| Recent Movies |
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X2: XMen United |
Those damn mutants!! They're back again; this movie lost points
for killing off the only female character I liked (Jean Gray), and then
going on to kill off the last hope of humanizing Wolverine (his female alter-ego,
so that he wouldn't have to keep having this strangely disturbing pre-teen
"thing" with Rogue). And, of course, when brother finds out his
family is mutant, he does just what everyone would do, call the police.
If my brother were a mutant, I'd be saying "dude, hook me up with some
of that mutant flame throwing powers!!!" On the plus side, they busted
the king prince of evil out of jail opening the door for XMen 3, Attack
of the Metal Throwing Pyros. So, I'm all over that. |
9-8-2003 |
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Bruce Almighty |
A soft comedy that was just the right price, free as part
of an airline flight. Jim Carrey delivers his usual performance, which was
usually abysmal. Mildly entertaining compared to listening to the drone
of jet engines, but not much more. |
9-8-2003 |
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The Matrix Reloaded |
Matrix 1 was revolutionary, and Matrix 2 tries to carry on
the story, but falls short. A movie can not stand on special effects alone,
even if the special effects include Keanu Reeves fighting 638 identical
Agent Smiths. Unlike others, I like Fishburne's character best, and he got
plenty of face-time to deliver pithy sage-like one liners and to exhort
the masses. An enjoyable movie that maintains the Matrix franchise but does
not extend it. |
9-8-2003 |
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Matrix: Revolutions |
A contrived ending and transparent linear plot brings closure
to the Matrix trilogy. I was sad to see Morpheus reduced to the role of
'unsure sidekick'. I was sad to see that Neo, after years of fighting Agent
Smith,was unable to recognize him even when the 8 year old next to me could.
I was sad to see Neo and Trinity sapping it up. I was even sad to see the
machine, once it had all mankind to the screws give the "oh, sorry,
my bad." response. On the other side, the whole "balancing the
equation" premise had wings, far-ranging implications about the free-will
of man, and the metaphysical matrix-within-a-matrix, but after so much innovation
and stretching the audience in film one, film three resorted to spoon-feeding
it to us. Too bad! |
11-7-2003 |
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Master and Commander |
Water World
should have scared me away. The Endless Perfect
Storm should have perfected that lesson. But alas, I don't learn quickly.
So, yet another endless waterscape film drags by. In my opinion this film
has little to redeem itself beyond the graphic war sequences, but after
Saving Private Ryan, we've
done that. Crowe finds himself immersed in an unsympathetic role, I wasn't
cheering for him to put down the slavering emporer this time around. The
villian is ill-defined, and we never really decide he's a great evil. Our
only hope is the whole crew will mutiny and put Crowe out of his misery,
but instead they play "vacation in the tropics" and everything
turns out a-ok! |
11-16-2003 |
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Into Thin Air |
A disappointing adaptation of a good book. The movie goes
overboard to make a few points, and takes liberties with the story as told
in the book. Characters are polarized much more so than they actually were
in the book; the movie tries hard to make us despise the "bad guys"
but flops. The story does succeed in discouraging you from wanting to visit
Everest anytime soon; and maybe that's the whole point in this era of high
paying amateur clients despoiling the peak that should belong only to a
few rare true mountaineers... |
12-3-2003 |
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Spy Kids 3 |
Kids go ubergeek. I didn't see 1 & 2; this movie had its
cute moments, and the characters gelled just well enough so that you could
almost forgive Stallone for another Judge Dread like performance. |
12-4-2003 |
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Jet Lag |
Some obscure Canadian movie that American Airlines though
was a good one to show on a flight. We're on a plane and they show us movies
about people being stuck trying to fly... hmmmmm. subliminal message? Slow
moving, but eventually it grows on you. The ending is all too predictable,
and falls short of a true tear inducer. |
12-7-2003 |
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The Last Samurai |
This movie wins points just on the basis of the samurai code.
Tom Cruise manages to topgun himself right into the role of the gaijing
seduced by the strict tenets of the honor bound tradition. The last half
of the movie saves it from the first half rendition of our hero as a founder
of AA. |
12-18-2003 |
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Bad Boys II |
I liked Bad Boys (the original) and the trailer had lots of
promising Ferrari action. But that was the best of the film. Lawrence and
Smith seem to believe that just the interplay between their two personalities
is enough to carry a movie; who needs plot, characters, or any story development.
I respectfully disagree. |
1-8-2004 |
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Biker Boyz |
It had to get better after Bad Boys II. I kept having thoughts
of In-Sync on motorcycles, but this one at least had a storyline, though
you had to see the Star Wars inspired punchline coming from a mile out. |
1-9-2004 |
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Torque |
The continuation of bikes gone mad month. This movie was one
high speed ride after another for almost its entire length. After watching
this, I now realize that my fears were misguided and I really could wreck
a motorcycle at 140 mph and walk away. |
1-28-2004 |
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Natural Born
Killers |
It's official: Oliver Stone owes me two hours of my life.
