Alien vs. Predator

ALIEN VS. PREDATOR (2004) - August 18, 2004
A stupid movie. For a movie called "Alien vs. Predator" the aliens and the predators didn't fight nearly as much as you'd think they would (which is too bad, because the scenes where they do fight are probably the highlight of the movie). Plus the movie spends way too long setting everything up. Which wouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that there wasn't a single decent character in the whole movie. I felt like Milhouse during that episode of Itchy and Scratchy with Poochie in it. "When are they going to get to the fireworks factory??" The action scenes were all incoherent and the violence was ultra toned down, which made all the stuff with the humans being hunted pretty pointless. Plus that crazy alliance between the predator and the human was just bizarre (there's just something wrong about a shot where a predator and a human run side by side away from an explosion). *1/2

Old Yeller

OLD YELLER (1957) - August 15, 2004
A sometimes hokey, but entertaining movie about a boy and his dog. There certainly wasn't anything subtle about it, from the performances to the dialogue to the super-over-the-top score, but it worked for the most part. And then of course there was the ending, which ranks right up there with the death of Hooch in terms of harsh dog deaths in movies. ***

The Bourne Supremacy

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004) - August 6, 2004
An inferior sequel. It was essentially entertaining, though certainly overlong at around two hours. The main problem was Paul Greengrass' ultra-shaky direction. Almost the entire film was shot handheld, which got annoying after a while. And the action scenes were atrocious. They were like a parody of the standard quick-cut / shaky-cam action scene. It was almost impossible to tell what was going on, particularly during the last car chase, as there was seemingly a cut every millisecond. It was so bad I actually had to look away from the screen a couple of times because it was getting so unpleasant and disorienting to watch. Fortunately there wasn't that much action. **1/2

Garden State

GARDEN STATE (2004) - August 4, 2004
A well-made movie by Zach Braff. Excellent performances all around. The direction was good -- it started off a little bit too over-the-top, but after a while it settled down. It seems like Zach's real strength lies in his writing, as the movie was really well written. The characters were all really good, and there was actually a surprising amount of humour in the film. ***

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle

HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE (2004) - August 3, 2004
An entertaining comedy about a couple of guys who, after getting stoned, decide to get some burgers from White Castle. Hijinks ensue. A few of the jokes fell flat, but for the most part it was reasonably funny, though not exactly laugh-out-loud hilarious (with the exception of one really funny part which was probably the hardest I've laughed in quite some time). The bizarre cameo by Neil Patrick Harris, playing himself, was also a highlight. Plus the movie was a prime example of the "lots of stuff happening in a short amount of time" genre, and yet further proof that you can't go wrong with a movie like that. ***

The Village

THE VILLAGE (2004) - July 31, 2004
A well-directed, deliberately-paced movie by M. Night Shyamalan. Though not quite the thriller the trailer would lead you to believe, it was still quite good. I thought the super-crazy twist at the end was pretty cool, but I can see why people might not like it. Not exactly Shyamalan's best movie (that is and will probably always be Unbreakable), but still good. ***

Collateral

COLLATERAL (2004) - July 29, 2004
Tom Cruise stars as a hitman who forces a hapless cab driver to drive him around as he kills five people in one night. Well directed by Michael Mann (the choice to shoot it in digital was a bit iffy, but I got used to it pretty quickly). Though never boring, it dragged a bit towards the middle. It certainly picked up towards the end though, as the last twenty minutes or so were quite exciting (plus there was some obvious homage to Hitchcock, particularly Rear Window -- that's always a good thing). Tom Cruise was really good, of course (very intense), and surprisingly enough, Jamie Foxx was quite good as well. ***

The Clearing

THE CLEARING (2004) - July 26, 2004
An exceptionally well-acted drama/thriller about a businessman who is kidnapped and held for ransom, and the impact that has on his family. Robert Redford, Willem Dafoe and Helen Mirren were all really good. It was really well directed, written and acted, so I'm kind of puzzled as to why it received such a lukewarm reception from the critics. Willem Dafoe's motivation for doing what he did could have been a little clearer, but that's a minor complaint. Perhaps the critics were expecting some kind of electrifying thriller. The movie was really more of a character study, and a good one at that. ***1/2

Two Days

TWO DAYS (2003) - July 22, 2004
A well-acted movie about a struggling actor who decides to kill himself, and to make a documentary about the two days leading up to his suicide. Not quite as serious as the description would lead you to believe (it's sort of a comedy/drama). Paul Rudd is excellent as the aforementioned struggling actor. The movie is a sort of weird combination between a fake documentary and a straight-forward movie. But it works. ***

I, Robot

I, ROBOT (2004) - July 22, 2004
Now this was a good summer action movie. Will Smith (in a better than usual performance) stars as a detective in the year 2035 who tries to prove that all the new robots are up to no good. Perhaps not as heavy on the sci-fi as I would have liked, but still manages to strike a good blend of exciting action and interesting ideas. Kudos to Alex Proyas, as I thought the whole visual look of the movie was one of the things that kept it so interesting. The ending goes a little overboard with all the action (the whole sequence where Will Smith is attacked by two truckloads of robots seemed a little superfluous), but that's a relatively minor complaint. ***1/2

