Spider-Man

SPIDER-MAN (2002) - June 28, 2004 (Second Viewing)
An excellent comic adaptation by Sam Raimi. It's well-directed, well-written, and well-acted; as far as comic book movies go, it's pretty much as good as it gets. The special effects are mostly good, though when Spider-Man swings around it's obvious he's CG. That's a minor complaint, though. Let's hope the sequel can measure up. ***

Johnny English

JOHNNY ENGLISH (2003) - June 27, 2004
Rowan Atkinson was good in this mediocre comedy about a bumbling secret agent. There were a few chuckle-worthy moments, though most of them were also featured in the trailer. Oh well, it was pretty much entertaining all the way through, so it certainly could have been worse. **1/2

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2003) - June 24, 2004
Unpleasant. That's the best word I can use to describe this movie. I mean, it was reasonably entertaining (though it dragged a bit towards the end), but it was just... unpleasant. Where the original was scary, this was just disturbing. Devoid of any real suspense, with the only "shocking" moments coming from a person scurrying by the camera accompanied by a loud noise, or Leatherface busting through doors with his chainsaw, I have to wonder what the point of this movie was. Without anything much going for it other than being gross, this was essentially like porn for sadists (things I didn't need to see: a close-up of a guy's fingernails being ripped off, a close-up of a leg being chainsawed off, Leatherface's gross face, etc.). I know this is a cliche, but good scary movies are scary because of what we don't see and imagine, not because of endless superfluous gore paraded in front of us. *

Another Woman

ANOTHER WOMAN (1988) - June 21, 2004
A well-made but somewhat dull character study by Woody Allen. About a woman who begins to reevaluate her life after she overhears a distraught woman's therapy sessions. The performances were all really good and it was certainly well-made, it just wasn't always all that interesting. Definitely not one of the Woodster's finer efforts. **1/2

The Shape of Things

THE SHAPE OF THINGS (2003) - June 20, 2004 (S)
Paul Rudd and Rachel Weisz are excellent in this film by Neil LaBute. Paul Rudd in particular was excellent as a character who undergoes numerous transformations throughout the film. The ending though, was kind of cheesy in that it basically revealed the movie to be In the Company of Men in reverse. Not that I didn't like it -- I certainly didn't see it coming, and I thought it was a pretty cool way to end the movie. But it does sort of put Neil LaBute's range into question. ***1/2

Dodgeball

DODGEBALL (2004) - June 19, 2004
An entertaining and surprisingly funny comedy about a group of misfits who enter a dodgeball tournament to save their gym. Ben Stiller was good as the requisite ultra-over-the-top villain, and so was Vince Vaughn as the easy-going owner of the aforementioned gym. It sort of reminded me of Happy Gilmore (in fact Ben Stiller seems to be playing a variation on his role in Happy Gilmore, complete with the foo-manchu mustache). But obviously, Happy Gilmore was the superior film. ***

The Lady Vanishes

THE LADY VANISHES (1938) - June 17, 2004
An excellent early film by Hitchcock. About an old lady who goes missing on a train. When the woman she was with tries to figure out what has happened to her, everyone denies that she was ever even there, Breakdown-style. Like Hitchcock's other British films, it contains many comedic elements. It was very entertaining throughout, and the mystery of the missing woman was quite compelling. Hitchcock is definitely one of my favourite directors. ***1/2

The Terminal

THE TERMINAL (2004) - June 14, 2004
Tom Hanks is pretty much the only reason to watch this movie. And even he can't save it. Stephen Spielberg makes yet ANOTHER movie that's overlong by at least half an hour. It starts off well enough, and for a while the movie is able to coast on Tom Hank's charm, but after a while it just stops being interesting. It probably didn't help that much of the screentime was devoted to Stanley Tucci in an entirely superfluous role that only served to pad out the already bloated run-time. The Catherine Zeta-Jones character was also pretty unnecessary. And I mean, come on, does a cheesy little movie like this really need to be over two hours? I'll answer that: no, no it certainly doesn't. Tom Hanks was really good, though. But Tom Hanks is always good. **

The Day After Tomorrow

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (2004) - June 14, 2004
A decent disaster movie. The movie features some excellent special effects, and good performances from Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid, but is otherwise unmemorable. I guess one of the main problems was that there weren't enough characters, and the few characters that were there were bland and uninteresting, or simply played-out cliches (the scrappy hobo! the wacky best friend! the the aging mentor! the romantic interest whose sole reason to exist is to be the romantic interest). Quaid and Gyllenhaal were both really good, but there's only so much a good actor can do before the weaknesses of the script start to show. It also didn't help that the movie was too long, and dragged in parts -- though it was never boring. Unlike another too-long movie I just saw... **1/2

Le Amiche

LE AMICHE (1955) - June 12, 2004
An early film by Antonioni. Features none of the long silences characteristic of most of his later movies, and in fact is packed with dialogue. It wasn't quite as slow as some of his other movies, but it wasn't exactly fast-paced, either. One of my biggest problems with the film is that all of the characters looked pretty similar, and at times it was a little hard to tell them apart. Oh well. It was well directed, obviously, and it was never boring. **1/2

