Movie reviews

This is a very well made crime drama starring John Leguizamo as two characters Dante Mendoza and his twin brother Perfecto.

It starts off with a seemingly ordinary day where a cop Alberto Santana played by Benny Nieves and his partner Joe Bruno played by the stalwart Harvey Keitel (Pulp Fiction), have come to wish Alberto's daughter Celeste a happy birthday, as Alberto , his wife Gina played by Diane Venora (The 13th Warrior) and Celeste are walking arm in arm towards Celeste's present, a gunman from nowhere turns up and shoots Alberto point blank, then hands Celeste a pamphlet that reads "A Message from the Lord".

We meet Celeste several years later who is now a police officer and played by the gorgeous Florencia Lozano (One Life to Live, she looks very much like Matt Parkman's wife in Heroes), and whose partner is none other than her father's partner Joe. She is still very bitter at not having caught the murderer of her father, who also at the same time period that her father was killed, killed two businessmen that had committed insurance fraud, where a fire is set to dilapidated buildings in order to collect the insurance money.

In turns out that a similar murder has just taken place with the trademark of "The Ministers" where two armed men wearing a hairy face mask, enter a drug fueled neighbourhood and proceed to shoot all the men they encounter, but leave the women as witnesses, with one of them quoting scripture to her as his partner kills the others.

Celeste is extremely keen on taking the case, much to the despair of her boss, Captain Diaz played by Wanda De Jesus (Blood Work), as well as Joe. Joe on the other hand feels a little guilty for the death of his partner after so many years, and the last thing he would like is for Celeste to put herself in danger, when he has ingrained himself into their family, and considers her his daughter.

Matters come to an interesting twist when one of the twin brothers responsible for killing her father Dante, takes a liking to her and proceeds to charm his way into her life, first by offering to fix her car which has broken down, if she will go out on a date with him, he asks her if she has a jack, she says no, then he says that would mean extra, as in dinner instead of a date, he then asks her if she has a spare tyre, she says no, and he says that could mean dancing and maybe more.

The other twin Perfecto who has the upper hand amongst the two, is still intent on revenge for the harm that has been done to him, while Dante would like to put the past to rest, seeing he is falling for Celeste, but as things go, it is clear things will never be this straight forward.

John Leguizamo is impressive in both roles, playing the more level headed of the twins Dante charmingly, as well as the psychotic and jealous twin Perfecto in equal measure. The suspense will keep the audience at the edge of their seat, on how it all pans out.

Labels: crime, drama, film review, film reviews, films, Florencia Lozano, Harvey Keitel, John Leguizamo, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, romance, romantic, suspense, The Ministers, thriller, Wanda De Jesus

This is a very enjoyable comedy starring the legendary Chevy Chase (Caddyshack II) as Henry Perkins, an accountant who is a little tired of his current financial state.

He happens to come across a briefcase containing five million dollars (after mistaking the briefcase for his own in a train) he realises that the briefcase is not his, and contains this large amount of money while at a pub, and rushes to the toilet to verify the amount. Thinking he deserves some good fortune he takes the case home to his wife Carol, played by the lovely Penelope Ann Miller (Kindergarten Cop), he suspects the case belongs to a criminal organisation who he surmises would have his briefcase with all his details, and suggests to his wife that they go on vacation, permanently. Seeing that it is Friday, Henry reckons the criminal organisation will not be on to him until Monday at least, giving him and his wife enough time to run away to Barcelona.

Unfortunately the case belongs to a member of an European mafia gang, and the unlucky fellow who mistakenly took Henry's case, on bringing it to his leader is shot and dumped in the local river (along with Henry's case but not before the leader of the gang takes his business card with his phone number). As expected the gang are very keen on getting the case back.

Matters get complicated when a plain clothes policeman Genero played by Armand Assante (Gotti) notices Henry at the pub rush into the toilet, and he assumes he goes in there to solicit men, so he follows Henry home to extract some money from him. Henry seeing the policeman assumes this is about the case and pretends he is Henry's brother from Australia, with his neighbours (who have come for lunch) Vic played by Christopher McDonald (Requiem for A Dream) and his wife Virginia played by the lovely Rebecca Wisocky having to play along as Henry's relatives.

Matters get complicated further when another policeman Denis Slater played by the always funny Kevin Sussman (Hitch) comes to the house to ask Carol to come along with him to identify the body of someone who is assumed is her husband, (since he had his briefcase when he was fished from the river), however everyone simply dismisses his request even asking him to make tea, much to his frustration. Henry is forced again to adapt and somehow convince his wife, Genero and the taxi driver, Angel played by Guy Torry (America History X) he has hired to drive him and his wife to the airport; to play along in order not to land him in trouble with the law, all the while the malevolent Mr Big is closing in on Henry's home.

