Az's Movie Review Section 2006

Lassie
Quite a sad story at times and has some beautiful moments and many dark ones too.  Features Nicolas Lyndhurst as a bad guy, but I can't think of him as anyone but Rodney Trotter.  I thought more could have been made of Lassies journey home, but enjoyed everything I saw.  The dogs used in the film were beautiful.

Just Like Heaven
Great film with some very funny moments and some very emotional moments.  A very well paced film that went out with more of a fizzle than a bang which was a shame, otherwise perfect!

Fun With Dick And Jane
A typical Jim Carey movie which had many funny moments.  No real stand out moments like in Bruce Almighty but an enjoyable film none the less.  It was nice to see Jim Carey in what is possibly his most normal role yet, with a few silly moments but not out and out caricature.

Zathura
I'm told that this is basically Jumanji in space.  Not having seen Jumanji I'm afraid I can't comment on that but I can say that this was a great movie, it zipped along at just the right pace and was written very realistically.  The kids were great and everything just felt right.  Can't complain about this film at all.  Much better than I expected!

Chicken Little
Many things to say about this film.  Patrick Stewart pops up voicing a character at one point and the soundtrack is fantastic (Will soon be buying that I bet!)  The film itself didn't take itself seriously at all, like some Disney films do.  Was very cute until it went all War of the Worlds.  It went a bit weird there but thankfully you could see where they were going quite quite quickly.  Liked the reference to other films such as King Kong, War of the Worlds, Signs, Lion King and more.

Rumour Has It
Starring Jennifer Aniston and involves the plot of The Graduate story / film to a certain degree.  A very gentle story that was very pleasing to watch which wrapped itself up very neatly.  Never could guess where the story was going.  Jennifer Aniston's character did remind me a lot of Rachel from friends however.  More so than anything else I've seen her play I think.

Final Destination 3
Followed the format of the original without much deviation.  Has the same comedy deaths as the original but has drawn out some of the death scenes to agonizing lengths.  The sun bed death scenes made me cringe for what seemed like forever.  Not out and out scary, more cringeworthy but I will admit to being a little jumpy when I left the cinema.  Although the ending may seem a little rushed to some, I like the way they did it.

Big Momma's House 2
I wasn't sure I was going to like this comedy before I saw it.  To be honest its a little far fetched but on the other hand the film isn't taking itself seriously at all.  The film provided plenty of laughs and some nice sentimental moments also.  I definitely wouldn't mind seeing this film again!

Date Movie
It was very good to see Alyson Hannigan in the lead role of a movie, I hope she can shake off the American Pie and Buffy image to get some good roles.  However this movie isn't going to help much.  It raised a few smiles but not much more, which is a shame.  I expected this film to be pretty unexciting but I was hoping to be proved wrong.  Unfortunately I wasn't.

V for Vendetta
Although I am slightly confused about the entire back story for the film, the year that passes during the film is however very exciting.  Although it was quite obvious what the outcome of the film would be, well to anyone seeing the trailer it was the journey was quite an interesting one with nice effects and with an authentic feeling England in the future.  Look forward to seeing this on DVD to ensure I'm clear on the backstory.

Inside Man
Inside Man was an interesting film a I was never sure where it was going next.  The main part of the film was about a bank robbery.  The last thirty minutes were about tying up all the loose ends of the film.  Not everything was tied up in a neat little package however which meant the plot got a little bit complicated at the very end as I tried to work out who was actually who in the whole scheme of things.  Maybe movies are getting a little more complicated, or I'm becoming more easily confused!  Like the the film however.

Ice Age 2:The Meltdown
A great animated film with a nice happy, if slightly predictable ending.  Some nice humour and a touching end to the film.  Not as good as the Shrek films but definitely towards the top of the animated film table.

Firewall
A clever film about a high tech bank robbery.  Whilst I wasn't as impressed with this film as I was with Inside Man, it was still a very enjoyable film, its certainly possible that I may have raved about this film much more if it wasn't in Inside Mans shadow.

Alien Autopsy
A very lame title and if it wasn't starring Ant and Dec then I most probably wouldn't have gone to see the film.  That would have been a shame as it was very good, there was a good script, acted very well.  Finished quite nicely and there were plenty of laughs in the middle too.  Enjoyed this one a lot.

Scary Movie 4
Scary Movie was extremely funny in the trailers and to be fair it does have some very funny moments but these are more suited to a sketch show environment than a feature film.  That said it is probably the second best of the Scary Movie films (the original being the best).  Watchable, just.

American Dreamz
Any show that blows up Hugh Grant (playing a Simon Cowell character) can't be all bad.  The film is pretty good all the way through in fact.  You can tell where the film is leading to and offers an obvious ending quite early on but in good film style something completely different happens and it isn't the nice saccharine ending you'd expect.  Many laughs to be had on the way too.

X-Men: The Last Stand
Arguably not the best film in the trilogy but a very good film none the less and I thought it was a bold move killing off some of the main characters from the previous movies at various different points in the film, for whatever reason.  The film looked like it may be in danger of fizzing out towards the end but thankfully this didn't happen.  I did find the flashback at the start of the film a bit confusing, it did seem a bit tacked on and something that could have been done slightly better.  Apart from these minor points I loved this film.

