Movie Reviews & More
True Lies (1994)
Starring Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis, Eliza Dushku, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton and Tia Carrere this is a fun action packed movie about marriage and saving the world by James Cameron.
Real short rundown. Arnold is the secret agent with a legal secretary wife. They have been married for 15 years and she thinks he is a computer salesman. Then, one day Arnold walks into her office, and catches her talking to a man, and thinks she is having an affair. He does some investigating and figures out she is being played by a sleezy guy. In the end, his game goes horribly wrong as they are both taken hostage by the real terrorists. The terrorists have four nuclear warheads and are making cash demands of the USA. Well, you guess it, Arnold wins in the end any everything is safe.
I just love the cast. Paxton plays class A jerks so well, and for me, this is a great role for Arnold. Semi-serious, doesn’t demand him to be too over the top, instead he can be a cocky secret agent who just whoops the bad guy butt. Not to mention, for 1994, this had some great action sequences and effects, from Arnold flying a fighter jet in the city, to the car cash on the Florida Keys bridge and Arnold pulling Jamie Lee out of a burning limo while hanging upside down with one hand. Curtis is no slouch in this movie, and she has this strip tease scene when Arnold is playing her which shows how really beautiful she is. She also plays a decently convincing housewife who is stuck in the middle of something secretive.
Rated R for violence and that striptease scene, I recommend this movie to anyone. A fun movie that will keep you entertained for over two hours, this is timeless classic in it’s own right.
The Constant Gardener (2005)
Starring Rachel (Tessa) Weisz and Ralph(Justin) Fiennes, this is a movie about Corporate America’s drug testing that they want kept quiet in Africa.
This is a good movie. The storytelling isn’t completely original, but it is a nice way of giving the viewer a true sense of how much Justin and Tessa love each other. From how they awkwardly met, Tessa at Justin’s throat to the end, when you learn that the distance between them is because Tessa is trying to protect Justin, from things he doesn’t need to know.
Tessa, a strong willed individual, has just met Justin and for whatever reason that I missed, is going to Africa. An English diplomat, it seems feasible. Whilst in Africa, Tessa, a bleeding heart for all people in need, starts to poke around and upsets some people. Well, the movie starts out with the news that she has been raped and murdered. The a good chunk of the movie is told backwards, including how they met right up to the point of when she died. When the back story catches up to current time, Justin sets out to finish what Tess starts, at the cost of his life. To expose a pharmaceutical company that is testing a new drug on Africans who they believe “Will die anyway”.
A very well made movie, emotional, this is something my parents may like. It is brutal, the violence in Africa, and it is very sad. For that reason, although it is good, it isn’t something you’d want to own for entertainment value.
The Wedding Date (2005)
Starring Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, Amy Adams, and Jack Davenport, the movie’s title is pretty self explanatory. Kat(Messing) wants to make her ex-fiance jealous at her little sister’s wedding, so she hires a male escort to pose as her gorgeous boyfriend Nick (Dermot).
Of course, desperate and vulnerable Kat falls for the strong confident “I have a great answer for everything” Nick. But for the first half she is still unsure if she wants her old fling back (Jeffrey coincidentally) or go with Nick. Soon enough, she finds out her little sister and Jeffrey were sleeping together, that is why he broke off their engagement. Then the flood gates break loose.
I like Dermot. He has done some mildly interesting stuff in his short career. But Messing does nothing for me. She doesn’t seem just like Grace from “Will & Grace”, but isn’t an actress that would solely draw you into the theater. Not particularly funny, nor particularly memorable, this has a whisper of the feel of every Julia Roberts movie ever made from “Pretty Woman” to “Runaway Bride” and it doesn’t help that Messing also has red hair. Unless you can rent this for free, this isn’t even a very good love story, I would pass on it.
Just Friends (2005)
Starring Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart, I really liked this movie and felt guilty doing so. Maybe it is because parts of it I could relate to, and other parts were just so silly in situation that you couldn’t help but laugh.
Chris (Reynolds) and Jamie (Smarts) are the best of friends in high school. Jamie is the hot cheerleader type that flirts with all the guys and acts without too much discretion around Reynolds. In the final party of his senior year, Chris gets up the courage to write how he really feels in Jamie’s yearbook. Well, like most high school stories, things go wrong, and oh, did I mention, Chris is a fat guy. So he is royally embarrassed by his peers and runs away to Los Angeles vowing never to return. Instead, promises to become “Somebody”.
Fast forward to the future, Chris is now a successful music mogul, confident, good looking, he can have any girl he wants. For Christmas, he has to escort in hopes of signing, a hot young bubble gum singer (Anna Faris) that is also irritating and obnoxious. Flying to Paris, she accidentally frys the microwave in the plane with some tinfoil, and the planes lands. Just outside of Jersey, Chris decides to stay with his parents until they can get another flight. He hasn’t been home in ten years, and all of a sudden, everything comes rushing back. Everything he wanted to escape.
The “Friend Zone” is a term coined by this movie, meaning, when you are such good friends with a girl she can’t even see you as a dating option. Chris sees Jamie, his feelings come rushing back, and so do his imperfections. Trying so hard to be someone he is not, one hilarious situation after another arises. Then he has to deal with Dusty (Chris Klein of American Pie fame), who also had a thing for Jamie is high school and is trying to score.
