The Omen

It's been awhile since I've seen the original. I remember it being rather creepy though and I really didn't see a need to remake it. Casting however to draw me in because despite the fact that he is seriously under used Liev Shreiber is a top notch actor and Julia Stiles is amazing as well. The fact that they got those two, especially considering Liev has more than fulfilled his horror film requirements, really had me intersted in seeing what they could do to make it better.

I don't really think they ended up making it better but, they didn't dishonor the original and they made a film that was decent for its time. It wasn't ask creepy as the original but, somehow they did manage to get me to jump several times. I never screamed and my heart rate never seemed to go up but, I did jump a bit 4 or 5 times. That is actually quite an accomplishment and it does speak well for the directing. It means the director set it up so that you weren't expecting it. One of the ways that was done was not changing the music or the background sound leading up to a scary moment. To often today horror films give away the scares by increasing the music to much. Big mistake the key to scaring people is to lul them into thinking it is safe. Even when they know something can't be that easy you have to find away to make them think it just might be that easy. That's how you get the scares and that's exactly what the director did with this film.

As for the performances. The were all strong as you would expect. The Omen is one of those rare horror/scary films that gives more importance to the male lead rather than the female lead. That isn't a bad thing it just unfortunately means not as much screen time for Julia. She did a great job with what she was given and did have a couple big emotional scenes. Liev was spot on perfect casting. There's just something really amazing about the way he goes about his job. I can't put my finger on it but he really draws you in and it seems like he's not even trying. Mia Farrow was strong. She played the line between sensister and caring perfectly.


Spoiler Alert:


Not a lot of things I want to touch on in regards to the actual movie.

First though it was interesting that they decided to change one of the scariest moments in the original. In the original they don't go to the zoo Damien and Kate (Julia) drive through an animal sancturary and a bunch of them attack their car. That is far more frightening than the apes throwing themselves at the glass in the zoo. That really wasn't a very smart thing to change.

Also at the end I was a bit confused as to why the cops where already in their riot gear when they came into the church and shot Robert (Liev). That was very odd they wouldn't have know what was going on until they got into the church so they had no reason to be in riot gear.



It was a good remake. Although I think they could have made it a bit more interesting if they had done a update and made it so the female character was the lead. Would be really interesting to see the mother go through the termoil of coming to terms with what must be done.

I did pay full price for it and I don't feel like it was a waste of money or time. However, I think I would recommend just waiting for dvd.

The Lake House

Yes, there is a bit of a hopeless romantic inside me. It usually shows itself in the movies I will watch. Overall it was a good movie. It had a few moments that didn't work but, otherwise if you can let yourself go enough to believe in the story it's good. If you can't let yourself go in that way you won't enjoy this movie at all.

Sandra and Keanu were both strong. I would have liked to see Sandra get a little more emotional variation but, she did get a couple of strong moments so it was okay. Keanu's character was a little more flat. Not flat in a bad way just that is character was on the same emotional plain the whole time. There's a lot of voice over in the movie and luckily both Keanu and Sandra have the ability to portray so much with just their voices.

The way the director put the film together was very nice. I really like the parts where they were shown to be in the same place and it was as if they were talking to each other but they were in different times so they really weren't. Going in I was worried about how the movie would work if they were never on screen together but they solved that problem brilliantly.

There was one weak part in the casting and that was Dylan Walsh as Sandra's on-again-off-again boyfriend. He is so dull on Nip/Tuck I don't know how he got in this movie. He wasn't even in it that much but most of the time he was in it he was with Sandra and it was just a miss cast all the way.


Spoiler Alert:


The one real flaw in the story was that they gave away a key story point to early in the movie. When Kate Sandra) is having lunch with her mom and a man is hit by a bus it is blatently obvious to the audience that it is Alex (Keanu). Unfortunately this ruins a moment later in the movie. As a result you also spend to much of the movie wondering when Kate is going to figure it out.

That early scene completely destroys the moment later in the movie when they are to finally meet at a restaurant. You know that he's not going to show up so it takes away all the emotional empact of the movie. Even Sandra can't save a moment that the audience knows is coming ten minutes in.

The other problem with it is that she should have known the minute she found out Alex's full name that he was the man killed that day. She's a doctor for crying out loud she would have found out the name of the man she couldn't save.