There is a hilarious segment when the leader of the gang, Mr Big played by Zoltan Butuc (Sex Traffic) eventually gets hold of someone when he phones Henry's number (since he took his briefcase with all his details in it, and rightly guessed the other person had theirs), and tries to blurt out "briefcase" when he calls him, much to the amusement of Carol as his accent, believable as it is, adds a very amusing twist to the pronunciation.

It is a genuinely great comedy with superb comedy timing all through, many people will enjoy.

Labels: Armand Assante, Chevy Chase, Christopher McDonald, comedy, film review, film reviews, films, Funny Money, Kevin Sussman, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Penelope Ann Miller, Rebecca Wisocky, Zoltan Butuc

This is a very strange crime drama, starring Nicholas Cage (Next) as Detective Terence McDonagh, investigating the murder of a Senegalese family during Hurricane Katrina.

We meet Terence and his side kick Stevie Pruit played by Val Kilmer (Tombstone) in a prison where a convict is pleading with them to help him get out of the flooding jail he is trapped in, from their ridicule of the plight of the convict, we realise Terence and Stevie are not exactly upright holders of the law. Terence going against his behaviour so far, and facing ruin of his expensive undergarments jumps into the filthy water in what we assume is to save the drowning convict, the scene cuts to Terence at the doctor's where he is told he must be on medication from now on, for injuring his back, Terence asks if he will be on medication for ever, the doctor's facial expressions gives the game away, even though he says there are great advances being made in dealing with such conditions, you realise Terence will have to be on medication for the rest of his life for his bad back; and indeed throughout the rest of the movie he walks with an obvious painful haunch.

It turns out Terence is not only hooked on the prescription medication he is taking for his bad back, but also hooked on a lot more harder drugs, which he gets from anywhere he can, first by stopping party goers and going through their belongings to find any narcotics, and from his girlfriend who is also a prostitute Frankie Donnenfeld, played by Eva Mendes (Hitch).

Despite his indiscretions, Terence doesn't stop being a policeman, and he seems to make amends for his obvious imperfections, by following through with whatever task he has been laden with as an upholder of the law, in this case to find and bring to book the murderer of the Senegalese family.

To aide him bring the main suspect Big Fate (played by Xzibit) to book, he has found a witness Daryl, played by Denzel Whitaker (Forrest Whitaker's son, and Carter in Brothers and Sisters), who he has to protect until the case goes to trial. Unfortunately things are not so straight forward. Frankie has been ripped off by a customer until Terence using his power and reputation as a police officer to get the customer to pay Frankie. It turns out the customer is connected to the mob and they are set to extract the amount he paid as well as "interest", or else Frankie and Terence would be in a heap of trouble.

Added to this, things are not going so well for Frankie, as his behaviour has landed him into being scrutinized by Internal Affairs, which is not helped with his drug addiction.

It is a strange tale of crime and addiction from the point of view of one whose job is to uphold the law, and the question of our protagonist being able to redeem himself seeing he is as criminal as the criminals he chases, is what holds the suspense together.

Labels: crime, Denzel Whitaker, drama, drugs, Eva Mendes, film review, film reviews, films, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Nicholas Cage, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, thriller, Val Kilmer, Xzibit

This is a very well acted, drama with Isaiah Washington (Dr. Preston Burke in Grey's Anatomy) as a catholic priest Father Andre James, who has come to a new school with some hidden secrets.

It turns out his predecessor has gone missing without any explanation for quite some time, hence the principal of the school Father William Jennings played by the gravely voiced Robert Loggia (Funny Money) has asked his old friend, Father Andre James to step in and fulfil the previous priest's duties. Father James on the other hand has to impress the priests already there, notably Father Thomas Peters played by the stalwart Bob Gunton (Warden Norden in the Shawshank Redemption), and Father Alfred McKavee played by John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox in Star Trek: Enterprise).

There are the usual antics going on in an all male boarding school, or indeed any school for that matter, bullying, disrespect for their teachers, and looking at indecent magazines. Father James has to run the gauntlet of impressing not just the boys in the school but also his fellow clergymen, and in the midst of this tries to reach out to help one particular boy Parker Remy, played by Jordan Garrett who is a little cut-off from the rest of the boys, and is on medication. Father James would like to know the issues behind this , and would like to help the boy in any way he can. There is a lovely scene where the new priest tries to gain come camaraderie with Parker and the boys in general, he sits at Parker's table during lunch, and asks if the food is any good, Parker replies that it is not, Father James then says food this bad is only good for one thing, and soon afterwards a food fight erupts, with Father James in the midst of it, much to his embarrassment when the other priests walk in on the scene.

