Mini Movie reviews.

Here's my opinion on some of the movies I have seen over the last little while. I don't want to give too much away but if anyone has any question you can e-mail me at wfilm@uwo.ca

Apocalypto - An interesting movie, very, very violent and graphic. The advertising was a little misleading, it seemed to be about a larger story that it turns out to be. There's at least one major scene in the trailer that's not in the movie. Western Film will be playing it.

Babel - An interesting movie, several interconnected stories. Good acting, looks great, not as long as it felt. This was the point of the movie but a couple times I felt like yelling at the screen 'just explain the situation', especially with the Mexican story. One of the stories had a very tenuous connection with the others. I think Western Film will play this.

Blood Diamond - Great movie, I was surprised how good it was considering it didn't open well. Leonardo Dicaprio was good and I normally don't like him. Djimon Hounsou was great as usual except for a couple scenes where he overdid it a bit. Western Film will most likely play it

Deck the Halls - I probably should't admit to seeing this movie. I went to see it Christmas day because I had nothing else to do. It was sorta entertaining but generally deserved the horrible reviews it got. I'm really starting to hate Matthew Broderick and his wooden/stage acting. Whatever happened to the guy who played Ferrris Bueller? There is absolutely no chance this film will ever, ever play at Western Film.

Eragon- This movie really disappointed me. I was looking forward to a good old fashioned fantasy film with dragons. I got what I wanted but in a badly done manner. The acting was good for the most part, especially Jeremy Irons. The Dragon was absolutely amazing. On the other hand I think they spent all their effects money on the Dragon as some of the other effects were not well done. I lay the blame for this solely at the feet of the director. I could tell all the elements for a great movie were there it just wasn't put together right. It was another movie that was obviously designed to have a sequel as it kinda just stopped. Since it's from Fox it likely won't play at Western Film.

Keeping Mum- This is a small British comedy with Maggie Smith and Rowan Atkinson. I saw it at the Hyland. If you like British style comedy you'll enjoy it. Especially Maggie Smith, she's always great. It's not high profile enough to play at Western Film so catch it at The Hyland.

Snowcake - a nice little Canadian / British coproduction starring Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver. It was a drama with some comedy. Alan Rickman is always great. I wasn't sure Sigourney quite caught the character properly, too often it was obvious she was 'acting'. I saw it at the Hyland and it also won't be playing at Western Film.

I think that's it. I've held off on seeing Night at the Museum because I may be going to Toronto and I can see it in Imax there. Another reason I want to go to TO is to see Children of Men. I wanted to see it since I saw the trailer months ago. The critics have loved it, some are throwing around the word masterpiece and we all know how critics hate to admit they loved a movie. It's one of the silly things about this business, a movie with all this acclaim is playing in only one theatre in all of Canada?!

Can you tell I've been on vacation? I've seen even more movies than usual.