From steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com Mon Aug 4 19:19:52 2008 From: steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com (Steve Rhodes) Date: Mon Aug 4 19:19:55 2008 Subject: Review: Baghead (2008) Message-ID: BAGHEAD A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2 BAGHEAD isn't a horror movie. And, although it may well be marketed as something of a BLAIR WITCH spoof, it really isn't that either. BAGHEAD, jointly written and directed by the Duplass brothers, Jay and Mark, is a comedic drama about relationships. An indie film that's happiest when it takes itself least seriously, BAGHEAD follows four young would-be actors, Matt (Ross Partridge), Michelle (Greta Gerwig), Chad (Steve Zissis) and Catherine (Elise Muller). The closest these four characters have ever gotten to stardom is as extras. We follow them one inebriated weekend, as they head off to a remote cabin deep in the woods, where they hope to write a movie script for themselves in just two days. Before the two couples head off for the weekend, we meet them at the L.A. Underground Film Festival, where they are part of a small audience seeing the world premiere of WE ARE NAKED. This black and white film was shot for under a thousand dollars by Jett Garner, who plays himself. The film festival host says glowing, heavily clich?d things about this obviously awful movie. After seeing WE ARE NAKED, Matt convinces Michelle, Chad and Catherine that the four of them could come up with a script too. Actually, only Matt appears dedicated to the task. Chad's main interest is to work a romantic angle into the plot, so that he can hook up with Michelle, who treats him more like a brother than a potential lover. And Michelle's main interest is getting Matt to come to her bed. They are all reasonably good looking, especially Michelle who looks like a young Meg Ryan, but Chad is filled with self-doubts because of his rapidly receding hairline. After pondering various genres and storylines, as they down many shots of tequila, nothing seems to be working. Finally Matt hits on the idea of a horror movie about a killer with a bag over his head who attacks two young couples staying at a remote cabin in the woods. Of course, this would transform their four-person movie idea into one that calls for a five member cast. Or would it? You can probably construct the rest of the movie in your head, and you'd probably guess most of it correctly, but that doesn't make any difference. The beauty of BAGHEAD, a surprisingly sweet little movie, is that it doesn't have a pretentious bone in its body. The four lead actors are uniformly likable, so the thinness of the production never detracts from our enjoyment. You don't really care how it ends or even what happens along the way. You just enjoy hanging out with these people for a while. Still, the movie does make its 84 minutes feel a bit long, so the film does have its limits. BAGHEAD runs 1:24. It is rated R for "language, some sexual content and nudity" and would be acceptable for teenagers. The film opens in limited release in the United States on Friday, August 1, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want reviews of new films via Email? Just write Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com and put "subscribe" in the subject line. From steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com Mon Aug 4 19:20:14 2008 From: steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com (Steve Rhodes) Date: Mon Aug 4 19:20:17 2008 Subject: Review: Swing Vote (2008) Message-ID: SWING VOTE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2 SWING VOTE almost got my vote until its long and treacly last act. Starting slowly, the picture builds momentum so that its middle section is a wonderfully endearing comedy about a lovable loser, played by Kevin Costner, who gets to single-handedly pick the next president of the United States. It's certainly an honor that Bud Johnson (Costner) dreamed not of. Happiest when he is downing another beer with buddies, the aptly nicknamed Bud is an everyman character straight out of a Capra comedy. Drinking on the job, showing up late and taking what must be a record number of "sick" days, Bud is fired from the egg packing factory where he works in a tiny town in New Mexico. When comedies set out to skewer politicians, as SWING VOTE does, they work best when they are able to maintain a consistent tone. The long middle section of SWING VOTE does just that. Like WAG THE DOG and CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR, SWING VOTE is an equal opportunity and politically incorrect ridiculer of politicians. There are very funny bits during this part of SWING VOTE, as the laughs come hard and often. But forty minutes before this excessively long comedy is over, it switches gears entirely, violating all of its principles. It no longer is interested in making us laugh. Now it wants to lecture us with sappy sermonettes on the importance of the little man and the downtrodden. This cheesy drama is as worthless and trite as the comedy is fresh and cute. Perhaps the way to enjoy this movie is to leave as soon as it starts going downhill. That way, you'll have a good time and will remember the movie fondly. But, if you stay until the end, be ready to leave with a bad taste in your mouth. You'll probably be angry too that the filmmakers needlessly blew it, turning a good movie into one not worth recommending. The silly setup for the story, which manages to work just fine in the context of a comedy, is that Bud's vote isn't counted because of a power failure. The election is so close that the result of a single state, New Mexico, will determine who will be the next president. New Mexico ends in a tie vote. Will President Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammer), a Republican, be reelected, or will Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper), his Democrat challenger, be elected instead? Both candidates are doofuses. But both are fully willing to shamelessly abandon all of their previous political positions, no matter how intensely and fervently held, in order to pander to Bud's every whim -- even to things Bud doesn't even believe but they mistakenly think he does. The best scenes are hilarious commercials prepared by each side in order to try to get Bud's revote, which, by New Mexico law, must occur within ten days after the original election. The catch to the story is that Bud himself never made it to the polls on Election Day. He was drunk as usual, so his daughter Molly, played with wonderfully likeable spunk by 12-year-old Madeline Carroll, attempted to cast Bud's vote for him. A further complication is that Bud is oblivious to who is even running. Only Molly cares about the election and the importance of citizens