Batman Begins!!

I’m back!! Spent two weeks out of state for work (one week in Kentucky, one week in Idaho), and the last two weeks recovering and catching up on things, but now I’m back and ready to work on the blog! So let’s get back to the movie reviews. We’ve reached the middle of June, and our first superhero movie of the summer – Batman Begins. And I have to say, it was well worth the wait. This movie is easily good enough to make one forget about the horrid excuses for Batman movies that were Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. While it’s a tough call for me to say whether it was better than the original Batman movie (but that’s because I’m a big Tim Burton fan, and both Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson gave phenomenal performances in the original), I will say that it was easily as good as the original, and it is a rock solid starting point for reinventing the franchise. The performances were all solid. Christian Bale does a great job as a younger Bruce Wayne, Morgan Freeman is wonderful as Lucius Fox (a Batman character long overdue to be brought into the movies), and Michael Caine is superb as Alfred (although I honestly don’t think any actor, even one as incredibly talented as Mr. Caine, will ever really be able to replace Michael Gough, who so perfectly embodied the character in the previous four films). And let’s not forget Katie Holmes, who is as cute and adorable as ever. Mmmmmm, Katie! ;-)

This movie continues the tradition from the previous films (except the original) of featuring two major Batman villains, in this case Scarecrow and Ra’s Al Ghul, both great Batman villains who haven’t appeared previously in a Batman movie. And I have to say, they got two great actors to play the parts! Of course, historically the Batman movies have done a pretty respectable job of finding the right actor/actress to play the villain; the problem has generally been the parts have been horribly written (it still pisses me off that they found the perfect actor to play The Penguin in Danny DeVito, but then they wrote the character so unbelievably wrong that it completely ruined it. DeVito’s performance was great, but the character that had been written for him was so pathetic and poorly done that he couldn’t really do anything with the character).

Spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen the movie yet (and as late as this review is, if that’s the case, shame on you!). The following paragraph gives away one of the secrets of the movie, so if you haven’t seen it yet, skip this paragraph and go on to the next one. You have been warned! So Batman Begins manages to get not one, but two great actors into the role of Ra’s Al Ghul. Liam Neeson plays the real Ra’s Al Ghul (after pretending to be his right-hand man and going by the name of Henri Ducard, which is also how he’s listed in the credits, interestingly enough – probably less confusing that way, I suppose), and for anyone who’s read the comics, he so fits the role, both appearance-wise and performance-wise. He just does a wonderful job all the way around. But let’s face it, he is Liam Neeson, after all; how could you expect anything less? The second actor portraying the villain (the man who is first introduced to Bruce Wayne as Ra’s Al Ghul, who later turns out to be a fake to protect the villain’s real identity) is the wonderfully talented Ken Watanabe, pretty much unrecognizable from his previous role in The Last Samurai. He doesn’t really have much of a part here, but he’s got this great Fu Manchu vibe to him that’s just fun to watch.

The other villain in the film is Dr. Jonathan Crane, better known as The Scarecrow. He is played by Cillian Murphy, a not-so-well-known Irish actor (at least, I’d never heard of him before, although in looking him up I was surprised to discover that he’d previously appeared in Cold Mountain) who does a brilliant job (he’s also great in Wes Craven’s Red Eye, a movie I highly recommend seeing – although who knows when I’ll actually get caught up to the point to do a full review of it). His take on the character (and I’m sure part of that was the way the role was written) was a little different from how I envisioned Scarecrow in the comics (for one thing he’s about a decade younger, but that actually fits considering they’re starting Batman young and new as well), but it was still brilliantly done. I’m thinking this guy is definitely going to be an actor to keep an eye on in the future.

There are two other characters I’d like to mention before I close out this review, just because I’m a big fan of the two actors who play them. The first is Rutger Hauer’s character, who’s listed in the credits simply as Earle. While not exactly a major character in the movie (and not a character from the comics at all that I’m aware of), he does a very good job of playing the amoral, scumbag corporate executive that we all love to hate. And I just have to say that I am so happy to see him showing up in big Hollywood movies again! Combine this with the wonderful job he does in Sin City, and it’s just a great, great year for Rutger Hauer fans! The other notable character is Lt. James Gordon, played to perfection by Gary Oldman. This guy is just such a phenomenal actor!! I can’t say enough about how constantly impressed I am every time I watch the man onscreen. And this movie is no exception. I can’t wait to see how they develop the character through the later movies (and we all know there’s going to be at least one or two sequels); let’s just hope they keep Gary Oldman in the role through all of them.

