Nash, TN Official Movie Reviews Thread: 2003

I just got back from seeing "Pirates of the Caribbean" with Dylan, Zach, & Glenn from our membership & was extremely pleased. It actually reminded me a lot of "the Mummy Returns" in both that it has a lot of action mixed with humor and even some semi-scary monster stuff. What even made it funnier to me was seeing some of the scenes that are illustrated on the Disney ride come to life like the prisoners trying to coax the dog into giving them the cell door key. I thought that the acting was great. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johny Depp) is the most flamboyant pirate I've ever seen. Its hard to tell when he is drunk & when he isn't because he's just as goofy even when you think he is sober. Orlando Bloom (Legolas in LOTR) did a great job & I predict has a bright acting future ahead of him & Jeffrey Rush was excellent as the evil Captain of the Black Pearl. The lovely bonnie lass mentioned in the trailers is not Heather Graham like I originally thought, but an unknown actress that looks like a young Brooke Shields. She did a fantastic job and I expect we will see her in many more films in the future.

THIS BY FAR WAS THE MOST FUN & ENTERTAINING MOVIE THAT I'VE SEEN THIS SUMMER. I highly recommend it & give it 4 stars out of 5. Its not an intellectual movie, but its a really fun one that will leave you smiling when you leave. People actually clapped at the end, which is usually a good sign that a movie will be popular at the box office. They also showed the preview of the next Disney Ride to appear on the big screen, "The Haunted Mansion" starring Eddie Murphy coming this fall. It looks to be a funny one.

 

Scott, that actress was Keira Knightley, who you may remember from her role as Padme's decoy Sabe'in Star Wars The Phantom Menace. The Internet Movie Database lists 17 entries for her including a miniseries where she played the daughter of Robin Hood, which I almost watched a couple years ago.
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I just returned from seeing League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Having never read any of the books from which each individual character was taken, not the graphic novel, I went in with little clue as to what I would see. I was impressed, it was quite a show. Looks like a sequel may be possible.

 

Kir Kanos hit it right on the head. This is a can't miss movie (although tilted a little towards guys). It would be great if more of the membership got together for casual outings such as we did tonight. It was a pleasant surprise when Glenn (Obi-TN) showed up during the trailers (still can't believe you found the 3 of us among the 100s in the theater tonight).

Scott, your going to kick yourself for this one...the lovely lass in "Pirates" (Keira Knightly) though only 20 years old (some debate exists that she is currently 18, but I'm going by IMDB's birthdate they have on file for her) has quite a filmography including the role of Queen Amidala's loyal handmaiden Sabe' in Episode I. (NOTE: Scruff's message was posted while I was typing this message.) Yeah, I know, just tonight I referred to her as an unknown, but obviously at only the tender age of 16 she got the call from Sir George himself. Anyways, by far my fav part of this film was the superb performance of Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow. What are y'all doing reading this? Get up, grab your keys, find a movie house and discover the "Curse of the Black Pearl" for yourself. Let's hope Disney doesn't go overboard on ride films and decide to bring It's a Small World or "Dumbo"...wait a minute...to the big screen.

 

T3 - Some of the plot holes didnt bother me that much. I thought that Catherine's father was the guy who "released" Skynet, not developed it. And once Skynet was actiated, it was loose on software, making a central Skynet computer unnessiary. That is the was I saw it, BUT it was still a very weak story.
The action was pretty good and the special effects well done, BUT the thing I hated the most about the whole movie was the countless times when John and Catherine were mere feet away from missils and explosions and the worst injury either of them got was when John wiped out on him bike in the first scene.
I didnt like the T-X. Why did she get all sexy for the cop if all she was gonna do was kill him anyway. I didnt fell menaced by her anywhere near the same way like I was with the T1000. The T1000 moved with pupouse. The T-X seemed like she was trying to do too many things at once. And one of those things was mindless distruction.
The T100's jokes were bad. REAL BAD.
The best part of the movie was the return of DR. Silverman.
I did like the idea of the altered future, though. I bet it was a hellova pitch. But the result was flat. Maybe it needed a diferent director?......


LXG - I havent read any of the stuff from where these charaters were taken either. But that MAY have been why I didnt like it that much. Since there were soo many characters they took no time for character development. So what we are left with is a fairly standard and easily predictable script. The one thing I like was Mr. Hyde. he looked WAY better that the Hulk. And his lip-sync was right on.

2 weeks, 2 movies, 2 duds

 

An allignment check at Sears left me with a couple of hours to kill at the mall, so you know what that ment.

Rowan Attkinson as Johnny English.
Good old Mr. Bean is now 007. If you like Attkinson's kind of comedy you will like Johnny English. Not much else to say. Just leave any expetations of 'intellegent' humor at the door and let your self enjoy the unique stylings of Attkinson. John Malkavich's heavy French accent was really annoying and the story was pretty unbeleivable, but I laughed enough not to care.

 

Why has this thread died out. There are still more summer movies. Where are the reviews for Tomb Raider and SWAT?

