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Proof of Life	RANK=765
Category : Not Sure Description : Russell Crowe acts the role of a Kidnap and Ransom consultant appointed by a large insurance company to handle the kidnap of a mining engineer in Tecula, South America. Meg Ryan is the distraught wife and does her usual excellent job of both acting and modelling. :) Turns out that Russ is a former SAS guy, so he's still da man in the weapons department. There's some attraction between the two that adds to the tension. The storyline is realistic. The scenery is engaging. The drama is solid. The shots are excellent and are refreshingly daring in some places. There is a suitable mix of background, buildup, negotiation, and action in the movie. The ending is highly appropriate and doesn't try for any clear cut ending, instead leaving you with mixed feelings of how it all turned out. The only letdown for me was that I thought the music for the ending credits was inappropriate for the setting and mood of the movie. Jim van Morrison was a fat drug addicted singer of rock and soul and that image is completely inappropriate for a peaceful mountainous jungle. But maybe that's just me. All round a good film.	Viewing Status #viewings=1 First seen in 3/2001

The Quick and The Dead	RANK=243
Category : Western Description : Alright, I admit it. I can't remember much about this other than it featured Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman. I only added it here because: 1) I have seen it (quite a while ago). 2) I only had 1 movie listed in the Western category. and yes, Tombstone was better. TQaTD was a bit less authentic, but I guess it still had all the right elements.	Viewing Status #viewings=1 First seen in /1994

Ransom	RANK=465
Category : Action Description : Mel Gibson is a billionaire whose son is kidnapped. Spends the whole movie trying to get his son back. Full of suspense, very clever. Gary Sinise as the villain.	Viewing Status #viewings=1 First seen in /1996

The Recruit	RANK=665
Category : Thriller Description : Al Pacino treads well-worn ground in his role as a recruiter and instructor for the CIA. He makes every part his own, and although it means he acts the same way in every movie he's ever been in, this is a travesty that we all somehow forgive him for. Less convincing is Colin Farrell, playing the title role and character named James Clayton. There are some moments when he is given ample screen time to emote and react, and all he gives is a cardboard face bordering on melodrama. Lucky for him these awkward moments are soon forgotten once the pace steps up. And step up it does. This flick is a spy thriller, with plenty of spying and a mild dose of thrills. The catchcry is "nothing is as it seems" and to some extent we begin wondering who is working for whom and who is on the side of Good. The final shot of the movie is a bit cryptic and might be a cop-out, but there may be some further significance to it that I've not sussed out, so make of it what you will. There's some fairly cool CIA spy stuff at the Farm, although it's hard to know how much of the depicted training programme is true to life. Clayton's background is the stereotypically American computer geek, and there's no prizes for guessing if this character's background becomes useful at all during the movie. As usual, you cannot take the computer hacking scenes with any more than a grain of salt, and the Ice-9 premise is electrically impossible in my humble opinion, but literally incredible threats have never derailed the Hollywood movie train before. And it wouldn't be one of my movie reviews if I didn't make at least a passing reference to the token love interest, in this case manifesting itself in the foxy form of Bridget Mahonnehey. (Damn, honey, do they go all the way up?) Her acting is at least as good as Farrell's, but that `aint sayin' much. Difficult to tell whether the script was holding her back. At one point she is required to forgive Clayton very quickly for something really mean, and she does so in a breezy manner that seems out of touch. But i'm just being picky really. See it. It's good. Similar to Spy Game with Redford and Pitt. Actually it's really really similar. Hmmm, spooky.	Viewing Status #viewings=1 First seen in 4/2003

Red Planet	RANK=483
Category : SciFi Description : Red Planet promised to be great, but in hindsight the planet wasn't so much red as murky maroon. There are important things that are glossed over, like one minute they are leaving earth orbit, the next minute it's several MONTHS later and everyone is still acting like it was yesterday. Some aspects are just plain wrong. When you've got the chance to be historically accurate and you only go halfway, it really stands out. The Russians did NOT put full colour computer screens and speech synthesisers on their Mars probes. Aside from the fact that the technology didn't exist at the time, just exactly who was going to be using the probe when it got to Mars? Gee, thanks, Hollywood, for treating me like a moron. Probably the best part is the recon robot on loan from the U.S. Marines for the mission. Gee I wonder if that robot "military mode" is going to be important? Perhaps the director didn't think that he could portray the threat of being left stranded on a barren planet for eternity in a sufficiently enthralling manner. Just had to add that extra physical short term threat for a cheap action component. The robot appears and moves excellently, but it could have been left out entirely. I can't believe I've said so much about this rather forgettable movie.	Viewing Status #viewings=1 First seen in 12/2000

