The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- 2005 -- PG

This movie was just funny. It had a decent plot line and some great gags to fill it in. The jokes were just isolated, but completely ingrained into the storyline making them even funnier than they would be otherwise. It had some great costumes from Jim Henson's creature shop, and some clever and amusing twists to the plot as we traveled along.

My only complaints were that the main character, on two occasions, made some decisions that rested more with moving the plot than what his character would do. It would have better served the character for him to have been dragged away at the point where he just ran when the girl was captured. It just felt wrong.

The other was near the end when he chose to enter the final structure where I would have felt better had he been more hesitant and wanted to return to the others. I just felt his willingly going in was like abandoning everyone. Granted all this worked out, but again, it seemed odd.

The only other hiccup was an importance stressed on carrying a towel, but the reasoning behind this was never really explained. It is used a couple of times, but anything could have conceivably been used. The bad guys seemed afraid of a towel for some reason, but it seems a small thing to carry a towel to defend against one race.

Other than that, good show. Got a kick out of the Point of View Gun and the Improbability Drive.

Corpse Bride -- 2005 -- PG

Whoa, now this was wild. A perfect romantic musical comedy set against a horrific, gloomy backdrop. Probably the only cross-genre horror-romance I've ever seen. The only trouble you run into was when it's over, how do you feel? Were you scared? Did you laugh? Did you get that warm, fuzzy romantic comedy date movie feeling? Are you as confused as I am?

The cross-genre thing aside, this was a really great film. It played up all the classic "dead" conventions of body parts falling off and such, while simultaneously constructing a great romantic storyline with one of the best conflicts (live guy marries dead girl). It ran through the film wonderfully creating awkward situations and a wonderful climax.

The characters worked well for me, the pacing and transitions show that Tim Burton is a skilled director, and the Danny Elfman music and songs, while definitely sounding out of character for the traditionally dark Elfman, are quite good. 

The only downfall is the musical sequences primarily serve to lengthen the dreadfully short 77 minute run time. I can't help but wonder why it was so short. Granted it moved really fast, but I kind of felt a little cheated when it ended so quickly. We could have tried to spend a little more time getting to know these characters, and it would have only benefited the film as a whole.

If you can wrap your mind around the bizarre genre cross in this one, it's definitely worth watching.

Madagascar -- 2005 -- PG

This was a cute little film that followed 4 animals as they are taken from their cushy zoo life to the jungle. The plot follows their life in the zoo, and then adapting to the jungle, and then overcoming a minor conflict between old friends who fall into different places on the food chain...oops.

This movie is not one to be taken seriously. The plot seems to primarily serve as a rail upon whcih gag after gag can be delivered, and as with all gag movies: sometimes they're funny, and sometimes, the aren't. The scenery and situations are meant to be funny and never to be realistic in any way as many, many, many quite impossible things occur.

There are also a fair amount of movie homages, but one they should have left out was Planet of the Apes. Sorry to spoil the ending if you've never seen that one, but the homage was clear as day for Charleton Heston viewing the Statue of Liberty, but the lion in this says, "Darn you all to heck." I've watched it twice now, and that line still sounds downright idiotic in its "censored" form.

It works for laughs and comedy, but there's nothing terribly deep here. The kids should enjoy it for its physical humor and those penguins. There's not much here for the adults this time.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- 2005 -- PG

I really liked this adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel. It dealt with the material a little differently than the 1971 musical version, however, it did it in a masterful way.

It looks like this movie was made FOR Tim Burton, not just by him. Danny Elfman set Roald Dahl's lyrics straight out of the book to clever and singable music (always enjoyed Oingo Boingo, his band). Willy Wonka was characterized like never before, and it even ended with a touching third act that does not exist in either the book or the 1971 film. 

Really, the only weakness I felt the film had was an undercharacterization of the 4 other children that went into the factory. That being the weakest point of this whimsical tale in my opinion makes this a movie that is very much worth watching. Tim Burton is still a master of his art.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- 1977 -- PG

Overall, this was a good movie with a literary feel to it. Three interlocking storylines come together at the end for the big alien interaction (hence the title, no big spoiler there). The question of "What is at the mountain?" drives the story forward the momentum stays very steady throughout.

