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2005 Reviews:
October 28, 2005
Saw 2
Kevin:  I love movies that mess with your mind! I didnt know if this sequal would be as good as the original, but I would say it's equal to the first. Freaky as all hell, great plot twists, and I loved how they tied the 2 movies together.
Brian W.: It’s always hard for a sequel to live up to its predecessor, but it has been done in the past (T2 anyone…). It’s been done once again as “Saw II” comes very close to almost being better than the first. The story is great, and really shows you how messed up the character of Jigsaw is. Tobin Bell gets more screen time in part two and eats it up perfectly. I felt the Wahlberg over did it a little at first, but fell into the roll. Bell and Wahlberg worked well together on screen in well done back and forth dialogue. Giving Shawnee Smith a bigger role was a great move as she was excellent as Amanda. I’m half and half on the rest of the acting, but the writing and directing were superb. This was an excellent sequel, with a bigger twist at the end that I really don’t think anyone saw coming. With a 30.5 million dollar weekend, I say bring on “Saw III”.
October 14, 2005
Elizabethtown
Renda:  I was highly anticipating the release of this movie, and I was genuinely afraid that I was going to be let down. However, the movie was beautiful. The dialogue was well mixed with a little off the wall humor. The one downfall of the movie was the casting of Kirsten Dunst. I think that she was trying a little too hard to be a quirky unattached girl, and the part didn't fit her well. She also had a fluctuating accent through-out the movie, but it was hardly noticeable. There was even a point in the movie that my eyes misted with tears, and I never cry at movies. It was beautiful and well-directed, and I recommend it to anyone.
Kevin: Cameron Crowe has never let me down and this is no exception. He made a really touching story between Orlando Bloom & Kirsten Dunst. She had a faked accent that was a little too much at first, but as the movie went on it wasn't as strong. Susan Sarandon's dance number toward the end reminded me a bit too much of Napoleon Dynamite.
Brian W.: Cameron Crowe delivers one hell of a great feel-good movie. The screenplay is phenomenal and his directing is top-notch. Bloom delivers his best performance yet. Dunst played her role well. Susan Sarandon delivers some good comical parts to the film. I loved the speech and dance scene near the end. Judy Greer puts in a good effort as well, but it was the relatively unknown Paul Schneider, who plays Drew’s cousin Jessie, that steels the supporting character spotlight. Do yourself a favor and go see this movie.
October 7, 2005
Good Night, And Good Luck.
John: This film deserves every ounce of praise it is getting. A powerful film with themes that still ring true in modern times, Good Night, and Good Luck will give you goosebumps and evoke a wide spread of emotions from anger to pride. George Clooney does an amazing job directing, and David Strathairn's performance as Edward R. Murrow is beyond Oscar-worthy. I recommend this film to anyone who wants a look into one of the darkest times of American history.
In Her Shoes
Brent:  Granted, its a chick flick, but made for a decent date movie. Toni & Cameron played off each other quite well. It felt weird when the story split between each sister's separate life. And because of that, the passage of time didn't feel as natural. Throw together some scenes in a montage, and expect a month to go by, doesn't always work.
September 30, 2005
Serenity
Renda: This is one of the best movies of the year. I have never seen the television show that the movie is based off of, and yet I followed it perfectly. The plot was good, and not at all overly cheesy (as a lot of Sci-Fi can be). The characters were unique and mesmerizing. I've seen it twice, and I will probably see it a third time. It is an excellent action movie, but with a little bit of heart and a lot of laughs. It's just spectacular. Go see it right now.
Into The Blue
Kevin:  The first half of the movie was mostly devoted to showing off the hot bodies of the stars of the movie, Jessica Alba, Ashley Scott, & Paul Walker. Not that I'm complaining, Alba is some nice eyecandy. The second half of the movie actually got pretty intense. There was a good plot to keep me interested.
September 23, 2005
Flightplan
Brian W.: For the first ¾, Flightplan keeps you guessing, but when you find out what’s going on, you may feel let down. I kind of did. There was really only two ways this film was going to end, neither of which is that great.
