http://www.topfivemovies.com/ The latest movie reviews and top-five lists from topfivemovies.com. Top Five Movies is written and maintained by a bunch of regular guys, not snobby movie critics. en-us Copyright (c) 2001-2008 topfivemovies.com, and each article's respective author. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/images/top5gray_small.jpg http://www.topfivemovies.com/ 144 48 Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0400 Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:31:36 -0500 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_73.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_73.html Batman Begins lands in the odd world called "summer films that are highly hyped, but don't suck because they are wicked awesome." It wasn't like Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, a prequel which (supposedly) tied up all the loose ends of the Holy Trilogy (Ben Kenobi doesn't remember R2 in New Hope ? WTF ?) or one of the big budget Marvel flicks.... Bruce Ketcham Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/other_72.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/other_72.html Introduction On August 29, the user "Skoffin" posted a story on kuro5hin.org called The Problem with M. Night Shyamalan. Both that article and the following essay are full of "spoilers", so if there are one or more movies by Night that you haven't seen, don't read either of these yet.... Greg Kline Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_71.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_71.html Secret Window is a bland psychological thriller starring Johnny Depp as a writer named Mort Rainey whose personal life is spiraling out of control. After catching his wife Amy (Maria Bello) in the arms of another man (Timothy Hutton), he retreats to a cabin on the lake with only his dog, his computer, and occasional visits from a cleaning lady to keep him company.... Greg Kline Tue, 24 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_70.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_70.html The King is Alive. After trading places with an impersonator shortly before his alleged "death", Elvis has spent the last few years in a retirement home in East Texas. But giant cockroaches and unnatural deaths have been plaguing the residents, and it's up to Elvis and fellow patient JFK to find and destroy the Egyptian mummy who's responsible.... Greg Kline Wed, 11 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_68.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_68.html Harold and Kumar have a serious case of the munchies. And this kind of craving can't be satisfied by any ordinary delivery or fast food. No, this time it's gotta be White Castle. If only they can find it. Along the way they have to battle racist cops, "extreme" skater punks, dorky stalkers, and Neil Patrick Harris. All in a day's work for two guys looking to score some herb, fill their bellies, and land a date with the hella-cute chick from down the hall.... Greg Kline Mon, 09 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/chickflick_69.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/chickflick_69.html In Chasing Liberty, Mandy Moore plays the teenage daughter of the President. She's tired of having her every move shadowed by the Secret Service, who of course just want to protect her but end up ruining her date with some tool. So in the middle of a concert in Prague, she runs away from the agents and hitches a ride with some guy on his scooter.... Greg Kline Sun, 08 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_67.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_67.html As has been thoroughly chronicled here on TopFiveMovies, M. Night Shyamalan is a cinematic force to be reckoned with. The strength of his stories, the beauty of his pictures, and the surprising and clever twists in his plots have quickly turned him into a top Hollywood filmmaker. In Shyamalan's latest film, The Village, his star has dimmed ever so slightly.... Jesse Lavery Sat, 31 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_66.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_66.html Will Ferrell turns out his best movie to date with Anchorman. I haven't laughed this hard or this often since South Park. Absurdity reigns supreme and the quotable lines just keep rolling. If you miss this one, you're missing the funniest comedy in a long time. Make no mistake, Anchorman is NOT "The Daily Show" on the big screen.... Greg Kline Mon, 12 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_65.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_65.html There are certain things that we've come to expect from a Spider-Man movie: web-fu, a cameo of Stan Lee helping someone dodge falling debris, and Kirsten Dunst's nipples poking through a wet shirt. Spider-Man 2 delivers on all three expectations and more, and not in an Austin Powers 3 "didn't-they-already-do-that?" sense. Meet the new Spidey, same as the old, but in a good way.... Greg Kline Wed, 07 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/topfive_64.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/topfive_64.html Bruce Willis is one of those actors whose agent seems to frequently go off on extended crack binges. Bruce has done eight or ten great films, but maybe twice as many crappy ones. Here are the ones to watch:... Greg Kline Tue, 06 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/topfive_65.