Reviews

We all know which was first, but if someone didn't know, they might think that video Lara was modeled after Jolie's portrayal. SHE NAILED IT. I can't imagine anyone ever having brought a character to life as well as Jolie did in this case.

As for the movie, keep in mind that this film is based on a video game. They're not going for the academy award here. And, it would be a disservice to the fans of that game series if the movie didn't bring the flavor of the games to the screen. Hell, there'd be no movie if the games didn't have so many fans. Once again, score!

Almost all the elements of a Tomb Raider game were in this movie. Exotic places, ancient secrets and Lara tough as nails. I will say that I wanted more complex secrets, and that I would rather have seen Lara do more of the "figuring out", but maybe they'll get that in the sequel. They should also try and give the audience an opportunity to figure things out at the same time.

I was a little surprised at how they chose to have Lara collaborate with the enemy even though you knew that she was never on their side. Lara doesn't do that. She's always one step ahead, then she gets caught and falls behind. Then she catches back up, dispatches the bad guys, and solves the mystery. That's not quite how you'll get it in this film, but it's not something that will kill the film.

They had to establish a character for Lara. She couldn't just be the fabulously gorgeous girl archeologist. She had to have more to her than that. They established a few things to give her more character.

All in all, I think that if you're a fan of these video games, it'll be hard to disappoint you with this movie. If not, you may come away thinking that you didn't see much.

even though there was some added Hollywood fluff. That's the only explanation for the love triangle that develops in the midst of the battle at Stalingrad. However, like I said, I liked the movie anyway.

First, I want to take a lot of other reviewers to task for picking on the fact that most of the actors had English accents. I find it ludicrous that some would point to that as an issue of realism that the characters didn't sound Russian, but they would ignore the fact that they were speaking english in the first place. I would think for the level of realism that these folks would seem to expect, that the film would have been made entirely in Russian and shown with english subtitles. And I certainly don't remember anyone pointing out the same problem when Sean Connery portrayed the Russian submarine commander in Hunt For Red October.

Personally, I found a way to forgive the film makers for going for a little star power with Hoskins, Weisz, and Ed Harris. And I would have found it much more annoying had they gone for the accents and one of them was simply terrible at it.

Moving on, this film is well acted and well shot. Never, for one second, do you get the idea that you are not looking at the ruins of Stalingrad in the midst of this battle. You see the up-close horrors of war with a few ideas thrown in that I've not seen anywhere else. The drama of Russian sniper Vassily Zaitsev pitted against the Nazi sniper Major Koenig was riveting. The romance was tolerable, even though not really believable under those circumstances. But that is not to say that it wasn't well portrayed. But it would seem that it was just something added to the story to speak to a certain audience to give the film a little more mainstream appeal.

All in all, well worth the time and money. 4 of 5 stars...

Many who have reviewed this film have listed it as the all time worst film they've seen. But that distinction belongs to 8mm.

Traffic was a riveting movie. Entertaining, to be sure, but real enough to strike another nerve that leaves you thinking.

It's a trio of stories, each with its own heroes and villains. And as the picture moves along, the stories begin to intersect, and you see how all of the protagonists affect each other.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is wife to a man who is a major narcotics dealer. But she has no idea whatsoever until he's arrested as the result of an undercover sting. At first she is appalled, but she soon becomes desperate to keep living the life style that she's become accustomed to.

Benicio Del Toro plays Javier, a cop in Tiajuana. He's just an average guy who, like most cops in Mexico, views police work as an entrepreneurial venture (according to the film). He is approached by General Arturo Salazar (Tomas Milian). The general lets him know that there is plenty of money to be made if Javier is willing to do the right things. Salazar is interested in finding a man who contributed to, or committed murders of Salazar's men. But he may have other motives as well.

And finally, Michael Douglas plays Robert Wakefield who's a special appointee of the President to lead the war on drugs in the U.S. Slowly, as Wakefield sets about this task, he finds out that the war he's looking to win has to be waged in his own home as his daughter sinks into a world of free-basing and heroine.

