Celluloid Heroes

Baird Academy is a prep school for forming young men, and though they claim to be forming the future leaders of the country, it appears to be populated almost entirely by those who you would never want to be in such a position. The one possible exception is Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell), who hails not from the old money of the Northeast, but from a tiny burg in Oregon and is attending Baird on a scholarship. He doesn't fit into the "in" crowd, and perhaps he shouldn't want to.

Yet Charlie is intimidated by them and their money nonetheless, so when he sees several of the boys setting up for a gag that sprays paint on the headmaster's car, he naturally assumes that he shouldn't be a snitch and tell what he knows, even though the headmaster offers to get him a free ride into Harvard. It's even less tempting when one of the other boys who was with him (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) approaches him as a "friend" and says that they don't do that.

Read All of "Scent of a Woman (1992) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 29, 2006 in Drama

Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon) is a doctor who puts in some long hours. Even other doctors thinks that she works too much.

At the beginning of the movie, she finishes working a 26-hour shift and on her way out someone asks her to look at a patient and she agrees. That's dedication. But she also has learned that she has just received a promotion, so it's all worth it. Unfortunately she has given up any sense of a personal life in exchange, but she has decided that the exchange is worthwhile.

Read All of "Just Like Heaven (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 28, 2006 in Romance

Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) should be living the good life. He's working as the head of ad sales for a major sports magazine and getting ready to coast into the best years of his life.

Unfortunately, the magazine has just become the part of a larger company in a corporate takeover, and he's been "demoted" (which has to be better than being "downsized") in the shakeup. To make matters worse, his new boss Carter Duryea (Topher Grace) is half his age and thinks he knows everything. He is about to find out that he doesn't.

Read All of "In Good Company (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 27, 2006 in Drama

This movie is widely credited as being the film that brought some fun back to the horror, Scream is easily one of the more enjoyable romps you can enjoy if you're looking for something in the genre.

Starting with the mysterious death of Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) as she is home alone one night and receives a strange phone call, right up through the end, horror master Wes Craven will keep you guessing throughout.

Read All of "Scream (1996) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 23, 2006 in Horror

David (Lochlyn Munro), an apparently struggling comedian, and his girlfriend Sylvia (Kristin Davis) have stopped in Blacktop for a gig. Blacktop seems to be little more than a truck stop, and it's never really explained why they need a comedy club there.

But excluding that little gaffe, David hurls his insults in the general direction of the audience, which seems to love the jokes - except for Jack (Meat Loaf), who himself is a trucker, and seems to take particular insult to David's comments, perhaps because of David's little ditty when Jack starts to talk to Sylvia.

Read All of "Blacktop (2000) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 21, 2006 in Thriller

Everyone knows that they need someone, and this is a film that attempts to chronicle the process of finding someone for several twenty-somethings in Seattle during the nineties.

Janet (Bridget Fonda) just wants someone to say gesundheit when she sneezes, but on-and-off-again boyfriend Cliff (Matt Dillon) is more concerned about his band than Janet (Cliff also serves as something of a narrator).

Read All of "Singles (1992) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 19, 2006 in Romance

This film is told through the eyes of Christina as she tries to get into Princeton and she talks about how family is the most important thing that someone can have. She tells the college about when she and her mother Flor (Paz Vega) came to the United States to work for John Clasky (Adam Sandler) and his wife Deborah Clasky (Téa Leoni).

Flor could speak no English, so she relied on Christina to translate, and to say that John and Deborah were unhappy is to put it mildly. They were miserable. Over the summer, the family moved to the beach house, and now used to the services of Flor, Deborah insisted that she come along, and that meant that Christina needed to come too.

Read All of "Spanglish (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 17, 2006 in Drama

A lot of people like this movie, and there are certainly times when I can agree with them. It definitely has its moments.

The events happening along on a block in Brooklyn during the hottest day of the year are interesting, if nothing else. But interesting may be about as good of a description as I can give. The performances of the actors are quite good, but the story is just a bit too disjointed to be really enjoyable. Like many other tales, both in movies and in television shows, there are just too many storylines to follow to make sense of them all in a way that makes it worth the time that it takes.

That said, there a huge number of names in the movie, and all of them deliver great performances in their roles. The problem is that precious few of them are given the screen time to really allow the viewer to care what happens to them. The one exception here is Sal (Danny Aiello), the operator of Sal's Famous Pizzaria (that's really how it is spelled), out of place because it's not found in an Italian area of town, a fact that one of his sons and at least some of the residents continue to point out throughout the movie.

Read All of "Do the Right Thing (1989) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 12, 2006 in Drama

One day as Dan (Jude Law) is walking down the streets of London, he watches as a young lady is struck (Natalie Portman) by a taxi as she crosses the street. Being the nice guy that he is - or at least wants her to perceive, he helps her to the hospital to get stitched up, where she tells him that her name is Alice. They walk together as Dan heads to work, and she finds out about his girlfriend, but Dan seems interested anyway.

