• American Wedding (2003)
  • Bad Santa (2003)
  • Bruce Almighty (2003)
  • Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)
  • Freaky Friday (2003)
  • How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days (2003)
  • Love Actually (2003)
  • Old School (2003)
  • Scary Movie 3 (2003)
  • Shrek 2 (2004)
  • Something's Gotta Give (2003)

    		Shrek 2 - December 17, 2004

    Cast: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, & Cameron Diaz

    [ Official Site - Dreamworks SKG Fansite ]

    Overall Grade: A

    We pick up where the 1st movie left off. Shrek & Fiona have been married and are just back from their honeymoon when they get an invitation to travel to Fiona's kingdom, Far Far Away, and attend a wedding ball thrown by her parents. Shrek doesn't want to go but Fiona manages to get him to agree to meet her parents. So, Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey travel to Far Far Away in hopes that her parents will accept them. The entire kingdom is shocked at the sight of Fiona and her ogre husband. Her father is outraged & is totally against the marriage. He, along with the rest of the kingdom, thought she had married Prince Charming & become permanently human. While Shrek begins to have second thoughts about the marriage, Fiona's father hires a mysterious hitman to take care of their "ogre problem". At the same time, Fiona's Fairy Godmother tries to help Fiona get the perfect life that she feels she deserves...but things aren't always as they appear.

    ----- HOT -----

  • Puss-in-Boots - Awwwww. He is my favorite character in the movie (sorry Donkey). Antonio Banderas voices our feline friend, which takes a cute jab at Zorro, who Banderas played in The Mask of Zorro. Not only is this character adorable but he is hilarious. He provides a lot of the fun in the movie. When he takes his hat off and makes those oh-so-cute eyes at you, be careful! Haha.
  • Characters - All of the characters from the 1st film are re-introduced here. And yes, if you wait until after the credits at the end, you will see that character that it seems they forgot about. Those rascally fairytale creatures also reappear to help out our big, green friend. And new characters such as Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother, King Harold & Queen Lillian, and a few more, add to the fun.
  • Humor - there are so many gags, parodies, and jokes aimed at other fairytales, news events, people, other movies, etc. Spiderman, The Little Mermaid, Lord of the Rings, and Little Red Riding Hood are shown in just the opening 5 minutes! It's impossible to name them all but if you think the Big Bad Wolf is the only fairytale creature that enjoys dressing up like a woman, you're in for a big surprise!
  • Visuals - The special effects were greatly improved from the first film. They made the skin look more realistic, made great effects with rain & wet hair, and had so many tiny details that you may have missed the 1st or 2nd time you saw it.
  • Overall - It's so hard to say that I like this one more than the first. Sometimes I think I do & other times, not so much. I'll call it a draw. It's hard to beat the 1st because it was original & new...the look, the story, the jokes...it was all fresh. I thought this one was really well done though and the last 20 minutes or so was great.

    ----- NOT -----

  • Beginning - After the intial 5 minute start, it slows down a bit for a while. There are still interesting things going on but this is probably the only downfall I can think of.

    		 Love Actually - January 13, 2004

    Cast: Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, & Emma Thompson

    [ Official Site ]

    Overall Grade: B +

    Here is a movie that takes place at Christmas time and tells a bunch of different stories about love. One is about the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) who falls for one of the girls that works for him. Another follows a little boy whose mother has died. He starts to build a bond with his stepfather (Liam Neeson) while also trying to get the attention of a girl he feels he is in love with. Others follow a failing marriage, an over-the-hill rock star, a heartbroken writer, as well as a few more. People such as Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, and the up-and-coming (and cute!) Keira Knightley round out the cast.

    ----- HOT -----

  • Hugh Grant - For some reason, he always seems to be charming and funny in every film he is in. This one was no different. There are a lot of good actors in it but none really get a lot of time due to there being so many different stories.
  • The story with the little boy was cute. You just find yourself pulling for him, hoping that he gets what he wants.
  • Variety. Some of the stories were a bit slow. Some were funny. Some were sad. And some were sweet. It was the variety that made it so nice. I really didn't think I was going to like this movie at all but it turned out to be really touching.

