Movie Reviews

I have always enjoyed going to the movies. I recall the first movie my parents took me to: "Blazing Saddles", which wasn't really a movie fit for a kid to see, but I enjoyed it anyway (the parts I understood). Later we saw "Silver Streak" followed sometime later by Star Wars and then Star Trek the Motion Picture. Of all of these, I remember the "experience" of Star Trek the best. I was only about 14 at the time, but the theatre was absolutely packed, and the people in the crowd were half the fun of the movie. When a favorite character from the series would appear on screen for the first time, and the crowd would cheer! It made the movie a whole lot of fun, and helped us overlook the fact the movie wasn't really that good. Only on rare occasions since then have I had such an enjoyable movie experience (one where the crowd helped). As I got older I got more "crowd-a-phobic", and didn't like to go to movies that I knew would be crowded, so now I watch most of my movies on DVD, Video, Pay Per View or on DirecTV.

I created this page to give a brief review of movies I've seen and outline what I liked or didn't like about them, without getting to in-depth, or overly analytical. My criteria for a good movie are simple: It has to be fun or emotionally moving, and it has to be clean (or reasonably clean). I don't want to hear the "f-word" at all, and especially not every other sentence. The use of that word (and other vulgarities) just shows low intelligence.

The newest review will always be first, and the older reviews will be alphabetical by Title, or grouped by "series" title, if applicable. I have linked many of the movie titles to Amazon.com where you can read more about the movie and purchase it if you want to.

Current movie:

2/25/2002 The Red House (1947). Edward G. Robinson. Suspense thriller about a mysterious house and a man's attempt to keep his adopted daughter and others from finding out the sinister secret. I was not prepared to like this movie. I generally don't watch old black and white movies very much, but my wife talked me into it. After reading the description I thought it might be good, and I actually enjoyed it a good bit. If you like thrillers (no graphic violence), then you'll like this movie. It was melodramatic, but very enjoyable.

3/05/2002 Valentine (2001). David Boreanaz, Denise Richards. Horror-Thriller. Basically a slasher movie about revenge killings. It was not too scary, nor overly graphic, but I found it mildly entertaining, but probably would not watch it a second time. There was some course language, and of course lots of violence, though by horror movie standards, it was fairly tame, though I would not recommend it for children nor the faint hearted.

Movie Reviews (Alphabetical)

Cast Away (2000) Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt - My wife saw this when it came to the theatre and she said it was really good. It came to Pay Per View recently, and I watched it (reluctantly) but really enjoyed it. I have never been a fan of Robinson Crusoe or Swiss Family Robinson, (but I always loved "Gilligan's Island") but this movie was really good. Helen Hunt only had a small role in the movie, so if you are watching it just for her, you won't see much of her. The vast majority of the movie is Tom Hanks all alone on the island and the struggles he goes through to survive and keep his sanity. It is very well done. There is a small but important cameo role played by Country singer Lari White whom I'm a fan of.

Cats and Dogs (2001) Pretty cute. This is one of those movies where the animals are the stars. An evil cat and his minions are planning on wiping out humanity's ability to have dogs as pets (by making everyone allergic to dogs), and the "good guy" dogs are out to stop the evil plan. All in all it is fun, though clearly told from a dog lovers perspective (the cats are not the good guys in this one).

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi. I almost never watch martial arts movies, but this one was much more than a "martial arts" movie. It was an epic love story (two in fact), set in ancient China. It was beautiful and very moving.

Dude, Where's My Car (2000) Ashton Kutcher, Sean William Scott. I expected this to be really dumb and really crude. It was dumb, and somewhat crude, but not nearly as bad as I expected. It was half-way enjoyable, though I'd be hard pressed to recommend it to anyone.

Evolution (2001) David Duchovny, Julianne Moore. The previews made this movie look really funny and it was. My wife and I both loved it. An alien meteorite lands in the desert and immediately begins forming primitive plant-life that very quickly evolves into several varieties of very dangerous life-forms that threaten to take over the earth if not stopped somehow.