I saw a great comedy last night.
Freddy Vs. Jason
Thats right I said comedy. Sure it had the standard gore. But I think it is soo bad that it is actually campy. And the novilty of Jason fighting Freddy turns out to be pretty cool. I will proably never see this movie again, but for a couple of hours I was well entertained.

 

Bad Boys 2

You know me, I had to go see a cop movie last Sunday. This one was okay. Some funny moments and some exciting ones. Very violent, though -- don't bring the kids. The freeway scene was probably the best part of the movie (*cough*Matrix Reloaded*cough*), along with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence busting up the Klan rally.

I probably got a bigger kick out of the line "woo-sa" than most people, since it's used in a lot of police verbal judo training videos.

½ out of 5. Worth seeing once in the theaters, but don't feel bad if you have to wait for video.

 

EQUILIBRIUM

Okay, I cannot believe I missed this film at the theater. My brother-in-law told me that I should see this, especially if I liked The Matrix. So I rented it and did. HOLY MOSES!! What an awesome flick! I could not believe how this movie made me "feel" after watching it. I remember when I first saw THe Matrix in the theaters, and how I didn't really know what to expect. Same with this one. At first, I thought this would be another knock-off of the aforementioned movie. After the first 5 minutes of watching Christian Bale using the GunKata technique, I was simply impressed where this movie was headed.

Head on over to the IMDB to get more descriptive movie info.

1/2 out of 5

 

Secondhand Lions

Saw this new release back on Sunday with my family. It's really great flick. Michael Caine and Robert Duvall are the perfect Texan answer to Grumpy Old Men. I could do without Haley Joel, but he was alright. Its a great flick with historical refrences and backdrops somewhat like Forrest Gump. My only complaint was in was a little short at under two hours. There are a lot of stories that could come out of this film and while they made a sequel fairly unlikely, I forsee a TV series a la "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" to eventually come. Fair warning this movie will tug at your heart unless you are heartless or purhaps without a soul. Go see it or rent it later. I saw the flick with my grandparents and parents so it has a multi-generational appeal. 3.5 stars out of 4.

 

Alien - The Director's Cut
This past Sunday Scott, Dylan, Ken, & I hit the T 20 for this rerelease of the 1979 classic. Kind of neat to see this on the big screen. Not a whole lot new, basically the deleted scenes found on the disc in the Legacy box set have been reintegrated. One of the best new scenes shows us the final outcome of Capt. Dallas (Tom Skerritt) & Brett (Harry Dean Stanton). I never realized this scene took place while Ripley's trying to abandon ship. Worth a viewing if you've got the time, but I'd stick to watching the DVD at home with the volume cranked up. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

 

Matrix Revolutions: Whereas Matrix Reloaded was the mental movie in this trilogy, Revolutions is the action packed one. It was entertaining and well worth going to if you have seen the previous two. However, the ending is not what you would expect. It is not definitive and not ala Star Wars (OT) or LOTR. It is a "shades of grey" ending that leaves it open for more sequels if you can believe that. However, I think they have milked the franchise to death and may only expand it in the EU through other media. If the Wachowski brothers ever do decide to do any more movies, don't expect Keanu Reeves & Carrie Anne Moss to continue doing any more Matrix movies. I heard they are done with that part of their careers.

Evidently, I'm not the only one that disliked this luke warm ending as the movie critics, whom most avid movie goers despise, are for once in agreement with me. Dylan said that it wasn't the ending he expected either.

If you haven't seen the second Matrix, don't go see the third. You will have no clue of what is going on. BTW, the whole monologue between the Architect & Neo that occured in Reloaded and was so confusing is never elaborated on or even mentioned. The Merovingian is back and we discover what his true power is. However, the twins evidently were deleted in the highway chase during Reloaded as I suspected and did not return for Revolutions. The highway chase surpasses anything in Revolutions as far as an action packed sequence goes. Revolutions had a lot more action sequences though and a TON of battle sequences.

Overall, I liked Revolutions better than Reloaded and give it 3 out of 5 stars.

 

The more I thought about the ending, the less I disliked it. Could it have been shown a little better? Possibly. Could the ending have been different (in terms of basic plot points)? Not really.

(SPOILERS) Neo had to die to defeat Smith. Not only is it the parallel of the Christian/Messiah self-sacrifice story, but it also shows the Yin and Yang (Neo and Smith) cancelling each other out (Note the Yin-Yang earrings that the Oracle was wearing). As for Zion, no one would have wanted to see them wiped out, and there could not realistically have been a counterattack on 01 (the machine city). The Matrix had to continue for the time being, since "many of these people are not ready to be freed" (Morpheus from the first movie), although they would now be allowed to leave, according to the Architect. Also, I thought that it was interesting to note a couple of things at the end. When we see the Oracle sitting on a park bench, it's the first time we see the Matrix world in a color scheme other than the grey/green drab colors that it's usually represented in. Also, you'll notice that Neo is still glowing brightly as he's carried off on the hovering platform in 01. Couple that with the Oracle's statement about possibly seeing Neo again, and you've left the series wide open for Matrix: Resurrection. (END SPOILERS)