* = snore                    
    ** = barely awake             
   *** = worth the ticket price
  **** = above average, repeatable
 ***** = excellent, unforgettable

.***.........***......** ^1/2 go to: main list

---

---

---

---

---

 
*(click on "film titles" for synopses and info.)
 ••••••••••••••• 
go to:

movies 2002 part 2 (most recent) 



5.31.2002

the sum of all fears  ***

~~ entertaining but not very believable.  maybe it's
because humanity has seen so much massive conflict in
real life and just knows from experience that
"happily ever after" is not how nuclear attacks
normally end. who ever heard of frolicking in the
fallout?  
   on the other hand, the bozos that run the
governments in this movie might just pass for the
real thing.  that federal style of irrationality
appears quite realistic.

memories:  ben a. "stylustically" pecking away on
his pda, communicating with instant messages during
his quest to save the planet.



5.30.2002
the new guy  ( _1/2)

~~ degrading and moronic.  pretends to preach
the golden rule by breaking it with stupidity.



5.25.2002

enough  ** 1/2

~~ predictable.  jlo gets offensive.  at the beginning 
domestic abuse is the farthest thing from poor slim's mind.  
but then the mate gets outta line. after that, being daddy 
just ain't what it used to be.

highlights: slim gouges out the eyes of a grapefruit.


5.24.2002

insomnia ***

~~ mork finally stops acting stupid but goes a bit
too far and becomes a killer.  he acts much more
intelligent but he's obviously boring to pacino since
all poor al wants to do is sleep.

highlights: the eyeburning sunlight of the alaskan
nighttime.


5.18.2002

about a boy  ** 1/2

~~ i grew tired of hugh's boyish existence.  but i never 
stopped enjoying watching him act.  this was about a man who 
didn't want to face life as a normal adult.  that's fine with 
me. but my short attention span wandered.

highlights: trailers at the beginning



5.17.2002

star wars episode II - attack of the clones  *** 1/2

~~ all i ever wanted is a wheelchair that levitates.

highlights: yoda's levitating platform.



5.10.2002

unfaithful  ** 1/2

~~ this movie is a remake of a movie originally based on 
gustave flaubert's madam bovary (my favorite madam). 
is it coincidence the adultering young man is french and 
lives amidst a wonderland of french and
rest-of-the-world literature, much the same person as
emma, the tragic main character of madam bovary?  
and of course they each meet their own dramatic and
climactic ends but still remain as active characters
to the end of their respective tales.

highlights: malcom in the middle running amok and finally 
becoming a bedwetter.  mom and dad's use of other people's 
potties to wash off their evidential splashes of 
human bodily fluids.



5.5.2002

hollywood ending  ***

~~ woody allen plays a director making a movie in
the blind.  at least woody seems to be mellowing
with age.  thank god.  he's still goofy and neurotic
in this film but luckily not so ridiculous and
imbecilic as his younger years.  i actually laughed
during this film.  or maybe it's just me finally
accepting his bizarre milieu.



5.4.2002

deuces wild  **1/2

~~ in 1958 everybody wants to be james dean. then the gangstas start
bangin and the screen becomes a graphic montage of smashface blood
spurtin bone-crunchin brooklyn sans dodgers bat fights.  but no worries,
the mafia survives.



5.3.2002

spiderman  ***

~~ entertaining but threadbare.  this almost is not a movie.  something 
is missing but i'm not sure what.  maybe it's the man in spiderman.  
it is very spiderboy-ish.  maybe even childish.  but then again, what 
can you expect from a comic book?



5.1.2002

jason x  *

~~ jason gets his space legs--blown off.  another first.  
this is the first jason movie i've endured from beginning 
to end.  i must be losing my mind.



4.30.2002

the sweetest thing  1/2

~~ the lamest thing.  ever.  save time and money:
tune to babewatch on tv and watch three
episodes in a row without falling asleep.



4.27.2002

life or something like it  **1/2

~~ forgettable. a.j. portrays a reporter with a death
sentence constructed by a homeless street prophet.
last night, during this movie, i remember thinking to
myself, "this isn't is as bad as the reviews say it
is."  but this morning i couldn't even remember what
movie i saw or what it was about.   so maybe it is as
empty and baseless as stated in other reviews.  most
redeeming quality: made in seattle. scariest moments:
shots of a.j.'s hair.



4.26.2002

hawaii student film festival  ***

~~ memories of struggling through beginnings as a film
maker still haunt me sometimes and these kids seem to
be trying real hard.  so they get two stars for
content and one for effort.



4.25.2002

la spagnola  **1/2  (hiff)

australia ~~ another mother daughter dilemma, except these two were 
constantly at odds.  drags the viewer from stressful episode to 
stressful episode.  dirty dusty australian landscapes.


4.24.2002

under the moonlight  ***  (hiff)

iran ~~ low key and refreshing look at life from the perspective 
of a soon-to-be mullah with unanswered questions concerning the 
basic quandries of existance like god and the human condition.


4.23.2002

flower island  ***  (hiff)

south korea ~~ like a dream one can't escape from.
three hard-luck women journey on a search for 
shangri flower la island for that ultimate
heavenly dose of forget-your-troubles denial and as a
little something extra discover their souls along the way.


4.22.2002

rain  ***1/2  (hiff)

new zealand ~~ hauntingly alcoholic visit to the
beach of boredom, booze and infidelity as witnessed
by a normal modern alcoholic family of four in the
throws of self-destruction. saved by a powerful
ending. did i mention the alcohol?

double feature

what time is it there?  ***1/2  (hiff)

taiwan ~~ pure pristine straight-up cinema. no
excess.  all one-shot scenes. very little dialogue.
zero camera movement. 
subject matter: all the basic human rites of
repetition such as eating, drinking, sleeping,
urination, defecation, copulation, masturbation,
life, death and resurrection.  all hopelessly 
caught in the ceaseless senseless stream of time 
and synchronicity, interspersed with smatterings 
of sampled scenes from the 400 blows 
in attribution to parisian cinema and truffaut. 
 