The weakness? Richard Dreyfuss' character. His plot line keeps this movie from being perfect. This man has a wife and three children. He starts acting crazy, loses his job, makes his wife nuts with this UFO talk and his propensity to make mountains out of mashed potatoes. As she is on the verge of forgiving him, he goes over the top, destroys the yard (as well as steals from the neighbor's yard) and throws stuff in the kitchen window. This, of course, makes her take the kids to her sister's. Now, all this makes sense, but if they are in a real relationship, she would be willing, even after all this, to forgive him. After all, they have three children and a marriage that seems to be working just fine except for a few recent weeks which can be chalked up to insanity. How does it end for his wife? Her husband is completely gone and she is left with three children, no income, and a house with a mountain of mud in it making it almost impossible to resell without a significant amount of work. Sure, great ending.

If you can get over the complete abandonment of his family by Richard Dreyfuss' character, it makes a great movie, though. Everyone else's motivations and resolutions are perfect.

Duel -- 1971 -- PG

Gives road rage a whole new fearful meaning. This film follows a salesman as he goes to try a get an account. He takes a road trip and on the way, he passes an old ugly truck. Well, the truck passes him and then hits the brakes. The film is off.

This film equates to one really long suspenseful chase between the salesman and the truck (who is, incidentally, the antagoinst of the moive, not the driver of the truck). This does what movies do best: take a mundane everyday situation and blow it completely out of proportion, and it does it well.

Some minor complaints I had were quelled for the most part. I thought he should call the poice from the beginning, and thank the Lord the character touched upon the idea, but explained why he couldn't at the time. His later attempts to contact authorities were stifled by the truck's presence.

My only other possible complaint was that the whole thing could have been stopped if the guy just went back home. The truck was always waiting ahead of him on the road, so a simple move of turning around and kissing the account good-bye (or at least delivering a solid reason why he didn't show) would have been what I'd've done if I were being chased by a murderous truck. The account was made out to be very, very important, which is probably why he kept going.

This aside, for Spielberg's directoral debut, it was really good. It had a lot of suspense and kept me watching a truck and a car driving down a road for the 90 miute run time...and that is really saying something.

American Graffiti -- 1973 -- PG

This was George Lucas's second film following the bizarre THX-1138. This one followed a group of graduates on a single night before two of them were slated to go off to college. Cleverly scored by an all night radio station playing songs of the era, the character development and resolutions were downright perfect with clever twists and funny moments throughout. I had a little difficulty getting into some of the situation at the beginning, just because I couldn't relate, but once we got past that point, it was very good, and its success gave Lucas the money and clout he needed to produce his space movie a few years later. 

While the cast would have originally been headed by the star, Ron Howard, along with a slew of unknowns, almost every major member of the cast still has a movie career to this day (over 30 years later), only one of the top seven listed in IMDB not having a film out in 2005 and most with something in 2006. Beyond these top 7 (which include Richard Dreyfuss and Cindy Williams (Shirley from Laverne and Shirley)), we also have Harrison Ford hidden further down the list, and I believe he are aware of the bigger, better things he went onto including working for Lucas again on his space movie a few years later.

Overall, a very good movie with the elements it takes to make a good film.

Christmas With The Kranks -- 2004 -- PG

Based on the book entitled SKipping Christmas by John grisham (of all people), this is a film that deals with one extreme after another, and not always in a totally believable fashion.

The basic premise follows a couple whose daughter is gone, and so in order to save money, they opt to skip out of Christmas and take a cruise instead (saving them $3000 overall for the Christmas season). While the premise is clever enough, it is taken to such an extreme that believability falters in the presentation.

I can understand, perhaps, not doing a lot of the expensive things that makes Christmas such a great expendature, but they refuse to do the inexpensive and even free stuff just to be good neighbors or friends. They completely shut out the world in order to boycott Christmas, which did not strike me as the intention. Additionally, the wife is both ok and not ok with this throughout the film at times praising his genious and at other times condemning his stupidity but all the while playing along with his idea.

