My 2 cents worth:
Confession: I read the novel just before watching the movie.  Result: This movie is an extreme disappointment.  And I'm not being biased here at all, go ask anyone and everyone who read the book, the script has been re-written so drastically that aside from the basic plot of the movie, almost the entire book is lost in the show.  Unfortunately this is a big big big mistake.  'Why?' you ask?  Well for starters the movie has turned from a very simple and romantic story into one where a lonely and horny woman seeking for company.

The person who casted the actors did an incredible job by choosing the ideal actors in the roles, it is just very unfortunate that the script isn't even half as good as the book.  The only good thing regarding the "overhaul" of the novel is that Paul Newman's role was greatly beefed up.  On second thought, the movie did change him from a caring sacarstic old man into a ex-drunk with many funny one liners.  hmm...is there any good thing deriving from the 're-write'? .....Nope.

In short, GO READ THE BOOK INSTEAD!

Rating:
$2.00 outta $7.00

Fav Quote:
"If I was about 150 years younger, you'd be in trouble, young lady."

My 2 cents worth:
AT LAST!!!!  After years of getting soft in the Lethal Weapon series, good 'ol Mel is getting a role as the 'good' bad guy.  Yes, you read it right.  As soon as the movie starts, you can already hear his voice over in a ultra low pitch Wolverine-ish growl.  This guy robs things from people to waitresses to beggars too.  So, you can clearly see, Porter (Mel's character) ain't exactly a boy scout.

Besides Mel, the rest of the cast is simply made of lesser known actors, and unless you watch 'Ally McBeal' the only other person you could recognise is probably Lucy Liu.  Now this gal has gotta be the scene stealer in the entire show, her S&M tatics (Check out the leather outfits complete with a whip!) are bound to leave you laughing...nervously.

Somehow, I just wish that Quentin Tarantino would've gotten his hands at the script and give this movie just a little bit more oomph. Story wise though, the movie is a bit simple, but its pretty okay as this isn't exactly a thinking man's show you know what I mean?  If you like action, violence and gore go for this movie and have a blast at the cinemas.

Rating:
$5.50 outta $7.00

Fav Quote:
"Nice guys are fine, you need someone to take advantage of, but they always finish last"

My 2 cents worth:
Theres a joke about Robin Williams acting carrer, it is said that whenever the actor grows a beard for a movie, he is taking on a serious role and when he is cleanly shaven, its a comedic role.  The real life Patch Adams happens to have a moustache, but Williams in this show doesn't, so guess its a comedy then.

But this isn't to say that its some Jim Carrey slap sticky stuff.  Patch Adams is like "Diet Awakenings" (Williams other doctor film).  It deals with reality with a dose of zany humour.  Yet, the film tries too hard to perfect the movie, they added in a romantic sub plot which  is not even in the real story (its written in to add more sales to Klennex) while makes Adams into this super doctor who can make everyone laugh and feels less suffering.  But the one thing about Robin Williams is that even though he can probably make you laugh at the drop of a hat, his antics are getting a bit tiring.  Fortunately, the in-your-face one liners are plenty to be found in this movie that it will bound to cause you a stomach ache.

Personally, I think Robin is a bit too old to be playing Patch and worse of all, romancing a gal who looks like his daughter, but he is probably one of the few comedians like Tom Hanks who can balance comedy and drama well...so I'm gonna let this one slide. Unfortunately, with such stars around, it is also hard for the other actors to shine and this is such a case, but who cares??? You paid the money to watch Robbie anyway right?

Rating:
$6.00 outta $7.00

FavQuote:
"Your job is just to be a dickhead which is a simple job.  You just come in everyday and acts like a dick and make sure its attached to your head!"

My 2 cents worth:
Any movie that ends up with the highest Oscar nominations of that year will no doubt grabs your attention. Moreover, "SIL" also has two of the male actors from the other Best Picture nominee "Elizabeth" (the actors are Joseph Fienes and Geoffrey Rush) which I liked a lot, so can this flick really live up to all the hype?

Well, SIL is a very charming little (ok, not so little) film with its glittery dresses, witty humour, interesting plot and storyline.  BUT I think it is a tad overrated to garner so many Oscar nominations.  Geoffrey Rush's role in this movie is not even half as impressive as his deliciously wicked stint in "Elizabeth" but why the Academy decides to overlook "Elizabeth" is beyond me.(as a matter of fact, why Joseph is snubbed for both films while Gwyneth is nominated is equally mind-boggling to me as well)

But the one true gem to see in this movie, is definitely the oh too brief roles of Queen Elizabeth played to perfection by Judi Dench. The only other person who was ever that impressive to me is Jack Nicholson's role in "A Few Good Men".  This woman in fact deserves a nomination for every SCENE she appears in the show!

Shakespeare lovers will definitely find this "behind the scenes" sneak peek at Shakespeare very amusing, but if you remove all the layers, its really basically Romeo and Juliet told in a new method, while those who are unfamiliar with this play may tend to miss out a fair bit of the in-jokes.  Nonetheless, this is a wonderful film and should not be missed.   But don't be surprised this movie fails to grab any big Oscars awards save for Judi Dench of course.

Rating:
$6.00 outta $7.00

Fav Quote:
"that woman....is A WOMAN!"

My 2 cents worth:
Ahhh...the memories of Molly Ringwald (what the heck happened to her anyway?) Anyway, like I said earlier, if you've seen flicks like "pretty in pink" this is familar ground for you.  Basically its another of those teenage angst type of stuff. Prom coming up, wanna date boy, wanna dump boy, wanna date another boy, wanna be prom queen...blah blah blah

In other words, you'll get to see the same stuff but in better quality in shows like Felicity, Buffy the vampire slayer or Party of five.  However, this doesn't mean the show sucks, it did make the #1 spot in USA after all.  For the young teenagers of the 90s this is a refreshing change of taste as the movie doesn't involve any serial killer running loose.  Ironically it still has the stars from "Scream" and "I know what you did last summer".

