Philadelphia - 8 stars out of 10

Philadelphia - 8 stars out of 10

"Philadelphia" is an emotionally charged drama that focuses on the prejudice towards AIDS victims.  The presentation of the story is wonderful, first showing Tom Hanks as a promising young lawyer and quickly transitioning to his rapidly deteriorating health.  The scene in Denzel Washington's office is the most poignant of the entire film, showing the unjust judgment and paranoia caused by the disease.  One qualm that I have with the story is that the law firm did not actually fire him due to his AIDS or his homosexuality.  Once that information is revealed, it became difficult for me to pull for him to win the case, knowing that the law firm did not do anything wrong.  The second half of the movie tends to drag, particularly the opera scene, but Tom Hanks is reason enough to keep watching.  His first of two back-to-back Oscars was well deserved as he transforms into a sickly shell of a man.  Denzel Washington is equally as awesome as his character's perspective progressively changes toward AIDS and homosexuality.  Finally, Mary Steenburgen makes an incredibly convincing lawyer for the defense, creating the best possible case for the law firm... except for the lesions on the chest - she loses that argument in one of the most tear-jerking moments of the film.  "Philadelphia" may have its slow moments, but great acting brings this tragically sad story to life.  You will grow emotionally attached to Hanks and plead with the jury to rule in his favor when you watch this significant addition to cinema history.

A Night at the Opera - 10 stars out of 10

A Night at the Opera - 10 stars out of 10

It simply does not get any more classic than "A Night at the Opera."  This Marx Brothers masterpiece will crack you up on the first, fifth, and fiftieth viewing.  Classic moments like the stateroom scene are mixed with Groucho's quick-witted one-liners for 92 minutes of cinematic perfection ("Do you see that man eating spaghetti?  Well, you see the spaghetti, don't you?  Well behind that spaghetti is none other than Herman Gottlieb, manager of the New York Opera Company.")  The Marx Brothers are perfect in their typical (and delightfully anticipated) roles but the rest of the cast compliments them perfectly.  Margaret Dumont's exasperation makes her the perfect "straight woman" for Groucho while Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones have fantastic voices that could qualify them as romantic leads in any film, and Siegfried Rumann is just plain awesome as Gottlieb.  The quality of the supporting cast does not take anything away from Groucho, Chico, and Harpo.  Their antics during the performance of "Il Trovatore" (Take Me Out to the Ballgame in the pit, ripping the dancer's skirt on stage, "How would you like to feel the way she looks?") are unmatched, not to mention the impressive musical abilities of Chico and Harpo.  I love the musical numbers (particularly "Cosi Cosa"), whether they are the original songs written for the movie or the actual opera pieces.  Above all, this is one of the greatest scripts ever written, creating classic scenes like the party-of-the-first-part-contract-scene and the stowaways-hidden-in-Groucho's-hotel-room-and-the-dumb-cop-can't-find-them-sequence.  From start to finish, "A Night at the Opera" is non-stop entertainment filled with jokes that become funnier every time that you hear them.

She's the Man - 7 stars out of 10

She's the Man - 7 stars out of 10

After about 10 minutes, I thought that this movie was going to be another cheesy teen comedy.  And I was right, but once I accepted it I was able to thoroughly enjoy it!  Amanda Bynes was very funny in her role and played it well throughout the entire movie.  At first, I had difficulty accepting that anybody would really believe that she was a guy but it didn't take long to realize that she was pretty convincing.  The twisted web of crushes is very entertaining and I believe that it played out perfectly in the end.  Add in a hilarious role by David Cross and the beautiful Laura Ramsey and you'll find an enjoyable film from start to finish.

Fright Night (2011) - 2 stars out of 10

The original "Fright Night" isn't the greatest vampire film of all time so this remake should have easily surpassed it with modern filmmaking technology.  The synopsis for the film, reading that it takes a more horrific approach to the story, made it seem even more likely that this movie would rock.  And yet, logic gave way to shotty filmmaking.  I would have rather been watching "Twilight."  And I don't mean that in a way complimentary to Twilight.  I don't understand how a movie with so many cool CGI effects could be so boring.  I think that the problem lies in the fact that this film tried to keep the comedic tone of the original why making it terrifying.  Unfortunately, this movie was neither comedic or terrifying - every moment that was supposed to be funny came off as awkwardly boring.  Colin Farrell was pretty good as Jerry (though not nearly as good as Chris Sarandon in the original) and Imogen Poots was nice to look at, but I was annoyed every time that David Tennant walked into a scene, with the sole purpose of adding a bunch of f-words to the script.  They changed a few aspects of the story, but each change was for the worse.  The final 20 minutes of the original was significantly better than the final 20 minutes of this version.  If you are considering a viewing of this film, you are much better off to watch the original 1985 version, though I'd much sooner recommend "Let Me In" if you want the best vampire film ever created.