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/topfive_65.html Brad Pitt is a goddamned pretty-boy, but surprisingly enough, he's a pretty good actor. His appeal to the ladies turns out to be a good thing for movie-watching guys, because you can often convince your woman to watch a good, violent Brad Pitt movie instead of having to gag your way through some crappy chick flick. Yay, everybody's happy. ... Greg Kline Tue, 06 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/topfive_66.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/topfive_66.html These were really hard to put in order, and you could argue pretty convincingly for any of the top four to be Number One. Ultimately, I ordered them primarily based on the size of Spacey's role in the movie, but bumped The Usual Suspects a little lower because it's not quite as good in repeated viewings as it was the first time. My guess is that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil should also be in this list, but unfortunately I haven't seen that one yet.... Greg Kline Tue, 06 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_64.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_64.html Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World could have been a great swashbuckling epic. Indeed, it appears to be quite accurate in its portrayal of 19th century naval warfare. Unfortunately, no matter how hard it tries, it just isn't very exciting or inspirational or awe-inspiring or any of the other things a great epic should be.... Greg Kline Wed, 30 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/topfive_63.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/topfive_63.html Ben Stiller maintains his place as one of the smartest and funniest comics of the current generation. Unfortunately, he's had some gutterballs along with the strikes. Here are the best flicks in which he appears.... Greg Kline Sun, 20 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_63.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_63.html Once again, the forces of evil have descended upon a beloved neighborhood establishment and threaten to crush it beneath the iron claw of oppression. The only salvation in sight is a highly improbable competition pitting the good guys vs. the bad in a winner-take-all slugfest. This time, the victim is Average Joe's gym, owned and operated by Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn).... Greg Kline Sat, 19 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_62.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_62.html The tagline for the new installment of everyone's Swinging Spy is "The Secret Will Be Exposed". Here's the secret: this movie-- much like many other sequels-- sucks. Ghostbusters II, Ace Ventura II, any James Bond film post-Sean Connery, and now Austin Powers in Goldmember can all be lumped together as bad ideas gone terribly right.... Bruce Ketcham Fri, 16 Aug 2002 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_60.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_60.html Tom Hanks proves his worth as an actor once again in The Road to Perdition. This guy just keeps turning out quality work. With the notable exceptions of You've Got Mail in Seattle and Sleepless on AOL, along with Joe vs. the Volcano, he's pretty much owned the 90's and sits poised to continue his dominance into the new millenium.... Greg Kline Mon, 15 Jul 2002 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/chickflick_61.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/chickflick_61.html You know, it's really amazing what horrible forms of torture one will subject themselves to when there is nothing else on the TV late in the evening on a Sunday night. Such is how I was exposed to Summer Catch, a schlocky, predictable, "feel-good" vomit-fest starring the worst actor of our generation, Freddie Prinze Jr. Summer Catch is the story of Ryan Dunne, a poor lawn-boy whose dream is to play professional baseball.... Jesse Lavery Sun, 14 Jul 2002 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_59.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_59.html I had a professor in college who was eccentric. He would ride his bike to the buildings year around and would reuse the same brown paper bag he would carry his lunch in. One day I had lunch with him and noticed the brown paper bag had dates on it. When I asked him about it, he told me they were from the book he was writing. When I asked him when the book would be out he laughed and told me he's been working on it for ten years and probably wouldn't be finished for another ten.... Bruce Ketcham Sat, 13 Jul 2002 00:00:00 -0400 http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_57.html http://topfivemovies.gkline.com/review_57.html If this movie wasn't based on actual events that happened in West Virginia it would totally suck. However, because some of things sort of happened, it only sucks. Richard Gere plays John Kline, a writer for the Washington Post. He and his wife get into a car accident where she "sees" something, then later dies. Gere is broken up about the whole thing, but life goes on.... Bruce Ketcham Wed, 03 Jul 2002 00:00:00 -0400