The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Posted on January 11, 2004 by Felix Vasquez

It’s been a turbulent and bittersweet three years with the good vs. evil “Lord of the Rings” trilogy making its way into theaters and creating a phenomenal and historic legacy. Director Peter Jackson has so skillfully created a trilogy that has been flawlessly taken from the pages of the legendary JRR Tolkien books and put it on the big screen for all to glimpse at the magic of Middle Earth. “The Return of the King” manages to come out of the first two with much individuality but fits into the first two films tightly coming together as an incredible whole. As individual movies, these are jaw-dropping stunners, and as a whole they’re truly an accomplishment only Peter Jackson could have constructed.

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John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

Posted on December 28, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

It’s not hard to believe that the character and presence among the entire film Sutter Cane is a depiction of Stephen King who also bears a collection of almost unearthly and creepy books as Cane does in the film, and they both have a mass following of readers. Of course, his fan’s devotion to his books is not as intense as it is in this film. John Carpenter manages to show people with “In the Mouth of Madness” why he’s considered among the best directors in film and among horror royalty. Watch “Halloween”, “The Fog”, “Vampires”, “The Thing”, just to name a few and you will witness his true aptitude for capturing horror in its true essence, and what he manages to do in “In the Mouth of Madness” is capture it in all its pure unrestrained essence onto the cells of this film.

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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

Posted on December 23, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

Loosely based on the critically acclaimed comic book from critically acclaimed author Alan Moore, “LXG” tells the tale of Allan Quartmain, an aging adventurer in 1899 who is called upon by a mysterious man named M who enlists him and six other super-powered beings whose powers are parallel to legendry literary characters who must fight a warlord called “The Phantom” who plans to take over the world. Alan Moore presents an idea and concept so ingenious and brilliant, I was stunned upon hearing of it. Take some of the most famous heroes and villains in literary history and turn them into superheroes. What turns up as the end result is a guilty pleasure that kept me entertained all the way through.

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The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Posted on December 14, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

I thought “The Matrix” was great and very innovative in its own right. The basic element from the original “Matrix” film is present in this; there’s your pretty dazzling opener with Trinity doing what she does best and we enter into the great story that serves a heaping help full for any “Matrix” fan to feast on. The Wachowski brothers manage to surprise and amaze with some stunning machine special effects and great scenes that truly dazzle the mind. The opening where we’re introduced to Zion is truly magnificent as we’re first shown the exterior’s of the almost too lifelike Zion guard robots then shown the entire city. Zion is a basic hybrid of modern machinery and old age homes that live among each other in a community.

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Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Posted on December 14, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

I sat on my couch at the end of the film, amazed at what I’d just seen… Adam Sandler can act. I thought to myself: Adam Sandler can act?! After watching him in comedic duds like “Water Boy”, “Billy Madison”, and one of his most recent “Mr. Deeds”, I was astonished to discover this man may actually have the ability to become one of the best actors in the biz, if only he’d stick to bittersweet dramedies like this. Only two of his films are watchable: “Happy Gilmore”, and “Big Daddy”, two movies which show Sandler’s knack for comedy and quality, two films that show the child that Sandler is so famous for invoking. “Punch Drunk Love” has prompted me to wonder if I was wrong all along about him. Sure, most of his movies are terrible, but “Punch Drunk Love” begs to differ and makes people think that maybe he’s just as much as star as everyone says he is.

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The Hot Chick (2002)

Posted on November 30, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

What makes Rob Schneider’s movies so bad, (among many other million defects) is that Schneider is basically unlikable and incredibly obnoxious, and when he pretends to be a girl stuck in a man’s body, it’s just plain creepy. Not only that, but he’s such a horrible actor in both comedic form and dramatic form; much of that can be seen when he pretends to be the female Jessica played by Rachel McAdams and pretty much makes no effort in copying her exact mannerisms or body characteristics. In “Face/Off”, Travolta and Cage studied each other’s facial expressions, mannerisms, and even their modes of speech which made the film mostly tolerable, but in this Schneider simply acts homosexual more than a woman.

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Finding Nemo (2003)

Posted on November 16, 2003 by Felix Vasquez

Pixar studios has managed to change the way people think about animated films not just by the incredible animation, but the great stories and utterly memorable characters. “Finding Nemo” is one of those films that parents can watch with their children and not want to run out of the theaters screaming at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. What shines most throughout this film is the mature and sometimes meaningful theme and moral of the story.

The voice work from the cast is great, especially by Albert Brooks who plays the inept and retentive Marlin. Meanwhile Degeneres supplies the excellent quirky offbeat and flawless voice characterization for female fish Dory. The film has an all-star cast of big name and talented character actors that voice various characters, most notably Willem Dafoe, and Geoffrey Rush. Pixar is so skilled in their ability to portray the human spirit and are adept in making seemingly mundane objects around us be portrayed as human as represented in the movies “Toy Story”, “Monsters, inc.” and especially this.

Stanton and the Pixar crew develop hilarious and memorable supporting characters that help leave a mark upon the audience. They fiddle with Oceanic life very cleverly and the comedy and adventure are awe inspiring. “Finding Nemo’s” animation in the film is practically flawless presenting some amazing and often eerily realistic animation given to the audience. When the film is bright and sunny it’s amazing, thus shown in the Coral reef scenes, and when the film is dark and murky as shown in the underwater caves in the water it’s absolutely stunning and amazing to see and such a spectacle to behold.

Pixar has created a dynamic and entertaining film for all ages that’s pleasantly accessible to all audiences with its themes about parenthood, the dangers of the outside world, and self confidence. The kids will appreciate the vivid characters and brilliant animation, and you’ll surely appreciate the witty adult humor and human themes.

The DVD has hours of great extras including screensavers, deleted scenes, a fun charades game with Crush, a commentary, and both a widescreen and full screen version of the film.