lightcat

Conventional wisdom has it that this, the fourth installement in the lucrative Harry Potter series, is also the best. I beg to differ. It's dark, scary, and even features Daniel Radcliffe in a soapsud-filled bathtub, but the whole never does add up to more than the sum of its parts. To see true justice done to Harry Potter, watch Alfonso Cuarón's "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban": sheer magic, made with an obvious relish for the proceedings at hand.

80 _0%

Madagascar (2005) - Rated 13 Aug 2007

Delightful and pretty funny animated adventure from the fellas at Dreamworks. Good value for money, though grown-ups will smirk ironically as a certain lion discovers the merits of vegetarianism, as he and his friends attempt to adjust to the jungles of Africa that they are so NOT used to.

88 _0%

Spider-Man 2 (2004) - Rated 13 Aug 2007

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Sam Raimi takes the world that he had set up in Spider-Man 1 and puts his all into expanding it for us in Part Deux. Chases, FX, romance, drama, tragedy, anger, escapism, reality...what else would you want out of a two-hour Hollywood product. Raimi doesn't cheat the viewer out of the thrills he/she seeks, but the film's most defining moment may be Tobey Maguire's joyous leap into the air with "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" in the background, as he shrug

80 _0%

Scary Movie 3 (2003) - Rated 13 Aug 2007

The Wayans brothers continue their scattershot approach to horror parody with the third installment in their SCARY MOVIE franchise. There are more cheap shots here than you'll find in a late-night monologue, but the movie does deliver its fair share of belly-laughs, and more. Reccomended.

80 _0%

Road to Perdition (2002) - Rated 13 Aug 2007

Superb film by Sam Mendes...for me, a much better film than AMERICAN BEAUTY, which I thought was extremely overrated. I loved Jude Law's performance, I thought Mendes's direction was very cinematic, and though I haven't the graphic novel on which the film is based, I would hazard the guess that the film did justice to it.

80 _0%

Red Dragon (2002) - Rated 13 Aug 2007

Minor spoiler alert: the good Dr. Lecter doesn't actually indulge in too much of the culinary violence he's renowned for in this prequel to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. That said, there is a psychotic Ralph Fiennes on the loose for the world to fear, as Edward Norton attempts to track him down with the help of the most cultured cannibal known to polite society. And Hopkins doesn't really have to be chomping on your guts to scare you; two lines of dialogue in THAT voice combined with THAT stare w

75 _0%

The Mummy Returns (2001) - Rated 13 Aug 2007

Unsatisfying sequel to Stephen Sommers's enjoyable original sees Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz return to Egypt, annoyingly cute son in tow, to fight zombies and Arnold Vosloo's titular Mummy, back from the dead once again. There are chases and thrills galore, but in place of the high sense of adventure that the first movie had are Hollywood cliches and a dumbing-down of the entire B-horror concept to ensure maximum revenue at the ticket counter.

75 _0%

The Life of David Gale (2003) - Rated 13 Aug 2007

Alan Parker's less-than-convincing depiction of one brilliant professor's attempt to screw the American legal system, even at great personal cost, doesn't really add up. Strong performances by the always-reliable Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney and Kate Winslet, and a very gripping narrative that stumbles only in the last 15 minutes or so do ensure that you will not be bored.

60 _0%

Confidence (2003) - Rated 13 Aug 2007

Decidedly average crime thriller/heist that doesn't quite know whether it wants to thrill you, mystify you, or impress you with its fake artiness and noir-wannabe voiceover. Add to that a Dustin Hoffman performance that somehow manages to be simultaneously lazy and hammy, and you get cinema that is pretty much a waste of everybody else's time.

80 _0%

American Beauty (1999) - Rated 13 Aug 2007

Sam Mendes's debut as director took everyone by storm, sweeping the Academy Awards with Oscars for Kevin Spacey, Alan Ball and Mendes himself. And there certainly is a lot to keep you interested: dysfunctional familes, nubile women covered with rose petals, and arresting performances from the entire cast. But once you've been informed that empty plastic bags floating in the air accompanied to pretty piano tinkling by Thomas Newman constitute as much beauty as a Grecian urn, you'll wonder whet