I found this element to be the most real. The plight of the young girl, played by Erika Christiensen, seemed to be lifted right out the local papers here. Last year, a young girl from a very well-off family told her story about lying to her parents to hide her drug use. She wrote about traveling to the worst neighborhoods in the inner city, driven by need for drugs in spite of fear. And then eventually, doing whatever she had to do to get those drugs. You will see that chillingly portrayed in Traffic. You find yourself thinking "How can these kids not know any better?"

This was an interesting and entertaining film. Even for someone like me who's seen so many movies that it's hard not to think "this movie is like such-and-such movie". 3.5 out of 4.0 stars...

QUALITY KILLS!!! A good death scene can make up for all the re-hashed formula-based waste of film leading up to it. But this movie goes one better. It's actually pretty good on top of having some first rate gore.

It's a classic slasher picture except that the killer this time is the angel of death himself. He's a little ticked off at Alex and some of his classmates, because they managed to get themselves off of a plane that blows up right after it takes off. Alex only intends to get himself off the plane, but some admittedly thin circumstances take place, and before you know it, 7 total get off the plane. The reaper figures he had seven more deaths coming, so he's going to keep trying until he gets them. Slowly but surely, those that cheated death start to get picked off in some unusual ways. Alex seems to be at the center of all of this because he keeps showing up right as people die. So the FBI thinks he's doing them in. We, of course, know that he's not. Alex knows when death is coming, because he's learned to look for the signs. He also has figured out a way to tell who's going to be next.

It wasn't all good though. The character Carter's actions are just stupid. There's no plausible explanation for them so they come off as silly. Other than that, once you accept the premise, the fun can begin. This one's best in a crowded house.

But I'm not going to do that. Plain and simply put, this film is a comedy. It's not designed to have a crisp story line with intricate workings. The main characters are put into situations that are fairly easy to dissect, and we get to laugh at them as they do so.

I am quickly becoming a Michael Clarke Duncan fan. He's just fun to watch. The man is so huge and no matter how many times I see him I still am amazed at his size. But I'm becoming a fan because he's a really good actor. In 9 Yards, Duncan plays Frankie Figs. A great character who you like immediately, even though to the hero Oz, played by Matthew Perry, this guy is the enemy.

Perry for his part was quite funny, though he only stepped a little outside of his Chandler persona.

Overall, this was an enjoyable film. Don't spend a lot of time thinking about the intricacies to the plot. There aren't any. Just accept what's going on and enjoy.

I would have been much happier than I was after seeing this film. This is the worst time of the year for movies. Right after Christmas and before the Oscars. All the movies being released now are slotted at this time of year for a reason; the films are weak and would be no competition for the holiday or summer blockbusters, but you'd probably go see something new before shelling out cash to see the re-release of the Oscar nominated pictures. Pitch Black fits perfectly into this category.

At this time of year, I'm an easy mark. It has been almost a month since I saw a movie at the theatre. That's an eternity! Anything halfway decent would probably get high marks. Pitch Black is not halfway decent.

The premise is actually interesting, and has some possibilities. Simply put, a band of space travelers are stranded when their ship crashes. The suggestion can be inferred that the dangerous criminal, Riddick (Vin Diesel) that is being escorted may have caused the crash in an attempt to escape.

Once on the planet, the people discover that the place has no life and almost looks deserted. It's not until one of the people is killed and they get past the obvious suspicion of Riddick do we get down to the meat of plot. There's something dangerous lurking in the caves below the surface. Things get really serious when it's determined that an eclipse is about to take place and that the creatures will have free reign once darkness envelops the surface.

I won't take you much further. Getting to this point took almost an hour, and from this point on things go down hill. The film then takes on the standard serial killer formula. The heroes try to fend off the killer but he's getting them one by one.

