The Da Vinci Code

THE DA VINCI CODE (2006) - May 19, 2006
A decent, though not particularly great, adaptation of the mega-popular book. Tom Hanks was good, because Tom Hanks is incapable of giving a bad performance, but he has definitely been better. Meh. **1/2

United 93

UNITED 93 (2006) - May 17, 2006
A sometimes harrowing, sometimes slightly dull recounting of flight 93, the one plane on 9/11 that didn't hit its target. Directed by Paul "one note" Greengrass, so it's obviously directed with a gritty, documentary-like style (though it works a lot better here than it did in the Bourne Supremacy). The movie cuts between stuff on the ground, with the people controlling the planes trying to figure out what's going on, and the stuff on the plane itself. My biggest complaint with this movie was that after a while, the stuff on the ground started to feel a bit redundant -- once the idea that there was a lot of confusion on the ground is hammered home, watching random workers exclaim "is it a hijacking?" "it can't be a hijacking!" "the plane disappeared!" etc., starts to get a bit monotonous, especially since there aren't any characters. The stuff on the plane was really good though, particularly towards the end. I wish there had been more of that and less of the other stuff. ***

Last Holiday

LAST HOLIDAY (2006) - May 16, 2006 (Second Viewing)
A really entertaning, funny and enjoyable film, centred by a very likeable performance from Queen Latifah. Say what you will about this movie -- it may by cheesy and manipulative and (insert jaded film-buff criticism here) but it's really well done and very enjoyable. ***1/2

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975) - May 12, 2006 (Umpteenth Viewing)
What can I say about this movie? It's a classic, certainly. There are too many really funny scenes to mention, and though I've seen it so many times at this point that I've practically memorized it, I'm still really entertained and amused by it. ****

Poseidon

POSEIDON (2006) - May 10, 2006
It's strange for a movie like this to be as short as it is -- around 90 minutes. But watching it, it becomes clear why: it feels like double that. It probably doesn't help that the wave hits at around the ten minute mark, which leaves the characters slightly underdeveloped (to put it mildly). It also doesn't help that as soon as the boat flips, the characters spring right into action, going from one "exciting" set-piece to the next, with almost no down-time between them. And, although it's not a fair comparison, it's hard to watch a movie set on a sinking ship without thinking of Titanic, which is obviously the superior film in every conceivable way. It was nice seeing Richard Dreyfuss back on the big screen, and of course people like Josh Lucas and Kurt Russell are always good, but, well... The movie wasn't completely boring, it just got sort of tedious towards the end. **

Art School Confidential

ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (2006) - May 10, 2006
This actually started out really well, but then sort of lost steam and petered out towards the end. About a idealistic young kid who goes to art school, only to find out it isn't quite what he thought it would be. The movie has a quirky charm, and for the first 40 minutes or so it really works. But there's a lot of superfluous stuff here; the comic it's based on was apparently too short for a movie, so it was expanded for the screenplay. You can tell. It feels padded. The performances were all good, as was Terry Zwigoff's direction. But it definitely would have benefited from a shorter running time. ***

Hostage

HOSTAGE (2005) - May 7, 2006
A surprisingly inert thriller. Featuring Bruce Willis, who plays a grizzled veteran of the force who looks like a scared child every time someone points a gun at him, and who spends the majority of the film on the verge of tears. The film was reasonably well made, it just wasn't very interesting or exciting, for whatever reason. **

Mission: Impossible III

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III (2006) - May 3, 2006
An essentially entertaining action film, though it did grow a bit tiresome after a while as it was over two hours long and was essentially just a series of loosely strung together action set-pieces. It probably doesn't help that practically every one takes place in a different country, which makes the whole thing feel a bit disjointed. Philip Seymour Hoffman was excellent as a really sinister bad guy, though he didn't have nearly enough to do, and Simon Pegg was definitely a highlight as a wacky computer technician. The action scenes were all well done, but the movie definitely would have benefited from some trimming, and a bit more downtime between the action. **1/2

Silent Hill

SILENT HILL (2006) - May 2, 2006
Sweet Jesus. Based on the trailers, and the fact that the people behind the camera have talent (supposedly), this seemed like it should have been the first really good video game adaptation. It was one of the worst. It had some promise at the beginning; it had a creepy atmosphere and it seemed generally well made. But then it started to get strange. But not strange in a good way -- strange in a "what's supposed to be happening here?" type of way. Strange in a "why are the characters acting like this?" type of way. It just got more and more confusing, with random oddball stuff happening for no apparent reason. The plot had something to do with a ghost town, and a fire, and some weird little girl... I really actually have no idea what the plot was. Aside from being confusing, the writing was about on the same level as a low budget, straight-to-video movie, with such gems as "They used to say this town was haunted... I think they were right!" (this being after they've seen several bizarre demons, a swarm of giant cockroaches with human-like mouths, among other various bits of weirdness). The performances weren't much better. Even the usually reliable Sean Bean seemed completely uncomfortable with a forced, awkward American accent. The movie generally looked pretty good, but it was such a boring, baffling ordeal, I didn't really care. If I ever see Roger Avery I'm going to punch him in the stomach and demand my ten bucks back. *

