Becca & Juv's Entertainment Reviews

Middle-aged hotties

2008-06-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Well, they would be considered middle-age outside of Hollywood, but in Hollywood they smokin' this summer. They look great, btw! LOL, I am going to be there in a few years too.

Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man

Will Smith (this summer in Hancock)

Colin Firth (this summer in Mamma Mia) - this one is for Juvy

I reviewed it! 10,000 B.C.

2008-03-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

I actually experienced a bit of deja vu when I went the movie theater last night. It wasn't until my good friend Becky noted that we had just watched 10,000 B.C. the week before. That would explain everything. I was trying to erase that experience from my mind.

A little bit of catch up on what I'm watching:

Netflix:

The Office: Season 1 (UK), and the extra DVD (2 DVDs)

Gone Baby Gone

American Gangster (which I will watch with a friend this week)

Borrowing:

Dexter, Season 1 (off a co-worker)

So, that brings me to review the last two movies I watched, 10,000 B.C.(featuring a bunch of people I don't know about), and Shutter (starring Joshua Jackson, but also featuring David Denman, Roy from the US version of The Office). I'll review B.C. now, and Shutter, later.

10,000 B.C.

Oh my God.

Srsly. I took God's name in vain for this crapfest. It's been a week, and I think I about cleared that experience out of my system. I'm not sure if it was my complete and total lack of sleep (I was up about 24+ hours prior, I didn't plan that, I swear) that may have made me be extra-critical of the movie, so I put off this review for a week, only to realize that I had indeed watched the worst movie I had ever watched in a long, long time.

Anyway, the basic synopsis is about this young mammoth hunter D'Leh, and his love, Evolet. She came over as a young child when her village was destroyed by foreign marauders. The young D'Leh sees her and cute little butterflies fly about. When they get older, D'Leh struggles with parental shame issues and kills a big mammoth. Eventually their village gets invaded by the same guys that destroyed Evolet's village all those years ago. D'Leh vows to get her back.

Now here's the thing. There's the struggle, right? Man loses girl, man makes promise to get girl back. In my, albeit flawed, logic, doesn't that take the whole movie? Nah, the guy catches up to her in like 20 minutes...and then loses her again. I had dismissed the crappy teenage acting earlier in the movie, but this was really piling it on.

So, yeah. The guy is traveling all this way to save his girl and the village. He and his friends encounter other tribes, and discover that the enemy is pretty massive and has massive mammoths, and massive boats ("They float on water!" Oh noes!)...and massive pyramids. That was cool stuff right there.

That was the positive thing: The visual effects and cinematography. That, and the Dark Knight (Batman) trailer that aired earlier, were 2 positive things to be gleaned from this movie. The movie was pretty. The animals (saber-toothed tiger, mammoths, human eating birds) were pretty impressive....although the human eating birds...I wish they were something like raptorish. BIRDS? They should've kept them hidden, I started laughing when they revealed the grass monsters to be birds. Thanksgiving would have lasted ages then, haha.

Anyway. I won't bore you anymore. This movie is just...bad. Impressive as far as the effects go, but with the acting and dialogue--it was painful. Roland Emmerich (the director) should have focused much more on fights and more animals going wild. When the slaves started revolting and the mammoths stampeded I was thinking, "This is finally getting good!" Then it stalled even more. Nice little 300 ripoff there, though.

This is probably going on record as the worst rating I can remember giving. I would've walked out, but I was with a friend. And again, it was pretty. HoweverI wouldn't recommend this EVER. It wasn't worth half the $6.75 matinee fee I paid. I wouldn't buy this when it comes out on DVD or take it as a freebie, if only to use as a coaster. It's just that bad.

Anyway:

3/10 (and that's being nice)

10,000 BC

2008-03-17T03:33:00.000-07:00

Don't-cha you wish your caveman was HOT like me!

Ah, well, it is late at night and I'm not sure if I can crank out a good review or not, but here it goes....

10,000 BC is a decent action movie. If you take it for what it is, then you'll enjoy it. It has romance (cheesy, but oh well), action, and nice cinematography.

