Category Archives: 1.5 of 5

Snakes On A Plane (2006)

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Snakes on a Plane

Snakes on a Plane

This movie is hilarious.

This movie is exactly what it says it is.

Samuel L Jackson is the MAN!

However, I can’t expect my more reserved friends and family to watch a movie with so much violence, bad language and sex – no matter how fun it turns out to be. Therefore, 1.5 from me. Gonzo’s friends are a bit hipper than mine, so he was able to give it a 5.

There is much screaming and hissing and biting and … oh, it’s marvelously stupid. And exciting. And just plain fun


Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 68%; Audience 55%

Hard Candy (2005)

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Hard Candy

Hard Candy

Hayley’s a smart, charming teenage girl — but even smart girls make mistakes.

She’s hooking up in a coffee shop with Jeff, a guy she’s met on the Internet. And even though he’s a cute, smooth high-end fashion photographer in his early 30s, Hayley shouldn’t be suggesting that the two of them go back to his house-alone.

Here is where the Word of Mouth Scale gets confusing; this was quite a good movie but, due to the subject matter and graphic presentation, I can’t recommend it to most of my circle. I can’t imagine my mother enjoying it, after all.

This is an interesting concept, fairly well executed. You need to have pretty tight writing and extraordinary performances when the entire story involves two characters on one set. The dialog is crisp and intense and the actors are up to the challenge.

Movies generally require a suspension of disbelief, and this one is no exception. It clings precariously close to the edge for so long, I thought it would make it all the way. Unfortunately, just before the bathroom scene (you’ll know it when you see it) the train jumps clean off the tracks. There were moments after when I thought they were going to manage to regroup and bring the story to a convincing conclusion – no such luck.

I still think it is a really good movie, an original concept, a risky staging……just not great.

And it is very graphic – so

“Disturbing, controversial, but entirely engrossing, Hard Candy is well written with strong lead performances, especially that of newcomer Ellen Page. A movie that stays with the viewer long after leaving the theater.”


Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 68%; Audience 76%

You, Me and Dupree (2006)

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Dupree

You, Me and Dupree

A best man (Wilson) stays on as a houseguest with the newlyweds, much to the couple’s annoyance.


I actually liked this movie more than I expected to. I did find it distracting knowing that while Carl (Matt Dillon) was suspecting Dupree (Owen Wilson) of moving in on his wife (Kate Hudson), that is exactly what Wilson was doing. It was just Hudson’s real life marriage that was sabotaged. Really wish I could have put that out of my head.

Light, inconsequential fare – humorous enough for an evening at home. A bit too many sexual situations for me to recommend it to a large portion of my circle, but goofy enough to recommend it to the others.

Here is a piece of a review especially for D

And Kate Hudson does wear a swimsuit and heels quite well. But as far as a recommendation as theater viewing? Nah. This’ll keep just fine until it comes out on DVD…wait for it to hit there.


Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 21%; Audience 59%

Thriller: They Call Her One Eye (1973)

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Thriller

Thriller: They Call Her One Eye

This is decidedly not a movie for everyone, not even a movie for most. It is sexually explicit, graphically violent, and in all ways over the top.

And it is great – if you are into that sort of thing.


This is the movie that is said to have inspired Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies. There certainly is enough in this film to support that contention. Because of that connection, I would most certainly recommend this flick to Gonzo – but, because of that connection, I imagine he has already seen it. Other than Gonzo, I have few friends to whom I would/could recommend it.

However, if you are into sex, drugs and bloodshed, check this one out.


Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 40%; Audience 66%

The Family Stone (2005)

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The Family Stone

The Family Stone

A woman meets her future in-laws and discovers they don’t much care for her in this comedy from writer and director Thomas Bezucha. Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) is a successful young businessman who is dating Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), and has asked her to spend Christmas with his family, with plans to ask his mother, Sybil (Diane Keaton), for the titular family wedding band and propose to Meredith on Christmas Day.

I hadn’t really intended to see this film, had it in my Blockbuster queue just as a filler. Looked like an OK chick Flick, but nothing I needed to see. Then my step-sister told me she loved this movie. “Love-love-loved it!” Alrighty then, I’ll give it a go….

…and I will end up feeling like I just wasted an hour and a half.

The premise is fairly simple, and something that would be quite familiar to a lot of people. Boy brings home Girl to meet the Family before he proposes to her; Girl is uncomfortable, Family doesn’t like her, hilarity ensues, cue laugh track. Unfortunately, the writer/director(?), or whoever, wasn’t satisfied with that. What they end up giving us is a cast of unrelate-able characters, most of whom have no redeeming qualities whatsoever – in fact it seemed as if they lacked humanity altogether. Even the most heinous villain should have some vulnerability or charm to make us care about the story, I couldn’t have cared less about the majority of this group.

They finally become a bit human in the last ten minutes of the film, but the various nauseating & absurd (though predictable) couplings spoil even that.

It manages a 1.5 simply because of the two girlfriends I have who may want to see this, and who I wouldn’t actively dissuade. They both love Sarah Jessica Parker and this is her in her neurotic element.


Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 51%; Audience 61%

A few gems:

“A feel-bad holiday film about a repellent family, with a milquetoast dad and a smug, devious harpy of a mom.” — Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

“There are many ways to define the shrieking awfulness of The Family Stone, from the general lack of wit to the cheap exploitation of cancer to its casual cruelty.” — Stephen Hunter, WASHINGTON POST

“It doesn’t matter how many fine actors are assembled in a film, if the script is terrible, then the movie can’t be good.” —Jeanne Kaplan, KAPLAN VS KAPLAN

“Rarely have I seen such a maudlin, manipulative, mean-spirited mess masquerading as a holiday comedy.” —Susan Granger, MODAMAG.COM