And finally, a review of this film wouldn't be complete without at least a brief thank you to its director, Christopher Nolan. While he's only directed a handful of films, what he's done so far has been pretty impressive, and I must say he continues that trend with this movie. He does as good a job as a movie can of being true to the spirit of the character and the comics. He is just an all around solid director, and I hope they keep him on for future films.

So in summary, Batman Begins is what the original Batman movies should have been and sadly weren’t – very well written, very tightly directed, and starring an incredible cast that truly inhabit their characters and really bring them to life. If you’re a fan of Batman at all (or even just a fan of well-done comic book movies), you’ll really enjoy this film. If I have any complaint about the film, it’s that it doesn’t really capture the deep-seated, intense obsession that Batman’s war on crime is to him. Anyone who’s read the comics for any length of time knows that deep down, Bruce Wayne is a seriously screwed-up individual in dire need of an incredible amount of therapy. He’s cold and distant from even those close to him to an almost frightening degree, and he’s focused to the point of scary obsessiveness. The problem is, this just isn’t something you can capture in a two hour movie without making the character completely unsympathetic to the audience, which is something you just can’t do if you want the audience to connect with your hero. So while I’ve always found it to be a shame that the movies can never truly capture Batman’s personality, I also understand that it’s a limit of the medium that you’re just not going to get around, so it’s not something I hold against the movie at all.

And with that I will call this entry complete!! Now to proofread it and get it posted so that it can be enjoyed by my fans all across the ‘Net! (okay, so it can be read by those handful of friends of mine that peruse my blog on occasion) :-)

More delays!!

Well after having to reload Windows AGAIN (long story that I don’t want to get into), and getting to reload all of my programs AGAIN, I am finally back online and writing on my blog again. So let’s get right to it!!

So I didn’t get a chance to see The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3-D (it’s hard to believe that the same man who brought us Sin City and Desperado is also the creative force behind this movie and the Spy Kids trilogy). But somehow I’m thinking that’s not the end of the world. I’m sure I’ll get around to seeing it eventually. What I did see, however, was Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and I have to say, damn that’s a great movie!! As a matter of fact, since it’s still at the theater, I might just have to go see it again tomorrow (either that, or I’m going to see Wes Craven’s new flick Red Eye).

Okay, I’ll get it out of the way – Angelina Jolie is amazingly, unbelievably hot! And she has the sexiest, most kissable lips of any woman I’ve ever seen. On top of that, she is an incredibly talented actress. She is wonderful in this movie, as is Brad Pitt (not surprising, though – I have yet to see Brad Pitt in any movie that he wasn’t great in). And the chemistry between them really heats up the screen, and makes the movie that much more enjoyable. Of course this leads a lot of people to want to talk about her breaking up Brad Pitt’s marriage, but personally I really couldn’t care less one way or the other (but I must say I’d take Angelina Jolie over Jennifer Aniston in a heartbeat!).

The first thing I have to say about this movie is that it is surprisingly funny. It’s much more of an action comedy than a straight action movie, something I wasn’t expecting. From the very opening scene with Brad and Angelina talking to a marriage counselor, the movie has you laughing. Another thing the movie does that I like that I haven’t seen very often in the past is that several of the scenes in the trailer are actually different from the scenes that are in the actual movie, so some of the things you expect to see from the trailers end up being a little different when you actually see them in the movie. Which is a nice change of pace when so many movies are ruined by horribly put together trailers that give away entirely too much of the plot of the film (not that the final trailer for this movie doesn't give away a little more than I would have liked, mind you).

The action in this movie is top notch, the comedy really adds to the film, the dialogue – especially the back and forth between Brad and Angelina – is great. And Vince Vaughn is great as always (but I’ve been a fan of his for a while now). If you want to see a funny, thrilling, action-packed, all-around kick ass movie, this one fits the bill!! Definitely among my top 5 movies of the year so far.

