Spectacular.

I was excited for this one. Lots of big names in the cast, lots of shooting in the trailer, seemed like a recipe for success. Okay, I lie... but I knew it was going to be somewhat enjoyable, probably have a crappy story, and I'd get to see my hero Ryan Reynolds.

The premise was cliched... the story was all over the place... and the characters were half-fleshed out and a lot of their stories never reached any sort of resolution. But with half-decent directing, this movie which tried its utmost to bring together the Mafia, the FBI, prostitutes, casinos, drugs, hitmen, rednecks, chainsaws (and in one painful scene, a redneck sitting on a chainsaw) and lots and lots of guns - was somewhat fun to watch, and had its moments. Particular attention to detail at some points made for great easter eggs in this half-baked omelette of a movie. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 27%, which I think is a little harsh, as this movie does have its moments, but they weren't too far off.

Leonardo DiCaprio's portrayal of the soldier of fortune Danny Archer is excellent, and Djimon Hounsou does a great job as the displaced father Solomon Vandy in search of his missing son. This film, showcasing the atrocities committed in Sierra Leone over diamonds sought after by wealthy countries in Europe and the United States, diamonds which have lead to the massacre of innocents and continuous armed conflict for decades.

The acting is great, and the characters are developed well, although Danny Archer's path to redemption is perhaps a little too clichéd. The depictions of rebel forces raiding villages and mutilating prisoners is wrenches at one's humanity, and the movie does well in portraying the terrible atrocities that are only too real, such as the phenomenon of child soldiers, taken by force from their families and brainwashed into ruthless killers, as well as enslaved labor to harvest natural resources which are traded to the outside world in exchange for munitions with which to sustain conflicts.

This movie is a real eye-opener, a thrilling ride, and never once feels too long despite the 140 minute running time.

I loved Van Wilder. It was a story that hit close to the heart for me, and Ryan Reynolds played the role perfectly - with his facial expressions that make the lamest jokes fly. So it was with great anticipation that I awaited this movie. And I was pretty disappointed.

The story loop follows the first movie almost exactly, and the characters seem to be new incarnations of exactly the same, like Pipp Everett (played by Daniel Percival) and his character that mirrors Richard Bagg (played by Daniel Cosgrove) from the first movie to a tee. Sure it's funny at a lot of points, Kal Penn is of course hilarious, and even Pipp has a couple of great lines, but the lack of effort put into creating the characters. How hard is it to create new characters instead of just picking up characters from the first movie and remaking them in the second? How hard is it to change the story so it doesn't unfold exactly the same? Taj facing expulsion from Camford (the movie's take on Oxbridge) is just the final straw.

I must say, though, that Lauren Cohan is very cute.

A quirky little gem of a movie about a French student who moves into a house in Barcelona with six other characters from all over Europe. With a cast you grow to love as the movie progresses, this film follows their good times and bad as they learn to laugh and love and cry, deal with loneliness, heartbreak, and learn to handle life as it comes at them. Refreshing, nostalgic, and guaranteed to inspire at least the desire to go spend a few months in Europe and live a little.

***WARNING: SPOILER!***

A tale of a carpenter's son with a fancy for performing magic who falls in love with a duchess in VIenna. Cliched, yes? As expected, they are forcibly parted, so he goes off on his own, wandering the world, all the way to the mystical Orient. There he perfects his art, and returns to Vienna as a performer, where he meets the beautiful duchess again. However, his competition now is the crown prince Leopold. Through deceit and trickery and impossible feats of the dark arts, he spirits her away, leads the crown prince to kill himself, and the two vanish into the countryside near Prague. Superb performance by Edward Norton, Jessica Biel is, as always, stunning, and the twist at the end comes completely unexpected.

The category of this movie should be Gore. Not Horror. In fact, I'd like to say that about a lot of alleged horror movies these days, there's a new category around, so please label your shit properly, Hollywood.
So this is the second consecutive movie I've seen with excessive gore, and deja vu, again the last 2 fingers of the hero's hand get chopped off (although Hostel was with a chainsaw, and this was with an axe. yay for variety). After you cut out all the gore, this is really just another "kill the innocent family going on vacation" flick, quite unimpressive. Plenty of technical mistakes too (see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454841/goofs).

Bleah. Someone make a proper horror movie soon, please.

Brilliant movie! The twists in the plot don't really shock in its slow unraveling, but guide the story slowly and surely. The chemistry between Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu is great, reminiscent of Mark Wahlberg and China Chow in the Big Hit, though probably better. Well played parts by Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley, although Bruce Willis was somewhat of a letdown in his out-of-character role.

