The quick summary is: don't waste your money. Don't go see it in the theater, don't rent it (even if you have NetFlix), and certainly don't buy it! The only exception to this rule that I can see is that if you see it coming up on cable and you …

I don't do a lot of real book reviews, because I do a lot of my "reading" on my iPod. However, when I heard about Churchill's Folly:How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq by Christopher Catherwood and heard the author interviewed, I was intrigued. Now, up front I'll state that …

Will Smith stars in the namesake of Isaac Asimov's classic book of short stories, I, Robot. I say namesake, because even the credits admit that this film is "suggested by" the book. With that said, on its own, the film is ok. I say "ok", because I didn't find the …

I'd violated my usual rule and read a number of reviews before going to see Spider-Man 2, so I was expecting a surprisingly good movie. However, I've been seeing a lot of "art" films and so an action flick was pretty appealing. Short answer: the critics are right, this movie …

In summary, like former first lady Nancy Reagan used to say, "Just say no!". I was wondering why this movie had gotten no advertising, and I believe the answer is now clear: they didn't want to spend a dollar more than they had already spent to get the film in …

I had no idea what to expect when we went in to see Big Fish. The film is the latest work by acclaimed, but eccentric, director Tim Burton (of Batman, Edward Scissorhands, and Nightmare Before Christmas fame). But, is it any good? I certainly thought so, but it wasn't what …

The capsule summary is that this film is at least as good as its reviews say. I had heard about Calendar Girls a few weeks back and Carol and I decided to go see it during the week in order to get a break and brighten things up. Brighten things …

If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one better than the second one. For one thing, it is shorter, for another, it actually has an ending (as opposed to a "to be continued" from the second one). All in all, it was a fitting end, but I …

Runaway Jury is the latest John Grisham book to be made into a movie, and by some accounts this movie may even best the book. I haven't read the book, so I can't make a first hand comparison, but unless it was quite good, there's a decent shot because the …

Let me be the latest reviewer to jump on the bandwagon for Seabiscuit and give it a strong recommendation. The horse tale where "our horse is too small, our jockey is too big, our trainer is too old, and [the owner] is too stupid to know the difference" is a …

Do you ever get that feeling that you didn't see the same movie that everybody else did? That's certainly the case for me after reading reviews of Lara Croft Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life. I don't know what these people saw, but I want to see that movie, because …

Winged Migration (or Le Peuple migrateur, as it was originally titled) is a wonderful film from France about the migration of birds. Lasting 98 minutes, it is one of the shorter films that we've seen this year, and certainly the most documentary of them. The photography is absolutely breathtaking (to …

Whatcha gonna do when a sequel like Bad Boys II comes out? Well, that's going to depend on how much you believe in the chemistry between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. If you liked the two in the first movie, Bad Boys, you will probably like them in this one …

There was not much extraordinary about the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It wasn't as extraordinarily bad as The Hulk, but I wouldn't suggest wasting the time or the money unless you want to see Sean walk through a part. One of the biggest problems with this film is that it …

It's a movie based on an old, technologically un-savvy, animatronic ride at Disney World, how much can it really have to offer? The answer is surprising: 2 hours and 23 minutes of raucous fun. Pirates of the Caribbean:The Curse of the Black Pearl may not be up for any …

As part of our July 4th celebrations, we went to see Whale Rider, a fine new import film from New Zealand, starring a cast of mostly untested, mostly Maori actors. In short, unless you hate dramas with a passion, find a theater that is showing this film and go and …

On Tuesday, before T3 and the other holiday films got into the theaters, we went to see 28 Days Later. Any film that is described as a "zombie movie" starts out with big question marks, but this film stands out in the genre as having some real thought put into …

I have to admit that I entered the theater for Terminator 3 with a somewhat heavy heart. As usual, I had avoided most of the reviews, but there was something about the advertising campaign (or lack thereof) that concerned me about this film. I'm not sure if it was the …

Mike and I went to see Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle last night at the Metreon in downtown San Francisco. Nice theater, by the way, but the movie isn't going on my list of must-see films. I will admit up front that I enjoyed the first Charlie's Angels film. It was …

It took me almost 5 days to make it through J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, however, it was concentrated in a total of five reading sessions: 350 pages on the plane, 3 sessions of about 45 pages each at the hotel and the marathon …