What Did You Watch Today?

[Mysterio2000X]

The Green Mile - 9.5/10

Memento - 7/10

[~The Missionary Guy~]

Batman Begins - 8/10

A bit slow at some places but pretty much well done.

[Mysterio2000X]

Batman Begins - 8.5/10

[BlackFlagg]

Batman Begins - 9/10

[BlackFlagg]

Zombie - 7/10

[BlackFlagg]

Day of the Dead - 9/10

[ROC]

Batman Begins - 7/10

With a nearly perfect cast and a very solid team behind the screenwriter's and director's chairs, Batman Begins already had such over-the-top forays as Batman and Robin and Batman Forever beat before the product was even in pre-production. With a great talent like Christian Bale as the Dark Knight, there's no surprise, either, that he manages to overpower Clooney and Kilmer's performances from the last two Batman features. All this is cemented by well done action sequences, that, while not too groundbreaking in themselves, do help move the story along.

Unfortunately, the film does have walls blocking it from greatness. One, the first 25 minutes, while containing some good exchanges between Bale and Liam Neeson, just feels boring, elongated, and dare I say, cliche. Two, Katie Holmes is in it. As a person who has never dug Holmes as an actress or even as a pretty face, I have to say I didn't like her stuff in the movie at all. I can figure, too, that Nolan could've done a little bit better than Holmes (Rachel McAdams sounds like a better choice from my standpoint).

But, these are just a few stumbling blocks and shouldn't take away from what this film DOES succeed in. This Batman succeeds at what co-writer/director Christopher Nolan and co-writer David Goyer intended: to make a dark Batman, a serious Batman, and most of all a good Batman.

That said, I am amped for a sequel. This sounds like it can only get better.

[kempay]

Memento - 7/10

This was my first time seeing the movie, and I really enjoyed this movie.

Sure, I rented it because it was Nolan and I just saw the Batman movie yesterday, I felt like watching another movie of Christopher Nolan.

Batman Begins - 8/10

High Tension - 7.5/10

Oh Yeah.

[LL!]

Batman Begins: 8.5/10

[Mick]

Kiss or Kill: 6/10

Not the greatest of movies, I thought it'd be something like a Quentin Tarnantino rendition of Mr. And Mrs. Smith, only without the couple against each other. Major let down. There was not a single note of music in the entire film.

[BlackFlagg]

Raiders of the Lost Ark - 10/10

[ROC]

Surviving Christmas - 4/10

Count this under the same class as Boat Trip. There were funny moments and then there were awful gags that go sometimes beyond bad. (A porn gag? WTF?)

Affleck was alright, proof that it isn't him that's the problem with his last few features, but rather the features he's chosen.

[botchedpiledriver]

Star Wars Episode 3: 9/10.

Answered all my questions.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

Seed Of Chucky: 6/10

Serious LOL moments in this one. Other than that... It was watchable.

[EWFan2004]

10/10

Ahh this movie just owns period.

[GoGo Yubari]

Sideways - 7/10

This movie succeeds because of Paul Giamatti. End of story, that's it. Giamatti is an excellent actor and he takes a movie that, without his performance, would have been average at best. I mean, all the actors are good, but only Giamatti and by virtue, Giamatti's love interest in Virginia Madsen's character, have anything to really work with. Thomas Haden Church just stands around and acts like a total sleazeball. I'm still not sure if you're supposed to sympathize with him at any point after the first half. Also, pretty much every attempt at humor falls flat, more or less.

Still, I recommend it because Paul Giamatti is a good enough actor to make you care about the neurotic misfit he plays in this movie, and the payoff is good enough to make it worth it. I'm disappointed that this is made by the same guy who did Election and About Schmidt, both of which are far superior movies.

[Numbahs]

Since I'm here, I might as well toss this in....

Primer - ****

[Ananas]

National Lampoon's Gold Diggers - * (2/10)

When people reminisce about the name "National Lampoon", they think of Chevy Chase, John Belushi and even (in the case of some younger fans) Ryan Reynolds. Many will recall how groundbreaking films like "Animal House" and the "Vacation" movies were; back when the title of "National Lampoon" meant something. Now it's not to say that back in the 80's all of the titles with the "National Lampoon's" label attached were great. Do the titles "Joy of Sex" and "Class Reunion" ring a bell? No? Well that's probably because history is always kind to film series' and when weighed against the genre changing "Animal House", it seems somehow more tolerable to forget that the lesser NL films of the 80's ever happened. Nonetheless, there's a reason that we're able to live with those films while we mourn the slow and painful death of a series today; at least back in the 80's a couple of bombs would be followed up with a blockbuster hit. Nowadays the "National Lampoon" series has been in a freefall ever since the marginally successful "Van Wilder", and films like "Gold Diggers" will do nothing to rectify the situation.

Taking a break from cheesy campus comedies, the series this time takes the form of a cheesy crime comedy. Fresh out of the last NL bomb Dorm Daze, Chris Owen (American Pie's "Shermanator") stars with Will Friedle (the latest "Boy Meets World" cast member to fall into this trap) as a couple of dimwitted criminals looking to score a big inheritance off of marrying two elderly women. What they don't know is that the women themselves are broke, and have a plan of their own: to marry the boys, only insure and eventually kill them. I could probably go a bit further into the plot details of this movie, but I don't see the point. Most of you already have the good sense to not even consider checking this film out, and so anything I really say beyond this is going to sound more like bitterness at having to endure this trainwreck than an honest review. To be honest, the screenplay is full of dull cliches, the performances are disturbingly unconvincing and, unlike previous films from the series, are seemingly without any real appeal to younger audiences. The "National Lampoon" series is no longer merely beyond it's prime; this train has run off the tracks. It's time to put a cap on dishing out the label to anyone with the cash to pay for it. I know that Paris Hilton's already filmed an upcoming "Lampoon-labeled" film called "Pledge This". I also know that production on "Dorm Daze 2: Semester at Sea", the most unnecessary sequel since the George W Bush presidency, is well underway. So we're going to have to endure at least 2 films beyond "Gold Diggers" (there was also a film called "Blackball" released in the United States this year in February with the label, but it was produced years ago without it so I don't consider it NL). Fine, let those films be made. And then stop it. Stop the bleeding before John Belushi spins so fast in his grave that he starts some kind of fire. For those of you still wondering, thumbs down.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

Akira: 7.5/10

[therockbox]

Batman Begins: 8/10

This is what Batman was meant to be, and it can only get better. Christian Bale was superb as Batman, and most of the cast was perfect with the exception of Katie Holmes, I really can't stand her.

Cillian Murphy did a good job as Crane, I was a fan of him from 28 Days Later and I'm glad he was cast in this.