Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast is one of those rare contemporary thrillers that actually creates an unnerving sense of suspense, rather than rely on lame gun battles and car chases where you know exactly what the outcome will be. Surprisingly enough, this year, Memento and With A Friend Like Harry are already stellar examples of this. […]
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…so we had 30 hours of driving to do in two days to get from Seattle to Minneapolis. Well, even if we woud’ve split it up, that’s still a total jackass ‘cuz it ruins both days. All driving, no shows, no fun. So we, the geniuses at Ultimate Fakebook central, drive 25 hours all the […]
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I was prepared for this one to suck, and it did. But it didn’t suck as bad as I thought it would. Now, in all fairness to you, here is a guide of things to expect to suck about “Pearl Harbor,” so that you too can have a decent time watching the movie. Because if […]
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Here’s another movie I kind of had to drag myself to go see. Believe me, if you found yourself stuck in Wichita, KS with nothing to do and hours to kill before a show, you would’ve gone too. I dug “Toy Story.” “The Iron Giant” and both “Babe” movies kicked ass. When kids movies are […]
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This is a wildly imaginitive, intensely visual, vividly colorful rollercoaster ride of a movie. I was constantly surprised and delighted by the sheer chutzpah of director Baz Luhrmann. To combine KISS’ “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” with “The Sound of Music” and about a hundred other (literally) popular tunes and marry them with a […]
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The real-life events depicted in this fascinating documentary about the rapid rise of dot-com businesses are infinitely more entertaining than 70% of the stories being told in Hollywood today. The filmmakers were able to get real and candid footage of two twentysomething friends– a self-centered, egotistical overacheiver and a down-to-earth single father– who begin a […]
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This French thriller borders on the absurd, quite like the Coen brothers “Fargo,” one of my favorite movies of all time. The first time I saw “Fargo,” like “Harry,” I didn’t know whether to laugh or be horrified. Director Dominik Moll does a fantastic service to this international hit by letting the events unfold completely […]
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Wayne Wang directed this digitally shot tale of sex, money and consequences on location in Las Vegas. The premise is mildly interesting, but it never really picks up steam. The two main characters are fleshed out very well. Peter Skarsgaard (the rich computer geek) and Molly Parker (the broke stripper) are totally believable, they’re just […]
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I wanted something fun and dumb with good special effects last year, so I saw the first new “Mummy” movie with Brendan Fraser. What I got was a surprisingly tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventure, with great special effects and a pretty engaging story– like a low-rent, yet amusing Indiana Jones movie. So I was actually pretty fired […]
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Texan Rene Zellweger pulled off the English accent required for this role perfectly. It took awhile for me to get used to seeing her as a British woman, but the movie’s brisk pace and very funny dialogue helped. I have to confess, I like Hugh Grant a lot. I’m a big Monty Python fan, so […]
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My friend Jon says I’m too easy on movies. He says if I take them to task a bit more it would be more fun to read. He’s probably right. This one in particular is a case in point. I wasn’t expecting much, and I mainly went because I was intrigued by the fact that […]
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Having read some fairly good reviews of this Ted Demme-directed movie, I was pretty fired up to see it. After all, it looked like (from the previews at least) that it had equal parts “Boogie Nights” and “Traffic” going for it. Plus, the extra bonus of one of Hollywood’s riskiest actors, Johnny Depp, and Paul […]
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Pierce Brosnan sends up the James Bond British spy cliche with strange and humorous results in this offbeat spy yarn from longtime directing great John Boorman. Geoffrey Rush is also excellent as the tailor mentioned in the film’s title, but Brosnan really steals the show, if not for anything else than being a complete asshole. […]
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This is my favorite movie of the new year, hands down. Yes, I’m a sucker for the mystery/noir/thriller. Like “The Usual Suspects,” “Memento” takes a familiar plot device and does something completely new with it. Director Christopher Nolan also wrote this amazing screenplay, and it warrants many repeated viewings. Without giving too much away, it […]
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Judging a movie by what it is trying to accomplish, I can say “Enemy of the Gates” was mediocre at best. Great actors, great opening battle scene, great set-up, slow exposition, bad third act. Some of the WWII battle scenes are pretty successful. Jude Law makes a believable and endearing hero, but there’s a needless […]
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