Andy's Web Site

Okay maybe not that quick but hey if you've read this far you might as well keep going.

Casino Royale - First let me say that it was a very good movie. It was entertaining and was well acted. When they first announced the new Bond, I said "Who?" and I still can't remember his name without looking it up (Daniel Craig, I looked). But his character was very good. With all that said I now have to say this, Casino Royale was NOT a Bond movie. Oh sure the movie centered around a character called James Bond and they brought M back, but it was not Bond. Apparently when Pierce Brosnan left claiming that the role was too cheesy, the studio took his comments to heart and went to the other extreme. Now as far as I can remember Bond movie were about 3 things: gadgets, women with suggestive names and innuendo-laced one-liners. I will agree that the last few Bond movies took that too the extreme. Goldeneye was by far the best of the Brosnan era movies. But when you are casting Denise Richards in starring roles what do you expect? Sure she's nice to look at but do you have to give her lines? So gone are the gadgets, women with suggestive names and innuendo-laced one-liners. What does that leave us with? It leaves us with a complete break from Bond canon. Sure its a good movie, but it's not a good Bond movie. I say bring back Moneypenny and R. Bring back the gadgets. What is a spy without gadgets? Bring back the suggestively named women. And for the love of pete, bring back the cheesy one-liners, in moderation of course.

Now as a follow-up to my Bond rant, I received Volume 1 of the Ultimate Bond collection for Christmas. 2 disc sets of Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, The Man With The Golden Gun, The Living Daylights, and The World Is Not Enough. I have to say that they look and sound fabulous. It amazes me what we can do to re-master movies these days. They are well worth picking up. I'll have to see about picking up the rest of the series. I believe there are 4 volumes in all.

Little Miss Sunshine - I finally got a chance to see this movie recently. I was going to see it in theaters with Heather but she went and saw it without me. In any case if you have seen it you know that it was one of those hilarious, quirky comedies. I think Greg Kinnear is one of Hollywood's most underrated actors. If you haven't seen the movie you need to go see it right now. I'd have to rate this one up towards the top of my list of favorite quirky movies.

The DaVinci Code - Okay, so I'm not all the way through this one yet. I thin at this point I could go read the book in less time than it will take to finish watching the movie and it could be any less interesting. From what everyone has told me about the book, it's fascinating and moves along well and keeps you interested. A regular page turner. The movie so far, isn't. I'll give it a far shake though and finish it. Maybe I'll speak of it next update.

Serenity - Okay so I finally got around to this. I sat down and watched the whole series of Firefly and then sat down and watched Serenity. First I don't know what Fox was thinking when they cancelled Firefly. It's a wonderful space western with characters that click from episode 1. I'd have to rank it up there with Sport Night as one of the dumbest corporate cancellation decisions of all time. As for Serenity, I'm not sure I enjoyed it as much as I would have enjoyed a few more seasons of Firefly. I don't know why closure for TV series these days involves killing off a main character or two, but Serenity doesn't manage to escape this plot device. It seems especially common in Sci-Fi shows these days. Enterprise, Star Trek Nemesis, Angel, and Buffy are just a few examples where for some reason a main character dies at the end. I won't tell you who dies in Serenity, but one of them was my favorite character. Overall the movie was good, although like the last season of Enterprise it felt like they were rushing to try to resolve everything in a short time period.

Finally, I'd like to plug my new found favorite comedy, Scrubs. Yes I know it's been on for a while, but I've always avoided it because of my disdain for ER and all the other hospital dramas out there. But Comedy Central has been running the first few season and I've gotten hooked. I would be watching season 3 disc 1 right now, but the Netflix disc was cracked when it arrived yesterday. Grrr....

Snakes on a Plane - Yes, I went and saw this movie. How could you not? I mean when the title along was enough to sign Samuel L Jackson onboard, how could I not go see it?