voting. It's too bad that Molly wasn't given a final vote on the script. Maybe she could have negotiated with the writers to give us a brisk and bright 90-minute comedy rather than a full two-hour part good comedy and part bad melodrama. SWING VOTE runs a long 2:00. It is rated PG-13 for "language" and would be acceptable for kids around 8 and up. My son Jeffrey, age 19, gave it just barely **. Although he said that the movie had its moments, he said that it made two hours feel like ten. He thought it took too long to get started, and he hated the last part. He found Bud's drinking problem to be sad rather than funny. Jeffrey's girlfriend Yasmin, almost 19, really liked the whole idea of the plot but didn't like the movie itself, giving it just **. She liked the commercials in the movie but didn't think much of the rest of it. She did, however, like the daughter. Yasmin especially did not like the very final scene of the movie. The film opens in nationwide release in the United States on Friday, August 1, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want reviews of new films via Email? Just write Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com and put "subscribe" in the subject line. From dr-pepperite at hotmail.com Mon Aug 4 19:23:43 2008 From: dr-pepperite at hotmail.com (tom elce) Date: Mon Aug 4 19:23:45 2008 Subject: Review: The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008) Message-ID: The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008) 2.5 out of 5 stars Reviewed by Tom Elce Directed by Chris Carter Cast: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Billy Connolly, Marci T. House, Adam Godley, Spencer Maybee, Denis Krasnogolov, Mitch Pileggi, Amanda Peet, Carrie Ruscheinsky, Callum Keith Rennie, Xzibit Rated: PG-13 (MPAA), 15 (BBFC) Everybody either wanted to believe, wants to believe or will want to believe in "The X-Files: I Want to Believe." A second cinematic outing for the long-running, popular television program that you can neither love nor hate, the film is all over the place in terms of quality throughout, either going in successfully creepy directions or (in the ultimate revelations) ludicrous ones. Fans of the television show - one which I watched only sporadically - will likely find something of merit in the latest big-screen outing for Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), though for anyone with only fleeting interest in the show (or those entirely unfamiliar with it), there's little to keep you hooked and nothing that really makes you care. Not even the clunkily obvious music score (which literally tells you what to feel and when throughout) has a minimal effect. For fans of the series, there might be some interest in watching Mulder and Scully re-team for their latest investigation, their relationship dominating everything else in the screenplay by Frank Spotnitz and series creator Chris Carter, for which the film's sub- title becomes a catchphrase. Now boyfriend and girlfriend but still with a distinct divide between them, Mulder and Scully - or more specifically Mulder - are called in to help the FBI investigate the recent disappearance of an agent, which proves connected to a series of mysterious abductions, of which convicted paedophile priest Father Joseph Crissman (Billy Connolly) claims to have visions. Kept under wraps in the production stage, the closely-guarded plot to "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" disappointingly proves to have little of major surprise or interest about it. Mostly, the focus is on the dysfunctional relationship between longtime partners Mulder and Scully, now so lacking in subtlety that every exchange between the two is all but guaranteed to be accompanied by melodramatic music. When the expected supernatural elements momentarily take precedence over these two, the film springs to life, Billy Connolly especially stealing the show as the disgraced, psychic Father Crissman, whose disputable visions might or might not be an attempt to gain some forgiveness for his molesting of altar boys years prior. Why Carter and Spotnitz felt the need to make him a paedophile, and thus make him irredeemable no matter what transpires, is seemingly an attempt to mask each character's lack of depth. At least Carter shows a talent behind the camera, exquisitely shooting the film's uniformly snow-covered landscape and composing a series of technically sublime scenes throughout. The shallowness of the collective production, however, overshadows the film's visual flair, the efforts of Carter, cinematographer Bill Roe and editer Richard Harris in the movie's aesthetic not making up for the story's lack of pulling power. A scene in which a (expendable) supporting character falls to their death is spectacularly rendered, but has no emotional effect on the viewer because the person plunging to their death is too poorly-developed for their death to really mean something. Conversely, a late scene that pits Mulder in a compromising - possibly fatal - position works much better, even if we know exactly how the scene will end. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson effortlessly slip back into the roles of Mulder and Scully, igniting the morose romantic plot Carter has cooked up for them with their believable chemistry and acting prowess. Duchovny essays Mulder as a reclusive man throwing himself truly into his latest case, a flipside to Anderson's Scully, now a doctor in a Catholic hospital with hopes of leaving her Bureau past behind her. A subplot concerning her devotion to saving the life of a gravely ill boy would make for something touching were the film not so broad in its representation of it. Either way, Anderson commits to her role, and convinces us that Scully's hard is more into her adopted profession than her former one, which itself is seeming inescapable. Supporting them are some recognizable faces, most notably comedian Billy Connolly, reeling in his comic skill and portraying his Father Joe as a man either experiencing authentic frightening visions, or one simply trying to make up for his bad past choices. Amanda Peet essays ASAC Dakota Whitney, who originally calls Mulder in, very well, though the transparent emotional attachment she begins to develop for Mulder feels insincere and unnecessary, in spite of the chemistry the two share. Xzibit, finally, tries to play the part of the respectable actor once more, though his performance is basically the same peeved expression as Agent Mosley Drummy, whose main characteristic appears to be constantly making the wrong decision. As the film nears its conclusion and goes in increasingly unbelievable directions while dispensing of the supernatural traits of the preceding minutes, "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" gains momentum but fails