The cast was pretty good. Jodie Foster was strong, and does an excellent job conveying the feelings that any parent would be feeling in this type of situation. Peter Sarsgaard never ceases to amaze me. He really is one of the better supporting actors in movies today. I was pleasantly surprised by this film mainly due to the tense feel and very good acting. I would have like to see a more original ending though.
Kevin:  It wasn't the most believable movie, but it did it's job pretty well. I give Peter Sarsgaard a lot of credit for making this film enjoyable. It's worth seeing once.
September 16, 2005
Corpse Bride
John: Tim Burton + stop-motion = awesome things. If you liked The Nightmare Before Christmas you'll love this movie. It's fun and whimsical, and you'll want to see it again and sing along to Danny Elfman's songs. I will admit that it was not as great as I had expected, but by the time the movie came out my expectations were way too high. It's a wonderful movie, and I think that anyone that has any amount of kid in them should go see this.
Brian W.: The story is short and sweet, running just under 80 minutes. There could have been at least another 10 minutes added on, just to build the relationship between Victor and Victoria, and Victor and the Bride. That aside, the story works well, and I dug it. Then there are the visual images. The characters and sets are brilliantly stylized, and they gorgeously reflect the inner life of each, from the drab grey of the living world to the exciting zest of the underworld. Although I don’t think this is as great as “Nightmare…” was, “Corpse Bride” is still a high-quality stop-motion film. Burton gives us, for the second time this year, a fine film; a must see for “Nightmare…” fans, Burton fans, Depp fans, and pretty much everyone else.
September 9, 2005
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Shelley: The story revolves around the trial of Father Moore, who performed the exorcism on Emily Rose. The State is trying the priest for negligent homicide. This movie was entertaining as far as courtroom drama goes. It also manages to deal with religion (Catholicism) without making the viewer feel like he's being preached to, which is nice. The special effects make this movie creepy.
September 2, 2005
A Sound Of Thunder
Renda: I read the Bradbury short story "A sound of thunder" before I saw the movie. I appreciate what they did with the story development to morph it from a 9 page short story into a 2 hour movie, however in the process they lost the point of the short story altogether. The special effects in the movie actually left me laughing, and the "babbonigator" creatures were highly unbelievable. However, I enjoyed the story a bit, and if anything I got a big laugh out of it. Wait to rent it, or watch it on Sci-Fi channel.
Kevin:  That one star is being generous. The visual effects were so bad they hurt my eyes. The story has been done so many times before, put together Time Cop with a Sci-Fi Channel creature feature and you have A Sound Of Thunder. Skip it, please, but if you still see it for whatever reason, be ready to laugh at the cheesyness.
August 26, 2005
The Brothers Grimm
Brian W.: Terry Gilliam has a tendency to make visual masterpieces, and although this isn’t his greatest film, it really is something to look at. Damon was pretty good, but he’s usually so much better. This was easily one of his more mediocre performances. Ledger, on the other hand, who I think doesn’t shine all the much in his movies, stole the show. Overall, the is a fine piece of work.
Renda: I thought the movie was kind of cute, although it wasn't spectacular. The special effects and acting were so-so, however as a fan of fairy tales in general I thought it was fun. There were a couple things that really bugged me about it though, one being the skinning of a bunny right on screen and the flayed carcass on screen for a solid sixty seconds. Another time I had to wince was when a horse was flipped upside down and landed on it's back, and of course the kicking of a orange kitten into a death machine. I know these things didn't really happen, but it was really bad either way. I wouldn't recommend it for children under thirteen (hence the PG-13 rating, but who pays attention to those anyway?).
Kevin: Too weird! That's the best way to sum it up; with everything in the forest, to the little shorter bits like the gingerbread boy, it was all too weird. And if you have a problem with animal cruelty, this probably isn't the movie for you to see. They skin a bunny right in front of you, and then the best moment of all... the cutest kitten you've ever seen... gets KICKED into blender type machine and guts spray everywhere. It's quite disturbing.
August 19, 2005
Red Eye
Renda: I went in expecting this movie to be absolutely horrid, and I was pleasantly surprised that despite a few tiny plot potholes I actually enjoyed it. Cillian Murphy made an excellent "bad guy", and the story had just enough action to keep it believable and the story progressing.
