All the King's Men (2006)

Hmm. I have to say I was hoping for a bit more than this. Although everyone turned in wonderful performances (in a movie set in the south, most of the lead actors are British... amusing), the whole movie felt a bit flat. It was a good film, but it wasn't a great one. 3 stars.

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Plot: An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.

Wow. This was an interesting movie, although I was really unsure what was actually happening. Heh. Actual plot details baffled me. I'm not sure if this is the same exact animation style they used in Waking Life - if so, I'm getting used to it, because I really liked it here. It felt amazingly real. I kept actually forgetting it was a cartoon. Robert Downey Jr was the most interesting character in the entire movie, no question. It was also one of those movies that even though I wasn't sure what was happening (and no doubt smarter people than me will be able to figure it out) it was still interesting to watch. 3.5 stars.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

Plot: When a litter of dalmatian puppies are abducted by the minions of Cruella De Vil, the parents must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement.

Quite a cute movie... and I don't think Disney's ever written a villain quite as great as Cruella. 3 stars.

Air Force One (1997)

Plot: Hijackers seize the plane carrying the President of the United States and his family, but he (an ex-soldier) works from hiding to defeat them.

Pretty good movie, although certainly not perfect. Very solidly interesting. 3 stars.

A Sound of Thunder (2005)

Plot: When a hunter sent back to the prehistoric era runs off the path he must not leave, he causes a chain reaction that alters history in disastrous ways.

Teehee. Such silliness this is. Loosely based on a Ray Bradbury story that I absolutely loved, this goofy little action flick is full of plotholes and cheesy dialogue. However, I have to admit I enjoyed it more than most action/adventure flicks. It does have a good premise (hello, Bradbury!) even if it then does slice it up so that it's harder to tell it's a good premise. Pretty mindless fun, but nothing in the least special. 2.5 stars.

A Time To Kill (1996)

Plot: A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

Except for the ending, which I hardly find just, this was a fairly decent movie - well-acted, melodramatic in all the right ways. I will say I groaned through most of the summation speech, thinking, "What kind of thing is that to do to a jury?" but then there was that final statement that I found very powerful. It honestly made it worth all the previous sap. This movie is also really, really long. But still . . . pretty good. 2.5 stars.

Adventures in Baby-sitting (1987)

Plot: Chris has a big night out planned when her boyfriend cancels on her. She agrees to babysit for a pre-teen girl and a pubescent boy. She's settled in for a dull night when a girlfriend calls her to say she's marooned at a downtown bus station with very seedy characters around. The three plus one of the boy's friends get into the parents station wagon for a trip to the inner city. All is well till the flat tire.

Heh... good fluff is . . . well, good. (Hmm. There's something wrong with the simplicity of that statement.) This was an entirely fluffy movie but it was well done and had several moments that made me chuckle. The outright absurdity of it was rather delightful. I particularly liked the shot in the bus station at the beginning where the creepy guy keeps grinning at Brenda and showing her he's got a gun. I just started giggling at that point. It was a little over the top in places, but it didn't get too annoying at all. And besides . . . IT'S ANTHONY RAPP! That's him as that obnoxious Darryl kid. Yup, 'at's one of my Voices right there. Honestly, that was why I got this movie. Because I'm obsessed with seeing all my Voices in as many movies as I can. (See also A Beautiful Mind and School of Rock, two other movies I got for the express purpose of seeing a Voice in there.) 3.5 stars.

Along Came a Spider (2001)

Ooh. A nice intelligent thriller. So refreshing. The villains were intelligent, the little girl was intelligent... none of those moments that made me go, "YOU IDIOT! *Why* did you just do that?" I also didn't catch on too early, not until right when I was supposed to. I'm now going to have to look up the first one in the series and see if I can watch that one next. 3 stars.

And Then There Were None (1945)

Maybe it was just me, but this movie made me go, "Huh?" I mean, I can accept changing the book so that we do have someone left alive at the end. I mean, Christie herself did that when she wrote it as a play. But... they changed EVERYTHING. None of those characters I came to know and... well, maybe not love, but at least know... survived the transition to movie. Too bad... because this really is a brilliant story. 1.5 stars.

Back to the Future Part II (1989)

This one is more of a "mess-with-your-mind" comedy than the first one was. I had to watch it about three times before I figured out all the time travel explanations. Still funny, but the first one was better. 3 stars.

Agent Cody Banks (2003)

Plot: A government agent trains Cody Banks in the ways of covert operations that require younger participants.

Back in April, I heard about this movie, and I thought, "Hmm. That could be either really stupid, or really funny." It was the latter. The key to making kids' spy movies is to not take it seriously. This makes fun of itself with every move. It's always fun to watch movies where you *know* the actors are having a blast playing their melodramatic, overhyped characters. Definitely a great movie. 3 stars.

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

One of the greatest old comedies, I can't watch this without laughing. Just the premise is hysterical. So much of the movie rests on plot, though, I can't give anything away in this review, except . . . . you have to rent it and see it, even if you don't care for old movies. 5 stars.

All the President's Men (1976)

Oooh. Good movie. I knew virtually nothing about Watergate, but now I consider myself well-educated. :-) This movie had some of the most natural dialogue I have ever seen. Somehow it just felt real. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman were excellent together as the two reporters who broke the story. Definitely a good movie . . . especially considering it's based on a true story. Often that signals "BLAH" loud and clear, but this was a definite exception. 4.5 stars.