The latest MOVIES seen. --all of them

A Brief History of Time

For those of you who haven't read Hawking's book (I'm one, and it's... OK, because I'm human, and humans make mistakes...) this is your chance to get up to date with the cosmology scene. This movie has many excellent "laymans' terms" explanations of cosmological concepts as black holes, time, entropy, creation, etc. It includes is a vivid description of how one would die if they got sucked into a black hole! A MUST SEE for anyone who calls themselves a scientist (and haven't read Hawking's book yet). -- orch

A Walk in the Clouds

A very picturesque movie. Romantic and predictable. Keanu still needs a couple of acting lessens though. -- morey

Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls

This movie was really dumb -- not funny dumb -- just plain dumb. How does this guy make so much money? I even admit I liked the first one. -- spiros

Ace Venture 2: When Nature Calls

Much of this movie is dedicated to creating situations where Jim Carey can perform his little sight-gags. He's funny, but this movie lacks a plot. I'd rather just watch Jim doing standup comedy. -- orch

Airheads

A good satire, but I was expecting more laughs. -- spiros

Amateur

I loved it. Then again my recent movies were Die hard.. and Johnny Mmmm so anything would be a 10. -- morey

I had trouble deciding whether the title was about one of the characters, or about the screenwriter.

Basically, a guy--who we are given to understand used to be a real meanie-- wakes up with amnesia and we spend the rest of the movie trying to find out if he has a personality. Nope, guess not. Also, a virgin nymphomaniac ex-nun, a John Cleese/Christopher Lloyd lovable crazy guy and the Dutch reigning queen of porn are thrown in to balance things out.

It's self-conciously Quirky with a capital Q, without really having a point. However, it is also: Slow, slow, slow. Outside of a few good moments, a really pointless bore. -- korpen

Apollo 13

I thoroughly loved this movie. If you Canadians weren't so scared of American propaganda, you'd love it too. -- spiros

A tense movie with good acting. I loved seeing the old technology. -- morey

Assassins

My god was this movie bad! The action was mediocre and the entire plot was about one sentence long. The movie went on and on and on. I kept falling asleep, but never missed a thing. -- spiros

BATMAN Forever

It's only worth seeing for the visual effects. The characters are as one-dimensional as a comic book (probably what they were going for). You have to see it on a big screen, but don't pay full price whatever you do. -- spiros

Well I liked it. I think it's worth seeing if you're into that kind of thing. -- morey

Babe

Delightfully funny and quirky movie for grownups and kids, without the usual violence of other kids movies (eg. Jungle book). Allison (my 7 year old) and I loved it; one small drawback is that she made me pinky-square to get a pet pig one day. One viewing of this movie would provide sufficient motivation to eliminate pork products from the diet of even the most cold-hearted slob. -- ward

Bar Girls

All the Guelph lesbians seemed to get a big kick outta this. I thought it had a plastic sitcom quality to most of it and I couldn't identify with any of the characters. I guess I'm not a lesbian. (Jp) -- morey

Beer

I really liked it. Burp. Oops wrong page. -- morey

Braveheart

This was a good film--very realistic and disgusting. It's a long film. -- morey

Yes, it's a long one. Yet some things in the film kept my eyes rivetted to the screen: the theme of undying love, the action on the battle field (although I thought the gore was a touch overdone), and most especially Mel Gibson's butt.

Broken Arrow

Your typical action flick with two hot names, ridiculous plot, and a bit of predictability. -- spiros

Broken Arrow

This film has the CHEESIEST last line in it!

Bullets over Broadway

This was the second movie of the double bill and by this time my butt was getting sore from sitting for so long. It was a good film with superb performances by Diane Weist and Chazz Palminteri (I have probably misspelled both of their names). Don't speak!