No one gives any kind of notable performance, and the story quickly loses any plausibility that it may have had. Keith David has a part in the film, and the most entertaining for us was saying "Franks and Beans" at inappropriate moments in reference to his role in Something About Mary.

All I can say is thank goodness this was free. I can watch just about anything for free. Don't blow your hard earned money at the theatre on this one. It stinks...

This is a great suspense/crime film cut straight from the mold of Reservoir Dogs. There's a crime being committed by several people who trust each other at first, but later start to doubt each other's motivation as things don't go exactly as planned. There's violence, suspense, and humor.

Christopher Walken plays Charlie Barret, formerly Carlo Bartolucci. His name has changed because he wants to dissociate himself from his past life as a mobster. Barret actually is the victim of the crime committed by Avery, Max, TK, and Brett played by Henry Thomas, Max Minot, Jeremy Sisto, and Jay Mohr. Avery's sister Elise, played by Laura Harris, has been kidnapped and is being held for two million dollars. Even though they are from a rich family, Avery explains that most of the wealth is on paper and not cash so they really don't have the means to pay. They are holding Barret ransom for the two million dollars to pay the ransom for Avery's sister. They explain that things have gotten desperate because they have missed the deadline and the original kidnappers are starting to send them Elise's body parts for each hour they continue to be late. They tell Barret that everything that is taken from Elise will be taken from him until he comes up with the money, so they cut off his pinky to show that they mean business. Sounds simple, right?

Things start to get complicated when unexpected turns of events take place. For example: They are holding Barret for ransom, but they quickly realize that will identify themselves if they give a phone number where they can be reached by those who would pay the ransom. Finger pointing and confusion ensue, and all the while, the sly Barret is sizing up his captors looking for the edge.

This is where Walken's presence invades this character. His characteristic delivery is always fun. He makes Barret seem to almost be on these kids side even though he is their prisoner. Barret warns them to let him go before things go wrong, but then when they don't, he seems to be enjoying the theatre of their attempts to keep their plan on track. He actually smiles ever so slightly on several occasions, looking as though he were watching all the action from a darkened room with a bucket of popcorn on his lap. However, you know that he'd dispose of these punks without a second thought if only he weren't tied to that chair.

That's as far as I'm willing to go. If you want more, you'll have to see it for yourself. Walken is great, and Dennis Leary as Lono Veccio was funny and ruthless.

I would have never seen the end of it. I would have been back out at the box office collecting my refund. But, as luck would have it, we were able to get some free tickets.

I saw the entire film unlike my buddy who took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep. I wish I had slept.

So where do I start? For me, Ashley Judd in the movie is an automatic 3.5 stars out of 4 before the opening credits. She is just a delicious woman. She's strong willed, drop-dead gorgeous, and her voice is so sexy that I... well, I'll leave it there because you get the idea. Anyway, I'm biased in favor of the film, just because she's in it. So for me to come back wishing I'd slept instead really says something.

Judd and Ewan McGregor are our two main characters. McGregor's character was referred to several times as "Lucky Legs", so I'll call him Lucky. Judd played Joanna. Both are tormented souls.

As the film opens, Judd is a murderess who kills and disappears, wishing her father a Merry Christmas and sobbing for some reason that we don't really get insight into until about half way through the film. Lucky is constantly engaged in dialogue with his daughter as he works. He's some kind of intelligence agent. We soon find out that he is hallucinating and that his wife picked up and left him taking his daughter with a long time ago. He has a class picture but isn't sure which of the girls in it is his. Sounds simple, right? Too bad it took 35 minutes to reach that level of story development.

As Lucky is watching someone he is assigned to he comes across Joanna. She kills the man he was watching, and he continues to follow her. This is the crux of the story. He began following her for some unexplained reason, then his hallucination tells him not to leave her alone because she's just a child. That sounds like a slightly interesting set up for a story but like I said, at this point we're about 35 minutes in.