Catwoman

CATWOMAN (2004) - July 21, 2004
The anti-Spider-Man 2. Quite possibly the worst comic book movie ever. It's as if the guys at DC were like "hey, after stuff like Spider-Man, Hellboy and X-Men, comic book movies are getting too respectable. Let's Batman and Robin it up!" Everything about this movie was just awful; from the ridiculous S&M-inspired costume to Halle Barry's annoyingly over-the-top performance. The action was terribly directed, the characters were all cliches, and the plot was stupid. After McG, Tarsem and Kaos, Pitof continues the tradition of terrible one-name directors. And the worst thing is that most people are going to think that Catwoman - the comic book character - is this cheesy, when in reality they share a name and nothing else. I just don't get how a movie like this gets made. Didn't anyone involved read the script? Didn't they see the costume? I don't get it. And I was so sure that King Arthur was going to be the worst movie of the summer. 1/2*

Anchorman

ANCHORMAN (2004) - July 21, 2004
A funny (though not quite as laugh-out-loud hilarious as one would hope) movie starring Will Ferrell. Ferrell is funny, as usual, but the real highlight is Steve Carell as a dim-witted weatherman. The movie was entertaining throughout, and while it wasn't really as funny as I was hoping it would be, it was still one of the better comedies I've seen in a while. ***

Topkapi

TOPKAPI (1964) - July 20, 2004
A decent heist movie by Jules Dassin, director of Rififi (which is probably the best heist movie ever). It was pretty much entertaining, and the heist scene was excellent. However the first hour or so dragged a bit, focusing a bit too much on Peter Ustinov and his wacky exploits, and not enough on the set-up of the heist. Once the heist kicks in the movie picks up quite a bit -- the heist scene was really well done, but I guess that was to be expected. It was certainly no Rififi, but not much is. ***

The Enforcer

THE ENFORCER (1951) - July 17, 2004
A mediocre crime thriller. Humphrey Bogart plays a cop going after a gang of hitmen. Hurt by awkward structure (pretty much the whole thing was a flashback, with the occasional flashback within a flashback) and occasionally weak dialogue. Humphrey Bogart was good, of course, but he didn't have all that much to do as he wasn't even there in over half of the flashbacks. Plus the movie seems to be operating under the bizarre assumption that the whole idea of hitmen is something new and unheard of (Bogart and his partner even spend a chunk of the movie trying to figure out what the words "hit" and "contract" mean), which I don't think was the case even back in 1951. **1/2

Monster

MONSTER (2003) - July 17, 2004
Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci are excellent in this movie about a rare prostitute without a heart of gold. Charlize Theron in particular was really good and barely recognizable as the aforementioned prostitute. Aside from good acting the movie was well-directed and entertaining throughout. ***1/2

Old Boy

OLD BOY (2003) - July 16, 2004 (S)
A bizarre movie about a man who is kidnapped and held against his will for fifteen years. When released, he sets out to find out who kidnapped him and why, and to get his revenge. Slow in parts, and a little strange (but never in a full-out David Lynch sort of way -- it always makes sense). The twist at the end was probably one of the coolest twists I've seen in a while. I certainly didn't see it coming. In fact, even if the movie had sucked, I think that twist would have made it worthwhile. Fortunately it didn't suck. ***

King Arthur

KING ARTHUR (2004) - July 7, 2004
Oh man, I should have seen Spider-Man 2 again. Antoine Fuqua proves that he is a terrible director, and that Training Day was just a fluke. This was a bad, bad movie. It contained no characters worth caring about (with the exception of Ray Winstone, who was easily the best thing about the movie). Clive Owen was decent enough as Arthur, but his character was so bland it was impossible to care about him (his character never progessed beyond being anything but the "noble warrior"). Stellan Skarsgard and Til Schweiger, as the villains, were ultra-underdeveloped, and about as three-dimensional as Dastardly and Muttley. So without any characters worth caring about on either side, the movie became boring very quickly. Why should I care about the climactic final battle if I don't care about any of the characters? Or anything else, for that matter? It probably didn't help that the movie was very obviously cut from an R rating to a PG-13 (not that any amount of violence would have helped). Plus, the characters spend most of the movie on a pointless mission that has almost nothing to do with the final battle. So the movie was essentially like a hollow shell of a historical epic -- it went through all the motions, but without any decent characters... What's the point? That's all I can really say about this movie. What's the point? *1/2

Spider-Man 2

SPIDER-MAN 2 (2004) - July 6, 2004
As far as sequels go, this was pretty much perfect. It improved on the original in pretty much every way. It had a perfect blend of action and drama, and was actually surprisingly funny. Alfred Molina was excellent as Doc Ock, but that wasn't much of a surprise. Actually, all the performances were excellent. And despite being over two hours, it was really entertaining all the way through. This is probably Sam Raimi's best movie (though I need to watch A Simple Plan again). All comic book movies should be this good. Heck, all movies should be this good. ****

Fahrenheit 9/11

FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (2004) - July 5, 2004
A mostly entertaining but overlong documentary about Bush's incompetence and his unjust war in Iraq. It certainly paints an unflattering picture of Bush, but given the target I'm sure that wasn't very difficult. However, knowing how Michael Moore stretched the truth in Bowling For Columbine, it's hard to take it totally seriously. **1/2

Stand-in

STAND-IN (1937) - July 4, 2004
Humphrey Bogart is good in a small part in this entertaining comedy about an uptight accountant who attempts to run a movie studio like a math equation. He has a plucky secretary, and of course, they fall in love. The movie is predictable, but surprisingly entertaining -- it even has a few genuinely funny parts. ***