In a nutshell, it's about a caveman whose girlfriend gets kidnapped along with other fellow tribe members by a large empire civilization across the other side of pangea. The caveman (forgot his name) forms an army with other neighboring tribes, whose people are kidnapped as well by the large empire civilization's people, and go to rescue his girlfriend. Along the way, they encounter some digital 3-D prehistoric creatures, other warriors, and really bad dialogue (oops, did I say that). I meant "personal struggles."

I won't reveal the ending, but you probably know what it is already. It's that obvious. My only other complaint is that they should have had more prehistoric animals in the movie. They only have about 3 types that they encounter, mammoths, some giant bird thing, and a sabertooth tiger. They really needed to throw in some more animals. Oh, and some more fight scenes. There were too little of those.

Other than that, I liked it. It's decent. It's not "Gone with the Wind," but a good popcorn movie. Enjoy!

LOST: The Catchup.

2008-02-18T04:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I've taken on quite an endeavor. I'm in the midst of catching up on the hit tv show LOST. You know, the one where a plane crashes on and island? There's a computer and pressing some button sequence saves the world?

There's also that little side bit that it's filmed entirely in Hawaii, but you know, whatever. :D

My older brother bought season one when that set came out like, 2-3 years ago, to see what the buzz was about. Dude. We put it in, and it was over. Of course, my job kind of makes it hard to keep up, so I fell behind. 2 seasons behind. Luckily, my brother had bought season 2 a long long time ago as well. Until recently, it just sat in my room. But I picked it up again upon hearing that Season 3's finale was "awesome."

So, here I am catching up.

It took me about a week or so to watch season 2. Just a DVD a day. Then now, I'm onto Netflix. I've just watched the first two DVDs of Season 3, but I have to wait on the 3rd DVD, b/c I'm quite sure I haven't received it.

The show is still incredible. I knew certain people would die, (Ana, Eko--quite incredible, that was) and I just bawled over Libby. Seriously bawled.

I heard about Charlie on accident when I flipped through a TV guide, but the 2nd DVD revealed that too me again, but he hasn't kicked the bucket yet, so I'll save my tears for then, I suppose.

All in all, I'm enjoying myself. I'm on a little break from the LOST marathon, so I think I will finally get to watching "Heima" by Sigur Ros and "Lord Don't Slow Me Down" by Oasis. Both are tour DVDs.

As far as Netflix goes, I have more tv DVD sets. After LOST, it will be Flight of the Conchords (2 DVDs), then Homestarrunner DVDs (I might take those off, as I could just watch them online as well), then a LOT of The Office. First, it'll be US Season 3 (the aftermath of the Jim/Pam kiss), then the UK Season 1 and 2.

It will be a little while until I get a proper movie in, but according to my Netflix queue, that will be 'Empire Records,' 'The 40-year-Old Virgin,' 'The Motorcycle Diaries,' and 'Amelie.'

Anyway, that will be it for now. :)

Been on a bit of a movie roll...

2007-09-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

I love Netflix. I keep adding movies to my queue. I think it maybe up to 200+ DVDs now.

I've lost one Fawlty Towers disc. I'm trying to find it. I used to be on the 3-a-month (Unlimited) Plan for $16.99, but I upgraded to the $23.99 4-a-month plan.

I've seen:

1. Fawlty Towers - a John Cleese comedy series.
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (i enjoyed it, quite a bit! kind of clears the mind, and gives you something to think about. even though, i cannot get with idea that i came from a monkey)
3. Better Than Sex (Starring David Wenham (yay) and Susie Porter--Movie's title makes it sounds sleazy, but it's not. It's about a one night stand that goes farther than that. focuses more on the relationship.)
4. Garden State (lovely, lovely movie. lives up to the hype...for me, anyway)

Watched other movies I found around the house:

1. Pi
2. 300 (THIS...IS...SPARTA!!!...Loved it)
3. Requiem For A Dream
4. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
5. Talladega Nights

I know it's been AGES since we've updated this blog. I've been Netflixing like mad, so I don't think I'll be short of movies to talk about. I've mailed back 2001: A Space Odyssey and Better Than Sex back...will be getting the documentary Super Size Me and the classic flick Citizen Kane next.