Initially, it looked like Joanna would be a killer with issues, blah, blah, blah. But after her first victim gets it with a knife, she becomes the victim. She kills a cop who shows up for literally no reason at all and harasses her. Looking back on it, maybe we were supposed to think the police were looking for her all along, but at the time I was thinking "Where'd this guy come from? Oh, she shot him..."

On and on this goes. The characters are only slightly developed. All you ever know about Lucky is that his wife and daughter left him. You never know why he is compelled to follow Joanna. Is he in love with her, does she owe him money? You never know. Why does Joanna kill? Simply because she was abandoned? The characters have no motivation so their actions serve no purpose.

Jason Priestly shows up as a hood named Gary in a Jaguar who helps Joanna who's on the run again and having car trouble. They end up in the rattiest hotel you'd ever want to see. I should be so lucky. A woman who looks like Ashley Judd runs out of gas and I stop and help her and we end up in a hotel!! That would be better than lotto jackpot! Anyway, when she won't shoot up with him, he beats her up and shoots her up against her will. Of course, here comes Lucky to save her. Big deal.

After a while you just start praying for it to be over. It seemed longer than the Green Mile, but it was just barely 90 minutes. The best thing I can say about this movie is that we had a great time talking about how much it sucked.

D minus is being generous...

The debate on which is better, Godfather or Godfather II, has gone on, and probably will go on, for a long time. I think that both films won BEST PICTURE so they are equally good.

Once again, Coppola put together a fabulous cast that gives fantastic performances all around. Robert DeNiro is fabulous as young Vito Corleone and I especially liked Bruno Kirby as a young Clemenza. Also once again, Al Pacino is powerful as Michael Corleone. Those are some of the notable performances, but as with the Godfather, there's nothing I could write that would be able to convey how good this picture is. I highly recommend you get a bowl of popcorn, turn down the lights and enjoy...

Simply put, this movie is the oracle, answer key, the blue print, for all mafia films. There has never been a better mob movie, and there never will. Goodfellas comes pretty close, but The Godfather and Godfather II are the mold that Goodfellas was made from.

I first saw this film in 1983, 11 years after it was released. I'd heard about it, but VCRs weren't quite common household items back then. I had a cinema class in high school, and to view this film, the teachers got us out of all our classes for a day and showed The Godfather on the big screen in the school auditorium. So I was fortunate to see it for the first time in a crowded theatre on a big screen.

Afterwards, the entire class asked for the movie to be shown again in place of one of the other films we were due to see. They offered to play it after school in the evening for us instead. The whole class turned out the second time plus another 100 to 150 tag-alongs.

This movie is full of fantastic performances from top to bottom. To try to convey how great this film is in words is almost silly. It has to be seen.

I was all set to write a nice review of this film, but nothing I could say here would do it justice. It's a great film with an Oscar performance from Joe Pesci. Ray Liotta is excellent. Robert DeNiro is excellent. Lorraine Bracco is excellent. Just see it and take my word for it. This gangster film at its best.

This picture has all the elements you need for a great romantic movie. Mostly it will make you laugh and tug at your heart strings.

You really start to feel for Larry (Danson) and Maria (Rossellini). Larry and his wife Tish (Young) care for each other but aren't in love, and Maria and her husband Tom (Petersen) seemed to be trapped together because they have a young daughter.

The story gets started when, at the wedding reception of Maria's mother Edie (Aleandro), Tish and Tom sneak off and fool around together. In the mean time back at the reception, Larry and Maria meet and begin talking, and when their spouses show up together, are both suspicious, but say nothing. Then, the next day, Maria goes to visit Larry to get his opinion of what happened the day before.

From there, we get to go on their journey as they become friends and then, more than friends. And there's quite a bit that will make you happy and sad along the way.

This is a great movie for a lazy Saturday afternoon...

Just like Back to the Future and Ghostbusters and Major League, this "part two" should have stayed off the screen. What made Friday such a good movie was its originality combined with the credibility of the antics that anyone who lived in a similar neighborhood could relate to or maybe even remember. Any sequel seems as though it could only fall short of that.