to go anywhere of great quality. The finale winds up being a dramatic heart-to-heart between Mulder and Scully, in which the former makes about two unctuous monologues. Fans of the show and filmgoers in general deserve better than what Chris Carter and company have cooked up here, and the quality performances from Duchovny and Anderson can compensate for only so many of the film's flaws. From steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com Wed Aug 6 20:16:56 2008 From: steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com (Steve Rhodes) Date: Wed Aug 6 20:16:59 2008 Subject: Review: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008) Message-ID: THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2 A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2 Sometimes movies surprise you in very positive ways. Three years ago, going into THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, I figured that the movie, based on one of Ann Brashares's popular novels, would be only for tweener girls who were fans of the Brashares books. I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I was touched by the story and the acting. I was, however, equally surprised with the very unimaginatively titled sequel, THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2. The first movie created wonderful characters, well worth caring about, but its sequel certainly didn't. How could they have gone so wrong, since the film follows a similar formula and features the same four characters and actresses, Lena (Alexis Bledel, "Gilmore Girls"), Carmen (America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"), Bridget (Blake Lively, "Gossip Girl") and Tibby (Amber Tamblyn, "Joan of Arcadia")? Maybe it's because they felt the need to handle more mature themes, with one subplot having to do with a leaking condom causing a possible pregnancy. Certainly the biggest laugh from our audience, filled to the rafters with tweener girls, came when a male model stripped to pose nude for a class of budding artists. The main characters this time are off to college -- all very upscale ones of course: NYU, Brown, Yale and the Rhode Island School of Design. The very slow film did have our audience giggling a lot, which proves that there is a built-in audience for the movie, even if the script is extremely thin and the acting less than compelling. The plot can be summarized by saying that the four girls have now grown apart but -- shock! -- will be back as best buds by the time the ending credits roll. One possible explanation for how a character-driven film like the first one is turned into a lame sitcom is that there is a different director this time. The first movie was helmed by television director Ken Kwapis ("The Office" and "Malcolm in the Middle"). All of the young actresses in the movie have found television as their chief source of success, so Kwapis probably worked very naturally with them. Rather than using Kwapis's talents for the sequel, the producers turned instead to Sanaa Hamri, whose background is as a video music director. One might expect that she could at least have brought a little punch to the production, but the movie is remarkably flat from beginning to end. And, while Kwapis was able to get moving performances from each of his stars in the original, Hamri can barely wake up her actors, all of whom appear to just be going through the motions. The hearts of the four leads don't appear to be in it, as if they are only performing because of a prior contractual agreement. The good news is that the movie tries as hard as possible to suggest that there will not be a sequel. If you look carefully, you can see in the eyes of the four leads that they probably welcome that news. THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2 runs a long 1:57. It is rated PG-13 for "mature material and sensuality" and would be acceptable for teenagers. The film opens nationwide in the United States on Wednesday, August 6, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want reviews of new films via Email? Just write Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com and put "subscribe" in the subject line. From steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com Fri Aug 15 01:17:59 2008 From: steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com (Steve Rhodes) Date: Fri Aug 15 01:18:01 2008 Subject: Review: Henry Poole is Here (2008) Message-ID: <5_SdnbFyrqDNZDnVnZ2dnUVZ_qPinZ2d@earthlink.com> HENRY POOLE IS HERE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** HENRY POOLE IS HERE is admittedly better than the previous stinkers by director Mark Pellington (THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES and ARLINGTON ROAD), but that isn't saying much. Perhaps a better compliment for HENRY POOLE IS HERE is that it's a harmless little film based on a slender premise -- a cynic discovers a water stain on his house that others believe provides healing powers. It's a one-idea movie, and first-time screenwriter Albert Torres isn't able to find much to do with the plot other than continue to restate the obvious. Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) doesn't have any faith, while all those around him wear their religious leanings on their sleeves. Marketed as "an inspirational story about discovering the healing power of hope," the movie has a theme rather like the current political one of "hope you can believe in." Well, I'm here to tell you that this hope is full of audacity but not much veracity. People line up around Henry Poole's house, claiming that his slapdash paint job has miraculously revealed the face of god on the side of his small stucco home. I'm betting you will not be able to see much of anything other than an ugly smudge. When we first meet Henry, he is trying to purchase the house he grew up in. Since the current owner refuses to sell, he buys the nearest house instead, paying full price even though his real estate agent tells his she could easily get it for ten percent less. Henry will likely remind you of Nicolas Cage's character in LEAVING LAS VEGAS. Henry appears to be a drunk who has gone someplace to drink himself to death. Reinforcing this is Henry's claim, made between his ever-present drinks, that he won't be there long. Although the neighbors may take the "there" to mean in his new house, it more likely means he plans on dying soon. The irony is that the house Henry purchased was last occupied by a guy who died of a heart attack and who was found by his girlfriend, Esperanza (Adriana Barraza). She is also the one who interprets the stain on Henry's wall as the face of God. She soon has her priest and members of her church trooping through Henry's backyard, unannounced and uninvited. The story also features a 6-year-old girl next door (Millie