(I still have a missing DVD of Fawlty Towers to find, and I still have Garden State)

If I find FT, and return Garden State, I will get Shaun of the Dead and Y Tu Mama Tambien. That's what's next in the queue. That's all subject to change, obviously.

Till next time (hopefully sooner than a couple of months!), Juvs.

Hollywood Divorces

2006-11-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hmm... Hollywood divorces seem to the be the name of the game this year. First, it was Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon, and now Britney and Kevin. Who's next on the chopping block? Hmm....

I really hope these two last, but the way Hollywood is going these days, I'm not too sure.

Movies this Summer

2006-06-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

What I Have Watched Already

Mission Impossible 3 - Yes, I did end up seeing it. If you forget that Mr. Cruise is a complete nutcase, then the movie actually works.

X-Men 3 - Awesome movie! See it!

What I Am Planning to See

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Captain Jack and Will Turner, oh yeah!

Superman Returns - What more can I say.

What I Might See

Nacho Libre - Not sure about this one yet

So, if you add that up, then I'll be "donating" $50 of my money to entertainment industry. How sad.

Death on the 24

2006-04-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

I admit, I'm hooked on "24" the TV series. But why does everyone keep dying this season?! Especially the innocent people! First, it was Edgar and now the banker guy! Well, a bunch of other people died to, but that doesn't mean I'm not sad about these two. Especially since it wasn't the banker's fault. At least, Edgar knew that working for CTU was highly dangerous, but the banker guy had no idea. I feel sorry for his wife too. :-(

The Scientology Fruitcakes

2006-03-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, at first, I didn't pay much attention to those scientology wackos in Hollywood, but they're now really starting to p*ss me off. First, those Hollywood liberals are all like "oh we must respect one another and love on another and down with Bush and all that." And then because South Park made fun of Scientology, they're now coming out of the woodworks and showing who they really are: a bunch of intolerant hypocrites who only support what they believe and no one else.

If they really were "liberal" and really respected others' beliefs, they would allow Matt and Tre air the South Park episode that makes fun of scientology. They've made fun of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and a whole bunch of other religions, and did Hollywood complain? NOOOOO! But now that they've made fun of Hollywood's underground hidden wacko-doodle cult, the nut jobs are on the loose.

To me, this just shows how hypocritical these people are. It's like they've sold themselves to the "devil" as some would say. Put on a smiling face and make the people believe what you want them believe, "Oh yes, we're intolerant of everyone's beliefs and we should love one another." Uh huh. And I can't believe some of my professors in college (back when I was an undergrad) are in support of these wack-jobs too. In all honesty, if they don't allow South Park to air that episode, I'll boycott Tom's Mission Impossible 3. He's too overrated anyway and to me watching him on the screen just wouldn't be the same as before.

Rihanna Music Video

2006-03-11T19:26:00.000-08:00

See the video at NikeWomen.com

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

2005-11-13T16:47:00.000-08:00

"I'm Batman! No wait; I mean ... Darth .. Vader!"

Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith, by far the best movie out of the prequels. Ties everything together nicely, answers many of our unanswered questions about the original Star Wars, and the CG is nicely done. Few quirks that made the movie less than it could have been.

1. The "Nooooooooooooo" scream Darth Vader yells at the end. Very non-Darth Vaderish. It doesn't match his character from the last 3 Star Wars, but then again the next three movies pick up around 18-20 years later, so his character could have changed a bit.

2. Everyone's acting in this movie was a little stale. I wanted to see more emotion (except for Ewan McGregor, he did a nice job).

3. General Grevious was defeated too easily. If you ever watched the "Star Wars: Clone Wars" series on Cartoon Network, you would have seen a much more sophisticated, stronger alien/robot hybrid of him that was very hard to kill. In the movie, he died too soon, and was too easily defeated by Obi-Wan. I mean, come on, two shots to the heart is all it took? Grevious should have been wearing more body armor in that area.

Other than that, I enjoyed DVD immensely. Despite "Sith's" pitfalls, I give it a 5 out of 5 stars!

Final Fantasy: Advent Children

2005-10-27T23:31:00.000-07:00

Is that a giant sword or are you just happy to see me?

