My 2 cents worth:
This movie is one of the three movies which is causing lots of confusion among movie goers.  With releases such as "Meet Joe Black", "Mighty Joe Young" and now "The Mighty",  You are forgiven if you start to associate them as one movie. (Meet the Mighty Joe Young?) Unfortunately, the first two films have been getting less than favourable reviews and box office success and it would be a BAD MISTAKE if you think this film is like that too.

Sharon Stone has been garnering lots of nominations for her role as the single mother for this film, but the ironic thing is that personally I feel that her acting is the least significant of the entire movie.  Kieran (the brother of "Home Alone") for one is fantastic as the handicapped young man, uttering his endless one-liners and providing lots of humour in the movie.  Elden Ratliff's (The Mighty) character as the gentle giant is not to be outdone by Kieran's performance.  Though he is tremendous in size, he is extremely shy and awkard with everybody.  However the scene stealer is definitely Gillian Anderson (Agent Dana Scully of X-files) whose scenes are although limited and few in between but when she does appear, you just couldn't ignore her.  (Fans of Scully meanwhile be prepared for a shock)

This movie however is not without its flaws, for example Sharon Stone simply looks too glamourous as a single overworked mother.  There is also a bit of Celtic music overkill (for my liking anyway) though my friend obviously loves it.  Then there is the "Knights" factor.  The kids keeps seeing knights everywhere!  I'm starting to think they are on acid or something...

Overall, this is movie not to be missed and please bring some tissues for the ending is heartbreaking. Make no mistake, this movie is indeed a gem.

Rating:
$6.50 outta $7.00

Fav Quote: (one of many which I cannot remember)
"My father is a magician, that's what my mum told me...He heard the word "Birth-Defect" and he disappeared."

My 2 cents worth:
This is the 3rd time Hanks and Ryan worked together (and no..'When Harry met Sally' is not one of them)  Apparently their screen chemistry is so good, we just can never get enough of them!  Personally, I feel Meg Ryan is simply THE cutest actress ever (we even share the same birthday!) and when Tom Hanks isn't too busy 'Saving Ryan's Privates' he dabbles into comedy which is what he started his career with.  This movie apparently is well recieved in the States, so expect them to work together again soon.

This is a very charming film and also the perfect movie for IRC/ICQ dates.  With both leads oozing their charm through the characters they play, one cannot help but simply adore Joe and Kathleen (that's the characters names) Greg Kinnear of "As good as it gets" fame plays the boyfriend of Kathleen who will of course get dumped.  Greg's career is certainly taking off well and his performance getting praises too, though I doubt he'll be casted as a lead much, but you'll never know... keep an eye out for this guy.  His role may be small, but he did a good job here.

Though the movie could have been shorten by half an hour or so, I didn't really mind it because the movie itself is simply enjoyable and funny.  It really gives you a 'romance is in the air' type of fuzzy feeling as you walk out of the theatre which may be deja vu to those who had seen "Sleepless in Seattle", speaking of which the ending is quite similar too.

The only fault I can think of about this movie is that it will inevitably lead to more real life cyber-romance in chat rooms which is the norm in todays context.  Ladies, Wake up...its a movie for cryin' out loud!  Though I'm not saying that its impossible to find real guy/gal from the net, I'm just saying that please be careful with what you are doing because there is a world of difference in between the real world and the reel world.

However, this movie does really make you wanna go right on home and log on to the net to hear the familiar three words..."You've got mail!"

Rating:
$6.50 outta $7.00

Fav Quote:
"The whole purpose of places like Starbuck's is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall! Decaf! Cappuccino!"

My 2 cents worth:
To be honest with you, I felt that the first movie sucked despite the fact that Kevin Williamson (who wrote "Scream") wrote the script.  This time without Kevin's presense in the writing, the movie has sunk to a lower level yet.  It lacks the sacarsams and witty dialogue which is a Kevin Williamson trademark, what the writer did here is simply add a "fuck" to almost every other sentence. Meaning it starts to sound like a Guns and Roses song.

This Ben Willis has gotta be the worst boogey man in the history of horror flicks.  Poor choice of weapon (hook??? puh-leeze!) Ugly attire, a name that don't even sound cool and plus the fact that since he always show his face in the end, why bother masking it with that ugly hat at all?

So what made me watch this movie? Simple, Jennifer Love Hewitt, actually make that Jennifer in skimpy outfits.  That is the only highlight of the entire film.  Jennifer in her bikini jumping up and down, Jennifer in spagetti straps jumping up and down, Jennifer in undies jumping up and down, you start to see a pattern evolving her?  Well, that all folks, don't expect to be even entertained at all... well, unless you are a Brandy fan.

My advice, wait for Scream 3 or The Faculty, both of which are Kevin Williamson's products.

Rating:
$1.00 outta $7.00 (for a horror flick)
$6.00 outta $7.00 (if you enjoy watching Jennifer jumping up and down.)  Hubbba hubba !!!!