A small delay, but we're getting there

So there’s been another little delay in getting caught up with my blog – my new computer was having all kinds of problems with the SATA hard drive I have in it not wanting to run properly. A number of other little issues (and some discussions with a buddy of mine) brought me to the conclusion that I just didn’t have a reliable motherboard. So I ordered a new motherboard, and after a number of delays and problems (including losing just over 3 weeks of e-mail when I re-installed Windows, several days of which I hadn’t even glanced at yet) and the purchase of a second hard drive (that it turned out I didn’t actually need once I figured out what was really going on with the machine, but oh well – it’s only money, I guess, and hey, you just can’t have too much hard disk space, now can you?), I was FINALLY able to get my computer back up and running properly (and running much better than it had been with the previous motherboard – this Abit board rocks!). Of course, once that was done I had to re-install all of my applications and re-setup everything and get things tweaked back to the way I wanted them (which is naturally an ongoing process that I will probably be working on for weeks or months to come, but I’ve got everything pretty much back to where it was with the new machine BEFORE I replaced the motherboard, so now I can continue where I left off with getting the rest of my data moved over from my old machine and the rest of my programs put back in place). But all the key programs – e-mail, web browser, word processor, image viewer, etc. – are all in place now, so I can go about my day-to-day business on the computer just like before with my old machine, and in my spare time (not that I have a lot of that) I can slowly work on getting the less essential programs that I don’t use nearly as much (such as games and the various little utilities and such that I use now and then) put back on.

But enough of that! I’m sure you’ve got plenty of better things to do than read about the day-to-day trials and tribulations that make up my life (and if that is the sort of thing you’re interested in, well there are all sorts of blogs out there filled with just that sort of thing that I’m sure you can track down). No, what you’re here for is movies! Or more specifically, you’re here to read my highly opinionated views on the movies. So let’s get down to it. Now, let me think, where was I. Oh, that’s right, last time out I blasted that less-than-wonderful piece of Pop Culture, Star Wars: Episode III. So now we move on to the following weekend, where it was challenged by two new movies – the Adam Sandler remake of The Longest Yard, and the animated family flick Madagascar. Let’s start with Madagascar. The critics are split on this one, with half of them realizing that it’s a wonderful, fun-filled family movie that’s full of laughs and fun animation, while the other half are idiots who want to critique a kids’ movie as if it were applying for a Best Picture Oscar. If you’re looking for an Academy Award wannabe art house film, well obviously you’re going to be disappointed. If you’re looking for a very funny and enjoyable animated film that adults can enjoy just as much as their kids, then this movie is absolutely worth seeing. Admittedly I’m not a big fan of either David Schwimmer or Ben Stiller, but their voice work here is well done, as is that of all the cast, especially Chris Rock (who, interestly enough, stars in both of this weekend's new movies – and is great in both of them). And the penguins are an absolute riot!! They pretty much steal the whole show (with the exception of a couple of scenes featuring the monkeys, who are fantastically funny).

Before I went and saw The Longest Yard, I went out and bought the original Longest Yard on DVD (it was inexpensive and included a free ticket to see the remake, so I figured what the hell). I was glad that I did. It was interesting comparing the characters and the story between the original and the remake. The original was very much a 70s movie – it’s a darker, more gritty film, very much R-rated as opposed to the current’s PG-13. For example, in the new movie, we see Courteney Cox in a very low-cut, cleavage showing top, whereas in the original, her character is in a nice sheer dressing gown, fully showing off her breasts. Both are blatantly there for their sex appeal, but the new version shows that you can have a woman looking sexy without actually showing full nudity. Another change between the two would be the main character. In place of the fun, goofy drunk that Adam Sandler plays, in the original Burt Reynolds’ quarterback was a tough, mean drunk, who chokes the woman in question and then throws her violently to the floor before stealing her car. The movies play out fairly similarly from there, but the comedy and light-heartedness of the remake isn’t present so much in the original, except for a few brief spots (the scene where the quarterback is teasing the short cop, for example, is in both movies, although the jokes are different).

So which is the better movie? That’s a tough question. All in all I think I enjoyed the remake more, but each movie is very much a product of the era in which it was made, and so it’s hard to make a direct comparison. Both films are very well acted, and feature great groups of actors. The story that is at the core of both movies is very well-written and unfolds in a compelling way. All in all, both are very good movies, and I plan on owning both of them, but I have to say that the remake is going to have a broader appeal than the original, and will find a wider audience.

So the beginning a June brought a series of movies that I never got around to watching – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (chick film – don’t know if I’ll ever see it), Cinderella Man (probably see it eventually, but not in a big hurry), and Lords of Dogtown, a fictionalized version of the true story first brought to the screen in the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys (all about skaters – probably won’t ever see either one of them). So for our next entry we’ll jump up to June 10^th, and the release of the wonderful action/comedy, Mr. & Mrs. Smith. That’s all for now.