There is also a scene that elaborates the problems the boys are going through, with Father James joining in a basketball match where Jason Boyd (played by Andrew Lawrence), the local bully is leading the team, in their jostle for the ball Father James is knocked down, whereupon Jason says they are all fighting to get into the same schools, and to get the same grades, and if anyone is in their way, they get pushed aside.

Isaiah Washington's performance is mesmerising, and he goes deep into the character, blending effortlessly with the prayer rituals, and trying to help the boys at the school, and at the same time trying to defend his actions in front of his superiors and fellow priests.

There is a particularly poignant scene where Father James stays in the room of Parker after Parker asks him to; on account of being scared, on leaving the room the next morning, he is spotted by Father Peters, and brought in front of the Principal, where he is made aware that such actions could be deemed reckless if the press ever got hold of it, and its implied connotations could easily ruin a lifetime's work.

This is one of the first movie of its kind that deals with the difficult and painful subjects of abuse from the point of view of the priests, it is handled respectfully all through.

Labels: Andrew Lawrence, Bob Gunton, child abuse, drama, film review, film reviews, films, Isaiah Washington, John Billingsley, Jordan Garrett, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, priest, Robert Loggia, The Least of These

This is lovely animation that is every child's fantasy.

It follows an inventor Flint Lockwood played by Bill Hader (Knocked Up), who has been inventing items no one really wanted, and couldn't find a useful purpose for, such as shoes without shoelaces; that unfortunately he is unable to remove, as well as flying rats, a thought translator for a monkey called Steve; played by Neil Patrick Harris (Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay),which has become his pet and his right-hand man for his projects, as well as a television that walks.

What adds to the hilarity is that all through the movie parts of his inventions make little cameos, the flying rats are never too far away, as well as the walking television.

Flint lives in a small town called Swallow "underneath the A of the Atlantic" that is known for its sardines, its sardines are found everywhere for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the town mayor Shelbourne played by Bruce Campbell (Spider-Man 3) is trying to boost tourism by having a Swallow Sardines theme park complete with the original promoter of Swallow Sardines "Baby Brent" played by Andy Samberg, who has now grown but is still riding on his reputation.

Flint tries to invent a machine that makes food by simply adding water, but his dad Jim played by James Caan (Las Vegas) is tired of his many inventions that have so far served no meaningful purpose, and would like him to give it up to start working with him at the local family shop that sells Swallow Sardines.

Flint agrees to work with his father, but does not concede defeat. At the opening ceremony of Swallow Sardines theme park, he puts the finishing touches to his invention but manages to destroy the theme park in the process, much to the anger of the local policeman Earl Devereaux played by Mr T. (for some strange reason he seems to move around in acrobatics), but as luck would have it, his invention is blown away into the clouds, soon afterwards it starts to rain hamburgers. Everyone is fascinated as to how this came about, especially a news reporter Sam Sparks played by Anna Faris (F.A.Q about time travel) who has just started her new job, and meets Flint. Flint realising his invention works, tells Sam that it was his plan all along (to impress her).

Soon the magic of the movie takes shape with Flint being able to order anything from his base where his device in the clouds causes it to rain said product, be it eggs and ham, bread, toast, any food that can be thought of, is rained down.

The mayor realising the potential of a town that rains food (and getting overly accustomed to it) invites everyone in the world to Swallow, where they can have any food they want, simply rained down from above, he realises this will boost the town's tourism and put Swallow on the map.

Flint's dad on the other hand sees something very wrong with a device that just brings food from the sky, and tells him it doesn't feel natural, unlike his sardine business which has to be manually compressed into a tin, but Flint is caught up in the acceptance of his invention and the super hero status he has now cultivated after years of ridicule, so dismisses any worries with the device.

It has come classic scenes, especially where Flint is trying to get his dad to operate his computer. It is a unique and lovely movie the whole family will enjoy, especially the image of all kinds of food raining down from the sky.

Labels: animation, Anna Faris, Bill Hader, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, comedy, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, funny, James Caan, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Neil Patrick Harris, romance, romantic

This is a fascinating crime drama, starring the dependable Eric Roberts (Final Analysis , big brother of Julia Roberts) as Merle Hench, an enforcer for a mob headed by regular on-screen baddie, Robert Davi (License to Kill) playing Murdoch, with an impressive Irish accent.

We meet Merle as he deals with some street punks that have stepped into his territory, however on his return to a meeting with Murdoch and all his henchmen he is reprimanded for not dealing with the punks more forcefully, much to his embarrassment in front of everybody.

