REVIEWS 2002
Last updated: 2/15/03. Added my ratings for Adaptation, Chicago, Frida, The Hours, Igby Goes Down, Two Weeks Notice.
| Abandon | ** | Good performances/direction, well written, manages to avoid cliches, but in the end, just another thriller. | |
| About a Boy | *** � | The relationship-comedy for the man. Every man can relate to at least one aspect of this movie. Funny stuff. A Bridget Jones companion-piece. | |
| Adaptation | *** � | Clever, creative, hilarious movie about... adaptation. Fine performances. Kauffman and Jonez do it again. | |
| Austin Powers in Goldmember | *** | In my opinion, the funniest in the series. The opening sequence is one of the most memorable film moments of the year. | |
| Bad Company | ** | Typical Bruckheimer production. A few interesting action sequences and a few wasted performances from a solid cast. | |
| Barbershop | *** | Funny, insightful, and hearwarming film about a bunch of gossipy barbers in a "black neighborhood." Very entertaining and thought-provoking film, but the subplots were not very necessary to the plot. Some good stuff. | |
| Big Fat Liar | *** | Harmless family comedy, cute for the kids, but enough for adults to enjoy as well. Frankie Muniz natural screen presence continues to show with every film he makes. | |
| Birthday Girl | ** | Interesting, well-made, and very strange and deranged romantic-dramedy/thriller. Won't bad-mouth it, but can't reccomend it either. | |
| Blade II | * � | Lackluster sequel with about half an hour of actual plot and another hour and a half of overdone special effects and pointless fight sequences. | |
| Blue Crush | *** | Fun surf movie with good performances and great cinematography. The Coyote Ugly of the pipeline. I have to respect a movie that tells a story that isn't often told and this one does it well. | |
| The Bourne Identity | ** � | Stylish spy/assasin thriller with the best car chase sequence since The French Connection. Doug Liman's follow-up to Go only continues to prove he knows what he's doing. Still, I couldn't help but wonder if amidst all this flash, "was this movie really about anything?" | |
| Brotherhood of the Wolf | *** | Entertaining, beautifully shot fantasy/action-adventure/drama. Style, cinematography, and fight sequences alone make this one worht watching. | |
| Catch Me If You Can | **** | Spielberg goes back to his simple roots, combining an interesting story and great acting. The performances are wonderful, especially from DiCaprio and Christopher Walken. Very clever and well-made movie. One of the best of the year. | |
| Changing Lanes | *** � | Amazing moralistic drama/thriller. Great performances, fine cinematography, powerful script, beautiful direction. | |
| Chicago | *** � | In my opinion, not as good as Moulin Rouge!, but still a great movie. Renee Zellweger plays her role well, but is miscast. Catherine Zeta-Jones steals the show. Queen Latifa is great. | |
| The Count of Monte Cristo | *** | Delightful swashbuckling-esque adventure feature with great performances and beautiful costumes and art direction. | |
| Death to Smoochy | *** | Demented, "oh my God, I can't believe what I'm seeing" darkly comic satire with some great performances from the whole crew that you'll either absolutely love or utterly hate. Fortunately, I found the pitch-black humor to be surprisingly clever. | |
| Die Another Day | ** � | Despite the numerous bad puns atop one another, I'll give this film the reccomendation for the one-liners that do work, the awesome opening sequence, and the great cast of characters. When the stuff works, it's great, but when it doesn't, it bombs. | |
| Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood | ** | Amusing little chick-flick with a strong cast. Not much else to say about the movie other than that. | |
| Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights | ** � | Shoot me for reccomending this one, but I found it entertaining. Sure, it's vulgar, crude, and rude, but on an Adam Sandler level, it works, and at least I was never bored. | |
| Eight-Legged Freaks | *** | Fun creature feature, but David Arquette is wrongly cast in a hero role. Never quite reaches the same level as Tremors or Arachnophobia, but still a clever b-movie spoof. | |
| 8 Mile | *** � | Awesome rap-enhanced coming-of-age story from Curtis Hanson. Eminem gives a great performance and the typical underdog story manages to avoid cliche and come off natural and true to life. Great stuff. | |
| Enough | * � | The ultimate "men are bastards" movie. Only one really likable male character. It's like a Lifetime movie directed by the angry Alanis Morissette. | |
