Reviews
Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller (2002)
Smokin
I saw this in NYC right after it opened, a touring production a few years back and more recently, saw it in an intimate dinner theater cafe setting and all productions were great. This is the type of show that grows on you. You never get tired of hearing the songs if the production is good. The HBO production of the last show at the Virginia Theater was well produced and I enjoyed it very much. Deb Lyons was the only non-original cast member and I though she had the best voice. Her rendition of "Don't" with Ken Ard was a show stopper. Brenda Braxton was spot on as the sultry black woman as was DeLee Lively as the blonde chick. Does she ever stop moving? The others were adequate with the exception af Matt Bogart as the token white guy. I guess it was no coincidence that he had the fewest solos. Kind of reminds me of a play on the "Chorus Line" tune, Looks 10, Voice 2.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Worth the price of admission
I expect to be entertained for a couple of hours and try to limit my experiences to those movies that will meet or come close to my expectations based on these and other reviews, trailers, word of mouth, etc...and if I also get some redeeming message, then so much the better. For Passion, however, I did not expect to be entertained and was not disappointed. The movie does not entertain as much as shock or horrify one with its violence, but the message in this movie clearly is worth the price of admission. I won't go into the message since others have done it much more eloquently than I ever could.
After reading an number of other reviews and articles in the press, I suspect there will be three distinct classes of reviews: 1) Most Christians will think this movie is the best movie since sliced bread. This group will make it a financial success without any help from others; 2) Non-Christians (except Jews) and non-believers who will view it as a propaganda piece and give it bad reviews at every opportunity; and 3) Jews who will generally declare it anti-semetic regardless of its historical significance (notice I did not say historical accuracy). I certainly did not come out of this movie with any anti-semetic feelings and would suspect most others would not either.
I gave it a 9/10.
Scenes of the Crime (2001)
Medium cool - sort of
Saw the DVD release of this film recently. I couldn't quite predict the plot outcome until the end - so it gained points for that as well as Jeff Bridges and Noah Wylie's turns as bad guys. I kept wondering if I had seen this earlier and just realized it was similar to "Phone Booth" in that all the action takes place in a van in the street and there is a mystery shooter (at the end). OK for a rental if you don't have anything better to watch.
Wrong Turn (2003)
Scary? Nahhh!
I'm a middle aged adult and have seen a few scary and suspenseful movies that made me want to close my eyes or take a trip to the bathroom but the only trip I wanted to take after the first 30 minutes of this movie was to retrieve the DVD from the trash (where i tossed it) and return it to the rental store.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Surprise - Surprise
Surprise, of course, is the name of the British ship and I had been forewarned this was a marine version of Gladiator. I was pleasantly surpised that this was not so. The plot was a pretty straight forward telling of an epic naval sea chase and battle in the early 19th century with exceptional attention to detail of life on a three masted warship of the time. (I swear I felt a little seasick during the storm scenes). There were a couple of holes in the story: medical miracles from on-deck brain surgery, all-to-quick-healing gunshot and sword wounds, and the seemingly instantaneous shipboard repairs after the battles. A realistic timeline was probably 6 months or more but it seemed more like six weeks in the movie.
All-in-all, excellent entertainment value for the price of admission and most will not be disappointed.
Mystic River (2003)
An excellent movie - Eastwood is a genius.
All in all - an excellent movie. I thought the plotline red herring was a little too much and too early in the movie. It had me wondering the whole movie, unlike the characters who were sure they new the truth.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Argghhh
Sure, the plot was stupid and had plenty of holes, but I left the theater feeling entertained primarily because of Depp's brilliant characterization. But I was wondering near the end how Knightly got that British uniform tailored to fit so well.