4.20.2002

the scorpion king  **1/2

~~ this would be a fun movie to see on tv some rainy saturday
afternoon at home with a big bowl of popcorn.  it was full 
of enough action-packed adventure and sexy mayhem to allow 
for commercials and station breaks.



4.19.2002

murder by numbers  ***

~~ what happens when you mix two bored pretty genius rich 
senior high school boys, absynthe and kafka with a haunted 
homicide investigator? this movie happens.



4.17.2002

blade 2  **

~~ kristofferson and snipes partake in ultraviolence and 
monster mayhem in a neo-marvel comix futuristic martial arts 
world of darkness and chaos.  



4.15.2002

human nature  ****
 
~~ a misanthropic wonderland. surprisingly intelligent and clever.
favorite scene: feral humans brachiating wildly in the foliage.  



4.13.2002

changing lanes  **** 

~~ ethics. morality. humane behavior.  who cares?
only those beneath its powerful deadly crushing weight.


4.12.2002

frailty  ***1/2 

~~ reality is a dream.  shaboom. shaboom. 



4.10.2002

"big trouble  ***3/4

~~ imagine taking a trip through dave barry's mind
and then making a movie about it.  enthusiastic recommendations.



4.9.2002

high crimes  ***

~~ governmental hanky panky and military intrigue mixed with 
litigious civilian lawyers out to clear the air. what more 
could a movie plot ask for?  decent entertainment for an 
evening out. 



4.5.2002

kissing jessica stein *** 

~~ frivolous but fun.  it's mating season in jessica's clique, 
but everyone appears inferior, such problems. about as deep 
as a puddle.  yet surprisingly enjoyable.



3.30.2002

clockstoppers  **

~~ not quite time travel, but a good attempt.  more kiddie eye 
candy.  so far this seems to be the summer of the children's 
movies.  no escape.




3.29.2002

panic room  ***

~~ assault on the castle keep.  jody and her diabetic daughter 
play house with robbers and hide in the non-secret secret 
room while invaders ransack their new home.




3.27.2002

harrison's flowers  ****

~~ gonzo photographers go to yugoslavian ethnic cleansing 
war zone in 1991.  very intense.  the tension finally 
breaks one hour into the film, when a tank tanks over and 
crushes a car.  then comes the war and all its atrocities.  
excellently directed.




3.16.2002

ice age **

~~ is this the future of cartoons?  the ice age cometh? 
or am i just jaded? this might have been more enjoyable 
if i were four years old or less.   



3.15.2002

resident evil  *1/2 

 ~~ gives evil a bad name.  zombie cannibals all entombed 
in a mass grave/hive trying to eat their way out.




go to: 

top

bottom




3.8.2002


the time machine  ***3/4

~~ my favorite h.g. wells vehicle. the morlocks were really cool. 



3.5.2002

storytelling  ****

 ~~ fiction and nonfiction, which is more 
enjoyable/believable? both.




3.4.2002

monster's ball  ****1/2

~~ painfully torturously good.  
solid screenplay.  impressive characters.  beautiful actors.


3.1.2002

we were soldiers   *** 

~~ a slight letdown. too much mel.  started slowly and plodded 
to the end.

2.23.2002

dragonfly  **1/2

~~ new age mythology tiptoes thru the afterlife.


2.22.2002


queen of the damned  ***1/2

~~ rice's lestat makes a wake up call to those who must be kept.  


2.15.2002

hart's war **1/2 

 ~~ courtroom drama in a german p.o.w. allied discrimination camp.  


2.11.2002

collateral damage  *1/2 

 ~~ this is the first arnold movie i've seen and hopefully 
it will be the last.


2.8.2002

rollerball  **1/2

~~ who needs a script when suicidal human battlebots mix it up
 with a breakneck visceral-rock soundtrack?


2.1.2002

birthday girl  ***

 ~~ nikole kidman gives good russian.


1.30.2002

brotherhood of the wolf 
(Le Pacte des loups)      *** 

 ~~ finally, a french film with french actors. a howl.


1.28.2002


the count of monte cristo  *** 

~~ revenge of the buckle de swash


1.26.2002


the mothman prophesies  *** 

~~ ask the angels--and the cockroaches.



1.25.2002

charlotte gray  ***1/2

 ~~ dark, "french?" irresistably gray



1.24.2002

kate and leopold  ***

 ~~ cinderella's time portal



1.21.2002


the shipping news  ***

 ~~ aquaphobic



1.19.2002

black hawk down  ***1/2

~~ "only the dead see the end of war."
      -plato


1.15.2002

a beautiful mind  ****1/2

 ~~ multiply inspiring


1.12.2002


the royal tenenbaums  ****

 ~~ sincerely deceptive



1.11.2002

gosford park  ****

~~ "i am the perfect servant, i don't have a life."



1.6.2002

impostor  **1/2

~~ reanimated hard-core sci-fi



1.5.2002


in the bedroom  ***

~~ sublimely subtle



1.4.2002

mulholland drive  ***1/2 

 ~~ somewhere inside lynch...shades of twin peaks.



dec. 2001

vanilla sky  ***
behind enemy lines  ***
ocean's eleven ***
lord of the rings  ****
harry potty  *
 
et al.

---

###
-------

go to:

movies 2002 part 2 (most recent)

-------
home
spidermoon.net
contents

-------
futurepast
newsroom
back to top
-------
showtimes:

cannery
ward
hiff