Brian W.: Wes Craven redeems himself big time for the crap that was “Cursed” from earlier in the year. Craven does with an airplane what Joel Schumacher did with a phone booth; he puts together one very good tense roller coaster ride of a thriller. The movie runs just under 90 minutes and doesn’t really need to be any longer. It did was it was supposed to do in a sufficient amount of time. McAdams and Murphy perfect.
Kevin: From Wes Craven comes this pretty intense thriller. Cillian Murphy is quickly becoming one of the best villains in movies of late. There was one moment towards the end to make people jump out of their seats.
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Brian W.: So far this is definitely the funniest film of the year. There is a lot of crude sexual humor, but the film is very smart and pretty damn charming as well. Carell is hilarious in the lead. He doesn’t seem like lead actor material just yet but the guy is perfect. He practically stole scenes in “Bruce Almighty” and “Anchorman” and continues his comedic excellence in this film.
August 12, 2005
The Skeleton Key
Brian W.: It’s been a good long time since I’ve seen a movie dealing with voodoo and/or hoodoo. I’m sure there are more out there, but I don’t think I’ve seen one this good since “Angel Heart”. I wouldn’t deem “The Skeleton Key” as horror though; it was more of a suspense movie. It had its jumpy moments, but I think the film relied more on the mystery side of the plot. It may not be the most original film of the year, but it’s well crafted and should keep you wondering throughout.
August 5, 2005
The Dukes of Hazzard
Kevin: Take the movie at face value of being a fun summer movie. The General Lee was the real star of the flick. And even tho I'm not a big fan of Jessica Simpson, the girl is pretty easy on the eyes.
Broken Flowers
Kevin:  I can appreciate a good indie art movie, but this just was not that good. It wanted to be like "Lost In Translation" but just fell short on many levels. The Lolita character was nice for the guys for obvious reasons, but still you're left wondering why. There was no real closure in the ending making the entire 2 hours a waste of time.
Renda:  I tried really hard to delve into my artistic soul and find meaning in this movie, but it never happened. I kept thinking to myself during the 2 torturous hours that if the movie had a good ending (not happy, good) it could have really redeemed itself, but then that didn't happen. I wouldn't wish this movie on my worst enemy.
July 29, 2005
Stealth
Editor's Note: Review of the soundtrack on AlbumBuzz.
Ghis: The trailer looked interesting, despite what some people might think so I went for it.
The plot is quite simple: 3 of the best pilots fight against a state-of-the-art combat plane that's controlled by an artificial intelligence that's gone out of control.
I had fun watching that movie: combat scenes are quite enjoyable and I have to admit that Jessica Biel is one eye-candy in her tight pilot suit. One thing to keep in mind is that the movie doesn't really take itself seriously (which works in its favor towards the final note).
If you're looking for good action and a no-brainer, I would say it's worth a matinee and definitely a rental when it's out.
July 22, 2005
The Island
Kevin: It was too long, but quite enjoyable. An obvious remake of Logan's Run but updated for the 21st century. A better chase scene than Ep1: Phantom Menace's pod race.
Renda: I enjoyed the first part of this movie a lot, but as it drug on for two and a half hours I was really starting to loose interest. The story is pretty solid and the action effects are well done, however the two do not go well together. The director should have decided whether he wanted an action movie or a sci-fi thriller. Overall it was highly entertaining, but the bad dialogue writing makes for a few cheesy lines between the actors. This movie could have had four stars if they had included more Steve Buscemi.
Bad News Bears
Christina: 2 hours of Billy Bob smoking, drinking, cussing at little kids and then having a happy ending.
July 15, 2005
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Kevin: Much better than I expected! Deep Roy was great as the Oompa Loompa, and Depp was wikked 'n' meen.
Renda: This is an amazing movie. The classic story is remade well, and the writing is witty and charming. Depp does an excellent job, but Freddie Highmore (Charlie) steals many scenes with his charisma. I cannot wait for the DVD, and I've already seen it three times in the theatre.
