Manuel on Movies #6

I have some more movie reviews for you, but first, look at the great new tool on my sidebar. I added a top commenters widget. It keeps track of who has commented the most on my blog over my last 500 comments. So, as of now, based on my last 500 comments, Evil E has the most comments. You, sir, rock!

Now on to the reviews...

The Dark Knight - If you don't know what movie I am talking about, then you have bene living under a rock. I haven't seen hype for a movie like this since Titanic. Of course, a good deal of the type is because of Heath Ledger's performance and of course, his death. So, does it live up to the hype? For the most part, yes. First of all, to get it out of the way, Ledger's performance is in fact, brilliant. There is no Ledger visible at all in his role and he is completely the Joker. I believe it is truly Oscar worthy. The movie itself is good. It has a good story and is visually stunning. However, despite how good it is, it almost suffers from Ledger being too good. In the scenes he was not in, I found myself awaiting the scene to finish so they could get to another scene with the Joker. I am not saying the other scenes were bad and in fact, many others put in spectacular performances. However, Ledger was so good, that was really all I cared about at times. But overall, a very good movie, but Ledger aside, it was not the greatest movie of all time as some are calling it. 9 out of 10

The Bourne Ultimatum - The third movie in the Bourne series was probably the best. This one was almost nonstop action and again, Bourne kicks some major ass. I was slightly let down though as I had heard from some people that this was the greatest action movie ever. I went in expecting a lot and although it was good, it wasn't as good as I expected. I think maybe the main reason is because although I like the Bourne movies, I don't quite like them as much as some people. I've enjoyed each one, but I have never been quite as crazy about them as I see many people are. I don't even own any of the movies and I own a LOT of movies. 7.5 out of 10

Breach - We caught this one on a whim the other day and it was a very pleasant surprise. It is based on a true story about a guy who is hired by the CIA to shadow a higher up who is suspected of being an informant for Russia. It is basically a thriller/drama. It doesn't really have any action scenes, but has some very tense moments. Chris Cooper does a wonderful job as the religious family man who is suspected of being a spy. I didn't hear much about this movie when it came out and it flew under my radar for the most part. I am glad I got the chance to see it because it was a very entertaining movie. 8 out of 10.

Mr. Brooks - Awesome! Just another great performance from Kevin Costner than proves the bad rap he sometimes gets is unwarranted. Costner plays a guy who has a split personality and the other personality being a serial killer. What is cool is his other personality, played by William Hurt, is like a separate character in the movie as he talks to him, takes car rides with him, argues with him, etc. At the very beginning of the movie, he is spotted and photographed during a murder. This leads to blackmail where the guy who blackmails him wants to take part in his murder spree or he will go to the cops. That is just the basis of the movie as there is really a lot going on. If you are into murder thrillers, you must pick up this movie as it was really good. I was impressed with just how good it was. 9 out of 10.

The Lost Boys:The Tribe - Finally, Lost Boys 2. The original Lost Boys is a classic and it is hard to find people who don't like the movie. I have been wanting a sequel for years and yesterday, the sequel came out. It really wasn't what I wanted as the large majority of the cast wouldn't be returning, but I gave it a go anyways. It was decent. Not great by any means and the fact that it was a direct to video effort only confirmed that it wasn't going to be that good. Most direct to video movies are god awful. This was actually ok. The acting wasn't spectacular, the movie had a cheesy MTV feel to it, but I was entertained. There were some fun references to the first flick but really, if you didn't like the first film, you probably won't like this one. 6.5 out of 10