If I had to explain FF: Advent Children in two words, I would say this: eye candy. Yes, that's right. It's a movie that's really, really pretty, but doesn't have a lot of substance to it. Not to say it's bad, it just doesn't have much of a story. And which to most Final Fantasy fans won't really matter. Did I mention it looks really, really pretty?

To explain it the best that I can, FF Advent Children starts off around 5 years after the ending of FF VII the video game. Sephiroth has been defeated and the FF gang are living out their normal everyday lives just as they did at the beginning of the video game. Well, for the most part. Tifa works at a bar and Cloud still roams the country with his motorcycle as a loner. The other characters do not appear until half-way through the movie, although they do try to contact Cloud through his cell phone several times, and although Cloud receives their messages, they remain unanswered, mainly because Cloud is still a loner. Did I mention he's a loner? He doesn't like being with other people for some reason, but that's just his character, as apparent in the video game.

After reacquainting ourselves briefly with where the characters are in the story, three Sephiroth wanna-be look-alikes attack Cloud on their motorcycles in a desert. Cloud fights them and learns that they are looking for "mother." They run-away after a brief fight. Later, the Sephiroth wannabes kidnap Marlene (Barrett's daughter) because she has the materia they're looking for, and it's up to Cloud to save her. Cloud does end up saving her, but later learns that the Sephiroth trio are out to destroy the world in the process by brainwashing a group of children. This is where the story begins to dissolve and the eye-candy enters, although this is by far the best part of the movie.

The Sephiroth group then use one of the materias to destroy Midgar with a Bahmut (and with the help of the children) in order to find "mother." All the major characters then return on-screen and help Cloud fight the Bahmut and prevent the destruction of the city. I would continue but I would spoil the rest of the movie if I did. Trust me though. The visuals at this point are stunning. The action sequences are non-stop and the appearances by practically all the characters in the FFVII game (even Aeris and Sephiroth) are priceless. If you are an avid FF VII fan, you'll enjoy this movie.

Like I said, the visuals are what makes the movie. The hair flows like real hair, the skin is nicely pigmented, and the clothing drapes perfectly on the characters. The backgrounds and action sequences are sheer beauty, and the music brings you back to those late nights on the PS1 roaming as Cloud throughout the FF towns and forests building up your HP and MPs.

If you are looking for a good storyline, FF: Advent Children is NOT the movie for you. Heck, if you've never heard of Final Fantasy before, you probably should not be watching it because you will NOT understand anything that is going on. To be honest, I barely understood it myself. If I gained anything from the story, it reaffirms my belief that Cloud and Aeris belong together (even though she's dead) rather than Tifa and Cloud, but that's about it.

All in all, Final Fantasy: Advent Children is an excellent eye-candy movie. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars. Enjoy!

The Fog (2005) - Juvs' Review

2005-10-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

"Owww! Turn down the sauna! Too much steam! Arrrrgh!"

Yes, it is I. Wow. Must endeavor to update this at least every two weeks. Haha. Sorry for the lack of updates; it's not like I've not watched any movies recently. In fact, the queue of movies that need to be reviewed is long...enough. I'll get to them!

Anyway. The Fog.

Apparently this movie is a remake. (I found out afterward) The original was directed by John Carpenter of Halloween fame, starring Jamie Lee Curtis. 25 years later, the movie is resurrected by director Rupert Wainwright.

The story is basically this: an evil fog comes upon a quiet seaside town and havoc ensues.

The movie begins as 4 men are escaping a burning clipper ship somewhere in the late 1800s. The four men are stuck in a rowboat, heading toward land, when they are suddenly stuck. Oh yeah. They are surrounded by....*gasp*....the FOG. Oh dear me. Needless to say, but bad things happen and bye bye four-men-in-rowboat.

Fast forward 100 years to the same town. (With odd transition music, I might add. Fall Out Boy's "Sugar, We're Going Down" is an odd choice for transition music, in my opinion). That little seaside town is preparing to celebrate 100 years while unveiling a statue of the town's four founders: Malone, Williams, Wayne, and Castle.

