The Princess Diaries 2 Royal Engagement

Viewed: Own (gf owns it)
Anyone in it: Yes, but let’s not go there.

Plot: Now settled in Genovia, Princess Mia faces a new revelation: she's being primed for an arranged marriage to a English suitor.

Comment: Ok, I saw the last hour-ish of this movie…much more than I would ever have liked to have witnessed. Unfortunately for this movie, I still had the impacts of the last two films lingering in my head. And this movie was too…I want-to-be-a-princess story for me to take. In all fairness, good movie for kids and I’m sure many people may like it. But after what I had seen (and felt from what I saw, this movie had a lot going against it). I never saw the first one (whew) and it didn’t seem like you really needed to. Why did I find it so terrible? It was slow, and the whole point of the movie failed to keep me interested. The parts I watched spent relentless time over matters that didn’t really matter. They fretted over getting married the whole movie. In some cases I think this can work, but here it was just…hurry up I don’t care. I actually preferred other chick flicks to this. Maybe if I wanted to be a princess or feel like one I would enjoy this fairy-tale…which it does a good job at being…but could have done so in half an hour. Apologese to my gf whom likes the film more than I do. I thank her for keeping me grounded by viewing films as such (but odds of me seeing this one twice are nil).

Score: F

Garden State

Viewed: Rented
Anyone in it: Nobody that made me want to see it because they were in it. However I found out long after I had seen it that none other than Danny DeVito was involved in this film. He has jumped off the scale in my book especially when only a short time before I learned of his involvement in the TV show “Reno 911!”

Plot: A young man returns home for his mother's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade.

Comment: I won’t lie, this movie is not light, and wonderfully unfolds a dark story about a guy confronting reality (unmedicated) and falling in love. By the end a few comedic flecks pelt in perfectly. The soundtrack is awesome too. A friend of mine described it best, it’s a generational piece. The people who like it, it struck a chord. Those who didn’t feel it weren’t impressed…and that is just fine. There are so many little elements the movie reminded me of growing up…things that you see that you didn’t clearly see before and how they are dealt with. There is a lot to go from, and they aren’t spoken about, they don’t need to be when you know the feeling. I give it an A based on my reflection to it…but take this rating with caution, older viewers and younger viewers don’t seem to like this film.

Score: A

The Terminal

Viewed: 1.16.05 Rental
Anyone in it: Tom Hanks, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Plot: An eastern immigrant finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.

Comment: I cannot stand Tom Hanks. He is always the same in a movie, I hate the way he “acts,” drives me crazy. However, I wanted to see this movie because I read about the actual man this movie is based on from a “Bathroom Reader” book. The guy still lives in the terminal! Anyway, the movie is only based on his expereince living in the terminal, and that is about all the similarities the two stories have. The other thing it had going for it was that Steven Spielburg was behind it. The story is told pretty well, and is calmly enjoyable to view.

Score: B+

Meet the Fockers

Viewed: 1.15.05 Theater
Anyone in it: Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Ben Stiller, and Owen Wilson

Plot: All hell breaks loose when the Byrnes family meets the Focker family for the first time.

Comments: This stands very well as a sequel. Although parts go a little too too far on the overboard elements, but they are expected as such.

Score: B-

Without a Paddle

Viewed: Rental
Anyone in it: Matthew Lillard, Seth Green

Plot: Three city-dwelling friends go on a camping trip with disastrous results.

Comment: The disaster? The movie sucks.

Score: F

Anchorman The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Viewed: 1.14.05 Rented
Anyone in it: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, and Steve Carell.

Plot: Ron Burgundy is San Diego's top rated newsman in the male dominated broadcasting of the 1970's, but that's all about to change when a new female employee with ambition to burn arrives in his office.

Comment: A handful of moments made me laugh pretty well, and it has some quotable moments, but there wasn’t really any meat that kept me too committed (I think Elf was a better movie). Sadly, I have to say that I wouldn’t have missed much if I hadn't seen it. Steve Carell was hilarious. Heads up, the director, Adam McKay, is also directing Bewitched (which I want to see staring Will Farrell)…so that could mean that I am just about as thrilled as this film review.

Score: C

Hidalgo

Viewed: 1.2.05 Rented
Anyone in it: Nobody that made me want to see it because they were in it. Staring Frank Hopkins, Directed by Joe Johnston (Jumanji, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, The Rocketeer, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids)Plot: Set in 1890, this is the story of a Pony Express courier (Mortensen) who travels to Arabia to compete with his horse, Hidalgo, in a dangerous race for a massive contest prize, in an adventure that sends the pair around the world.Comment: This was the first movie I saw in 2005, and it was good. Sometime the year before I tortured myself by watching the awful Tobey Maguire horse flick “Seabiscuit.” So, I dragged my feet before I watched this one. I wanted to, and I had been hearing good things about it…and I was not let down.
Score: A