If there was a redeeming quality of this film, I missed it. Half way through
the movie, I became so inured to violence that in the middle of one absolutely
gory scene, I fell asleep. So maybe OS only owes me 90 minutes. |
2-5-2004 |
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Lost in Translation |
Unsympathetic characters running rampant make this film a
dull slog. My advice: if your husband bores you after 2 years maybe you
should think about figuring out "who you are" before you marry
#2. |
2-8-2004 |
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Serendipity |
A better take on Lost in Translation's theme of two people
not really with who they want. The actors are so much more sympathetic here,
you actually want them to end up together. |
2-10-2004 |
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50 First Dates |
A mix of Memento
without the darkness and Groundhog
Day, this delivers a cute story with a dose of typical Sandler comedy,
but he pulls most of it off. The Russian assistant pushed the raunch factor
almost past the safety zone. |
2-15-2004 |
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Miracle |
Great story! I always love an underdog rises up against unbeatable
odds to defeat the juggernaut, and Miracle delivers on that. |
2-22-2004 |
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Thirteen |
Who knew 13 year old girls could be so tormented and evil?
I'm glad I'm not married with kids now. |
2-22-2004 |
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Under the Tuscan
Sun |
Good acting and characters I can relate to made this an enjoyable
voyage into the land of prototypically sappy "chick" movies. So
forget everything you just read. I have my rep to keep after all. |
3-20-2004 |
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Spartan |
Formulaic kidnap victim recovery movie. Some "all too
subtle" camera work gives away the true villians about 1/5 of the way
through the movie. I guess we were supposed to be suprised. The body count
(all the supporting cast??) doesn't save the weak story. |
3-21-2004 |
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Intolerable
Cruelty |
Rich guys being boorish and exercising their constitutional
right to chain divorces and ripping people off. Do I even have to ask if
I could relate. It's too bad too because I generally like both George Clooney
and Catherine Zeta-Jones but even their formidable on-screen presence could
not save this little stinky screenplay. |
3-31-2004 |
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Kill Bill vol 2
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Tarrantino scores another bullseye! That is, if by bullseye,
you mean "it sucked so bad I wanted to hurl." Ok, it was better
than Natural Born Killers. This time the lack of any real drama was as effective
as any Thanksgiving Day tryptophan. |
4-28-2004 |
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Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind |
I never thought I'd like a Jim Carrey movie, but this exploration
of the universal desire to relive the brilliant genesis and discard the
dark endings of relationships wins me over. Carrey's weak, "nice guy"
character is sympathetic and Winslet plays the edgy, oh-so-bad girl that
every nice guy wants to the 9's. |
5-1-2004 |
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Van Helsing |
The monster gang's all here to witness the smack-down of Dracula.
Fast paced action with moments of humorous parody - I had to take a star
for Dracula being such a wimp and for that cheese faces in the cloud scene. |
5-7-2004 |
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Shrek II |
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5-24-2004 |
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Against the
Ropes |
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6-4-2004 |
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Mooseport |
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6-13-2004 |
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Along Came
Polly |
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6-13-2004 |
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Bourne Supremacy |
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7-23-2004 |
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Butterfly Effect |
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8-9-2004 |
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Hidalgo |
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8-9-2004 |
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Collateral |
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8-16-2004 |
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Hero |
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8-27-2004 |
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Napolean Dynamite |
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9-6-2004 |
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Love Actually |
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9-8-2004 |
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Resident Evil
2 |
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9-10-2004 |
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Cellular |
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9-15-2004 |
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The Forgotten |
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10-7-2004 |
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| Recent Books |
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Red
Rabbit (Tom Clancy) |
In the CIA, everything goes exactly as planned. At least for
the Red Rabbit. But it still takes 618 pages. A better story would have
been that of the Foley's, cowboy agents stationed in Moscow, getting their
thang done anyway it takes. But, alas, the story revolves around Ryan, who
plays a minor and contrived part in the whole scheme of events. |
9-24-2003 |
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Prey (Michael
Crichton) |
Science fiction for the masses. Crichton's story of artificial
intelligence run amuck is just real enough to make you pause. The storytelling
is lively and readable, even by someone who is not part of the geeknation. |
11-22-2003 |
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Seven Summits (Rick Ridgeway) |
The story of Dick Bass and Frank Well's trip to reach the
highest point of each continent on earth. It's not a primer for how to repeat
their feat yourself, but reads like an extended trip report. Unfortunately,
it's real life, so we don't get to see how the "Hollywood romance"
turns out -- but we do get a flavor for the persistence and desire that
led these two novices to pursue a goal not even accomplished by the "masters"
of the era. |
11-29-2003 |
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The Climb (Anatoli Boukreev) |
Into Thin Air from the other perspective. The story is just
as chilling, but it's interesting how two participants can see things in
almost opposite ways. Not as well written as Into Thin Air, but compelling
none the less. |
12-7-2003 |
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Net Force: Changing of the Guard (Tom Clancy) |
At least the world knows what trolls are now. Two months later,
that's all I can remember about this poor attempt at cyber technology for
the masses. I guess that says something. |
12-20-2003 |
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Winter's Tale (Mark Helprin) |
Beautifully written, but slow moving. The final pages of the
book almost redeem it, finally generating some energy. It took me months
to read this 700 page monster, and though the reading was pleasant, it was
not captivating... |
4-24-2004 |
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Angels & Demons (Dan Brown) |
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5-1-2004 |
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Without Remorse (Tom Clancy) |
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7-7-2004 |
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Digital Fortress (Dan Brown) |
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7-11-2004 |