Other than the fog striking, nothing really happens in the first 40 minutes or so. You learn that the decendants of the founders are all in town. Nick Castle (Tom Welling) runs a fishing charter. The town priest Father Malone(Adrian Hough) is a decendant as well. Castle's girlfriend, Elizabeth Williams(Maggie Grace) and her mother, the radio DJ (Selma Blair), her son and the man who I believe is the mayor are all direct decendants.

In all honesty, the first hour seems like nothing. The fog randomly attacks, you learn a little more about the town and why the fog is headed their way. You learn more about that burning ship and about the four men in the boat. The last 20-30 minutes is when the real action happens. The fog....*gasp*....arrives. People die, someone does something and the fog stops. The end.

You understand that the theme is all about revenge for past wrongs. The children pay for the sins of the fathers.

The Fog was blah. I'm not too amped by horror movies anyway. The Fog did make me flinch a little, and I liked Father Malone a bit, even though his role was limited. I liked the whole tragic idea.

This movie was lacking, though. Too loose, not enough build up, mediocre performances. 4/10 Shakas.

Almost Famous

2005-09-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

"Never take it seriously, you never get hurt. Never get hurt, you can always have fun. And if you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit all your friends." -Penny Lane(Kate Hudson)

Almost Famous was once a movie I saw on a shelf at Wal-Mart in the aisle separating the housewares from the entertainment center. I had 2 or 3 copies of "Tiny Dancer," (Elton John's original, Ben Folds' cover, and Dave Grohl's *ouch*-bless-his-heart-he-went-for-it cover) that was made legendary in a brief 2 minute clip.

Did I watch it as soon as I got home?

The answer is.....no.

But I have finally seen it, and it's definitely a must-see. Almost Famous centers around a high school student named William Miller(played by unknown Patrick Fugit) who is asked by Rolling Stone magazine to tour with rising rock n roll band Stillwater, and write a story about them.

The movie is basically a re-telling of director Cameron Crowe's(Jerry Maguire, Say Anything, Fast Times At Ridgemont High) storied teenage years. For he was Rolling Stone's youngest contributing editor and was indeed sent with many bands on tour to get their stories. (read: Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers Band, Peter Frampton) In this DVD, Crowe's articles are included in the extras section.

Almost Famous is Crowe's tribute to rock and roll in those years. Stillwater is based off the great bands he had the pleasure of touring with. Lester Bangs--his friend and mentor, was part of the film as well, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman(Patch Adams). Penny Lane (Hudson) was based on a "band-aid" that Crowe was close friends with.

I realized, midway through watching Almost Famous, that I was not only seeing Crowe's life through his eyes(or through William Miller's, I should say)...I was also seeing life from the other character's eyes. By the end of the movie, I understood where the three main characters--William Miller, Penny Lane, and Russell Hammond(Billy Crudup)--were coming from. This wasn't just a music lover's movie. In some ways, it went much more deeper than that...but music was, most undeniably, at the very core of this film.

Cameron Crowe, I salute you.

Aeon Flux - Trailer

2005-09-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

Trinity Redux

Okay, is it just me or does the new Aeon Flux movie look a bit lame? I remember watching some of the cartoon on MTV a while back and remember that although it was a bit weird, it kept me interested. Aeon Flux was a hard bodied agent of some sort in this post-apoctalyptic world who went on missions and battled weird looking creatures and even weirder looking people. I remember though she was insanely flexible, but not perfect since sometimes she died right after her missions, and was handy with her guns. I don't understand why she'd show up during the next episode if she died in some of them, but whatever. And she kept getting that fly trapped in her eyelashes for some reason, but that's another story.

The new movie looks fine as an action story, but is something I'd expect to see on the Sci-Fi channel. The special effects look sub-par, nothing that I haven't seen on TV before. The story doesn't seem to match up with anything in the series. In the movie, Aeon Flux is part of an order that instructs her to assassinate some chancelor guy that doesn't really seem all that evil. In the cartoon, I never really remembered Aeon working with anyone. She was more a lone wolf. AND Charlize Theron looks a bit too "soft" to play the role of Aeon. Her facial features aren't as chisled as Aeon's, Aeon had those hair weird curls AND Charlize has a layered-Hollywood haircut, and Aeon's outfit had more material on the top and less on the bottom where Charlize's is like a Matrix-Trinty knock off. I really don't mind the outfit though. When watching the series, I thought Aeon should cover up a bit more.