Stupek) who has not spoken in over a year and a grocery store clerk named Patience (Rachel Seiferth) who can barely see through her coke bottle thick glasses. Any guess on how their afflictions might change as the story progresses? Yep, you guessed it. Ugh. Prepare to gag. HENRY POOLE IS HERE runs 1:39. It is rated PG-13 for "thematic elements and some language" and would be acceptable for all ages. The film opens in limited release in the United States on Friday, August 15, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want reviews of new films via Email? Just write Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com and put "subscribe" in the subject line. From steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com Fri Aug 15 01:21:33 2008 From: steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com (Steve Rhodes) Date: Fri Aug 15 01:21:36 2008 Subject: Review: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) Message-ID: <7qmdnX5rVJ_hdDnVnZ2dnUVZ_vKdnZ2d@earthlink.com> STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** Can you say "cheesy?" STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, which will remind you of typical Saturday morning cartoon fare, is coming to a theater near you, wanting full price for its tickets. As a free, television cartoon, it might be okay. But as a full-length motion picture, it sure leaves a lot to be desired, including a decent script and animated humans that don't appear ridiculous. But, for dyed-in-the-wool STAR WARS fans, I suspect any movie with STAR WARS in the title, even an animated one, will immediately go to the top of their must-see list. I know it did for my college-age son. He was not disappointed, although I sure was. Don't get me wrong. The movies in the original STAR WARS trilogy are among my favorite films ever, but I am not an uncritical observer of the franchise. I found the last two STAR WARS films, including this one, to be needlessly disappointing. In talking with people after seeing STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, there was no agreement on whether it was good or not, but there was almost universal agreement that the beginning was awful. The film starts with a mile-a-minute narration of a thousand facts you need to know to understand the story you're about to be told. But, while the narrator is babbling on, the initial visuals are so jarring that your eyes are too busy trying to take it all in, and your brain is having trouble parsing all of the speech. One visual alone summarizes the problem with the picture. Obi-Wan Kenobi is given one of the worst beards in cinematic history. His hair is also laughably bad. Moreover, all of the humans look downright stupid, so when they first come on screen, you don't know whether to immediately begin hooting or not. You may be thinking at this point that the whole movie is to be taken as a spoof of the STAR WARS franchise. But you soon realize that, although there is lot more comedy this time, the movie isn't a spoof. When the people are AWOL and all of the action is done by non-human CGI figures, the movie sort of works. As we watch space craft and non-human CGI figures blowing things up, the movie is modestly satisfying. But, whenever one of the humans speaks, their funny faces and the clunky and clich?d dialog will likely having you groaning more often than laughing. Although there are a few exceptions, most of the actors providing the voice talent for this film are ones whom you've never heard of before. James Arnold Taylor, for example, has the key part of the voice for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Suffice it to say, charitably, that his voice is not memorable. Better is Ashley Eckstein, who does the voice work for a new character named Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka is a Jedi in training. As a classic comical sidekick, Ahsoka is attached to Anakin. She saves his life often, which he both resents and appreciates in roughly equal measures, even though he grumbles a lot about her. Meanwhile, she annoys him constantly by calling him, "Sky Guy." The plot has to do with Anakin and Ahsoka trying to rescue Jabba the Hutt's kidnapped kid. The smelly little tike is aptly nicknamed Stinky. He was my favorite part of the picture. "Greater than we think, this mystery may be." Yoda tells us. I'd reword that to something like, "Less successful than George Lucas wanted, this movie may be." STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS runs 1:38. It is rated PG for "sci-fi action violence throughout, brief language and momentary smoking" and would be acceptable for all ages. My son Jeffrey, age 19, thought it was a great movie and gave it *** 1/2. He said that, "once he got over that it's cuter and funnier than the other STAR WARS movies," he really loved it. Although he complained that the first twenty minutes of the movie didn't work, he loved everything else about it, including the new character Ahsoka. Jeffrey's girlfriend Yasmin, also 19, but not a STAR WARS fan, hated the movie, giving it just * 1/2. Although it basically put her to sleep, what she did see, she didn't like at all. Overall, she said that she just didn't get it. The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 15, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want reviews of new films via Email? Just write Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com and put "subscribe" in the subject line. From steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com Fri Aug 15 01:31:58 2008 From: steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com (Steve Rhodes) Date: Fri Aug 15 01:32:01 2008 Subject: Review: I Served the King of England (2006) Message-ID: <6vudnUZFwKmOVz7VnZ2dnUVZ_hidnZ2d@earthlink.com> I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): *** I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND (OBSLUHOVAL JSEM ANGLICK?HO KR?LE), a little charmer from the Czech Republic, was that country's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards this year, and it is easy to see why. Although the story deals with the oppression the country suffered under Nazi and Communist occupation, the film is wonderfully good-spirited. Whimsically told, the movie is something of an adult fairy tale that follows the life of Jan D?te, who is played equally well by Ivan Barnev when he is a young adult and by Oldrich Kaiser when he is older. As the movie opens, D?te is being released from prison after serving almost his entire fifteen year sentence. He got off three months early for good behavior. Most of the movie happens when D?te is younger so, soon after the older D?te is freed, we cut to him as a young man, full of hope and ambition. Working his way up through the hotel industry as a waiter, his life's goal is to become a