Star Wars, Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

I am a hardcore “Star Wars” fan, I love the lore, the amazing mythology and It’s taken hours before I could summon the emotions I took from this last installment in the “Star Wars” franchise and somehow manifest it in to words, and surely this last “Star Wars” movie was an emotional experience for me. When I stepped in to the theaters and watched the theme blast from the speakers I felt a swell of emotion build up in my chest–maybe it was gas, who knows?–but regardless, this was quite possibly the biggest experience I’ve had in theaters in years. I liked the “Star Wars” prequels, I thought they were okay, but they still just did not add up to the original trilogy and Lucas did a poor job of displaying Anakin Skywalker’s descent in to the dark side.

Continue reading →

America's Heart and Soul (2004)

To say this is not a politically charged film is to ignore the elephant in the room. Disney, a strongly conservative company refused to release “Fahrenheit 911” and once that film went to another company and raked in the big bucks there was immense controversy over Moore’s views (big surprise) and then came this. To anyone who denies this is a rebuttal to Moore’s documentary, they obviously can’t read between the lines. Disney stated publicly this was a positive portrait (so to speak) in response to Moore’s documentary plain and simple and wanted to portray America as a positive place aside from Moore’s more truthful portrait. After watching this in the two longest hours of my life, I wasn’t sure whether to put this under documentary or comedy, because if the makers of this film think this is what America is like, well then they’re grossly mis-informed and completely ignorant, and if they expect American audiences to believe this fairytale, then they’re grossly under-estimating the intelligence of American audiences.

Continue reading →

The Girl Next Door (2004)

the-girl-next-doorI actually liked this movie. It won’t win awards, and I will not spend any money on it, but for a good time I suggest you check this out. If you’re a guy. Usually the casting of a hot girl to distract me never works, but here, looking at Elisha Cuthbert, I just couldn’t help but dismiss the flaws. And there were plenty of flaws. Elisha Cuthbert is really hot. She has this amazing face and unbelievable body, she’s just not human, and that was the saving grace for me with this movie. Watching her parade herself back and forth was amazing and she won me over completely. And then there’s Timothy Olyphant who plays sleazy porno director Kelly, who proves to be quite an obstacle and nemesis for Hirsch’s character. Olyphant is entertainingly over the top in this film, with all the usual clichés with spiky hair, a menacing grim, and sleaze galore.

Continue reading →

Home on the Range (2004)

Home-on-the-Range“Home on the Range” is a sign post, it’s a sign post up ahead the reads the basic end of Disney. What once was a company that gave us “The Lion King” and “Bambi” now gives us crap like “Lilo and Stitch”, their direct to video sequels of their classic films, and–this. I wanted to like “Home on the Range”, I really did, I was expecting at best an entertaining animated film that was a guilty pleasure, and even that doesn’t pull off my expectations at all. I was so disappointed after liking the pictures of the animated characters that I saw, but, man, this is a lame movie. The animation is very reminiscent of masters such as Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, and Bob McKimson, the era where cartoons were actually good and funny, does anyone remember that?

Continue reading →

Blade: Trinity (2004)

q7kJbnwThis review is being written at a good time for me, not only because I dug the last two Blade films, but because of the lawsuit Wesley Snipes has just waged on the studios about this movie. Snipes is a known diva, if you’ve read the past issues of “Fangoria” and “Starlog”, though his co-stars and director Goyer don’t openly admit it, Snipes is known for being a diva, and now he seeks retribution for a movie he claims he didn’t want to make, for starring along side people he didn’t want to star with being directed by a director who he says was forced on him. Regardless, I didn’t think “Blade 3” would live up to the first two. People often say there’s hardly any sequels that are as good as the first film, but I have something better for you. How many second sequels are better than the first film?

Continue reading →

Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) (2001)

spiritedaway“Spirited Away” has had the unfortunate distinction of being compared to “Alice in Wonderland”, and while they bear similarities in themes, characters, and oddities, but Miyazaki’s animated tale is highly superior. Miyazaki takes us into an incredible land of creatures, landscapes and spooky villains, along the injecting truly heartfelt emotions, and thematic undertones. Miyazaki’s animation and storytelling bear an aspect sorely missing in American animated films, which heart, and true sincerity. Chihiro and her parents are on the way to their new home, and while driving they stumble upon a weird tunnel. Curious, they enter the tunnel and end up in a magical field and begin journeying into a village. But when Chihiro discovers her parents have been turned into pigs, she finds that there may be no going back where came from.

Continue reading →