Friends With Money (2006)

Synopsis: This movie is about four girl friends who are middle aged and all of them are married except for one. The story is told through the unmarried one, Olivia (Jennifer Aniston). Unlike her friends, she doesn't have a rich husband. Unlike her friends, she doesn't have a great job, or the fancy car and the kids who go to private school. What she has is a house cleaning job and rocky relationships with shit guys. This story is as much about Olivia finding herself as is about the other three woman finding out that they hate themselves and have completely forgotten what it means to be happy.

Should You Watch It? This movie is a bit of a dark comedy. These women are all going through some sort of crisis but it's funny because they're so miserable even though they have all these minor problems that other people would gladly take. There's quite a lot of talking, and stuff which might sour some people, but overall the dialogue is clever and the storylines are very well connected and thought out.

Things to Watch Out For: Jennifer Aniston plays something very different here. We always see her as being Rachel but she's definitely not her in this movie. Her portrayal of a woman finding herself is well done along with Frances McDormand who plays Jane. Jane is absolutely nuts. She feels that everyone in the world is trying to cheat her and she would explode at anybody that crosses her even if it's the most minor thing. It is quite a treat to watch.

Things You Don't Expect: The ending is quite the ambigous and although it might not seem like it at the time, it is a happy ending and gives everyone hope that they can turn their life around and that money and fame isn't everything.

Final Comments:
Story: 7.8
Direction: 6.0
Acting: 7.5
Cinematography: 6.0
Music/Sound: 5.5

Final Score: 6.8

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Synopsis: Alex de Large loves the girls, and he just can't seem to resist the ultra violence in futuristic Britain where everything has gone to hell and the only freedom exists in a person's mind and his willingness to take what he wants. Life is just peachy for Alex until he takes too much and kills an old woman. He gets convicted of murder and gets sent away for 14 long years. In prison, he takes a liking towards god and tries to reform himself until three years into his sentence when he comes across a new treatment to exterminate the crminial nature in a person through an experimental process. Alex volunteers and is "cured". Upon his release, he begins to see the world for the shit hole it really is.

Should You Watch It? This film is absolutely amazing. Forget the 1971 timestamp cause this movie is an instant classic that can't be dated. The deep political criticism spoken through an anti-hero whose completely nuts is a new way of looking at society. Stanley Kubrick has done a great job in showing you the psyche of a criminal and shows us how criminals are just a manifestation of the wrongs of society. Some of you may think that this film is designed to just criticise and preach but it really isn't. This film is deeply entertaining. It uses great technique for it's time and every detail has been thought of in order to create a futuristic Britain.

Things to Watch Out For: This movie is really grim. It has some pretty graphic scenes containing murder and rape or both! It's important to associate these scenes with the music because Alex projects his mental state into the music that's playing while he's doing these things. And the music changes once he's out of prison and begins to see what a crap world it is. The imagery is strong in this film as well. Costumes and settings play an important role in showing us the mental state of Alex and his gang.

Things You Don't Expect: You will be surprised how fast two hours fly by! Haha no seriously though. You really don't expect to sympathize with Alex. In the beginning he is one bad ass criminal but in the end when he comes out of the program and you see what society has done to him, you really feel as if no one deserves to have live a life that's not their own. There are a lot of things worse than death and Alex experiences them all and his character should be remembered in film for a long time.

Final Comments:
Story: 9.8
Direction: 8.0
Acting: 8.8
Cinematography: 8.0
Music/Sound: 9.0

Final Score: 9.0

Blades of Glory (2007)

Synopsis: Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder) and Chazz Michael Michaels (Will Ferral) are figure skating! That is until they get into a fight after sharing the gold medal at the 2002 World Winter Games. Subsequently, they get banned for life from men's single's figure skating. So what do they do? They decide to stick it to the man and join up and enter the pairs competition in 2006. Makes sense to me! They must now learn to put aside their differences and work together to learn a new routine, thwart the evil plans of their rival figure skating pair and show the world that they are still figure skating!

Should You Watch It? Do you like stupid comedy that draws its humour from random things? Then this movie is for you. This movie is funny, it really is. But it's funny cause it's stupid and over the top, and there is really nothing else to do but laugh when they do some of the things they do and say. The acting performances are all pretty expected, especially from Will Ferral.