millionaire and own a hotel frequented by other millionaires. But D?te is not a single-minded young man. He has plenty of time for the women who catch his eye. The movie, which is tastefully erotic, features lots of naked bodies, which D?te likes to cover artistically in flowers, money and food. A petite guy, frequently referred to as a shrimp, D?te may remind you of Charlie Chaplin and his infectious little smile. The movie even has a silent movie sort of feel and pacing, which is reinforced with a short silent section, complete with old title cards. Although no dates are given, the story appears to start in the late 1920s or early 1930s in Czechoslovakia. The chirpy music sounds like it was lifted right out of the Roaring Twenties era, giving the production the feel of a zany comedy. D?te likes to secretly toss coins onto the ground and watch rich people crawl around collecting the money. Most of D?te's life is spent with the gorgeous young prostitutes who ply their trade in or near the hotels and restaurants where he works. He finally meets his wife, L?za (Julia Jentsch, Sophie in SOPHIE SCHOLL - DIE LETZTEN TAGE), a German girl whose heart belongs to Hitler, after he befriends her one day on the streets of Prague. After extensive examination, he is deemed worthy to attempt to impregnate a member of the master race. I won't reveal where the title comes from other than to say that it's both cute and mainly irrelevant to the plot. D?te is a wonderfully sweet character who leads an interesting life. When the closing credits roll, you'll be glad that you were able to vicariously go along on his little adventures. I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND runs 2:00. The film is in Czech with English subtitles. It is rated R for "sexual content and nudity" and would be acceptable for teenagers. The film opens in limited release in the United States on Friday, September 5, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want reviews of new films via Email? Just write Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com and put "subscribe" in the subject line. From steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com Fri Aug 15 01:38:19 2008 From: steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com (Steve Rhodes) Date: Fri Aug 15 01:38:23 2008 Subject: Review: Frozen River (2008) Message-ID: FROZEN RIVER A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): *** FROZEN RIVER is a touching tale about people on the economic edge who turn to crime as a way out of their misery. With acting that doesn't miss a beat, the sad story concerns a couple of women who take to smuggling illegal Chinese aliens across the Canadian border into the United States. Once in the land of the free and the home of the brave, these illegals are expected to work for a couple of years to pay off the forty to fifty thousand dollars they paid the gang, ominously known as the Snake Heads, who organized their smuggling. The two women in FROZEN RIVER, Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) and Lila (Misty Upham), who incur most of the risks by taking the illegals across the border by using Mohawk reservation property, get a small cut of the action. Both are effectively single moms who have kids to support. Ray's husband, who has a gambling addiction, is AWOL. Lila, so far as we know, was never married in the first place. Both, reluctantly taking the money to commit the crimes, have different needs. Although Ray has a job at the local Yankee Mart, it is only part-time work, and it pays poorly. Her dream is a double-wide mobile home for her family. A while back she and her husband put down a deposit on their new mobile home, but her husband skipped out with the rest of the money. The middle-aged and very haggard looking Ray has a body full of wrinkles, every one of which feels like it has a tale of woe that it wants to share. Her two kids are getting tired of eating and drinking the only thing in their run down little trailer -- popcorn and Tang. The family appears to live in a town that doesn't have food stamps or public assistance. While this is unlikely, the movie makes the town and its characters appear completely genuine. The landscape is full of snow, lit by a bright winter sun. As the winds howl and the haunting music plays, you can feel a certain sense of chill go up and down your spine. Lila, who is in her twenties, is a member of the Mohawk tribe, but she is something of a persona non grata for her wayward ways. Her one-year-old baby is living with someone else, but Lila hopes to use the cash earned through her criminal endeavors to have enough to be able to care for her child and to get her back. The two women don't trust each other much until the end. Their partnership is a matter of convenience, since each has something the other needs. Lila has the contacts with the smuggling gang, while Ray has both a car and a white face. We are told that people like Trooper Finnerty (Michael O'Keefe) will not stop and inspect cars driven by white women. That the story is heading to some kind of tragic ending appears obvious. What will put their crime spree to an end and how bad the consequences will be isn't clear. What does transpire is poignant and believable. Even if you're sure you'd never even contemplate the actions taken by Ray and Lila, you will be touched by their situations, which FROZEN RIVER captures perfectly without ever feeling the need to manipulate our emotions. Still, I've got to admit, in the wrong hands this movie could have been sappy, unbelievable and downright awful. But first-time writer and director Courtney Hunt really nails it with deft skills. FROZEN RIVER runs a brisk 1:37. It is rated R for "some language" and would be acceptable for teenagers. The film opens in limited release in the United States on Friday, August 15, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want reviews of new films via Email? Just write Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com and put "subscribe" in the subject line. From steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com Fri Aug 15 01:41:47 2008 From: steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com (Steve Rhodes) Date: Fri Aug 15 01:41:50 2008 Subject: Review: Tropic Thunder (2008) Message-ID: TROPIC THUNDER A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): *** Uneven and needlessly gross, TROPIC THUNDER still manages to elicit enough really big laughs to make it an easy film to recommend. Directed by Ben Stiller, it is a movie that is happiest when it is way, way, way over the top, which is where it operates most of the time. The movie starts with a commercial for Booty Sweat energy drink followed by three great trailers: Scorcher VI, starring Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), The Fatties