Reviews

Whoa. Okay, I admit, as happy as I was for Halle Berry to win the Best Actress Oscar, without having seen the movie for which she was nominated, I was under the impression that Berry was an extremely overrated and unnatural actress in need of some skills. Don't get me wrong I really do like her but without seeing "Monster's Ball," I actually thought she was a no-talent. Shame on me. She gives one of, if not the best performances of her career in this film. She was natural and not only am I happy that she won the Oscar, she deserved it as well. I owe a heartfelt apology to Ms. Berry for doubting her abilities. I now take a negative attitude to those ignorant fools who say that her Oscar win was little more that Hollywood Affirmative Action. The woman has talent, as evidenced here. Billy Bob Thorton, Heath Ledger and, believe it or not, Sean "P Diddy" Combs also turn in exceptional performances. Anyone who watches this film simply to see the notorious sex scene is watching a good movie with good performances for the wrong reason.

40 years after the James Bond series began with the Sean Connery classic "Dr. NO," the famous character returns once again starring Pierce Brosnan, who truly makes the role his own. For a man right about on the half-century mark, Brosnan still remains convincing in the role and continues to exude the trademark 007 confidence. Gustav Graves makes for a delightfully snobbish villain, Zao was a cool but underused henchman and both Bond girls ( Halle Berry and Rosamund Pike were both beautiful). However, for such a talented actress, Berry comes across as forced and the press hype that her character Jinx represents a new type of independent Bond girl is put to shame by the fact that Jinx is written into some damsel-in-distress situations. Still, it was refreshing to see Halle Berry as a Bond girl. Rosamund Pike was FIIIIIINEEEEE!!!!!!!

This was a disappointing movie that failed to interest me as much as the "Indiana Jones" and "Mummy" movies did. The adventure just seems dull, which is especially disappointing considering that it is in the "Indiana Jones" vein. On the bright side though, Angelina Jolie does a good job in the lead role and I can't really see anyone else in the role. There's rarely anything more frustrating than a good cast in a crappy movie.

An entertaining film that includes the social commentary of the material (comics, cartoons) that it is based on. Hugh Jackman was PERFECT as Wolverine, I mean nobody else could have played the role better. I also liked Ian McKellan as Magneto and Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier. Although Halle Berry might not have been my first choice as Storm, she did a decent job nonetheless and I find her to be very talented.

When I first saw this, I felt that the original "Mission: Impossible" film had been outdone. John Woo is a proven action director and his work was on glorious display here. I like Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames and Anthony Hopkins (in an unbilled cameo), and Thandie Newton was quite beautiful. So what went wrong? While I was blown away the first time I saw "MI2," It got worse with repeated viewings and John Woo's famous slow motion got annoying (no offense to the great director himself, he's done better), a complete contrast to the original movie that actually got better with repeated viewings. This is by no means a bad movie but if you decide to rent the video, wait extremely long periods before watching it again. Just a way to prevent a decent movie from becoming boring.

I had actually looked forward to seeing this movie when I saw clips of it at a comic book convention (where I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Jai White) but this film was something of a disappointment. I don't know, this movie just didn't strike me as all that interesting, a fact which is a damn shame knowing that not only the concept of the Spawn character WAS interesting, but that the film had a capable cast, including the aforementioned Michael Jai White as the title character, John Leguizamo as the delightfully over-the-top villain, and Martin Sheen as the secondary and appropriately comic book-cheese villain. This movie was an okay way to waste some time but not anything special.

Although he had starred in two prior box office hits, "Beverly Hills Cop," released in late 1984 is the film that really made him a superstar. Starring as Axel Foley, Murphy proved an extraordinary comic talent and developed engagingly funny chemistry with costars Judge Reinhold and John Ashton. The film was such a hit that it spawned two sequels.

I'll be the absolute first to admit that this movie is hilariously dated. Oh man. it must have been cheesy back in the day (1972)!!! Still, this tale about a drug dealer trying to make the ultimate score and then get out of the business was highly entertaining and Ron O'Neal makes for a charismatic lead.

In spite of the glaring lack of originality in this movie, it is nevertheless a fun ride. Rachel Weisz and Patricia Velasquez are sexy John Hannah is amusing, Oded Fehr is given a delightful character expansion from the first film, Shaun Parkes has some quite humorous moments in his sidekick role, and Arnold Vosloo is wonderfully villainous in the title role. I also enjoyed the Rock's cameo at the beginning of the film. Too bad they screwed it up with bad CGI at the end of the film. Freddie Boath, the child actor of the movie, shares striking chemistry with Adewale, who is great as one of Imhotep's minions. As for the leading man, Brendan Fraser, although he did a good job, he seemed more cardboard and less humorous than the last time around. Overall, quite a fun experience.

This was a fun movie that I'd been waiting for ever since I heard that "Blade," a good movie in its own right, was getting a sequel. I can't really imagine a better actor in the role of the title character than Wesley Snipes, who makes for a menacing hero. While acting isn't required for such a role, presence certainly is, something that Snipes certainly has. The action sequences are vastly improved from the previous film, thanks, doubt, to the choreographic skills of Donnie Yen, who has a minor role as a vampire in this newest chapter of the "Blade" saga. Ron Pearlman makes for an enjoyable villain and the character of Whistler makes a more than welcome return. Did I mention that Blade's love interest was hot?!!

Russell Crowe won an Academy Award for his performance in the "Best Picture" of 2000, "Gladiator," a highly enjoyable but also overrated movie. When I first saw this in theaters, I thought of it as a decent popcorn flick, not one without depth, but a popcorn flick nonetheless. I was surprised to see this movie winning the Best Picture Academy Award. Don't get me wrong, I really did enjoy this movie but it seems to have earned more in accolades than it actually deserved. Just my opinion. Look for Djimon Hounsou ("Amistad") as fellow gladiator, Juba.

