It’s Rookie cop Jake Hoyt’s first day on the job and he must now meet up with a seasoned professional the charismatic cop Harris who takes a liking to him and decides to take him on a ride along to show him the ropes of the inner city, but what he has to show young Jake is beyond anything he ever learned in Police Academy. In probably Denzel Washington’s best performance in years, he is phenomenal as the dangerous and sly Harris.
The Majestic (2001)
I love this movie for bringing to mind the old Frank Capra movies from the fifties telling the story of the average Joe brought about into a large situation where the character comes of age and self-discovery. Peter Appleton (Jim Carrey) is a movie writer for B-movies living in the 1950’s during the war where McCarthyism sprung forth upon America. He is blacklisted among others as a communist sympathizer and loses his job. Down in the dumps, one faithful night he goes for a ride and gets into a car accident. He is discovered that morning by an old man and is taken in a sweet little town. Struck with amnesia, he is accidentally mistaken by the townsfolk as a lost war hero and is instantly accepted within their confines, ultimately changing theirs and his own life. But what will happen when he eventually gains his memory back?
Bedazzled (2000)
A blue collared geek working at a go nowhere job makes a pact with the devil to win the woman he loves; pretty simple premise. In this, Harold Ramis (The Director) makes the devil’s incantation in the form of a beautiful woman (Elizabeth Hurley). The entire movie’s premise is whacky from the beginning. In the movie, the devil offers Brendan Fraser’s character different situations in which to win the girl he has a crush on. But, her being the devil, includes many odd different twists which screw up a typically perfect dream sequence.
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
The film starts off With F.W. Murnau filming his potential horror masterpiece “Nosferatu”. It tells how F.W. Murnau came to Bram Stoker’s wife for the rights to make “Dracula” into a movie. She rejects their offer so F.W. Murnau plays it smart. He changes the name of the movie from “Dracula” to “Nosferatu”, then he changes the name of the vampire from “Count Dracula” to “Count Orlock”. F.W. Murnau is seen as a genius to his peers and friends.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Spielberg comes back in directing this tribute to late director Stanley Kubrick. Originally, an idea of Kubrick’s, he died before he was able to make the film, so Spielberg got the idea to finish it and make it as more of an ode to the late director. It’s funny, the vision of both Kubrick and Spielberg’s can be seen throughout the entire film. From the flicker of a mere light to a vast landscape of a robot city, I found this to be an engaging movie with incredible lights and characters. The movie resembles the classic fairy tale “Pinocchio” almost identically, as throughout the entire two and a half hours of the movie, we experience David’s search for the “Blue Fairy”, a being that can turn him into a real boy.
Dark Asylum (2001)
The camp value in Gregory Gieras’ “Dark Asylum” is priceless and might have been able to stifle the fun but all things considered it only increases it. There’s the humorous opening as a cop car is chasing down a car with two surprise drivers, hear the screams and are led to a sewer where they find the Trasher’s lair. I was laughing at the notoriously bad acting by the police as they gave some incredibly humorous screams. I was in stitches as you could hear the horrible dubbing over the main character’s daughters voice. Despite all of that, this film has a potential to be a really good horror flick.
Shrek (2001)
In the movie, Mike Meyers plays Shrek, a huge green ogre who keeps to himself and lives alone in his swamp home constantly trying to be killed by angry villagers with pickforks, whom he often easily exterminates of. When the evil lord Farquaard played by John Lithgow (Third Rock from the Sun) forces fairy tale creatures off the royal lands, they take shelter in, of all places, Shrek’s swamp. Shrek, so urgent to get the creatures off his home, meets a talking donkey named… Donkey played by Eddie Murphy, and they must go to the palace to make a deal with the lord. But the lord makes a deal with Shrek, instead. He must rescue a beautiful princess named Fiona played by Cameron Diaz. Now shrek and Donkey must risk their necks, all for the sake of getting his home back once and for all.