Guess Who (2005): 6/10
Poster (c) Columbia Pictures
In this re-imagining of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Ashton Kutcher plays a guy who changes just about every minute (because of Kutcher's nonexistant acting skills) who's about to meet his fiance's father (Bernie Mac), who is a man who wears both suspenders and a belt just to make sure his pants don't fall down. The two of them go through many awkward situations together (including Mac's insistence of Kutcher telling black jokes at the dinner table, the best scene in the movie) and finally a lesson is learned. As the movie progresses, it becomes less funny, with more sappy sentimentality. However, some parts are truly inspired. It seems like throughout the whole movie, Kutcher's almost awestruck, like he finally got a chance to work with the great actor that is Bernie Mac! Mac, redeeming himself from Mr. 3000, comes off pretty well, and saves the movie. Guess Who's a generic movie, but at times it shines.
Oldboy (2004): 8/10
Poster (c) Tartan Films
Oldboy's an exciting, breath-taking film that's one-of-a-kind and original that's being remade for Americans in 2006. I doubt many people would be able to appreciate it with this story: Oh Dae-su is imprisoned in hotel room of sorts for fifteen years, and he doesn't know why. Once he's released, he goes on a rampage of revenge, including a long tracking shot of Dae-su just beating up a bunch of guys. One shot. Soon who finds out who, but not the why. Oldboy is constantly exciting, a great story, gory at times (but not an exploitative gore movie, like, say, the Guinea Pig movies), and has a great visual style. The opening shot, of Dae-su holding a guy over the balcony of something, gets you into the story. It's showing how great Asian film is becoming, and how it can tackle many things at once.
Millions (2005): 7/10
Poster (c) Fox Searchlight
With such movies as Trainspotting, The Beach, and 28 Days Later under his belt, it's perfectly understandable why Danny Boyle'd make a children's film next. Damien and Anthony are two British children who find a bag of money (which turns out to be stolen), but must use it before the UK switches over to the Euro, convinently in a week. One wants to spend, one wants to donate. In addition to that (and hiding it from their single father), the thief tries to get his money back. In the beginning, the movie was perfect. The acting, cinematography, music, and especially the effects were all coordinated. You couldn't find a fault in the first half. And then the robber comes in, the movie becomes less imaginative and more of a "thriler", with no more of the visual tricks and no more of the charm that the movie possessed. It's basically a defunct movie after the first half. It's saddening to see the path that the movie takes: from a movie about childhood idealism to a cops-and-robbers chase movie, except worse.
Fever Pitch (2005): 7/10
Poster (c) 20th Century Fox
Let's get one thing out of the way: There's Something About Mary wasn't that good. Neither was Stuck on You. So how did this Farrelly Brothers romantic comedy survive? Could it have been the originality of the humor? No, like all Farrelly Bros. movies, there are vomit and mentally handicapped jokes (although minimally). It must be the acting, right? Yeah, you see Jimmy Fallon winning the People's Choice Awards left and right. Then it's in the screenplay. Written by comic geniuses Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, Fever Pitch is fun, funny, romantic, entertaining, and everything else a romantic comedy should be. Sure, it's not riotously funny, nor is it something that will get you and your girlfriend "in the mood", but it succeeds on all levels to an extent. The chemistry between Fallon and Drew Barrymore is very good, too. And the movie's sweet, overall. Unlike this year's overrated romantic comedy Hitch, the laughs come from the characters, not from badly written situations. Fever Pitch is an all-around good time, whether you call it a baseball movie or a chick flick.