The Chronicles of Riddick

THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (2004) - June 9, 2004
A dull and sometimes incoherent action / sci-fi movie. Vin Diesel is good as Riddick, but even he can't save this muddled mess of a movie. The story, involving a Borg-like race called the Necromongers, is far more confusing than it needs to be. There's also a lengthy diversion in a prison colony which does nothing to further the plot, and exists only to bring back a character from the first movie. And while there are some impressive visuals, the movie's lack of any real narrative momentum makes the whole thing somewhat of a bore. Plus that stupid retarded ending just raised more questions than it answered. **

Rope

ROPE (1948) - June 8, 2004
An excellent thriller, memorably directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Probably one of his better movies (though I have yet to see a bad Hitchcock movie). Takes place in real time, featuring a series of very long shots. About two young men who commit a murder, and then hold a party with the dead body inside a chest as the centrepiece. Jimmy Stewart, as the one guest who suspects something is wrong, gives yet another excellent performance. The dialogue, though somewhat stagey at times, was really good, and it was really interesting watching the two men unravel under the pressure. Sort of similar to Murder by Numbers, in that two men commit a murder just for the sake of it, but infinitely better. Infinitely better times ten. ***1/2

One Night in the Tropics

ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS (1940) - June 2, 2004
Abbott and Costello are funny in small parts in this otherwise unmemorable romantic comedy (despite the fact that they were obviously shoe-horned in, as they are totally unnecessary to the plot). The rest of the movie is fairly standard, and features far more singing than I would have liked (which is, none). Not that I mind singing so much, but all the songs in this movie are slow and unmemorable. Oh well, at least it was short. **1/2

Small Change

SMALL CHANGE (1976) - June 1, 2004
An engaging later film by Truffaut. About a group of children and their various adventures in a small town. Somewhat similar to the 400 Blows in that it deals with children, but not quite as good. It is entirely plotless and a little slow in spots, but never boring -- it's basically a series of somewhat related vignettes, and some are better than others. ***

Raw Deal

RAW DEAL (1986) - May 27, 2004 (Second viewing)
One of Arnie's lesser known films. And in fact, it was probably one of his weaker movies, but still pretty good. It was really violent, which helped. Arnie plays a disgraced ex-FBI agent who infiltrates the mob to get his old job back. Arnie was good, of course, but the script doesn't really give him the opportunity to do anything really cool or deliver any good one-liners. Not to say that Arnie wasn't cool; he's always cool. The movie just doesn't use him to his fullest potential. Though the Commando-esque ending, in which he takes on at least thirty guys, was pretty sweet. ***

Shrek 2

SHREK 2 (2004) - May 23, 2004
A worthy follow-up. Features quite a few laughs, many coming from Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots, who steals every scene he's in. At times it goes overboard rehashing jokes and characters from the first one, which makes it feel more like a remake than a sequel, but that's a relatively minor complaint as it was still very enjoyable. As far as computer animated cartoons go it wasn't exactly on the same level as Pixar, but then again not much is. ***

Key Largo

KEY LARGO (1948) - May 21, 2004
Another really good movie directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart, though not as good as the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. About a bunch of people who get stuck in a hotel during a hurricane, including a group of criminals led by Edward G. Robinson. Humphrey Bogart gives another excellent performance. In fact the performances were good all around. Lionel Barrymore was good in a non-evil role, which was a little jarring after having only seen him in It's a Wonderful Life. The movie was quite talky (it was based on a play), but the dialogue never seems overly theatrical, as is sometimes the case with older films. ***1/2

Evil Alien Conquerors

EVIL ALIEN CONQUERORS (2002) - May 19, 2004
A lame comedy. A few sporadic chuckles, but that's about it. Diedrich Bader and Chris Parnell are decent as a couple of incompetent aliens whose job is to kill everyone on Earth. But they hardly do anything, and hijinks level was disappointingly low (probably due to the obviously miniscule budget). This might have worked as a six minute sketch on SNL, but as a one and a half hour movie it fails miserably. Plus it features some of the most blatant product placement I've ever seen. But then I guess the money had to come from somewhere. **

World Traveler

WORLD TRAVELER (2001) - May 18, 2004
A well acted character study about a man who leaves his wife and child and hits the road in order to find himself. Mostly about his interactions with the various people he meets along the way. Billy Crudup is excellent in the main role, as are all the people he runs across, including Julianne Moore and the black guy from Sliders. Slow in parts, but never boring. ***

L.I.E.

L.I.E. (2001) - May 17, 2004
Brian Cox is excellent in this otherwise forgettable film. The first half, which focuses almost entirely on the disturbingly homoerotic relationship between the main character and his friend, is useless and goes nowhere. In fact the stuff with Brian Cox is probably just as useless, but remains entertaining just because of his performance. Brian Cox is still likeable even as a gross pedophile, which leads me to believe that he is incapable of giving an unlikable performance. This movie certainly solidifies his status as one of my favourite actors. Not much else to say, really. Brian Cox = thumbs up. Everything else in this movie = meh. **1/2