Random Thoughts:.....

These are brief since I have a lot to catch up on....



The Company - 9/10 - Robert Altman's hypnotic docudrama set in the world of dance. Beautiful sequences, almost zero plot, and a surprisingly able Neve Campbell make this a rare gem. What most movies make as plot points, this one treats as just another event in the life of a dancer and another happening in the world of ballet.



Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story - 4/10 - There is only so many times a person getting in the head with a dodgeball - or a wrench - can be funny. So I thought. Though everyone else in the theatre laughed just as hard each time. There's little energy and involvement in the film, which could've been solid piece of funtertainment in another director and writer's hands. Ben Stiller is so outrageous he provides little threat to the heroes, and you wonder just why you are rooting for them in the first place.



Raising Helen - 5/10 - Kate Hudson continues her streak of generic, TV-movie feature films. Garry Marshall offers nothing to the material, and the whole "Whip-It!" scene is so painfully obligatory. It, however, offers some laughs, and only a few manipulated tears. Nevertheless, solid work from Hudson, Joan Cusack and an underused Helen Mirren. Entirely forgettable, yet easily digestable.



Saved! - 6/10 - The teen dream team of Jena Malone, Macalay Culkin, Eva Amurri, and most notably Mandy Moore make this not-as-biting-as-it-should-be satire worth seeing. Though it offers lessons of tolerance when it comes to religion and its place in life, the film seems to be pulling back from what it really wants to say. I can't really see anyone being offended by this, but after Mean Girls, it would be nice to see what Saved! could've been under Tina Fey's pen.



Van Helsing - 5/10 - Say you have a Merchant-Ivory film and to sell it to an MTV crowd, you hire some music video director to take footage from the film and put it together to create a fast-paced, action packed trailer. Well, Van Helsing is that trailer. It sure is pretty and moves fast, but there's something a lot better behind it. Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale seem to have about three dozen lines between them, as the story is action-centered, which at least keeps the film moving. Visual F/X, cinematography, production design are best of the year, but you can't help but wonder how great this film could've been with a different approach. The opening black and white scene gives us a small peak.