Caligula

If you're downtown and bored at midnight with 6 bucks to blow--why not? -- morey

Canadian Bacon

Alan Alda plays the part of the American president whose popularity is sliding and decides to have a war with Canada to boost his ratings. This film was written, produced and directed by (the guy who directed Roger and Me and is on TV Nation). It is pretty hilarious to see some of the typical American-Canadian stereotypes in this movie. Definitely worth a rental. -- spiros

Circle of Friends

Teenage life as an Irish Catholic in the late 50's. It needed its happy ending. -- spiros

Clerks

I really liked this film right down to its lack of colour (it's in black and white like a convenience store security camera). It's worth a good laugh. -- spiros

Clockers

This one is brought to you by Spike Lee. It gives you a LONG hard look at the projects. After the first 5 minutes of blurring street talk I warmed up to the lingo. Almost a documentary. -- morey

Clueless

This was suprisingly good. The style was a little like the wonder years except the little boy is replaced by a clueless teen age babe. I would have to conclude that this film was different from Schindler's List. -- morey

Congo

Well I went because it was only 3 bucks...probably not worth it. It was a bit too superficial. -- morey

Copycat

An OK flick: reasonable plot, nice effects, good acting; but why this wierd obsession with serial killers? I think that a movie like this seems more like a commercial promoting the career of serial killing than anything else. -- morey

This movie kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. It had a very interesting plot as well. -- spiros

Crimson Tide

This was a good movie. Intense. Next time I'm in a nuclear submarine I'll know what to do. (possibly my rating is a bit high since I only paid $3) -- morey

Dead Man Walking

Intense (non-fiction) story of a convict on death row and the nun (Susan Sarandon) who befriends him in an effort to get him to accept responsibility for his heinous crime. It was not clear to me how the story would unfold: was he wrongfully convicted? would he be pardonned? Sarandon is brilliant in her role. Although this was not the typical lightweight film that I usually prefer, I found the story completely captivating.-- ward

Desperado

It achieves what it sets out to do--glamourize gun ballet. Violence just doesn't get anymore cool. If I wasn't in math I'd be gun-slinger. -- morey

Die Hard #3

I don't know if I'm getting old or what, but I didn't care for this action thriller much. Can you say generic? This movie came right out of a can. It's a lot of Speed mixed with a little Lethal Weapon. At least it's different than the other Die Hards. -- spiros

Exponential decay--if they do another it will be as good as Superman 4. Nice effects with thin plot. -- morey

Disclosure

Even though I was able to put together three of the four pieces of the puzzle together before the protagonist did, I still enjoyed this film. If the protagonist thought a little faster with the computer system, I'd give it one rating higher. -- spiros

Don Juan de Marco

I really enjoyed this movie, especially all the fantastic stories. -- spiros

Sure it's cheesy and silly but it is heart-warmingly romantic and that is why I gave this movie a high rating. It opened my eyes too, making me see that no-one should settle for conditional love, that we should all strive for ideal love. (Okay, okay, some of you reading this are gagging by now, but chip away some of the ice from your heart and then read my review again.)

Double Happiness

I loved it! Even the subtitles!! I found many messages in this film, one being that you cannot always believe the projected image that people provide of their families -- there is bound to be something festering underneath.

Drop Zone

Simple, straight-forward action flick. -- spiros

Dumb and Dumber

I've been refusing to see this movie for quite a long time. I mean how can something so stoopid work? Well, it does. I busted my gut, I laughed so much. -- spiros

Perhaps it was my low expectations of the movie, but I LOVED this one! I'm not even a Jim Carey junkie! -- orch

Eclipse

I thought it was typical immediately after seeing it, but a few images and ideas have stayed with me for months. The hetero sex was bland, but the gay sex was interesting. (Jp) -- morey

Ed Wood

Martin Landau rules as Bela Lugosi! I loved this movie although it seemed to drag a bit after my favourite character (guess!) died. Now that I have seen the story about the "worst director of all time", I really want to see some of the actual films of Ed Wood. I have heard that they are spectacularly bad!

