Entertainment

Movies in theaters * Movies on video

Movies - in theaters

Haven't seen anything lately...guess I'd better get out there!

Movies - on video

(Click on the title to be taken to Amazon.com for more info or to order)

This version of Ocean's Eleven is a remake, but not having seen the original I wasn't saddled with any expectations. Very good cast, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and others. The story moves nicely, has a certain "Mission Impossible" flair to it and is well filmed.

Bonus points to Don Cheadle for pulling off one of the more entertaining characters in the movie.

One of my favorites of the year. I'd give it a 9 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best.

Cast Away

We rented this one on DVD last week -- for some reason it comes on two DVDs, though the film is not that long. Didn't have time to thoroughly explore the second disk, appears to be a lot of additional content.

The movie itself is excellent - Cast Away the story of a busy FedEx troubleshooter who tries to have a relationship with girlfriend Helen Hunt in between getting jetted all over the world. On one of those trips, however, the plane he's on crashes in the ocean and he washes up on an uninhabited island in the middle of nowhere.

The bulk of the movie focuses on his life on the island, how he adapts and goes through various phases including creating a new friend in the form of a volleyball named "Wilson".

Good film, the crash scene is impressive (though not all it was hyped to be, in my opinion) and Hanks is as good as we expect him to be (which is a high standard). Compelling highs and lows. Not much for Helen Hunt to do in this one; the volleyball gets more screen time than any character other than Hanks, I think. Hunt gets maybe three good scenes.

The surprising end left me with a wry smile. Give it a look and see if you feel the same. I give it a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best. (Cast Away at Amazon.com)

A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)

While my parents were visiting my father and I went to see A.I. I will say that I was impressed with the movie on several fronts -- it's visually spectacular, the acting is terrific (Haley Joel Osment impresses again and Jude Law should get an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting) and the story is involving.

The downside is the length - it's 2 hours and 23 minutes and really could have ended about 15-20 minutes before it did. In fact, at one point most of the audience is reaching for their purses and getting ready to leave...then the movie continues off on a new (and unnecessary) track for another 20 minutes.

A good movie and worth seeing, a little disturbing at times, but worth your $7.50. I'd give this one an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10; 10 being best. Bonus points for Teddy, the wonderful toy.

Swordfish

I saw Swordfish last Sunday night and I still can't decide if I liked it or not. It certainly has great effects, an interesting cast and a story they've put some thought into. Somehow I just didn't buy into it all, though. I didn't find myself caring much about the protagonist and never really got INTO the story - instead felt like I was sitting in a felt chair watching the story (which, of course, I was).

Don Cheadle has a prominent role in his now-familiar role as a savvy government agent; this character seems an extension of his character from Traffic, which, frankly, works because I liked his character in Traffic. Cheadle is rapidly becoming one of my favorite actors; he consistently turns in solid performances.

Travolta is fine, though he seems to be almost the same character he was in Broken Arrow. Hugh Jackman plays a computer "uberhacker" who has done time in prison for his crimes; but for a former prisoner he seemed rather naive of the ways of the world. I was bemused that Jackman's character was apparently shocked when Travolta killed a few agents during a big car chase scene. Who did he think Travolta was? Of COURSE he was going to kill people.

Halle Berry has the most talked about role in this film...well, parts of her do. The much-ballyhooed topless scene occupies about 10 seconds of screen time, is entirely gratuitous and seems to be the only reason to even have her character in this movie. Berry is fine as "Ginger", she looks good and I guess that's all she really needed to do; still you got the feeling that there was a lot of sexual content inserted into the film just to get attention. Don't take the kiddies to see this one, folks.

All in all, good action, good effects, a story you'll still be thinking about half an hour after you leave the theater, but it comes off as being somewhat disjointed and I never really got into the characters. Action junkies and people who just can't live without seeing Halle Berry topless should see it.

I'll give it a 7 on a scale of 1 to10; 10 being best.

Moulin Rouge

Well, we saw Moulin Rouge this weekend and I liked it only slightly less than I expected to. It's vividly filmed, colorful & lively. There's lots of music and clever use of modern songs in an 1899 setting, Ewan McGregor's voice is surprisingly pleasant and Nicole Kidman is lovely.

Unfortunately they had a lot more film than story, apparently, and the film drags noticeably at points. The cinematography is wonderful but there are far too many extreme close-ups of Kidman and McGregor and the musical numbers get pretty repetitive after a while.

The other pleasant surprise is the performance of Richard Roxburgh as the Duke. Whenever the characters around him burst into yet another production number he seems as taken aback as the audience is which he plays to good comedic effect.

On the whole, however, the film is much too long and the average viewer will find it bewildering and difficult to follow. I'd give it about a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10; 10 being best.

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor was better than I was expecting it to be; which isn't really saying much considering that most of what I'd heard ahead of time was negative. At three hours it's a long movie, but it moves along pretty well for the most part. The attack scenes are very impressive but the characters are not as compelling as they could have been.

If you know about about WWII history you'll need to suspend your disbelief. Even the efforts of Daniel Martinez, one of the very best in my opinion, as a historical consultant couldn't solve all of the problems and even the producers acknowledge that this is really a love story in a historical setting - not a movie about history.

Visually impressive but suspend your disbelief and don't expect to really connect with the characters (a shame, given the length of the movie). I'd give it about a 7 on the scale of 1 to 10; 10 being best.

Last Update: Wednesday August 08, 2007 Contact Ben