I did like the part though that he orchastrated for them to meet without her knowing it by meeting her at her surprise birthday party. That was a really great portion of the movie.



I paid full price for the movie and it was totally worth it for me. Anyone with a strong since of romance (hopeless or not) especially for whimsical romance will enjoy this movie and won't feel gypt by paying full price. Otherwise you're probably better off just waiting for video.

The Da Vinci Code

I am not a big reader and have not read The Da Vinci Code as a result I really enjoyed the movie. It was put together fairly well. It was a bit long which wouldn't be a problem if it hadn't slowed down so much towards the end. If Ron Howard could have found a way to tighten the end up and keep it moving more it would have been more enjoyable.

While there was nothing wrong with any of the performances there also was nothing special about the either. The characters were good but, they just didn't have a lot of emotional range to work through. I found that a bit odd for a Ron Howard film.


On the off chance someone who hasn't read the book and does intend to see the movie reads this I will put some stuff in the spoiler area to not ruin it for them.


Part of the problem with the pacing towards the end is probably that I had figured out all the little twists. I figured out no later than half way through and probably soon that Sophie (Audrey Tautou) was next in Jesus's bloodline. I also figured out pretty quickly once his character was introduced that Leigh (Ian McKellen) was the mastermind behind the whole thing to expose the secret.

I don't really know why I was able to figure those things out. It's not like they did something that just made it glaringly obvious. What I do think might have been the case is that they figured so many people had read the book that there was no need to really hide it. They didn't really take into account the portion of the audience that didn't read the book.



I paid full price to see this one and it was worth it for me. I'd say if you have read the book though that you should only pay matinee price or just wait for dvd.

The O.C.

All I really have to say about this show, the season, and the way it ended is WHAT THE...(insert whatever word you want).

I knew this show was in deep trouble halfway through season 2 when they sent Alex packing. She was the best thing to happen to the show. I don't know exactly what it was that Olivia Wilde brought with her but whatever it was made the show soar to new hights. And it wasn't just the relationship between Alex and Marissa either. It was her interaction with all the characters. Everyone that came into contact with her had to raise their game and everything fell apart when she left.

Without Alex they had no new storylines which became very clear in the second of half of season 2 and even more obvious in season 3. Josh Shwartz says that they hightened the storytelling in the second half of season 3. Okay Josh if you say so. My definition of hightened storytelling does not involve repeating pretty much every single story arc some for the 3rd or 4th time.

While I wanted them to wrap up the whole Theresa story to drag it out the way they did with him taking her to prom wasn't necessary. The contant on-again-off-again relationship between Seth and Summer is wearing on me. Leave the together. I don't like hating Seth for making Summer sad. (Major props to Rachel Bilson for making those sad Summer moments so crushing.) Not to mention Seth's totally off the mark supposedly well intentioned antics are starting to get very old. The fact that they had to bring Anna back to fix things does not speak well for the shows ability to develope good stories. Liked Anna in season one but bringing her back the way they did was stupid and showed they had no real idea of what to do. If that's the only way to cause more tension between Seth and Summer then there are two choices available to them, 1) leave them together for good or 2) split them up for good.

Love Dr. Roberts and Julie getting together. Although that storyline isn't half as much fun with Marissa being dead. Bringing Kaitlin back is not a good move. No one is sitting around going oh please we don't want to move on from Harbor. This was never designed to be a show about the kids that went to that highschool. Rather that was just the high school the kids happened to go to. And could they have done a worse job with casting?

And the biggest mistake of all this season was killing Marissa. They have offered up all kinds of reasons for it and none of them fly. The Marissa and Ryan story had runs it course there was nothing else to do with them. Okay that doesn't mean you kill Marissa. And if you are going to kill her at least give her something real to work with. That was the most pathetic death scene ever and only really served to highlight how much Ben McKenzie has no idea what he is doing.

As for how they led up to Marissa's death. Seriously people pay attention to your entire season of stories and how they arc. After month's of not hearing from her dad Marissa decides to join him on a yacht when asked. Not going to happen. Clearly they forgot about the fact that Marissa was the one who told her dad to get out of town and not come back. That man has wounded her way to many times no way does she just say okay I'm off to Greece with my disaster of a father.