Many of the situations are funny and decent conceptions, but too many times, the jokes are not played out to their fullest potential. It's there and then gone.

It's difficult to say whether Tim Allen's character is supposed to be likable or not. He spends a fair amount of time being a Grinch, and one wonders whether he really enjoys Christmas as an annual occasion. Near the end, his personality begins flowing in one direction only to take a complete turn to complete an almost forgotten subplot and deliver the message of the film and get him his grand character development moment. It would have been more beautiful if he remained as he had been throughout the film instead of going more with the flow. 

Act III begins with a great twist to it that jump starts the momentum of the film and carries us to the end, but Act II almost gets dull with the continuous motion of "here's another Christmas tradition", "No", "here's another Christmas tradition", "No." And let's take a moment to prepare for the cruise, and back to the tradition-no routine. 

So, bottom line. Is this the greatest film the world has ever known? No. Does it make for an amusing film to watch with the family so laughs are shared and a good is had by all. Sure. The comedy is easy and funny. The story is easy to follow. It has a feel-good, sappy, Christmas-movie ending. So, if you want a film to just watch to escape another round of Rudolph. Here you go. If you're looking for an award-winning Christmas movie, time to put It's a Wonderful Life back in.

Evita -- 1996 -- PG

In 1996, this film was nominated for a dozen Oscars including best picture. It lost most of them against The English Patient. The English Patient!!! This movie was robbed. It won best song to which Andrew Lloyd Webber quipped, "I'm so glad the English Patient didn't have a song in it."

I admit to loving the musical long before I saw the movie. I've seen it on stage and have both the original recording as well as the Broadway version, so I am obviously going to be a critic of this one. The movie version was incredible. That which would translate was translated, and tht which wouldn't wasn't. They brought back some material that was cut from the stage that worked incredibly well in a new context.

One big change was the movement of "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" from the mistress of Peron to being sung by Eva. While some criticize this move, the mistress was nothing more than a mirror of Eva, and giving that much time to a non-character is ludicrous in a film. It worked on stage since it gave the actress playing Eva a break. The context it was placed in in the film worked very well though.

The new song continues to bring tears to my eyes every time I hear it. The actors do an amazing job with it, and allow that suspension of disbelief even though they sing through the whole thing. That's an accomplishment. The power surging through this story as it comes to the end is wonderful. It should have won Best Picture. It was robbed.

Hello Again -- 1987 -- PG

This was a cute little romantic comedy involving a woman who chokes to death and is broughtback to life by her transcendentalist sister who owns a shop of items such as crystal balls and books on myticism. Trouble is she was married and wasn't brought back until a year after her death giving her husband ample time to find himself a new life. The film follows her picking up the pieces of her life and working to move forward. Of course, there is a fair amount of jealousy and conflict from both hubby's new wife and everyone who doesn't believe she actually died.

This is a sweet little film and has plenty of laughs and goofiness along with some nice characters and a happy ending.

Over the Hedge -- 2006 -- PG

Dreamworks' most recent venture into the CG animation world gives us the story of a bunch of animals who wake up to find they're in the sole remaining part of the forest in the midst of a massive residential development. The goal here, oddly, is not to find a way out of this predicament, but to gather food for the winter. This plot not being enough to carry the film, we have an outsider to the group who shows them the wonders of the development and how much food there is to be had. He, of course, has his own agenda of gathering food for a homicidal bear that he stole the food from the begin with, but after endearing himself to this group of animals, he predicatably has second thoughts.

The film follows a classic kid fare plot of a dozen cute and distinct characters who move along for awhile, get betrayed, and then live happily ever after. That being said, though, it does have a multitude of funny moments that bring on more than a few laughs. The story's engaging enough to keep you going to the end (not to see how it ends, but to see the antics it takes to get there), it moves along at a really good pace, and it really doesn't leave any loose ends. The little hyper chipmunk character steals the show quite often and is wonderfully setup for his part in the climax.

