get around here in the late 90s, early 00s, of a local mattress dealership... I can't remember what the guy called himself, but he was really successful in the area, and all of his commercials involved him driving around on his mattress-car in his pajamas... They were almost identical to this short. Yeah, well, then he was convicted for embezzlement and false advertisement, and his stores closed down. Well, I can't really say anything that isn't in the plot outline, it's quite simple... Just a fun 90 second clip made while on the set of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES
(First Viewing)

Pugsley and Wednesday Addams aren't very happy with the new addition to the family: their new baby brother, Pubert. Morticia is restless, and Gomez only wants her to be happy, so he tries to fix everyone's problems by hiring a nanny. The Addams' finally find the perfect nanny in Debbie: a seemingly innocent woman with an impeccable wardrobe and a way with her hands. She charms the family, especially Uncle Fester, who is head-over-heels for her. However, Wednesday and Pugsley see through her sensual facade: Debbie is only after Fester for his money. Before they can rat on her, she has the kids sent off to summer camp, as she and Fester get married. While she tries (several times) to kill Fester and make it look like an accident, Pugsley and Wednesday must battle ever-cheery camp directors and spoiled rich kids to get back to their family and warn them of Debbie's plans.

I really think they could have squeezed another movie from this franchise. If it were made today they would have. It was great having the entire original cast back except Carol Kane replaced Judith Malina as Grandma (I like Carol Kane better anyway). This is Raul Julia's best work that I've seen. It's tragic he died the year after this film was released. Joan Cusack also did a really good job as Debbie Jellinsky, the babysitter/killer (some of her best work too). However, the real show stealer to me was Peter MacNicol. I've loved this guy ever since I saw him in GHOSTBUSTERS II in 1989. He easily had the best lines and made the film more enjoyable. I think he gets overlooked sometimes for being a pretty decent comedian. I really enjoy this guy's work (he was even in this past season of 24).

You should really quote the source of whomever wrote this... and every other thing you (don't acknowledge that you) quote... At the very least, you could acknowledge that Mike Lira wrote that, as it appears in IMDb, and not you.

JOHN Q

Everytime I watch this movie, I like it even more than I did before.


Being a father myself, I would do exactly what John Q does in order to save my child's life.

If you've ever experienced the fustration of having to try and cut through the red tape and the bullshit that these insurance companies throw in your path, then you'll find yourself cheering and rooting for John Q.

source : Don Cardi's heart.

DC,

You must be watching TNT no? It just started here. I too have seen it before and it touches my heart every time.



TIS

Yes TIS, I'm watching it as I type this. It's almost over.

What loving parent wouldn't do what this guy does to save his child's life?

When it came out in the movies, my wife and son went into one theater to see it, and my daughter, who was much younger back then, and I went into another theater to see a disney movie.

Afterwoods we all met back in the lobby of the theater, and when I asked my wife how the movie (John Q) was, my son turned around to me and said "Dad, all through the movie I kept thinking about how you would have loved it because I could see you doing what he did for me or my sister."

When I went to see it the following week, I finally realized what my son meant when he said that to me. He was right.

But jGeoff, it would make Irish's reviews be even LESS about the actual damn review!

Yeah, THE FOUNTAIN will grow in time. Its that damn great.

In my opinion, best film of 2006 is a jumble between The Fountain, A Scanner Darkly, and Le science des rêves.

The Fountain is probably on my top ten of the decade, actually.

FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER
(First Viewing)

After the death of Dr. Doom the Fantastic Four think life is back to normal. Reed Richards and Sue Storm make plans to get married, but are interrupted when the Silver Surfer shows up, trying to destroy the earth and it's up to the fantastic four to deal with them, as well as with the return of Dr. Doom.

Far superior to the original. As in GHOST RIDER, the special FX were out of this world (they really did a good job). I'm glad to see Tim Story and crew came back and did a better job with this Marvel property. I was surprised to see them get away with just a PG rating but they did a good job with it. Not as much humor in this one as there was in the original, but that didn't matter. The Silver Surfer character and again the special FX more than made up for it. I'm definitely looking forward to a third installment which I feel will be made. Also, there's talk of a possible SILVER SURFER spin-off. Can we be so lucky?

In a summer where Bay may have his biggest career hit ever....yeah, God hates us. We're that lucky.

ZATOICHI (2003)
(First Viewing)

Blind Zatoichi makes his living by gambling and giving massages. But behind his humble facade, Zatoichi is a master swordsman, gifted with lightning-fast draw and strokes of breathtaking precision. Zatoichi wanders into a town run by sinister gangs and a powerful samurai. He's destined for violent showdowns when he stumbles on two beautiful geishas avenging their parents' murder... Duels, wit and a touch of zen! Cult anti-hero Zatoichi is back in a sword-fighting adventure written, directed and starring Takeshi Kitano.

I thank you Capo for the recommendation. Even though I can't see anyone else in the role of Zatoichi other than Shintarô Katsu, I will give Takeshi Kitano A LOT of credit. He had some mighty big shoes to fill and did a fine job with his rendition of the character. The CGI blood was a nice touch as well, as were the constant limb cut-off shots. This was pretty much the type of samurai movie I was looking for and Capo hit it right on the head for me. My only real beef with the film was the last 5-10 minutes as I felt the dance rountine, as impressive as it was, wasn't necessary. Other than that, may the character of Zatoichi live on! I'm definitely looking forward to SONATINE now, which I should be able to watch tonight.