Emma

I heard that Gwyneth Paltrow's ear got her the part. Whatever that really means, I believe it was a wise casting decision because she was delightful as Emma. And if I haven't learned this lesson already, the story taught me to never, ever try my hand (again) at match-making!

Eraser

Arnold Schwarzeneggar plays a U.S. Marshal who is in charge of keeping witnesses alive through the witness protection program. This movie has tons of violence, mostly of the blow-up persuasion. The story line is OK and the special effects are good. The hoakiness is about average. -- spiros

Fargo

Gotta get me a woodchipper! (Eileen)

It's just like my home town. Yeah. -- morey

First Wives Club

A silly movie concerning the empowerment of three women who are ditched by their husbands and who then bond together to seek revenge on them. In the classic Hollywood style, most of the characters are cartoonish, everyone is very rich, there is no emotional depth, and rather suprisingly there are very few laughs from the trio of Midler, Keaton and Hawn. All in all, Daisey and Felix did not like this film that much (our review is not biased by the fact that the subject matter was not that appealing to Felix). -- ward

French Kiss

It was a cute funny movie. Completely predictable and totally Hollywood, but I really like Meg Ryan. -- spiros

Get Shorty

I hadn't been to the movies in a while and thought this one might be worth seeing. Boy! was I wrong. Very slow pointless movie. It was like The Player meets the mob. I was torn between giving this a 3 or a 4, but since it received such high praise, I'll have to counter that by throwing this one in the trash. The money would have been better spent on Jim's Beer which is what my friend wanted to do halfway through the movie. I liked the four previews they showed better than this movie. -- spiros

This was an OK movie. I think that the quote, "Oscars for everyone", was a bit much. So as long as you don't expect the best film of the season than you may like it. It didn't say much but at least it didn't say, "Be a serial killer and you'll be famous". -- morey

Goldeneye

Now this is what action is all about. I loved all the stunts and even the one-liners. It had kung fu, tank fu, and even sex fu. The only thing missing was a really even villain, but I find most of the recent Bond films lack this. My other quibble is how come nobody but 007 can hit the broad side of a barn. -- spiros

Hackers

I don't know what it was about this movie, but I really enjoyed it. Still, it was a bit on the corny side and thus my 6 rating rather than a 7. It's worth a rental anyways. -- spiros

Happy Gilmore

What can be funnier than golf? A hockey player playing golf. Even though the story line was completely predictable, it had more than enough laughs to make up for it. -- spiros

Heavenly Creatures

Awesome movie. Should have been nominated for best picture. Probably my second favourite movie from 1994. -- spiros

I liked it. I think it's best to go in without knowing the story. It's not a comedy. -- morey

Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madame

In lieu of renting the 1930's documentary entitled "Freaks" (that advertised "real, live freaks!"), my friend and I picked up this documentary. Even though, moments after it started, her husband was down for the count, she and I continued watching with horrified fascination ... Heidi, Ivan Nagy, Madame Alex and also the documenter himself were indeed REAL, LIVE FREAKS! I rated this one as high as the level 6 (good for video) because it was fun laughing at the film with friends, glad that we had not paid the full movie theatre price to see it.

Henry and Verlin

It's a poetic view of early Ontario town life, better than Anne of Green Gables, and about some of the strongest and tenderest aspects of love. (Jp) -- morey

Houseguest

This movie was totally lame. It's only saving grace was having Sinbad. Nothing worked. It was very choppy and poorly written. -- spiros

I.Q.

It was a movie. Kind of cute. -- morey

Il Monstro

Fabulous film. High hilarity. Loads o laughs. Intense Italian images. -- morey

Il Postino

Even those horrid sloping seats at the Ridge and the tall woman sitting bolt upright in front of me, blocking my view of the subtitles at the bottom of the screen, didn't really hinder my enjoyment of this film. I especially loved the scene when Beatrice's illiterate aunt convinced the priest to read the "Naked" poem to her.

