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If you enjoyed the first one, you'll enjoy this one, too. Hilariously over the top. My jaw dropped continuously throughout, though I'm guessing the unrated version I watched was more shocking than the theatrical release. What I especially enjoyed about it was that the movie was not afraid to make some hilarious hay out of taboo subjects like terrorism and racism. Despite the "liberal" racy humor, this film's politics are actually pretty darn moderate. While the movie pokes fun at racial profiling and the loss of civil liberties post-9/11, it also acknowledges the evils of fundamentalist terrorism (there's a great scene where Harold and Kumar argue with Muslim extremists about how awesome donuts are). How many Hollywood films are you going to see where President Bush is actually a good guy. The scene with him smoking up with H and K was downright gut-busting and would actually make you want to hang out with the guy. And you can't go wrong with Neil Patrick Harris hopped up on 'shrooms and riding a unicorn. Funny as hell.

Spoilers contained in this review. The first outing of this was watchable enough, mostly because the actors in the musketeer roles seemed to be having a fun time and the story itself was pretty light and mildly bawdy. But this time out, the lightness and bawdiness are gone, as is much of the plotline. The story meanders fairly pointlessly, and the tone is unbelievably darker compared to the first. To be honest, these musketeers are not particularly successful. By the end of the movie, both the duke of Buckingham and Constance are murdered and Cardinal Richelieu remains untouched. The death of Constance especially was especially disturbing, because it made pointless the thrust of the main storyline i.e. her rescue. By the end of the movie, the musketeers have saved a total of no one except themselves. Were both movies darker in tone, it might have been forgivable, but when it seems the filmmakers' intentions were for a lighthearted swashbuckling romp, there is no excuse for it.

Hands-down the best comic book adaptation I have ever seen. While Ang Lee's "Hulk" (which I thought was a great piece of filmmaking) was the first to attempt to transcend the genre of the superhero film, Christopher Nolan has really taken it to the next level. "The Dark Knight" is not just a great comic book movie, it is just a great movie period. This feels less like a comic book movie and more like a well-done crime drama, thanks to amazing visuals, intense performances, and an intelligent, well-written script. Heath Ledger's final performance is breathtaking. His portrayal of the Joker is absolutely chilling. I was lucky enough to check it out in IMAX, but even without the dizzying aerial camerawork, this one will translate well to the small screen due to the strong performances and the tense, thought-provoking storyline. A dark, dark, fantastic addition to the genre. The bar has been set extremely high for the next filmmaker charged with tackling a big-budget superhero flick. Awesome!

Imagine you're invited to a 4th of July weekend at a stranger's house. You've never met him, but you've heard good things. Now imagine that when you get there, the house is full of the most pretentious, annoying, neurotic, and selfish people you've ever met. That's what watching "Always" is like. Now that I've discovered that this was actually Jaglom and his real ex-wife playing the roles, I'm even more annoyed. It was bad enough when I thought this was fictional. Realizing that this was kinda real makes these people all the more unappealing. I give myself credit for sticking around for the whole thing.

Ganz should have won the Oscar for this. He completely envelopes the role of Adolph Hitler, bringing him a humanity that is hard to reconcile with the horror he wrought. Both raving lunatic and kind old "uncle Hitler", you feel like you're actually seeing Hitler as he truly was. Both physically and emotionally, Ganz completely inhabits the role. It's the most astounding transformation I've seen since Denzel Washington's performance in "X" (another role that was robbed of an Oscar. Having already seen "Blind Spot", from the interviews with his secretary this seems to be a very accurate portrayal of the final days of Hitler and his regime. What makes this so fascinating is that if you had absolutely no historical background on who the likes of Goebbels, Himmler, and Hitler were, the humanity of these people makes them sympathetic, and like all movies about the Nazi regime that are able to do this, it makes it that much more chilling when viewing these "normal" character in the context of history. These weren't caricatured monsters; these were men with wives, children, and favored pets: humans just like the rest of us. Making their ideals, beliefs, and actions a thousand times more terrifying than an Indiana Jones villain. For World War II buffs, an absolute must-see.