Part 2, starring Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), and Satan's Alley, starring Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.). TROPIC THUNDER, with an Escher print of a plot, is about the making of a Vietnam War movie. This movie-within-a-movie is directed by Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) and stars the three actors from the above opening trailers. Director Cockburn is losing control of his cast and crew as they film the movie on location in Vietnam. After a four million dollar explosion is set off without the cameras rolling, the director is called on the carpet by a take-no-prisoners studio exec named Les Grossman. In one of his best performances in years, Tom Cruise is absolutely hilarious as Grossman. Every time Cruise is on the screen, he is electric. Matthew McConaughey is almost as good as Cruise. Playing Rick Peck, Speedman's tenacious agent, McConaughey does a spoof of Cruise's part in JERRY MAGUIRE. While everyone in the jungle is trying to stay alive, Peck, back in Hollywood, is the only man willing to go up against the vicious Grossman. Peck has discovered that Speedman has not gotten the TiVo that is specifically called for in his contract, so Peck is ready to move heaven and earth to ensure that Speedman has his own digital video recorder in the jungle. The movie's big twist is that the director and the studio are so unhappy with the cast that they redesign the project so that it is a reality-based picture with hidden cameras all over the jungle. The jungle turns out to be infested with gun-toting opium farmers who don't realize that anyone is trying to make a movie. It all gets wackier and wackier as the story progresses. Downey is terrific as Lazarus, but he gets so much into his character as a jive-talking black soldier that much of his dialog is indecipherable. What you can hear is quite funny. The best line comes when he explains to another actor that he stays completely in character until he has finished the commentary track for the DVD release. He also talks at length about the repression he has suffered as a black man, much to the annoyance of a fellow actor who is actually black, rather than just playing one. One of Speedman's best episodes comes when he accidentally kills a panda. When he tries to explain it over the cell phone to his agent, his agent assumes that Speedman must have killed a prostitute called Amanda. Ah, what trouble a bad cell connection can get you into. All of the actors are good. Only Black, who never does much other than fart, is something of a disappointment. What the story does best is to ridicule actors and their methods. "My body may be shackled, but my mind wanders free," Speedman tells the heavily armed drug lords when they capture him. They think he's nuts, which he is. But it falls to Cruise's character to really "explain" things to us. Speaking of Speedman, he tells his agent that Speedman is "a white knight heading for a black hole. That's physics. The universe is like that. You've got to get used to it." TROPIC THUNDER runs 1:47. It is rated R for "pervasive language including sexual references, violent content and drug material" and would be acceptable for older teenagers. My son Jeffrey, age 19, gave the film just **, although he admitted he laughed hard in parts and might like it better the second time he saw it. He said it was too disgusting, too profane and too hard to understand, especially Downey's dialog. He liked Cruise's character best. Jeffrey's girlfriend Yasmin, also 19, gave it ** 1/2. She thought Stiller was awesome as usual, and she liked Black's performance. But she thought the film was too gross and gruesome, and, overall, she just didn't like it much. The film opens nationwide in the United States on Wednesday, August 13, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want reviews of new films via Email? Just write Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com and put "subscribe" in the subject line. From steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com Sun Aug 31 15:58:46 2008 From: steve.rhodes at internetreviews.com (Steve Rhodes) Date: Sun Aug 31 15:58:49 2008 Subject: Review: Traitor (2008) Message-ID: <3NSdnbm0GPx8xyXVnZ2dnUVZ_tPinZ2d@earthlink.com> TRAITOR A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2 Set to an ever-present score that is dreamy and melancholy, TRAITOR plods along while still somehow managing to keep us engrossed no matter how slow the pacing gets. As a setup episode for a long mini-series, TRAITOR would work just fine. But as a self-contained, full-length motion picture, the movie asks too much of the viewer's patience for its minimal dramatic payoff. My son walked out in disgust after an hour of suffering through it, since nothing was happening and what was happening was going at a snail's pace. Yet, for all of its problems, the film kept me interested the entire time. I'm not exactly sure why I liked it, albeit only modestly. I can certainly think of more things wrong with the film than right with it. For example, the script asks us to accept numerous illogical moments. And, although it has Muslim bad guys, the movies falls all over itself to reassure viewers that Americans are just as evil, citing everything from the Ku Klux Klan on to prove it. "Terrorism is theater, designed to provoke a response," one Islamic terrorist explains. If we take this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, we should never fight back, even after horrifying tragedies like 9/11. My guess is that the strength of the casting is the real reason that the movie kept my attention throughout. Don Cheadle (HOTEL RWANDA) and Guy Pearce (MEMENTO) gives some of the best performances, and the ever-reliable Jeff Daniels, in a small part, is quite good. When we meet Samir (Cheadle), he is an arms dealer attempting to sell very lethal explosives to an unsavory group of Islamic terrorists led by Omar (Said Taghmaoui). Taghmaoui had a part in the excellent television series "Sleeper Cell," which is similar to but infinitely better than TRAITOR. The sale, which occurs in Yemen, is stopped by a raid led by two FBI agents, Roy Clayton (Pearce), who has a Ph.D. in Arabic Studies, and Max Archer (Neal McDonough, "Medical Investigation"). After the two of them unsuccessfully play bad cop and good cop in an attempt to break Samir, he is sent to a horrific prison reminiscent of the Panamanian hellhole from the last season of "Prison Break." While in prison, Samir is converted from being a bad guy to being a really bad guy by Omar. Once on the outside, the two of them work on a large scale project to unleash dozens and dozens of sleeper agents in the U.S. Once activated and armed, these agents are supposed to become suicide bombers, causing maximum damage to the American