Well, I guess might watch the movie anyway. We'll see what's available in the theaters by the time it premieres. I'm not keeping my hopes up though.

Sahara

2005-09-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

It's getting hot out heeere ... or is it just Matthew McConaughey?

Sahara, I would have to say, isn't that bad of a movie. It starts off exciting. Then, is a bit slow at the beginning, and then picks up again around the last half of the movie. It has the basic elements of action and adventure, not a lot of drama. And a few comedy bits here and there thanks to the funny buddy charm Steve Zahn adds to the movie.

Sahara basically features Matthew McConaughey as Dirk and Steve Zahn as his buddy that venture on a treasure hunt to find a lost Civil War submarine that is rumored to have traveled to Africa 150 years ago, containing a large amount of Confederate gold coins. On their way to find the submarine, they meet Penelope Cruz who plays a doctor trying to find out the source of a mysterious disease afflicting many of Africa's citizens. However, the doctor and the treasure hunters get attacked by African army terrorists, and have to fight their way to escape. This leads to an adventure that leads our heroes to the source of the disease as well as the mysterious cave drawings that appear to depict a confederate submarine. Will the doctor destroy the disease before it affects the rest of the world? Will the treasure hunters find their gold? You'll have to watch the movie to find out, but I think you know the answer to this one.

What I like about this movie is how it breaks the "buddy" stereotype in most movies. In most action movies, the "buddy" is there for the comic relief. He does some of the work, but the main hero is the one who does the punching, fighting, puzzle-solving, etc.. etc.. and gets the girl in the end. In this movie, Zahn is the one who knows how to operate the boat, the power plant in the middle of the desert, the machine guns, etc... etc... He's the useful buddy that is just as capable as our main "hero" McConaughey and needs McConaughey just as much as McConaughey needs him. AND he's funny, so I applaud Sahara's take on making Zahn more than just a sidekick, but an actual player on the team.

Overall, Sahara's an enjoyable movie. It's no Indiana Jones, but is just enough fun to watch.

The Brothers Grimm (Take Two: Juvs' Review)

2005-08-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

"Hi, I'm Jake. This is Will. I like beans."

The Brothers Grimm...what an interesting movie. I knew it was directed by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame, and I was expecting it to be entertaining, which the movie was. However, I was very much confused. I probably should have read a description of the movie before I sauntered into the theatre. I guess I expected to understand as the film progressed. Luckily, Becky explained the beginning.

Will and Jake Grimm (Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, respectively) are charlatans who "rid" towns of evil spirits, etc...and are befuddled when they finally encounter a real evil witch(Monica Bellucci), kept alive by a eternal life spell, who needs the blood of 12 girls to make her beautiful again.

The concept for the movie was unique, but the execution of it, was sub-par. For one thing, I was confused with character motives. Is that the main villian? Is he helping the Grimms (or the Grimmies)?

What is he supposed to do? How'd that girl do that? The Gingerbread Man?

There were a lot of cameos (or references) to various fairy tales, and I found that amusing. It was cool to see how Gilliam plugged them in. Perhaps on a second viewing, I may like it more. It didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth, but Grimm did not make me jump and shout "EUREKA!" I was amused by Heath Ledger's acting as a "geek." I loved that. No Heath "I'm-going-to-joust-with-a-chunk-of-wood-hanging-out-of-my-shoulder" Ledger. Nope. Nice change. I found it adorable. And Matt Damon was good as well.

I'll give it a 3.5/5 shakas. Alright.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy(Unrated)

2005-08-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

"Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident!"

Hey all, Juvs (aka nothintoseehere) here reviewing Anchorman starring SNL alum Will Ferrell.

I started watching this movie by accident. Someone else was watching the movie and I was listening in. I had to watch it through by myself, and I have to say, it's very entertaining.

The movie centers around Ron Burgundy (Ferrell), the top anchorman in 70s-era San Diego. His station earns top ratings over other news channels. His news team consists of Champ Kind, sports(David Koechner, A Guy Thing); Brian Fontana (Paul Rudd, Clueless, Cider House Rules), the on-field reporter, and Brick Tamland(Steve Carell, Bruce Almighty, where ironically, he plays yet another tv anchorman), the weatherman, who admits to having an IQ of 48. At Channel 4 News, it is a man's world.

