I’ve found that one pretty good indicator of really bad movies is when a movie gets featured at prestigious film festivals but never makes it into the main stream.  Battle in Heaven is a classic example of this.  The critics seem to love it but because it’s “artsy” but that’s about the only thing that it’s got going for it.

Since this movie is pretty bad and I expect that you’ll never see it, the rest of the review will contain spoilers, so bail now if you really thinks you want to see this film.

The movie centers around a Mexican man, Marcos, who along with his obese wife have kidnapped a baby.  Unfortunately, the baby died while in their custody and Marcos is filled with guilt.  Marcos works for the chief of police and one of his duties is chauffeuring the chiefs twenty-something daughter, Ana.  Unbeknownst to the Chief, but known by Marcos, Ana gets her kicks buy working part time as a prostitute.  Marcos unable to contain his guilt over the death of the baby, tells Ana what happened.

The rest of the movie is about Marcos brooding about the city, trying to decide if he should confess his crime, having sex with his obese wife (I considered ripping my eyes out after seeing this), having sex with Ana (made it worth not ripping out my eyes), stabbing Ana …

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Mel Gibson plays a single dad cop whose recently graduated daughter finds herself in some serious trouble.  Mel spends most of the movie trying to find out what happened.

This is definately a second tier Mel Gibson movie.  It’s watchable and somewhat entertaining but just doesn’t come up to the level of most of his previous movies.  There are also a few places in the script where you get the feeling that something was cut on the editing floor because things are happening that don’t make a lot of sense.

My rating: 4 out of 10 stars

I finally got to see Avatar this weekend.  We went to the 3:30PM show thinking that it would be empty, but it was anything but; the place was packed.  When we arrived the theater was about half full, but by the time the movie started it was almost sold out.

The movie is everything they say it is.  The three hours flew by.

Since everyone else has already reviewed Avatar by now, it doesn’t seem a good use of my time to post another review, so I’ll just say that it is definitely worth seeing.  The CGI is amazing, the 3D is a blast and the movie is action packed without going over the top.  The story has been done before a whole bunch of times, but what story hasn’t.  If you go to see it, make sure you see the 3D version.  Although the movie would stand up well without 3D, you’d still be missing a whole lot of the experience.

Before it leaves the theaters, I think I would like to see it one more time at an IMAX theater.  I’m not a big fan of IMAX, but I suspect in this case it might be worth doing.

Tom Cruise : Ray Ferrier
Dakota Fanning : Rachel
Justin Chatwin : Robbie
Miranda Otto : Mary Ann
Tim Robbins : Harlan Ogilvy
Directed by Steven Spielberg

It’s quiz time. Which of the following best describes the reason that Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds was produced:

A. The original movie wasn’t all that good and the new version improves on it.
B. The original movie was good but the director has a new take on the film
C. The original movie was good, but If we put out a new version we’ll make a lot of money

Let’s see it’s not A because the original version of War of the Worlds was actually a pretty good movie and the new version didn’t improve on it one bit.

And it’s not B because the new version tells the same story as the old version; the new version breaks no new ground.

So it must be…

You guessed it C. Dollar signs were apparently foremost on the mind of Spielberg and his DreamWorks buddies when they decided to produce this picture.

It’s not really a bad movie, it just wasn’t really needed. The 1953 movie had already told this story quite well and the 2005 version does absolutely nothing to improve on it.

In the original version, Gene Barry plays …

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James Cagney : Arthur ‘Cody’ Jarrett
Virginia Mayo : Verna Jarrett
Edmond O’Brien : Vic Pardo/Hank Fallon
Margaret Wycherly : Ma Jarrett
Directed by Raoul Walsh

White Heat is one of those rare old movies that actually lives up to the hype. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard great things about an old movie but when I finally get to see it, I end up disappointed. This isn’t the case with White Heat however; it’s just as good as everyone says it is.

The story is about a psychopath, tough as nails gangster, Cody Jarrett, who has a weird, child-like attachment to his mother. Jarrett thinks nothing of robbing trains, stealing payrolls and killing people, but when times get tough, he needs the love and encouragement of his mom.

The story begins with Jarrett and the boys staging a train robbery during which Jarrett brutally kills the train engineers. During the heist, one of the gang members is seriously injured and his later death gives the Feds the ability to link the train robbery back to Jarrett. Jarrett sensing that the Feds now have the evidence needed to put him in prison for a long time confesses to another crime that he did not commit, but which serves as a alibi that prevents him from being implicated in the train robbery.

Jarrett …

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