| feardotcom | ** | I found it hard to conceive what Roger Ebert meant when he described this as a "two-star movie with some four-star elements," but I couldn't have said it better myself. The characters are lacking, the plot is jumbled and implausible (though still interesting), but this has some amazing technical aspects. Cinematography and set-pieces, and I'll be ostricized for saying it, but William Malone is one of the few horror directors out there today who knows what he's doing. I like his whole 1920s-style approach to horror. My favorite scene here involves a female character apparently deathly afraid of bugs, going crazy in her apartment. If this film had taken a more experimental approach and possibly been a silent-picture, this might be a great movie, sadly the script detracts from the technical aspects of the movie. | |
| 40 Days & 40 Nights | *** | Funny comedy that knows how to blend sexual antics with sweet romance, highlighted by the nice chemistry between Josh Hartnett and Shannyn Sossamon. | |
| Frailty | **** | One of the most original and disturbing psychological horror/thrillers I have ever seen. Dark, atmospheric, powerful, and scarily logical. A great and brave directorial debut from actor Bill Paxton. Must see, one of the best films of the year. | |
| Frida | *** � | Amazing, beautiful, well-acted biopic of the tragic artist. Salma Hayek is spectacular. One of the best films of the year. I only feel that Ashley Judd's minor roll was a miscast. | |
| Gangs of New york | *** | Miscast, but well acted period action/drama. The set pieces and costumes are phenomenal and the opening battle is one of the most brutal captured on screen, but the ending leaves something to be desired. Scorsese tries just a little too hard, in my opinion, and though Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz pull off their rolls, they are still miscast. | |
| Ghost Ship | * � | Better character development than Thirteen Ghosts but lacks the pazazz, with the exception of the humorous opening credit sequence, the mega-death scene five minutes into the movie, and the flashback murder montage. Maybe if director Steve Beck somehow manages to blend the two things that make his two Dark Castle films work, he could come up with a great horror movie. | |
| Halloween: Resurrection | * � | Creative twist for the series that never quite gets there. Slow start, nonsense ending, but the twenty minutes before the end are actually quite entertaining as the main character lives an interactive horror movie via internet with the help of her boyfriend and a group of voyeuristic high school students. Story should have focused more on this interaction. | |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | **** | Just as good, if not better, follow-up to the series. The first film laid the groundwork, this one gives it that push. A great, entertaining family fantasy. | |
| The Hours | **** | Amazing accomplishment of a movie. Great performances and direction from Stephen Daldry. Three sad stories told simultaneously, but thanks to great editing, is never choppy. One of the year's best. | |
| Igby Goes Down | *** | Odd, but quirky black comedy. Great breakthrough for Kieran Culkin. | |
| The Importance of Beaing Earnest | *** | Very cute, perfectly cast remake of the British high comedy about... nothing. Worth seeing for the cast alone. | |
| Insomnia | *** � | A remake of a foreign film that actually stands very well on its own. Impressive script and Al Pacino gives another Oscar-calibre performance. First film I've seen that started out as predictable then went a completly different direction. Christopher Nolan has proven that Memento was not a fluke by coming up with something I think is even better. Would've liked a little more insight on Maura Tierney's character though. | |
| Jackass: The Movie | ** � | Like watching a train wreck, it's morbid to be sitting through, but still captures your attention. If you like the show, then watch and enjoy, otherwise, avoid at all costs. | |
| Jason X | * � | Cheesy hack and slash horror/comedy hybrid. A few funny moments overall, but for anyone not a fan of the series or horror movies in general, there isn't much to go off of. | |
| Kung Pow: Enter the Fist | * | Utterly stupid, laughless comedy/spoof. A couple of chuckles, but overall, not worth the time to watch. One of the worst films I've seen this year. | |
| Kissing Jessica Stein | *** | Sweet and clever coming-out romantic-comedy with a cast/crew that had an obviously love for the material they were doing. | |