Star Wars: Episode III -- What a letdown!

Okay, I just couldn’t wait to write this one (I've been writing it in my head ever since I saw the movie), so here it is, faithful readers. Long months overdue, I know, but finally I present for your reading (dis)pleasure my viewpoint on the big Star Wars finale, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. And all I can say is, “Wow! What a disappointment!” To be honest I wasn’t really expecting a whole lot, but this movie still managed to be a letdown. I even saw it a second time hoping that a new viewing would give me a better feeling about the movie, but all it did was give me an opportunity to really focus on all the things wrong with it.

Now I’m sure all you diehard Star Wars fans out there are already looking to burn me at the stake, but you’ll just have to get over it. Bottom line, this movie was really mediocre. So let’s get right down to it. What was Episode III’s biggest failing? Well, that would have to be its story. I’m sorry, but George Lucas really did a piss poor job here. And while I’m on the subject, let me pose a question: after it was pretty well established in Attack of the Clones that Mr. Lucas really isn’t much of a romance writer, why on Earth would he choose to make his final Star Wars film a tragic love story??? Because in essence that’s what the movie is; well, what it tries to be, anyways.

The basic premise of the movie is that because of his love for Padme, Anakin Skywalker is manipulated and corrupted by the Emperor to travel down the path of the dark side, in the vain hope of saving her life (after having a vision of her dying, presumably in child birth). Okay, so this isn’t the worst story concept every conceived, I’ll grant you that. But George Lucas simply doesn’t pull it off. And I don’t necessarily think it’s because he’s a bad writer (because I don't); I think the problem lies in the fact that this simply isn’t his genre. And what really annoyed me is that this is really a departure from how things had developed in the second movie. In Attack of the Clones we see Anakin struggling to control his anger, and growing frustrated with how he feels the Jedi Council is limiting his development as a Jedi. Now I thought this was a great premise to start his downward path to becoming Darth Vader -- he is consumed by his rage and his desire for power. And there were some elements in Revenge of the Sith that could have played towards this end, but none of them are used.

For example, early on in the film Anakin and Padme discuss her pregnancy, and their fears of what would happen if the Council discovered the truth. Okay, you’ve got a perfect setup RIGHT THERE for where to take the movie. Let the Jedi Council discover that Anakin knocked up Padme, and have him thrown out of the Jedi. At which point, the Emperor steps in, offering to train him in things far beyond anything the Jedi would have shown him. This plays in to both Anakin’s anger at the Jedi Council for throwing him out, and his quest for greater power. From there you set up the scene where Padme tells him she cannot follow him down the path he is following, and at that point he embraces the Emperor’s quest to wipe out the Jedi, fueled by his rage and his sense of betrayal by the woman he loves.

But there's no follow through to this scene at all (making you wonder why the hell it's even in there. Obi-Wan very much says at one point that he knows Anakin is the father of Padme's baby, but absolutely nothing comes of it). So what do we get instead? We get Anakin on his knees crying and moaning because he’s just killed Mace Windu, followed not five minutes later by him ruthlessly slaughtering little kids like they were nothing. What?!? You have got to be kidding me. The entire way that was developed was completely unbelievable as far as I’m concerned. And while we’re on the subject of unbelievable, let’s talk about Hayden Christensen’s performance. Wow, was that not to be believed (and I mean that very much in a bad way). Sadly, this boy just doesn’t have a whole lot of range as an actor. He did a pretty good job playing the angry adolescent in the second movie, but he simply couldn’t believably portray the depth and range of emotion necessary to show Anakin’s descent into darkness. While I mostly blame the story for making this descent unconvincing, the acting seriously made it worse.

And let’s talk about that horrible (and unintentionally funny) scene at the end where the newly masked Darth Vader does his best Frankenstein’s monster impersonation when he breaks free from the lab table he’d been strapped to. That had to be one of the most blatant, cheesy, B-movie scenes I’ve ever seen in my life (I saw more convincing drama in House of Wax, for crying out loud!). That scene was just plain sad.

