Gary's Movie Reviews and Ratings
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Latest Movies
Date Seen	Movie	Gary's Rating	Michelle's Rating	Review In Brief....
9/4/04	50 First Dates	62	52	Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore reunite in this hit-and-miss romantic comedy about the lighter side of memory loss, with Rob Schneider providing most of the biggest laughs. Harmless fun so long as you don't think about it too much.
27/3/04	The Passion of the Christ	36	-	Terminally long and violent film which consists entirely of Jesus of Nazareth getting beaten up, falling over, getting up, and getting beaten up again. Boring and lacking in drama, especially as everyone already knows how it ends.
21/3/04	Open Range	68	-	Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner are great as honest free-grazers who run afoul of an unscrupulous rancher. Of course, the local sheriff is corrupt, so quarrels can only be settled at the end of a gun. Solid, unashamedly old-time, Western, just like they used to make.
20/3/04	Dawn of the Dead	63	-	With a cheesey plot and mostly dispensable characters, this film delivers exactly what it says on the packet. It's a zombie movie, after all, and it has enough shocks, gore, and tongue-in-cheek humour to make it reasonably worthwhile.
14/3/04	Starsky & Hutch	72	-	Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller resurrect the classic 1970s crimefighters on the big screen. This film takes itself much less seriously than the original but these two are the among funniest guys around at the moment, so the laughs come thick and fast.
6/3/04	Torque	56	-	Martin Henderson stars in what at first glance seems to be a cheap two-wheeled version of 'The Fast and the Furious'. But this moronic film is so cheesey that it must actually be a brilliant spoof of such high-octane low-plot stunt movies. Or maybe not.
29/2/04	House of Sand and Fog	71	-	Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly are outstanding as two people whose lives are changed forever when they come into conflict over a seemingly ordinary San Francisco cottage. Powerful but dark.
28/2/04	Along Came Polly	61	-	Mostly lightweight and forgettable romantic comedy fare but Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston are charming enough and there are one or two hilarious gags.
22/2/04	The Barbarian Invasions	59	-	Intelligent, touching, but mostly tedious film about a dying lothario, his wealthy son, and his over-analytical friends. Yet another over-rated movie of appeal only to try-hard intellectuals.
17/2/04	2003 Movie eAwards!	-	-	The 2003 Movie eAwards nominations and winners have been announced. Check out the results here.
14/2/04	The Dreamers	57	-	Supposedly deep but actually aimless soft-core porn movie about three loopy teenagers who spend a month together in a Paris apartment debating old movies and getting naked.
8/2/04	Looney Tunes: Back in Action	58	-	All the Warner Brothers favourites are back in this self-referential farce, along with Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman on a quest to save the world from Steve Martin's evil Acme corporation. It's reasonable nostalgic fun but doesn't really do anything new.
7/2/04	Cheaper by the Dozen	70	-	Chaotic and heartwarming family fun as Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt attempt to juggle careers along with raising their 12 kids. Eight is Enough - eat your heart out.
3/2/04	Cold Creek Manor	57	-	Generic, but nonetheless creepy, thriller with Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone upping sticks and moving their family to the country. Other yuppies should think twice before planning anything similar.
1/2/04	Scary Movie 3	38	-	Occasionally funny, but mostly excrutiatingly cheap and nasty spoof of several recent horror movies. Having David 'Airplane' Zucker on board as director has done nothing to improve the wit of this franchise.
31/1/04	Girl with a Pearl Earring	64	-	This meandering film about the inspiration behind a Vermeer painting is most notable for its beautiful attention to period detail and a quietly assured central performance from actress-of-the-moment Scarlett Johansson.
30/1/04	Paycheck	43	-	Ben Affleck is brilliant technology engineer who has his memory wiped after every job. So how does he ever learn anything? With a Phillip K. Dick story and names like Woo, Affleck, and Thurman on board, I'd expect better than this un-thrilling piece of sci-fi rubbish.
29/1/04	Runaway Jury	68	64	Solid cat and mouse legal thriller with Hackman, Hoffman, and Cusack in good form as opposing forces in an elaborate jury rigging scheme.
25/1/04	Lost in Translation	67	54	Over-rated critics' darling. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanssen put in creditable performances but it's all quite slow and nowhere near as deep as everyone makes out.
24/1/04	Big Fish	76	-	Surprisingly effective stuff as son re-examines his dying father's life through a series of crazy stories the old man had a habit of telling. Ewan McGregor revels in his over-the-top lead while the weird fantasy bits are what Tim Burton does best.
11/1/04	The Last Samurai	73	69	A bit soppy at the end, but this Japanese Braveheart-meets-Dances with Wolves is mostly excellent stuff, with Tom Cruise as the eponymous sword-wielding hero.
	Pete Mitchell's Nipples
Last Updated 11 April 2004