Next Friday is a clear attempt to use the formula behind the original. Change the scenery and the jokes -- poof -- movie. Craig is off to stay with his lottery winning uncle in the suburb of Rancho Cucamonga. He's leaving because they get news that Deebo is planning to break out of prison and come take revenge on Craig (Deebo's been there since Craig knocked him the @#$% out).

Deebo does break out of prison. You see him and another inmate coming over a fence using bed sheets tied together. This is onto a main street and the two men are chained together at the ankles. That's not to mention their bright orange prison wear. Yet no one seems to notice or care. They proceed to run around looking for Craig until they happen upon Craig's father in his dog catcher's truck. They let out all the dogs and hop in. Mr. Jones, the dog catcher, gets swarmed by dogs as he walks back to his truck. He simply ignores all the loose dogs. These are the kinds of credibility problems that you didn't have in Friday.

You could kind of see where this movie was written with Chris Tucker in mind, but they couldn't afford him so Smokey was written off to rehab and Smokey's parts were handed off to Day-Day.

The plot is thin and most of it is unbelievable. I knew it was not going to be as good as the first one. When I realized just how bad it had a chance to be, I just started listening for some good jokes. There was quite a few chuckles, several laughs, and two deep belly-laughs with eyes closed. Out of four stars, this one gets half a star.

I actually was not familiar with the story of the Hurricane. I hadn't heard the story at all. I don't remember it being talked about at all. I was of an age that I would have remembered it when he was finally released.

As is my usual custom, I try not to consume any information relating to a movie before I get out to see it. I don't want my thoughts prejudiced by someone else's opinions.

I saw it opening night and I was impressed. Denzel has been better, but that is not to say he was bad at all in this. Actually, he's not required to do too much except look like a boxer and resemble Rubin Carter. He does both well. he doesn't need the character ability that he showed in Glory, nor does he need the screen presence he showed in Crimson Tide.

Knowing this movie was based on a true story, I felt compelled to find out what I could about what really happened so I could say how it was portrayed in the film. If the facts aren't important then there's no need to tell me that it's based on a true story.

After doing that research, I think I am a little disappointed in the film's accuracy. While I don't have a problem with them consolidating the forces that helped convict Carter into the character of Detective Vincent Della Pesca for theatrical purposes, I don't like how the truth of his innocence being discovered was portrayed.

First, the two men that testified they saw Carter seen leaving the bar that night after the shootings later recanted their statements saying the police paid them and gave them sweetheart deals (they were criminals) in exchange for that testimony. This isn't even mentioned in the film and I think would have been much more dramatic and realistic than the alternative that was portrayed. I won't mention it because I'm no spoiler.

Also, the film seems to imply that the case against Carter was unraveled by Lesra and his guardians alone and that the defense lawyers were kind of incompetent. That simply wasn't the case. I don't know if what is depicted played better or what, but without the testimony of the witnesses being recanted Mr. Carter might still be in jail.

In general the film is very well done and all give good performances. Aside from straying from the facts, this is recommended viewing.

I thought the 'beauty' aspect of the film was kind of corny and that the movie would have been just as good without it. But this film was excellent nonetheless.

It's almost a whodunnit, almost a comedy, and almost a tragedy. In fact, it has elements of all of those combined and that makes it interesting. On top of that, its almost Titanic in that you know from the beginning that Lester (Spacey) will die, but your interest never wavers. You are given reasons to believe that any one of 5 people may kill him, and you are amused along the way.

The marriage depicted between Carolyn (Benning) and Lester seems quite realistic. Carolyn has certain career goals and seems intent on making them at the expense of everything else. She appears to be pleased to appear successful, regardless of whether she is or not. Lester is unhappy at work and at home because neither is fulfilling. Work is work, his daughter Jane (Birch) is in the awkward teenage years when you hate your parents, and his wife is not interested in him in any way until he tells her that he quit his job. Then she gets very interested in the fact that his income will not be there.

