Above the Law |
Adaptation. |
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle |
Air Bud |
Air Bud: Golden Receiver |
Almost Famous |
Almost Heroes |
American Beauty |
American History X |
American Pie |
The Amityville Horror |
Amistad |
Analyze That |
Angel Eyes |
Antz |
Any Given Sunday |
The Apostle |
Apt Pupil |
Arlington Road |
Armageddon |
The Art of War |
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery |
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me |
Austin Powers in Goldmember |
Autumn in New York |
The Avengers
Above the Law (1988)
(R)
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Steven Seagal plays a cop and Vietnam vet (where he first witnessed the CIA abusing it's power) who discovers that a major drug dealer is buying C-4 and that the CIA is involved. He then tries to fight the injustices happening around him, and kills many people in the process. The movie is fairly interesting, keeping the action exciting and the plot and character development surprisingly intriguing for this type of film. Overall, fairly low key, but still remains fairly interesting and exciting.
Links:
Roger Ebert's Review
Adaptation. (2002)
(R)
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From the same team that brought us "Being John Malkovich" comes an equally inventive film starring Nicholas Cage as screen writer Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman is commissioned to adapt a non-fiction book by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) called "The Orchid Thief", the story of a plant dealer who is obsessed with rare orchids. The film alternates chaotically between Charlie's frustrated writing process and Orlean's curious interaction with 'orchid thief' John Laroche (Chris Cooper).
As with "Being John Malkovich", this film rejects all Hollywood cliches (while, at the same time, taking every opportunity to poke fun at them). What makes this effort so unique is the screenplay, which changes constantly from start to finish (it is impossible to predict which way the film will go, and this will either drive you mad or keep you on the edge of your seat - or both). Actually, there is no 'end' in the traditional sense; the story taking a decidedly reckless turn in the final fifteen minutes. Although I'm intrigued by the concept, I'm not quite sure I actually *like* "Adaptation" as a movie. But after a year full of brainless action flicks and generic comedies, the creativity is definitely refreshing. Nicholas Cage turns in a surprisingly good performance; Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper are in a class by themselves.
Links:
Roger Ebert's Review
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000)
(PG)
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Rocky and Bullwinkle are pulled into real life in the 90's. The movie is based around the dry humor of the television show and is made to be simple enough for kids while intelligent enough to keep adults entertained. It does a decent job at both, including many bad puns and cameos for the adults and being goofy enough to make kids laugh. The script almost seems to be trying too hard, but the actors make it work.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Roger Ebert's Review
Air Bud (1997)
(PG)
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In this movie, Bud the dog makes friends with a kid. When the kid finds out Bud can play basketball, he makes Bud the mascot
of his basketball team. I can enjoy a good kids movie when it has something intelligent to offer, but the only decent part of this
movie is seeing Bud actually play ball, and it gets old fast. The rest of the movie is straight out of any kids movie or TV
show. I would recommend this movie only when the circus isn't in town and Letterman doesn't have Stupid Pet Tricks on his
show tonight.
Links:
Cinema 1's Air Bud Page
Air Bud: Golden Receiver (1998)
(G)
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More stupid pet tricks, courtesy of Air Bud, the dog who just won't stop playing games. A boy's dog, named Buddy, starts playing football, and joins the school football team with the boy. This could have been a fun movie if they had focused on the sports and put a little drama in it. As it is, it's just the same old kids' films that Hollywood has been putting out for years, jumping back and forth between a few unrelated stories (the football playing dog, the new boyfriend for the main character's mom, and the main character running away) and trying it's hardest to cram the most amount of lectures and lessons into the shortest amount of time.
Almost Famous (2000)
(R)
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A high school student gets a job writing for Rolling Stone Magazine, and tags along on tour with a band called Stillwater (from my hometown of Troy, MI) to get interviews with the band members. In the process, he gets exposed to and must cope with the sex, drugs, rock and roll scene of the 70s. The director manages to bring out the emotion of the story, with the actors managing to make what could have been boring characters interesting to watch and even amusing at times. Overall, this is an entertaining memory film of a boy's coming of age.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Robert Horton's Review
Tom Keogh's Film.com Review
Roger Ebert's Review
Almost Heroes (1998)
(PG-13)
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A group of explorers try to beat Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean. A lot of the humor is of the very stupid variety, such as Dumb and Dumber. The only problem is that most of the time, I found the humor to be just stupid instead of funny. A few of the jokes did work, though, and fans of Chris Farley (in his last film) shouldn't be too disappointed.
Links:
Official Studio Site
American Beauty (1999)
(R)
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A very tense movie about how people can feel trapped in their lives, until little changes start having big effects on what's happening to them and their roles with the other people they know. The plot focused around a man who's marriage is about to hit bottom, who's daughter is starting to reach out and create her own life, and who himself falls in love with his daughter's cheer-leader friend, who enjoys the idea of being loved by him. The events that are set in motion then start messing with everyone's lives in fairly dramatic ways. This movie does a good job of making the point that sometimes in life, we just need to relax and enjoy the ride.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Film.com's Review
American History X (1998)
(R)
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A white supremest kills two African-Americans and goes to jail, where he learns that the way he lives doesn't make his life any better, but makes it harder to live in many ways. When he gets out of prison, he has to try to keep pull his brother out of his former hate group. The movie is very serious about the subject matter, and gets rather harsh at times. The acting is great, and the film manages to rise above the melodrama in the story. Overall, this film is a good example of what can happen when you live your life full of hate.
