POMO

The first 20 minutes are great and very promising. But after the cards are dealt, the screenwriter doesn’t know what’s an ace and what’s a jack. And the director, Harold Ramis, is a bit bored. The actors are outstanding; Robert De Niro excels again. A few of the jokes are worth seeing and hearing, but overall the film is half a star weaker than the original Analyze This.

The Hours for a younger audience. Pump Up the Volume is pertinent, distinctive and superbly acted. Moyle directs as if he still has fresh wounds from his youth. There’s pleasant chemistry between Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis. And it’s nice to know that they also got along off-camera, as evidenced by the reprise of their flirtation in Broken Arrow.

A film that you can’t be angry with, because it means well. But also a film that you won’t enjoy at all.

Jason X starts out looking like an entertaining B-movie that doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t and keeps its distance from cringiness and awkwardness. However, the stupidity gradually builds up and the climax dips the whole film in the deepest shit.

An existential examination of the female mind in a state of uncertainty, doubt and dissatisfaction. A haunting subject filmed by a man better than a woman ever could. I couldn’t identify with the suffering characters in every moment, but I could see myself in ninety percent of the runtime. Stephen Daldry pulled off a miracle. With another viewing, I will probably raise my rating to five stars. It’s impossible to take it all in the first time.

Heists, double-crosses and another supremely cunning protagonist. And of course, everything is different than it seems at first glance. We’ve seen it a hundred times in other films, which are perhaps not as dynamic and fast-paced, but definitely clearer and ultimately more effective.

If not for its great cast, Anger Management would be just another moronic Hollywood comedy that goes everywhere except where it finally ends up. The screenplay and directing are definitely not its strong points. However, the actors in both the lead and supporting roles save it and pull it out of mediocrity. It may not be the restrained and elegant entertainment that we would expect from a film starring Jack Nicholson, but it’s a very entertaining treat that we wouldn’t expect from an Adam Sandler movie.

Jan de Bont had a more colorful screenplay for the first film, with more exotic locations and a more spectacular climax, but he didn’t shine as a director any more than Simon West did with The Cradle of Life. West’s action is half-baked, boring and lifeless, like a straight-to-video B-movie. Though the sequel is half a star better than the formless first Tomb Raider, it still no better than average. The final verdict remains the same: If there is any reason to see this film, it’s Angelina Jolie, who gets sexier by the day.

This falls somewhere between one and two stars, but a film that insults the viewer’s intelligence doesn’t deserve any leniency. The best thing about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is the gigantic submarine plying the canals of Venice. And the worst thing about the film is that not only the journalists at the screening were clutching their heads, but my 14-year-old brother was too. This is the dumbest and most bloated big-budget movie of its kind. Wild Wild West is a cinematic gem by comparison.

A routine story framework decked out with great jokes and excellent effects. The Curse of the Black Pearl is charming yet dull Hollywood entertainment that’s hindered by its exceedingly long runtime, though the excellent Johnny Depp elevates it from time to time.