Movie Reviews (Take II)

Alright let's keep this ball rolling...

"Fantastic 4" - Starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, and Julian McMahon. The story is not unfamiliar to anyone I'm sure, a group of intrepid astronauts travel to a space station to study an unusual space phenomenon, something goes wrong and the 5 humans' DNA has "been fundamentally altered." Four of them...the Fantastic 4 use their powers for good, 1 Dr. Doom, for bad. I knew going into it that it's a comic book movie so it would rely on the graphics for a good part of the film problem is, they weren't that great. Now you say, "But Robert it has Jessica Alba in it, that's good enough for me" well as you know from earlier posts, it's not for me. She can't hold a film all by herself and when the best actor in the ensemble is a creature with "ninja turtle" (original films) emotion (happy and sad), the Thing...you're in trouble. I couldn't even take it for what it was a comic book movie. 2/5 remotes.

"Road to Perdition" - Starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Tyler Hoechlin, Daniel Craig, and Jude Law. Yes I know this one is a little old but we didn't get to see it when it was in the theaters and apparently none of the movie channels want to touch it any more so we put it on the queue. The story follows Michael Sullivan (Hanks) and his son Michael Sullivan Jr. (Hoechlin) into the dark underbelly of the 1920's and 1930's crime syndicate throughout the United States. Sullivan has hit some bumps in the road and is forced to take his son through the maze of backstabbing, revenge and murder. Hanks' dark performance is suprisingly subdued and Newman's skills are shown throughout the picture. Law and Craig add shading to the dark plot while newcomer Hoeclin adds an innocence to the story that is well shown throughout the drama. The performances are above average and the storyline is as succinct as Sullivan himself. The movie was entertaining, dark and innocent all wrapped up into one with a little bit of heart dusted throughout. 4/5 Remotes

"November" - Starring Courtney Cox, James LeGros, and Nora Dunn. This story is billed as a psychological thriller with a fantasy aspect. Psychological yes, thriller not-so-much, fantasy...not at all. The plot revolves around an experience by Cox's character, or was it? The story is told from many different angles but relies on Cox's character as the one constant. The filmmaker does a good job of confusing the audience which is a trademark of independent film and good cinematography, of which it won a Sundance award. My biggest problem was that the story used as a foundation Kübler-Ross model of the stages of grief, but doesn't do a very good job of it and under my judgement leaves it incomplete, it was just a major pet peeve about the movie. Other than that it confused the heck out of me and kept me guessing all the way through which is exactly what it is supposed to do. Just couldn't get over the underlying aspect of the film though, acting is average, story too, was very artsy and cinematic. 3.5/5 Remotes