Wednesday, August 04, 2004

More movie reviews

More movie reviews

Couple more Lock movie reviews for ya. I'm just cranking away at these DVD rentals.

Gothika - 5/10. Just saw this minutes ago so this review will be quite fresh, hot off the press. Disappointing. It gets as high as a 5 because the feel was right, creepy, dark, twisted, but the story just kind of falls apart. Lots of loose threads that never get addressed, things that didn't make sense, most likely due to poor editing. Like what caused Downey Jr. to change his mind about Berry's story. Also, I'm not sure sexy Berry was right for the role as communicator of the dead, which leads to another problem with the movie, Berry's character was lifted from a more famous movie a few years ago made famous by a whiz kid actor named Haley "I see dead people" Joel Osment. It just doesn't work for her. And when you see her lined up with the other inmates, boy did she stick out. Who looks that good in prison? This movie is good for the suspense and scary, jumpy moments, but not much else.

Run Away Jury- 8/10. Good flick. They took a somewhat complex mystery with enough twists and turns and really made it work. The movie's only real issue is the believability of a group capable of controlling a jury the way it's done in this movie. I'm sure it's done to some extent, I just don't see it with $10,000 plasma monitors and a team of thugs living in an abandoned warehouse next to the courthouse. The highlight, of course, is seeing acting legends Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman in a great scene together. Excellent dialog. Good story. Technical aspects believable and hip (like using an iPod as a computer).

Matchstick Men - 9/10. What a great, great movie. Story is a little weak for me but that becomes very minor and the only flaw for this fine film. Everything else was perfect. Here is another reason of why we should take Nick Cage seriously as an actor. We hold back because we see him in movies like Snake Eyes, City of Angels and Con Air but he has my respect (again) after seeing him in this one. It's very light hearted, almost a comedic movie because we see a con man (he would say con artist!) with obsessive compulsive disorder which makes for some very funny (yet not really sad because of how he makes his living) moments. Good flick. Hard to believe this is a Ridley Scott piece given the story - not very epic but perfect in its own right.

Sum Of All Fears - 5/10. Had its moments, the traditional Tom Clancy moments (the President is yet again a jerk), but too many flaws, too many holes that beats this film up. Affleck does a decent job portraying the young Jack Ryan, no real complaints there (Alec Baldwin is still the best). I don't have much else to say about this one. It was just there. Entertaining at least.