Back and forth they go, this movie makes you feel for Chris in both ways. The “Friend Zone” is real and true, and if you can appreciate that, you will love this movie. That, and the scene on tv when Chris is lip signing, in his fat suit, to “I Swear”. So stupid. Not a movie my parents would like, but anyone who enjoyed 40 year old virgin, or wedding crashers, this is less vulgar, more painful humor at times. You should check this out if you liked either of those two movies, and if you think Reynolds is a super cocky humor genius.
Love Actually (2004)
This movie was just swarming with stars, from Hugh Grant, to Liam Neelson to Kiera Knightly and Laura Linney. The whole movie is about 5-10 different types of “love” stories that are all happening simultaneously.
There is a good deal of humor to this movie, in different forms, but I don’t think the format would be really appealing to most people. Jumping back and forth, I must admit that it took a little while for me, for the movie to really pick up. Maybe about an hour, hour and a quarter in the stories all started getting good.
It would take me a really long time to write out what each story was about, and I think it unecessary. Most people have seen a movie like this before, fragmented, and this one all works out for the best in the end. You really feel good about love, the stories all work together in that they all kind of hit their low and high points together. The end being the highest, all of the romances are resolved in some form, and you really leave wanting to be close to your own certain someone.
One of the love stories, as bizarre as it is, involves these normal people as body doubles in adult movies, so there is some “not needed” nudity, and that is what makes this rated R. Beyond that, I think it may be worth seeing once, for those of you who like differently told stories of love. There isn’t a role in here that is really a draw, most of the larger talent all have smaller roles. Hugh Grant’s is the biggest so if you like him, this is very much in character with the types of roles he plays. Otherwise, this could be the “feel good movie of the year” so if that statement peaks your interest, then try it out.
Red Eye (2005)
Starring Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, and Brian Cox, Red Eye is a short compact fun thriller by Wes Craven that I could watch a bunch of times.
Right away Craven starts to layer in the underlying stories of each of the characters, mostly McAdams, a friendly manager at a high rolling hotel who is always trying to keep others happy. On a plane flight back from her grandmother’s funeral, she meets Murphy, who although creepy, serves as some company through the flight, which she is uneasy about.
We soon realize that Murphy wants something, and he takes McAdams hostage in her plane seat, anticipating her every move. Every attempt she makes to escape, or get help is thwarted until the end, until the plane lands. The only really graphic part of the movie, Adams jams a pen into his throat, and makes a run for it. Then Craven takes over with his signature Scream type style climax, with McAdams trying to save her father at her home, while trying to stop Murphy.
A good compact little thriller at just over and hour and twenty minutes, if you don’t like thrillers at all you won’t want to see this obviously, but even for me, I don’t like some thrillers, and this was the perfect mix, a more mainstream version. The acting is decent, McAdams is always ravishing and captivating, and Murphy has quickly established himself and the up and coming creepy psycho to watch. The dialogue and their interaction in the beginning isn’t awkward and forced, but when the plot escalates, it is enveloping.
I recommend this to almost anyone, it has a widespread appeal with a nice cast of actors.
Batman Beyond Return of the Joker (2000)
What a great movie this is. I think that if you have any interest in the Batman mythos, this is a such a great story, dark, pathological and possible inside of a world ruled by a man dressed like a bat with a rogues cast of villains twice as psychotic.
Batman Beyond is set in the future, Bruce Wayne is very old, and has not been Batman for a number of years. Along comes Terry McGinnis, his father is murdered, he is smart, stumbles on Wayne’s secret, and wala, you have the typical story for any new Batman supporting cast member.
But this particular story isn’t reliant on you accepting this new kid as Batman, and this new futuristic cast of villains. Instead, this mixes history with the future, and brings back the Joker in a style only he could pull off.
The story goes, that one day, while on patrol, Tim Drake (Robin) turns up missing. After a number of agonizing days turn into weeks, an invitation is sent to Batman, to return to old Arkham. There in the ruins, Joker and Harley Quinn have tortured robin for all of this time, turning him basically into a little Joker with the creepy smile and laugh. In the end Batman rescues Tim, Harley Quinn falls off a cliff, and Tim shoots Joker.
After a year of therapy, Tim is back to some semblance of normal. Now in the future, the Joker seems to have reappeared and all ties point back to Tim Drake. Soon enough it is revealed (that although hard to believe, suspend it for a bit) Joker has implanted Tim with a chip that basically has slowly let him return in Tim’s body, taking it over.
The best part is, Tim Drake is a communications expert. So no laughing gas or Joker fish. This time it is a piece of machinery for defense satellite jamming that allows him to blast Gotham city with a 400 foot wide beam.
In the end, Batman wins, beats the Joker at his own game, frys the chip in Tim Drake, and things return back to normal. But what a cool and original idea.
If you like Batman, and the cartoons, this is for you. That is probably a narrow audience, but anyone who appreciated the darker cartoons from the early to mid 90’s, would love this one.