| Lilo & Stitch | *** � | Cute and cuddly family film from the mouse house. Disney strikes again with this thoroughly enjoyable animated film with such a big heart you can't resist. Nice animation, good story, wonderful moral, and hilarious. Disney's best in a long while. | |
| Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | **** | Grand epic, more action-heavy follow up to Fellowship of the Rings. Just shy of being just as good as the original, but still amazing. The battle for Helm's Deep is one of the greatest battle sequences caught on film. Gollum is more than just another Jar Jar Binks; instead, a CGI character with depth and appeal. Seen it twice as of this writing, and gets better with repeat viewings. One of the best of the year. | |
| Men in Black II | ** | Yet another sequel that rehashes everything from the first movie. Nothing all too memorable with the exception of the locker creatures and the worms. Rosario Dawson's appearance adds a bit, as well. | |
| Minority Report | *** � | Incredible, intriguing sci-fi noir from Philip K. Dick in the vein of Blade Runner. Amazing Spielberg film. Tom Cruise gives one of his best performances. | |
| The Mothman Prophecies | ** | OK movie that tries to be a thriller but is never all that thrilling. | |
| Mr. Deeds | *** | Ok, I must be getting too used to these types of movies. I actually like this one enough to reccomend it. Not nearly as good as the Capra original, but enough funny moments to keep me entertained. | |
| Murder by Numbers | *** | By the numbers thriller that still has enough original moments to intrigue you. Nice character development and strong performances, especially from the two young stars Ryan Gossling and Michael Pitt. | |
| My Big Fat Greek Wedding | *** | Cute culture-clash romantic comedy about a thirty-year old spinster Greek woman finding love with an attractive non-Greek man and merge him with her family, despite her "purpose in life" to "marry a Greek man. Have Greek babies. And feed everyone for the rest of your life." | |
| The New Guy | *** | Better-than-you'd-expect teen comedy/high school social class film. Just the right blend of juvenile humor and seriousness along with likeable characters make this an above average teen flick. DJ Qualls proves himself a capable lead while the supporting cast are just as strong. | |
| One Hour Photo | *** � | Intense pschological thriller, almost a Rear Window meets Psycho for a new generation. Robin Williams gives one of his best performances and director Mark Romanek knows how to build the tension and scare his audience from the opening scene. Also highlighted by some effective cinematogrpahy and a look almost resembling that of 2001: A Space Odyssey. A great film whose realism will make you second think that trip to the photomat. | |
| Orange County | ** | Likeable young cast and quirky characters, but not much in the way of a plot. Could have been the film to boost the careers of these children of Hollywood, but ends up only giving them a bit of a nudge. | |
| Panic Room | *** | Incredibly clever claustrophobic thriller that may be inplausible but is quite logical, and so realistic it's funny. One of the best opening credit sequences ever and the usual David Fincher flash can be found here as well. | |
| Punch-Drunk Love | **** | The Frailty of romantic-comedies. Adam Sandler gives his best performance in this very strange film that seems at times almost like a Meg Ryan movie as only Stanley Kubrick could do. P.T. Anderson is one clever man, though starting to get a little disturbing. | |
| Queen of the Damned | ** | As with almost all vampire movies, this one has a style all its own to it. There's not much in the way of originality in the plot, and the characters are just sort of there, but the soundtrack highlights the movie well, and there's some nice constuming. Stuart Townsend also brings a new life to the Lestat character with his own natural charm. | |
| Reign of Fire | *** | Sci-fi/fantasy hybrid with dragons in a post-apocalyptic setting, sure to become a cult classic. Good cast, fun characters, every type of action scene short of a sword-fight, but I still would like to have seen more dragons. Implausible plot, but fun script that doesn't take itself too seriously make enjoyable theater fun. | |
| Red Dragon | *** � | Not necessarily the best in the Hannibal Lecter series, but my personal favorite. Some may say it's not as good as Silence of the Lambs but almost undebatably far better than Hannibal. Great story and storytelling with a perfect cast. Brett Ratner has surprised me with his ability as a director. The same basic story as Manhunter, but this movie holds on its own and, as I see it, is even better. | |
