Finding Nemo- fun movie. Although not packed with jokes like Toy Story or a Bug's Life, I was smiling throughout the movie, and felt exhilarated and very upbeat afterwards. I loved the AA sharks and the Bill & Ted turtles.
8.5/10
Bruce Almighty- I liked it a lot more the first time than the second, but it's a good movie. Funny, if reverting to slapstick one too many times, I loved the Jimmy Hoffa bit and the fact that it had some real dramatic moments, and not just something flimsy to fuel the comedy.
7.5/10
Holes- I really liked this one. Significantly better than what I was expecting, I loved the offbeat characters, I loved Jon Voight and Tim Blake-Nelson I loved the whole feel of the movie. The only drawback were the overly sentimental and totally unbelievable flashbacks. IMO one of the finest 'family films' in recent years.
8.5/10
X2- I loved this one. This is a HUGE improvement over the original, and a true model for how a sequel should be done. (A bit more in depth here)
My absolute favorite scene: McKellen ingenious escape scene.
I loved Magneto and Mystique's relationship- especially when they're on the jet and are in the corner giggling about Anne Paquin's hair.
Brian Cox was great as usual. He's really been having a come back, with a bunch of supporting roles in big movies (His best though was 25th Hour).
The opening scene is fantastic, done very well. I loved them using 'Dies Irae' from Mozart's Requiem as the score.
Great John Ottman score.
9/10
Pirates of The Caribbean- Not as good as it could have been, but a very good movie nonetheless.
Depp is every bit as good as everyone has said, and although the comic role in a goofy movie- IMO he deserves award consideration, just for the pure joy of the character.
Rush is great, obviously relishing every second he has the character for. His scenes on the boat with Knightly are fantastic.
Although I think both are best in the scenes they have together.
I loved the shot of the pirates marching underwater.
Terrible Klaus Badelt/media ventures score can be attributed to producer Bruckheimer, who fired Alan Silvestri, the great composer of Back to The Future and Forrest Gump.
A great summer movie, although it could have been a great year round movie with a better director and IMO a better score would have helped it immeasurably.
8.5/10
Identity- A great whodunit, with a twist ending that really works. I remember feeling so satisfied when I left the movie. Nice ensemble work by a cast of good faces.
7.5/10
Confidence- A lackluster, totally ordinary con movie, but the scene with Hoffman are great and IMO worth the admission, even if they are a bit too off-beat at times.
6.5/10
The Italian Job- A great con/heist movie. I was very pleasantly surprised by this one.
The opening heist is great. I liked the different location, and them picking the totally useless, yet stunningly photographed Alps as a meeting place.
I really appreciated the fact that there was no love story, only tons of chemistry.
Theron looks as good as she's ever looked in this movie, and she's generally pretty hot.
I loved Stratham.
The climax was a bit too actiony towards the end, but never-the-less very good. You should have heard the enormous cheer the audience gave they said "…Israeli made safe…"
A fantastic heist movie, which I liked much more than Ocean's 11.
8/10
Irreversible- An ugly movie that pretends to be profound. The opening sequence is the most repulsive thing I've seen on screen in a while. The movie might think it's deep- but a naked Monica Belluci is the only reason to see the movie, and even she's not worth the agony of the opening sequence.
2/10
Matchstick Men – A wonderful movie. Simply very intelligent, funny and touching in it's way. Cage and Rockwell are great, as is Bruce Altman.
8/10
Once Upon a Time in Mexico- The Ultimate summer movie. Big, loud, fun, hilarious. Depp and Banderas are great.
My favorite thing- Depp's continually changing wardrobe. I especially loved his C.I.A shirt and the 'I'm with stupid shirt' that point to his genitals.
8/10
The Rundown- A fun summer movie. The Rock is surprisingly very good, a definite candidate to be the next Arnold.
Walken is great as usual.
7/10
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen- The worst movie since 'The Time Machine'.
A truly awful version of a truly brilliant and inspired comic boo…I mean graphic novel.