Things to Watch Out For: Chazz is an alcholic and a sex addict. If that doesn't get your attention then this movie is gonna do nothing for you. Jenna Fischer plays Katie, whose Jimmy's love interest in this movie and she has been great in The Office and it's great to see her get some respect and play a prominent role in a feature film. Obviously, she was great. Alright fine, I'm bias but she was good.

Things You Don't Expect: This movie is on the brink of being surreal. Of course every movie is a dramatization but this movie pushes the envelope in terms of what audiences will accept as plausible. Haha, but it's the type of movie this is cause if you really thought you would see Will Ferral do triple axels then you are very much mistaken.

Final Comments:
Story: 6.5
Direction: 6.0
Acting: 8.8
Cinematography: 7.0
Music/Sound: 7.8

Final Score: 7.2

デスノート, Desu Nōto (Death Note) (2006)

Synopsis: Based on the popular Japanese manga; Light Yagami is a bright kid in highschool. His brightness is put to the test when he recieves a note book from a death god (shinigami) giving Light the ability to kill anyone he wants by writing the person's name and seeing their face. He begins to exact his vigilante justice and the world is better for it! But not everyone shares his enthusiasim, like his father, whose the chief of the Japanese police. His father hires the help of a super detective, L. Now it's a battle of wits as Light and L square off in a titantic duel which will shape the new world order.

Should You Watch It? This manga was extremely popular in Japan and internationally as well for it's deep and I mean deep storyline combined with great character development and exposition based around a clever idea. Having said all of that, this movie will definitely feel light (no pun intended) compared to the manga cause it just can't do what the manga did. But instead of trying to strip away major parts of the comic and making it true to the books, this movie takes the premise and the characters and shapes them into a two part film which has just as much action and twists. The movie doesn't really touch on the philosophical aspects of having a killer note but it does enough.

Things to Watch Out For: This is a logic movie and that means you need to pay close attention. Although, it's not as deep as the manga it's still important that the audience stays in tune with the development in order to not get confused. The cast is pretty well assembled to represent their manga counter parts. Especially Amane Misa and Sayu are very well done. Furthermore the CG of the death gods Ryuk and Rem are absolutely amazing. Another sign that Asian cinema is catching up to Western standards and even surpassing them in terms of story telling and dialogue.

Things You Don't Expect: The writers decided to cut out a lot of characters and still made it the story work. They completely took out Near, Mello, and Mikami. If you haven't read the manga then you have no idea what I'm talking about which is good! But for those of you who have read it then don't hold your breath waiting for those characters.

Final Comments:
Story: 9.2
Direction: 7.5
Acting: 7.0
Cinematography: 8.8
Music/Sound: 7.8

Final Score: 8.5

The Re-Animator (1985)

Synopsis: People say that there are two certainties in life: Taxes and Death. Well Herbert West has discovered a way to defeat one of them, and it's not taxes. He has created a serum that defeats death and brings about, well, re-animation to dead things. But it's not all great because when people come back to life, they come back without their brains. Well, their brains are there but....you know what I mean. Things go to hell when West decapitates his medical school's department head when that guy tries to steal West's work. I don't know why, but West gives him the serum and the head comes back to life and then owns West. The head and the body go to revive more bodies in attempts to take over the world! Well maybe not the world but definitely do evil things. And it's up to West and his fellow student Dan Cain to stop the madness!

Should You Watch It? Even for a movie that was made in 1985 they managed to do a great job with the gore and special effects. The dead guy holding his own head! That will never get old. The story line is pretty deep as well, not only dealing with issues of raising the dead but also with relationships and trying to defeat nature, and stuff like that. But seriously all you need to know that if you like horror and gore and nudity then yeah go watch it.

Things to Watch Out For: This movie uses Music and Sound pretty great. I heard that it took the soundtrack from Psycho which would explain it. But even the special effects was pretty great. There is a lot of gore ahaha but it's done all very well. Overall, all you need to know about this movie is that it's pretty grim and it doesn't skimp on anything.

Things You Don't Expect: The acting is pretty good in this film. I think this is a B movie but it's a really well done B movie.