So after all that criticism, what was good about the movie? Sadly, not much. As is to be expected from a Star Wars movie, the visual effects were pretty damned stunning, and the battle scenes were great to watch, what little of them there were. And that brings up another problem with this movie – we so got ripped off as far as the Clone Wars go. They made this big deal in the hype leading up to the movie about the Wookies showing up, and there being a battle on their home planet. Well, we got the battle, sure enough, but it needed to be about three times longer! You’re just really getting into the fight when suddenly we cut to a different scene. And then we’ve got all the scenes on the various planets where the Jedi get wiped out. There were some really interesting and cool looking planets, but we hardly get to see them for more than 30 seconds (just long enough to see the Jedi in question shot repeatedly in the back before we move quickly on to the next one). It’s like the actual war and the death of the Jedi was completely secondary to Anakin crying about not letting his wife die. We don’t even really get to see them fight back, for Christ’s sake! Hell, we see a youngling barely into his teens fight off more Clone Troopers before he gets killed than ANY of the experienced Jedi do. What a joke! There’s so much potential for some great science fiction battles on exotic planets, to see the Jedi using their powers and going out fighting, and it’s completely skipped over and rushed through so we can get back to Hayden Christensen trying to show emotional depth – and failing (but hey, we have to get back to those scenes, because we all know that dialogue is really George Lucas’ strong point, now don’t we?).

So let the flaming begin. Feel free to tell me that I have no idea what I’m talking about, that George Lucas is a creative genius whose story decisions are not to be questioned. Hell, Kevin Smith was actually bold enough to compare Episode III to Shakespeare! I’m sorry, Mr. Smith, but George Lucas is NO William Shakespeare, and Episode III doesn’t even come close to Othello or Hamlet. And what about your friends and mine, the movie critics? Most of them actually rained praise down on the film. One frightening individual (who will remain nameless) even had the audacity to call it the best episode of the six (and I think that’s pushing it even for Star Wars fans – there’s no way you can compare the prequels with the originals). Not all of them feel this way, however. And while I normally won’t quote movie critics directly, I do have to post comments made by Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News (this was pulled from the review for the movie on imdb, which can be found here). “The dialogue is astonishingly feeble, the acting unforgivably wooden,” she writes. Boy does she hit the nail on the head. A number of other critics also criticized the dialogue (but that’s not something I generally make much an issue of, since that’s been the case for all three of the prequels – which is a real shame, considering the original trilogy brought us such wonderful and memorable lines as, “Boring conversation anyways. Luke, we’re gonna have company!” God, I love that line! That whole scene rocked). My complaint with the final film isn’t so much with the dialogue, as with the story as a whole. Mr. Lucas, you could have done so much better.

And with that I will close. I encourage any Star Wars fans out there who might read this to please leave a comment or three giving me your take on the finale to the Star Wars saga. I’d love to see a few good fiery rebuttals to my comments above.

The Summer Movie Season Begins!

So we’ve reached the first weekend of May, and the beginning of the summer blockbuster season (does anyone but me remember back when the summer season didn’t start until Memorial Day Weekend???). The first movie of the year hoping to achieve summer stardom is Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven. On the surface, this movie has everything going for it (at least from my perspective): Ridley Scott is a phenomenal director, star Orlando Bloom is always good, and it’s a historical epic (very much one of my favorite types of movies). It even has the critics on its side; most of them gave it pretty positive reviews. So does it make the grade? In my not-so-humble opinion, the answer is sadly, no. While visually compelling and filled with some wonderful battle scenes and some great scenic shots, the story is sadly lacking.

I think my biggest complaint would have to be lack a real character development. As the story unfolds, we never really get close enough to the characters to understand their motivations, Orlando Bloom’s character especially. He has the opportunity to marry a woman that he clearly has feelings for (and in the process save thousands of innocent lives by preventing a European tyrant from taking control of Jerusalem), and he inexplicably turns it down. I’m sorry, but that’s a win-win situation any way you look at it. Supposedly his loyalty to his dead wife has something to do with his decision, but you really don’t get to know his character well enough to find this believable. Especially when he ends up with the woman at the end of the movie anyways. It just doesn’t come across as believable or compelling – Orlando simply comes across as weak-willed and pathetic in my view. But of course this is then contradicted by the way he puts himself in harm’s way to defend Jerusalemwhen it is attacked by the natives (which is sadly ironic considering that he could have prevented the entire attack simply by getting married to a really hot woman that he'd already fooled around with).

