Movie - Little Miss Sunshine

This is a great film about a slightly dysfunctional and very odd family.  It’s very funny and extremely enjoyable.  The acting is phenomenal!  In fact it’s almost as good as the writing.  The cast does an amazing job of bringing such wonderfully written characters to life.  The direction and cinematography are great too.  They really just let you sit back and watch, often with disbelief, as the twisted and entertaining events of the story unfold.  In the end it’s a great story about family and the fiber that makes each one unique.  Definitely check it out in the theatre!  You won’t be disappointed. 

Movie - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

I don’t think a movie could have kicked all the other movies asses quite so thoroughly in terms of box-office performance.  Pirates broke every opening weekend record that existed.  But is it really worthy?  It is a good movie.  Maybe even a very good movie.  But it’s not great.  For starters, the first half hour of the movie is rather pointless.  You could literally fall asleep for the first half hour, wake up, and think the movie just started.  In fact you’d be better off doing so.  Now once the story gets going the movie is actually quite good, except for this unexplained witchcrafty character that randomly appears and solves some problems for our main characters.  Also, the dialogue isn’t near as clever as the first movie.  Rather it seems as though they are mocking their efforts in the first film.  Basically the classic sequel mistake was made; taking for granted the things that made the first film great.  Now all that said, this movie has some great action and a fun story.  The effects are a little over done but that’s easy to get past.  Finally, they give you a great cliffhanger ending that not only leaves you in anticipation of number three, but also gives some excellent character twists.  Definitely a theatre-going movie!

Movie - Superman Returns

This movie is very cool.  From the opening credits that pay tribute to the previous films, to the passing of the torch at the end.  There were, however, some mistakes and some things left out.  First, this should not have been a continuation of the first films.  While a novel idea, the characters were just too different.  Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth portray excellent versions of Superman and Lois Lane, respectively.  But, they bare little resemblance to those characters as portrayed by Christopher Reeves and Margot Kidder.  This gives the film a rather large sense of disconnect.  It’s as though they just didn’t quite try hard enough.  On the flip side, Kevin Spacey makes for a great Lex Luthor, but Frank Langella disappoints as Perry White.  Also, I really would have liked to see Superman do some cooler stuff.  He basically did a lot of flying, catching, and lifting.  The action scenes weren’t very creative on the part of the filmmakers.   It also would have been nice if they’d showcased Superman’s ingenuity a little more.  All in all, the film was good but not great.  Go see it in the theatre because it’s a kick-ass theatre going experience.  But, I’m putting my hopes on the already announced sequel.

Movie - Cars

Argh!  How frustrating that a movie with such potential could be so... mediocre.  This movie wasn’t horrible by any means, but it certainly wasn’t up to Pixar standards.  We’ve come to expect so much from Pixar.  They have finally and unfortunately dropped the ball.  This movie had no strong villian.  This made for a lack of conflict and a very “happy” movie.  Not that I wanted something drastic, but just some antagonistic event to add an emotional arc to the film.  The film did look amazing.  Pixar did not fail in continuing to raise the bar in that department.  I must say though, I had a lot more fun when I went to see Dreamworks’ Over The Hedge.

Movie - The Da Vinci Code

This was surprisingly good.  It was basically a much better National Treasure, and based in religion rather than politics (although some could argue there’s little difference in the two).  However, the acting was far from the best from its cast.  In addition to getting over Tom Hanks’ long hair, you also have to let yourself believe that he’s some kind of code breaking genius.  Not hardly.  On the plus side, it was a very good story and the locations and cinematography were great.  It managed to keep my attention throughout its entire 150 minute runtime.  No small feat mind you.  I especially enjoyed Ian McKellen.  However, Audrey Tautou is much better in A Very Long Engagement.   I’d say it’s worth checking out though.  A good film all things considered.

Movie - King Kong

Definitely go see it once. I don't think I'd give it the Titanic treatment though. Of course the best part of this film is the special fx. Weta Digital has set the bar again in that category. The ape is incredibly life-like and gives a great performance even in close-ups thanks again to the motion capture talents of Andy Serkis, who you'll remember performed the same tasks for Gollum in the LOTR trilogy. Aside from the amazing effects you can also count on a fantastic performance from Naomi Watts. She seems born for the part of Anne Darrow. This movie certainly has something for everyone. But take that as a warning as well as a credit to the film. While there is a quirky love story and some great acting, there are also some spectacular action scenes that some might not find appealing. In any case, I would call this a very good film and definitely worth seeing in the theatre.

Movie - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I had heard that this was the best one yet. I'd heard right. This movie was amazing! Quite enjoyable! It's about as dark as its predecessor, but it also has great humor and light-heartedness that balances the film out perfectly. I was quite excited to see that "a certain character" was played by Ralph Fines. He did a great job as usual. The story is well done while still giving plenty of action to make the movie's 150min. running time fly by. Of course the special fx are fantastic and a joy for the eye. Unfortunately this film will probably not receive any awards for the same reason that the first two installments of LOTR were lacking in that department. But, it is a fantastic film and you should definitely go see it.

Movie - Madagascar

Eh. It was alright. It's a good story idea but I really thought it could have been expanded upon more. The story seemed confined which made it uninteresting and predictable. It was certainly better than Shark Tale. Dreamworks barely made up for that one. Madagascar isn't bad by any means but when you have competition like Pixar, you're held to a much higher standard. This was nowhere near the caliber of Pixar's movies. For those of you who don't know, those include Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. Quite an impressive line and certainly a tough competitor. Dreamworks was up there with Shrek, but ever since they've fallen off. They need to get back in gear and put out some kick-ass movies. Well, I guess for now we'll all just have to wait very patiently until June 9, 2006 for Cars (exactly one year from today)!

Movie - Sin City

Damn! This movie is a lot of fun. Be warned, it's pretty gruesome, but really cool! I for one am not familiar with the comic book, so my critique of this movie is based solely on my movie-going experience. The visuals in this movie are incredible. Director Robert Rodriguez does a phenomenal job of bringing the look of a comic book to the big screen. The story is interesting. The movies is made up of several short stories all happening in the same world and relative to each other. I'm sure there's a bigger story that unites all the smaller ones, but I'd have to watch in again to get it. I was too distracted by the visuals. The acting is good. There's a lot of big name actors playing rolls you wouldn't expect. They pull it off very nicely though. Go see this movie if you want to be blown away by visual effects and see lots of people being killed in ways you never thought possible.

Movie - Finding Neverland

Go see this movie! Best film of 2004! It has suffered from a huge lack of publicity and an even bigger misconception. This is not just another Peter Pan movie. It is a great film about the author, James Mathews Barrie, and his inspiration for the story. It also offers a wonderful insight into the imagination. It stars Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. They both give excellent performances. However, they can't compare to the performance of young Freddie Highmore. This kid is incredible. You may have seen him in Two Brothers; you need to see him in Finding Neverland; and you will soon see him as Charlie in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This movie also has a beautiful look to it and the fantasy sequences are done extraordinarily well. Look to this one Oscar night for Best Cinematography and Best Movie.