Shelley: Johnny Depp did an amazing job playing Willy Wonka. If you adored the original, you will love this one too. Vibrant colors, a gaggle of oompa loompas, and sweets all around appeal to not only children, but adults as well. Do not compare the two movies - they are both awesome on their own. Go see in theaters to get the full effect!
July 8, 2005
Fantastic Four
Editor's Note: Review of the soundtrack on AlbumBuzz.
John: A much better film than I expected. It could have used more action, but still I never once looked at my watch. The film was more character-driven, which is understandable, since it's quite obvious they would like to do a sequel. I recommend this flick to anyone that likes the superhero genre in general. And even if you don't, Jessica Alba is still quite nice to look at.
Renda: This movie worked. There were a couple times the plot was like, "huh, what?", but the movie kept laughing at itself and that really helped. If it had tried to be an overly serious movie it would have been horrible, but because the FF are the cheesiest super-heroes the cheesy movie worked.
June 29, 2005
War Of The Worlds
Kevin: Was true enough to the original, but was rather boring and didn't live up to expectations. Rentable.
Renda: Worth seeing on the big screen due to the amazing special effects, but to be perfectly honest I had completely forgotten all about this movie after I left the theatre. I was really irked by the cheesy ending, and no, I don't mean what happens to the aliens.
June 24, 2005
Bewitched
Brian W.: I didn’t have high expectations for "Bewitched" at all. The first half felt kind of slow to me. I didn’t like the whole rewinding sequence. However, I think the film picked up a bit in the second half. The story kind of fell into place. The acting was decent, but Kidman did great. I think “Bewitched” could have been a whole lot better if it was in fact a complete remake of the Samantha and Darrin story of the original TV show. I wouldn’t change the cast, I would have just changed the story.
June 17, 2005
The Perfect Man
Shelley: Typical chick flick starring Heather Locklear, Hilary Duff, & Chris Noth. It wasn't a bad movie, but definitely not something you'll remember. Cute movie for all the Duff fans!
June 15, 2005
Batman Begins
Kevin: The best Batman since Keaton. I had doubts about Morgan Freeman & the new batmobile, but it all worked.
Renda: Christian Bale makes a horrible batman, and a mediocre Bruce Wayne. As excited as I was about this movie I was disappointed in the many intertwining sub-plots and the sub-par acting on the part of Katie Holmes and Liam Neeson. I did thoroughly enjoy that feel of the movie, and the explanation of many of the character's relations to each other. The story also did a good job of following the Batman mythology, with a few exceptions.
Wedding Crashers
Bee: The begining is a bit slow but once its gets going its really funny. Rachel McAdams delivers and Isla Fisher gives a great and funny performance as well as the two main men of the movie, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. And you can't forget Mr. Christopher Walken, amazing and funny as always.
June 10, 2005
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Kevin: Fun movie! Lots of good action, Pitt & Jolie were perfectly cast.
Shelley: This movie is all-around HOT - the cast, storyline, & action. A perfect movie for couples - Brad Pitt for the ladies, Angelina Jolie for the gents.
Bee: Great chemistry between Pitt and Jolie, amazing plot. Plus the way the mixed action with good humor truly amused me.
High Tension
Brian W.: I loved the story and I dug the ending. The reason I liked the ending... I wasn’t expecting it. Excellent use of not showing too much of the killer face too. Always keeping him in the shadows, only revealing portions at a time. Love it. I love gore. The more gore in a horror film, the merrier. We get some very brutal kills and buckets of blood in this one. I felt my inner-psycho jumping with joy. Cécile De France was excellent. She portrayed the emotion perfectly and was very impressive. Maïwenn Le Besco gave a great performance, damn this girl can scream. Good stuff. Philippe Nahon was flawlessly creepy. He looked and moved like a killer should. All around greatness in the casting department. Director Alexandre Aja put together one hell of fun horror flick.
June 1, 2005
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Shelley: The 'Sisterhood' was a pretty decent movie - it had everything you want in a chick flick: love, laughs, and tears. When released on DVD, it'll be a great movie to curl up on the couch with, while eating Bon-Bons.
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