The Da Vinci Code
Its hard to judge how good this film is on its own.  As a companion to the book it worked quite nicely, sticking closely to the original plot.  The actors seemed to fit their roles quite well.  Obviously there were bits missed out from the book, as is the nature of film.  That said however as one who read the book quite a while ago, I enjoyed the film.  Whether I would enjoy the film, or even particularly understand the plot if I hadn't read the book I don't know.  Likewise I'm glad I haven't read the book recently.

Poseidon
Not much to say to this one except that its a classic disaster movie.  Set on a ship, will they escape or won't they?  Of course some of them escape but not all of them, it was quite easy to predict the plot turns but I have to admit I was on the edge of my seat a number times.  I don't remember the original enough to make comparisons, but I bet it didn't use anywhere near as much CGI!  I wonder how much of that boat was actually built for filming.

The Wild
Great animated film, draws an obvious comparison with Madagascar as the storyline is similar.  I think Eddie Izzard as the Koala stole the show.  Had everything, a cute storylines, cute characters, plenty of laughs and a happy ending.  Not as great as Shrek but not too far short.

United 93
Telling the story of the fateful flight of United 93 on September 11th 2001.  Played in real time, included many of the air traffic controllers playing themselves also.  Gripping from the start it has everything except a happy ending.  Based on truth but obviously a lot had to be speculated as not much is known about the flight, that said it was totally believable and harrowing.

Over The Hedge
Very cute animated film from Dreamworks.  Lots of famous names including Bruce Willis, William Shatner, Nick Nolte, Avril Lavigne and more.  Whilst not laugh a minute there were plenty of good laughs in there and had a very nice, (and as with all kids films) predictable ending.

Just My Luck
Absolutely loved this film, it was a great feel good film.  It has all the classic ingredients for a cheesy films but is actually a lot fun.  Lindsey Lohan played her character well so that you liked her and followed her both when she was lucky and unlucky. McFly were also great.

Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Mans Chest
Like a number of people I have spoken to, I had trouble remembering the plot of the original film but this didn't stop me enjoying this film that had many humorous parts in it, mostly delivered by Johnny Depp's character.   It was a good film but lacked something, I'm not completely sure what though.  Am looking forward to seeing the next film in the series however.

Superman Returns
Featuring some great special effects and CGI, particularly evident in the opening title sequence.  The film was an enjoyable one that perhaps paid a little too much attention to the relationships of Superman and Lois Lane and the people in her life, without actually seeming to conclude anything.  There was plenty of action in the film, which used the original music for the title sequences.  A good film, but I wasn't blown away like I was with the recent Batman film.

The Break Up
An amusing film most of the way through with a rather unexpected ending.  I'm a sucker for a feel-good ending in films and when this film didn't deliver it, the film seemed to be a lot darker on reflection, which I wasn't really expecting from a film selling itself as a comedy.  Other than the ending I enjoyed it though.

Garfield 2
Featuring a plethora of star voices, which at times distracted you from the film as you were trying desperately to put voice to name.  Billy Connolly was rather funny during the film. At first I thought the film was going to be an Americans stereotyped view of the UK, but it steered away from this, which I was glad about.  A kids film, but a good one with a nice ending.

Cars
To be honest I went in to the cinema expecting to see a good film and what I got was possibly my favourite film of all time.  Cars is spectacular visually and it has a nice story too. Simply great, so good in fact I want to go and see it again! (and we did)

Stormbreaker
A not too bad film in the James Bond for kids genre.  Had nice touches but the film was lacking that certain something to make it a great film.  However I may be slightly clouded in my judgment as we saw this straight after seeing Cars.  A good film, not a great one though.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend
A good comedy film that didn't feature any great surprises in the plot but did keep us amused all the way through.  Eddie Izzard made a surprisingly good villain, I wasn't sure he would to start with, but not for long.  That said there wasn't that much villain stuff going on to be honest, not compared to normal super hero films.  There was a good sound track going on as well, as far as I remember.

Hoodwinked
A rather amusing animated film which had an amusing sense of humour too it and featured many characters from nursery rhymes.  The structure didn't quite work for me, maybe because I had seen plenty of trailers for the film and knew what was to come.  The start of the film showed an incident through a number of characters eyes, one after the other.  Overall an amusing film I enjoyed.

Click
This Adam Sandler movie started off quite amusingly, especially when he can't work out which remote control works which household appliance which is kind of central to the film as he goes and gets a universal remote that lets him control his life a bit better and to start with he has fun but then it starts to take over and it starts to get a bit deep for a little bit but the film rescues it before it gets too heavy.  Don't waste your life I guess the message is.

World Trade Center
I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting from this film, but the film I saw was not it.  It was very emotional as you'd expect but concentrated very little on the events of the day and more on the cops that were trapped alive and their families, who didn't know if they were alive or not.  I didn't know that they got to the center so late, I think I was expecting there to be more heroics before the collapses, but that's irrelevant.  A Powerful film.

Open Season
One of the better animated films I have seen recently but is still nowhere near as good as Cars.  Plenty of humour in the film, especially towards the end of the film when the hunters get their inevitable come upance.

The History Boys
Grange Hill with balls, if you want it in one.  A coming of age film which is rare in actually being very good.  Follows kids in a sixth form in the 80's in an uncomplicated, very amusing way as they try and gain entrance to Oxford University.  Thoroughly enjoyable.

The Prestige
We saw this in the US.  A very good film that for me got a little bit hard to follow at one or two points but totally gripping.  Also featured Michael Cain.

Casino Royale
Probably the best Bond film by miles.  The new Bond Daniel Craig plays the role well, exactly what the film required and how previous Bond films should have been in my humble opinion.