So, this ranks as another film that isn't bad at all. If you want a good little film that leaves you feeling good in the end, this one does its job very well.

Lawrence of Arabia -- 1962 -- PG

This is the longest theatrical movie I know of topping off at 217 minutes (227 with the Overture, Entr'acte and Exit Music). The theatrical edition of Return of the King only runs 200 minutes (the extended edition run 250, making it the longest overall I know of). This movie was so long, there is an intermission scripted into the movie so people get a potty break at about 140 minutes into it.

NOTE: I did learn that The Ten Commandments clocks in at 220, so it is technically longer, but it doesn't have the music, so it could go either way depending on whether you want to count the music.

That aside, this movie is very well-paced. It flows easily from point to point and T.E. Lawrence's plight is well-conceived and believable. He is a man who came from the British army to Arabia and ends up uniting several warring Arabian tribes in an effort to place Arabia under their rules instead of Britain's. 

The only complaint I have is the unbelievably long (but picturesque) riding sequences. 30 minutes could have been cut from the final product if there weren't so many camels walking across the desert shots. There was a full 7 minutes devoted to a tribe leaving their village to go to war. It got real old real fast. 

Beyond this, however, it did earn a well-deserved best picture award in 1962, along with 6 others and proves to be overall a very good film.

Haunted Mansion -- 2003 -- PG

Haunted house movies are notorious for wanting to be creepy but rarely succeeding to any degree (Poltergeist and Amityville Horror being notable exceptions). Disney's contribution to this genre works very well, because they take away the character of the house and make it silly showing as I've always suspected that haunted house movies tend to be silly rather than scary. I was grateful for the silly departure from the norm, and they played with it well. 

While the characters are well rounded, their weaknesses were rather cliche. Workaholic dad. Attitude laden teen daughter. Family values going down the tube. Of course, their individual problems are all worke dout in the end, but in the meantime, we get a decent little storyline of intrigue as we tour the haunted mansion. This isn't life changing cinema; this is the movie you go to the cinema for to forget life.

The Incredibles -- 2004 -- PG

A family of superheroes tries to keep a low profile when another opportunity to save the world comes up forcing the parents back into action, and the children to use their powers productively for the first time.

This is an amusing tale of what happens when you try to be someone you're not. The father figure here tries to be "normal" but continually tries to find something that will allow him to be the hero he once was. This causes his wife to suspect any number of things especially when his contact is quite the sexy voice. One thing leads to another and while she finds no affair, she does find him mixed up in something bigger than both of them.

Pixar has become quite known for their solid Disney distributed films, and this one measures right up there with the others that have come before. Excellent plotting and character development along with a good amount of action for the short attention spanners give this movie something everyone can get into. Add to it the subplots and backstory, and this film comes highly recommended. This is not typical "cute" Disney fare. This is Pixar, and they have yet to not deliver a fine picture.

MirrorMask - 2005 -- PG

Ok, so take Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, and those Mind's Eye videos and toss them into a corner, and this film comes out. Got some incredible animation and visuals going on throughout. It was nothing short of surreal to watch it all play out.

The story got off to a slow start and even when we got into the other dream world, it still ran a bit slow for awhile. The pace started to pick up, though most of it was dialogue driven despite the incredible visuals. For the most part, the lead reacted to everything as opposed to leading the story, though she began to after awhile, which felt strangely unrealistic when she did take charge.

The overall tale was simplistic enough to not get lost in at all, though. It involves a girl whose mother goes in for surgery and when she sleeps, she dreams (or is it a dream?) of this other world inside her drawings. She ends up on a quest to find a charm to revive the sleeping queen of the light kingdom and prevent the shadow queen from taking over. Or is she taking over? It holds enough interest to keep us going to the very end, though, and was quite fun to watch.

In the end, I find that I did like it, though I was afraid of it being too cliche or dumbed down. It definitely doesn't top the list of the best, but it was a pretty good watch if you're looking for something.

