Celluloid Heroes

Kate (Famke Janssen) has a problem. She has a column due and the one that she's written isn't appropriate. What's worse is that her boss is about to fire her. So she starts talking into one of those little tape records about what has gone wrong with her life to get her where she is now and why she has no experience to write about relationships. It turns out that the problems started on the playground when she was 9.

This is probably the best bit of the movie and it goes downhill from there. We jump forward from there (but not all the way forward to the absolute present) to where she met her big love - Adam (Jon Favreau). Adam was different and swept her off her feet, right out of the arms of someone else who she didn't like at all and things just took off. But that doesn't mean that they went well.

Read All of "Love and Sex (2000) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 30, 2006 in Romance

Charlize Theron plays Josey Aimes, a down-on-her-luck woman who has decided to go to work in the mine, which is not exactly a woman-friendly environment in the late eighties. Though there are a handful of women there, they are roundly dismissed as real workers and regularly harassed in just about every imaginable way.

This is the story of how Josey Aimes fought back against the great machine that she was up against, and how nearly everyone was against her - not just the men in the mine and the courts, but even the other women who were at times her friends and the people in her own family.

Read All of "North Country (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 30, 2006 in Drama

This seemingly low-budget film with a mostly no-name cast surprises with quite a decent ending. The only problem is that the beginning is rather jumbled and makes it difficult to get into it at first. If you can get past that, then this movie is most definitely worth watching, as it is full of twists and turns and there are very few like it these days.

The real surprise is that director (Jeff Wadlow) turned out a movie that is really quite good without utilizing the standard horror formula of lots of gore, tons of language or even nudity. There are certainly moments that you won't want your younger kids to watch, but it's enjoyable because of the suspense, not because of the content. I was really surprised.

Read All of "Cry_Wolf (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 26, 2006 in Horror

I wrote an entry comparing this movie to Animal House nearly ten months ago, but I never really reviewed the movie itself, so I figured that it was time to rectify that situation.

Overall, the movie is certainly enjoyable. It's nothing like Animal House, true, but very few movies are. Frankly, I don't think it's even as good as Old School, but it's definitely a closer comparison. The problem is that it simply doesn't flow. Both Animal House and Old School stayed true to their vision throughout, while Wedding Crashers starts and stops, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.

Read All of "Wedding Crashers (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 23, 2006 in Comedy

Years before The Exorcist takes place, Father Merrin (played here by Stellan Skarsgård travels to East Africa in search of an idol, rumored to be in a church.

The really interesting thing is that the church isn't supposed to exist. We find out later that the church was built and then excised from the official Vatican records because of the atrocities that happened there, and that's pretty much everything exciting that happens.

Read All of "Exorcist - The Beginning (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 21, 2006 in Horror

This follow-up to 2001's Legally Blonde starts off with a scrapbook that walks you through the first movie in an effort to bring back the magic. It almost completely fails, but it is sadly about as close as it gets.

What made the first movie work was that it was completely unexpected and it was just a fun ride. The second time through is never as much fun, though admittedly the original is nearly as good on subsequent viewings.

Read All of "Legally Blonde 2 - Red, White and Blonde (2003) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 16, 2006 in Comedy

I have to admit to not being a huge fan of The Fantastic Four growing up. Heck, I wasn't a fan of any of the traditional superheroes, though I did like comics in general well enough. I just didn't want to be reading the same ones as everyone else. So while I was acquainted with the basic premise, I didn't have too much attachment to it. I completely understand that someone who was in love with the story may have ideas that are completely shattered if the movie wasn't faithful to the original story.

When the four primary characters travel to the space station to research cosmic rays, they find that their calculations were off, and the rays are both more powerful than expected and closer. So they are bombarded by radiation that is unknown in origin and in power. This in turn gives them new powers, and they return to Earth with these powers, which transforms them into the superhero team that is known as The Fantastic Four.

Read All of "Fantastic Four (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 12, 2006 in Action

This movie, based on the Firefly series, surrounds a psychic named River, who was imprisoned as the alliance tried to suppress her knowledge of certain events. Unfortunately her brother walked into the facility and broke her out. Along the way, they meet up with the crew of Serenity, who are naturally not friendly with the authorities, and thus begins the adventure.

The band of brigands aboard Serenity have no idea what secret River is holding, nor do they know what secret she herself is hiding - mostly because she doesn't seem to know. What they do know is that they don't really like the people she's hiding from, so they don't have a problem keeping River away from the people who want her, and that's about all that matters.

Read All of "Serenity (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 11, 2006 in Science Fiction

This animated (clay-mated?) film stars Wallace and his loyal dog Gromit, who as a team form Anti-Pesto Humane Pest Control, dedicated to keeping the vegetables safe from those who would eat them prior to the giant vegetable-growing contest, held annually on the gounds of Tottington Estate.

In practice, this means that they catch rabbits before they have a chance to eat people's vegetables, but they don't kill the rabbits. Instead, they keep them in pens beneath their house. That generally is okay, but now something has changed.

