The Benchwarmers

The Good:
This is the first movie - ever - I can say I didn't totally wish Rob Schneider was dead - which I guess is a good thing.

Jon Heder was funny - but he's always funny even if the movie sucks.

The Bad:
The movie became very generic Adam Sandler movie that tries to be funny then teach you a lesson in the end.

I hate David Spade unless he is with Chris Farley. Sadly, Farley is now deceased so I will forever hate David Spade.

I also hate Jon Lovitz.

All in all:
Don't spend money to watch this. If it comes on TV and you have nothing better to do while folding laundry, then so be it.

Stacy

The Good:
There was only one good thing about this movie. The chainsaw sold to "repeat-kill" the Stacys - "Bruce Campbell's Right Hand" - complete with infomercials. Brilliant.

Close runner up - "Romero Repeat-Kill Troops".

The Bad:
The acting was horrible.

The effects were horrible.

The story was horrible.

All in all:
I think this movie was trying to tell some kind of story - but I never did figure out what it was. Just don't bother, unless you want to try to explain it to me.

Deep Sea: IMAX

The Good:
I'm a sucker for documentaries - particularly nature documentaries. This one was very good.

You got to see a lot of really neat things that most people take for granted as the air breathing lot of us don't spend a lot of time under the deep sea.

Beautiful - just visually stunning at times.

The Bad:
As much as I like both Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet - I found the dueling narrators to be a bit distracting and it often took away from the focus of the film which was the complexity of undersea life. Choosing one and sticking with them would have been a better call as there was really no point in having two.

I think I lost a lot of the stun factor watching this at home on DVD rather than in and IMAX theatre as it was intended.

All in all:
Very, very good. It's no Planet Earth - but it's damn good.

Oldboy

The Good:
This movie just looked good.

The cinematography was top notch.

The color was rich.

The framing was excellent in a comic book kind of way.

The pacing was quick and never let up. Made the movie seem much shorter than it actually was.

The main actor - Min-sik Choi was very, very good.

The Bad:
This was billed as a horror movie, but it was not. It was definitely disturbing - but not as disturbing as it has always led me to believe. (One of the segments in this film is listed in Bravo's Scariest Movie Moments - but it wasn't nearly as bad as a ton of other things I've seen). It was no Ichi the Killer - but that's not necessarily a bad thing as Ichi the Killer made me feel like I needed to wash with steel wool just to get the grime off.

The movie was just too pretty to leave you nearly as disturbed as I think you were supposed to be.

All in all:
An Asian classic - not horror - not in the traditional sense. It had a very gritty, other-worldly Fight Club meets Nightwatch kind of feel. A must see for fans of good cinema.

The Illusionist

The Good:
The story was fantastical - yet grounded. I don't know how to explain it better. You became one of the audience members, watching the magic and trying to reconcile rational disbelief with the wonder and beauty of the illusion.

The use of color and the brilliant effects added to the magical feel of the film.

Paul Giamatti was again, excellent - as was Ed Norton.

The Bad:
I just don't like Jessica Biel. I think she's a crap T & A actress with little other function. The only thing I've ever liked her in was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Remake) and that was just because she rolled around on the ground in her own spit and snot for awhile while she did her half-assed job of fake crying.

I don't like Rufus Sewell either. I haven't liked him in anything I've ever seen him in - and he just keeps popping up. He always plays the same guy - that generic asshole who really isn't all that convincing. His lazy eye bugs me - and yes, I realize he can't help that - but it bugs me all the same.

All in all:
I really enjoyed this film. The way Ed Norton and Paul Giamatti played off each other was fascinating to watch. The Illusions were convincing and pretty.

Lady in the Water

The Good:
It was a very good fairy tale.

The story was intriguing and kept you guessing throughout the film.

The characters were believable and you just felt for them. You wanted to believe.

Paul Giamatti was wonderful, as was Bryce Dallas Howard.

The Bad:
I dislike M. Night Shyamalan for many reasons, but the main one is that he insists on casting himself in a central role in all his movies. This movie was his worst call thus far. He really should keep himself out of his movies. There are plenty of actors out there who could do just fine.

A lot of the effects were just poorly done.

All in all:
For the most part I tend to avoid Shyamalan flicks like the plague that they are - but this is one case where I would recommend going against that principle. It was a very good film - his role aside.

The Monster

The Good:
It tried very hard to be a good "lesson" story - a fable if you will.

The Bad:
It wasn't a horror movie - and that's what it was billed as.

In no way was it scary - mostly it was just sad, and not necessarily because it was supposed to be.

It was intended to teach you a lesson, to make you look at and dissect who in the movie was truly the "monster" - but it just failed to get there.

All in all:
I'd say pass. It's just not good.