Yo Beat: Issue 14: The Weekend Warrior Issue

Movies

NOW IN THEATRES:

She's All That

Plot: The school hunk gets dumped by his prima donna girlfriend, and to save his ego, makes a bet that he can turn any girl into the prom queen in six weeks.  He then, of course, falls in love with her.

This movie has the same plot, lines, and characters as every other high school movie ever made.  It's completely standard, but I happen to like High School movies, so I say, why mess with a good thing.  However, if it wasn't for Matthew Lillard's character, this movie probably would have been pretty stupid.  It was pretty funny, (and so we're the 13 year old girls in the audience), but Lillard played an ex Real World cast member, and really saved the whole thing. In one scene he gets jiggy enough on the dance floor to make the whole movie worth the $5.75 I paid to see it.  Bravo.

Payback

Plot: Mel Gibson shoots a lot of people over $70,000.

I'm not sure what possessed me to see this movie.  It looked bad from the previews, it got bad reviews, but I guess there was just nothing else playing.  So, It came as no surprise that right now I am saying it sucked.  It was so bad, from the opening scene to the closing one, there was not one redeeming factor of this movie.   The worst part however, came because Hollywood feels it necessary for every movie to be a love story, so there were some painfully cliched scenes with Mel's hooker girlfriend. I'm not wasting anymore time talking about this movie, it was horrible.

Rushmore   

Plot: A student at Rushmore academy falls in love with a new teacher, but then gets kicked out of school for having too many extra curricular activities and not paying any attention to his grades.  A wealthy alumnist also falls for said teacher, and the two male characters, who start off as friends try to spite each other through pretty much the whole movie. 

Everything I'd heard about this movie, and the fact that it only opened it selected theaters made me think it would be great.  Bill Murray is in it, and everyone was calling it the funniest movie of the year.  Of course, it was pretty funny, but not in the way that you were embarrassed to see it in the theater because you spent the whole time laughing so hard.  It's not the kind of movie that would send you out of the theatre quoting lines, except maybe the one in the ad, "These are O.R. scrubs", "Oh, are they?" which is pure comedy gold.  The storyline of Rushmore was very slow, and although amusing situations did continually pop up, I still found it hard to stay interested in the whole thing.  This is yet another movie that needs to lose about 30 minutes, and then would be great. 

NOW ON VIDEO:

The Truman Show

Plot: Jim Carrey is a man who is adopted by a corporation and lives his life infront of TV camera’s, completely unaware.

It’s amazing that even with all the hype surrounding a movie, people still have no idea what it is. Like some people are so secluded they never watch television, read a newspaper or leave their house. Now maybe you’re thinking I’m making some referral to the movie I’m reviewing, after all, it could be. Of course, I didn’t even realize this until after I had written it, so that’s obviously not what I was trying to do. I think, rather, I was doing what I like best, complaining. About people, about movies, it doesn’t matter. So my review of this film, well, according to the box, "The Truman Show is a miraculous movie," "...a break through for Jim Carrey," and my favorite, "...the movie of the decade." Of course they all say this. My personal, and correct, opinion is this movie is the product of having a lot of money, and someone gave the critics sizable checks before they wrote their reviews. The Truman Show was good, not great. It would have been great if it was 30 minutes shorter.

 

Rush Hour

Plot: Girl gets kidnapped, Chris Tucker whines and says hell no, Jackie Chan kicks and fights people.

For some very unknown reason I didn’t think this movie would be horrible. I thought it might be entertaining, and maybe even amusing. Maybe this is because Rush Hour follows the tradition of all bad movies, using the best (or only good) 3 lines in the previews, leaving the rest of the movie with nothing but crap. Basically, this is your standard Jackie Chan movie, with Chris Tucker in the background being annoying. The End.

 

Buffalo ‘66

Plot: Vincent Gallo is a man just released after being imprisoned for 5 years for a crime he didn’t commit, and vows to seek revenge on the man who he feels put him there, meanwhile kidnapping Christina Ricci in an attempt to impress his parents.

