Casino Royale 4/5 reviewed by Corey

21. This is the 21st James Bond movie. I've always been a fan of Bond. It's got a certain nostalgic appeal to me, reminding me of Saturday nights I spent with the parents when I was a kid. I've seen nearly all of them, many of them more than once. Although I never really had a preference for any particular actor playing the 00 role, rest assured... this is exactly the way Bond should be done.

Let's get to the first question: Is Daniel Craig a good James Bond? Is he better than Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore and Sean Connery? The answer is that Daniel Craig is the perfect Bond for this film. The movie is significantly less campy (and I really mean significantly) than the preceeding Bond outings. It's not necessarily darker, but it is much more realistic, much more gritty, and somehow it's still much more fun. The bad one-liners are gone, replaced with genuinely witty dialogue. Perhaps it's Craig's delivery, perhaps it's the writing. I'm not sure. It simply works much better than it has ever worked before.

After the opening introduction (which, if I recall correctly, is minus the famous bond theme and plus an extra hit of acid), things start off with a bang. Like always. The chase scene that ensues here probably ranks among the top action scenes of any previous Bond movie. Strangely enough, however, it is the poker sequences that were the most interesting to me. The tension that begins to build around the table as the stakes grow higher is nearly tangible, a first for a franchise that usually builds suspense by having the audiences check their watches to see when the first Bond girl will take her clothes off.

The Bond girls (or really girl) actually allow for much more character development than in the older movies, too. The story takes a backseat to the development of the relationship between James and his first companion, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green, who played a minor role in 2005's epic suck-fest Kingdom of Heaven), and for once I actually cared about what happened between them.

I don't have many gripes, and nothing that you probably won't find in a review by the local paper or on the Net. The film begins to drag near the end, and it feels like the director thought that he could replace the word "development" with "screentime" and nobody would notice. Some of the final scenes feel a little silly or pointless, the Bond theme is basically gone (WHAT'S THE FRIGGIN' DEAL?!), and there are some minor plot/character holes, but there's nothing here that seriously detracts from the film or its experience. The story remains simple, which, in this case, is a good thing.

Overall, the movie nails nearly every attempt it makes to forward the series. The new Bond is perfect for the more realistic tone that the film took, the action is spectacular and, more than ever, it just FEELS right. I'm excited to see where they take this.

See this movie if...
- You thought Die Another Day was a little on the stupid side.
- You liked Mission: Impossible 3, but thought M:I2 was too much. The difference between the more recent M:I movies is very reminiscient of the difference between DAD and CR.
- You're on a date. It's one of the first good date movies we've reviewed in a while.

Don't see this movie if...
- You're looking for some good ol' T&A. It's not here. I don't know why it says nudity on the MPAA content descriptor.
- You're expecting Bond to cut a man's head off to get information out of the baddie. He's not necessarily any darker, just more realistic.
- You miss it on the big screen. Watch it on your neighbor's 60" plasma, in the theatre, or just skip it. The dollar theatre is a decent alternative.

American Hardcore 3/5 reviewed by Ben

NOTE: I have to write this entire review from scratch, TWICE, because whoever writes Flash plugins sucks like a black hole.

So, what did I say about this film? Well, it's tough to review, because you probably know whether or not you're going to see it already--if you like punk rock, you'll probably see it. If you couldn't care less, then you probably won't. And that's probably the best for this film.

This documentary attempts to chronicle the hardcore punk movement that started in LA and DC in '79 and '80, and lasted for about 5 years. Forget what you think you know about punk--we're not talking about modern pop-punk commercial crap, nor are we talking about the Ramones and the Sex Pistols--we're talking about American Hardcore--Bad Brains, Black Flag, Minutemen, Minor Threat, SSD, and dozens of other bands that were breaking down walls (sometimes literally) and viciously creating wholly new styles of music that rocked the world. In addition to lots of video footage from actual concerts (including a riot at one FX show), we're treated to tons and tons of interview footage from the actual participants of this stuff. We're talking Henry Rollins, Mike Watt, H.R., and pretty much everybody from any band thats mentioned. We also get to hear from some more mainstream artists that were influenced by hardcore, like Moby and Flea, among others. Not only is there plenty of sweet stories, but you really get a sense of what this movement was about--what it was reacting against, it's pure youthfulness, it's energy, it's DIY attitude, and ultimately, it's demise.