Everyone was terrible in this, from Connery on down. The stupidest action scene in a long time.
Adding Tom Sawyer is one of the dumbest commercial moves in a long time.
Only positive note- I liked how they did Captain Nemo, and that his first mate goes 'Call me Ishmael'.
1/10
S.W.A.T- Until the last half hour- a totally unoriginal and uninteresting cop movie, that feels totally fake.
The first scene is terribly done, almost sloppy, and seemed to me at least like trying to imitate the sets and locations from 'Dog Day Afternoon', one of the greatest films of all time.
I did not believe for a second that that was a real training episode on a real training field, and the plane take-over seemed ridicules and waaay too colorful.
I did, however, enjoy the climax, which was I found refreshingly new.
6.5/10
Intolerable Cruelty- A very funny, very entertaining Coen Brother's movie. Maybe not as original and fresh as Fargo or The Big Libowski, nevertheless, I laughed the whole way through.
The opening scene is fantastic. Just the first shot of Jeffrey Rush, with a ponytail, trying to sing Simon and Garfunkle sold the movie in my eyes.
I loved the whole Simon and garfunkle theme throughout the movie.
Cloony is fantastic, Zeta-Jones is a bit slower, but still very good.
I loved the scenes with Edward Herrmann, and all the scenes with Zeta-Jones' Lawyer.
The scene with the Asthma hitman supplied the biggest laugh I've heard form an audience in very long time (even bigger than all the laughs 'Attack of The Clones' got!).
A great date movie, especially for Coen Brothers' fans.
8/10
American Wedding- see blow
The Human Stain- I really liked the movie. The entire cast is great, with Hopkins giving his best performance since Titus and Amistad.
I knew of the twist in the movie- but found that it only made the movie better knowing about it, and the twist, ridicules as it may sound on paper, is surprisingly believable in the movie.
The scene where Hopkins and Sinise dance together to Irving Berlin is priceless.
I also loved hearing Hopkins say 'Chutzpah'.
The I found the movie very involving, and done very well. Although Hopkins's character's reason for doing what he did is not dealt with as much depth as I would have liked, it is a very good drama, IMO better than Clint Eastwood's 'Mystic River', which I have still not come to a conclusion about.
8.5/10
Mystic River- As I said, I've yet to make up my mind about- but at least an 8/10. A powerful movie, filled with great performances- but the last 5 minutes threw me off, an I think were totally unnecessary.
Not in theaters:
I've seen many, many new movies at home, but I only specifically want to comment on the following ones:
The Indiana Jones Trilogy. Finally on DVD, the boxet doesn't disappoint. The movies look great, and are as fresh and entertaining as always. The Bonus disc, although presented simply, is fool of gems, including interviews with everybody, and tons and tons of never before seen behind the scenes footage. I also loved the sound and, of course, the fantastic music featurette, which talks about there of the all time best film scores.
10/10
I got last year's movie 'Changing Lanes', and I strongly recommend to everyone. It is one of the best movies of 2002, which was a very good year for movies. I loved how everyone plays someone unlike any of their previous character.
A very unique movie, that I might even go so far as to call one of my favorite movies of all times.
9.5/10
Spirited Away- one of the all time best animated movies. I was turned off by it at first, as I don't like Anime, but I was charmed by it.
It has a great Joe Hisaishi score.
9/10
Cidade de Deus (City of God)- an amazing Brazilian movie, that could almost be called 'Goodfellas 2'. Best foreign film I've seen in a long, long time.
9.5/10
And last (and strangest choice)- The American Pie movies, I resisted these for over 4 years, but I finally gave in. I loved the movies, which are simply too good hearted for not to like. Also, I find them more realistic than any other movie about teenaged, horny boys.
Although the first is the best, by the time the third comes along- I loved the characters so much (even though I saw the three movies in as many days), that the third was also very good.
Pt. 1- 8/10
Pt. 2- 7.5/10
Pt. 3- 7.5/10
The series as a whole: 9/10