Actually the movie wasn't bad. The thing I thought it lacked was consistency. The acting was surprisingly decent and I thought that the special effects were well done. The consistency issue was related to what type of horror movie it wanted to be. The movie started off with as a cheesy, but tolerable, B horror movie. Something you would see in the late 70s. Basically, all the build up and little to no gore. That changed part way through and they went to the other extreme, Gore-fest 2006. This actually felt very forced. Like they were trying too hard to show as much gore as they could in as short a time period as possible. Then they switched back for 20 minutes and then Gore-apalooza returned.

So while I recommend the movie, I don't recommend it for the weak stomached.

The Brothers Grimm - I believe I liked it better the first time around when it was called Sleepy Hollow. That said, I didn't by any means hate the movie. It was, what it was. A two hour movie with a bunch of fairy tale references. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger do a decent job, but I think the supporting cast show more depth, specifically Monica Bellucci, Jonathan Pryce and Peter Stormare. If you don't know who those people are, go look them up on IMDB and check out some of their previous work.

Silent Hill - Another horror movie. This one is based on a video game. Odd as it may be, I've never played the game. That may be why I enjoyed the movie. I've heard other reviewers who've played the game say that it wasn't very true to the game. I don't dispute that but I don't think that makes it a bad movie. As a horror movie I think it does quite well. It uses some of the classic make-up techniques reminiscent of Hellraiser. Of course they look 100 times better than Hellraiser ever did. Between that old school horror movie feel and a plot (another rarity these days) that moved along well made this a very good movie. I would have said great, but the writer for some odd reason decided to go with a more Japanese style horror movie ending. For those of you wondering what I mean by that, rent this movie, then go rent The Ring, The Grudge and Dark Water. They actually talk about the style in the special features of The Grudge. Obviously I'm not a fan of the style. But it's a great movie if you can get deal with the "epilogue".

Heather and I have seen a few movies lately and I thought I'd post my 2 cents for you to do what you may with it. I'll try not to spoil the plot for you.

King Kong - Okay i know this has been out forever, but if you haven't seen it then there is still time for me to save you from wasting 3 and a half hours of your life. No really, it's that long. But it will feel twice as long. At one point I literally exclaimed " We get it. Everything on the island is really big. Now get back to the plot." A cry that fell on deaf ears. The movie is at least an hour too long. AT LEAST. Seriously if you want to see King Kong, go rent the original.

Dark Water - Another one that's been out for a while that I just finally got around to popping into the DVD player. I wish I could sing its praises as I think it has a great cast. I think that Jennifer Connelly is one of the most talented actresses in Hollywood and doesn't get enough roles. Unfortunately, this is basically a scary movie that isn't scary. The "climax" isn't because there was no real build up. I don't want to give away the ending, but I almost think that ending at the climax would have been better and saved the film makers a little extra money.

Thank You for Smoking - I can't say enough good things about this movie. The movie is the perfect balance of humor, thought provoking dialog, and political commentary. Aaron Eckhart does an excellent job and gets wonderful performances from his supporting cast. I laugh everytime I hear William H Macy say "The great state of Vermont will not apologize for its cheese." Between Macy, Rob Lowe, Robert Duvall, J.K Simmons and even Katie Holmes, this movie can do no wrong. It is well worth the rental or purchase when it comes out on DVD.

V for Vendetta - I'm always skeptical of movies based on comics, but I wasn't disappointed by this one. I can't say the same for the rest of the people in the theater though. I think many were expecting dialog along the lines of "Hulk Smash!" instead of the fast paced verse to which they were subjected. Despite the puzzled looks of my fellow patrons, I managed to enjoy the movie from start to finish. And yes for those who need it, there is plenty of action and explosions. Be prepared to follow some fast paced dialog though. Coming to DVD on August 1st. I can't wait!

Superman Returns - I've don't my best to examine this movie from every angle. I want to be able to say it was a superb film but the best I can manage is adequate. After how much money and time has been poured into the movie I expected more. What I got was the original Superman movie with a slightly different plot. Perhaps I've been spoiled the past 5 years by Smallville but I expected something new and fresh. I didn't get it, but the movie is decent. See it in theaters or wait for DVD if you have a big screen TV.