I was very fascinated by this when it came out back in early 2002, so when it finally came on, I was very anxious. What I got was a rather tender movie. This girl struggles with the dating scene and constantly experiences loser after loser in the first half with a hilarious sequence that shows her on many dates with these odd men, one of whom has her pay the entire bill for the dinner. Jessica Stein is a lonely girl who works at a newspaper. She’s constantly set-up by her mother with a lot of men, but the dates are never successful. Frustrated, she answers an alternative lifestyle personal ad in hopes of making friends with a girl.
Session 9 (2001)
I wasn’t aware of Brad Anderson’s “Session 9,” when it first came out with a limited release, but I’m glad I was finally able to see it, as it’s definitely something different and unique. Filming with digital injects the movie with a lot of dread and tension along with a more realistic feeling. The atmosphere is incredible with its dark corners of the setting often feeling ominous and harrowing.
Don't Say a Word (2001)
In the movie, Michael Douglas plays Dr. Nathan Conrad, a noted and great child psychologist who is called in by his friend to observe a young girl who holds mysterious information. Now Conrad’s daughter is held hostage by mysterious criminals who claim the girl from the institution holds pivotal information that is connected to them. Now he must rush against time and retrieve the information for the kidnappers before time runs out and his daughter is killed. I thought the entire mood of the movie is pretty good.
Blade II (2002)
We meet Blade again, back from the original blockbuster hit from ’98 and he’s still kicking undead ass as much as ever, except now he’s in Europe. In the movie, there are these new evolved vampires called “Reapers” on the loose that are stronger, faster, smarter, cooler, and a lot more scarier than regular vampires. The thing with this species is that they don’t only feed on humans but on vampires as well. Now, a group of trained vampires called the “Blood Pack” enlists blade in helping them eliminate the potential threat. But is there more to their offer than meets the eye?
O (2001)
In a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s “Othello”, this controversial movie starring Mekhei Pfeiffer (ER, 8 Mile), Josh Hartnett, and Julia Stiles. This movie was supposed to be released back in ’99 but due to the school shootings in Columbine, it was shelved by the studio for a couple of years and re- released yet again in 2001.
Piñero (2001)
This is possibly the most grueling movie I’ve ever had to endure because it’s simply dull; I thought biographical movies were supposed to be interesting yet this isn’t. Benjamin Bratt plays Miguel Pinero in this documentary/biographical tale of the Puerto Rican poet who rose to fame with his poetry and inevitably fell from grace by a brutal drug addiction and liver disease and died at forty in the late eighties though revered by culture and poets everywhere. If Pinero was a much of a genius as this movie proclaims him to be then he gets the short end of the stick because this is simply a lot of nothing.
Glitter (2001)
I doubt even with another leading lady at the helm, “Glitter” could have risen above abysmal and become remotely watchable. It’s such a cliché and monotonous by the book tale of instant fame, that it barely deserved to be made in to a film. Writers Kate Lanier and John Wilder don’t give any new material or bring anything fresh to the table story-wise, yet simply dole out mindless cliché after cliché relentlessly. Mariah Carey’s woefully misguided “Glitter” is the story of Billie Frank and how as a young child she was left in an orphanage by her drug addicted mother. She and two other orphans form a friendship and a bond and Billie makes an oath that someday she’ll grow up and make it into a huge singing star.