The Simpsons Movie was good fun, nothing more or less than I expected.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007, Paul Greengrass, Grade: B+)

The third part of the Bourne series actually does turn out to be the best one. Sure, it can get preposterous with the incompetence of Interpol and every Customs agent in the world to be unable to identify Jason Bourne, although he never wears a disguise. Similarly, the way the C.I.A. has access to almost every camera and phone in the world and seemingly-limitless resources, but they can get outsmarted by Bourne at every step of the way could worry somebody looking for a different kind of movie, but hey, then I couldn't smile and laugh every time those bureaucratic dumbasses are proven to be as impotent as they are.

This Bourne has more action, fights and chases (of all different kinds) than the other movies, plus it's all leading up to a satisfactory conclusion. There are also tons of sly cat-and-mouse spy games to compensate for any "logic problems" anyone may have. The throttle is open full-blast for almost two full hours, even if at first, it seems a little like nothing's happening. Actually, it's all just a set-up to blow you away. It certainly goes into my Top Five of the year so far.

The Bourne Ultimatum

Mark has said all the important stuff. It remains for me to write merely that it is the best summer movie this year by a factor of 10!!

I loved the Bourne film, as well. And getting mark and me to agree on a film has seemed harder lately! But Sinister got motion sick from all the hand held camera work and had to step out and vomit. I think we were sitting too close!

We sat in the fifth row.

Rented and really enjoyed Disturbia tonight. Highly influenced by Rear Window, a teen under house arrest suspects a neighbor of murder. Pretty predictable but much fun along the way.

I just recently saw The Machinist. Well this was one messed up movie for real. I can't really say much about it other than:

- Christian Bale looked like a freak of nature. Ironically, you get used to it that when they showed snippets of him in his normal weight you thought he looked abnormally fat.

- Very few movies leave me feeling upset after seeing it. The Machinist did it.

Inherit the Wind (1960, Stanley Kramer, Grade: B+)

Sure, I've seen this fictionalized retelling of the Scopes Trial a gazillion times, and yes, it's a major-league melodrama, but it shows you why melodramas are still a potent form for both theatre and film. This movie has its quieter and subtle moments, but what pushes it forward are the titanic themes and personalities involved.

Spencer Tracy is still wonderful as the Clarence Darrowish lawyer who defends the schoolteacher (Dick York, the first Darren from "Bewitched") who dared to break the law by teaching evolution in his classroom. Fredric March is over-the-top, but entertainingly-so, as the William Jennings Bryan prosecutor who acts more like a preacher than Elmer Gantry. Plus Gene Kelly plays the flippant H.L. Mencken reporter covering the case for the Big City newspaper of these small town hicks' lynchmob mentality.

Stanley Kramer can't help but make it seem a little bit self-important, but it's still grand entertainment and thought-provoking. A personal highlight: Minister Claude Akins, in front of an out-of-control "prayer meeting", damning his own daughter (Donna Anderson) to hell for still supporting her teacher boy friend. Then, the Bryan character (the prosecutor) quietly dismisses the crowd and minister through the titular Bible quote (he that troubleth his own house...shall inherit the wind), only to later use the young woman's confidences against her sweetheart later in the trial!!

Disturbia

I saw this earlier tonight and I thought it was pretty decent film. I watched it with my girlfriend and she thought it was a bit too juvenile for her liking, I had to remind her that it revolved around a high school kid's life. It wasn't too long and that helped and it moved at a decent pace as well. It's an entertaining film, not amazing but all right.

Hot Fuzz

Funny but overlong. London cop transfered to the country. Last half hour of the film, things get ridiclous and more stupid than funny. Worth renting but keep the remote control finger on fast forward/skip button during the final 30-35 minutes.

The Bourne Ultimatum

Not as good as the first Bourne film, whose heart and soul was Franka Potente. Ultimatum has great action scenes alright but the plot is pretty predictable. Julia Stiles was even more stiff & souless than she normally is though Matt Damon did seem to loosen up a little bit. Not worth the theatre ticket.

The Lookout

Four years after surving a car accident which killed some of his friends, Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) attends therapy sessions and works part-time as a janitor at a bank. The job doesn't go unnoticed by some folks who want Chris to help them rob the bank. Great story, great cast (Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, Isla Fisher), excellent film, one of my favorites of '07.

Bridge to Terabithia

I read comparisons to other fantasies (The Chronicles of Narnia, The Neverending Story) in reviews of this movie but it reminded me more of My Girl. The last 20 or so minutes were a letdown to the building up of the friendship of the two kids. What went before was pretty enjoyable, I enjoyed the acting all way around. Just wish the final act hadn't been such a major disappointment.