All of this changes when Lester sees Jane's friend Angela (Suvari). A teenage cutie who he finds himself fantasizing about. Angela for her part is obsessed with the idea that she will become a model one day. She likes the idea that men look at her and she brags to Jane of sexual exploits. When she gets the idea that Lester doesn't just see her as Jane's teenage friend, she plays with him, making provacative comments to see his reaction.

This is the setting and from here we're taken on an interesting journey that is quite funny and real. It's not complicated or deep, but it is compelling. Its hard to imagine anyone coming out of this one disappointed. I sure wasn't.

The Green Mile was a movie that I really enjoyed. It had the flavor of the Shawshank Redemption in its general tone and in the music, but the movies aren't similar at all.

I could talk about the film, but nothing I'd say about it would be original here. I'm the 303rd reviewer of it here at IMDb and I'm sure I won't be the last.

But looking at some of the other comments makes me wonder what the hell people are thinking about when the lights go down. I can understand the talk about the length of the film, but one person said that he didn't like being force-fed someone else's ideas about religion. While no one could miss the parallel this film has to the life of Christ, why would you think that religion was being forced upon you? Did someone drag you to a theatre and make you stay for the entire 3 hours?

Another person was irritated that the movie didn't address the morality of capital punishment. The film was not even remotely about whether capital punishment is right or wrong. To its credit, it doesn't even hint at the morality of it. You simply accept that you're on death row and that there are executions.

And still another was mad that the death-row inmates were not all portrayed as evil people. Another thought that it should have been less of a fable. One person even complained that the bladder infection that Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) had was a stupid sub-plot! They must have been on their cellular phone for the first hour or something.

Why can't a movie just be a movie? Nothing more, nothing less. Just go in, watch it, and be entertained or not. Don't worry about where the idea for the story came from. Don't worry that some issue wasn't explored in a way you thought it should be unless of course that exploration would be plot critical. Some people seemed to be obsessed with punching holes in films instead of trying to enjoy them. Doing that is missing the point of every movie which is simply to entertain.

Oh yeah, the Green Mile? Very well done. Excellent performances all around. I especially liked Doug Hutchinson as Percy Wetmore (that's funny since he wet his peed himself). We've all known a little toilet bug like Percy. A must see...

but I was very young then and didn't know any better. In this movie, you see Jim Carrey actually become Andy Kaufman. With the exception of Kaufman's true speaking voice, Carrey has him nailed. I didn't think Carrey could do better than his portrayal of the Riddler in Batman Forever, but this performance was absolutely fantastic. If you don't know Kaufman, just flip on Nickelodeon and catch a Taxi rerun before you see Man on the Moon. You'll think you're seeing the same guy.

When I was watching this film, I saw recreations of things that I saw a long long time ago. I remember seeing the bit Kaufman did when he came out on Saturday Night Live and lip-synched the theme to Mighty Mouse. I remember seeing his wrestling antics. I remember him getting smacked by Jerry Lawler. What was really cool about this movie was that while there was some dramatic license taken in some places, many of the scenes were recreated exactly as they happened originally. One thing that disappointed me though was that in almost all of the recreations the actual people were used where ever possible with one glaring exception. When they recreated the night Kaufman guest starred on Fridays. Norm MacDonald portrayed an actor that was actually Michael Richards of Seinfeld/Kramer fame. I was disappointed that Richards didn't play himself there. Jeff Conway who's been said to have punched Kaufman out appeared in the film, so why no Michael Richards??

I didn't know much about the Tony Clifton stuff, but the first scene he appears in was hilarious and disturbing at the same time. I won't spoil it, but it was genius.

If you know anything about Andy Kaufman, you have to see this movie just so you can see Jim Carrey play him. It's almost unbelievable.

