Ramblings of an Anonymous Coward

Simple Movie Reviews

eleven more movies watched since my last review and some of these will stick with me for a while. tom cruise's collateral was an interesting movie where jamie foxx (max) ended up driving a hitman around the city to do his rounds. this flick certainly had it's moments and an original plot, but couldn't seem to take it up a notch to become an excellent movie. definitely rental material at 3-stars.

next was the 2004 version of the manchurian candidate. clearly they were taking a few stabs at the politics of the time and didn't included memorable moments from the original. it would have been a fine movie had i not seen (or remembered) the original. i'll still give it 3 of 5 stars for not butchering this classic.

i told myself several times i wasn't going to watch ELF, but i buckled under pressure (and a lack of other movies available). ok, it was cute through a good chunk of the movie, but eventually became the dull movie i expected. some of the original bits allow me to give it 2 of 5.

surprisingly, anacondas turned out to be a better movie than anaconda. granted the bar wasn't terribly high, but usually sequals are the downward slide, but this one was a definite improvement. a solid 3 stars.

gosh! idiot! go this this movie already. napolean dynamite is definitely a fad movie and time will tell if it becomes a cult favorite. in the mean time, vote for pedro. 4 of 5 for its quirky uniqueness.

shaun of the dead didn't mock zombie movies the way i thought it would, but it was very entertaining none the less. i'd say more, but i need to head off the the winchester. 3 stars.

now here's a version of a king arthur tale where guinevere is not only the famed beauty, but she kicks serious ass with the bow. if that wasn't enough, we got plenty of good battles, some creative military maneuvers, and plenty to root for. i've been greedy handing out stars and am going to give this one a full 5. with apologies to cerdic -- "finally a movie worth watching".

i don't want to give anything away regarding open water, but i found it to be one of those movies you either like or you don't. two divers are mistakenly left out in the ocean and forced to deal with the time that comes with it. i think the movie was very realistic in terms of how the characters reacted and dealt with the situation and the movie from start to end kept it real. trust me, the movie won't be anything like what you expect going in. the more i think about this film, from an artistic perspective i like it more and more. according to the local blockbuster; however, i'm not in the norm. doesn't surprise me. i'm going to give it 4 of 5. it started as a 2.5 or 3, but i think it will finally rest at 4.

there were definitely parts of garden state that i liked, but it just wasn't the sort of movie (again) that i was expecting. the characters were interesting, but the movie just couldn't seem to get rolling. it made me think quite a bit of the flick "united states of leland". 3 of 5.

wicker park, i thought was going to be a mystery/suspense thriller. the trailers definitely built it up that way. i'm sorely disappointed. it tries to give it the little twist at the end as it unravels the story for you, but most people will catch on far before they start making clues obvious to the actors. this film loses a point for stirring up craziness around here as well. 2 of 5 and that's all i'm gonna say.

Posted by ac at January 5, 2005 06:55 PM