Elmer Gantry (1960, Richard Brooks, Grade: A+)

My favorite movie, except for Jaws, crams more everything than a movie has any right to cram into itself. This film fully illuminates the 1920s, yet, it's surprisingly contemporary in its depiction of religion, the media, human nature, the "fact" that things cannot be explained, "big heads", and the way that your friends may seem like enemies and vice versa.

I fully believe this has the greatest script of any film ever made. Richard Brooks was a student of Sinclair Lewis, and he certainly turned his mentor's novel into a masterpiece. He also turned himself into one of our greatest directors (this, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Catered Affair, The Professionals, In Cold Blood).

Oscar-winning Burt Lancaster gives a mind-boggling performance as Gantry, one of the greatest heathens to truly love Jesus, but he's matched by Jean Simmons as Sister Sharon, Dean Jagger as "Bill Boy", Arthur Kennedy as the Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist who initially suspects them of being crooks but comes to love and defend them, and Shirley Jones (another Acting Oscar) as Lulu Baines, who became a hooker after Gantry "rammed the fear of god into her" behind her father's pulpit on Christmas Eve.

I could go on and on about how this movie confronts religion head on and is still probably uncomfortable for many people to watch, but my main praise for this film is that it speaks honestly to humankind and their relationship with God, and it does it in the most-entertaining and satirically-humorous way possible for God to get all the jokes!!

Apocalypto
It's a flippin' action movie! From the trailers, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I never expected a thrill ride like this! Those crazy Mayans. Watching the way they hunted at the beginning was amazing, & when I saw the "ant-head stitches", I was trippin' like a mug! This is a movie that truly places its hero in an inescapable situation, that seems to get worse & worse as the film goes on. It was hard to watch at first, but remembering how the previews kept refering to the movie as a "story of triumph", I HAD to see how he got outta this. It's kinda like a Mayan version of "Commando" with Arnold Schwarzenegger (Typing of "Commando", the director's cut comes to DVD on September 18th!), a man trying to save his family by cutting down the enemy singlehandedly, while on a timetable to get to them before the REAL danger takes its toll. There was only one question I was left with at the end of the film, what happened to the children? They were left behind when the enemy took the adults, but they apparently never went back to their village & Jaguar Paw (apparently) never encountered them on his way back. I love kids, so they stayed on my mind from the moment you last see them by the river. Poor little guys... Other than that, I had no problems with this movie. I MUST warn you guys, though. This movie shows ritualistic sacrifice & it's very disturbing. The initial attack on the village is just as bad, as well. However, if you can make it through all of the blood, gore, & cruelty, you're in for one helluva ride! A+

P.S.
I'm gonna try to get my mother to watch it with me today. She's one of those people that gets so into a movie, she actually starts to pray for the people IN the movie ! I always laugh & tell her the movie was already shot, her prayers won't help, but it's just something she does when she gets nervous or scared for the characters. I can see her praying a WHOLE lot during this movie! Besides, with the way it's set up, it'll probably look like her prayers are being answered!

P.P.S.
Another great thing about this film? The subtitles are huge! Well, huge compared to most movies. So it looks like I won't have to read it outloud to everyone in the room with bad eyes (i.e. my wife), which happens most of the time during a subtitled flick.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Monkey_Boy,

Superbad. Extremely funny teen-sex comedy. A day and night in the life some pals in their last weeks of high school. Much, much funnier and better than Knocked Up, the film to which this one has been compared. Worth the price of the ticket.

