Angelina Jolie. The woman who made this movie worth watching. My, how she is a hot woman, and she pulls off the role as Lara Croft well. In fact, she’s the best thing in this movie. She is great portraying the character of Lara Croft, giving off a great sense of beauty and grace while showing great boldness and ferocity in battle. But man, was this long awaited adaptation of the game disappointing. How do you have a pitch perfect actress play the role and then offer no rewards for fans that have been waiting for this for years? I can even forgive the fact that Jolie isn’t even British.
Rock Star (2001)
Chris ‘Izzy’ Pole is a hardcore fan of a famous rock band named “Steel Dragon” and passionately sings the lead for a tribute band called “Blood Pollution”. One day he gets a call from the agent of “Steel Dragon” to come an audition for the band as the lead singer and he’s ecstatic. When he passes the audition he gains instant fame but soon learns it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. One major fault of this is the incredibly watered down and cliché plotline. I’ve seen these plot devices and characters in a lot of other and better rock biographical movies before.
Joe Somebody (2001)
Joe Scheffer is an honest workaday man who loves his daughter. One day while driving to work with his daughter Natalie he gets harshly humiliated by a bigger man in the parking lot. After feeling embarrassed, he decides to prove himself to his daughter and begins taking karate lessons with a washed up action star Chuck Scarett to seek revenge on the bully. But after a while, he begins to wonder if fighting is the best way to solve the problem and if being a man means fighting or just being an honest man to the people that matter in life. Comedies, family comedies especially are very lame if not predictable nowadays, so it was a treat watching an original one like this.
The One (2001)
Jet Li is an incredible martial artist but so far he’s managed to disappoint me, as he uses wires and computers to enhance his scenes, which often becomes redundant and goofy. The only two movies that I’ve enjoyed from him so far are “Lethal Weapon 4” and “Kiss of the Dragon” which was possibly the best action movie I’ve seen in years. Li is solid in his role performing with finesse. He gives great personality switches throughout the film and kept me entertained throughout the entire story.
Mimic 2 (2001)
Riddle me this: Strip away the science, intelligence, mood, and logic that made the original so unique and what are you left with? This piece of inane tripe. Now, granted I didn’t like the original, but it was much better than this. The movie is heavily dependent upon the creature effects which are sub-par at best. In the straight to video sequel to the original science fiction movie, we meet Remi (Mimic, Blood Work), the character from the original who is now a science teacher at an inner city school.
Deuces Wild (2002)
As sleek and visual as this movie is, it’s not one of the best gangster movies I’ve seen; It’s possibly the worst. We get a nonsensical, clichéd movie with a contrived plot and go-nowhere characters. First off, the cast, though big, is pretty useless. We have a paper thin love story between Renfro and Balk that is very reminiscent of “Romeo & Juliet” yet comes off as forced and seems too much like a plot device.
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Betty Elms is a wide – eyed optimistic actress who arrives in Los Angeles looking for stardom on the big screen. She manages to stay at her famous actress aunt’s house and discovers a beautiful woman (The gorgeous Laura Elena Harring) who was in a car accident after an attempted murder. Together, the two will form a bond and attempt to unravel her identity, but… is everything in this tale as it seems, or is it simply a facade for the real story at hand? I must admit, upon first viewing I was ready to mercilessly bash this film left and right like a punching bag, but then I realized that this movie has not only left an impression on me but I’ve had so much fun trying to solve this confusing enigma of a tale that I’ve grown rather fond of it. I really like this film.