Final Comments:
Story: 8.0
Direction: 8.5
Acting: 7.8
Cinematography: 7.0
Music/Sound: 8.0

Final Score: 7.8

Click (2006)

Synopsis: Adam Sandler plays Michael Newman who has all the potential to be a partner at his architecture firm but just doesn't get the promotion because hey! it's life. But he's sick of life! He's fighting back and he begins by buying a unversial remote to conquer his TV. But he gets more than he asks for when Morty, Christopher Walkin, gives him the blue doom. At first it's pretty cool. He can pretty much control his entire universe. The remote even has a learning function to do exactly what he has done before. But before he knows it, he's fast-forwarding through his whole life wishing for another chance.

Should You Watch It? Some people will just shrug this off as being another stupid Sandler movie but I assure you that he man has changed! it was evident in Spanglish that he was already a different actor seeking different roles. This movie is definitely it. It combines his natural talents in comedy and mixes it with a strong story line supported by an amazing cast which includes Kate Beckinsale as his wife. And her tight rockin' body will drive you crazy!

Things to Watch Out For: This movie is pretty deep and it's all about the journey is worth more than the destination and appreciating life and family and stuff like that. Okay now that we got that out of the way we can talk about more superficial stuff that people care about. The special effects in this movie are pretty great and pretty well done. The remote control poses some challenges and this movie was a lot more expensive because of the time travel involved, but they didn't skimp on it which makes it a lot better. Oh yeah! David Hasselhoff plays a pretty big role in this film and he's pretty great haha....of course he's great cause he brings his entourage of hot girls with no brains.

Things You Don't Expect: You will cry in this movie. I don't care if you're like some hardcore serial killer who hates kittens. You will cry cause no matter how much of a bitch we are inside, we still have that soft core for our parents and family cause you just can't hate people who will always love you unconditionally. Oh yeah did I mention that Kate Beckinsale is really hot?

Final Comments:
Story: 9.5
Direction: 7.5
Acting: 8.0
Cinematography: 8.0
Music/Sound: 7.8

Final Score: 8.2

The Birds (1963)

Synopsis: Melanie Daniels is a girl whose spoiled beyond all riches so when one guy, Mitch Brenner, tells her off in a bird store, she thinks that it would be fun to track him down in his mom's house in Bodega Bay and give his sister, Cathy, birds. That'll show him to be a bitch. Anyways so she gets to the bay and all hell breaks loose. Well, I guess you could say that if hell was filled with birds. They start attacking people and the crew I mentioned above, must convince other people in the bay that the birds are nuts, try to stay alive, and find out why the birds are nuts.

Should You Watch It? I heard a lot about this movie going in. I mean, I think most people who watch movies have heard about this movie. So I was expecting big things! Sure this movie was filmed in 1963 so the quality might be a bit low but man, I was shocked. Forget about the technology and the direction and whatever. Plain and simple, this movie is brutal. Don't get me the wrong, the birds are pretty great but it just doesn't make up for the 45 minutes of exposition mainly consisting of dialogue which has nothing to do with anything! It is the only thing to watch for the first half of the movie. So unless you really like bad dialogue, and I mean pretty bad, you should stay away from this movie.

Things to Watch Out For: This movie does have an interesting dynamic between the characters. Every character in the movie is after love and is afraid of being neglected. So Mitch likes Melanie, and Melanie likes Mitch but Lydia, Mitch's mom, doesn't like Melanie because she thinks Melanie is going to take Mitch away from her. Then there's Cathy who seems to like everyone but is afraid of her two love birds dying. Annie is the school teacher and she used to have a relationship with Mitch. So you pretty much learn that for the first 45 minutes and I guess there's really no way you can miss it cause they say it over and over again, but just incase.

Things You Don't Expect: Hitchcook suggested that this might be most terrifying movie he's made. I haven't seen the others that I have but I pray to God that he's wrong. It's just....bad. From beginning to end. Especially the end which makes no sense like everything else. There's just really no way to explain. Well bad or I guess it's innovative. Haha I guess that's better.

Final Comments:
Story: Fail
Direction: 7.0
Acting: 5.0
Cinematography: 7.0
Music/Sound: Fail

Final Score: Fail