Read All of "Wallace and Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 9, 2006 in Family

Kate (Famke Janssen) has a problem. She has a column due and the one that she's written isn't appropriate. What's worse is that her boss is about to fire her. So she starts talking into one of those little tape records about what has gone wrong with her life to get her where she is now and why she has no experience to write about relationships. It turns out that the problems started on the playground when she was 9.

This is probably the best bit of the movie and it goes downhill from there. We jump forward from there (but not all the way forward to the absolute present) to where she met her big love - Adam (Jon Favreau). Adam was different and swept her off her feet, right out of the arms of someone else who she didn't like at all and things just took off. But that doesn't mean that they went well.

Read All of "Love and Sex (2000) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 30, 2006 in Romance

Charlize Theron plays Josey Aimes, a down-on-her-luck woman who has decided to go to work in the mine, which is not exactly a woman-friendly environment in the late eighties. Though there are a handful of women there, they are roundly dismissed as real workers and regularly harassed in just about every imaginable way.

This is the story of how Josey Aimes fought back against the great machine that she was up against, and how nearly everyone was against her - not just the men in the mine and the courts, but even the other women who were at times her friends and the people in her own family.

Read All of "North Country (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 30, 2006 in Drama

This seemingly low-budget film with a mostly no-name cast surprises with quite a decent ending. The only problem is that the beginning is rather jumbled and makes it difficult to get into it at first. If you can get past that, then this movie is most definitely worth watching, as it is full of twists and turns and there are very few like it these days.

The real surprise is that director (Jeff Wadlow) turned out a movie that is really quite good without utilizing the standard horror formula of lots of gore, tons of language or even nudity. There are certainly moments that you won't want your younger kids to watch, but it's enjoyable because of the suspense, not because of the content. I was really surprised.

Read All of "Cry_Wolf (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 26, 2006 in Horror

I wrote an entry comparing this movie to Animal House nearly ten months ago, but I never really reviewed the movie itself, so I figured that it was time to rectify that situation.

Overall, the movie is certainly enjoyable. It's nothing like Animal House, true, but very few movies are. Frankly, I don't think it's even as good as Old School, but it's definitely a closer comparison. The problem is that it simply doesn't flow. Both Animal House and Old School stayed true to their vision throughout, while Wedding Crashers starts and stops, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.

Read All of "Wedding Crashers (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 23, 2006 in Comedy

Years before The Exorcist takes place, Father Merrin (played here by Stellan Skarsgård travels to East Africa in search of an idol, rumored to be in a church.

The really interesting thing is that the church isn't supposed to exist. We find out later that the church was built and then excised from the official Vatican records because of the atrocities that happened there, and that's pretty much everything exciting that happens.

Read All of "Exorcist - The Beginning (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 21, 2006 in Horror

This follow-up to 2001's Legally Blonde starts off with a scrapbook that walks you through the first movie in an effort to bring back the magic. It almost completely fails, but it is sadly about as close as it gets.

What made the first movie work was that it was completely unexpected and it was just a fun ride. The second time through is never as much fun, though admittedly the original is nearly as good on subsequent viewings.

Read All of "Legally Blonde 2 - Red, White and Blonde (2003) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 16, 2006 in Comedy

I have to admit to not being a huge fan of The Fantastic Four growing up. Heck, I wasn't a fan of any of the traditional superheroes, though I did like comics in general well enough. I just didn't want to be reading the same ones as everyone else. So while I was acquainted with the basic premise, I didn't have too much attachment to it. I completely understand that someone who was in love with the story may have ideas that are completely shattered if the movie wasn't faithful to the original story.

When the four primary characters travel to the space station to research cosmic rays, they find that their calculations were off, and the rays are both more powerful than expected and closer. So they are bombarded by radiation that is unknown in origin and in power. This in turn gives them new powers, and they return to Earth with these powers, which transforms them into the superhero team that is known as The Fantastic Four.

Read All of "Fantastic Four (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 12, 2006 in Action

This movie, based on the Firefly series, surrounds a psychic named River, who was imprisoned as the alliance tried to suppress her knowledge of certain events. Unfortunately her brother walked into the facility and broke her out. Along the way, they meet up with the crew of Serenity, who are naturally not friendly with the authorities, and thus begins the adventure.

The band of brigands aboard Serenity have no idea what secret River is holding, nor do they know what secret she herself is hiding - mostly because she doesn't seem to know. What they do know is that they don't really like the people she's hiding from, so they don't have a problem keeping River away from the people who want her, and that's about all that matters.

Read All of "Serenity (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 11, 2006 in Science Fiction

This animated (clay-mated?) film stars Wallace and his loyal dog Gromit, who as a team form Anti-Pesto Humane Pest Control, dedicated to keeping the vegetables safe from those who would eat them prior to the giant vegetable-growing contest, held annually on the gounds of Tottington Estate.

In practice, this means that they catch rabbits before they have a chance to eat people's vegetables, but they don't kill the rabbits. Instead, they keep them in pens beneath their house. That generally is okay, but now something has changed.

Read All of "Wallace and Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on September 9, 2006 in Family