Meanwhile for the old folks like me, its more of a "been there done that" scenario which offers no new twist to the already well repeated genre. One of the reasons for watching the movie is really to see Fatboy Slim's "Rockafella skank" (you know...the funk soul brother song...) dance at the prom.  However, it is a major letdown. Overall, its a pretty  enjoyable film which brings back a lot of nostalgic memories.

Rating:
$5.00 outta $7.00

Fav Quote:
"I feel like I'm Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.....only except for the hooker part."

My 2 cents worth:
The last installment "First Contact" is my personal and only favourite Trek movie.  I never did like the ones by William Shatner and I am a fan of "The next generation" tv series.  So by employing the same director and the same cast, you won't go wrong right? WRONG!!!

There is a rumour that only the even numbered Trek movies are the only ones which is nice/makes money. I was skeptical at first but now I'm a true believer of the theory 100 % !!!!! There is no way the movie could've been any worse if it were to be directed by Wong Ching !!!!!! (perhaps the Ed Wood of Hongkong Cinema)

One scene has Data, Worf and Picard singing Karaoke (?!??!) another has Riker and Troy in a steam bath (!!!!!!!!!!?????????) and did I mention about Worf growing pimples?????? Urgh!!!!!! This is Blasphemy!!!

I'd strongly discourage anybody to watch this show (yes, even the die-hard fans) or they will have a misconception that Star Trek is actually the Love Boat in space.
Lets just wait for the odd numbered installments.

Rating:
$2.00 outta $7.00

Fav Quote:
(Picard to attractive 300 year old alien)
"I gotta warn you, I'm attracted to older women"

My 2 cents worth:
Its been a long time since there was a movie that is as violently funny and yet complicated and the same time.  This is truly the British's answer to "Pulp Fiction".  Both films will be inevitably compared as they are so similar.  Witty dialogue, layers that slowly unpeels one after another as the movie comes towards its end.

The second question would of course be: "Is it any better or worse?"  My cop out answer to that is "almost".  In my mind, Pulp Fiction is an untouchable film that paved the way for all these films. Can you say that Goodfellas is any better than Godfather?

Back to the film, the accent to the show takes a bit of getting used to as most of us are too accustomed to American English.  However, this doesn't stop the viewers from enjoying the show one tiny bit at all.  The cast is made up of lesser known actors (I don't even know who Vinny Jones is) but this gives the flick a "indie" feel to the show which is more of an advantage to me.

On the whole, this is a gem of a movie and there are already talks in the USA about a Yankee version produced by noneother than Tom Cruise's company.  Lets just keep our fingers crossed that Dennis Rodman ain't doing Vinny Jones role. *shudder*

Rating:
$6.00 outta $7.00

Fav Quote:
"If you hold back anything, I'll kill ya. If you bend the truth or I think your bending the truth, I'll kill ya. If you forget anything I'll kill ya. In fact, you're gonna have to work very hard to stay alive, Nick. Now do you understand everything I've said? Because if you don't, I'll kill ya."

My 2 cents worth:
This movie sure took its time to come here, I've seen the show sometime in September/October in great anticipation hoping to get something "Boogie nights-ish" instead I got something extremely crappy.

There ain't much to tell, story is like part "Saturday Night Fever" and part "Boy meets World" (not that sitcom) Unfortunately, this story doesn't take off as there is nothing to take off with.  Neve is in this boring role as a famous actress secretly yearning to do normal stuff like bowling *yawn* Salma Hayek is a Donna Summer wannabe *yawn* Ryan Phillippe is the wide eyed boy seeing the real world *yawn* while the director throws in some cheap shots of some lesbian kissing and cocaine snorting. In short, most of the stuff are "been there done that"

The only interesting thing left is actually Mr Austin Powers himself.  Mike Meyers broke free from his usual comedic role to star as this balding faggoty boss, but thats pretty much it. Lets wait for Austin Powers 2 : The spy who shagged me. Oh Behave!

Rating:
$2.50 outta $7.00

Fav quote:
Can't remember any.

While I've never seen his other movies before, I think the man can really capture images like he is a photographer for the National Geographic.  Unfortunately, this really turned off many viewers whom are expecting "Saving Private Ryan 2: Ryan Harder " (lame joke I know...) and the fact that it stretched over 2.5 hours in slow pace didn't help either. It took 3/4 of the first hour to actually see a battle scene (0 walkouts).  Hour 2 has some battle scenes and then suddenly its back to filming birds and other animals (8 walkouts).  Halfway into the final hour, there's about 30 walkouts from the audience!!!!!!!!!!!  while Mr Malick is still filming lots of animals.

However, I think many people are missing the idea, like I mentioned earlier this movie is about the battle of each man aganist his own demons and not some gung ho flick many hope to see.  True the pace is snail-like and the actors mostly came out in bit parts but it is definitely not as trashy as many movie goer would have said it to be.  In fact, the last war movie with such beautiful scenery is actually "Heaven and Earth" and I think the two main characters being Ben Chaplin (the one who keeps dreaming of his wife) and the fella who looks like Ralph Fiennes did a very good job surrounded by the rest of the many Oscar nominees.

This is not the best movie you'll ever see, but its definitely not the worst.

Rating:
$5.00 outta $7.00

Fav Quote:
Witt: "Don't you ever feel lonely?"
Welsh: "Only when I'm around people"