The stuff with Volchock was so dumb. When Marissa said the thing to Ryan about how she brought Volchock into their lives she might as well help get rid of him I wanted to scream. Clearly the writers weren't paying attention again. Johnny brought Volchock into their lives and Ryan made it worse by putting his nose in where it didn't belong. Yes, Marissa had her stupid fling with him but, she walked away from it and Ryan was the one who was to stupid to call the cops and beat Volchock up. He caused the problem and as usual wasn't man enough to fix his own mess and it cost Marissa her life.

The people behind the show are under the dilusion that killing Marissa is going to save the show. WRONG, killing her will kill the show. There fan base exists because of Misha Barton and they are going to lose viewers over this. Clearly they think they will have a reaction much like that of NCIS after killing Kate Todd and see their ratings shoot up. That's misquided for a couple reasons. First the NCIS thing happened because killing Kate was unbelievably shocking not only in that no one thought they would kill her but also because of the way they killed her. Killing Marissa was not shocking in anyway. From about three episode into the shows first season anyone would have told you that if anyone was going to find an early grave it was Marissa there by actually killing her is not shocking. And again the way she died was just pathetic.

Not to mention that because of the way they orchestrated it they robbed Rachel Bilson of some truly great material. She could really shine dealing with all that grief. There better be a moment in season four when something great happens to you and she goes to call Marissa only to realize she can't.

People are unbelievably harsh on Mischa and it is unwarranted. Those of us her are her fans know that the only reason she never shined on this show is because she was never given the material to do so and wasn't given a character that grew there by she could never change what she was doing. The only time she really shined was when Marissa was dating Alex because it was the one time she was given something to work wtih. The writers got confused and forgot that Marissa didn't have a bad boy complex, bad boys had a Marissa complex. The one goodthing that comes from this is that Mischa still has time to salvage her career.

If they wanted to change the dynamic of the show they could have done it without killing Marissa. The way they should have ended the season is like this. Marissa continues to spiral down hill after Johnny's death and gets in way to deep with Volchock. Knowing there was only one way to save Marissa, Summer makes a fateful phone call. And on graduation day Marissa would leave town only not to be with her father but with Alex.

The show may have gotten a fourth season pick up but it is only for 16 episodes. And say it's because of baseball all you want people but FOX starts shows after baseball all the time and still gives full season orders. It will take a miracle for those not to be the shows final 16 episodes. It's over in May 2007.

A Prarie Home Companion

After the mind numbing boringness that was Gosford Park and the general disappointment that was The Company I was a little nervous about seeing another movie directed by Robert Altman. Even with that cast it was a bit scary. I mean the man always puts together a great cast but, he doesn't always deliver. I was overwhelmingly pleasantly surprised by this one. It delivered on every level. The directing was good and the acting was top notch.

This is probably the best most honored cast assembled this year and they all worked so marvalously together. Most notably Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep. They could make a movie where those two where just sittin' around telling crazy stories and it would be worth the price of admission the way they play off each other. It's no wonder their presentation at the Oscars was such a gut buster.

Virgina Madsen probably had the most interesting part playing "Dangerous Woman" but more to the point she was the angle of death. There was just something about the way she played the role that was really interesting to me. Especially the way she moved. To walk as though you are gliding is not easy and she made it look effortless.

I know a lot of people aren't keen on Lindsay Lohan being in this movie. She deserved this role and I honestly don't know who else would have even worked in it. She fit in so well. There wasn't a single moment where it felt like she wasn't sure of what she was doing or that she didn't belong amongst all that talent. If she was intimidated by anyone in the cast she never let it show in her performance and that is the truest test of anyones talent. Her talent belonged in this movie and it showed in the end when she sang that crazy song.

Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly as the comic singing cowboys were the perfect pairing. No where in my head would I have ever considered pairing them together like that but it was a genius move.

Kevin Kline was halarious as always.

And having been the stage manager in my high school theater how I did feel for Maya Rudolph's character. Things are always a mess back stage no matter how many times you have done something.

I paid full price for this movie and it was totally worth it. If you get the chance to see this movie you must do so.

Crossing Jordan

This show has never been quite the same nor as good since they ended the "who killed Jordan's mom" mystery. This year had some good episodes but, sadly didn't have a lot of flow.

