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Reviews
Julie & Julia (2009)
Half -n- Half
Half great movie: Julia Child. I really enjoyed watching Streep as Child in a perfectly rendered France of 1940s. Any time Julia was on screen, she lit it up. Outstanding. Stanley Tucci did a great job in his role of Paul. This part of the movie rates a "10".
Half really crummy movie: Julie Powell. What a whiner. Her husband was a saint to put up with her meltdowns and generally disagreeable personality. This part of the movie rates a "3".
(Also, how is it possible that the characters in the Julie Powell segment of the movie had never seen the classic Dan Aykroyd impersonation of Julia Child on Saturday Night Live? It originally aired in 1978 and I'm fairly certain that everyone even remotely interested in food, Dan Aykroyd, Julia Child, or humor has seen it by now. Even within the context of the movie, the skits wasn't airing for the first time.)
Go see it, but go for popcorn or other snacks during the Julie Powell segments.
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Pandering.
This movie was offensive in the way it pandered to the audience. The special effects were reasonable, but even those couldn't save this turkey.
The characters were one-dimensional and without emotion, the plot was paper-thin, the acting was uniformly sub-par, and even the action scenes weren't very active.
It was clear that the filmmakers knew they were launching a turd. I mean, the whole wolf subplot? Silly and unexciting. The 'eye of the storm' thing? Outrageous. The fact that the entire storm 'blew over' at the end? Echoes of WAR OF THE WORLD's weak story. The political preaching was heavy-handed and certainly not appreciated.
I wish I could have had the time back that I spent watching this turd.
War of the Worlds (2005)
Boring
Man, what a letdown. Maybe it's the story, which has only three elements: 1> They show up. 2> They kick our butts for an unknown reasons. 3> Eventually, they die through no action of our own. It's not an exciting story.
It's also not an exciting movie. The little girl screams. A lot. Tom Cruise poses. A lot. It's got great special effects, but that's really not enough. It is a summer blockbuster which typifies the summer blockbuster -- great eye-candy, very (very) little resonance once the echos die away in the theater.
We don't care about the monsters, we don't care about the humans fighting them, we don't care about Tom's family life, we just don't care about anything in this movie.
If you take a date to see this movie, be certain you've planned some topics to discuss after the movie, because you will have nothing to talk about otherwise.
Resident Evil (2002)
Yawn.
While this movie was somewhat enjoyable on a sophomoric level, it could have been so much better.
The jello suits on the dogs were a riot. Why were the dogs only in the movie for 45 seconds?
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
DREADFUL. ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL!
I rated this a "1" because there was nothing lower. Easily the WORST MOVIE I have seen in a long time.
No story; lousy action sequences; bad acting; run-of-the-mill special effects...
We should have known it was going to be bad, with the press blackout and the freebies to lure you into the theater.