I almost shut this movie off after the first 5 minutes, but I restrained myself. I had to give it a chance, just because Vincent Gallo wrote, directed, starred in, composed and performed all the music for the film. Not that I have a Gallo infatuation, but you have to have respect for someone who does everything. Also, Christina Ricci, who so successfully made the transition from child star, to filthy smut star, was in it. So I’m watching it, and I’m interested, but not quite sure that I want to be watching. This movie went from bad, to disturbing, to one of the best movies I’ve seen in awhile. Once you understand what this guy is doing, because at first he just seems like a trashy loser, he actually becomes a character who you begin to feel sorry for. Unlike 99% of movies out there, Buffalo ‘66 is actually worth watching.

 

Clay Pigeons

Plot: Lester Long is slightly different from you average movie psycho, especially since he is played by dreamy Vince Vaughn. Basically a lot of people in a small Montana town end up dead by his hand, Janine Garafallo is a wise ass FBI agent, and Joaquin (pronounced Waa-Keen) Pheonix is the stock "innocent and confused" man.

Without knowing anything about it, I assumed that this movie was about hunting or inbreeding or something, but it’s got a big picture of Vince Vaughn on the cover, so I figured it was worth watching. As it turns out, Clay Pigeons is a murder mystery suspense thriller with a plot that’s actually slightly different from other movies of this type. It keeps you guessing, and entertained, so watch it.

 

There’s Something About Mary

Plot: Everyone is in love with Mary, woo hoo.

So I don’t need to review this movie, because everyone’s already seen it, but in case you don’t already know, it’s very funny, it picks on handicapped people, and makes jokes about this you’re not supposed to talk about. And it’s got Cameron Diaz it in.

 

Antz

Plot: Z lives in a colony of about 1,000,000,000 ants, and it extremely unhappy with his life. When he falls in love with the princess (surprise, surprise), he does something for the first time, what he wants.

I’m a sucker for kids movies, so you can automatically assume I liked this movie, (which I did), but honestly, this was no kids movie. Okay, so it featured computer animation, but it also featured Woody Allen who is about the farest thing from family entertainment out there. Although he did tone it down a bit, there are still many sexual innuendoes and jokes that would soar over the head of your average nine year old. On top of being damn funny, this movie also has the standard children’s movie self help message, "think for yourself." Alright, watch this movie or I’ll fight you.

 

Slums Of Beverly Hills

Plot: Vivian lives in the slums of Beverly Hills with her dad and two brothers and obsesses about her breasts. Then her drug addict cousin comes to stay with them, and there is an interesting scene with a vibrator.

Basically, this is your average trash comedy.  There are lots of breasts, jokes about sex and drugs.  Part of my wants to hate this movie, because the story was pretty dumb, but at the same time, I can compare it to the only other thing I know about Beverly Hills, 90210, and it suddenly reveals a lot more redeeming value.  After all, this is about the same place that Valerie, Kelly, Brandon, Dillon and Brenda are from, yet it's something completely different.  This movie's fairly funny, but it probably won't keep you awake if you're very tired.  If you don't have to pay for it, it's worth watching.

 

Practical Magic

Plot: This movie, like everything else that came out last year is about witches.  I didn't pay close enough attention to know anything else about it.

For anyone who saw Speed 2 and thought Sandra Bullock couldn't get any worse, this is the movie that will prove you wrong.  Not only is it poorly scripted, and filmed, it's poorly acted as well.  This movie falls right to the bottom of the barrel with Hope Floats and Two if by Sea, and makes me wish Sandra Bullock would quit making movies that are always rated PG 13 and I always make the mistake of watching.

Love and Death on Long Island   

Plot: Brandon Walsh, I mean, Jason Priestly plays a hunky young actor (there's a stretch) who catches the interest of a writer from England who is completely detached from the 20th century. He goes to Long Island to track down Priestly and befriends his wife, all the while telling Brandon he has talent.

I thought this movie was pretty amusing, just because the entire thing does nothing but pick on the old man (I can't remember his name.) Also, Brandon is in it.  Hubba Hubba.  After awhile though, I started to wish it was over, because it never really went anywhere and didn't make much sense.  If you have an hour and a half to waste, this is your movie.

-Brooke Geery

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