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02.15.03 by Widge @ 3:38 am 
Written by: Brian Helgeland & Mark Steven Johnson, based on characters created by Bill Everett, Stan Lee & Frank Miller My Advice: Wait for cable. Matt Murdock (in the older version, played by Affleck) was a good kid. His dad, Jack (David Keith), is a mildly washed up boxer who doesn't want it to be known to his son that he's working for a local hood. When an accident blinds Matt, Jack decides to straighten up and start kicking ass again--a decision that ultimately leaves Matt alone. But he's not really alone--and he's not really blind, of a sort. You see, what blinded him was some biohazardous goop that also jacked up his other senses like you wouldn't believe. He's able to, with his other four senses, create a picture of the world around him that enables him to be even better than before. He decides to put on some tights (and a dog collar, apparently) and go out into the world and kick ass--as Daredevil. Categorized as: Movies and Reviews
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02.09.03 by Widge @ 11:12 pm 
Written by: Steven Kloves, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling My Advice: Don't Miss It Welcome to Year Two. Harry (Radcliffe) has been imprisoned yet again at the home of his only living relatives, the Dursleys (whom we don't see a lot of, but are perfectly horrid--Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw, Harry Melling). He's not allowed to practice magic outside of school (Hogwarts' rules) and not allowed to do much of anything else either (the Dursleys' rules). He's also bummed because he hasn't heard a peep out of either of his best friends from school, Hermione or Ron (Watson and Grint, respectively). However, when a house elf (voiced by Toby Jones) shows up unexpectedly in his room and warns Harry that he must not, under any circumstances, go back to Hogwarts this year...Harry understands that he's in for trouble--but he has no idea that size of said trouble. Categorized as: Movies and Reviews
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11.17.02 by Catalyst @ 1:10 am 
Written by: Steven Kloves, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling My Advice: Don't miss it. To give a plot summary of this movie is almost pointless--everyone knows what's going to happen because they've read the books. But for that one guy who hasn't, Harry is back at school for the second year. Now there's another threat in the works: someone has opened the legendary Chamber of Secrets, and there's a monster roaming the school petrifying (yes, literally turning them to stone) "mudbloods", i.e. witches and wizards who don't come from magic families. The good news is that Daniel Radcliffe is still able to channel Harry perfectly, and in fact grows a little with the role--especially since he doesn't spend half the movie asking expository questions or being lectured at. Categorized as: Movies and Reviews
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09.20.02 by Widge @ 3:30 pm 
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki; adapted into English by Cindy David Hewitt & Donald H. Hewitt My Advice: Matinee. Chihiro (Chase) is a bright, precocious kid whose been uprooted by a family move. Her parents (Michael Chiklis & Lauren Holly) try to console her, but she's destined to grump for a while. However, her grumping is interrupted by her father trying to take a shortcut to their new home--and finding a road that dead ends on a narrow tunnel. Seemingly drawn through the tunnel, they make their way to a place where nothing is as it seems. Separated from her parents by a buffet accident, Chihiro finds herself in danger from a strange witch named Yubaba (Pleshette) whose head is roughly the size of a VW bug, who wants to steal Chihiro's name. She quickly finds friends, or does she? Most mysterious is Haku (Marsden), who seems to have the run of the place to a degree--and some very strange powers. How is Chihiro going to escape Yubaba, remember her name, rescue her parents and then get home in one piece? Categorized as: Movies and Reviews
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07.06.02 by Widge @ 11:32 pm 
Written by: Barry Fanaro & Robert Gordon, based on a story by Gordon, which was in turn based on the comic book by Lowell Cunningham My Advice: Rent it. It's been five years since we last saw the intrepid members of the Men in Black. Agent Jay (Smith) has apparently been going through partners like you or I would go through toothbrushes. It's only when a roaming galactic menace known as Serleena (Boyle) comes back to Earth looking for something called The Light of Zartha which supposedly was sent off-planet twenty-five years earlier, Jay realizes he's in over his head. Why? Because the only one who knows what happened to this Light is Kay (Jones), his partner who "retired" in the last film. So Jay has to go nab Kay, get him back in the suit, and figure out what's going on with the Light, because for some reason that's never really explained, it's going to destroy the planet at midnight. Categorized as: Movies and Reviews
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06.07.02 by Widge @ 6:01 am 