    ----- NOT -----

  • A couple of the stories either weren't that impressive or didn't get enough time. Examples are the story about the writer and the story involving Keira Knightley. But due to differing opinions, I suppose there is something in this movie for everyone to enjoy.

    		 Something's Gotta Give - January 9, 2004

    Cast: Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, & Keanu Reeves

    [ Official Site ]

    Overall Grade: B

    Jack Nicholson is a wealthy New York City music executive who loves to date younger women. His newest trophy girlfriend (Amanda Peet) invites him to come stay at her mother's home with her. However, when he suffers a heart attack while trying to get it on with Peet, his doctor (Keanu Reeves) tells him it would be better for him to stay at the mother's house than return to NYC. So the mother (Diane Keaton), a very successful playwright, is stuck caring for him. Somehow, the two fall for each other...and at the same time, the Doc (Reeves), pursues a relationship with Keaton.

    ----- HOT -----

  • Diane Keaton/Jack Nicholson/Keanu Reeves - Not to say it was the best acted movie ever but I thought the cast did really well and all of the characters were likeable. Keaton & Nicholson made the movie. Keaton was all over the emotional spectrum, from sad to happy to devastated to "over it". Good ole Jack has become one of my favorite actors over the past few years, mostly because of his crazy and kooky roles. This time, he was a man who, by the end, was caring and loving. A little hard to take in. Reeves played a normal character for once and although I never thought he was a great actor, I liked him in this film.
  • There were some funny parts, including one scene where Keaton can't stop crying and another where Jack, while taking a late night stroll through the house, sees something he doesn't want to.

    ----- NOT -----

  • I don't particularly enjoy watching two older people make out but oh well. I think this would appeal to people over 40 as it shows you can find love at any age.
  • The ending was too predictable and typical. Not realistic.

    		 Freaky Friday - January 9, 2004

    Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, & Mark Harmon

    [ Official Site ]

    Overall Grade: B

    In yet another movie where parent & child switch bodies, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan play a mother and teenage daughter who have a hard time getting along and understanding each other. JLC is a therapist who is about to get re-married and Lohan is a typical teenage girl who is in a band, has problems at school, has a crush on a boy, and can't deal with her mother interfering in her life. When they argue in a Chinese restaurant, the owner's mother gives them a magic fortune cookie that switches their bodies. The spell can only be broken when they learn to understand and respect one another.

    ----- HOT -----

  • I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I thought it was going to be dumb but it turned out to be pretty good. This is a fun family movie.
  • Cast - Lohan is a little cutie pie. JLC showed she can be as good in comedies as she is repeatedly killing Michael Myers. And Mark Harmon has been cool to me ever since I saw Summer School.

    ----- NOT -----

  • Unoriginal - We've seen this movie at least 6 times in the past 20 years. People in Hollywood need to come up with some fresh, NEW ideas instead of recycling the same story over and over and over again. Don't get me wrong, this was an entertaining movie to me but some people may be sick of this story.

    		 Cheaper By the Dozen - January 7, 2004

    Cast: Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, & Hilary Duff

    [ Official Site ]

    Overall Grade: B

    I went in expecting very little from this movie but I was pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be better than I expected and made me laugh more often than I originally thought I would. It's kind of a mixture between Daddy Day Care and The Brady Bunch. Steve Martin plays the father of 12 children. He gets his dream job to coach college football and moves his entire family to the city, which upsets the kids and causes a lot of problems. To make matters worse, his wife, the woman who popped those 12 rugrats out, gets her book published and is forced to leave for a few days to promote it. That leaves Martin trying to keep things running smoothly at home while at the same time trying to coach his team...simply impossible my friend! Other members of the cast include: Hilary Duff as the beauty-obsessed high school daughter, Tom Welling (Clark from Smallville) as the oldest brother who misses his girlfriend after the move, and Ashton Kutcher as the boyfriend of the oldest daughter.