I loved the addition of Leslie Bibb to the cast. To bad they did more wasting of her talent than using it. And I never for a minute believed that her character would go for Woody. I liked some of the interaction between her and Jordan though, except for the jealousy stuff. It gets really annoying when the main annomousity between female characters has to stem from jealousy. On this kind of show different work philosophies and views on the crime are enough to create tension.

I did not like the addition of JD Pollack as a general character or as a love interest for Jordan. Bad character played by a bad actor only equals disaster. At least he won't be back next year. To bad they already did the Jordan blacks out and may have killed somebody storyline. On the upside at least they saw fit to make mention of that in the finale.

The best part of the entire season though was Bug finally telling Lily how he felt about her and the triangle it built between them and the ADA. And the single best moment of the season (not to mention the best part of any season finale) was when she finally came to her senses left Jeffery at the alter and found bug in the lab. Do those writers know how to keep the audience hanging on though. It takes five years to bring Lily and Bug to that moment and they still don't give us the kiss. That's right just keep us hanging on a little bit more.

Down In The Valley

Saturday was small little indie movie day with Down In The Valley. Don't worry if you haven't heard of it you're probably in the majority not the minority on this one.

It's an interesting little character study drama starring Evan Rachel Wood and Edward Norton. It's a good story and moviee. Excellently acted by not just Evan and Edward but also Rory Culkin and David Morse. The movie has a bit in common with Taxi Driver only in this one the characters that are the equivilant of Jodie Foster and Robert De Niro are in a relationship.

There was one really odd part to the story that ended up making no since and kind of hurting the film. Lonnie (Rory) tells Harlan (Edward) that Wade (David) isn't really his and Tobe's (Evan) father. You keep thinking for the rest of the film that, that will some how come into play but it never does. It's never brought up again and there's never an explanation of why he has custody of them or if he's any relation to them at all. They should have just cut that bit of dialogue out of the film.



Spoiler Alert:


The movie builds to a twist that I totally never saw coming and shocked me. As the relationship grows between Tobe (Evan) and Harlan (Edward) he becomes more and more obsessive toward her. But, not just towards her also towards her brother Lonnie (Rory). He gets off on the wrong foot with their dad Wade (David) and things just slide down hill from there.

It's clear early on that Harlan is a little off and that is made apparent when he steals a horse. He does return it but the cops get involved and Wade has to come get him and Tobe and it is through this that Harlan sees the violent side of Wade. It is at that point that he seems to decide that he needs to get them away from Wade.

It comes to Harlan's attention that Wade really isn't around much and Lonnie is alone a lot. After being told by Wade to stay away from Tobe he still comes around. When she doesn't come see him one day he goes to her place and finds Lonnie alone. It's at this time that he decides to take Lonnie out and teach him how to shoot. The way the story is building at this point you are certain that Lonnie or Harlan is going to end up shooting Wade. Of course Wade is home when they get home and he puts a gun to Harlan's head. It's after this incident that Tobe tells Harlan to stay away for awhile.

Well he doesn't like that and robs a house to get the money to take her and Lonnie away. Only when he comes to get her, she doesn't want to go with him. During their argument he shoots Tobe. Holy crap gut punch, totally stopped breathing for a moment. He takes off when Wade comes home. Luckily Wade finds her and gets her to the hospital.

After having shot himself in the leg Harlan returns to the house and tells Lonnie how Wade shot him and Tobe and Lonnie takes off with Harlan. At this point Lonnie becomes the stupid child alive. He spends the night in a barely standing old cabin with him and when Wade, the old guy that Harlan again stole a horse from, and another guy come looking for them in the night he again takes off with Harlan. They spend the night in what seems to be a ghost town. And in the morning it turns out it's either a movie set or a ghost town being used as a movie set. This is the one really stupid scene in the movie when Harlan wakes up and actually seems to believe that they have returned to the old west. This part is also really stupid when Harlan ends up in the shot yet no one yells cut even though he's in the totally wrong clothes for the era.

Wade and a cop show up and Lonnie being stupid alerts Harlan to this fact and ends up getting the cop killed. He ends up taking off with Harlan again. Wade manages to track them down and killing Harlan.

Luckily in the end Tobe survives.



I paid full price for this movie and it was well worth it for every aspect of the film.

