Movie Time! (Round 2)

As promised here are the next round of reviews for the most previous Netflix binge as well as a little bit of Encore insanity...

Frank Miller's "Sin City" - Starring (alphabetically) Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Josh Hartnet, Michael Madsen, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Frodo...I mean Elijah Wood, Quentin Tarantino, (As guest director) and a whole bunch of other people who are famous in "pop Hollywood" circles. While I can appreciate the graphics and the film technique that it must have took to turn this graphic novel (Comic Book) into a big screen production, the movie itself left a little to be desired. Despite its star power and pop feel to it, the movie seemed empty and a little too comic booky to me. The standout, surprisingly enough, throughout the movie was Mickey Rourke whose performance as Marv, a washed up old thug hell bent on vigilante justice, is suprisingly good but the "graphic" part of the movie pretty much stole the show and was the best "actor" throughout the film. The dialogue, which was supposed to be classical film noir in type, seemed cheesy and out of place. The opening scene alone (which according to the bonus features on the DVD, allowed Robert Rodriguez to use Miller's material) left me wandering around the kitchen looking for a bottle of wine to go with the cheese. I suppose it could have been better if I had seen it in the theater but even then I'm not sure the graphics on the big screen would have kept me from leaving the theater disappointed. The graphics and film technique along with only Rourke's performance saved this film from a lower rating. I have a feeling I won't be seeing the other two scheduled to come. 3.5/5 remotes

"The Brothers Grimm" - Starring Matt Damon (alright all you Team America guys stop saying it like that), "The greatest actor of our generation" Heath Ledger, Peter Stormare, Johnathan Pryce, and Lena Headey. Apart from Peter Stormare's mastering of whatever dialect he wants, think "Russian Space Station," and "German VW Commercials," and "Wi wi" (that's French, not the gaming system) in this film the acting was average given the cast. Ok so Heath Ledger did have some success playing a gay cowboy and Matt Damon, although it's for screenwriting, may have an Oscar. This film, is still pretty much for fun. However, I'm glad that I didn't take any kids to this thinking that it was just a "retelling" of the classic fairy tales. The move had quite a rather large "dark side" that is vacant from any of the fairy tales that I remember. The story is simple the "brothers" Damon and Ledger are snake oil salesmen selling cures to evil curses and dark magic. However, they are caught and put to the test against real evil and real curses. The story, though visually stunning at parts has several holes and relies on a lot of assumptions by the veiwer. Aside from several "hidden jokes" within the director and crew's subtleness the actions speak louder than any of the words spoken in the film. The acting was so-so, the plot a little weak, and the visual appeal alright but not high enough to bring it out of the darkness of its own make up. I'm glad I didn't use up a netflix spot for this one. 3/5 remotes

"A Lot Like Love" - This movie was a Netflix suggestion and it took me a good while to figure out why. However, after much digging I think I figured out why. In my preferences I put "The West Wing", which of course had Aaron Sorkin as a main writer, this season's "Studio 60" has the same main writer, and it stars Amanda Peet, who is a co-star in "A Lot Like Love." Who is her co-star you ask, Ashton Kutcher. Anyway that's how I think this made its way onto the queue. With that long awaited introduction here's the short review of the formulaic "date movie." Boy meets girl, girl initiates boy into the 'mile high club', girl runs away, boy finds girl, boy and girl make a bet involving a timespan, girl finds boy, boy finds girl...etc. you get the picture. Anyway that's the typical story, here's my opinion. I don't like Ashton Kutcher, he may be a great host of "Punked" but as an actor and a person...not so much. I also think that I'm not alone here because in all the movies/shows that I see him in the writers and directors give him a trait that is supposed to make him loveable. For example in the "Butterfly Effect" he was friends with the goth/bigger kid and made sure that nobody picked on the kid, in "Guess Who" he was initiating and losing his job based on diversity issues, and in this movie his brother is deaf and he signs for him. Strike 1. Amanda Peet is cute but without a good supporting cast, I don't think she's all that great. For example "Saving Silverman," "The Whole Nine Yards" and "Studio 60." Strike 2. Last but certainly not least the ending is nothing but predictable, Strike 3. I'm not really gonna recommend this one very highly but at least it's better than "Catwoman." 2/5 remotes.

Until next time adios, and remember the Question of the Week!