ADAPTATION

What a smart, entertaining, thought provoking, funny, intense, dramatic movie. I was livid when it did not win best Comedy/Musical at the Golden Globes. It is one of the most brilliantly acted/written movies I've ever seen. After seeing Con Air and Face Off, I didn't think I'd ever be able to respect Cage as an actor ever again. Oh, how this changes things. How skilled is Cage? He plays 2 characters, both of which are continually more complex as the story progresses, and is able to keep both distinguished and interesting. And finally, Chris Cooper is shown as something other than some type of military personnel; he's prefect as LaRoache. The structure of the movie is a work of art, crafted by the masterful mind of Charlie Kaufman. His ability to think in such dimension, and to come up with such original ideas will make him a legend in the future. There is a balance of impactful, comedic and thoughtful dialogue that makes the movie more interesting than anything I've ever seen. As good as Being John Malkovich was, I think Kaufman did himself one better this time. The superb plot, the phenomenal acting, and the wonderful directing of Spike Jonze makes this better than even Citizen Kane.

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE 2 TOWERS

Now I went to see this in a really nice theater, and I paid more than enough money to get in, so I was expecting the best movie of all time. My wish did not come true. That's not to say I was disappointed - it was a fantastic film that played with the grandeur that the books describes. From what I've heard, however, the movie does not stay all that true to the book. Unfortunately, I have not read the books, so I have no refutation to this. I can say, that the story seemed a little choppy and disconnected throughout the film, and seemed overshadowed by the special effects, much like Star Wars II. BUT, the special effects kicked some serious ass. The humungous battle scene was spectacular, and the tree creatures were very nicely done. Nevertheless, the most impressive part of the movie was without a doubt Smigel. The CG on Smigel was unbelievable, and whoever did the voiceover was pro as hell. I'd say LOTR 2 was worth the higher price.

(On an interesting note, the evil warriors were computer generated by a program that has gone through 6 revisions. When the program was first tried out, they found that some of the generated warriors actually turned and fled! They obviously fixed the bug, but just the fact that each warrior can be so individual is amazing.)

8 MILE

I'm in awe of Eminem. Before I saw this movie, I knew a little about him - I knew about his music, bought his second CD, watched documentaries on him. Yet, he presents a new side of himself in 8 Mile. Now it might not have been very difficult to play the part he did, but his basic acting skills were impressive. (And as an aside, is it just me, or are Snoop and Dre (Training Day) also pretty good actors?) The story itself is OK, but we're all definitely waiting for what we saw in the previews - the battles. That was amazing. So what if they prewrote the lyrics? It almost sounds like they're actually freestyling right there on set. Eminem shows us why he's a #1 best selling rapper - he's crisp and clear with his rhymes, and like Dre said, he has a way of rhyming words that shouldn't rhyme. I hope to see more from Eminem, maybe a sequel showing part 2 of his rise to fame.

THE RING

Not many people that I talked to liked this movie. I, however, though it was the scariest movie I have ever seen. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I purposely entered the theater with the mindset that I was going to be scared. Maybe I'm a friggin shallow moron. Who knows. I liked the movie, that's all that matters, but let me tell you why. Yeah, they used a few cheap noise-related scares, but the whole concept of the movie, and the major plot twist absolutely sold me. Little things, like picking the fly off the video screen, and big things, like the girls coming out of the fucking tv (which got everyone at the theater gasping and laughing in shock) really added to the tense environment the movie had set up from the opening vignette. Overall, this was a movie I enjoyed watching, simply for the pleasure of being scared. I'm not sure how good it would be if you watched it skeptically, but hey, isn't the point of movies to enjoy yourself?

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