I've been looking forward to this picture for a long time and it didn't disappoint at all. By far, the best Tim Burton film so far. I loved Ed Wood, and I was pleased to see Martin Landau make a cameo in the opening scene.

Johnny Depp is very entertaining as Ichabod Crane, and the rest of the cast puts in good performances as well. Burton maintains his usual darkness about this movie, just as with most of his others. And it works to perfection in the setting of the small town of Sleepy Hollow surrounded by the seriously creepy forest. But make no mistake about it, the horseman carries this story, and he does not disappoint.

Crane sets out to discover who is killing people in Sleepy Hollow, but he soon finds out that what the people have been telling him is true. The murderer is a demon on horseback with no head. The question then becomes why?

This movie gets right to it, and then it doesn't stop until all is clear. I would like to have seen Christopher Walken get a few lines though. He is so compelling that even his smallest performances can stay with you for a long time. Even still, you will not be disappointed in this one.

What a fun movie! Of course, how could it not be? The return of Jay and Silent Bob almost guarantee that. Kevin Smith has given us another really entertaining and original film that not only gets you laughing, but examines religion and pokes fun at it in a way that is not mean-spirited. Even still, because of the catholic jokes and the references to Christ and God and so forth, there are disclaimers at the beginning of the film to diffuse any protests and that kind of garbage.

But the moment George Carlin appears as a Cardinal, you know, without a doubt that the picture is a comedy. The funniest things in life are truths anyway. Besides, after Life of Brian and Last Temptation of Christ, there's not much anyone could do to tick off religious types.

After their repeated cameo appearances in Smith's previous films, Jay and Silent Bob finally are two of the central characters. They're heroes. Prophets of God if you can believe it. The characters are not developed any more than you've known them before, you just get more of what is good about them, and you can't go wrong there.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck play angels who have been exiled from the kingdom of God, and by a decree of Cardinal Glick (Carlin), a loophole has been created that will allow them to return to heaven in spite of God's decree that they are permanently banished. Because God is infallible, their return would show God to be in error and cancel out all existence as it is known.

Linda Fiorentino plays Bethany, who is the one who is chosen to stop the two angels from returning to heaven, and off we go.

Chris Rock is his usual explosive self as Rufus, the 13th apostle who was written out of the Bible because he was black.

What all this makes for is a hilarious picture that is simply pure entertainment. For fans of Kevin Smith, there is much more of what you like about his pictures. Of course there's lots of new stuff. But there's also references to old stuff and even things clearly lifted from other movies like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In one scene, Jay tells Loki (Damon) "...one time this tubby bastard was on a rope in the mall...crashed thru a wall..." There's lots of those, and if you're not paying attention, you'll miss them.

In short: Great film that keeps you laughing most of the time. It does get a little wordy at times, but hey, no film is perfect.

And I never get tired of it. Since Next Friday is about to be released I thought I'd add my opinion to the rest of them before the memory of the original is ruined by the sequel.

What this film has that so many films don't is originality. It is simply a Friday in the life of two young men with not a lot to do. This is the first place I ever recall seeing Chris Tucker, and he's at the top of his game here. He plays Smokey, a drug dealer that smokes more mary jane than he sells. His main goal is to get Craig (Ice Cube), who doesn't do any drugs, to get high with him since Craig got fired from his job and has nothing else to do.

This film takes you places you've never been before, like into the bathroom with Craig's father while he lectures Craig and takes care of bathroom business at the same time. The look on Craig's face is comedy enough.

All in all, it's just a bunch of silly episodes that could really happen in a neighborhood, strung together around the premise of how will Craig and Smokey come up with $200 to pay back Big Worm (Faizon Love) for the dope that Smokey smoked instead of selling so they don't get shot.

It just plain funny whether you're from the ghetto or not. If you haven't picked this one up yet, it's worth your time...

But that doesn't mean it's not a good flick. The first and foremost goal of a movie is to entertain, and this film succeeds in all the right ways. As with any picture, there are some things that may be a little on the thin side, but all in all, it's going to be hard to walk away from the Bone Collector without having had a good time.

