Secretary (2002)

Posted on October 19, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) just got out of a mental institution for cutting her self due to stress, and now comes home to even more stress including her overprotective mother (Leslie Anne Warren) and resorts back to her old habits. She soon decides to get a job in typing and instantly becomes skilled, looking for a job. She stumbles upon a small law firm run by a militant E. Edward Grey (James Spader) who is mostly professional and soon develops an odd fascination with her. They soon find they each have a fancy for the sadomasochistic. The aspect that makes this movie so unique is that both characters are so pathetic at times, and somehow become drawn to each other. Grey is a lawyer in a quiet and boring firm who quivers in his office, and Holloway is a nimble and meek girl who tends to hide behind her desk; self inflicted torture is what draws them together emotionally and sexually.

Continue reading →

Real Women Have Curves (2002)

Posted on October 19, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

Ana is proud of her body, and she doesn’t hide it; not from her mother not from anyone and struts confidently. What’s so unique about that? She’s a heavy set girl. Often times in Hollywood movies, the main character who is often a girl that is as thin as a stick pretends to look ugly. Not that America Ferrerra is ugly; she’s a very beautiful girl. But, there’s this perception among the masses that a girl has to be thin to be beautiful but what the film says is that you can look any way you choose and still be beautiful. It’s a message injected from writer Josefina Lopez; It’s a positive message, it’s a realistic message, and it’s a message that should be spread to many of today’s young girls. In a world where beautiful means successful, this film is grounded in reality showing that Ana is beautiful and successful just because of who she is.

Continue reading →

Christina's House (2001)

Posted on October 11, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

A young girl named Christina (the insanely hot Allison Lange) has just moved into her new home with her father and brother and begins to re-adjust to life while their mother remains in an insane asylum. Suddenly, odd things begin to happen: people get killed near the home, half eaten cookies and freshly made sandwiches are discovered lying around the house, and windows and doors lock by themselves while strange notes are found. Christina soon begins to wonder if the incidents are real, or if she’s losing her mind like her mother.

Continue reading →

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

Posted on September 28, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

In this original animated adventure, we meet Spirit (Voice of Matt Damon), a noble and protective stallion that leads his group of horses along the mid-west. One night, curiosity takes over and he snoops around a confederate army camp. He gets too close for comfort and mistakenly gets caught by soldiers. Now Spirit will go on the journey of a lifetime, discovering the meaning of friendship, loyalty, courage and love. I was really hesitant to watch this movie, because animated movies in the theaters have been in a large slump, especially since watching “Lilo and Stitch” and “The Road to El Dorado”. But all my disillusionment was taken away when I laid my eyes on this. Boy, was I in for something spectacular.

Continue reading →

Below (2002)

Posted on September 13, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

“Below” has the potential to become a truly incredible and claustrophobic horror flick, but never follows through with one genre focus. Despite being inaccurately profiled as an underwater monster flick, this is not. This is a horror film that has a story and uses it throughout the film most of the time. We get the sense that Twohy wants to push this movie to the limits but eases up in the last minutes and tends to resort to old horror clichés like the complete silence and trash that falls out of a closet, scaring the audience, and the inevitable fright pop-up of a character with a sharp booming soundtrack in the background. Director David Twohy takes this cast of characters and stores them in this small submarine letting them fend for themselves.

Continue reading →

Tuck Everlasting (2002)

Posted on September 7, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

I have never heard of this book before and I was rather hesitant to watch this due to the fact that it was left basically unnoticed and pushed to the side in the midst of all the big budget trash in the theaters. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this story. Alexis Bledel gives a really good performance as the main character Winnie and really helps drives this movie. She’s a really gifted actress and is able to pull off the early century lingo without fault of flaw. She reminds me of a young Brooke Shields giving both hard gritted strength and warm vulnerability all at the same time. I really became interested in her character and really wanted to know how she would end up by the end of the movie.

Continue reading →

Tart (2001)

Posted on September 7, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

This is yet another grim portrayal of troubled teenagers mingling among more troubled teenagers; and what’s truly disturbing is that most of it seems exaggerated. I’m not sure if the movie was inspired by true events or concocted by Christina Wayne, but it’s grim, and I wish most of it was even remotely interesting. Catherine Storm is a middle-class reject who hangs out with her seductive best friend Delilah whom tends to stay away from the posh in-crowd. After a chance encounter with a popular girl, she begins to become accepted among the status quo until she begins to see that popularity among upper class isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Continue reading →