Fast-forward a bit (in real life, not in the movie), and Dan is having his picture taken by Anna (Julia Roberts) for a book cover. The subject of his novel is none other than Alice, who has replaced his former girlfriend, and it turns out that about a year has elapsed. This will be a recurring theme. As their photo shoot winds up, Dan tells Anna that she is beautiful and he simply must have her. Unfortunately, Alice overhears the conversation. Woops.

Read All of "Closer (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 10, 2006 in Romance

When Lisa (Rachel McAdams) heads to the airport to return to Miami, she gets a call from her hotel. It turns out that night clerk Cynthia has an emergency on her hands - a regular couple seems to be there and she can't find her reservation. Luckily, Lisa is one of those rare souls who can handle emergencies like this, and even though she's late for her flight and in a cab on a cell phone, she walks Cynthia through handling things without a hitch.

Unfortunately when she gets to the airport, she finds out that her flights has been delayed, and it looks like she'll be on the red eye back to Miami. That's when a rather boisterous passenger gets upset about having to wait in line while others (who are about to miss their flights) get to go ahead of him. That's host most of us would act - but Lisa takes it in stride and tries to help out the overwhelmed customer service people. She's just that kind of person.

Read All of "Red Eye (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 8, 2006 in Thriller

This is the epic tale of Alexander the Great, and it truly is epic, mostly in length. The movie clocks in at just under three hours, and it feels at least that long. Much of the length comes in because of the style of the telling. The tale is told by jumping back and forth through clips, presumably in order to hold some sort of mystique.

Unfortunately, it's a style that is used more and more frequently these days, and it's getting worse all the time. While linear storytelling appears to be going out of vogue, and directors want to maintain a sense of mystery as long as they can, they really need to learn to tell their stories first. That's not the case here.

We follow Alexander at various points in his life, but we see him as a very young boy as his mother, Olympias (Angelina Jolie) as she is attacked by Alexander's father, Philip (Val Kilmer). Strangely, the young boy is in the bed as this is happening, and presumably it does a lot to shape his world view, though he is likely too young to make sense of it right then.

Read All of "Alexander (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 7, 2006 in Drama

This is actually like two movies in one.

The first is fairly typical Adam Sandler fare: It's what you're used to seeing if you've ever seen, well, any of his movies. It's also what you're likely to think of if you actually saw the trailer for the movie.

Dad's too busy for the family, he heads out for a universal remote, gets a truly universal remote, and can control anything. Hilarity ensues. He uses it to walk the dog faster, watch the girl in the short shorts run slower, make the jerk next door look stupid, that sort of thing. There is absolutely nothing surprising about any of this.

What is surprising is that somewhere in all of that, they completely forgot to mention that it's (maybe) half the movie.

Read All of "Click (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 7, 2006 in Drama

Baird Academy is a prep school for forming young men, and though they claim to be forming the future leaders of the country, it appears to be populated almost entirely by those who you would never want to be in such a position. The one possible exception is Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell), who hails not from the old money of the Northeast, but from a tiny burg in Oregon and is attending Baird on a scholarship. He doesn't fit into the "in" crowd, and perhaps he shouldn't want to.

Yet Charlie is intimidated by them and their money nonetheless, so when he sees several of the boys setting up for a gag that sprays paint on the headmaster's car, he naturally assumes that he shouldn't be a snitch and tell what he knows, even though the headmaster offers to get him a free ride into Harvard. It's even less tempting when one of the other boys who was with him (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) approaches him as a "friend" and says that they don't do that.

Read All of "Scent of a Woman (1992) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 29, 2006 in Drama

Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon) is a doctor who puts in some long hours. Even other doctors thinks that she works too much.

At the beginning of the movie, she finishes working a 26-hour shift and on her way out someone asks her to look at a patient and she agrees. That's dedication. But she also has learned that she has just received a promotion, so it's all worth it. Unfortunately she has given up any sense of a personal life in exchange, but she has decided that the exchange is worthwhile.

Read All of "Just Like Heaven (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 28, 2006 in Romance

Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) should be living the good life. He's working as the head of ad sales for a major sports magazine and getting ready to coast into the best years of his life.

Unfortunately, the magazine has just become the part of a larger company in a corporate takeover, and he's been "demoted" (which has to be better than being "downsized") in the shakeup. To make matters worse, his new boss Carter Duryea (Topher Grace) is half his age and thinks he knows everything. He is about to find out that he doesn't.

Read All of "In Good Company (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 27, 2006 in Drama

This movie is widely credited as being the film that brought some fun back to the horror, Scream is easily one of the more enjoyable romps you can enjoy if you're looking for something in the genre.

Starting with the mysterious death of Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) as she is home alone one night and receives a strange phone call, right up through the end, horror master Wes Craven will keep you guessing throughout.

Read All of "Scream (1996) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 23, 2006 in Horror

David (Lochlyn Munro), an apparently struggling comedian, and his girlfriend Sylvia (Kristin Davis) have stopped in Blacktop for a gig. Blacktop seems to be little more than a truck stop, and it's never really explained why they need a comedy club there.

But excluding that little gaffe, David hurls his insults in the general direction of the audience, which seems to love the jokes - except for Jack (Meat Loaf), who himself is a trucker, and seems to take particular insult to David's comments, perhaps because of David's little ditty when Jack starts to talk to Sylvia.