confidence and psyche. In another example of the film's many problems, Samir, an extremely devout Muslim, is one of the smartest and most careful guys you've ever met, but, he clumsily makes a huge and stupid mistake towards the end of the story. The film is quite predictable, even if the more naive moviegoers may not be able to figure out who the obvious traitor is. It does, however, have a nice ending twist. The overall conclusion is easy to guess, but how it happens exactly isn't. TRAITOR runs 1:53. It is rated PG-13 for "intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language" and would be acceptable for kids around 11 and up. The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 29, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want reviews of new films via Email? Just write Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com and put "subscribe" in the subject line. From homeryen88 at gmail.com Sun Aug 31 15:58:59 2008 From: homeryen88 at gmail.com (Homer Yen) Date: Sun Aug 31 15:59:04 2008 Subject: Review: Stars Wars The Clone Wars (2008) Message-ID: <4a52a9000808301418v67c61921m23eeb463ee7a9c24@mail.gmail.com> Star Wars - Light Sabers in a Light Story by Homer Yen (c) 2008 I was an avid fan of the original space opera trilogy that came out in the late 70s. Those films transformed the moviegoing experience. And, to a certain degree, watching the animation that is "The Clone Wars" is equally impressive. The technology has come a long, long way. Light Saber duals between the good and the evil look fluid. Some of the battles are thrilling. And the renderings approach the realism that you might see in a live-action film. You can't deny the fact that tremendous attention to artistic detail has been put into the this project. From every richly colored corner of the screen, everything has been visualized beautifully and there doesn't seem to be any waste of screen space. This is a fine-looking project that is worthy of attention on the Cartoon Network. In fact, many people know that this was designed to be the pilot episode for the "Clone Wars" premiere on the small screen. However, as a big-screen offering, it fails to drum up the pageantry and the pulse of the other six "Star Wars" films that have been released. There are two major reasons. One, the casual moviegoer will become immediately pressed to keep up as we immediately join Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker fending off an army of Separatist droids. Ok, let's first set the table. Are you familiar with Separatist droids; the Hutt clan; the Trade Federation; the Galactic Republic? This film requires that you come with Star Wars knowledge in hand because the Clone Wars is that pivotal point in history that catapulted the Sith Lord to power as the good Jedi were eventually eradicated. Even if you did understand that last sentence, nothing that epic happens here. In fact, "The Clone Wars" isn't even about a war. It's more like a brief chapter within that legendary war as the good Jedi try to thwart an evil plan that would shift the balance of power in favor of the villainous Separatists. And that brings me to my second point, which is that action supplants the human element. Granted, there are some inventive battle scenes and the most innovative and thrilling one involves an assault on a mountaintop monastery. However, in the end, it really just seems too easy for the good guys. No one breaks a sweat. No one breathes heavily. No one even seems worried. Whether in the heat of battle or not, they all speak with a tonality as if they are discussing stuff on sale at the local mall. What is also frustrating is the multitude of identical-looking clones that fight for the good side and the droids that fight for the bad side. It doesn't really matter who is hurt/blasted. They all look the same, and there are no deaths/injuries of any consequence. The only new element is the introduction of Ahsoka Tano, a dangerously young padawan that will be trained by Anakin. Doesn't she seem a bit young? Well, she's obviously a character that attempts to attract young girls to the generally male demographic of the Star Wars universe. Anyway, if those Chinese gymnasts are old enough to compete in the Olympics, then Ahsoka can certainly hold her own. What I can't figure out is how the Jedi actually wind up losing the Clone Wars. The Separatist Droids seem to have been programmed by pretty untalented people. They say dumb things (for comic relief). They lose their balance when peering over an edge. Even I think that I could take down 10 of them myself. "The Clone Wars" won't satisfy fans. Meanwhile, for the new kids that it wants to reach, it diminishes the franchise's worth. Grade: C S: 0 out of 3 L: 0 out of 3 V: 1 out of 3 From mleeper at optonline.net Sun Aug 31 15:59:03 2008 From: mleeper at optonline.net (Mark R. Leeper) Date: Sun Aug 31 15:59:05 2008 Subject: Review: Hamlet 2 (2008) Message-ID: HAMLET 2 (a film review by Mark R. Leeper) CAPSULE: Awkwardly written and borrowing heavily from other comedic films, this film is about an actor/playwright/teacher who is not particularly good at anything he does. Then he puts together a play involving Hamlet and Jesus in a time machine and discovers he is good at causing an uproar. There is a germ of a good idea here, but only a germ. The film is trying to go in too many different directions at once. It is just a thin storyline on which the writer has hung too many unfunny jokes. Andrew Fleming directs and co-writes. Rating: 0 (-4 to +4) or 4/10 Humor is very subjective and some other viewers might find the film much more funny. HAMLET 2 is a tribute to some of the funniest moments in cinema. One can see in it bits from TOOTSIE, Woody Allen's early comedies, THE PRODUCERS, and Inspector Clouseau. However, rarely have all these bits been borrowed to less effect. Perhaps because the bits are all so familiar, they needed an extra twist for them to have some punch. Instead they are poorly delivered with little comic timing. The central plot could have been developed, but was instead just an outline and gags were glommed onto it wherever the writers could think of them. A Peter Sellers has the right timing and the right false-dignity so that when he catches his hand in a door it is funny (at least sometimes). But when Steve Coogan tries to imitate the same stunt his timing and his attitude is wrong and the joke comes off tired. Thrown gratuitously into a scene it does not have the same snap. On the other hand a teen audience might find some of the humor a little less stale. Most of the wit of a comedy should arise from character. Here more comes from the circumstance, with characters left undeveloped. Steve Coogan plays Dana Marschz, a failed actor, a failing drama teacher, and a miserable playwright. He in