The Official Review Thread of 2006

[criddic3]

I'm interested to see this movie. Some of my co-workers at my video store saw it, and liked it.

[Okri]

I thought it was good, but a lot of people seem to really hate it.

[Precious Doll]

I finally watched a movie that could challenge Monster's Ball as the worst of the decade: Hard Candy.

I would go into detail, but it's too late for me to be very coherent; Overall, though, it's just a disgusting, vulgar, unpleasant piece of ####.

I hated Hard Candy. The only two redeeming things about the film are the performances of Patrick Wilson and Sandra Oh (in a tiny role). Whilst I didn't find it quiet as offensive as The Woodsman it is neverthless too darn close for me liking. Ellen Page was so unbelievable, way way too worldly for the character she playing, though it's not entirely her fault, writer Brian Nelson deserves some of the blame there with the dialogue he provided her with.

[Big Magilla]

I liked Hard Candy, unpleasant as it may be. Would make a great double bill with The Collector or Misery.

I found it a lot less sleazy than one of those NBC specials where their investigative reporter tricks and traps a pedophile.

[dws1982]

I finally watched a movie that could challenge Monster's Ball as the worst of the decade: Hard Candy.

I would go into detail, but it's too late for me to be very coherent; Overall, though, it's just a disgusting, vulgar, unpleasant piece of ####.

[Sabin]

There's a genuinely lousy movie struggling to get out of 'Half Nelson', one cloying and self-satisfied, laden with homilies, and a head for easy irony and reconsiliation. That 'Half Nelson' manages to maintain its integrity AND be such a satisfying experience is amazing, yet it's so strange to see the outlines of such a lousy film so vividly. Maybe my enthusiasm results from feeling so pleasantly surprised through the film's duration; because really, 'Half Nelson' is no masterpiece, just a movie that's better than it has any right to be by half, at the very least. The best seemingly-cloying-crack-addicted-urban-teacher movie ever.

And it's because the subject matter appears so conservative that one could imagine Robin Williams starring in it without much of a stretch, that I feel Academy voters might warm to it and Ryan Gosling could sneak in. Not only is the man one of those blessedly natural performers who can't be caught A-C-T-I-N-G for a moment, but Dan Dunne makes some fairly large leaps in logic even from a crack-addicted-teacher standpoint -- and yet you stay with him. Equally miraculous is young Shareeka Epps as the pensive, gruff Drey (one of his young students), and Anthony Mackie as guilt-ridden drug dealer.

[criddic3]

I second that review of The Illusionist. One of the best so far of the year!

[dylanfan23]

I'll open this season with my thoughts on the Illisionist. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. The technicals are great. Great scenery and great camera work. The story is a pretty straight forward love story that i've seen before and the magic part of it is both a curse and a blessing. The blessing is that it kept me very interested in the character of edward nortan and it keeps you on your toes throughout, when he's on stage and off. The curse is that you have to figure it's going to be part of the ending and it is. But nevertheless i found myself smiling just like paul giamati's character was smiling at the end. Edward Nortan gives a great performance here. I doubt it'll be one of the top 5 on my list at the end but it'll probably be close. He's very good and it was great to see him at the top of his game again for the first time since the 25th hour. But this was the first chance he's gotten to get there since then so i still believe he's one of the best actors we have today. Paul Giamati might make my short list as a supporting actor nominee. His performance is layered pretty heavy and is pretty much dead on, he does a great job as the middle man and the storyteller to this fascinating story. Rufus Sewell also does a great job as the one we're suppose to hate for good reason. Jessica Biel like most reviews have said is a real surprise here. She holds her own very well and i never thought of her as an it girl in this role, she does a great job and deserves to be taken seriously from this point on until she proves us wrong. Pretty great film, should be seen. It's not an independent low budget film though, this film obviously cost some money to make.

4 stars out of 5.

[Penelope]

Flyboys -- ** 1/2

The story of the Lafayette Escadrille, American pilots who volunteered to fight for France during WWI, before the US entered the war. A thoroughly old-fashioned--in every sense of the word--production, with a by-the-numbers script populated with stock characters, and stolid direction by Tony Bill. Still, entertaining for all that, thanks to some fine CGI effects creating genuinely spectacular aerial battles, Henry Braham's gorgeously pristine cinematography, and a likable cast of pretty young men (especially James Franco, who really is photographed here like a classic movie star, and has the charisma to justify it).

[anonymous1980]

MONSTER HOUSE
Cast: Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Jason Lee, Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Kathleen Turner.
Dir: Gil Kenan

Surprisingly pretty good entry into the motion capture-CGI animated film genre (granted there are only a couple of them). The script could've used an additional rewrite but the fact that it doesn't feature big-named stars anthropomorphosizing animals and relying on low-brow humor and pop culture references is a breath of fresh air. Great visuals and nice enough story makes this a very entertaining harmless horror-comedy for all ages.

Oscar Prospects: Best Animated Feature is possible.

Grade: B+

[Hustler]

UNITED 93
The excellent performances of the all-unknown cast...

David RASCHE is a very popular actor. remember Sledge Hammer series, among others.

[Hustler]

LADY IN THE WATER
Promising idea but the convoluted twists and the pretentiousness of Shyamalan's script undermined any charm it could have had.

I enjoyed so much this film. It suggested me the profound mystery of a fascinating bed time story. I admire shyamalan´s creativity.

[criddic3]

I quite agree.

[Big Magilla]

Has anyone else here seen Akeelah and the Bee?

I saw this the other night, previewing the dvd that comes out next Tuesday. It is surprisingly wonderful. I had wondered why critics like Roger Ebert were gushing about it, thinking "how could a spelling bee movie be that good?" Yet there it is, a beautifully acted and emotionally satisfying drama that involves an 11 year old girl trying to win the National Spelling Bee contest.

I have been leery about anything Ebert gushes about since Ferris Bueller's Day Off and was not particularly looking forward to another film about a precocious child and a spelling bee after the agony of sitting through last year's Bee Season, but I'm glad I saw it after all. It's a nice little family film, with Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett doing their best work in years in what are essentially supporting roles. The kids are quite good, not only Keke Palmer who plays the title role, but J.R. Villareal and Sean Michael as her fellow Southern California bee champions. It has a nice, unexpected, cheer worthy ending.

[dws1982]

Did anyone see Why We Fight? I watched it tonight. Unfortunately, even though it has some interesting points, the movie amounts to little more than a liberal wank job. And it basically states its main point in t he first five minutes, and then it keeps restating it over and over and over again. I think there's a lot of interesting things that the filmmakers could've explored about United States militarism, but they either aren't imaginative enough or interested enough in those possiblities to go there.