Written by: Mark Andrus & Callie Khouri, based on the novels by Rebecca Wells My Advice: Wait for cable. Sidda (Bullock) finally seems to have it made--she's a successful playwright (successful enough to be written up in Time anyway) and is almost pretty much engaged to the handsome Connor (Angus MacFadyen) who seems to be a perfect match for her. However--in that aforementioned Time write-up, Sidda says some things about her family history that her mother, Vivi (Burstyn) takes offense to. Serious offense, in fact. A petty war of wills takes place between mother and daughter, and it's up to Vivi's lifelong friends, the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Smith, Knight and Flanagan), to try and bridge the ever-widening gulf between Vivi and Sidda before it screws up their lives even worse than it has already. Categorized as: Movies and Reviews
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05.24.02 by Widge @ 12:51 am  < ?php display_hreview_rating() ?> Written by: Oliver Parker, based on the play by Oscar Wilde My Advice: Matinee. Jack Worthing (Firth) lives out in the country, but sometimes has to get away to the city in order to check on his poor, always-in-trouble brother, Ernest. In actuality, Jack is Ernest--he just likes to get away to the city, especially to flirt with Gwendolen (O'Connor), the daughter of Lady Bracknell (Dench). You with me still? Okay, Jack's--well, Ernest's--friend in the city is Algernon "Algy" Moncrief (Everett), who discovers Jack's/Ernest's deception at the same time he discovers the existence of Jack's eighteen-year-old ward, Cecily (Witherspoon). When Algy shows up in the country posing as Ernest, a mistaken identity comedy must, of course, ensue. It's so refreshing to see more evidence that well-written words in the mouths of capable actors can pay off. First off, we must admit that some liberty was taken with Wilde's play. Some. To my knowledge, the main thing purists might object to is a tattoo. However, for the most part, we never mind people straying from the source material as long as it is done to some purpose and it works. Well, the good news is that even an unexpected tattoo parlor is funny in this film. Which is good--because the thing is a comedy, after all. It's also a comedic period piece/costume drama that manages to rise above the form and actually be a Merchant Ivoryesque flick with laughs for people who normally wouldn't be caught dead watching such a film. Categorized as: Movies and Reviews
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05.17.02 by Widge @ 4:33 am 
Written by: Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, based on the novel by Nick Hornby My Advice: Matinee Will (Grant) has got it made. Thanks to an obnoxious Christmas song his father penned, he gets enough in royalties that he doesn't have to do jack squat in order to live...and live well. Self-absorbed and in need of female companionship, he decides to invent a fictional child in order to get into single parent support group meetings...so he can score. He figures if he ever needs to bail on any paricular single mother, he can. However, he runs into Marcus (Hoult), a teenage boy who's got a few problems of his own--so Marcus decides to incorporate Will into life. Will has no way to escape. Categorized as: Movies and Reviews
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05.03.02 by Widge @ 11:03 pm 
Written by: David Koepp, based on the comic book character created by Steve Ditko & Stan Lee, published by Marvel Comics My Advice: Matinee Meet Peter Parker (Maguire). He's the kid most everyone can identify with--we've all been freaks at one time or another. It's not that he's got a third eye in the middle of his forehead or anything, he's just that shy introvert that's in every high school class and must somehow be perceived by everyone else as having a bullseye on either forehead or ass. Anyway, he lives with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben (Rosemary Harris and Cliff Robertson), has a crush on the girl next door (Dunst) and has the friend who's better off (at least financially) than he (Franco). Then one day, on a field trip to Columbia University, a "super-spider" just happens to drop onto Peter's hand and give him a little love peck. Somehow this bite transforms the formerly scrawny into a helluva buff bloke. Not only is he major beefcake now, but his vision's improved, he can "sense" danger coming and he can stick to walls. And then there's the fact that he can shoot spiderwebs out of his wrists... Categorized as: Movies and Reviews
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12.26.01 by Widge @ 4:00 am 
Written by: Michael Mann, Stephen J. Rivele, Eric Roth & Christopher Wilkinson, based on a story by Gregory Allen Howard My Advice: Wait for cable. Ten years in the life of Cassius Clay (Smith), from his championship win over Sonny Liston (Michael Bentt) to his win against George Foreman (Charles Shufford) in the "Rumble in the Jungle". During that time, he became heavily involved in Islam, refused to be drafted, had his title stripped from him, and had sex with a whole lot of women. Something happened to this film. It almost went under when they needed $105 million to make a flick. Why you need that much money for a biopic when the only dollar-heavy star is Will Smith, I have no idea. But I bring all of this to your attention to back me up when I tell you that excesses ruined the film. Excess of editing, excess of characters and cast, excess of no one at the wheel. It feels like a six-hour film that was cut to less than three. And it also feels like they tried to make a film about the time period and not Ali himself. That's what's known as "scope creep," when your original idea gets blown out of proportion and is crushed to death under its own weight. Categorized as: Movies and Reviews
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