Return of The Jedi	RANK=996
Star Wars Episode 6 Category : Adventure Description : Episode Six of the StarWars saga sees the final destruction of the empire. This is the one with the speeder bikes racing through the forest, C3PO and R2D2 visiting Jabba's palace, and the Death Star version 2. Almost my favourite of the series.	Viewing Status #viewings=6 First seen in /1988

The Return of the King	RANK=726
The Lord of The Rings Category : Adventure Description : The scheming schizophrenic gollum continues to lead Frodo and Sam to Mount Doom in Mordor. Film opens with some interesting background on the gollum. Some human politics threatens to cripple the side of Good, but good old Gandalf talks them out of it. Arragorn shakes his hair for the ladies a lot. Really big battle. Many dragons were harmed during the making of the film. Teary goodbyes and epilogue. SPOILER: They destroy the Ring. Everyone lives happily ever after. The CG spider has to be seen to be believed. Yes the film is 3.5h long, but gee it's good.	Viewing Status #viewings=1 First seen in 1/2004

The Ring	RANK=900
Category : Thriller Description : Damn what a creepy film. I was constantly chastising myself through the movie for allowing it to get under my skin. Turns on the frighteners bigtime. Even things that are cliched somehow still work. If you want to see a scary movie, you can't get much better than this. For the maximum effect, turn out all the lights, watch it late at night, and don't find out anything about the movie other than what I tell you here. The story begins with rumours of a video tape which will kill you within 7 days if you watch it. That's all I can really tell you, but bizarre gruesome creepy stuff is on that tape, believe me. This film is quite clever when you analyse it. There is a system at work, but you don't find out until the end what that system is, and I don't see how its possible to guess either. Dare I say memes? Hopefully that is sufficiently cryptic that it doesn't spoil too much. The content of the nasty video tape eventually (almost) ties in with its origins, although even that is still shrouded in mystery by the end. The plot leaves some loose ends... things that were basically put in to scare you, but which aren't justified by the conclusion. That's the only niggly qualm I can find. The rest is brilliant. Not much opportunity for squeaky image compositions in this thriller, but there are one or two nicely done outdoor shots which provide the token cinematographic contribution. No problem with scripting or acting, and the female lead portrays beauty, concern, and terror flawlessly. There are short periods of calm, but there's no way you can relax during this film, because ghastly unknowns gnaw at your neck and the pace doesn't really slow down at all. If people have panic buttons, then this movie pounds every one of them with a hammer. Very successful thriller.	Viewing Status #viewings=1 First seen in 12/2002

Road Trip	RANK=348
Category : Comedy Description : It's a movie about a road trip. Duh. There's not much in the way of good lines. It's mostly the funny situations that happen to a bunch of college kids. Highlights are: Tom Green and the snake; guy talking to the other guy's genitals; the car jump; the old guy and the doobie; the structural qualities of the two main female characters. It was a bit mindless. Maybe that's just not my bag, baby!	Viewing Status #viewings=1 First seen in 9/2000

Romeo Must Die	RANK=561
Category : Action Description : Those wacky Wacziosky (spelling?) brothers are back with their first post-Matrix movie. It's still a combination of martial arts and guns, but everything else is different. The murder of the son of the leader of the local Chinese cartel provokes a war between them and their african-american rivals. Jet Li, who plays the brother of the dead, escapes from prison when he hears the tragic news, and goes to America for revenge. There's some love interest (!) with a a young black woman who (suprise surprise) is part of the rival black mob. Roll the kung-fu fight scenes and gang-war dialogue. This movie reminded me of The Replacement Killers, except this is slightly better. The same fantastic electronic music called Keep Hope Alive does turn up during the movie, and I don't think that's just co-incedence! Also, you get to appreciate the positions of the different characters much better in this movie than in the more limited range of tRK.	Viewing Status #viewings=1 First seen in 5/2000

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