Marked for Death
Oh, it was terrible, but in a hilarious way ! I bought it mostly for the nostalgia of it. My stepfather loved Steven Segal. I mean LOVED him, & had every single one of his movies in the early nineties. I was a young teen (around 13) & didn't know any better. "Marked for Death" was one of his favorites, & after watching it, I don't know why. The acting is subpar & the martial arts aren't all that great. Not even by the standards of that time! The story is ridiculous. After killing a woman (who had just killed his partner) Segal feels bad & despite the objections of every one of his superiors, retires from the police force. He goes back to his perfect family home in a small town to live a quiet life of peace, but when Jamaican drug dealers come into town, he teams up with the high school football coach to take 'em down. Things about the movie that make absolutley NO SENSE:
1.Segal turns down joining the police in the investigation, but teams up with the high school football coach.
2.Somehow, he causes MORE damage & destruction while trying to pursue the Jamaicans than they were just sellin' drugs by the high school!
3.He is driving on the sidewalk, shooting in the middle of traffic, endangering many lives, crashing through department stores, & even killing a few of the Jamaican drug dealers, yet he is never arrested!
4.Even though the local police asked for Segal's help when he first got into town, they soon act as if they hate him. If they truly hated him, why not arrest him? They wouldn't have to make anything up, he's broken PLENTY of laws.
The dialoge just sucks! Take these lines into consideration (also remember how awful the delivery of each of these lines are):
Segal & his partner before the undercover sting:
Partner: "We can't go into that meeting! If anyone was ever made, we were made."
Segal: "You know what I say? We're going."
"What are you? Are you crazy? Probably a hundred people saw us chasing him."
"Chico, since when did anybody ever accuse me of bein' sane? We're going. Come on."
When he goes to confession:
"I knew that the only justice that I could get would be that I made for myself, not always by law. Father, I just killed a woman. I've lied, I've slept with informants, I've taken drugs, I've falsified evidence. I did whatever I had to do to get the bad guys and then I realized something..." (I know you guys know what he's about to say ) "...that I had become what I most despise."
Segal turning down the F.B.I.:
"Why don't you help us out on this one?"
"Because I'm out. You know I'm out."
"Come on, Hatcher. It's in the blood."
"If it's in the blood, I'll get a transfusion. Alright?"
Awful, huh? Just imagine hearing it!

My brother has even nailed down the plot to a Segal movie: He quits the police/F.B.I./army whatever-force. He's begged not to. He's hated for quitting anyway. He becomes a vigilante. He's underestimated by the bad guys. He wins. They ask him back. He turns them down. It really is that basic premise, with minor changes, for most of his flicks! D (It's kinda fun to laugh at.)

The Monster Squad
I can't say too much about this one. If you're an adult, you probably won't like this movie. The acting is awful & the plot isn't all that great. If you're a pre-to-early teen, you'll probably love it! It's a group of kids with their own club in a cool treehouse battling monsters! Not for young children, mostly because these kids are... well, kids. They cuss & call each other homosexuals like most kids that age, something smaller children will pick up on & use at the most inappropriate moments. The special features are pretty good. I had no idea this movie had a cult following, & neither did most of the cast! Even the director was surprised! They interview most of the (now grown up) children & there's a doc on the monster make-up. C (It's something that my kids'll love when they get older. So I can't be too harsh on it! )

Two dvds I watched last night-

Night of the Comet. I hadn't seen this cult sci-fi classic in over 15 years. Valley girls, zombies, Catherine Mary Stewart, killer comet, Mary Woronov- what else can one need in an '80s cult flick?

Summer of '42. Coming of age classic starring Gary Grimes and ultra-gorgeous Jennifer O'Neill. First time I'd seen it in it's entirety in over um more years than I care to mention. Great film which always leaves me moody afterwards.

I watched "The Reckoning", a bearable period-piece film of working out your own guilt through helping to expose the sins of others.

Watched Hot Rods to Hell from 1967 on dvd last night. Tom (Dana Andrews) has a car wreck on Christmas Eve near Boston. He survives though his back's in bad shape. He buys a motel out in some desert town where the warmth of the sun will heal his back. On the way to the motel, some hot rodders try to run Tom & family off the road, especially after they find out Tom has bought the motel, which is the local hangout. It's a bummer, man, the Tom dude is a square. He's gonna axe their kicks, dig? Extra cheesy performances from Jeanne Crain and hottie Laurie Mock, who, like all other "teens" in the flick, must be in their mid-late 20's. Laurie Mock was also a highlight of Riot on Sunset Strip, again from 1967, which I desperatley want on dvd. Musical band at the Arena (the motel cafe/bar) features Mickey Rooney, Jr as the vocalist, and he does look like his pop. The movie has it's own little site- Hot Rods to Hell C'mon, metacriticers, rent or buy this flick, cuz if not, then "What's left for kicks?"

Most of the times i dont really watch movies, and i think that most of movies doesn't even desrves to be watched...well it's like music.....well i dont know what im saying, anyway i dont like to be sit for 2 hours. But i saw for the 3rd or 4rth time the movie L.I.E. (Long Island Express) yesterday night and i still think it's a masterpiece. One of my favorite movies.

3:10 TO YUMA. It's a Western masterpiece. First hour is a bit bloated, to be honest, but the second hour is in-frigging-credible.