Mini Movie reviews.

Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in about a few movies I have seen recently.

INSIDE MAN- great movie, kept my attention. The acting and writing were well done. As far as Spike Lee directing, I think any reasonably competent director could have done this. It was the writing and acting that made it. Lee pulled a couple of camera tricks that I thought were misplaced, didn't fit with the rest of the movie and drew my attention out.

ULTRAVIOLET - I like Milla Jovovich and I love sci-fi and action movies but this was truly one of the worst films I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of movies). She was good but the movie made absolutly no sense. It looked cool and the fight scenes were interesting but that was about it.

WHY WE FIGHT - An interesting documentary about the military-industrial complex in the US, it also touched on oil and American Imperialism. Didn't say much really new (at least to me). It did mention a faked attack on some US warships that helped start the Vietnam war. I hadn't never heard that before. Sounds similar to a recent occurence doesn't it? It wasn't really a documentary in the true sense. It was definitley trying to make a particular point.

TRANSAMERICA - I can see why Felicity Huffman got an Oscar nomination, she did a really good job. It wsn't as funny as the trailer suggests but overall it was interesting to watch.

UNDERWORLD 2 - I'd seen it before and watched it again this week at Western Film. I like this kind of movie and found it quite entertaining. Not high art but fun to watch. I bet there'll be another sequel.

V For VENDETTA- Great movie, very entertaining. It was less of an action movie than I expected, had more of a political subtext. Some people don't like the ending and I can understand why. Also having a terrorist as a hero no doubt creates some conflicting opinions. Hugo Weaving did a good job of creating a character with only his voice and body movements. Natalie Portman is beautiful but is not a good actress.

16 BLOCKS- This movie didn't get a lot of press or promotion which is surprising for a movie with Bruce Willis. It wasn't Die Hard but was quite entertaining. I do agree with almost everyone else that the voice Mos Def uses for some reason is very annoying. Western Film could have played this next week but we decided to play Fun with Dick and Jane since we hadn't played it yet. I may play 16 Blocks next week with Brokeback Mountain.

DATE MOVIE - had it's moments but was pretty bad, nowhere near as good as similar movies such as Scary Movie. Alyson Hannigan was ok but I prefer her as Willow. I doubt Western Film will play it. The distributor Fox is one of the hardest to deal with. As a result we usually only play their big hits. They usually demand we play their movies for both shows each night. We can't justify that for most of their movies.

FIREWALL - It's playing at Western Film this week so I guess that's a disclaimer. It's a good solid thriller. Harrison Ford is good as always. Paul Bettany makes a good bad guy. It's worth $4.25 (and I'm not just saying that because it's playing here).