I imagine that there will be plenty of "I've seen this all before..." kinds of comments, but luckily for me, I almost never have a movie experience spoiled by that type of thing. In reality, how many movies do you see that are completely original ideas? Not too many, so you have to evaluate them individually, or you'll never be happy.

I mentioned Copycat earlier, and if you think about it, this picture could almost qualify as plagiarism. All that's missing is Harry Connick Jr. asking for someone's "SQUIRREL COVERS".

Denzel Washington is the shut-in this time, playing Lincoln Rhyme who's bed-ridden because he's been paralyzed in the line of duty. He's a forensics expert in an almost psychic way. He sees what no one else can see. That's why they come to him after Angelina Jolie, who plays Amelia Donaghy, photographs a grisly murder scene. Sounds like Copycat was copied, for lack of a better term, you think?

Anyway, Rhyme looks at the evidence that Amelia has photographed and gathered and feels that she has a gift for forensics work, even though she's just a beat-cop. So he decides that she'll be his eyes and ears at the scene of the next murder. They know that there will be another one because the evidence tells them so.

The story goes on from there, time after time they examine the evidence and find the right places to be, but they are just one step behind the killer. Of course you know that after about 2 hours they will have caught him/her, or killed him/her.

From an entertainment standpoint, this an excellent film. It pushes all the right buttons. The characters are generally believable, but Amelia's initial indifference towards Rhyme seems written in as opposed to genuine to the script. The same is true for the character Capt. Howard Cheney played by Michael Rooker. His complete lack of respect for Rhyme seemed phony because it was just there, it was never explained. At least with Amelia, you could see that she was supposed to be cool towards Rhyme because he was trying to get her to do things she didn't want to do.

Denzel is excellent as usual, Ed O'Neil is good, and in general, this is a great movie.

but most of it would be censored out. I can't believe the same man who gave us Taxi Driver and Goodfellas directed this hopeless waste of film. This film is going nowhere and taking a long time to get there.

For the third time this year we have a movie with a central character that can see dead people. That idea is getting old fast. Nicholas Cage is Frank Pierce, a paramedic who is troubled by the patients he's lost, specifically a young girl named Rose. He sees her constantly and seems to be heading towards some serious depression type issues. Ok, so you have a character with a conflict, everything you need to develop a storyline. Is that ever done? NO!!!! All you'll get is three nights out in the ambulance with Frank to see a world of homeless people, prostitutes, alcoholics, drug addicts, and schizophrenics.

It is set in ratty neighborhoods and the hospital that they most commonly cart their patients to is a zoo. The people depicted are real, but there's so much of them heaped on you as the viewer that you don't sympathize with any of them at all. You just get sick of them.

The story is soooooo slow and all you really see is Frank getting more edgy with each call for an ambulance. He latches on to a girl named Mary (Patricia Arquette) who's father has had a heart attack and is in the hospital on life support. The man repeatedly almost dies, but is revived in dramatic ER fashion. As this goes on, Frank stands by watching the man's eyes looking at him and hears the man's voice asking him to stop them from saving him. The man has a breathing tube in his mouth and is not able to speak in any way, but Frank is hearing his voice. In actuality, this idea becomes the focal point of the movie, along with his recurring sightings of the dead girl Rose, who he believes he's killed.

These things actually have some interesting possibilities, but there's hardly no time spent on them at all. Most of the time you're seeing Cage cruising in the ambulance being edgy and drinking. The role played by Ving Rhames was pretty entertaining, but there was only about 15 total minutes of screen time and it certainly wasn't enough to save this film.

The only other thing that was good was when Frank goes out in the ambulance with Tom Sizemore. Frank gets a little hyper and when he's driving, there's some very interesting shots of Sizemore in the passenger seat looking sometimes amused, sometimes scared, sometimes irritated. Other than that, skip it.

D-