The Wedding Date -- 2005 -- PG

Another formulaic romantic comedy I was subjected to. This one had yet another creative twist to the old formula in which a woman goes to her half-sister's wedding, and in order to make her ex jealous (he is the best man), she hires an escort to be her date. 

There was more drama than comedy in this movie, and I was pleasantly surprised to get an unexpected plot twist at the end of the second act leading to the mandatory separation of the lovers before the final reconciliation at the end. The climax of the movie worked briliantly and though it is only 78 minutes of movie, it only means that the film had a good editor and director to keep the pacing up.

Overall, not too bad.

Zathura -- 2005 -- PG

Well, I can say that seeing this movie has made Jumanji more intriguing than it ever has been since it's by the same author and such. That being said...

This was a clever little movie that provides a ton of good character moments and some decent lessons to boot. The space effects are really good and it was amusing to see the house get destroyed bit by bit as the movie wore onward. I imagine the filmmakers had fun destroying this little thing. I learned afterwards that the house was a model rather than CG, so that just ups the fun factor on destroying it.

The film was not without its nuisances. The most irritating was after they figured out that playing the game would probably get them home, they played the game less and less and focused on running around the house as it was blown apart. The youngest would be told over and over to take his turn and he would continually refuse in a clear attempt to prolong the story. I just know that I would be going every turn every chance I got...and I would NOT under any circumstance throw the game down in an effort to break it. It got annoying, but fortunately the fun of the movie made up for it.

That's really all I have to say on that one. It worked well for me with a decent lesson behind it. It also helped at the end that it "really" happened for everyone involved.

The Stepford Wives -- 1975 -- PG

This is the 1975 cult classic that was recently remade. This was a weird movie and definitely deserves its cult status, since it isn't for everyone. We spend a lot of time getting to know the town and the characters, but little by little weird stuff starts happening. Soon the heroine's friends start changing and she gets really suspcious of what is going on. 

I can't say I liked how it ended, but I will say this is a good movie. I really felt for the main character and her plight and concerns. I was definitely interested in following the story as it unfolded, and genuinely curious of the weirdness going on.

Willow -- 1988 -- PG

This little side bar project of George Lucas is a nice little fantasy film. It occasionally lags with the characters taking an inexplicable amount of time to accomplish things. It's not so much that there is a lot of screen time, but there are a few overnight things that made me wonder why these things would take so long. And then this Queen Bavmorda tries to instill a sense of urgency that her staff never delivers. Val Kilmer's character is never fully developed and his love interest is equally thin. The ritual is convoluted at best and though it factors into the final climax, we are left to pick up the pieces as to how.

It's a fun little quest movie that is better if you just let it flow and don't put too much thought into it.

Time Bandits -- 1981 -- PG

A group of short robbers have stolen a map that allows them to travel through time and space via "holes" in the fabric of time. They want to use this to steal valuable things, but the Supreme Being is on their tail wanting the map back. They inadvertently kidnap a boy who helps them on their adventures.

This film was written by Monty Python alums Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, and then directed by Terry Gilliam. The Python influence is extremely obvious throughout the film as each time serves as a tableau sketch in time-honored Python style. The film has some extremely funny moments, as could be expected, and other moments that are just silly, as could also be expected. A ton of classic Python moments carry over from their earlier films, notably their apparent love of medieval settings, people being hit for no apparent reason, and a character who blows up others by pointing (remember "Tim" from the Holy Grail?). They even brought in John Cleese to get half the Python team in this movie.

It flows well, has plenty of conflict between the theives and the boy as well as a fair amount of compassion and respect as they move along. 

While their travel to the dark tower is a little contrived as well as the conflict as they reach it a bit forced, the pace does keep up and the visuals are great for the time. The ending does leave something to be desired as it leaves us wanting for something, despite the idea of "no one listens to their kids" playing out graphically.

Overall, the picture is a good watch if you don't might the ridiculous and occasionally irreverent humor that the Monty Python crew is notorious for. It moves quickly and was written with kids in mind, so it works well also for those short attention spanned tykes too.