Network - 9 stars out of 10

Network - 9 stars out of 10

"Network" is an incredible dramatic satire of the world of television executives and the influence of the media over its audience.  It is no surprise that this film won four Oscars with its eloquent script, unique characters, and an impressive cast to bring these two things to life.  The heart of this film is its series of genius monologues that are contextually tied together by greedy network executives and a man who is losing his mind.  Peter Finch's Oscar was a no-brainer as he delivers his emotional "Mad as Hell" newscasts with the charisma of a television preacher to a cheering audience as he faints.  I would tell you to just look these monologues up on youtube, but the rest of the film is so good that it wouldn't be right to take these rants out of their context.  Another great emotional outburst comes from Beatrice Straight in her Oscar-winning role as she calls out her cheating husband.  She did not have an enormous role (less than 6 minutes of screen time), but her moment of movie magic obviously left an impression.  Faye Dunaway is as lovely as ever, showing both her sweet side and her aggressive side.  The crazy thing is that I just mentioned three actors that won Oscars for this film, and that still leaves William Holden and Ned Beatty who were nominated and did not win.  And even crazier is that Robert Duvall gave an incredible performance and wasn't even one of the five nominees for Best Actor/Actress!  All of these actors put on a clinic of how to create a memorable performance, but some of this credit also belongs to the Oscar-winning script by Paddy Chayevsky.  The dialogue shifts between humor and drama, but its true shining moments are contained in the monologues by Finch and the emotional outbursts by many of the other characters.  It has a fantastic pace that builds and evolves its characters until the shocking, perfectly written ending.  "Network" may be overlooked by many because it did not win an Oscar for Best Picture, but this film is the complete package and once you can get past the language and sexual content, it will make you rethink the power of the network executives with characters that you will never forget.

Addams Family Values - 7 stars out of 10

Addams Family Values - 7 stars out of 10

The Addamses are back.  Again!  And "Addams Family Values" is undoubtedly the finest incarnation of this fictional family in their 40 year history.  Only two years after "The Addams Family" and with much of the same cast, this film manages to be far superior because of its script.  The humor is much smarter this time around ("He has my father's eyes." "Gomez, take those out of his mouth.") and the characters are able to develop instead of trying to be a continuation of the 1960's tv series.  It's rated PG-13 but you probably need to be 15 or 16 years old before you can fully understand and appreciate the humor in this film.  But don't be deceived - there is enough stupid humor in here for the kid in all of us (like Uncle Fester with the carrots up his nose at dinner and the baby having a mustache).  You just have to love seeing these characters come to life, like when Anjelica Huston comes walking down the stairs in the inhumanly thin dress, just like Morticia from the cartoons.  Raul Julia gives a very fine performance as Gomez in one of his final roles before his young death.  I am so glad that they kept most of the same cast from the 1991 picture, but the casting of Carol Kane as Grandmama Addams is genius.  That character was very unmemorable in the first film but got a lot of laughs in "Values" ("What about Debbie?")  You've also got to love that it takes the entire first film and an hour into the second film before Wednesday smiles for the first time - Christina Ricci was also static in the first film but stole the spotlight this time.  Wednesday and Pugsley's failed attempts at killing the baby were amusing, but thank goodness that the writers were smart enough to end that in the first 20 minutes before it could get old.  All of the supporting roles were incredible, too.  The camp counselors were spot on in their annoying stereotype and Joan Cusack made a brilliant villain.  Her fake kindness is hilarious, and her mean side is even funnier.  I would watch this film again just for her, but who could forget Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester?  Could this really be the same actor that played Doc Brown in Back to the Future?  His awkward slapstick acting is just too funny and I will watch this film over and over again just for his moments (and... all of the other great things that I've mentioned in this review).  In addition to the script and acting, the musical score is very clever as it incorporates the well-know 1960's Addams Family theme into Lurch's organ music, the tango, and the wedding march.  From start to finish, "Addams Family Values" is a solid comedy and can easily be viewed without watching the 1991 film first.

P.S. Unlike the first film, this version does NOT contain a song by M.C. Hammer during the closing credits; unfortunately, it is worse.  This time you get to enjoy "Whoomp! (There It Is)" by Tag Team, only this time they've elected to go with "Whoomp!  The Addams Family, there it is!"  As with the first film, I highly recommend muting the tv and watching the closing credits in silence, as this is obviously a continuation of the comical dark tone of the film, forcing the audience to listen to something as painful as this as they leave the theater.

The Addams Family - 5 stars out of 10

The Addams Family - 5 stars out of 10

The Addams Family is back with the same old characters in a fresh new story.  The plot cleverly serves as a means to introduce new audiences to the Addamses.  When an Uncle Fester look-a-like enters the Addams home in an attempt to steal their fortune, he has to learn about each family member's personality quirks, and we learn along with him.  Each character is well cast - Morticia and Gomez have great chemistry together and play off of each other with dark, ironic comments.  Gomez has never been more lovable than when Raul Julia dances the Mamuska.  Lurch is tall, Wednesday is creepy, and Pugsley is the perfect blend of plump and oblivious.  Dan Hedaya and Elizabeth Wilson make great bad guys and the use of blue screen to turn Christopher Hart's hand into Thing is easily on par with the possibilities of computer animation many years later.  But the highlight of this film is Christopher Lloyd as the Uncle Fester impersonator.  His facial expressions are just so good and he's taken Fester from being one of the "extra" family members to being in the spotlight.  Even thouh this film doesn't get my highest rating, I would definitely watch it again for it's clever dark humor and Christopher Lloyd.  Or... I could just go watch the superior "Addams Family Values" sequel instead.  I have always preferred The Munsters to The Addams Family and I still do, but this film opened my eyes to the humorous antics of television's "other" dark family.

