Buy it! Watch it now!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? It was definitely a positive experience, but a bit on the vague-side when it comes to connecting the theme up with the events of the movie. The plot was fine, but beyond the river flowing by I didn’t get any idea of where the title comes from (yes, water washes away sins, but why didn’t it for these women?). The movie was probably a bit longer than it needed to be, or just slightly less interesting that it should have been, in my opinion. I wasn’t expecting explosions or chase scenes, but something about this movie just felt a little slow.

Technically any good? The story was very interesting and very important. The script was pretty solid as was most of the acting. I wish I could have seen a bit more from the lead child, range-wise, but giving that she wasn’t speaking her native language, I have to say she did a good job. The rest of the casting was generally spot-on, but the prostitute character was WAY too hot. She did a good job with the acting, but I just didn’t buy that someone that hot and that white-looking would end up in what was essentially a prison for widows (the actress is apparently known as the Angelina Jolie of India!). I had only one other real problem with the movie aside from its pacing and that was a moment where a character behaved in a way that seemed dictated by the plot and not the character. Still, this movie was beautiful and stunning to watch. I just wish the pace was a bit quicker or that there was more to look at while I was waiting for the next plot point to occur.

How did it leave me feeling? Pretty satisfied, over all. I knew nothing about the issue of widows in India or how many are ostracized from society. While the movie takes place during Gandhi’s time, it is apparently still a problem. Seems that humanity, in general, is good at oppressing women–even when the oppressors are women, themselves. Makes no sense.

Final Rating? GSN - Go See Now - India is a fascinating culture and while I wouldn’t rank this film up among my absolute favorites, I think it’s a pretty good movie and a very good introduction to Indian culture (despite it being a negative aspect of Indian culture).

Buy the 3-disc DVD set!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? It was definitely fun, but the bar was set just a bit too high with the first Hellboy movie, sadly, so I found this one to be disappointing.

Technically any good? FX and designs were AMAZING. Visually, this film was STUNNING. Unfortunately, the visuals and FX are the only reasons to see the film beyond some solid acting by the leads. Sadly, the script is cliche, contrived and annoying. There were just too many “that was supposed to be funny?” moments in it. The first Hellboy seemed confident in itself as being a good movie, where this one felt like it was trying hard to prove itself. I should also point out that Selma Blair always falls a little flat for me, but I feel like she just needs a good shove and she’ll be amazing.

How did it leave me feeling? Vaguely entertained, but disappointed. It’s always hard to follow up a good movie with an as-good sequel, but I felt like this script fell into some obvious traps and came off much more cliched than it should have.

Final Rating? NFI - NetFlix It. Don’t spend any money on this one unless it’s your monthly Netflix subscription. :) Though, if you disagree and plan on buying the DVD, please buy Hellboy 2 from my Amazon store so I can get a cut. Thanks! ^_^

Click to buy!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Without a doubt! This movie was a lot of fun and actually had a interesting dramatic edge that I wasn’t expecting.

Technically any good? Once you accept that Jack Benny and the rest of the cast (including Robert Stack) are actually Polish and not Americans, the film is pretty damn near flawless. There were a couple of contrivances to keep the plot moving, but there are enough genuinely wonderful surprises to keep this movie in the “worth seeing” column for sure. Benny is actually quite good as an actor and not just a very funny man in his role as a “famous” Polish actor. The ending of this film falls a little flat, but for a film made sixty-six years ago, it’s surprisingly solid and even resonant. The dialog is so insanely witty I was floored by some of it.

How did it leave me feeling? Mostly satisfied and the only reason I don’t say “completely” satisfied is because the ending is a little shrug-worthy, but there are some amazingly tense moments in this “comedy” starring one of the biggest comedy greats of all time. See this movie.

Final Rating? GSN - Go See Now–or at least go rent it or Netflix it–or hell, buy it. It’s definitely something you want to watch more than once.

Click to buy

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Wow, not really. I watched this a bunch of times as a little kid and remember loving it but as an adult, it had its moments but was surprisingly unfunny.

Technically any good? It’s a send-up of famous movie detectives and tries to take them to task for their various foibles–whether it’s Charlie Chan’s inability to speak proper English (despite his brilliance) or Miss Marple’s inability to let us in on what she knows before she names the killer (or was it Poirot who did that?). Either way, you can’t fault the acting–well, except for Truman Capote who was amusing, in his own way. The rest of the cast is stunning–David Niven, Peter Sellers, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith, and more, believe it or not (Alex Guiness!!) all did wonderful jobs.

While this movie does have flashes of true inspiration, I have a feeling the script was written at a point in Neil Simon’s life when he was riding off of the success of other projects. The plot feels weakly pulled together and while I get that the ending isn’t supposed to make sense, that doesn’t stop it from being stupid. If you want to make something not make sense in your movie, fine, but you can’t have not make sense inside the universe of the story. The sets looked great, though. :)

How did it leave me feeling? Disappointed. I think I was very easy to please as a kid.

Final Rating? DNS - Do Not See. I’m no fan of Clue but I think I laughed more at that then I did at Murder By Death. Sad to say, I guess.

Click here to buy or here to watch it now!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Definitely entertaining, but definitely depressing. For a control freak like me watching movies about people on the edge of destroying their own lives is hard to do.

Technically any good? The script was very solid and entirely believable. It was just depressing as hell. The acting was equally solid. It was nice to see Danny Trejo in a film where he wasn’t a hitman or some other kind of killer. It was also great to see Giancarlo Esposito in anything at all (he’s great in EVERYthing). The movie does a great job of deeply portraying characters who are themselves not deep as they try determine what is best for their own lives (this was the part that was hard for me to watch as a control freak). Director/writer Laurie Collyer does an excellent job in directing. The movie is very much on the flawless side.

How did it leave me feeling? Entirely satisfied. It was interesting to watch a movie that wasn’t about a driving throughline, but instead focuses on the characters’ choices, right or wrong. Most stories feature characters who are forced to choose one thing or another. Sherrybaby shows us characters that have options, but perhaps not the capability to make the best choices for themselves. The film ends up being about how the characters make their decisions.

What I got from the movie is to remember that we, as individuals, always have options and that very little forces us to react one way or another.

Final Rating? SIYL - See If You Like - this movie is not for everyone. It’s depressing and there is nudity, sex and drugs. It’s not romantic sex, either. It’s depressing sex (the drugs are depressing, too). But see it if you love strong performances, especially from women. Maggie Gyllenhaal is great.