Carlito's Way: Rise To Power "This movie has the requisite love story, enough action without overdoing it and a brilliant ensemble cast. Jaclyn DeSantis plays Leticia, Carlito's beautiful girlfriend. There is a steamy yet tasteful sex scene between Leticia and Carlito that alone is worth the price of admission. There are great appearances by undervalued Latino actors such as Juan Carlos Hernández as Leticia's protective brother Sigfredo and Casper Martinez as Carlito's pal Colorado, but it is Luis Guzman that steals the show as hitman Nacho..." (full review)
Monster-in-Law "Another tired, big-budget romantic comedy whose only twist is that it's ripping off popular Ben Stiller movies. But a bad script from Anya Kochoff and a lame performance by Lopez can't dim the greatness Jane Fonda and Wanda Sykes. They're a pitch perfect comedy duo and though she's a controversial figure, Fonda has been far too long absent from the cinema. Without her, the film's one-joke premise weighs it down like an anchor. It sinks with lackluster direction from Robert Luketic, and pales in comparison to others of its genre, even mediocre members like this year's Guess Who..." (full review)
Kingdom of Heaven "The actual production of the film is flawless, with authenticity up the wazzoo, solid actors all around . Yet, at the end of the day, this movie is a decent yarn, but it honestly doesn't bring all that much new to the table, features an uninteresting actor leading the fray and ultimately, can't run away from the fact that it's showing up at a party that wrapped a few hours ago..." (full review)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith "I thoroughly enjoyed this last installment of the new trilogy. It has many of the same failings as the first two, most notably awful dialogue and threadbare plot devices, but the pure satisfaction and joy of watching everything come together and form a bridge between the first two movies and the three of our childhood is undeniable..." (full review) "Some scenes looked too fake, almost like a giant videogame. Some of the acting was bad too. Still, in my opinion this is the best of the new Star Wars films and is way worth seeing. I give it a 8 out of 10..." (full review) "I felt it was a pretty decent way to end it off. It's not great but it has great moments. The beginning and ending are fantastic, but Lucas' writing, to me anyways, is so bad that the middle part (where most of the words are spoken) drags on a bit..." (full review)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith - A Review by 'Rick K.'
First off EVERYONE knows pretty much what happens in this film, so to offer up a spoiler free review is impossible. By now a few people have seen this film and I was lucky enough to be one of them. The people I was with thought this was 'pretty dark'. No, "Sin City" is a dark film, "Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me" is a dark film. This is not that much darker than say, "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom". There are lots of dark implied things in the film but honestly, it's not terribly dark.
I'm not a huge fan of Episode I, and I only hated Episode II slightly less, with that in mind I thought this was a very 'pretty' film. From the opening crawl, to the first HUGE battle which is bigger and badder than anything we've seen thus far in any film, this is a good looking movie. I think I counted about two hundred ships flying around, the movement and editing is so fast you barely get to really look at anything before it's blown up or off the screen.
Over the first half hour or so we get to see the subtle way Palpatine slowly manipulates and pushes Anakin to start to come to the dark side of the force, first with his own 'kidnapping' and then with the fate of Count Dooku. Christopher Lee must have only worked on the film for about three days considering what little screen time he has. Which is a real shame the guy is damn fine actor and it was an interesting character.
After the first half hour the film starts to sag a little under the weight of trying to get a pregnant Padme into the storyline but yet keep her away from almost everyone important in the film. Plus the use of a DREAM to really get Anakin interested in what the dark side has to offer. In the background of this story is the plot of turning our friendly troopers against the Jedi and some very yawn inspiring politics on the part of Palpatine. If you''re the freaking emperor of the galaxy, and your evil, why do you need to piss around so much to get something evil done? Just do it and get back to the main story.
Now I could spend another three pages telling you about the Wookie planet and seeing the rebel ship from Episode IV, and how cool a young Tarkin looks, but I want to get to the meat of the film. This film is suppose to be about the moment Anakin TRULY becomes Vader, by the way, he''s called Lord Vader LONG before he is ever put into the suit, which really kind of surprised me. Anyway, the real moment Anakin is broken and completely turned in the film, I went huh? This is what breaks the guy? I will say though that the final lightsaber battle with Vader and Obi-Wan is nothing short of remarkable, and watching Yoda and Palpatine tussle with lightning bolts and senate seats is a CGI treat.
I wanted to like this movie, I swear to God I did, and I liked the look and feel of it, I still don't fully understand why Yoda and Obi-Wan just fade away and every other Jedi just dies like dogs, and trust me tons, and tons of Jedi die, and not just adult Jedi either, if you catch my meaning. But the bottom line is this is just a very pretty and very marketable film, with lots and lots of flash but very little substance. Plus I have a HUGE problem with just how mobile and agile R2-D2 is. I sense some more changes to be made in future revisions of IV, V, and VI."