Thoroughly enjoyable, and a pleasant in-flight surprise on the long haul from Singapore to New York

Crappy. Just crappy. Oh, and borderline funny. Someone should tell Jack Black to stay where he belongs... in the supporting cast.

A completely enjoyable experience. Kunkel knows how to captivate his audience, with a main character anyone can relate to, flowing, flippant prose that cuts deeper than it initially seems to, and a desperate search for the self that anyone would appreciate beni able to embark upon. Add to that drugs, desire, and a mixture of ennui and inspiration, and you haev this book in a nutshell. A quick read, not in the least because it was so hard to put down, pick this up if you get the chance.

This is one of those books that starts out slow. Draggy. With a protagonist who's somewhat annoying, and quite obviously flawed to a fault. I found myself waiting for bad things to happen to him because I felt he deserved whatever was coming to him... but by the time it came, contempt had turned to pity. Well-written, incredibly mystifying throughout. Don't ever think you have it figured out, because you're always wrong.

Brilliant read, if somewhat weighty (despite the title). Kundera challenges the reader to think about things that we often just accept, breaks down what we simply chalk up to emotion into its component parts, and, as Dawn once said, "makes having a normal relationship after reading it impossible". But thoroughly engaging, this book weaves you into its characters, and brings you to a much greater depth of understanding of humanity.

Not for the faint of heart!

If you enjoyed the first one, you have to see this one. Kate Beckinsale is hot as ever, and the atmosphere of the film, as well as the costumes and sets are a gothic dream come true. Some of the storyline gets pretty ridiculous, and as often, I have technical gripes with the movie (how can the sun which is supposed to have just risen shine down a hole at an almost perpendicular angle to the ground??)

But if you can suspend disbelief and watch a vampire movie, I suppose you gotta be able to overlook a couple of other things, which I can only say I hope were sacrificed for the sake of artistic freedom and not merely forgotten.

This movie felt somewhat like Matrix: Reloaded in the sense that it took a tightly knit and well-thought out initial movie and provided an abundance of new and seemingly irrelevant subplots and loops to the storyline. Enjoyable, beautiful, good soundtrack, great cinematography... but it could have been a little more clever. 3 1/2 stars.

A Palestinian movie about 2 would-be suicide bombers... well-crafted, brilliantly shot, the characters are fleshed out very well. It gives insight into the kinds of situations that can drive people to do things that we otherwise do not understand, a sort of intercultural understanding, if you will.

Very moving, very powerful, with an ending that left me with a lot of heavy contemplation.

Don't believe all the crappy reviews out there. This movie is great. Visually stunning sets, excellent action sequences, and a good story to boot. I don't have any experience with the cartoon series, but I was impressed. A refreshing change from the bilge that Hollywood is producing these days, at least story-wise.

The dialogue was a little curt in some places, but very much anime-like, which I appreciated. This movie would get 5 stars if I hadn't been somewhat dissatisfied with the direction. On the whole, direction was good, very fluid action sequences with a lot of impact, but there were a number of minor flaws, such as scenes cutting too fast to understand exactly what was happening, and some of the effects were a little amateurish.

On the whole though, a very entertaining movie, very cool, and very aesthetically pleasing. 4 stars.

This movie is retarded. Funny in a lot of parts because it's so ridiculous. But ultimately retarded.

Somewhat perverse film about an American boy in Paris who develops a dysfunctional relationship with two French siblings. The world shrinks to the three of them and only the three of them, but of course the American has to fuck everything up by wanting more, and tries to take the girl for himself and distancing her from her brother. Great performances on all parts, some interesting following shots and nice play on mirrors and angles.

Very strange movie about disparate dual identities and some pretty striking acts of violence. I give it 3 1/2 stars, but I'm still not quite sure whether I liked it or not. Viggo Mortenson does a pretty good job of subtly switching his persona around, especially in the shot where he walks into the house passes through a slight shadow, and comes out a different man. Interesting concept, but the movie didn't really seem to go anywhere.

Fantastic film which weaves its way through a tangle of relationships. Set in New York, this film is a stark portrayal of today's relationships that grips the senses and makes you feel for the characters. Very well done, great performances by all, especially Glenn Close, and some very surprising twists... watch out for them.

Poignant story about a self-made arms dealer, which strikes home at how grey the world is, and how the evils of the world are caused not through malice but through greed and a simple refusal to consider the lasting consequences of our actions. Pretty slow-moving though, and Nicolas Cage is definitely not the right choice for this movie.