P.S. Don't miss M.C. Hammer's "Addams Groove" during the closing credits!  On second thought, it would probably be more enjoyable to mute the tv and just watch the words go by in silence.

The Sitter (2011) - 3 stars out of 10

The Sitter (2011) - 3 stars out of 10

"The Sitter" is a predictable comedy with hilarious characters and way too many f-words.  At first glance, it seems like this could be a fun family movie, but the sexually explicit scene that opens the film, discussion of homosexuality, and the extensive appearance of drugs make it pretty clear that this is not a movie intended for children.  Even though I thought that Max Records, Ari Graynor, and Kevin Hernandez were really funny as the three kids, I just didn't enjoy this movie.  I guess that it's funny if you're in the mood for stupidity, but it is so crude that a lot of the stupid humor is masked by shock-value profanity.  Amidst the chaos (or actually, at the center of it), Sam Rockwell gives an inspired performance as Karl, the weird/seemingly bipolar villain who wants to be your best friend one second and wants to kill you the next.  He puts 100% effort into his character and it's the biggest pay-off in this movie, as the rest is filled with racist stereotypes and offensive language.  In the end, this film goes back into "family mode" with an attempt at a heart-felt ending and a moral (since the drug dealers and gang violence) were so moralistic throughout)..  I know that a lot of people are working their way through the long list of Jonah Hill comedies, but this 80-minute "gem" might be the one that you should elect to skip.

Ip Man - 8 stars out of 10

Ip Man - 8 stars out of 10

"Ip Man" is a modern character-driven kung fu film that may not be historically accurate but pays tribute to one of the greatest martial artists in history.  Ip Man is often remembered as the mentor of Bruce Lee, but this film spotlights his mastery of Wing Chun amidst the Sino-Japanese War.  Even though much of the plot is fictional or embellished, it is amazing to realize that this man existed.  Ip Man is perfectly played by Donnie Yen, whose poise and calm demeanor in the face of danger is chilling.  The intensity of his eyes matched with the solemness of his face allow him to quickly transition between humorous father and killing machine.  You've got to love a hero who can defeat his sword-wielding enemy with a feather duster.  He has a great supporting cast, particularly Lam Ka-tung as the police officer-turned-Japanese suck-up.  At first, I was disappointed with Lynn Hung (who plays Ip Man's wife) because her acting wasn't convincing, but once I saw the desperation in her eyes during the final sequence, I understood why she was perfect in this role.  But it wouldn't be a kung fu film without excellent fight sequences, and this film is not lacking in that category.  Everything is perfectly choreographed, from one-on-one matches to a ten-on-one beatdown.  As long as you have the patience to read the subtitles that go by faster than usual, "Ip Man" is a complete package of acting, fighting, and a perfectly-portrayed legend.

Red Tails - 3 stars out of 10

Red Tails - 3 stars out of 10

"Red Tails" is exactly what you expect from the previews - an interesting historical story paired with a script and acting do not do it justice, relying on its impressive dogfighting special effects to leave audiences satisfied.  The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American pilots in the armed forces and deserve a tribute to their trials and successes, but their story is not told the right way.  The casting of Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard was smart and they earn their paychecks, but some of the supporting cast is just terrible.  Most of these pilots must have skipped the day that they taught "how to dub over an image of yourself on-screen" in acting school.  The vocal emotions never match their facial expressions, particularly the white pilots whose vocal inflections resemble Norm, the robot from Phineas and Ferb.  As if the acting isn't distracting enough, the script loses its identity with an unnecessary love story that begins to dominate the film and takes away from the tribute that we're trying to pay to these airmen.  I don't know if they wrote this overdramatic tangent into the script to create empathy for an otherwise annoying character or maybe just to lengthen the film, but it fails by completely taking away from the focus.  In spite of this script's self-sabotage, you can't help but get choked up at the end but be advised: If you are watching this film for its story, don't bother.  If you are watching this film for cool special effects and one of the most realistic portrayals of dogfighting that you can find, you might consider fast-forwarding or ignoring all of the acting between the action sequences.

21 Jump Street - 7 stars out of 10

21 Jump Street - 7 stars out of 10

"21 Jump Street" is another installment in the recent trend of overly-crude comedies, but is surprisingly good with a clever script that keeps you guessing.  Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum establish excellent chemistry from the very start and humorously play off of each other for the duration of the film.  One of the more entertaining aspects of the film is that their false identities are switched so the nerd ends up in the slacker classes and the jock ends up in the smart classes.  The initial joke is funny itself but ends up playing a vital role in both actors' character development.  The script manages to put the actors into humorous situations while maintaining a smooth flow to the story.  There aren't any moments when you think "They put them at his parents' house just so that they could show some embarassing pictures."  While the quality of acting isn't at a Shawshank level, the supporting cast enhances the comedy (particularly Ellie Kemper).  Even though he has a very minor role, Ice Cube has some of the most memorable moments of the film while Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise sneak in with a clever cameo.  The number of f-words that were used for the sake of using the f-word really bothered me.  Most of the language is unnecessary, even though it seems to appeal to teenagers for some reason.  "21 Jump Street" is a great film, but it is worth waiting until it airs on TBS so that you don't have to sit through its cacophony of shock-value profanity.