What holds this film back for me is that it seems it's director, Paul Rachman, is a little too close to this music. What I mean, is that it sometimes comes across as self-indulgent, and there's way too many "wasn't it cool when..." stories, and not enough structure. The big picture is often lost, and there's little sense of the history of what happened. I was constantly asking questions like, "who is he again? What band was he with? What city were they from? Was that after, or before this?" If you know a lot about hardcore already, this is hardly a problem, but if you're new to it, you might be in a little over your head. Then again, with the craziness that the life and times of hardcore punk was known for, maybe Rachman was being less structured on purpose--to make you feel kindof out of place, the way these punks describe feeling when they were in the midst of it. In any case, it's great for people who love the genre, but for someone more interested in the hard history and influence of the movement, you may be better off reading the book as well.

In any case, this is a cool film about an incredibly important time in American history, both musically, socially, and historically. But, because it's not the best structured documentary ever, it's great for fans, and merely interestesting for the rest. If you love punk, you'll love this. If you don't, it's still worth seeing, but you may check your watch a few times.

See this movie if:
-You love hardcore punk rock.
-You're under 20 and think you know what punk is, 'cause you listen to "All American Rejects." You have NO CLUE what punk is, man.
-You're interested in how music effects history and sociology, but would never use such heady terms to describe that interest.

Don't see this movie if:
-You don't want to see a documentary in a theatre.
-You think "The Rock Music" is the devil, or something along those lines.
-You're a huge Reagan fan.

Borat 5/5 reviewed by Ben

Wow. I don't think I've ever given a movie a perfect score after seeing it just one time. Perhaps 12 Monkeys, or The Proposition might fit that bill, but here we have something completely different...

You may have seen the Borat character on "Da Ali G Show" on HBO. On the show, the character was featured in a number of small... "sketches" isn't the right word, since none of the interactions were scripted... but you know what I mean. Here, Sacha Baron Cohen takes his character to the big screen, on a quest across America to shoot a documentary so that Borat's native land, Khazakstan, can learn what makes America so great. This ironic goal quickly degenerates into a quest to shack up with Pamela Anderson. A highly American dream, after all.

The greatest thing about this movie is that the joke is on you. Do you know where Khasakstan is? Do you even know if it's a real country? Are so tolerant of other cultures that you'll accept or even applaud ludicrous and insane behavior in the name of cultural relativism? Are you a drunk fratboy who thinks the sex jokes are crazy funny but are confused about the rest? Then Borat is making fun of you. And me, and all of us.

All of this "between the lines" humor is couched in unscripted scenes where Borat interacts with people who really don't know how to react to him. It's hard to believe that some of these people are this stupid, from rodeo owners admitting that we should kill or lock up all homosexuals, to a gun store owner giving advice on which weapons are best for killing jews. The fact that Cohen is jewish makes it "okay" for him to make jokes, but I have to wonder that if he wasn't, would he be ridiculed? His point is the same either way. In any case, this movie reveals a lot about our society as Americans, and some of the various sub-cultures within it. The scene at the charismatic pentecostal revival is particularly amazing. Borat doesn't even have to do anything to bring out the humor here, it stands on its own as being completely ludicrous.

Not every moment in this film is so lofty and full of social commentary--there's plenty of good, ol' fashioned dirty jokes, slapstick, situations involving bears, and... well... that one part... that will make everyone very uncomfortable... I think you'll know what I mean when you see it. I'll avoid giving any more specifics of the humor, so you can go in surprised. Suffice to say, that while some of the laughs are cheap, some of the laughs are high-minded, and some of the laughs are deeper revealings of what's behind our own culture, the fact remains that I haven't laughed this hard or this much in a loooong time.

See this movie if:
-You saw "Da Ali G Show" and loved it
-You want to see some hilarious social commentary that makes fun of just about everyone
-You want to laugh--HARD!

Don't see this movie if:
-you're easily offended
-hot guy-on-guy action makes you queasy
-you're on a first date, or an anniversary, or something romantic like that