not sure how to teach acting and inspire his disinterested class, how to convince the school board to not cut the drama program, or how to write an original play. He is even not sure how to pronounce his own last name. Marschz seems to have little to offer his classes beside platitudes that for him are deeply felt, but seem really irrelevant to his students. In this Arizona school there has been a big influx of uninterested Latino students. One of them pointedly is not portrayed as a typical Latino tough guy, but the script treats most of the rest of the class very superficially and stereotypically. In most teaching movies the students are well characterized. They are, after all, the most important part of the classroom. Here most of the students are merely props. They are not developed at all. Marschz's drama classes do an annual play, till now always a near-transcription of a blockbuster movie. The teaching of drama is being dropped from the school curriculum. Dana's last play is an original story, "Hamlet 2" in which the Prince of Denmark escapes death and together with Jesus takes a time machine back in time to save all the characters whom William Shakespeare had die in his play. The vulgar language of the play and the use of Jesus has polarized the Tucson, Arizona, community between people who object to his treatment of Jesus and those who defend artistic freedom. Meanwhile Marschz is having personal problems. He is having a less personal relationship with his wife (Catherine Keener) and a more personal relationship with alcohol. Which all goes to make the story seem deeper than it really is. The plot has several lapses in logic. Somehow his class manages to put on a play with Broadway style production values, though the effort to get it so is never really shown. Bits of the musical play within the story are good. Sadly we see even less of the play "Hamlet 2" than Mel Brooks shows us of his "Springtime for Hitler". Steve Coogan has a long history of British comedy particularly for playing his alter-ego, the smug, venal, and superficial radio and TV personality Alan Partridge. In American comedy he does not have the same resonance. I rate it a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale or 4/10. There are several pieces of vulgar language in the film that some viewers might find objectionable. I found them neither objectionable nor particularly funny. In fact, that sums up how I felt about the entire film. Film Credits: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1104733/ Mark R. Leeper mleeper@optonline.net Copyright 2008 Mark R. Leeper From Faust668 at msn.com Sun Aug 31 17:17:15 2008 From: Faust668 at msn.com (Jerry Saravia) Date: Sun Aug 31 17:17:16 2008 Subject: Review: Shoot 'Em Up (2007) Message-ID: SHOOT EM UP (2007) Reviewed by Jerry Saravia RATING: Three stars I've seen countless action movies and countless action movie parodies/ send-ups and they all inevitably cancel each other out. How many different ways can there be to show bullets being fired from a gun? Exploding vehicles? Car crashes? Not many, and yet something like "Shoot 'Em Up" arrives and makes it seem all new again by infusing a cartoonish mentality. Right at the start of the movie, Clive Owen is sitting on a bench and eating a carrot in what is perhaps the only quiet scene in the entire movie. Before long a man is hellbent on murdering a pregnant woman, and they both run past Owen. Feeling a sense of duty, Owen chases the guy, impales him with a carrot ("Eat your vegetables"), almost saves the pregnant woman, shoots her umbilical cord since she has just given birth, and evades certain death by using oil slick to slide away and shoot everyone in sight. Now Owen is stuck with a baby! He runs around town evading more bad guys, pumping them full of lead, and keeps running. Eventually he secures help from a prostitute, DQ, played by Monica Belluci who plays her cliched character with far more elegance and flair than perhaps required. Mr. Hertz (Paul Giamatti) is the head villain, insistent on capturing Owen and trying to stay one step ahead. The minimal plot has to do with a Democratic presidential candidate who hires Mr. Hertz to find the baby since the candidate is dying of cancer and needs the bone marrow from the infant! I don't want to give away the twist since the idea is sure to drive most conservatives up the wall, screaming in hysterics! All pregnant women better watch out for Mr. Hertz and his minions! "Shoot 'Em Up" is a delirious, wildly overactive action movie spoof - the only known category this movie could be placed in since it can't be taken seriously. It is more appropriately a live-action cartoon, which seems to borrow from John Woo, Tarantino and the Coen Bros. and mixes it all up in a blender, with an extra dose of caffeine. Interestingly, "Shoot 'Em Up" doesn't feature mindless action - it is action with wit, purpose and clever imagination. I love the parachute sequence where gravity has some limits and the hero flies around like Superman (albeit with more pizazz than Brandon Routh). The gun battles are ferocious and in-your-face but not mind-numbing as say "Last Man Standing," an unwatchable Bruce Willis western remake of "A Fistful of Dollars" that featured more gun battles than an average Clint Eastwood western. Whereas "Last Man Standing" and possibly any number of trashy cop flicks/neo-noir thrillers from the last two decades like "Last Boy Scout" focused on sickeningly and repulsively violent carnage and a high body count, "Shoot 'Em Up" has flair and a definite sense of style at work, upping the ante on the absurd and the ridiculous. Consider the scene where Owen leaves a baby on a carousel. The hit men arrive and Owen sees them, so he shoots the carousel so it can spin around and, well, you get the idea! And how many movies show a woman with a baby hiding out inside a tank in a museum? How many show inconceivable booby-traps developed by the sullen hero in the matter of seconds before the enemies arrive? Or how many more would dare show Owen making love to Belluci while shooting the enemies that lurk around the corner? Though occasionally repetitive and wearying, "Shoot 'Em Up" is entertaining and chock full of blood-splattered ultraviolence yet always delivered with a wink. It is cartoonish to the extreme and more over-the-top than a Starbucks mocha latte with whipped cream. Come to think of it, the movie is like drinking a latte - you'll drink it, feel energetic, then mercilessly drained and then, just maybe, you may want to repeat the experience. For more reviews, check out JERRY AT THE MOVIES at: http://www.geocities.com/faustus_08520/Jerry_at_the_Movies.html BIO on the author of this page at: http://www.geocities.com/faustus_08520/index.html Email me at Faust668@msn.com or at faustus_08520@yahoo.com