The Vanishing (1993) - 3 stars out of 10

The Vanishing (1993) - 3 stars out of 10

"The Vanishing" is a really great movie concept.  Unfortunately, the concept was executed much better in the original version, "Spoorloos."  A lot of remakes fall short because of the actors or the cinematography, but this one falls short because THEY COMPLETELY RUINED ONE OF THE MOST SHOCKING ENDINGS IN MOVIE HISTORY!  Even more perplexing than why anybody would feel the necessity to give this film a happy ending is the fact that this remake has the same director as the original!  Maybe he had a new vision for the ending, but to add an additional 20 minutes and change the entire story and characters to facilitate this ending is ridiculous.  Aside from the synopsis, you would never know that this was the same movie because they ruined all of the subtleties from the original.  I agree with Hal Hinson of the Washington Post: "A case study in how Hollywood can make a complete mess out of what was previously a marvelous film."  We lose all of the important family moments that make the villain so despicable, and why does Rita have to become the hero and louse up the chilling original ending?  It is no fault of the actors - Jeff Bridges makes a great villain, Kiefer Sutherland has a nice performance, and I loved Nancy Travis as Rita, but why do we lose every great aspect of the original.  "Spoorloos" perfectly prolonged the kidnapping, keeping you on edge as you expect it  about 15 times before it actually happens.  "The Vanishing" doesn't seem to understand suspense, opening a ton of plot holes simply to set up its new, inferior ending.  Do NOT waste your time with this - just go straight for "Spoorloos" and you will never know the disgrace that is "The Vanishing."

For my review of the superior Dutch version, see:http://jonnysdailymoviereview.blogspot.com/2011/05/vanishing-spoorloos-8-stars-out-of-10.html

Titan A.E. - 1 star out of 10

Titan A.E. - 1 star out of 10

"Titan A.E." was doomed from the start.  I know that Don Bluth is forever competing with Disney, but when you are trying to make something comparable to "Treasure Planet," you do not have very good odds.  Where to begin with this bland display of animation?  I think that the root of the problem is the characters.  When your villains are glowing balls of energy, there isn't really anywhere to go with that.  Toss in a static, 2-dimensional hero (no pun intended) with a love interested that is based on seeing an animated chick in a towel and we aren't really getting anywhere.  It just gets worse from there, as I try to contemplate why they felt it necessary to throw in an obnoxious character.  Gune is the most annoying character since Gurgi in "The Black Cauldron."  He really serves no purpose for the majority of the film, and just when you think it's safe to celebrate his death and subsequent disappearance from the remainder of the film, he returns to save the day, but his TRUE purpose is to annoy us some more.  It's scary how much he parallels Gurgi and yet the writers still wrote him into the script.  Now, for the story.  It is good in concept but grows very tiresome for the first half of the film.  It's cheesy and for some reason, it felt the need to include a long 1980's montage of him flying the ship.  That whole sequence was reminiscent of a remote control car commercial where they're trying to get to get kids to jump around the room and pretend that they're the ones flying the ship so that they'll go out and buy a cheap toy.  And we won't even discuss what the spaceship resembles!  Just when you think that the film is going to continue on a downward spiral, it hits you with one of the best twists that I've ever seen in an animated movie!  ...And 20 minutes later, they use the same twist again?  Nevermind, the movie still sucks.  And the find time to throw in ANOTHER 1980's montage as everybody unites to fix a spaceship with a pop song in the background.  Seriously?  Everything fit together well at the end of the film, but the journey to get to that point was rough.  I had high expectations for a film with Matt Damon, Nathan Lane, John Leguizamo, and Bill Pullman as the voice actors.  But in the end, all that I realized that Drew Barrymore has a terrible voice for a non-comedic role.  The animation is quality, particularly all of the anti-gravitational animation as half of the animation moves in slow motion and the other half doesn't.  It was also nice to see that these animators weren't afraid to show a little bit of blood in a PG movie.  I do take issue with that fact that too much of this film was computer animated.  If you want a hand-drawn animated feature and include some cool CGI effects (like Mulan and The Lion King), I love to see the director to enhance particular scenes using that resource.  But to have the majority of the film be computer animated and then just draw the characters on top of it was annoying - they should've just made the entire thing computer animated.  And now I should end my rant because the movie is bad but not as bad as the picture that I am painting.  I just know that I will never allow my children to see this movie, for fear that they would think it's cool and want to watch it all of the time.