Maybe it was because I had lowered expectations for this one, but I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. While it's hard to beat Don Adams' Maxwell Smart, Steve Carell is hilarious as the bumbling secret agent. The movie starts off a little slow, and the plot is paper-thin, but Carell proves once again why he's such a great comedic actor. His performances in comedies are stark contrasts to the broad humor of Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, and Jim Carrey. What makes Carell's humor work is that he's kind of a Buster Keaton for the new millenium. Not saying he has the genius of Keaton, but like Keaton, he gets laughs by playing his own straight man, reacting to the KAOS around him (sorry) with a hangdog expression and a sad, put-upon air. We're laughing not at what he's doing to the world around him but what the world around him is doing to him. There were enough funny bits throughout to keep me giggling, along with some funny performances by Alan Arkin and funny cameos by Bill Murray and Patrick Warburton. And a nice clever little twist that let us see some of the old Get Smart gadgets in action. A surprisingly fun and funny big-budget action comedy. I wouldn't mind seeing another outing with Carell as Smart.

God, I love this movie! It never fails to reduce me to a blubbering idiot several times throughout the movie, and by the time we hit the finale in the Bailey living room, I'm a wreck. George and Mary Bailey are the perfect screen couple, not sickeningly cute, with a small wry streak but basically two decent people who are perfect for each other. It's sentimental, but never really sappy, mostly because Stewart's portrayal of George Bailey has a bit of a dark streak in him. He gets angry, he lashes out, he can be bitter about his life. In short, he's a good ol' American human being, and it's that performance that anchors this one in enough reality to keep this from being eye-rollingly sappy. A truly timeless classic; in my humble opinion, one of the best movies ever made.

One of my all-time favorites. It really is amazing just how great this movie is. Every time I watch it, it astounds me just how many great lines there are in this and how many of them have since been woven into the fabric of everyday speech even now. You can't go wrong with a love story involving Nazis and Humphrey Bogart. Bergman is radiant, Bogart is at his Bogartest, Sydney Greenstreet is corpulentastic, Peter Lorre is weaselriffic, and my favorite, Claude Rains, is Vichy-wunderbar. A great date movie, a great World War II flick, a great movie for aspiring screenwriters to study, just a great movie!

One of my favorite movie musicals ever. Not as complex as the BBC mini-series it's based on (starring the best actor EVER, Bob Hoskins), but it stands up great on its own. It's unlike any musical I'd ever seen, none of the characters actually singing, but rather lip-synching old standards from the Depression era. And the story is pretty damn bleak for a movie musical. The musical numbers are some of the best, most visually exciting this side of "Singin' in the Rain" and "Moulin Rouge!" You could tell Steve Martin was trying to break free from his "wild and crazy" persona on this one, playing a fairly unlikeable cad who you still somehow find yourself rooting for. Bernadette Peters is cute as a button, particularly in her "Love is Good for Anything" number, and Christopher Walken. . .oh Christopher Walken. His striptease routine is one of those rare screen gems that more people should see but haven't. This one belongs with modern musicals like "Dancer in the Dark" and "Once", taking the audience's expectations of what a musical is and turning it on its ear.

The film that started my unhealthy obsession with stories involving dead people trying to eat living human flesh. To be fair, though, it also turned me on to how great ultra-low-budget movies can be, paving the way for my enjoyment of flicks like "Shadows" and "Killer of Sheep". This really is a great movie. The gore aside, it's just a well-done story. Rather than just using the zombies vs humans as the conflict, Romero makes the real tension happen between those trapped in the isolated farmhouse, between Duane Jones and Karl Hardman, between Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman, between Judith O'Dea and her own sanity. And even larger than that, Romero uses a cheaply made horror flick to comment on the state of race relations in the United States. Using Jones as the hero was a pretty bold move for Romero, as was the ending. Seen with his other movies, the "Dead" series, like the "Body Snatchers" movies, are great barometers of the American psyche at any given time. If you can, watch it with the original score. There've been several attempts to "improve" it, but can't beat the original.

So wonderful! One of my favorites. The poetry of the dialogue as the angels listen in on their human counterparts is still one of my favorite screen moments. Bruno Ganz is wonderful as the angel, as is Peter Falk as himself. Just a beautiful movie. Whatever you do, please don't watch the sequel, "Faraway So Close".

Woo hoo! It's been awhile since a movie really grabbed me, and this one grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go. I'm a QT fan anyway, so I'm more than a little biased, but Tarantino accomplished exactly what he set out to do: he made a loud, trashy pulpy movie with all the requisite Tarantino-esque dialogue. It starts out at a leisurely pace, but when we get to the final showdown, it is one of the most intense, exciting, and funny action sequences I've ever seen. Kurt Russell does a great job as Stuntman Mike, you can tell he's loving every minute of this role. Side note: if there was any question that Tarantino had an unhealthy foot fetish, this movie will definitively answer that question.