Murdoch suggests to Merle about retiring, and using some of the money he has saved up for some kind of pension plan, and to let the "young bloods" take the risks. Merle politely declines the offer, and heads back to his routine, of gambling with a local money lender Larry Cobb played by Keith David (Crash), and flirting with a waitress Jackie played by the gorgeous Irina Bjorklund (even more impressive she is Finnish, with no trace of a dialect), at a bar he frequents who Merle affectionately calls "Dollface". He asks her unexpectedly if she would be willing to leave her life and go on the road with him, she tells him to be careful how he phrases it, because one day she just might.

It just so happens such an opportunity presents itself, Merle gets set up by one of Murdoch's henchmen to rob an establishment that holds money belonging to the Mafia, with Doyle played by Paul Dillon (the Lao speaking manager in one of the episodes of C.S.I.) as their caretaker, as the place is robbed Merle manages to shoot down some of Murdoch's henchmen, this puts him in good favour with Doyle who believes his story that he has been set up. During the ensuring robbery Merle comes upon a bag with several thousands of dollars in it, he takes the cash and makes a proposal to Jackie to run away with him, she says it wouldn't be the most silliest thing she has ever done, but if she didn't she would regret it for the rest of her life, and so she comes along with him.

Jackie suggests to Merle to explain to Doyle that Murdoch was behind his framing, and if he can get Doyle to chase Murdoch for the remainder of the cash that was stolen they would both be able to get away without looking behind their backs. Unfortunately things are not so clear cut, as Doyle had surveillance video footage all around the area when the robbery occurred, and Merle was seen taking a stray bag, which Doyle would like back.

The couple's desperate attempt to flee when they are being pursued by Murdoch and his henchmen, as well as the various interests of the Mafia is what keeps the suspense going, if they can survive to start again, as well as Merle getting over "The Butcher" nickname he has come to hate so much.

As action crime dramas go, this is a very decent movie, we even get to sympathise with our protagonist, although he is in a criminal organisation he simply wants to turn a new leaf.

Labels: crime, drama, Eric Roberts, film review, film reviews, films, gun, Irina Bjorklund, mafia, mob, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Paul Dillon, relationship, Robert Davi, romance, The Butcher, violence

This is a well made comedy drama for a journey of self discovery, focusing on a law student Sherman Black played by Michael Shulman who discovers a little about himself and life from a road trip with a two-time Olympian, Palmer played by James LeGros (Ally McBeal).

We meet Sherman with his girlfriend Marcy played by the lovely Lacey Chabert (she has grown quite a lot since the amazing child actress in Party of Five). Marcy has issues with Sherman for not taking charge and making his own decisions, it turns out every aspect of his life is being controlled by his powerful mother Evelyn, played by Donna Murphy (she still looks as ageless as she did with Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Insurrection), she controls which law firm he chooses to do his internship, and is against him spending the summer with Marcy.

Sherman decides to go against the grain and prove to Marcy that he can make decisions for himself, and attempts to ignore his mother's wishes by spending the summer with Marcy, without letting her know, he intends to just turn up at her door step, in the process he happens to bump into another fellow who helps him with his luggage, on both of them reaching Marcy's front door, he is a little surprised to see Marcy kissing the guy, she eventually notices him and while he walks away in a rage, she follows him, but instead of apologising she says "this is what it seems" and tells him she is just trying to explore the different options life has in store for her.

In his anger Sherman decides to go back to the law internship his mother had arranged for him, and hails a driver to give him a lift, and Palmer arrives, fresh from an unfortunate performance at a car dealership, which he left with a classic vehicle nicknamed "The Rooster", it turns out Palmer is estranged from his son, and would like to give him "The Rooster" as a graduation present, except his son graduated three years ago. After a short stop at a dinner, Sherman unfortunately finds out he has lost his wallet getting into Palmer's car, and has no option but to phone his mother for financial assistance, however he takes this opportunity to stand his ground against her demands, and stays with Palmer to prove a point to himself that he can make his own decisions.

The two unlucky individuals find themselves paired together at the home of Palmer's friend D.J., played by Enrico Colantoni (A.I.), and although they seem to be polar opposites; with Sherman intent on keeping a schedule, while Palmer on the other hand would rather take life as it comes, they end up learning from each other. While Palmer's Rooster is being fixed Sherman does some shopping around the town for his supplies, and bumps into the lovely and odd Addy, played by Brooke Nevin (The 4400), they become friendly and Sherman asks her on a date, unfortunately he cannot drive, neither can he swim, and ends up having Palmer drive both of them around, where they end up in a lake, in a very comical scene.

It is a lovely romantic movie, many will enjoy.

Labels: Brooke Nevin, comedy, Donna Murphy, drama, Enrico Colantoni, film review, film reviews, films, James LeGros, Lacey Chabert, Michael Shulman, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, relationship, Sherman\'s Way