Cherish (2002)

cherishThis 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.

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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.

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John Q (2002)

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This movie has a lot of heart, sure, but it doesn’t have a good story to go with it. The movies story and pacing is so weak and slow, that at times it makes it hard to watch. It has excellent plot devices yet never pulls through with them. For example, the entire hostage scene with Denzel in the hospital felt so rushed, and badly paced that you feel more confusion than empathy. I felt it could’ve gone for a good hour, yet only lasts for about a half-hour. Too bad. I didn’t appreciate the producers adding Eddie Griffin as comic relief, since we’re supposed to feel for Washington’s character and his plight.

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Hardball (2001)

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Connor O’Neil is a man out of his luck. He’s a no good gambling addict who constantly fails at his bets. He’s also got a bunch of guys after him who will stop at nothing to kill him for their money. Connor turns to a rich friend who offers to pay him 500 dollars a week if he agrees to coach an inner-city baseball team. Desperate, he agrees.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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