This was a decent popcorn movie. I remember being all pumped up to see it when it was first released in theaters. Samuel L. Jackson was wonderfully BADASS in the role of the nephew of New York's baddest mutha, John Shaft (Richard Roundtree), who makes a cameo as the still-womanizing private eye. Busta Rhymes, while obviously not a good actor, put in some welcome energy into his performance as sidekick Rasaan. Christian Bale and Jefferey Wright were wonderful as the villains and Vanessa L. Williams looked beautiful.

Denzel Washington was delightfully "out-of-image" in his villainous role as Alonzo Harris, a role that would make him only the second Black American actor in history to win the Best Actor Academy Award. Watching the usually heroic Denzel play an evil character was as blast, as was watching Ethan Hawke as the good-hearted but naive rookie. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Macy Gray all made notable appearances in this film. Antoine Fuqa proved to be a good director as well.

This movie was SO much better than "The Phantom Menace!" I found the beginnings of Anakin's fate quite interesting. The action was GREAT! This movie features some interesting revelations that tell of how the galaxy reached its state in "Episode IV," Boba Fett makes a welcome appearance as does Christopher Lee as the villainous Dooku, Mace Windu finally gets in on the action and Yoda proves to be a BADASS!!! So what went wrong? Apart from Ewan Mcgregor's fantastic Obi-Wan Kenobi, the acting is HORRIBLE. The romance and dialogue between Anakin and Padme was wooden and Hayden Christensen's acting, with the exception of his fits of rage, was atrocious. Somebody give me back that James Earl Jones voice!

This was, simply put, a fun movie, not just because of its special effects, but because of its cast. Brendan Fraser was great as the wisecracking Rick O'Connell, as were Rachel Weisz and John Hannah, who enjoyed natural brother-sister chemistry. Oded Fehr was delightfully mysterious as Ardeth Bay and Arnold Vosloo ruled as Imhotep. While admittedly this isn't the most intelligent movie out there, it is still great fun. Given the large amount of comedy in this movie, it's not to be taken too seriously even though some scenes in the movie give it a dark edge.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that it is a bad movie. I know that the acting isn't exactly Oscar-worthy. Heck, I know that it wasn't faithful to the video game that it is based on, but WHO cares??? I know that I don't. This is simply a fun movie!!! I loved Raul Julia's over-the-top camp performance and I loved the rest of the cast as well. Jean-Claude Van Damme was hilariously cool as the AMERICAN Colonel Guile with a BELGIAN accent. Ryu and Ken made a good buddy team, as did Balrog and E. Honda. Wes Studi was wonderfully scum as the evil Sagat the dude who played Vega was perfect, Roshan Seth was dignified as Dhalsim and Ming Na stood out as Chun-Li. The movie IS INCREDIBLY cheesy but in a good way and the cast has wonderful chemistry together.

This has been my favorite cartoon show for years now. Something about just stood out above all others. The cartoon characters are wonderfully integrated with the show's dark tone and the entire voice cast has strikingly good chemistry with each other. Those that stick out are Jaleel White (Urkel) as the fabulously cocky title role, Christine Cavanaugh as the cyborg Bunnie Rabbot, and the legendary Jim Cummings as the convincibly evil Dr. Robotnik. Other notable cast members include Kath Soucie as Princess Sally, Tim Curry as King Acorn, Cree Summer as Dulcy and Shari Belafonte as Lupe, the latter two specifically for the second season. This was the best Sonic cartoon of them all.

"The Empire Strikes Back" is an astoundingly good movie that holds up well to repeated viewings. Although I consider myself a "Star Wars" fan, I feel that this is the only GREAT movie in the saga. The cast was excellent with Mark Hamill doing a good job as the conflicted Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as the wise-cracking Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as the take-charge Princess Leia and Billy Dee Williams as the suave and treacherous Lando Calrissian. Also along for the ride are Frank Oz as the wise Yoda and Peter Mayhew as the lovable Chewbacca. However, Darth Vader COMPLETELY steals this picture. This is one of, if not the greatest film villains ever. David Prowse has remarkable presence in the Vader suit and James Earl Jones is positively chilling as the dark lord's voice. I give this movie 10 out of 10.

This was Bruce Lee's final completed movie and it's a great time watching him beat the living crap out of his every opponent. His battles with the henchmen underground and with Han in the mirror maze are classics. Also along for the ride are John Saxon and Jim Kelly. While this is without Bruce Lee's movie and ONLY HIS MOVIE, Kelly had some of the film's best lines.

"Blade II" is a very fun sequel that actually tops the original! Wesley Snipes has great screen presence and is better than ever! The only real complaint that I have is that the CGI was completely overdone in some scenes and detracted from some otherwise great action. Other than that, "Blade II" is well worth the ride.

A superb movie with great performances from the entire cast, especially from Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, who won a deserved Oscar for his role as the conflicted Private Trip. I was aware of the great buzz surrounding this movie, but I had no idea that it was as good as it was.

Although saddled with predictable humor and very poor dialogue, this show nevertheless succeeded in being entertaining, thanks to the efforts of the entire cast, especially the famed Jaleel White and Reginald Veljohnson. I just hope that Jaleel's career manages to survive this; he seems to have been not surprisingly but very severely typecast as Urkel.

A very funny show with a talented cast that includes Jimmie "J J" Walker, John Amos and Esther Rolle. I especially liked the 2-parter where JJ joins a gang. It's Dy-no-mite!

This movie was anything that I could have possibly hoped for! It was way better than the first with more action and comedy from stars Chan and Tucker. Both still have that magical chemistry. Add this to the great supporting cast and voila! What more can you ask for?