See No Evil

Friday kind of snuck up on me and I figured I better get reviews in for last weeks movies before I go to see this weeks movie.

Last Friday I decided it was time for another horror flick and that's why I chose See No Evil. Unfortunately for the movie it had a lot of potential but, decided to focus more on the gore than the horror. Really gore isn't scary on it's own it needs story to make it scary. They could have built a good story it was all there. It just didn't do a good job of working the story. And in truth it wasn't the a major gore fest but you can only take so many shots of him pulling peoples eyes out.

Luckily the movie had a pretty decent set of actors. Nobody fantastic, and no one really stood out except Christina Vidal and that was more because I've seen her in some other stuff. And she had the most screen time so she makes more of an impression.

I did pay full price and I didn't find myself wanting my money back but, I'd say you should just wait for video on this one.

The End of Will & Grace

For the most part it was a strong eight year run for this show. It had lost a lot of it momentum in the last few seasons and the comedy seemed forced a lot of the time. In it's final season Will & Grace made a decent bounce back. The season still had some down spots but for the most part it was probably the strongest of the last three and maybe even four seasons.

It was nice that they cut back on the guest stars this season and when they did use them they actually had good parts written for them. It wasn't just that some big name wanted to be on the show so they gave them a part that wasn't right for them. Taye Diggs guest starring as Will's boyfriend was probably the best guest star of the season. It's to bad they chose such a stupid storyline for him. For a show with two main characters that are gay it was pretty lame to be Canada bashing.

At first I wasn't really liking the idea of Grace ending up with Leo but, the truth is his cheating was kind of a self fulfilling proficy for Grace. Not that, that makes it right but, that's really not the point. Aside from Will, Leo is the only man who can really deal with all of Grace's craziness so what the hell. Yes, they could have found a new man for Grace but, clearly they didn't want to spend a huge chunk of the season developing a new storyline.

Will ending up with Vince was the best possible outcome for him. They had him and Vince break up over some really stupid stuff and it was nice that they got them back together. It was also good that Vince was back to being a cop. With the exception of all his crap of using the evidence locker as his own personal store. That was really not funny. Will was damn lucky though that Vince took him back after leaving him to be with Grace and the baby.

It was really stupid of them to bring Karen's husband back only to have them get a divorce in the end. And that crap with him really having no money. What I want to know is who at that show watches The O.C. and actually thought that was a good storyline to copy? I did love Grace's dream when Karen and Rosario were a couple. That probably made me laugh the most of the entire episode.

Jack having hook up with Beverly Leslie was pretty funny. It would have been nice if Jack had, had a future more of his own making with his acting or something but, truth is it wouldn't have been a finale if there hadn't been an appearance by Beverly Leslie. Although in regards to Beverly's death I must now ask who the hell at Will & Grace watches Las Vegas and thought they way they did away with Lara Flynn Boyle's character was a good idea to duplicate?

The best part about those two storylines is that we all knew that Jack, Karen, and Rosario would end up together in the end. And how perfect was it that they did the touched belly buttons again.

And while I would have prefered to not see a finale where Will and Grace went all those years with little to no contact I did like that their kids ended up together in the end.

Mission: Impossible 3

Lets be perfectly clear about this my main reason for even giving this movie the time of day was Keri Russel. The fact that Philip Seymour Hoffman is in it is and added bonus. And once the movie started I got a few other surprise casting bonuses.

Along with Keri and Philip I was also aware of the fact that Michelle Monaghan was in the movie so that was a nice plus as was Laurence Fishburne. Ving Rhames returning was also a nice plus especially since he brings the comedy to the movie. Funny how such a big man with such a deep voice can some how manage to deliver a line just right to make you laugh. Aside from those people I didn't realize that Billy Crudup is in it and while I seem to remember hearing that Jonathan Rhys Meyers was in it but I had forgotten. However, aside from all of them the biggest casting surprise came in the opening few minutes and while only in one scene it was great to see Sasha Alexander making an appearance.

It does amaze me that they managed to get all those good people to be in the movie. I suspect thought that most of them wanting to do it had more to do with J.J. Abrams rather than just being in a summer blockbuster. I know that's how Keri ended up in the movie is because J.J. wanted to work with her again. (For those of you not in the know J.J. is in fact the creator of Felicity.) Although I really can't figure out for the life of me what everyone thinks is so freaking great about J.J. Abrams Felicity was his only good outing.

