Barry’s Daily Web News

Blade II

The only movie we watched this weekend was Blade II. My advice for this movie is not to pay attentional at all to the plot, and just watch the movie for the action and special effects. The action scenes are excellent, and so I would recommend it to any action fan, despite the completely unrealistic story. I rate this movie a B.

Buy it.

We Were Soldiers

The movie rental for the weekend was We Were Soldiers. We tried watching this movie Friday night, but we had to turn the volume up to hear the dialog, which meant the action scenes were very loud, too loud for Sean and Leslie, who were sleeping upstairs. So, we watched the movie last night. I thought this was an excellent war movie, the best I have seen since Saving Private Ryan. It’s almost a shame that more of the movie couldn’t be devoted to the strategy of the battle, rather than the tedious character development. I rate this movie a B.

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Goldmember

For the first movie of the weekend, we actually went to the movie theatre. I can’t even remember the last time we have been out to the movies. We went to see Austin Powers in Goldmember. I enjoyed this movie. The cameos were the best part of the movie, and kept the Austin Powers series from becoming too tired. The goldmember role was poorly done, but the rest of the characters were good. I rate this movie a B+.

Buy it.

The Accidental Spy

The only movie we watched this weekend was The Accidental Spy. This is a Jackie Chan movie. The movie had some impressive scenery filmed at a number of international locations, but this was not one of the better Jackie Chan movies. In fact, the most interesting scene was Jackie’s naked rear end. Perhaps Jackie Chan is getting too old for his stunts? I rate this movie a C.

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In the Bedroom

The second, and hopefully the last in a while, of the slow movies was In The Bedroom. In retrospect, this movie wasn’t so bad as I had thought when I was watching it. This was one of those movies that you watch for a while and just try to figure out what it is about. The movie did take some unexpected turns. A significant event happened half way through the movie which turned things around, but the main hint about the plot was that you knew there was another hour to watch in the movie. Maybe If I was in a different mood, I would have enjoyed this more. I give this movie a reluctant B.

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The Shipping News

It was slow movies this weekend. Not slow as in the number of movies we watched, but slow to develop plot movies that were hard for me to watch. The first of these movies was The Shipping News. This movie stared Kevin Spacey, and this is about the only time I have been less than impressed with his acting. He played a simpleton who moved to Newfoundland to start a new life. The movie had some interesting moments, but was otherwise just plain boring. I rate this movie a C.

Buy it.

The Lord of the Rings

The second movie of the weekend was Lord of the Rings. I was absolutely amazed at how the computer generated scenery blended in seamlessly with the live acting. This movie was quite long, at almost 3 hours, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It’s been about 15 years since I read the book, so I wasn’t concerned if the movie varied from the book. The only flaw I could see with this movie was that it ended when the book did, which leaves you just begging to see the next movie. I hope that the next two are as good as this one. I rate this movie an A.

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The Time Machine

The first movie of the weekend was The Time Machine. This movie was all special effects and no substance. I guess the director expected us to use our own time machine to search for the missing parts of the movie. This movie was very short at less than 90 minutes. If the movie were made longer by adding some character and story development, it could have been good. Did this film just run out of budget? I rate it a C.

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The Royal Tenenbaums

The second movie of the weekend was The Royal Tenenbaums. I wasn’t able to get into this movie. It’s about a dysfunctional family getting back together after many years apart. I thought the dysfunctional family was so far from reality that the movie just didn’t have any meaning. I didn’t even find it funny for the same reason. I rate this movie a C.

Buy it.

Collateral Damage

The first movie of the weekend was Collateral Damage. Totally unrealistic and a terrible plot, this movie did have some good action scenes and even some suspsense build up. I think the real reason this movie was delayed after Sept 11th was that it wasn’t any good. I also don’t think this was a good movie for Arnold Schwarzenegger. He hasn’t had a good movie since True Lies. I rate this movie a C.

Buy it.

Shallow Hal

The only movie of the weekend was Shallow Hal. Of the “teen” movies we have seen recently, I think this is one of the best. This movie had some flaws, but I thought it was entertaining. I rate this movie a B.

Buy it.

Hart’s War

The second movie of the weekend was Hart’s War. This movie was almost the opposite of the first one, with a very realistic and well done story, but the movie was a little too tedious to enjoy very much. Despite the WWII setting, it isn’t really a War movie, so don’t let that stop you from seeing it. I rate this movie a B.

Buy it.

John Q

The first movie of the weekend was John Q. After the first few minutes of this movie, I didn’t think I would enjoy this movie. But as the movie progressed, I started to enjoy it more and more. By the end, I would definitely say it was an enjoyable movie. Anne Heche did a good job as hospital adminstrator that you could really hate, but James Woods seemed to be too wishy-washy as a snobbish heart surgeon. I would rate this movie higher, but the story was just a little too unbelievable. The main hospital scene was just too unrealistic, and the perfect speeches and actions from an uneducated working family was a bit much. So, I rate this movie a B.

Gosford Park

The second movie of the weekend was Gosford Park. This was an interesting movie about the different lives of the well-to-do and their servants in 1932 England. I missed some of the dialogue because I have trouble following the British accents. My only criticism is that the plot was very slow to develop. I rate this movie a B.

Buy it.

A Beautiful Mind

The first movie of the weekend was A Beautiful Mind. I thought this movie was entertaining, but a bit shallow. I wanted to see more of the mathematics and how this related to the main character’s illness. There was nothing really wrong with the movie, but I don’t put in the category of “must see”, so I rate it a B.

Buy it.