I don’t know if this is caused by Orlando Bloom not delivering a solid enough performance (a number of critics very much criticized his performance and questioned his ability to pull off this sort of role, but I have a hard time believing that considering how good a job he’s done in previous films), or simply the result of a poorly written script that didn’t leave him with much to work with, but the end result is a disappointing movie that you just don’t feel drawn into. When I go to see a movie (especially an epic film like this), I want to feel like I’m being pulled into the story, like I’m a part of it all along with the characters in the film. With Kingdom of Heaven, I really felt like I was just a spectator, watching events unfold in front of me without really feeling a part of them. And I think having that connection to the characters, and to the events they are a part of, is what makes a really great film. So while Kingdom of Heaven was enjoyable to watch, I just didn’t feel drawn into it enough to consider it to be a great movie (but it certainly did a better job than a certain highly-anticipated blockbuster that followed it – but I’ll go into that in a later entry).

The other movie opening wide that first weekend in May (well, the other one that I saw, anyways), was far, far from having any sort of blockbuster potential, but was still quite a bit of fun to watch. And that movie would be the remake of House of Wax. Okay, let me get this out of the way first and foremost, since it seemed to be the main topic of conversation for anyone discussing the film – Paris Hilton doesn’t do that bad a job in the movie (none of the critics seemed to have watched any part of the movie except for the scene where Paris gets killed, since that this is about the only thing they talk about in their reviews of the movie – which is pretty pathetic considering she’s not even the main character of the movie, but that’s movie critics for you. Of course, to be completely fair, the only movie reviews I generally read are on imdb, and they simply pull comments from various critics into one overall review, so it could simply be a case that imdb only grabbed comments about Paris's role, and the critics really did have other things to say about the movie). Admittedly, the role Paris is playing (slutty blonde girl) is hardly a stretch for her, but considering how badly I’ve seen this clichéd role overdone in numerous B horror movies, I have to say that she actually did a very believable job with the character. And watching her run around in lacy red bra and panties certainly wasn’t a bad thing. :-)

I have to say, I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. While hardly Shakespeare, it was actually pretty well done for what it was. Now I’ll be the first to say that the original was enough of a classic that it certainly didn’t need a remake, but the creators of the new version did a pretty good job. Most importantly, I think they were successful in not taking themselves too seriously, and kept the movie from becoming too much of a cliché (of course, these types of movies are by their very nature pretty cliche, but this one is certainly no worse than any others in this genre). All the performances were pretty good, and there weren’t too many places where the story was glaringly unbelievable. The only problem I had when watching it wasn’t actually the movie’s fault – at the crappy theatre I saw it in (there are times I so hate Carmike Cinemas), the damned projector bulb went out right at the start of the climactic final scene, and by the time they got it fixed, we’d missed about two-thirds of the big fight with the bad guy (and of course the geniuses running the theatre couldn’t be bothered to back the film up so we could see what we’d missed. They already had our money, so what did they care?).

So if you’re a fan of cheesy B horror movies, I’d say that House of Wax is a must-see. And if you’re not, well then don’t waste your time with it, as it’s not your type of movie (unless of course you really just want to see Paris Hilton die in gruesome (and I do mean gruesome) fashion). I don't know that I'll buy it (unless I can get it for $5 or something), but I'm tempted to rent it, if for no other reason than to see the part of the climax that I missed at the theatre.

The second weekend of May brought us four new releases, but I only got around to seeing one of them (I really wanted to see MindHunters, but sadly it wasn't given a wide enough release to reach Montana, so I'm going to have to catch it on DVD). The one movie I did see was the Jet Li action/crime movie Unleashed. Admittedly, the concept of a man raised as an attack dog is a little over-the-top, but this movie was just fun to watch. The fight scenes are great, the entire cast does a phenomenal job (I especially loved Bob Hoskins' performance, but that's not surprising because he's just such a good actor), and for what it is, the story is actually pretty well written. The critics, naturally, hated this movie, but that's why I have basically zero respect for movie critics (you really have to wonder what sort of qualifications a person has to have in order to be a newspaper film critic).

Well, that's it for this entry. Next up, we have the review that you've all been waiting for (okay, it's probably the review you've all been dreading, but watcha gonna do?)– Star Wars: Episode III. And if you haven't guessed by now from various comments I've made in previous entries, faithful readers, I've got a pretty scathing review lined up for this particular gem of a film (feel free to start writing those hate e-mails– I know they're coming). But you're going to have to wait until next time, boys and girls. Until then!!