The movie format does seem to work better for his directing. However, will some please buy the man a steady cam mount for Christmas. The damn carmera was bouncing around like crazy at all the stupidest times.

If you are seeing this movie for any certain cast member (aside from the star) it is definitely worth it. They all deliver perfectly. Of all the people out there that I can't figure out why people don't cast them Keri has to be at or very near the top of that list. My only problem was with Philip's character. Not with Philip or his portrayal of the character but, the character was far more interesting and intimidating the way they cut together the preview than the way he played in the movie.

As for the over all story it was okay but there were far to many stupid moments in the movie. Yes, it's an action film and stupid moments are a given but this one had some exceptionally stupid parts. Which we will get to now.


Spoilers Ahead:

Okay so sadly Keri is killed in the beginning of the movie. A fact that I actually figured out from one of the tv previews (stupid move by the way). However, she was stellar in her limited screen time. Her characters whole purpose was to pull you into the over all story and she did exactly that. Seriously when someone can do so much with so little they deserver more work. She does make a brief appearance later in the film to deliver more information postumously via video and does that quite well also.

The whole rabits foot storyline is interesting. Unfortunately since the story is segmented into more like two stories it never really has the suspense you would hope for. Also since they introduce you to that aspect of the story in the very first scene of the movie it's really annoying that you have to wait until halfway or more through the movie to figure out what the hell was going on when the movie started. They should have just started with the engagement party sequence.

The primary reason they have to stop making these movies is they can't come up with anything original for them. They again used the masks and voice alterers so Ethan could masquerade as Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) so the rest of the team could snatch the real Owen. That was over used in the second one and using it here was just a huge re-hash and reminder of why sequels generally suck.

Also what the hell was up with the weird reminders of Tom's other movies. He rides out to the air field to meet the team on a motorcycle. Hello can you say Top Gun and then when he's at the airport to fly to Hong Kong (or whereever) he looks pretty much exactly like Ron Kovic his character in Born On The 4th of July minus the wheel chair. Give it up Tom your hey day is over an no matter how many reminders you put into your new movies of the good days no one is going to forget what a freak you are now.

On to the stupid action movie things. Lets get the most glaring one out of the way. It's one that I've been thinking since the previews started. He's on that bridge and there's an explosion and he gets blown into that car and then gets up. Come on, the way he hits that car he'd have broken his back. Then after that he gets up gets this big as gun and goes running back down the bridge. He had just come from that direction and ran along the side of this giant whole in the bridge. Only now going back trying to stop the attackers from stealing Owen back he chooses to throw the gun across the whole and try to jump it. Of course he doesn't make it and in the time it takes him to pull himself up they get away with Owen.

Then later when he finally gets the rabits foot and he tries to base jump out of the building it gets really dumb. His shoot doesn't fill and then he crashes through the window of a building and lands on a big old desk. While he's laying on the desk looking at the rabits foot (which is some sort of bio-hazardous material) his shoot fills and he's yanked back out the window only to then begin plummetting towards the ground. Um, excuse me the shoot was full if there's enough wind to fill it and pull him out the window the shoot is going to stay full as he decends.

Shortly after that the masks come into play again when Owen uses one on his assistant to make Ethan think he's killed his wife.

Now for the stupidest moment of all. Owen has implanted some sort of charge in Ethan's head that will kill him instantly when it goes off. (This is how Keri's character was killed.) The only way to stop it is to send a major jolt of electricity through the body. So he makes his wife throw the switch on the main breaker box while he's holding bare wires. She then has to kill off a couple bad guys before she can resucitate him. The best part is she saves him with CPR alone. Sorry but no. That kind of electrical shock through the body he's going to have to be shocked again to have any chance of saving him. It gets even better though. When he comes back to life he sits straight up like he's woken up from a bad dream grabs the gun off the floor (how'd he know where it was) and moves around looking for someone to shoot. Again no. His hands would be so fried there would be no way he could grip the gun like that.



I saw it at a matinee and thanks to the supporting cast it was worth that price. Really though if you have a discount theater wait for it to come there or just wait for dvd.