Ghosts of Mars (2001) Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube. A Martian mining town is taken over by some ancient and evil spirit army imperiling some mars "cops" who happen to be there to pick up a prisoner. If you like gross out horror movies, then you'll probably like this. I didn't hate it, but I can't recommend it.

Head Over Heels (2001) Monica Potter. Freddie Prinze Jr. Pretty good for a Romantic Comedy (which I normally don't like!) It was about a girl (Potter) who moves in with a bunch of models, and the neighbor across the street is a hunky guy they all like to spy on, until they think they witness him killing his date... Sounds serious, but very light hearted and enjoyable.

Jurassic Park (1993). Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum. Seen it a dozen times, but I bought the DVD and watched it again. I shouldn't have to describe this one, as there are probably only three people in the country who didn't see it.

Jurassic Park III (2001). Sam Neill, William H. Macy. Great movie, much better than the 2nd one in my opinion.

Mimic 2: Hardshell (2001). Well this was a mediocre movie. I had seen the first movie several years ago and found it to be fairly good (but not great), but this one was only "okay". I didn't hate it, but I couldn't recommend it unless you just love horror / gore type movies.

The Mummy Returns. 2001. Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz. This is the second time I've paid to see this movie (previously rented at Blockbuster, this time on Pay Per View). This is a very enjoyable adventure romp in the style of Indiana Jones, and every bit as good. It helps to have seen the original movie "The Mummy" (1999), but it is not required to enjoy the sequel.

Mystery Science 3000 The Movie (1996). Michael J. Nelson. I love this TV show and the movie was very funny! If you are familiar with the concept, three characters (Mike, and two robots: Servo and Crow) sit in a theatre and watch old "B-Movies", (usually Sci-fi) and make witty comments throughout. For the movie, they sit through the Sci-Fi Classic "This Island Earth".

Oh Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) George Clooney. I'm a huge fan of "old timey" music, so that alone had me interested in this movie. I have not liked a Coen brothers movie since "Raising Arizona", but this one looked good. Karla and I watched it and we both enjoyed it. It wasn't hilarious throughout, but funny enough. Our only complaint is that it had too much bad language, and one scene of pointless animal cruelty.

The Omega Code (1999) Casper Van Dien, Michael York. A "Biblical End-Times" movie about the rise of the Anti-Christ (York). I found it enjoyable, though certainly not very faithful to the Bible view of the "end times", but close enough for entertainment purposes.

Rat Race (2001). A movie very much like "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World", about a cross country race with several million dollars awaiting the winner. It was pretty funny and had a large cast of very good actors. I expected lots of crudity, but was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't very much.

Return to Me (2000) David Duchovny, Minnie Driver. Pretty good for a romantic comedy (which I normally don't like). The basic plot is Duchovny's wife dies, and her heart is donated to a needy patient (Driver). They do not know each other, and eventually meet and fall in love, neither one knowing about their connection.

Rush Hour 2 (2001) Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker. The mis-matched partnership between Chan and Tucker continues in Hong Kong, and later in Las Vegas. It was pretty funny, and about as good as the first one.

Shrek (2001). Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy. Cameron Diaz. John Lithgow. Great! I normally don't like anything that is "animated", but this was really good.

Unbreakable (2000) - Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson - My wife and I watched this the other night, and all we knew going in was that it was about a guy "who might have superpowers". It was very slow moving, but thoroughly enjoyable. They told a believable story about something unbelievable. However, if you are looking for something fast paced with lots of action, this isn't it. I am a Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson fan, and neither disappoints in this film.

The Wizard of Oz (1939) Judy Garland. You may find this hard to believe, but I just watched this for the first time the other day. All my life I've heard about this movie, and all my life I've managed to miss it every time it was on TV. Well something put me in the mood for musicals (and I normally don't like them), and on a whim I started to watch this on TV last time it was on. I had already missed a good bit of it so I decided I'd go ahead and buy the DVD, so I did. I watched it and loved it! It is silly but moving, and a few of the songs are really good, and all in all, it was quite enjoyable.