April 10, 2004

Hellboy is a fun movie… following right along with X-Men II and Daredevil. Much religious (Catholic) imagery. Ron Pearlman is so at home as H.B. or “Red” as they call him. It’s pure comic book from start (when the Nazi’s open a portal to the dark side) and President Roosevelt’s head advisor (a professor) about the paranormal and US soldiers stop them. Kind of. A Resputin character goes over to the dark side and a little red creature with horns... Read more

April 10, 2004

What a disaster of a movie. I had wanted to like it (based on a true story; The Rock was looking good), but it’s no more than a vigilante film.   I have not wanted to bolt from a movie theater in a long time, but the violence was so over the top and senseless, I could hardly stay to the end (so I could inform you that you don’t need to even wait for the video on this.)  ... Read more

April 1, 2004

The Coen Brothers … Fargo meets O Brother Where Art Thou? – kind of. I laughed when others didn’t… they laughed when I didn’t… The funniest line is when Tom Hanks introduces himself to the landlady as a PhD, and she says, O like Elmer Fudd? The road to hell is paved with really stupid people (whose language reflects their unimaginative and barren souls.) Remember that theme? How good is the movie? Depends on your funny bone!! Read more

March 27, 2004

Laws of Attraction, with Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore and Frances Fisher (the uptight mom in Titanic) is a comedy about the attraction of opposities and the worth of working hard to maintain a marriage. Opens April 30th. It’s not a theological treatise on matrimony but has more of a Tracy-Hepburn thing going with some contemporary accouterments (it is implied that they do sleep together once before their “marriage”) – yet these things offer mature folk issues to talk about with others rather... Read more

March 13, 2004

Spartan – brilliant political thriller written and directed by David Mamet. A marine (Val Kilmer) who trains the best of the best has to rescue the President’s daughter who has been kidnapped. The premise is familiar – the President has been into hanky panky with disasterous results. There is no comedy in this film. I could see a sequel for this because Kilmer is mature, controlled and just excellent. The writing is very tight and so the film has you... Read more

March 13, 2004

Secret Window is Stephen King done right (the film is based on a King novella.) Johnny Depp plays the role of Mort the author very well, and John Turturro is excellent as the dark one who appears accusing Depp of stealing his story and publishing it as his own. I cannot say more without giving things away. The genre is horror/psychological thriller. Look for Hitchcock and Alice in Wonderland references and all the usual suspects and ingredients. I think you... Read more

March 13, 2004

Hidalgo is a long movie about a man (half-Native American, half-Anglo) at the end of the cowboys and Indians era who takes part in a race across 3,000 miles of the Middle East for a prize of $100,000. It is supposed to be based on a true story but if you search the Internet, you will find out it more like “flavored” by a true story. I liked the film, even though it didn’t blow me away. The hero, Norton... Read more

March 13, 2004

Well folks, writer/director of Dogma, Kevin Smith, has grown up. A lot. Jersey Girl is a classically constructed story of a high-power Manhattan publicist, Ollie (Ben Affleck) who gets married only to have his wife die in childbirth. He gets fired when he loses it at a press event for the Will Smith – and has to move back to Jersey to live with his dad. Lots of Catholic imagery and some Catholic culture references, (along with the typical bathroom,... Read more

March 13, 2004

Twisted, a San Francisco cop-thriller, should have been toned down a little and been a made-for-TV movie. I figured out who done it very soon. There wasn’t enough character development to make me care about the people… even though we can always have empathy for someone’s despair. Wait for the video/DVD if you must. Read more

March 13, 2004

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is an embarrassing film when placed side by side with the original 1987 Dirty Dancing. For serious folk, the original had plenty of moral issues that were dealt with in very ambivalent ways, indeed objectively contrary to Catholic moral teaching. But you cannot fault the dancing! Havana Nights was a disappointment on every level. And the dancing wasn’t good at all. They should have spent a little more money and blown us away with dancing that... Read more




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