Fav Quote:
(Famous last words of potential victims.)
"I'm tired, I'm wet and I'm fucking horny...and I still haven't seen any serial killer yet."

My 2 cents worth:
Now, friends who know me knows that I've been dying to catch this movie for a long, long time. So to my friend Anderson who refused to watch this movie after learning it has no nudity: BALLS TO U!

Ahem, now back to my review... Japan is one of the most what I call "soft-porn" country there is, from their manga (comic) to their fetish shops, it really is amazing to see on one side their incredbily polite manners while the flip side there's the sex thing going on around.  While this movie slowly pieces itself together (much like Pulp Fiction) through the series of events happening around 3 teenage girls whom will eventually meet up, the audience gets to witness some rather shocking (ok, maybe I'm a country bumpkin) incidents.

From fetish shops (freshly soiled panties anyone?) to soft-core porn videos (sailormoon uniform school girls running around in mini skirts) to prostiution (surely I need not explain this one) the audience get to witness the rotting of our society today.  Young men who pimps for girls, young girls who openly publish their information to attract customers for a 'date', Girls who readily abort their foetus at the drop of the hat and nurses who don't even care.  Something is wrong with the society today.

I thank the director for giving us this gem of a movie and sorry to anyone who do not appreciate it.  The trio of actresses has done an excellent job of potraying their roles so well, also not forgetting the yakuza with a heart of gold.  Ironically, it is the public whom are potrayed as the bad guys in this movie.

Love it or hate it, this movie movie will shock and affect us and definitely should not be ignored.

Rating:
$7.50 outta $8.00

Fav Quote:
"The best time to whore is during the teenage years, once you reach 20 you can get arrested."

My 2 Cents Worth:
Call this movie "Mission: Impossible-meets-Heat", the latter being according to my memory the last action movie Robert DeNiro starred in.  Set in France, this movie has all the typical elements inside an caucassian action movie: gunfights, mysterious items and car chases.  Speaking of car chases, the ones in this movie is simply breath-taking.

Acting wise, Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno gave their usual good performances in this movie, this is not to say the rest of the cast did not do well either, but as you should know, with these two around how could you ever compete?  However, I do find it quite amusing to find Sean Bean's role being a bit too brief.

Story wise, this movie does take its time to unveil its story to the audience with too much complexity (this is where the Mission: Impossible reference comes in)and I can bet with you that the audience is sure gonna be a bit frustated when it comes to the point where the content of the box is revealed (hehehehehe)

If you are expecting bikini clad babes or world domination, sorry this is not for you.  Bond19 and Austin Powers 2 should be out soon.

Rating:
$5.50 outta $7

Fav Quote:
"You ever killed anybody?"
"I've hurt somebody's feelings once."

My 2 cents worth:
As you may have known, recently there's been numerous re-makes of old films but this time, the situation is rather unique.  Director Gus Van Sant has decided to shoot his re-make(?) of "Psycho" yet not change a single thing except for the period and the actors of course.  You see, he shot this version using the same film studio, the same dialouge, the same film timing ...everything ! in accordance to the original film schedule dated nearly 40 years ago.  The film was of course back then directed by none other than the Master himself: Alfred Hitchcock.

"Siao!" is most probably what a lot of people said about Gus Van Sant when he attempted to film this movie because it is one of the great masterpieces of movie history.  However, it has also aroused plenty of others whom are most interested in what Gus can do to update this movie in accordance to the 90's.

Watching this movie with a friend whom has seen the original himself, I couldn't help but find it rather amusing to find him yawning a quarter way through the movie.(since the movie is re-shot scene by scene with the original) I also find it rather surprising that the ladies sitting next to me have never seen the original nor know much about the story.  I guess the latter is one of the reasons why Gus did this movie. However, with regards to the yawning, I've come to realise this, perhaps movies of the 90's has in fact changed so much in content that films of yesteryear can no longer hold the short attention span of the young movie goers of today? Or...could it be the latest version simply suck?

Vince Vaughn taking up the thankless task of acting as Norman Bates is a possible carrer suicide as the late Anthony Perkins has perfected that role, but I felt that he did put up a good effort with his nervous twitches every now shows a different side to Norman Bates (one who "spanks the monkey" too I must add).  You ought to notice too the way Vince's Norman running posture is like a mirror image to Anthony Perkin's version, good job to that. But I think the only thing that works aganist him is his build.

The other characters didn't hold my attention too well except for Willam H Macy's brief role as the Private Investigator.  That guy's acting is simply kick ass. Oh by the way, check out the way Anne Heche's pupil dilute when she bought the farm.  Thank goodness Danny Elfman did a wonderful job with his cover of the original screeching violin score.  Now that piece is a classic.

Overall, in the end this movie is of course a pale shadow of the original, but this is because we saw the original version, for those who didn't see it, I'd recommend that you do go. Or at least rent the original.

Rating: (Would've been higher no thanks to the local censors)
$5 outta $7

Fav Quote:
I'm not capable of being fooled! Not even by a woman.