So it's no surprise that when Veronica Corningstone(Christina Applegate, View From The Top, TV's "Married With Children"), an ambitious reporter enters the scene at Channel 4 News, Burgundy and his team are thrown in for a loop.

What happens afterwards is a hilarious concoction of humor, 1970s Will Ferrell style. There is a lot of "sexual content," (this is the Unrated version, after all) but much of the sexual humor is implied rather than stated. If stated, it is subdued, and Ferrell's Burgundy plays it off (almost) innocently. In the scene where Ferrell is "making whoopie" with a certain love interest, the scene is played off comically as the characters prance about on white cartoon horses in a cartoon "Pleasure Town."

When asked on how love was like, Ferrell starts singing 70s hit "Afternoon Delight," a song famously known for being about making whoopie in the afternoon. Unlike Ferrell's rendition of Kansas' "Dust In The Wind," which elicits snickering amongst Old School viewers, Anchorman's take on "Afternoon Delight" improves on the original. Burgundy's news team joins their leader in soothing harmony. I actually think they've made the song better. Don't believe me? Check it out: Ron Burgundy and his crew harmonize on "Afternoon Delight."

What also stands out about this movie is its quotability factor. Take for instance Steve Carell's character Brick Tamland. I'm not going to spoil anything else for you lovely readers, but you will fall in love with this guy. Carell has done a marvelous job in being Brick. Ferrell's Burgundy has his share as well, but Brick Tamland is most definitely my favorite character in this movie...hands down.

There are many great and funny scenes in this movie, and many cameos. Ben Stiller as a Spanish news anchor; Tim Robbins with a uber curly wig of hair for the Public News...Luke Wilson...

I'll have to give this movie....4/5 Shakas. Man. I should get a 10 point scale instead. Which would make Anchorman get 8/10 shakas. Alright.

Becky's Review of The Brother's Grimm

2005-08-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

"I command you to put me in a better movie."

Have you ever heard of the quote, "If you have to do something, do it all the way, or don't do it at all"? If I had one piece of advice to give to director Terry Gilliam, it would be this. His movie, The Brother's Grimm, starts out with a great concept, "What if the authors of Grimm's fairytales were actually charlatans who stole money from neighboring towns in Germany with their stories and setups of fancy and flight, until one day they actually encounter an actual case where their stories are true?" Sounds great in concept, but, unfortunately for this movie, poor in execution.

The Brother's Grimm is a mismatch of weirdness, romance, brotherly love, history, and fantasy. It has some weirdness, but doesn't carry through with it, like Tim Burton does. It only has specks of weirdness here and there. It has some romance, but only for about 15 seconds. Brotherly love ... a lot of that (which is the only watchable part of the movie). Heath Ledger and Matt Damon play well off each other. History ... this movie shows some of what was happening at the time the Grimm brother's existed, including the French occupation of Germany, but not a whole lot. The French in this movie are portrayed as idiots and I honestly could not see how they could have taken over Germany with their intellect. And finally ... fantasy. It has fantasy, but only a bunch of specks of fantasy put together in one whole movie. We see a lot of the Queen in the previews, but she really doesn't appear that much in the movie till the end. We see Little Red Riding, the Ginger Bread man, the Wolf, the glass slippers, Hansel and Gretel, but that's really all there is, and we only see glimpses of them on screen for about 30 seconds... nothing else. The movie kept making me question ... why was that in there? Most of the movie is the Brother's Grimm trying to avoid the French army from kidnapping them and torturing them for their charlatan ways. No offense to the director, but BORING!

This movie could have been a good movie, but the director should have stick with one theme. The Brother's Grimm either should have been a historical take on the French occupation of Germany with the Brother's Grimm using their active imaginations to get them out of their hum-drum existence, or a story of two brothers who briefly (and I mean briefly .. this should take 5-10 minutes of the movie) are in the real world, and THEN are trapped in a fantasy land of fairytales. Again, this movie is interesting in concept ... bad in execution.