Jennifer 8

I heard that the plot of this movie was really twisted, but I had no problems keeping up with it. It was a bit suspenseful and kept me watching. -- spiros

Judge Dredd

Awesome action flick. No one can deliver a better one liner than Sly. Had a little plot to get in the way of the action. -- spiros

Yeah what ever Athan said... -- morey

Kiss of Death

Nicolas Cage delivers a good performance as a dumb and brutal member of the mob. And that redhead from NYPD Blue is solid as the lead character who gets screwed around on all sides. -- spiros

La Cage aux Folles

Hilarious! I can't believe that I waited so long before seeing it. The movie "The Bird Cage" is the American rip-off of this one.

La Haine (Hate)

INTENSE. Brilliant camera work. Excellent sound track. The subtitles were essential to someone like me with a "clean" textbook knowledge of french.

Latcho Drom

Yeah what she said. -- morey

Leaving Las Vegas

Hollywood story of the meeting and unconsumed romance of two tortured souls; one on a downward spiral with booze, the other with a severely suppressed heart. Although the movie has its good points, I never really got the feeling that there was much chemistry between these two twisted souls and we never really understood why Cage was on his spiral. However, Cage is exemplary in his role as a drunk and does a good job in his Stallone imitation (i.e. let them see only the whites of your eyes). Perhaps I am a cold-hearted slob, but the movie did not move me much as I had expected. -- ward

Liste Noire (Black List)

My friend and I were drawn to this film by its poster of the black lace bra incorporated into the scales of justice. Hmmmm, we thought, this film could be interesting. It was reasonably entertaining and okay for a matinee viewing, but the inconsistencies in the flick (like that guy coming back from the dead and the supposed hidden camera showing multiple angles AND closeups!) were a bit too much.

Lord of Illusions

This was also 3 bucks...It could have been a lot better given the world they were in. My big problem was that the hero never really made any choices that he was apparently going to have to make.. -- morey

Mighty Aphrodite

This was the first film of a Woody Allen double bill at the Ridge recently. I croaked out many a laugh (I had laryngitis at the time) especially at the knick-knacks in Linda's apartment. Great film!

The Usual Suspects

Miller's Crossing

After unsuccessfully attempting to view a movie from the Vancouver International Film Festival (advance ticket sales sucks!), we rented this one. Although it was a bit too much shoot-em-in-the-brain for me, I still enjoyed watching the character Tommy play everyone else off of each other and throughout all the mayhem surrounding him, he seemed to maintain a cool, calm demeanour. So, if you get screwed around by the VIFF ticket system, try out this movie instead.

Mission Impossible

Perhaps the impossible mission is for the audience to suspend their belief for two hours. However, if you do this, it turns into a great movie. Lots of great action and tons of gadgetry make this movie fun. A little plot twist half way through, also keeps things rolling. -- spiros

Mr. Holland's Opus

I really loved this Hollywood movie that pulls on the heart strings. Definitely bring some tissues with you. I found the music to be just as stirring as the story. -- spiros

Murder: In the First

This movie shows the inhumane treatment of prisoners in Alcatraz. The story is fairly interesting, but it moves way too slow; trying to add suspense where there isn't any. -- spiros

Muriel's Wedding

Very refreshing. Worth seeing. It is a comedy. -- morey

My Own Private Idaho

I have to say that I didn't really get this film and yet I enjoyed it anyway for some strange reason. It had an ominous feel to it: while watching the River Phoenix character twitching and convulsing on the ground (which happened a number of times), I couldn't help but think how art imitates life. Creepy.

Natural Born Killers

It was very visual--probably worth seeing but I wouldn't want to see it again. -- morey

Nell

It moved a bit slowly for my tastes and the same point is made a lot better in sci-fi books by Sturgeon and Heinlein. -- spiros

Nell

Too Hollywood. Still, it wasn't that bad.

Night is Coming

Artistic. Alternative. A very good movie. And Canadian to boot. -- morey

Once Were Warriors

An unbelievably powerful movie. Intense and at times very disturbing. But still it had a strong positive element to it: no-one can destroy the spirit.