    ----- HOT -----

  • It's a good family film with some funny moments in it that had me laughing.
  • Aside from the laughs, there are other things you should take home from this movie. It basically shows that family should always come first. You should always make time for those you love. And most importantly, it is OK if you let your kids assault someone like Ashton Kutcher because he deserves it! :-)

    ----- NOT -----

  • Because of the large cast, nobody gets a ton of screen time, especially the kids. So sometimes, it can be a little confusing figuring out which kid is which.
  • Some of the arguements where everyone in the family is screaming can get on your nerves.

    		 Bad Santa - December 2, 2003

    Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Bernie Mac, & Lauren Graham

    [ Official Site ]

    Overall Grade: B +

    The story follows two thieves who disguise themselves as Santa and his elf in order to rob the malls that they work for every Christmas. Billy Bob Thornton is the "Bad Santa". He's a mess. Drunk, foul-mouthed, angry, and perverted...he was pretty funny though. LoL. If you're a fan of Gilmore Girls, the mom (Laren Graham) is also in this movie...she's a cutie. But don't expect to see her as you usually do...she has a bit of a Santa fetish!

    ----- HOT -----

  • Billy Bob Thornton - yes, he is foul-mouthed, dirty, drunk, mean, and a horndog...but that's what makes him so funny! He goes against everything that is Santa Claus.
  • Rest of the cast. They weren't great but they all contributed in some way. Tony Cox as the sidekick. He was as foul-mouthed as Thornton but did his best to keep Billy Bob out of trouble so they could finish their job. Brett Kelly as the little boy who befriends Santa. He had some funny moments. And Lauren Graham...ahhh....she's adorable..

    ----- NOT -----

  • The one thing I didn't like about this movie was all of the cussing...there was just way too much. Kids SHOULD NOT see it. The F-Word is used a few hundred times in this movie. No kidding. I'm not one to be against a few harsh words here and there but this was just too much.

    		 Scary Movie 3 - December 2, 2003

    Cast: Anna Faris, Charlie Sheen, & Anthony Anderson

    [ Official Site ]

    Overall Grade: C

    Anna Faris is back once again for her third trip through a bunch of spoofs on other movies. This time around, she is a news reporter trying to uncover the mystery linking a video tape that kills people (The Ring) and a possible alien invasion (Signs). Other films that they poke fun at are: 8 Mile, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, and The Others. The Wayans Brothers were not involved in this film even though they were responsible for the first two in this series. Instead, the people who made movies like Airplane and The Naked Gun famous ran the show this time around.

    ----- HOT -----

  • Some of it was funny. I laughed a few times throughout. The funeral scene was funny. The Simon Cowell & Michael Jackson parts were good but were ruined by the previews.

    ----- NOT -----

  • I think the major problem is that most of the actual funny parts were shown in the previews so they weren't a surprise and hence, not as funny as they would have been had they not been shown beforehand.
  • The whole "8 Mile" scene with dueling rappers was boring.
  • Leslie Nielson - didn't really like him in this movie. It seemed like his Naked Gun performances were recycled here.
  • The 1st Scary Movie was new & funny. Too bad the two movies that followed didn't meet the bar that the original set.
  • Judging from the previews, I thought this was going to be really funny. Unfortunately, this movie didn't live up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong, it had it's funny parts but they overdid it with people getting hit in the head or kicked in various other places. After a while, that stuff isn't that funny anymore.

    		 American Wedding - December 2, 2003

    Cast: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, & Eugene Levy

    [ Official Site - Fan Site ]

    Overall Grade: B

    Here is the 3rd and final installment of the American Pie Trilogy. This one follows Jim and Michelle from their engagement to their wedding. In between, we have all of the wedding planning, which involves meeting Michelle's parents, a bachelor party, and Stifler pretending to be nice in order to get into the pants of Michelle's hot little sister, Cadence. Finch also likes her though and thus begins a competition between the 2 rivals for her heart.

    ----- HOT -----

  • Laughs - It's pretty much the Stifler show as most of the funny parts revolve around his character. It isn't quite as good as the first two movies but it still has plenty of laughs and finishes off the series.
  • Skin - Without Shannon Elizabeth to show her breasts, we get 2 other women at the bachelor party willing to give us our fill of nudity. Thank you ladies! :o)

    ----- NOT -----

  • Missing Characters - A few of the cast members from the first two movies (Chris Klein, Mena Suvari, Tara Reid, & Shannon Elizabeth) don't make an appearance here.

