This is based on the book by Rebecca Wells and was adapted into a mildly successful chick flick in the box-office. This easily disappeared but its hard to figure out why. I rather enjoyed this film. It’s a good movie about the bond between a mother and daughter and how you can never truly know your parents as much as you think you do. Sandra Bullock is great as Siddalee Walker, the angry and disgruntled woman who has a cross to bear with her mother and often exhibits the corky odd traits her mother does. She’s terrible in relationships because she fears she may take the same path as her mother did when she was younger.
Sin (2003)
Ving Rhames is an ex-cop whose sister, who is a drug addict, was nearly killed by a drug lord (though its all assumption, we’re never told he is a drug lord because he’s so broadly developed), and now he’s on the quest for vengeance despite the warnings of his ex-partner and grizzled ex-boss played by the always great Brian Cox in a small thankless role. He shouldn’t even be considered a part of the cast because he is so wasted in this film it goes beyond unfunny. The somewhat talented Ving Rhames is terrible in this as the lead character Eddie. I’m not sure if it’s the hackneyed writing or his acting alone, but he’s bad.
Stolen Summer (2002)
Set in 1976, young Pete O’Malley (newcomer Adiel Stein) lives in a suburb with his Irish Catholic family. He is told by a nun he will go to hell if he continues his bratty ways. Scared by this comment, he decides to go on a “quest” and convert a Jewish person into a Catholic so they can get to heaven. He then meets Jewish boy Danny Jacobsen, the son of a rabbi who is suffering from Leukemia, and the two go on a “quest” to get Danny into heaven. I was rather curious to see this, due to the amount of attention this received from many. The entire movie relies on the performance of Adiel Stein, who does a pretty good job in the film. He’s charming and wide-eyed with a lot of enthusiasm and does a good job. The best aspects of this movie, though, are the character actors that make this enjoyable.
Cherish (2002)
This is an excellent movie, I must say. At first I was a bit hesitant to watch this, because the first five minutes drag on with slow moving dialogue and character development. This movie tries to make a clear point of the fact that she is indeed a lonely desperate character, and they use her vulnerability and desperation against the audience as we witness her injustices but can do nothing about it. Finny Taylor is top-notch at both directing and writing this great black comedy and gives us a minds eye view into this character. The character Zoe often hides herself and escapes into music throughout the movie, so much so she is well-known by a DJ at a local radio station.
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
I am a huge fan of this series and love the first two sequels but unfortunately it seems Austin has lost his mojo. From the first five minutes of the movie I found myself un-amused and highly disappointed. The movie, though true to its efforts, attempts to bring about new life to the series with a brand-new villain named “Goldmember” which I found sad and very odd. The movie resorts to awful bathroom/gross-out humor to almost desperate measures. The most disgusting aspect of the movie was “Goldmember” who, due to his obsession with gold began to get diseased throughout the entire movie as his skin peeled constantly.
Signs (2002)
In director M. Night Shyamalan’s third directorial outing in the supernatural genre, he tells the story of Father Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), an ex-preacher whose lost his faith in god and quit the church, living in seclusion with his two kids and brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) raising crops and living a generally quiet life. One fate-filled morning, Graham’s son Cole (Rory Culkin) discovers their crops in which they raise have been lowered into the forms of mysterious signs known as crop circles. What ensues is the psychological and emotional horror that will test Graham’s faith and devotion to god and his family. Are the crop circles signs from god, signals from aliens, or do they signal the coming of the apocalypse?
Reign of Fire (2002)
Director Rob Bowman gives us a very sleek and highly visual world of dragons and war. We get to see the cool looking dragons as they take over the world. Possibly, the best part of the movie, if any, is when the remaining survivors take on the King Dragon. A tried effort. I was looking forward to this when I first saw the trailer in the theatres; unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The movie gives us a promise we’ll enjoy this with a unique apocalyptic world, but it’s a big let down.