| Resident Evil | ** | Sci-fi B-flick with completely illogical plot, but an amazing score from Marco Beltrami, pretty decent art direction, special effects, and makeup, and enough cheese to provide some matinee MST3K entertainment. | |
| The Ring | ** � | Well-made horror-thriller remake that could have been better if it didn't give in to the "sudden loud noise" cliche so much and drag on in its explanation of everything. | |
| Road to Perdition | *** � | Fine directorial follow-up to American Beauty for Sam Mendes. Some of the best performances of the year, especially from Paul Newman. Beautiful cinematography. Not quite on the level of The Godfather, but still a beautiful movie. | |
| The Rookie | *** | The movie for the dreamer. Sure it's your somewhat typical sports movie where you know by the end his dream will come true, but it's the fact that you actually do like the guy and want it to happen that makes the movie. It makes you feel that if his dreams can come true, so can yours. A great family movie. | |
| The Rules of Attraction | *** � | Demented, well-acted, ultra-hip, stylish black comedy about a bunch of spoiled, shallow college coeds in a world that doesn't exist where morals don't either. Worth checking out for the style alone, including some intriguing rewind/replay sequences symbolic of the characters' confusion, a hilarious sped-up European trip summary, and a tragically gorgeous suicide scene. You have to have a taste for this type of movie, and I do. | |
| The Santa Clause 2 | *** | Incredibly sweet holiday sequel for the whole family. Very nicely made, enough for children and the adults to enjoy. | |
| Scooby-Doo | ** � | Cute enough movie for kids and... older kids. For those of us who grew up on Scooby, it has some nice little in-jokes and stays pretty loyal to the Scooby we grew up loving. Matthew Lillard is the definitive Shaggy. But those who were never fans of the show aren't going to start now. I liked it a lot, but being a Scooby loyalist, I still wanted just that little bit more, but it still delivers. | |
| The Scorpion King | ** | Cheesy, but self-aware Conan the Barbarian-type Mummy spin-off. Complete B-Movie, highlighted by some beautiful, be they completely historically inaccurate, costumes. Might have been better if it was a Bruce Campbell vehicle. | |
| Signs | *** � | Intriguing, suspenseful, clever sci-fi/drama from M. Night Shyamalan, who's really proving himself as the next Spielberg. Great performances from all, especially Joaquin Phoenix in his supporting role. Nice homages to earlier films like Close Encounters... and Night of the Living Dead. Only thing bugging me is the lightweight, conventional ending, but still definitely worth checking out. | |
| Sorority Boys | ** � | Not just another boys-in-drag movie. Funny in reminiscence of the days of National Lampoon, with some interesting moments rarely done in a movie of this type. Crude, rude, but not bad. | |
| Spider-Man | **** | Amazing, purely amazing. Perfect casting, clever script, all the Raimi-isms. One of the best (if not THE best) comic book to screen adaptation ever. This is what summer blockbusters SHOULD be like. Sam Raimi is God. | Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron | ** � | This one almost had me, but then again I'm already a sucker for animated films. Cute, yet somehow bleaker and more mature cartoon that isn't death to sit through if you're over seven years old, but I couldn't help but wonder if I was watching a movie or an hour and a half-long music video. Nice soundtrack, but it feels a little forced. |
| Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones | *** | This movie ALMOST completely had me if it weren't for the "oh please" dialogue. The set, special effects, costume, and scenes as a whole were prerry intriguing, but the dialogue REALLY needs some work. Still, very entertaining, especially to see Master Yoda whoop some major ass with a light saber. OH YEAH! | |
| Stolen Summer | *** | Touching, sweet, and every other nice thing you can come up with applies to this religion/culture clash coming-of-age dramedy, highlighted by some fine performances from the cast. Probably best known as the "Project Greenlight" film, it deserved the studio pick-up. | |
| Super Troopers | *** | Hilarious offbeat, low-brow comedy from the best comedic troupe since Monty Python. The funniest movie I've seen in a long while. | |