Read All of "Blacktop (2000) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 21, 2006 in Thriller

Everyone knows that they need someone, and this is a film that attempts to chronicle the process of finding someone for several twenty-somethings in Seattle during the nineties.

Janet (Bridget Fonda) just wants someone to say gesundheit when she sneezes, but on-and-off-again boyfriend Cliff (Matt Dillon) is more concerned about his band than Janet (Cliff also serves as something of a narrator).

Read All of "Singles (1992) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 19, 2006 in Romance

This film is told through the eyes of Christina as she tries to get into Princeton and she talks about how family is the most important thing that someone can have. She tells the college about when she and her mother Flor (Paz Vega) came to the United States to work for John Clasky (Adam Sandler) and his wife Deborah Clasky (Téa Leoni).

Flor could speak no English, so she relied on Christina to translate, and to say that John and Deborah were unhappy is to put it mildly. They were miserable. Over the summer, the family moved to the beach house, and now used to the services of Flor, Deborah insisted that she come along, and that meant that Christina needed to come too.

Read All of "Spanglish (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 17, 2006 in Drama

A lot of people like this movie, and there are certainly times when I can agree with them. It definitely has its moments.

The events happening along on a block in Brooklyn during the hottest day of the year are interesting, if nothing else. But interesting may be about as good of a description as I can give. The performances of the actors are quite good, but the story is just a bit too disjointed to be really enjoyable. Like many other tales, both in movies and in television shows, there are just too many storylines to follow to make sense of them all in a way that makes it worth the time that it takes.

That said, there a huge number of names in the movie, and all of them deliver great performances in their roles. The problem is that precious few of them are given the screen time to really allow the viewer to care what happens to them. The one exception here is Sal (Danny Aiello), the operator of Sal's Famous Pizzaria (that's really how it is spelled), out of place because it's not found in an Italian area of town, a fact that one of his sons and at least some of the residents continue to point out throughout the movie.

Read All of "Do the Right Thing (1989) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 12, 2006 in Drama

One day as Dan (Jude Law) is walking down the streets of London, he watches as a young lady is struck (Natalie Portman) by a taxi as she crosses the street. Being the nice guy that he is - or at least wants her to perceive, he helps her to the hospital to get stitched up, where she tells him that her name is Alice. They walk together as Dan heads to work, and she finds out about his girlfriend, but Dan seems interested anyway.

Fast-forward a bit (in real life, not in the movie), and Dan is having his picture taken by Anna (Julia Roberts) for a book cover. The subject of his novel is none other than Alice, who has replaced his former girlfriend, and it turns out that about a year has elapsed. This will be a recurring theme. As their photo shoot winds up, Dan tells Anna that she is beautiful and he simply must have her. Unfortunately, Alice overhears the conversation. Woops.

Read All of "Closer (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 10, 2006 in Romance

When Lisa (Rachel McAdams) heads to the airport to return to Miami, she gets a call from her hotel. It turns out that night clerk Cynthia has an emergency on her hands - a regular couple seems to be there and she can't find her reservation. Luckily, Lisa is one of those rare souls who can handle emergencies like this, and even though she's late for her flight and in a cab on a cell phone, she walks Cynthia through handling things without a hitch.

Unfortunately when she gets to the airport, she finds out that her flights has been delayed, and it looks like she'll be on the red eye back to Miami. That's when a rather boisterous passenger gets upset about having to wait in line while others (who are about to miss their flights) get to go ahead of him. That's host most of us would act - but Lisa takes it in stride and tries to help out the overwhelmed customer service people. She's just that kind of person.

Read All of "Red Eye (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 8, 2006 in Thriller

This is the epic tale of Alexander the Great, and it truly is epic, mostly in length. The movie clocks in at just under three hours, and it feels at least that long. Much of the length comes in because of the style of the telling. The tale is told by jumping back and forth through clips, presumably in order to hold some sort of mystique.

Unfortunately, it's a style that is used more and more frequently these days, and it's getting worse all the time. While linear storytelling appears to be going out of vogue, and directors want to maintain a sense of mystery as long as they can, they really need to learn to tell their stories first. That's not the case here.

We follow Alexander at various points in his life, but we see him as a very young boy as his mother, Olympias (Angelina Jolie) as she is attacked by Alexander's father, Philip (Val Kilmer). Strangely, the young boy is in the bed as this is happening, and presumably it does a lot to shape his world view, though he is likely too young to make sense of it right then.

Read All of "Alexander (2004) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 7, 2006 in Drama

This is actually like two movies in one.

The first is fairly typical Adam Sandler fare: It's what you're used to seeing if you've ever seen, well, any of his movies. It's also what you're likely to think of if you actually saw the trailer for the movie.

Dad's too busy for the family, he heads out for a universal remote, gets a truly universal remote, and can control anything. Hilarity ensues. He uses it to walk the dog faster, watch the girl in the short shorts run slower, make the jerk next door look stupid, that sort of thing. There is absolutely nothing surprising about any of this.

What is surprising is that somewhere in all of that, they completely forgot to mention that it's (maybe) half the movie.

Read All of "Click (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on October 7, 2006 in Drama