HANNIBAL (7)
I am trying to be fair to Hannibal. On a production and acting
level it gets a 7. But the content of this movie is so revolting
and disturbing, I wanted to give it a 0. Anthony Hopkins is formidable.
Julianne Moore is unshakingly, emotionally passive. Did you see the
Tom Cruise Vampire movie and hate it because it made you queasy?
This is worse!!! Far worse.
DO NOT GO SEE THIS MOVIE IF:
1: blood bothers you
2: cannibalism bothers you
3: dark movies bother you
I hated this movie. I couldn't even look when the cannibalistic
moments appeared. AND...there are moments in this movie that are
over the top with the extreme. Stay home and fast forward through
it when it comes out on video.
HAUNTED MANSION
It's cute, the kids are a little lame, the wife is a little lame...and
Eddie Murphy is pretty much wasted on this movie...but if you like Disney
and special effects, you can enjoy this movie. Murphy is not totally PG,
but he is PG for Murphy.
HARRY POTTER (9)
Harry Potter is a delightful tale of magic and wizardry
that you will no doubt have already been overwhelmed with hype about.
The special effects are great without being overpowering, and the kids are
great little actors. Richard Harris and Maggie Smith are always
wonderufl. It's especially fun if you have read the book and there are
several more films going into production immediately. Take the kids the
grandkids and be confident that you will have fun with Harry Potter.
It's a long movie, and the plot takes a little too long to appear, but no one
seems to be noticing. The whole family liked this one.
HEARTBREAKERS (4)
Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt appear as rather boring
mother-daughter con artists, who try to hit their marks without falling
in love with them. Yawn. Between the two of them, you will
get your cleavage peeking quota for a lifetime. Hewitt spews vulgarities
throughout. Gene Hackman cannot possibly need work that bad, as an
OLD OLD geezer who hacks rather than acts his way through this lame script.
Shame on him.
HEARTS IN ATLANTIS (10)
Anthony Hopkins knows how to pick a script, like this one, from
Stephen King's novel. Hopkins has GOT it; what else can you say about
this gifted actor? As a suspicious character, he comes to town alone,
but obviously with a not so obvious secret. The film centers
around the friendships of 2 preteen boys, Sully and Bobby-O and their
gal pal Carol, all who befriend Ted, played by Hopkins. Great performances
by all including David Morse, as the adult Bobby, who retells their story.
Young Bobby is just outstanding (Anton Yelchin), and Carol (Mika Boreem)
is the perfect tom-boy pal. Great 1960 pop culture sets, cars, clothes,
AND, absolutely WONDERFUL music! Mild profanity and sexual situations.
This movie will make you laugh, cry, and remember...what it was like to
be a kid, with all its innocence, with all its pain. Be sure and
stay for the credits...for more great music. You WILL NOT want to
miss this one on the big screen!!!
HEIST (8 1/2)
The Hack is Back! Gene Hackman ramrods this film
full of twists and turns, where everyone is poker faced and you cannot tell
who is going to stab who in the back in the final analysis. You just
gotta love it when The Hack giggles. His laugh is unmistakable and he
hasn't aged a bit in 30 years. But be ready for some foul language.
No sex but one partial nude scene of a woman's back. Pretty mild stuff
by today's standards. 64 F-words and its derivations, 9 scatological
terms, 4 sexual references, 8 anatomical terms, 19 mild obscenities, 3
insults, 1 derogatory term for Jews, 10 religious exclamations.
HOLLOW MAN (1)
Possibly the dumbest movie -- to have had so much potential -- of
the year. Kevin Bacon should have balked on this one. #1 His
face time as Kevin Bacon is so small, I cannot imagine his ego was satisfied.
#2 I don't like Kevin Bacon. And #3 Elizabeth Shue is never
good in anything she does. #4 Lots of the F word. Don't waste
your money on this hollow movie.
HOUSE: Season 1 (10)
Ok. You may remember him as the father in Stuart Little. Hugh Laurie. The eternal happy and optimistic father to Gena Davis' mother. Well, forget that. House is NOT happy. And optimistic, he ain't. Still, I grew to really love his character even though he is mean and irritable ALL THE TIME. Great supporting cast! It will be fun to see what develops in season two. As always, buy the boxed series rather than watch it in real time. Who wants to put up with all those commercials?
HURRICANE, THE (9)
Denzel Washington should get an Oscar for his role as Hurricane
Carter.
Hollywood can make a new movie (Punching for Oscar), and Denzel
and Tom Hanks can duke it out for the statue. While Lezra is getting
rave reviews as the boy who gets Carter's case reopened, I wasn't that
crazy about him as an actor. I could have found a million other black
guys to have played that role. I found him annoying and his speaking
voice hard to understand. The 3 Canadians were weak in my opinion.
They always looked like they were terribly guilty of something and we should
be waiting for it to be revealed. Evidently, they weren't. Or we
never found out. Little Angie, who was married to Jessee, from the 70's
years in All My Children has a breakthrough role as Carter's wife--not
that the role was so great, but who wouldn't kill to play opposite Denzel
at the top of his game; her dimples are so cute and she's no spring chicken
these days. But still cute as one. The evil detective who framed
Carter every time he turned around is indeed that. The fight scenes
are great. This is not just a man's movie. I loved it. I'm
sure the question still remains, was Carter REALLY innocent. While
no innocent to the ways of the world, I think he was of that crime.
Go see the movie to see if he was.