The Descent

THE DESCENT (2005) - April 29, 2006 (Second Viewing)
As far as this type of horror movie goes, this movie is pretty much perfect. It's just riveting from start to finish. There is the first half, with the women struggling to find their way out of the cave, which is really good. And then there's the second half, with the monsters, which is even better than the first. It's edge-of-your seat and it's really well made. ****

Wolf Creek

WOLF CREEK (2005) - April 27, 2006
A brutal and entertaining horror film. This got a bad rap when it came out, and I'm not sure why. Sure it was pretty brutal to its characters, but all films of this type are. It probably doesn't help that the bad stuff doesn't go down until around the mid-point of the movie, with the first half spent with the characters traveling across the countryside and having a good time. This makes the sudden brutality of the second half more jarring than it would be otherwise. The movie was well made and entertaining, but I don't think I'll ever be able to look at Crocodile Dundee the same way. ***

Miller's Crossing

MILLER'S CROSSING (1990) - April 25, 2006
A really well written, well directed movie about gangsters in the '20s. The performances were all quite good, particularly Gabriel Byrne, and John Turturro as a sleazy, small-time thug. The Raymond Chandler-eqsue dialogue was really good... basically, this was just as good as you'd expect a gangster movie by the Coens would be. ***1/2

American Dreamz

AMERICAN DREAMZ (2006) - April 19, 2006
A decent but essentially forgettable film about an American Idol type of show. The film satirizes such fresh subjects as reality shows and President Bush. What a bold and fresh idea -- I've never seen anyone make fun of Bush before. Oh wait, I have, like a million times. The movie starts off well enough but got sort of tiresome towards the end (the amount of songs performed probably didn't help). The performances were all good - Seth Meyers stole pretty much every scene he was in as a sleazy agent - but aside from that it was pretty mediocre. **1/2

Lucky Number Slevin

LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN (2006) - April 19, 2006
Well, that was a bit disappointing. The movie started well and ended well but most of the it was sort of a dud. Not that it was terrible (it was pretty much entertaining all the way through) but, well... For one thing, the dialogue was a bit too quirky for its own good. Plus the main character, for the sake of the twist at the end, was essentially not developed at all, which made his exploits during most of the movie sort of pointless. The whole movie was very obviously leading up to a twist, so it was sort of like, just get to it already. It did improve at the end, though. **1/2

Brick

BRICK (2005) - April 19, 2006
A high school detective movie, featuring the same type of hard-boiled dialogue that Sin City tried (and failed) to emulate. While Sin City's dialogue seemed like overblown parody that got tiresome pretty fast, here it really works. It helps that all the performances were really good; Joseph Gordon-Levitt in particular was exceptional in the main role. This was basically just a really good detective movie that just happened to be set in and around a high school. ***1/2

Hostel

HOSTEL (2005) - April 18, 2005 (Second Viewing)
A really effective horror/thriller. The film is perfectly paced, allowing us to spend some time with the characters before beginning the carnage. The whole last half was pretty much electrifying. And essentially all the bad guys get their comeuppance, with the main villain getting a particularly brutal death. I don't care what anybody says, this was a really good movie. ****

The Dark Corner

THE DARK CORNER (1946) - April 17, 2006
A well directed film noir about a detective framed for murder. Featuring Lucille Ball, who is actually quite good in a very non-Lucy Ricardo type of role. The film was entertaining throughout and looked good too, featuring the type of shadowy cinematography film noir became known for. I also liked the dialogue, with lines like "I'm easier to frame than Whistler's Mother." Good stuff. ***

Black Angel

BLACK ANGEL (1946) - April. 8, 2006
A decent film noir, though nothing particularly special. Flatly directed by Roy William Neill, the film was entertaining throughout (the 81 minute runtime probably helped). The performances were good, particularly Peter Lorre, but the film was basically just forgettable. **1/2

Dog Soldiers

DOG SOLDIERS (2002) - April 6, 2006
Though obviously nowhere nearly as good as the Descent - Neil Marshall's followup to this film - as far as Aliens-inspired films go, this was one of the better ones (the hack who directed Doom could learn a thing or two from Marshall). The film managed to develop the characters enough that we cared about them, while still moving at a reasonably fast pace. The action was good, and it was well directed. ***

Last Days

LAST DAYS (2005) - Mar. 31, 2006
Hmmm. This movie was really well directed and featured some good performances (though he has almost no coherent dialogue, Michael Pitt still managed to give a really good performance). However, it was the weakest of Gus Van Sant's recent trilogy; it lacked the bizarre hypnotic appeal of Gerry, or the emotional impact of Elephant. It was definitely well directed, featuring some Kubrick-like compositions, but it just wasn't all that interesting. I was never all-out bored, but I was never really entertained, either. **1/2