It blew me away. Like watching the most violent, hard to grip parts of the six o'clock news, but instead of an unemotional commentator's the depth of family brutality is seen through the eyes of a skilled Maori director. (Jp) -- morey

Once in a Blue Moon

The was a decent Canadian production. It was the wonder years with a bit of magic and a bi of revenge. -- morey

Outbreak

Overall an OK movie. Has a few flaws and needs to get rid of the extraneous love story. However, it's suspenseful and a little realistic. -- spiros

Private Parts

I was laughing a lot throughout this movie. I believe that it was pretty truthful as well. Howard Stern is quite a character. After seeing this movie, I wished one of the radio stations here carried his show. -- spiros

Pulp Fiction

I agree with Jim. -- spiros

I loved it. It was a well crafted film. Really sick, though. -- morey

Pointless trash; except that Travolta is amusing in a very pathetic way; definitely not for children. -- ward

Queen Margot

Beautiful bodies do nasty things. Lots of breasts. Just like French TV. (Jp) -- morey

Raging Bull

I missed the first 5 minutes of this film due to that rotten BC Transit but I did not miss (although I sort of wish I had) that scene near the end where Robert De Niro's belly was hanging out of his shirt as he was talking on the phone. Still, the movie was great and definitely well worth the effort of making it downtown for the midnight showing.

Reservoir Dogs

I didn't care much for this movie. I just saw it recently (March, 1997) and perhaps I expected more. Everybody kept warning me about the violence, but it didn't seem like a lot to me, or at least it wasn't graphic. I found the movie to be way to short and slow. Pulp Fiction was much better. -- spiros

Rosalie Goes Shopping

The movie really begins to gain momentum when Rosalie decides to crack the computer systems in the local banks to support her compulsive shopping habit. I believe we all know a certain someone who would shudder at the choice of computer passwords that made it so easy for her to get past the security! Rosalie's family was a wonderful bunch of kooks but her husband, Liebling, truly made the movie worthwhile.

Sense and Sensibility

Amazing! Thanks Chen, for the free tickets!!

Shallow Grave

Twisted, but somewhat funny and there's a little suspense. It's certainly worth seeing. -- guerin

Wonderfully tense and suspenseful flick, the kind that makes you grip the armrests until your knuckles are white or dig your fingernails into someone's arm (sorry Geoff!). The moral of the story: if you can't trust your friends, then who can you trust?

Species

I didn't mind the movie. I think it presented some interesting ideas. Of course there were some problems with the plot but the nudity made up for those. -- morey

Sudden Death

A fireman with the skills of Jean-Claude Van Damme? Gimme a break. However if you can get past this and the lame story line with the kids, the movie is OK. Jean-Claude must find all the bombs in the ice arena before game 7 of the Stanley Cup finishes. He does all this for his daughter who is held captive with the Vice President of the U.S. There is a bit of an interesting wrinkle in the plot as well. -- spiros

Swingers

I thoroughly loved this movie. I hurt myself I was laughing so much. Even Anne liked it and our movie tastes are completely polar. The basic story is about a guy who breaks up with his long time girlfriend when he moves to Hollywood and how he gets over it with some help from his friends. -- spiros

Tank Girl

I've been hearing good things about this movie, but could never bring myself to rent it. Lucky for me, my roommate had enough will power to do so, and I surprisingly liked it. It's a good comedy with lots of action and good one liners. -- spiros

Terminal Velocity

It didn't have a plot so they had to keep you in the dark most of the movie. Had plenty of one liners for good chuckles and was so stupid you and your friends will have lots of fun cutting it up. -- spiros

The Brady Bunch Movie

Other than a warm sense of nostalgia and amazement at how they found so many lookalikes of the "actors" from the original show, there really wasn't much to this movie. Although I must admit that I loved the parody of Mike Brady saying lines like, "Now, Cindy, if you judge others, you are not only judging them, but you are also judging yourself, and that's being judgemental, not only of others but of yourself too." Rent this one if you have nothing better to do, or say, if you are recovering from a wicked hangover.