Links:
Official Studio Site
New Line's publicity site
American Pie (1999)
(R)
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A group of high school senior guys try to lose their virginity by prom. Mostly just a teen sex comedy, it rose above most others by pushing the envelope a little on what they can show and talk about and still managing to have several very funny scenes. Not for all tastes, but the movie will have people who like this style of film rolling on the floor.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Film.com's Review
Roger Ebert's Review
The Amityville Horror (1979)
(R)
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This cheesy horror movie is based on actual events (or actual hoaxes, depending on who you believe). The Lutz family moves into a home in Amityville, New York, where six people were murdered in 1974. Soon, they learn they've made a terrible mistake, as ghostly manifestations and satanic images begin to haunt them. The characters are quite underdeveloped, and the climax is very uneventful. But the film still comes across as mildly disturbing thanks to some creative editing, an eerie score, and attention to subtle detail. The pan-and-scan version appears slightly narrow on a standard TV screen. As a result, everyone looks curiously thin, and all the cars have oval wheels! For me, this only added to the creepy nature of the film, so I found it appropriate even if it was unintended. While the Amityville murders did actually happen, the Lutz family's claims are widely considered to be greed-driven lies.
Links:
amityvillemurders.com
Amistad (1997)
(R)
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A group of Africans revolt against the people holding them on a ship as slaves, and then sail to America. There they are put on trial for the murder of the people they killed on the ship, among other charges. The movie revolves around a few Americans trying to get them off the charge and the Africans trying to understand what is happening to themselves. The movie is fairly historically accurate (they took a few, but not many, creative liberties), and very well made and acted. The violence and nudity may offend people more sensitive to it, though.
Links:
Cinema 1's Amistad Page
Amistad on Location
Radio Free's Review
Roger Ebert's Review
Analyze That (2002)
(R)
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Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal return in a very weak sequel to "Analyze This". Mob boss Paul Vitti fakes a psychotic episode in order to get out of prison and into Dr. Ben Sobol's custody - insert mobster cliche here. Some of the comic genius from the first movie still works, but the story line just doesn't have enough substance to keep the viewer interested. Take my advice and wait for the DVD. Then you can watch the funny bits of the movie while skipping through all the filler.
Links:
Roger Ebert's Review
Angel Eyes (2001)
(R)
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After an accident, a man tries to forget his past and completely restart his life. A year later, he falls in love with the police woman who saved him, although neither really realize who the other is. The movie has a very dark view of life, offset by a glimmer of hope that something better may be around the next corner. It never fully develops this theme, however, but simply watches as the main characters try to get past their fears and confront the demons in their lives. Emotionally the film is very good, but there are several points I was scratching my head wondering how likely the characters would to really do what the script has them doing.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Film.com's Review
Roger Ebert's Review
Antz (1998)
(PG)
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Woody Allen gives his voice to an ant who is very annoyed that his life doesn't amount to anything. He then falls in love with the princess ant, who needs a little convincing to have fall in love with him. Basically just another Woody Allen movie, but with more of a plot and made for the whole family. The animation was made completely on computers and looks good, and the movie is mildly amusing at points. Over all, though, the movie is very generic and tends to drag for the adults, who have most likely seen it before. Good for children, though, if they can take the occasional swear word.
Links:
A Fan Page
Film.com's Review
Radio Free's Review
Roger Ebert's Review
Any Given Sunday (1999)
(R)
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A look at what it's like to play professional football, through the eyes of a coach played by Al Pacino. When his aging star quarterback gets injured, his last resort is the third string quarterback who eventually proves he's a great player, but doesn't believe in playing as part of a team. The coach must try to win a spot in the playoffs while stuck between his new quarterback and the new owner of the team. The movie is fairly rough and shows the basics of life on the football field, including the injuries, the showers, and the egos. The director Oliver Stone knows how to make the movie interesting and exciting, but manages to make it a little longer than I would have liked. I figured out the ending early in the movie, and getting there occasionally got boring. Overall, though, it was enjoyable for a tough sports movie.
