Run Ronnie Run is a film spun-off from the HBO comedy series Mr. Showstarring David Cross and Bob Odenkirk. On that show, there was a sketch about one Ronnie Dobbs, a redneck loser who became famous for being captured on COPS-like television shows. Run Ronnie Run is essentially an expanded version of that […]
National Lampoon’s Van Wilder attempts to recapture some of National Lampoon’s past glory by returning to college and trying to define an era in much the same way Animal House did. While it never reaches the inspired levels of that earlier film (and all to often goes into that unfortunate land we call “gross-out […]
Treasure Planet should have been a big, fat success story for Walt Disney. It’s based on one of the best adventure stories of all time, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, it has incredible visuals and it features a strong voice cast. But, in the end, it was all for naught as the film […]
When I saw Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery in the theaters, I was extremely impressed. As I have mentioned before, I’m a big fan of 1960s sci-fi and adventure movies like Barbarella and Casino Royale with their big sets and peculiar point of view. It was clear to me that writer/star Mike […]
Okay, so Kung Pow! is not for everyone. It is, in the final analysis, an extremely silly movie. Writer/director/star Steve Oedekerk (of Ace Ventura, Jimmy Neutron and “Thumb” movie fame) bought the rights to Hong Kong action film Hu hao shuang xing (aka Tiger and Crane Fist or Savage Killers) and reworked the […]
Film #001 - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Film #002 - Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
Film #003 - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Film #004 - Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
Film #005 - Star Wars: Episode V - The […]
Viewed December 10, 2006
The Santa Clause 2 improves on the original film by sticking more closely to a festive mood, but gets somewhat muddled with too many plotlines.
The main focus of the film is Santa Claus (aka Scott Calvin, played by Tim Allen) and his search for a wife, as required by contract (the “Mrs. […]
Viewed September 12, 2006
Following the sudden passing of Steve Irwin, I decided to watch The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course as something of a tribute. Honestly, I think a better tribute would have been to watch his show or the “Confessions of a Cocodile Hunter” special, as this sad excuse for a theatrical film neither […]
Viewed September 8, 2006
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the airing of the first episode of Star Trek, I watched the only theatrical film that I had not yet seen: Star Trek: Nemesis. Now, I’m not a big fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation (sorry, Earl), so I didn’t have high expectations. […]
Viewed July 18, 2006
So, like, I was totally going to avoid watching the “Pink Five” series, because what little I had seen of it was, like, so stupid but then, I, like, thought that maybe I’d better watch them because they’re, like, really well known and people would wonder why I hadn’t seen them and […]
Viewed July 14, 2006
There’s a warning on the cover of the Repli-Kate DVD: “A Love Story from two of the producers of American Pie!” Note that it’s not from any of the writers or the director of American Pie. Also note that the writers and director of Repli-Kate have done absoultely nothing since […]
Viewed July 10, 2006
I’m not going to lie to you. Movies like Nicholas Nickleby are not particularly high on my ‘to-see’ list. (I know, looking at what I’ve seen so far this year, you’re shocked.) It’s not that I have anything against “costume dramas” or anything. As Sense and Sensibility proved, […]
Viewed June 20, 2006
It’s always difficult to make a sequel to a beloved film. It’s even harder when a significant period of time has passed. Witness The Two Jakes to see it done well and Slap Shot 2 to see it done poorly. The Rutles 2: Can’t Buy Me Lunch falls […]
Viewed June 11, 2006
In the ever-increasing field of CGI animated films, only Ice Age (2001) from 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios comes close to achieving the quality of the Disney / Pixar pairing. Gone Nutty is Blue Sky’s original DVD short about the crazy little “sabre-tooth squirrel” Scrat from Ice Age and […]
Viewed May 28, 2006
Shoot or Be Shot is another in a long line of films about filmmaking. Specifically, a film about low budget cheezy filmmaking. I only really got this film because it features William Shatner and, really, he’s the only reason to watch it.
The set-up is all too common: young filmmaker gets […]
Viewed May 23, 2006
I certainly had high hopes for Road to Perdition. It’s based upon a hraphic novel written by Max Allan Collins, a writer I’ve admired for some time. I first became aware of him around the release of Dick Tracy (1990). Collins was writing the strip (he took over from […]
Viewed April 23, 2006
Hero has a lot going for it. There is exciting action and strong drama, good characters and beautiful camerawork. Unfortunately, somehow it never quite comes together as well as it should.
The story is actually pretty simple: a nameless warrior (Jet Li, actually called “Nameless”) has apparently defeated three deadly assassins. […]
Viewed March 29, 2006
F’n genius.
I can’t think of a better way to describe Adaptation, undoubtedly the best film I’ve seen this year.
It begins with the premise. Adaptation ostensibly tells the story of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s attempt to write a screenplay adapting Susan Orlean’s book The Orchid Thief. As the film unfolds, we see […]
Viewed March 23, 2006
By now, I should be used to M. Night Shyamalan’s peculiar ability to create a realistic and convincing world for his stories to illuminate, yet I was still surprised by Signs. I was completely taken in by the trailers and advertisements that seemed to indicate that Signs is a mystery, following […]
Viewed March 21, 2006
Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, which documents a no-audience performance by Pink Floyd at a Pompeii auditorium, comes in two distinct flavors: the original 1972 version, that features only performance footage and the 2002 “Director’s Cut”, which features contemporary interviews with the band, as well as visuals augmented by computer generated images […]
Viewed March 20, 2006
Comedian answers the question “What do you do when your sitcom (one of the most successful in history) goes off the air?” For Jerry Seinfeld, the answer was to go back on the road. Seinfeld toured his classic act with the intention of retiring his well tailored jokes at the […]
Viewed February 8, 2006
My interest in Auto Focus obviously comes from an interest in Bob Crane. I had been a fan of Hogan’s Heroes when I was a kid, but had kind of forgotten about it over the years. I remember being incensed when TV Guide named it the second worst sit-com of […]
Viewed January 7, 2006
I’ve got a shocking admission to make. Before watching Die Another Day, I had never seen any of the Pierce Brosnan 007 films. Now, this is not something I can justify, since I am a big fan of the Bond films (and Bond in general), I’ve seen all the other […]