The Last Seduction

I saw it after having a big fight with the X. The woman in this makes any other seem angelic. Lies, murder, drugs, left, blackmail, and sex in public places. One of the year's best, with Amateur and Pulp Fiction. (Jp) -- morey

This is one of the few movies that I found myself routing against all the main characters, but I guess between a Bitch, an idiot (or "fuck-boy"), and a drug dealer that's not hard. The ending is quite good. I liked Red Rock West which was made by the same people even better. -- spiros

The Net

This was a reasonable movie. I went in with very little expectations. Of course there are quite a few things that on close inspection fall to pieces. Basically this film shows the evil potential of computers. -- morey

The Professional

I really liked this hollywood non-hollywood movie. It may be just a little bit disturbing to some, but still great. -- spiros

The Quick and the Dead

I didn't care too much for this western. It could have been done in less than a half hour (but I guess most westerns could :). A gun fight playoff system just doesn't cut it. -- spiros

The Rock

Another good action film with a good story line (actually, the best story line of the action films I've seen lately). The "bad" guy's character is a bit inconsistent, but who really cares. Another good performance by Sean Connery makes this film work. -- spiros

The Scout

Really bad, slow, pointless movie starring Albert Brooks. I don't see how he can be considered a comic genius time and time again. It's snooze city. -- spiros

The Secret of Roan Inish

A cute, Irish fairy tale. -- spiros

The Usual Suspects

I was suprised how much I liked it, after having such high expectations (thanks to Chen Greif). The ending was well worth being slightly confused throughout! -- orch

The Wedding Banquet

A very interesting marriage of convenience. -- spiros

To Die For

Very gripping and very interesting to see how the mind of a psychopath ticks. I bet in his next life the husband who was felled by the freight train will be a little more selective in dating. -- ward

Trainspotting

This review represents the official launch of the Daisy and Felix (MJW) movie review series. Our tasteful and insightful comments will hopefully make you forget about those old codgers Siskel and Ebert. Now for the review. This movie was rivetting. It is an offbeat and shockingly interesting tale about the struggles of a group of Scottish youth with their obsessive addictions and cravings to heroin. The movie was highly unpredictable, the characters were very real and interesting, and it was emotionally honest. In short, everything that most Hollywood movies are not. On the lighter side, there were many scenes that were disgustingly funny (warning: do not eat popcorn or other munchies, especially near the beginning). Also, for those grad students who need honing of their interview skills, there is a brilliant demonstration in this movie on how to present oneself at a job interview. In summary, both Daisy and Felix loved this movie. -- ward

Unzipped

Isaac Mizrahi was such a delightful character that I thought he couldn't possibly be real, that he MUST be the figment of someone's imagination. But at the end of the movie, I searched in vain through the credits for the actor who played him. So, I guess he must be real! I loved the way Isaac constantly referenced movie scenes and then we got to see the actual clip from whichever movie right after. There were tons of cameos of big names in fashion, and then unfortunately too many appearances of a carping Linda Evangelista which made one wish that she ONLY had a cameo in the movie.

Virtuosity

This is a rather poor sci-fi thriller. The villain should have been at least ten times more evil for it to be remotely believable. -- spiros

Waterworld

How much money did they spend on this?! Some of the effects were really cool, but others (the ones they must have done after going over budget :) were totally lame. Better than Mad Max, but still pretty senseless. -- spiros

An exciting flick. Kevin Costner did a good job playing, for once, someone who is not a sensitive sappy character. I thought that the plot was thrilling, even though the end was predictable; and it was altogether worth seeing. (Niki)

A good movie to watch. Maybe they could have made 10 movies for that cost but the end product was good. -- morey

Why has Boddhidharma left for the East?

When the moon goes out of your body, where does the master of my being go? Answer: here. -- korpen