Links:
Official Studio Site
News from an extra in the movie
The Apostle (1997)
(PG-13)
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A movie written, directed by and starring Robert Duvall about a man deeply inbedded in his religious beliefs. When his wife decides to divorce him and marry another man, he tracks down the man and gets into a fight with him, hitting the man so hard with a bat he goes into a coma. Knowing what may happen to him, he leaves his life behind and takes to the road, finally settling in a small town in Louisiana, where he rebuilds a church and touches the lives of the community. The performances are great, as are the plot and characters. This movie shows a lot about how one character feels about religion, and is a good grounds for thought for people interested in it.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Apt Pupil (1998)
(R)
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A boy recognizes a former Nazi who had worked in the prison camps in Germany, and threatens to go to the police if he doesn't tell the boy about what it was like. This leads to the boy learning more than he can handle, and slowly breaking down. The movie never really took the idea of the slow burn to insanity far enough, so it's not really as dramatic or suspenseful as it could be. The acting is good enough to make it moderately interesting, though. Over all, generic and not quite as suspenseful as it should be.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Cinema 1's Apt Pupil Page
Arlington Road (1999)
(R)
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A man begins to suspect that his neighbor may have been involved with a man who blew up a building. He then starts getting further into the man's past to try to figure out exactly who he is. A well made suspense thriller, I was usually able to see was was going to happen next, but it was still worth watching happen. The ending had a interesting twist, and the movie was able to build suspense by building characters, not blowing stuff up. Over all, very well made, with enough plot and suspense to keep it interesting.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Armageddon (1998)
(PG-13)
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Finally a movie that followed on the heals of a similarly based movie and wasn't trying to be exactly the same. Where Deep Impact tried to be a melodramatic tearjerker, Armageddon focused on the action. The result is a movie that could have been a bit shorter, but is a fun ride none the less. A group of oil diggers get talked into landing on an asteroid and digging a big hole in it to put in a nuclear bomb and blow the asteroid off track from hitting earth. The characters were good and the people acting them were great, but the story never seems to do more than what is required to hit it's mark, drawing out a lot of the plot. There were times in the movie my heart was pounding, separated by times I almost used to catch up on sleep. A good movie that would have been great if I wasn't bored through parts of it.
Links:
Dark Horizons' Page
Bad Astornomy's page
The Jessica Steen Page's Armageddon Info page
Film.com's Review
Roger Ebert's Review
The Art of War (2000)
(R)
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Wesley Snipes plays a man with no identity who's job is to do the U.N.'s dirty work. While working at a event where a Chinese ambassador is giving a speech, the ambassador is murdered and Snipes is framed as the killer. He then must prove his innocence figure out how to prove his innocence before getting caught. The movie keeps a moderately slow pace, which helped me to keep my bearings and keep up with what was happening. The film was also able to keep the action exciting enough and the plot interesting enough to be entertaining. Overall, a generic but fairly enjoyable suspenseful action movie.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Film.com's Review
Los Angeles Time's Review
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
(PG-13)
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A good parody of 60's movies, James Bond in particular. Dr. Evil, the bad guy, freezes himself in the 60's, waiting to unfreeze himself at a time he thinks he can rule the world. The secret agent who could fight Dr. Evil the best, Austin Powers, is frozen so he could help stop Dr. Evil in the future. They are both unfrozen in the 90's. The best jokes in the movie come when the guys from the 60's try to fit in to the 90's.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Roger Ebert's Review
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
(PG-13)
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Dr. Evil returns and travels back in time to the 60's to steal Austin Power's mojo, and Austin follows. The result is a movie that has a 50/50 hit to miss comedy ratio, and tends to confuse being really gross with really funny. The characters (beyond Seth Green as Dr. Evil's son) just don't have the same spark they had in the original, and the script recycles most of its jokes, while adding a few new jokes, some of which actually work, while the others are just gross. I would recommend renting this film with someone who's already seen it, so they know where to fast forward to for the good parts. The Jerry Springer Show parody and some of the dumb word jokes are almost classic, though.
Links:
Official Austin Powers Site
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
(PG-13)
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Austin Powers travels back in time to the 1970s to rescue his estranged father from Dr. Evil and Goldmember. About the same hit to miss comedy ratio as the last installment (several scenes, particularly the opening sequence, are quite hilarious). Again, some of the jokes are just plain gross and aren't funny at all. I also found some of the plot twists towards the end of the movie particularly annoying. Michael Caine definitely works as Austin's dad, but his screen time is far too limited to warrant using him. Overall, a below average film, but not unwatchable.
Links:
Official Austin Powers Site
Autumn in New York (2000)
(PG-13)
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Richard Gere falls in love with Winona Ryder who is half his age and must finally deal with his fear of being left with nothing but a broken heart after committing to a woman. He then discovers that she is sick and has less than a year to live. The movie is fairly entertaining, with good performances and direction. It never gets very deep into the ideas it brings up, but it also never turns into the bad soap opera it could have easily become. Overall, a mildly interesting romance.
Links:
Official Studio Site
Film.com's Review
The Avengers (1998)
(PG)
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Two British secret agents work together to fight a bad guy who has taken control of the weather. A very stylish movie, it is fun when the pace picks up, but has many slow and almost dull moments of chatter between the stars. Some of the chatter scenes are actually funny, but most just seem unnecessary to me. The special effects and score are big high-points for the movie, as are the action sequences that were the parts that saved the movie for me. Over all, though, I think I'm going to stick with James Bond.
Links:
Official Studio Site
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