16 Blocks – We all miss John McClain, so I looked forward to seeing 16 Blocks. And it started in the same fashion as Die Hard 3 with the revelation that Willis’ character is an increasingly drunk police officer who happens to also be increasingly ineffective at his job. Oh yeah, he’s also estranged from whatever relationship he was in. Take that character, increase the booze, decrease the quips, add a character with an annoying voice (played by Mos Def), and you’ve got 90% of the movie. The rest 10% is interesting enough to watch, but it’s nothing I’d ever need to see again. I’ll give it 5 out of 10.
The Chumscrubber – This is a little indie film whose main stars are lesser known, but the surrounding cast is an amazing collection of actors and actresses. Cast aside, it’s a social commentary dramatization with the main characters being high school age that struck a chord with me on a couple levels. There were CG cut scenes throughout the movies that took a little away from the movie, but there were also scenes composed so well that it more than balanced out the bad animation. The acting all around portrayed the quirky story about modern life of teens and the encouraged or illegal proliferation of psychotropic drugs very well. No matter who is in the lead roles (and they do a good job), it’s worth a watch when you can get the likes of Ralph Fiennes, Carrie Ann Moss, Glen Close, and William “Pull Daddy like a Chariot” Fichtner to be in it. I’ll give it 6 out of 10.
Wonderland – Quite a little cast, and quite an odd premise. Val Kilmer is John Holmes, Lisa Kudrow is his estranged wife, Kate Bosworth is his girlfriend (whose mother is Carrie Fisher), then throw in Dylan McDermott, Ted Levine, Josh Lucas, Christina Applegate, and Janeane Garofalo. Now that I’m done with listing the cast, there’s no point in describing the movie because it’s not as interesting. It’s disjointed, drawn out, too busy… and while that may reflect the coked up times and characters it’s portraying, it doesn’t make up for a bad story that’s not that interesting in how it’s done. But the actors and some fun film making from time to time raise this to a whopping 3 of 10.