    		 Old School - July 8th, 2003

    Cast: Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, & Vince Vaughn

    [ Official Site ]

    Overall Grade: B

    This follows three 30-something men (Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn) who start their own fraternity in order to relive some of their younger glory days. It starts off with Mitch (Wilson) coming home one night to find his girlfriend having some fun without him. This causes him to move out and live in a house near the college campus. His buddies, Frank & Beanie, see this as a chance to have some fun & experience the college life all over again. So they have some huge parties, drink lots of beer, and recruit members. They allow young, old, fat, nerdy...pretty much anyone into their unofficial fraternity. Eventually, they go head-to-head with the dean, who will do anything to get rid of them.

    ----- HOT -----

  • Overall - To tell you the truth, I thought this was going to suck some major donkey nuts when I saw the trailers. But I was really surprised and laughed a little. It turned out to be much better than I thought...still not the greatest comedy I have seen recently...but good. It was along the lines of American Pie in terms of humor. If you don't like the dirty bathroom humor, you may be turned off by this one.
  • Cast - Will Ferrell steals the majority of the scenes he is in. Look out when he drinks too much & reverts back into the party hard Frank the Tank! He may just streak down the street! Haha. Vince Vaughn also has some great scenes.
  • One of the best moments was when the pledges had to prove they trusted one another by putting their genitals on the line...literally.

    ----- NOT -----

  • Some of the jokes and gags weren't funny but overall, it did well.
  • It tends to lag at certain points also.

    		 Bruce Almighty - July 7th, 2003

    Cast: Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston, & Morgan Freeman

    [ Official Site - In Bruce We Trust? ]

    Overall Grade: A -

    Jim Carrey plays a special interest news reporter named Bruce who has a loving girlfriend & is anticipating his big promotion to anchor. It seems, however, that everything is going wrong with his life. His dog pees in his apartment, he gets beat up by a gang of thugs, and then the ultimate letdown ...he loses the promotion he wanted to his rival. He flips out and is abruptly fired. It seems as though he is disgusted with just about every aspect of his life and so he blames God. Morgan Freeman plays God...and gives Bruce all of his powers to see if he can do better. Bruce has fun with the powers at first, using them for his own amusement & satisfaction. But, after a while, he realizes that the little things he does with the powers have greater circumstances for others. He begins to understand that it's impossible to make everyone's life perfect, even if you are God.

    ----- HOT -----

  • Funny - It had me laughing throughout. So many funny moments & scenes. One of the good ones is where Bruce uses his powers to make the guy who was promoted instead of him screw up and make all kinds of weird sounds while on the air.
  • Jim Carrey - It's been a while since I have seen a really good Jim Carrey movie so this was a pleasant surprise.

    ----- NOT -----

  • Religion - The one problem that some people seem to have with this film is that it portrays God in a negative way. Some people take offense...other's don't. I really don't have a problem with it as it really isn't to be taken seriously. It's a comedy made to make people laugh, not to portray how God really is or isn't.

    		 How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days - March 19, 2003

    Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, & Adam Goldberg

    [ Official Site ]

    Overall Grade: B

    Kate Hudson plays Andie, a woman who writes her own article for a magazine for women. She comes up with the brilliant idea of dating a guy and getting him to break up with her within 10 days by doing things that every woman does wrong in a relationship. Then she will write an article about it to teach women what not to do in relationships. Enter Ben (Matthew McConaughey). He is in advertising and wants a big account which involves diamonds. His boss says he can have the account if he can stay in a relationship for more than 10 days. Coincidentally, they each choose one another for their personal project. So, while they try to achieve their own goals, they unknowingly prevent each other from accomplishing their "10 day plan".

    ----- HOT -----

  • Kate Hudson - she is sooo cute in this movie. How can you not fall in love with her?
  • I thought this was pretty funny and kinda cute. Every time Andie would do something so extreme to try and push Ben away, he wouldn't let her because he needed to keep her to win his bet. So she became more and more frustrated in trying to get him to dump her.