| Sweet Home Alabama | *** | Predictable, but affectionate and well-made romantic comedy highlighted by Reese Witherspoon's undenyable quirkiness and a strong supporting cast, including Mary Kay Place and Fred Ward as her redneck parents, Candece Bergin as her snooty soon-to-be mother-in-law, Ethan Embry and Melany Lynskey as a few downhome local friends, and Josh Lucas in a sweet breakthrough performance as her smarter-than-his-slow-accent husband. A sweet date flick. | |
| The Sweetest Thing (Unrated version) | *** | Smack me, but I liked this movie. Didn't get to see the theatrical run, but from what I hear, it is really a different film from the Unrated one now on video. And I liked what I saw. For a romantic-comedy to realize it is based nowhere in reality just catches me off-guard and I actually found myself liking the characters even though (or maybe because) the plot was so ludicrous. I was also rather amused by the sticky situations (pun intended) that Selma Blair's character got into. Might be my ultimate guilty pleasure of the year, but I like this movie. The highlight: the girls singing an ode to the penis in the middle of a Chinese restaurant. It's always nice to see Christina Applegate, and there's just something about Thomas Jane that makes you smile. | |
| Wes Craven Presents They | ** | The characters are empty and the scares are few and far between. However, director Robert Harmon and his talented, appealing cast do what they can with the studio-tampered script of Brendan Hood. A bit of a throwback to 80s horror, with a nice dowbeat ending. The potential is there, but wasted. | |
| The Transporter | *** | Fun, action-comedy with some very entertaining, never-before-scene action sequences. This may all be typical James Bond-type fun, but Jason Statham knows how to carry this type of film on his own and could prove to be, alongside Vin Diesel, one of our action stars of tomrrow. I would've liked more out of Jason Stratham's character as he seemed a lot more intriguing from the opening sequence (which includes a great chase sequence), but this is an action movie after all, so it's no big deal. | |
| Treasure Planet | ** � | Harmless animated family movie, but truly lacks the heart of Disney. Jim Hawkins is a nice character, and the needless sci-fi updating of the classic story works, but there is a lack of love for the characters (minus a few forced moments), and I found most of the sidekicks to be more annoying than amusing. However, David Hyde Pierce makes his Doctor Doppler a memorable piece of comic relief. | |
| Tuck Everlasting | ** | Nice, though very offbeat family movie from Disney with some good performances. Not enough is explained, some things don't make much sense, and the Tuck characters seem a little insane at times. | |
| Two Weeks Notice | ** | By-the-numbers romantic-comedy, saved by the charm of its leads. | |
| Unfaithful | *** | Dramatic romance thriller that's heavy on the dialogue, but does not feel boring because of the great performances and direction. | |
| National Lampoon's Van Wilder | * | Not bad in the worst sense of bad, but an utter disappointment for National Lampoon. This could've been our generation's Ferris Bueller or even Animal House, but none of the characters are likeable or even interesting enough to pull it off. And nothing against Ryan Reynolds (or any of the cast for that matter), but he, as with Van himself, lacks the charisma of Ferris Bueller. Nice cast, but just nothing much from the characters themselves. | |
| A Walk to Remember | ** � | Cute, but still not very believable tearjerker considering the updated setting. Mandy Moore has proven her acting ability amidst her pop songstresses peers. | |
| We Were Soldiers | *** � | Epic, tragic, and accurate war film. Surprising to hear it's the same screenwriter as Pearl Harbor. Well acted, nicely shot, overall, a great war film. Definitely, check it out. | |
| Wendigo | ** | Stylish, but slow, not very scary. More of a melodrama than a horror film with great performances and solid direction, but not much in the way of action, or point minus the last few minutes. | |
| XXX | ** � | Vin Diesel is definitely going to be the next action star. This bond rip-off/homage starts out great, but the second half is just a little to formulaic for my taste. | |
| Y Tu Mama tambien | *** � | Very brave coming-of-age tale from Mexico. Gael Garcia Bernal is getting closer to becoming a star on this side of the border, I can feel it. |
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