Stew's Reviews

With some down time from work this week, the Stewdog has ventured into Blockbuster on a few occasions to catch up on some of the movies that I have never gone to see (since I get into a movie theater about 1 to 2 times a year, by choice). I share my thoughts on the following films to praise, to trash, and to start a dialogue.

Osama: This won best foreign film at the Academy awards. It has nothing to do with Bin Laden. It is Afghanistan's first film since we threw out the fascist Taliban. Not a great movie, but an important one and I liked it. Plot is driven by girl who cuts hair to pass as a boy.

School of Rock: Funny, but trite. Great soundtrack. First half way too slow. Jack Black is very good in it. A good waste of a night if you are bored and want a few laughs.

The Bourne Supremacy: A fine follow up to the Bourne Identity, which I also liked. Fast paced and engrossing, but confusing to me, who has trouble following the plot of a soccer game.
Matt Damon is very good. Too bad he got all the talent and his pal Ben Afflicted got NONE.

Dodgeball: A True Undergod Story: Like School of Rock, you saw the best parts in the comming attractions. I didn't really like this movie much at all. Very slow beginning and predictable. One to dodge.

DeLovely: The critics were split on this film, and some savaged it, but I loved it. It is a brutally honest biography of Cole Porter, told in a gimmicky way (think All That Jazz) but it worked for me. My wife and I disagree on a lot of things (OK, EVERYTHING) but we both loved this film. Kevin Kline is flat out brilliant in this and Asley Judd is perfect. I recommend it highly, but I anticipate that 1/2 of you will wonder what I was thinking about when you see it. As a musical retrospective of his great songs. . it is worth it for that alone. It is quite frank about his homosexual side, but thankfully not graphic. One of the most enjoyable times I have had watching a film.

A Day Without A Mexican: This one stirred up controversy with its billboards. I had hoped to see a biting satire providing good food for thought about the immigrant contribution to society and the economy and to be enlightened. I wasn't. It was the most amateur, ham handed, didactic, preachy and boorish fim that has been made. A day without this movie is what you need to have. Horrible. . a group of 16 year old high school kids could not have done worse.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy: I love Will Ferell. I had hoped Elf would be better than it was and this one is even more of a letdown. Like Dodgeball and School of Rock, the entire first half of the movie drags. . No pacing. A lot of boring cliches. What was the point?
About the only thing to recommend it is the 70's clothes, decor and music (Can't remember the last time I heard that great 70's song "Sunshine" by Jonathan Edwards). Stay anchored to something other than this film.

King Arthur: Like the critics, my bride and I split on this one. I thought it was just a horrible waste and a stupid, gross, reinvention of the King Arthur legend that was, as one critic aptly put it, a Braveheart wanna be. We watched the "director's cut", which means that it took the battle scenes from Braveheart and made them 3 times as long and bloody. Go rent the Disney Cartoon Sword and the Stone before you subject youself to this tukey.

OK, that's my week. I still have Collateral., Luther, Under The Tuscan Sun and Peter Pan to get through.

A great web site to check out collected reviews of movies is rottentomatoes.com
I like to go there AFTER I see a film to see how other's perceived it.

Happy 2005 to all my fellow bloggers and our loyal readers
Stewdog