Alexander: Director's Cut

2005-08-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

"So, an elephant and a horse enter a forest ... oh wait, you've heard this before."

Okay, so I'm reviewing bomb, ...but a "director's cut" bomb. I didn't see the original movie either, but I'll review it anyway. Alexander: Director's Cut is the revamp of Oliver Stone's box office dud. It, supposidly, has more action, less dialogue, but still the same ol' Alexander who loves war, but loves men even more. Sorry, but if you're looking for revisions to this part of the movie, I doubt you'll find it.

For the most part, I didn't think the movie was that bad, despite the one graphic sex scene with Rosario Dawson. The rest of the movie was watchable. Angelina Jolie was convincing as Alexander's mom, Olympia (well, in character anyway, not so much in looks). She exuded a presence of power and could easily show why Alexander had a weird sort of Oedipal complex with her. Val Kilmer was convincing as the Dad, even though I still see him as the same young guy who was in Batman Begins and Tombstone, but the beard and the bad eye tend to cover it well. (Speaking of which, a lot of men in the movie have missing eyes. I'm not sure if Oliver Stone meant to have his characters have missing eyes or if it's symbolic. Not too sure.)

As for Colin Farrell, I can see he tried his best trying to characterize Alexander. He did what he could with the character, and could sure out perform me as Alexander if I ever had to act. However, he exude the presence of a leader to me. He seemed more like an actor trying to be Alexander. Rosario Dawson too. I liked her in Men in Black, but in Alexander, she seemed to be faking her accent. In reality, I think her character could have assassinated Alexander and took over the army herself, but that's just my personal opinion.

Despite some historical inaccuracies (Alexander would have not fought in a forest in India, he would have found a wide-open plain in the area to fight with the Indian army. In addition, I believe there was no record that Alexander had a son), Alexander is a watchable movie. I liked the action sequences. That kept my attention for the most part. If you don't mind the dialogue and skewed interpretation of historical events, you'll actually enjoy this movie. I give the "revised" version of Alexander a 3 out of 5 stars.

Red Eye

2005-08-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

"Hmm... Maybe Batman Begins is on this flight too."

Yesterday, I watched Red Eye, directed by Wes Craven, at the Pearlridge West theaters. Overall, it's a very exciting movie. Not too gory, which I like, and the actors were very convincing. In addition, it steers away from conventional horror stereotypes: the slutty teen girl, the creepy child, the large masked slasher, etc.. Instead, it features a strong-willed hostage and a handsome slasher (a creepy, but call me weird, great-looking Cillian Murphy), and features a smart 11-year-old girl who offers some help to our heroine while on the plane, among the group of dumbfounded adults who have no idea what's going on. This is a nice change from the always-screaming Dakota Fanning, who I think is a good actress, but screams way too much in her movies. It's nice to see an actual, smart girl in the movies.

In the end, I enjoyed the movie. A lot of excitement to keep me watching, and not a lot of gore so that I WANTED to keep my eyes on the screen. Also, the movie was just the right length, 1.5 hours. I give it four out of five stars!

Fantastic Four Review

2005-08-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

"The channel four news team ... oh wait, it's the Fantastic Four"

I know I saw this movie back in July, but thought this would be helpful first post.

Went with friends to celebrate my special day and watched Fantastic Four. Also, brought ex-boyfriend along, hehe.

Anyway, I thought it was a good movie. All the other movies I've seen this summer have been just plain depressing. War of the Worlds was depressing and the kids in that movie were so annoying! I wish the aliens would just take them already. Madagascar ...okay. It didn't do too much for me. Not sure why. Kingdom of Heaven wasn't that bad, but Orlando Bloom's no Russell Crowe. Sorry Orli. BUT the Fantastic Four was a movie I enjoyed. It has a lot of humor and didn't take itself too seriously. I especially liked Michael Chiklis' performance as the Thing, and Dr. Doom wasn't that corny either. So all in all, I liked it and would recommend it. That and Revenge of the Sith.

Welcome to Becca's Movie Review

2005-08-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I decided to create an additional blog that would allow me to rate and critique recent movies I have seen. Come by and visit often if you want an honest review of today's latest blockbusters and DVD rentals.